The Kristian Harloff Show - The Writers Strike is Over! Deal is made! SAG deal coming soon?!

Episode Date: September 25, 2023

PATREON: Become a Patron!: https://www.patreon.com/TheBigThingShow It is finally over! Well almost! A deal has been made between the AMPTP and WGA that will put an end to the long strike that has kept writers out of work. Will SAG follow soon? It seems like the rainbow is finally here. Comedian Jonny Loquasto joins Kristian to discuss the end of the Writers Strike, his time working at WWE and his new special Saudi Stepdad. Enjoy! #wga #strike #sag #movies #tv #wwe #comedy #standupcomedy 

This episode is brought to you by Surfshark. What is Surfshark? It's an app. It's a browser extension, and it basically helps you protect your stuff. And it also allows you to find things that you normally wouldn't be able to because they block it. They say, yeah, you can't access it. And Surfshark says, yes, you can. It allows you to change your IP address to unblock content that you couldn't see otherwise,

and you have access to the app itself. You log on where you are. For me, I was not, look, I'm in L.A. I hit the button. Boom, boom, boom. it says you're accepted, and then you start searching for your stuff. It's that easy. It's really great also because especially I get people all the time talking to me about

Netflix. Did you see this stuff on Netflix that I was able to see? And then I'm like, no, because I don't live in that country. It's like, well, again, Surfshark goes, hey, use your app. You'll be able to see it. And that's what you do. You log in, you go and you check it out. You pick the country and you watch it.

One of the other important things is that it encrypts your data and it puts an extra level of protection on it. That's the thing. That was the absolute for me is that a key. keeps all your personal information safe, and you want to be secure. And you know how the internet is, guys. And when you have somebody like Surfshark, that helps you get that extra layer of protection. The other thing I really like about Surfshark is the fact that you can have access to every device.

It's not just one. And a lot of times that's what happens. Like, well, you're using it on your laptop so you can't use it on your phone or you can't use it on your iPad. Or you can't use it on this. Surfshark says no. You can use it on everything. It is unlimited. Use it on everything you want. So it's that simple. Look at all the great stuff already that I've told you that Surf Shark provides. And how do you benefit? Well, you use my code Big Thing. That's right. If you use that code Big Thing, it will provide you guys with an exclusive deal, three extra months for free. That's right. So if you go to surfshark.com. Deals slash Big Thing. Surfshark. Dot deals slash big thing. Get yourself three extra months for free. I mean, that's, that's, that's enough right there. So go and check it out.

Stay safe. Do what you got to do. It's Surf Shark. And I just pointed at you again. Happy Monday, everybody. Hope you having a great, oh, having great what? I'll be had a great weekend. See, I caught myself. The reason why, who's not excited? Everybody decided the writers have finally had a deal that they struck with the AMP QRS, WX, WX, Z. Stupidest long title. I hate it. But nonetheless, they came to an agreement. It's happening. And then it sag next. We're going to talk about that for sure.

We've got some other things going on the news as far as, I guess, kind of all related. The talk shows are coming back. So we'll talk about that. But I'm excited to because I got a good friend of mine here. Johnny LeQuast. He's got a brand new special coming out. And we're going to talk about that. We're going to talk about things inside of the special.

We're going to talk about his time at the WWE. We're going to talk about how he kind of geeked out when I told him we were doing a UFO show here. With him about all that and more. in just a little bit. So what we want you to do you guys to do? Show a little class, will you? Hit that button. 100,000.

We're almost there. But we need you guys to do it. We've been approaching it. I think we'll do it by October. But we need you guys to hit that button. Apple Podcasts, Spotify, anywhere podcasts are found. All right, man.

It's a big thing. It's me. It's Johnny Lecoastel. Let's do it. What up, everybody? Welcome back. How you doing? Good to see you.

Happy to be with you. All right. I got out text last week for my pal Johnny. And we didn't talk to us. a little bit. Hey man, let's get you in here. Let's do a little catching up. But then, what a great time to do it. My man's got a special out. There he is, Johnny Lecoasto. What up, Johnny. How you doing? What a great morning to be here. Yeah, we have the special coming out, but the writers have defeated the AMPT, AMPM, where you can now get big gulps on sale. I don't know

what it is either. Like, every time I see that, I'm like, I have to like copy paste if I want to say something about those idiots. It's too much. Isn't it like that whole group is just, just three old rich white dudes. Is it not us? Just say it's us. We're going to be negotiating with us. Okay, great. It's like, we get it.

There's so many different, stop it. Yeah. Stop it. Hold on. Magic. Watch this. Oh, man. Just like that.

I fix a shot, Johnny. We're live. We're live, everybody. We're live. That's a live link. And here we are. But you know what's funny about the writer's strike, what happened was the second it went down. You're like, well, make no mistake about it.

The studios were like, yes, they were so excited about it up first because they cut so much money. So much money through. Canceling shows. Right. Yeah. Canceling. All the superheroes, buy. But everything, though, canceling shows, it deals that they had to do that.

They didn't have to do anymore. And the money started going back to them. They're like, great. But what they did that was very dumb was they let it keep going on and on and on because they thought they were going to bleed people out. Writers like, no, we can stand through this. And had they, I always forget, I always messed this up when I say this, but it's something along the lines of, I think the entire deal would have cost them like 65 million, right, the studios.

But they've lost close to like 600 million by bleeding it out for as long as it is. So it was a very stupid move. So finally, Zazlov, I'm convinced at Warner Brothers was like... Which is such a villain name to begin with. Zazlof. Who should we send to get the children? You send Zazlof. Zachem in the children.

Shane says love safe. I call him Zoloft. I'm sure his personality is very similar to take in a couple of those. That's what I, it's just like when you hear him speak, he just like a, so he, but Warner Brothers had like Wonka and Aquaman and they've been losing money hand over fist with the DC movies, you know, so like he. Flash struggled. Flash bombed.

Yeah. I loved it, though. I liked it a lot. Yeah. But it bombed and it did really, really bad. A blue beetle barely broke even if. anything. Black Adam cost them so much money and barely broke even or whatever it was, lost money.

And then there was, well, I think there was one more. Oh, Shazam 2 ate a pile of garbage. I did not know that. Yeah, it ate it bad. But they need it and then they had to push Dune. So they need, Zazlof is probably like, guys, can we please get to the table and let's just figure it out. And finally, because I'm going to read kind of what the deal is, the proposed deal

or whatever. I don't think the full details are out yet. But event, they got to a place. The writers won. You knew that they did because they were going to, they said these, they're not, they're not going to stop. It was like Braveheart, man. It's like the Scots. Well, also it's like, to me, the most insulting pitch that I guess the old evil men gave to the writers, maybe it was to sag as well is the whole thing about, like, for people as an extra, we take your entire likeness, we hire you for one day and then we could use your likeness as an extra.

That, to me, that's some evil Tron shit. Yeah. That they're actually can, they're really pitching that as a real idea. And then for me, in voiceovers, I'm terrified. I will punch a robot in its throat. I will, I will not allow AI to come in and creep into voiceover because this is how we make a living. And these idiots want to use, like, I still freelance, I see AI projects coming across. I just delete right away.

I'm like, no, I'm not auditioning for your stupid AI bullshit. I hate to tell you, though, that is, I don't, I don't think, what I, what is going to happen is there's going to be ways around like you'll be able to make more money off of it and there'll be ways to try to protect you more so it's what they're fighting for but going away you didn't going away yeah yeah and it's like even even watching some of the stuff that they're doing now it's like it's not it's it's it's not it's just one of these things I talked about and people some people understand some people don't like when I say this but I think that the thing is that you know when we were younger certain things that technology that was coming up that our

parents and people are what the hell is that like we and we and we We just are used to it. My dad still doesn't really not how to work a computer really well. It still has a problem working with the DVR. I struggle with an iPad. I get it. Right. But yet a six-year-old could probably do laps on the iPad and those things, too.

