Klein/Ally Show: The Podcast - Joey "Jaws" Chestnut Calls IN

Episode Date: June 29, 2026

About to get into a brand new episode of Klein Alley Show, but first let's tell you about our good friends at the finest airport that ever was and ever will be. The San Bernardino International Airport. Especially when there's summer travel plans, it can get expensive at these airports. That's why you gotta go to this airport where parking is just five bucks a day. Plus you got those easy trips, San Francisco or Provo, Utah. Maybe you didn't plan anything this summer. See how easy it is. Don't be one of those people who has to pack your patience. Go to San Bernardino International Airport. Okay, enough shilling. Now it's time to get into a brand new episode of Klein Alley Show. I don't want to say this lightly, but Joey Chestnut, he's a riddle wrapped in an enigma or something like that. He is amazing at what he does. This year he'll be competing for his 18th championship belt.

And I know that competitive eating doesn't get the same glory as NBA basketball or World Cup soccer, but it should because to be at the top of your game for almost two decades is incredible. It doesn't happen. And no sign of slowing down. We've talked to Joey about retiring. He's just going to keep going. Just in recent years, he's been banned. He had to miss an event because he had that contract dispute with the Beyond Meat people. Then there was the year that...

Well, with Nathan's, that it was conflicting with Nathan's. Then at one point, he got attacked by a guy in a Darth Vader mask. He had to give the guy like a chokehold while he continued eating hot dogs. Then there was some legal stuff this year, but he's still able to compete. Still a favorite. 96% a favorite to win. He's a minus $2,500, which means you've got to risk $25 to win $1, which is incredible. I mean, that's just how dominant he is in the sport.

And, yeah, we talk a lot about hot dogs on the show with Joey, but we don't mention the fact that he's still the world rib-eating champion, the hard-boiled egg championship. He's eaten 141 hard-boiled eggs in eight minutes. Oh, that hurts my stomach. Has the Twinkie championship, 121 Twinkies in six minutes. Wow. 275 plant-based chicken nuggets that he threw down during a baseball game.

The goal was 99, and he shattered it by eating 275. And he's got records in things like bacon, burritos, tacos, pizza, shrimp cocktail, a treat, lobster rolls, boysenberry pie, donuts, tamales, popcorn, turkey, Philly cheesesteak egg rolls. The man is a true legend in every sense of the word. Philly cheesesteak and egg rolls or Philly cheesesteak flavored egg rolls? That's a great first question as we welcome back to KROQ the great Joey Jaws Chestnut. Joey Chestnut is the greatest ever. He is the joke.

He is the Joey-est of all time. He is the only man to ever consume 70 hot dogs and buns here at Nathan's. The number one ranked eater in the world. Joey Chestnut! Hey, Joey. Welcome back, buddy. How you been? Doing pretty, pretty good.

What's going on? We were recently talking about your legal stuff this year, and you got drunk at a bar and you slapped someone. He probably had it coming. That's how I look at it. Oh, you heard about that? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I made some poor decisions, and I do.

Yeah, I just got to do better. We were saying on the radio that we've been drinking with you many times, and you're always so pleasant. People want to take pictures with you. They want you to hold their dog or sign their chest or whatever. You're always pleasant with everyone. So if you slap someone in the face, I know you were too drunk to remember what the guy said,

but I have a feeling he probably had it coming, right? What did he say? I could probably do 75 hot dogs. Do you remember what set it off, or you don't remember anything about that? Oh, my God, yeah, I lost a little time. I put myself in a bad position, and I just got to do better.

I should have eaten more hot dogs. Yeah, I know. You got to balance it out. I mean, it is, though. I think it's respectable, Joey, that you were happy to come clean and say, hey, and take responsibility for what you did. And you're going to be on probation. But they said there's no travel restrictions. So you are fully able to go to Coney Island and take part in the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Championship again. And how are you feeling? How's the training going? I mean, it's going well. Yeah, I feel good. My body's a little bit older, but I'm still finding ways to keep pushing and trying to improve. The record was set in 2021 when you ate 76. This year, I think they have you somewhere penciled in around 72 1⁄2 hot dogs.

