The Dollop with Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds - 647 - Rocky of Benihana

Episode Date: August 20, 2024

Comedians Gareth Reynolds and Dave Anthony examine the man behind Benihana Tour Dates Redbubble Merch Sources  

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You can brag. Because you won. You got the gold. You built your empire. You're the champion. And it's great, it's a great game to play with friends. I cannot say it enough. It's really fun to play with friends. You can invite people you already know to play you can make you want to make new friends Monopoly go and Monopoly go has been one of the world's most successful casual mobile games since it launched last year So make your move and download Monopoly go now free on the App Store and Google Play You're listening to the Doll podcast in American history. My name is Dave Anthony and the other guy.

You're thrilled. You have no idea what the topic is going to be about. We're going to do this episode in under 20 minutes. That's how most people listen to them anyway. What do you mean? They do the speedy? So many people do the speedy thing, which is I think fine for podcasts that aren't comedy, but if it's comedy, comedy's all about timing,

and so to me it's very weird you would do that to a comedy podcast. Well why don't we combat that right now? Do the intro again, and slow it down. You're listening to the dollop on the all things comedy network. This is an American history podcast where each week I, David, those are playing a regular story from American history to a splurge. Hey, come on.

Gareth Reynolds who has no idea what the topic will be about. And I don't. You. Yep. I feel sorry for anybody who had that on. I'll be honest. We were doing it and I was like, why? We're I mean, I think we're bad people.

No, no, no. We're bad boys. No, no, no. We're bad boys. Oh, I'm so people forget that you're dealing with the bad boys podcast. The bad boys podcast. A lot of people forget what we're doing now. We're 10 years in and we're heels. The bad boys taking shots across the bow. We don't give an F, UCK.

Girl. Lady. Should I say girl more often? Yeah, it works. Dave, a little housekeeping. We should talk about two things. The first thing is we have a Apple Plus deal where you can go listen to the Dollop Plus on Apple. And we have the second series of the Dollop UK up there.

We have small ups. We're going to do more stuff. Playlists of episodes, things of that nature. And we should also say, if you're on our Patreon, thank you. And don't do that through Apple. So we're in a bit of a conflicted promotional position. Yeah. Don't do your subscriptions for Patreon on your iPhone or your iPad for anybody?

Yeah, because Apple takes 30%. But also we're excited for the doll plus on Apple. So yes, we are. Okay. October 9th, 1938. I should have looked up these names. I realize right now I didn't. I was rushing and I did not do it.

So there's going to be I apologize to anybody who is Japanese. Okay. Oh, boy. Hiroki Aoki was born in Tokyo. He was actually Tokyo. Now I'll say this, as a white guy who knows nothing, I feel like that was good pronunciation. For sure. I think I nailed it. Don't say otherwise. He was the son of Katsu and Yunosaki Aoki, two years before the start of World War II, is when he was born, right? Okay.

His parents had owned a coffee shop called Ellington, which was named after Duke Ellington 10 years before. And they played jazz for customers. Sure. And Japanese loved American culture at that point. Okay. Sure. And Japanese loved American culture at that point. OK. You know, Saki, you know, funny that we used to have a culture that's so. Yeah. What time? Well, it must have been amazing. Yeah.

You know, Suki taught himself to tap dance by watching Fred Astaire movies. Wow. That is not how you did it. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Yep. Yeah, for sure. Yep. No, you just Yep, absolutely. But then the war comes right World War Two. They're pushed out of the city when they return in 1944. Their home is what's known as gone from bombs as was most of Tokyo. That's what we did. Okay.

And Yusuke couldn't open a restaurant called Ellington now because of the whole. Right. More against America dropping atomic bombs. Well, let's not. Okay. Incinerating. First of all, how many times do we have to say sorry? Yep.

We goofed up. Our bad. Well, you Yeah, we goofed up our bad. Well, you know, we never do. The truth is, I think in retrospect, it was the second one that was crazy. Oh, the first one was kind of just like we were we had a toy. The second one was, you know. Overkill, literally. Yeah. Yeah.

Mm hmm. Hey, who's the only who's who's the only country to drop Overkill literally. Yeah. Yeah. Hey, who's the only who's who's the only country to drop nuclear weapons on another country? Well, us. But because we did it, nobody else will. So. So he can't he can't open up Ellington. So he opens up a new restaurant. and he calls it Benny Hanna. Oh my god. Alrighty.

Well, you know, there's... You're right. If you're guessing, you're right. This is the story of the Subway sandwich chain. Sure. Boy, by the way, I recently read up on Jared from subway and holy shit. Is that a terrible story? They fucking knew they were told. Oh, yeah.

We just oh my God. No, I watched the thing on it and it's just crazy. Crazy. Like crazy's just crazy. Crazy, like crazy, like crazy, like 10 years before hitting on like 13 year old girls at promotional events for Subway. And like, yeah, just unbelievable. OK, so he he biked 20 miles to barter on the black market for actual sugar. And this this set him apart from other cafes. So they turn the cafe into a restaurant because it's doing so well.

And pretty soon they're rich. They're making money. So out nuclear weapons, we wouldn't have had Benihana. Correct. So not so crazy now, is it? Is it a good trade? I mean? So he grows up in the restaurant, basically. He's in Elvis, very into Elvis. Sure. He's often getting into trouble for doing things like pushing other kids downstairs,

selling magazine pictures of scantily clad women at school, you know, things of that nature. The stuff that all the kids do. I mean, we've all pushed a friend down the stairs. For sure. Me, you, Elon Musk, all the greats. Did you have a porn kid at your school, a kid who sold the porn? That was me. Oh, no. No, but we had a porn stash

over under the bridge. Yeah, I mean, we had we had a kid who had some how he just went into a place and they just let him buy porn and so he would you could buy it from like magazines, you know, he was how old he was probably 35. Okay. He was probably 35. Okay. The hell of a guy. Yeah. So he also plays bass in a band called the Rowdy Sounds, but then he quits the band because he turns out he sucks at playing the bass.

He gets kicked out of high school for fighting. Okay. Okay. Now, you know, Sookie wanted Hiroki to be the next Fred Astaire. He wanted his kid to be a dancer. Sure. But Hiroki likes wrestling. He's into wrestling. He's the best wrestler in his high school. He's a flyweight. That's 114 pounds. Not a lot. He after high school, he makes the Japanese Olympic team. Geez. But he ends up not being able to compete because he was a little overweight at the Olympics,

probably 115. Okay. Got to shut that shit down because if you're 115, you kill at 114. To be fair, he lived in a Benihana. I mean, that's... He lived in a Benihana. How are you going to not put on weight? Yeah. They use butter on the rice. That's the key. He lived in a Benihana. I mean, that's, you know. He lived in a Benihana. How are you going to not put on weight? Yeah.

They use butter on the rice. That's the key. Well, there's a lot of keys. A lot of butter. There's a lot of butter. Just a lot of butter. He might have had a shrimp tail in his pocket. That might have been what pushed him over the weight edge.

Someone's not familiar with Benihana. This might not be a great episode. So he's offered scholarships and he settles on going to Springfield College in Massachusetts, but he's not there long and he transfers to CW Post College on Long Island. Okay. That's in New York. Sure. Yeah, yeah. It's the long one. Yeah. It's a pain in the ass to drive through.

Made it. Paid it. OK. I hate it. I was just in Springfield, Mass. Nice spot. Same deal. Remember, that was the casino I stayed in where I had that real nice room. Oh, yeah. Yeah. So while he's in New York, he changes his name to Rocky.

Now the reason for that because he's awesome is because now remember his name is Hiroki. So there's an amateur athletic union official who can't pronounce his name and thinks calling him Rocky would be easier. OK, that is. Yeah, it's the same as hierarchy. Yeah, this is what happened to people on Ellis Island when they fucking came over from. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. It's still by your name is pretty long and complicated.

You'll be Paul. That's why my last name is Anthony, because they changed it all. So Antonio, yeah. Yeah, it should be a spagat a morning. He rented a Mr. Softy ice cream truck so he could make money while he's in college. Hmm. Now he tries to sell ice cream to mostly white kids in midtown, but they won't buy from him.

