Throwbacks with Matt Leinart & Jerry Ferrara - Leinart Returns to the Rink, Lakers lifting off w/ Luka & Gary Owen on Bengals, Comedy & More!

Episode Date: February 27, 2025

Comedian Gary Owen joins the guys looking back on his experiences performing standup in front of the USC football team and as a cast member in the hit movie Think Like a Man. The guys also talk Bengals football, getting vasectomies, dealing with hecklers and so much more!   Plus: Messier… Granato… Leinart?? That’s right, Matt laced up the skates alongside some NHL legends in the name of a great cause; he’ll take us through his afternoon on the ice.   And in today’s mailbag, we applaud the Yankees for finally changing course on an age-old policy that needed changing.  New episodes of Throwbacks drop every Thursday. Make sure you’re subscribed on YouTube and following on all podcast platforms. Also, make sure you’re locked in on social @ThrowbacksShow on all platforms for highlight moments, bonus content, and to engage with the guys & the Throwbacks community. (http://throwbacksshow.com/)      A big thank you to our sponsor:    Wendy’s    Go to Wendy's® and taste the difference in a hamburger.   https://m-wendys.app.link/hamburger25   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

And this guy was heckling all the open micers. It was open mic night. And I went off on him for about 20 minutes and he gets up. He's got his state championship high school and he points it right at me. Goes, stay, baby. That's all I got to say. He walked away. All right, welcome to another episode of throwbacks everybody.

Got a good one for you today. Most importantly, my guy who we call Maddie Ice. You literally were Maddie Ice the other day. Let's go right into it, because I think this is one of the more savage, confident moves I've ever heard anyone pull off. What did you get invited to and what did you do the other day?

I appreciate that because my boys, all my kids and my wife thought otherwise. So how this, I got to skate at Crypto, where the LA Kings play with some of my childhood heroes, because I was a diehard Kings fan growing up. I'm still a Kings fan, I'm a hockey fan, not as much as I've gotten older, but when I was growing up, I was super into roller hockey,

rollerblades on the street, the whole shebang, I had all the pads, everything. And I was a big Kings fan. So that era of the early 90s Kings, Gretzky. Robitaille. Robitaille, Rob Blake, Granada. I mean, I can literally name 15 guys on that team right now. Tomas Sandstrom, Yari Curry, Dave Taylor.

Anyway, so a good girlfriend of mine works for the Kings and she actually, this involves us, she had actually hit me up and said, Hey, do you guys have interest in doing the pod kind of throwbacks on the red carpet like you did for fanatics? And I was like, I don't think we can do it. Jerry's not here. It was three days prior. I love that's like our thing now though. Hey, you got a red carpet. Need a podcast call throwbacks. Immediately I was, I said, can I play? I had no idea. And she goes, can you skate? And I was, I said, can I play? And I had no idea. And she goes, can you skate?

And I go, I've skated before, I'm an athlete. I like to think that I could skate. In my mind, I'm thinking this is going to be just celebrities, athletes, like one of those, like a celebrity NBA All-Star game where you just get a collection of people. More funny and fun than competitive. More fun and informal.

Little did I know when I saw, basically she goes, yes. And this is all for LA Relief for the Fires, for the first responders. Great cost. And a lot of the first responders played on the teams. It was a really first, well done by the Kings and raised a lot of money for all of the families and first responders.

So she goes, can you skate? I go basically sort of lie, but yeah, I can skate a little bit. And within an hour, she's like, you're in. And I said, I was- Got nervous. And then the teams get announced and I look at these names, Jerry,

and I see Mark Messier. I see- Love Messier. I see Theo Flurry back with the flames, the Calgary Flames back in the day. I see Nelson Emerson and I remember him from the blues. Pique Subban was there. I see a lot of former Kings guys that I'm friends with from just living in the South Bay.

And then I look at my team and I have Rob Blake, Marty McSorley was a coach who I know, Tony Granado who I was a huge fan of when he was playing for the Kings in the early nineties. I started sweating. I was, I was like, I don't think I can't do this. I'm going to back out. I told Josie, I was like, I'm going to back out. I'm something's going to come. I can't do this. And she goes, no, it won't be that bad. It won't be that bad. It's different. It is different. And I'll tell you this, I'll never forget. I'm

walking, I'm walking in there and I see Copitar and I know Kopi a little bit from the South Bank. Kopi's a legend. And I go, he goes, what's up man? I go, Kopi, I'm nervous as shit, man. He goes, oh, you'll be fine. You're an athlete, you'll be fine. Dead serious. I go, this isn't like just putting on football cleats

and running on the grass. This is skating on ice with Mark Messier, a top three player of all time. And by the way, I was on the ice at some point skating with Subban and Mark Messier and Taylor Kitsch, by the way. Taylor Kitsch is a hell of a player. He's a Canadian. He could play, but he played like low level college hockey or something.

So my biggest thing, and I'll end it here. My biggest thing was I did a lot better than I thought, but I can't skate backwards. So any moment where I was playing defense, I had to just skate forward and try and play a little defense. But I missed a one-timer from Joe Mauer. That was the highlight. Joe Mauer. Oh, we're going to post this video.

I saw it. He missed. He didn't go stick side. Great story. Real quick, Joe Mauer, two that were the same high school grade, Joe Mauer was the number one player in football and baseball. He was a quarterback.

He committed to the full estate. Number one and both at the same time. He was USA Today Player of the Year in both sports. Never forget. Committed to Florida State and he obviously was, I don't know if he was number one pick, but he was, you know, top five pick in the MLB draft and went on to have a great career for Minnesota Twins and all that. And we were talking and all this, but he plays hockey like he's in Minnesota. So he has a rink in his backyard, his boys play and all stuff it was awesome he's the one to pass it to me and it was a little bit between my skates and I and I missed it it was a bad pass I saw it the puck goes the puck goes the other way and they ended up scoring and I took myself out I said guys I'm not playing anymore I can't do this shit so a couple of things I got for you. Number one, it is such a savage move

because when you say you can skate, right? You can't, hockey skating is different than, hey, I took the boys to the ice skating rink. Because like you said, skating backwards, stopping, all that, and then you bring out roller hockey. I loved roller hockey, but I'm old enough to remember playing roller hockey before roller blades were invented.

There was no roller, I played on four wheels, the Wayne Gretzky roller skates, which were these skates to have and pick up roller hockey, which is very, very different than roller blades, which is then very, very different than skating. So I was a roller blades guy. Oh yeah. I think that's our four year and those four year age gap between us is when roller blades became I, I had the lightning. It was the lightning.

And I remember I asked for Christmas. For two years, I was every day in the street, I think I was nine or 10 years old, every day in the street I had hockey nets. And I lived on a street growing up that was kids everywhere. And we would all congregate in front of my house. We would put, you know, the car, you know, you yell car, you go on the sidewalk., you guys fight or no, we fought a

lot. And one, what, what, this is when I was super fat. So at one point, there's this kid named Kevin Stuby, I'll never forget. Stuby put them on blast. Let's go. He was across a street to us, like three houses to the right. So pretty close. And we lived in like, you know, we're like a little middle class like Santa Ana, and on residential street. And one time he was just ripping me fat, you fat this whatever.

And my brother, I think my brother took a hockey stick and my brother was five years older, tough, fought every, he was just, he always protected me. And he just, no, I think he just went and he just straight whacked him in the face, dude, broke his nose. And he never made fun of me think he just went and he just straight whacked him in the face, dude, broke his nose. And he never made fun of me ever again with one of the hockey.

I used to tape the hockey sticks. I was, the experience was amazing. That was probably a couple. And you got the two new hips. Did you worry about the new hips on the ice at all? No, because I wasn't going fast enough. I just didn't want to fall. At one point I almost fell one

and one of the guys kind of caught me. I did high stick someone in the face though. We were in the corner of the boards and it was like a little puck shot. I was trying to get it and I was like trying to flick it and I got his helmet off and I was like, oh shit, my bad. I don't remember who it was. It was my bad dude. And in my moment I'm thinking my whole thought process was like, these fucking guys, these athletes are crazy. Can you imagine full speed being on the ice like I would

die doesn't get enough credit among like American fans shoutouts you did it it's one and here's well I'll end it with this so fun man I saw the videos I saw the pictures you look like a hockey player about well by the way you're like what six nine on six ten on skates? Granado, Nelson Emerson and Blake, who were the three I was kind of hanging with and talking to locker room. But we were in the full locker room getting dressed. I didn't know how to get dressed.

