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Speaker 1: right now, this is Eyes up Here, and you're watching
Speaker 1: and listening to a brandow episode of Eyes up Here,
Speaker 1: exclusively on our Patreon channel and on the Creative Control Network.
Speaker 1: It didn't know by now. My name is Chad, and
Speaker 1: every single week I'm joined here by of course, call
Speaker 1: me her hair Marcia, Marcia Marsha. I'm losing my hair,
Speaker 1: so I'm trying to I'm so sorry. When we last
Speaker 1: left the Queen of Extreme she had this luscious, full
Speaker 1: head of hair, and now she's left with take a
Speaker 1: little bit left. She's got Charlie Brown hair. Now, oh no,
Speaker 1: you don't. I don't know what's going on, you know.
Speaker 1: I hope it's uh, it was a one time thing
Speaker 1: and hopefully it'll go back to its illustrious So I
Speaker 1: might have to buy new shampoo for thickening hair. I
Speaker 1: don't know what the hell's going you know, Hey, I
Speaker 1: know it. Well, I'll tell you this. When we last
Speaker 1: left you last week, you were talking about, you know
Speaker 1: that your bad nights sleep that you had. Have you
Speaker 1: slept a little bit better since well, you know, I'm
Speaker 1: not really sure the pills are working, but we're not.
Speaker 1: You know, we have to give it some time because
Speaker 1: we don't know if it's the hair loss that's happening
Speaker 1: from the pills or just because I was gross and
Speaker 1: didn't brush my hair for three days. I don't know.
Speaker 1: That's what you do when you're a stay at hoo mom.
Speaker 1: You put your hair up in a bun, you wear
Speaker 1: the sweatpants, and you walk around. I shower every day.
Speaker 1: Hear every day. You know, I'll admit it. And for
Speaker 1: those who look down on me, I say, do not
Speaker 1: cast the stone if you live in a glasshouse. That's
Speaker 1: what I say. All right, Well, our guest has joined
Speaker 1: the park. Are ready to Yeah, let me introduce him.
Speaker 1: His name is ned roll Sma. I hope I said
Speaker 1: that right, roll Sma and I met him through the
Speaker 1: franchise Shane Douglas at our signing that we did at
Speaker 1: the Wrestling Universe in Queens, New York. So we'll discuss that.
Speaker 1: Look at that face, he's so cute. Got him on
Speaker 1: the screen. How are you? I'm doing good? Thank you
Speaker 1: for having me. Sorry for the connectivity issues a little bit,
Speaker 1: but no week, don't worry about it. That was last week.
Speaker 1: This is a new week. We're fine, ned I before
Speaker 1: we start with the stories, I looked you up when
Speaker 1: we came home. Had to, because you know, I investigate
Speaker 1: when I have guests. One. Now, you have a big beard,
Speaker 1: but the picture of you had no beard. You have
Speaker 1: the cutest dimples. Much for your dimples, what are you
Speaker 1: covering or up there? Oh wow, that's hilarious. So you're
Speaker 1: now in the club with my mom, who also hates
Speaker 1: the beard. No, I don't the beard. I love beards.
Speaker 1: I love guys with facial here, but your dimples. I
Speaker 1: could have stuck my whole finger in your face. Adorable dimples.
Speaker 1: I thank you, thank you. I appreciate that. Well, the
Speaker 1: beard was born from the coronavirus and not being able
Speaker 1: to get a haircut and not being able to go
Speaker 1: to a barber shop and get a trim, and so
Speaker 1: I thought, well, I'm just gonna let it ride. And
Speaker 1: I like those looks. But look at them. Yeah, look
Speaker 1: there is I know that was a while ago, but
Speaker 1: those dimples. I love dimples. Yeah, no, that's the It
Speaker 1: wasn't that long of a while ago, but it was,
Speaker 1: uh the last twenty years. That was a long long
Speaker 1: time ago. Those are pre pandemic pictures, sure, and you
Speaker 1: can tell by the probably by the look on my face.
Speaker 1: Even as pre pandemic, it looked much about But you know,
Speaker 1: so like the beard thing though it you know, like
Speaker 1: I said, when you couldn't you during the coronavirus, you
Speaker 1: couldn't go to a barber shop. They weren't allowed to
Speaker 1: like mess with your face. You couldn't take your mask
Speaker 1: down and all that stuff, and all the barbers were
Speaker 1: worried about. You just couldn't get a shave. But also,
Speaker 1: you know, so I get told a lot. So I'm
Speaker 1: a seven foot tall, three hundred and seventy pound guy,
Speaker 1: and so I get told a lot in auditions for
Speaker 1: things that you have too nice of a face, or
Speaker 1: you don't look like. I'll go out for these things
Speaker 1: like Lord of the Rings characters. I'll go out for
Speaker 1: things on Game of Thrones characters, and a lot of
Speaker 1: times the feedback from casting people is like, you look
Speaker 1: too nice cod So yeah, so I'm thinking, well, there's
Speaker 1: just so much of that stuff right now out if
Speaker 1: you look at all the sci fi and fantasy type
Speaker 1: of programming that's out and coming out right now, it's
Speaker 1: huge right now, and I feel like they're I was
Speaker 1: telling my mom the other day because she stopped calling
Speaker 1: it a beard a long time ago and just starts
Speaker 1: calling it that thing on your face, And so I
Speaker 1: told her, I was like, I still feel like there's
Speaker 1: money to be made here, so I don't want to shave,
Speaker 1: you know, because I'm like, as soon as I shave
Speaker 1: my luck. As soon as I shave uh, you know,
Speaker 1: the new Game of Throne series will call and want
Speaker 1: a giant guy with a big ass beard. Yeah. No,
Speaker 1: I like the beard. I do. I like facial hair.
Speaker 1: But I when I looked you up, I said, look
Speaker 1: at those dimples. So that's that's the only thing I
Speaker 1: was putting over your your your cute dimples. So here's
Speaker 1: how we met, How I met Ned. That's a new show.
Speaker 1: It's a spinoff from Mother Now. Yeah, how about that.
Speaker 1: I I was I was running just a little late,
Speaker 1: not quite, but just a tad late for that signing
Speaker 1: at the Wrestling Universe. Right we go, Sandman and I
Speaker 1: go to the wrong store because there's two stores. I'm
Speaker 1: dressed like a whoror by the way, and I have
Speaker 1: to walk down the street and go to the second
Speaker 1: store and there's this gentleman seven feet tall, huge guy,
Speaker 1: and he's standing like towards the doorway, and I had
Speaker 1: to pee, so I just run into the bathroom. Didn't
Speaker 1: really say hi to anyone, just ran in the bathroom,
Speaker 1: came out. It was very calm, Hello everybody, you know.
Speaker 1: And Shane doesn't introduce me to dead. But nedd is
Speaker 1: standing there and he's holding an action figure he handed
Speaker 1: to me, and I don't even know what the character was,
Speaker 1: but it was a very disheveled older woman that the
Speaker 1: doll was made and the rib was it was supposed
Speaker 1: to me, can you sign this? I didn't talk for it,
Speaker 1: I didn't put it over. I handed it right back
Speaker 1: to when I went and sat down, had no clue
Speaker 1: who Ned was. And Ned comes and sits next to me,
Speaker 1: and I'm thinking to myself, this is the guy that
Speaker 1: Shane told me about. That was on how I met
Speaker 1: your mother, and that's how Ned and I became such
Speaker 1: good friends. So we have I'll tell you that the bit.
Speaker 1: So the character the action figure was from Star Wars.
Speaker 1: It was like a secondary Star Wars character. I even
Speaker 1: think the character was black, even which was even further
Speaker 1: in these days. So you know, it made the bit.
Speaker 1: It made the bit even better. But that whole, that
Speaker 1: whole jokey bit was the brainchild of the franchise, Shane Douglas.
Speaker 1: And so that one, uh, it went over like a
Speaker 1: part in church. It was the ship and I handed
Speaker 1: the doll back and I was like a nice try,
Speaker 1: and I just went, yeah, complete no cell Franny, no
Speaker 1: soulvent uh and rightfully, so that was the right move.
Speaker 1: But yeah, so then it turns out to franchise is
Speaker 1: a terrible friend. He didn't introduce the two of us.
Speaker 1: He forgot his manners. I know that was very much.
Speaker 1: And then you know then of course I'm hanging behind
Speaker 1: the uh the autograph table with the talent and uh,
Speaker 1: and I was also mister cooler. I had the cooler stocked.
