The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - Hour 2: EA$Y MONEY TONY (feat. Brian Steinberg)

Episode Date: July 23, 2025

It's time to discuss the death of the late-night show. Is Colbert just the tip of the iceberg? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Get to Toronto's main venues like Budweiser Stage and the new Rogers Stadium with Go Transit. Thanks to Go Transit's special online e-ticket fairs, a $10 one-day weekend pass offers unlimited travel on any weekend day or holiday, anywhere along the Go network. And the weekday group passes offer the same weekday travel flexibility across the network, starting at $30 for two people and up to $60 for a group of five. Buy your online GoPass ahead of the show at Gotransit.com slash tickets. This is the Don Leventor Show with the Stugarts Podcast. Let me speak to someone here who has more expertise than I do on the things we've been talking about for the last couple of days involving steven cold bear brian steinberg

uh... more than three decades as a reporter and journalist uh... covering the business of advertising media and television is the senior t v editor for variety uh... cbs brian and thank you for joining us as the cancellation of the late show was purely a financial decision even though it was the most watch late night program for years now when the news broke cbs executives in a statement said quote this is a purely financial

decision against the challenging backdrop in late night is not related in any way to the show's performance content or others mad other matters happening at paramount and quote do you believe this to be true what i've talked to you i've talked to on all sides of the matter i think there's something there i know the outfits are great uh... with the sixty minutes lawsuits and called their car now they're off about it's a few days earlier but my understanding is that and is that you know that there is a financial issues

going on they can't solve and what would those be exactly people are watching late night at the usual all presently night so younger people to know that there are a big crowd advertisers can can put their eyes are probably get big response younger people don't know what it means to tune in a certain time in the morning they want they want to be feel like it

and what i do what i think that puts the trident being late night shows are anymore. They watch what they want, whatever they feel like it. And if you watch like Netflix tries it, doing late night shows or Amazon's or whatever, they haven't done so with Sarah Silverman and Kelsey Handler. They haven't done so well. It's not easy to get people to show up at a certain, unless it's a football game, to show up at a certain time at all together. And so this is having a bigger effect at CBS and I think NBC ABC too. It's just the way this stuff works is not working any longer. You have more facts than I do. On Monday I was saying that that statement purely a financial decision was a lie because I thought the pending merger between Paramount and Skydance would play a factor combined

with him calling a bit a big fat bribe between those two things did either of those two things play a factor well they helped stand by help don't think it it helps call their anyway but my understanding is that cbs is concerned about the financial part of the show and going on for a while is not new colbert his team and there is concerns out there also c, CBS recently just got out of 1230.

You know, Taylor Tomlinson, who was doing this after midnight show that Colbert was involved with, decided she wanted to go back to stand up. Didn't like the corporate stuff and decided to do her own thing. CBS was replacing it with old repeats of a Byron Allen show from years ago. So that tells you what they think about late night these days. How expensive is the show? Are the reports true? Losing $40 to $50 million a year, 200 employees.

200 employees is accurate. I can't verify the exact number of the profit loss on the show, but it doesn't sound outrageous that it costs tens of millions of dollars to have a live band every night, audience, to own the only Ed Sullivan Theater in New York City and maintain that, to pay Colbert a salary, to pay all these guys salaries. It doesn't strike me as outlandish that the numbers would get to that area. The challenge, I think the challenge is that they've long relied on young people to show up. I do think that Colbert's, you know, Colbert rode to the top when he first started. It was kind of a rocky tenure. He's kind of trying to be all things to all people. He had previously been on

Comedy Central doing that Colbert report character, this conservative character. He had to be all things to all people. He had previously been on Comedy Central doing that Colberry poor character, conservative character. He had to be his real authentic self at CBS. And he was trying to navigate that. The first year was a little rocky. He figured out if I just zoom in on the headlines and my reactions to them, that's going to work. He was right. He started beating Fallon. First time CBS has beaten NBC letterman first of all the job in ninety three all but i do think the political or the headlines humor probably made some advertisers will shakey on getting involved and that because of more polarized environment and not that good night farewell times up the most way back to the known for so if i may hear because these things aren't

absolute okay and i do think i was too loud monday because i was saying lies these are lies how can you possibly say this is purely a financial decision in this particular climate it's made easier by all of the things brian saying and i don't want to be stubborn here in order to be right purely a financial decision purely seems like it can't be true because you are you're right when you're saying all of these things but none of the other shows

have these kinds of ratings are they far less expensive is camel are all of the is that tonight show far less expensive than this if can more red dot you look at that and trackers tonight show and come on have checked more of their ad dollars though. You look at ad trackers, Tonight Show and Kimmel have kept more of their ad base than Colbert has over the last five years. But they're less political, not Kimmel, but they're less political. He's the most political one. He's also the highest rated because he's the most political one.