So he goes up to Harlem to sell. OK, it's a race that he. I guess, yeah, I guess so. Why would you buy? Why would you want to buy ice cream from a Japanese guy? I mean, yeah, I know. Yeah. I mean, Mr. Softie is white people.

Absolutely. Yeah. So he puts pictures on the truck of himself in his wrestling gear. To scare away robbers. Uh huh. And he blasted Japanese music as the ice cream? To the ditch, I might not approach this ice cream truck to be quite honest with you. I mean, like, what do you say? What are you selling? Yeah. Like, what do you what's going on?

People am I going to get am I getting are you challenging me to a fight? Yeah. Rocky also put paper parasols in the ice cream. I like that move. Flare. Yeah, I like that move. Yeah. So to Americans, this this was super Japanese, what they were seeing. And people are pretty soon lining up for his Mr. Softy truck. There we go. And then one day he parks the truck in the shade and a cop gives him a ticket for double parking.

Hmm. And Rocky is fucking pissed. Sure. Because he's like, I'm not double parking. He tears the ticket to pieces and the cop pulls Rocky out of the truck. And then they start fighting. And there's a struggle between the cop and Rocky and the cop's partner. And they eventually after a while, because he's a wrestler, but they finally get the cuffs on him. Well, they they knew he was a wrestler because look at his truck.

The truck. I should have. They were warned. Yeah. Yeah. The warning was right there. Yeah. Not all parasols. Yeah. Yeah. The warning was right there. Yeah. Not all parasols. Yeah. So they put so the keys cut from behind and as a crowd is watching, right, he contorts his body and just moves the cuffs to the front. So he's like, you know, he's a showman, I guess.

Flexible. He ends up spending the night in jail, but then they dismiss the charges. But then he like Terminator 2'd through the bars. He did. Rocky. So he's getting a degree in restaurant management. That's why he's going to, so he's going to college foreign. His father keeps pushing him to open up a restaurant in New York, but Rocky's a

little bit resistant. He doesn't cook at all. He doesn't know how to cook. So he's still wrestling and in college, he wins the US Flyweight titles in 1962, 1963, and 1964. Nice. He later is inducted into the Wrestling Hall of Fame. There you go. He gets his degree. And he said he learned, quote, Americans enjoy eating in exotic surroundings, but are deeply mistrustful of exotic foods. He could honestly just cut that sentence off at eating, but I guess that's true. Yeah, sure. Yeah, we like I feel like now that has shifted, though. The foodies is now like, yeah, but just think about like, if you go out into right middle America or whatever, like, it's all very. Yeah. Standard fare, right? Mostly. Yeah. I mean, there's like

sushi and shit like that. But yeah. Yeah, I guess there is. So they've really like American up sushi too. They're just like, yeah, they have the French fry roll. They've catered to us. So he was saving up money all the time through college. Between that and his dad gave him a little bit of money, so he has $10,000. He opens up a four-table Japanese steakhouse in Midtown Manhattan on West 56th. His dad suggests he calls it Benihana. Sure. And he apparently said he wouldn't throw in money unless Rocky made it like a show like a entertaining place to eat. There's just such a crazy note. Like now knowing the story of

Benihana. It makes sense. But it's just like, like to hear that you're like, what are you talking about? Yeah, we're gonna need to dance or something A magician cooked Like that sort of vibe yeah, it's really weird So Japanese food at this point very rare in the US Rocky had He right away was like no fish except shrimp.

He didn't like anything slimy, no sliminess. His quote, his saying was quote, no slithery fish things. Sure. So that's a good tag America. Yeah. So chicken, steak and shrimp. That's it. Just very simple. We have very simple sauces for simple Americans. He slept on the bathroom restaurant floor because he had no money. And he's losing money for six months. This place is open. He just no one's coming in. Cool. He has no liquor license. He has no staff. His mom comes to work as a waiter to, you know, save him money.

Okay. Even though it's a four table restaurant, which I never could, we could have one, he could do that. Well, nobody's coming in. So also. And then his three brothers come and they all work, they all work other jobs, but also at the restaurant. One brother lasts a week and he's like, no, this is fucking bullshit.

He goes home. So he's blown through money. Now, Clementine Paddleford, a real person or a human name. Yeah, it's a human name. Maybe a doll or it's actually a no, it's an actual human being. OK. And the name again, not a Clementine Clementine Paddleford. Sure. Absolutely. Sounds like a sounds like an English bear character.

Yeah, it definitely. Yeah, absolutely. It sounds like someone who would like a paper parasol. That's right. So she's a huge reviewer for the New York Herald. And she she's she's rep across the United States. She's read by 12 million people. So she's a big she's, she's, she's rep across the United States. She's read by 12 million people. So she's a big, she's a big deal. So she just walking by the restaurant one night and she sees a guy in the bathroom at

a guy's sleeping at a table. And then a guy at a table cooking at the table. And she's like, wow, that's interesting. So they were already cooking at the table at this point. They were just cooking the steaks, the chicken, the shrimp, the steaks at the table. And she's like, wow, that's interesting. So they were already cooking at the table at this point. They were just cooking the steaks, the chicken, the shrimp, the steaks at the table. They're doing how about the table? It's not. It's not a bocce. It's like a Weber. It's it's a different name. And I didn't I didn't write it down,

but it's a different type of cooking. Okay. But it's not a bocce. But it's what you're thinking. It's a grill, right? Okay. It's a I think a Bachi is more Fire whereas The way they do it is like a flat grill. Hibachi is a flat grill, isn't it? No, I think a Bachi is More fire. I'm okay You can look at it. I'd rather not. I need you to look it up. OK. Oh, I have it right here. What am I saying? So would you make up your fucking eye?

It's a nice girl. Together. Yeah, it's named Tipi. Yaki and it had been made popular by a chef in Kobe, Japan in 1945. He had started cooking steaks on flat iron plates for American troops and it took off. Okay. So Rocky had two girlfriends. One was Japanese and one was Turkish.

Sure. The Turkish one, very helpful, helped him out a lot. Quote, she helped me sell ice cream. When I had no money, she helped me sell ice cream when I had no money. She took me to her mother's apartment, but I chose the Japanese girl, the Japanese girl, so she left me. It was mainly a business decision. I needed her help as a Japanese hostess.

Sure. No, that's for sure. That's love. Staff. Absolutely. No doubt. That's how you stay. That's how you staff a girlfriend. Yep. No, that's how you pick your house. That's all you stay. That's how you step a girlfriend. Yep. No, that's how you pick your house. That's all. Yep. Everyone working there is Japanese immigrant. OK, the chefs made food on the iron griddle.

They made jokes. He pushed the show aspect. I believe they're doing the onion volcano. On your volcano. Well, that's huge. That's it. Yeah, that's a closer. Yeah, that's what we go there for. The fire onion volcano is. Yeah, volcano. Well, that's huge. That's huge. That's a closer. Yeah, that's what we go there for. The fire onion volcano is.

Yeah, absolutely. Big deal. He put his chefs through, quote, rigorous training. Writer Sasha Eisenberg would call it, quote, a restaurant version of hiring a karate expert to preside over a Memorial Day barbecue. Okay, feels. Yeah, I guess whatever. I'm going to let that go a Memorial Day barbecue. OK, feels. Yeah, I guess whatever. I'm going to let that go. Let it happen. Yeah, it's just I don't know if this is the place to throw down your arguments.

For me. Yeah. OK. Well, it's just. Well, what do you got? What's the what's the go ahead? What's what is it? I mean, it's just I don't know. Had to be karate. Had to be karate. Yeah, I mean, it's this time, so it has to be kind of racist. He stereotypicals. It's like if karate fucked barbecue.

This is awesome. That applies. My little brain can only process things through the prism of race. On May 9th, 1964, the hugely positive Herald Review is published. And people flock to the restaurant. TV reporters, he's turning people away. Benny Hanna. Hey, it's four tables.