I was like, guys, I need help. It was so cool. Someone pad me up guys, pad me up. And Granado looks at me, he goes, he goes, we could work with this. You could have been a fucking great defenseman. Yeah. Cause I'm six eight and I'm-

Long arms. Yeah. And I'm like, trust me guys, in another lifetime, I would have loved to play hockey, but Well, shout outs and great cause. I'm glad you did that. We got a good one for you today. Our guest today is a friend of both of ours. We met him very, very different ways. Comedian Gary Owen, lots of movies, lots of shows. I did think like a man one and two with him. And we're going to talk about this in the interview. He used to come roast you guys at USC, right? Is that true? You bring like Kevin Hart even and just towards you guys. You got to listen to him because 20, gosh, was that 20, 20 years ago or so, a little over 20 years ago, he would come roast the team and a pre Kevin Hart before anyone knew

who Kevin Hart was. He's had a great career, big Bangles fan too by the way, so we'll talk a little Bangles with him and I just remember with Gary, like we did think, you know, this movie Think Like a Man which was based on this kind of romance self-help book that Steve Harvey wrote, Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man, right? It has all these rules, like he used to have the 90-day rule, Steve Harvey wrote, act like a lady, think like a man, right? And has all these rules like he used to have the 90 day rule, Steve Harvey in the book. He says, my dad worked for Ford. He would not qualify for health insurance until he worked 90 days. So ladies, if you give it like you got to make your man wait 90 days before giving it

up or like if they make you wait 90 days for health insurance, shouldn't you make a man wait 90 days? So it's like stuff like that. This amazing producer, Will Packer had the idea. Let's make this into a movie with an ensemble cast. I got offered the part and I read the script. Scripts really, really funny. And then I start hearing like, Oh, Kevin Hart's involved, Gary Owen. And then I see, I have like this storyline where like my girlfriend in the movie wants badly to get engaged and I'm like cold feet guy. And then I find out, oh, we cast the girl too

who would play, you know, opposite you. I'm like, who is it? They said, Gabrielle Union. I said, I'm out. I'm out. I'm not doing it. And like, why do you not like Gabrielle? Like, no, I love Gabrielle Union. She's

amazing. There's no one on the face of the earth that's going to believe that she wants to marry me and I'm on the fence and don't want to do it. So of course, like we talked about it and we end up doing the movie. And what was cool about it was I think the movie, I don't know how much it was actually made for 11, 12, 13 million somewhere in there by even numbers 15 years ago. That's not a big budget movie. And I remember this was like right out of Entourage. You get tracking anytime the movie's coming out, right? So like the, the Monday, Tuesday before, Hey, it's tracking the open at like 10 million, which would be really cool. And it's 12 million. Hey, if it, if it makes 12 million almost get its budget back,

that's a great opening weekend. Friday night, the movie's getting ready to open. By Saturday morning, we're getting emails. It might open at 30. And now I'm getting like, Ari, the real Ari's emailing me, congrats, this is gonna be huge. I'm getting all these emails. One of my agents from WME said, the movie opens 30 million, congrats, this is gonna be huge, I'm getting all these emails. One of my agents from WME said,

the movie opens 30 million, number one, beats out a Zac Efron movie at the box office, right? Number one in the box office, Kevin Hart. Tell me it was High School Musical. Was it High School Musical? No, it was like one of those, like, it wasn't The Notebook, but it was a Nicholas Sparks novel, like The Notebook, same kind of thing.

Oh yeah, I remember that one. And I get a call from Richard Weitz, an amazing agent at WME says, we're going to the Lakers, your Lakers, courtside. It was Easter Sunday, Matt. So we're coming up on an anniversary soon. Just like at an entourage, got the number one movie in the country

and you're sitting courtside. So we go to the game, we're sitting on the floor. It was Lakers Thunder. This is so long ago, James Harden was still on the Thunder. If anyone remembers the game where Ron Artest, Meta World piece, he elbowed James Harden in the head and knocked him unconscious. Harden leaves the game.

So we go to the fourth quarter, game is super tight and it was, season's almost over, playoff position at stake a loose ball comes right at my agent and I's lap okay and Serge Ibaka and Kobe Bryant are running full this one guys cared about the regular season shout out to them they are running full speed at us and it's happening so fast and we just start putting our hands up and Kobe and Serge dive into us. I bite a half an inch miss getting decapitated and Kobe goes shoulder-first into my agent's face, rips the chairs out from the court, my popcorn goes flying, we go in the air and they both land on top of us. People come

peeling bodies. I remember Steve Blake was the one, like, no one helped me. They all picked Kobe up. And at some point, as we're trying, my agent is bleeding from the mouth. He has to go get medical attention. Kobe and I lock eye, but he doesn't lock eyes with me, but he's aware that he almost killed us. And he basically is like, I guess he must have caught me. And he goes, Oh, I heard the movie did good this weekend, congrats. And went back onto the court and the Lakers win the game. I forget what seed. And that was my real life entourage moment.

And Gary Owen was a big part of Think Like a Man 1. And then we talked a lot about Think Like a Man 2. So that was story time from Uncle Jerry. And now it's time for us to do our fresh moves of the week. Brought to you by Wendy's. Go to Wendy's, taste the difference in a hamburger. Matt, I think there's only one place we could really go with the fresh move of the week. We just mentioned the Lakers from years ago.

I was going to say, speaking of the Lakers, go from Kobe to LeBron. I think we all have to take a moment and acknowledge, of course, it's going to be peaks and valleys with Luca and Kobe and all this stuff. But that Mavericks game, which was two nights ago, which you were at, correct? You were there in the building. We're seeing some stuff from LeBron that's different, stuff that we didn't think he would do anymore defensively and offensively. It's just, it's incredible to watch. We talked about this and again, we talked about Luka trading how and why and all these things and are they gonna fit and all this.

It's, I mean, they're on a, and shout out to my boy, JJ Reddick, who's coaching his ass off. And so I was at the game with Cole and it was, it was incredible to watch because again, like you just said, regular season basketball and Lakers are with fourth seed right now or third or fourth seed right now they're right there and the thing that was

the craziest thing to me was I was watching this with Cole and who knows basketball as well as us. When Luca's on the court with LeBron and even in Austin Reeves or whoever, Luca dominates the ball and which he should and that's what LeBron has done. He's like you guys you and Austin dominate the ball on the court. You almost felt like LeBron wasn't even like I went three or four minutes thinking oh my god I forgot LeBron was on the court LeBron James is on the court I forgot LeBron was on the court and then fast forward to the fourth period where LeBron is on the court at one point with And fast forward to the fourth period where LeBron is on the court at one point with Gabe Vincent, Finney Smith, like Goodwin, who we just signed, maybe Jackson Hayes, like it

was none of the starters. And he went for what 14 or 16 in the fourth quarter. And it just reminded you of his magic. But then it reminded you of these guys are gonna be fucking dangerous when the playoffs come. Because you have Austin Reeves, we talked about the best third option in the NBA. Someone said that this week,

I don't know if it was Jalen Rose or someone on a pop. Austin Reeves is a star. Like he is a absolute star when he has the ball. This team, I'm telling you, man, this team is going to be, they're going to be, they're going to be dangerous. And it was fun to watch Lucas stare down the bench. Well, that's a picture that yeah, it was, uh, there was, there was good energy in crypto. It was fun to watch and Luca, and he had a triple double. I mean, he was, you know, quiet scoring,

but like 20, I think he had and 15 or something. Like it was just, he's a beat. It really is. I know this trade has been talked about ad nauseam. No, it's just like, it's, it's the perfect timing. I'm a big timing guy. Obviously if Luca and LeBron played together five years ago, it would have been awesome because LeBron was five years younger, but it really does just look like LeBron is at a perfect place in his life and career Where he knows how to help manage this situation? Perfectly and give what is needed at the right time and even like the defensive efforts that we're seeing which come on

He has not been putting in hard. I don't blame the guy I mean I play pickup at 41 years old and defense isn't even talked about. And the fact that one of those guys is going to be on the court at every point in every game is, is scary. I do think there'll be some lulls here and there and they'll see 40 year old LeBron stuff, but yeah, man, it's, it's scary and that is definitely the fresh move. Cause it's also happening way quicker than I thought. They're way quicker. What are they 13 and three in their last 16?

They're going to be very dangerous. The size is still a factor, the lack of size. But again, I would just argue the opposite. Who's going to defend them? You're going to have to score. And their defense is great. Their defense as currently right now. Now a lot of that's carry over from AD,

but their defense is good. They have like, Rui plays good defense. Finney Smith, Vanderbilt, they have a lot of guys they can throw at guys. And by the way, Jackson Hayes has been, he gets, he goes four for four every game with dunks or layup and eight rebounds. Like I like when they put Rui at the five too.

