Living The Red Life - The Untold Story of Karate Kid’s Villain – Martin Kove Reveals All!

Episode Date: June 12, 2025

Martin Kove, a legendary actor best known for his iconic role as John Kreese in The Karate Kid and Cobra Kai. With over 200 screen credits and decades in the entertainment industry, Kove shares the deeper values behind his success—tenacity, passion, and perseverance. From humble beginnings and early career challenges to launching new ventures alongside his son, Kove paints a picture of unwavering determination in the face of industry setbacks.In this inspiring episode, Martin opens up about rejection, resilience, and redefining "making it" as earning the respect of one’s peers. He also discusses his latest projects, including a new graphic novel and cigar line called The Prodigal Son. With stories of near-misses, tough auditions, and late-in-life creativity, Martin’s message is clear: never stop pursuing your dream, no matter how long it takes or how many times you hear “no.”CHAPTER TITLES02:10 –From Brooklyn to Hollywood: Martin’s Early Drive04:00 –What My Agent Told Me That Changed Everything06:15 –You’ll Get Rejected 9 Times—Here’s How I Handled It07:40 –Audition Nightmares: “I Was Flat”09:05 –The Harsh Truth: You Might Never Make It10:10 –The Talk with My Wife That Shifted My Mindset11:20 –Why Respect Mattered More Than Fame12:30 –You Gotta Love the Journey, Not Just the Win13:30 –Living the Red Life in Hollywood’s Chaos14:40 –How Cobra Kai Reinvented My CareerConnect with Rudy Mawer:LinkedInInstagramFacebookTwitter

We're here in Nashville with a legend, Martin Cove, welcome. Thank you, thank you, Rudy. Martin Cove is a legendary actor, lifelong martial artist and entrepreneur, best known for his iconic role as John Crease in The Karate Kid in Cobra Kai. I founded Cobra Kai. It belongs to me.

It always has. And it always will. Alongside his son Jesse, he co-founded Cove Entertainment and launched The Prodigal Son, a comic book series and premium cigar line inspired by their upcoming TV project. With a career built on passion, family collaboration, and storytelling, Martin continues to expand his legacy. When my wife said to me in 1982, I remember, we had very little money, what's gonna happen if you don't make it?

And I thought about what she said, what's gonna happen if you don't make it? I took a long pause and I looked at her and I said, I don't know, I'm just gonna keep on trying. My name's Rudy Moore, host of Living the Red Light podcast. And I'm here to change the way you see your life in your earpiece every single week.

If you're ready to start living the red life, ditch the blue pill, take the red pill, join me in Wonderland and change your life. Hello and welcome back to another episode, a very special episode. As you can tell, I'm not in my podcast studio today. No, we're here in Nashville with a legend, someone you probably recognize from Karate Kid, Cobra Kai, Ram're here in Nashville with a legend, someone you probably recognize

from Karate Kid, Cobra Kai, Rambo, a ton of other shows. Martin Kove, welcome. Thank you. Thank you, Rudy. So excited. We just filmed a bit about your life story and the lessons and the ups and downs and everything you've achieved and excited to dive in and ask you a few questions today. Sure enough. I decided to dive in and ask you a few questions today. Sure enough. So you've been in a lot of iconic shows and movies, over 200, for a very long career. And one thing that came up right away, even before we shot today, was tenacity.

The word tenacity, right? What does that mean to you? Well, it's something that's come up, you know, over the years and being an artist, whether you're a poet or you're a writer or you're an actor or musician, you have to have a certain amount of confidence and drive and inspiration, which all encompasses tenacity. You know, I think, I don't know, you know, I tell young actors, I say if they don't hire you,

it's their mistake, you know. And I just believe in that myself. You know, I actually always tell my son that. And you just have to keep going on and figure out it's not your fault if it doesn't work out, if someone doesn't buy that painting if you're a painter, if someone doesn't buy you know your song and you're writing something for Broadway, it you know it doesn't there's infinite amount

of reasons why things don't happen, especially in the creative world. Yeah Yeah, just It's it's never really if you're good at what you do and you have to believe you're good at what you do it's never really that personal you know, you can walk into a room and and Literally to a brilliant reading do a Brando reading. But if you look like the boyfriend that this producer's wife just left him for, you know, you're not going to get the part. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

