The Ringer NBA Show - Lakers Talk With Adam Friedland | Weekends With Wos

Episode Date: January 27, 2023

Wos sits down with comedian and podcaster Adam Friedland to discuss the Los Angeles Lakers and their past and current dynamics, focusing on Kobe, LeBron, and AD. Later in the show, the two discuss the similarities between soccer and basketball, then touch on Adam's career as a comedian and podcaster. Host: Wosny Lambre Guest: Adam Friedland Producer: Ben Cruz and Jade Whaley *The Ringer NBA squad is coming to Salt Lake City for NBA All-Star Weekend! Get your tickets here!* Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What's up everybody? It's Austin Rivers from the Minnesota Timberwolves. It's a new year and I have a new podcast here at the Ringer, Offguard, hosted by me and my guy, Pasha Higigi. Austin and I go way back and talk so much hoop already that we figure those time to fire up the mics and let you in on all of these conversations. Every week, Pasha and I will hit on the biggest stories happening in the league. And get Austin's perspective of someone currently hooping in the NBA. Tap into Offguard every Friday on the Ringer NBA show feed on Spotify or wherever you get your podcast. Back, ladies and gentlemen, to the latest sedation of weekends. I'm your host, Big Wasa, aka Wazi Lambray, and I'm joined finally, man. It took a while to wrangle this guy.

Sorry. We've been trying to do this. You had to push on your end. We did have to push on my end the first time, and then we've been trying to work it in, of course, but we finally did it of Comptown Fame and the Adam Friedland show, of course. my man, Adam Friedland, welcome to the show, my brother. Thank you so much, dude.

I'm a huge fan. I'm like, literally I'm so excited. Listen, man, I got introduced to your work by Chris Ryan, my brother here at the ringer. That's insane that the boys over there like it.

But all that matters is if William likes it. We need to get him on board. Everybody's favorite podcaster, Bill Simmons. Yeah, we will. I have, say that I've gotten to talk to him about. And you've lost yet. Bill on the show immediately. But I would be surprised if he wasn't familiar with what you do.

Bill is that tapped in with this kind of stuff. So super happy to have you on the show. Obviously a fan of your great work and comedy, but you are a mega, huge NBA fan. And we happen to talk about the NBA on this show. And so, yeah, you're a Los Angeles native, now living in New York. Yeah, I was born in Lakers fan. Talk to us about that. Yeah, I was born in L.A., and I grew up in Vegas.

Vegas is actually Lakers. Of course. I also used to go to the UNLV games. I remember I saw Sean Marion. Wow. When I was a kid. I saw him. I saw his really gorgeous form in real life.

But yeah, no, so Vegas was kind of a basketball city because of Tark and the rebels and that kind of stuff. But yeah, no, I agree. up a Lakers fan. And then I, you know, like, they used to do, they used to have summer league games in Vegas. Still do? I remember. I also, yeah, I went to the, I went to the USA basketball their last match before. I think it was the redeem team. Was this 08? No, I think. Yes, it was 2012. Yes, it was the regime. Yeah. And like basically everyone, like, every time Kobe touched the ball is just like MVP, MVP, you know, just. Everyone was just rooting for,

for Kobe. And then, you know, today is obviously the third year anniversary. Is that right? Is that true? Is that a fact? Is the third year anniversary of Kobe's passing?

Can you check? It is. It is. It is. It is. It is popping up in the chat. Wow. Rest and peace to Kobe.

I did not even realize today was that day. Today, today is the third year. I mean, we all think about him every day. Of course. Of course. You can't be an NBA. fan and not. I was in Tokyo and with my

friends on a trip and my mom was sick. She had cancer and I woke up to five miscall from my dad. My dad's not from America but he like got into American sports through like L.A. Where's your dad from? My dad's from Cape Town.

Oh, snap. South Africa. My dad was on a list. He was on a government list during the bad days. Why was he an apartheid regime guy or was he on the other side of that. They put him on, he was on an enemy's list. Okay, got

that regime. And so what they did was because he was a, we're Jews, but he's, they were, he's a white guy. And so they tried to conscript him into the military because they saw him as a potential political threat because he did some shit with like some humanitarian relief shit and

swazzy. Guys, always rabble rousing, man. Yeah, y'all got to chill with the rabble rousing at him. We don't. The Jews need to shut our mouths a little bit. But yeah, they try to send him to Angola to the Civil War. So he moved to L.A. in, L.A. in 82. And then I was born 87.

