The Josh Innes Show - Big Night Aht

Episode Date: April 10, 2025

Jilly forced me to watch Pat McAfee's "Big Night Aht" last night. I admire the hell of out McAfee because he's built this mega brand and he's got a huge audience of loyal people. Also, I really find myself enjoying Shannon Sharpe's podcast...which is surprising to me. Can any other podcaster on the planet get 13,000 people in an arena for a live show? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

All right, everybody, welcome in. My wife, Jilly, that you know, she made me watch the Pat McAfee Big Night Ot last night because my wife is a very big fan of Pat McAfee. As you know, I am someone who appreciates Pat McAfee because Pat McAfee has made himself one of the more important media members in the universe and has done so like honestly kind of with just hard work like I know that it helps that he was an NFL player and then it helps that he was on barstool initially but the dude truly has grinded I believe would be the word a guy did stand up guy did a lot of shit and now he's got one of the biggest podcasts on the planet and he's one of the most controversial

figures. And really he's super controversial without being a controversial person. Now, I think part of that is like, he knows he's doing stuff that's going to get a reaction. And then he kind of plays dumb, like, Oh, I'm just a big, dumb dipshit. And I don't know politics, but then he knows exactly what he's doing when he dives into shit with Aaron Rodgers and knows the reaction, these kind of things. So in a way, I kind of find it disingenuous, right? Like I kind of find it phony to be like, I'm just big, dumb dipshit and I don't understand why I get the reactions like little old me. Well, you do. Same as Joe Rogan knows that he's going to get the reactions he's going to get, but people always play stupid and they say,

oh, I'm just amazed that I get these kind of reactions. I'm amazed that the left-wing people think this and the right-wing people think that. But I respect the shit out of the guy for what he's built because I respect the shit out of anybody who's built anything. Like, for instance, Shannon Sharp. I sometimes listen to episodes of Club Shay Shay. I don't listen to the after hours or whatever the hell the show is he does with

Chad Ochocinco because I don't really care. I don't really care about Shannon Sharp's opinions on things, just like I don't care about most people's opinions on things. So I don't really listen to podcasts of people offering their opinions. I do listen to interview podcasts, long form interview podcasts, because I find them interesting. So the nightcap, I think, is what the show with Chad Ochocinco is called. And I'm sure they make bank doing that. Does not interest me. But I am interested in Club Shave Shave. He's got the right people like the Cat Williams interview not too long ago was gigantic. And allegedly just off of that episode alone, and I would imagine that's via YouTube and other outlets,

Shannon Sharp claims that he made like $6 million just off of that episode. It's a totally perfect market for that universe. Like you get long form conversations with these types of dudes. Not all of them are going to be all that interesting to people. You know what I'm saying? Not all of them are going to light the world on fire. Like I was watching the Damon Wayans one the other day and it was pretty good. And that's when it kind of came to me that I kind of find this interesting.

Like I don't find Shannon Sharp interesting. He's basically just reading generic questions that somebody's written for him on a bunch of cards, but I still find the idea of talking with someone for three hours to be interesting. And like, as opposed to Joe Rogan, who a lot of times it's just people that I'm not interested in, perhaps that's not popular with people that listen to this podcast. Cause sometimes I do find Joe Rogan guests to be interesting. And in reality, I go in phases. There are some times when I'll listen to anybody on Joe Rogan, then I'll go months without ever even looking for the Joe Rogan podcast unless there's someone I find interesting.

Like, it wasn't too long ago that Dennis Quaid was on an episode. And I'm like, I'll listen to that because I'd like to know what Dennis Quaid thinks of things because I like Dennis Quaid. But then there's a lot of, like, scientists and fucking people that write books and a bunch of conspiracy theorists. And I'm like, I just don't give a fuck. Sometimes I want to hear just Damon Wayans talk about fucking and living color and blank man and something that's a lot less heavy and a lot less thought-provoking than what Joe Rogan might be doing. And so a show like Club Shay Shay I find interesting. But let's take a few commercials here. Let's play a few commercials, and we will continue.

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It is non-withdrawable pick six credits that expire in 14 days. Limited time offer. See terms at pick6.draftkings.com slash promos. So as far as Club Shay Shay goes, like I give the guy credit. I guarantee you that guy is making more money doing this than he did when he played in the NFL. Shannon Sharp playing in the NFL in the 90s wasn't making dick compared to $6 million, allegedly $6 million for one episode featuring Cat Williams. But he's also in the right universe because a lot of the urban radio listenership will be listening to his podcast. The culture, as it were, likes to consume shit from the culture. That's why The

Breakfast Club is a huge morning show. That's why Ebro in New York is a huge morning show. That's why Club Shay Shay is fucking huge. The culture consumes the culture and basically anything. And the culture loves fucking drama. They love it. That's why The Breakfast Club, which I don't find to be a particularly fantastic show. It's good for what it is, I guess. But it doesn't really amuse me all that much. But the biggest shit they do involves drama. Like all of the videos. If you look up The Breakfast Club on YouTube, it's just fucking drama. And that's what moves the needle in that group.

