WEBVTT - The Fifth Hour: Maller Year-End Special 0:00:00.680 --> 0:00:01.440 Cut booms. 0:00:02.279 --> 0:00:05.360 If you thought four hours a day, twelve hundred minutes 0:00:05.400 --> 0:00:09.200 a week was enough, think again. He's the last remnants 0:00:09.200 --> 0:00:12.480 of the old Republic, a soul fashion of fairness. He 0:00:12.560 --> 0:00:15.480 treats crackheads in the ghetto gutter the same as the 0:00:15.600 --> 0:00:17.480 rich pill poppers in the penthouse. 0:00:18.079 --> 0:00:18.360 Wow. 0:00:18.600 --> 0:00:22.320 The Clearinghouse of hot takes break free for something special. 0:00:22.680 --> 0:00:30.680 The Fifth Hour with Ben Mahler starts right now. 0:00:29.040 --> 0:00:34.879 In the air everywhere. It is a special edition, a 0:00:35.000 --> 0:00:38.320 holiday edition of the Ben Mahler Show, and a very 0:00:38.400 --> 0:00:41.040 happy holiday to you, and a special hour we look 0:00:41.080 --> 0:00:42.879 back to some of the great moments this year on 0:00:42.920 --> 0:00:45.800 the show. We'll start out with weed Man Hit. This 0:00:45.840 --> 0:00:47.840 was a new bit on the show, weed Management of Caller. 0:00:47.800 --> 0:00:50.040 He's a character, his name is Billy. He lives in Miami. 0:00:50.200 --> 0:00:52.400 He loves the show, and he's called us for a 0:00:52.440 --> 0:00:55.040 long time, many years, and he always wanted his own segment. 0:00:55.160 --> 0:00:58.319 So one day this year we just said, ah, what 0:00:58.360 --> 0:01:01.760 the heck, why not? And that led us to the 0:01:01.960 --> 0:01:06.000 debut of Ask a weed Man. Let's go back in 0:01:06.040 --> 0:01:08.280 the hot tub time machine and take a listen to 0:01:08.319 --> 0:01:15.039 that very first edition of Ask a weed Man. Weed Man, 0:01:15.040 --> 0:01:16.640 What is this what are we doing here? Are we doing? 0:01:16.720 --> 0:01:18.200 Ask a weed Man? Is that what you want to do? 0:01:18.280 --> 0:01:18.560 Right now? 0:01:18.640 --> 0:01:19.399 Ask a weed Man? 0:01:20.080 --> 0:01:20.319 Yes? 0:01:20.560 --> 0:01:23.679 Please, all right, well do it right now. Give out 0:01:23.680 --> 0:01:25.280 the number right now. We'll hang up on some of 0:01:25.319 --> 0:01:29.080 these idiots and call right now eight seven, seven ninety 0:01:29.200 --> 0:01:31.600 nine on Fox. We're gonna do Ask a weed Man. 0:01:32.040 --> 0:01:34.400 This is a trial run. And if you want to 0:01:34.440 --> 0:01:37.679 send a question in hashtag ask a weed Man. And 0:01:38.200 --> 0:01:39.880 are we starting it right now? Yeah, we're doing it 0:01:39.920 --> 0:01:41.160 right now. Do we have any music for this? 0:01:41.280 --> 0:01:41.360 Or? 0:01:41.480 --> 0:01:41.760 Okay? 0:01:41.800 --> 0:01:41.959 We do? 0:01:42.000 --> 0:01:44.320 All right, little music, get me in the mood. Here 0:01:44.360 --> 0:01:47.840 we go, all right? Ask Do you have any opening 0:01:47.880 --> 0:01:51.560 thoughts on Ask a weed Man? Yeah? 0:01:51.600 --> 0:01:55.400 Everybody should be rich and free and speak the same language. 0:01:56.480 --> 0:02:00.480 Okay, so that's you just believe they should be like 0:02:00.480 --> 0:02:03.640 a universe. Isn't the emoji language the universal language of 0:02:03.640 --> 0:02:05.080 the world that we all speak emoji? 