So he, like, my dad didn't know anything about sports. He, but he learned, like, American sports to have something to share with his son or his kids, you know. And so my dad was at the Gibson game in 88, the World Series. my dad was there for Showtime Lakers. That was his education. That is an incredible time and place to become an American sports fan because that Lakers team was so magical, so many charismatic figures.

The brand of basketball was so compelling. Well, basketball was kind of not a big deal until then, kind of, like the Showtime Lakers. And I was watching the show. I was watching the show last time I was over. I don't know if we can just. No, keep going. Keep going.

This is what we're doing a podcast. Yeah, I was, I think I was telling you this the first time we talked, but I was watching the show. And then you obviously know the story about like magic as a rookie. And then he plays all five positions and, you know, MVP. And then so I was like, I got to see. I was like, I knew the story forever. But I was like, I got to see what this looked like.

So I like pulled up the game on YouTube. And I was like, the NBA is so much better now. They are so much. much better. They're incredible. I mean, I think maybe Magic and Michael Cooper could have played. Sure. I mean, and obviously Kareem, who wasn't in that particular game.

Yeah. No, but he wasn't in game six. But, like, you know, I, like, obviously wasn't raised in that era. So, like, I was, like, watching basketball in the 90s. And so I was a Laker fan, but I was, like, fan of, like, some very do-do-ass teams. Yeah. Cedric Sabalos, Eldon Gamble. Of course. Corey Blunt.

Cory Blunt Nick the Quickman Exel The last couple years of Vladie And then Yeah And so then I remember

When the Shack trade happened And then But Kobe was always my guy Because You know I feel like I was kind of a kid And he was kind of a kid And then we just had him forever

And I loved him I loved him so much And that's why like I think like All Lakers fans Are like a little bit full of shit in our embrace of LeBron.

Like, if we're not being honest with it. Because, like, it was always, it was always, like, fuck him. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's still the goat, you know, like, yeah. He's still, like, you know, like, he's still the best in the league. You know, like those last couple of years where Kobe was just like, you know, clearly LeBron had a clip soon, but we were. Yeah, yeah, we know.

And you know what's so funny. You say you were born in the 88, but so we're actually the exact same age. And I grew up. So we had the same NBA. Like we have the same MBA. Reference. Yeah. References 100%.

Like I grew up in New York. Of course, I was a big Michael fan. Like, you know, the next thing was cool. But I was obsessed with Jordan. Like I had been, you know, effectively propagandized by Nike, Gatorade Haynes, the NBA itself. Everybody basically being like, this guy's a deity and you should worship at the altar, which I did. I loved Mike.

And, you know, when Mike retired that first time, in 1998, or the second time, excuse me, in 1998, it was all of these guys. It was Kobe. It was Steph, the original Steph, Stefan Marbury, Iverson, you know, Kevin Garnett, Tim Duncan. Chinese, Steph. Exactly. The Chinese.

Maoist Steph, yeah. CCP, Steph. And so these are my reference points. And I remember loving Kobe. He was like somebody that I tried to model my game after it because people don't remember this. But when Kobe was young, he was like a ball handling wizard. And in New York, all you cared about was ball handling as a young Hooper.

And so Kobe was somebody you'd like watch. Like you literally tape the game so you go watch Kobe do a crossover over and over again. Right. So I was a Kobe fan. But then the Lakers started killing everybody. And I was just like, you know, the little punk rock hip hop side of me. Like, fuck that shit. That shit is whack.

So I stopped fucking with Kobe as a guy, as a Laker, whatever. And then, you know, you meet obnoxious Laker fans and on and on it goes. But I remember when he retired feeling really sad because I had realized, like, as a person in my 30s that, like, I was getting older. You know? Like, I was like, dear, Kobe's retiring. Yeah, exactly. And so obviously I was deeply affected by his passing. and I was in Tokyo, and so I missed five calls from my dad.

That's what I said originally 20 minutes ago. And my mom was sick, and I was like, something happened. You're on the other side of the country. Your mom just died. You know, like, you're a piece of shit. Your whole family is going to hate you. Right, right. You have to buy a $10,000 plane ticket now.

You don't have the money. And so then my dad called me, and he's like Kobe and Gigi died. Wow. And then I just started crying. And then because there was a tweet that day that was like, this is like Princess Diana for the guys. Oh, yes. It's true.