That's why I like when Cat Williams is addressing the interview he did a couple years ago with the radio host in Atlanta, the one that's still the viral meme and the viral video that you'll see on Twitter or Instagram or TikTok. Jail and prison's not the same. 18 arrests, no convictions. That whole thing with Cat Williams. In discussing that, I guarantee you that was the golden money clip that and of course you know him talking shit about other comedians and stuff like that and diddy parties and all the shit he talked about on there but the drama is what draws people to that particularly the culture the culture fucking loves drama for

whatever reason the culture consumes drama i don't have the data in front of me to back that up, but I have eyeballs and I can read shit and I can see the reactions people have. The culture loves drama. That's why Cat Williams, where there was drama, generated, you know, $6 million allegedly for Shannon Sharp and Club Shay Shay. But I respect that. I respect the fact that Shannon Sharp doesn't just sit back and rely on doing these shitty talking head TV shows that are fucking terrible. That's the reason I hated Shannon Sharp. I hated Shannon Sharp because all there was to consume of Shannon Sharp was this horrible

show with Skip Bayless. And I despise, I hate, I loathe talking head arguing shows. I fucking hate them. They ask the same generic questions on every show. They all fucking suck. It's like the WIP formula. Two days ago, they were the greatest team ever because they took two or three from the Dodgers. They lose a game to the Braves. Are you guys worried that they lost a game to the Braves? It's the same shit you see on ESPN. After the Lakers beat the shit out of Oklahoma City, are the Lakers

now officially contenders? And are we worried about the thunder? And then the Lakers will bounce back and win a game the next day or lose a game the next day. Are we worried about the Lakers? Like it's the same benign, terrible, dreadful questions. And they just sit there and fucking yell about inane shit. That's why I think these long-form interview shows are doing well,

and I respect people that are doing them. Again, I don't give two fucks about Shannon Sharp's opinion on things. That's why I've never listened to a second of his show with Chad Ochocinco. I'm sure many people do it. I'm sure it makes him tons of cash, and good for you. I'm not saying to not do it. I'm not saying to don't watch it. Whatever.

Rock on. But I'm just, I don't want to consume it I don't need everybody's fucking opinion on everything I don't really care because honestly a lot of Shannon Sharpe's opinions I just I have no respect for but Shannon Sharpe sitting down having a conversation with Damon Wayans I listen to that and I go okay I'm into this because I like Damon Wayans I like the Wayans brothers I like In Living Color I used to watch Major Pain all the time when I was a kid so like I'm into that these long form interviews with people I find interesting and what I like about the questions he's asking as opposed to say Joe Rogan and look this this could be what makes Joe Rogan fantastic at what he does as well but a lot of what Joe Rogan does

isn't about the careers of people it's about like weird beliefs of people and that's fine and a lot of those I find interesting but like if you're sitting down with David Lee Roth I want to hear about fucking Van Halen I don't really care about aliens and shit like I already know that I think David Lee Roth is a putz let's talk about Van Halen if you're talking with Sammy Hagar I don't really care about Sammy Hagar's opinions on certain things I want to hear about 5150 and OU812 and for unlawful car carnal knowledge balance I want to hear about solo Sammy I want some behind the scenes shit and you can also throw in the other stuff but like I think what happens with Joe Rogan interviews a lot of the time is you'll get someone on that you think you're gonna find interesting and. And then it's like, yeah, I don't really find this interesting. Now there are other

times that I've listened and the discussion was not about the field of the person they're interviewing. And it was fantastic. Like one of my favorite Joe Rogan interviews was Joe Rogan with Ted Nugent. And a lot of it was about hunting. And I know nothing about hunting, but I found the discussion to be interesting because I like to hear from people who are quote unquote experts in whatever field they're discussing, discuss that field,

particularly when it's a field that I don't know, like hunting, and I found it very interesting. So it kind of goes both ways. I say that to say that I respect the shit out of people who are able to build giant things and do it on their own own like a Pat McAfee, like a Joe Rogan, like guys like that. But last night I was forced into watching The Big Night Otte, which was an arena show with Pat McAfee. And he opens the show doing like 25, 30 minutes of like life discussion mixed with kind of stand up. And it was interesting. Think about the fact that you've got a guy who has a podcast.

Granted, it's not like a me type of podcast. The guy has backing. The guy has had barstool. The guy's a celebrity. So it's not like some dipshit like me trying to do something. So it's not like he just kind of came from nothing. But to come from where he came, not a household name type of guy, and to build a podcast that is so huge that Pat McAfee can put 13,000 people, can fill up a hockey arena. It probably could have been more, but obviously they ate up one third of the arena with the stage set up. It was a WWE set up.