A six- or seven-year-old with AI, and I'm not saying it's right or wrong. I'm just saying more so wrong to be, I think it's wrong more so than anything else. However, it doesn't change the fact that the six-year-old, in 10, 15 years, AI is just going to be part of their life. It's just going to be one of those things where, rightfully so we're probably like, hold back on that, because I think it's scary as shit. Yeah. I think it's scary.

The fact that you can just put like a, hey, write me an article about this, this, this, this, and this. And it comes out. And how do teachers, how do teachers do that in school? If you have an AI program like, hey, I need a history. How can they tell? It's one thing of pictures. Pictures you can tell because they all have like AI art now and it looks like AI art.

But man, like articles and shit, it's pretty crazy. It's creeping into so many things. And you see the, you know, you can write like, AI can write full script. rips. I'm like, oh, great, this is better than what I can do. I don't want to... I know. Well, that's what... Talk about insecurity. Yes, and that's what the main thing is with what they kind of fought for is the fact that that was what was holding them up. And let me read a little bit of this article here about what they said. This is from Dark Horizons. I mean, all the writers seem very, very happy, even though they don't. Because I guess maybe the

deal was like, look, whatever deal we strike, you're going to be happy with it. So I think all the writers have been posting their stoked and we'll see what happens. All right, here's the actual from Dark Horizons. It appears that the writer's strike is coming to an end. The Writers Guild of America has confirmed they have reached a tentative agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television producers, according to deadline. Both parties reportedly finalized the deal framework on Sunday breaking the stalemate over issues like AI and writing room staffing levels. In a letter to its member, the Guild said, we have reached a tentative agreement on a new 2023 MBA, which is to say an agreement in principle on all deal points subject to drafting final contract language.

According to Hollywood Reporter, a message to membership also stated, we can say with great pride that this deal is exceptional. With meaningful gains and protections for writers in every sector of the membership. The tentative deal signs the coming end of a five-month standoff and follows in the wake of five days of long negotiations. It will still be a few days before the strike is officially over as the WGA proceeds with their ratification process. The last major strike back in 2007, 2008 saw the official ratification

and an end of the strike coming four days after a tentation. agreement was reached. The late night comedy shows and daytime talk shows are expected to be able to return to air almost immediately once the ratification process is complete and the union gives the go ahead to return to work. But the films and scripted TV shows that didn't sign interim agreements with the actress SAG Astra are expected to remain dark until that strike is settled. Details of the agreement haven't been released yet, but are expected to be announced shortly

ahead of the membership ratification vote. So yeah, we're not going to probably get, you know, what the full details were just yet because the ratification process. But, I mean, it seems like everybody's happy, and it also seems like, this just shows the corporate greed, the stubbornness, the narcissism that comes with the studio

where they could have done this. This could happen two months. Dropping the bucket. Yeah. Two months ago, this could have happened. And Bill Maher has to be thinking, God damn, I probably should have waited a few more weeks. Because he's looking like such a villain right now.

Yeah, because, and Drew Barrymore, who I think, and I did a whole show in this, last week, I think she was wrong for jumping the gun up top. But I think that we always ask people to listen and, hey, you've upset people. Can you listen? And she listened. Yeah. And she went out there and she apologized and people are still giving her crap.

Only reason she did is because there was a backlash. Well, yeah, but she listened. There was a backlash against Bill Maher. He didn't do anything. No. And he wasn't because he's stubborn. And so I think, though, if I'm to Barrymore, I'm going, I mean, I could have avoided that

unless this kind of spearheaded some of this stuff too, which maybe getting people to the tail, but I also think it's because of the Jewish holidays, obviously today as well too. I think they wanted to make sure that this got, it's like a nice, it's a nice gift for the fact that... It's a mitzvah, I believe.

Yeah, and the writers were just like, hell yeah, we can get this done, and they fought, and this goes to show you though, and people like, why do people strike? Why do that? This is the reason why people strike. This is, I mean, I mean, this is, there is no definition of, I mean, this solidarity is, this should be like a full on inciscl, when you look into the dictionary, look at that, look at what that is. I mean, this is, this was solidarity to the max. And that's the way it is with SAG too.

I mean, when friend Drescher first gave her speech, you know, you would have thought she was braveheart. I mean, it was, it was very impressive. And everything she said was true. She said, you know, shit can really hit the fan. We don't do something about this. And, you know, for anyone watching who doesn't work in entertainment, it is hard chasing your dream. And if things are not set up to be beneficial for all your hard work to pay off, I mean, you can be in some serious trouble down the road.

And I think the SGA and I think SAG got to that point. I had no idea. So I'm not in the SGA. I had no idea. I assumed all writers on shows. WGA, you mean? I'm sorry, WGA, my bad. SGA sounds like a golf.

I said, what did you mean was I miss him? It's a student golf organization. It's something else. No, WJ, so I assumed every writer was making a solid living regardless of what show they're on. And then I was hearing some of the stuff when it came to the streaming sites, you know, writing on a Netflix show, you were not even making enough to pay rent. Even being a guest star on a Netflix show, you were making three, 400 bucks. I'm like, oh, you got to be kidding me with this. Because like you, I'm so far into the freelance life now that I'm just tunnel vision with every.

everything I'm doing. And if I get a SAG job, hey, way to go. Still not getting insurance. But it's just, I think SAG needs to follow up and hopefully everyone gets the deal that everyone deserves. Yeah, and it seems like that's ultimately what they are going for and it looks like the residuals is, I guess, the same for writers and actors too, but how that's going to play out the streaming. The streaming are finally... Gotta be residuals. Yeah, and I think that's one of the major things that they settled on. Because look, what people don't realize also is that the, this streaming stuff, it's very young.

It's very young. We're looking at, I mean, the streaming, I remember being on Collider in like 2018, 2019 saying the streaming wars had begun and everybody was, Netflix was the first one with House of Cards and all that stuff that they were doing. They were the only really game in town. And then everybody else was like, oh, we're getting in on this. And then it became a monopoly, became this. It became a paywall jungle.

Yeah, it became. this day. Well, yeah, everybody was doing. Everybody had a streaming service. Everybody had this. Everybody had that. But it's like, yeah, but how are you paying people? And it was, the reason why you were able to, Netflix is able to make all this money and do this because they weren't playing residuals. They weren't doing all these things.

They were able to spend like lunatics. And of course they were like, well, we're not releasing our numbers. We're not doing, of course. And they could play it off as well, it's just digital. Right. It's not television. Bullshit. It's real television. It's real movies. And they've changed. And they've changed television because the quality. I was just

watching clips with my wife yesterday of Threys Company. Fantastic show. Sure was. I mean, and by the way, for people who don't talk about John Redder enough, I mean, you and I will always say this, we'll know this because it was our field. Comedic genius. Yeah. Comedic genius.

And I even said as we were watching this clip, my wife and I were talking, it was like, I don't know if you remember how well you remember the show, but there was when he was, pretending he was a priest at this party and a guy comes up to him, gives him a drink, and he goes, take this drink. He's like, I shouldn't, I shouldn't. He's like, take it. It'll wake up a little bit.

You look tired. So he takes this shot and he goes, ah, it did nothing to me. And then in classic John Reden Form, he goes, like this, and he just starts dancing and go, I mean, it goes on, Johnny, for like five or six minutes. And it's just brilliance.

And I said to my wife, I go, if this happens in the 2000s, like, if he's that young and happens, this guy's doing movies, he's doing everything too. But like, but the quality of it, it looked like a sitcom and you could tell there as an audience, and it was very different quality from, like, today, stuff on Netflix and Amazon,

on what's the difference between movies? And that's the thing too, and plus you put Ritter alongside Don Nott's. I mean, another community genius. Of course. But that's another thing with technology today and the way stuff is shot, you don't have to be the greatest actor to become a star. Let's just be honest about it. How many people have we seen, whether it's based off of like, oh, this guy looks like

a Greek god, we're going to make him a great actor, or she's a supermodel, we're going to make her. They're not necessarily great actors. But you can make someone serviceable, depending. on the way you film things. That's true. Yeah, I mean, and especially with social media, and the way, the way people are turned into stars now. Now there's endurance.