Speaker 1: And that's an old trick from the road for you
Speaker 1: wrestling fans that uh, you know, the Iron Chic used
Speaker 1: to always talk about cold beer Bubba. He would always
Speaker 1: have the cold beer on ice before the last match
Speaker 1: even went on. And so I'm usually on cooler duty too,
Speaker 1: and so we're like, who's this Mark behind the table
Speaker 1: with the cooler and everything? How do you get back here?
Speaker 1: Call security? Oh shit, he is security. Yeah, nobody's gonna
Speaker 1: mess with you. And you also were nice enough to
Speaker 1: do some camera work for me. I turned around. I
Speaker 1: almost had a heart attack because my camera was gone,
Speaker 1: and I go, oh my god. And because you know me,
Speaker 1: I'll be whold. I'll have my glasses on and hold
Speaker 1: my cell phone and I won't know where either of
Speaker 1: them are because I forget that they're on my face
Speaker 1: and in my hand. The camera was gone, and I
Speaker 1: was like, did somebody come back here? And I turned
Speaker 1: the Shane, I'm like, are you ribbing me? Where's the camera?
Speaker 1: Because it was recorded and here Ned took it and
Speaker 1: was getting highlights of the store and he that day,
Speaker 1: so thank you. I'm over there working at the comic
Speaker 1: book store like I was frigging George Lucas or something around.
Speaker 1: Creative for sure. Yeah, And so we were in Queen's too,
Speaker 1: so logically you would think the camera was stolen. Oh Jesus.
Speaker 1: My dad. My dad was born and raised in Richmond
Speaker 1: Hill over there in Jamaica, so he's a Queen's guy too.
Speaker 1: By way of the Netherlands, and so the Rollsma family
Speaker 1: came through Ellis Island and settled in New York, and
Speaker 1: so I have a special connection with the York two,
Speaker 1: which allows me to make jokes about queens and those
Speaker 1: things like the you know, you gotta watch a neighborhood
Speaker 1: and real quick, I'll tell you. So, as Franchise and
Speaker 1: I were coming to that signing around the corner, we
Speaker 1: were looking for parking in the neighborhood, and you know,
Speaker 1: I'm the wheelman and testing my parallel parking skills, which
Speaker 1: are on point. So were back in a spot, great
Speaker 1: spot right around the corner from the comic book shop,
Speaker 1: and I noticed that a couple of people in the
Speaker 1: car in front of us were having a little bit
Speaker 1: of heat and someone came out of the flat across
Speaker 1: the street to come over to the car, and kind
Speaker 1: of they were having beef. This dude's in his drawers.
Speaker 1: He's in straight up in his boxer briefs, walking across
Speaker 1: the street coming out having this little confrontation. He goes
Speaker 1: around to the passenger side and starts like trying to
Speaker 1: pull the passenger out of the car. Then then they're
Speaker 1: not coming, so then he goes around the driver side
Speaker 1: and starts beefing with the driver. And like Shane and
Speaker 1: I look at each other. I'm like, we're out of here,
Speaker 1: and so we put it, put it in drive, get
Speaker 1: right back out of there, and go find another parking spot.
Speaker 1: But it's like, yeah, never, never a dull moment in
Speaker 1: in the Five Boroughs. You know, interesting, interesting, Well why
Speaker 1: don't you tell us how you met Shane because I
Speaker 1: know the story. But you know, you're an actor. Yes,
Speaker 1: you come from well you know, you weren't born and bred,
Speaker 1: but you're from Hollywood. How did you end up in
Speaker 1: Pittsburgh to meet Shane Douglas? I know you said you
Speaker 1: saw him around town and oh yeah, well so uh,
Speaker 1: Troy and how I call Troy, but Shane will k
Speaker 1: fabit and keep him Shane. So Shane, Uh, Shane Douglas
Speaker 1: is from sort of the same general area that I'm
Speaker 1: from outside of Pittsburgh. So my family's from he tells everybody.
Speaker 1: So it's okay, Oh yeah, well that's that's kind of
Speaker 1: that's a Pittsburgh thing too. There's a lot of pride
Speaker 1: in the area of being from there. And I thought
Speaker 1: because a fan came to the table and I signed
Speaker 1: something and he started putting over Philadelphia and Ned's like,
Speaker 1: I can't put that over. I'm from Pittsburgh, And I'm like, dude,
Speaker 1: e c W is Philly. You have to put no,
Speaker 1: I'm from Pittsburgh. I'm not putting And I was like, damn,
Speaker 1: you're a heel. But anyway, go ahead, Well AnyWho the
Speaker 1: where was I? So growing up around Pittsburgh and the
Speaker 1: Pittsburgh Pride thing, right, So I was a huge wrestling
Speaker 1: fan as a kid like so many of us, and
Speaker 1: came up watching the Hulkster and and you know, really
Speaker 1: through the eighties and the explosion of rock and wrestling
Speaker 1: and being on the mainstream, and like it was everything
Speaker 1: to me as a kid. I had all the action figures.
Speaker 1: I would always go to the matches. My uncle Kevin,
Speaker 1: God bless him, and my big brother Phil would always
Speaker 1: take me to the matches every time they came to
Speaker 1: the Civic Arena. Anytime there was local stuff, we always went.
Speaker 1: And so wrestling was a big part of my upbringing
Speaker 1: of my life and that it was like my thing,
Speaker 1: and you know, knowing that around the same time, Troy
Speaker 1: of Shane was making his jump into the WWF at
Speaker 1: the time coming out of being a dynamic dude and
Speaker 1: then he now he's on the big stage and Royal
Speaker 1: Rumble ninety one I think it was, and you know,
Speaker 1: and he's the young up and comer and the whole thing.
Speaker 1: And so you know, being a kid who is seeing
Speaker 1: someone on the big stage who is from your area,
Speaker 1: that's like it's first of all aspiring and it tells
Speaker 1: you that, hey, you know, if he can do it,
Speaker 1: he's one of us, and he's from around here, and
Speaker 1: he can make the big time anybody can, you know,
Speaker 1: you look up to guys like that from your hometown.
Speaker 1: And so he was always on the radar, of course,
Speaker 1: and you know, followed his career. And but the funny
Speaker 1: thing about growing up in the area is I would
Speaker 1: always see him when he was home and he's off
Speaker 1: the road and like getting a gallon of milk at
Speaker 1: the grocery store, and that I would see him and
Speaker 1: it's like, oh, wow, there's I you know, so always
Speaker 1: following his career. But the but when when he broke
Speaker 1: into ECW, he was also teaching at the same time,
Speaker 1: and so you know, it's just fascinating to me that
Speaker 1: like he would leave the classroom on like a Friday,
Speaker 1: run out to the car, grab the title belt, and
Speaker 1: his trunks and his boots, get on the plane, fly
Speaker 1: to Philly. You get off the plane, main event a show,
Speaker 1: defend the title belt, whatever the case may have been.
Speaker 1: But so I always called him mister Martin because he
Speaker 1: was the teacher, and that's what his students would have
Speaker 1: called him, and so as always a respecting anytime I
Speaker 1: would see him at the grocery store, anytime I'd seeing
Speaker 1: him outIn about, and I would say hello to him,
Speaker 1: I always always address him as mister Martin and sort
Speaker 1: of raise my hand, like you know, the professor, you know.
Speaker 1: But so I would say, since I came home to
Speaker 1: Pittsburgh from California, which sort of coincided with the outbreak
Speaker 1: of the pandemic, and then I had some adversity in
Speaker 1: my family, my dad fell ill and stuff, and so
Speaker 1: i'd come back from the West coast and of course
Speaker 1: bump into true I keep doing that, but bumping to
Speaker 1: Shane at the grocery store. But then also his kids
Speaker 1: and my nephews were wrestling in the youth circuit at
Speaker 1: the same time, so I'd see him at youth wrestling
Speaker 1: matches too, and so we struck up some conversations and
Speaker 1: the one thing we have in common is that, you know,
Speaker 1: if you know, Troy's back, he left wrestling for a
Speaker 1: minute to take care of his dad. He came back
Speaker 1: to Pittsburgh. His dad was sick and needed him, and
Speaker 1: he stepped up and came back to look out for
Speaker 1: his dad. The same thing sort of happened to me.
Speaker 1: And so you know, we're standing in the parking lot
Speaker 1: of a grocery store like for an hour, and he's
Speaker 1: telling me about, you know, caring for his dad, the adversity,
Speaker 1: the tough spots, all of the heartache and the and
Speaker 1: the stuff that you go through when you're caring for
Speaker 1: a loved one who's in the last stages of their life.