That's such a fun look if you don't have a huge team. And the last part of it is like the fact that Austin Reeves was not involved in the trade. That is really the part that will go because you'd almost say, hey, if it was a D and Austin Reeves and Max Christie and a number one, Max Christie's Max Christie's ball. I knew the minute that trade happened. I watched him at the garden that night

when they destroyed the Knicks. I'm like, he's I'm not saying he's a good player He should be in a Luca trade as like a centerpiece, but he is a very very good player goes great with Kyrie Kyrie was awesome, but yeah, they have fresh moves of the week brought to you by Wendy's. It's the Lakers I hate I know I know nobody wants to hear it but Lakers next finals So we already are we just manifesting man. I just on a, I was on Ian Begley's show about the Knicks. Listen, it is bad right now in Knicks. You're the three seed. You guys are, you guys are right there. Knicks fans are just, we're not saying people, right? Like it's-

Obviously I've watched, I've watched you watch a game in person. But I see, I'm not panicking at the 0 and 7 verse the calves and the thunder and the Celtics. Like I knew going into the season that the Celtics are going to be almost impossible to beat in the East, right? Take the West out for a second. The calves have been amazing this regular season. They have the best shot, but I'm also not panicking at 30 with 37 and 20 and we lost two games in a row. So, but no, if you ask Nick fans right now, fire Tibbs get rid of Leon Rose.

Cat's not the answer. Bridges needs to go to the bench. That's what's going on in Nick's Twitter right now. So anyway, I think we need a little laughter after some of that. And after that rant, let's bring in our guy, Gary Owen. Gary, thanks for coming on, man. We were just talking a little bit off the air, but before we dive fully in, you know, we met on Think Like A Man 1, okay?

Bring me back to like, how did that part come to you? Because at the time, obviously you're doing well as a comedian, but like that was really wasn't your first acting job, but you you came in you had a pretty big part in that movie. I met Will Packer on a boat cruise. And a boat crew. Where were you guys going? Well, it was Tom Joyner was a syndicated radio host And so he did this boat cruise. We hired comedians He basically buys the whole boat like a Royal Caribbean boat and all the money goes the HBC use Mm-hmm. And so they hire all these people comedians singers and then that's where I like start talking to will a lot and this was like 2009.

And, you know, we, we filmed the 2011 Think Like A Man and, um, and then it just, I had a meeting with a guy named Rodney Barnes and he was like, yo, Will Packer just brought you up the other day. I go, for what? He goes, some movie they're doing about some Steve Harvey book. So I called Will, I said, yo, what's this Brokeback Mountain Two movie I've been hearing about? And then Will was like, no, no, no. He goes, we got this movie and we got two white guys in it. And we need white guys that can hang out with black guys, but not try to be black. He goes, so they call they called you. They call me. I think

I was on board before Kevin, because he told me I'm flying to Dallas to go see Kevin in concert. He goes, and I'm trying to get in his ear about the movie. And so I think I was one of the first ones. You're the first one on? I know I committed. I mean, it wasn't like these big movies was knocking on my door like that. So I was like, I'm a comedian, I'm on the road. I get offered like small parts, like the waiter. And so like, for it to be a major role, I was like,

I told Will, I said, yeah, just, I told my agent, I said, look, just don't mess it up. I'm gonna do it, just don't mess it up. Jerry was telling me something about, so I just, I showed this picture and we're gonna post this, it's you guys. Well, that's part Well, that's part two. That's part two. So Jerry was explaining somehow, I think what and you might be a better at this, Jared, the girls in think like a man one all came out of a scene. They look great. And then in think like a man two, apparently you guys

all had to like do some male strip thing or something. Jerry, what was that about? I'll set the table for Gary if you recall Gary Oh, and now when we say all the girl it was it's Taraji Henson. It's Gabrielle Union Regina It's amazing cast right the girls shot this scene and think like a man to the whole Story of the movie is the guys are on a bachelor party the girls are on a bachelorette party They go off and have a drunken night and they basically shoot like a fake poison video from Belle Viv De Vaux But they're all dressed up having an amazing night. They all look great We see these this video and we're like, holy shit. That's amazing

That's gonna be great in the movie and then the producers started circling saying now you guys are gonna have to do something We're thinking a male Review at like a strip club and Gary. I don't know if you recall this, you've never seen six dudes instantly be like, we gotta get to the gym. Yeah. We gotta get to the gym. We had that, we were on lock like for about two weeks,

like I don't know why we thought our bodies was gonna miraculously get ripped in two weeks, but every night we would get off and we'd see all, well the five of us would be in the gym and then Kev was at another spot. Probably with the trainer. But remember it was like, Romany was doing these exercise I've never seen. Romany was only deadlifting, but like with weird, he's doing like a Rocky and Russia workout. Jerry's brought this up. It's like, I don't know if there's, we've said, is there more pressure of throwing a touchdown in like an NFL stadium or getting ready

for like either a sex scene or a shirtless scene in a movie, especially when you aren't ripped, like I'm not ripped. So was there pressure just to look good or you just say, fuck it, I don't care? Well, good for me. I was playing a dad, so I was the dad. You look good in that pic.

I have like an average looking dad bod. There wasn't too much pressure on me. One of my favorite parts of the movie, Matt, we're doing the scene in the jail cell after we do that male review. Gary's in a dominatrix outfit with like assless chaps on. We're all in this jail cell. A gag ball. And Gary was playing the only dad in the movie and my character was like,

we were thinking about having a baby. So he gives me like the advice. And then Gary goes over to the payphone for his character's one call. Next thing I know, I start hearing like, are there any dogs in the house? And like, I'm like, is he fucking doing Ray Lewis? And sure enough, tell it would give me that improv where you're calling your kids from a jail cell. Well, I was in the van about to head home. Right.

And I kept telling like, Tim and Will, I said, yo, I got, I got a pretty good Ray Lewis, man. I go, I think it would work good in this scene because there wasn't much to it. Me giving you advice on being a dad. Right. I said, man, I think this will work. And to Tim and Will's credit, I couldn't do it in a room with them two just looking at me.

So I was in the van headed home and they said, hey, Gary, come try this real quick before you take off. So I came back in and we were such a, all the guys like really, how can I word this? We went to bat for each other. Like you weren't like, nah, I gotta get back to the hotel. We've already been here at 12 hours. All the guys was like, if the season on work, everybody stayed, everybody reacted and seen enough working, but it literally just me telling Will and Tim, you know, I

got a pretty good Ray Lewis because I did it. Ray Lewis used to have a charity event in the summer called Ray Summer Days in Baltimore, and he hired me every year. So that's where I started imitating him was at his event in front of him. In front of him? Oh, God. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So he had one of the great walkouts, one of the great walkouts of all time. Oh, no question. Ray loved it.

So I go, OK, if I got Ray's stamp of approval on it. You know, and I'm not an oppression guy, is my standup. So I was like, let me try it. I just remember when I got done shooting it, I walked by Will and he just gave me a little fist pound, like boop, and I was like, I think it's gonna make it. Oh yeah.

Gar, do you, so I was telling Jerry this, when we found out you're coming on, you remember the USC days when you came out. Man, do I? So I wanna ask, I don't know if I've run when you came out. Man, do love me. So I don't wanna ask, I don't know if I've run into you since then. Reggie and I talk about you all the time

because I think you're tight with Reggie, right? You still talk to him or whatever. Yeah. That was 2000, gosh, two, three, four, kind of that era. We would go up to Wayne Hughes Estate who was a big USC donor, public storage,lings OJ's driver guy. He's seeing AC hi, okay. So yeah, so I Remember he hired you to do that for us. Yeah, he's one to contact to me. Oh, okay

I was gonna ask you just how that came about but I just remember Like that that was early in your career, right very early in your career Yeah, I've been doing about five years. Five, and I'll never forget. I think, and Kevin Hart was there. And it was- Kevin the second year. Yeah, the second year. And I remember the, I'll never forget this Jerry.

He's like, Gary was doing his thing. Everyone was like, you know, who's this white comedian? He was hilarious, all this kind of stuff. And then there's little old Kevin before Kevin became Kevin Hart. And I remember, I kind of remember like the whole team just roasting him. Like who's this short mother fucker?

Like they got him really good. And now I'm looking back like 30 years later, I'm like, God damn, that was Gary Owen and Kevin Hart. So how, I mean, you said Al, but how do you remember much of that time? Like that was so fun for us to be able to do that with you guys. Yeah, I got a call and they said,

hey, they're doing a private show for USC's football team. And then some middle-aging called and then I got on the phone with Al and he said, yeah, do you wanna do it? I said, yeah. I don't remember, I don't even remember the first year, Matt. Two comics went up before me and bombed. And I was like, yo, these are 18 to 22 year old dudes.