Talent helps endurance more. You know, like you get people who can really, like, look, I was watching, Margot Robbie, by the way, is an example. Amazing. Amazing actress. Now, she is gorgeous. I mean, she's, it's one of the funniest lines in the Barbie movie is when I think it's it's Judy Dent.

She's doing the, no, it's Helimier, doing the Nari. And she's just like, this is not, if you, if you wanted to try to sell this portion of the beaten down Barbie or the not, the not attractive Barbie, whatever it was, Margot Robbie is not the great casting choice. She says, and she says that inside of the narration itself. But like, she's someone who's an example of, she's going to have endurance throughout this business. Without question, yeah. It doesn't, because she's so, I was just watching, I'm watching Babylon right now. it's like a three and a half hour movie so it's gonna take me like it feels like a show

but kind of like the what's the movie with the Nero Irishman yeah there you go yeah she's dude she but she's so good in it she's so good in it the movie's crazy it's not for everybody but she is so I mean she is insanely good in this movie

and like she's got such range but she's an example of like you could like misjudge and go oh well here's this just gorgeous woman and it's like all right well they just they're shooting her to be the next hot thing, and that happens all the time. But it's endurance through talent.

But you look at the performance. What was she, 21 when she shot Wolfo Wall Street? Was she that young? She's early 20s. But yeah, I mean, there are some people that defy all that stuff, and she's clearly one of it, for sure. So speaking of which, man,

we got the, we got the sax strike right around the corner. Oof. Yeah. I mean, the end of it, hopefully, right around the corner. And this, again, would make sense into the way that things are going. You've got the writers, you knew they were going to deal with the writers first, get that done. They've been out there for five months, deal is done, and now they're like, because to me,

it seems like the way that the studio has been looking at it, roughly, but the way that they've been looking at is, yeah, the writers, we can replace them down the line. We've got the AI thing. It's like, whatever, let them, let them, let them. You can't. Right, there's those comments, how they're going to bleed them out and all that. The way that they were looking at them, but they are always kind of, crap it in their pants with the actors because they need the actors to promote.

They need the actors to do all this stuff to them. The set, they have to get this acting done. Like, and now, now that they have now caved to the writers, as they should have, now it's like, the right, the sack's going to get what they, this one's going to wrap up. Yeah, the one's going to wrap up. And also, it's so, it was so ignorant for the studios to think, like, oh, we could replace writers. Well, when you look at the most popular shows on television, almost all of them, it's, yes,

the actors are great, but it's because of the writing. Of course. If you have garbage writing, it doesn't matter how good of an actor you are. 100%. And whether it's a comedy, whether it's a drama, procedural, whatever, if you look at some of the best shows on television, the writing is unreal. And that's why they needed the WGA to come to terms. And now, of course, SAG is probably, in a way, they kind of have the studios by the balls.

A hundred percent. And I think that the way that you, they probably looked at it, the studios is, all right, well, we got this program now in AI. Instead of having, I'm not going to pay John Leguas that will come in to write this. 120. I'm not going to pay him his rate to do a 120-page script that he's got to do four different revisions on. I'm going to throw, I'm going to tell the program that I want a movie about this, this, this, this, and this. And I'm going to get it to where it's a tight 120 pages. And then what I'll do is maybe I'll pay Johnny to come in and do a rewrite of it. Punch it up. Punch it up.

I'll pay him to do that. That way, now I've cut my cost by this. And I can see the business kind of fat cat mentality behind it to where, but the problem is that it's not just an idea you came up with yesterday and how the system works. The system's been in place for a bit, and these are people's jobs, there's the livelihoods, there's the things, and there's the human emotion behind it, too. So it's a really, it's a major, major victory for goodness. Yeah, I'm actually shocked it. I didn't know when this is going to end, because when you have greedy, rich people that are fighting, I mean, these people can fight as long as they want, but luckily, I can't wait to hear the terms, but.

Yeah, well, they're bleeding too much money at this point. There was just too much money being lost that they couldn't do it anymore. I'm interested when SAG comes to terms You know, what are the studios gonna do? Because right now, they've just been picking up

random stuff. They're playing reruns. Is there going to be a massive bring back to shows that were canceled, I wonder, or just, you know. I don't, not so much canceled as I think.

There'll be the talks as far as more so things that were right on the cusp of being put out. Pick them up. Pick them up. There'll be the certain shows that they kind of push.

I'll get something like Star Wars is a show, skeleton crew, that Jude Law. And right? Like that was supposed to come out at the end of this year that would like they're gonna have it's gonna be a little similar to the pandemic right where Remember like once and this doesn't didn't necessarily help but the pandemic there was so much stuff that was pushed into 2023. There's gonna be a lot that's pushed into 2024 some will hit some won't Other things like will that were supposed to come out and like look at Deadpool

Deadpool was supposed to come out I think in May that'll probably get pushed to like July now sure if they if they knock this thing out I think they were I think they were I think they were think by mid-October, both strikes will be, well, we already have one that's almost over, but both will be over, and people will be getting back to work. And they even said, like, the talk shows are coming back probably within the next week or so. Yeah. So which is nuts. But- And that's another funny thing is the studios thought they could bleed out the writers. Yeah.

Did they not realize that we all fought through a pandemic that lasted a lot longer than a strike? I mean, people in entertainment, shit, I lost my job. I lost everything I had at that point. My job was gone. I couldn't do stand-up. There was literally nothing for me to do. And a lot of people in entertainment, when the pandemic hit, we were not essential. So we were just kind of stuck.

And yet we found a way to persevere. So I think they forgot about that. They absolutely forgot about that for sure. And even the comments that were made up top. But nonetheless, they finally figured it out. The money was getting too much of a loss, even for them. They sat down. They figured it out.

And it looks like WGA definitely won that battle. and Sag's about to win their battle. It's coming up soon. But I ask you guys, what do you think about the fact that this ended? Did you think it was going to end in October? Did you think that it was going to push into January? A lot of people were predicting January. What did you think overall?

Or do you need to know more to see what kind of deal it was? But the WGA seems to say it was a spectacular deal. Now, I want to talk some stand-up in a second to Johnny because that's where we met, by the way. I don't really realize that. But we're going to talk about that in a second. But before I do, I want to tell you guys both about Rocket Money and Athletic Greens, AG1.

Here we go. Come on, man. Rocket money. Rocket money. So many different times you sign up for these apps. And you go, oh, that's a cool app. I'm going to do that for like three weeks. And then I'll remember to change it.

And then I won't get charged. And then you do. And you get charged like $9.99 a month, $12 a month. And you're like, how the hell did I spend so much money on something I never use? Well, that's what Rocket Money is able to do. Rocket Money is a personal finance app. And it finds and it cancels your unwanted subscriptions and monitors your spending. and it helps you lower your bills all in one place.

It is crazy for me that more people don't, A, know about it, and B, aren't using it. I mean, everybody should be using this. I've been using them for so long, even before they were in called rocket money, but now they're called rocket money in. They are fantastic. They monitor all your expenses in one place.

They recommend custom budgets based on your past spending, and they'll send you notifications when you reached your spending limits. I get it all the time. I get updated. Hey, your credit's better. You have this, you have that, you spent this much. Stop spending it on this. Look at this.

Look, you have the subscription, you never use this. Do that. It's helped so much. I can't even tell you. I am not great at organizing, and it helps me organize all of my finances. Stop wasting money on things you don't use. Cancel your unwanted subscriptions and manage your money the easy way. Go to rocketmoney.com.

Rocketmoney.com slash thing. Rocketmoney.com slash thing. This is one you will absolutely thank. me for. Thank me for. And you should. I think myself are using it. I love Rockin Money. I love talking about AG1. It's the daily foundational nutrition supplement that supports whole body health. I drink it every day. Set it up. I put it in this cup. I've told you about the zoo cup that I have. I love this stupid zoo cup, but I love AG1 because I put it in the cup, just mix it around. And that's it. I get better gut health. I have a boost energy. I have my immune system support.

It's helping my sleep quality. That's what's really great about it. It helps my sleep quality. And I'm just never been person that can keep up with that supplement routine. And here's 3,000 different vitamins. But take this, this point, take this, then screw that. I take it once. Put it in that cup. Shake it around, and that's it.

