Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Sal Vulcano From Impractical Jokers Is A HUGE Wrestling Fan! Drinking With Stone Cold, Roddy Piper, WWE Appearances

Episode Date: November 20, 2025

Sal Vulcano (@SalVulcano) is a comedian best known for his role on "Impractical Jokers." He sits down with Chris Van Vliet at West Coast Creative Studio in Hollywood, CA to discuss the success of the show and how it was pitched, how the show's rise to fame made filming more difficult, getting to meet Steve Austin and sharing a beer with the WWE icon, why he wasn't a part of the AEW segment with Chris Jericho, which punishment was the worst, why he doesn't like cats, and more! Please support our sponsors!   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/?ref=tibcloux FACTOR: Get 50% off your first box, plus Free Breakfast for 1 Year with the code INSIGHT50OFF at https://factormeals.com/INSIGHT50OFFSTASH: Go to https://get.stash.com/INSIGHT to see how you can receive $25 towards your first stock purchase and to view important disclosures   SEAT GEEK: Use my code for 10% off your next SeatGeek order*: https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/CVV2025Sponsored by SeatGeek. *Restrictions apply. Max $20 discount   NORDVPN: Exclusive deal! https://nordvpn.com/cvvTry it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! PRIZEPICKS: Download the app today and use code INSIGHT to get $50 instantly after you play your first $5 lineup!  TIMELINE: Go to https://timeline.com/insight to get 10% off your order of Mitopure!   VUORI: Get 20% off your first purchase! Get yourself some of the most comfortable and versatile clothing on the planet at https://vuori.com/cvv   ROCKET MONEY: Join Rocket Money today and reach your financial goals faster: https://rocketmoney.com/cvv MIRACLE MADE: Upgrade your sleep with Miracle Made! Go to https://trymiracle.com/CVV and use the code CVV to claim your FREE 3 PIECE TOWEL SET and SAVE over 40% OFF   ZOCDOC: Instantly book a top-rated doctor today at https://zocdoc.com/insight   BONCHARGE: Use the code CVV to save 15% off your infrared sauna blanket at https://boncharge.com/cvv   BLUECHEW: Get your first month of BlueChew for free with the code CVV at https://bluechew.com   For more information about Chris and INSIGHT go to: https://podcast.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

Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Van Flee! Oh, man, I'm so pumped for this. Thank you for coming in. Thank you for having me. This is awesome. Just two wrestling fans, just hanging out. I love this. Soder hit me up, said that your pod was like his favorite one that he's done in forever.

And he was like, he's like, you have to do it. I'm like, sold. Isn't his macho man just absolutely perfect? Yeah, he'd, that dude, he's one of three people that I was always like would crush on SNL, you know, I don't, I think, I wonder if he's ever, he must have auditioned before, but yeah, they're missing out, not getting soda. Did you ever audition for Saturday Night Live? I did not. I almost did one time and I end up not. I don't do impressions, you know,

but, but soda, yeah, sort is my, if you close your eyes. Oh, macho man sitting right here. It's insane. And then he's like, oh, I got this Andre and like, I heard it. And I'm like, I've never heard it, Andre. He gets it deep in that. Oh, yeah. Yeah. That kind of thing. What do you mean you almost auditioned for us to know? I have a buddy who works there that said to me that he would, he would let, he seems a good idea if I auditioned and, uh, I never really took anyone up on it. I just wasn't, I wasn't ready when I don't, I don't know, it was years ago. And I just, I wasn't ready to do it. So I was like, is it an amazing. I don't know if it was a formal invitation, but he is, you know, he is someone that could have gotten it done. And I,

I guess I don't know why. Because it is the dream, right? Like for a comedian, or at least to host it. I would love to host it one day. But isn't it amazing how life worked out for you? Like, let's say you did get SNL. You wouldn't be this guy right now. No, no, no, yeah.

That happens. It's weird how that happens, right? I think about it literally every day. Yeah. Like, as we record this today, it's back to the future day, October 21st. Oh my God. It's the day they went in, yes. October 21st, 85.

Yes, and then they went to October 21st, or 2015. You're talking to the right guy. So on my wall. at home. So when they celebrated a 30th anniversary in 2015, it was a big to do. Huge. And they had like Back to the Future Week out here. And, you know, and I came out for that. And they had events everywhere. And at the actual gym where they had the Enchantment Under the Sea dance, which is on like Hollywood and Highland right there.

It was like a little church or gymnasium, whatever. They had an auction for all three movies of screen used items. And so I went to that and I bid and won the USA Today from Back to future two that says like Martin McFly arrested teen arrested what I want it so is that the one where it's like Marlins with that that was the difference it's like cholesterol cures cancer it's it's the USA today what has him on it says Martin McFly Jr. arrested or whatever and then there was like when the story change it changed to the Biff and the teens getting arrested yeah both for sale and I I I I for for SIF for auction so I I won that bid but it was like it was like 10 years ago like and I it was, you know, it was a good amount of money, not like crazy, but it was like, so when I bit

on the second one, because I was with some, I was with Q from the show, who's a huge fan too. And I was, believe it or not, Joey Fetone, who's a huge fan too from Insing. Yeah. And so they were betting, we all were bidding on stuff. And then they were like, you have to bid on the other newspaper too, because you need the set. And like, I bid it up to a certain number and then somebody out bid me. And to this day, I wish I would have bid for both.

I wish I would have just done it. Yeah. But it just felt a little too rich white blood at the time. But that hangs framed in my hallway when you enter my home. And it's a, you know, it's screen used and has the certificate. It's signed by Bob Gail, the writer. Of course, yes. I'm so jealous.

Yeah. And I later got to meet Michael J. Fox. Oh, my goodness. Oh, I have a story about this. Okay. So I guess, I guess a couple of years ago. So I don't know what, I don't know if it was 80, if it was 2015. So this was, I don't know.

It was, I don't know what anniversary they were, like, pitching, but like, I don't know why they did a big tour. Like, they were going to all the, like, the whole cast of Back to the Future, Michael J. Fox, Christopher. They were all doing, like, the comic cons and things like that. I don't remember what it was specifically. I don't know if it was like a, because it wasn't like an anniversary that was like a big one. Maybe it was the 35th.

I don't know. Anyway, they're there. And I had never met them. And so Q and I, they were doing a meet and greet. and it was super expensive. It was like, it was like, like, something like $900 or something

to meet them, but to take a picture with them and can autograph. Yeah. And this is my favorite, this is our favorite movie, our favorite trilogy, at least, of all time.

So I already own this, put with this thing, right? So I'm like, this is my chance to meet my, Michael J. Fox. I don't know. I'm probably older than you,

I think. 42. Okay, I'm 48. So for me, honestly, truly outside of wrestling, in like the years 85 to like 90, Michael J. Fox, like Alex B. Keaton, back to the future.

It was like, that was my life. Yeah. So Q and I are like fine. It's like a rent payment, whatever, let's do it. So we pay the money and we go to meet them. And so there's a whole to do leading up to it. I'm like, what am I going to get them to sign, right? So we decide that we want to buy original movie posters, you know, from back then.

So these are 40-year-old movie posters, whatever. And so you could find them a few of them. They're sealed or factory sealed. and they're an insane amount of money. They're like, they're going anywhere from using like $1,000 or $2,000. And it's like, all right, that's, it's a piece of paper, right? And then you can get back to the future poster now for like $15. Sure.

So it's like, what do we want to do here? Well, I've already spending this much money to get it signed. You know, it's a collectible, it's memorabilia. Why not just get the actual movie poster, spend the money. I'm an adult. I've been saving my money for things like this. Like, this is special. It's my favorite.

So we go on eBay, he buys one right away. He gets one and he gets it on this cloth that's like acid-free. Like it's so it'll never yellow and stuff. And he plunks down like, I think like $1,200, $1,200 for it, whatever. He gets it. It's on a board already. It's nice and firm and he decides on his. I'm going back and forth online.

And this guy says, this thing is factory sealed, mint condition guaranteed. So I write to him and I'm like, hey, I want to get this from you. But if it's factory sealed and you've never opened it, how do you know it's in mint condition? You know, I just, I just want to cover all my bases here. Very for a question. It's a piece of paper. I'm buying a $1,000, right? So he's like, it's guaranteed 100% whatever.

So I'm like, all right, I take the plunge. I pay this man the money. And it's like, I don't know what it was, like $11, whatever it was, $1,100. And I get it. And it comes in like a really, really hard like PVC piping. Like, honestly, if I took a swing at your head, you would get. you would get very, very injured. You'd be hospitalized.

Like that thick PVC. Yeah. So I get it. I pop it open and there's a loose poster and it's wrapped and, you know, I opened that up. And I, so I was, this is how much of a careful consumer I am. I videotaped me opening the package from the beginning. So it was a long cardboard box. So I had my wife like video me and I cut open the tape because I want to prove because

if I open this thing and it wasn't in condition, I had video evidence. Yeah. So I slice open the thing. and I take it out. I take out the pipe. I unwrap everything on camera. And I take it and I open it very carefully. I unroll it.

And this thing has a full deep crease right down the middle. And like little other little like markings. You know when a poster gets like dinged up and stuff. And I open it. I'm like, so it's on camera, right? So now I'm like, all right. So the date is approaching. So I write this guy back and I go, listen, it's all messed up.

Like, you know, what are you going to do about? He's like, no, he's like, I can't do anything about it. It was factory sealed him in condition. I was like, but I wrote to you about this. I said, just so you know, I opened it on video. And I have it from the box to opening it. And you'll see. And he's like, well, you know what might have happened?

He goes, in transit, it might have been left in the sun. The PVC thing that it was in could have been compromised, got a little soft. And that bent the poster. And it was such a reach. Like, this is a PVC pipe that you could, like, you could never melt it. in sun ever, let alone how long was it? It was just like this guy reaching. And I was like, with all due respect, that's completely absurd.

I said, I could swing this thing and kill somebody. There's no way this melted in any sun. You know, like, why don't you just cop to the fact that you didn't know the condition of it? You said it was in condition. I said, I'm just only because this is, you know, this is a expensive. And he goes, you're going to have to take it up with eBay. So now I'm like, what do I do I get? Now the thing is in like two days and I don't have enough time to order from

someone else or resolve this with eBay yet. So I order a overnight. I order like a $15 poster too just in case to have a backup. And I'm like, all right, I'm going to go get this. I guess I'm going to go get this thing signed. And so I'm fighting with this guy. And so now I go, I go meet Mail J. Fox. And we wait online and they open the current and we go back there.

