The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - The Big Suey: A Kitten With a Toy (feat. Hank Azaria)

Episode Date: December 9, 2025

"It was an abortion, Michael." Hank Azaria shares the origins of his many voices, aspirations for his Bruce Springsteen cover band, and what he hopes will happen in the Chiefs-Texans game because he won't watch it until he gets on the treadmill later today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the big suey, presented by Draft Kings. Why are you listening to this show? The podcast that seems very similar to the other Dan Lebitard podcast. I'm sorry, I'm not going to apologize for that. In fact, the only difference seems to be this imaging. I have been tempted in restaurants just walking past tables to grab somebody's fries if they're just there. That hasn't happened to you guys? I've done it.

And now, here's the marching man to nowhere, fat face, and the habit. ritual liar. I descend from exiles who lived on an island. I cannot tell you how much I hate the cold, but I am made to feel warmer by my New York friends arriving in mass to support what it is that we're doing around here as I get a scarf. I never wear tangled in my headphone. That was embarrassing what happened. I don't know how to wear a scarf. Exactly. Hank is area is here. And before we get to Hank and his many voices and his many Emmy Award winning

talents, I just want to play Michael Irvin's reaction to the University of Miami getting into the college football playoff. I told y'all I thought the Lord that he's heard. And he answered. He answered yesterday with the games.

I'm leaving the Pard of's House right now. While I was getting the last bit word from the Lord. Now phone just started saying God said I ain't going to even wait that long. Before I got out of church, it was blu-l-l-l-l-l-l-l-l-l-l-in.

And they all started coming in because we got in. Yes, sir, buddy, we got in. I'm heading home now. I'm going to get in the locker room and we got to talk about this right here. I'm telling y'all I sunk the law.

And he heard. And he answered. and he did love hard. Amen. That's about how I thought that would sound. Hank, it is delightful to see you. You are usually very tired after you have done Comic-Con. That's true.

What has that experience been? Tell me, how many of these have you done? What does that look like? Why do you go? Who do you go as? I go as myself. It's an amazing thing at Comic-Con. I go, really, because they pay a lot of money.

And I have a foundation, and it's a really sweet way. to raise money for charity and and you meet fans and you lay out a table I have like 30 different whatever you want to have signed like all Simpsons characters or whatever Brack Meyer whatever it is it's there what's the most popular what it most people's things are the most popular you've done 150 voices on the Simpsons is that an accurate number that is a problem I used to say I don't think is accurate but I actually do think it is accurate yeah you didn't have any voice experience did you before that well a lot just growing up being a moron yeah tons

actually you didn't have any professional voice experience I had done one thing I had done a voice at the time Roger Rabbit was popular way back when and Fox in the early days of themselves wanted to do a pilot that was similar was an animated dog called Hollywood dog and everybody else was real and I was a voice of Hollywood dog that was my first uh voice over gig and then they knew me for probably didn't go anywhere but they knew me from that so then i audition for the simpsons and mo was the first voice i did i'm sorry i'm stuck on hollywood dog so i'm finding out that there was a reverse who framed roger rabbit premise i know it was not reverse roger rabbit was animated and then everybody else was although

there were a lot of the cartoon characters because they had this dog that was animated running around on Hollywood and everybody else was real and I was the voice of the dog. Has anyone ever requested? I'm sorry, I'm lost. Hollywood Dog at Comic-Con? Hollywood Dog, no. Well, somebody once handed me some art from it to sign. I don't know if it was at Comic-Con or not, but people will find whatever there is and handed to you to sign. So where did you think the voices were going to go when you did, you said you did Mo? The Moe was the first voice you did on the Simpsons? Yeah, I was, I love I'm Al Pacino, Young Al, you know, Godfather around,

drug day afternoon out. The best Al. I'm dying here. Everybody's coming down on me here, that out. So I was doing a play at Hollywood at the time. I was playing a drug dealer. And I was using my Pacino voice, and I got the audition for this cartoon show.

So I did this voice there, and they said, make it gravelly. So to me, gravelly was Bruce Springsteen. So fun fact. Halfway between Bruce Springsteen and Younger, but you know, you got motor bartenders, mid-range in there. I want to talk football with some of Hank's characters. I was trying to get together with him yesterday to watch some football,

and all he was insistent upon is I've got to watch the Jets, and I've got to watch the Jets. And I'm like, why do you want, why do we have to watch the Jets? It's 15 straight seasons without making the playoffs. Why do we want to and have to watch the Jets? You'd be like an actual answer? Yes. Like, I'm a Jet fan.