And I felt so much better. I have an extra pep in my step because of it. And I don't understand why people want to take a whole bunch of different things. We can just do it all. One scoop of powder. Put it in water once a day. That's it. Because it was designed with ease in mind.

You can live your life, healthier and better and you don't have to complicate your routine. I love getting the single serving, the AG1 travel packs for me because they're just simple if I have my, even when I go to a screening sometimes, if I forget to take it, I'm like, oh, I got my travel pack, I'll take it now. And I never miss a day. If you want to take ownership of your health, you try AG1, you get a free one-year supply of vitamin D and five free AG1 travel packs with your first purchase. Go to drinkag1.com slash big thing. Drinkag1.com slash big thing. Check out. out. It's every single week I get somebody saying, hey, I tried it, I signed up because of you. You've

been telling me about it, and I love it. Be one of those people. Tell me about it. Get control of your energy. Get control of good sleep quality. Drink AG1. All right, thank you to our friends over at Rocket Money and Athletic Greens. I'm telling you, man, I used Rocket Money just the other day. I used it all the time, but I used it, my wife and I were going over kind of these finances stuff and she's like, no, no, we did this, we did that. We go, no, I'm telling you. We actually We had this amount of money that we spent. She's like, I don't know. And then I got a notification from Rocket Money confirming it.

And I sent the screenshots to my wife, and I said, look, there you go. See? And she's like, all right, you're right, you're right. And Rocket Money, I can never get my wife to say that you're right. But Rocket Money did it. Rocket Money did it. So thank you, Rocket Money. Make sure you sign up to Rocket Money.

You guys know how much I love AG one. I take it every day. And I love it. It's the best. All right. So Johnny and I, I think it was like Room 5, man. Sure was. Yeah, it was room five. I want to say ballpark 2006 or seven. Yeah, that was about the time that I was there all

the time. I was like, I was, that was my, the comedy store and room five are like my home basis. You and Napsock, Ellis. I remember, uh, I remember at one point, I don't know if it was Mark Frank, was it Mark Fernandez used to run the show? No, Franco, Fernandez was a Roll Collider. Sorry, Mark. Yeah, uh, Franco. Okay, my bad. Mark Franco. Yeah. He, he, he, I don't know, Someone put out like a video promo of like, you know, the weekly Sunday night show and stuff. And I remember there was some bit that you did where you were like doing an Al Pacino impression. Oh yeah, the top of all. As soon as I was out of my relationship, I fucking sprinted to the top.

Give me what you got! It was just like you were like super high energy. I remember you used to have a bit about like if you had ninja protection services at home. Yes, the samurai sword. I bought a samurai sword. I'll tell you why. I'm ready for everything. Ready for me?

Just to throw them off. What it was. But yeah, and that's, and then I don't even know, how did you get a hold of the, because you, to this day, I did a short with my buddy Michael Taylor when I first moved here in like 2000. And it was called the champion's heart. And it was about this maniac dude who was a wrestling fan that lived life in his wrestling persona and he called himself the bastard.

Yeah. How did you get a hold of that? Because you guys posted it. Is that what it was? Yeah, no, it was just, you posted it online and it was just, to me as a wrestling, fan. I just, I love the, I love like close parody to, you know, and the way that character was and the fact that like the catchphrase was not a good catchphrase, but it was almost a good catchphrase. And so the catchphrase was, you just got cold cocked and knocked out, but I'm

asked you. Dropped, cold cock and dropped. Sorry, sorry. And so like, I loved it and it's for some reason that stuck in my head. There's some things that never leave your brain. And for some reason, that's one of them. And so, like, it's something that I always have to say to you. It was great. It was hilarious. He did a really great job with that. But like we, we actually, Duncan Truzzle at Luna Park was this place. And we did things very similar to like what they would do, like Borat stuff, right? Way before.

And what we would do is Michael Taylor, who was the director, we did this a few times. We did it at the place called the, what was it called? The martini lounge was on Melrose. It was near Paramount. No longer there. But this place at Luna Park, Duncan Trustles up. And Duncan was introducing the bastard. Oh, my God.

And he goes, yeah, the crowd did not know it was coming. So he introduced me, and he introduced me wrong. And Duncan knew it was coming, obviously. So I pick him up and I rack him. Oh, wow. On stage. Okay. In front of the entire audience and dump him off the stage.

Duncan's so fantastic. He took the bump off the stage? But I didn't hurt him. I threw him off the side. He was like, oh, you know, cartoonish Duncan. Give him the attitude adjustment. Yeah. And Duncan was like going like this.

And Duncan sold it so well. And then I did it. I did the same thing to Michael Taylor on stage. But then Jordy, you remember Jordy Fox? Yes. So Jordy was played my brother in the, and I grabbed, he was, dude, take me by the head and throw me off on the side. And I just toss him off the side. But anyway, but that's how we have our kind of wrestling connection, too.

But we had our. We're a couple of grads. It is. It's true. It's true. But the stand-up side of it. But yeah, we knew each other through then and then just kind of randomly found ourselves back in the same circle here. Sure.

But you've been going at it, man. Still, you've got a new special and it's coming out tomorrow. Tuesday night, 9 p.m. Eastern, 6 p.m. Pacific. Tell me all about it. I mean, it's one of those things where my first special I shot in late 2018 and total DIY. It's called physical therapy. Really proud of it. But we're in the middle of the editing process and it was really close to being done.

And then I get hired by WWE. Yeah. dream job, never thought of what happened. I'd been working in wrestling for nine years. You know what that's like. I mean, shit, you were backstage with the rock and you were there for the heyday, as many people like to say it. So I get hired and they're like, we need you across the country in Orlando.

I was like, cool, how soon? We set a date. And I went and I basically, I shelved the special because I knew how that company worked. And, you know, they're not keen on side projects. No, they are not. And me coming in as a play-by-play broadcaster, ring announcer, anything with a mic, I, that's a job I have to take seriously. I, I always kept comedy and wrestling separate and I still kind of do to this day because

I don't want anyone who's going to hire me as a play by play guy to think, oh, is he just going to joke off, you know, and no, that's not me. Like I hate when commentators try to be funny, especially the play by play guy. It's not your job. You know, when I see a play by play dude with like a flashy jacket with a self-given nickname, I'm like, I hate you. It just, I'm such a traditionalist. So I always kept my comedy and my wrestling separate.

So I shelved the special because I remember like a couple weeks into my job. I was talking to someone with the company who's also on-air talent. And this person said I was actually offered a movie gig in the new Bill and Ted. And I turned it down because I didn't want to cause any distraction. And I was like, whoa, if this person is turning that down, then I'm definitely not putting my special album. So I just shelved it. And then everything was going great. I was there for about a year.

Pandemic hit. The company kept rolling. I'm doing TV every week, all this stuff. And then one day they dropped the hammer on half the company. They just did it like two days ago, too. They did a lot of releases, yeah, yeah, yeah. But this day was April 15th, 2020. I mean, massive amounts of releases, backstage talent.

Did you know it was coming kind of because of the pandemic? No. Dude. Yeah. It's funny because I've still never posted publicly about it. Like, you know, everyone does their, hey, I'm no longer with so-and-so. Here's my bookings. I didn't do that because, number one,

so many people lost their jobs that day. feel like that was a day for the in-ring talent to get their info out. For me, as a broadcaster, I'm like, number one, it's the middle of the pandemic. What am I going to do? There's no wrestling. Right. So I just kept really quiet about it because I was told I was coming back and all this stuff. But I remember I just got done filming on-camera introductions for a show called 205 Live that no longer exists. And we got done filming, me and a good friend of this day who shot it with me. And we got a notice on our work phone saying, company-wide conference news. tune, tune in. So I go home and it's like a two minute thing. Kind of went over my head. I'm thinking

nothing of it. Next thing, you know, I'm sending an email to connect my buddy to send footage up to Connecticut for, you know, and the email doesn't work. I'm like, okay. Oh, wow. Yeah, yeah. So I log out on my email. I try to log back in. I can't log back in. I'm like, so you don't have anybody officially tell you? Five minutes later. Okay. I get a phone call. Okay. Who calls you at that point? I can't say who, but he was my, I mean, I probably can because he's no longer worth the company, but he was my, I kind of had two bosses in the broadcasting side, but he was my manager, if you will, and incredibly talented guy. And I see him on my phone, and that's when it hit me, I go, oh, no. And I answer the phone, and his voice is shaky.