And I go, oh, hey, it's so nice to me you. So nice to meet you. And he goes, oh, hey, he goes, he goes, he goes, I'm a fan of the show. And I couldn't believe you knew the show. And I was like, what? He's like, yeah, yeah. Because I think he said I was laid up in the hospital for like a week.

And he's like, it cheered me up until I watch or something like that. And I was like, I can't believe this, right? So I go open the poster. They have like these tables set up there. He's behind the table. And I go and I open this poster up. And the guy that's working for him goes, you need to move down a little bit. And he takes the poster and he slides it down.

And Michael J. Fox takes the pen to go sign it. And there were two tables that were pushed together with a black tablecloth on top. So it looked like one big table. But what you couldn't tell was that the tables in the middle, they weren't touching. So there was a gap in between the two tables of about six, eight inches or whatever. Okay. So Michael J. Fox goes and the guy moves my poster down and Michael J. Fox goes to autograph it and there's no table underneath it. And he rips right through the poster with his hand.

Was this the $15 or the $1,100? Oh, it's even worse now. He rips right through the thing. He goes right through. His fist goes through it. His hand goes through it. And I just literally was like, and I didn't tell them that it was an $1,100 poster. And then Michael J. Fox was like, oops.

And then the guy was like, oh, I hope that, you know, I'm sorry about that. And I just was like, and he moved it because I said it up perfectly. So the guy was at fault. And then Michael Jake Fox was like, oh, oh, I'm so sorry. And then he, like, still autographs it. And then he circles the big hole, draws an arrow. And he writes like, this is just a flesh wound.

Sorry. And he's writing all over the thing. And then I'm just like, I can't believe this. Now that there's a hole in the middle, he circled it. There's an arrow. There's all this, like, extra writing on it. Then he saw it. And it just, I guess it's like a story now that I have.

But it's like, it's worthless. It's completely worthless. I have it at home. there's a huge whole, Q, Q got his, perfectly, it's so nice,

it hangs in his home for this day. Mine's still rolled up, you know what I mean? And anyway, so I, I never told him that, like,

told Michael J. Fox that, but, yeah, you ruined my poster. Yeah, yeah, but he goes,

he goes, if you ever need me, like, if I ever can ever do anything for you, let me know. And I was like, whoa,

what does that even mean? So I reached out to his people after, and, and I went and had lunch with them. Oh, my gosh. I can't believe this.

So I just, I went with Q and Murray. We had like, it was like a two-hour lunch. And then after lunch, we went back to his offices and hung out. And he told us stories, saw all of his awards, autographed his book for us, told us, like, he was so generous and so kind. And I, I took pictures with him. And I just can't believe. And now I'm going to try to do some charity work for his foundation.

Oh, that's amazing. To sit down with him. Yeah. You know, like, and have lunch with him. Like, I'm like, what world is this? Did you go? This is great, Mike, but you ruined my very expensive poster. I didn't tell him.

So I did tell him, I go, do you know, I'm a huge fan of it? I used to sign my name in grammar school on every test, on every paper. In like 8th and 7th grade, I used to sign my name, Sal, with the S being a dollar sign. I just because I was so influenced by Alex P. Keaton, which is ridiculous. But they used to call me Alex B. Keaton, like, as a nickname in grammar school. Isn't it so cool, though, that, like, your show has, just gone beyond just being on true TV. Like the amount of celebrities that watch your show,

binge watch your show all the time is crazy. Yeah. Yeah, I can't believe it. It's far reaching. They play the shit out of it. So I guess it's, yeah. Well,

the thing about impractical jokers is it's so rewatchable. Like, you can jump into any season, any episode and like, boom, it works. Yeah, I think that's what led to a lot of its success.

They play it all the time. But also it's like, I think it's like the perfect thing to just have on. Yeah. You know, so many people tell me, this I hear all the time, I hear it plays in prisons and, like the prison, like the huge in the prison population,

huge in hospitals. And everyone tells me, which sounds weird, but it's like, oh, my God, I fall asleep to every night. And it's like, I'm going to put. I guess prisons in hospital, they need a smile. Yeah, yeah, they need to laugh. It's the perfect thing. Yeah, they can't follow a narrative in, you know, in a prison or a hospital.

Like, it's like, it's too much. But what's good is it's bite size, right? Every segment's like just a handful of minutes. Yeah, you can begin, middle, and end. Yep, you can dip out. Yeah, exactly that. So, yeah, that's how people tell me, they tell me, you know what's so funny, too, I didn't realize this, but like one time I was on a street corner and a guy pulled up at a light

and he rolled down the window, he goes, buddy sound. And again, he goes, I love you, man. Oh, my God, thanks. He goes, me and my wife will make it love last night and his show is on in the background. And I was like, that is so funny. I never dawned on me. So I put a post up. I was like, this just happened to me.

I was like, it never even occurred to me that this is a thing. tell me in the comments if you've ever been, you know, making love to your wife or partner with my show on the background. It was like 200,000 people said, of course, all the time. It's all the time. It just blew my mind. Blew my mind. What was the original pitch from Practical Jokers?

Yeah, it was, it was, um, so we, we had gotten, um, some pitch meetings. They call them general meetings. Oh, I've had many general meetings. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They don't feel like a waste of time most of the time. They have a bullshit meetings, right? It's like go and they'll meet you and they'll keep you in mind and then you establish or connect your relationship.

Get on your radar. Get on their radar. They, I mean, these things are such bullshit meetings. You go and it's like people that you'll probably never talk to again and you're all trying to like make nice and like be funny for them and like show who you are in like a 10 minute meeting.

So we get, we have a bunch of generals lined up. And this is after a long time. We just happen to get an agent because we won this online. sketch competition. One thing led to another. And then we got an agent and then they're like, all right, let's meet some of these agencies,

some of these networks. So we decided, why don't we go on with some ideas, even though these aren't necessarily pitch meetings. We have them in a few days. There's a few days away. So we met for lunch and we, we thought of like three ideas over lunch.

One of them was impractical jokers. And we called it Mission Uncomfortable, originally. And it was kind of the show, an iteration of what you see right now. And we went out, into Times Square, two nights later, the four of us with our cell phones, and we filmed each other doing like three or four bits,

just with a little live mic in our cell phones. We cut it together, and then two days later, we had a meeting with MTV and a bunch of networks and a few days later with True TV, and MTV offered us to buy it in the room, which for people that don't know how this, industry works. That never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever happens. It's never happened before or since I pitched 500 things. I've never, you know, I've only sold like a couple of other shows out of like 500, never, never in a room again. So they offered it. They wanted to make it, um, a strip show,

which is like a game show that they film every single day. They didn't want us to be involved. They wanted to have contestants competing different contestants. And then comedians are rotating any comedian just telling them regular people what to do. And we were like, oh, we kind of like are an improv troupe and we kind of wanted to do it ourselves so people can like learn our characters and be rooting for someone and kind of like that creates a stake of interest in the show

and they didn't see that vision. And then two days later, we met with True TV and they offered to buy it in the room and we were like, we had an offer and they were like, is it MTV? They kind of knew. And they were like, yeah. And they were like, oh, they don't go to MTV. They famously won't, like, they don't have any budget over there.

They won't do it the right way. And we said, well, they want to make it a strip show. They're like, we'll do it. We'll do it how you want to do it. And we said, okay. And, like, we sold it in the room. Wow. The idea didn't exist like five days before.

I feel like you guys kind of saved True TV, too. Because, like, if you turn on True TV, it's like 18 hours of impractical jokers. Yeah. It's, it's, that was great. So when we got on True TV, there was no comedy on there. Right. There was, this is true. There was three towing shows.

a pawn show or two and the storage shows and it was all like the dumbest criminals and that's all it was. It was just trash reality TV and we were the first show that actually had joke like you know like that kind of thing.

And then we resonated right away and then lo and behold they changed the angle and focus of the brand and the network based on that which I never really talk about or think about, but it is mind-blowing that that happens.

That's what I'm saying. They then competed as one of the only other comedy-exclusive networks for Comedy Central. Yeah, it's kind of wild. So what was the original, like, what's the elevator pitch that you gave them? We, we, uh, the thing that we shot was like, we shot us in talk, we shot us in a movie theater interrupting a movie. Uh, we shot us, uh, at Victoria's Secret buying lingerie for ourselves. It's stupid stuff, and a couple other things.

And we just, what we did was we cut together a little sizzle reel that was like really undeniably funny and it spoke for itself. And I learned that that was really the key because we showed it. And credit to Marissa Ronka, who was the executive at the time that offered to buy it, she started to laugh and she had literally tears streaming down her face. And then she said, can you hold on a second? And she walked out and she got like four other people. and they came in the room and she replayed it.

And then they all left really, really, really hard together. And she looked, she was like, right? And they were like, right. And she was like, guys, I want this show. There was just, you know, we just, we said we've known each other since we're 13. Like, we were a comedy troupe, like, we come as a package. And that was it. In the original one, we were in a van driving around to locations, getting like missions.

So it was a little bit different. And like, our idea was that the van was sentient, like almost like, kit from Knight Rider. And we wanted the voice to be Patrick Stewart. And we wanted him to have disdain for us. And like, we would pull up and he'd be like, all right, like, and give us the mission and we'd have to go in and, you know, and so we, you know, when we got picked up, we kind of stripped that away and just got to the core of what was happening. But it's funny because MTV went ahead and made our show anyway. They called it money from strangers and they used the van. And they use that whole concept of pulling up to a place in a van and getting a mission and there was two

contestants. So they literally just robbed our show and did it anyway. Wow. Luckily, our show came out, I think, just before it and hit immediately. And so when that show came out, people like, what is this rip off of this show? And I think it lasted a couple of scenes. Actually, Jeff Dye was the host who's a pal of mine. And I think a bunch of other comics I know went on it. It's no ill will to them. But Like, it was crazy shady that they did that. This episode is brought to you by HIMS. Tired to trying to figure out what actually works for hair loss. Through HIMS, you get access to clear solutions, expert guidance,

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Dotash.com slash insight. Paid non-client endorsement. Not representative of all clients, not a guarantee. Investment advisory services offered by Stash Investments LLST and SEC registered investment advisor. Investing involves risk. Offer is subject to terms and conditions. How are you still able to do the show now when everybody recognizes you? Just filming in New York.

But what do you mean? So it's just like... But you guys are so recognizable. The show is such a hit. I know. Like, is it nine times at a 10 where you're trying to do something? They're like, hey, Sal. On a bad day, yeah.