So of course, you're turning the spot in New York is becoming hotter than their grills. Dick Caspin, Channel 8 News. Thank you, Dick. A woman today was killed by a python. I also want to hold on if you still have me. Yeah, they have something called the Onion Volcano. Basically, imagine if an onion got all fiery like a volcano. Dick Chapin, Channel 4 News.

Dick, I don't know if that was worth the comeback. Sure. Go back to the thing about woman was killed by a python in her broken. I should also point out that the chefs here are showman that Betty Hanna. You're not going to think the magic is only in the food. The chef is also going to do some magic, leaving the hold on, leaving this reporter to say, Tada, Todd dinner. Dick Chapin, Channel 44 News.

Thank you, Dick. No, I think from now on, maybe we pair what we're going to say. Absolutely. The segment I've already thrown back to you. So go ahead. A woman was killed today. Our hot and high at a Betty Hanna. Are you doing the high voice on purpose? I know I haven't.

The crap, the crapster. Chilter, you changing your last name? Crapster. Are you changing your last name? Oh, things are things are pretty bad down here at Betty Hanna for old Dick Colburn. What's going on, Dick? They want me to pay and my card got declined. Things at home are not what they seem. Here's a problem channel crabbing

Go ahead Credit cards have been invented yet That explains a lot of why this situation has not been working out So it becomes a huge like it's now the spot. So so funny to think of Benny Hanna as like the hot spot. It's just like, but they have you heard of this new place, California pizza kitchen? Oh my God.

You have to go. Muhammad Ali, Sean Connery. It's like the big, the huge people are that is so fucking funny to imagine him just like yeah I'll try a Kobe beef And also let that chef know I don't want any more shrimp tails tossed in my pocket Rocky like I said, he's not a cook. He's just a capitalist. He's Benny Hanna So he just wants to make money. He sees a market. He opens a new restaurant three blocks away.

Interesting. OK, things are going well. So he marries his childhood sweetheart. She's a route. The the woman who worked at the restaurant, a new woman. I think this is a totally different one. OK, right. That would make sense. So he's a brand guy, right?

And he's the brand. That's how he's selling this. He's 26 now, he's five foot four, he's 160 pounds. Wow. He perms his hair with like a wet jerry curl look. So he stands apart from other Japanese people. Okay. Stand by that.

The Central Press Association described him, quote, a mod dresser with curly jet, dark hair, covering his wrestler's ears and thick neck. His agile mind reflects a quick and typically American sense of humor. Yes, he's really smart, just like an American. So smart, you think he's a Yankee Doodle dandy. He's so great. He's like us. We call him, quote unquote, one of the OK ones.

So he loves to brag about his wrestling feats, right? The CPA article was run all over the country in August 1970 under the headline, the Japanese Horatio Alger. Wow. Okay. A Russian prince. This is a great twist. Russian prince named Serge Oblinsky, who was on the board of Hilton Hotels and was considered the modern father, the father of modern backgammon.

Oh, sure. Someone had to be it. Is that one of those roles where you could just be like, may I be a father of backgammon? Everyone's like, no, we can fight you, Sarge. Backgammon, my baby. But even maybe it's like I number one ever. Like nobody's trying to get this. OK.

I think of backgammon. I like the daddy. I pop a big game in your night. So he shows Rocky how to play backgammon. He's pretty day. Rocky immediately becomes obsessed. Starts reading manuals. He's hiring experts to train him how to play backgammon.

He's fully going into backgammon. Sure. So that's maybe thegammon. Sure. That may be the most inappropriate sure you've ever said. Well, it's very puzzling. Mm hmm. Yeah. So in 1971, it was reported he had a quarter million dollar home, a $4,000 sapphire ring, five cars, and

a Cessna plane, which he flew. Jesus Christ. This is off of the two spots? I think he so, so 64 we're talking it's seven years later. Okay. He's opened up a few restaurants now. Right. He's making money.

He has a house in Vegas. Sorry. So wrong. His house has a Las Vegas room in it. Well, Dave, that's a big difference. One is, it makes a little sense. And the other is, he just has guys handing out like call girl flyers. And that's right. That's right. It has slot machines and a roulette wheel. It's you know, does it have some old woman like crying at it? And then if you use it, she's like, that was supposed to be my prize. No. Yeah. If you win at the slot machine, an old lady comes out and goes,

I was my machine. I wanted hop. Yes. and goes, I was my machine. I warmed it up. Yes. Now, some people are criticizing that he is taking liberties with Japanese tradition. Hmm. Obviously. Yeah.

What? This could not be white people. Rocky responded. No, it's Japanese people. Rocky responded, quote, unless the Japanese become 100% American, they won't be making the big money. Oh, God. Money's the minute I forgot I was Japanese. My success began. Hell, yeah. Oh, Christ. What a what a time. What year is this?

Is this the 80s? Yes. Seven. This is 71. Yeah. OK. 70s. He also said he didn't like Japanese food. And he wouldn't hire he's really like white people in America like that day. Well, I like this guy. I like this guy a lot. And he wouldn't hire any second Japanese Americans because they wouldn't work hard.

Any second Japanese Americans? what do you mean? He's only hiring immigrants. He won't hire anybody who's not from Japan. Oh wow. Wow, okay. They won't work hard enough. They're Americanized. Sure, yeah, right.

Also, you can, you know, because if you hire a Japanese immigrant, you have like power of them, right? You have the visa that you help them get. You take their passports and you insist that they clean that hibachi with that little scraper. His success leads to more and more restaurants. When he opened his first in New York, there were, sorry, more Japanese, just overall more and more Japanese restaurants in America. When he opens his first Betty Hannah in New York, there were only seven Japanese restaurants.

Now there's 55 in New York. So a lot of this is because of him. His chefs took a three year program, then a six week course in English manners and showmanship. Wow. But that's what I made you do for this podcast. No, you did, it's absolutely. week course in English manners and showmanship. Wow. This but that's what I made you do. No, you did.

It's absolutely English manners while eating is hilarious. That's right. Your mouth is not open enough. Oh, you want to choke a little bit. Shove it in. Just really crabbing in there. His father was chairman of the board at Benihana and had his own Benihana chain in Japan. Him and his father never really got along.

In 1971, Rocky had a small part on Hawaii Five-O. Of course, everyone had to. He financially backed two Broadway shows. He was the promoter for a Muhammad Ali foster boxing match in Tokyo. Crazy. By 1972, he has 20 restaurants across the country. He's making 12 million dollars a year. Holy shit. He's starting to open restaurants in England. He's very, very Hollywood.

He's a very Hollywood guy. But was it Benny Harner. They call it Habachi. Habachi. Oh, what's this? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no Just now don't do any. How are you? Just doing a bit of news reporting. So please carry on, please. No, just get out of the way. No, stop it. Go walk on.

Goodbye, Governor. Fine. Leave. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He went into business with David Foster as an investor. Sure. Now, one weird thing he had to do, and pretty much any non-white person had to do at the time, was to go along with the racism of white columnists,

to not upset them so they wouldn't write bad about you. Syndicated columnist Earl Wilson would sometimes write about Rocky. Okay. In a column in February 1972, he wrote, this is how it's written. Red flower as red flower. Oh, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ. And sit on a floor instead of sit on floor. Several times he did this. He would just throw out L's for hours all the time.

Sure. 1972. Just just crazy. Wild to not have the instinct that that's probably going to be wrong. It's like when you see like that old nutty professor, you're like, what is going on right now? Yeah. Yeah. Who? Huh? No. No, don't do that. No. But Rocky basically took away from his early success that self-promotion is the key. That's the thing.

He told People magazine he wanted to be the Japanese Colonel Sanders. Oh, my God. That's a low goal. It's like a high goal, but it's also like the weirdest goal. It's like that. goal, but it's also like the weirdest goal. It's like that. That means you just like, yeah, it's like rarefied air. But only in this country can you be like, I want to be the leader of a brand of food.

Colonel Sanders is in charge of the Chicken Army. Is he? Well, sort of. Colonel. I don't know is there an army yeah it's like General Arby's okay I thought it was more of like an ornamental Colonel yeah I don't think he's an actual Colonel but you saying there's an army so we are giving you the congressional medal of foul my god I wish they gave that away. Oh, so good. They will eventually.

