Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Brad Williams Is A HUGE Wrestling Fan, Fighting Hornswoggle, Chris Jericho, Little Poppa Pump

Episode Date: February 26, 2026

Brad Williams (@funnybrad) is a stand-up comedian, actor and massive wrestling fan. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet at West Coast Creative Studio in Hollywood, CA to discuss his love of comedy and wrestling and why the two work so well together, if he is taller than Hornswoggle, making jokes about wrestlers on The Jericho Cruise, his issues with Peter Dinklage, possibly wrestling a match, the viral spot between Omos and Micro Man, dressing up as Scott Steiner, and more! Please support our sponsors: HELIX SLEEP: Flash sale! Go to https://helixsleep.com/cvv for 27% off sitewide! COZY EARTH: Go to https://cozyearth.com/CVV for up to 20% off! BEAM: Go to https://shopbeam.com/INSIGHT and use code INSIGHT for up to 40% off Beam’s Dream Powder DELETEME: Use the code INSIGHT to get 20% off your DeleteMe plan at https://joindeleteme.com/INSIGHT FACTOR: Get 50% off your first box, plus Free Breakfast for 1 Year with the code INSIGHT50OFF at https://factormeals.com/INSIGHT50OFF  PURE PLANK: The future of core fitness! Use the code CVV to save 10% on Pure Plank designed by Adam Copeland & Christian: https://gopureplank.com/cvv SEAT GEEK: Use my code for 10% off your next SeatGeek order*: https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/CVV Sponsored by SeatGeek. *Restrictions apply. Max $20 discount NORDVPN: Exclusive deal! https://nordvpn.com/cvv Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! PRIZEPICKS: Download the PrizePicks app today and use code INSIGHT to get $50 bonus credit in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup! For more information about Chris and INSIGHT go to: https://chrisvanvliet.com If you have ever enjoyed any of these episodes, could I ask you to please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcast or Spotify? It takes less than a minute and makes a huge difference in helping to spread the word about the show and also to convince some hard-to-get guests.  Follow CVV on social media:  Instagram: instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube: youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet TikTok: tiktok.com/@Chris.VanVliet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It is great to see you again. Good to see you after running into you at the airport. That was so random. Yeah. And it was kind of weird that you ran up to me and went Hornswoggle. And I was like, no, other one. Other one. Not that one.

Yeah. That's not what happened. Now, but this is the part of the word. I said, we man. Yes, exactly. Yes, exactly. And then I'm like, no, I can't do that move anymore. This is where all your regular viewers and,

listeners are like, it's not a, it's not a wrestler, or they thought for a second, maybe Hornswoggle, maybe they thought this is the unmasking of one of the minis of the, uh, El Grande Americano, maybe you're, maybe you're El Grande Americano. You never know. You never know. No, with this forehead, no, a mask couldn't even fit over this thing. This would not, yeah, although that, that, that would be so funny. El Grande Americano is a dwarf.

But yes, this is one of the, uh, non-examacroval. wrestler episode. So no doubt, huge crash in the ratings. Huge dip. But anybody who has been on the Jericho Cruz knows that you love wrestling. Yes, yes. I'm a mark, as they say. And it's been really cool doing the Jericho Cruz. I'm now the official comedian of the Jericho Cruz. I'm the director of laughs of the Chris Jericho Rock and Wrestling Ranger at Sea. I book the comedians. So if you ever see a show of the Jericho Cruz that sucks, blame me. But so far, they haven't

because it's been really fantastic and it's been a lot of really great. There's so many comics that are really big wrestling fans. And I think it's because comedians look at wrestling and we get it. It's performance art. And it's playing an elevated version of yourself. It's playing a character.

And we can see, and some wrestlers are actually good on the mic, which pisses me off so much when a wrestler is good on the mic. So I'm like, you don't get all the skills. Like good at comedy? Yeah. Like, okay, like Nick Nemeth.

Yes. He's good. So good. He's good. His brother Ryan is like good, but in a completely different way. Yeah. He does his own thing.

Totally other kind of humor. Yeah. Yeah. And a lot of wrestlers. I went to Mick Foley's one-man show. Oh, yeah. It was hilarious. Yeah.

Well, he's a good writer. Yeah. People get shocked. when wrestlers can like, oh my gosh, they can be funny. It's like, yeah, they're on a mic in front of 16,000 people or sometimes more in the middle of a ring. Like, yeah, they could play characters. I pointed this out to our truth because, like,

he's a legend when it comes to comedy and wrestling. And he's like, well, it's not just me. Like, Kurt Engel was funny. Yeah. Booker T. was funny. Yeah. Stone Cold was funny. Of course, Santina Morella was funny.

When Stone Cold, when Stone Cold would go to that route when he, like, tried to be the heel guy and he was kind of like the silly, like, playing the guitar with the, like, that, that was hilarious to me. I loved that stuff. I love that Kurt Engel brought that out of Stone Cold. Yes. Because it was Kurt Angle being goofy. Yes.

That allowed Stone Cold to be goofy. Yeah. When Kurt Engel is in the ring, putting the promo on Ray Mysterio, going, I'm a man, and you're a boy. Now, like, to play with little boys. You're like, that was brilliant comedy. whether he wrote it or whether a writer wrote it. Ryan Gowitz.

He always gives him credit for that. What Tony Storm is doing right now in AW is brilliant. It's great comedy calling people slop tarts and pits up. It's awesome. And I love it because sometimes wrestling fans get so into wrestling that it becomes this sacred cow that they, that cannot be silly or funny or whatever. No, wrestling is supposed to be silly. Wrestling is supposed to be fun. Once we got past the 70s and 80s

where it's hard to believe that at one point in our country, people were still like, no, no, no, they're fighting. They're fighting. That guy legit hates that guy, and they are legit fighting. Once we found out that it is predetermined, I think that opened up the world

to now you could have your grapplers, you could have your street fighters, but then you could also have your Orange Cassidy's. You could have your iguana mans. You can have your like very silly people. You could have Santino with the, with the freaking cobra. You can do that. And it's silly.

And we all just acknowledge because if you take away the undertaker's mystique, it's silly. He's a zombie. He throws lightning. There's fire that he can summon. Like he's got way too much eye shadow on. And he looks like a, he looks like my chemical romance. fan going through like a midlife crisis. But then it's because it's the Undertaker that's like, okay, but it's like, what is the

undertaker? You know, I went to a slight Vince mode there. Oh, it's the Undertaker. Yeah. But like, like wrestling is supposed to be fun. Wrestling is supposed to be silly and it's performative and that's one of the reasons why I love it so much. Give me your Mount Rushmore of comedy wrestlers.

Oh, comedy wrestlers. All right. Well, if I'm doing it, it's more like a molehill. Uh, so Brad Williams, Mulhill Rushmore. of comedy wrestlers. Dude, all right, you got to put the rock on there. Had so many funny moments. So many funny moments.

Intentional, unintentional. Think about the fact that the rock turned, taking inanimate objects, shining them up and sticking them where the sun don't shine. Turn that into a cashphrase. Yes. Anytime he interrupts anyone,

it doesn't matter. So good. So funny. So he's absolutely on there. Wow, all-time comedy wrestlers. It's weird. I would put Santino on there just because... You got to.

You got to. And with all the mispronunciations of everybody's name... A codstone, Steve Austin. Yeah. Kelly, Kelly. Kelly. Yeah. Just, it's stupid.

Shammuz. So good. It's so funny. I would put him on there. Low key. I would put mutual friend Chris Jericho on there. Not known for being a comedic wrestler because he's so good at everything else. But the bit with Dean Malenko.