I think CBS, I have to think that there's some concern about the again with the merger not lying ahead they cannot afford not to have this merger. Paramount I would argue is perhaps the the least performing of all the big media companies right now maybe Warner as well. You know I can't say it's not a concern having this merger go through and was there pressure to to oust Colbert? I don't know. I mean, John Stewart seems to be keeping on so far, and he's on the OMS company.

But also Colbert is gonna be off in another 10 months. I mean, in most of these companies, if they have a problem with talent, they yank and they say goodbye. They're giving Colbert a 10-month farewell. But how could it be purely a financial decision? 39%. That's it.

I can say I don't think political stuff helped Colbert in this current climate. But I do think that this has been a concern of CBS for a while. I understand that his team was probably aware of the situation going back several weeks. But I don't think he was shocked to understand it, but I think the actual trigger was happened more recently. Brian, have you ever seen an example like this though, where a host of a show or a show like this one even considers like, hey, in this political climate, we're basically afraid of retribution

from the president of the United States. Is that something that you've ever seen an example of before, where it's not just simply a financial decision cut and dry, because that's the way the organization runs it? I mean, I think you'll get over the news space. A lot of things happening right now are out of, you know, of sequestrness in some cases. I mean, both the ABC and CBS paying fines or settling laws, not fines, actual lawsuit settlements for legal matters they probably could

have beaten in court, you know, just make Trump go away. I think, you know, and decisions happen all the time in news like, you know, Joy Reid leaving MSNBC or, you know, this kind of things, Tucker Carlson leaving Fox News. These are not purely financial decisions. They are done because of personality conflicts and other concerns about programming. Is it out of the realm of possibility to think that, you said that they've known for weeks probably

that this was in discussions. They knew that this might be the result. So if we had a filter, we can just remove the filter now and we'll just be more honest and we'll be less careful in what we say because we know inevitably this might be what happens anyway. So let's just, we can go for it now and it doesn't matter because they may cancel this regardless.

I do think what you're gonna see from Colbert until May is 100% raw unfiltered Colbert. He has nothing to lose. I would argue he's probably headed after this contract over to a very lucrative career as an independent creator or somewhere else. I don't think he's, again, one of the best watched late night show. There's an audience that will follow him. Look at Conan O'Brien.

Left TBS and NBC after many years of late night did a great job with Podcasting sold the podcast to serious for many millions of dollars You can argue that Conan is the most successful late night host in history because he has these great businesses after he's done with the chair So I don't think Colbert's career is over by any chance I think we're gonna see raw unfiltered call vehicle John Stewart on Monday night who went nuts I think we're gonna see more of that because these guys stuart on monday night who went nuts i'm guessing more of that because these guys are kind of like why should i get a carpeting a couple of my feet any more now so i'm just going

to do what i do best it's interesting the way that he's saying that because it's not the end of colbert it's the end of late night television and the i and the end of these giants uh... needing to be supported by bigger corporate giants colbert does not need any of this anymore he doesn't he he goes out he goes out with such fanfare that absolutely he can build the next thing like conan o'brien he's got that act they just did colbert a favor and i didn't realize it but this was a last

right is the idea that these late night shows cost a lot of money to make because of talent fees, because of all the other associated costs, and as you said, they're geared towards an audience that does not search for its entertainment on a linear television basis. So is this the first salvo in what's going to be the death of all of these late night shows as we know them from the networks and what's gonna come up is what Letterman does on Netflix and whatever Stephen Colbert goes on to do from here. Well, this is the great question, right? And we've seen in the last five years,

we've seen a lot of this slipping away. NBC used to have a show on after Seth Meyers at 1.30 in the morning. Carson Dale used to do it. Then it was Lee Singh. They're out of that business. CBS, 1230. Heather Thomas says, I don't like doing this.

