WTF with Marc Maron Podcast - Episode 581 - Mick Foley

Episode Date: March 1, 2015

A legendary wrestler, a best-selling author, an advocate for abuse victims, a father of four and a part-time Santa Claus, Mick Foley has led a distinctive life. He even has a past history with Marc, who sits down with Mick in the garage to catch up and to find out more about the person behind the battle scars. Sign up here for WTF+ to get the full show archives and weekly bonus material! https://plus.acast.com/s/wtf-with-marc-maron-podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's winter, and you can get anything you need delivered with Uber Eats. Well, almost almost anything. So no, you can't get snowballs on Uber Eats. But meatballs, mozzarella balls, and arancini balls? Yes, we deliver those. Moose? No. But moose head? Yes. Because that's alcohol, and we deliver that too.

Along with your favorite restaurant food, groceries, and other everyday essentials. Order Uber Eats now. For alcohol, you must be legal drinking age. Please enjoy responsibly. Product availability varies by region. See app for details. It's a night for the whole family. Be a part of Kids Night when the Toronto Rock take on the Colorado Mammoth

at a special 5 p.m. start time on Saturday, March 9th at First Ontario Centre in Hamilton. The first 5,000 fans in attendance will get a Dan Dawson bobblehead courtesy of Backley Construction. Punch your ticket to Kids Night on Saturday, March 9th at 5pm in Rock City at TorontoRock.com

Lock the gate! Alright, let's do this. How are you, what the fuckers? What the fuck buddies? What the fucking ears? What the fucksters? What the fuckleberry thins? What the fuck nicks?

I am Mark Maron. This is WTF. This is my show. Welcome to my show. Today on the show, the amazing Mick Foley. You might know him as mankind. You might know him as Cactus Jack. You might know him as Mankind. You might know him as Cactus Jack. You might know him as Dude Love. You might know him as the hardcore legend,

Mrs. Foley's baby boy, Mick Foley. Professional wrestler, Mick Foley. But now you might know him as Santa. That's right. Mick Foley is now known as Santa. We'll talk about that and other things. The amazing Mick Foley, good-hearted dude. A lot of life. Written books, been places, done things. Got a big heart and a busted-up body from that pro-wrestling business. And as many of you know, I'm not a wrestling fan per se i did not grow up enjoying

the wrestling i remember seeing the magazines i've mentioned those magazines before the pro wrestling magazines just blood spattered chubby dudes with bleach blonde hair and unitards different uh positions of pain. I remember those magazines, but I did not watch the wrestling very much. I did not lock in. Though I do have a relationship with some wrestlers who I enjoy as people, Mick Foley being one of them, Colt Cabana, who does a wonderful podcast with wrestlers and CM Punk, who recently left the Worldwide Wrestling Foundation, Federation, whatever it is,

to much fanfare and aggravation. CM Punk left and is now heading towards the UFC. CM Punk just was acting in an episode of Marin last week. We did some work in the ring. So even though I may not be a fan of professional wrestling, I have been in the ring with a wrestler. And I have amplified my personality to the role of Marc Maron.

Is that a wrestling role? Is it? Couldn't any of our roles Is that a wrestling role? Is it? Is there any? Couldn't any of our roles in life be wrestling roles? Who's the face? Who's the heel in your life? Look around. What game?

What script are you running? Pow. Look out. Just shit my pants. Justcoffee.co available at available at wtfpod.com. So I've been doing some comedy, getting my brain, you know, like I'm working out, like working out at the comedy store, keeping in shape, keeping that connection open, because I am going to have to tour fairly quickly after I end shooting. Might be a surprise for those first few dates.

Look, I think everything's pretty good. The shooting is going well. I went running yesterday. I think the world is not great, but it's holding up. It's raining a bit here in L.A., which is always nice. Maybe that drought will go away. I've decided that a lot of what contributes to the drought outside of fracking and commercial farming and Beverly Hills mansions with large yards that they overwater. I think one of the primary causes that we don't talk about much in public for the Southern California drought is people masturbating in the shower. I mean,

that can add anywhere from an extra three to 19 minutes, depending on your commitment. And that goes either way. This is not just a dude thing you know i believe me ladies i know about the glory of the shower massager i'm no stranger to what you gals can do with the shower massager or perhaps the spigot itself that's right i'm talking to you ma'am that's right you spigot fuckers i've i've known a couple of you it's okay i i'm not judging i'm not judging but listen let's i feel like i'm being a little callous let's open up the heart let's open up the heart uh the dating the uh girlfriend painter thing is going well i am whatever shortcomings are in my emotional capacity given that i'm a cynical angry fuck who's been through some things

i am not engaging in it i've chosen detachment over rage because the rage is garbage it has nothing there's no no place being dumped on other people i was even on stage the other night and a group of 12 walked in this was saturday night at the comedy store and i and i was sitting there with sarah watching 12 people walk into a pack house and said that's the they're their own audience and they're going to be trouble you get that many people together you get them having a good time that's how people die sometimes and it's at least how comics have a bad night and i got on stage third up person before me steve trevino addressed the fact that they were yammering gabbing away and i got up there and i felt it i felt the i felt the the tug of their rudeness and a lot of times that's just like

bait for my angry heart to just dump a lifetime's worth of infantile garbage onto an unsuspecting stranger who is asking for it in my demented brain in that moment because they are interrupting my dumb jokes. And I'd much rather try to annihilate a stranger mentally and in public, in front of people they don't know, than do my jokes. My heart would rather do that. I personally would rather do the jokes and have a nice experience. So in that moment, I said to that person, I said, there's nothing more I'd rather do than to humiliate you and to start a lot of shit, probably use words that would make people uncomfortable and maybe even turn the audience against me. There was a time I said to this woman

and this gentleman and whoever the fuck was talking, there was a time where I would do that. I would take up my entire set to do that. I would ruin the next two comics acts to do that, but not tonight. Not tonight. I'm just going to tell you that it's rude what you're doing. I don't like you as people because you don't know how to behave in an audience situation and you're being selfish. And I'd like you to be quiet so I can get through my set. And I'd like you to be quiet for the rest of the show because it's just horrible behavior. And you're bad people. Calmly said that and felt good about it. I felt that that was a diplomatic way to handle it.

As opposed to like, what the fuck is your problem? Were you not parented properly, you dumb fucks? As opposed to that, I just told them i didn't like them and they were rude adults and did not behave themselves was not satisfying as the other way but that's what i did proud of myself so the anger is being stifled but i don't know it's got to be coming out somewhere i think it's manifesting itself in man boobs from the amount of food i'm eating but maybe i'm the only one seeing those i can't even believe i just said man boobs i don't know. It's got to be coming out somewhere. I think it's manifesting itself in man boobs from the amount of food I'm eating, but maybe I'm the only one seeing those. I can't even believe I just said man boobs. I don't have man boobs. Oh God. Fuck. And yeah, but, uh, you know, dating somebody

who has their own art. I mean, this, this woman has a painting hanging in LACMA. Her name is Sarah Kane. I will give you her name now. I will try to do that. Because I feel like I've been hiding parts of my life, and I've been running low on things I could talk about. She's a lovely woman. She manages a small cat farm at her house. She enjoys tea. She doesn't eat the meat. And she's a brilliant abstract painter,

and I am intimidated by her grand paintings. I look at the work she does, and I was brought up to respect artists especially painters man painters that is some fuck this chick has balls man she's got an axe you know an axe in that brush and uh it's all very it's intimidating they like her paintings make me feel small. It's like, well, I said this thing last night. Really, I spent four hours a day on this line. I made two moves. I added that black, and I put that gold in,

and I'm standing there going like, holy fuck, that's amazing, and that's going to last forever. I diplomatically diminished some hecklers last night. I was very proud of myself in that moment. Yeah, I'm starting a new canvas tomorrow. Oh, okay. Yeah, I'm probably going to talk.

I'm going to creatively complain for laughs a little bit tomorrow. Not complaining. Everything's copacetic doing good doing good can you hear the edge you can hear it right so listen listen up marination tours shows have been added in seattle show will be added by wednesday uh this week in Toronto. Show has been added in Boston, Massachusetts. Vancouver. Spread the word, would you? Need a little push-up baby up there. I know it's months away, but let's try to sell these tickets. San Francisco.

Rochester, New York at the Comedy Club. Friday, March 20th and Saturday, March 21st. The Warner Theater in D.C. April 9th, April 10th, The Trocadero. Two shows in Philly. April 11th, The Wilbur Theater in Boston.