By the way, I I saw a video today of a guy cooking the largest steak I've ever seen, and it was just yeah. Well, so revolting. We're really just going for it here. It was like 50 pounds or something. And he's like, well, it's 140 inside, but I don't know if I want to, you know, for a steak this big, I don't know if that, you know, I was like, why the fuck would you cook something that big?

No, we're just kind of like, we really are just, it's, I mean, you know, we're really just trying to like end this as quickly as possible. Like food wise, we're just kind of like, you know, everyone's like, we should do something sustainable or something like that. And then people are just like, it's got nine patties, four pigs in a donut. Come get a t-shirt and your picture on the wall. The buns are your hands. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah. All right. Well, whatever. So, his Broadway shows are failures. They don't do well. But really, he's the guy who came up with Benny Hawn wasn't a successful Broadway producer.

I feel like those skill sets would translate fine. But it doesn't matter because he sees it as a success because, quote, I met so many celebrities, important show business people that led to appearances on the Johnny Carson show and the David Frost show. The publicity was worth more than the 250,000 I spent. He was on the Tonight Show. Yes. So he he's just he's what he's describing is networking. Like he's just now. Yeah. No, it makes sense.

And he is well, because if you think about that time, like a Japanese guy with curly hair who has the most popular restaurant, who is making himself a brand that's perfect for that sort of thing. Yeah, I get it. I definitely get it. I just can't imagine, like, you know. Yeah, I know. So the grill is really hot, huh? Yes. Ha ha.

So what? That's what that's always learning. That's always taking in is like be your own brand. Uh huh. And the money you put out will bring other PR and sure. Open more doors. So he opened what he called a country club in Manhattan. This is okay. It's called Genesis.

Oh boy. It has four stories. It has four stories. With a tennis court, a swimming pool, a restaurant, a private backgammon room, acu, pressure, parlor, disco and cocktail lounge. I mean, by the way, not enough country clubs have a disco room. Or a backgammon room or a Vegas room, which I would imagine would be something.

Rocky is often in the backgammon room playing late into the night, playing for $100 a point. Oh, wow. OK. I'll see. While snorting cocaine and picking up women. Let's go. Oh, bro. OK, backgammon. Oh, my God. I can't think of anything worse to do.

Just like smoking it. I play crackgammon. That's awesome. I mean, just now that it's just very the incongruency of. Blowing lines while being like, all right, now move your checker. I know. Oh, I rolled a seven. Yeah. Yeah. So obviously, this is like a pickup place for dudes, right? He has more than one girlfriend. OK. Remember, he's married. Right.

Including a Miss Iceland. Oh, wow. An employee called the Genesis Club Rockies Hugh Hefner trip. Wow. Which is, you know, the. The play with mention is essentially just a brothel, but the women don't get paid. I mean, that's essentially what it was. Was it really? Yeah, yeah, it really was. It was really like it was like it was like instead of just being a brothel, like the women were like, enticed with celebrity and fame and all this other shit.

Like it was like, yeah, it wasn't good. I just felt like that was a dream's got made. I mean, it's the place that gave us Scott Baio as we know him. I mean, right. So that's a positive. Yeah. The health club at the club was members only which amazed the daily news. The people, they couldn't believe there was a members only. Everything else is open to the public. The club board was full of old money.

Vanderbilt's hearse, people like that. On opening night, the Daily News reported a newsman said, quote, there are a lot of hungry women here. Mm hmm. I assume the shrimp and the chickens. Good. Yeah, yeah, that's good. Reporting. Yeah, they're all looking to get plowed. Dick Chippin Channel 41.

There were erotic prints all over the walls and quote electronic prints. What? Like, yeah, there and marks of like, no, it's I think they're all like, dude, I think so. Like, what do you think it was like? You know, when you got like, I do know, like, like when someone's, you know, like if someone had their hands on the headboard or something for, you know, for a minute and then you're like, you know, at the. Go ahead. No, I can't. I should probably stop talking.

Ever seen that? You know, when when they're covered in the shower, where the shower, where it's like, you know, you got you know, it's an erotic and erotic face print is what you're talking about. Our handprint hands because this hand, the right hand print. Yeah, they got to pick where you hold on when you're getting fucked. Well, they that's what we but that it could be you.

Nothing wrong with that. There's nothing wrong with that. You could be getting pegged. I just saw a podcasting host. I can I play this twice the speed? Is that possible? So, yes, so there's a erotic prince all over the walls and, quote, electronic impulse showers to bathe you with a pinpoint spray.

So that's just one of those weird shower heads that just sort of shoots a little water bullets at you. I don't know what that is, and I don't want to know what that is. I feel like it's like like it was this is the time when they were just like the sharper image was like probably just an idea in some guys head. But stuff like this was just starting. It was called electronic firepower shower. A hostess a hostess described it as a very sensuous place quote.

It's for men who want to come in and work out their hangout wife mistress whatever. Hey, did you hear the guy who came up with Hibachi is running a brothel? That's pretty good. So he really did just come up with like a fuck club. It's a fuck club. It's a hundred percent just a fuck club. Yeah. Good for him. And we are also brought to you by Airbnb.

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So make your move and download Monopoly Go. Now free on the App Store and Google Play. Rocky went out of his way to convey that he was a man with no worries. During an interview with the Daily News about Club Genesis, he said he paid others to worry. Quote, then he picked up a sliced apple that one of his five servants brought, put his feet up on the hand-carved Japanese coffee table, and told his PR director that the place in Mexico would be great for a restaurant.

So very kind of staged and very Trumpy. This is very like, like I'm talking about Trump before he was like a crazy fascist leader, but like when he was just like, when he was just kind of a New York guy, like show off, like he was always show. So this is like, it's just like, look, I have five people waiting on me and I'm eating sliced apple and yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like, like setting that up. Or is like, I think that what we should do is make an onion volcano like a

you know what I'm saying? Like anything we can do with some geology and our food. I think that could be very a few months later, Rocky started Genesis magazine. So he clearly had it is so he is creating Playboy. He's reverse engineering Playboy. Magni to the the the blueprint for being a mogul in this era is so goddamn funny.

Totally. It's so funny. It's just like, it's like, get a fax machine in the car and start a magazine. It's just so crazy that he. Hey, did you guys get the new copy of Benny Hanna? The centerfolds. Amazing. Is it really good? Look at this. Look at this grill. Hey, did you guys get the new copy of Benny Hanna? The centerfolds amazing. Is it really good?

Look at this. Look at this grill. Man. Are those tits? That does have volcanoes. Wait, what were you going to say? I was going to say, like, he has wild success off of his restaurants.

He's making millions and millions of dollars. He's loaded. But then he's like, Hey, what if I'm the Japanese American Hugh Hefner? Yeah. Like it's just, it's just so insane. It is. But it's also like when you make so much money, you're like, you know, you're just, yeah, you have money. Yeah. What do I do? I mean, you know what I mean? Yeah, exactly. Fuck around money. So it's a it's a Playboy type magazine, right, that featured adult film actresses and has two centerfolds. So he really is just like.

It's it's shocking that this comes out of Bennyihana, but so he really is just full on. He has a fuck. I mean, he's the guy who has a hibachi place. And then he is fully just trying to take this kind of sexual turn. Yeah. Like having centerfolds. He's you know what I mean? You're right. I bet there's some good recipes in here. Sorry. Are those lips?

It's, yeah. Now the club only lasts a year. It lost him $2 million. Quote, I found out that high society people are the cheapest people in the world. That's not the problem. The problem is you had a brothel. And they already have the Playboy Mansion. They don't need another thing.

Anyway. So Rocky starts playing. He's been playing backgammon the whole time, obviously. He was banging up all night, cocaineing and banging, amending. He starts playing in celebrity backgammon matches against people like Lucille Ball. Sure. Totally normal stuff without question. And then he starts entering backgammon tournaments and legit actual backgammon.