I can't help it. Believe me, I've tried to rehabilitate. I can't stop. And what Jet fans know is that very early on in the season, you are going to switch from rooting for the team to win to analyzing exactly how it's gone horrible, which is fascinating in some way. And then you complained about that. And so, you know, you're really up to the minute on how it's.

gone wrong. Aaron Glenn, you're not a supporter. I can't imagine that you're a supporter. jury's still out, I suppose. I mean, uh, is it? Yeah, I mean, there's a chance. You could they've won their three and three in their last six games. Maybe he can. You were transitioning slightly there into like a corrupt Southern defense attorney as you were thinking about how to spin Aaron Glenn's tenure. I detected a vowel being elongated there. The voice went a little higher. Aaron Glenn, though, jury's still out. I mean, it doesn't look great. But, but But they're going to give them another year, I'm sure. So let's see.

Who knows? I want to analyze some of the games yesterday with some of your characters. Let's do it. How did Moe the bartender feel about Bill's Bengals? Yeah, I hate them bills. Bill's, them people's is annoying. Josh Allen's pretty good, though. Josh Allen's pretty fun to watch.

He's like Superman running around. And if he doesn't throw it, he runs it. Then he flew one time to see him fly. He flew once. They were down four. 14 to 3 and twice he converted 4th and 4s on plays that were just pulled right out of his ass. Impossibly annoying. You know, and the fact that he was drafted, I don't know, he wasn't that year when it was all drafted.

And now you get this guy, he would just throw it as hard as he could every time. He couldn't hit, as we used to say, the side of a bond. And now he's the best guy out there. But the bills will find a way to lose. That's what you can always take comfort in there. That's not true. They won yesterday, though. I mean, ultimately, they'll find a way to lose.

Ultimately, okay. In the end. What does Chief Wiggum have any thoughts on Jacksonville beating up the Colts and Daniel Jones leaving with an injury to the leg that wasn't fractured? The femur that wasn't to the Achilles that wasn't attached to the femur that's fractured? Yeah, well, I, you know, I have a lot of sympathy for impaired people. You know, I'm technically, I technically, ever since I can't fit into the largest size of the police, uniform that they make. So I could go on disability if I sell show. For being fat? Yeah, for me. Well,

we don't say fat. We say, um, we say, we say, we say waistline challenged in, in police ranks. So, um, I have a lot of sympathy for anyone who's, you know, got those kind of, uh, uh, challenges. And, um, I, uh, I don't really care about, uh, uh, football. per se but at stadiums you get cops get a lot of free food which is why I go to the game concessions concessions are what you're big on I met every game but I've never actually seen any of the game I do I do like the idea though of police chief Wiggum having to call Daniel Jones's injury over the police walkie-talkie well let's try that we have a we have a man who's seems to have

himself and now it's not me this time it's a guy he runs around in very very tight pants which i do too but his are tight for a different reason and it seems to have heard his lower what do you call the lower part the lower region there's a right and the left the leg right he seems to have hurt his leg it was that i think he tore his Achilles didn't he daniel jones did he try is that i i don't know that's greek mythology i don't know anything about that When you came in here, Pablo was talking to you, and this seems impossible to me, that you are now actually a frontman for a band. I don't know how your wife feels about the endeavors that you partake in because you do so obsessively when you do them. Hank is now performing. I haven't seen it yet.

It's incredible. You've seen it? He performs as Bruce Springsteen in a Bruce Springsteen cover band, and I suspect he sounds a great deal like Bruce Springsteen, like, because he can, he can make. mimic voices, but this is now becoming an undertaking that's been an obsession, correct? It's become unhealthy for you and your family. You put a lot, and there's a lot to respond to in there. Give me, put me on the clock. I need like eight minutes.

Yeah, to be honest, my wife was sort of traumatized by it at first, which surprised me. I guess she spent a lot of her 20s dating guys in rock bands and didn't have the greatest experiences. And he's like, I can't believe, you're going to do this now, too? And, yeah, dude is Springsteen. I keep hitting the mic. Good Lord. You're an amateur.