It's true. It really was. And so all my friends were sleeping in Airbnb and I'm just crying. So I was like the saddest white man in Tokyo, but I was just walking around the streets. Like it was like 5 a.m or something, five, six a.m. And I just found a Starbucks. I just sat there. And there were all these like salary men, these like Japanese businessmen like getting ready for work.

And they're very like, they don't show emotions. and stuff. That's not a thing we do in Japan. I'm just like this. Yeah, I'm just like, I'm just like,

I'm just, this, a not just like, ah, like, oh, you're crying. Like, I just watched like a Pixar movie or something.

And then I just pulled up my phone and I watched the 60 point game. Wow. And then I cried again. Because I remember that moment. I remember calling my dad. And like that, it was just like with it. I mean,

he shot a million times. Like, but, He was done. Perfect co-beating. That last season was an embarrassment. Like that last season, the farewell tour, he was so past it. And, and, and we just saw, he, it was like, he came back one last time.

He was inefficient. He was just chucking. He was I-zoing. Like, it was just, it was like, our, our God was back. We thought we'd never see him again. And we thought we, they, you know, they were doing this, like, weird, like, farewell tour where every state he was acting like they liked him

like they weren't incredibly unfair to him throughout this time. Most notably, Mr. Bill Simmons. Very unfair. Very unfair. I'll say this about Bill.

He's been consistent. Ever since I've started reading Bill, which is probably like the year 2000, maybe 2001. I'm amazing. To now, he's always been unfair to the Lakers. This is not.

I mean, like, I, the way he rides with his guys is just, that's how I am with mine. Like, if I was a Celtics fan, I would be, like, exactly like him, you know. I love that. And, of course, you know, R.I.P. to Kobe, shouts to all of his loved ones. Yeah. All the people mourning, I do remember, obviously, I live in L.A. now. I was in L.A. when the news came out. And it was definitely something you could feel.

Like, people were in a funk and absolutely mourning the guy. People loved Kobe. And that's the only thing that struck me. I was like, man, I really hope Kobe knew how much people cared about this guy. Yeah. And also how much you gained to people. In L.A. It's like people in L.A.

Yeah, sorry. In L.A. is like the Filipinos, like the Mexicans. Like, every, he just like every different community. He's just like. Yeah. Shouts to my man, Nate Jones. He talks about this all the time. He's like, the Lakers are the unifying force of the city.

Working class people, Hollywood, you name it. The Mexicans, the Filipinos, the Middle Eastern homies in Beverly Hills and the Valley. Like, you name it, everybody is unified by the Lakers. It's incredible. And obviously, Kobe is a big part of that. And not to make an awkward transition, but I do want to talk about the team this year. Oh, which my buddy. The magic of the Lakers.

Dude, my buddy calls this year's Lakers the best sitcom on TV. It's because you don't know what's going to happen from game to game. I text you during the double O.T game after we talked. I was like, this is comedy. They should have won that game twice. I mean, the way everything is just falling apart at the end of games. I mean, they got two close ones recently over the weekend. For sure.

I mean, that dispersed last night who were clearly in Wembeon Yamamo, but a W is a W. AD is back, so that's a nice revelation. But yeah, it's just hilarious. Don't mess with the Sochan and Wenbanyama. You think that's the duo? Sure, why not? That's the future.

Why not? Just get Victor in there and everything else will fall into place. I like that Sohan is paying tribute and homage to Dennis Rodman. I like that is awesome. I like his look. And I didn't realize he had a British accent. I've never heard him speak. He's British?

He's British. Wow, that's amazing. He's Polish. His mom was a Polish NBA player. And then he grew up in England. But he was born in the States. He was born in, like, hopefully he doesn't lose his accent like Ben Simmons,

but that's neither here nor they. Maybe he lost, he lost, maybe that's some indication. Topping for another day. You'd be so sick if he was just proper Australian. If he just, if he just sounded like, Luke Longley.

But Adam, he is proper Australia. He's just decided because he'd rather talk with an American black cent. I don't know, because black Americans are cooler than Nazis

apparently. I don't know. I mean, that's obviously that cool. What are you talking about? If he's just, I don't know,

maybe Simmons, maybe that's, maybe that can relate a little bit to his, his struggles. Yeah, who knows? It's,

it's translating on to the course. I think somebody with better psychological skills than me could figure that out. But how often are you watching the Lakers these days? Oh, let's talk about. Well, it's clear. Like, I mean, it's clear it's getting, LeBron's going to get another chip.