Oh, man of a thousand and four holds. Yes, and reading all the holds. The list in and of itself is just a comedy bit. Yes. You just made the list. He made clicking a pen be threatening. Because he was holding it out. click

I love it our truth I think is just an absolute comedy legend our truth for just for him saying that John Sino was his favorite wrestler as a child as a childhood hero and Art Truth is three years older than

John Sino whatever he is it's a basic joke but it's so good and the one thing that you see in wrestling in terms of comedy oh I got I got one more. Oh, man, one more comedy wrestling. You know what? I'm going to put out, this will make a lot of people mad,

but I love Orange Cassidy. Sure, yeah, of course. He made it work, and he's done so many good things, and I will usually laugh at some point. When he and Sting did the back and forth, and Sting said yes to it, which I found out later was improvised, insane.

Yeah. Insane. You know, when you go to the AEW YouTube channel, something like, I don't know the exact number, but five of their top ten videos are Orange Cassidy videos. Yes, because one thing you find out in wrestling, and it's true in comedy too, is you have to commit fully to the bit.

You cannot second guess. You cannot be like, I'm not sure about this. I know Jericho has talked about the pen where he would tell the wrestlers you have to sell. If you sell the pen. Like, think about the time when Mick Foley came out

and he just got beaten up by Triple H as mankind. And now he reveals that now he's Cactus Jack. And Triple H acts like Mick Foley just shot his brother in the ring. Like, he just throws his hair.

No! Not Cactus Jack. Like, anything but the same guy I beat last night. Like, wrestling in inherently, if you break it down, it's kind of dumb. But it's just so much fun when you actually go for that and you get fully into it. And you believe it because that kind of stuff isn't going to happen in real life. Yeah.

I can't be about to fight a guy and be like, you know what? You beat Brad Williams. But now you face half pint or whatever the heck. And then have him just be like, oh, no, not half pint. Is that your alter ego? All right, I'm not going to lie. Half pint was what I would always put myself as a creative wrestler. Like, I always did half pint, and I would always give myself, like, big show movesets just because I thought it was hilarious.

Was it even your creator wrestler? Of course. Yes. I mean, but the problem was, is they couldn't make them small enough. Like, I stopped wrestling video games at, like, Smackdown Here Comes the Pain, which arguably is the best one ever. But, like, the creator wrestler had, like, Ray Mysterio height, and that's, like, the shortest it could go. I'm like, I need to go lower.

I need to go lower. How much taller is Ray Mysterio than you? Not much. I've met him a few times. And the stunning thing is the first time I met him, he was in the mask and I knew Ray Mysterio and all that. Second time I met him, he was backstage at the Jericho cruise, and he was being interviewed on a podcast.

on talk as Jericho and then I was doing something right after and when I came back mask was not on and I did not know it was him and I thought it was like one of the staff members of the crews that was just like hanging back yeah I felt so bad and then like you talk for two and then you see a tattoo and you're like oh oh shit and but yeah he obviously is one of my wrestling hero is just because of what he's able to do at that size and be as good as he is at that size and in so many different promotions, not just, not just WCW where I believe he had a top five various match of all time with Eddie Guerrero. Oh, what a match.

How we have it. Yep. Not just in WWE, but if you look at what he did in Lucha Underground, that match versus Rickashay. Oh, man. That was an awesome match. I love Lucha Underground. I loved Lucha Underground.

They did some revolutionary stuff when they, like, Penta versus Chelsea Green and things like that. So it's nice to see people and entities still trying new things in wrestling. I love it, man. So you're saying his build height of five foot four may not be accurate? I don't know, man. I don't know. He might be like five foot one. I'm not sure.

But like, it's hard because anyone after. like four foot eight is the same height to me. Like if you're five foot seven, if you're six, nine, it's all the same. You're all just up there. It's just, I can't get up there. Who's taller? You or Hornswoggle?

All right. This is a debate, which I hate saying this, because I hate giving Hornswoggle any credit for anything. Hornswoggle should be an honorable mention of hilarious wrestlers, too. He was very funny. See, I feel bad. telling another, saying another dwarf was funny because it's like, no, I have to be, I, like, we're like Highlanders.

There can be only one. So, uh, Hornswoggle, I would say, is probably an inch taller than me. But because of his spinal surgeries, I think he's back down to my level. I think we have, there's a video online of, uh, one, one of the greatest moments of my life, of me getting in the ring with Hornswoggle. The dream match, not a match, but the dream run-in happened on the Jericho cruise. And we stood eye-to-eye, which is the only person, literally I could stand eye-to-eye with. And it was an awesome moment.

Whenever I would go on the Jericho cruise, people would ask me to get in the ring. I'm like, no, I'm not going to get in the ring. These guys are trained. I'm not trained. But when Hornswoggle was booked on the Jericho cruise, and I was on the Jericho cruise, I'm like, okay. Chris, I know what you're doing and it's working because

it's going to happen. And from the, we saw each other in the check-in line to go on the boat and we immediately started chirping at each other. And we saw the crowd reaction of everyone just going, what the fuck? Like, there are two dwarves are going to fight. Two dwarves are going to fight.

I don't know what happens when two dwarfs fight. Do portals open up? Do rainbows fly out of the ring? Gold coins get showered from the sky? I have no idea what happens. And we saw people really get into it. So then we had to do this thing because, you know, people have pulled back, you know, the curtain on this podcast many times. Me and Dylan are friends. You know, we're good. I love the guy. Great dude. How could you not love Dylan? How could you not love Broadway? Yes. I agree. So, but every time we saw each other

on that cruise. If we were in the back, we were friendly. If we were out in public, we were mad-dogging each other, talking shit. One time it happened accidentally. I think there's a video of this somewhere too. Might be on my Instagram. We passed each other just like, oh, I didn't know you're going to be here. I didn't know you were going to be here. And we're passing each other out by the ring. And a crowd literally forms around us instantly and starts going, oh, And we're like, oh shit, we got to do something. So I just, I just look at, I just look at Swagland. I just kind of look at him.

I go, hit me. And I just said that under my breath just, I try to do my Jeff Dunham, where I was just like, uh-uh, hey. And dude clocked me. Dude clocked me upside my head and, uh, really hit me hard. And then the crowd went nuts. Like, I get him, Brad. Fight back.

And I'm like, I'll, I'll get him. Not here. Not here. Very heel move. Not, not, not here. but and then the moment happened where in all this we planned out with uh uh i think matt cardona and um who whoever matt was facing i forget um i think it was flip wilson i don't know uh flip no flip gordon flip flip flip wilson comedian from the all right whatever my brain's going a million miles an hour

right now so like jericho didn't even know this thing was happening and he's in charge of like everything. Yeah. So, uh, uh, uh, uh,

uh, uh, uh, Swagel is the special guest referee. And he runs out as the regular referee gets knocked out in a match. And he,

and he's going to count the three. He does one, two. And then he flips off, uh, flip Gordon. Double birds. Whole place is like,

oh, fuck you, Swagel, we want to flip to win. And then I come out. Now, I don't have wrestling gear. So if you watch the video,

Those are sweatpants in a tank top. That's all I had. I don't have deer. There's no neon on me. No spandex. Spandex with this ass. Not a pretty sight. So I run out and Swagland and I get face to face.

And before we even do anything, just us standing in a ring face to face, the crowd gets a holy shit champ going. Which I feel bad for every, like, Mick Foley and Edge had to do a spear through a flaming table to get a holy shit chant. I have to stare at Hornswoggle. And everyone's like, same.

Equal ground. Like, these guys are falling on thumbtacks. I'm just like, I'll look at a guy. So we stare at each other. He grabs my hat. He chucks in the audience. And then I just do double birds, stunner.

The place you would have thought, fucking Bruno San Martino came back from the dead. Like this is what was insane pop. And Swaggle rolls out of the ring and then I chase him to the back and the match continues. But just that moment, just that moment, I'm like, oh, I totally get why people do this. Just that moment. Like the pop was just insane. Like, I've told some jokes.