It's like you've never been around with a microphone before. I'm like a kitten with a toy with the mic. So, yeah, I imitate Bruce. I've been talking like Bruce since I was a teenager since like hero. Same as Al Pacino, you know. And they all grow out of hero worship. Bruce was no exception. And but singing like Bruce is a whole different thing.

That takes actual effort and attention and music and singing lessons and tremendous amount of, but I really love it. I am obsessed with that. It's like having, it's like a kitten with a toy. Well, where does it rank, though, with career joys? Because at this point, that Simpson's money is pretty good. You don't have to be doing anything. I want to make this clear. Hank seems insanely rich and he's doing this clearly just because he has like some side quest checkboxes that he wants to.

Like, it's not, it's not a small thing. It's not a small thing he's doing late in life. Yeah, no, it's, he has chosen to run a band, a band that tours. To go on stage with the possibility of it not going well. Like, you're opting into, like, a high stakes thing regularly. That was scary at first. I did that my birthday is on a lark, just to have fun. And I'd surprise, I've told Pablo all this.

It was like a reverse surprise party. I turned 60 and thought it'd be fun to tell my friends we're all Springsteen fans. Oh, I got a great cover band coming. Didn't tell them I had been working for months to front it. And it went so well. And we raised some money for charity that night and thought to keep doing it. And then I have gotten obsessed with it. I mean, I love Springsteen to an obsessive level.

And it wasn't even on my bingo card. Like, I could do that. And tribute bands are real things. I'm not like impersonating, Bruce. I sound like them. I tell stories about my. myself and Bruce in the idiom of Bruce, the poetry, spoken word of Bruce, and we try to sound as exactly like the East Street Pan.

But what does you obsessed look like when I say Kate must be going a little bit crazy with your pouring yourself into projects that aren't your family? Well, I was telling you guys before we hit the air that, you know, she understands, you know, there can't be a lot of groupies, but also not zero rupees. Is that something? Can't be too much drugs, but not no drugs. No, Bruce doesn't do those things. But I have had, there have been certain, like at first, it was no screaming like Bruce

in the house before 7 a.m. because I'd rehearse obsessively. And now I have to run concert dates by her and my chief of staff, Lauren. Everybody has to sign off hers before I blunder into, you know, Wichita to do a gig. folks listen up you know my holiday pattern by now every single year i tell myself listen chris you're going to be thoughtful this year you're going to get good gifts you're not going to be lazy you're not just going to get gift cards and this year guys i have news i pulled it off no panic no sad little card you know what i gave i gave an aura frame like why is it so hard to find a personal gift these days it's for the people i'm closest to my parents my wife my in-laws my kid the most important people in

my world i have no idea what i'm supposed to get them as a gift but one thing i know people light up when they get photos. People love photos. So I loaded up my ORA frame with all the moments I know they'll love, my daughter being adorable, random selfies, group pictures where none of us are looking in the same direction. I kept adding them because ORA lets you send unlimited photos and videos right from your phone anytime. And the best part, you can preload the thing before it even ships. So when it's open on Christmas morning, all the memories are already there. I'm telling you guys, this is a great gift. And folks, for a limited time, save on the perfect gift by visiting oraframes.com to get $35

off Orra's best-selling Carver Matt Frames, name number one by wirecutter, by using promo code DLB. This deal is exclusive to listeners and frame sell out fast to order yours now and get it in time for the holidays. Support the show by mentioning us at checkout. Terms and conditions apply. Hey folks, it's Mike Ryan. Happy holidays to you

and to our tremendous partners of almost 20 years, Miller Light. It's the 50th anniversary of Miller Light. It makes the holidays special. It makes the football game special. It makes family gatherings and friendship time extra special. I make all those times Miller Time. And during the holidays, most of my favorite memories start the exact same way. I crack open a Miller Light, take a look around to my friends and family and think, yeah, this was a right call.

Whether it's a late night hang after a holiday party or standing around a fire pit with a family, Miller Light just fits. It's a taste you know you can depend on, and it's brewed for flavor with simple ingredients like malted barley, rich balanced toffee notes, and that iconic golden color. And at just 96 calories and 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces. It lets you enjoy the season without weighing you down. Miller Lite, great taste, 96 calories. Go to Miller Lite.com slash day and find delivery options near you, or you can pick up some Miller light pretty much anywhere they sell beer.