He had WWE people doing the whole thing. It was really fucking cool. And you can say what you want. You don't have to like the guy. A lot of the shit he does, I find annoying anyway, and I grow more and more to find it more annoying as I watch it. But I respect the shit out of the guy for putting 13,000 people in an arena. Granted, it's his hometown and he props up pittsburgh all the

time who knows if that event has the same pull if he did it in detroit or kansas city or st louis or houston maybe he wouldn't but it was a perfect storm and he had big guests like jelly roll which i'm fairly certain jelly roll will play some fuckers bar mitzvah if they asked him to like jelly roll doesn't say no to shit uh but jelly roll was there and snoop dog was there and wiz khalifa was there and one of the usos was there and uh um the mentalist guy was there so like big guns came out for this they gave away like two something like two and a half million dollars in prizes somebody in the arena won i think a hundred thousand another person won a hundred thousand and another person won a million dollars or two million dollars i forgot how much

they won but they i think won two million dollars they were giving away five thousand dollars to people on social media for random trivia questions like it was fucking fascinating from that regard but as is the case with many things it ends up going far too long it ends up being a drag uh at the end of the show they bring out all these pittsburgh sports people and shit and that's fine but the thing went over four five there's a sumo wrestling match and the concept of it was funny but then it was kind of stalled and slow shane gillis was there like i admire the shit out of the guy for his accomplishments and there are a lot of times I find what he does to be interesting or I laugh but my man's got to find some sort of guy to do

some editing because Jesus Christ a four hour like Bruce Springsteen doesn't play four fucking hours you know and Bruce Springsteen's got a billion hits Taylor Swift I don't know that she plays for four fucking hours but out there on stage for four hours doing this event which again more power to you but I found myself you know three hours three and a half hours in like all right the momentum kind of faded here and now it's just kind of him haunt and we're playing grab ass and look it's his world it's on YouTube I mean if you don't want to watch it you don't have to watch it but if I were in the arena I'd be like Jesus Christ but he was able to hold them all hostage in a way because he was giving away potentially three million dollars at the end of the show

so you had to wait around for it so Jilly seemed to love it but Jilly loves McAfee and she loves his whole damn crew and all that no I don't know that there's another podcast in the world that can do what he did now you might say Joe Rogan because Joe Rogan's the biggest podcast but Joe Rogan's already a stand-up so of course he can put in 17,000 people into an arena because he does it on a regular basis I'm talking about a straight up like you got to eliminate somebody like Joe Rogan who's already got a built-in audience because he does stand-up I'm talking about a guy that's a more traditional podcasting type. Now, of course, McAfee is also on ESPN. He's got that reach. But I don't believe Stephen A. Smith. If Stephen A. Smith watches that

and gets jealous, I'm sure he will, and then bitch about it in some way. My guess is that if Stephen A. Smith wanted to put in 15,000 people into an arena to do a wacky show, 15,000 people would not give two fucks about Stephen A. Smith, because Stephen A. Smith, for all that he does, is just a fucking hot take factory, and that's what his whole shtick is. It's not a talent, it's not a skill. He plays a character on television, and it's a largely uninteresting character, and he says outrageous shit, and starts fights with LeBronron and more power to him because he does have an audience obviously ESPN sees value they paid

the guy 10 million dollars people watch his videos on YouTube so more power to him but if he went to Madison Square Garden and said I need to put in 15,000 people for a Stephen A Smith show they wouldn't do it and that's's impressive. That's the most important thing you can do as a performer or someone in this type of field is you must build a loyal audience of people that are going to ride or die with you that are your fucking P1s. And Pat's got those. The Ticket in Dallas, the reason why it's been successful for so long is it's got a hardcore group of fucking listeners the reason why stations like 790 just exist and 610 just exist they don't have that they don't have people that will ride or die when we were doing that in houston at 610 i think we had a lot of ride or die people

uh i think 610 is now just a blah station and so is 790 but like whenever 1560 in houston was doing it big they had their ride or die P1s and they took a small group of people that helped them build something because they were fucking loyal to it. You have to have people that love you, not just the station, people that are dedicated to you. And there aren't a lot of podcasts. There are podcasts that can go out and fill up a comedy club. Many of them do that. How many of them could go in and fill up an arena? We keep hearing about how successful Jason Kelsey's wife's podcast is. You think Jason Kelsey's wife is putting in 15,000 people in an arena in Philadelphia? No, it's not happening.

So it's pretty remarkable. It's similar to what Jim Rome used to do in the 90s when he did his tour stops you know how I feel about Jim Rome Jim Rome is the biggest star sports talk radio ever had and he did it in an era where there you know it wasn't like just throwing him on a network and he's on 100 stations he had to go out and grind to get all those stations and his people were dedicated to this fucking guy so when he'd go to Houston or go to whatever city and he'd put a bunch of people in a baseball stadium for a live show, a live event, that was a big fucking deal.

This is bigger than that. Like, it's bonkers. So the show ran long. You know, I don't find him to be the funniest guy in the world, but I find what he does to be very smart. He's got an audience for it. I find myself gravitating towards him because there's a guy in the world, but I find what he does to be very smart. He's got an audience for it. I find myself gravitating towards him because there's a lot of the people, the left wing media people and traditional media people that fucking hate him. So I like him more for that.

But anyway, still fucking remarkable, dude. Fucking remarkable.