Mick Unplugged - Matt Iseman: Reveals His Journey from Doctor to Comedian to Ninja Warrior Host

Episode Date: August 21, 2025

Matt Iseman is an Emmy-winning comedian, TV host, and medical doctor best known as the beloved host of American Ninja Warrior. A cancer survivor and rheumatoid arthritis warrior, Matt uses both his medical background and comedic chops to inspire resilience and hope in others. He’s a passionate advocate for the Arthritis Foundation, raising awareness and funds as a public voice for those impacted by chronic illness. Matt’s dynamic career spans stand-up comedy, television, and philanthropy, making him a true champion for transformation and relentless growth. Takeaways: Community is Healing: Matt credits finding connection with others experiencing rheumatoid arthritis as a crucial turning point, emphasizing the power of shared experience and support when living with chronic illness. Laughter Matters: Comedy provided Matt not just with a career, but with a coping mechanism that helped him manage both the physical and emotional pain of RA, proving that laughter truly is healing. Leading with Humility: Through his journey on Celebrity Apprentice and his friendship with Arnold Schwarzenegger, Matt learned that true leadership comes from building others up, not boosting your own ego. Sound Bites: “Even if it’s a bad answer, even if it’s cancer, even if it’s a chronic disease… at least you know what you’re up against.” “When you’re laughing, you’re not thinking about the pain, you’re not thinking about the sadness.” “When you didn’t make it about your ego… when I sought for collaboration, I found that was how I managed a lot of the egos.” Connect & Discover Matt: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mattiseman/?hl=en Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mattiseman/ Website: https://mattiseman.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/mattisemanlive 🔥 Ready to Unleash Your Inner Game-Changer? 🔥   Mick Hunt’s brand-new book, How to Be a Good Leader When You’ve Never Had One: The Blueprint for Modern Leadership, is here to light a fire under your ambition and arm you with the real-talk strategies that only Mick delivers.   👉 Grab your copy now and level up your life → Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books A Million FOLLOW MICK ON: Spotify: MickUnplugged Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mickunplugged/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mickunplugged/   YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/@MickUnpluggedPodcast LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mickhunt/ Website:  https://mickhuntofficial.com/ Apple: MickUnplugged

in an arena with thousands of people watching and on TV with millions at home watching, you know, there's something about anyone who has the courage, particularly for these people who aren't professional athletes. For the most of them, they have families and jobs. And they're doing this once a year. They're putting themselves out there. And I just have so much respect for that. Welcome to Mick Unplugged, the number one podcast for self-improvement, leadership, and relentless growth. No fluff, no filters, just heart-hitting truths, unstoppable strategies, and the mindset shifts that separate the best from the rest. Ready to break limits? Let's go.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back for another exciting episode of Mick Unplugged, and today we have someone who's a personal hero of mine. We're talking about a guy that's going from Ivy League MD to an Emmy winning comedian, cancer survivor, arthritis warrior, and the soul of American Ninja Warrior. He redefines resilience, elevates grit, and inspires transformation. Join me in welcoming my hero, Mr. Matt Eisman. Matt, how you doing today, brother? You're too good.

You're making my ego huge here. The soul of American Ninja Warrior. That's got to go on my business card, man. That's very kind. I mean it in every stretch of the imagination, man. Matt, I told you you're my hero. I want to tell you why. So rheumatoid arthritis personally affects my family.

What you do for the foundations that you're a part of, man, like truly have helped me bring awareness to my communities, to the clients that I represent that I work with. And so I just want to thank you because we are so much now aware of rheumatoid and the foundations and the work that's being done. And with you being the frontrunner of that, man, being a key voice of that, I just have to thank you. You're very kind. I feel very lucky. So for those who don't know, I have rheumatoid arthritis, as you mentioned. And what's interesting is for me, the reason I got so involved is my background is I'm a medical doctor, as you mentioned. And when I was diagnosed, first of all, it took a year and a half to get diagnosed, a year

and a half where my body was falling apart and really my life was falling apart physically i gained 50 pounds i was unable to work out i had stiffness in my neck my back pain in my hands and my feet i mean my life i became a shell of myself and i was going to doctors i was being tested for things rheumatologic conditions like r a and nothing was coming back positive and the doctor said everything's normal even though i knew something's wrong and it took a year and a half before I got the diagnosis. And when I got diagnosed and was told I had RA that the thing was, first of all, I was relieved, not because I wanted, R.A. is a chronic autoimmune disease. There is no cure. Obviously, you don't want that, but I just wanted an answer because, you know, for anyone