Yeah, yeah. Like, you could tell, like, he hated having to do this. And I don't remember word for word what it was, but it was kind of like, I just remember him saying, he said, we hired you with high expectations and you exceeded all of them, because I got hired without an audition, which they don't really do. And he just said, I don't know what the future holds,

but I'm sorry. And so I remember just sitting on the couch that day for like hours, because this is April 2020, no one's doing anything. And I'm like, I'm across the country. I don't have any friends here. All my friends are at work.

I'm not going to see them anymore. I don't have any family. You were in Connecticut? I was in Florida. Orlando. Okay, okay. Yeah, because I was based out of the performance. You were sending some of the camera.

Connecticut copy got it. And so it was just, it was such a weird. And like, everyone thought like, oh, the pandemic is going to, it's going to be over quick. And it wasn't. And so it was just, it was a crazy thing. And then so as a lot of us did, you slowly start to pick up the pieces. And then I finally put out my special in middle of 2021. Right.

But a couple of months after I lose my job. How long were you there for? I was there for just about a full calendar year. Okay. Yeah, believe it or not. Yeah. Grateful for every moment. Don't regret anything.

I beat my time. It was like a month and a half, too much. Yeah. Because for the writers, it was different. I'll go back to the right. High turnover. High turnover. As you know.

High turnover. And this was 2001 when they just started doing writers. So what they did back then, and I don't know if you can tell me, maybe you know, maybe you don't. What they did back then was they basically brought you in and they paid you by the day, right? A nice pay by the day. And I was there every day. But once you got to a certain point, they had to bring you on staff. Right.

And what they would do is they would bring in the freelance for a little bit. And once you got to that point, you want to stick with them or just bring in another freelance. And that was it. Stephanie can't meet. So. Interesting. All right. Go ahead.

Yeah, I didn't get a phone call from the big guy. I barely, I made out contact with him once and said hi. That was my, because people asked, you ever meet him? Not exactly. Yeah, such a crazy different time. Yeah. And so, but a couple of months into the pandemic, I ended up meeting a, a, woman and on you know we we ended up meeting at a coffee shop and she became my wife and you know

as things start to pick up a little bit I'm like okay I'm you have to put certain things in the rear of your mirror it's like sure what I ever go back there absolutely but it's it's got to be the right situation right so I'm like okay you know let's let's let's figure out the freelance voiceover world because I didn't want to rely on agencies anymore right let's figure out stand up let's let's still do play by play I started reaching out to MMA and boxing promoting that started working out. Because, you know, it's like if I did WWE, you can juggle five things at once.

Right. It's kind of, it's not that difficult to do combat sports when you don't have to be an actor. It's true, but isn't it funny though, Johnny, when you say that stuff too, like, where, because I'm sure, because even the short time I was there, I was devastated when I lost it because. It was horrible.

Yeah. Right. And you're in that position at the time. But to be honest, that's the time that I needed to spend there. spend there because for me down the line I learned a lot about it in general that was just because for a lot of different reasons it just wasn't the career that I was supposed to have and it led me to certain things and like let's say that you wind up there for like another year right maybe you don't meet your wife no that definitely wouldn't have happened yes the pandemic didn't happen we wouldn't have met there's no way that's what I'm saying it's like so isn't it at the time when you think

that the worst thing in the world is happening to you it could want to be that could have one of the best things that happened to you. It took me a while to realize that because honestly, I worked so hard to get to that point. Never thought I'd be hired by them. And there are so few broadcasting positions with that company. And not only was I there, I was thriving. Like, I'm so proud of all my work that I did there. But like you said, you learned so much there. I got 80% better in that one year. To where now it's like, I honestly feel like there's no combat sports broadcaster with my skill set. Because on top of everything I've done, I have a master's in physical therapy.

Nobody knows the body better than me. So I just feel more confident now than I've ever been, but it took so long to get there because you're sitting there like, oh my God, this was the dream, and it just got swept from under me when I didn't do anything wrong. It's just the world is being attacked by this virus. 100%. So you then you get to this place where you meet your,

how long before you start dating your wife to when you get married? We keep that stuff quiet, but we've been married for a little while now. Okay. But yeah, so she was the one that motivated me. She's like, you should shoot another special. I'm like, I need to start performing. It's one of those things.

But I've been writing that ideas the whole time because we are from different parts of the world. We were literally completely different lives. I mean, my wife's from Saudi Arabia, now are, you know, her three kids, my three kids now are from Saudi Arabia. And you talk about like polar opposites. Yeah.

I was living the adult child. career only life. That's a jump, man. Dude, the craziest jump. Whereas she, she came to the U.S. nine years ago as a student. And so she, I mean, I marvel at the mother that she is because the kids are amazing. You're talking about how old there? Yeah, there are one's almost 19, one is 16, one is 12. Okay. So I went from having no responsibility to happen people. Yeah, man, for sure. And so like, and I have no idea what I'm doing. And getting people at that, And depending on what age, they were in the range or what you're talking about, like, to where...

I met them all three years ago. Okay, so you've got to, you get to a place that they're going, who the fuck is this guy, right? And they've got, and you've got it now, because it's different if, you know, two years old, three years old, they're just going to know you. This is, yes, you got to get in there and you got to say, okay, it's a very different dynamic.

So it's crazy, yeah. Especially depending on how you're raised. I was raised in a household. Like, my parents are awesome. but we were just not like an openly emotional, in hindsight, we were not an openly emotional household. You know what I mean? Right, right.

And so like for me to be a dad all of a sudden, I'm blown away at the mother she was because the kids are all phenomenal. Meanwhile, she did this while fighting her way through school to get her college degree, while finding a way to make a living. I mean, at one point she was, you know, she was making food, traditional food from where she's from and selling it and stuff like that. And then she ended up developing a, a really large following on social media.

And how does she do this through? Basically just being herself. She's got such a unique personality, and she's got a really big following in the Middle East. And, you know, she's motivational. She's hilarious. She's a really funny character she does. Like, I'm the comedian in the family.

She is so much funnier than I am. Like, it's embarrassing at how much funnier she is compared to me when I'm the guy who gets paid to tell jokes. Well, you said inside your specials either, there's a particular, I don't want to give away the joke, but there's a joke that you say that's like, it's the fact that she runs. She essentially wrote that joke and I was the funniest joke in your set.

Dude, so much of, I mean, that's why I call it Saudi Stepdad, because, like, it's really about how life has done on 180. And my thought process is life changed for all of us. I mean, you and I were just talking about, I know how your life changed. I mean, the Shmowdown could have been on national television. And then, because it was amazing. And unfortunately, it wasn't in the cards because of what happened in the world.

Right. And so I thought, like, with this special, not only will people enjoy it, hopefully they'll make him laugh a lot, they'll be able to see like, hey, two very different people can come together and love trumps everything and all the negativity that her and I get online sometimes just for being together with who we are. You just got to say, hey, guess what? We're happy. So if you're saying negative things, you're miserable. We wish you luck. So I hope if people watch the special, they can say, take a little bit of motivation from it because, I mean, I thought everything got taken away from me. And then in hindsight, so much was given to me.

It just took me a while to get it. It's, I'm telling you, there's a quote that I, Steve Simone, who's very good. Just talk to him yesterday. He's one of my, really good, one of the greatest human beings. Ever. And so he was one of my, you know,

at the comedy store, I had my, my crew that I hung out with it. It was Rick Ingram. Oh, I love him. Steve Simone, Renaziz, Ciari Shafir, Alice, obviously. Like, those are my guys. All the best dudes. Yeah, those were my guys. And Simone was, we had, we share our love for wrestling and pizza.