Two shows. April 16th, The Barrymore Theater, Madison, Wisconsin. Get your tickets. They're running. It's happening. April 17th,

Carnegie of Homestead Musical in Pittsburgh. Beautiful posters for these. April 18th, Royal Oak Music Theater in Royal Oak, Michigan. Get the tickets. April 19th, Bluma Appel in Pittsburgh. Beautiful posters for these. April 18th, Royal Oak Music Theater in Royal Oak, Michigan. Get the tickets. April 19th, Bluma Appel in Toronto adding a second show. April

23rd, the Paramount Theater in Austin, Texas. Let's do that. That's at the Moon Tower Festival. I'd love to see you. April 25th, Fitzgerald in Houston. Few tickets left. Fitzgerald's. April 26th, Southside Music Hall in Dallas. Get some tickets for that, Dallas. You know, I don't know how long I want to do in Texas outside of Austin.

May 8th, The Neptune, Seattle, Washington. And May 8th, The Neptune Late Show. Two shows. May 9th, The Vogue in Vancouver. Do you not get my podcast in Vancouver? Let's go, Vancouver. What, are you waiting till the last week it's looking good i've sold a few hundred but that's a big place man may 10th davis symphony hall in san francisco again i've sold like a thousand but i need a thousand more come on come on may 14th the orange peel in asheville north carolina and may 15th at the charleston music hall in charleston charleston south carolina may 16th, Variety Playhouse, Atlanta. Come on, Atlanta.

Enjoy theater on May 17th in New Orleans. Do you not get my show in New Orleans? A few hundred sold. Let's keep it going. You can wait if you want. Oh, here's what I want to tell you. So I'm probably going to be shaving my face entirely for the last show. I got to shoot some stuff that requires that.

So it might be a little jarring in Rochester to see a shaven face. You're going to see my face. Some of you will see my face. I will see my face. Let's see how it's doing under there. No affectation, no caffeine, no nicotine, no alcohol, no drugs. Cut down the sugar and I'm going to remove my facial hair. I will be naked. Naked! Man boobs. Don't want them.

So, look folks, I'm going to bring to you now the Mick Foley conversation. The lovely Mick Foley mankind. And we aired part of this conversation back in November on episode 552 when Mick's documentary I Am Santa Claus came out. You can watch that on Netflix right now. Mick is on tour with the one man show that you'll hear us talk about. Go to real Mick Foley dot com to check out his tour schedule and get tickets. Mick Foley, hero.

You can get anything you need with Uber Eats. Well, almost, almost anything. So no, you can't get an ice rink on Uber Eats. But iced tea and ice cream? Yes, we can deliver that. Uber Eats, get almost, almost anything. Order now. Product availability may vary by region. See app for details.

Calgary is a city built by innovators. Innovation is in the city's DNA. And it's with this pedigree that bright minds and future thinking problem solvers are tackling some of the world's greatest challenges from right here in Calgary. From cleaner energy, safe and secure food, efficient movement of goods and people, and better health solutions, Calgary's visionaries are turning heads around the globe across all sectors each and every day calgary's on the right path forward take a closer look how at calgary economic development.com talk to him you remember your childhood uh not fondly otherwise? There were some rough batches.

Life was not always easy on a heavyset kid who was shy. Long Island. Yeah. That's right. I remember. It's all coming back to me because we had done some stuff on Air America. Yeah. You came down.

When you were working for that foundation, right? And we were talking about books and and there was the Abused Women. Yeah, RAINN. RAINN, yeah. RAINN, yeah. I was doing a lot of work for RAINN at the time. I still, I mean, I was an active volunteer for two years for RAINN. Nice acronym, tough words, Rape, Abuse, Incest, National Network.

So I was like an advocate and I was a donor, and then I took the took the i took the you know the the 40 hour online course and then uh i did like the 20 hour in-person uh training and for what exactly this is uh i would be a spokesperson no no i would be uh when people needed help oh really reach out i mean if someone is listening and and they they need help or know someone needs help i mean the website is really simple. It's rainn.org. And you still do that?

No, I did it for two years. And it was tough, man. But if someone called you with those kind of issues, you could— Well, they would do it online. And then I would be an anonymous—you know, I had a different name. They wouldn't say, hey, Mick Foley. Yeah. I would have a different name.

And I was, you know i was i was good at it what what compelled you to do something like that being like uh you know it's obviously you've got a big heart but i mean you know the characters you've played uh you know in the ring and and and sort of what wrestling represents which is it doesn't represent anything but wrestling but you know it's sort of like you wouldn't think that you would end up you know as uh as a as an online helper for rape and incest and abusive relationship. The key was I met Tori Amos at Comic-Con 2008. And she did it?

Yeah. I mean, I was a huge fan. And I don't know. Listen, I described it in my book. I said, when I finally met her and she stood up from her table, and my first words were not, they were in a question. They were, I can hug you? And then she gave me the biggest hug.

And I don't know if she transferred some energy like John Coffey did in The Green Mile, but I felt like a changed man. And I'd never been on the internet in my life. The man who was mankind hugs Tori Amos and everything changes. Everything changed. Everything changed. With one Tori Amos hug. Oh, the power of the Tori Amos hug. Yeah.

Oh, my God. It just placated. It rested the beast. It seemed to do something. And when I wandered over, I'd had my kids put me on a website. I could say, I want to see something. Can you wandered over like i'd had my kids put me on a website i could say i want to see something can you get me on there yeah but i'd never actually like ventured on there myself and then i i found a way to go on tori amos.com honestly i wanted to see if she had put a photo of the two of us hugging no or otherwise you know we did the post photos too

and it turned out somebody actually did snap a photo. I mean, I remember, if you don't mind me going off on this Tori Abens tangent. I think it's a wonderful thing to know about you, Mick. I looked at her after the hug and I said, you know who I am? I'll never forget it as long as I live. She moved her hands like in majestic arcs, almost like she's Mr. Miyagi, saying wax on, wax off, except with more uh pageantry and elegance and she said I know exactly who you are and it turned out that her nephew was like a big fan and he had told her about this wrestler who would mention her in my and you know I'd written a few books yeah and

Tori would make occasional um you know I'd make occasional Tori Amos references so it was cool I don't know you know I mean did you feel it was deeper than that though when she said i know exactly who you are did you feel like oh my god my soul was exposed something like that yeah she could read me and i'll you know what i'm and this is i'm gonna the breaking news for you here uh this is yeah i don't know if i don't know if she wants me to tell this story. I got news from a third person. It mentioned my name, and this was somebody who was close to Tori and was a mutual friend. Yeah.

And after she met with her, she said Tori called her back in the room and said, tell Mick he's done enough. Like she wanted me to stop giving. She thought I was giving too much money. She knew I was doing benefits. Oh, for rain? Yeah, yeah. And she's like, me to stop giving. She thought I was giving too much money. She knew I was doing benefits. Oh, for rain? Yeah. Yeah.

And she's like, he's done enough. Oh, wow. He needs to take care of himself and his family. Oh, wow. And it was like, okay. It's almost like, you know, a fighter or someone throwing the towel. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. So I didn't quit. Somebody, somebody let me out, you know. The ref called it. Yeah. Yeah. She called it. Yeah.

Oh, wow. Did you it. Oh, wow. Did you stop? For a while. Right now, I'm raising money for a Santa whose house burned down. Save the Santa campaign? I'm calling it Sockos for Santa. I'm selling autographed socks because that was one of those. The Mankind Puppet.

Yeah, yeah. There you go. Yeah, you know your stuff, Mark. Your Mankind Sock Puppet. I don't know much. But I knew you knew that. That was like part of the- I knew that was part of the mankind get up.

It was. And so when I go out there before a show and I say, hey, I've got these things for sale and I'm one of Santa's ambassadors. He's on Tough Times, house burned down, lost everything, every photo, everything. We're going to try to make a little difference. So every night I'll go to the GoFundMe so I'm not tempted to keep it. Every night I make the donation. But I think she'll understand.

I've got to do something. Well, so you've got this part of you that feels compelled to help out Santas and to help out women in trouble. So you grew up in Long Island. What town? This was like Stony Brook by the university. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

All right. So like how many kids in the family? Just me and my brother. And where'd he end up? He's, he works for UPS. Yeah. You know, like on, not on the driving side. On the other side?

He doesn't wear the shorts. No. He's in one of the guys. Was he ever a shorts guy? Yeah. To be in UPS, you have to be a shorts guy for a while. You have to know how to walk the walk. In the shorts.

Yes. In the long shorts. And now he's on the other side? He's on the other side. He's behind the desk. Yeah. You don't need to wear shorts behind the desk. Barking out orders.

Yeah. You don't have to wear any pants behind the desk. And your folks, what's your old man do? My dad passed away a few years ago, but he was really highly thought of. He was the athletic director at our high school and from five elementary schools to two high and a 2,500 student high school.