But like, you know... On a bad day, we get recognized. On a bad production day, like, is that delays stuff, you know? But in New York, so if we're on the street, streets, it's, it's any, anybody's call. We learn what neighborhoods to avoid. Like, people know us everywhere, but there are certain areas that are hot spots. Like, if you go to Times Square, like a tourist neighborhood like that, like, we can't

film there anymore. It's hard to film in Central Park anymore. Like, those were like in the beginning seasons, but like now it's like really tough. But if someone knows, it's the next person doesn't, or if the first three people know us the next three don't. Like, I, honestly, I've never seen, you know, I don't even know, like, madman. You know, the cast walked by besides John Hamm, I wouldn't, you know what I mean?

So people don't know us. And then if we, if we do like, if we infiltrate like an office or do like focus group or something like that, we have so much in place to avoid people knowing us. We like wrote the book on this now. So we have a Bible. Like we, as far as like, we have innovation in, in camera between audio and video. Like our crew has been pushed to innovate because of the creative. that we've done and like and and hiding stuff and like we have other hidden camera shows come to our people now to try to hire them or to ask how to do things because they've our our crew has set

the bar on how to do this stuff which is wild but we also have all these techniques on how to vet and weed out people that might know us they get questionnaires like a month ahead of time like saying like everything it's a book this big where they talk about what foods they eat what what entertainment they like, what television, what stations they watch, and we weed it out and somewhere deep in that thing is like, do you watch true TV? Do you watch this? If they check that, they're gone. Oh, wow. When they come, we have way more people than we need because of this. There's a burn rate, right? So if we have to have a given a speech, like let's say we want 10 people in there, we'll book like 25. And then they're in a holding room. And then

we take them one by one to seat them. And then as they come down the hole, individually, one of us is in that hallway. And when they turn the corner, they'll see us. And if they have zero recognition, you know, but you'd be like,

no one can, no one can hide when they know us and they, and they just turn the corner. And they're like, ah, they're gone. You know, we pay them,

you know, because when you pay someone for a focus group, they get like, we don't want, they don't come in vain. Like, we just cut them and we say, yeah,

sorry, he is the pay you would have got today. I love how you work, wrestling into this. Like you were wearing an MJF and Danhausen shirt and I was like, this guy is a real fan.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I've been watching wrestling since a kid. I grew up with the golden era and it was my life wrestling as a kid. I mean, that was like, I think about it because I was thinking

about it on my way here knowing that we were going to talk wrestling and stuff. And I mean, you couldn't, I couldn't have been more hooked. Like, you know what I mean? I said, it's like,

I don't remember the last time I believed and cared about something as much as I cared about wrestling from like 85 to like 92. So that's your earliest memory, like mid-80s there? Yeah, like I went to WrestleMania too. What? Yes, my dad, I don't know how he did this, but we got tickets to WrestleMania 2, which was at, I believe, at Nashville Coliseum. That was the one we split up in Chicago, I believe, L.A., I believe. Yeah, I want to look this up because it was a heck of a card.

Yeah, our card are. Our main event was Roddy Piper and Mr. Tee, a boxing match. What? Yeah, man. It was insane. I think Chicago had a battle royal, I believe, like maybe an Andre or something. Yeah, I'm pulling this card up right now. It was so funny how it was done so differently back then.

Like, okay, so you were at which one? Nassau called Sam. Mr. T with Joe Frazier. Defeated Roddy Piper with Bob Wharton. Bob Wharton. Cowboy Bob Warren. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, my goodness.

Randy Savage versus George Steele. Oh, yeah. Oh, man. Oh, yeah. So this was, it's so crazy to go to wrestling events now and have been at that one. That was when K-Fabe was like, you know, it wasn't what the wrestling world is now, where everyone's just like, all right, we all know what we're watching here. We watch wrestling for this behind the scenes and, you know, like we, now it's wide open

and people follow wrestling as much, you know, we're all keyed into that. But like back then, this was, this was everybody was all in, like everybody believed. Believed, yeah. And it was mid-80s, New York City, Madison Square Guard, like a Nassau Calcium, like,

because I went to another event at Madison Square Garden. This was people screaming bloody murder at the, you know, like, like, like, like really, everybody was full bore in on like, this was real. and it wasn't as like sanitized as it is now and it wasn't as like you know you go to a wrestling event now it's it's for the most part as wild as it is like it's it's very like people know when they have to sit down you know you can get ejected you know like people are like you know it's not like it was the wild west like if you I remember that main event people were throwing everything into the ring

just drinks food that was all common back then you know what I mean and just just Being a nine-year-old or a 10-year-old back then, like, just people screaming and, I mean, like, man, like, it was just wild. So we were in the nosebleeds. And for the main event, my dad was like, come on, we're going to go down there. And my dad didn't really watch wrestling, per se, but he knew what it meant to me. And he's going to go down there. And I remember just being so nervous, like, what do you mean we're going down there? He said, we're going to sneak down there.

And he's like, just come on, just follow me. And, like, I mean, we were all the way up. He goes down there. He puts me on his shoulders. I'm on my dad's shoulders. I couldn't see a thing if I wasn't. And we get down to the floor. And he just kind of walks with confidence.

And we go past everything. And we are now, I'm telling you, we're standing maybe 10 rows back from the ring. And that's another thing. If you just walked in like now in a wrestling event, you know, it's like, they're like, where's your ticket?

What do you? Where's your wristband for the floor? Yeah. What are you even doing? The security everywhere. Yeah. This was like, you know, it was all like folding chairs. Well, I did have that now, but they're all like, you know, they're all clasped together and

they're like decorative chairs. Like, you take home with you, but like, this was just a mayhem down there. And I'm on his shoulders and there's no like really semblance of seating. Everyone just rush it. Like, you know what I mean? And I just couldn't believe it. I'm watching. And I'm on his shoulder.

So I'm like ring level watching this. I just remember like, there was a core memory. I'm just like, I can't believe what's going on here. And, um, it was. Frickin wild. So I'm taking photos on that, like, old school, like, 110 millimeter camera. You know, where you have to, like, wait for the flash to warm up? I don't know if you remember those.

The flash cube? The cube. Yeah. Yeah, like, you have to, like, put a cube on and turn it. And then it had to warm up and stuff. And I'm like, like, I'm an old news reporter. Like that exact sound, dude. And then you wind it and stuff.

And I'm like, I can't, I'm taking photos. That exact sound. And I brought me right back. Yeah. And I. I'm like, I'm like, my mind, I've never seen anything like this. I'm nine or ten. Never seen anything like this in my life.

We leave. It's the greatest day of my life. My dad takes the film to get developed. Now, this, to me, is also like worth its weight in gold, this film. Yes. This is like the proof that I was there. This is like, I mean, you know, and if you remember back in those days, too, like, if something went down, sometimes the film just didn't get developed.

Like, you would take. get the film, they were like, oh, it didn't come out. Like, they could just say that to you. Like, I didn't come out. My film didn't come out. No. Yeah. And I remember, like, it almost felt like my first funeral or something.

And I just, I felt so, so crushed. I remember crying. And because I was like, I couldn't wait to show people. Like, this was my only connection to, you know. And my dad goes, but he felt so bad for me that he went. And he goes, I'm going to make this up to you. And he gets tickets to, like, you know, a house show. at MSG a couple of months later.

I don't know how he got him, but we were in the fourth row. And this time, I brought a Polaroid because I was not going to allow someone to tell me that the film wasn't developed. I wish I would have just gotten, went in my box and brought the Polaroids. Oh, that would have been so cool.

I could send them to you so you could put them up right now if you want to. Who would you take pictures of? I have macho man. The main event was a tag match between, it was Hogan and Hillbilly Jim versus Big John Stub. done in Andre the, I mean, and King Kong Bundy.

Oh my gosh. Yeah, it was insane. I got pictures of macho man, junkyard dog. I was, I mean, it was in the fourth row. There was a point where Iron Mike Sharp, remember Iron Mike Sharp? Of course. He's a jobber, you know, like whatever. He got thrown over the, over the steel, you know, fen, the gate.

Guardrail, yeah. Guardrail, yeah. And he was like, literally right next to us. I'll never forget. I looked down and he had black boots. And like his boot, I guess it was either a zipper or whatever. It was like kind of opened up. and he had like white tube socks on underneath.

Well, like, you know, the ones he wore like Jim Clas are like red stripes at the top? And it just was so funny because he was in black with black boots when I saw his tube socks. And it was almost like a peek behind the curtain. I'm like, you weren't tubes off something to that? But, um, but those pictures I still have to this day. Who was your guy back then? I mean, it was at that point, it was undoubtedly Hogan, you know? Everybody was a Hulkomaniac in the 80s.

Yeah, it was, I mean, you couldn't not be prayers, vitamins. everything, you know, like, as soon as you heard, like, I am a real love. I mean, that is such a shit song, if you think about it right now. It's a trash song. It's so bad. But what a guitar. When it comes down and it hurts it. Biao, boom, boom, boom, boom.

And you took my pride. It's so perfectly 80s. It's amazing for back then, but I remember feeling like I am, I am a real American. I'm fighting. I'm fighting for America as well here. Hogan playing that guitar and being as big as he is, making that guitar looks so small. Oh, yeah.

Oh, it's so funny, dude. And so Hogan was it, you know, or he used to actually come out to, I think, didn't he also come out to before that he came out to obsession? Was it obsession? I don't know.

Well, that was definitely, I think, the theme song to Saturday's main event. That's all it's like, D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-N- Oh, yeah, of course. Right? You are... I think that's still the song. That was the Saturday Night's main event.

Are they using it as a song now? Because I know they do... I love how they're doing it now. They keep it like throwback. Oh, yeah, and Jesse Ventura's there. Yeah, it's amazing. With the red, white and blue ropes and everything. Yeah, and the microphone that comes down into the center of the ring.

So they might even be using that now. I don't know. But he definitely came out to another... I think that was... He came out to something to something. sides real American. But that was it. That was it for then.