They've hit. I get some people to laugh. It feels awesome. It feels great. that and me hitting the the Dudley Boys What's Up headbut with the Dudley boys on the cruise as well

you can't you can't beat that you can't it was so much fun tell us that story dude that was so it's the main event of the Jericho cruise and they're talking to the back on what's going to happen and they're like well you know good guys are going to

in and then we're gonna, you know, we're just going to start, everyone's going to come out. And this is Ultimo Dragon. This is the Dudley boys. And they start talking like, the Dudleys are like, all right, but we have to do something, right?

We got to do something. And we're like, let's do the, let's do the what's up head butt. And I'm not around for any of this. And then Devon's like, I'm not, I'm not going up. He's like,

you know, he wouldn't, the buffet a few times, may have had a few drinks. He wasn't really in the best shapes to go up. So he's like, I'm not doing the thing. They're like, well, we got to do the WhatsApp headbutt. And they're like, what are we going to do? Jericho texts me and goes, where are you?

And this is while the match is going on before the main event. So it's not even, this isn't hours in advance. This is minutes. So I get the text on the boat and I'm like, watching the match. He's like, get to the back now. So I run to the back and they're like, you're going to do. the WhatsApp headbutt. And I'm like,

all right. And we go over it and Bubba tells me how to do it. Devon gives me his blessing and I'm like, okay. And I get up there, it's to the guns. It's to, I think it's to Austin. And I got up to the,

I didn't go top rope. Call me a pussy all you want. Mark's online. I didn't go to the top. Devon doesn't even go to the top. That's just not how the move works. I go to the second, because I got to the second and I turn around, I'm like, this is a lot higher than I thought. You know, and the other thing I was thinking is I was looking at Austin going, he's far away. At the time, I'm 38. I'm like, I don't know if I could get that far.

But I just, adrenaline is a hell of a drug. And jump, hit the WhatsApp head butt, definitely get a face full of gun balls. I would say gunpowder and the place just goes nuts and you see Jericho in an Instagram video just give a fist pump like this is the best, like this is so cool and that's the coolest part

and then like afterward you have Ultimo Dragon come up to me saying that was really good and I'm like what? Wow! Ultimate Dragon like there's a photo and I've got photos with Robin Williams. I've got photos with Don Rickles in my office, but a photo that means just as much to me is me in the ring with Jericho, Big Show, Ultimate Dragon, Dudley Boys, like all those guys. Because to have them come up to me and say like, that was cool, they entertained me. My biggest honor is that I entertained the people who entertained me.

That's cool. And I got to do that. And I get to do that again every year, every year. I'm the Jericho cruise. I'll be joining you this year. Yes. I'm doing Insight Live on the cruise this year. Yes. This is going to be, we're popping your cruise cherry, right? Yeah, I've never been on the Jericho cruise. Yeah. Have you been on a cruise? I've been on a few cruises. Okay. Yeah. This is like nothing you've ever been on. It's wrestling, heavy metal and comedy and podcasts on a boat. People tell me they're like, is it weird because like, you know, you go stay in your room the whole time? Like, nah, I'm out. I'm walking around. I'm going to all the events. a drunk karaoke at the end of the night with pro wrestlers,

you will get a story. You will get a story. This is the ultimate fan experience. Yes. Like to be able to spend an entire vacation. Yes. With your childhood heroes. Yes.

And if Will Osprey is on that boat, you will not be sober. He demands it. You're doing shots with Will Osprey? Everyone was doing shots with Will Osprey. Oh, man. Will's just walking around like, hey, you have a sex on the beach? Let's get you a sex on a beach. That's a pretty good Will Osprey.

It's weird. He just didn't say brough. Yeah. Oh, yeah. So, brough. Yeah. Sex on the beach, brough. It's weird because my Will Osprey is just stone cold with the British accent.

So if you're trying to do an impression, here's a cheat. So stone cold. Stone cold, Stonecoast Steve Austin. I'm here. What? What? What? He just had, you had, you had a brof.

You had a British accent. That's how you do. That's how I do a Will Osprey is I just do a British accent. is I just do a British accent, just don't cold. That's a fantastic Will Oswald. Well, and then it gets even better the drunker I get, because that's, you know, that dude, he puts him down.

A lot of the wrestlers, man, it is, it is amazing. And that's when you could hit him up and really start getting some insider information. Like, what do you really think about so-and-so, X, Y, Z? And they're like, that fucking asshole. Yeah. It's always great when the sentence begins with,

Well, this stays between us. Or, hey, K-Fab this. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm about to hear something here. Well, that's got to be weird for you because you're wrestling media. Like, you're not breaking news necessarily, but you're wrestling media. You break news when people come on your podcast and say things.

I'd say I'm more in the category of, like, when you go on like Jay Shetty's podcast or Chris Williamson's podcast, like they're not media. They're not journalists. It's a talk show. Like, we're just having a conversation here. And if something comes out that happens to be newsworthy, it's newsworthy. I would never call myself a journalist. No, because you're not like, you're not like wrestling's Adam Schaefter. No.

And I have definitely heard some things in this room. Oh, I bet. Once the mics and cameras have been turned off. Oh, I bet. Then I'm like, oh, wow, that's quite a story. Yeah, which, you know, I'm sure you're tempted sometimes and run back, turn the mic and oh, by the way, this should happen. But like...

But I'm like, that's cool that like, there's a level of trust here. Yeah. That like the episode hasn't started yet or has ended. And it's like, oh, wow. Now I know that thing that nobody else knows. Well, that's why people keep coming on this podcast.

It's because that kind of stuff happens. The minute you betray the trust, then it's not going to happen anymore. The United States Soccer Federation presents the U.S. soccer podcast. My name is David Goss, and I'm joined by my co-host, Megan Clevenberg. And now we're giving people

an inside look at the World Cup. Times ticking. I think you can feel the intensity. All the guys are wanting to really take their claim, and they want to be on that World Cup roster. There's no doubt about it. Hosting the World Cup on the home soil comes with its pressures, but we're just really excited just as the people are.

The U.S. Soccer Podcast, presented by Henko. Follow and listen on your favorite platform. I thought our mutual friend, Chris Jericho, was going to be in the Rumble for sure. So did I. Yeah. And I'm not going to lie. The fact that things like

Polymarket exist when wrestling is predetermined. Yeah. And I mean, I was seeing odds. I've never put a bet on any draft kings, on Van Duo. I don't know if any of them

are a sponsor of here. My bookie is a sponsor of the show. Okay. And they actually have wrestling lines. Okay. Yes. How dangerous is that for you? You have every wrestler's number.

You can literally be like, Oh, is so and so returning tonight? Are you returning tonight? Like, you could do that. I don't feel like I would find out, though. Yeah. I was trying to get some information for Chris, and he would not, oh, he's good. He would not tell me.

So I still don't know what's going to happen there. Wherever he goes, if he goes back to AW, if he does a DW return. But, like, Jericho showed up one time at, like, a wrestling promotion in Vietnam, like, randomly. So you never know where that guy's going to show up. The thing about Jericho is he loves wrestling. Yes. So if it can be part of some sort of angle that's just interesting for him and will be fun

for fans, he's in. Yes. But, you know, I love the fact that there's now different options for wrestling. You can have, you can be a fan of WWE, you could be a fan of AW, you can be a fan of New Japan, NXT. on the WW ring but there's all these different places and I but what I don't like is the tribalism

I don't want it to be like you can only be a fan of AW you can only be a fan of WW because if you talk to the wrestlers they're like we like we watch all the stuff yeah we like all the stuff so it's like all right well they're in it so okay I'm with you let's get in it because if you met someone out and about outside of the wrestling bubble

and you were at I don't know the movies and you saw someone wearing an AEW shirt, you wouldn't be like, oh, screw you, man. You'd be like, oh, cool, you also like wrestling? Yes. Oh, let's talk about it. Exactly. It's so weird when that happens.