I mean, it's not that confusing. We can see it. Like, you know. Well, LeBron's going to win another championship this year. Is that what you're saying? Is that guaranteed ring? Guaranteed ring. Okay.

But I mean, like, it's, here's a, here's my. problem. Here's my, here's my, here's my Lakers thesis, right? So I was, after Kobe, I was like fully invested in the baby Lakers, right? And like, to the extent that I will always root for all of them. Like, I will always be a Brandon Ingram fan. Like, he's in my heart forever, right? And after the bubble, the summer was so short, right? And the bubble was so long, right? And some teams didn't even go to the bubble, right? Right. So they got to have like such a long break. And, and, And I just feel like the organization didn't protect their assets. And we like AD, AD and Braun, they should have rested them the first half the next season.

And they immediately got hurt and it fucked our next season. And like kind of like still to some extent, we're feeling the effects of that. I, in my opinion, at least. And like now everyone has this. I love Anthony Davis. I think he's an incredibly talented guy. I love watching him. Like, I think, like, you know, he was instrumental in, like, that shot against Denver in the bubble.

Like, he was instrumental in that championship. He was incredible. He was an MVP level player in the bubble. And this season we've seen. I mean, this season, like, he took over the fucking league this season. Okay. But we have to be honest with ourselves, though. The bubble was in 2020.

It's been before he took off to begin the season or whatever. whatever, and before he got hurt, he had not played like that for two years. He had not played like that since the bubble. Like, I'm talking about the times that he was healthy and all of that stuff. I think he realized that, like, if the team was completely piss-pour and crap,

like, he would be blamed for it and rightfully so. And so he stepped up to the plate. Yeah. I think that he's just been feeling the effects of, like, the organization not like, like, Braun and him both got hurt the next year. Bronza freak. And the way he's playing right now is just like,

we will never, I mean, like, I'm a Kobe fan, but like, there is no, I mean, it's so boring to get into the go debate,

but like no one has played basketball that well ever. Yeah. For that long. I mean, it's crazy. Yeah. It is insane. I mean,

like the, the, the, what was it, 46 point loss the other night? Like, just like him sitting on the bench. It's just like,

just being like, oh, we're getting blown. now but I still had 46 and like just it's like we've never seen anything like this and like he is like he's Achilles he's dropped he's dipped into the river sticks like

he's sent by God like Kobe and MJ had to be sociopaths to get that good at basketball. They had to like they had to have like sports dads and like you know like they had they had to make their brains into into like

something different. But Braun is just brawn is is an angel. Like, it's just like, there's no other way around it. I'm sure there's some middle management types in places like Miami and Cleveland who would have different

opinions. But yeah, his approach is so much different than Mike and Kobe's and, you know, the success that he's had to 38. It's honestly, the only other person is freaking Kareem, which is ironic that he's going to break this, that he's going to break

Kareem's record. But Kareem's the only person that was like MVP type of player at 38. Still one of the best players on a championship type of team, you know, into his late 30s. And LeBron, you know, following Kareem's footsteps. It's a shame that they don't get along and Kareem kind of has the beef with so many other players. Tip off the new year with Fandul, America's number one sports book. New customers get $150 in bonus bets guaranteed when you place your first $5 bet. Just download the Fandu Sports app.

It's safe, secure, and super easy to use. Then you can bet on everything from the money line to point scores to threes drained. Man, everybody's paying attention to LeBron chasing Kareem's scoring record. I happen to think he's going to break it against OKC on February 7th. My birthday happens to be the day before LeBron's going to break the record for my birthday. There you go. Free money for you guys. Plus, Fandul even let you combine your bets for a chance at a bigger pay.

out with the same game parlay. So don't miss out. Place your first $5 bet to get $150 in bonus bets, win or lose, with promo code, ringer NBA. Make every moment more with Fandu. Official Sports Book Partner of the NBA. 21 and over in select states, first real money wager only, $10 first deposit required. Bonus issued as non-withdrawable bonus bets that expire 14 days after receipt, restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook. Fanduil.com. Gambling problem?