So my dad was so highly thought of that when he passed away, they lowered the flags at every one of the district schools, all eight schools. And when we drove by out of the funeral home, I mean, I swear, it was very touching. It was right across the street from the high school. They had the flag at half-mast. And they had a member of every one of the fall teams outside.

I'm getting goosebumps thinking about it now. So, you know, my dad, I said in my first book, like, you know, I was known as a guy who worked really, really, you know, really hard, gave people their money's worth. And especially, you know, when that camera light was on, you know, I was going to dig down a little deeper. And I said, my dad, he worked every day like the camera light was on. So, yeah yeah he touched

a lot of lives and i think that's uh you know something he passed on to me yeah it seems like it so he seemed like a great guy yeah did he push you athletically he did yeah and we were we we had a tough patch there i mean it seems crazy now and especially as I've had long hair, give or take a couple of shaved heads since 1985. You got to shave your head occasionally and mix it up. Well, when I got out of wrestling in 2000, I celebrated my birthday at Hershey Park. I did a Q&A, and they traded it out for like three days at the park. Right. They lost out free food and lodging.

And then I went back after the Q&A, shaved off all my hair. It had been long for 15 years and the next day i i went uh i went down first of all i went down to the uh the hotel and they said how are you doing mr foley i was like how do you i didn't know i am like and it turns out like i've got a prominent injury well i lost one of my ears along the way and without the hair it made me very detectable very easily you're missing a year i am yeah so so you know the young lady lost her uh um uh young lady luster lost her year a part of it at a ufc fight uh did you know did you know that no it was hideous and i started

getting these messages uh so i just reached reach out to her and, welcome to the club. It gets better. It gets better. And the next day, she reached out to me and thanked me for being there. And it was like one of these feel-good worlds collide. Did you email Tori Amos and tell her about that? I didn't include Tori. I didn't know if Tori needed to be part of this. Yeah, yeah. I'm helping the earless now.

Anybody with one ear, I'm raising some money. We're going to get together over a support group. It's me and Holly Field. We're going to try and get some new ears for some people. So you got the shaving the head didn't hide you, man. It didn't hide me. And then like two days later, Mr. McMahon, the owner of WWE, called me up. And he was like.

Is that what you call him i called him vince until about three years ago when i kind of lost my touch you know you know i left and i worked for the not that there is any competition at wb but i definitely worked for someone else other than yeah and then i never quite found my mojo around him when i got back and no more events uh and now he's mr mcmahon yeah weird yeah very strange did that just happen organically it did yeah it seemed to i felt like i was kind of like the boy who cried wolf and betrayed him simultaneously yeah do you do you feel guilty about that um yeah a little bit yeah yeah uh but i i told his his daughter stephanie uh who i've known she was

you know 19 20 years old i said i think i had to leave in order to better appreciate just how well everything is done here like really oh it's a you know yeah it's it's well you're like part of the family i was like part of the family how long long were you with them? I was with them off and on. I started there in 96. And off and on. I felt like I was Dorothy who had given the ability, even after I retired from full-time wrestling in 2000, I had the ability to tiptoe back and forth from Kansas to Oz.

I could lead this normal life. And then literally any time I wanted, I could call up the company and say, hey, can I appear? I did that when I do the one-man show, you know, and so I was traveling around the UK and Ireland, because you have to make that distinction. Don't ever say- Oh, do it. I know, I know. Don't ever include Ireland on your UK tour.

Did that once. Oh, yeah. That's the last time you'll ever make that mistake, right? Yeah. So you got to say- Not a good say. UK and Ireland, right? And I was in Dublin. I got there a day early, and WWE happened to be there.

So I called up. I was like, hey, I hadn't been on a show in three years. I was like, can I show up? And they were like, sure. So I was like, hey, ladies and gentlemen, surprise. And as much as I love, and I really do, I really do get almost everything I used to get from doing the shows in front of a couple hundred people as opposed to 10,000 or 15,000 people. But it's kind of cool to know that if you want that 15,000 reaction without having any pressure to perform, any pressure to bring the crowd in, it's almost like the you know cooking a dinner and cleaning it up when

you're done and just walking out and enjoying the meal so i mean it's a little bigger than that because like you know if you're in a pinch if you're feeling a little low and there's a wwe fight around you can be like i'm just gonna go wave get some juice that was his that was how simple it was and vince even said he goes you, you know, Mick, after all you've done, I want you to consider WWE to be your playground, and you can come back and play anytime you want. I did that for many years. In and out. In and out.

Did you get a few bucks? Yeah, they would take it. That was not the, you know, I didn't, yeah, I mean, they would, yeah. They always took care of me. But you're physically incapable of wrestling. I cannot wrestle anymore, yeah. That was a decision. no a neurologist arrived at that conclusion what'd he say uh he said basically he said uh you're done and uh and uh what was it what was

the what was the tipper what it was uh, honestly, WWE, this credit to them, is they started giving these impact tests to measure the repercussions of brain injuries. And even as I was doing the test, I realized it wasn't going well, especially as far as the short-term memory went. And so independent of WWE, I called a top neurologist I knew at the Boston Center for Traumatic Encephalopathy. And as long as I could say those words, I know I'm doing pretty good. Yeah.

And made an appointment. And then that day later, one day later, WWE called me and they said, there's been an issue with your impact test. And so independently of each other, both of these neurologists came to the conclusion that I was done. Because of your brain? Yeah, just too many injuries. And one of the things we learn as we go, which I didn't know, is at the time, because everyone thinks they're unstoppable when they're at their peak, but that as you get older and i would on one level i

realized i was getting hurt quicker it didn't take as much to hurt me and it lasted longer but then there was also that sense that i don't feel that bad and i still and i realized that you know i was pretty lucky to have a good job in a tough economy it didn't call for me to do that much it was like i can i can take a few more of these and so it really did i mean it every wrestler's convinced they've got another match left in them uh and so i was glad i was lucky you know fortunate as it turns out to have a neurologist you know again almost like tori amos with the yeah with the funding just throwing in the towel and saying you you've done enough.

You've done too much. You got a doctor's note addressed directly to your bad side. Exactly. But how did you hobble yourself? Oh, yeah. You could notice that as I was walking, right? I mean, I think last time, like the last time we talked was 2004. So it's been 10 years.

Yeah. So you were out of the racket four years. And I was moving around okay, you know? Yeah. And I had dropped some weight. And I just, it was kind of Mother Nature. Yeah. Father Time teaming up to kick my ass a little bit, Mark.

Telling me I wasn't as tough as I thought I was. But you were like all-in guy. I mean, like I guess the reason why you were such a phenomenal performer in that is that you would take risks, right? I did. I didn't consider them risks. I consider myself to be high impact as far as high risk.

I knew when I was doing things, there's going to be a price to pay. High impact means you could take a beating. I could take a beating. I could, even as everyone had their idea of what wrestling was and and on my one man show i elaborate on this a little bit but i actually had like a formula in my head like i i i thought if i do things that hurt me enough people will think they hurt me a little right because i was i was a fan who liked to figure

out how moves were done and how the aura of danger was created without putting the wrestler's body too much risk. Yeah. But the thing that I was really fascinated by were the moves I couldn't figure out. I'd watch them over and over. I don't know how they do that. Who did those? Oh, there was a lot of that you'd see in Japan and Jimmy Superfly Snuka with the Superfly

Splash. Terry Funk with an N. We're not dealing with the fcc here but just to be clear uh terry funk with an n um and i would try to figure out how these guys uh so it's like magic well it wasn't magic it would be like when you watch uh what's the one with there were two great magic movies out of the prestige yeah right and then you find out the way they do the duh you know the dove is actually killed right yeah exactly it wasn't a magic trick at all actually getting hurt and when I was 19 and I thought that

seemed like a pretty good idea like everything I do will will cause people look at each other go that had to, that had to hurt. It was like after 30 years, like the secret is, you were right. You were right. It did hurt. Yeah, it did hurt. So let's get back to your dad and what seemed to be a long hair problem. Oh, yeah, yeah. 1981, when your dad's the athletic director, it seems ridiculous now because hairstyles

have changed so much. I used to get knocked like in the late 70s. I remember a girl coming up to me and singing, square, ain't got no hair, because I was the only guy in the school. I'm talking about in the school with a crew cut. He made you have a crew cut? It didn't make me. Understood?

I liked it. I liked it, and I guess in that sense, I liked being different. Probably if everyone had their hair long i would not i'd find a different way and even with with the short hair you know being out like a mohawk in 1982 was like like almost unheard of so when i showed up with a mohawk because i was on the school wrestling team with ke James. Oh, he's funny, man. High school teammate, yeah. Was he funny then? He was funny, but he was mostly tough.

Yeah? Now that he's done the UFC movie, people are like, okay, you can see him. He looks like a wrestler. He looks like a deltoid. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He was one of two guys in school who could bench 300 pounds, and in case you're wondering, I was not the other one.