out there who's experiencing health issues, one of the most challenging parts is when you don't know why, when there's no answer. Because even if it's a bad answer, even if it's cancer, even if it's a chronic disease and there is no cure, at least you know what you're up against instead of just kind of facing like you're in a room blindfolded and you just keep getting hit. But the crazy thing was once I was diagnosed as a doctor, my dad's a doctor, my friends were doctors. I was surrounded by good doctors. I understood the disease. I understood the pathophysiology of it. But what I didn't know was how do you live with it? And so for me, when I got diagnosed, noticed the crazy thing was even though I was surrounded by all these people wanting to help,

I felt alone until I went to a meeting with the arthritis foundation. And all of a sudden, I'm in a room full of people like me, a rumful of people facing the same disease or a similar disease, people who could tell me, hey, this is how I cope with this day to day. These are some of the strategies I cope with. These are some of the things like you can have kids still. You can have a job. There are challenges, but here's what they are. And to me, what it was, was the reason I've become so supportive of the arthritis foundation in particular was they were my family when I was diagnosed with this disease. Not that my other family wasn't there, but the family of people who knew what I was going through. And for anyone who's experienced a challenge,

and I don't think it's limited to just health challenges, but it's so helpful to have someone who's walked a mile in your shoes and who can understand what you're going through and who can give you the real practical advice and sometimes just be there to say yeah it sucks that's okay it sucks dude you are so true man like so my grandmother had it before she passed my mom has it my sister has it i have an uncle or actually two uncles that have it and i don't think people understand what you just said just that community of hey i'm here with yeah sometimes that's what you need because the the pain that could just hit you at one o'clock in the morning Like, I mean, my mom sometimes has to sleep sitting up in a chair just because when she gets that flare up, like you said, like there's not much that you can do.

Like, there's some things to ease it, but it doesn't go away. And then my sister, you know, just to walk up and downstairs sometimes can be a struggle. My uncle, who's one of the strongest men that I know, is like, I can't use a screwdriver right now. Like, can you come over and help me? And but I get it. And I don't think people understand, like, just that. dynamic of the disease and of the illness man like how did you begin coping with it on both the mental and the physical side so i think there were a couple things that happened um that

that happened pretty quickly i i think the first thing was by finding that community and and seeing people living with it because again when you read the textbook when you search online the majority of the cases you find are the worst case scenarios you're seeing people completely find to wheelchairs, people with the gnarled hands. But the reality is for most people living with R.A. A lot of times it's what's called an invisible disease where people look at you and they can't tell anything's wrong. But when they see, you know, my friend, I was 30 years old and, you know, I went from like a 197 pounds to almost 250 pounds. I couldn't move. And my buddy looked at me and he's like, what's wrong with you? There's something wrong. And I think for me was

was finding that community of people who could tell me it's okay. There's a way through this. You know, there's a bright side and we're a living proof of it. That was important. But the other thing was at that point I was doing stand-up comedy. And for me, you know, that that age-old truism, laughter is the best medicine. I think for me that even even in that 18 months when I didn't have a diagnosis, but I was really struggling physically and even emotionally, I was probably clinically depressed by the final few months where you're just so devastated, sleeping 10 to 14 hours a day and still feeling exhausted. I think for me, the highlight of every day was going to a comedy club. And even if nobody laughed at my jokes, it's being around a room of laughter.

It's that thing of when you're laughing, you're not thinking about the pain. You're not thinking about the sadness. And so for me, laughter was such a, I think such a good tool to help cope with the struggles of it. And I was very fortunate. I started on a biologic drug, which those, those were only approved in 98. I was diagnosed in 2002. And I'm sure as you're, certainly your mom knows and maybe even your sister, before those biologics, the treatments were things like heavy metals. And very often the side effects of the treatments were as bad as the disease. And so it was, it was a real catch 22. And I've been very fortunate where I've responded pretty well. My disease hasn't progressed a lot. So I kind of feel like I benefited from all the