You know? And it happens all the time. And you know, a lot of people, I think with movie stars and TV stars, they see the movies and the shows that make it right and all the big hits right and you've had several But other movies and shows where you auditioned and you thought you were gonna get the role and you thought you should have got The role and you didn't well it happens all the time. I mean You cover your bases the best way you can It happens all the time. I mean, you cover your bases the best way you can. You learn the material and you try to memorize the material,

even in an audition. If you've worked with, many times you've worked for the director before, you've worked for the casting lady before, you know, and yet you don't get the part. Is the one iconic movie or show that we would all know that you felt you could have should have been in? Yeah I you know it's I was thinking about that before Fred Ward got

the part and it was a very similar movie to Karate Kid but it was earlier it was I can't think of the title now but it was a book. And I was really down to the wire. There's a lot of projects that you're down to the wire on and that nine out of 10 you don't get. Okay. You really don't. And the one you do get, it's very exciting. And, you know, like Karate Kid,

I heard the list of actors that were interviewed. It was enormous. And all ones that I respected. Okay. And how I got the part, I had gone in to see the casting woman and she said to me that he didn't, John Evilson did not think I was right for the role

based on my 8x10. And then when my friend Paul Koslow, who I had done Gunsmoke with and he and I, you know, became very good friends for years after, he said to me, you gotta go in, you're right. He didn't want to see me. And it was for you're right. He didn't wanna see me. And it was for the Sensei. And so I said, wow. I called my agent, he says he didn't like your picture.

And then I called, I didn't wanna know from that. So I called, and I don't even know why I did it, because I was doing Cagney and Lacey, so it really wasn't a big thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I just, somehow it was a challenge. And I called my PR person, Dick Gutman, and he called the casting woman and said, "'See Marty Kove, he's very right for this.'" So the next day I went to see her,

and ultimately, you know, the story I told you earlier. The rest is history. The rest is history, you know, the story I told you earlier. The rest is history. The rest is history, you know? But it was all because Dick Gutman made the appointment because the agent was useless. Well, but also because you followed up, right? A lot of people would have maybe just taken it, taken the no, gone, I got this other big thing going on,

I don't need this. But I think there's a lesson within that. And then another lesson that maybe you glance over, but like nine, everyone sees the karate kid, Cobra Kai, being in Rambo, all these other shows, but they, you said something key that you don't make nine out of 10 shows, you don't get the role. So they see the win, right? The one out of 10, they don't see the nine out of 10 where you didn't get the role. So when you wouldn't get those other shows, would you perceive it as failure? Would it get you down or would you just be going on to the next thing and the next thing?

I never looked at it as failure, blatantly failure. I would look at it as something was failing. Something, my preparation was failing for the role. I didn't do enough backstory. I didn't learn the lines that I should have learned. Most of it would have been on me. That's great. You took ownership. Yeah, I took ownership.

Exactly. And you try to improve those, I guess they are insufficient qualities that can change your career. And many times I have worked with people in classical repertory that are so brilliant. My friend James Barber played phantom for three years on Broadway. He is brilliant as a singer, brilliant as an actor. I don't know why he hasn't flown into a TV series,

or, you know, he's so talented. There's just no reason for that. You know, there's no reason, and then you'll never find the reason. You know, I've worked with people in the classical repertory company. We did Revengers tragedy. We did Man and Superman. We did, you know, a variety of of plays and this cast was brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. And I never heard of them yet. It was like one day I looked at the

Academy directory which in Hollywood there's a big thick book and a list of all the actors and their credits. I don't know how much it's used anymore but I got a whole of a one from the late 30s early 40s and I looked at all these pages and I said, wow, I never heard of any of these people. And it wasn't because they weren't wonderful actors. It was just that they didn't get the break. They didn't fulfill the dream.