They don't want to hear about your kids on the honor roll or if you are married, they don't want to hear about your wife. Do you remember who it was? I know who it was, but I'm not gonna do that to them, right? So I said, well, I'm gonna, I'm not gonna do no jokes. I'm just gonna go in on people. Yeah, you did.

Picking people off and I remember Lee Webb walked up. He's like the back of running back Jerry. He got on stage. It was like touching me. We had a good back and forth. Then they had these little two Asian DBs. I went off on them. The team brothers, the team brothers. Then you had an Asian offensive coordinator. Norm Chow. Norm Chow. So I said, yeah, I remember this joke. Cause I go, I go, who's the Asian dude. And they was like, that's Norm Chow. It's our offensive coordinator. I go, now it makes sense. Cause I was like, he's probably telling Reggie run through the three and three quarter hole. There's like, there's no such thing. It's three on four. He goes, no, it's there, you must like it, Reggie.

I said, ain't no my tech, Reggie, he going through the three and three quarter hole. So then it went great. So afterwards, Al was like, yo, they had me, who was the donor, the house it was at? Wayne Hughes, he owns Public Storage. Yeah, so Wayne had me up to his house afterwards and we're talking. Yeah, it was sick.

And he was like, yo, we're having you back next year. So they called me the next year, they said, bring somebody. At that time, nobody knew who Kevin was, but me and Kevin was real cool. So I remember I asked to Kev, $2,000. You wanna do it? He was like, what? He's like, fucking hell. In LA?

I was like, yeah, I know. Right. Right. I go, it's so much money at USC, bro. Yeah. So Kev gets there and I tell him, I said, don't do no jokes, bro. They don't want to hear your jokes. I go, just start going in on them and then I'll come in after you. And he goes, all right, comics always think this. We'll always say, nah, nah, I'm gonna do my jokes. Yo, when I say it was crashing and burning on him. I remember. Like, they was like, and you had a lineman, I'll never forget, we got him. It was Fred Matua.

Is that who yelled out? He was the Samoan guy, he actually passed away. He, I remember it vividly, I'm almost positive. I remember Lee Webb got up there because he was, Lee was from like Compton, like he got up when you were messing with him. I think it was Fred Matu, because he was kind of our loud like energy

and he's pretty funny. I'm almost positive it was Fred that went in on Kevin and I was like, oh shit, like this is bad. It wasn't going well for him. Yeah, well he said, I'll never forget he said, yo, why does that sidekick look like a VCR on your hip? And Kev was like, oh, this is what we doing?

And that was Kev saving grace because then Kev started going in on people. Then he got him. And then I went out there and got him again. And it was just after that, and I got done, I go, Kev, I told you, no jokes. Dude, it was, you guys, it was so much fun. I'll never forget that.

It was like, it was a, we did a few, we go bowling and we do, we go to the AVP tour in Manhattan Beach every fall, but that kind of became, I don't know if you went back after that. I think I was gone the next year, but that was a fun couple of years for us. Like I'll never forget that. You guys were awesome.

Yeah, I went every year that Carol was there. Right, okay. So even when you guys left, even in the Mark Sanchez days, John David Booty. JDB. That was easy. I was like, can you get him an easier last name for it?

His nephew's name is General Booty, and he plays in college football. General Booty? General Booty, yeah. Oh, I hope he goes to the NFL. I would love to hear that announced on draft day. The Bengals select General Booty, even though they're never picking a quarter.

Did, were you, did, I think, did Kevin open for you on tour at that time? Or like, what was the next step for you after that? No, he went over for it. We were just like, we were both at a level, like we were just taking gigs. So it was like, you get a phone call, yeah, I got Kev and somebody else or something.

And then, you know, Kev always brings us up to, he goes, dude, you were one of the comics that always put money in my pocket when I wasn't making a lot. He always brings that up. So it's nice to know, like you appreciate your appreciated years later. But now we were just taking gigs like my career was like on a hamster on a on a wheel for about 10 years.

I was doing good. I was headlining comedy clubs, but I kind of knew how many tickets I was selling every week. And then the perfect storm came was the 2010-11 timeframe because I I got on this show called live from the Nokia with Mike Epps and this was when The comedy comedy shows are going on DVD and being sold in Best Buy and if you can get on one You would I mean I could take your career to another level and They got on that and I got think like a man and then I had my special come out shortly after. It was like five things in about 18 months

that really resonated with people. And so that was, then my career kind of went, took off and then Kev's really took off after Think Like A Man. Yeah, I feel like when we were shooting, so Think Like A Man came out, much to everyone's surprise, made a lot more money than anyone thought we did the sequel right away

And it kind of matched Kevin's Ascension who was already killing as a comic but guy you remember like we would shoot a scene Matt in Vegas on like a Friday night wrap up at like 8 o'clock at night And then we have to be back 6 a.m. Monday morning and Kevin went to like four cities that week He would leave Vegas and he was in Atlanta He was in Florida boot and he's back at 5 30 a.m In the trailer like skipping rope getting ready to shoot so I was watching this Crazy rise like they almost felt like there was two of them, but uh Yeah, he always came back and I still think every time I go to Vegas Gary

I don't go often these days But I still do I look at Caesars because that's where we shot mainly the planet Hollywood. And I just look, I'm like, man, it was July. It was Vegas in July. As we all know is kind of pure nightclub. You guys were, you guys were hitting up pure back in the day. I don't even know if we were hitting up nightclubs. I think we were at one point it became like, we have to just make it through this alive. Yeah. Ely said it best. I caught Michael Ily just walking around outside Caesar's, like one of those old Asian men, like hand behind his.

Just, I go, Mike, what are you doing? He goes, Gary, you gotta get outside. You're breathing out recycled air. You just gotta get some air. You don't realize what it's doing to you. I think, Jerry, you said it best when we did the, we did the table read for Think Like a Man 1. And then we was like,

yo, Kevin's got a lot of funny lines here. So when it came out, you said it, you said, yo, when we did that first table read, it was set up for Kev to hit a home run. We just didn't know how far he was gonna hit it. Right. And he hit it, and I think it's still going. Yeah, you know, I mean like yeah sometimes That's where I think it becomes like sports to Matt I really do think sometimes whether it's a film or a show like you get that

Feeling where you have the group that all gets along and has the talent and has the chemistry But you see like that one or two like all like this dude's gonna win Yeah, EP or this dude's gonna win MVP, or this dude, this is, oh, we got the rookie of the year. This is the guy, we have the rookie of the year. So, yeah, man, it's still, I still get mad at Kevin because he used to always wreck my trailer. Did he get you too?

He got me a couple times. Yeah, he has this thing, Matt, like, you know, y'all have your trailers. I would walk into my trailer and the whole entire thing would be wrecked. My backpack dumped out, couch cushions, well, I don't even know what he did in the bathroom was disgusting. Like just the whole thing is wrecked. So I got him back a couple years ago. We did a we did a movie called Back on the Strip that absolutely nobody saw. I don't think I support

it on Netflix. Gary, I'll watch it tonight. No, I don't think Netflix knows it's out. Roku, is that a Roku? Yeah, it's better than Tubi, but not quite Netflix ready, but Kevin like two days on set. And I said, is he coming? And they said, yeah.

So I went in his trailer and when he walked in, I was like in my drawers, in a tank top and I pumped up from his fridge. I go, Kev! You killed two? I was all in his snacks. The best part is the snacks. You said something on, I love your relationship with Shaq.

We just had a little run in with Shaq at the Super Bowl in New Orleans he like we think he fucked with me I'm pretty sure it's confirmed and we've messaged since then. Gary you're fucking overthinking this dude he loves you man. I the whole red carpet we were on Gary we were doing the show from there everyone would come down and be like Matt great to see you and look at me and be like oh fuck this guy I don't know why everyone was shitting on me that day I have no idea. Gary Shaq comes comes up. He was kidding. Michael Rubin shit. Michael Rubin didn't recognize Jerry Rubin just walked back 80 pounds from entourage. He's like you were that was you he's like you're skinny now Shaq Shaq comes up Oh, it's hilarious

I've been skinny for 15 years Shaq Shaq comes up and we're talking to him and he's looking at me the whole time. He goes, I don't like this guy. Pointing at me? No, like that's her. I don't like this fucking guy. He's looking at me pointing at Jerry. I don't like this fucking guy. Like three times and I'm like, and Shaq's a big kid, you know?

So I'm like, you know, whatever. Jerry's kind of looking at him like, looking like this. I'm going like, why? Why? And he goes, I love this guy. And he gave him this big fucking hug. But at the end, he goes, hey, Matt, anytime you want me on your pod, just hit me up.