Call 1-800 gambler or visit Fandul.com backslash RG in Colorado, Iowa, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Tennessee, and Virginia. 1-800 next step or text next step to 532 in Arizona, 1-88-789-77-77, or visit ccpg.org backslash chat in Connecticut,

1-800-9 with it in Indiana, 1-800-522-470-470, or visit KSgamblinghelp.com in Kansas, 18777-770 stop in Louisiana, visit www.md-Gamblinghelp.org in Maryland, 18778, Hope & Why, or text, Hope & Why, in New York, 1-800-522-4-700-0 in Wyoming, or visit www.1-800 gambler.net in West Virginia. What's your feeling about bragging the scoring record in a Laker uniform?

Does that mean anything to you? I was. Yeah. Yeah. No, I mean, like, I obviously, like, I love him, you know? I love him. And, like, I love hoop and I love watching him play, you know? But, like, he's really just like, you know, he struggled his whole career.

like when he did the decision and all that stuff. Like he had so many missteps and like so many people were on his ass. And like, you know, like for a Laker fan, like we don't get one franchise players. Like that's a very rare thing in this day and age, unless it's like a superstar, like a, you know, stuff or like whatever. But like Braun, so like, you know, like his identity is kind of spread, I think a little bit, you know. And like, but it's hard for you to tap into. It's really tight. It's obviously really high.

We're going to be excited about it. Like, it's really tight, but like we're all a little bit foolish. Yeah. I think we're all a little bit foolish. Yeah, it's hard to expect the Laker fans to embrace the breaking of this record when a lion's share, like a lion's share of these points were scored for two other teams, right? And so, like, I understand the apprehension about giving this a full bear hug. I think, like, a lot of things with LeBron, it's hard to understand what's happening in the moment.

You know, like, it's unbelievable a lot of the stuff associated with LeBron. Like, I think about the Detroit Pistons, the 29 out of the last 30 points that he scored in that playoff game. And they weren't supposed to be Detroit, weren't supposed to go to the finals. But I remember where I was when I was watching it. And I felt like I was having an outer body experience. I was like, is this really happening? Are they really going to beat the Detroit Freaking Pistons?

The people who have dominated the Eastern Conference for the last four or five years. I hate that. This dude's going to go to the finals at like 21. Like what? Yeah. And so like so much of that stuff is hard to, like in the moment,

it was just so hard to even grasp or get your arms around. And I think the scoring title is the same. It's just like, people don't understand what this guy's doing. For you, the way that you say that you've liked guys, right? You're like, you're from New York,

but you're not like a, you're not a Knicks guy. No, I've never been a Knicks guy. The only teams are roof for are the Mets and the Jets. Right. That's so funny. Yeah, it's awful. And which, by the way, sorry,

no, after we wrap this, we'll get into, after we move off from the Lakers, we'll get into that really quickly. Okay, but like, my girlfriend has a little cousin who lives in the city, is like the coolest little kid ever,

and he, like, knows everything about Ball. Like, okay, that's awesome. Yeah, yeah. And like, we like, we chill with him, like, we see him at holidays and stuff. And like all the kids these days just like guys. Like, he's a Janus fan. He doesn't have like a team though. And it's just like, that's kind of, that kind of makes more sense.

Like, if you're a brawn guy when he comes into the league, that the break of the scoring record is like, you're going to cry. Like, it's going to be unbelievable. Yeah, 100%. And the thing is to, like, I think it makes sense to like teams when you're team is competently ran. To like, like, to be a Kings fan is just like, Jesus. Like, I'm happy that you are, but like, that is hard, you know, to like, never,

absolutely never be rewarded for your loyalty. Like, ever, ever, you know, like, that's tough. And so, like, I understand that. But I wanted to get into. I mean, the, the Doug Christie, Vladi, Mike Bibby, like that, that's your, that's a eating off of that success. They're still eating off of that success, though. Like, people are still for attachment to that team because of that.

Yeah. That team, that team was so good. Yeah, even you as a Laker fan had to respect. Bobby Jackson. Of course. Of course. Vladay, Scott Pollard. Scott Pollard.

Hito, Paysia. It was ridiculous. Chris Weber. You know, Chris Weber is in a Hall of Fame based off of the four years or whatever run that had with Sacramento alone. Like, just off of that. White chocolate, Mike Bibby, it's just incredible incredible stuff.

They also, they shouldn't be the Lakers. Yeah, that was a little bit of David Stern 666 Illuminati's stuff going on. 2002 was unfortunate. But you, you know, you asked me about my fandom and the only two teams that I root for.