I'm going back to my comedy. They're out of that business. Yeah, I mean, there are others like Samantha Bee over at TBS, calling it TBS. This has been drip, drip, dripping for a while now. It makes me say I think the next milestone will be Kimmel. His deal's up at 26 next year with Disney. And he has intimated several times now that he's not for a long time now.

He's getting a little tired of it. He doesn't do summers anymore. They have guest hosts all summer long. Maybe that's how the show makes money because they're paying out less for the summer. Maybe they're paying Kimmel less. But let's see if Kimmel decides to renew or not. That's a big step.

And then I think over at NBC, they have a more of a legacy feel of it. Look, Saturday Night Live and Late Night and Tonight Show have been around for years. Letterman started that Late Night Show. It's a landmark and hitting the Tonight Show. 60 years of SNL, 50 years. I think they've, in recent years,

done a lot more with these hosts. You look at Fowling, he's doing ice cream flavors, and I'm using Park Rides, he's doing a game show. i think they've they've bomb in recent years a lot more these hosts are you have found doing ice cream flavors and using park rides is a game show he's doing a show the fall called on browns on the marketing thing for different products on as an old great at support the fifty anniversary i do wonder if there's a new financial model these guys do more stuff and just late night

to keep late night i don't know that's a good point he just brought up. Kimmel and Fallon do all sorts of stuff for the network that Colbert doesn't do. Like they are more Disney characters, you know, where they'll do everything. You need me on your game show? Okay, I'll do that too. Fallon does the parade every Thanksgiving. But does Colbert do any of that? Colbert does do some. So Colbert did a pickleball special he does a couple of comedy shows. He's got a producing deal behind the scenes with CBS. We had one. My understanding is talking to people, people felt Colbert was like, I don't know, also didn't do a lot of ad deals or live commercials or specials. And CBS thought because the guy had just gone number one

let the guy do he does best and they didn't put a lot of pressure on him for you know put up put a funny sign on your show now he does do stuff on live commercials occasionally he did do some shows but not to the same extent i think cordon did or colt or or fowl but cbs wasn't i mean that whenever cbs asked him to do colbert did but they him to, you know, this guy's done a great thing, let him do his job, let him cook. Don't get in the kitchen too much. So there's more of a regard and a respect for not making the guy's frame of self too thin. So I don't know if he, I don't think he would refuse anything, but I don't think he, I think also his focus on his show. These are like newspapers, you have to have a new one every day.

They're not easy to do. They are marathons, not quick jobs. Brian, I would assume you're right that you're going to get a more raw and aggressive Colbert in these final 10 months. Do you think he makes the final 10 months? I do. There are people who pay. There are people who need paychecks. There's a staff there.

So unless, and if you look at the Pat McAfee who smacks ESPN every, every couple of months on air, it's become more accepted for the talent to make fun of the company or to take issues online on air with the company. I guess we were too early. We were too early. Damn it. Damn it'm not it's unbelievable let's play the sound here from john stuart on monday everybody wanted to hear what he had to say this is part of what it is he had to say understand that corporate fear i understand the fear that you and your advertisers have with eight billion dollars at stake

but understand this the shows that you now seek to cancel, censor, and control, a not insignificant portion of that $8 billion value came from those f***ing shows. That's what made you that money. Shows that say something, shows that take a stand, shows that are unafraid. And not to believe me, this is not a, we speak truth to power. We don't. We speak opinions to television cameras.

But we try. We try every night. And if you believe as corporations or as networks, you can make yourselves so innocuous that you can serve a gruel so flavorless that you will never again be on the boy kings radar a why will anyone watch you and you are wrong. What are your thoughts there, Brian? I don't think he's wrong. think that you know tb used to get interest by being a little provocative and and

welcome to all people now there are a book you can argue that all late night i think this letterman left exploded all kinds of and the b robin cd mtv tried for a while cmt tried for a half a second. There was this explosion of late night efforts and talent. Everyone's going after a different niche. When you go after a niche, you're not going after the whole, the whole entourage. You're not going after all the audience. I think found is the one that still goes after everybody. He tries to, and he's not political. He's not controversial. He does play his games. He gets celebrities to

come do things they wouldn't normally do. And I would argue that that's probably the most welcoming of the late night shows. This is how they run all of the politics and late night television out of the room and so Grutfeld is the only one getting the ratings because all of America, like he's not having any issues getting ratings. That's what's going to be left of late night television at the end of this because the corporations don't stand up now. Short side, I mean, the current climate does not last, nothing lasts forever.