people who came before me, who's suffering and whose willingness to be experimented on led to the advent of these incredible drugs that now, for so many of us, have offered us a way back into what we would call, you know, a life where R.A. isn't dominating. And so for me, I think, you know, having that family of people going through it and then having the ability, the comedy where to me, no matter how bad I felt, if I was out laughing, for that moment, everything felt normal. And I think when you're sick, all you want is to just feel normal, even if it's only for a few minutes. Because when you're sick, when you're in pain, it's so hard to take your focus off of that and focus on anything else. And so for me, being out

doing comedy every night, which was very fortunately my job, I think was probably one of the most important things of me getting through it. It's Marie Antoinette Month on the Vulgar History podcast. Every week in September, we will be talking about the notorious French queen. Why is she still talked about today? Did she really say, let them eat cake? Spoiler, she did not. Why do people still think she deserved to have her head cut off?

We're going to be taking a deep dive into Marie Antoinette's life and world to try to answer the question. how do you solve a problem like Marie Antoinette? Listen to vulgar history wherever you get podcasts. I love that, dude. And again, I just want to thank you and applaud you for putting it on your shoulder, being a big visual, being a big voice because it's needed. And like I said, my family truly thinks.

Well, man, you know, and that's something else too. I think that so again, when I was diagnosed and I started searching, you know, you read about the textbooks and you'll read about obviously people tend to write article is usually about the worst case scenario. And so one of the things I wanted to do, and also RA tends to be a disease. It predominantly favors women and usually women, you know, in their 50s or 60s. There can be juvenile RA and obviously men can get it too. But when you get diagnosed with this and you're like, I don't see anyone like me. Even when I went to the RA meetings, I still felt that, you know, guys in their 30s were kind of underrepresented. And that

was one of those chances where I said, you know, I can share my story now so that the next person who gets diagnosed won't feel so alone and go, oh, yeah, there's someone like me. And at that point, you know, I was already doing pretty well. And for me, the more I've gotten to do, you know, when I was on Celebrity Apprentice, my cause was the Arthritis Foundation. And we ended up raising a million dollars for it. And as important as that, though, was that I got to tell my story. So we raise the money for the research, but also you raise awareness and you let people know, hey, you know, there are a lot of people suffering with this disease. you're not alone and that's what stuff is you could be out your co-worker might have the same disease but

because a lot of people aren't comfortable they don't want to share their disease they don't want people to look at them differently for me i just felt like this is a chance to share my story um so that because it was when i was diagnosed you're just looking around and just to be able to glat latch on to somebody and go okay they're like me and they're doing okay that gives me hope i want it to be that for the next person And you're doing it well, brother. You're doing it well. So I want to transition a little bit to this comedy world of you, man. So, like, again, huge fan of you forever.

Love seeing all of your, I'm going to say your old clips and bits that you post out on YouTube. Dude, like, you're one of the funniest people that I'm not sure the world knows how funny. It's, well, thank you for saying that because I totally agree with you. But, you know, it's one of the things like on. Ninja Warrior, it's not a very funny show, you know, it, it tends to be very earnest. And so I understand, you know, when I go out and do comedy, not a lot of people go, let's go see the host from Ninja Warrior, the really loud guy, because I'm not particularly funny on the show.

But stand-up has been my first love. It's what brought me out to Hollywood. And it's something, to me, I love TV. I love Ninja Warrior. It's awesome. But there is something about being in a room, which is you and a microphone in a crowd. And that immediacy of you say a joke, and people can clap, even if, you know, you can faking laughter is very hard.

And so it's kind of that response. It's such an honest exchange with you in the audience where if you get him laughing, you've earned it. And to me, I always say it's such a rush doing stand-up comedy because, you know, I used to be an athlete. I was a college baseball player, not particularly good. But I always think back in sports when Michael Jordan,

you know, that game when he hit, I think it was six three-pointers in the first half. And he just said, I was in his own. Yeah, he gets the hands up. And he goes, the hoop looked like, you know, it was the size of a hula hoop. It couldn't go in it. He just talked about being in that state. And I think, you know, anyone who's worked at something and who's really good at something,