So they're still, they will not, you know, that's the over-under at least right now. They still think Joey's going to put down 72 1⁄2, which is incredible. And at this point in the training, if you do it like the previous years, this is where you do the thing where you stretch your stomach right by drinking a ton of fluids is that right and just try to stretch as big as possible i just yeah i just did my last practice and i'm recovering right now a high fiber diet and i'm just trying to get back to normal weight and then i'll then i'll then i'll go to my drinking water uh on an empty stomach and it's just i'm gonna go in yeah it's only like it's coming up it's on saturday so i uh i'm gonna

be loose and empty by then you know similar to when albert einstein died they studied his brain Would you be opposed to scientists studying your stomach after you pass just to get more information about how you were able to physically do this? I think they should study my brain also. Yeah. Yeah. That's true. I think the brain is the first place to go. Yeah.

They can study everything. But, yeah, once I'm gone, have your way with it. When you hear sometimes around this time of year, especially with so many delicious backyard barbecue foods, and you hear some people say, particularly women, a moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips. As a man who eats 71 hot dogs no problem in one sitting, what do you think about the people that have that theory about eating? I think, dude, I feel bad for people who are afraid to eat. When they're counting calories so much that they can't have a good time. But, you know, everybody has different eating habits, and I just, I don't hold back once I go to town.

This year at the Ozempic hot dog eating competition, Allie, the over-under is set at a third of a hot dog. I know. I wonder how much Joey would be able to eat if he was on Ozempic. I think he could out-eat it. I feel like I would put my- He could probably do, like, still 50. Yeah. My willpower would overpower his willpower.

Yeah, I think you'd be able to. Yeah, and, like, you go into some zone, it's really interesting to watch you because you say that the morning of, you wake up. Sometimes you don't sleep good the night before you wake up. Do you still have a coffee in the morning of the event or no? Yeah, morning of, I'm all on just coffee. So he has coffee, and you try to take a dump before you go to eat, right? Oh, yeah, a nice growler. Right, he's got to get that growler out before he goes there.

And then if those things all happen and the weather's not too hot, then you feel it. It's supposed to be hot, though. Yeah, and that's the one thing in the past. You said that the one thing that can slow you down a little bit is the heat is what makes it hard once you get to, like, the 60s and 70s hot dogs. Yeah, you mentioned Vegas already has, like, the over-under at, like, 72, and I think they know that the weather is going to be, like, 86 and humid as heck. Humidity is weird because it's uncomfortable,

but at least the buns don't turn stale. So it's going to be – it could be a weird – yeah, we'll see. I'm not counting out – yeah, we'll see. I still want to get close to a record. Now, after the Hot Dog Eating Championship last year, when we came back on the air, I attempted to eat six hot dogs in ten minutes. The reason she picked that number is because I think the last place finisher in the women couldn't do six. And Allie said that's so pathetic that she was representing women. I just wondered if somebody with no training could eat six hot dogs in one sitting.

And I will say, I think I had it. I forget. Oh, I was eating Pink's hot dogs. They had a real snap to them, and I think it made it more difficult. But at one point, Joey, I just didn't have any more room. Everything was just building up to the point where I had a hot dog just stuck in my esophagus, and there was nowhere else for it to go. So how do you have that much room?

How is everything just going all the way down to your stomach? How does your stomach even have room for that many hot dogs? Well, it's like anything, practice. You know, like the first person who ran a marathon died. it's uh so it's now anybody can run a marathon if they practice enough and it's like now that you're pregnant you're gonna be eating for two so a lot of it's like mentally like convincing yourself there's a reason so i think you should do it again you should just like i think now joey that's a great idea you should do it again because this year you have help ally you have two

people in there to help eat all the hot dogs you and the person the baby and i can't remember last time did i i think i did i did throw up i did throw up a couple of times but and during the big event of joey if you throw up you're disqualified this is what a lot of people don't realize they think any amateur that thinks they can get in there and start eating you start eating at the big league level if you throw up you are immediately dq'd right you you can't throw up you can wear a diaper it's uh you do whatever you learn that the hard way that's good to know that they changed that rule over the years or has that always been there no i've never had an accident but but there are times where like my people like oh are you getting sick afterwards

like no no i do my things are things are pushing out yeah yeah it's really remarkable the one year that joey fumbled and i'm a historian on competitive eating but the one year was the one year that he got in a relationship and he got like he proposed to his uh girlfriend and then the whole thing fell apart and joey's i said joey you got to get out of this relationship and focus on eating this is going nowhere fast and he finally listened to me bringing this up Dude, that was a rough year. That was a rough year for you. But yeah, the broken heart hurt me more than any kind of probation.

