The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Colin Cowherd Podcast - Nick Wright Part 1, Sports Talk Radio, Entertainment Industry, Nick’s Wedding

Episode Date: November 22, 2023

Colin is joined by Nick Wright, the host of First Things First on FS1, and they definitely DO NOT stick to sports. They talk about the pros and cons of ‘obsessive’ behavior (6:36), what they love most about local sports talk radio(11:30) and their favorite sports radio shows (20:30). They dive deep into the entertainment industry and discuss why writing is more important than acting in TV & Film(27:20).They give their takes on the greatest actors and performances (30:40) and their favorite mediums for live performances (34:15). Nick also surprises Colin with a wedding announcement and invitation(43:30). Don’t miss part two when they dive back into sports! (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements.) Follow Colin and The Volume on Twitter for the latest content and updates! #Volume #HerdSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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For 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84 was big to me. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a year, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. With our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors. Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s.

84 was a wild year. It was a wild year. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The volume. There's so much to be thankful for over the holiday weekend. Friends and family food and football, especially NFL, new customers at Draft King's Sportsbook, download the app full weekend of action, full week of action.

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eligibility and deposit restrictions, terms, and responsible gaming resources. All right, here we go. An hour with Nick Wright. So, you know, I hadn't talked to Nick in a while. We thought pre- Thanksgiving. If you're watching this, he does look a little like Bernie Toppin, the lyricist, the British lyricist, who was Elton John's songwriter forever. You've got a little Bernie Toppin look between the sports code, very sophisticated.

I mean, Colin, is your, listen, I'm not sure I haven't seen the metrics, but is your, you know, YouTube and podcast audience, are they skewing to like the golden generation? Like you're the, you were 30 seconds in and you're like, hey, I mean, I think I know a lot about, you know, pop culture from before my time, but Bernie Topin, I don't think I've ever, I've ever heard of, but I'll take your word for it. You know, I get a lot of things. Everyone, you know, has different comments on the look. You have more comments than anyone. I've just been so busy today getting roasted by people for the team losing a, football game that I don't play for. I didn't have time to change. I was wearing my TV clothes,

having a nice cocktail with my friend Colin. Cheers. You know, you said something today on FS1 that I thought was really true. In fact, I wrote about it in my first book. I call it sports insurance, where I bet against the teams I love so it doesn't break my heart when they lose. That's where you and I are different. So you have much more emotional courage. You go all in on your commentary, on your betting for who you love. And me, you probably had a more stable environment in your life. Me, who had chaos, I am constantly buying insurance, so nothing breaks my heart. I bet Oregon stayed against Washington because the Huskies.

I couldn't believe that. You mentioned that when I went off the show. Like, I couldn't believe that you went to that level on it. See, so I think it actually probably shows some like, I don't know, almost like massacism about me that I'm not aware of, which is like it's really like a, it's going, I'm going to feel something at the end of this game. And it's going to be maximum in either direction. Like I'm going to put myself out on as far of a limb as I can professionally if I believe in it. I'm going to gamble on it.

And it's the team I love. And when they come through, it is a true rush. And when they don't, like, and I even, you know, I'll give you a different type of gambling. you know, all these, the gambling operations, your friends at draft kings do it. They offer the cash out options. You know what I mean? On a bet. So I don't know if it was week three or whatever week it was.

But the week the Giants had the huge comeback against the commanders. And I think, and Denver had a huge lead against someone that they ended up blowing. I bet both, I made a $500 bet on both teams that were trailing by. 21 simultaneous. It's 500 to win $21,000. It's week three. And at one point, the cash out option was 17.5.