we all have those moments when you're like, oh, it's like the matrix when everything slows down. And I think that's when stand-up comedy is at its best is when you're on stage and the crowd's laughing and you just feel like it's also, you see everything. You know the joke you're telling. You're present to it, but you're thinking about where can I go next and what's happening? over here. And it's just, to me, it's one of those states where you just feel present. Because I think particularly now in life, and I am so bad at this with my phone, I think we all get so distracted. We have a million things beeping at us, buzzing at us, instant ways to distract us. I love when

something pulls you fully present. And to me, that's what stand-up does, which is why I love it so much. Dude, and you're great at it, man. You have an amazing gift and talent. And I know you work hard at it. And I wanted to ask you this question because I know when you're doing stand-up, right? Like you've got your routine, you've got your flow that you're going to do over and over again. Are there moments when it's like, all right, I did this in LA and it was like, okay, but then I go do it in Alabama and the crowd erupts. It's the same joke, the same energy. What is that like, man? It'll happen in the same night. Like, if you do two shows, you'll go out, you'll say a joke, it kills. And you'll go out to the same audience.

or virtually the same audience in the same city and it dies. But that's what of the challenges of comedy is that it can it's always a high wire act. And that's what we say is, you know, if you ever kind of just go on autopilot where you're like, I know this joke works. I can just tell this. The audience is very perceptive. And if you're not really present, because you're right, you've often told the joke for a decade. You've told the same joke, but you're always tweaking it.

But if you, if, and so the challenge is to make it feel, though, like every night is the first time you say it. And that's when you have to be present in the room. And when you're not, when you go on autopilot and every comic will tell you, we know when we do it. We know when sometimes you're just like, I'm tired or I'm not feeling, you know, and something happens you go down. That's when you feel, you feel like the audience slipping away because the audience, they might not articulate it, but they're incredibly intuitive. And one of the things I say is as long as the audience trust. you. As long as they feel safe with you, you can take them anywhere. If five jokes in a row go bad, but you don't panic and you're like, I'm setting you up for something, the audience is okay

with it. But as soon as you start getting, we call it flop sweat. And I just took a shower. That's why I'm sweating right now. And I'm so excited to talk to you. But it is that thing. When the audience sends fear or when they pity you, then it's dead. So that's one of the great things with stand-up is that, you know, your set, your jokes are always a living, breathing organism. There's always room to find something and that's what we're doing so we stand up i when i go out i'll know if everything i have 45 minutes these are the jokes i will tell them 45 minutes but when i go out there sometimes you're like something happens and you'll just run with it and you'll just go and then you can dip back into your material if you need to and then something else happens and you can go back

out and we'll you know my friends and i we were talking about we go that's when you're being a comedian That's when you're not just saying your material. That's when you're being funny. You're in a room, the same way you do with your friends, where you're commenting on something. You got something. Something else comes up. You don't ignore it.

You play with it. You have fun, but you always know where you're going. And to me, that's when stand-up is at its best. So, you know, there are a lot of, right now on the internet, you see a lot of crowd work because comedians, you know, a joke might take years to develop. And if you put it out online, that joke's kind of gone. but crowdwork is something that kind of happens

that's based on a night and you're like let me just show this so you know I'm funny so you come out and see my material so that's been one of the challenges with comedy is with the ubiquity of social media of how do I show people my material or how do I show people I'm funny without then burning all my material

so a lot of people are doing crowdwork and it's also it's it is fun it is fun kind of because the audience also senses when something's happens They tend to know when it's a joke that, hey, they might have told that joke before. But when something happens, you're like, guy with the glasses. And it's like, hey, that was because of the guy with the glasses.

That happened this night. And you might have had that joke where anytime there's a guy with glasses, but you make it feel special, you make it feel present. I think that's what stand-up is you always want to make it feel new. Yeah. And that's why I appreciate your art, man. And I was talking to a pretty famously well-known comedian. I won't say their name.

But it's funny that you mentioned going on autopilot because this person said to me, like, Mick, I had to go back in the lab because my 45 minutes set, I did two nights in a row for 30 minutes. It was like, I was just in a flow. I wasn't really connected with the audience. And then I had to go, another point that you just made, I had to go to crowdwork because I knew at least I could go do that. And so now they're working on perfecting their crowdwork so that they've got new material. every time because the audience changes. So you're spot on with that, brother. It is, you know, and that's one of the things

that I love about stand-up is it's just, it's, it is a bucking bronco. You know, you can ride it, you can be on it, but at any second you can get thrown off. And that's part of the rush, I think, that we love about it is it is one of those things that forces you not to just kind of go through it. Because, you know, like I went to see a Vegas show

and it was a very, very famous magician who'd been on TV, who'd done everything. And I watched him, and I just saw him, magic. And I was just like, this guy has done this for 23 years, and there's no magic left in his performance. He was just hitting the numbers. And you're like, wow, you know, that's, and that's the challenge.