And then eventually it was sat, well, steamboat, steamboat, especially when he feuded with Savage and with, and with Jake the Snake, when he was got his monitor lizard

to fight Damien. Like, this is the pinnacle of our, the gimmicks back then were like, ridiculous story line. Perfect for me. Like, that was like,

you know, and I remember being a kid being like, oh my God, the lizard is going, to fight the snake at the end and who's going to die you know like what a deep cut that is oh yeah i mean dude we we used to just because of jake the snake we used to go out my neighborhood and we used to go into the woods back then there was woods everywhere i don't know that it was like right you know there's like underdeveloped i lived in a neighborhood that had like patches of woods everywhere we go and find

these garden snakes put them in these five gallon buckets with some dirt rocks and grass i mean we're probably killing these snakes left and right. But then we, like, I live in an apartment building. So we'd hide them under the steps of the apartment building. And then we'd keep them there and collect them. And we'd find snakes and them, like, they were little garden snakes, you know. But we would like, it was because of Damien and Jake the snake. And our parents would be like, we'd walk around with them in our gene pockets.

Like, like, we'd just walk around with snakes in our pockets and take them out and be, like, just petting them all day and everything. One day, my friend Matt, Matthew, he. He found a garden snake about this big and that thick. Oh. So this was 10 times the size of any snake we had found before. And it was scary, actually, but we were like, oh, my God, it is, it's Damian. Like, it's going to be Damian. Like, this is going to be a boa constrictor.

We kept this thing. And we kept it as a community of kids. And we kept it in a bucket. And we all, like, we would drop water in there and, like, crickets and stuff. And I'll never forget one time. One time I used to play roller hockey as a kid, and we were playing roller hockey in this parking lot in the neighborhood. And I had braces at the time.

And my sister, one of my next youngest sister, Dana, we used to fight. And we got into an argument, and she punched me in the mouth when I had braces. And I remember, like, she just didn't know what she just hit me. I don't know we argued about something. And I remember I started to bleed, like all my teeth started to bleed. And I was like, and I looked at her. I was in my skates and she just started to run. And she was like, we were kids.

And I was like 12, she was like 10. And I'm chasing her. She's running. I'm chasing her on my skates to get her for punching me. And we go out of the park a lot down like two neighborhood blocks. I finally catch up with her in front of our apartment building. And I get her and I like throw her down on the grass right in front of our house. And my friend, when she fell in the grass and she's laying there, my friend Matt goes, oh.

And he takes the snake. And he goes, Damien. And he lays the snake up my sister's. things on the grass. And all the kids are like, oh, shit, out! I don't know.

These things really influence. I love the gimmicks, and I love the barber, you know, like all that kind of stuff, you know, like, the fact that Brutus to Barber beefcake

would cut your hair if he beat you. Yeah, it was amazing. Yeah. That stuff, I was in Hookla, you know, I was all the way in on that.

I remember, like, begging to watch Saturday Night's main event. Like, because it was, you know, like it was like 1130.30 to 1 or something like that. Which was like,

an extension back then when you're 10. Like you had to like plead your case. Like you don't understand now. This is, this is an event, you know, like I have to be able to watch it. I don't have school tomorrow.

It's Saturday. So, you know, my, I would have to get approval to watch those. But like, I remember one time I, I,

I misbehaved and I was, and then my mom, like, right before she's like, you're not watching it, you go into bed. And I remember like, I almost like,

it was like as a comedian when you have one of your worst bombs and you can't shake it for like a couple of weeks or a couple of days. you know until your next kill you know i remember being like i can't my world crumbling down around me being like i can't believe that everyone everyone of my friends is watching tonight's main event right now and i'm in bed crying like i can't believe that she's she didn't go back on it she

let me watch it but but that that main event i think it was maybe it was the first a second one where um hogan lost the belt to andre because of de vasi and earl and davemberer the twin referees. Oh, yeah. I was watching that, that one at a bowling alley, believe it or not. I was, we were out at a bowling alley in my neighborhood, and that was on, and I remember that also blowing my mind, because nobody knew who he had a twin brother. He hadn't been on screen prior to that. Yeah. And, uh, and then watching Hogan lose and that, and we were just like, just, I, I just never, like, I was just, do you, do you remember that? Did you watch that live? So, like. So, like, so visceral being like, felt, feeling,

betrayed and angry and like, I can't believe this is happening. You know what I mean? And that kicked off that whole thing with like, with him and Savage and then becoming it, right? That was like, because after WrestleMania,

the mega powers? The mega powers, yeah. Yes. The Mega Powers handshake. Because it vacated the belt, right? Man,

look at your deep knowledge here. Yeah. And then after, after Steamboat beat, yeah, after Steamboat beat Savage, then Honky Tonk was like, like that's how Savage turned face, right?

Because Honky Duck was like, I'm the greatest intercontinental champion. You started disrespecting Elizabeth. And that was another thing. Elizabeth was, I think, my first love of my life. Oh, first crush for so many. Right?

Young men at that time. Yeah, she just was, it was just unbelievable. And there was a minute where Randy Savage lived on Staten Island, where I'm from, and that got out all the time. And my aunt worked at Pathmark

and the supermarket, and he lived in New Springville where this Padmore was and used to come in with her. I'd like buy groceries. And my aunt would be like, I saw Randy Savage today. Like, we couldn't believe it.

So we used to ask to go to that pathmark. And like, it was by the mall. So when by the mall, we used to ask our parents, can we just go to the pathmark for a little while? Just to hope you'd see him?

Yeah, just to hope we see him. Yeah. And we did. We'd wait in the pathmark. Just like hoping he'd come in. Did you ever see him? Or shop right. Never saw him.

Never saw him. But yeah, but that was, that was something. And then, yeah, that whole, that whole, that whole,

WrestleMania like three to five was like you couldn't talk to you about anything else. I was so jealous when you got to drink beers with Stone Cold at a WWE show. Yeah, that was wild too. So he had a show a couple of years ago where you spent the day with him. And so I got a call saying he heard I was a fan

and wanted to be on the show and I was like, yes, I flew out to L.A. just to do it. Like just for a night, just for a day, just to do it. I was like, I don't care. I'm doing it. and they wanted us to me for the very first time on camera. So he picked me up at my hotel in a Jeep, that had old cameras on it.

So it was just him. So he put, like, it was all outfitted already. So there, like, I met with the crew ahead of time. They were a follow us in another car,

but, like, he picked me up and, uh, I met him on camera. So, like, on the show is when I actually met him. And it was surreal.

Like, I, I'm like, this is like, this is insane. Like, like, I,

I, I, I can't believe, because I mark out, you know, like, I, The coolest guy ever.

He is confirmed. That's what makes it so great. Some of the guys, I'm a little hesitant to meet. Now that I, I'm in the public and I'm a known wrestling fan, I go all the time and I go backstage and I met all these wrestlers and so many wrestlers on my friends now,

which young me would never believe. Like, it would be mind-blowing. Like, even now when I'm backstage, you never lose that. You still feel like a kid back there, you know? Like, it's like when you watch sports now, like every single athlete is half my age, but I still look at them like, oh, I'm such a big, you know, it's just at whole. dynamic yeah i'm backstage now just being like oh my god you know so the rest of us he he picked me up

he's a lunatic he picks me up and we're in this jeep and we just started he goes out just screwed around and we'll talk so i'm like all right so we're driving around and and we're just just biescing and stuff and talking about stuff having some laughs out of nowhere we're on a road and the beach is to our left he cuts the wheel tops the curb goes onto the beach and he's he's driving the ocean and he steps on the gas. And I'm just thinking, oh, he's, I'm like, whoa, like, I'm holding on to the bar. Like, you know, the tops open and everything. So, and then he just starts driving toward the, the water and he just steps on the gas.

I'm like, what, I'm like, this is crazy, but I thought he just hit the, the brakes. And like, he was messing with me. He did. He drives straight into the ocean. And the Jeep turns into a boat. They failed. They didn't tell me that. So I literally was like, what the, the, the.

What the, can I curse? Yeah, you say whatever you want. What the fuck is going on? And then we just slam into the water. The wheels go up and it turns into a speedboat. And he just started driving around and we just started driving around in the water on a speedboat. And I was like, this is already exceeding expectations. And then we went to his gym to a gym.

And I took Bumpus swim in the ring. I held the intercontinental belt. And, you know, he just, everything. You just were showing me to do the stunner and everything. And then after that, we went to his actual brewer. And we sat down and had flights of all of his different beers. Oh, my God. Literally got drunk together.

Like, we literally, like, he literally got tipsy. You got drunk with Stone Cold. I did. Drinking beer. That is his beer in his brewery. Yeah. On his TV show. He was so nice.

He was, like, it was his first time filming in, like, a year or something. And it was his first episode filming this series. And he was like, I'm a little rusty, like, so. And I was like, no. And I just was like, he just was like, I love this. He's like you were like a perfect first guest because you were so easy to talk to and you like really help like keep it light and stuff. And I was like, please, I love you so much.

How did it go to you drinking beers with him at raw? I love this guy so much. So I just like afterwards I would like, I sent him a bunch of steaks to his house. I'm like, thank you for having me. I said these awesome steaks to his house. He's so cool. Like when he barbecued him up and he ate him, he would send me pictures of him, eating the steaks.

Oh, man. Yeah, we just kept in touch. And, um, I'm out of raw. And I texted him like, I'm here tonight. And he was coming out. No one knew he was there. And so it was like last match of Raw. His music hit.

It comes out. It's a crazy match and everything. And of course, at the end, he's up there, slamming beers or whatever. And unfortunately, it just went off air. But where I think it was at, he was either at MSG or he was at Barclays. He grabs the mic and he goes, my buddy Salvo Cano from practical Joker's is here. He's like, wherever you are, come to the ring right now. And I was like, oh, my soda was there that night, actually. And I was like, oh, my God. So I walked to the ring and he takes

me and he goes right up to the gate. And he's like, takes two beers. He throws me too. We slam them in front of everyone and just drink them. They put it up online on socials after. But I was like, yeah, but I did also slam beers with them on the show too. So I have, of course, I kept those cans. So I have four cans at home on my shelf. Oh, man. Just like, I got to get a lot of this in my mouth, you know, and it's just all over me and everything. It's like, what it's like, make a wish come true.

If I had a genie lamp, that's what I wish for, and I did it, you know. You did a thing backstage at WrestleMania 34 with the Miz, which is like, so you guys are just kind of like, you know, you're kind of chalking trash on Ms. And then all of a sudden he shows up. I didn't know he was coming in. For real? No, I didn't know. He's really funny. I don't think I knew. I think they set me up on that one.