Sometimes I'll wear a wrestling shirt out and about, and you can just tell that a lot of wrestling fans are like closeted to where they're just kind of walking around, living their life. They got a normal job, wife, kids, whatever. They're not talking about wrestling. But as soon as they get the opportunity, oh, my God. let's talk let's talk let's go let's and uh there there there's almost always this thing when when wrestling fans start talking of like yes we're both fans but i'm the bigger fan and there's like

that dick measuring yeah how long have you been watching for oh 99 oh that's cool i start watching you miss some good stuff in there oh your your favorite match with sean michael's rick flerip mania do you know about mike awesome and masato tanaka that's fantastic match. You know about that match, bro? Yeah. So it's like, there's always that, but I'm just like, it's so true.

So what's your favorite WrestleMania? Okay, yeah, 17's pretty good, but like Austin turning heel at the end, I don't know, like, it definitely wasn't the best Austin rock match. There's always that. There's always that dick measuring. And it's like, just be a fan. Right. Just be a fan.

When someone comes up to me and says that they're, that they're a fan of Bill Burr or Jim Jeffries or, you know, whomever, I don't come. fuck you. Like, it's like, no, you're allowed to like all comedy, all styles of comedy. You know, you could like clean comedy, dirty comedy, set up punch, storytelling. You can like all of that. It's fine. And that's just fandom as a whole because, like, Marvel fans are the same way.

Yeah. Star Wars fans are the same way. Star Trek. Right. Like, just in general, this is like, when you have a hardcore fandom about something, yes. You'll find the things you love and the things you hate about it. And I think that that's what draws people together.

Yeah. And that's the thing whenever I do get an opportunity to work with these guys or beyond the Jericho cruise or if someone invites me backstage to a show. I always want to respect the business. I try to remind myself, hey, this is not your world. This is their world. So just be cool. But like I went and saw AW Revolution at Staple Center. I know, crypto.com.

No, it's not. the table sign. And they got me, you know, some very, some very nice seats. And they sat me next to Leslie Jones ringside. And I know that we've watched a lot of wrestling. A lot of people watching this have watched a lot of wrestling. Yeah. You've never watched wrestling until you watch next to Leslie Jones. We're watching and she's just standing up.

Hey! I'm going to get you! It was the first. funniest thing. And to watch someone truly because I don't, I don't know Leslie that well. I don't know if she's going to be, you know,

if she's watching your podcast or, you know, watching wrestling every week. But she was like acting like the biggest fan I've ever seen. And it was awesome. Watching someone enjoy wrestling. Yeah.

To me is almost as good as just myself enjoying it. Is watching someone go, oh shit. Like during the pandemic, uh, I got my wife. in the wrestling because it was one of the only things

that was on. Yeah. The only thing that was new. And we really like, once he once you get past the, you didn't really hit him. It's like, yeah, because he'd be dead. You know, there was a pad when

Shane McMahon fell off the Titan Tron. Yeah. Because if he hits the ground, he explodes like a moral combat mentality. It was like 70 feet. Yeah. Like, yes, there's a pad there. Yet, we're trying to make sure these men and women don't kill each other. Once you get past that, once you get into its performance art, it's just fun. It's just fun.

I feel like there's a lot of parallels between coming up in comedy and coming up in wrestling. Yes. Like it's the idea of like trying to earn the spot. Yes. Paying your dues. Yes. Road dog. Like just traveling, getting paid.

No money. You're doing it for the love of the game. Yep. Also the green room, probably very similar to the locker room. Yeah. Very. What's funny to me is every time I'm in. locker room for wrestling,

watching wrestlers go over the matches is always funny to me. Yes. Because to me it's like watching comedians talk about jokes. When you watch wrestlers, they're speaking the language that no one else speaks.

Because, you know, you watch football players talk football and they say, I write tight 37 all on wing go and you're like, I have no idea what the fuck that means. Watching, and I like to think myself as a wrestling fan,

watching wrestlers, like, all right, then you shoot off, And then we do the, bah, and then we do the, Buh, get the pop, get the pop, get the pop, comeback, and that's the company, then bah, bah, b, and it's just like, what is this? So true. Then I'll give you my thing, and then you come up slow, slow,

and then pow, bops. So true. It's so, I'm fascinated by wrestling language. And they're like walking it out and like pretending to run ropes. Yes. So good. And it's at every level. People need to know this.

This isn't just an indie locker room thing. No. This is at every level. You go backstage WrestleMania. Yes. I mean, the only difference is now they have Hurricane Helms as a producer standing with them. Right. And they might have a practice ring.

Yes. Yeah. That's it. Like, it's really awesome. And there's so many parallels in terms of coming up. It's like rock stars get along with pro wrestlers. They all get along with comedians and porn stars. I'm going to throw porn stars in the mix.

Porn stars, wrestlers, rock stars, comedians. Like, it's all kind of the same trajectory. It's very strange. But, yeah, it's, and a lot of times if you're a wrestler coming up, there's promoters that, like, stiff you for money. Yeah, I've been stiff for money driving four hours to a gig, do a show, and the guy's like, we didn't sell that many tickets, can't pay you.

It's a little, doors a little light tonight. Yeah, that happens, man. And so the fact that we all kind of come up through that way is there's definitely a bond. And a lot of wrestlers enjoy comedy because it's a part of what they do, standing in front of everyone with a microphone, saying something funny. Yeah. At the core, comedy and wrestling have this one thing in common that it's storytelling. That's all it is.

It is. It's just storytelling. It's, I'm like, yes. when you see two wrestlers fight, you haven't been, you haven't been to a situation like that. You haven't had a guy do that to you or backstab you or blah,

but you've had a greater theme happen that relates. Like Stone Cold and Vince, you all had a boss you hated. Yeah. You know, I doubt many of you poured cement into your boss as Corvette, but you wanted to.

Yeah. You wanted to. Like, so that relates. Yeah, I'm a little person. My whole crowd isn't dwarves. I don't look out in theater. It's all, like, it's not that happening at my shows. There's all types of people at my shows.

But the stories I'm telling, they relate to. They identify with. You know, when I talk about my wife, when I talk about my kid, when I'm doing that kind of stuff. People out there have wives and kids and spouses that annoy them sometimes, too. So it works. It's crazy that your profession at its core is standing in front of a group of people. and talking into a mic. That's all it is.

Isn't that wild? I'm playing theaters now where I'll go to the theater and I'll be like, who was just here? And they'll be like, well, Book of Mormon had a run. And then a blues traveler played here. And I'm like, wow, that's a lot of people. Yeah. Like a lot of moving parts and a lot of things.

And me, it's like, does the PA work? Yeah, a microphone on a spotlight. Good. Yeah. And I'm fully aware that stand-up, like, think about this in terms of stand-up. It's a human walking on stage and telling a room full of strangers, hey, can you all just shut up for a second and just let me talk? It's very egotistical.

Very, you have to have a little people like, do you have an ego? Yeah. I walk on stage and tell 1,200 people to shut up and let me talk for an hour. I think you have to. You have to. And you have to believe that you're going to make it because it's like Hans Solo. Never tell me the odds.

Because if someone told me the odds of making it in comedy, the odds of making it in pro wrestling, it's not good. It's not in your favor in terms of the amount of people that try this and then get to a certain level where they can make a living at it. How long do you think it takes the average comedian to get good? Carlin said 10.

10 years? Carlin said 10 years to find his voice. So this is like the 10,000 hours, Matthew Gladwell thing? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's just... 10 years.