0:02:05.480 --> 0:02:05.520 No? 0:02:05.800 --> 0:02:07.880 Well, I don't know. I don't know why we don't 0:02:07.960 --> 0:02:09.040 speak the same language. 0:02:09.080 --> 0:02:09.519 We should. 0:02:09.639 --> 0:02:12.680 Well, because there's people that, uh, you know, there's big 0:02:12.760 --> 0:02:15.360 The world's a big place, weed man. But you're the guy. 0:02:15.400 --> 0:02:17.760 It's this is not my bit, it's your bit. Ask 0:02:17.800 --> 0:02:20.920 a weed man. Let's say hello to it says Tokyo 0:02:21.120 --> 0:02:23.760 t K. Is that correct? I think I'm saying that correct. Hello, 0:02:23.840 --> 0:02:25.959 Tokyo t K. You're on with weed Man. It's ask 0:02:26.040 --> 0:02:26.639 a weed Man. 0:02:26.880 --> 0:02:30.760 Well that's the way I called. But I'll do you 0:02:30.800 --> 0:02:32.840 think the language that we should all use would be 0:02:32.880 --> 0:02:33.480 at fronto? 0:02:34.000 --> 0:02:34.959 Weed Man? Your thoughts? 0:02:35.240 --> 0:02:38.079 Hey, what happened to the Montreal explodes? 0:02:40.400 --> 0:02:43.800 That's a non secretor weed Man? You're you're this is 0:02:43.880 --> 0:02:45.880 ask a weed Man. You've got a guy who says 0:02:46.000 --> 0:02:47.480 you're in Japan? Is that correct? Sir? 0:02:49.400 --> 0:02:53.440 What's your question? Again? 0:02:53.520 --> 0:02:55.639 That's not why I'm called. But if you're going to 0:02:55.720 --> 0:02:59.960 pick a language for everybody should be at yeah, go Toronto? 0:03:04.200 --> 0:03:06.639 All right? Why did you call? Did you call the 0:03:06.720 --> 0:03:08.160 rip weed Man? Is that what you call? 0:03:08.680 --> 0:03:10.880 No? I called because weed Man when he said this 0:03:10.960 --> 0:03:13.000 last week, he gave me an idea. And I'm sure 0:03:13.040 --> 0:03:16.080 you're in no shortage of good idea, fairies. But I 0:03:16.120 --> 0:03:19.359 thought to myself, how about Mallard's Mountain of myths back 0:03:19.480 --> 0:03:23.080 where he constantly gives out free stuff to everybody else? 0:03:24.520 --> 0:03:27.120 Well, that would be weed Man's dream. That would be 0:03:27.160 --> 0:03:29.480 the absolute dream for weed Man, who so wanted me 0:03:29.560 --> 0:03:31.320 to give him stuff. How many years have you begged 0:03:31.360 --> 0:03:34.200 for stuff? Weed man? Come on every year? Every year? 0:03:34.280 --> 0:03:36.680 Every year? Yeah, I mean at least you don't. The 0:03:36.960 --> 0:03:40.040 great news is he lost his password to his Gmail account, 0:03:40.040 --> 0:03:42.320 so he no longer says, you know, send me money. 0:03:42.320 --> 0:03:44.600 He lost his passwords, so even if you send him money, 0:03:44.640 --> 0:03:46.800 he won't be able to get his money. You also 0:03:46.880 --> 0:03:50.120 lost your password on on Twitter, right, weed man, So 0:03:50.160 --> 0:03:54.000 you're not on there anymore. Yeah, yeah, you can't get on. 0:03:54.240 --> 0:03:56.080 You know, you can get another account, weed man. You 0:03:56.080 --> 0:03:58.160 are able to get another account. You wear that. But 0:03:58.480 --> 0:04:01.000 all right, well thank you. That's a great idea. But 0:04:01.120 --> 0:04:03.440 I we'll move on. It's ask a weed Man. There 0:04:03.480 --> 0:04:05.720 you go first, call weed man right out of the box. 0:04:05.880 --> 0:04:08.440 And now just Josh writes in on ask a weed Man. 0:04:08.760 --> 0:04:11.040 He says, weed man, do you shower more than once 0:04:11.080 --> 0:04:13.760 a week? And did the mice ever return your teeth? 