Speaker 1: And we really bonded over that, and so honestly, since then,
Speaker 1: our friendship really just and so I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: franchise Shane Douglas, in addition to being somebody that I
Speaker 1: looked up to as a performer and a character and
Speaker 1: a person from my area who did it at the
Speaker 1: highest levels, also just as a guy, as a dude,
Speaker 1: as a man, as a bro like Troy Martin, a
Speaker 1: franchise Shane Douglas as a stand up dude. One of
Speaker 1: my dearest friends. I would do anything for him. And
Speaker 1: so yeah, that's you know, just being hometown boys. That's
Speaker 1: you know, most of it. Yeah, yeah, And what you
Speaker 1: told me, you came to ECW shows in Monaca, you
Speaker 1: came to the Golden Dome. How old were you when
Speaker 1: you're coming to see us there? Are you? So that's
Speaker 1: like ninety four, ninety five through ninety seven. So that's
Speaker 1: my you know, junior high in high school, fourteen fifteen,
Speaker 1: sixteen year old kid. And so all those shows at
Speaker 1: the Golden Dome, that was those were epic times and man,
Speaker 1: sold out crowds, standing room only crowds. That place was
Speaker 1: a sweatbox, and like you know, they were turning them
Speaker 1: away at the door. And those were back in the
Speaker 1: days when everyone would come with stuff from home. They
Speaker 1: would bring, you know, things for the performers to hit
Speaker 1: each other with. So you'd see they'd come in with
Speaker 1: VCRs and crutches and toys and kendos sticks and all
Speaker 1: these things. And then of course the security when you're
Speaker 1: coming to the door, they're taking all this from you.
Speaker 1: And so there were big bins. As you were walking
Speaker 1: into the Golden Dome there there were huge like wheelie
Speaker 1: karts filled with all this what was trash, old cookie sheets,
Speaker 1: pie plates, dishes, things for the guys that hit each
Speaker 1: other with and a lot of times then Sandman knw
Speaker 1: Jack those guys, the Dudley's, they'd go fishing through the
Speaker 1: bins and pull stuff out. And that was a big
Speaker 1: thing for the ECW fans. If you remember that, there
Speaker 1: was a little bit of like street cred for having
Speaker 1: your item used and the match and they're like, oh shit,
Speaker 1: that's my VCR that you know, Bumba Range just bashed over,
Speaker 1: you know, and so those but those ECW shows are
Speaker 1: great memories and they're also you know, as far as
Speaker 1: wrestling goes, that was that was groundbreaking time and maybe
Speaker 1: you didn't you know, while you're living it, you're not
Speaker 1: necessarily aware. We have the benefit of hindsight now to
Speaker 1: see what the influence all that had. But man, at
Speaker 1: the time, it was like the best combination of rock
Speaker 1: and roll, rap music, live events that you know, being
Speaker 1: there in the arena packing them in and then the
Speaker 1: energy of the extreme wrestling and the edginess and the grittiness. Man,
Speaker 1: that was those were golden times and you know, people
Speaker 1: definitely that lived it shouldn't take it for granted for
Speaker 1: a second. And those of us now that can go
Speaker 1: back and revisit it should because the man a time
Speaker 1: from the birth of Extreme all the way really until
Speaker 1: they put it in the ground. It's just was beautiful times.
Speaker 1: And speaking of beautiful, right, So here's a good Franny story.
Speaker 1: So I think it might have been Memorial Day Mayhem,
Speaker 1: which was like May of ninety seven, that was US
Speaker 1: television title Champion franchise Shane Douglas versus Raven Escort through
Speaker 1: the Ring by the Lovely Francine and so like, you know,
Speaker 1: this was like you know, again I'm a teenager, and
Speaker 1: so you know, the curtains part, and then here comes
Speaker 1: Franny sauntering down the runway in a Victoria's Secret nightie
Speaker 1: some kind of like barely there before. Yeah, lace, you know,
Speaker 1: lace and Frilly and the whole thing and just beautiful
Speaker 1: and here she comes, and I mean, just like the
Speaker 1: in the best, highest praise, most complimentary way, what a bitch,
Speaker 1: And here comes Frannie c downdood. I mean she just
Speaker 1: you don't mess with Franny, Like just the look on
Speaker 1: her face looked like she would beat your ass. And uh,
Speaker 1: you know, but then uh, just I mean just those
Speaker 1: times and as being a wild teenager in the audience
Speaker 1: at a ECW show when Franny is in the house. Uh.
Speaker 1: You know. It's interesting you say that because Pittsburgh. We've
Speaker 1: discussed this before. I've discussed it with Shane. Pittsburgh was
Speaker 1: the only place that we were babyfaces in. We were
Speaker 1: feels everywhere else. And there was a backstage altercation between
Speaker 1: Rick Rude and Shane one evening because Rick walked right
Speaker 1: up to him and said, you're a shitty heel and
Speaker 1: pulled me aside and said you need to tell him
Speaker 1: he needs to be a heel in Pittsburgh. And I
Speaker 1: remember telling Rick, I'm not telling him, you tell him,
Speaker 1: you know, And He's like, I've told him. He doesn't
Speaker 1: listen to me, he listens to you. And I'm just like,
Speaker 1: what do you want me to do? And Shane would
Speaker 1: not heal the city of Pittsburgh. He just wouldn't do it.
Speaker 1: And like I always say, I agree with Rick Rude.
Speaker 1: I think we should have crapped all over Pittsburgh if
Speaker 1: you're a healer or a heel everywhere. But Shane saw
Speaker 1: it differently, and I think that's the only time him
Speaker 1: and I didn't really get on the same page with something,
Speaker 1: you know. But every time we walked out, whether it
Speaker 1: was in Manaka or I don't know wherever we were,
Speaker 1: Beaver County, wherever Moon, I don't know where we were,
Speaker 1: they loved us. And I don't think we could have
Speaker 1: did any wrong in Pittsburgh, you know. And I keep
Speaker 1: telling him we have to go to Pittsburgh for signing now,
Speaker 1: because it's been we haven't been there together since d
Speaker 1: c W. And I think fans would love to see
Speaker 1: us there. So promoters, if you're listening, if anybody wants
Speaker 1: to book Shane and I and you got built insecurity
Speaker 1: there too. Yeah, we'll take you, Ned, and it'll be
Speaker 1: it'll be a wonderful time. But enough about wrestling. I
Speaker 1: want to know about you and your acting career. After
Speaker 1: I met Ned, I said, you have one of the
Speaker 1: most sultry, distinguished voices I've ever heard. He was he
Speaker 1: was viewing nonsense, but it sounds like music at one, Yeah,
Speaker 1: but it's but it was so eloquent. You can you
Speaker 1: can read the phone book, and you have you have
Speaker 1: a very nice, pleasant voice. And I told you that
Speaker 1: and I asked, I asked you one of the things,
Speaker 1: do you do voiceovers? You said, well, yes, I do,
Speaker 1: And I was like that voice How did you get
Speaker 1: into the world of acting? It honestly goes all the
Speaker 1: way back to when I was a little kid. I
Speaker 1: was kind of a precocious kid and a performer kid.
Speaker 1: I was always in you know, school plays and productions,
Speaker 1: community theater type stuff, church plays and productions. And then
Speaker 1: I was also a choir boy when I was a kid,
Speaker 1: So I did church choir, I would sing, I did
Speaker 1: competition choir honestly all the way up until my voice
Speaker 1: went from a nice tenor, like a pop music tenor,
Speaker 1: to a base and you know, and then the singing
Speaker 1: career kind of, you know, was put on the back burner.
Speaker 1: But no, so I was sort of always into performing
Speaker 1: arts as a little kid, but so as a teenager,
Speaker 1: being in you know, high school musicals and community theater
Speaker 1: and stuff. That also kind of coincided with an extreme
Speaker 1: growth spurt that then all of a sudden, you know,
Speaker 1: my basketball career and being a college athlete and then
Speaker 1: a professional athlete sort of took the sort of the
Speaker 1: front priority. But you know, but always in the back
Speaker 1: of my mind, though, and always I thought professionally or
Speaker 1: sort of the long term career was going to be
Speaker 1: something in performing arts or broadcasting. So I grew up
Speaker 1: at the tail and like I'm the baby of the family,
Speaker 1: but I still grew up at the tail end where
Speaker 1: we didn't have cable. You had four channels every night
Speaker 1: in our household, we have the nightly news on it.
Speaker 1: So I grew up with Dan rather grew up with
Speaker 1: Peter Jennings and Brokaw and those guys, right, So I
Speaker 1: idolize those guys. I always felt like I just always thought, oh,
Speaker 1: I want to be a newsman, you know, I wanted
Speaker 1: to be on sixty minutes or something. And so my
Speaker 1: educational track while I was pursuing basketball was in broadcast journalism.