The third team that I root for is Manchester City. Come on, man. And tell me why this is a bad thing. Explain it to me, please. When did you choose? When did you choose? You went on Twitter.

You asked people on Twitter. Yes, that's exactly what happened. I went on Twitter. I was like, all right, listen, guys, I'm really getting into the European world football stuff. I want to pick a team. The only other two teams that I root for actively. And now I'm kind of an LSU fan too. My niece goes there.

Yeah, football. I don't care about the hoop team. Not the Benson. No, just LSU football is like the coolest brand in college football. But that's another topic. But I was just like, look, you know, my teams are my teams. And their history are their history. And everybody on Twitter was just like, yo, you deserve happiness.

You deserve some level of sports joy. Root for the winners. Root for Man City. And I've got to say it's the best decision that I've ever fucking made. Pete. Pep is, so cool. The coolest, greatest minds in,

in soccer. Also, I'm an Arsenal supporter. So our, our manager was his protege. So like, okay. So like,

the way we set up, the way like he thinks about the game is, is basically just kind of, similar to Pep. Yeah, he's coaching tree, yeah, Pep coaching tree.

So, and like, but, I kind of made me have to thank you. I mean, I know, like, we're going to fuck it up. Like, they hurt, they hurt me. They hurt me so much. Like, I became an artistler supporter.

The season after they went invincible. So they didn't lose a game in, in 03, 04. They didn't lose a single match that season. They didn't lose a single match. It was the most magical season. What about Champions League? Did they lose it all? They lost to Chelsea in the Champions League.

It was fucked. It was fucked. No, so. So, but I think like beyond that, like, okay, so I've only suffered. I've only suffered with this team. And at this point, like, if you're getting into soccer, like, you kind of get aesthetically, if you like basketball, like they're just, they ball. Like, like, at this point, if I'm watching sports, like, it's like, I just want to see,

like, beautiful shit happen, you know? 100%. And like, and so, like, from my NBA fandom, that's like, that's like, that's, how I got into soccer because it's like, you know, it's back and forth and then you like go into your opponent's territory and like there's like a similar kind of whatever. But maybe potentially because this season we basically, I'll describe Arsoli, right? We, it's like the baby Lakers, right? Never got traded, right? It's like the baby Lakers were all. I got you. And they are years ahead of the curve of like even having a sniff at being good and they're doing it now and they're fucking good

good. Boussaka, he is incredible. He is my entire heart. I only want him to be happy. He is such a good kid, you know? And like they are so young. They're the youngest team in the league. They've been the youngest team in the league by some measure for like seasons now. And it's like it's as if like Brandon Ingram is like Lanzo leading the Lakers to the best record in the league

Delo, Kooz, all of them were just leading the Lakers to the best record and that's, that's an awesome comparison

there. Of course. You suffer through it so you feel like you earn it, right? That's like, that's the kind of magic there.

So, but I think that you just brought your stinkiness from the Jets. Like, to Man City. I think that you may be, you may be doing this.

I think you might be I think you might be so cursed by being a messy jetsy fan. I think you might be so cursed that this is actually why the season has become so magical. So that's the thing. Obviously, City heavily favored to win the Premier League

this year. I mean, Holland is incredible. We've never seen this. We've never seen this. Incredible. He's breaking records left and right, early Holland. It's funny. When I first started rooting for the team, Aguero was still the striker, right? And I was like, wow, this guy is fucking incredible, right?

I was like, wow, they make strikers better than this. This is crazy. This guy is insane, right? And then Holland comes in this shit. He's breaking literally every single goal scoring record. The club has ever had. He's just, and he's not just breaking. He's annihilating them.

You know, it's almost like Babe Ruth in the 1920s with baseball home run records what this dude is doing to the club's records. And it's incredible. And it's like, you know, it's, it'll be sad if they finish second and third into Premier League. But it's just like, whatever, they'll be in the Champions League next year. It'll be fine. Yeah. And they'll spend.

They'll spend their blood money. They will spend their people. Oh, here we go. No, I mean, like, if I had to choose a Manchester team, I'd definitely support city. They're cool, like, Oasis like city. like, you know, they're like the shit team. But like when I chose Arsenal, it was Manchester United Arsenal with the two best teams.