He doesn't even acknowledge Jerry. And then goes and says, I got to take a shit, boys. I'm out. That's literally what our interview was. But Jerry, to this day, thinks that Shaq was big time. And I'm like, I think the guy loves you. I think there's like 10% chance that he maybe thinks I'm so. I've had great encounters with Shaq over the years here or there

But I'm wondering like did I also I talk a lot about sports that I ever say like Dwight Howard was better than Shaq No, I never would say that cuz I know you didn't say that nobody said that hell Well you and it I mean you had some good Dwight Howard stuff on Shaq's pod I listened to that whole pod But you said something really great on that podcast when Shaq was talking to you about like It must be hard being a comedian right now because everybody's trying to Kansas a year ago I think you did it everyone's always trying to cancel you for a joke and you said Basically, you were like those people who try to do that weren't gonna come see my show anyway

So it doesn't really matter all they try to do is just maybe get other people to not see it So I you know, it's been a year since you did that and you've spent a year on the road doing your thing How do you feel like comedy and being a comedian right now for me? I love it I feel like the comedians are the last line of defense Like if you guys go down and start getting canceled, I feel like we're all fucked, you know, like we can't say anything ever again How do you feel like it's been since a year since doing that Shaq pod? I'm I still for the same way. I think we were in the golden age for comedians I think you got more comedians right now selling tickets Doing theaters doing arenas

Comedy clubs are packed Because you you don't need the quote unquote machine anymore. It used to be when I started, you needed a producer or a director or somebody to see something in you to put you on something. Now as long as you got your phone, you can record anything you want and you can put any clip, stand up clip you want out there. You never know what's going to go viral. I mean, look at the guy now is Matt Reif. Yeah. He is Ohio boy, right? Huh? He's Ohio Columbus guy. Yeah. But he's a guy that like posts something on TikTok, goes to bed, wakes up the next morning. It's like 70 million

people saw this joke. And he's like, what just happened? You know, and also in the clubs are just selling out it's funny like as long as i've been doing this i remember i was in harford connecticut and kev was coming two weeks after me and he was already sold out and i go kev's selling tickets like that and same thing with matt rife i was in atlanta and he was coming to a comedy club this is like a year and a half two years ago and he was already sold out and i go matt's selling tickets like that? It's funny how you can see it coming

in the comedy clubs. But to answer your question, like it still holds true. Like if you see a clip of somebody of a two, three minute bit and you don't like it, just keep it moving. Why do people feel like they have to, I have to say this. Right, expose this. I'll give you an example.

Like my brother passed away of a heroin overdose the week after I'm watching Saturday night live and they're doing a sketch on heroin and I have more people hitting me up, like, aren't you mad? You're going to say some, I said, they're not, it's not like they said, Oh, Gerold's brother died. Let's do this sketch. I am by the way, it was accurate. Right. It was how they acted. You know, like my brother would have laughed if he would have saw it. So I think people think we're talking

directly to them if we say like somebody in a wheelchair or somebody's got a big nose or whatever it is, you know, they're like, oh, he's talking about my cousin. And that's not what we're doing. We don't know you. I feel like the Tom Brady roast was like, this, we're back. I don't know, I'm a fan of comedy. I watch guys like you and just other guys. And I felt like watching that roast, it had everything. Like, Nikki Glaser was great. Hitchcliff, he was just going in on it.

I thought that was, for me, it was like, damn, like we're back. And again, I think you've always been there, but as far as just like nothing's censored, we're gonna fucking say what we want, it's on Netflix Live. Like it was, I thought that event was incredible. I think it's,

the cancel culture is starting to get like canceled now. Yeah. The canceling, the cancel culture. Yeah, like like canceled now. The cancel culture. Yeah, like people are sick of it. We've jumped the shark. We've jumped the shark. I mean, you see it, you see like a guy named, you see Andrew Schultz or you see Jane Gillis and the way they're pushing the envelope

and Tony Hedgecliffe and all that, it's like, you can see like, oh, this is what we want. We wanna go into these rooms and be uncomfortable. We want this dark humor and no one like, you know, nobody's taking it personal. You know, there's no malicious intent behind it. I should say. I w of course, I watched the Brady roast. I enjoyed the Brady roast. I did flinch, not because I thought any joke was like inappropriate, like, well, you cross a lot. I, and maybe it's cause I have kids now and we're gonna talk about all our kids in the minute

here I got some I got some questions I got some things to get off my chest but I was just watching some of it being like oh man his kids are gonna hear about that one at school that's where my mind went to like I would have found that at like 15 years old I would have went to school and then like now we're gonna roast Brady's kid you know so I was just thinking about his kids walking in the next day after that roast. Not that I thought anything was funny though, dude. I was very funny. It was very, it was too funny.

I'll give you, I'll give you an answer that Jerry. So when we had, when I had my reality show on BET, right? These couple girls was like talking a little stuff to my daughter and she was like she came home and she goes you know I you know I just how they were talking to me and everything else I said hold on you're on tv every week they're at Panera getting a croissant I said you don't get judged you judge them right now hell yeah you on tv I said they're up Panera I said no they don't get to judge you judge them. That's right man. You on tv. I said they're a Panera. I said no they don't get to judge you and she kind of looked at me like all right I think I got it. You know that's what I'd be doing if I was Brady's kids. Who are you? My dad's Tom Brady bro. Exactly.

When did your relationship because you guys go back with Shaq, you guys go back almost since you started, right? Pretty much like early, very early in your career. He introduced me to my first wife. I did not know that he did. She worked for him at Twism. Shaq used to have a record label in clothing line called Twism. Yes, I remember.

I remember. She worked at Twism and he he brought a he brought his staff to a comedy club and I was open micing at the time. This is like 98 and he brought him out to the comedy store one night and that's where I literally met Shaq and her in the same night. And then that's crazy. I started going to like the Twism warehouse in Compton and he'd be there sometimes I'd be ganking all these shirts and shorts I was so mad when he left the Lakers because they wouldn't have my wardrobe because he's got Twism down. You have to go to Miami. There was just I think just

yesterday there was a clip of a female comedian I don't know if you saw it I don't know her name just absolutely ripping an audience member. I think he was heckling her. I saw that, I saw that. Oh, it was like something like, like some of the vibes. It was something like that. He was heckling her,

saying probably normal shit that you would hear, and then she just lost it, and she started like, she like lost it. Like she, like the comedy went away. It wasn't comedic. Yeah. Has that ever happened to you where and she started like, she like lost it. Like she, like the comedy went away. It wasn't comedic. Yeah. Has that ever happened to you where you're just like, I wanna beat the fuck out of that guy

when I leave this place? There's been a couple. If you go on YouTube, there's one, it's a funny backstory that it's, if you look up like Gary Olin Dusty, there was a guy named Dusty in the audience. And I was at the, I'll never forget, I was at the Dayton Funny Bone and I went there to get ready for my late, late show with Craig

Ferguson set. So I'm supposed to do five minutes clean and I said, I'm just going to run up here and work on this. And this guy was heckling all the open micers. It was open mic night and they just couldn't get through their set. Right. He was literally being a jerk. And I said, I told the man, I said,

put me up and don't kick him out. And so he put me up and I went off on him for about 20 minutes and I only got about 10, 15 on YouTube. But here's the best. And you guys appreciate this, Matt, being an athlete. This is all you gotta know about Dusty. He gets up, He's got his state championship high school ring. I never forget Valley View High School. And he points it right

at me and goes, stay baby. That's all I got to say. And he walked away. And I was like, were you dying laughing? I was just doing that on camera because he's this close to my face. And I'm just looking at this Valley View 1995 State Championship ring. Keep in mind this is 15 years later Is that division three? That's division three, right? Valley View was worse than that That was like crossroads I can only imagine

Oh, I gotta watch that I always say too like I don't know if you ever been asked by a young comic Or the whole like advice question like hey, what's a good? I get asked it with acting and acting is like the worst way to give advice there because there's no route I always just tell people Look, whatever you gotta take classes do student films Whatever just go do it and see if you love it. Because the whole thing is designed to make you quit. And I feel like stand up is the same way. It is designed to make you do it and be like, holy fuck, the

same for me, I'm out and quit. So the best advice is just go do it and find, because if you don't love it, you will quit. And I feel like sports are similar, at least at some point. You know, I'm sure Matt, when some athletes turn pro and get on in their career, whether it's finances or whatever it becomes about, similar, at least at some point. You know, I'm sure, Matt, when some athletes turn pro and get on in their career, whether it's finances or whatever it becomes about, but at some point, you had to love it or else you would have probably stopped. And I feel like standup is one of the biggest reasons.