Speaker 1: So I'm a classically trained broadcast journalist. I learned the
Speaker 1: old school way of journalism, storytelling, news, development, news, and
Speaker 1: then again also was always doing performing stuff, you know,
Speaker 1: the theatrical and dramatic stuff. But so it's always sort
Speaker 1: of been there. And then you think in terms of okay, well,
Speaker 1: where are you going to apply that trade, where are
Speaker 1: you going to do that? It's either New York or
Speaker 1: Los Angeles, right, So everybody kind of moves to the
Speaker 1: coasts for me. So I earned a Division one basketball scholarship.
Speaker 1: I went through college playing basketball. I had two different stops.
Speaker 1: I played two years at Iona College, which is in
Speaker 1: New Rochelle, New York. I transferred from Iona, played one
Speaker 1: season of JUCO ball in Manaca at the Golden Dome.
Speaker 1: That was our home arena. And so that was ninety
Speaker 1: nine two thousand, which they were still around that time,
Speaker 1: still doing shows occasionally there and stuff and but so
Speaker 1: and then I transferred and finished at Tennessee Martin. In
Speaker 1: two thousand and two, I was drafted into the NBA's
Speaker 1: developmental League they called the G League now, but so
Speaker 1: I was at development egue guy. I played in the
Speaker 1: NBA Summer League for a few summers, and that was
Speaker 1: at Cal State Long Beach. Every July, the NBA the
Speaker 1: Lakers would host the West Coast Summer League at Cal
Speaker 1: State Long Beach. And I got, you know, familiar with
Speaker 1: the West Coast, a little bit familiar with the lay
Speaker 1: of the land, and you know, I kind of fell
Speaker 1: in love with so Cal too, Like how can you
Speaker 1: not with the palm trees and the warm air and
Speaker 1: the beach and the whole thing. Like I'm a so
Speaker 1: Cal guy, an Orange County guy, hot rod guy, like
Speaker 1: I love that so Cal culture and so, but my
Speaker 1: playing career I started to sort of run into some
Speaker 1: dead ends or closed doors. You know, the team that
Speaker 1: I was on would get you know, would fold, or
Speaker 1: I would get cut or released and have to come
Speaker 1: home and try the next thing. And at the same time,
Speaker 1: like I started booking gigs in commercials and pretending to
Speaker 1: play basketball more than I was getting real gigs to
Speaker 1: actually play, and so I you know, at that time
Speaker 1: that was about like two thousand and four five. Well, yeah,
Speaker 1: and and my basketball experience too, you know. So I
Speaker 1: ended up doing like you know, the player Kevin Durant
Speaker 1: from Think Now. Yeah, he's one of the NBA's best players.
Speaker 1: I was in his first Nike commercial. He had his
Speaker 1: first shoe come out, and they did a whole rap
Speaker 1: music video and stuff. Uh and so like things like that,
Speaker 1: opportunities like that where they're doing these basketball scenes. And
Speaker 1: for a couple of years there, I got steady work
Speaker 1: Southwest Airlines, Taco Bell, Coca Cola, Nike foot Locker, all
Speaker 1: these silly commercials mostly the character I played was victim
Speaker 1: number two getting dunked on by the celebrity seven seven
Speaker 1: foot white guy underneath the basket, you know, getting dumped
Speaker 1: on by the celebrity. And so I'm in a lot
Speaker 1: of I'm in a lot of commercials like that where
Speaker 1: the hero gets to I'm putting him over and uh
Speaker 1: so I did you know? Did it? Steady dyed to that?
Speaker 1: And so you were a jobber in commercials? Is where
Speaker 1: you're trying. That's right, that's right. Yeah, I was enhancement talent.
Speaker 1: There you go and jerked many a curtain in my
Speaker 1: day of Yeah, many how many guys seven ft told
Speaker 1: him that though, well, that's right, that's right. But like
Speaker 1: I said, I play a I have a special set
Speaker 1: of skills and I can look great and getting bashed
Speaker 1: on so so and you know, so then another an
Speaker 1: opportunity came up in two thousand and five, Like I said,
Speaker 1: I'd made the move to the West Coast and was
Speaker 1: sort of chasing the business and sort of orbiting around there.
Speaker 1: And then I had an opportunity to audition for a
Speaker 1: freshman sitcom that at the time was was brand new.
Speaker 1: I read for a character that was supposed to be
Speaker 1: the you know, they were this Minnesota corn corn fed,
Speaker 1: middle American big family and the character of Marshall Erickson
Speaker 1: in the show played by Jason Siegel, the actor who
Speaker 1: he's six foot four. The joke was that when he
Speaker 1: came home to see his family, like he was the
Speaker 1: runt of the litter, he was the little guy and
Speaker 1: picked the pick on little brother, and so they cast
Speaker 1: a family of giants essentially. So the character, the dad character,
Speaker 1: the Ericson father was played by an actor named Bill Fogerbach,
Speaker 1: who played Dauber on Coach. He's six foot seven himself.
Speaker 1: He also does the voice of Patrick the Starfish on SpongeBob. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so he's a big guy. I do too, he's tall.
Speaker 1: Then the Ericson mom was Susie Plaxon. She's six foot three.
Speaker 1: Oh so, yes, yeah, barefoot six foot three. She's done
Speaker 1: a lot of she was in the Star Trek universe.
Speaker 1: She had a recurring character, I want to say, on
Speaker 1: Next Generation, and so she does a lot of the
Speaker 1: comic cons and the Star Trek stuff. But so Mama
Speaker 1: Erickson was six foot three, then myself at seven feet
Speaker 1: as Marcus Erickson, and then we have another brother two,
Speaker 1: who was like six six sixty seven himself, So they
Speaker 1: had this whole family of giants. And then Jason Siegel
Speaker 1: and at six four and then his wife or girlfriend
Speaker 1: at the time, fiance, Lily, played by Alison Hannigan, who's
Speaker 1: five foot three maybe yuh yes, I remember her being
Speaker 1: very tiny next to him. Yeah, And so it made
Speaker 1: for good humor. But so when the opportunity to read
Speaker 1: for that part came down the line again, they were
Speaker 1: looking for somebody to make Jason Siegle look small, like
Speaker 1: the run to the family, and I think, you know,
Speaker 1: Jason and I bear enough of a resemblance that we
Speaker 1: could pass for family, and so that helped me. And
Speaker 1: so they the audition came out and it was at Fox,
Speaker 1: and so I walk on the lot at Fox. And
Speaker 1: you know that when you're the auditioning game and the
Speaker 1: trying to get in television and movies and everything like that,
Speaker 1: it's it's essentially like walking into the gas station and
Speaker 1: getting a scratcher and scratching off a million dollar ticket.
Speaker 1: Like it's the odds are like that. It's super competitive.
Speaker 1: Everybody wants to do that, you know, So it's just
Speaker 1: like that when you go to audition for these things,
Speaker 1: even for a seven foot tall character, there's a line
Speaker 1: out the door and around the corner of dudes trying
Speaker 1: to get this role right. And so but so I'm
Speaker 1: walking onto the lot at Fox and I'm going into
Speaker 1: the the rooms, the casting offices, and as I'm walking
Speaker 1: up to the door, these two ladies are walking in
Speaker 1: the building with me, and you know, they're like, you know, younger,
Speaker 1: younger ladies and good looking girls and the whole thing.
Speaker 1: So I'm like, you know, I stepped aside and held
Speaker 1: the door for them, and like, you know, it was
Speaker 1: very gentlemanly but also flirting and you know, just you know,
Speaker 1: I don't know why, it's just I'm like, you know,
Speaker 1: you're just walking in. I'm like, okay, here are these ladies.
Speaker 1: I'll hold the door for them. And we made a
Speaker 1: little joke and we you know, had a moment, right.
Speaker 1: So then I go in the waiting room. Like I said,
Speaker 1: there's a line around the door of every big dude
Speaker 1: in Hollywood has at this stupid reading, right, And so
Speaker 1: you know, they call you in the room. They're like, ned,
Speaker 1: come on in. I step in the room and I'm
Speaker 1: auditioning for the two women, I held the door. That's
Speaker 1: that's freaking corny. Get good. My mom always says that, yeah, so,
Speaker 1: but also like it's it. You know, I got a
Speaker 1: little bit of an edge perhaps over the other guys
Speaker 1: there because I had a moment that they didn't get
Speaker 1: with the casting people. So you know, the like you
Speaker 1: read one line and it's a throwaway line. It was
Speaker 1: something like, you know, the scene was at a Thanksgiving dinner,
Speaker 1: and the bit was that I asked Lily. I said, Lily,
Speaker 1: will you pass the corn? And she takes a plate
Speaker 1: of baby corn and passes it out of frame to
Speaker 1: me that you know, or that it was giant corn
Speaker 1: for her, and she passes it to me in a
Speaker 1: baby corn on the plate. But the line was Lily,
Speaker 1: will you please pass the corn? And so I go, Lily,
Speaker 1: will you please pass the corn? And these two ladies
Speaker 1: like cracked up laughing like they were watching you know,
Speaker 1: spaceballs or placing saddles or something. You know why, because
Speaker 1: in their mind they said whole, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's
Speaker 1: a family. When you say corn, everybody, yeah, core hole.