Because one of my teams had won, and the other one had gone from down 21 to up 10. And I was like, hell, no, I'm not cashed. Like, no, like, if you're offering me that, it's worth more. And that was the game Russell Wilson completed the Hail Mary to potentially

tie the game. And then they didn't get the two-point conversion. And I dropped to my knees in agony when he completed that tip-tailed Mary, but then I won anyway. And it's just, that's kind of just how I live my life. That's just kind of how I live my life. Well, you talked about the word you use was rush and you play poker and your opinions. You, you probably somewhere, maybe because my father later in life, I didn't notice it early was an alcoholic, I am very acutely aware of obsession or becoming an olik, whatever that olik is, right? And so I'm aware of it. I'm always pushing back. I'm always stopping. I'm always, you're not. You probably didn't have as much of that in your life. So your life could have been,

you had some chaos you've told me about, but you like, you like the rush. I am avoiding the rush at all. Yeah, I just, I have, and I think, maybe we've talked to this once before. I, you know, I'm pretty convinced. I haven't been, like, clinically diagnosed with this, but I have what people call an addictive personality. And that can go in any direction, positive or negative. So, like, you know, there was a period of time right when my youngest daughter,

who's now 10, had just been born. And I was spending a ton of time just with her in my arms or sleeping or whatever. Yeah. That I became totally really obsessed. with history books. And I was reading dense U.S. or military worldwide history books one a week. Like I was addicted is a weird way to put it, but it was certainly compulsion. I once built these little Lego nanoblock sculptures to the point to where I was scouring

eBay for like ones I didn't have. Now that can also go in, you know, bad directions on, you know, either vices or whatever, it is, but I've just, I certainly can get obsessed with things. And you mentioned poker. Like, I am obsessed is not the right word, but I am, I, every single night, the way I go to sleep is I watch old, not old, but 18 months old, they're about a kind of, you know, obscure poker tournaments of the best in the world to try to kind of learn that. Like the new kind, that's the skill I'm trying to hone and I'm really like laser focused on it. So I just don't, I'm not good at doing things in moderation. And that's, and it's also why to be totally honest, I never, aside

from weed, experimented with any drugs because I knew I was like, I won't be a, you know, you, I'm sure you've had a friend or someone that's like, wow, they once every six months might do a little Coke or something. But they're just, you know, it's just like a thing. I was like, That wouldn't be me, man. I would, that would, and so I've kind of had to have my own guardrails on it there. Yeah, and I have a lot of guardrails, so I don't, I'm the exact opposite of you. Everything is in moderation. I have, I literally, I mean, I tell my wife, I go to this place in Manhattan Beach.

It's called the 900 Club, and it's a great place to go. I go see my buddies. I watch the Chiefs Eagles there, and with four minutes to go in the game, I call Uber, take me home and do the podcast, right? But it's just, I like, I wanted last night. to be like you in an environment of fans and it was split down the middle of Kansas City, Philadelphia. But it's like I can stop anything. I cocktails, 740, done. Years ago, I was getting rosacea and I went to a nutritionist. And she said, do you eat dairy? And I said, yeah,

I have about 12 yogurt today. She said, 12. And I said, I eat them all day. She goes, stop. No more dairy for you. I literally have never had yogurt since the next day. And I was living on it. So I can, I am, I say this, I am a great quitter. Oh, wow. I'm not a good starter. That's a great skill. That's like an underrated skill that I guess it's a weird thing to say.

But being able to either cut your losses or just be like, eh, not into this. Like I wonder, do you ever wonder how many people in our business? and people who probably are not necessarily at the apex of it. But our business, everybody, you know, you started in local TV and then did local radio. I did local radio for a decade. Yeah. So I always wonder how many people who have decent jobs in, you know, a good market or whatever it is, are fell out of love with it eight years prior.

but just didn't know how to be like, oh, this wasn't for me and are continuing down the path. You know what I mean? That they're like where it's not even what they want to do anymore, but it's just what they had always said they were going to do. And they don't want to be like, ah, I was wrong. I always wonder about that. Well, I think I will say this. I think sports talk radio is at its best locally when you have a great controversy and you can spend four hours on one topic. I remember when I lived in Connecticut, my wife, Ann, built a gym for me downstairs.

And I worked out almost every four o'clock every day, like 3.34 o'clock. And probably the best local show I've heard consistently was Felger and Maz, the two Boston guys, not homers, one of the few shows in a big market I've ever heard that would push back on local teams, funny, smart, connected. And I always thought their best shows. when they had a major Patriot controversy or Brady, it was great. I'd sit there and work out for two hours. That's when I had muscles because I would just sit there and work out because I thought it was fascinating.