He's that guy. Yeah, he was that guy. That makes sense. To this day, felt uh i feel like going out for that team knowing that he was already like penciling in his heavyweight was like the boldest gutsiest move that i had ever made and and if somebody had stopped me like on my way down to the wrestling room and said you know kevin james down there if i thought about it i probably would have said i'm out of here really he? He was a badass, huh? Yeah.

I mean, he was a guy you didn't mess with. You stay in touch? We did for many years. Yeah. For many years. And then the last time I saw him, I was a surprise guest on Katie Couric's show. Uh-huh. Like a this is your life kind of thing? This is your life.

It was grownups too. And so the theme was they were surprising people. They were surprising the cast with guests from their past. So it was Adam Sandler's basketball coach. Oh, right, right, right. And then I came in as the guest from Kevin's past. So we got to catch up for 10 minutes while we sat there because I was like the surprise guest.

I didn't see him before. Was he happy to see you? He acted like it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, he was. I know one time when they surprised him with a Mick Foley contribution. I think he was promoting the Zookeeper. Yeah. We have a guest from your past via video.

And he was like, oh, Mick Foley. He knew it was coming. He knew it was coming. But he certainly, yeah, he was a good dude, man. We used to hang out not only in high school. He transferred to my college and we did some road trips and listened to some Springsteen. Oh, yeah? Yeah, back in 1986.

Yeah, you and him just in the car, born to run. Born in the USA by this time. Oh, really? Yeah. Then you didn't go back. It was just the new stuff? Well, of course you'd go back. Yeah, I guess you would.

I just heard Candy's Room yesterday. It's good, right? Yeah, they were playing the entire... Darkness. Darkness. You know what? Now that we're on Springsteen, I'm not saying it wasn't

a great album. It's a great album. How did it get so big among high schoolers? Because it's pretty depressing. Well, that record, I think, is that after Born to Run or before?

It was after Born to Run. So I think he grabbed everybody with the spirit of Born to Run. And then I think he spent like two or three years on darkness i mean it was like that was the epic i mean the journey got a little darker for him after born to run born to run is like almost romantic you know what i mean like it's like passionate there's a sort of a you know you know go get it kind of embrace the american dream with all your creative spirit and then it got a little dark got a little dark a little dark for a while and yeah when he ends with darkness on the edge of town it's almost like you you love feeling

like oh there's no hope whatsoever i know but bruce is so elevated about it he's very passionate you know there's something about there's always hope in his voice do you ever met him i did yeah i did meet bruce a couple times actually if you go through like the last 10 years of photos yeah there was a very good chance I'll be wearing a vest that says Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band Stockholm Sweden like 1993 and it was given to me by one of Bruce's best friends Terry McGovern yeah and I wore the vest for two very good reasons one I was a big Bruce fan I wore the vest for two very good reasons. One, I was a big Bruce fan. I love the fact that Terry had given to me his gift. And the second reason was when the fanny pack went out in 2000 before I brought it roaring back to life six months ago

when I realized I was committing so much. Is that why everyone's wearing them? I was wondering. It's all you, Mick. I realized I looked at it. This is the truth. I looked at a segment wb had on their network and i realized like i committed so many fashion errors in a 10 minute segment and i just

looked at my kids and i was like why don't i just start wearing the fanny pack but up until then the the terry mcgovern springsteen vest it had zippers on the pockets yeah and i was like a kangaroo like without it was it was my pack so it was for practical reasons and also emotionally i felt very tied to it what did bruce say to you when he met bruce bruce always very soft you know very soft-spoken uh yeah yeah you know he was always very very cordial yeah um and uh but i i would be a great stretch for me to say that he was you know a pal yeah just sort of in passing since all right so but i will say that nils loffering came to my show in phoenix oh yeah and he played me like he does yeah i got that box set i gotta dig into that

nils is awesome and he actually uh uh i was surprised one day uh wwe announcer michael cole sent me over an email and had Nils doing like an impromptu song when I was inducted into the Hall of Fame, you know. And I'd always, to this day, I swear that like the live version of Youngstown and Madison Square Garden is the coolest guitar solo I've ever heard. I was there at the time.

Now, I can't tell you. He did 10 nights at the garden. So I'm not sure which night it was. But I just remember my friend, Scott Darrow, a friend from seventh grade, he goes, Nils is going off. We were aware that something was happening. It's just like historic.

And then when the DVD came out and the CD, I was just mesmerized by it. Just thought it was powerful. Really loved it. So with your father going back, you guys were tense for how long? Maybe just those couple of high school years. And then as time went by, we became very close. And he was very close with my children.

Did he appreciate the wrestling? Yeah, he did. He did. You would think he would not, but he did. Did you have to explain it to him? No, and here's the thing. Even though my dad was the real sports guy, and I grew up with my childhood, this is a weird thing.

I fondly remember the scent of BO. That was a good thing. The locker room kind of deal? Yeah, even if we went to a cross-country meet. Yeah. You know, and that wasn't my favorite. That was a, you know, basketball, baseball, football, wrestling. You did everything?

You had to do everything? I had to go to every event. Oh. Women's field, everything, you know, but, like, that was like a good thing. Why, because you were with him? That was how we spent time. My dad worked a lot, so that was, like, how we. Where are you going?

We're taking a road trip. Yeah, we'd go everywhere with some field hockey and uh during the basketball games like the coolest thing was he'd give us the key to the weight room yeah and at that time like lifting weights for fun seemed cool yeah it never did after you know and once you know once you had to maintain your physique yeah right right i i always just did it because i had to, not because I enjoyed it at all. But it was really wrestling that brought us back together. And I know this sounds funny for like a non-fan, but there's something like multi-generational about it.

I mean, I can't, I'm not exaggerating when I tell you like thousands of people have said, I used to watch it. They always include the grandfather, the father, the uncle. And in so many cases there are people you know relatives who are having a tough time everywhere else and this was specific to mike you know this i mean i'm talking about my case specifically but in general yeah it's safe to say that uh it was for a lot of people it's the one thing they feel more comfortable watching with company than alone because it's a good time yeah let's watch let's

watch some wrestling and my dad could appreciate that i think they know that it's a controlled environment that's almost what it is yeah yeah it's like these guys are putting on a show for our enjoyment yeah and it all seems kind of safe that way yeah so okay so he was on board the whole way he was very supportive of me when i started, even when the money wasn't exactly piling up. I came home from Nigeria in 1987 after I'd literally been bludgeoned by fans. Turns out that not everyone in the world knows it's entertainment. And if you cheat in Nigeria against the Nigerian champion, Power Udi. Some people will take it the wrong way. Even though it was a script.

Well, yeah, but in this case, one of the few times that I wrestled in front of more than a few hundred people, there were about 30,000 people in this stadium in 1987. Yeah, and I hit Power Udi with some type of fart. It was actually a large cow's bone, like a thigh bone. And next thing I know, I'm just being pummeled by fans. Jesus Christ. The wrestlers dragged me out of there, and I was stitched up in a chemist's office with a dirt floor

because they told me not to trust the hospital. Because they might have... Well, I don't know what they... What that means. No, no, no, the chemist's office. So, yeah, the wrestlers, I feel like they saved my life over there. And when I got home, you know, with like $300 for the two weeks after having a life-threatening experience,

my dad was like, hey, not everyone can say they went to Nigeria. You know, like he was always like, the glass half full. Great experience, Mick. And I couldn't appreciate it at the time. So when you retired, though, were you set? I mean, was that a choice? Like you were like, I got enough bread to go? Well, I was pretty, I say pretty thrifty.

Some people would say extremely thrifty on the road. And I had saved a lot of money. And I'd been there when times were really good. I didn't know that the economy was going to tank a couple of times. So it was almost like, and then I didn't know that the world was going to line up at my door to read my novels. Right. And after the second novel, it was actually after the first novel. A lot of goodwill out there for you.

A lot of goodwill. Yeah. But it didn't mean that they were going to follow me on that journey. Right. out there for you a lot of goodwill yeah it didn't mean that they're going to follow me on that journey just like you know the the show i do is by and large it's like a wrestling centric storytelling show i've been at it for five years it's taking people a long time to figure out that it's a wrestling show like when i when i show up does anyone have any idea to you know what i do so sometimes you go to a cold room no no they're they're really receptive and i'll go out on a limb and say like i greatly outperform their limited expectations well let's see so you did four novels two novels

two novels four memoirs yeah and that sounds horrible yeah there's like reason six books and then four four kids books and how those go kids books were good you know the first two sold really well uh the last two didn't but they were like the better books you know and so there's a moral lesson it's been with the novels it was the same thing you know i'll tell you what happened um kevin smith came to our premiere in la for i am santa claus and we did his podcast after the show and he explained that he and his wife don't go to the movies they went out of their way to see this and it was really gratifying to have a guy who knew movies telling me why it was good. Yeah.