Speaker 1: So it's a funny joke. I'm thinking of the scene
Speaker 1: from the show. Yeah, yeah, so the audition, that's why
Speaker 1: they popped. Yes, can let me just serve in for
Speaker 1: a second. So as a as a as a watcher
Speaker 1: of the show and knowing that episode, the Thanksgiving episode
Speaker 1: was always a big deal, and this was the first season,
Speaker 1: so it was you know, we didn't know it was
Speaker 1: going to be that running joke that it would be.
Speaker 1: The reveal of the family is the best part of
Speaker 1: that episode because, like Ned said, he's this huge guy
Speaker 1: in New York City among everybody else, but when he
Speaker 1: goes into his house in Minnesota, he's the run and
Speaker 1: he's getting picked on by Ned and the other brother.
Speaker 1: It's the funniest freaking reveal they could have possibly had.
Speaker 1: I love that. Yeah, I agree, I agree completely, And
Speaker 1: that was you know, they played it up so you know,
Speaker 1: like when I first come in, when they Marshall and
Speaker 1: Lily come to the door and the family comes in,
Speaker 1: like I, I lead the way through into the kitchen,
Speaker 1: I have to duck real low. The doorway was like
Speaker 1: six ' five, you know, so I had to duck
Speaker 1: really exaggerated duck under the doorway and everything, and that
Speaker 1: cut everybody up. And there's also a bit in that
Speaker 1: exchange where the Ericsson's created the ultra dangerous game called
Speaker 1: basque ice ball, which was a mashup of ice hockey, basketball, lacrosse,
Speaker 1: and just good old fashioned whaling on each other. And
Speaker 1: so you know, there's a back and forth with Lily
Speaker 1: about oh, you know, honey, it's really not a sport
Speaker 1: for a girl, and she goes, well, that's funny because
Speaker 1: your brother throws like a girl. And she chucks the
Speaker 1: ball at me, and Marcus chucks the ball back at
Speaker 1: her and hits her right in the face. I think
Speaker 1: you got the role because you were nice to the
Speaker 1: ladies in the elevator. Is that what you're trying to
Speaker 1: tell us? Well, I mean, I'd like to think I
Speaker 1: got the role because I'm the greatest seven foot tall
Speaker 1: actor that there ever was, and I like, you know,
Speaker 1: Sir Lawrence Olivier and al Pacino. No, but probably I
Speaker 1: would say that the happenstance and the moment that I
Speaker 1: got where, you know, because again every guy in the
Speaker 1: line for this audition read that one line, like you
Speaker 1: you're just going there for long. They wouldn't hire you
Speaker 1: because you were charming in the elevator. I wouldn't know.
Speaker 1: But it's like, but but I got an extra thirty
Speaker 1: seconds to vibe with them, like I got, I got,
Speaker 1: I got thirty ninety seconds of their time that the
Speaker 1: other people didn't get, where I was able to just
Speaker 1: show personality. I was able to show my voice. You
Speaker 1: could how much can you get out of the line?
Speaker 1: Say that again? Don't sell yourself short, because no, to me,
Speaker 1: you're saying, you're basically telling me that if you didn't
Speaker 1: have that moment in the elevator, everybody says the same line,
Speaker 1: you might have not got that job. Could be could
Speaker 1: be you know, it may have been the difference between
Speaker 1: me just being another face in the crowd and being
Speaker 1: somebody that they vibed with. Right, But I'm saying, if
Speaker 1: you sucked with your deliverance of the line, I wouldn't
Speaker 1: have had a chance of a little bit of credit.
Speaker 1: Well thank you. I well listen, I'll let you put
Speaker 1: me over and I'll I mean, maybe it did it.
Speaker 1: I'll play it humble. I mean, it could have stilled
Speaker 1: his cologne or something, you know, like they're just something
Speaker 1: that made him stand out. No, I'm just saying, if
Speaker 1: I'm in the elevator, I might say, oh way, I
Speaker 1: want an endearing guy, but when he comes in the room,
Speaker 1: if he the deliverance sucked, I wouldn't hired you. That's true, Yeah,
Speaker 1: thank you. You've got to put yourself over Okay, well so,
Speaker 1: but anyway, so back to the basketball scene, right and
Speaker 1: hitting her in the face of the ball. So the
Speaker 1: scene is great. They filmed it in two pieces, so
Speaker 1: obviously she chucks the ball at me and I catch it,
Speaker 1: react and then throw the ball back, and that's I'm
Speaker 1: in a single, or actually it's not a single. I'm
Speaker 1: aware with the other brother and the person playing my wife.
Speaker 1: And there was a prop guy who stood off camera,
Speaker 1: and I gave him a good hard chest pass basketball
Speaker 1: pass right to really throw the ball. And then of course,
Speaker 1: then they switched the camera and they had a a
Speaker 1: basketball pillow that was totally just a pillow that was
Speaker 1: airbrushed so perfectly. You gotta love Hollywood movie magic. They
Speaker 1: airbrushed this thing and looked exactly like the ball. And
Speaker 1: so then they laid out the big matt, you know,
Speaker 1: the cushiony matt for her, and she took the pillow ball.
Speaker 1: Then somebody threw from just off camera just threw the
Speaker 1: pillow at her face and then she you know, reacts,
Speaker 1: takes the bump onto onto the mat, which was great.
Speaker 1: And so you know, again, like you had mentioned, Chad
Speaker 1: that that show at the time purchased, that was only
Speaker 1: nine episodes into their first season, so it wasn't a
Speaker 1: huge hit. It was just starting to get steam. But
Speaker 1: what they had was you had Doogie Howser in the cast,
Speaker 1: and you had the chick from American Pie that everybody
Speaker 1: loved with the flute and and so that for me,
Speaker 1: like when I when I got the reading for the part,
Speaker 1: I said, I called my sister on the phone because
Speaker 1: I had already seen the first five episodes on CBS,
Speaker 1: so I was a fan of the show. And I
Speaker 1: remember talking to my sister here in Pittsburgh telling her,
Speaker 1: oh man, you know, have you watched this show with
Speaker 1: Dougie Howser and the chick from American Pie. It's really funny,
Speaker 1: and you know she so we were both fans. And
Speaker 1: then I got the call to go read and eventually
Speaker 1: got the part, and so it sort of picked up
Speaker 1: steam after that. But the one thing I'm very proud
Speaker 1: of as a former basketball player and a guy who
Speaker 1: was a you know, collegiate basketball player and a pro.
Speaker 1: They used that scene after season one into season two,
Speaker 1: CBS took that scene of me throwing the ball off
Speaker 1: of her face and they used it in the promos
Speaker 1: for the NCAA tournament for March Madness, And so I
Speaker 1: geeked out. I marked out for that big time, like
Speaker 1: you know, like on all the games, on the National
Speaker 1: Championship Game, the final four, CBS was on promos for
Speaker 1: their shows and they were showing me chuck the ball
Speaker 1: off of Alison Hannigan's face, and so I was like,
Speaker 1: super that just geeked me out for the matt to
Speaker 1: be a part of March Madness. Right. But so the
Speaker 1: character Marcus Harrickson kind of you know picked up a
Speaker 1: little bit of Steme. The writers kind of liked me.
Speaker 1: And here's another thing about you know, sort of one
Speaker 1: on one moments when you're on the set or something.
Speaker 1: You know, we'd be at the craft services table or
Speaker 1: we'd be in the makeup chair or whatever for like
Speaker 1: this first episode, and I always made a point to
Speaker 1: like chit chat or talk it up with the writers
Speaker 1: and the creators of the show. And I think through
Speaker 1: some of those conversations like they maybe we we vibed
Speaker 1: and they picked up on maybe some comedic timing and
Speaker 1: maybe that they're like, okay, well they started writing me material.
Speaker 1: They started writing bits and jokes and things that were
Speaker 1: sort of for me and my character that in that
Speaker 1: universe in How I Met Your Mother the Hemium Verse, uh,
Speaker 1: that that character sort of developed into something and and
Speaker 1: then it really just is one of some of the
Speaker 1: most special memories I have and and really one of
Speaker 1: the best jobs I've ever had. Like I mean, I
Speaker 1: look at all the jobs I've had in my life
Speaker 1: of different things you can do to earn a buck.