Like when you, especially when you have like a residency in Vegas where you may be doing 10, 12 shows a week, you know, the real challenge as a great performer is how do you make each one feel like it's the first time you've done it? How do you make a Tuesday matinee show still feels special? And that's, you know, that's, I think those are the really great performers are the ones who can do that. Yeah. So another thing I want to congratulate your own brother was, was winning Celebrity Apprentice in your season, your year. You were kicking names or kicking buts taking names, right? What's a leadership lesson that you learned throughout celebrity

apprentice that maybe you didn't know until you were on? You know, I think it was, I've played sports, been on some shows that were, you know, network shows and things. I think, I think the interesting thing with that was that was probably the biggest collection of people, alphas, people with big egos, people who might not have been, you know, at the top of their games success-wise, but, but, you know, people who'd been Hall of Fame NFL players, world champion boxers, like, you know, superstars, heads of bands that were, you know, had sold 100 million albums. You're around these people. And especially as someone coming in, I was probably one of the lesser-known people, I think it was a chance to really say, all right, I'm going to swallow

my ego here and see what do I need to do to get people on the same page. And what I found was one of those things that, that when you didn't make it about your ego, when you didn't if someone challenged you make it like, hey, this is a maneuver going, all right, well, what's your idea? Let me hear you. It was one of those things that when I sought for collaboration, I found that was how I managed a lot of the egos. Now, the great thing about it was, for those who don't know, I was on with the new boss, Arnold Schwarzenegger. The old boss had moved on to a different job. And unfortunately, you know, I won. I'm the new celebrity apprentice. The show got canceled because of the political connections to it. It wasn't because you won? It didn't. It didn't.

Maybe, but I'm going to stay because of the political stuff. But what was great was when the show was canceled that day, I was literally standing in an airport and I saw the text after I won. And it's like, you know, NBC announces, celebrity apprentices canceled. And right then I got a call from Arnold Schwarzenegger. And he's like, I see, I just want you to know, you're still my apprentice. In two weeks, we're going to Columbus, Ohio. And like, since then, that was in 2017.

Since then, I've traveled the world with this guy. I've gotten to be up close. And to me, Mick, that has been like business school, graduate school, the school of heart. Like being around someone who I think is one of one, but certainly in my generation, I can't think of many people who've had the amount of worldwide fame, the amount of success in so many different areas from bodybuilding to real estate, to movies, to politics, to philanthropy, to climate change. To be in his orbit has been such a lesson in leadership and seeing how he does it. Because he has me host this Austrian World Summit on Climate Change that's held in the Hofberg Palace in Vienna, their version of the White House.

I'm up there hosting with world leaders, presidents, prime ministers, leaders of billion-dollar companies, Arnold puts me up there. And I watch this. And there's no question with all those people in the room that Arnold is the biggest person in the room. But the thing I love about him is he never made. makes it a contest about measuring the size of your manhood. With Arnold, he's the guy.

He's building everyone else up. Everyone who comes in, oh, it's so great to see you here, Prime Minister Vanderbellin. It's so great to have you here. It's incredible what you're doing. And he makes you feel appreciated and he makes you feel valued. And when I watch his style of leadership, I've worked with him now for going on almost a decade.

And every time I do something, this is it he writes me a letter he'll write me a letter that gets there the day or two after saying thank you when he's up on stage he'll say i it's so amazing having math isman host and and and monica longtole planning this you're the best planner in the world he builds everyone up and mick in this era when we see people you know the leaders who have to push people down or smash him down or remind him i'm the leader what a breath of fresh air it is to see someone who instead builds everyone up and in so doing lifts us all up and himself too and it's to me when i see his style of leadership i think that's that's someone who moves the needle in such a significant way

in so many different areas i love that dude i love that you know matt i normally start my conversations by asking my guest what their because is yeah but i needed to to talk to you about being my hero and why. And so that was really important for me. But now I do want to ask you, Matt, like all the things that you do in life, all the goodness that you bring forward, what's your because? And for me, your because is that thing that's deeper than your why. Like, I could guess your why. But your because is really the fuel that makes everything happen. So for Matt Eisenman, man, what's your because I know that's your question. And I've been thinking about that. And you know, When I went into being a doctor, the idea was I want to help people.