Like, just go, if you could survive those open mics with five people and more comics in the back and Valley View state champs tackling you, you're gonna be okay if you could get, and you still wanna do it the tackling you, you're going to be okay. If you could get, and you still want to do it the next day, you're going to be all right. It's the, it's the, it's the strongest drug I've ever taken. The rush must be insane, right? I've heard people that done numerous drugs and been in rehab and they're like, it's just the rush and everything goes away. And stand-ups very similar, no matter what you got going on

in your life, it's like the best form of therapy. It's where no matter what's happening, whether the IRS, your ex-wife, like anything's going on in your life, you're like, oh, I didn't see that coming. You get on stage and it all goes away. And then we get to talk about it. Like that's the beauty of it.

We get to actually talk about our problems and people are like, oh, I'm not the only one. There were, when we do our show, I remember when I was getting into Fox and doing TV early on, I ran into Strahan and he was, and I asked him, I kind of said the same thing. I said, Mike, like, you know, you're every, I feel like every ex athlete aspires to be someone like Mike.

He's a crossover entertainment sports, he's a pro. And he goes, Matt, he goes, I've been doing this for whatever, 15 years. And he's like, when that red light comes on, I still get butterflies every single Sunday, or every single, when he's doing the morning show, whatever it is. Every day.

Every day, he's like, when that red light, he's like the adrenaline, cause there's nothing like live, like doing live, like standup is live, like my show is live TV because there's nothing like live, like doing like standup is live, like my show is live TV. There's nothing like that. I'll never forget that. I was in the hallway and I'm like,

God, Mike Strahan still, because I was so nervous. I was trying to like be scripted and what I was saying, like, okay, this, this is how I want it, instead of just reacting, right? And all that. And I'll never forget that.

That was the best advice. He's like, no matter what, you still feel that and that means you love it, right means you're passionate about it that means you care and still to this day i still get like the minute let's go five four and then we're on live and there's you know however i mean sometimes there's like a hundred thousand people sometimes there's a million people watching us but um there's nothing better than that rush that you get before that starts yeah i agree all right gary, we made you wait long enough. We do talk sports on this show. I think of you every single Sunday. I have several fans.

Yeah, he's holding on. If you're just audio only, he's like five times this podcast. He's wearing a really dope Joe Burrow, Joe Burrow shirt. So, you know, I have like a Lions fan in my life, my boy Justin, I check in the score, I always text, but you with the, to me, you are not only like the biggest Bengals fan I know, you're probably in the culture of Bengals fans, you're up there, you have to be up there. Last year must have been one of the most frustrating years in the world for you, because you have this amazing generational quarterback having an offensive year that rivals almost anyone's you got and then it just

didn't click and the run came way too late. So where did you leave off with this team? And let's talk about the future after that where they may be going. Yeah, it was the funnest disappointing season I've ever been across. I'd rather have it. I put like this, I'd rather have it, I put it like this, I'd rather have a team losing a lot of close games with a great offense than a great defense. Cause you know, if you're losing a lot of close games

and the whole season's 13 to 10. Yeah, yeah, I used to have that. Cause you always felt like we were in it. Yeah. As long as you got Joe Burrow and Jamar you felt like I don't care We're down 21 and but it went the other way we can be up 21 to be like this ain't over And there were so many and you know I watch every game and then I rewatch it just for punish

Oh, there were so many games like the people on the like, and you guys do, but like we're up 21 to seven against Baltimore and our chase Brown fumbled. We got the ball. I remember that one. That was the one I go, Oh, we're about to put them away. They couldn't stop us. We're about to go up 28 seven and he found with the ball and I went, Oh, the other, the first Baltimore game.

If you beat new England, what was the game? When you week one, you lost in new England. what was the game? Week one, you lost to New England. That was the game. I don't know what that was about. Yeah, I know. That was like, banging an ugly chick, like we've all done it, but we're not really talking about it.

Like what was that? Like there's, you can't tell me Matt and Jared, there's been a time in your life where your boy's like, what were you doing last night, bro? He's hoping it doesn't cost you, he's hoping it doesn't cost you the playoffs, basically. The two AM straggler. Who's a bigger fan?

You or Lachey? Nick Lachey is a big Bengals fan. He's big but I don't think he's as passionate as me. I don't think he is either. I don't think he is either. No, I'm 8-8 up. I heard he got upset with me on one of those USC roasts because the year you guys played Texas,

that's when the NCAA said, I couldn't do a live show for you guys. I couldn't pay. And I guess Pete Carroll set it up, or I did a video and you guys thought you were watching film and I started bagging on you guys. You're probably bagging on me being friends with Nick at the time too.

I did, I had like, I said Nick, I was like, I had him holding you in a rocking chair. I go, how you got to somebody your own age bro? By the way, me and Nick met at a bar called Guys in Santa Monica, go figure. Dudes. 2005, Guys in Santa Monica. I think one of his. Do you? Two thousand and five guys in Santa Monica. I think one of his bandmates told me, I think Justin Jeffries said they were showing it and Nick was laughing. And then when it got to the part with you and him, Nick went like he would never say

it because his face was like, yo, you guys have to be friends, man. You're the preeminent. Like you're exactly who I think of every time I watch the Bengals play. No, I guess I came out, he was not happy with that joke. Right. It wasn't like he's not happy with me, but yeah. He's the only Bengals fan I know, I mean, outside of you, Gary.

He's the only Bengals fan who's like diehard Reds, Bengals. He's all in every week. I'm so diehard Cincinnati, like I don't know if you remember like 10 years ago, Xavier and UC Bearcats got in a fight. Yeah, oh yeah, you raised your strap up. I literally was like this, I go, oh, he stowed on him. Then I was like, but you see where he took the punch though? I was on both sides. I'm eight up for Cincinnati.

So we got a couple of George Clooney. Bengals fan? Oh, he's from Cincy. Yeah. Cincy's a great, we got a couple of George Clooney. Bangles fan. Oh, he's from Cincy. Yeah. Since he's a great, since he's a great, we did a Cincinnati Bearcats football game two years ago. It was my first time. I mean, I played there,

but it was my first time actually like kind of hanging out in the city. It was awesome. I was, I was surprised. I thought it was, it was cool town. Cool sports town. It's a fun city, man. Yeah.

People always do that when they go. I took Reggie out and I took, not gonna say the other guy's name, he's in a little hot water right now. He used to be for the Ravens and the Panthers. I took those two guys out one night in Cincinnati and we had a ball. Yeah, he's not doing too well right now.

Yeah, he's not doing too well right now. I don't want to tag on anything. No, no, definitely not. Can we talk? We got to talk. We got to talk. We got to talk about fatherhood because I have a question. I just had my fourth, a three week old. Jerry's, Jerry, listen, Jerry's on the verge to having a three.

He can ask you that. I'm in the crosshairs, Gary. It's happening, it's happening. Is she pregnant? No, but every morning. Oh, he's getting pressure. I get like coffee made and it's like, just imagine if we had a little baby.

I'm like, but we got two, we got two of them. No, he's like. I thought you were going in the other direction, Jerry. I thought you were saying she's bent over the island and the kids in there. By the way- You don't cream in your car, that won't cream in me, Jerry.

If I said that, she'd be like, down, let's go. As long as the bay is, yes. If it's the right time of the month, yes. Gary, you and I are in the same boat because we have older kids. I have an 18 year old. I think yours a little older, your older ones. And then you have little twins, I think, right? I can't believe you have, and I have, I have 18 and

I have five, three, and then three week old. My question is, are we getting a vasectomy? Do you have a second? Cause I'm, I got mine. Yeah. Matt's Matt. Can you consider, I'm literally like, I'm asking everybody. I'm trying not to get it. I tried to like, tried to get her tubes tied during the whatever didn't happen. Is it the best? Were you knocked out or were you just full, like full- No, I went under.

I went under, just great 20 minute nap. And I woke, here's the thing you don't say about mastectomies though. Two things, woke up, I didn't know they shaved your balls and I looked down and I must have had a black barber because he lined my shit up. It was like it was like a mid fade on the balls. It's like dang look how he blended it. It's a great cut. I have not seen. see. But my one paper. You're tapering mine up. So they don't tell you that.

I look down, I go, oh, and then you think you get a vasectomy and it's ready. No, you got to get like 30 or 40 ejaculations because. Oh, yeah. You got to get all the extra out. You got to clean the pipes. You got to clean the pipes and you got to get all the extra out. You got to clean the pipes. You got to clean the pipes and you got to send a sample. That's the worst because you got to send a sample and just say, hey, you're clear.

See the work. You know what I mean? Your pipes are clean. When you send a sample, it's dry. So you're drinking off. No saliva, no lotion. You're not drinking off in the hospital? You're just taking it in a cup?

Like from home? No, mine, they mailed it to me and I got to mail it back and I had to write a note like, sorry if the box is sticky. But at the same time, it's the driest hand jobs you will ever have. You're like, that shit hurt worse than the vasectomy. And then wait, you got to wait on results to basically say, hey, this worked really well. You're good, green light. You get the full, it's like basically given a shit, like, you know, like it's basically given Shay Gildesal, hey, green light, bro, go get 40.