Speaker 1: My time on How I Met Your Mother was like
Speaker 1: a dream. It really was. And that was low key
Speaker 1: politicking without politicking. Yeah, I just think, yeah, you're you're networking,
Speaker 1: You're you know, you're you're just getting to know people
Speaker 1: and stuff and trying to fill the space. But also,
Speaker 1: I mean there is some you're playing the angle a
Speaker 1: little bit, just trying to forget about me over here.
Speaker 1: You know, I know, I'm not I don't want to
Speaker 1: be a wallflower, which sometimes I will default to that,
Speaker 1: and so you sort of have to push yourself out
Speaker 1: of comfort zones and being like you know, quiet or
Speaker 1: just you know, so you were Yeah, but it sounds
Speaker 1: to me like you were doing it because you're you're
Speaker 1: a nice guy with a good per personality. You weren't
Speaker 1: doing it to throw people under the bus and try
Speaker 1: to take somebody else's scenes away from them. You know
Speaker 1: what I mean. It's natural coming out of here. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you can say that it's good, but oh, I'm sorry, Chad,
Speaker 1: I stepped on you say other day. It's a reason
Speaker 1: we remember Marcus and not the other brother. That's it
Speaker 1: did help. It's mayor stand out. Yeah I would say that,
Speaker 1: and yeah, there was. You know, being being seven feet
Speaker 1: sometimes has its advantages. It's not great on an airplane,
Speaker 1: it's not. It's not great on a submarine. Not great
Speaker 1: in a yeah it's not. It's not great in a Prius,
Speaker 1: but sometimes it has its advantages. You don't drive a
Speaker 1: smart car, is what you're telling us. You know. No,
Speaker 1: And here's a crazy thing about me. It's I don't
Speaker 1: own a car. I haven't owned a car in twenty years. Wow,
Speaker 1: So I uh, you know, so went to college and
Speaker 1: I own a New York and the New York metro area.
Speaker 1: You know there's nowhere to park. You ride the subway,
Speaker 1: you ride the train. That's the deal, okay. And then
Speaker 1: you know try like through the basketball thing. You know,
Speaker 1: you go overseas to Europe, you're over there for weeks
Speaker 1: or a month at a time, come back. And so
Speaker 1: I never I always kept tried to keep all my
Speaker 1: loose ends tied up so that I had freedom to
Speaker 1: make moves when the phone would ring. And so then
Speaker 1: it just put it off. Never had a car. Then
Speaker 1: when I moved to California again, you can't you can't
Speaker 1: park it anywhere. And a lot of places in California
Speaker 1: you're driving around doing laps looking for parking or it's expensive.
Speaker 1: And also, like I sort of bought into the green
Speaker 1: thing a little bit, which I can tell you about,
Speaker 1: Like I kind of, you know, bought into the whole sustainability,
Speaker 1: eco friendly thing a little bit, and so that was
Speaker 1: a part of it as well. I did a lot
Speaker 1: of walking, biking and taking public transit in California. But
Speaker 1: you know, Cali is like the car capital of our
Speaker 1: country outside of Detroit, where you know that they're repuation,
Speaker 1: but I mean Calli is like car country. It's the
Speaker 1: car capital of the world, the freeway system, everybody drives.
Speaker 1: It's very annoying. It's just a part of it, right,
Speaker 1: And so people would tell me all the time, they say,
Speaker 1: you can't live in California and not have a car.
Speaker 1: And I said, for every person that says that to me,
Speaker 1: I'm adding a year on the back end, and I'm
Speaker 1: not having a car out here because you know, like you,
Speaker 1: I would prove you wrong. I could do it, and
Speaker 1: I did it for a long time. And so you know,
Speaker 1: right now, as I'm here in PA and kind of
Speaker 1: handle some family things, I drive my mom's car a lot.
Speaker 1: She has a Chevy Tracks. She has a Chevy Tracks,
Speaker 1: which is one of the smaller you know, Chevys. It's
Speaker 1: not an suv. It's like a crossover, but it's small.
Speaker 1: So you have to put the chair like it's ridiculous.
Speaker 1: It's ridiculous. It's completely unsafe. Uh it's you know, it's
Speaker 1: like not you're not supposed to drive like that, right
Speaker 1: lay yeah, yeah, yeah, So I got the backseat way back.
Speaker 1: And so my friends will give me a hard time
Speaker 1: because they're like, when you drive up, we can see
Speaker 1: your knee in the window. Yeah, knee is bent up
Speaker 1: where you can see the out the window. And then
Speaker 1: the other funny thing is that I, like you said,
Speaker 1: I've got the seat lean back so much that when
Speaker 1: I make a left, I look out the back window,
Speaker 1: which is terribly unsafe because you're like right, You're right
Speaker 1: in that side impact zone. So god forbid if I
Speaker 1: took a t bone, if somebody t bone me or
Speaker 1: hit me from the side, I'm gonna get messed up.
Speaker 1: And my knees are so messed up in the dash
Speaker 1: and don't fit. If I get in a front collision
Speaker 1: or something, I'm gonna get messed up. You need like
Speaker 1: a horse and buggy where you're fruit, and you could
Speaker 1: just well, I've already got the amish beard I should.
Speaker 1: I could hit the horse gallop, and I think it
Speaker 1: would be brilliant. But I'm also, you know, like I said,
Speaker 1: north of three hundred and fifty pounds, so that would
Speaker 1: be messed up with you having set looking dude, No,
Speaker 1: it's look at you. Big show that was backstage you
Speaker 1: see at ae w's premiere or their show they do
Speaker 1: the Friday night show on TBS. Yeah, they dynam on TNT,
Speaker 1: and so we duck backstage at ae W and we're
Speaker 1: meeting with everybody, and so I told Big Show. You know,
Speaker 1: people people yell Big Show at me all the time,
Speaker 1: Like I'll be in the grocery store or I'll be
Speaker 1: somewhere and people are like, hey, Big Show. Just put
Speaker 1: your arm up and be like hey, yeah, that's yeah.
Speaker 1: And so I told him that. I said, dude, people
Speaker 1: shout Big Show at me almost probably as much as
Speaker 1: they do it to you. He was like, sorry, like
Speaker 1: it's okay, but it's okay. But you look at us
Speaker 1: in that picture like we're two goofs. Like look at
Speaker 1: that picture, like we look like two goofs, the two
Speaker 1: of us. When he just put that picture up really quickly,
Speaker 1: I just looked at your eyes. I thought it was
Speaker 1: Brian Danielson at first, but then I said, no, he's
Speaker 1: too large. Yeah, I didn't expect you to be backstage
Speaker 1: with show. And then I was like they And then
Speaker 1: Shane told me that you guys had gone to the
Speaker 1: show together, So yes, makes sense. So the quick backstory
Speaker 1: on that is that that ae W show happened the
Speaker 1: weekend that Dominic Denuci passed away, which, for you wrestling
Speaker 1: fans know that Dominic trained Shane Douglas and Cody Michaels
Speaker 1: and and Brian Hildebrandt and McK foley, and so Dominic
Speaker 1: was a legend in the business and a legend in Pittsburgh.
Speaker 1: And he yeah, he passed away that weekend. And so
Speaker 1: I so I knew that the wrestling show was in talent.
Speaker 1: I had planned ongoing. I know that Shane didn't. You know,
Speaker 1: that's not something that he would do. And so I
Speaker 1: went to the Wednesday night show, the live taping on TNT,
Speaker 1: and I was backstage hanging with guys, you know, some
Speaker 1: of the other guys in the promotion of friendly with them,
Speaker 1: Badass Billy gunn uh you know, friendly with some of
Speaker 1: the other performers they are there now. And so just
Speaker 1: sort of hob nob in backstage and I said to Taz,
Speaker 1: I said, hey, man, I was like, you know, who
Speaker 1: would really love to be here? And He's like, who's that?
Speaker 1: And I'm like, franchise Shane Douglas. He's like, he ain't
Speaker 1: goven here, he ain't govern here. And I was like, well,
Speaker 1: you know, it would be it would be a nice thing.
Speaker 1: And so then when when Shane called me and told
Speaker 1: me about Dominic, the next day that I think it
Speaker 1: was that Thursday. Like I thought to myself, you know, okay,
Speaker 1: so we have a pro wrestling show on national television
Speaker 1: in the city of Pittsburgh, coinciding with Dominick's passing. I
Speaker 1: was like, it would be we would be remiss if
Speaker 1: we didn't honor Dominic and honor like the roots of
Speaker 1: professional wrestling and especially Pittsburgh Professional wrestling, like the name
Speaker 1: Dominic Denucci needed to be spoken and honored that weekend, right.