That's when you were getting ready for your book cover, the famous shirtless book cover. So I have a story on that. This morning, Colin, so I drove back from Philly at 6 in the morning because I had to do my... I know. I saw your pictures. I had to do my podcast. So this morning on the drive back from Philly, the last thing I was, want to do is consume any content about the chiefs loss. Like, it's the last thing. So I,

you and I are so similar on this, I went to, uh, my buddy Andrew Philipponi, who you know a bit. He hosts afternoons in Pittsburgh. He was the Kenny Pickett guy. He, he had a weekly show with him when he was at Pitt. He like threw a party when the Steelers drafted him. He was all, he was tweeting picket to pickens is going to be the new montana to rice he was the kenny picket guy and after the game sunday he said i'm out on kennie and i was like i've got to hear this show so on my drive from philly to new york this morning i pulled up the podcast from his local show yesterday two o'clock of them being like i'm out on kinney and then today right before our show when I saw Canada got fired, I was like, I want to hear what they're saying now today.

Like local sports radio is great. It's like on, it can be super monotonous, you know, in the, you have a crummy baseball team. There's nothing going on. But on the big story stuff, it is so, it is so exciting and exhilarating. It's so good. Yeah. Yeah, I was just, I have a show in L.A. I listen to a buddy of mine.

is works on radio and they uh he does a really good job and he's got great laker information that I listen to and he and his buddy are funny I know them both they're funny and they can go places I can't go because I have a television component I'm minute to minute my ratings are judged and so there there's no question I do more NFL now if I was just doing local radio I'd probably do 30% NFL now I do 58 to 60%. So I've always thought when when You know, I saw some, I don't know the name of the sportscaster, Chris something. He's some ESPN guy. It was on social yesterday where a local person came up to interview him and he said, I don't do local.

And I was like, every time I'm in a local market, I talk to the local guys. I love the local guys. I think they're funny. I think they're interesting. I think those shows are raw. I'm not allowed to be as raw. They're unhinged. I'm not allowed to be in hinged because I have a TV component.

When you said you have a TV component, you ended up talking about kind of content and ratings and you know but there is a level of even in 2023 the closest thing to like the wild west of like sports media is your local sports guys who can yes absolutely walk the line and cross it occasionally without and i think it's probably because it's hard for a local radio gaff to instantly go viral without the fear of oh my god this is going to cost me my career so when you're don't when you're not as concerned about that you can take more chances and listen sometimes it ends in disaster because you take too many right but sometimes it is really my you know one of my buddies who's done uh i've told you about him as well my buddy laslo has done a local talk show

for over 20 years in can city and he said early on when he was doing it he was like my entire goal when I had first started in a market no one knew who I was was at some point when they're listening make the purse say something that makes them look at the radio even though it's an audio medium just feel like what did you say he's like that you know and there are levels of how close you can come to the line in that I mean I I I don't know that I will now but I used to say to Danielle my wife like when when we're retired retired will actually mean like maybe living in Hawaii and I do the local sports show there. Like two hours a day.

Like but I just got to give take somewhere. But that was before like podcast and YouTube and stuff. I'm talking about a long time ago. I was like I'm going to have to give an opinion somewhere. But that always sounds like you know what happens. Coaches always say that. They go up the chain. They get to Kentucky.

They win a national title and they say when I retire, I'm going to coach at St. Mary's. And it's like that. pays less than a high school gym teacher. No, you're not. No, you're not. You're going to, you're going to coach somewhere, be a consultant for the Philadelphia 76ers, make 300 Gs a year and go to eight games. Don't give me a break. No, I just, I've always, I have a lot of, when I was up in Seattle for the Husky game, Husky Oregon game, a softy Dave Mahler has been doing stuff forever, and he came up and said, would you do the pregame show? And I'm like, of course. I love it. I think it's just

great. He's terrific. I think the local guys, I could name 20. shows off the top of my head. I think they're excellent. Listen, I got to a point where I got, you know, I don't think most local guys want syndicated. I think the best jobs in Sports Talk Radio are local. Now, obviously, if you could get, you know, Dan Patrick or I, or you get one of those two jobs, those are really good jobs. We have really big staffs. It's a great life. I'm off at noon, cocktails at, you know, three. It's a great life. But overwhelmingly, Felger and Maz. I know Felger. He makes a lot of money. He doesn't really. That's the thing.