And these shows are 60, 30 years old. And you know, have some longer term thinking might serve people well. I think we'll go 60 minutes. CBS, you can always tarnish one of the best, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS, young people have said it's dead it's dead guys but so i watch last night is the old guys put josh johnson the

only one who can actually get them young people innocent on the daily show even though that guy is purposely been wearing a hoodie and only a hoodie and he reaches young people in a way that not even the daily show does because his numbers every tuesday because of how he pro how prolific he is because he's the best but and most prolific young comic in america right now and he comes out with something every tuesday that is outside of the brand but they

put him in a suit yesterday and they they they did something to him on the daily show that is palatable it's not a hoodie anymore it's please come play with us but do it the way we the way all john stewart would do it you see what's happening right brian like there's going to be a sanitizing of this and they're going to say that it's just about money but it's not just about money the corporations have to stand for something incident that the problem i think it's the only if you can get and i think the people are getting somewhere else i think all of the time is on the

camera thomas and was off the third season of the twelve thirty shows that you know what i'm good i would do my own thing travel no i'm good idea if they want to go here now sit on the on the stage before telling his producers and and make senior executives is only so this their clinton's and that you know what i'm not the summer of two months they are going to be rewarded for it

i want to have a here well make money now see around there's clearly some, you know what, I'm gonna go somewhere else and do my thing. I'm gonna be rewarded for it. I won't make the time I wanna make here, but I'll make money and I'll see you around. Can you explain the reasons why this decision was announced right now? Because the timing makes it so people jump to conclusions like the one I jumped to. I agree with you and I would argue that if they had done this in May with the TV up fronts,

for the audience that doesn't know, this is when all the networks go out and try and get ad dollars the next season they and when Carson retired did at the upfront Letterman retired they had a celebratory thing at the upfront it sets the stage for a year of join us for Letterman's last year join us for Carson's last year and if they're concerned about advertising this would be the place to get more dollars but instead of doing at the upfront they seem to have hemmed and hauled and waited till now. My understanding is that what forced their hand

is that most of the producers who are writing on the show have August to August contracts and the new deals are gonna be coming out to all the agents that were gonna have eight to 10 months, not 12 months. And it's gonna leak because every agent is gonna wait for their producer, their producer or their writer. So I say, hey, why am I, is my guy only until May?

So they had to get in front of it now. every day without the producer their producer the writer so say hey why am i going to go on to a man so they had they had to get in front of it now any chance they change their mind any chance that uh... there's an outpouring of money here for the last ten months of colbert word explodes because it's a new colbert and it's not a final decision i wonder about that could there be such a all rallying around colbert the next ten months

and see this is a lot of you know and such a rallying around Colbert the next 10 months and CBS was like, what are we doing? You know, and because all those ad dollars are gonna go over to Fountain Kimmel for the time being or some art or to digital stuff. So I do wonder if there's like some, you know, can we make the show less glitzy, more, can we get some costs out of the show and keep it on? I would say keep your eye open for it.

But right now it seems like no. Brian, thank you for being on with us. Appreciate the fact, sir. Thanks for having me, I appreciate it. Folks, nothing says summer like long days, clutch plays, and firing off a few bets on the game. All with Draft King Sportsbook. Never bet baseball before?

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Intuit TurboTax business. New from TurboTax Canada. Some regional exclusions apply. Learn more at TurboTax.ca slash business tax. Don Lebatard. John, can you rate my Al Pacino from that billiards scene in Carlito's Way if I do it for you? I think it's pretty good. Yeah. Stugats. You think you're big time? Are you gonna die? Big time. That is my infamous scale of 1 to 10. That's a 7.6. Solid. Good job, Dan.

That's a suey nominee right there. This is the Dan LeBattar Show with the Stugats. Two guards. There were so many things that I wasn't able to get to today on a Wild Willy Wednesday that I'm embarrassed. I'm legitimately... That's one thing, but Billy, you know there's a... You know there's... That's Brian if he drinks soda. Yeah, that's what I wanted to get to.