But yeah, they're cool. I've done some corresponding stuff for them. I did, I got to walk down the big runway when it was at the metal lamp. When it was at Giant Stadium, they know I'm a fan. So like they definitely hook me, AW as well. Like I got to go in the ring. I unfortunately got ill and wasn't able to do a spot that the guys did where they got jumped. on AEW by Jericho and his crew with a bat and everything. It was so, it's so funny because Murray's not a wrestling man,

Q is, but I got really sick. So I, and this is a dream of mine, and I couldn't go. And I had to watch them do it, but like Murray did, like with no selling getting hit with a bat,

but he didn't know, but they were like hitting him and he, he didn't realize that he was like no selling it, which is so funny to me. But, but yeah, AEW as well, they've been like really nice to us.

And they invite us to events and stuff. You've had a lot of them on the show as well. We've had Bubba Ray Dudley on the show. We have Tommy Dreamer on the show. We've had Jericho on the show, MJF on the show. Pretty awesome. I guess, I have a crazy bubble right. I want to hear of Bubba Ray Dudley.

Of course. So I, I like kind of, during the attitude era, I kind of like wasn't, I was only peripherally watching. I kind of stopped watching wrestling. Like when Stone Cold and when like Goldberg and everything were in there, like, heyday, I had a beach house with my friends. That's something we did back in the East Coast. The Jersey Shore? The Jersey Shore, yeah.

My wife's from Jersey. I got it. There you go. We'd have a beach house, so we'd go on the weekends and stuff for the whole summer. And my friends would all watch. And I was already removed from it. So I'd just kind of half watch. But it was when ECW was really like taking hold and just came out.

It was like the craziest thing. So flaming tables and blood and, you know, everything, thumb tacks and stuff. and ECW was still doing like smaller house shows. And so in Belmar, New Jersey, there's a bar called Bar Anticipation. And ECW is doing a show at Bar A, they call it, on July 4th, I believe was 1998. And 22 of my friends are going to go to this show. So we all get tickets. And I, again, I'm watching peripherally, but I don't really fully understand the scope of ECW and how

actually like crazy it was. And at the time, the Dudley boys, like, they were in the, they were known for getting into like brawls at these things. Like with fans would like throw shit and they would be like spitting and slapping. And there were a couple times where they brawl people. There was another one at the fun bubble on Staten Island where the entire, it was a riot. And the bubble, the Dudley boys were involved in it. And the cops came.

And it was like, a man. massive riot. Like this was happening back then. I don't know if you know that. Like ECW was crazy. Oh, I know ECW was crazy. I know you know it was crazy,

but I didn't know that. Did you hear about any of the like, is this before they were thrown all the chairs in the ring, that one? Yeah, and I mean, no, there was like people fighting the wrestlers.

Like, just like they were, wrestlers were laying people out. It was in the front page of our paper and everything. And it was kind of crazy. But I wasn't tapped it. And I don't know why this. I don't know,

I guess. So we're online in. waiting outside, there's a snake line outside the place. It was a 95 degree heat. It was sold out. There was maybe like a few hundred people online. And the parking lot was such that it was filled with cars where they pulled a car in, then another car behind it, another car behind it, another car behind it. So it was literally, you couldn't get out. No one can get out except the first line of cars, then the second line of cars than the next bumper to bumper. So I don't know why they did it like that, but I guess they had to do it like that. So we're online.

and it snakes around the parking lot and Bubba Ray Dudley pulls up and gets out of a car and he's about to enter and we're all online waiting and I may be across the parking lot I'd say maybe a couple of maybe I would say 200 feet away and I yell out for no reason at all just to be participatory and I don't know why I did this but I went he got out and I went Hey, Baba Ray Dudley, you fat fuck. That's not my personality. It's not really me. But I just, I don't know, I kind of saw ECW, I thought that's what it was like.

And I just, I don't know why I said it. I just was like, let me, let me get involved. Let me mix it up. Let's start this off now. And then I turned and he was intimidating. He still is. But back then, like that guy, like I said, he was getting into real brawls. Yeah.

So I'm with 22 friends. and we're all in line together. So I turn away and then my friend Jeff looks up and he's looking at him, he goes, Sal, he's coming over here. And I go, that's, I don't worry about it. There's no way he knows it's me. You know, he's, he's running. And he goes, Sal, he's running over cars.

And I'm like, well, he's hopping the cars to come over. He's coming right at us. And I'm like, all right, just be cool, man. Like, he doesn't know where I said anything. And then I just see all my friends like, like, because I'm facing away from him. I just see the look on my friend's faces like he's getting closer.

I turn around. There were stanchions with a chain, chain, right? Connect these stanchions. I see him slide over the hood of a car, start charging toward me. He has flanked by like three or four security guards. He picks up the chain and he goes like that

and rips a metal chain out of the stanchion walks right up to me, takes off my Yankee hat, and slaps me across the face with it as hard. I mean, literally, like whips me across the face with it. And I just was, I was in such shock. And I just, I thought that this guy was going to take my freaking head off.

And I just looked down. I turned into Rain Man, dude. He was like, say it again. Would you say it again? Say it to my face. And I just started going, I'm just a big fan. I'm just a big fan. I'm just a big fan.

He said, yeah, say what you said to my face. You know what you said. Say it to my face. I'm like, I'm not going to say it. I'm not going to say it. I'm just a big fan. And he's, and I, he had like the veins and his nose. neck. Like, I just saw him like, his, his fists were like clenched. And I was like,

if I make, if I say one wrong thing or make one wrong move, I really do believe he will knock my head off. Like, he was hulking over me, breathing. And he's, he's not letting, he's not stopping. And he hits me again with it. And I'm like, I'm not going to say it, man, I'm just a fan. I just was trying to be involved or whatever. And I see my friend Eddie pushing one of the secure as they were on the yellow jackets that said security. He's pushing one of them like this in between me and Bubba Ray Dudley and the security guard is pushing back not to get pushed in between us. And I was like, that's a bad sign. You know, like, and so I just, I just didn't look up.

I just cut my head down like this. And he's like, I thought so, you fucking pussy. He gets me one more time with the hat. He turns around and he starts to walk back. There's like three seconds of silence. It was something out of a movie. And then the entire line all rock. You could hear a pin drop when this was happening.

No one said a word. 400 people were staring at me. And then he turns around. He walks three seconds of silence and the whole place erupts. Right. And they're screaming. They yell and they're cheering for him. And he walks all the way back in and he goes in the door.

And everyone is looking at me. I felt so mortified. And I'm like, I have to save face. here. At the time I smoked, I went to go light a cigarette. And my hand, I literally, my hand was doing this. And I couldn't even hide it. My adrenaline was like, I couldn't hide it. I lit a cigarette. And I was like this. And everybody was, because the line stink, everyone's looking at me. I stepped out of the line. I took a drag on my cigarette. I blew it out. And I looked and I went, anybody else here got a problem?

And the whole place started like historical laughing And then a line formed in front of me And I autographed like a hundred programs You did I did I would have They were just asking you to autograph the program And they did like wrestling vlogs back then And they did roundups of like the results Because these were like house shows

Yeah And that got written up And the whole entire thing got written up in a vlog And then when we were in there They were fighting and they were like going all over the bar Like there was the bar Had like a volleyball court in the back With like with sand

that's where the ring was, but they ended up fighting all across the bar. They ended up going behind the bar and smashing corona bottles over each other's heads and stuff. And the whole time he was fighting all over the place. When he got near us, my friends all stood in front of me and formed the wall because I didn't even want to get in his view again

because I thought that he was going to still kill me. And that's it. I wonder if you can still find the write-up about this online. I probably couldn't. I still have the ticket. I am now, I'm good friends with Bubba now. So what happened when you met him again, years later.

I met him at a house show for like, I forget, it was like, I forget what, what Federation it was, but it was like Long Island at a house show. And I met him backstage. And I was like, I told him the story. And he's like, I remember that. And I'm like, do you really?

He goes, I swear to God, I remember that. And, but then he was nice to me, you know. And then we like kept in touch and became friends. And like, he's been to my home. I've been on his show. Like, he's literally a friend of mine. He's out my house for the Super Bowl. And he had to take it too.

And to this day, every 4th of July, he puts on social media. Today's the day. I met Saville County for the first time 27 years ago and almost took his head off. Man, that's a great story. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 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 Clemenberg. And now we're giving people an inside look at the World Cup.

Time's 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. When you had MJF on the show, was the plan for him to do chops and for it to get physical? No, not at all. I mean, MJF, I think, is a throwback for me. He's, like, one of the most exciting things that happen to wrestling in quite some time. And he just is a, he's such a big wrestling fan. Yeah.

Like, you got to love when, I mean, really every wrestler is a big wrestling fan. Otherwise, you don't, it's like, you just don't become a wrestler unless you're in love with wrestling. That's how it works, you know. So, like, but there are friends I have that are wrestlers like Bailey or M.J. That you just really respect the passion. And like, there are marks, you know, themselves, you know. And he just was so cool. I met him through somebody and got on a text chain with him.

And we, we joked around and really liked each other. And then I met him at a show and stuff. And we invited him on. And he's great. He like, you know, he just stays him, you know. And he was really, really good. And he really played off us well. And he was definitely, like, healing it up.

And then I don't know what happened, but it just happened that he was going to chop all of us. And he did. I took a, I took a real chop from him. And it was, it was, it's not good.

It really hurts. Yeah. It hurts. You know, one is like, ooh, man, but like,

you know, you see them do it to each other five, 10, 15 times in a match. Like, you know, you'll see Daniel, you know,

Daniel, you know, when they get like the blood, like the blood, like the palm with the blood in their chest and stuff. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. It hurt, man. It hurt. Yeah, Jericho in the show too. Jericho is awesome, too. Another person that just is, he's a goat.

Yeah. He's probably maybe on my Mount Rush more because how do you stay in the conversation like that? 35 years in. You reinvent yourself that much. It's like, yeah, he's, he's, and he's awesome. Yeah. He's such a great dude. And it's every gimmick, pretty much every gimmick he's done has gotten over.

Everything. Like Lionheart to Y2J, suit and tie Jericho. Like we can go down the entire, I love the list, Jericho. Yeah. You can go down the list and, like, they all work. Yeah. It's amazing. He's just great.

He's great on the mic. He just commands people's attention and respect. I love him. I absolutely love him. I'm going to be on the Jericho cruise next year. They just announced this. I've done it. Oh, you have?

Yes. I can't wait. Oh, that's so cool. Yes. We and Q-in-on did our podcast and did a bunch of other pods. It's still going? Yeah. It's a seventh one next year.

It's so good. It's a lot of fun. As a wrestling fan, it's amazing. Yeah. Yeah. I can't wait to go on that. what's been the most traumatic punishment that you've done on the show? Oh my gosh.