So like I, when I was coming up, my, and I've told you this, like it's, and it's a little, maybe it should be embarrassing, but it's not. But my dream job was to one day replace you on ESPN radio. I was like, by the time he's about done, I will be there. Like, you know what I mean? Not like they fire you for me, but like that's that, to me, that was the best real estate in sports media in America was the midday show on ESPN radio

because it was cleared in all the markets it was mornings in the West Coast it was the best real estate. Nowadays, man, I do not feel and I'm not trying to take a shot. I simply don't feel that way. I know, you know,

Danny Parkins really well. He does afternoons in Chicago. He got offered, however many years ago, I won't say the network, but they're after, drive national spot. And we talk.

I know how much he's making because I offered him a job. Yeah. And I remember we talked about it. And it was like, I have more people will hear me and care about what I say in Chicago than on the, you know what I mean? On the national network, whatever it is, it's not. And I don't want to sound like I had back in my day. But the, though like Dan Patrick, you, that that doesn't.

exists the way it used to on the national radio. I mean, Rome first, obviously, and then from there, like that, that's kind of a, now it's not a bad thing because now this exists and podcasts and people of other opportunities. But I don't know what my dream job would be if I was 18 years old right now. Because I didn't ever think I was going to be on TV. I never thought I was going to be on TV. I always just wanted to have the biggest sports radio show in the country.

but now I don't know what that like I mean you have the biggest sports radio show in the country but that but it's a TV show is what you know what I mean so it's like a different thing like what is the biggest sports radio show that's just on the radio right now I don't know what it was but for years you would know it was it was Jim Rome it was you know what I mean Van Pelt had a huge one for a while like I don't know what it is right now I don't know yeah I don't I don't and I don't think it matters anymore. I think in the 80s and 90s it did. It's, it's, it's almost like having the best, it's like having the best running back in the NFL. Nobody cares. Like, nobody cares. It's like, who's got the best quarterback and an offensive coach that guides him? And I say that with all due respect. I, I, I listened to Mike and the Mad Dog for 10 years when I was in the East Coast. I thought they were terrific. I thought Boomer and Carton were a riot in the morning. I thought that was more, my less basebally than Mike and the Mad Dog. I thought Boomer and Carton were perfect.

I think Gio and Boomer, I don't hear them. A Gio appeared, you know, funny guy. Boomers, you know, he's got a sizable audience, legitimacy in the market. I think those shows are, I think they're very, very good. I think they're great. And I think a lot of those shows probably pay better than most of the national shows. My point is, like, I don't think, I think podcasts, like, in a weird way, like, is the biggest

non-televised national sports radio show in 2023. And I'm using radio in quotes. Pardon my take. Like it might be. You know what I mean? Like that might be what the next iteration of it is. Like the, and so I don't know what it is.

But I love the, I love the industry. And I still, even though I've now been at Fox longer than I've been anywhere else, I've been doing this first things first longer in any of my other shows. If someone like were to ask me, what I do for a living, I'd say sports radio host. And I'm on the radio.

But like in my head, that's what I am. Like, I just happen to be on TV doing it. But that's how I, that's what I am. Yeah, I call, I put down whenever I'm filling out a credit report, America's media icon. And that's why I just needed that. I told my, my, uh, one of my youngest daughter is, I don't, one of her friends told her. Because she, both my daughters are actresses, the 18 year olds in college, the youngest, is 10. And one of the 10 year old's friends told her the way it works is you get an agent and the agent

puts you in movies. And so she is super pissed at us that we won't get her an agent. She was like, whoever told me, that's what you need to do. And I said to her, I was like, Deanna, I was like, I know how this business works. She was like, how would you know? I was like, I'm in the entertainment business. I think I said, I said, I'm in the entertainment industry. And she just started laughing. She was like, no, you're not, Daddy. I was like, yes, I am. She was like, you are not in the thing. She just, she thinks whatever I do is sports and it's nothing to do with the entertainment

industry whatsoever that I'm out of my mind. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes, for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds.