And then when I left medicine and gotten to stand-up comedy, it was kind of hard because, like, hey, you were directly helping people. And now you're at there being the center of attention. But the thing I think I realized was growing up as I looked at it, I was always, I like to make people feel good. I'm a pleaser. I don't like conflict. I had a brother.

We'd fight. I never wanted to fight. I always were. That's why I got into comedy. Let me laugh. Let me diffuse people. I think the thing was I want to make people feel happy

and that's always kind of been my nature I think you know with Ninja Warrior it's so great we found a show where you know wipe out to show when people fall you can laugh on our show when people fall even it's on the very first obstacle

we don't laugh we say you know what it took a lot of courage just to get here in a lot of effort and you know whether you make it all the way or just one step you still put yourself out there you still risk something

And you go back to that awesome Teddy Roosevelt speech about the man in the arena, you know, that's the one who deserves the credit. Not the people online sniping at you or tearing you down. And so I think for me, my because is I always have had this need to want to make people feel good, to feel better. And I thought with medicine, I was going to do it that way. And I realized, well, I'm not going to be a brain surgeon

or a heart surgeon. Instead, I'm going to do it through my words, through my actions, through shows like Ninja Warrior or through my comedy, where my comedy, for the most part, is very goofy. For the most part, I'm the butt of the joke. You know, I always remember when I started out doing comedy, my mom and grandma came to some shows. And the thing they both said,

well, a lot of comics would go up and they would do crowdwork and they would rip on people. My mom always sat in the back because she just thought, oh, I would feel so terrible if someone picked on me at a show. And I just thought, yeah, you know, that's great. And some people love it. I mean, Don Rickles was the best. It's great.

But for me, who I am, I never wanted to do that because, you know, you just, we all remember at some point when you're being picked on. And I thought, I never liked that. Instead, I liked the idea of, hey, we can laugh together. But in the end, I want it to be like, I'm going to put my arm around you and we're going to walk out of here, laugh and kind of, you know, nudging each other. Like, we're friends. You know, if it's like a roast to me, I did a roast once of Dennis Rodman.

Now, there's an easy target. I met him that night. And I'm going up on stage. And the thought behind every joke was I wanted to go, hey, Dennis, this is just a joke. Like, you know that, but it was just so critical to me. I'm like, I don't want this guy up here going, man, does this guy hate me?

And that's part of my personality, I think, that for better or worse, impacts how I do comedy. But it's something for me, I think my because is when I do stuff, by and large, I want it to make people feel better. I think that's, when I leave a show and people are smiling or we do Ninja Warrior and you get texts or emails or people saying, man, that show was fun

and we loved what you said about us or how you celebrated us. I'm like, that's it. I think my because is ultimately, I guess I'm a glorified hype man, Mick, that's my because. And you do it great, brother. And you touch a lot of lives. You make, the reason I call you the soul of American Ninja Warrior,

and you can tell Akbar I said it. But it's because you're pure. Right? Like who Matt Eisenman is is who you are and that's seen through. So even for people that don't personally know you, they know you. And I think that that truly aligns with what you're because. Well, it's funny. I think that's one thing that we really got, I don't know if it's luck or if they knew it intentionally. But when we started, Akbar and I, I think both kind of share that sensibility. And he's a guy obviously played in the NFL. His brother was an all pro nine years at Green Bay. And Akbar always said, I was a journeyman. I was a guy, you know, I bounced around from team to team to team. I was never a star. I always had to work for everything. And he goes, when I see these ninjas out here, the ones who are struggling getting by, the ones who maybe haven't hit a buzzer, he goes, that was me.

And he's like, that's me. That's the guy I want to celebrate. I think we're both like that of having played sports and having, you know, attempted physical things, particularly in an arena with thousands of people watching and on TV with millions at home watching. You know, there's something about anyone who has. the courage, particularly for these people who aren't professional athletes. For the most of them, they have families and jobs. And they're doing this once a year. They're putting themselves out there.