Tis Miller time. Celebrate responsibly. Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 96 calories, and 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces. One touchdown can change everything, the crowd, the momentum, the entire game. It never gets old. Feel the same rush with Draft King. Sportsbook, an official sports betting partner of the NFL.

And Missouri listeners listen up, the Show Me State, baby. Draft King Sportsbook is now live in the Show Me State. New customers download the Dark King's Sportsbook app and use code Dan. That's code Dan, D-A-N, bet just five bucks and get $200 bucks in bonus bets. If your bet wins in partnership with Draft Kings, the crown is yours. Gambling problem, call 1-800-Gambler. In New York, call 8778-8-Hope-N-N-Y or text Hope-N-Y-4-6-7-6-9. In Connecticut, help is available for Problem Gambling.

called 888-7-8-8-8-9-7-77 or visit ccpg.org. Please play responsibly. On behalf of Boothill Casinoin Resort in Kansas, pass-through of per-wager tax may apply in Illinois. 21 and over. Agent eligibility varies by jurisdiction. Void in Ontario. Restrictions apply.

Bet must win to receive bonus bets which expire in seven days. Minimum odds required. For additional terms and responsible gaming resources, see DKNG.com slash audio. Limited time offer. Don Libetard. While there's nothing official, and conversations are still ongoing.

Is that a fake shaftor? It was pretty good. It was excellent. I feel like there's legs. I tried at the beginning and then I lost confidence in it. Why? It was good. It was good.

You got this. There's nothing official. Yeah, it's so good. Conversations are still ongoing. Stugats. It is trending towards Nick Siriani, remaining the head coach of the Eagles. This is the Dan Lebatar show with the Stugats. Is this taking up the majority of your professional time or interests, passions these days?

You have a couple of different projects that major media entertainment centers make it very difficult for viewers and listeners to find. Yeah, I only like to do things that are like, you really got to search to find these things. Yeah, it's mostly what I spend time doing, but I don't spend all that much time at. We play like twice a month, and I don't let it, like I don't go out on tour for four months or something. I might eventually, when my son's in college maybe, but I do spend the most of my time doing that. But Pablo's right. I'm luckiest man.

Literally luckiest man, maybe not even a show business, maybe in the world. And the Simpsons doesn't end. And so I can just do things like this. What's it like for Bruce Springsteen to open yet another Simpsons residual check? We're in the money. Hey, Patty, look at this. Look at the zeros. Look at the zeros.

I'm going to draw little smiley faces in them. I was very excited to see that Brockmeyer is finally on Netflix. This passion project of yours and that you've allowed us to go on a glorious ride with this character. This character that was, I think Pablo, you probably talked to Hank about this on Pablo Tori finds out, but the Brockmeier project of him falling in love with old-timey baseball radio announcers and then deciding to make one debauchous and lecherous and addicted to things. Finally, this is going to get an opportunity because it was on Hulu, but for some reason it felt like Hulu didn't have quite the reach that Netflix does now.

And this seems like a real, this seems like a real cool opportunity for the Brockmeyer franchise that you birth out of nothing, really. Oh, it is. And never mind Michael Irvin praying from Miami. I don't know, who prayed for Brockmire to actually get on Netflix? and be seen, but I want to thank them. And, no, it was, you know what, it's actually interesting and sort of current to today. When we made our Brock Meyer deal, which we were lucky to make with IFC, which is an AMC company,

not to get two inside baseball here, but we got, we were lucky enough to get a deal. At the time, they had their deal with Netflix when we signed on, which was 120 million subscribers at the time. And that's how Portlandia became a head. because people would actually watch it on Netflix. By the time we aired, they had switched their deal to Hulu, and IFC and AMC decided we're going to make our last stand as a cable TV channel. We're going to only release it once a week on our IFC channel, which I don't know.

Nobody saw it. And I literally went in and begged them weekly, like, please, it's a good show. We might even get some nominations. Can you please let people see it? and we just went down with that cable channel chip. And then ever since then, you know, it's kind of been buried on Hulu. And we were just, I didn't even know my social media lady called me and said, you know, you're getting released on Netflix this week.