Me and the director. And I said, Kevin, you just made me critic-proof. He goes, dude, you haven't seen my reviews. I said, not that, not that. I said, but from now on, it doesn't matter if I get a horrible review because my answer internally will be, Kevin Smith liked it. Yeah. He knows more about novel and knows

more about movies than you yeah when it came to novels it was richard price who's you know did clockers and yeah yeah just uh and most of the writing for the wire the first two seasons like really like a writer's writer yeah and he read it beforehand you know he was one of my uh first novel he read the second one yeah And then I got a call back. Well, actually, I asked my editor, Victoria Wilson, who had edited for Nobel Prize winners. You know, if I, instead of her sending, like, you know, letters to writers that she knew, if I could maybe send letters to writers whose work I like, thinking they might like mine.

And I remember her saying, darling, you know, you can do whatever you like, but don't expect anything from this. And at that time, everything was handwritten. So I wrote 12, you know, 12 letters. To who? To Jonathan Kellerman and Stephen King and John Irving and Richard Price. And then one day, you know, and she read them and said, darling, these are very charming.

Don't get your hopes up. And then I'm at my home one night, I get a phone call. Before 2004 was like before texting and tweeting. And it was Richard Price. And he was like, I'm really enjoying this novel, and I'm going to give you a great blurb when I'm done, and maybe someday we can get together and trade stories. I said, okay, about what? He said about growing up in the Bronx because my book was set in the Bronx in the 60s.

I said, I didn't grow up in the Bronx. And so here's Richard Brisman nominated for a National Book Award and an Academy Award. He goes, you must have really done your homework. And I said, well, come on, you, Mr. Price, that's a great honor. And he ended up writing me a blurb that was actually better written than anything I could ever write. It was so profound. And it clearly wasn't like, not to pick on Larry King, but it wasn't just like, you know, he does it again. No one does it. Like Camille. Clearly he had read the book and had this great quote.

And from that point on, whereas I took the criticism for the first novel to heart, let it get to me. I was very realistic about the sales and knew that I would take a beating from a few critics here or there, even though overall critics are very kind to both my novels. But when those bad ones did come, it was like, Richard Price likes my books. He knows more about writing than you do stephen king get back to you stephen king did not but i did get uh at that time my publisher said i think i know the answer to this question but would you mind if we gave john irving your address i was like no i don't mind if you give john irving my address and i swear i felt like charlieet you know when he gets that golden

ticket one day I get home and there's Jay Irving you know he wrote me and so and he was like he was explaining why he couldn't get to the book he said he read my first novel enjoyed it and he kind of gave a very descriptive he's a wrestling

guy he is a wrestling guy and he wrote to me how he dislocated his finger graphically, and then he said, thought you might enjoy it, given your background. So I wrote him back. I said, dear Mr. Irving, thank you very much for taking the time to write to me. Don't worry about not having the time.

I said, one of my fears is that one day I'll be a real writer, and people I don't know will be sending books to me, asking if I'll review them. And like a week later, I get a book, dear Mr. Fo and people I don't know will be sending books to me, ask if I'll review them. And like a week later, I get a book, dear Mr. Foley, please don't concern yourself with whether or not you're a real writer. He said those who would classify writers as either literary or commercial can be counted on to be neither. And they told a story about how, you know, you know, a critic saw him having lunch with Stephen King and later expressed surprise. And he said, Stephen and I have more in common

than you might think. Neither one of us would begin a project unless we were sure we could shock or offend somebody. And it began this nice, I swear, I would look at that blank page and I would be so nervous because I knew without my editor putting in the semicolons yeah you know the hyphens in the right place i go i'm just this wrestling dude you know with a pen but did you go into wrestling right you went to college i went to college and that was you know

yeah i started uh breaking into pro wrestling when i was 19 when i was a sophomore in college and my dad's courtland new york yeah courtland new york and i was actually born in blooming born in Bloomington, Indiana. I see you've got the Bloomington shirt. Yeah. I like Bloomington. And you've been there to the, uh, the comedy attic, right? Yeah. Yeah. It's a nice little room. Jared's a good guy. Yeah. He is. Yeah. He's a, he's a believer. Oh yeah. Yeah. Believer in comedy. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I loved it. And it's, uh, it's been really cool for me. Uh, how long were you lived there, though, for? Just a little while. Right.

My dad was studying for his doctorate there. Oh, yeah? That's where you got his degree? Yeah. That's a hell of a school, that place. Yeah. It's kind of cool. So I grew up as a big IU fan.

Uh-huh. Yeah. You know, was in tears when they were down by. But what'd you study? I studied communications. So you really didn't have a background in English or anything? No, but looking back on it, when I took English in college, I remember finding my papers years later,

I mean like 15 years later, and one of the professors had said, you should really consider this for a career. At the time, that sounded ridiculous. Had a good feel for it. But when I went back and looked at stuff I wrote as like a six or seven year old it was pretty good now when you look back like you know and talking about uh you know your your charity work or your your causes i mean do you ever when you look at the the sort of um damage that wrestling does to guys and a lot of guys didn't fare as well as you even though

you're a little beat up you know mentally and emotionally you seem to have a pretty good spirit i mean it seems like there's a lot of dudes that that didn't fare as well i mean do you do you know how do you feel about about them have you ever been put in a position to help some of your comrades out yeah um i you know what you know when people ask me what i'm proudest you know there's something i'm proud of i'm the only wwe champion i know of that doesn't actually have a you know the physical championship belt that he won and when my kids you know younger kids and other big fans are like dad why don't you have the the belt yeah and it's like it's like i they kind of know but i haven't like but i basically put it up for auction to help a wrestler pay his medical bills so i you know like i look back like i wish i had the belt but i like what

not having it represents yeah you know like i like and besides like i've got this thing that reminds me of my career like i don't need something on the wall i've got this thing called waking up that reminds me and so like when given the choice again i don't know if I would give that up. I'd probably have it mounted in a special place. But like I said, I'm kind of proud of what not having it represents. How'd the guy do? He got out of the hospital. It's a tough way to make a living. It's a tough way.

But you didn't get strung out or nothing. You were never a drug guy? No, I was never a drug guy at all. make a living it's a tough way but you didn't get strung out or nothing you were no i was no i was never a drug guy at all and as a matter of fact like when i was uh uh in the late 80s early 1990s when i was wrestling with ted turner's world championship wrestling you know and i like the character i had was that of like a you know a psychologically deranged man but among the guys like the thing that made them like suspend disbelief was the idea that he doesn't smoke pot yeah he must be crazy he's at the time and let's face that's a harmless fairly harmless yeah but i and i avoided it because

i knew that i'd like it if i ever tried it. So I never even tried it. Never even tried it. Well, I think you got off on taking risks. Maybe so. And I also realized at a young age, you know, at age 19, that this was going to be a style that had consequences. And that I was realistic enough to know that don't medicate, you know, unless you really, really need it. And there are some nights, you know, days when I really, really need it. And there are some nights, days when I really, really need something, and then I'll take it.

But I have to get my refill every six months because it's expired and I've only taken three pills in six months. So, yeah, I was always pretty good that way. And when did you decide to start doing a live show? Oh, man. Because I know it's been going on a while. Has it evolved? Yeah, it's really, you know what?

Montreal. You do comedy clubs. I do comedy clubs. So it's funny because people say, oh, so you do stand-up. And I kind of wince. And it has nothing to do with the respect I have for comics. Because when other comics see me and go, yeah, well, you tell stories. Of course, it's part of stand-up comedy.

Right. But, you know, I think when wrestling fans hear stand-up they picture me in a bow tie telling one-liners about the weather um turning point for me you said last time we really talked was 2004 but i saw you a couple years ago in montreal right and when i went to montreal i was with a comic doing a double bill with an australian comic named brendan burns yeah I know Brendan. Well, that's right. Oh, I remember. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because he was like, he's a big P.T. Barnum. He's a big spectacle guy.

Oh, yeah, yeah. So I didn't know what that show was, but did you do that in Europe with him too? Yeah, we did that. Well, Brendan met Brendan. We did a guest set. And, I mean, he's razor sharp. Yeah. You know, I mean, one of the knocks on Brendan is he works.

He doesn't work. You're either with him or you're not. But what he loved about working with me is he got to do his wrestling stuff. He was no longer doing social commentary. He was able to have fun and let loose. And when we'd get ready to do Montreal, we'd be doing our press and guys. So, you know, is it a wrestling show? And I go, well, I use wrestling as a jumping off point to explore greater.