I mean, now it's been, we just wrap season 12, and we're over 300 episodes. We've been doing this thing like 14 years. It used to be easier to answer that question, you know, but I would say in recent memory, there were two. One was Murray, we had this idea to punish Murray. he writes books and he writes like these thriller kind of novels and I had the idea to, you know how they have like audiobooks? So he does his own audiobooks.

So I was like, why don't we strap him to the roof of a race car that's going around a racetrack, tie him to the hood of it and make him do his audio book on the hood? And so everyone loved that idea. And so we did it. We got this racetrack. We got a stunt driver. We got a race car driver. We tied him down.

to the hood, put a helmet on him with a GoPro, and he had the book and this thing's doing donuts and racing on track. And he's reading the chapter of his book. And that's going to be his real audio book. We're filming this thing for like 15 minutes. It's amazing. It's fun. It's exactly like we planned.

Like it's my mouth is open. Like this guy's doing hairpin turns. The tires are smoking. Murray's screaming and he's like reading his novel. And then the car is going like down a stretch doing like 90 miles an hour and makes a turn. And Murray flies off the hood. and just goes rolling into the grass. We're like 300 yards away.

And the whole crew just stops and it's like, oh my God. And everyone just freezes. And then they're like, get a medicate, get an ambulance right now. And everyone just stops the cameras and starts running toward him. And I was like, oh my God. So we start just running toward him. And dude, I'm running as fast as I possibly can halfway. It was so far away, halfway through a car.

pulled up like, get in, get in. We all jump at this car and we're like flooring it to him. We jump out right before it and we're running up to him and I hear, and he's surrounded by the ambulance and the medics and I hear someone say, get a bird, get a bird, which is I am using context clues, use that to meet in a helicopter, thinking he's about to get airlifted out of here. Someone yells out, he's not responding, he's not moving. And I, the feeling that I felt in my stomach was, I didn't know if he was really paralyzed. I didn't know if he died. I didn't know how severe this was. I had such a knot and pit in my stomach. And I charged up to him. And I like, I'm like, he's not saying anything. I thought my friend died. I thought, I thought he was paralyzed.

And then one of the medics turns around. And he goes, no, he's not moving and pulls off a wig. And it's, it's Murray. And the person that was dressed at. as Murray, that was on the floor was just a stunt person. When they took a turn around the stretch, they went past a bunch of trees. The car stopped really quick. He jumped out. And the stunt car came. A guy jumped on the hood.

Then the car kept going. He jumped in an ambulance, put a wig on. He had the clothes underneath. That guy rolled off the thing. And then Murray pulled up and was one of the medics. So it was your punishment all along. It was mine all along. And honestly, when he turned around, I actually had to take a knee.

because I literally felt like I was going to vomit. Like I, because my stomach was in knots. And I was like, how is this funny? Like I thought you were paralyzed. It turns out that that was the lesser of the two evils because he was going to pretend to die in another punishment.

And that got waved off. There was an idea he's afraid of heights. So we were going to put him in a room like this smaller. He was supposed to do Zoom interviews over Zoom in an office. And what he didn't know was it, was going to be one of those like storage storage containers made to look like an office. And the bottom floor was going to be plexiglass. And the idea was it was going to be attached to a crane.

And when he got in and sat at the desk and the zoom started, the crane was going to lift him in the air. And he was going to see underneath him was just clear. Yeah. And then he was going to have to do these zoom interviews hoisted in the air. He found out that that was the idea and then pitched to double-crime. cross me and he wanted at one point the crane to drop the box and the box to come down and just smash onto the ground and me think that he got crushed and died and that was in play for a year and a half because he kept pushing it until they kiboshed it and then this was the

settle for that so he was going to make me believe he died oh my that was very this was a traumatic one to go through you said there were two what was the other one the other one so there were there well they put well okay so there's actually two more i think they come to well another one was locked me in a room with a 600-pound Bengal Tiger. They locked me in a motel room in the movie. I didn't even know we were filming. I thought we were taking a break at a roadside stop. And Joe went to speak to me about something, and we were outside of a door of a motel

room. And it's actually on camera. We're just BSing. I didn't know what camera was on me. He shoved me and slammed the door closed. And I turned around, and there was no handle on the door to get back out. And I was like, what? I didn't even know we were filming.

And then I just heard a growl. and I just turned around and I was like, I couldn't even, I could not move an inch and then a tiger walked out of the bathroom. And it was on a chain, but that chain was tied to the, like the bar of the shower. So it's like,

you know, it was just tile and sheet rock. I mean, if the tiger wanted to rip out of that thing, I believe that it could. And then the chain was long enough so the tiger couldn't get to me, but it was only like six feet short. of me. And I honestly, like, didn't think it was funny then, and I don't think it's funny now.

And the first thing I say on camera is how did, I was, I understand what it means to be frozen in fear. I don't know if you've ever had where your body won't move and you can't speak. I was frozen and I just, the first thing I said was, how do we get insurance? And then I don't know how they got it. And I just was like, this isn't going to be arable. I said, I was so angry and couldn't express it because I didn't want to show any emotion whatsoever. And I was so scared and I felt that the tiger could sense my fear from like their instincts or whatever. And I didn't want to, it to sense how scared I was because I thought it would try to attack me.

And so I was fighting being, I was in disbelief that they did this. I was as angry as could possibly be. They put me in this position. And then I was as scared as possible. And all three of those things were bottled up because I couldn't move or speak. I didn't think we were able to use it because I think it would be funny. It turned out, people thought it was funny. People thought it was funny.

So these are truly surprises. Like, you guys aren't sitting in a pitch meeting going, oh, you know, it would be great. They're surprises. Yeah. Like, not everything is a surprise. Yeah. And sometimes it's a partial surprise. That was a blind side surprise.

And so was Murray flying off the thing. And I just was so angry. And then they were like, you have to get out by going to the connecting door and going to the next thing. And then at one point, the tiger, like, they threw a. big hunk of meat down. It was eating it. And it went back into the bathroom for a second. I later found out there was a handler in there. Big deal. The handler was like some middle-aged woman and she was very casual.

She was like she didn't look like she could stop the tiger if she needed to, at least to me. You know, she was wearing like, I just, I still, but then I went to go get out and I went to go open the door to the next room and that door was locked. on the door that I opened, it was a hang in there poster with a kitten, like hanging from a tree. And then they came and they got me out of there. But that was also one of the hardest,

hardest things ever. One of my favorite bits ever is when Q calls the guy mustache. Oh, yeah. A mustache. That was, I think, that might have been in episode one, I think.

It was at Costco. And he's like, don't call me mustache. Yeah, that was like, that was one of the first times we realized, like, oh,

there's, there's gonna, there could be like a bad interaction. here. Because we were filming that. I think we got Costco for the pilot. And which it was easier, believe it in mind to get to get places like that back then because people didn't know what the show was. Oh, sure. Because Costco banned us after that. They banned you. They banned us. To be fair, we've done a billion times worse since then. But I guess they just, you know, that was enough for them, like that we got into a little friction with people. But the guy like was like, yeah, don't call me,

don't call me mustache, clown. This clown's calling me mustache. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like, don't know me mustache clouds. I remember in the back, we're like, oh, my God. Like, this guy was going to happen. But, yeah, that was one of the first times we realized, oh, this, this can be, there can be like friction here, too, you know what I mean? Like, but that's what makes it funny.

Oh, yeah, yeah. We learned early on that, like, that's one of the things we learned early on is like, oh, we should be able to, we should be able to say no. We should be able to back down because that's funny too. If we can't do it, it's funny and the failure of it, you know. But I think the magic in the show. is that it's never malicious. Like, yeah.

It's never making fun of the stranger. It's always coming back on you guys. Yeah, I would say for the most part, that is the intent. Yeah. Sometimes people catch the stray maybe, but like, sure. But no, that is the intent is to put, it's really for us to compete in like a pressure cooker,

like social faux situation. You know, you boil the show down and that's really what it is. Like, people call it a, to me, we don't even use the word prank on our show. It's like, it's hidden camera, but it's like a competition show in social situations. It's really like, you know, pranks I feel like put it in a box.

And like pranks, I think are like a little bit. They're just not what we do. What we do is fairly elaborate. I feel bad. Like there's a lot, pranks is a whole genre on YouTube, right? I feel bad watching pranks shows sometimes because I put myself in the shoes. Oh, I don't like mean pranks. I don't like.

Me neither. I put myself in the shoes of the person getting pranked and I'm like, oh, like makes my skin crumbed. Some are mean and rough and stuff like that. Yeah, they're malicious. Yeah. No, that's what we're really going for. My favorite sentence. in the show, like to evoke from someone is like confusion.

Confusion, bewilderment, mildly entertained, weary. You know what I mean? Like, a wary, I should say. You know, when we are interacting with someone, they don't know what to make of it or whatever. That, I think, is the funniest thing. I mean, I love to live in that space where I'm tolling the line of, is this guy kidding me or not?

There's the one where you guys are in the grocery store and it's this older gentleman and he like was a track star or something like he, oh, Dave Jacobs, former Olympians. I can't believe how many people bring this one up to me. It's one of the things that's brought up to me the very, very most. Because his reaction is so genuine of like, I can't believe. We love that man and everyone fell in love with that man. I can't believe you guys are recognizing me.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. I think he might have had a news article in his pocket laminated, if I'm remembering correctly. Maybe. But we found out, like, yeah, someone said, we're in a grocery store, and then he mentioned who he was. And then we looked it up, but he was. He was like a former Olympian.

And so we all came out one by one and was like, oh my God, is that Dave Jagos wrong? And he believed it every time. But it was like a, it was in a very endearing way. He's like, this is the greatest day ever. Like, you made his entire year, his entire decade. Yeah. I think that's why so many people bring it up. That kind of resonates to people.

That's one of the shows at its best. And it's like, you can't possibly have known that we would stumble into something like that. That's the most magical part of and the most fun part for us of what, like, what the show has to offer. So what's the bit that just went totally off the rails? What's the one that like just was the worst? We've had a handful over the years. Believe it or not, like, I think there's only been like five, maybe five or so bits that never aired that were like, this is trash. We can't redeem this or just went south. And because it's like, especially now, we run pretty lean. Like, we can't afford

for something not to work. Like when you show up on a day and an idea is built around this, you've now spent time conceiving the idea, spent time getting the idea approved, locations have to find the place, the crew has to go tech scout it, you know, then they had to go there that day, build everything out,

and everyone's on set. And something doesn't work. It's a ton of money. Everyone's still getting paid, and then we don't have the content. So it's pressurized in that way, but we've become good enough at it that we understand how to make things work nowadays,

but over the years, there was one where we decided to be, mimes in Central Park early on. That was a doom from the beginning because we couldn't speak. No one conceptualized the fact that like this was going, like being in a box is going to get old very quickly. And it was like, again, it was like a 90 degree day. And the paint was falling going into all of our eyes.