And he was the reason, I remember when I was co-hosting for, when Steve would go out of town, I would co-host the Rod Pod with Roddy. Yes. And that was because of Steve. And Steve brought him to the Room 5 show and Steve brought him to the two. But yeah, where's it going with that? Just being grateful for gifts that you don't know you have. And when I said to Steve years ago, he's like, I love that quote. And I said, you can't, you cannot judge the past if you don't know what the future is.

Yeah. Because the worst, the worst experience in your, in your life. And I'm talking about the worst. I'm talking about like a death. I'm talking about like the worst thing in the world that you think is that you had to. And you had to in your life go through that in order to get to the place that you're in now. And other good moments, I always tell people this. Like, you're like, I remember a friend of mine who was going through some shit, like really bad stuff.

and he was, you know, in tears and everything too, and I said, I promise you that he is, it's just miserable, there's not, I go, I promise you that whether it's a month from now, a year from now, five years from now, you're going to look back at this and you're going to go, wow, if I didn't go through this, I wouldn't get to the place I'm not.

The guy now is thriving. Like, when I say thriving, thriving, thriving. And it's just a matter of perseverance. It's a matter of believing in yourself. It's a matter of looking around know what's there. And it's, it's harder to say, stay positive. It really is. You know, it's a simple phrase that we've all heard that really works, though, is this two shall pass. Yeah, yeah, for sure. I told myself that so many times because I went back to the front line as a physical therapist at the

peak of the pandemic. So there was a moment where I was literally driving 70 miles each way to a hospital in Florida in the summer of 2020, spring of 2021, the two biggest waves of COVID. And I remember there were multiple days where like, I'm gouting up like I'm an E.T. Like I'm putting all the the PPE on and I'm about to walk into like my fifth COVID room of the day. And I remember having those thoughts. I'm like, just over six months ago, I was in front of 13,000 people at Staples Center. Right. And now I can't even breathe under this mask. Like, what the hell happened? I know. And look now. Now you got a special out. And now you're doing it. And it pushed you towards a special. You got three great step kids. You got a family. You got a family, which is

your family man, John. Man. Your family man. And, and yeah, so like, where did you shoot the special, by the way. Huntington Beach. A place called The Rec Room. It's an awesome place to shoot a special. I had an amazing team. They're called Change for Balance. You could find them on social media. They work with 501c3s. They're incredible. And yeah, rec room's great because

125 people hacks the joint. And the sound is incredible, and I really love the visuals of it. And so I wanted this special to be kind of like a living room environment. Just because for me, it's like all this stuff I talk about is so personal and I don't know, it just felt great.

It's a really good vibe. You accomplish exactly what you just described. Make sure you guys check it out. It is Sadi Stepdad, and that is on, you can find it on YouTube. It's simple, DIY, every cent of it paid for by me. Just my YouTube page. YouTube.com slash Johnny Laquosto at debuts. I'm doing a live watch party, virtual.

9 p.m. Eastern, 6 Pacific on Tuesday. If you want to get in the live chat, that helps so much. As you know, you know better than me. Hit the thumbs up, comment, try to join me live, and please spread the link if you enjoy it to as many people as possible. And I'm going to put the link in the description as well. So if you want to go and you want to search, you can find it in the description of this video. Again, Saudi Stepdad, make sure you check it out. Johnny Acosto.

And as we were talking before, guys, you know, as far as getting into a place where you're upset, you don't know, you're doubting yourself. It's always good to talk to people too. And that's why we're excited to talk to you guys a little bit more about Better Help. Here you go. This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. Everybody's been in that position, man. You're trying to go to sleep and your thoughts just keep going and going and going and going. You're talking and you have worries in your life.

And you're like, I can't turn it off. I can't rest. I can't sleep and I can't do this. And everybody's been there. I've been there. You've been there. And a great way to make those racing thoughts go away is to be able to talk them out. Talk them through to somebody.

Therapy will give you a place to do that so you can get out of your negative thoughts. thoughts cycles and find some mental and emotional peace. I've mentioned it many times on this show. Roxy Stryer is a very close friend to mine. She's on the show all the time. And she talks about how BetterHelp was one of those places. She was able to go. She was able to benefit from it.

She was able to talk to somebody. And it really worked out. I've got people very close inside of my family. She's better help right now. And it has been absolutely beneficial to them. If you're thinking of starting therapy, give BetterHelp a try. It's online. It's designed to be convenient.

It is flexible and it is suited to your schedule. All you have to do really is just fill out a brief questionnaire. You get matched with a licensed therapist, and you can switch therapist anytime, no additional charge. So get a break from your thoughts with BetterHelp. BetterHelp.com slash Big Thing Today. You get 10% off your first month when you do that. That's betterhelp.com slash big thing.

All right, thank you to our friends over at BetterHelp. As I mentioned with Roxy, I mentioned with people in my family. They've used it. It's been tremendous for them. So use the link in the description. please go and talk to somebody if you need to. My perfect day has sand, salt water, and friends. But my moderate to severe plaquesoriasis can take me out of the moment.

Now I'm all in with clearer skin thanks to Sky Rizzi. Risen Kizumat Rizza, a prescription only 150 milligram injection for adults who are candidates for systemic or phototherapy. With Sky Rizzi, most people saw 90% clearer skin and many were even 100% plaque-free at four months. Skyrizi is just four doses a year after two starter doses. Don't use if allergic to Skyrizy. Serious allergic reactions, increased infections, or lower ability to fight them may occur.

Before treatment get checked for infections and tuberculosis, tell your doctor about any flu-like symptoms or vaccines. Thanks to Skyrizzi, there's nothing on my skin. And that means everything. Ask your doctor about Skyrizzi, the number one dermatologist prescribed biologic in psoriasis. Visit Skyrizzi.com or call 1866 Skyrizzi to learn more. more. I want to go back to wrestling for a second. Okay. So how, because you and I know a lot of the same people in the same space. Like Chris Van Bleets is a good buddy in mine now. I know that we talked

yesterday actually. Chris is an awesome dude and he's crushing it on both of his channels and he just he's one of the hardest working guys that I know because he just has he's got like this do you, are you watching one piece? I know what my daughters are. I know what one piece is. Yeah. That's about as far as my knowledge in the anime world goes. So, well, but it's a live action show. and Netflix as well. Yeah. That's what I started watching and I love it. I heard it's amazing.

It's amazing. But the main character is Monkey DeLuffy and has this zest for life and he's always smiling. He's Chris Van Vleet. He's like Chris Van Vleet is just the happiest dude and it's not bullshit. He's just such a, and he's so positive. You know why?

Canadian. Yeah, for sure. Canadians are happy. But he's just such a good guy. And he's like, and he's so, and his whole thing is positivity, believing in yourself, going for your dreams, doing all this stuff.

And you see it. And like he's one of those people that when I say you root for good people. He's one of the, he should be the top of the list. You root for a Chris Van Bleed. But, you know, whether it's Chris Van Bleed, you know, Steve Simone, these people that we just know together. I think the, in the wrestling side of it, how, were you, did you interact with Paul Heyman at all? Unfortunately, I've only met him, but we never had a chance to actually like work together. I mean, I was on smack, I was going to Smackdown TV tapings in the beginning.

beginning of 2020 because 205 Live was after Smackdown then they moved it to before Smackdown 205 Live was like a ping pong ball they didn't know what to do with it so he was he was there kind of sort of but I never cross past really he was he was such a

he was my at a place that you know probably better anybody how clicky that place can be right he was my guy he was you're not the only person that has told me that he's been incredible to many people he was just very very encouraging to me. He was very

I've told this story before, but like the, when I first got in there to get the job, he said, come here, I got a feeling about you. And I said, what? And he put the headphones on me and had me call a match with the, had the booth, the sound, and he was, he was good, and I, and I

ate it. Yeah, I wasn't ready for it. I just wasn't right. I mean, and it was also 2000, or it was, it was a 23 year old me. Sure. I didn't have that experience. Like, today, I think I would it a lot better. But hindsight, right? But you can't just jump in and call a match. That's a very hard job. But what he did see, though, was the fact this is what I do now. It's what I do now. And I was doing it for Schmodeown and I was doing all that stuff too. So he wasn't, he wasn't

wrong in the fact that like I did. And that was part of the encouragement. He saw the performer. He saw the performer. And in a room. And with, I was sitting here when it was Michael PS Hay, Stephanie, Brian. Um, uh, who else? Uh, shoot, I'm trying to think who else was there. Shane? Shane was not there. Shane was not part of the creative team when I was there. But he was involved, but he was not part of the creative team. Maybe JR? No, it was that.