And he'd go, mate, it's a wrestling show. And I'd go, well, no, Brendan, mate, it's a wrestling show. It wasn't until I went to Montreal. And we did good. We had good shows brennan and i but i was walking around that hotel looking at one guy after another who was funnier than me when i got like right it was like the reality check wait a second you are the wrestling guy yeah yeah yeah you are you're never going to be as funny as these guys you might be if you put in 25 years right but i

was like but i've got stories yeah louis ck doesn't have a story about ending a match with his front tooth in his nose yeah i do play to your strengths and it was like as soon as i got that yeah and became comfortable with it like shows became better almost immediately you remind me of rollins really yeah it's a good thing yeah like uh because you know you have a natural ability you're a raconteur, and you can directly draw from amazing experiences and just keep talking. Well, I was at a club, and, you know, it reminds me so much of the wrestling business

because you absorb everything you can, and you're very respectful. Like, if one of the comics sees my show and has pointers, of course you're respectful. Someone's given you pointers? Oh, a lot of people. You know, I've had, well, Brendan's really taken me under his wing.

He'd write these long emails explaining why I might get a better laugh if I put more emphasis on the last syllable. Was he right? Usually. Yeah. Usually. And then I didn't have the heart to tell him the one thing that he really built up had already been taken out of the show.

And so I'd have to include it when Brendan toured with me. So I didn't hurt what i heard didn't hurt his feelings yeah uh but i then i take what people tell me judah friedlander was really helpful did he tell you to talk more about poop no but this is what judah did for me i i did i i'd kind of given up on on on comedy or storytelling because uh i was i was a bundle of nerves before i did it like it was like i was going out for a pay-per-view. I was in front of 17 people in Worcester. You were more scared?

You know, when you're out of your comfort zone, especially when I was doing the unbilled guest sets, showing up at the club and, hey, I'm going to do 10 minutes. It's hard, man, because a lot of comics are like, why is he fucking taking stage time up? Yeah, yeah. Why is the wrestler here? Yeah.

I mean, I love him. I love mankind. But it's a comedy club. But they appreciated that I was there doing it for free. Yeah. You know, taking my time. Yeah. Trying it out.

But I basically abandoned hope. I'd given up on it. Why? Did you bomb? I'd bombed a few times. Not severely. But I wanted. How could you tell?

Because you were expecting laughs? I could feel it. And I'd had some good shows. Yeah. So I knew what a good show, I thought I knew what a good show could feel like, but the pivotal moment for me was when I told the Wounded Warriors that, hey, I was going on a, like doing a fundraiser with them at the Broadway Comedy Club in New York, and I told the guy, I used to do some comedy, so if you want, know I'll do a set and there were the Warriors veterans yeah yeah yeah and I sat in the front table and they had a you know New York you know the showcase night so

there's not a bad comic in the lot everyone's doing like a really polished eight to ten minutes didn't know it at the time but that's where I first saw Amy Schumer right when I met her in Montreal she was like dude I saw you you know and i remember her specifically pointing me out and saying i used to cock block her on mondays because her boyfriend would be watching the show i don't know if i'm allowed to say that no not at that time let's talk about late 1990s uh but judah goes on and of course judah kills and then they say hey we have a special guest guest. You might know him from WWE, Mick Foley. And I proceeded to go up and just tank on a level I didn't think was possible. And at one point, I just looked out at the crowd and I said,

if I was in a pool, I would ask for a life preserver because I'm drowning up here. And it was like the most painful experience of my life like worse than any wrestling match the tank you're you were the you were the heel with no uh control it was yeah and you couldn't even like didn't even have an outlet if you have a bad match you have the physical pain you know it's kind of like some you know kind of it lends a helping hand to the emotional hurt yeah this is just like sheer open emotional heartbreak sorry pal but judo was there when i walked off and i swore like when i walked off the stage i swore to myself i'm never going up there again like i don't ever want to revisit this moment again and he was there and he

goes dude it wasn't as bad as you thought it was awful he goes dude he goes ordinarily if someone goes four straight minutes without a single laugh, they're done. Yeah. He said, but people are actually listening to you. He goes, that's something other comics will never have. He goes, don't get me wrong, dude. You got to find a way to make this funny. And then, you know, so he started taking me under his wing and he'd call me up. I'd go into the city and we'd do like the five clubs in a night, you know?

Yeah. Was he a wrestling fan? He was a huge wrestling fan. Oh, yeah. in a night, you know? Yeah. Was he a wrestling fan? He was a huge wrestling fan. Yeah. I'm even on, like, I'm immortalized on 30 Rock because Jude is wearing the old school Mick Foley Cactus Jack shirt on the Christmas episode. And I had to sign, like, 12 forms, you know,

just to give them access to it. But, yeah, he definitely saved me. And then, you know, things started picking up a little bit. Good enough to get to Montreal. Good enough to, you know, do a little tour of Europe. And then there were guys like Brendan there. But really the key for me was realizing I've got a role. Like I'm pushing, like people are coming to the door and I'm slamming it shut on them.

Say, no, I'm doing social commentary, you know. And then once I realized I'm the wrestling guy yeah and also once i realize like from the other side that there is something to be said we're just leaving people feeling good like they can find other places to think deep thoughts they don't need to do that at my show do you talk about like the creation of like cactus jack and of mankind about yeah yeah what do you do a q a i do a q a yeah at the end of every show we do we do about 20 minutes. What do people usually want to know? Are they usually wrestling fans?

Oh, yeah. Like 95% of them are wrestling fans. But I get a lot of questions. One of the nice things is women will come up and they'll specifically say, I had no idea what to expect. I'm not a wrestling fan. I really enjoyed your show. Yeah.

I said, you know, thank you. You know what? I saw Richard Lewis. I imagine you know him over the years. As I got out of the hotel i did young hollywood and i saw him walking in i just rolled down my yeah just today and i rolled down my window and i said hey richard i'm a big fan and uh i didn't i don't think he knew i was right and i and i did say i'm i'm my name is mick foley i'm a wrestler i do a one-man show, so I really appreciate and respect everything you've done. And he got this big smile, and he says, thanks, man.

You made me feel great. Yeah. And it was like, and I left. It was like a 20-second interaction. And I drove down the road, and I'm like, I felt good. Yeah. And it was like, I don't know if he ever knows. That was kind of a cool thing.

You made him feel good for a few minutes. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. That's good. But how long is the show? When do you do it? I do about an hour, and then we go to the to the q a and then i try to bring it home with a final story and then my gimmick you know in wrestle speak is i try to drop just one f-bomb a night and try to find a cool way to

do it so if i do my you're looking like cynically i can't stop saying fuck it'd be amazing if i could go if i could do one a night that'd be amazing if i could go if i could do one a night that'd be a miracle but you know what i was doing and i think a lot of guys do this and i and like you know some guys are like you know magical with the word you know and and and i don't put anyone who does it really well down but i think for guys who are starting out it's a crutch it's almost like the big move in wrestling, like the steel chair to the head. It's like, oh, that does create a lot of drama and realism,

but you're using it as a crutch because you know people go, ooh. I don't even think about it. I think I'm lazy. It's just part of the way I talk, and I don't know that people don't talk like that until I say it in a situation, like an office situation or with regular people. I just throw fucks all over the place.

And they're like, what is going on? And I'm like, I don't know. Doesn't everyone talk like this? I don't even think about it. Most of the guys in the wrestling business do sprinkle their sentences liberally. But when you perform stand-up as Mick Foley, I mean, what parts of the performing that you learned as a wrestler do you engage? Well, you know, the comfort with the microphone.

Sure. And I guess, you know, some of the timing. Are you distanced from yourself, though? Do you think you're doing it? Is the character of Mick Foley on stage doing Mick Foley something you have distance from? No, no. I mean, it's kind of cool. I mean, I try to, you know, invite everybody in.

I know it's kind of cliche. You leave a piece of yourself on the stage no you're pretty open-hearted guy i mean but like when you did wrestling characters i mean you were very aware that you know this guy lived in this other world but over time people felt like they knew me they did because you've been around a while strange way and i and there was a pivotal like uh series it's supposed to be born every eternity of a series of interviews in in 1997 uh and this is at a time when you'd still go to like the local weather station and do the weather news station do the weather in character sure you know it was a different day and if wrestlers were

on like the tonight show they were on in character if i was on this show it would seem ludicrous now to have a wrestler come in. Could you do an hour? Oh, yeah. When I would do a – you know, the infancy of the wrestling, you know, they weren't podcasts then, but if you did a website, yeah, you'd be in character at all times. It was like expected of you. But for a one-on-one?

For an hour? Maybe. Come on. You could do Mankind for an hour? I did Cactus Jack for six months in Texas with my girlfriend. I had no way of letting her know that the guy she met was a character. Really? I did, and I didn't know how to break it to her

because she was attracted to that character. You mean you were having sex as Cactus Jack? I was. The date I was. And you know what? Here's the funny thing. She started catching on because I am a nice you know, I'm a nice guy. Yeah.