Yeah. So when people say like, hey, I'm just starting stand-up or I'm thinking about getting into comedy, do you think I should or whatever, I go, oh, okay. Are you okay with just working, but being poor at a bare minimum for five years?

and at a maximum the rest of your life. Because if you are, you're going to be fine. If you're not, you're like, no, I've got to make some money right now. Don't get into comedy. Don't get into comedy. Don't get into wrestling. Don't start a band. But if you do it because you love it, great.

You're going to be fine. If you would do it for free because many times you're going to have to, great. I remember Fidesse Mitchell telling me something years ago when I interviewed him. And it was so interesting. and I never thought about it this way. He said for up-and-coming comedians to listen. So, like, don't watch yourself, listen. And if you're not getting laughs every 20, 30 seconds, that's a problem.

Yep. And now I'll watch, like, comedians who are just starting out. Yep. And it'll be like, them just telling a story. Where's the laugh? For, like, one little laugh at the end. It's the joke. That's interesting.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And there's a Mark Twain quote, which is, if I had more time, I would have written you a shorter book. and I love that quote. Great quote. It applies really well to joke writing. Get to it. Get to it.

But then once you learn the rules, then you can learn how to break them. Then you could tell a long story that gets a lot of tension and has the audience on the edge of their seat. They're not quite know where you're going to go with it. And then you have the punchline in the end. As long as you've got the punchline in the end, that's the release. And they get that payoff. You're good. but it takes a lot of learn how to do that.

It seems like the best comedians are okay with silence because they trust themselves so much knowing that when they say the one thing, they're going to erupt. See, some people think my favorite sound in the world is laughter. No, favorite sound is silence. And I'll tell you why. Because if I'm on stage and I'm at a part of my joke where I'm quiet, and then when I'm quiet, I hear nothing in the audience,

I go, oh, I got them. because they're paying attention. If you get to the part of the joke where you be quiet and you're quiet and you just hear murmuring, you're like, oh, fuck. I don't have them. People think the worst thing

that can happen to a comedian is like a heckler. No, you could use a heckler. It's not preferred. I'm putting that out there. I don't like it. Okay, people are like, no, good. I'm helping the show.

You're not helping the show. I'm just that good. Okay? I made it into something good. a comedian that turns a heckler into something positive is just really fucking good at their job. I liken heckling to, I tell massage therapists,

I get you because massage therapists have happy endings. And people are like, well, it's part of the job. It's like, it is, it shouldn't be. That's what heckling is to comedy. It is part of the job. It should not be part of the job.

You know, by the way, when do we decide that masseuses get, they have to jerk people off. Why did we pick that job? I don't need it. I don't need it when I'm getting massage. I'm fully relaxed. I don't know what kind of massages you're getting. Good ones, apparently, because I'm not getting jerked off.

But then like, I don't need a H.J. When I'm getting massaged, like now if you say, oh, no, no, no, DMV employees, they have, they have to jerk people off. That makes sense to me. because I'm stressed at the DMV. I'm in line. I'm angry. I got shit to go.

That's where I need someone to walk out and be like, don't worry, man, I got you. Like, that's where it would be better. Is this a bit? I think it might have to be now. You're on to something. I think it might have to be now. How do you know when you have the germ of an idea that could be a bit?

Oh. I never know. And that's one of the beautiful things is that I could tell a story. in front of my wife or in front of friends and they'll laugh. And they'll be like, ooh, that's really good. And then I'll go on stage and like nothing. It's you have to do it on stage. You have to do it live.

You have to do it in front of the audience, which is another reason why wrestlers get along with comedians. Because you can be backstage doing all that and then do all that. And then do all that until you go out there and do it, you don't know if it works. You need that live audience. So I will. have like the notes app on my phone is ridiculous. It looks like the scene from that meme where it's

like Charlie Day. Yes. All the strings. Yeah. All the strings connecting everything. That's what my notes app looks like. It's just everything. But it's just whenever I get a random idea, I just write it down. Sometimes it's a punchline. Sometimes it's the premise. Sometimes it's just an idea. Like talk about this, you know. You already have some ideas in your notes app for when you're going to roast wrestlers on the cruise this year? Yes. Okay. So that's one thing I do. One thing I do every time is I roast the wrestlers because when else is a guy my size

going to walk up to a guy like Wardlow and make fun of him to his face. And the roasting started accidentally. I didn't know I was going to do it. And then it just became a thing because it was me and SCU. and we were all talking in the back and uh, Frankie Kizarian

and Christopher Daniel Scorpio Sky and Scorpio mentions casually just in conversation. He's like, yeah, I was kind of nervous coming on this boat because, you know,

I don't know how to swim. And I, and I went, okay, put that in the back, go on stage that night for the comedy show. And I go,

and I talk, and I talk about like, Scorpio Sky. Can't swim. Can't really do, you can't swim. You can do a springboard somersault hurricane rana inside of a steel cage. No problem.

But this move, too hard. This is too hard for you to do. And that got a big laugh. And when I did that, I was like, okay. So then it just became a part of it where every time I get up there. And sometimes it's like, I've gotten, no one's gotten mad at me directly,

but guys I've mentioned like, yeah, I let that one slide. Okay. Like, it's kind of their warning shot of like, hey, that was fun. Don't really do that again. You know, so, but for the most part, the wrestlers have been amazing.

They really, they like it. You could always make fun of the guns. Oh, those guys are great. The guns are, they're so, you make any kind of nepo baby jokes you want to them they're fantastic. The fact their dad still looks better than they do

and he's 30 years older. They're awesome. I love them. They are so much fun. But then sometimes, all right, so the one that when I can get a holy shit chant on a joke,

that's, okay, so this one was last year. Oh, I did Will Osprey earlier. If Will Osprey is here and not on TV, then what is Dave Meltzer jerking off to this week? That was fun. Oh, this was the one that got a holy shit chant,

where I said, I actually stopped watching, I stopped watching AW for quite a while, because let's face it, AW is being run by an egomaniac wrestling mark who nobody likes, and they're all afraid to call him out on his bullshit. But enough about CM Punk. So it's fun.

It's fun. Now, if punk were here right now, I would say that joke to his face. And to me, that's the rule. Yeah. You have to be able to say it to their face because then if you're doing it and they're not there, which I did.

But I would say that joke to his face. And if you had a problem with it, whatever. But it's all in good fun. On the Jericho cruise, you introduced us to Little Papa Pump. Another crazy story. So, Lil Papa Pump. It's the last match again where oftentimes it just descends into chaos. And Scott Steiner had been on the cruise.

And he had done some podcasts, done some autograph signing. And they wanted him to do this run-in at the end. and, you know, just do something. And right near when it was about to go, he's like, I'm tired. I'm going to go to bed. So Scott Steiner goes to bed. And now they're like, okay, what are we going to do? And then Jericho, text me, where are you right now?

And I go, where I was last year, buddy, I'm on the side of the ring, watch it. And he goes, get back here. So I run to the back. And he goes, hey, um, Steiner is out for the main. So we're thinking about you doing a run in at the end. And I go, wait, Steiner's out. Hold on.

And I go, how much time we have? And he's like maybe 10, 15 minutes. And I'm like, I got this. So I run down to my room. And I don't, I don't know why I brought this with me. I have a fan who every time I go to a, it might be Columbus Ohio. but every time I go to a city in Ohio where he lives,

he makes me art that is just soda pop tabs that put together like chain mail. And he's made me vests. He's made me wrist things. What a talent. It's an amazing talent. It's ridiculous. Also, I never asked for anything.

It's not like I'm on stage going, if only I had a pop tab vest. Like, no, he just brings them to me. And he asks me one year, he goes, can I make anything for you? And, you know, I just bring you shit. Is there anything you want? And I'm a wrestling fan.

So I go, oh, let's do the Steiner. Let's do the Steiner chain mail. And he goes, and I send him some photos. He's like, okay, I could do that. And he made it for me. And I brought it on the Jericho cruise. There was no plan. I just had it.