They gave up on the business and became something else professionally. And it was scary. It was very scary. But, and that was early on in my career. And I just, I never could face that. When my wife said to me in 1982, I remember, we had very little money, and it was a year after we got married.

And I had a big blister on my foot. I couldn't walk very well. I had stepped on some charcoal. And she said to me, what's gonna happen if you don't make it? And making it to me was being respected by my peers. It wasn't being a movie star. It was being respected by my peers.

That's what I want. It was always my purpose, becoming an actor. And I thought about what she said, what's gonna happen if you don't make it? I took a long pause and I looked at her and I said, I don't know, I'm just gonna keep on trying. And that's what I said, I never forgot that. A month later, I got Cagney and Lacey for six years.

A year later, I got, you know, Karate Kid. Okay. And it just kept going, you know? And it's all you can do. You can just keep on entertaining and peppering the challenge. And now they do a book on me, and I don't think I'm book-worthy. But it's about tenacity. That's what the author says.

It's about tenacity, Martin. It's not anything else. It's not about karate kid. It's not about Rambo. It's not about else. It's not about Karate Kid, it's not about Rambo, it's not about Cobra Kai. It's about you being tenacious from growing up in Brooklyn and being the only child and living in this world of fantasy.

Yeah, yeah. And I mean, one thing that you talk about in the main episode, like having that big belief and dream, right, that maybe didn't make sense because you weren't from Hollywood or born in LA or born into a family of actors but I think that's so important it starts with that dream and then it follows with tenacity and consistently keep going keep going keep going until you find the win so I love that and I'm excited for the episode where everyone can learn

about that. Last question, you're moving into new ventures, right? You're still working on new ventures now, right? The cigar in your hand, the movies that are up and coming. Just as we finish today, can you tease a little about what's to come? Well, it's interesting that I want my son to have a little edge, you know? And you don't ever know when you're going to stop functioning as an actor, producer, director. So I wrote these four comic books, and they became a graphic novel. And my partner is a man who brought in Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul and Cobra Kai into Sony. And now he's an independent producer.

So we created something called The Prodigal Son, which is really the name of this show, which is basically about an old gunfighter who has killed everything. And he bonds emotionally with a 12-year-old boy. And they exchange human values. And it's wonderful. And all the things we entertain in current events today,

where parents would entertain with a child, we deal with. But it's a Western. That's great. And then there's this company a friend of mine named Paul Silvio Created a cigar that comes out Next month all the prodigal son and this is a prototype of the box which I just think this is

beautiful river beautiful and And it just kind of, you know, you hope it comes out. It's very, it's impossible to sell a show now in Hollywood. It's just really hard. There's so much competition. But the bottom line is, is that you have that same dream that I had 50 years ago. I want my son to be in this.

I want to make it for him. I want to incorporate all the things that John Kreese went through in Cobra Kai, but as an old gunfighter, set in his ways, like he was set in his ways. You know? And then maybe I could retire. Maybe. If I don't do the line in winter and renew that as a play, which is what I really like, one more play I'd like to do. And maybe I'll do that, you know? Good. Well, we'll all be watching. I mean, as we talked about earlier, as we were getting ready, it's the entrepreneurial adventure in us. It never ends, right? It never ends. It never ends. As you said I never ends as you said before

You think do you think well, I'll do this one more thing and you know, and then I'll just kick back. I Don't know about kicking back. I think it's the drive inside Successful people, you know, that's great What I get to do is meet all these people and you know I've had a lot of success and that one thing we have in common is that drive you know drive and consistency yeah so it's been a pleasure guys that's a wrap for this podcast but go check out the full episode and of course all the new projects this was an amazing day and so fun to kind of pull back the curtain and look at your life and how your mindset behind all the amazing

things you've done. So thank you so much guys go check out the episode and as always to keep working hard, build a legacy and have impact. Take care. You