I can't even believe his legit. There are. It's like rounders. In 1974, Rocky won the Intermediate Class World backgammon championship in Las Vegas. Oh Jesus, he must have been so high. Just playing gaff game. It's easier to win the backgammon national championship if you play for 36 hours straight because you're on cocaine. Yeah, cocaine is a huge advantage to anything. At the time, backgammon is mostly played by old white rich guys.

So Rocky is totally out of place. At the Seagram's tournament in Manhattan, he wore a designer suit and a twelve thousand dollar sapphire ring, and then he won the tournament and the backgammon world title. Fire Ring, and then he won the tournament and the backgammon world title. And then he quit playing after he beat ex world champion Oswald Jacobi. So he left on top on top and he did retire. I don't think he played backgammon anymore. I didn't see it come up ever again.

I but Gareth, that is the year that former speedboat United States champion Bob Magoon took him for a ride on his speedboat, hoping Rocky would become a sponsor. Uh-oh. But that's not what happened. Uh-oh. Instead, Rocky decided he wanted to compete in speedboat racing. Oh, no. He couldn't swim. No.

First learn to swim. Like that would be my first. Ah, the whole thing is bad. He just is so rich, nobody was like, hey, don't. Yeah, that's exactly right. Within a year, he enters his first race, 184 miles from Miami to Nassau. Wow. And he beats Magoon.

He beats the guy who brought him out on his boat to show him what it's like and to hopefully get a sponsor. He also beats the reigning world champion at the time. I just took a look at this guy real quick. Yep. I just. Yeah. I think his designer was blow. There is like this guy. This guy is amazing.

So obviously he's high on himself again. Sports Illustrated wrote quote. Rocky Ioki is the latest and one of the most in. I don't know what this word is in the. The takeable in sure. And if it's a gable and the fatigue able what isn't the fatigue able you know I guess it means that he doesn't stop and you can't fatigue him. Yeah, he doesn't get tired. Yeah, yeah, and I think I know the secret to end a fatigue able that could have just

replaced with yeah, he's a cocaine user. Yes, he likes the devil's dangerous in a growing line of men who have achieved distinction and money in business turn to sports and games to satiate an obsessive urge to compete, to be somebody, thus supporting the long held suspicion making money is dull. At this point, Benihana is worth 25 million. Jesus Christ. He, he founds the speedboat Benihana Grand Prix off the Jersey coast. My God. In January 1978, Rocky and a partner made an offer to buy the San Francisco Giants for $11 million.

Oh my God. Now I read into this and thank God, I mean, there were so many times people almost bought the Giants, but I read into it and it seems like it was a little bit of a hostile takeover. He was trying to buy, he was trying to, there were several owners that like who had pieces of it, he was trying to buy up enough stock, but one of the owners managed to buy enough

to keep the thing from going through. But his plan, his plan had been to buy the San Francisco Giants and move the team to Washington, D.C. and have them play at RFK Stadium. Oh, wow. Baseball at RFK Stadium. Wow. It's just so bad. Okay. Yeah, cocaine. But the owner fights it off. So Rocky won five speed boat races. This guy really there is some skill here. There's something going on. I think it's he's chosen. I don't know if it's skill as much as it sort of.

Well, I think there's skill in the backgammon, but I also think, look, a lot of people don't play backgammon. So the pool of people you're actually legitimately, you know, legitimately competing, it's like fucking Einstein's. It's just like a dude who wants to play backgammon. So the pool of people you're actually legitimately, you're not like legitimately competing. It's like fucking Einstein's. It's just like a dude who wants to play backgammon. Like just coked out of his face. I also think the same thing with speedboat racing. There's not a lot of people who are getting involved in speedboat racing. It's mostly just a bunch of rich guys. So what are you really competing against?

Yeah. Yeah. Welcome to the Tiddlywinks world champion. Rocky Ioki. Yeah. Yeah. Welcome to the Tiddly Wigs World Championship. Rocky, I mean, it's really like speedboats is really like, can you stay in the boat and make it go fast? Because like you're getting fucking knocked around. And yeah, right. So on September 14th, 1979, he was testing a new powerboat on San Francisco Bay.

The boat quote, the most quotes. This is a quote from the boat. See. Lost its trim tucked under a wave and disintegrated. Now is that supposed to do that is not what the OK. Because I was actually made to disintegrate. They're not supposed to do this. It's supposed to kind of keep them. You was actually made to disintegrate. They're not supposed to do so. You want them to not disintegrate. Sure. That would be my gut would be like having it remain an object would be helpful. Yeah, I would

like it to remain a thing. I think I can be standing. Yeah, right. Yes, exactly. Yeah, something that exists. So he was helicoptered to a hospital. His liver was basically cut in two. His aorta was ruptured. His left leg and right arm were each broken completely through in four places. Uh, surgeons removed his spleen and gallbladder so they could work on his liver. I like the idea that when they like take the spleen out, they're kind of like flipping it with their utensils. Setting the gallbladder on fire with.

Yeah, right. You know, love this. Doing a little rice on his tummy. He also had a 10 hour coronary bypass. Jesus. Stitching up the aorta and leaving a scar down the front of his torso. So he's got like one of those gigantic scars. Sure. When he awoke in the hospital bed three days later, his wife, Shizuru, is by his side. As was his mistress, Pamela

Hilberger. Hilarious. So wait, who are you? They're both standing over him and it's the first time they've met. Oh man, I would just continue to close my eyes. I'd wake up and be like, ehh. That's what he did. He did? Yeah, that's what you gotta do. Rocky, quote, I'm completely naked, tube in my penis. I see my wife standing over me on one side.

On the other, I see my girlfriend. I say, oh shit. And then he just acted like he was still out. Wow. Wow. Yeah, I don't think the tube in the penis really had anything to do with anything. No, that's just something he put in.

He just got a name drop. By the way, my genitals were a milkshake. So she's she zero would tell him it's OK to have a mistress. But then she found out that he had kids with Pam. And then she was like, OK, we're getting a divorce. OK. And also she she brought up that he had he had not gone to the hospital when she had their three kids. Right. Well, she gave birth alone as you do.

What? So that's fine. I don't think that's what I think. It's so silly how mothers expect support during that time. I mean, it's just like, right. Yeah. We were. We're not the ones with the life in our bellies. I'm trying to become the Japanese Colonel Sanders.

I can't. Babe, I was trying to bang women at my club after backgammon coke. One backgammon case has the game in it. The other one has just it's full of cocaine. Yeah. Yep. You open them up and you're like, well, there you go. So they had three kids, one of whom was Steve Aoki.

Oh, shit. Wow. That's crazy. Yeah. So he also on his own. Steve also had two other kids the exact same age with because he got two other women pregnant around the exact same time. So three of the kids are basically the same age. Kind of cool. Three of the kids are basically the same age. Kind of cool.

So then he marries Pamela. The mistress. And they have another kid in 1975. So he has and then the other one, I think the other one that's the same age as Steve and the one Pam had there. There's a third one around that age that I think is never around and he found out from a paternity test and then the mother never was like, you're going to be the dad. He was never involved with the kid.

So from his hospital bed, Rocky ordered his racing team to Venice for the 1979 World Championship. He still wants to be involved in it. I mean, he's almost died. Yes. His main assistant asked him, quote, did they check you for brain damage? Yes. Yes, I have. Ooh.

Um, so when I, okay. Realizes that his racing career might be over, he had phoned a guy named Howard Kwam, who owned a bunch of pancake houses around Chicago. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha A seedy little restaurant world we're in. Now naturally. I'm going to need to get the pancake man involved. Naturally the pancake guy was also in his speedboat racing. Yeah.

And he had qualified for the race in Italy. Sure. So Rocky was like, OK, I will pay the costs if you race my boat as the Benny Hanna boat. OK, so you race your boat as the base on a boat. He's asking qualms. He's asking one man to basically I'll just kind of redo his boat and make it's basically just on a boat. Yeah, just paint Benny on the side. That's all he's asking.

Sure. And he's going to pay for everything. Sure. Quam went to Venice, finished fifth until Rocky, if you ever needed any favor at all, just ask him. But for life, sure. Rocky quote, for a while while my hobby was collecting cars. I have Bentley's Rolls Royce Ferrari. I have 30 or 40 cars and a two car garage. That's a ridiculous thing to have. Yeah, I have 40 cars and not enough money to put them anywhere. It's so fucking dumb. Italian mechanics steal six or seven cars. I don't know for two months.