And I just have so much respect for that because like Celebrity Apprentice, that's, that's, you know, we did lip sync battle in RuPaul's drag race where you're, you're out there being judged. But, but it's, it's something on Ninja Warrior where it really is you versus the course. And I just, I'm so appreciative that there are people who were like, I'm willing to. to go for this glory, knowing that, you know, a fall is part of it. And that's one of the cool things with our show is we're heading into season 18 is, you know, we've had seasons where people have fallen. We had a guy, Kyle Shulsey, I think it was eight seasons, he tried.

And finally, last season, he got his first ever buzzer. And, you know, we've had thousands of buzzers, but that was his first buzzer, and that was a moment none of us will forget because of all the hard work, because of the failures that came before it. And that's what's great with the show that's gone on this long is we get to see these story arts. We get to see people who came in here as little kids who were now married with their own kids doing Ninja.

And it's really cool to see this kind of full circle and see this community and family that's developed from it. I love it, brother. I love it, brother. Matt, I want to give my quick, I usually do a quick five. I'm going to do a quick four because I want the last one for you to tell people about all the cool things you have going on.

so quick five rapid fire recently married yes i saw i saw the dance moves that was the better we did what we came down the aisle to this is me and then our first dance was to faithfully and we did we did interpretive dance which yes was you know a bold choice i will say so who's the better dancer you or akbar uh-huh Akbar not by much though we are both awful but he's bigger than me so i'm going to say his name so it doesn't beat me up next time. All right. Your favorite comfort food?

Chicken tenders with honey mustard sauce. Oh, my wife. See, Wifee, Marcy, Matt eats chicken tenders too. So our wedding a couple of years ago, everybody has steak and chicken and salmon. I wanted chicken tenders. I was like, just give me chicken tenders.

We had chicken tenders late night. And I was so happy. My wife was like, are you serious? I'm like, yes, I am. See? We have so much in common, dude. So much in common. Your most favorite book that you've read? What jumps to mind? You know, I got to go back. I'm going to go back to the Chronicles of Narnia

because I think those were the first books I remember. And because there were a series of them, they drew me into reading. Those books I remember, like giving me the passion to read. I just couldn't wait to put one down. And it was just such good storytelling. And there's so many since then, I think so many incredible books.

I just read, you know, a fascinating book I just read was the book on Elon Musk by Walter Isaacs in the biography where, you know, Elon's such an obviously charged figure right now. But just when you see what it takes, I think, you know, anytime you're, someone operates at a very high level like Musk does, running so many companies, I think you want to know how do they do it. And when you see the way he lives, you're like, oh, that is something. thing I couldn't do, the drive there. But it's fascinating. The same thing with Schwartner, where I think when you have an opportunity to glean the insights from these people who operate at a level that is, you know, the super

rare stratosphere. To me, I love learning about that. I love it. All right. Last one. If Matt's playlist comes on, music playlist, what's the one song that you immediately lose your mind to and no matter what's going on? Any way you want it by Journey. There you go. I love Journey. any way you want it. It's like such. It's a happy song. It's a song about potential. It's

amazing. Love it, brother. And then the last question, Matt, is what do you have going on now and where can people find him? So Akbar and I just shot a little travel show called Extra Mile Club. It's going to be coming out in October. I've got some corporate gigs coming up. We're going to be Ninja Warrior, the season 17. We're heading into the final stretch. I think we've got six episodes left season 17. Love it, love it, love it. I'll make sure. we have links everywhere in the show notes and descriptions. Matt, brother, I know how busy you are, but like I said in the beginning, truly honored that my hero could come on, what you mean to not just me, but my family, and everyone that's struggling or suffering

with arthritis, man, like, just truly love you. Well, thank you, and I hope they're doing well. Godspeed. You got it. And to all the viewers and listeners, remember your because is your superpower. Go unleashing. Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Mick Unplugged. If today hits you hard, then imagine what's next. Be sure to subscribe, rate, and share this with someone who needs it. And most of all, make a plan and take action. Because the next level is already waiting for you.

Have a question or insight to share? Send us an email to hello at mickunplugged.com. Until next time, ask yourself how you can step up. It's a lot.