Every year we try to say to you, pick a hot dog and let's come up with some sort of a signal that you can flash to the camera. I know you're in the middle of more important things, but everyone's going to be gathering around with the family. It's one of the greatest traditions this country has is watching Joey shovel hot dogs into his mouth on Fourth of July weekend on Saturday now. Which you want to do after the 69th hot dog? Because I'm sure you'll get to at least 69. Maybe that's when you stop and you slap the hot dogs on the side of your face? A little hot dog slap. You know, I think, yeah, number seven.

After 69, I'm going to hit 70. Give it a little slap and a smile. Okay, all right. If you slap the hot dog in your face. Let's get another thing we're going to look out for and not see. Yeah, we're going to see it. Joey doesn't let us down. Clyde asks every year, can you please do this?

Can you please do that? And he goes, yeah, yeah, yeah. He looks like he's in coma. At that point, he's like comatose. I feel bad. I always think that. He's in such a zone. I go, guys, if Joey eats two more hot dogs, he's going to wink at the camera and gather over and around.

I'm going to remember that. And then Jen's looking at Joey, and he's like. Do you even know how many hot dogs you're eating while you're eating them? You're not keeping count yourself, are you? Yeah, I am keeping count. I wish I wasn't. In my last practice, when I got to 70, I smiled in my head. I was like, oh, yeah.

But then I ended up slowing down. So I need to stay calm and not worry about numbers too much, just stay in that rhythm. Just keep eating. Joey is the odds-on favorite, obviously. It's happening this Saturday. I think they still have it on ESPN, too, although I don't know why this is not happening. No, I think it's everywhere now.

Yeah, it should be on every major. It should be on every single major network. This is like when the president does a State of the Union. They should just interrupt everything to put Joey on so we can celebrate your glory. He is the number one-ranked competitive eater. Before we say goodbye to you and wish you nothing but the best this Saturday,

it's time for not one but two epic questions with Joey Jaws Chestnut. Here we go. Two, two, two. Epic, epic question. Epic question number one for the world's ranked competitive eater, Joey Chestnut. Allie? Joey, you've eaten a lot of food in your day, and you also know how to put down some drinks.

What is the best drunk meal? Oh, the best? Well, Taco Bell. Wow. Classic. You can get so much Taco Bell for your dollar, and it tastes delicious when you're a little lit. How much Taco Bell do you put down after a night of drinking, Joey? I've broken the $100 mark a couple times.

Wow. That's amazing. That's so much. Buy a franchise for that, I feel like. I think that's everything on the menu. Question number two, Joey, you are a great eater in the world of food, but do the ladies say that you are a great eater downstairs? Oh.

Oh, you know, I'm with one woman. Yeah, my girl. I haven't had any complaints. I usually don't stop eating until the job's done. All right. There you have it. This is why he's a true American hero. It's a little wink and a slap.

Yeah, that's right. That's nice. Someone stand behind you and count how many minutes it's been. There's a guy holding up the signs. Big red sign. Guys, there's no finer American on the planet than Joey Jaws Chestnut. And everyone loves to tear down a legend, and this is kind of his return to glory. He was torn down.

He paid the price. Every true athlete has their ups and downs. They've got to have your ups and downs, and people have to remember you're human, just like the rest of us. So maybe you slapped a guy at a bar and didn't remember when the cops came and asked you about it. Okay, who hasn't done that? But Joey's going to get back on that horse, and then he's going to eat that goddamn horse. And that's what we love about you, Joey Chestnut. Thank you for spending some time with us on KROQ, and we can't wait to see you on Saturday.

Hey, thank you so much. Good talking to you guys. Always good to talk to you. That's Joey Jaws Chestnut. He's a legend, Allie. Probably the biggest legend to come out of San Jose. Take that, Tech. Yeah, I think so.

Absolutely. Well, there you have it. I'm excited now. I didn't realize how excited I was for this thing until talking to Joey. Now I got goosebumps. I can see your hair standing up. Man, that's exciting. What a legend.

Can't wait.