Shoot as much as you want. You're good. I'm just visioning like feet and stirrups, just full open and just, my boy, one of my best friends from high school, he lives in South Carolina and he had a couple, like he had like three nurses in there. And he goes, dude, yeah, he was up.

I said, why were you up? I said, I'm getting knocked out. He was up and he goes, dude, he's like, I felt like these nurses have probably seen some big fucking dicks in their life And I'm out here just spreading over my balls and my nervousness He was he was like dude. It was the most uncomfortable 20 minutes of my life I said why did you get knocked out so I have this vision of just being in this room cuz I'm gonna have to get it

Done. I'm trying to delay the process, but I said I'm just getting knocked out My wife's like why it's so easy. I'm like, you don't understand I'm not trying to just have my my dick of my balls hanging out in front of you think my wife would divorce I mean, I know the answer to this but how fucked up would it be if I was like, oh, I'm oh I got this movie Brea, I'll be back in like six weeks shoots in New Orleans I leave and I got a vasectomy without telling her. It came home and been like, let's try for the third baby. It just doesn't happen. That would be the most fucked up thing ever.

I can't say I would never do that, but I thought about it for a minute. I thought I'd see what I would. I would tell a lot of these athletes, these young boys, 20, 21. I would like freeze your shit. I think they do. You got boys and girls waiting and then get the vasectomy so you can just do what you do and you're not having all these problems later on. I've never said this to anyone like publicly. I have heard, I'm not going to confirm this,

but I have heard that that does go on. Go freeze some stuff, get the vasectomy and go live. And then you can also reverse it back too as well. I don't know how effective that is, but I'm going to say that that does go on from what I've heard. Can you imagine like if you're a dude and you get the vasectomy and, and you know, you're, you're, you know, you're, you're a star athlete. You're with the Knicks or the Cowboys or something. Leave my Knicks out of this, bro. And then you uh and then a girl tries to call you I'm pregnant I mean you can just be like, oh you lying! You can snap. Unless you broke into the vault and thawed my stuff out. Yeah like you could really snap on a girl like I'm gonna release this go ahead. So it sounds like you had

a good experience though. Yeah. All right, man. Yeah. So basically you walked away saying, dude, I got a fresh fade on my nuts, man. That was pretty awesome. Fresh fade.

All right. Everything. And my doctor was a brother and it was funny because I'm glad he made jokes. Cause you got to do the initial consultation. So what is that? What are they? Yeah, what do they do with that?

Is it just like the normal? They check your balls to make sure the veins are in the right area and stuff? So we're having a calendar conversation. I look on the wall and he's got like a University of Cincinnati degree. So that that got me talking. Yeah. And in the middle of us talking, he goes, now I'm from Texas, but I did my medical residency at UC. He goes, yeah, drop your pants. It was so slow. It, I was like this. I mean, I just, it was so slow. It was like a stripper the first day of the fall. I was like, and then he like, literally, he checks my ball.

He doesn't say anything while he's checking my shit. He's, he's, and then I went and put my pants on, he goes, yeah, he goes, I find it easier just to make a joke and just get it done. He goes, and then he told me, he goes, dude, I see balls every day. Every day I'm looking at balls, man. It means nothing to me.

It means nothing to me. This is literally 10 to 10 30 for me. And I see balls every day. Every day I'm looking at balls, man. It means nothing to me. It means nothing to me. It's like nothing. This is literally 10 to 10 30 for me. And I'm going to lunch. We're looking at it like your whole day. Is he gonna be talking about it? Like Matt's thinking and his boy. Oh, dude.

They're just like, bro, same with them nurses. You know how many balls they've seen? Yeah, but you know they're going home, having a glass of wine and just talking about the nuts they saw that day for sure. Matt, would it be bad if you went for your consultation and you have two or three nurses in there and you're doing your thing or you're just showing, whatever, and then it's wrapped up, you're getting dressed on the way out, one of the nurses has been like, I'm a huge USC fan.

All Matt's going to hear is huge. You're not anonymous. I'm a grower, guys. I'm a grower So like you walk out it's like your high Matt. I just want to say mr. Like your Heisman year was fucking awesome Gosh, what's uh, what's now you on the road like currently? What's your schedule like these days? Are you yum? I'm touring every week basically are you are you out in the West Coast in L.A.? I'd love to come see you. I let me see. Last time I did I did Irvine. Dude, I did Irvine right in the middle of the fires.

Oh, I think about saves fires hit. And it was crazy because I I flew into John Wayne. And it was business as usual down there. Yeah. And people were like, I can't believe you're performing. I go, no, it's this is Orange County, not LA County. Right. So that was that was in January. I mean, that was still kind of wild because my hotel was overrun with people that were

from staying there. You know, that was that was the last time. I'm trying to think next time. I don't know. I'll let you guys know. I'll let you I'll text you, Jerry and stuff like that. Well, sure, man. Where are you at, Jerry?

What part are you in Northern Ohio? I'm in Cleveland, where my wife is from. So I do have the Ohio. By the way, the Bengals Browns, like obviously AFC North rivalry, but I feel like all the hatred in the division is still so much more for the Steelers and Raven. Like even the Bengals play the Brown and you would know better than me, of course, like I witnessed like the in-laws and my friends out here in Cleveland are like, we really want to beat the Bengals,

but it feels different when it's the Ravens and the Steelers. Is that like the same for the Bengals? Like when they play the Browns, it's like, yes, we want to win division game, but when it's the Steelers and the Ravens, it just hits a little different. Is that accurate? Steelers way more than anybody else.

Cause you gotta realize realize they knocked us out of the playoffs twice and hurt our quarterback twice. And hurt your quarterback. People forget. They hurt Carson Palmer in the playoffs, but they hurt Andy Dalton four weeks before the season ended. And we were rolling. We were rolling that.

That 2015 team was rolling. Good defense. Yeah, I remember that team. I mean, AJ Green was in his prime. Yeah. We were rolling that year. And then Andy Dalton, freak interception and tackles the guy and breaks his thumb. I was like, where does that happen?

Who was the backup quarterback? Was that McCarran? AJ McCarran. Yeah. He did good. He did good for us. Yeah. But yeah, so Steelers, they hit home

and Ben was like 30 and three against us. He killed you guys. Like we were literally like his stepchild. So it was so frustrating. It was so frustrating. So your mandate though for the Bengals is sign Hendrickson, get Jamal and you want T. Your T Higgins video. Look guys, if you haven't seen Gary's T Higgins video. It was great. Where he basically was throwing him under the bus so no team would sign up. Go check it out on his Insta and on his Twitter account. So you just wanna bring everybody back and then what?

You got the 17th pick, go defense with the pick? I don't know. At that point you go, we need a guard. Best available guard, yeah. Guard, D line man. Yeah, I hope they re-sign Gasecki too, low key. I know. Gasecki's nice.

A lot of good tight ends in the draft, though, too. A lot of good tight ends. I just, like, I don't know. We need Burrow in the playoffs. We just do. Not just Burrow, the whole team. But I just think the more quarterbacks, like, he's just, I just want him to be healthy.

Not even because I'm a Bengals fan. You just want to see it. And he was kind of healthy this year. I feel like he's still kind of banged up though. Every quarterback's probably banged up by week eight. But, uh, I mean, you got to realize this rookie year, that was kind of freak. I mean, the Lyman. Did you go to the Superbowl that year though?

The super way did you go on row one, baby? So if they go again, is that auto like, Hey, just take this money out of my account right now. Well, I, I made money because what I did was as soon as they beat Kansas City, you know, Gab and Dwayne have the suite at SoFi. Yes. So I FaceTime them immediately. It was like, yo, and so Dwayne was so cool. He was like, yo, I guess the NFL buys the sweets, but they sell you tickets, eight tickets at cost.

But you got really super bowl at cost is thousands on top of thousands. So he goes, how many you want to go all eight before knowing how much it was? I go, oh shit. So we made that same mistake dealing with a pro athlete. Yeah. So he said, I need the money like Monday tomorrow. I said, it'll be there in the morning. So I wired the money.

They sent me the eight tickets. So I used four, but the four that I sold, I made my money back and then some. Nice. I got, I got a free trip to Superbowl. That's Cincinnati hustle right there. That's that Cincinnati hustle. You just did right there. I like that. Yeah. So I got row one and to Superbowl with white everything. That's that Cincinnati hustle right there. That's that Cincinnati hustle you just did right there. I like that. Yeah, so I got row one and here's the bad part.