Do you know that there's a you know, you know that's Brian if he drinks soda. Yeah, that's what I want to get to Do you do you know that there's a Tony? I there are a couple of pictures here that video has now found a couple of a couple of hours late nice There's a picture of Tony with me at sandbar in 2014 a very young Tony And I young Dan too. I don't remember this but Tony was telling this story earlier and I don't remember this, but Tony was telling this story earlier, and Vidya will get it up as soon as they find it. And there's also a picture of Billy that they have found that is famous around here. The most athletic Billy, when you beat Amin and Pablo

in that foot race. That thing is bookmarked. What are you talking about? Look at that. No, look at that. We found the picture. You cannot tell me, Zazz, that that is a soda body. That's an athlete right there.

That is not a, Billy, that is not a soda. No one would look at that person and say a soda drinker's body. What year is that? Just so we have a reference point for that body and then this body. 2018-ish, yeah. 2018.

The different worlds. Pre-pandemic. Because I remember. Before I had kids. Yeah, I was coming off a red-eye flight. People don't talk enough about- Jordan 5s too, by the way. Jordan 5s, not a running shoe.

There's this big thing about what having children does to a mother's body, but no one talks enough about what it does to a father's body. Finally, someone speaks up. I'm sorry about that, by the way. Truth to power. That's what we do on this show even if John Stewart. Jeremy, why are you wincing?

I'm laughing, I'm smiling. I love our show. Everyone in here and everything we say. Billy, I thought that your pizza, when you said earlier in the show, I have pizza once a week, I simply assume. More than once a week. Once a week is if things are not going ideal for me.

I would have pizza every day. If you come in with a samurai sword, pizzas and hamburgers are coming out of me, not blood. I would assume that that wasn't the case before kids, but the having of kids makes pizza. I just simply assumed, oh God, that's so easy for parents. What are you saying, my wife's lazy and doesn't cook? No, it's just you don't have to wash.

That's my wife, you be careful. You don't have to wash as much stuff. Don't say that. If you're buying pizza, you don't, there's just, you eat it quick, you can do it on paper plates if you want, you throw everything away and it's like. I'm saying she doesn't do dishes either,

I mean Dan, at a certain point I'm gonna have to put a stop to this. You gonna threaten to fight him? I'm not, but something's gonna happen. All right, I put you in. I'll call a steward or something, I don't know. Well, let's finalize this this I am officially stating it Tony now reports to Billy We're gonna change the org chart however it is that we change the org chart

You're gonna approve though. You're gonna approve all my PTO going forward so I have nothing that's not my department That's no no you're my boss now. That's unlimited. That's oh excellent All right, we're gonna figure out what we do about buying a vaquita But are we playing Tony tonight? Like are we gonna do that? Have you made a ruling on whether or not? We've got ten minutes of Tony. Are we gonna do that? It's a lot of Tony. It's more so George than me It's mystery 305 who's got 300,000 followers on Instagram It does an incredible job here locally as probably the number one food Instagram blogger here in the market Who would have thought when they took this picture How many years ago was this this picture was 2014 me and Dan at a sandbar with my buddy Kevin

Who's a daily listener shot? It looks like a dipshit. Nah, he is a little bit of a shithead He's a little bit of a shit. He's been better as of recent. Yeah, and And this was actually a Thursday night for a Dolphins bills watch party at a sand you're wearing a Marlin tat Number one Dan has a shirt this is blessed at the Lebo shirt. Yeah, careful tread lightly No, he has one that looks like it says cash with the dollars No most Tony shirt ever yeah, Dan is super excited to be taking the picture. Yeah, look at look at all the joy Yeah, like that is a little snarl. He's mid-sentence. Well this picture was Clearly top. What was your saddest moment? I know he's asking right there miss those days those appearances at the bars

Put it on the pole, please juju is Kevin a bit of a dipshit Yeah, absolutely Juju is Kevin a bit of a dipshit? He does what is the caption that was on Instagram for that caption says I think I talked to Dan libertardi says we got next Prophetic here we are 11 years later. We got now were you always like this Yeah, of course. Did you walk up to him here and you're like, I'm gonna host I'm gonna be wanting on your show One day. I think I told Dan one time this in this exact moment I was like Dan I do radio at FIU and like I do a lot of my stuff resembling the things that you do It's like there's no future in this you obviously don't remember what you told me you said one no future in this no business a

B you said have fun and I said I will have fun Do you have any recollection of this as you look at the picture? No. No, come on. You also don't have recollection of throwing trash at me. There's no way that happened. What are you talking about? Miami Heat pregame and postgame. One thing to say, you don't remember when you threw trash at me. Threw trash as the door open almost hit me in the head.