And it wasn't that I wouldn't be mean to her. I was just, you know, a little out there as Cactus Jack. Yeah. And then I got a phone call. I remember her specifically saying to me like, Jack. She called me Jack. Didn't know my name. Oh, my God.

You just let it go on. And she said, I know. And I said, know what? She says, I know. I said, what do you think you know? And she wouldn't say what she's I know I said what do you think you know and she wouldn't say what she knew

yeah a few days later man a week you know a lot of time has passed I got a phone call and she said

I need to talk to you I said can you tell me over the phone she said no I need to talk to you in person so on the drive over

I think I was 24 what else could it be you know right what else could it be she found you out no she oh you out no she you thought

she was pregnant yeah and what she needed to borrow three hundred dollars right and i said oh yeah yeah not that i made a lot of money it was about how all i made in a week but i said i can lend you money and later that night when it came that time i said i can't i can't do it and she said why not i said on my way over here, I promised God that if you weren't pregnant, I wouldn't have sex with you for a month. And she looked at me. She was, you're kidding me. And I said, no, I'm not kidding.

I was in character, you know? And she said, Jack, God doesn't make deals. Well, he made one with me. And she said, you know, I thought this crazy thing was just an act, but you really are out of your mind. Yeah. Like it was that bond I had, the promise I made. It's complicated.

So she wasn't pregnant. She was not. She just needed money? She needed a little bit of money. Just a little bit. And Jack wouldn't fuck her. No, not for a month. I think I caved in after three weeks.

That's crazy. Oh, my God. That was the world I was living in at that time. So what is your relationship with wrestling now? I know it sounds like you'd go back in and out. Yeah. I got a call as I was heading for the premiere in L.A. asking me if I could be on Raw.

That's the big Monday night show. And I was like, man, I had your show lined up on Tuesday. And so at one point, I actually was going to go from Los Angeles, and I had already gone from New York to Los Angeles on the red-eye. Then I was catching red-eye from Los Angeles to Kansas City, and I was going to take another red-eye or early morning flight back followed by a red-eye back to New York just to do your podcast. And I said, I can't do it.

Like, I can't do it. And honestly, when I had the one day off on this tour, and I was told, Tommy, I'm the director, I go out to LA on my one day off. He was able to contact you and get the show booked. Sure. And then I called him. I was like, Tommy, that's a lot of time. He's like, no, no, don't do this.

You can't cancel on Marin twice. I was like, Tommy, that's a lot of time. He's like, no, no, don't do this. You can't cancel on Marin twice. Like, you are correct. I cannot cancel on Marin twice. Yeah, I couldn't do it, man. Then I would be the boy who cried wolf. But so what did you do? What did you do for Raw? I mean, what was the capacity?

Well, you know what? I'm kind of associated with this match known as Hell in a Cell. It took place in June of 1998. Oh, yeah, yeah. And it's an annual tradition now. And they were giving two of the younger guys. You did the first one? I did the second one.

Yeah. But, you know, it was kind of like the defining one as far as a lot of wrestling fans are concerned. And so they were given two of the younger guys, guys seasoned veterans but young as far as the WWE. Right. You know, in that company are concerned. And they were getting their shot, their first real singles main event.

Yeah. Mr. McMahon, who I used to refer to as Vince, thought that I might be able to add something to it. And so I got that call and brought in under a veil of secrecy. Like, no one even, I didn't even tell my kids. Because usually I say, hey, make sure to watch Raw. Yeah, yeah.

And I just wanted to see, like, if I could still, like, you know, if there was, like was the element of surprise was something special. And it turned out it was a good call because my older kids were watching and they were celebrating. It was a good appearance. You surprised your kids on television? I surprised my kids. And one of the difficulties I had was explaining to WWE that I was wearing Santa Claus-themed attire for an entire year and would therefore have to wear something Santa Claus-esque

even on Raw. And at that point, I was like, I think we want to get along. So I wore the Cactus Jacks classic red and black flannel vest, and I had a very nice, uh, uh, Santa Claus button down underneath it. And we ended up using it as part of the, you know, the, the, the promo is for the movie. Yeah. No, well we didn't, I didn't, I know I'm not out there to talk about the movie. Like it's time to do business on the show. I don't want to distract from that. But, uh, the guy, um, Seth Rollins did make an allusion to it. And then I was able to say, do you know why I, Seth Rollins, did make an allusion to it. And then I was able to say, do you know why I wear this shirt?

Because I cling to the last vestiges of my innocence, the ones that weren't torn away by this demonic structure. And so I was able to kind of get a little thing. And people knew. And all of a sudden, millions of people thought, this is the 300th day in a row that he's wearing Santa Claus attire. You made a commitment to your fans? Oh, man. Yeah. Well, I made a commitment.

I actually made a commitment to Morgan Spurlock when we met him in early April. Why him? Well, Tommy Avalone had always wanted this to be a Morgan Spurlock project. Yeah. And so we were having a chance to screen the movie, not in its infancy, but at about the halfway point.

No music. It needed a lot of work. And we screened it for Morgan. The day after WrestleMania, I called at 6 a.m. to New Orleans. It was just me, the director, Tommy Avalone, and Morgan Spurlock in his office. And we queue up this movie. And for five minutes, he's kind of looking at it. And at about five minute mark, he started tapping his heels.

And I looked at Tommy, and I was was like he knows we've got a movie and and knowing that you know promoting a a documentary you know is is always an uphill struggle it's really a labor of love that uh i just thought grassroots i'll just start wearing santa claus stuff every day so i i did tell morgan i said it was like day 97 i said i'm pretty sure i sure I've worn Santa Claus themed attire like every day. And I'm going to just, I'm going to have this alternate Twitter site. If people are listening and they real, that my main Twitter site is real at real Mick Foley. The alternate one is at Foley is Santa. Yeah.

And the only thing I do on that is document what I'm wearing every single day. So people go, there's only one tweet a day that is document what I'm wearing every single day. So people go, there's only one tweet a day, and it's what I'm wearing. And my daughter got a huge laugh because she knows my regular Twitter site does pretty well. And then I show her every week we go to the other site and see that I've lost 100 followers. Oh, really? And she's like, why? I was like, because there's just a lot of people who like me but aren't along for the ride yet. The Santa ride.

But now that we're getting into the season, I think they're going to... It's a tough character for them to adjust to. Yeah, they accept it. But it's interesting to me that when you got called up by Mr. McMahon, it almost seems that you lock into this weird, almost touching respect for the medium.

You have a deep respect for wrestling wrestling and you know whatever's gone on i i mean did you have you burned bridges apparently not you know yeah i you know it seemed like i had at certain points uh but even when i left this you know i you know eight or nine months ago i i had the feeling i'd be back but that's the weird thing is that like even if you burn bridges i mean i think I think that McMahon knows on some level the way that real life and wrestling actually sort of comes together is that if one of you guys is pissed off for as long as you want to be pissed off for, the second that you want back in for whatever reason

or he calls you up to do him a favor, then that just becomes a script. Your real life becomes a script. I hadn't thought of it that way, but I believe you might have just psychoanalyzed me. but my entire life but you know what i'm saying is it is that like you know from from where like whatever tension you're building for whatever genuine reasons you may have if if like you know punk is like i guess turned his back on wrestling but if you would whatever you know you're going through your return is going to be glorious. It's all about forgiveness. I swear, I think there's a part in the wrestler's mind

that needs the closure. And Mr. McMahon's like a father figure to a lot of us. You know, Punk may be the one guy, he may be the exception that proves the rule. He may be the guy who actually leaves and never, and he told me he's never coming back. You know, I'd said that once upon a time. Did you say, what are you going to do? I did not, no he's never coming back you know i'd said that once upon a time did

you say what are you gonna do i did not know because i figure you know he's got plenty of things he's writing a thor comic you know uh he's a newlywed like he'll find something else it's like i get almost almost seriously on any given night almost everything that i got out of wrestling i get by performing in front of 150 200 people you know and uh it's like wow I love I love it up there and I'm sure he'll find something well yeah I mean it's just interesting is there part of you that thinks like good for you yeah yeah I mean you know what I mean I'm pretty outspoken and saying like man if you're if you're punk and you made your living because you were passionate about what you did and that passion dies, then it's almost like you owe it to yourself and your fans to leave.

Going back to Springsteen, my brother and I would argue because he was the original Springsteen fan. I climbed on a couple years later and then my brother kind of hopped off and he said that Bruce had had sold out and he you know he was not playing with the band and he didn't play the songs i was like john if the guy's in his 50s and he was a multi-millionaire he's still writing songs about racing in the street he's lying to himself and the public he's like a different guy you know and so uh you know i think that's something we have in common with with musicians or or or comics is that they change as they get older. You hope. You can't be that angry young man anymore or else it's just a facade. Yeah, and an angry old man's not that appealing.