I'm like, I am. Christmas came early for me. So buried on Hulu, though, like how does this work? Explain to me, this is something that you did. Brock Meyer was made guerrilla style in how many weeks? Like each season took how many weeks to make because you had to do? do it on on such a small budget the first one we made eight episodes in like three weeks and then we got that's crazy it was absolutely insane i've never worked like that i the first

season i only memorized because we had all eight written i had a time because we had to like financially we had to have it completely down on the size what locations we were going to be at there was no margin for error and i only had memorized like two-thirds of it and man did i pay for that the first I had to spend every waking hour on the weekends memorizing what I didn't know. Then we made sure to write them so that I had them two, three months ahead of time. I can't tell you how insane this is in the television world. Nobody does this so that I could spend three months memorizing it like a 120-page play. Like I knew the entire season was in my head so that whatever we shot that day, I was ready with it.

And I think by the end they like took pity on us and we had like five weeks to shoot eight episodes. it was the passion project that was you hadn't done anything quite like that right would there ever been anything close to what all of that was kind i mean i had produced a couple of things that i started in a show called huff and on showtime like 20 years ago that was a lot of but i didn't create that i didn't um you know help write that and i just i genuinely produced it and started it that was a lot of work too um but this was yeah it's i guess i don't really do things half way. This Bruce thing has sort of taken. It's one of the fun things about it for me is to do something for myself that normally big corporations pay me for. And it was nice at age 60 to sort

of, it felt like a gift I was giving myself. But that's how I have fun. How does this work, though, like, is there such a thing of something great? Brockmeyer's great. Feeling sort of undiscovered, and then you get on Netflix and it has a rebirth. Like, is there a chance that now, What happens with this is that the reach people discover comedy's not being done as well. I know that the studio got all sorts of popularity, but it just seems over the last 10 years, comedy's being done less well everywhere, is being tried less often elsewhere. Brockmeyer is really funny. Is there the possibility that Netflix allows it to have a rebirth?

Maybe if Michael Irvin prays for it. But what are the stories? What are the history of Netflix having something and then making it bigger than it was before? I don't know that I've heard of it. I know that things, I know that I've been at this 40 years, Samad. I know that things either stand the test of time or they don't. I don't know how that translates into dollars and cents, but people look back and, you know, what was it the year that dances with wolves, which is a very fine movie,

but it beat out Goodfellas for Best Picture or whatever. We're like, no, that wasn't right. So I'm not sure if it'll, you know, pop. It'll break into Netflix's top 10 and become like a viral hit again. But I imagine more people will discover it. And as you say, it is really good. So I'm just glad that people will get to see it. You have another project that you're here to promote that is also hard to find.

Actually, harder, which I didn't think was possible. I don't even know about this project. That's how hard it is apparently to find. This is actually really good. It's a very, very, it's a dark comedy called The Artist, set in the Gilded Age, starring Mandy Ptinkin, Janet McTeer. I played Thomas Edison in it, oddly. Also not on my bingo car. How do you work up the Thomas Edison voice?

It's funny you ask, yeah, Pablo. I was reading it out loud. I'm like, I don't have, my voice does not have enough gravitas, especially because he's sort of the straight man in this. It's a very sicko. It's set in the Gilded Age, and they use the C word like every page. Thomas Edison doesn't say it, but I reacted to it quite a lot. And it just didn't seem right as my voice. I'm too moderate.

I don't know. And so I came up, I was like, it needs to be deeper, and it needs to be more erudite and have weight. And it's superintendent charmers is what it is. I was going to say, I didn't want to out Thomas Edison. He doesn't sound like Thomas Edison a great inventor. He sounds like a superintendent. He's superintendent Chalmers, but apparently Superintendent Gary Chalmers always wanted to be a great inventor

and he admires Edison very much, so I cast him. This doesn't matter of clarification. I'm finding out also that in the Gilded Age, they used the C word a lot. In this version, they did. It's absolutely, it's really good. And then it's this, you have to go on your computer and it's the network dot stream. The network dot stream.

I feel like I'm about to illegally stream a football game. Hank, you're at the top of your game. Why is it that I and young people would have trouble finding in the age of streaming what your passion projects are? These are not, this was not a, I was a higher gun on this. I had the same reaction you did. I'm like, what is this? And then I read the script.