I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions,

my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger, than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations

with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast.

It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George

Bush got to do with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on the look back at it, podcast. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill, waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but yeah, yeah, literally. But just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack. So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. So, Thank you for finishing that sentence.

I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. You know, it was interesting. During the writers and the actors and the directors strike, here's my take. And talking about the entertainment industry, we'll just pivot.

that is that my wife and I, um, we watch ACORN TV, which is Netflix, England. Everybody's got bad teeth, skins blotchy, noses are poignant. They're the funniest guy. But the writing is just so good. And I told my wife, I can, I don't care who the actors are. And I have not in any way trying to a downplay, Don Cheatel, Ed Norton, Michael Keaton, Merrill Street, Amy Adams, people that literally get me to a movie. If they're Jason Bateman, you know, certain people, if they're in it, I'm watching it. They make good choices.

But I said, my wife and I will go through a nine-part series if we don't know the actors, if the writing is good. I've never watched a series where the writing's bad and the actors are famous and considered high profile, is that there's nothing against actors. I'm not marginalizing the industry. But when I looked at that strike, they resolved the writers first. I said this. Stranger Things had eight-year-olds acting.

Eight-year-old couldn't write it. They couldn't direct it. They could act in it. And that doesn't mean there's not great actors. Eight-year-old couldn't play in the NBA. Couldn't be a senator. They can act. Well, that's fun.

And so it's like writing as children. I mean, that's a little. They're the only people eligible. You can't get a 30-year-old to play the role. But before the side, until you got to the Senator NBA analogy, where I agree with you is great writing can, pulls me right. In a way that a star actor,

if the product is, if the plot and the writing is terrible, terrible, you can't keep me. But you can have a totally anonymous cast, which anonymous doesn't mean they're not good actors, just, you know what I mean, not famous. And if the writing is good, you're in there entirely. Like the, where, think about this, Marlon Brando's had eight bad movies. Why? The writing was bad. You don't blame Marlon Brando. You go, the writing sucked. Tom Hanks, the terminal. Nobody says, I'm not watching a Hanks movie again. The writing wasn't good enough. The writing carries it, not the acting, though there are specific Jeremy Irons. Again,

to me, Don Cheadle, Ed Norton, Michael Keaton. There are people that Jason Bateman just kind of pulls me in. There's certainly no. There are stars that. Here's the thing that the entertainment industry from the movie perspective has really taught me a bit as far as how to do my show, which is I don't think you can underrate the importance of charisma, which I don't have a ton of, or likability, which I started, which I realized later in my career,

oh, that's important. Like the thing is, so the, you mentioned those folks. So like Tom Cruise, I can't explain it, but charisma's the word.

And that guy, it's just like he pulls you in. a guy who I think that maybe people will laugh at me for this, but a guy who I think has it. If he's on the screen, I find myself smiling is Mark Wahlberg. I mean, that guy's funny, man. Like, he's just funny and he's having a good time and he's good looking like that.

So on that level, so that's where like the, the, um, and where the, the perfect storm is, for instance, I would argue the Sopranos, which had apex acting,

what Gandalfini and Falco did. And basically all the actors in the series, except for the kids, were A-plus and some of the best television writing ever. And you have true art. You have like, oh, I can watch that again and again and again. Yeah, that's right. If you bring them both together where, and they don't, it's not like Gandalfini was an A-lister before the Sopranos, but he was an A-list talent, clearly. He was one of the most brilliant performers ever. Yeah.