Tommy Tige did not though. No, he threw it over Tommy Tige. Imagine that. You're saying that we were doing the studio show for a road game You popped into the studio and I threw garbage at you threw garbage at a garbage can next to the door Close to my head. What was it a paper of some sort? How do you feel about being a liar? Wow Wow? No, you say how do you feel about exhibiting the behaviors of a liar? I mean, I'm gonna defend myself you back me me into a corner of me and I'm gonna defend myself. The damn part is true though.

He said those exact words. That other thing wasn't true? He didn't say trash? No, no, no, it is true. But I have actual evidence of picture of that day. I don't have a picture of Zazz or video of Zazz going through that. That's ballsy to come up and just say,

we got next though. I should remember that. That would be something that should be memorable if it's not. No future in this business. Yeah, but when someone that looks like Kevin comes up and says that to you, I'm sure. Well, no, Kevin didn't say it, I said it.

A lot of Kevins were saying that to you. Okay, whatever, Kevin. Wait, wait a minute, you do understand when I say, I wasn't saying Tony doesn't have any future in this business, I was saying there is no future in this business. I wasn't raw, in radio? Right, no, you nailed it.

You're right, you're right. You nailed it. About both, yeah. You're right, but then, alas, here we are, 11 years later. We are are we playing Tony's tonight tonight, or are we not? I suppose Brought to by Cuervo by the way, thank you. Are we buying a little lucky? Are we are we sure it is not? 139 thousand dollars down libertard to us residents Don Lebatard to us residents Two guts For one powerline road second down a nine

This is the down Lebatard show with the StuGats. Familia Tony tonight is brought to you by Cuervo, the tequila that invented tequila. Did you know the very first margarita was made with Cuervo? Mmm, there's nothing like the original. It's Mark's season, so keep it Cuervo all summer long. Vamos! All right, we're back at La Sala with the boy MrEats305 who's in the building with us. We're gonna be tasting food from La Carreta. We got a couple beers here. Plus we have Martha Miami. El Cafe. Ahora Si.

Who's bringing the good stuff, the jet fuel for us. I made it with lots of love, the azúcar. Thank you, wow. Thank you. Enjoy. Thank you. Thank you. Cheers, brother.

Ahora Si. Now we can start. Now we can start. And I'm gonna put this in frame right here so you can see the little Cuban flag. We got Patria Vida. We have La Carreta. We have beer.

Like, what else do we need? He's speechless, that's it, he's ready. Dude, I remember like seeing the page, because I was obviously, I knew you from back in the day at FIU, so it was like you had started the DJing stuff, and then it kind of transitioned into food, and then I was like, oh wait, he's starting to get a little traction, like he's got 2K, 5K, 7K, 10K,

it's crazy, and like what are you at right now? Quarter of a million on Instagram. Croquetas. Croquetas, okay. We'll start with croquetas. How did you get into food influencing, if that's what we call it these days? DJing, then after DJing, went to law school.

Then from law school. Worthless, or what? No. I use what I've learned in law school basically every day. Really? A lot goes into the whole food influencer world than one may see. We're talking about how seamless it looked,

but you wear a lot of hats. And what people don't see is we've got one, two, three, we had eight people back here. And then when you go out and shoot, it's either you or your wife, you guys go together. But realistically, it's just you editing concept strategies, like you said, marketing, posting, like all those different things.

It's so much more than meets the eye when it just comes to, oh, this guy's at our betters, you know, taking a picture of a hot dog. I basically have the idea for the video prior to even going there. And sometimes just me and the tripod, we're on a date. And it's just, I genuinely love sharing the stories of these businesses and the food. And that's what's allowed me to grow and be in the position that I am today.