And I think I did a signing with it on. Because all the wrestlers always do autograph signings. And I think I was like signing. I tried to flex like the whole time, which that didn't work. That's hard to do. But I had it with me. So I go, hold on. And I run and I grab this chain mail armor, throw it on, get some sunglasses, take off my shirt.

And it's little pop-a-pump. And thankfully, the rest was really cool. I did a, I did, I don't know what it's called, like the step suplex. And then I did what's up headbutt again at Steiner, which was just fun. But yeah, Lil Popper. Pop a pump was a character. But the fact that it was Scott Steiner that walked out and that I had the outfit. So it's like we planned it.

What are the odds? What are the odds? What did you bring that chain mail for in the first place? No idea. I thought I'll find a... Well, it worked out. I'll find a reason to use it. Like, sometimes I'll just, like, I'll bring random props that I got and just be like,

all right, I'll find a way to use this. And sometimes I don't. Like, one year, I brought a fake, a fake for, coat, like a giant fake for a coat. I ended up taking up, had like half the space in my bag, never found a reason to use it. So it's just in my bag the whole time. In case. Never found it.

Maybe I'll bust that one out. Just in case you needed to do a dusty roads cosplay. Yeah. Come on. Man, hot times. Reach in the top shelf. That's hard times, baby. Trying to get on a roller coat that. That's hot times, baby. Maybe I'll do that. I don't know.

But, like, you never know what you're going to use. But I, but I like to have fun because I think wrestling's fun. So I'll try to think a weird stuff. And if I can pull it off, great. If I can't, that's okay. When Hornswoggle was on the show last year, we were talking about how he's one of the most

recognizable little people on the planet. Sure. You have a bit where you talk about the top five little people in Hollywood. I do. And I have to update this bit because when I told it, this is on my first special fun size, which is back in like 2015. When I first told the bit,

the punchline is I go through a bunch of little people, and then the last one is I say Justin Bieber. And at the time, that was funny because Bieber was my size. Then guy got into freaking Scott Snyder's stash or whatever he's got. And Bieber's now like six three or six two or something. So I can't make that joke anymore. Dude's a freaking noodle. So now I got to now I got to update.

So now I guess there's a spot open. I think so top five little people. I, uh, let's go five to one. Okay. Five, uh, all right. Are we doing current? Are we doing all time? This is your list.

Oh, it is my list. Okay. We'll do current. That's a little easier. Okay. All right. Yeah. Let's do current.

Not, not all time because then I got to throw in names like Billy Barty and your average person doesn't know who that is. Yeah. So make the list for the average person. Yeah. Yeah. For the average person. Okay.

Number five, let's go, um, Uh, no, he's going to be higher than that. Do you want to put them in no particular order? Yeah, we'll do that. Okay. Because Horn Swaggle's definitely below me. I, I, I just know that. He's not beating me.

But he's on the list. He's on the list. Okay, there's one. Swaggle, click, you just made the list. He's definitely on there, but like, Swagel, what are you done? You're doing some regional shows recently? You're up in Wisconsin. He's a member of DM?

You appeared on Fox News recently, ranting about another member of this list. You know, I'm challenging you, Swaggle. So, yeah, I definitely put Swaggle on the list. I'd put myself on this list. I'd put Warwick Davis on this list. Legend. Yeah, he was Willow. He was Wick at the EWalk.

But also, he's been in, like, a ton of other Star Wars films, Harry Potter movies. A great comedy series in England called Life is Short with Ray. your face. So I'm updated on almost all the little people. Almost all. So that's three. So we got two more. I know number one.

Yeah, number two, still got to go Weeman, which that's my screen partner in the Spinal Tap 2. Me and Weeman are in that film together. I'm so excited about it because people finally will realize we're not the same fucking person. They're like,

oh, there's two. Is that a real thing? Yeah. Like people think you're Weeman? All the time. All the time. It's...

Do people think that we man is you? He's getting that now a little bit. Okay. He doesn't get it as much as, like, people call me him. Definitely not. But he has gotten it a few times, and we will always text each other. We have a group chat going. But you know who's not in the group chat?

Dinklidge, who is number one. But I... Join the group chat, Dinklage. Do you have the same disdain for Peter Dinklage that Hornswagel does? Yes! Yes, I do. That is where Hornswoggle and I will absolutely be on the same page. That is where the mega powers will collide, and we will unite as a tag team over our disdain for Peter Dinklitch. Now, I have disdain for Peter Dinklich for a couple of reasons.

You want to shoot? Is this a shoot? Let's go. All right. First of all, I have disdain for Dinklage because he's really freaking talented. He's really amazing. He's a really great actor. So just jealousy. Okay. Pure jealousy. If they made a movie and called the Brad Williams story, it would be starring Peter Dinklage. All right, let's be honest.

The guy gets everything. But the real disdain comes for the same reason why Hornswold doesn't like him, is that he came out and was really angry that the live action Snow White movie was going to use real dwarf actors. And he thought that was offensive if, you know, someone else gets work. That's really offensive to him. And it's not to his cultural standards of what a dwarf should do to be a respected member of this business. Now, I get it, Dinklage.

You went on Saturday Night Live and instructed all the writers not to make any dwarf jokes. I know you did that for a fact because I know several of the writers on that show. Okay. And that's fine. That's your preference. He made a stand and said, I'm not going to take, like, offensive dwarf roles. Or so he thought. Because I remember Dinklage that you were in a movie called Tiptoe.

And tiptoes is the most offensive movie to little people ever made. This is where in the podcast you will run the preview for tiptoes because it looks like a Saturday Night Live sketch. When you watch it, you're like, there's no way that's real.

Now you're like tiptoes. Probably a nothing movie. Nobody's in it, right? Wrong. Stars Matthew McConaughey, stars Kate Beckinsale, stars Patricia Arquette, Peter Dinklitch,

and, and in the role of a lifetime, which the narrator says in the pre- he says in the preview, he goes, and in the role of a lifetime, Gary Oldman,

because Gary Oldman plays a dwarf. Now you're thinking, okay. How? Yeah, you're like, they probably did some CGI stuff, right? Nope. They got Gary on his knees, put some shoes down there.

They tied his arms back, so his arms would be shorter. Doesn't look like a little person at all. And he's a dwarf. in the film. Yeah. It's the most offensive movie to little people ever made. Dinklage has an accent in the movie which is, it doesn't

make any sense because it switches like three times throughout. It starts off. He's like, I'm from Brussels, and it's like French and then later I don't know what it. Like, it's just changes. There's a fight scene between Gary Oldman as a dwarf and a guy who's having sex with

his girlfriend, who his girlfriend in the film, is played by Bridget the Midget. The porn star? Yep. She's in that movie as well. It's bonkers. They ignore all laws of genetics. And the movie is horrible. And Dinklage has been in that film. So my point is you can't be in tiptoes. The worst movie. Oh, also shout out to David Allen Greer, who's in the film. You can't be in tiptoes. The most offensive movie to little people ever made.

And then come out and try to take work from dwarf actors and say you can't play the role of a dwarf because it's considered offensive to whom to you. That's where me and Hornswoggle agree. And it wasn't just that it was the seven actors that would play the dwarves. It was also the seven stand-ins, however many stunt

performers there would be as well. Yes. Yes. It's not... Listen, there's not a lot of roles for little people. They're not writing them. Sometimes they do and they just go to Dinklage because, you know, there's only one. Would you have liked to have been a dwarf? Yes. I would... Literally the role I was born to play.

genetically. It's the role I was born to play. I would have loved a bit. I don't care which one. Happy. Sleepy. Dopey. I'll be grumpy.