And, you know, I think it was Marlon Brando said. And this is where James Gandalfini, he found the perfect role. It didn't even look like he was acting. You start thinking, I bet he does have some mom guys. Right? Right. So Marlon Brando used to always say, you can only do, you can do yourself and a version of your father. Oh, really? Nobody has the range. Yeah, you can, you're doing a version of yourself or a version of dad. As a man, that's the range. That's all you can do. And so when I watch Gandalfini, there are, there are. roles. And I think De Niro has leaned into this a lot. I think Michael Keaton's quirky. He's leaned into it. I thought James Gandalfini. It's like, oh, no, he found the perfect role. Now, I watched them in a couple other movies. I really liked him. He's terrific. But that role, there are perfect roles. It's just like somebody once said to me, Colin, afternoon radio. And I'm like, no, that doesn't work for me. I'm not hostile. I'm more the, I'm going to take you through what happened last night. My version, my version. story of what's happened last night. I don't want to take calls and yell and argue over stupid conflict. That's not my personal. That's Mike Francesa's personality. I do think actors, there's a perfect role out there. And the actors that find it often get typecast, but they do it over and over and over again. And that's criticized. But what it is, it's the closest version of who they are. And so Nicholas Cage can do the same thing over and over. Now, leaving Las Vegas, he may do something

that diverts and you're like, wow, what a performance. But I think most of the times I watch Michael Keaton, kind of that sardonic sense of humor, or you watch Anthony Hopkins, or after I watched Silence of the Lambs, everything felt like I heard that, I heard that accent, I heard that voice and everything after that. I do think there are perfect roles for actors. And once you hit it, don't try to get happier than happy. Keep doing versions of it. Well, and that's, and I think for comedic actors, it's probably easier.

They, they're not, um, they're, I shouldn't say easier, but they're not judged for it. Like, nobody judges, uh, Sandler or a lot of, or Mark Walker, I'm saying, we're basically playing this, not the same guy, but a similar guy in a bunch of stuff. Dramatic actors, they, you know, are judged in a way, it's like, test your range, see different things you can do. And yeah, I mean, I find, I personally, maybe it's because my. My daughters are so into it. I find it to be a really, like, fascinating journey of, like, trying to learn these things

and, like, whether or not the places, I mean, the 10-year-old is not, obviously, on doing things on this level. With the 18-year-old, she's a theater major at, you know, University of California, Santa Cruz, and she's out there really trying to, like, learn things to do it. Yeah, I mean, it's very few comedians can do drama. Now, obviously, Robin Williams, Goodwill Hunting. awakening brilliant. Steve Correll.

I also think Steve Carrell's brilliant. I think he's actually a better dramatic actor. I think he's better in drama than he is

in comedy and I think he's funny as hell. You do have these guys that can leave their personality. Robin Williams has really a unicorn. Let's just acknowledge it.

Jim Carrey is brilliant, but I didn't buy the cable guy like I buy certain things because he was so physical. But I do think you rarely see a comedic actor do drama well

because smartly, they're playing the role they're meant to be. And that's okay. Can I ask you a question? And then I've got something happening in my life that I want to tell you about. But first, I have a question. You said comedic actor. I want to know if you agree with me on this.

I think the single most impressive job, I guess, in any form of the entertainment business. And I think it's, or the most difficult, I think impressive is the right word. and I don't think if there's a close second is stand-up comedian. Oh, I'm so glad you said that. You agree? First of all, you have to write your own material. You get one take.

You have to perform it in front of drunks. It's incredibly hard. You have nothing. You have nothing. You have nothing. Yes. You have nothing, but your thoughts,

it is everything. It would be like doing a, television show with a live, like in front of, on your eyeballs, the ratings by the minute to where like, it's like, oh, because every joke that doesn't hit, you know. So, and you have to keep going. And it is, it is to me, I am more impressed by stand-up comedians than anyone in any in the business. And I also think it would be the biggest rush of any of the jobs.

Like if you were great at it, I would think like, oh, I can't imagine anything cooler. Like, that is actually to me, and people disagree, maybe the thing I'm crazy. I think it's actually cooler than rock star. Because even a rock star, there's a whole production. There's a band usually. There's music. There's, you know, it might be flames or whatever it is. There's dancing, a lot of stuff.