What was the impetus? What was the start of the whole process? Yeah, and it doesn't happen overnight. My wife and I were first started dating. So you know, when you're dating people from the beginning, all you're doing is going out to eat. This is back 2016. Instagram didn't have stories.

It didn't have, nah. Very primitive. Primitive. Oh, you got 10 likes, the names just appeared, and you were like, yo, I am the next thing. That's it. So it was stars aligning, consistency, and hard work. What I do, as simple as it may seem,

you're just posting Bawidia videos. No, you're helping small businesses, helping people break bread, have good conversations, doing what we're doing now at home, whether it's takeout or at a beautiful restaurant or just a dive, being your own boss is the best thing, whether it's an influencer or you create an incredible brand, clothing line.

Like Martha. Like Martha. And then La Sala is incredible, this place is stunning. And I was actually telling her, I'm like, I can think of so many events happening right in this spot. I think people want to be their own boss until they find out the work that it takes to be your own boss. Because when somebody's sitting over you being like, hey, make sure that this paperwork gets

done or this gets done, it's a lot easier to be like, okay, fine, boss, I'll do it. Have you gotten to a point where you're tired of eating? No, I love food. Okay. I love food too much. And I love the stories behind everything. How many times a week do you go out and film? If you can ballpark it.

I try to do Monday, Tuesdays kind of in-house editing, trying to eat clean, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, going out at least once a day. You know, Friday, Saturday, I'll probably do dinner too. Right. So you're looking at seven meals, give or take. A week. A week that you're eating not at home, not with your media of salt and stuff.

Yeah, not the healthiest. How do you stay trim and fit and able to do those things? It's part of the job. How I see it is work. It's all about balance, staying consistent. Every day of the week, I'm working out, even on weekends. Legacy, hip training, keeping the good stuff. Things that you need to do that I'm not also even on weekends legacy hip to hit training keeping the good stuff You know things that you need to do that. I'm also on my phone

So it's not only a physical workout, but a mental like break because I'm always on my phone I think it's very important to kind of log off as much as I can Yeah, even though I'm always on right even mentally when I'm at the gym I'm still thinking of things, but it's refreshing when I'm not looking at the screen. So going to the gym is very important for me mentally, physically. Who's the person that when you started this you met and you're like, I can't believe that now I'm here with this person. Who would that person be that comes to mind? Gordon Ramsay.

That's... It's up there. Huge. Huge in the food and beverage and just hostility. Everybody knows Gordon Ramsay. The guy Fieri. Yeah. Love him or hate him, that guy's the man. No, no, no, I love him. It's up there huge huge in the food and then beverage is cold like everybody knows going to get yeti Yeah, the go love him or hate him that guy's no man. I love him You know what we love them here on this built a brand that is bigger than food and beverage like it's cool It's bigger than the Food Network. Yeah, like his brain is like guy fiat

He's bigger than the Food Network And then third would have to be after throw an athlete in there because you know, we love our sports So probably Derek Jeter really as much as I wanted to throw an athlete in there because we love our sports. So probably Derek Jeter. Really? As much as I wanted to say Duane Wade, growing up playing baseball, he was the guy. I'm still waiting for Ken Griffey to hit me up. So if you're watching this, George Kennedy, let me know. So people that you've created bonds with that you would never have expected

to have created a bond with, because of food, because of your storytelling, because of what you created out of your hands, you were able to meet and actually have a relationship with this person. I love the 305 and especially in the food and beverage scene. So it's cool to see people that are athletes that are not necessarily from Miami that want to come in and tap into the 305 and understand the culture and all that. So I think Christian Wilkins, I know he's in the Raiders now, but man that

guy was tapped in to the food and beverage. Jimmy So I think Christian Wilkins, I know he's in the Raiders now, but man, that guy was tapped into the food and bev. Jimmy Butler is very tapped into. He loves his coffee. If you're riding a horse in the middle of the streets of Miami, I feel like you're tapped into. No, you start a coffee company in Miami. Olenek, back when he was in the heat, he's a big time foodie.

That guy can take seven feet worth of sushi down like every day, man. That guy was really into it. Duncan Robinson, another guy. Friend of the show. Yeah, he loves his food. Dunk is awesome. Hey, this is the Mr. Eats exclusive by the way.