Speaker 1: And of course the dudes at AW, I mean the Vets,
Speaker 1: Aren Tully, Jake the Snake, Roberts, Big Show, Mark Henry
Speaker 1: said some beautiful things. All the ECW guys like they
Speaker 1: all recognize, but like Tony Kahan, like he don't know
Speaker 1: anything about Dominic Danucci, you know. And some of the fans,
Speaker 1: the AW fans that may be newer to pro wrestling
Speaker 1: or newer to the scene, then maybe right over their head, right,
Speaker 1: And so I thought, I told Shane, I go, look,
Speaker 1: there's a pro wrestling show in Pittsburgh, and Dominic Danucci
Speaker 1: just passed. We need to go. And I also thought
Speaker 1: that Troy and I'll call him Troy in this moment
Speaker 1: because it means something like Troy needed that, he needed
Speaker 1: the love and he just lost his mentor who was
Speaker 1: like a father to him or like it. You know,
Speaker 1: he just he loved Dominic and I did too. But
Speaker 1: I love Troy. He's such a good dude. And I thought,
Speaker 1: you know, he's got to be hurting, he's got to
Speaker 1: be mourning, he's got to be bummed out. And there's
Speaker 1: a wrestling show in town, and it's all the boys
Speaker 1: he knows and all the boys that love him, and like,
Speaker 1: he wouldn't do that for himself, Like he wouldn't show
Speaker 1: up there and be like, hey, you know, hey guys
Speaker 1: or whatever. But so he I dragged him along and
Speaker 1: it was a beautiful thing, man, to see the outpouring
Speaker 1: of affection for Shane Douglas, who you know, good, bad,
Speaker 1: are indifferent is a heat seeking missile in his business
Speaker 1: to this day. And like I mean, he you know,
Speaker 1: god bless. I mean, I'm not talking out of school
Speaker 1: because I'll tell him this later on. Like he's a
Speaker 1: polarizing character. He you know, people people love him, people
Speaker 1: hate him, and all things in between, and and like,
Speaker 1: but he deserved, you know, he deserved love and affection
Speaker 1: and outpouring and like, so so we walk in that
Speaker 1: Friday night for the new show. It is the season premiere,
Speaker 1: the premiere of the show on TVs, and the first
Speaker 1: faces we see is Arn Anderson and his son, Billy
Speaker 1: Gunn and his son Taz and his son and like
Speaker 1: and then it just started and it was a parade
Speaker 1: of every single person like kissing the ring of the franchise, honestly,
Speaker 1: which he deserved, that he needed and it was awesome.
Speaker 1: But like I said, Tommy Dreamer, Jerry Lynn, and so,
Speaker 1: uh there's a picture that then made the way around
Speaker 1: that Jeff Jones organized the picture. Yeah, I'm not that good.
Speaker 1: I'll try. We'll find it and and again we can
Speaker 1: we can insert it later. But it's sort of like
Speaker 1: an impromptu hardcore reunion Jerry Lynn, uh, gosh, Dean Malenko,
Speaker 1: Shane Douglas, Taz Dreamer, everybody in, Jeff Jones and and
Speaker 1: that that was so cool and like not orchestrated at
Speaker 1: all and just happened. And but yeah, so I said
Speaker 1: Mark Henry, Mark Henry, like I flagged him down. He's
Speaker 1: walking by backstage. I don't know if he saw us
Speaker 1: or whatever. And I was like hey, you know big man,
Speaker 1: come and say hi, and he he walked right over.
Speaker 1: I say, you remember this character it is. Yeah, there's
Speaker 1: another one too, because Malenko, Dean Malenko was there. He's
Speaker 1: he was in it. There's another picture that was bigger,
Speaker 1: that had more of him in it. But yeah, that's
Speaker 1: the the one that got around Twitter. Yeah, yeah, yeah
Speaker 1: that But so AnyWho, Mark Henry actually, you know when
Speaker 1: I told him, I said, hey, man, just to freshen
Speaker 1: his memory, I said, you remember franchise Shame Douglas. He's like,
Speaker 1: of course, I said, his mentor, Dominic Denucci died. He goes,
Speaker 1: I know, and he just said the most beautiful things
Speaker 1: to Troy. He like he got tears in his eyes
Speaker 1: Mark Henry, and I was like, man, what a sweetheart,
Speaker 1: you know, what a wonderful guy, and and like so
Speaker 1: that was one of that that's such a great memory
Speaker 1: for me, and I know it is for Troy. He'll
Speaker 1: he'll he'll know sell it. You know. He actually told me,
Speaker 1: he told me when when you took him to it,
Speaker 1: and he's he's mentioned it once or twice afterwards, and
Speaker 1: he was like, you know, he goes. I was just
Speaker 1: sitting around sulking, and it was great for Ned to
Speaker 1: come and grab me and take me there and get
Speaker 1: me out of, you know, my isolation because it's just
Speaker 1: you and your thoughts. Yeah, we needed that. You were
Speaker 1: a very good friend to him that night. You're you're
Speaker 1: a great friend to him always, but he really needed
Speaker 1: you that day and you came through. So I think
Speaker 1: we're doing that for him. And there's there's more. There's
Speaker 1: a ton of good stories even from that night. And
Speaker 1: then for me too as a fan. I don't you
Speaker 1: know what I mean to like bore everybody here, but
Speaker 1: you're all wrestling fans too, sure, but so you're sitting
Speaker 1: for me as a fan again growing up watching Shane Douglas,
Speaker 1: the young up and comer who then became the franchise,
Speaker 1: the fucking franchise and is a goddamn legend. He and
Speaker 1: I up in the rafters right of course, the Triple
Speaker 1: Threat and the whole deal. Man. Uh he you know,
Speaker 1: he was like breaking down matches and we were like
Speaker 1: talking shop really and like you know, I'm just soaking
Speaker 1: it in, like you know, he's look at this, look
Speaker 1: at that, Look how they're doing this. And we're talking
Speaker 1: about things and no one around, nobody saw us. We're
Speaker 1: up and all the way almost up in the balcony,
Speaker 1: just the two of us, and he's like breaking it
Speaker 1: all down. That that was a that was a fun
Speaker 1: thing too, to talk shop and to sort of bend
Speaker 1: the ear of a legend while this while the show
Speaker 1: was going on. And that was a big show too.
Speaker 1: There was a few things that happened in it so
Speaker 1: that like all everybody was there, all of their their
Speaker 1: whole roster almost was there, all of their road agents
Speaker 1: were there, and it's like a who's who, and you know,
Speaker 1: we we had such a good time. I've got a
Speaker 1: million stories from then, and but we you know, we could.
Speaker 1: I could talk to you guys all day. I love
Speaker 1: being a part of the show. Thank you. Except I
Speaker 1: still contend Tony Khan is afraid of Shane. So is
Speaker 1: that right? I think Shane all the time, I said,
Speaker 1: I think Tony is afraid of your character and what
Speaker 1: you did in the ring, so it'll could keep his distance.
Speaker 1: I could see that. I mean, uh, you know, like physically,
Speaker 1: I mean, Tony Khan should be afraid of his own shadow.
Speaker 1: I mean he's he's tiny, Like I gotta put Tony
Speaker 1: Kahan in my expressed from Chad and Ned or not
Speaker 1: the music. Yeah, Hey, Tony Khan called me because I
Speaker 1: you know, I'll come the work in a second. So
Speaker 1: I'm not saying, yeah, you know, we're all available for
Speaker 1: bookings here, so I'm not trying to bury anybody. But
Speaker 1: no physically though, Tony is you know, he's not intimidating anyone,
Speaker 1: but the Yeah, I understand what you're saying though. And
Speaker 1: it's like we said, the franchise Shane Douglas, a franchise
Speaker 1: character is is a wild card? Is a wild card?
Speaker 1: That weekend that you guys were in New York, Shane
Speaker 1: called me on a Friday night and you guys were
Speaker 1: driving and he asked all these questions and I'm going
Speaker 1: off about this, this and this, and then he says something.
Speaker 1: He goes, yeah, my buddy Ned right here, and I'm like,
Speaker 1: I've been saying all this shit for like the last
Speaker 1: fifteen minutes. I had no idea anybody else was in
Speaker 1: the damn car. So it's just kind of funny. But he's, yeah,
Speaker 1: he's been talking about you for years and now cool.