It was like on the, between the five yard line and the goal line right where Cooper Cup caught the wind touchdown. It was coming right at me. That little out pattern. I went, you gotta be shitting me right now. That's still one of the weirder games because I feel like everything the Rams tried to do was stopped. And at some point, I felt like if I remember, Sersi McVeigh was just like, just fucking throw the ball

to Cooper Cup every single fucking time. And they did, and it couldn't be stopped. And that was like the difference. That game was like right there. And they just force fed Cooper Cup, and it just worked. That was a good Super Bowl, though. It was. It was.

The result for you, but in terms of entertainment. Well buddy. We had three good Super Bowls and we lost. Listen man, we love you. Way to close. Your kids are absolutely adorable. We're gonna close it out. We should have closed it on the sect of me talk.

The sect of me talk. Okay, we'll cut all the bangles off if you want. That was fucking great. But thank you. You're the man, Gar. We'll see you soon. All right, appreciate you guys. Thanks, Gary. I'll see you soon. All right. Appreciate you guys. Thanks, Gary.

All right. Shout outs to Gary Owen again with the, with the tapered fade on his nutsack. Gotta love you. I haven't left that hard so long. You will see that clip on social media and speaking to social media. Don't forget to hit us up at throwback show on all social media and we are officially starting the mailbag portion of the show. Okay we got the account set up it's feedback at throwback show.com so we have one good email we're gonna read from there it's a nice question so send us your questions, feedback, thoughts, we like we say we do read them and we will read them on this show. And maybe I'm a little biased for this one because this, this mailbag question we got is about the Yankees and it's a guy named James from Brooklyn. I have a son named James and I'm from Brooklyn. It was not him though. He's only

three and a half years old, but James from Brooklyn emailed us and said, sup guys, love the show. Last week, the Yankees changed their policy banning players from growing beards saying that they'll now allow well-groomed beards. I mean, it's funny how we transitioned from Gary's thing to this. Jerry is a Yankee fan, are you cool with the change? And Matt, as a former athlete,

would a policy like a ban on beards ever get in the way or you playing for a particular team? Is there ever a band that would prevent you from playing for a team? My first take on this guy. Go ahead. Yeah. So dumb.

I never understood the Yankees clean shaven thing. I got the chance to hang out with Johnny Damon in September. Lord was it a travesty that Johnny Damon couldn't grow a beard as a Yankee. The dudes got flowing locks. Did you ever ask him about it? No. I mean, I don't think he cared because they paid him well and he had a good time. But like any look, Johnny Damon's a handsome dude without a beard and a cut, but he was in the Bahamas, Matt hair down like way past his shoulder. Great beard. It just would have

been awesome to see that. We were robbed of Johnny Damon with a beard and long hair. My high school football team, modern day, we had to shave our head for, it was, you know, Catholic school. You all had to look, you had to have a buzz. A crew cut kind of thing. No, a buzz. Yeah, it could be a six. It could be a two. I used to get a two. I used to have a full two around. But it was just to start training camp and then you could grow it out the rest of the season. But you had to have a buzz walking into the first day of hell week back in

the day. These, this is so stupid. I'm glad it's so dumb. It's about grown men telling a grown man what he can and cannot do. And like, I've always said, like, I've always looked at this from a locker room perspective and football is a lot different because there's a lot more guys. But it's like a lot of these guys are different. They have, whether maybe they have tattoos, maybe they don't, maybe they have dreads, maybe they have a buzz head, maybe they like,

like there's just so many different shapes, sizes, forms, like ways of like art, you know, like all of that kind of stuff, whether it's a hair. It's just like, so let someone be who they want to be and go play the game. And like, it's just very simple to me. I, I got to be honest with you. I didn't even know that was a policy up until it became a headline. Well, you think really think about it. And that's why Johnny Damon's like the perfect example. If you go look at Johnny Damon on the Red Sox, he looks like a mountain man,

right? And then he comes to the Yankees. He's clean go Jeter posted the funny meme pic of himself AI I guess or Photoshop with the beard that we never got to see I can't even make the case for it I guess I know Steinbrenner said it back in the 70s and it was a thing and I guess if you're trying to This is how we run things here. You come play for you. It became like part of the mistake No one gives a shit. 2025 guys. Those 04 red socks who were bearded scruffy cowboy up sort of thing. Like they certainly killed that vibe of the Yankees in their clean cut. So hopefully now I don't think any player

though if the Yankees Matt we're were offering you, hey, why don't you come, we'll give you eight years, seven years, 175 to come play left field for us. But you got a shape. I'm pretty sure you would have taken the razor out. The only thing athletes care about is money. And a lot of, a lot of it depends on what state you're going to play in. If you're going to Florida, hey, I'm going to go to Florida because it's nice weather. But hey, by the way, there's no state tax. No state tax. Or I'm going to go play in Texas. Because by the way, that is a real thing that athletes,

at least I know in football for sure, think about when they have options for a destination. So yeah, I don't think any Yankees ever lost out on a free agent because of the shaving thing, but it is stupid. And also I'm a big fan of growing like a playoff beard or stuff like whatever, like grow a beard, change it up. So I'm glad that's over James from Brooklyn.

And yeah, I don't think there's ever a band, Matt, that would have made you not want to play for a certain organization. So first mailbag on again, feedback at throwback show. Send us, send us, send us comments, thoughts, questions, relationship advice, uh, whether you should get a vasectomy or not, you know, whatever. Real quick, some comments that stuck out to me. Benny on Twitter. Oh, good liner connect

to about time. Something good happened for the guy No, it's a lot of sarcasm, but I think he's basically saying oh you're good at acting too, of course like great You're good. That's something. Oh, no, I look at I think I think he's talking shit No, I think he's like about time something good happened for that guy meaning like oh Shocking Matt's like good at acting till gray. Oh, yeah poor guy Finally found something he's good at. I don't think he was talking shit. Uh, Mike G on Twitter. That was great. Is it really like that? Can it absolutely be brutal for new actors to have to read? Uh, yes, Mike. But the, the thing now is auditions in person don't really happen anymore. That's a thing. COVID kind of, yeah. COVID kind of ended that. And then the Entourage episode went over well. A lot of people liked the pitches of future episodes

or what these guys are doing now. Adam McGee, I think this is on YouTube, said he would love to see it rebooted. Doug Allen could bring these guys back tomorrow. Vince off the grid, drama star, turtle rich, whatever. Now, Matt, I will say, even since we dropped this episode, there's been a lot of chatter, the reboot stuff, and even something.

They even start putting something down on some pages, some writing. When you guys are together, it's magic, man. It's magic. What the fuck? What are we fucking waiting on? I think we asked Connelly, and Connelly was like, there's a lot, a lot, a lot needs,

I know a lot of things need to happen, whether it's money, whatever. Money, someone's gotta write a check to make the show, more than anything. Okay, but fuck, man, let's do it. I will say too, I went on to kind of cross promote, to kind of cross promote, I went on Victory the Podcast with Dylan and Connolly and Doug,

and we did discover something that is strange. And I even think, I think Jim Miller, who wrote the ESPN book and the HBO book and the CAA and the Saturday Night Live book, one of my favorite writers, and he knows everything about HBO because he covers them. I think he was on Bill Simmons. And he mentioned, you know, HBO does this weird thing now with Max, like you can't find Entourage really on Max.

Like, when you scroll the Max page for HBO, and you'll see, like, all their new stuff, movies or whatever, and then you'll see, like, their whatever classics, and it's like, Sopranos, Sex and the City. Then they have some shows that were, I get, kind of classics. Entourage is nowhere to be found on there. Like you have to go into the search bar and specifically write entourage to find it.

And some say because they're still like, oh, it's a guys show, toxic masculinity, all this shit. Oh dude, that shit's back. It's back. My view, and that's what we discussed on Victory, and if you haven't listened to it, go over there and listen to that. That is is my view is that everything goes in a cycle? Mm-hmm. I'll we'll end with this and I asked the audience this too

Hit us on the throwbacks Twitter whatever which your answers here and Matt I'd ask you is there a show Currently on the air right now That is a like we were dubbed a bro-mance, like a bro-comedy. Is there anything on the air right now, either that you're watching or even know about, that would give you those kind of vibes? Give me entourage vibes? Yeah, but not even like the Hollywood show,

just like, yeah, it could be like, even like the always sunny in Philadelphia guys have it, but that show's been on for 30 years. It's like that show's never been off the air ever. So you can point to that, but that's older than us. Yeah, I can't think of any. Cause there isn't one. I know.

So. Well, it's time. Who knows? You said things come back in cycles. It's fucking time. Let's bring it back. They do. They do. All right. So Mailbag is officially open.

Again, shout outs, Gary Owen. Go check him out on all socials. And we'll be back next week everyone