JR was there, but no, Bruce Pritchard. Okay. And so we, and he was from that meeting alone. He's like, come here. And he put me at the table. And he was just always giving me advice, always doing these things. But he was very kind of encouraging in that way. And I didn't really fit into that place.

I just didn't. It's crazy because, like, I will say this. Everyone there is very professional because that's the rule. So everyone is like, hello, how you doing? Like that kind of thing. But as far as people going out of their way, now at the performance center, I had a lot of friends because that's kind of like the camaraderie there. And I'm sure it still continues to this day.

I've heard the camaraderie there is amazing with all the new talent they have. But the camaraderie was great because everyone is essentially, yes, it's competitive, but everyone is helping each other. And to me, I was like first one in, last one to leave. I tried to take my, I love sitting in on Terry Taylor's skull sessions, all that stuff. Great. It was amazing. The red rooster.

I love the red rooster. Dude, he didn't. I can tell you that. He did not enjoy it. I'm sure he didn't. He'll tell you about it. But yeah, I mean, I, I, the camaraderie there was amazing. Then you get to TV.

All of a sudden, you're a new person. You're kind of scared. You don't know who to talk to. And to me, the person that really stood out the most. who unfortunately just passed away a month ago was Bray Wyatt. Oh, shit. One of the most talented people in the history of the business. So the way it works is they would have the locker room for the athletes,

for the competitors, for the wrestlers. They had like one separate room called like the broadcaster's room. But really nobody was in there because, you know, Michael Cole was busy all day. Corey Graves was busy all day. Greg Hamilton was the ring announcer. So sometimes it would just be kind of me and him. But then when Smackdown would start, he was out at ringside. So it was essentially just me preparing for 205.

Live. So Bray decided, because this is after the Fiend debuted, he had a lot of gear. Yeah, yeah. He decided he needed more space. He decided to come in just about every Friday. He would hang out in our locker room,

and many times they're in SmackDown, it would just be me and him. And I was intimidated at first. It's Bray Wyatt. Yeah. When I tell you, and everyone's told these stories, so it's not just me.

I mean, the most welcoming, genuine, down-to-earth person you ever could have met, Like, he talked to me like we were an equal. We were not equal. Right. I was nobody. I'm a low-level announcer in the company, just trying to work my way up.

He was so cool to talk to. And, like, I remember one day, so there was a run on TV where they had him booked in the dark main event every Friday night. Meaning, even if The Feed wasn't on television, he would do the main event after it went off the air. Because, you know, you want to send the fans home with something cool. And I remember one day, one night he came in, he goes, tell you, man, just, just, one night, I would love to be able to go home early. And I remember I go, that's what you get for being over, brother. He goes, yeah, you're right, you're right.

Yeah, it's awesome. I heard nothing but great things about him. And I will say, as you mentioned, Michael Cole, Michael Cole was actually really good. Who is also amazing to me. I can't speak highly, more highly of him. I'm really grateful for what I learned from him to do. He was actually really kind to me as well, too. Kurt Anglos.

But when I hear you talk about how it is now, it was, as big as it was in 2001, It wasn't as kind of corporate with sectioned. There was still that old school kind of like the boys type thing where you was, it just you felt even though the WWE was, it was still WWF when I was there. And it was so it was just before that they didn't get the F out yet. I was in the meeting though. I was in the meeting when they were talking about how could they beat this WWF, the wildlife thing, could they beat it? And they didn't know. And if they were going to.

I remember being in that meeting. But, yeah, it was very different where, I don't know if the writers even, if they interact with Vince as much now at all. We were on the plane with him. Like, we were, it was, it was such, it was weird. It was like, it was just part of, and it was like Smackdown was on Tuesdays,

it was on Thursdays, it was, it was. Smackdown was also very new still. It was pre-taped at some point. It was, it was nuts. It was like a full on being part of a traveling circus. Like, and especially when I was such a mark at the time, when I came in, I was like a major, major, like, I was major, like, I was major, like, when I come in, I'm just like, I got to try that.

I remember that I first got there. I had to balance, again, 23-year-old kid trying to balance out, don't be a, don't be a, Mark, be a, be a. Oh, me too. I regret. I never took photos. And in hindsight, I learned my lesson, because I, me, I'm very traditionalist. I'm going to be professional. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

In hindsight, I wish I would have taken more photos, not to post on social media, just to have it. It was funny. And I didn't do it. Again, this is for me. I didn't even have the luxury at the time because I had the, flip phone but I do have that moment from Smackdown with me in the Rock and how that kind of came to be so that that was pretty awesome but like the yeah the certain I remember when I first got there I'm in the hotel and I had to dude I had these bags like from like everything I owned at one point

because my mom lived in Queens and from Stanford it wasn't not that far but I had to get it there so when I get my first first thing when I'm in the hotel I see Stone Cold and Deborah at the time they were married and I was I got to introduce myself I mean obviously I had to introduce myself right so I went up to him and I introduced myself he's very nice and everything too but then after a while he's just like it's got a writer I'm out of here and he left and I mean this is he's at the height he'd just turn heel against the rock at 17 you know he's like he's in the height of of healed him at this one and so all this thing just trying to balance the two of it of being like am I a super fan on my right I didn't I had nobody minus Paul Heyman when he would have conversations with me I had nobody guiding me I was really kind of just on my own and I I I think I told this story once before, but you will, the most cringe-worthy thing, you'll know. Did they still do, like, the company meetings before every event? I wouldn't know. If they do, I'm definitely not a part of them, so I have no idea.

They did the whole company, too, when I was there. It didn't matter if you were an announcer, writers, they would do these meetings before each event, and you would have the entire company, and Vince would talk to. Ringside, or? No, no, no, no. It was not ringside. It was in the back, whatever meeting it was, wherever, wherever room it was. In NXT, that would happen post-broadcast.

There would be kind of a conference that, you know, Triple H would have, stuff like that. And that was always cool. But no, as far as when I went to TV, it was. Okay. So they would bring the entire company before each event, SmackDown, Raw, whatever it was, the big pay-per-views, whatever, too.

And because I was here for SummerSlam and whatever. And so, and they called everybody in the room, and they had everybody there. And I was like, okay, I'd just gotten there. I mean, maybe a day, too. And I'm going, I need to stand out. Right? So they, then they, they're talking and Vince says something.

So, well, if anybody has any questions, and I throw my hand up, and I said something. And I see Vince go, fuck, it's this guy. I see this kind of his eyes. And I was like, well, I just asked the question. And then the meeting keeps going on. It keeps going on. It keeps going on. 15 minutes later.

I'm like, I got another one. And I see him basically like, okay. And then coach goes afterwards. Coachman, I don't know, he was, he's way gone before when you got there, right? Oh, yeah. Yeah. So coach comes and goes, you're dead. And I go, but he's like, nobody asks one question.

You ask two. And I was like, and right then I knew I was fucking dead. And he was being dead serious too. He wasn't like. He was laughing, but he was serious. And like it definitely, it was, I mean, but the thing was Vince liked my stuff. Like Vince kept coming. Stephanie told me as much.

He likes what you're doing. Go see him. And I would, I remember I wrote like a rap for the acolytes or something. Okay. And I wrote this rap. And I was, at the time, I was really into Eminem. And I still am, but I was really, I mean, that was at the height of it. So what I loved about what Eminem would do is he could rhyme words that didn't rhyme.

So I loved. And I did that a couple of times. And Vince like, these two don't rhyme. I go, yeah, but that's kind of like when I meant him. He's like, make them rhyme. And I was like, okay. So I made a rhyme. So you had direct interaction.