If you are able to walk onto a stage with a microphone in your hand, no video board, no nothing. And for 90 minutes, keep people's rapt attention and keep them laughing. And at the end, they stand and applaud. It's to me the one of the most remarkable things ever. Like, I can't imagine how that feels. And I think it would take such courage and be so hard.

I think it's so cool. I think it's so cool. Yeah. I think the only thing that rivals it is Broadway, where it's one take, It's a live audience. It's often memorizing. I mean, I've actually known an actor that had to that worked years and years ago. I was intimidated listening to him describe his average night. It is a Broadway actor. Frightening. Oh, my God. Yeah. Especially if you're a lead or. Or you've got like heavy work.

You're on stage. Oh, my God. It's intimidating. I told Wilde's a version of this and he made fun of me. He was like, oh, he's like, thanks for the breaking news that the Moulon Rouge in Paris is impressive. And I was like, okay, well, I got it, buddy. But when my wife and I went to Paris this summer, I was like, hey, I know it's touristy, whatever it is, but I want to see what the Moulon Rouge is. People say it's nice.

and yes, I understand it's a burles show, so there are topless women involved in it. It was two hours of honest to God, the most impressive nonstop, like 100 miles an hour performance. And seeing these people, I'm like, there are 40 people on stage. They are all going fast and doing like, you know,

different movements. And the thing is they do, and I'm sure they, it's not all the exact same people, but they do three shows a night, seven days a week in that theater. And two things occurred to me. One was I was like, uh, these tickets were 400 bucks each. There's a thousand people in here. You're doing three of these a night. Like how much money does this place print? And the next thing was like, I don't even, I don't think once you get cast, you can, you practice.

I think you just perform because there's no time to practice because the theater is all day doing these shows. And yeah, Broadway is, that was the big shocker to me about moving to New York that I loved Broadway. I would have never thought I liked it. I was like, I don't watch musicals. I don't care. And I find it, it's one of my favorite things about living here is like the, because you are amazed that what these people are able to do. And then you know, they do it six nights a week. They're just there.

That's why. They're just there doing it. It's unbelievable. Circling back to comedy, it's why Colin Quinn to me has always been one of the most impressive comedians that he does these Broadway, you know, he writes these, essentially, you know, he finds a director, but he basically, it's a one-man show that Colin Quinn has done. And I watched a couple of them online. And I was just like, you know, it's a lot of work. you know, obviously it took six months to write. Colin Quinn to me is one of the real great performers in America.

And he does stuff nobody else does. He does stand up. Years ago, I was in New York, probably 10 years ago, I was in New York one night. And I'm having cocktails with a buddy who's from the Pacific Northwest. And I said, hey, let's go to a comedy show and see who's performing. Colin Quinn was up there. And you could tell he was working on his act. He was in warm ups.

And he slayed it. He was just so funny. And he was kind of going, no, that's not going to work. And I thought it was, it was probably an hour of just ad lit, eight minutes of it were laugh out loud funny 35 to 40 were really good and then you know some of it I've seen David Spade lie four or five times you know some of it just doesn't you know he's just he's not there yet he's got a funny line but he doesn't have the art complete but I think back to that I think Colin Quinn's really really smart really clever the the one person show and then we can I guess

change do whatever change topics do whatever the I don't know if so there's a show uh one of the obviously law and order uh but there's a bunch of law and orders. So law and order organized crime, which was the spinoff of SVU. They took Stabler, the guy from SVU and gave him his own show. Well, the second lead in that show is a woman named Danielle Monet Truitt who went to grade school with my wife. In grade school, they were friendly, but not like close friends. But then when she got, and she was a like the vintage starving actor for 20 years. She had one big role on a show called Rebel was the star.