Come on. Take a look. UD. Yeah, come on. I don't know why I miss out. I'm sorry. UD. My bad, man.

You. That should have been the first guy. I can't believe it. That should have been the first guy. What's your go-to pastelito? Right now, I'm going to go guayaba. But that doesn't mean it's every time. I do like the queso every now and then.

I think it's an underrated pastelito. The thing is with a Guayaba one, I can have like 10 of them. Especially if you go to a Cuban party. Which one are you picking? I'm gonna grab this one here. Especially if you go to a Cuban party and they have like the mini pastelitos.

The bite-sized ones? No, done. Dude, I have like an insane amount of little queso ones, of the Guayaba ones. I have like 10 of them. Inhaling, inhaling. Let's see here. Where's your go-to spot for it?

Let's see how I turn the tables on you. Mm-hmm. Right when I took a bite too. I'm like a waiter, you know, when they ask you how everything is at the table. You're good, you're good. I'm like, oh, I'm fine. It's amazing, it's the best I've ever had.

It's like you were waiting until I took a bite, no? I think Pazza Lito Papi right now. That's the top one. In his bag. Yeah, but it's not for every day. Not for every day. Not for every day. For my every day, so I play hoops on Saturday mornings

and then I'll go to Pinecrest Bakery. Solid. Pinecrest Bakery is just my every Saturday, my wife wants pastelito de guayaba y queso, an empanada and no croqueta. That's what she wants every Saturday morning. Now that she's pregnant, I have to get it. If not, if I come home empty handed, I got problems, right?

One time I came home empty handed, she's like, go back, go get it, and then come back. So I did. Your favorite bite right now in the Latin community food scene, what's the one thing that you look at and be like, damn, that's it. I think right now, and like I said earlier,

Miami is popping off with food from all over the world, different cuisines, different neighborhoods, but Caracas Bakery. Okay. When I first think plato fuerte and traditional food, I'm thinking Havana Harry's because. Wow. Bro. Classic spot.

A biten panizados aside the table. It's the same table. So like, you're gonna get good food and a portion to feed your entire family. Seriously. So when you think of that and you think you're in Miami, it's hard not to mention them another place La Casita on a street and For Ponce Leon the average age there is 75. So you know the food is good You know the place is gonna be good

It's funny because when I start thinking of like plazos like that where the bitenpa in south comes out and it's like six feet long and you're like, how am I supposed to eat this? It's like, but you do. But you do it's because you're thinking your grandma in the back of your head like, no deja comida. Oh gosh.

Que en Cuba no hay comida. And I'm like, damn, okay. I didn't know they didn't have food in Cuba. Like, let me keep eating. Yeah. And that was the affliction of growing up as a big kid in a Cuban household that I had to continue to eat. That's why we have work to do.

We're in La Salona. Exactly. Taking a scope out from Miami, big picture, what is the place that you've gone to that you were like, damn, this is in contention for some of the best food that I've ever eaten? Japan's a whole other world, man. Japan, being a lover of hospitality, food and beverage, Japan takes the cake.

Really? I'm just saying how hospitable people are, opening doors, talking, but also respectful of other people's spaces, not talking, knowing when to talk, when not to talk, when to serve, when not to serve. They are just very aware of everything. But the food is next level.

The, you know, sando's to their tuna obviously is fire. This tuna, believe it or not, their pizza, more Neapolitan, but they have their own, you know, twists on everything. Still good. Still very good. Cocktail bars, coffee. They're just doing everything really right. They're perfectionists, man.

Plug your stuff, let everybody know what you're cooking. So on socials, TikTok, Instagram, MrEats305, but if you're looking and you're in a pinch for something to eat. I've used this site by the way. Where is it? MrEats305 but if you're looking and you're in a pinch for something to eat I've used this site by the way where is it where is it MrEats305.com that's it MrEats305.com you'll find an interactive map broken down by neighborhood cuisine date night yep you can also message me and I'm very good I messages and trying to respond so this guy messaged back just because he's got a blue checkmark does not mean he's not gonna answer you that's it he's gonna

answer you George appreciate you Alibaba Alibaba, thank you so much. Thank you, man. Cheers, guys. How much? My people! Thank you for watching Tony Tonight.