I play backgammon until 6 a.m. I cannot work. I collect houses in Los Angeles and Miami, two in Jersey, a New York apartment, an Atlanta condominium. I don't go to Atlanta for two years. These things are headaches. After accident, I decide to sell everything. I want to live simply.

Good, yes. He even sold his boats. Good, okay. Gets rid of everything. Good. Everything. He's like, I wanna live simply. Sure. And then he gets into hot air ballooning.

Fuck me. And then he gets into hot air ballooning. Oh, fuck me. This is why we need to tax the rich. We just need to tax them so they can't do any of this stuff. We just need to just we should do is just we I hope they get back in. We could just shoot those down so much easier. Yeah. Just simply. I mean, this guy's really going through like every stereotype he can.

Yeah, it's really crazy. It's really just. In the spring of 1981, he and another man rode a thousand cubic foot to hot air balloon named Benny Hanna to a world speed record. Well, I mean, I don't even know how fast those fucking things go. Yeah, I know they can't go that fast. I feel like I could walk. I'm sure now there's a ballooner matter as they go 70 miles an hour. Oh, yeah, right. Yeah.

Then you spend 125 million on three more balloons. He spent 125 million on three hot air balloons. Yeah, you got to get the best. So much. It's not just like it's not like going down to the local grocery store and getting a helium filled dog. No, no, I know. It's completely useless. Yeah. He talked the man who had captain the only transatlantic balloon crossing in 1978

into crossing the Pacific Ocean with him. What the fuck? That is so crazy. That is so crazy to do. But ballooning creates an insane amount of PR. The balloon creates an insane amount of PR. I just. And Rocky gets ABC Sports to make a documentary about it,

and National Geographic got all the photography rights. Oh, my God. Now they leave from Japan and the flight experiences is a ton of problems. It's an insane concept. The balloon completely loses its shape due to ice. It's extremely important. I don't know anything, but the idea that the balloon loses its shape is a major problem with this.

Yeah. And so it leads to a huge drop in altitude. So they had to throw two200,000 worth of equipment into the ocean. That's fucking crazy. Is anyone following? Like, is there a safety balloon? I don't think so. Is there a plane?

I don't think there's any of that. So they are just raw dogging the ocean. They're raw dogging the ocean. In a hot air balloon. Yes. Rocky did make sure to get a picture of himself in the balloon wearing the Benny Hanna chef uniform. Good. That will that'll be like under a wreath at his funeral. After four days, the balloon reaches California

and crash lands in the mountains because there's a rainstorm. So fucking crazy. During the crash, Rocky is knocked out. They're like found later hanging in a tree. But he considers it a success. I mean, I it is, I guess. Quote, we've received more publicity than ever before. Restaurant sales are way up.

It's just. So even with this metal rod in his leg, so his leg has a metal rod to keep it together now. That's not badly. Sure. Yep. He's not done. Well, what I see not bad. Sure. Yep. He's not done. Well, what I think I still boats. OK. Yeah. On July 2nd, 1982, Quam let Rocky use his new boat, a 300 and sorry, a 37 and a half foot catamaran named flapjack.

This guy, this paint, these. It's tough. I mean, it's also like it's a boat. Oh, the pancake guy. Couldn't you? I mean, couldn't you beat that? Pancake, the pancake guy. Oh, fuck, It's so good. Oh, OK, it's just it's just it's just incredibly dumb, incredibly dumb.

Like to your point, it's like just just tax these people. It's just a golden nugget. It's a golden nugget pancake. What do you mean in a golden nugget pancake. What do you mean in the golden nugget? No, it's called the Golden Nugget Pancake House. It's a chain of restaurants. Oh, my God. That's so good. This is what we always wanted.

Yeah, no, I just you've got to think back to like, you know, like, like, the when we were colonizing this country, you really, if only you could just be like, this is so worth it. We're going to open up a bunch of pancake places. Like, I think even the white people, what? No, no, no. white people. What? No, no, no, no. So Quam is going to pilot the boat. So Rocky's not going to pilot it, but in they're going to enter the

Benihana Grand Prix. Is he going to be on it? He is going to be on the boat. What a fucking lunatic. And he made sure the boat is named Benihana. Sure. At 2 a.m. the night before the race. An astrologer called Rocky and said he would get into another accident. Who's the astrologer? I don't know, but it's just a crazy race.

This is so 1980. Rocky, Rocky, Rocky, Rocky, Rocky. Listen. Have you seen Cassiopeia? You're going to die in that boat tomorrow. I was just looking over Saturn and who? I just take a look at Taurus. You're not getting on that rising. Your mode is not rising. Good Lord, Rocky.

So the astrologer says, look, it's going to leave you crippled or dead. This this race. He's 43 the race 208 miles. He's like, I'm still doing it. He can't stop me. Astrologer moon star lady moon guru rockers. Rocky's doctor does not think he can do it. No, you're right.

It's a it's a three hour pound. The race is three hours of just fucking doctor doesn't think he could physically do it. No, you're right. His doctor. It's a it's a three hour pound. The race is three hours of just his doctor doesn't think he could physically do it. No, he doesn't think he physically do it. He brings an extra crewman. In case he can't make it. So you have to have three guys finish the race. So what's he going to do? Just jump off the back. If I cannot do it, I simply throw myself in the water at some checkpoint.

Guys, just nuts. We're talking about the guy who started being 70, it's going 70 miles an hour. You're just going to jump out. He's like got steel rods in him. I mean, he just made Benny Hanna. Oh, it's just a botchy. You figured out a new fucking fire onion volcanoes.

That's it. And now he's like, if we at one of the checkpoints, I'll just drop off the back. I will say this. I do enjoy Benihana. You still do? Yeah. Now, see, I when I think of Benihana, because I used to really like Benihana. And then when I first moved to LA, my girlfriend at the time and I went to a Benihana and the

food poisoning that she got. Oh, shit. Really was real bad. Not that there's good food poisoning, but we're talking about. Did she eat your ass? I got I gotta end the show for good. Do you understand me? The show is now done. I'm just checking to make sure that that's what the handprints on the wall were. So the ocean, however, smooth that day and they win the Grand Prix.

Of course. This guy is real lucky. Yeah, that's a big part of it. I think he's really lucky. In 1983, Rocky invested 3.5 million in two light submarines to look for treasure off the coast of Japan. Fucking rich guys, man. It's just so treasure.

It's nuts. Jesus Christ. No, that's what makes that guy who went to look for the Titanic satisfying like people like a bunch of people died. And it's like there were some innocent people in there. But overall, it was just kind of a warning shot to the billionaires to like, look, yeah, enough. Just start a fucking charity.

You shit head. Yeah. You know, with the amount of money you have, you could stop homelessness or I could go pick up the Titanic with a PlayStation controller in a tube that nobody approved. So the expeditions were filmed for Japanese and British TV. Now he spins off 11 Benny Hanna US restaurants into a separate company. filmed for Japanese and British TV. Now he spins off 11 Benihana US restaurants into a separate company, Benihana Incorporated.

He sold 49.1% of that company to the public. So now you could buy a Benihana stock. The other company has control of 39 non-US Benihanas. It's his original company, which he still controls. Rocky also now starts selling frozen Benihana classic dinners. We're so dumb. The idea that you're like, you know, what's the magic of Benny Honda? Is it the Habachi grill?

No, no, no, no. You can just get a lunchable. Get a little lunchable. It is genuinely for a frozen meal. The most the most removed from the actual, the actual, the actual reality of what this place is. Yeah. Is insane.

Yeah. It's like getting a frozen. Wait, what? It's like, it's like getting a frozen meal from the spearmint rhino. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So he for years. He's also into racing cars.