I don't care. By the way, one of the funnier things is whenever I'm out in public and someone is wearing like a grumpy t-shirt and they see me, they're like, ah, fuck. That is one of the funnier things that I have experienced. Well, don't worry. That Snow White movie was not seen by very many people. It actually wasn't.

It has quite a lot. low rating on IMDB. Yeah, so we're good there. And I have a strong feeling that if you had put dwarf actors playing with little people, that it would have gotten a little bit of a bump and more people would have seen it. They would have gotten the Brad Williams rub, as they say in the business. They don't say that. They do now. I think a lot of people are going to go watch the trailer for tiptoes out. It's the worst. It's the worst. Watch that trailer. And remember, this is a film where people made it and went home at the end of the day and went, nailed that shit. Got it.

Has anyone pitched for you to be in a full-on wrestling match? I have been in one. I have been in one. Not for any of the major companies. I did a, there was a fair, and they had wrestling at the fair, and they needed some wrestlers. and they called up a wrestling school where I had taken literally one lesson. Back in my early 20s,

I thought maybe I'll give this a shot and I took one lesson. After the one lesson, I was like, this hurts. No, I'm out. So respect to everyone who does it. But they called up this wrestling school. It was like, hey, we need some wrestlers.

Also, one of our minis couldn't make it. Do you guys have a mini? That's code for a little guy. and they go, yeah, yeah, we got one. I take him one lesson.

One lesson. I show up to the fair. Pretty much dressed like John Cena. I think I had jorts. But like, and we show up and they go, this is your opponent. And it's,

I'm going to butcher the Spanish pronunciation of this. It's like, not Merculagalazool. But like some like the crazy clown is the guy I'm facing. And he doesn't speak English. So we have to go back and forth with a translator. And he's a pro. He's like, what can you do?

And I go, nothing. So he's like, okay. So he plans out a match. I did get a really nasty bump during the match, though, because I was like, let's do a dive to the outside. And I'll dive and. And he's like, I'll, I'll catch you. And I dove.

He caught me. But then adrenaline. I dove too far. And he, like, moved back, caught me. And then took two more steps back, fell. And then my head on the railing. Oh. Bam.

I had a lump. I like, this is a big head. I don't need it to be any bigger. There was like the, there was like the total recall head, like coming out. I won the match on a sunset flip. Undefeated. Undefeated. One and O.

Pulled off a Hurrican Rana during the match. That was fun. But if anyone wants me to get into the ring again, okay. But the thing is, is I have so much respect for the business. I just watched the WWU Unreal. And they talked about when Jelly Roll was going to do his match. And shout out to Jelly Roll, a friend of mine, good guy. Love Jelly Roll.

Big fan of comedy. and he took it seriously. And that's what I would want to do. Like, if I'm going to do anything now, I'm going to take it seriously. I'll do a run-in. Sure, run-ins are fun. But, like, if anyone ever wants me to actually, like, go,

if you want me in Swaggle to go, all right, I got to, I got to do some training. What about you in Omas? Did you see that moment with Omos and Microman? Bro, that guy. That would have to be me, swoggle. There's another dwarf wrestler. I think he just retired, but his name is short-sleeve Samson.

We'd have to get all of us, all of us in there. We'd have to get dink, mink, pink, stank, all of them. That'd be so fun. They'd have to all come back, and we'd have to all form up and, like, a Voltron or, like, a Power Rangers and, like, fight him. That's madness, man. But I would. I would. My phone is open.

I love doing things in this business that scare me. I love doing things that I enjoy. So it's like, if someone wants me to do a wrestling thing, I'll do a wrestling thing. But I'm not doing the county fair show again. Just know that. It's going to have to be something where it's like I'm going to have to tell my wife like, hey, I'm going to go get myself, you know, in danger and beat up a little bit. So it's going to have to be something.

Well, AEW Revolutions coming back to LA next month. It is. March 15th. It is. Crypto.com Arena. Oh, man. I will say the last time it was there, and I was next to Leslie Jones. at some point I was heckling

I was heckling ricochet and he hit a move and then he looked right at me ringside and did this like right to me and I'm like he's son of a bitch so I might have to do a run in and get ricochet back

you know because that guy just thought 20,000 people whatever in Staples and he goes No, I'm going to take time and fuck with Brad. Ah, ricochet.

I shake my fist at you. When you were talking about like workshopping jokes earlier on, have you ever had it where you bombed on stage? Thousand percent. Any comedian that will be on this podcast or any podcast who says, I've never bombed. Liar. Take anything they say after that with the biggest great assault because they're lying. And here, this will go back to something I mentioned earlier. I mentioned earlier that you have to be yourself and you have to be authentic, whether it be wrestling, whether it be comedy.

This is a lesson because I have two crazy bomb stories that I will tell you. It's no fun to tell you the stories of I went up, got a standing ovation. That's no fun. The bomb stories are fun. So here's one that I had control over, and then I'll give you one I had no control over. when I had control over was I was booked to do a show at a comedy club that was, it was its urban night. Urban night is code for, there's going to be a lot of black people in this audience.

And me, young comic, I thought, okay, I must appeal to them. So I'm going to do a version of my act, but I'll, for lack of a better phrase, black it up. and wow did I bomb. I was so condescending. I was so wrong. I was like, God, if anyone has that set,

that would be the death of me. And I got the most brutal heckle ever, which is not a heckle. It's just ignoring me. Everyone just turned and went right back to their mozzarella sticks. It was like, they did not care that I existed.

Bombed, horrible. But that was a great lesson. There's always, lessons and failure. And that lesson was, just be yourself stupid. You've done some funny stuff. It works. And that's what I tell people now. Be funny and funny translates. It doesn't matter black audience, Latino audience, white audience, Asian audience, gay audience, does not matter. Funny is funny. I've gone overseas. I've done tours in Norway and Amsterdam and all that. Funny translates. It goes over there and it does well. So that is the lesson I learned. That is when I had

control over. That bomb was my fault. The next bomb, not my fault. You know what? It was my fault because I took the gig. I should, I should have known. I had a fan reach out to me one time and said, hey, big fans of you, I'm getting married. I would love for you to perform at my wedding. And I said, no, absolutely not. And he said, well, here's how much we're going to pay you. And I said, what time do you need me there? And I show up and they say, okay, you're going to go after the maid of honor or the first is going to be the best man speech than the made of honor speech. So you're like giving us a toast. Yeah. And I'm like, great. Best man goes first. Yeah. He bombs. Made of honor. Maybe does a little better. But they're my opening acts. They get the

bar rolling. And then the cleanup hitter comes in. Oh, this is going to go awesome. Yeah. You're a professional. Yeah. This is going to go great. So I'm waiting to go on. And it's the maid of honor speech. Best man does an okay speech. Made of honor comes on. And what I did not know, and no one told me, is that, tragically, the mother of the bride passed away two weeks before the wedding. Horrible, right? That's what the maid of honor speech is about. And don't get me wrong. Beautiful speech.

Everyone is in tears. Everyone is crying. She ends the speech by going, and mom. We know you're looking down on us right now. And right now, mom's thinking how beautiful you look in your dress and she loves him and but, but, but, just absolutely knocks it out of the park, 10 out of 10, five stars, Meltzer's jerking off.

There's no notes, okay? And then she goes, so let's all raise our glasses to mom and the bride and groom. And then, Chris, I will not exaggerate anything. There's no exaggeration here, no hyperbole, no nothing. She toasts, everyone's tearing, she takes her, Sips her wine and goes. And now the comedy of Brad Williams. That's my intro.

And I had to walk on stage like, And that, that he regretted paying me. He really did. But yeah, that was another epic bomb. So yeah, I've had some bombs. That's okay. It's funny because if the order was reversed on that,

You would have knocked it out of the park. Yeah. Open with me. Then go to the best man. Then go to the tear jerks speech. Like, where, you know, but yeah, I'll, to this day, I have been asked to play weddings. I have gotten ridiculous numbers thrown at me to play a wedding. And I've been like, nope.