I'm like, this is good. And then I saw another show this guy, Aaron Rappaport did with John Leguizamo. I'm like, that's really good. So I'm like, okay, he seems to know what he's doing. And it came out really good. It's just that I don't know what the deal with this little streaming service is. But I imagine they're hoping to punch through. It's what we were talking about before on the air that there's many ways to skin this cat now.

Well, you are that way. I mean, what I'm now on. I'm basically going through me. Yes, I am now on the network. dot stream and I'm realizing that yes, you use your actors, you use Hank Azaria and all of the people inside of Hank his area to make people aware. And by the way, as much as we are the, Dan, we are the last people on earth who should be making fun of like some independent thing. Like literally that's the premise of what this studio is in New York is like, hey, can this be

plausibly a place where real people show up and consider it also legitimate? It is funny, though, when the URL itself is like, so you have to, so you, it's like, dot stream? Okay, very good. It's like, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's a zone of, of streaming services. No, but we're not the demo either. I think somebody had a lot of money and said, I, I want to put out content. It's like self-publishing. And God bless, by the way, like that sentence is, is truly my relationship with why I work for damn.

He was like, I want to make content. And I'm like, I am content. That is me. That's what this was. And I don't. What do I care? What do I care? Dan, there's a nice script, and they shot the things and it gave me donuts at the craft.

I want to talk to Claude from Along Came Pauly about Chiefs Texans. Oh, my God. Let me think for a moment. Chief, oh, I did not see this game. Don't spoil. That was late game. Oh, you know what? I'm sorry.

Yeah, that's my mistake. So Hank's got this funny thing. Hold on. Let me tell the audience what Hank does here. Hank does this thing. I think he exercises while watching some games, and so he waits. He does not know what happened in the late games yesterday. He wants to know what happens in Packers Bears.

He does not know. Wait, how does exercise preclude you from? Well, what happened? Pablo, I'm going to answer to close. It was in very good shape. I didn't want to say it. But they record the games and then play them back while I'm on the treadmill or the elliptical. You're making your way through the world on Monday morning hoping that no one spoils Sunday football.

Down to a science, how to not have anything spoiled, all alerts or shut off, nobody bothers me. Any friend who spoils, as they say in Goodfellas, you know, they get whacked so hard, they don't do that again twice. I almost ruined Chief Texans because I forgot that that's how you watch football. I would have killed you. So you watch, you only watch the one o'clock games. So as we sit here now, what are the games that you're most interested in knowing the results of that you do not yet know the results up? Bears, Packers, and Chiefs Texans. Yeah.

And I haven't even seen the Nick game for two nights ago. I still have magic Knicks in the pipeline. And you've been able to avoid the result of magic nicks as well? all of everyone who knows me is so terrified of spoiling anything of me nobody says a word to me about anything and and i i find it easy to avoid i find every every bit of news so disturbing these days that i'm quite good at avoiding all right so wengel carter had three assists no how dare you don't blot for me this is wound for me now don lebertard david samson weirdo because he was not He was not the fun substitute teacher who'd wheel out a TV and play a VHS tape for Armageddon and science class.

He was the weird one who would eat an egg salad sandwich while clipping his toenails into the trash can and ranning about Ronald Reagan. Stugats. The guy kept talking about how his ass was smooth, smoother than a newborn's cheek. He wouldn't stop bragging about his bare buttocks to me. This is the Dan Levitar show with the Stugats. Which way do you want Chiefs, Texans, to go, even though it... I want the Texans. I'm tired of the whole Chiefs thing.

And which way do you want Packers Bears to go? That's a little more pick-em for me. This is probably the most insane segment ever done on this show. I'm more excited. What would you hope that this game that the audience knows already happened? It's a fun game. It's a fun game. If we want to do it, if we want to talk around that magic Knicks game, Any more solipsistic approach?

The sports talk. Does Amin want to give Hank any information on that Knicks magic game from a couple of days ago? No, spoilers. Don't spoil it for me. They lose twice to the magic already. And this was their chance for redemption, but don't ruin from me. The fact that you know anything about the previous history of the Knicks and the Magic is itself. I don't miss any games.

I just see some of them delayed. I'm realizing that you are arguably more committed to sports than people who are watching the games live because you're fighting to preserve that childlike sense of wonder. I like not, yes, I don't like watching when I know it's going to happen. Anything, movies, TV, once it's spoiled, though, does that mean that that no longer is something that accompanies you on the treadmill? Once a friend spoils it, that's it, you're not even going to watch it. You've lost that as an act. They are actively, your friends, by spoiling it, are actively making you less healthy because they're keeping you from being able to do your daily exercise. You're being sort of facetious, but that's kind of literally true.