And for years, he's been doing the cannonball run. Jesus Christ. He has such a flair for is he the guy who jumped off that like satellite for Red Bull? Is he Felix Bumgardner. One time in a stretch of VW bug. Another time in a stretch Corvette. In 1986, the Cannonball run became legit and was renamed the one lap around America. So before that, it was an underground race. Jit and was renamed the one lap around America. So before that, it was an underground race, and now it's now it's like,

now it's like, let's make money off of it. Sure. So Rocky enters. He drove a 1959 Rolls Royce with two phones. If he with what? With two. Ready to phones, two stereos, a TV, bathroom facilities, a microwave and two chauffeurs in tuxedos It's all throwing me but two phones and a bathroom. All right. Well, I'm gonna go take a shit Did it have a hibachi No, no hibachi.

Sorry. Two chauffeurs. Two chauffeurs. So what's he really? He's just sitting there while they do all this shit. I think so. And if we drove, if we got to get moving faster, I'll just throw myself out of the back. Here's another idea.

Rocky, just hear me out. Sure. What about? I'm just spitballing. I already know. About just being a dad for a little while. A dad? What's that? Rocky just hear me out. Sure. What about and this I'm just spitballing. I don't know about Just being a dad for a little while a dad. What's that? You have a bunch of kids. You got six. Uh-huh. What about just being a dad? Uh

What if I tried to go to the Sun Is that a good idea, yeah, it's good that's fine Is that a good idea? Yeah, it's good. That's fine. The next year, he and a crew of three were in the Cannibal Ron in a converted 1922 Ford delivery van with a color TV, VCR, microwave, exercise machine, and cases of Japanese. And cases of Japanese beers strapped to the running boards. What the fuck is weight part of the... Is it like...

Are you trying to go fast? Couldn't you drop the Nordic track? I don't know. Is he trying to win a VCR? Do you remember when you were a kid? Well, I mean, okay, you might not have had this, but when I was a kid, I remember like someone, one of my friend's dads had the van with the VCR and like the TV and it blew my mind. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. It just, you were just like, what? I specifically remember very clearly

I could not seeing Quincy on TV. OK, Jack Klugman as a Los Angeles mortician with a phone in his car. Blew my fucking mind. Oh, dude, when my when my I don't even know how long the tech had been out but when my mother bought a car with the car phone in it. Yeah, we were like, what? Yeah, like I'd call her in the car. Yeah. And then like the old phone, like it looked like what it looked like. Like if you're like serving in another country, like and you're in the jungle,

how you would communicate like drone strikes. It was just enormous. But you were like what and I remember one time my mother called her mother in England. We were like, let's see if it were and it did and it was like that'll be a hundred thousand dollars. Oh, yeah, that must be so expensive. It's crazy because that was... I wasn't even there. I was in the back going to the bathroom in our bathroom of the car. He had, I think it was a Rolls Royce with a hot tub in it.

It's just nuts. Yeah. So he and Pamela, and by the way, the Cannonball Run movies were like 1981 and 1984. So it's just kind of everybody knew about it. Yes. So they were now that they were just trying to cash in. And so it was also like because that movie is also like, oh, this is the cars are crazy. Yeah, the cars are crazy and like souped up. So I don't know if I can't remember if it was the first one or the second one

I watched once when I was doing a weekend with someone and. The whatever it is, the intros for every car is like 25 minutes. Yes. Like everyone is like, hi, I'm also racing. Everyone. Well, to get all the celebrities in it, that's kind of how they had to do it. Like, I know a lot of screen time. I know, but you could figure it out.

Yeah. The director is like, All right, well, we got like 50 people racing, so let's give them all a minute and then the movie will start. Nope. Okay, so he and Pamela divorce in 1991 because he's we're going to have it and hold in the back of the Rolls Royce. It's never home. Yeah, right. The business keep expanding and making money. He dips his toes into other businesses in the early 90s.

He launched Rocky Ioki's ultra herbal power slim diet pills. It's just coke. He also sold a hundred and fifty dollar at home tap and yaki table. OK, you can you can do your home. Hibachi. You can get home at home and you can do that. It was unsafe. And he told the Guardian he planned to sell a hemorrhoid Home hibachi you can get home at home and you can do this everything unsafe And he told the Guardian he planned to sell a hemorrhoid shrinking device

Okay, so this man is Gareth doing sitting all the time Everything in cars sitting in boat way to acknowledge you have big hemorrhoids That is That is telling the world you have terrible hemorrhoids awful hemorrhoids. That is that is telling the world you have terrible hemorrhoids. Awful hemorrhoids that you're trying to shrink. And it's just like a laser gun. It's just you just see just spreads his cheeks and sits on the hot hibachi.

This there you go. That's God. Is that a shrimp? There we go. He also made some investments. By the end of the 90s, the business was worth as much as 100 million. But in 1998, Rocky's charged with insider trading for buying stock in a tech company that he called, a tech company called Spectrum. That doesn't work out. Rocky had been tipped off that an Apple chairman was going to join Spectrum. And that's what happened.

And the stock rose 40% after 46% after he bought it, and it made about a half million dollars. How did he prove that? How is that? Isn't that just like kind of I think it's like any it's just like any police work they can see or something just looks into it or whatever Yeah, and they and they connected to like you heard this from this person But that's so funny to like have it go to like we think someone told you like nope. They didn't like well

Well, come on don't think they did they didn't someone? It's pretty crazy that you did that, huh? Don't you think we should? Yeah, now it's like part of the contrast. Yeah, it's just fine to do. Yeah, so they had them, I think, back then, when they brought charges like this, they had you like they wouldn't do it right. They had you. OK.

So his lawyers recommended he resign as chairman of his company and give up 51% of interest in order to keep the company's liquor licenses. I guess if he was convicted, they would lose their liquor licenses at Benihana's, which is probably a lot of fucking money. It's a big part of it. Yeah. So he put all his Benihana assets in a family trust managed by three kids, Kevin, Kana and Kyle. Beautiful alliteration. Yep. Don't do it. Lovely.

So now his kids have a huge amount of control over the trust, Benihana. So Rocky pleaded guilty to four criminal counts and he was 500,000. He avoided jail time. Well, but that's what he made. So it was in that aspect, correct. Like he lost the money. But you should also get fined on top of what you made. So it's a penalty.

Or just taxed, like you said. He avoided jail time because he now had a lot of health issues. He's 61 years old. He suffered from different things, including hepatitis C, which he said he got from the blood transfusion after the accident. So he ends up getting probation because he's in bad health. In 2001, he met Kiko Ono at a party. She was a Benihana consultant and had been a runner-up Miss Tokyo.

They dated for less than a year before getting married in New York at City Hall on July 2002. His health had now gotten really bad, diabetes, cirrhosis of the liver, hepatitis C. He's not expected to live for very long, and he gets married, doesn't tell his kids until later. Yeah, but I mean, so what? That's fine. They have a party to tell the kids. So that's the perfect way to tell the kids, by the way. That's how you do it.

Yeah, you do. It's like a gender reveal, but you're married The kids con and Kevin bring a post-nup agreement for a cake at a sign post-nup You're allowed to do that. I don't think I think Kids do that. I don't think you can Just hoping yeah, I feel like like if you if you marry, that's the finish line. You're good to go. You can't post-nup it. So she refuses.

The kids then talk Rocky into signing an amendment to the Benihana Trust, which makes them sole beneficiaries. So Kiko would get nothing from Benny Hanna or the family assets. And then a short time after he signs that, Rocky's thinking about it and gets really fucking angry at the kids. He's saying they tricked him and he didn't understand what he'd been signing when he signed it. And then he changes his will four times. Each change is giving more control to Kiko. In his feud with the kids, he said his ex wife, Shizuri, is

was using astrology against him. Yep, absolutely. Sorry, just to be clear, meaning that she's controlling the fates through the sky. What does that mean exactly? I don't know. I couldn't. OK, sure. It's also not how astrology works. I do think you're right.

It's hard to weaponize that. Honest, the power of astrology. Yeah. Yeah. Just like, yeah. I'm going to send a Sagittarius after you. Yeah. Quote, she's using what's happening in the heavens to tell Grace what to do. She still cannot forgive me because I have babies with Pamela. Now she hates Kako too.