Never again? Not doing it. What if a friend of yours asked you to toast them at a wedding? Now, I've done that. Okay. I've been the best man. Okay. That's different.

I've been the best man. I've been a groomsman and I've toasted. Yeah. Toasts are fine. I can do toast because if I know you. Yeah, they're your people. Then it's okay. If I'm coming in, who's this guy?

No, never again. I don't care. You could be a Saudi prince with all the money in the world and come to me and be like, no, you know, play, play my wedding. You know, $20 million. No, I'm turning you down. $20 million? I'm turning you down.

It's one bomb. Just the people in the room see it. Turning you down. This is that ego thing we were talking about earlier. Yes. Yes. Yes. The ego has to. I am turning you down.

It's a 10-minute set. Have you ever done something horrible for 10 minutes? No, no, don't answer that. Don't answer that. Don't answer that. Don't answer that. I know some things about you. Okay.

So. But what I am excited for is you're going to have fun on the Jericho cruise, man. I am blown away by how much you're touring right now. Yeah. Like you're, it's every weekend, right? Yep. Every weekend. Right now I'm on the Tall Tales Tour.

And you can go to my website, Brad Williamscom. And we're going a lot of dates. And then we're doing Europe at the end of the year. So we're going... Good chance that if you're listening to this or watching... is Brad is coming to a city near you. Yes. And so get your tickets.

People say like, yeah, I watch you online. Comedy like wrestling, better live. Better live. Got to experience it live. Yeah. So come on out and we'll have a great time. Thank you for coming by. I asked you this last time.

I think you were one of the first people that I asked this question of, my final question. Okay. What are three things that you're grateful for right now, Brad? Ooh. Three things I'm grateful for right now. all right, we won't say my wife and kid, because I have to say my wife and kid.

So let's take those out. Okay, not grateful for them. Screw them. Well, it's like, it's like, there's that thing where people were, where people go, what was the greatest day of your life? And if you have a kid,

you have to say, oh, the day my child was born. It's not, it's not the greatest day. It's a horrible day. Overall, like,

after the baby comes in, out, it's a nice day. No, it's not. It's a horrible day. Nothing worse than the middle of the night. You're trying to get some sleep. Hey, mama, you doing okay in here? The nurse comes in.

Yes. Every four and five minutes. You don't sleep. And I had it easy. Like, my wife, she did the hard part. Like, I had it easy. Yeah. Like, in the grand scheme of days, yeah, not a great one.

You're like, oh, was the day of your daughter's birth better than the day you spent in Hawaii on a lazy river? No! Hawaii on a lazy river is way better. I got a drink. I'm relaxed. I'm not doing anything. It's awesome. Now, would I trade that day for anything? Absolutely not.

But in terms of judging the actual day in a vacuum, horrible. So, sorry, what's the question again? Three things that what? You're grateful for. Ah, three things that I'm grateful for. All right. Three things that I'm grateful for. Number one, I am grateful for the,

I'm grateful for the lack of gatekeepers that exists in the modern space. I love that. I am grateful for that because whether you are a comedian, a musician, a wrestler, podcaster, you throw out anything and you put it on the internet now

and the public will decide if it is good or if it is not. Because as recently as 10 to 15-ish-year ago. It was get a manager or an agent to try to set up a meeting for this thing, to pitch the idea, to try to get a, you know, green for the pilot. And then the pilot goes, fantastic. You shoot the pilot. And then somewhere in the middle, the network fired their executive vice president. The new vice president came in and then looked at everything the executive

vice president did before and went, well, no, none of that's going to be on our shows. But then we also, we bought the rights to this. So you can't even take it anywhere else. I'm not saying that that happened to me. I'm fucking bitter. Okay. I had a show. I'm just going to put that out there. So, um, so yes, I'm glad for the lack of gatekeepers now where anyone could put out their art and anything could catch fire. You know, one day you could be, uh, just a, uh, a, lovely girl on the street going to a bar and then the next day you hawk to a spit on that thing into a microphone and the world knows your name. So it's like you'd never, you never know what's going to hit. Um, I have bits that I have, that I'm really proud of, that I've, I crafted, I took time.

And then one of my most popular bits is the short urinal bit where I talk about how the little urinal is my urinal. I get DMs, Chris. Everyone goes, I'm at your urinal right now. It sends me photos of tiny urinals. That's what my DMs are. They're not pits, they're not anything else. It's just that. It's just urinals are in my DMs.

should do more jokes about cocaine and hookers. So there's that. I am grateful for the lack of gatekeepers. I am grateful, this sounds cheesy, but it is so true. I am grateful to anyone who buys a ticket to see live comedy. In this world where I would argue the most valuable currency is no longer money at his eyeballs, it is attention. And everyone's trying to get it.

There are so many podcasts out there, so many TV shows, many live events. I'm going to these theaters sometimes, Chris, and I'm like, oh, who was just here? Sometimes it's bands I've heard. And sometimes they're like, oh, yeah, the cake boss was just here. The cake boss is touring? What does he do? He goes on stage. It's like, all right, put it in the oven. We're good. And people buy a ticket for that. Sold out. Okay. Okay. Respect on the, yeah. Respect on your hustle, buddy, or whatever your name is. I think it's buddy. I think so. Yeah. But I'm with you. I think the pandemic changed our relationship with live events.

Yeah. And now we love them. Yeah, just people are going out. We want to be in a room with other people feeling their energy. Yeah. So the fact that people have so many choices. Yeah. And the fact that, especially now that I have a kid, I know what goes into going out.

Like, it's not just going out. It's like, all right, got to get the sitter. Got to get a dog sitter sometimes. All right. What time are we getting in? What's going on tomorrow? What do I have to get up for? Because if I have to get up too early.

all right, now I can't go out. So the fact that anyone shells out a couple of bucks to see me live, I am truly, truly, truly, truly grateful for that. And that is why I will do my darndest to give you a good show and why people, I have a lot of energy on stage. It's because I'm literally trying to give everything to the people that have bought a ticket for me. So those are two good ones.

Yeah, how am I going to follow that up? What am I grateful for? Obviously the wife and kid, you know what I'm grateful for? I'm grateful for the fact that I get along with my family. And it sounds maybe obvious, but I'm reminded all too often that there are a lot of families that do not get along. And there was an event in my family recently where things could have gotten ugly and they did not. And I'm very thankful for that. And because I know other people that have gone through similar things where it did get ugly.

And so, yeah, I love the fact that my sister is my friend, that my mom is great, that no one's, when my family calls, I answer. I don't look at the phone and go, ugh. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, so I am grateful for that. So, yeah, good family, lack of gatekeepers, and anyone who buys ticket to see a live comedy show. That might be the best three that we've heard on the show. You hear that? Sina was on here.

Sina. Sina was on this thing and doesn't come close. You heard me, John. Calling out your list. Jericho was on here. How many lists does he have? All the lists. He has all the lists.

Couldn't touch that. So, ha! Look at that. Right. Thank you again. You're the best. Hey, thank you. And I'm glad that we ran to each other at the airport to where now I'm here on this show.

And I'm glad that you and I can just finally come together and agree that Hornswoggle sucks. I did nuts. Love that guy. See you on the cruise. See on the cruise, buddy. The Hammer Alley podcast, an 80s flashback mockumentary. Back in the 80s, there were a thousand bands trying to make it in the world of rock, but there was one band that had it all. Hammer Alley.

Whatever happened to Hammer Alley? How did they go from top of the rock? I'm looking for a music video. They're a band from 1987. Hammer Alley. Ever heard of them? To Rock Bottom. Dude, I was born in 1987.

I can't believe he's doing this. Hammer Alley. Follow and listen on your favorite platform.