And all of our eyes were red and watery and bloodshot. And we weren't allowed to speak in the bit. We canceled that. That didn't see the light of day. This is another time we had to baby talk to adults. So we're like, what's the best location? Let's go to a park, a kid's park. Because what we could do is we can start talking to a kid.

Like, how are you? Look at this guy. And then like, turn to the parent and be like, what do you do? That'd be the perfect way to do it because you need an inn. Otherwise, it's going to look weird. We wanted to see if we can get people to talk like that back to us. We go to the park to do it.

We didn't have a kid. And so quickly we realized we're walking around the park, just a middle-aged man just searching for children to talk to. And it was like, I swear it might have been 20 minutes in of us just roaming the park and looking at children where they called the cops. The gobs gave them. Rightfully so, you know. So then before the cops got there, we're like, oh, we don't have kids. People looking at us.

So then we tried to make believe like a kid was our kid like that was already there. We'd be like, Braden, get off the thing. You know, and then someone was like, that's my kid. And then the cops came. Luckily, when the cops come, they're always like, we love the show. And they just, we had to stop filming that day. One time I was at a cashier and I took a photo of a woman's credit card, an ID, and I just was just like, I may need it for my own purposes.

And she was like, she called the cops. And they came because I get that because that was potential identity theft, you know. Sure. Yeah. So there are things that like, just imagine that phone call. Yeah, this cashier at the shop right. Yeah, just took my. Took a picture of my ID and my credit card.

The cops roll up. And the second thing got out of the car, there was like, and we're just like, yeah, sorry. We told the woman, like, it's a joke. I'll delete it. Like, no, but she didn't want to hear it, which I get. I also get that, you know? I feel like the punishments are kind of, they're all individually set up to, like,

prey on your weaknesses. Okay. Yeah. That's what we try to do for the most part. Yeah. So what's yours? Is it phobias? At this point, I have so many.

I mean, I, I'm a germ guy. I don't like, like, this is all old. You hate cats. Yeah, I don't like. What do you have against cats? Like, and they just, they violate. Are you a cat person? I mean, I like all animals.

I see what people like them. I just don't add. My friend's cat attacked me all the time growing up. My friend Steve cat, Sebastian. And I just think they just violate personal space. I have a mark in my eye right here. You see that red dot? Yeah, I do.

My sister hit me with a Malbu Ken doll when I was little. And it, like, scarred my eye. And I have a phobia of sharp things or things with claw. And so my friend's cat used to swipe at me all the time. And I just, I don't like anything that could claw out my eye. They just rub up against you and take liberties that I don't think they should take and stuff. It's funny because if you say to someone, yeah, I'm not really a dog person. They're like, excuse me, what?

But if you say, I'm not really a cat person. You know, I get it. Take only cats. It's polarizing. It's so funny. So if you say you don't like dogs, like you might as well say I kick babies. Yeah, exactly. That was where the tiger stem from was the ultimate cat, I suppose.

But, yeah, that's like the final boss cat. Yeah, the final boss. Yeah. So, yeah, I mean, they get me good. So I also don't like the most, the last punishment I filmed of this season, or season 12, this last season. So I don't like these haunted houses. Like, we're coming up on Halloween time.

Yeah. I just never did. I don't like it being jump scared. You know, I just, I'm with you. I just, I'm on my, I just, my adrenaline spikes too high. I feel like I'm going to take a swing at one of these people. Over the years on the show here and there, they put me in a cornfield and had things try to attack me.

They rented out an old mansion. They made it haunted. They threw me in it, like those ghost hunter shows and stuff. And they get, it's good, it's good because I really do, I can't help,

but viscerally react. I scream, you know, like, and there's nothing funny than people. You ever see those haunted houses where they take photos of people

in mid-scare? Yes. There's a very famous one in Niagara Falls, Ontario. Okay. With a way, like,

you see like the photo of people, they're like, yeah, that whole thing is so funny. So they've done it to me. It's been a minute. But, they were coming up on Halloween and this this was terrible because it was kind of

kind of my idea we something else fell through and I was like they started talking these haunted houses and I was like I really don't want to do one you know but I but wouldn't it be funny if like you put me in one of these haunted houses and I couldn't leave until we were going to do this to Q in a demolition derby but then insurance couldn't come through and so I was like, wouldn't it be funny if you put me in a haunted house and I couldn't leave

until I had to cancel my phone, internet, and cable. So they did. They got this warehouse of a place in Jersey, one of these places that's like 50,000 square feet. And these people come in like two hours

early to get and make up, like a real deal one. Yeah. And they got the service provider live on the line. I was wearing a headset at the front door of this thing.

And it started. and I had to go through this haunted house and I got the operator live on the line and I entered the real process of canceling my phone, internet, and cable while I was in the haunted house. I couldn't leave until I did it. It took 42 minutes.

For 42 minutes, I was running around this place screaming. The first thing that happened was it said that they were experiencing longer than usual wait times and I'd have to be on hold for 14 to 17, 12 to 17 minutes. Yeah, so I was on hold for 14 minutes with the music playing while I was like screaming while I got and then the guy picked up after like 14 minutes and I had to be like you you have to understand what goes into this like this was all real and I was like had to make sure he didn't hang up on me because then I would have to restart that process it could have been out we were but they were prepared for me to be in there as long as possible I said to the guy listen to me please I said I'm in a haunted house right now I said I have to cancel my actually I thought I was just canceling cable and then after I canceled it they were like now cancel your phone now cancel your internet they kept adding. So I was like, I need to cancel my cable. This is a real call.

I'm in a haunted house. I have no other time I can do this. I need to do this now. You cannot hang up on me, please. I'll say, you're going to hear screaming. You're going to hear me screaming. This is not a joke. And he was like, all right.

And then the guy just stayed on the line with me for 42 minutes. I canceled my phone internet and cable live on the line with the sky. Yeah. Wow. How bad did you feel when you made that woman cry during the fake prank show bit? and like, oh, God, I forgot about that. That was Eric Andre? Yes.

That's right. He's in your ear, yeah. So we thought of this idea where it was a prank show that it was the stupidest prank ever, right? It would just be like something like, you're still in a whoopee cushion or like, you're pulling a dollar away from her. There's a dollar on the floor tied to a fishing line. And when the person reached out together, we pulled it.

And the show was called dumb fucks. And so what would happen was, like, I'd be sitting at a table in a waiting room with a guy. There would be a dollar bill on the floor. he go to get it. I pull the dollar to me. And then he'd look at me and I'd be like, surprise, you're on dumb fucks.

And then literally, like, you're on those flash mob. Remember that whole trend where a flash mob would come out? Yeah. In that moment, a flash mob would come out.

Cameras would come out with a host and confetti and a marching band and gymnasts and just crazy people and people juggling and a horn section. And they'd swarm down on these people.

And then I'd literally be like, surprise. You're on dumb fucks. The show where the dumbest fucks get fooled over the stupidest stuff. You know what I mean? And I had to literally call this. You say that, but that really is on me because I like,

it was so hard to do that. Even though I'm calling this person, a dumb fuck, if they have any sense to them, they know that it's not, you know, but I had to like literally do this like three or four times in a row. Eric Andre was on the show.

And then we had to, then the flash mob would leave. So there would be confetti everywhere. And the mom. marching band, the jugglers, everything, the gymnast would leave immediately. And then all of a sudden was just me and the other person again. And then I'd be like, had to get them to sign the release to be on dumb fucks. After I just insulted them on camera.

So we love this idea. We had this idea for years and we finally got it approved. We didn't think we'd get it approved. Who has to approve at the network? Yeah, yeah. So we had to like pitch it to them. Right. These days, credit to them because we've been on so long that they just trust us.

And if they have concerns, we assuage their concerns, but usually we can get something pushed her usually. So, but we, we, we just wanted to make sure we called it dumb fucks. A banner came down that said, you're a dumb fuck. And we got them to approve it. And then we made a theme song. It's so funny. It's just like, you're so, yeah, you're so dumb. You're such a dumb fuck.

You're so dumb. And it just, and that's looping while I'm saying to the person. And then I'm like, would you mind signing the release? And I did it and this girl starts crying. And again, we never try to be mean to anybody. And I don't think I've ever had in the history of the show someone cry. And I immediately folded. I was like, I almost wanted to cry.

I was like, I'm so sorry. You're, you, I didn't mean anything by this. Like, although I didn't know what to do. I was like, I felt so horrible that. And then it turned out that they got this woman to double cross me. And she was an actress and she was crying on command like she was acting. and they double-crossed me and surprised me with that. But my heart sank.

Yeah, like, you don't want that. I don't want that. Of course. It's not funny to me. It's not funny. But they got me. They got me good. They're good.

Since you're a lifelong wrestling fan, this goes back to when you were just a little kid. Yeah. Who's on your Mount Rushmore of pro wrestlers? Yeah. It's really hard to nodding. It's only four. It's almost too difficult to a question I ask.

Yeah. And I don't want to slight anyone that's wrestling right now because I'm still such big fans of people now. But I have to go back to, for me, it has to go back to Golden Era when like these things were just, like this was just my life. And these people were like, you know, my heroes, my actual heroes, you know. And so, you know, it has to be for me, it's hard to discount Hogan. it's because he was he was everything he was wrestling you know what I mean and so for him for me like as a kid it was Hogan it was macho man yeah it was steamboat and Piper those are your four yeah I think so yeah all from that era uh Piper I think's probably the greatest heel of all time do you ever get a chance

to meet him I did yeah I all right so this was much much later in life oh my Piper's story is insane. He came out with a book. I think it was called In the Pit with Piper. It was probably early 2000s, maybe. And he was doing a book signing in like the Barnes & Noble in Manhattan. Me and Q were like, we have to go. Again, me and Q go to these, you know, we always try to, we're total fans.