And like I chose them because of a striker, because of Tieri Henri is my favorite player. And like, but Arsenal just had cooler guys. Like it was like, it was very like Lakers Celtics in the 80s. They were like, they were like kind of workmen like white boys on one team.

And then there were like cool French guys on the other team. So I was just like obviously I'm going to, and I'm going to choose the guys that get nicer that like it looked where it looks. where it looks cooler and stuff. Love that. Yeah. So that's why that's kind of like, that's another like basketball analogy for like how I got into the game.

But like city are like they've never really set up this way before because like pep had this thing where strikers weren't important. Like he had this way where he set up. He set up like multiple lineups and he would cook people without a striker where he'd have like six eights on the floor or on the on the on the field. And then and he'd be like, it's just about positional football. It's just like, it's like, he's like,

the cool thing is, is like, it's very, it's very modern. It's kind of like when the warriors dropped, right? Like, I'm like a, I'm like a closeted warrior warriors appreciate it. Got you. And it's about positional spacing, running into space. Like, I understand the basketball and soccer comparison, because, again, it is about finding the space and filling it, right? just like it is in any game.

And, you know, certain players command a certain level of defensive attention, aka gravity, and finding ways to exploit that. Like, it's all very similar. And then they got Erling Holland. It was like, no, let's just get this guy the ball in the box. Let's just get this monster. Let's just get, like, the best guys in the world. Let's get Kevin DeBroyer.

Let's get all the best guys in the world to just chuck it to him. Yep. And then it's just like give shit, like feed chat. Like basically that's what they're doing, you know? And he's getting better at using his head. He's just, it's ridiculous. And, you know, the funny thing, I was having a conversation with my buddy Nando, who is my resident soccer expert.

And I was like, man, you know, you know Holland is better than Mbapé. And he's like, boss, just please, just calm down, sir. We get it. You love your team. You're having a great time. He's breaking all these records. But he doesn't do shit on the ball, okay? Like, he's just a finisher.

Holland touches the ball like, 11. But he just flipped it in every time. Right. Right. But Bobbe does both. He finishes, he initiates, he sets people up. He's really, really incredible more than a one-trick pony. I will concede that point to him.

But before we get you out of here, Adam, I want to talk to you about, man, like, you are, dare I say it, a successful working comedian. I guess so, yeah. Okay? I was not forever. And that's what I want to talk to you about. It's like, how does it feel like when you think about your younger self and now you're like you literally pay your bills and then some via a career making jokes?

What is that like what is that like for you these days? Well, really it's because of podcasting really. I mean, like that's the crazy thing. It's like comedy really changed. When I started, you had to like get a late night television spot and then you get a comedy Central presents and then you get an hour. And like that was kind of like the, that's the order of operations. And then

we started this stupid podcast for like men with traumatic brain injuries with non-sports related CTE, with gaming related CTE, guys that, guys that have injured their brains through call of duty. We started,

yeah, so we started this podcast six years ago. We did for a long time. And then we kind of transitioned recently to this. We kind of got sick of podcasting. So we're kind of transitioning the model to being like once a week. It's going to be a podcast. And now we're producing. We're trying to produce our late night talk show on our own and fund it ourselves.

And we've spent all of our, like we've spent like a lot of money on it. A lot of. We spent like hundreds of thousands of dollars. Collectively. The Dick Cabbage. The Dick Cavillette show? Wow. Yeah.

But we were like literally copied the Dick Cabin show set. And like the idea is like we don't want to really like, we don't want to make, um, eventually we don't want to make an ironic talk show like, like, you know, Eric Andre or something like that. We want to make, we want to ironic. Shows to Eric Andre, big Haitian, fellow Haitian. Shows to him. The best.

One of the best. No, we want to ironically make a talk show. So we want like the, we want the guys from the most moronic. podcast of all time to accidentally make a professional talk show. That's, that's, that's, that's the goal right now. So, um, yeah, I mean like, so this month we've been kind of building out the control room. So now we have a live switcher. So we have, wow, people switching between the three cameras. So we have like, our guys are on headsets and they're like, go to camera three. Like, it's like we, I didn't, we, none of us knew how to do any of this shit six months ago. And it's

like really fun, like learning all this crap. And like, yeah, we shot an episode with Simon Rex. yesterday. The actor from Red Rocket and Scary Movie 3. Red Rocket, I heard it was fire. I still haven't seen it. I want to see that, though. Yeah, I've read that tonight. That's going to be coming out on Monday on Patreon.com slash P-A-FS.