That show didn't last that long and was doing plays and working, whatever. And then she got cast in a new law and order as the second lead. And it's like, oh, moving to New York, this is, you know, my big break. And she and Danielle reconnected, this was four years ago maybe. And now they are super close friends. So like it's, and they went to grade school together and weren't that close. But now they are incredibly close friends. and this woman, before law and order had taken off,

she and a friend wrote a one woman show called Black Girl Blues. And she got it, she produced it, and we went to go see a screening of it. And it is, she walks up on stage. The only thing she ever outfit changes or whatever is like essentially how her hair is done or the shoes she's wearing or how her shirt is tied just because she plays three different black women who are, their lives are kind of intertwined,

but they don't know it. And she's standing on stage for 90 minutes, three totally different characters that you can just tell by the way she changed her dialect, her attitude, and her delivery. And I, I mean, I've watched the woman's television show and she's a friend of mine. I like her.

I knew she was talented. This thing ended. And I went up to her and I said, I don't know what I just saw here. I was like, you're like, you were on stage by yourself for an hour and a half telling a story with no one else there. Just,

there's like an omniscient narrator that occasionally would chime in, but that's it. And not only did everyone follow it, people cried because of one of the scenes. Like, was that yeah that stuff is really really a unique talent and i think i really respect the courage aspect of it the this thing is going to go 90 minutes and if it sucks i'm going to feel i'm gonna like i'm gonna be up here on the stage for 90 minutes and if 30 minutes in i'm like oh everyone

in here hates it i got to just keep going like the courage like that courage is crazy and yeah I think it's wild. I think it's wild. All right. So you said you had a personal anecdote or a personal thing. Well, yeah. So, um, so Colin, and I know this will, this will sound confusing to you. But, you know, I might have a reason for you to check Kansas City off your list of cities you haven't been to because I, in the spring, am getting married in Kansas City.

And now you might say, Nick, you're married. And technically, yes, I am. However, you don't, I think, know this about me. My wife and I never had a wedding, didn't have any money. We had set aside money for a wedding, and then I got the job in Houston. And so we moved. And the money we set aside for the wedding, we said, should we use it on a house? And she said, yeah, so we used it on down payment for a house.

I think you told you. So she and I didn't. didn't quite a lope, but I mean, we got married in Reno, Nevada with two people there. And so, she has always been promised that on or around our 10-year anniversary, we will have an actual, not a vow renewal, but a full-blown wedding, buddy. So we're having a full-blown wedding. There will be pomp and circumstance. and while you will get an official invitation in the mail, I'm delivering it to you now,

as you can be part of my L.A. contingent that goes to the wedding. I didn't know Kansas City had an airport because my entire life, I've never walked through an airport and seen a sign to Kansas City. I swear to God. Now, I'm in Salt Lake all the time because I have a place in Park City. I see London. I see Paris. I've never seen Kansas City. Okay. So here's the thing. You know what's very funny. So up until a year ago, not only did Cantady have an airport, I would argue we had the greatest airport. And here's why. Now, literally no restaurants. Literally, no, no, no, no restaurants. There's no, there might, there was like one Pete's coffee shop. But here's how it worked. Every gate, you got out of your car,

you walked into the airport, you walked to your gate, and each gate, you walked, had its own security just for the gate. So there was no security line because every, every gate, there was 18 gates, 18 little x-ray machines and whatever it is, it would, you would, honest to God, you could walk, get out of your car at 7 o'clock and be sitting and, you know, waiting for your plane at 7.04. It was the most convenient airport in the world. but because there was literally no restaurants and no amenities, whatever, a lot of of plays didn't fly into it.

And so, much to my chagrin, they redid it. And now it's big and fancy and there's restaurants and whatever. And I hate it. Everybody loves it, but I hate it. It's like a big international airport now. But it's not my charming Kansas airport. But yes, it has an airport. And yeah, and I'm getting married to my lovely wife.

and I know it's weird to say I'm getting married to my wife, but I am. And so we're doing that in the spring. And it'll be a hell of the time. It'll be a big party. I mean, it might be the social event. Unless Kelsey and Swift get married,

it's going to be the social event of the year in Kansas City. Not a lot of big social events. Come on. Give me a brick. The volume. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends.

Me and hilarious guests from Bob Oden Kirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds.

I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. Yep, that's me. Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media.

Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw unfilled conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to The Clifford Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human