Speaker 1: He thinks very highly of you too, so wow. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I'm sure some other event that we are all together,
Speaker 1: you will be there as well. So I look forward
Speaker 1: to seeing you again in person. If anybody wants to
Speaker 1: find you, do you want to let the fans know
Speaker 1: how to how to get into you? Know, I I
Speaker 1: would rather they didn't find you, don't find me. No,
Speaker 1: I tweeted out your info a minute ago, but I
Speaker 1: could tell you I found them in two seconds. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm old school when it comes to that. Like you'll see,
Speaker 1: a lot of my social media stuff is outdated. I
Speaker 1: stopped again. I don't want to jump on the go
Speaker 1: down the rabbit hole because I know we're tight for time.
Speaker 1: But like I I don't know. I got offended by
Speaker 1: a lot of the stuff that has gone on with
Speaker 1: social media, and not only the toxicity and some of
Speaker 1: the other bullshit that goes on on there, but also
Speaker 1: I'm not into the censorship kind of that was going
Speaker 1: on with Facebook and and some of these things. Like
Speaker 1: I was turned off by all that to where anymore,
Speaker 1: Like I just kind of don't participate and I call
Speaker 1: you know, I call Twitter, like Twitter on the shitter.
Speaker 1: If you if you find me on Twitter and you
Speaker 1: see me doing anything liking to commenting on things. I'm
Speaker 1: taking a ship and the next one. But I always
Speaker 1: wash my hands and always wipe down the screen with
Speaker 1: a fantasizing way. But but no, I honestly I feel
Speaker 1: like that's about all Twitter is worse because once you're
Speaker 1: off the shit or you probably shouldn't dedicate too much
Speaker 1: of your life to it. I understand the trappings professionally,
Speaker 1: and we're all trying to promote ourselves, and so you
Speaker 1: get caught in the web of like, well, I kind
Speaker 1: of have to because you know, I need to reach
Speaker 1: people and communicate and promote, and that's okay. But as
Speaker 1: far as me, you like my personal life and everything,
Speaker 1: I don't mess around like that. But but I would
Speaker 1: say I would encourage everybody to look, look my I'm
Speaker 1: seven feet is my Twitter handle. It is all written out,
Speaker 1: so I have I had a Twitter profile that I
Speaker 1: used to tweet all the wacky stuff people would say
Speaker 1: to me, the crazy questions, the wild interactions in the
Speaker 1: grocery store, at the ballgame or whatever that really happen
Speaker 1: from the time I leave the house until I come home.
Speaker 1: Almost every human interaction I have outside of my close
Speaker 1: loved ones that are over It involves how tall I am,
Speaker 1: How tall are you? How tall are you? How tall
Speaker 1: you I'm seven feet, I'm seven feet. I'm seven feet
Speaker 1: all day long. So my Twitter handle I'm seven feet.
Speaker 1: The Instagram handle the same. A lot of people. The
Speaker 1: Instagram because it's photo based. What people will stop me
Speaker 1: and say, can I take a picture with you? And
Speaker 1: I'm like why, why? Why do you want a picture
Speaker 1: with me? Okay? Or how I make your mother family,
Speaker 1: which is rare most of the time, it's like people
Speaker 1: want to roast me or you know, show their friends
Speaker 1: look at this freak I ran into in the in
Speaker 1: the grocery school. Delightful, and I don't say that. They're
Speaker 1: saying that there you take a picture of you, like
Speaker 1: like I'm a goddamn dancing bear at the circus. But so, yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm seven feet on Twitter, I'm seven feet on Instagram.
Speaker 1: And then you know, how I met your mother is
Speaker 1: in the reruns. I often they're on Hulu, and I
Speaker 1: think they'll they'll come up on TV, sometimes on different channels,
Speaker 1: but you know, I direct people to Hulu to find
Speaker 1: the reruns, and you know, for my friends and family,
Speaker 1: I always joke with them I'm like, listen, when you're
Speaker 1: going to sleep at night, just put it on Hulu,
Speaker 1: grab one of my episodes and just play in the
Speaker 1: background when you're going to sleep, because I'll hit the residual.
Speaker 1: There you go. We need to do that. Absolutely, go
Speaker 1: watch it. Just put them on in the background. You
Speaker 1: don't even have to watch it, just let it play.
Speaker 1: That is right. Well, and you and I are now
Speaker 1: best friends and we know how to get in touch
Speaker 1: with each other. So I'm so happy about that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And fifteen, sixteen, seventeen year old me is also so
Speaker 1: happy about that because, like I said, when you when
Speaker 1: you hit the scene that was right, you premiered like
Speaker 1: ninety four, ninety five, right, I started in ninety three
Speaker 1: at their training restaurant school, and then all of ninety
Speaker 1: four I did house shows. Ninety five is when I
Speaker 1: got on television. Yep. So that was thirteen fourteen, fifteen
Speaker 1: year old wide eyed ned mad to help you go through.
Speaker 1: Sexy Friend sauntered down the aisle, and so thank you
Speaker 1: for thanks for the memories. You are greatly welcome, and
Speaker 1: like I said, I'm sure to find you down the
Speaker 1: road somewhere. Would you know. I'm happy to have done
Speaker 1: this with you guys. Thanks for sharing the time with me,
Speaker 1: and you know, best of luck going forward with the
Speaker 1: show and the appearances. And you've you've got a friend.
Speaker 1: Well have you got for tell more stories and shoot
Speaker 1: the ship again. I've got many more. And but you've
Speaker 1: got a friend in me, a seven foot three and
Speaker 1: seventy pound friends. So if anybody ever gives you a
Speaker 1: hard time, I'm there for you, wonderful. If you ever
Speaker 1: need anything off the top shelf, you need me to
Speaker 1: dust off the top of the fridge. Those are like
Speaker 1: my zones, you know when I come in the house,
Speaker 1: like you got to have you got to have the
Speaker 1: tops of your your furniture set like a lot of people.
Speaker 1: I just have a lot of people don't dust out there.
Speaker 1: You know, I get invited into someone's home or you
Speaker 1: walk in the kitchen and I'm seeing things on top
Speaker 1: of the fridge. Perfect, perfect of mind, delightful. Thank you
Speaker 1: so much for coming on, and everybody go watch how
Speaker 1: I met your mother. Soon that can make some coin
Speaker 1: and we will we will speak again soon, I'm sure.
Speaker 1: But have a great day, and thank you so much
Speaker 1: for love you guys very much. Is He's the man
Speaker 1: a day. Yeah, he likes to talk, but it's it
Speaker 1: was compelling what he said. And again it was so
Speaker 1: it was right place, right time with that show when
Speaker 1: when Dominic died, because you know, Shane was in kind
Speaker 1: of a dark place and Ned flew in like a
Speaker 1: superhero and picked him up and took him on his way.
Speaker 1: So it was perfect timing. But it was shocking because
Speaker 1: you know, I never expected him to even be because
Speaker 1: we would always joke to out, you're going to show
Speaker 1: up tonight, You're coming through the crowd, or I'm not
Speaker 1: going anywhere near that arena. But Dominic died on a Thursday.
Speaker 1: That show was live on Friday, and he yeah, really
Speaker 1: helped them a lot. That was good friend. Okay, So
Speaker 1: on Patreon, So this week on Patreon, we are going
Speaker 1: to check out you and I are are always fans
Speaker 1: of old television and having a TV show personality on
Speaker 1: this week helps. We're going to look at TV reboots
Speaker 1: that stink. Okay, like come on, like they did not
Speaker 1: need to be spun off. Remember, Oh and the other
Speaker 1: thing too. The reason I went with this is because
Speaker 1: I said if Eyes up Here had a spinoff series,
Speaker 1: it would start the Sandman right, So that's why I
Speaker 1: thought TV reboots and spinoffs that stink. We are going
Speaker 1: to check out more from the gathering. We watched the speech.
Speaker 1: We're going to check out the convention and then kind
Speaker 1: of in the watch along category. I thought this was interesting.
Speaker 1: So Wrestling with Regret is another one of these YouTube series, right,
Speaker 1: But this guy, it's it's not like a countdown or
Speaker 1: this or that. This guy it's about a ten minute
Speaker 1: retrospective of WEW. But he is not very nice to
Speaker 1: w No, he's not nice. Okay, that's why I you
Speaker 1: know what this is interesting. Let's let's see what this
Speaker 1: is all about. I have not watched it, so I
Speaker 1: just I want to preface so I don't know what
Speaker 1: he says about you. If he says anything about you.
Speaker 1: What I just saw he's a hater and he's talking
Speaker 1: about we W all right, can't wait to do that one. Well,
Speaker 1: where can people find you? At chatty and be on
Speaker 1: Twitter at ib exclusives on Instagram. I am at e
Speaker 1: c W dver freteen across the board and with that,
Speaker 1: that is a rap