No, not at all. I remember I had this talk. Dee Snider was a neighbor of mine for many years, just moved out here to L.A. to LA and I'll actually this is a cool thing one of the cool things about doing these uh one-man shows is uh like Peoria and Rosemont were booked around Dee Snider's Christmas play he wrote a a twisted Christmas tale very good I saw when he was like uh um when he was when it was in infancy when they were playing it for buyers you know he and I support uh you know what the other one is doing and he said like he was out there after you know i want to rock and we're not going to take it like floating in his pool

you know at his beautiful house go okay time to write my next angry teen anthem he's like i can't do it too happy and so too happy yeah when when i was you know late 80s early 90s a lot of my really good promo work you know stuff, was fueled by frustration. But it's hard to be that guy when you're 49 and you've done everything you've wanted to do. What were you frustrated about? Well, I didn't have the look that WWE was in vogue. This is something I've actually started this story, started including in my show.

I was getting a nice reaction. I knew all along Mr. McMahon wasn't a big fan of my look. And it was only like four months ago at a wrestling fan convention in Galveston, Texas. Keep in mind that the Mankind character had about two-thirds of his face obscured by a hideous leather mask. And Bruce Prichard was at the wrestling convention. He confirmed for me that it was finally a meeting in late 1995.

Mr. McMahon slammed his fist down the table. He said, all right, damn it. I'll bring him in, but I'm covering up his face. You know, if I'd been offered that at the time, you know, when I met with him in 95, I've been, no. He had another way of explaining why this was a great look for me.

But it was really just one man's quest to cover up another man's face. So that wasn't your idea? No, I was really comfortable being who I had been, which was Cactus Jack, traveling the country and the world. It worked everywhere I went. I didn't see the need for a change, but a lot of wrestling fans will know as I progressed,

Mr. McMahon, to his credit, came to understand. I had a more interesting life. I had a pretty interesting life story. He got that, and he also got that you know in addition to being cactus jack i had this like kind of like fantasy you know a role that i created for myself when i was 17 as dude love you know and he was like cool it was all the things that i wasn't in real life and he decided to make that gag come to life on the screen. So, you know, with hindsight being 2020, you know, I'm really fortunate that I came into the company in 1996

as a different character. Yeah. Because I got to be Mankind, I got to be Cactus Jack, I got to be Dude Love, and over time just kind of metamorphosized into, you know, Mick Foley, where the fans, you know, will, with a few exceptions, always refer to me as Mick Foley and not Mankind. I guess that is an amazing testament to you as a person,

that they're willing to do that. Like, because you were so many characters, and they grew, you know, emotionally connected to all these different manifestations. But when it all comes to pass, you were the guy that did that. And they're not running up to you going like, dude, love, or cactus jack. It's like, Mick, what's up? Exactly. Thank you for your work.

Yes, they do. And that's why I know Richard, that's essentially what I did to Richard Lewis. Right. And my kids will be with me, and someone will approach me in the airport and say, just want to thank you for everything you've done. And then they'll walk away, and I say, well, you like when they do that, right? And they go, yeah, I do. That's like a day maker do you ever go up which one which one what what what part are you talking about occasionally yeah let's make it specific

occasionally uh because i was known for that like i said for that one match the cell match and uh for a while where you hurt yourself yeah that was oh that was one i yeah i was pretty badly hurt he fell through the cage yeah yeah that was? Yeah, that was one where I was pretty badly hurt. You fell through the cage? Yeah, that was a tough one because we were in a situation where we're the show business sport, the fake sport, but we were also, at that time in 1998, the only sport that continued when one of the participants was no longer conscious.

Now that's changed. With what we've learned about head injuries, if that were to ever happen again, that match would be called right away. Yeah. Matches have been, you know, called due to injuries. And that's like the right move and the correct move. But if they'd called that match when I was unconscious, like no one would have been talking about it for a month

because it was really a struggle to see how are they going to finish this? This guy is out so when people would come up to me like that was the greatest match ever i'd be like that's like saying the titanic was the greatest cruise you know you ever say like i missed the most of it oh yeah that wasn't great for me it wasn't great for my wife my kids are crying yeah i remember calling home i'd forgotten how old are your kids now? 22, 20, 13, and 11. What are the older ones doing? My son graduated college.

He's still trying to find the right job. My daughter's kind of become like a personality. Like on Twitter, you know, at Noelle Foley, she's hosting a show for Ringside Collectibles. Very effervescent. And the biggest, this is like the nicest things on the nicest things anyone's ever said to me list is when I took three of my kids to SummerSlam in Los Angeles,

we went to Disneyland after the show for three or four days and we flew my daughter's best friend out to be there. At 19 years old, how much time are most 19-year-olds going to want to spend with their dad and two younger brothers? Yeah. None, right? Yeah. And we noticed that for three days.

It was like, you know, they would go out for a few hours and come back. And I was like, no, you can leave for as long as you want. And she's like, Dad, I really like hanging out with you. Like, you know, 19. I remember being in the rain offices in dc and i had my daughter with me and they said oh wow you know you know she was 20 at that time oh i can only imagine you know the headaches that she caused you i said no we've never had a crossword and they laughed and went no we've never had a crossword and then she came in and she verified

no she and i have never had a crossword that's sweet yeah and the. And the wife's still on board? Oh, yeah, yeah. She's still there. Good, well, that's good. She's still there. She allows me this Santa thing, you know? It's like there's worse things that a 49-year-old guy could be doing. Yeah, you could be unconscious in a fucking cell match. I think I need to show you.

That's why I was digging for the phone. As you talk, I will bring up the image. It's a stunning, stunning. Well, I'm just, you know, it's great to see you. I mean, despite whatever I may not know about wrestling, we always seem to have a fairly rich conversation. We do. I think because when I met you, it was on the Air America show.

Yeah, yeah. And at that time, I knew quite a bit. Didn't we do a bit? We did a lot of bits, yeah. Didn't we do that one where we had Brendan play the conservative? Right? And he won this. He was going to fight, wrestle me or something that we brought you in.

And we did that whole script on the air. And then we cut the mics. For years, people thought it was real. Yeah, we would get this mail sort of like, hey, look, you know, they have a right to talk too. I don't agree with them. But I think what you did to that guy. That's right. And I remember just how talented the writers were

on that show. Oh, yeah, it was a blast, dude. When I came in and co-hosted for a week with you, I was like, 5 a.m. and here's the production meeting.

These are just great. This is a moment. Talk about great moments. I'm on stage with my friends. Nora Jones has a project called Puss in Boots.

She sings with Catherine Popper and Sasha Dobson. Great, great music. And I was there, Santa, for their Christmas show. Yeah. And they go to their final number, and Nora Jones is singing Silent Night. And just in the back of my head, there's this voice going,

if you don't walk up there and start singing with her as Santa, you will never forgive yourself. So here's the proof of that encounter. Oh, my God. You did it. You look so santee. Like I embody the spirit there. So it's getting into character.

You define the parameters of that character, and you just become it, and you feel that. Sometimes, yeah, when it's really good. And you know when you're on stage and you're feeling it. There are other nights, Friday night, late show, and you're just working. Get through. Yeah, trying to get through it.

Trying to get through it. So it's like anything else. Some nights are better, some experiences are better than others, but when it's really good, it feels like a Tori Amos hug. Oh, well, I congratulate you on this new, less risky role,

this new, less risky character. I appreciate it, man. It's great seeing you, man. Thank you very much. And this is a big credibility boost to be on here. You're great. You're a good guy. I love talking to you.

I appreciate your time. Yeah, man. All right, that's it. That was it. I love the man. He's been there for us. Mick goes back with me and Brendan to their America days. We've done some on-mic wrestling shenanigans.

I think we might have played that for you guys once. Go to WTFpod for all your WTFpod needs. I'm now going to play an Attitude Stratocaster for you. Because I actually got a little feedback that said we missed your riffing. So'm now going to play an out-of-tune Stratocaster for you because I actually got a little feedback that said we missed your riffing. So, I'm going to riff. Thank you. Boomer lives! You can get anything you need with Uber Eats. Well, almost almost anything. So no, you can't get an ice rink on Uber Eats. But iced tea and ice cream?

Yes, we can deliver that. Uber Eats. Get almost almost anything. Order now. Product availability may vary by region. See app for details. Calgary is a city built by innovators. Innovation is in the city's DNA.

And it's with this pedigree that bright minds and future thinking problem solvers are tackling some of the world's greatest challenges from right here in Calgary. Thank you.