You know, we love memorabilia autographs, lots of. So we go to meet Piper at this thing and we're online waiting. It was, we waited a while. We waited like a good hour on this line. for him to because he was taking photographs and autographing his book and he was really taking his time with people. He was very generous with people. And like once we got in the store, we saw him and he was like up on a little dais type of thing and we were like sneaking the room. So we were watching his interactions with people. He was really taking his time. He was really like

looking people in the face. Like it wasn't like a assembly line. He was like no matter how long it took. If someone had to tell him something or a story, he listened to it. And he was with his son at the time was there as well. And it's great to see. You know, like you love to see that someone be, like, exceed your, like live up to your expectations. I was a little nervous to meet him, you know, but we're online and we're waiting, when waiting with huge fans.

And we get to him and he stands up and he walks toward me. And he's like, how are you? How are you? I forget what he said to me. He was like, how's everything? How are you thinking of coming? I was like, hey, I just got to tell you something. I was like, I know you probably hear this all the time, but WrestleMania 2, I was at that with my dad.

And it's one of the greatest memories of my life, one of my earliest core, core memories. And it's something I'll never forget. It's something that just brought me and my dad together. And like, I can't tell you how much that experience has meant to me. And I'm telling him this. And his son is right there as well. And he's close with his son. And he starts getting tears in his eyes.

I'm telling it, right? And I'm just, and so he gets tears in his eyes, and I immediately get tears in my eyes. That's how I upper, I am. If someone gets sad, emotional,

like that woman that was about to cry, I was like, I was like, I was like, I just want you to know. Like, I know you hear it over and over. I hope it doesn't get old,

but like, you just need so much to, to people. And I, I just, I could, at that time in my life, that was like,

the biggest thing that ever happened to me. And I'll never forget how I felt, standing on my, dad's shoulders and like, I don't know, just something I'll remember for the rest of my life. And he's like, you know, he literally gets tears in his eyes. They well up so much. And he just grabs me and gives me the biggest hug.

And I'm hugging this guy and his son's staying there and his son's looking at me like emotionally. And like, I swear to God, a tear like dropped down my face. And then he unhugs me. And he goes, that's amazing. He's like, I have a bond with myself. son that's unbreakable. He's like, when did you lose your father? And I, and I had a tear streaming down my face now.

And my dad's at home right now. And he has tears. And he's like, oh, what? I go, I'm so sorry if I led you to believe I lost my father. I was like, I didn't, my dad's great. He's home right now. He's healthy. And he's like, oh, okay.

And he's like, wiping away tears. And I'm wiping away tears. And I'm like, I am so sorry. I was like, did I say he passed away? Like, I didn't, but I guess the way. I was saying it, it felt like I was memorializing my dad. And so we started crying together. And he gave me the longest, deepest emotional hug because he thought my dad had passed.

And then two seconds later, I'm like, my dad's awesome. He's just home right now. But I thought of the book, I got, you know, he autographed it. And yeah, he's someone we lost way too soon. Oh, absolutely. And there's so many others. He was getting into the comedy world, too. Yeah.

He used to show up at the comedy store. And my buddy, Steve Simone, who's a huge, like, he's a big comic and a wrestling fan. And he would, he, he befriended him and would take him to the store and, like, because they started to do, like, get up on stage and, like, tell stories on the mic and stuff. And for a while, he, like, forge his relationship with him. And I didn't know Steve at the time, but unfortunately, I wish I did because I would have been able to, you know, to maybe meet him. But he's someone I wish I would have known a little more.

Why did it take so long for you to do your first comedy special? Yeah, you know, well. It's like it just came out, like fairly recently. Yeah, it's, terrified. It's terrified. terrified, yeah. It's on HBO Max right now, streaming. I've been doing comedy a long time. I started a little bit out of college in late 90s, early 2000s. I did a little bit. And then I didn't. I did sketch and improv and I didn't do it again until like 2000. Well, the guys and I started touring again in 2012. We did sketch comedy and improv shows in Manhattan for years. So I had writing and stage experience and I did some stand-up. Then once we got the show, we're like, oh, we should, we could write a show and take this on the road. And so we did. The guys and I've been touring now for 13 years.

We've done like four or five international tours. And that show is geared toward the fans of the show. And it's a mix of stories and some stand-up and some videos and interact. And so I started doing it with them then. And then I just was like, you know what? I've only ever wanted to be a stand-up. So I got to get back into this now. So back then I started doing, you know, doing spots.

I got to get up each night. And then I really, really turned it on like 2000, maybe 15 or so. and I started doing stand-up again at that time. But like every single night, like, and every waking minute I had. So like, you know, when I first started going hard in 2015, I'm talking like four or five nights a week, three, four, five, six spots a night for a few years straight. Just really putting in the time and everything. And I got my hour, started touring on the hour, and then a couple of hours and did a couple of tours. And I just never had a break.

The show consumes us so much. It takes, like, over 10 months. we used to film 26 episodes and five specials a year. It took a little over 10 months. Then we'd have like down for Christmas and then go right back into it. And there was like nine seasons of that. And it was impossible for me to do anything else. I would tour as well during it.

Yeah. So I tour as a comic and I tour with the guy. So it takes about two years to hit every market. So I would tour them for two years than me, then them than me. So I haven't stopped touring or filming the show since 2011, in 2012. Wow.

So I never really had the time. And then a few seasons ago, like maybe like season like nine, I was like I really need a break. So we negotiated six months down in between each season and we lowered the season, the episode count to 18. And then I, my whole plan was to finally do my special. So that's when I finally geared up and, uh, and got it really ready and prepared. And I, and I shot it at the end of, uh, 23, I think.

at the end of 22 and it came out, yeah, it came out June of last year. Yeah. Somehow in all that, you found time to be a dad as well. So congratulations. Thank you so much. Yeah.

Yeah. A couple of kids now. Amazing. We share this. We have two young children almost in the same age. Yeah, we're both in it right now. Experiencing the same exact thing. I can look at you right now and you don't have to say anything.

I know everything that's going on, man. And you have an older daughter and a younger son? Yeah. Same. Yeah. Yeah. My daughter is just to turn three. and my daughter's two and a half turn one in a month or 10 months.

Yeah. So the greatest thing in the world. The best. Yeah. So with all that stuff, you know, it was tough. But what's crazy is I've been a comic for so long,

but people, I'm still educating people on that because I had nothing to really put out. Because, you know, you don't put out material online. You don't want to burn your material. So now I finally had the special. It came out on YouTube, got like three million views and then HBO optioned it.

And now it's streaming on HBO max. So now I have something out there. for people to reference that I'm at, you know, that I actually do this. Because like people know me from this, they know me from my podcast. I'm trying hiatus right now, but I do a few podcasts. But yeah, so it's, I'm still now educating people and I've been doing this a long time. Well, when they see your name at the local comedy club, it's like, oh, that's a headline I want to go see. I hope so.

Yeah, hell yeah. You're on tour right now. It's called Everything's Fine Tour. If you've seen my special terrified, it's a whole new hour from that. So it's, it's all new. It's actually, I'm talking about my family for the first time ever. I didn't even really talk about my family. I didn't publicly say that I was married or had kids

about about a year ago or so, just because I was very private, but I kind of wanted to start talking about that experience on stage. Yeah. So I kind of let that go. And now, you know, for people who have watched me on Joker's playing myself, all this time on my podcast for years,

never spoke about that stuff. So this is the first time you'll, like, see a new side of me on stage, talking about the intimacy of my family and stuff like that. That stuff's so relatable. Yeah, yeah, exactly that. Right. So I'm on tour now.

I've been touring since the end of 24, and I'll be touring till 27. Oh, wow. Yeah, so there's like 30 or 40 cities online right now. I'm always adding cities. So check out Savilcanocom. And I keep at it. But I don't know when this is coming out,

but November 14th, I'm playing in the Chicago theater, December 27th, the Beacon Theater in New York, some big ones. The Ryman Theater in Nashville, April 12th. So I'm going to be everywhere, but, yeah. I can't thank you enough for coming in here. This was so much fun.

This was a blast. I got to thank Soder for connecting us. I appreciate you making the time for me. I'll love to come back. Oh, sounds like I got to have you and Q on at the same time. Oh, that would be awesome. To just talk wrestling. You should do that. Yeah.

I'd love to. Right on. I'll ask you the- fun, man. Thank you, man. I'll ask you the question I ask everybody at the end because gratitude is such a huge thing for me in my life. Yeah.

And I'm sure you tap into a lot, you know, being a father now. Yeah. What are three things, Sally, you're grateful for right now today? Well, I think mine might be pretty cool. I think mine are going to be pretty baseline, but my kids, You know, my family, my family is, I don't need anything else. You know, obviously, you know this. This is not something that people don't know.

But if you don't have kids and you want them, some kids aren't for everybody, but if you don't have kids and you want them one day or you're on the fence about it, I would just say to you, if you're in that headspace already, then do it or just do it. It's my one thing when I had my kids was I only wish I did it sooner because there is nothing else like it on the planet. And you know what you're expected to feel and you know what, your parents tell you and you know what other people tell you, but there's nothing like it when you actually have it.

And I said, I've said this before, but I'll say it, I'll repeat it. It's like, imagine having a new feeling. I mean, I had my,

my daughter at 45. Imagine having a new feeling at 45. It's a feeling in the depths of your soul that you have never felt before. So it's, without a doubt, my family, it's the fact that I am a stand-a-comedian as a profession, which every single day I take inventory of that because that's all I wanted to be from a young kid.

And I just, I just, I can't believe that's my job. So that's, that's number two. When you break that down to like just what it is, you get to stand at the front of the room, holding a microphone, and you get to make people laugh. I think about it all the time. It doesn't make sense. It doesn't make sense. And I can't believe I do that.

And I can't believe people can see me. It's just wild. And just, you know, my support system, my friends are like family to me. You know, it's just like, when you get older, you realize that is all that really matters. So like those are the three big things. The fact that I'm doing what I love as a profession. Yeah. The fact that I have a family that I love and friends that I call family around me is like,

that is life. That's the definition of life. And I'm checking those boxes right now. So as, you know, I don't want to like give you a platitudes or anything, but as as as baseline as that sounds, it really is the truth from the bottom of my heart. You know. Congratulations on an amazing career thus far. And I feel like it's getting better every year for you.

Thank you. Thank you. I can't thank you enough. Appreciate you, man. Thank you, brother. Jim Rome takes on sports. Why? Because I have a job to do.

With rapid fire takes. So I don't want to hear from you lava pigs on this notion today. No idea what you're talking about. You're complaining more than you like to breathe air. It's like you get up in the morning only to complain and cry and moan. on social media about things that you don't even understand. He's the spitfire of Sports Smack. Ticket manage you, but get up in here.

The Jim Rome Show podcast. What should be? Follow and listen on your favorite platform. You've been warned.