So mentally, how is he doing? He's in a good, healthy spot. He's good. He's good. He's fine. Cocaine hasn't destroyed his brain. He's in a good, healthy spot? He's good. He's good. He's very good. He's in a really good spot. He's fine? Cocaine hasn't destroyed his brain or anything?

No, he's fine. He's fine. Okay. All right. Okay, good. In late 2003, Rocky tried to bring peace to the family. He made a rewrite of the will, now giving Keiko control of how to disperse 75% of his estate to the kids.

Wow. So he puts her in pretty much full control, right? Thinking that'll bring peace to everything. Well, what kind of, so all the kids are mad that this is happening. They want her to sign a post-nup and then he's like, I've heard you, please, you're worried, you're concerned. You think she maybe has too much power. So let's meet in the middle. She controls 75% of everything.

Yes. How does that sound? Everybody. Hey, remember when I opened the Benny Hanna magazine? Yeah. And it was hustler. Yes, I do. That was crazy.

Huh? Remember that? Very great. Didn't make sense at all. I do. That was crazy. Huh? Remember that very great. Didn't make sense at all. I know. Maybe when I had a balloon to cross the Pacific Ocean. I do. Yeah. Yeah. That was crazy and rich. And I just crashed into trees when I got here.

Yeah, that was really nuts. Really weird. Really weird. It's crazy. Yes. So he thinks that. Her being in control would force the kids to make peace with her because that would be the smart thing to do because she has the leverage. OK, yeah. And then everyone would come together and be happy family. And that's for the right reasons.

Absolutely not what happened. Right. So the kids are furious and he then decides to sue his children. Now, he's only suing four of them. He's not suing. OK. Steven and Devin are not part of this. He sure the suit said, you know, it's a great way to put it. He's only suing four of them. The suit said they breach fiduciary duties, partly losing the trust controlling interest

in Benny Hanna incorporated that it happened through a stock dilution and sales that reduced the stake from 59, 50.9% to 36.5. And then he said, and then the kids canceled his salary and they're trying to take control of the companies because they hate Kago. So two of his kids, like I said, Devin and Steve are not involved in the fight. They're super successful on their own, which is probably why they're not involved in the fight.

Yeah. Steve's a super like I think he was the top paid DJ for a long time. He's making fucking gobs of money. Yeah. And not a lot of people know he did that all in a hibachi. Yeah. And Devin, who Rocky would tell everyone was his favorite daughter. This guy's amazing. This is my favorite daughter, Devin. Yeah. All right.

She had been discovered when she was 13 at a rancid concert and became a big model. She's, if you don't know who she is, in Fast and the Furious 2, there's a super exotic looking young woman and that's who that is. Like she's someone you would, I think, recognize if you. Anyway, she would later replace Naomi Campbell as the face of Versace. Wow.

So she's also doing very well, so they're not fighting over the money. Sure. Now, Rocky dies of pneumonia on July 10th, 2008 in New York and Keiko became the sole trustee of the Fortune in 2010, and all but Steve and Devin had been disinherited. So now the only people getting money are Steve and Devin. I like that.

She appoints herself a CEO. Sure. A court rules for the kids, but Keiko has access to money until they turn 45. Oh, so she's got like a real clock on it? Yeah, and they're like in their early thirties at that point. So she's like, well, great, When you're 45, that's fine. There'll be nothing left.

They file a lawsuit against Keiko in 2014, saying it was question. She was using the money very questionably. One example they use was. She was paying to fly a duo, a duo of hip hop dancers known as the Benny girls to promotional events. Well, look, it obviously worked because we all know who they are. The Benny girls.

They just in Benny Hanna chef clothing and did hip hop Shit yeah Keiko also introduced a Japanese style burger at the Honolulu restaurant and that brought a lawsuit from Benny Hanna incorporated In turn, Keiko- Wait, Benny Hanna's suing Benny Hanna because the restaurant one is different than his personal one, because there's the two. Yes. Right. They're saying she's devaluing the brand by making a hamburger. Sure.

In turn, Keiko has sued Benny Hanna three times, and they were all called frivolous and thrown out. In 2024, a lawsuit was filed against Benihana alleging that the company and its associates failed to pay employees their minimum and overtime wages. Now, it's been sold at this point. It was sold to a company in like 2023. They really struck all the odds. Honestly.

Hibachi was hot. Yeah, it got way too complicated. And I just I stopped tracking at this point because he died. Sure. I don't think the lawsuits are settled with Stephen and Devon. I think so. I don't know. I don't think she's CEO anymore, but she could also have control of the trust, whatever. But so it's a shit show. But yeah, that's the story of a Jesus. Rocky Ioki. Just that is so crazy. When I was a kid, you used to go to Benny Hanna's for like kids birthdays. Like that was the move. Yeah, like you would go there and it's just, that's how I still know about it.

Because Finn always wants to go to Ben. Yeah, it was like it was just I went to how about you within the last year wasn't a Benny Hanna. But you know, you're like, yeah, all right. There's one there's one here that's not a Benihana, but it's the exact same thing. Yeah. In our town and like, but that is so crazy. I mean, it really is the story of someone with just too much money. Yeah.

Yeah, this is why we I mean, it's cut to cut to fuckhead Bezos flying. It's money in the space. Yeah, absolutely They don't need this fucking money taking away from them. They don't need it people are suffering. Everyone's having a hard time Governors can afford shit because they want taxis gonna take their fucking money. No money. No one needs more than fucking I mean, you don't need 10 million, but you okay, let's cap it at 10. You get $10 million. Fuck off. Everyone. Fuck off. You got enough. Let's say 20 20. Look, cap it at 20 20 20 20 is good. You can have a champagne fountain at 20. You're good. Just no more. Yeah, it's it's

psychotic. It is psychotic. It's this is the craziest setup. It's like it was what and it was what when the when the Great Depression happened, it was really it was this it was in on a smaller scale. But it was just like, what the fuck? This is crazy. Yeah, we've done this twice. We did it before the Great Depression and we did it during the Robert Baron period of the 1800s. Like we've done this. We've done it.

Just tax. It never fucking works. You can you can stop destroying the 10th cities and Just give them homes. Yeah Sources Boston Globe of New York Daily News New York Times the Oregonian the Miami Herald the LA Times They call it the hemorrhoid shrinker sports illustrated New York magazine Mashed.com, Daily Mail, CNBC, Fortune, the hustle dot com and astrology.

Yeah. Astrology Weekly. Well, crazy, crazy, crazy. Crazy. Everybody was. It's just crazy. Well, I can't believe that that is it's while it's terrible. It's also awesome to watch what money activates in people. How it like actually just makes people go bonkers. Yeah, because there was a whole rich person, hot air balloon thing

happening in the 80s, kind of right. Like they were all sort of it was it was like space travel. Yeah, now they're doing space travel. Yeah, there was a huge like, yeah, there was a huge balloon period. But it was just like because it was like, yeah, it was like you're exploring your day. Interesting. Yeah. I don't know. So fucking dumb. Are we going to get those astronauts out of space? We could if we just asked

China to take him out. But instead, they're going to sit there for two years. Two years. We are just as they both have families. We don't we don't want to have the news of like, yeah, China, what if they're trying to grab them? Because they're better than us, then they're supposed to be there for 10 days. I know. It's like the Gilligan's island of space. Yeah. And they're just going to be up there, just the two of them. What if they're not hitting it off?

Oh, my God. Oh, my God. And what's the shower situation? I hope they're podcasting. That would be great. I just I don't I don't understand the shower situation. I don't understand the food situation. Like if they're supposed to be there for 10 days, like if I am going somewhere for 10 days and then it turns into a year, I'm having a food problem. Yes. You know, I don'm having a food problem. Yes.

You know, I don't understand any of that. Yes. He keeps refreshing Grubhub up there. He's like, man, they got to be just shooting their poo out into space. Right? What a great point you've made. Absolutely. They've got to be shooting their poo out.

Space shitting everywhere we go is a toilet. I mean, that's what we do with our fucking boats and cruise ships. So what's the difference? That's awesome. It's really good. All right. Well, there you go. All right, Sporty Spice.

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