Oh, I worked with them all the time. Wow. All the time. And like, they would send me in. They'd be like, okay, do this, do this. And I also should say that Brian Goertz was also very, very, I mean, I still talk to Brian now. That's cool.

He's done very well for himself. Yeah, I mean, The Rock, they were tight, even, you know, honestly back then. But, yeah, he was, like I said, I still keep in touch with Brian. But yeah, so it's, it's, it's, but the reason the other person, have you interacted at all with Freddie, Prince Jr.? No, I was supposed to a couple of weeks ago. So he is now the co-owner of a premier streaming network. Yes.

I'm really, you know, I have a great relationship with the other owners of it. I did their first wrestling showcase. I called it last year. And then they just had it a few weeks ago. I came in and did the kickoff show. Freddie was supposed to be there, but a lot of people had travel issues that weekend. Like a couple wrestlers couldn't make it in.

Freddie couldn't make it in. So we have actually not met yet. I look forward to the day of meeting him because I feel like him and I have very, very similar mindsets when it comes to pro wrestling. And, yeah, I'm also friends with Jeff Dye, who he does the podcast with, you know, we go way back. So it's one of those things where it's like,

I just wanted me, Frey, to be like, hey, dude, if you ever really do something, start something. I'm like, I got your play-by-play guy. So, and that's actually why I brought it up, because, like, Freddy's become a good friend of mine now. That's awesome. And Freddy's, like, Freddy was on the show not too long ago, and Freddy, Freddy's awesome. Freddy and I go back and forth about, yeah, he's awesome. And he's just such a good dude, and he's, uh, Zen, and he's got, he's a family guy, but like he, I mean, knows his wrestling, obviously back and forth really is a passion of his. And like,

Of course, he was head writer. He didn't have to be. He didn't have to be. He didn't have to. He's Freddie Prince Jr. No, and he did it, and he talks about on the show all the time, so I'm not speaking out of term, but he talks about what he did with his deal, you know, how he got, he got points in, he got stuff in the company, you know, it's like to, in order

to, and sold his shit, made a lot of money off doing it. And so he's able to probably do what he wants to do with this wrestling thing, and he went back and he said, he took time off from acting for a bit, he went back, he started doing some more stuff. So yeah, I think that you, you guys should definitely meet because, like, yeah, he,

once he does start his thing, like, I think you'd be perfect for him. I'd be honored. I mean, look, I know what I bring to the table. And right now, I'm freelancing everywhere, boxing, MMA, wrestling. And it just, I just, I stay as sharp as I possibly can be ready for any opportunity. Like, honestly God, if any company wanted to throw me on national television tomorrow, I do my homework and I do ready. So, yeah, I'll fire over Freddie Tech for sure. Tell them, uh, take a look at you because I think, uh, he, he's, you guys would get along. He's, he's, he's, he's awesome. It's great that he also co-ons premiere. Premiere is really growing as far as streaming options for combat sports too.

Yeah. All right. Anything else as far as you've been, so have you been checking out, like any of the movies and, like things that have been harder to do because you're trying to freelance. You've been catch up with any movies, TV, or?

I did see the most recent Indiana Jones. And what you think? So here's the cool thing. Yeah. Our 12-year-old, he's, our son, he had never seen Indiana Joneses. Okay. And he's like,

should we go see the new one? I'm like, no, no, no. You got to watch the first two. I'm like. First three? Last Crusade? Yeah, Last Crusade was good.

We didn't see it, though. We ran out of time. Oh, man. I loved it. But so we watched Raiders. And this is what's crazy is. After we watched the two, I didn't realize that Temple of Doom took place before Raiders. Yeah.

Bleu my mind. Yeah, it's like Club Obi-Wan and all that stuff the way that the little prequel side of it, although it doesn't really make a lot of sense. Because, like, he, if he had gone through all that stuff in Temple of Doom with Molaram and all that, he wouldn't be as skeptical of it was in the first movie. He's skeptical about so much stuff. He's like, dude, you saw somebody get their heart ripped out and still live. He's like, what he's talking about? But yeah, that movie was, what did you think of the most recent one? I mean, we loved it.

It was obviously every Indiana Jones is out there. You're going to have a fit. Now, I will say this, at his age for, I'm not saying Harrison Ford, for Indiana Jones to be doing what he did in that movie, he's taking a lot of collagen, he's taking a lot of fish oils, maybe a little HGH because holy shit. I've never seen a man that age do what he did in that movie. But, you know, we loved it.

It was all over the place. But hey, Indiana Jones fight Nazis. That's what we pay for. Better than Crystal Skull. You know, I took my, speaking of doing stuff with the kids, I took my oldest, she's going to be 12 soon. Wow. Yeah, I know. I went and we saw Ed Shearin at the set SoFi.

So I had never been, my dad got the tickets for my wife and I for Christmas. And my wife couldn't do it because my little one was not feeling well. So we didn't have a babysitter or so whatever. And let's just take my oldest, who had just seen Taylor Swift there. But I was like, she's going to know. I like Ed Shearin. I think Ed Shearin is very talented to do it. I don't know his song is the way my daughter does, right?

So my daughter went, dude, this guy, you're talking about performer? He is an electric performer. Do you know how many people were in that stadium on Saturday night? I've never been in there, but what, close to 80? 81,000 people. It was the single day record that he broke. He just beat Metallica from like two weeks ago. Beat WrestleMania?

Many? Single day. Oh, single day. Single day. Because I think he and Taylor Swift, two days, whatever it was, but single day, he's 81,000 in there. And this dude, like, when you think Ed Sheeran's music, you think there's one particular kind of tone that he has.

Yeah. He's running around the stage and, like, the light show. I mean, he's going for over two and a half hours. Doesn't take a break and just moves. I mean, I was, I didn't know all the songs, but I was really impressed with how he performed, and you can really, you talk about, like, passion and love for whatever you're, were really into. This guy just loves playing music and it just, you can just tell. But it was, so far, it's an incredible stadium. And the cool thing is you gave her another, on top of Taylor Swift,

now Ed Sharon, you gave her two memories that she'll remember like 20 years from now. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because we forget, like the stuff we remember when we're little kids. You have the opportunity to do that for your kids now. Even when it's something that you don't think is major as an adult, they're going to remember it. That was the idea. Because my, my wife was like, yeah, I don't know if I was like she was like were you bummed that I didn't go with you it's like yes but I really liked spending that time with my daughter and knowing exactly what you just said that she's going to always remember that she's and she's and if she becomes she's she was a great she liked that cheering's music but now she's going to become more of a fan and why because you're going to

remember that going to the concert with her dad and that that type of stuff and there's only so long before your 12 year old turns into a six year old he wants nothing to do with me for you know when teenagers and then eventually. No what that's like. Yeah, I was kidding. But then eventually she's, you know, when she gets older and then we'll, in her 20s and her 30s, will become close again.

I'm prepared for it. I know that it's the cycle that happens to so many people, but to be able to have that, it was great, but it was a nice, it was a nice moment for sure. What else you got going down, again, the special man, I mean, that's, that's everything. Right now, that's the main thing. I mean, you know, Jay Cuasto on social media platforms,

Fortunately, doing a lot of voiceover work all across the voiceover realm, doing stand-up. I'm hoping this special can help me get out a little bit more with stand-up and doing play-by-play to whomever wants to bring me in. Well, it was a pleasure to have you on the show, as always. Honored to be here, man. It's good to catch up. We have so many random things we can talk about. I hope the audience is able to follow all this stuff. I'm sure that they will.

And again, check out the special. It is in the link in the description right now. Make sure you support Johnny. We're watching live. And that's it, man. So thanks for joining us. Once again, Apple Podcast, Spotify, anywhere podcasts are found.

Check out one of our wonderful sponsors. Like I said, if you're able to, you have the means to check out one of our sponsors. It helps out this show tremendously, but it also will help you out and get you something that you potentially need. So if you haven't hit that button, hit that button, show a little 100,000.

We're almost there. All right, for me and Johnny. We'll see you on the flip side. Peace.