So, and then, so now we just signed with a talent booking company. So they're like the same company that books like Kimmel and stuff. So, like, they're going to be booking guests and we're going to be coming out with like a weekly, basically late night talk show. I love that. Look at you. Big Dog. And then you got a show in Philly this weekend or is it multiple shows? When does this drop? This drops Friday morning.

Okay, great. So I'm in Philly at Helium tonight, two shows and tomorrow night, two shows. And I've won tonight. It's Thursday. And then next weekend I'm in Pittsburgh. So, yeah, I mean, like the schedule recently has been crazy because, like, we've been figuring out how to make a TV show. And then so, like, for four days, we're literally at our studio. and like trying to figure out like we're the we're some of the dumbest guys of all time we are so stupid

and like and like so we're trying to figure out like how how does tv how do do how do tv do it you know like we don't know what we're doing and then we me and nick have been on the road every week and doing stand-up so it's just like it's been a fucking marathon these last couple of months but it's really cool like yeah i mean i'm like I'm doing the road now. I'm hopefully going to put out an hour by the end of the year. I really, yeah, like stand-up is why I moved to New York. But then I moved here and then like,

I remember my parents are like, we don't have any interconnections in the entertainment industry. So they're like, you know, like, you're going to fail. And I was like, it's about talent. It's about you have to be the best, right? And then I moved here, I was like, oh, yeah, there are tons of people that have connections that get ahead. And then also I thought I was like some unique talent.

And then they're like literally a thousand guys named Adam Friedland that look like a thousand Jews. Like literally there's nothing special about me. Like just like literally just doppelgangers. Not in New York City. There is it. Just like and I'm like I'm going to move to New York. And I'm like, you know, because I started comedy in D.C. And I was like the glasses and the glasses Jew.

Nebish. I was like the local guy. and I'd like play the clubs when like a The neb is Jewish home. Okay, got you. And then I moved here. You got to move to New York, L.A. And then I just, I got smacked in the face.

I was like, oh my God. I told my parents that I didn't want to go to law school. I'm a fucking idiot. I was like, I thought I was special. And then we started this podcast and it became quite successful, I guess. You've had the last laugh, brother. I just, but it was like, it wasn't like, it wasn't premeditated. Like, we didn't know you can make money from podcast.

Like, it kind of happened. like six years ago it was like very different. Way different than it is now, you know. And yeah, so like it was just kind of like we were at the center of like it was right place, right time. I think it was also very funny. We're like very funny guys that were on the show with us. The three, it was three guys.

And now it's just now it's me and Nick. We're doing, we're doing the Adam Free luncheon now. So, so yeah. So we've like adjusted the model. We're doing kind of like a video podcast. on Wednesdays and then we're doing the talk show that's going to be coming out on Mondays. And that's kind of the model that we're going to be sticking to. I'm wonderful, man.

Keep it locked with Adam, man. Adam, tell people where they can find you and your work exactly. They can find it. Yeah, you could watch the show. You just want to be pay. You could pay money and watch my shit. No, you could, yeah, patreon.com. slash T-A-F-Fs, the Adam Freedland Show.

I think Patreon.com slash Adam Freeland Show also works. Also, I do standable all over the country and Twitter, Instagram. I'm on all that crap. I don't, I've, now I've been, I just recently hired someone to do my post for me because I fucking hate social media. Nah, it's understandable. And while we're in the process of trying to get our listeners to part with their cash, the Ringer NBA show is doing a live show in Salt Lake City during All-Star weekend. And please, if you can.

Wait, they're doing it in Salt Lake this year? Yes, Salt Lake City is where it's at. It's going to be the wackest all-star. Oh, come on, man. No, the great city of Salt Lake, it's going to be incredible. I can say that. We will be at the State Room on February 18th. Doors open at 10 p.m.

Go to the State Room's website. You can get your tickets right now. And yeah, check us out. If you happen to be in Salt Lake City for All-Star Weekend, check us out. It's going to be every single person, me, Syri, Logan, Kyle, KOC, you name it. Every single person in Ringleworld will be on hand for the show. So get your tickets. We plan on putting on an incredible show for you guys.

So make sure you get that. Adam, I want to thank you again for coming on, man. Appreciate you. Can't wait to talk to you again, brother.