I put it, like, thanks a lot. Thanks a lot. Now I've got to like listen to, I've got to listen to Springsteen when I work out today. So how do you watch it, though? Do you speed through it? Or like, do you, do you, will you watch Texan Chiefs the fourth quarter? Will you watch the whole, you'll watch a three-hour football game? It depends. I will watch. I have this so down to a science. It depends on what I'm watching. I mostly root for, like, as a jet fan, you normally don't care about the Jets quite early into the season, although I will watch just to see, just I kind of hate watch the Jets. Okay. And I'm very drawn to that. Then I'm always rooting for, I have two fantasy football teams, I enjoy. What are their names, team names? We're in one league that is Godfather themed. And the name of my team is, it was an abortion, Michael.

What a great question, Pablo asked you, and how delighted you were to receive it because you wanted to tell everyone that. My whole life has led up to that, pretty much. And my other team... That's hard to beat. It's a abortion, Michael, it's hard to beat, honestly. I think you opened with what is going to be the winner.

The other team, I'm on with my cousin, Jack, and we are the jerk cousins, is the name of our team. When you say you hate watch the Jets, that makes it different than how you watch. the Knicks and the Mets? Yeah, basketball I have a little bit less patience for. I've always felt like the only thing worth really watching about a game unless you're there is the last five minutes. But I will quite often, usually watch the first quarter to see how things are going.

Then I'll kind of speed through the game and then I'll, if it is a close game, at some point in the fourth quarter, I'll watch it in real time. And of course, you know, blow through the commercials, et cetera. Do you have any instances where something happened during one of these? sporting events that had not been spoiled for you and you fall off of the treadmill that you're that some something about your equilibrium gets knocked off because you don't usually run emotionally no but i've been fallen but another reason why i watch on athletic devices is because i get so worked up watching the jets mets and nicks and i scream i scream profanities into the house i've had

I've been told to tone it down. Like my son has to tell me my friends are coming over this afternoon, so please take it easy on when you watch the Jets. So that happens yesterday too, Jets Dolphins? That happens? You don't care like that. It has to have stakes, right? It's not a lost jet season.

No, I will. I am a Pavlovian trained to scream the F word at the Jets. I mean, they're so worthy. Such ridiculations occur with their penalties. but they're quarterbacks who miss throws that literally i would make you cannot help but scream the f word do you scream as yourself yes yes i don't i don't mess around there's a deeper there's a deeper meaning there i think i dare say that hank is hang it's not well mo don't care about the jets you know wiggum don't care none of the characters no i don't care about any comic book guy

I'm a guy, he yells at, you know, content that way. Worst episode ever. But no, sports is for me. It's just frank. Does your family understand this side of you or just merely tolerate this side of you? They don't understand it. They do tolerate it, I guess, because they love me. But it has at times, like someone screamed that scared them.

You know, somebody screams, can I curse on this? Yes. Moon screaming is f*** at the top of their lungs. It took some getting used to, like, what? They come running. What's the matter? Like, the f***ed jets is what the f*** matter. Yeah, Tyron Taylor.

We're in the Tyrod Taylor portion of the schedule. It's mostly directed Woody Johnson, quite frankly, these days. You know, that's another reason why I'm, that's what I'm reduced to, is like, doing, like, the complicated math of how the trickle effect from Woody Johnson ruin everything has created these horrible. play I just saw. But how does this change like your viewing experience, your relationship with sports to hate watch a team you love? Because this is not your relationship with the Knicks and the Mets.

I mean, maybe it was. It goes off and on. You know, since Steve Cohen has purchased the Mets, it's much more about just enjoying the product. I don't know what changed at MSG, but somehow Mr. Dolan decided to hire Leon Rowe's and World Wide West and

let them do their thing. He went to build the sphere. Dolan got distracted by the kid. in cat toy that is the sphere. Yes. Maybe that is what happened. But I'm grateful that they have a good product now. We can enjoy them again. The sphere is flailing. Like, they're realizing

that it's really hard to pay a million and a half dollars in electricity a month and have to pay for the upkeep of 100,000 LED screens. And, like, they are really struggling when you don't have casino money or hotel money. You've got to fill

it only with Bruce Springsteen cover band because you need the, you need the events to bring people there. We'll play the sphere. I'll play this. I can play the sphere. What are the highlights? I want to hear more. I really do. I know you did talk about this with Pablo, but this is new to some parts of our audience. The Bruce Springsteen cover band experience, you just said it's at the top of your list in terms of things that you've gotten to do because you don't, you legitimately don't have to be doing anything creatively. Never mind, you know, memorizing 120 pages. in a couple of months, as if you were doing a play,

you're basically making all of your own creative choices, and this is a passion project that offers you, nobody wants to pay for this. Like, nobody's going to help you with this. Only customers who would come see it would pay for it, but it's not something that you're embarking on something that is strictly you funding your own imagination. It's, I've actually given this thought,

there's many levels. I love this music very much. It's a way to literally keep it alive. I mean, I got very, very nostalgic turning 60. All that music from that ear started meaning a different thing to me at the top of that list being Bruce music. I've discovered that singing, this is scientifically proven, your vagus nerve, it's very healthy for it. Your vagus nerve really likes it's very calming and energizing at the same time. It's like a chanting meditation.

Even singing like him, huh? Because that doesn't seem relax. His form of song doesn't seems less relaxing that it's less meditative than the average singer's soothing voice. Well, there's something about a rock and roll scream. Like the certain Bruce sometimes really screams at rock and roll scream. And I discovered in trying to imitate it and unlock it like a special way he cuts loose on songs like darkness on the edge of town. There's like a primal, I think teenage anger and sadness that is contained in that sound. it was like therapy. It was almost like I unlocked like sadness and anger. I didn't know I had going back from age 15. It really is like sound therapy. And there's nothing like playing. I love this music. If I could describe for the audience the smile that just stretched across Dan's face as he revealed that actually this is all about your buried childhood trauma, Dan's like, could we have not started with this? He would have spent the last hour. The idea that he finds catharsis in.

screaming for something he's buried for 45 years in the depth of his soul and feels it while singing, like that, that realized, didn't realize it before, but realizes as the sound comes out of his mouth, that's unbelievable. It was. I started to actually cry. And it's so, it's just real joy for me. And to play with all the kids in the band, they're literally, all could be my children. They didn't grow up with this music.

They ought to learn it. So it was like introducing them. and now they love this music and it's like a family it's all the parts of show business that I really love without all the parts I hate without the bureaucracy so you're so the fact that you're doing it on your own

funding it yourself allows you to make all the choices for yourself and doesn't have any interference where do people find it streaming.net no we're easier to find just go on our website easy streetband.com and you'll see we're playing in the city you're playing at Sony Hall

January 11th will be in Aspen and Crested Butte over the holiday and we got a bunch of dates next year. These are and undertakings correct to tour is an undertaking no no one's dying but your family is having to go to Crested Butte with you well there that see this is another great thing they loved ski my wife and son so they were going to Aspen anyway I usually sit it out because I don't like it so I saved the money but I booked two gigs so I get to go play rock and roll and they ski you know I'm sorry I've Google

what Crested Butte is, this looks like a nice place. It's beautiful. It's amazing. Hank is not slumming it. Wait a minute. You think Hank's family is skiing in some sort of, whatever the equivalent is of a third world nation? No, you're talking about beaut. I'm like, what is that, North Dakota? We play working class towns, too.

We do. We go everywhere. Hank, it's lovely to see you. We're out of time. There's never enough time. Thank you for being with us. I'm glad we didn't ruin Chiefs Texans for you or Packers. bears. I thought for sure it was going to get ruined, so I'm looking forward to. I'm still

contemplating doing that right now. Don't do it, man. You know, ask any of my friends. You don't, you know, you don't want to earn my wrath like that. That sounds threatening. I know. I get really pissy about it. You've sort of described towards the end here a cult. You have all these people who worship U.S. Bruce Springsteen who they've never met otherwise. And now you have all these people who are sort of distorting reality to make sure that Hank Azaria gets a bespoke version of professional sports, most popular thing in America. I look at it more like I've learned to ask for what I want, and if you ask,

you receive sometimes. Nice seeing you, buddy. Good to see you too.