0:04:14.720 --> 0:04:16.440 The mice never return my teeth? 0:04:16.800 --> 0:04:18.440 And I shower more than. 0:04:18.320 --> 0:04:22.479 Once a week? Yes, one and a half times a week, 0:04:22.520 --> 0:04:26.840 weed man? Maybe h three times a week? Look at 0:04:26.880 --> 0:04:28.440 the heck? Good? Is that good? 0:04:28.680 --> 0:04:28.920 Yeah? 0:04:29.240 --> 0:04:32.640 You're supposed to shower every day. Let's go to Josh 0:04:32.720 --> 0:04:37.760 in it's ask a weed Man and Josh is in Orlando. Josh, 0:04:37.760 --> 0:04:39.480 you're on with weed man, hippie weed Man. 0:04:40.080 --> 0:04:40.320 Damn. 0:04:41.920 --> 0:04:45.880 Hey, I got a question. What is the best. 0:04:45.760 --> 0:04:47.839 Vehicle to be homeless? 0:04:47.880 --> 0:04:49.520 And it would be one of those boats flagging. 0:04:49.760 --> 0:04:53.840 Uh, that's a great question. That's a great question. We 0:04:53.880 --> 0:04:56.640 all listen, weed man, we're all a couple of mistakes 0:04:56.640 --> 0:04:59.000 away from being homeless. So what's the greatest vehicle if 0:04:59.000 --> 0:05:00.000 you are planning on becoming home? 0:05:03.080 --> 0:05:05.039 Chevy and pala v. 0:05:11.400 --> 0:05:14.279 Oh, this is great. Ask a weed man. This is unbelievable. 0:05:14.600 --> 0:05:17.360 Our friend from Miami, this is his debut. This is 0:05:17.400 --> 0:05:21.000 your first bit late night drug tester writes, and he says, well, 0:05:21.160 --> 0:05:26.000 the penny no longer being minted effect your panhandling. That's 0:05:26.000 --> 0:05:35.080 some late night drug tester. All right, Trucker Joe writes 0:05:35.120 --> 0:05:37.599 in from the highways and byeways, he says, Ask a 0:05:37.600 --> 0:05:41.000 weed Man will go just as good as Benny and 0:05:41.040 --> 0:05:43.560 the weed Man did in Vegas with those all those 0:05:43.640 --> 0:05:46.080 high prices. Weed man, listen, you don't want to do 0:05:46.080 --> 0:05:48.039 you want to bring back Benny versus the Benny and 0:05:48.040 --> 0:05:52.000 the weed Man. And all right, all right, let's take 0:05:52.000 --> 0:05:56.200 another call. Let's go to Mike in Detroit. Hello, Mike, 0:05:56.279 --> 0:05:58.719 you're on with weed Man Hippie. 0:06:00.240 --> 0:06:01.080 Was from Detroit. 0:06:01.279 --> 0:06:03.520 What up? Weed Man? 0:06:03.640 --> 0:06:05.599 How you do you remember me? 0:06:05.640 --> 0:06:07.920 I'm a tote talk driver. You stayed at my house 0:06:08.000 --> 0:06:36.760 in Northern Borider, remember you. 0:06:21.440 --> 0:06:21.520 We. 0:06:23.360 --> 0:06:25.159 Man. Remember this is the guy I remember you. You 0:06:25.200 --> 0:06:28.080 accuse me of having you kidnapped? Remember you? You begged 0:06:28.080 --> 0:06:29.480 for a place to stay, And. 0:06:31.960 --> 0:06:33.320 I'm just a tot talk driver. 0:06:34.080 --> 0:06:40.400 All right, all right, all right, wow, all right, all right, 0:06:40.839 --> 0:06:42.919 we'll move on from that person. That must be a 0:06:42.920 --> 0:06:46.120 phony folk. DJ. Mike is in Kansas City. It's ask 0:06:46.200 --> 0:06:48.480 a weed Man, DJ. You're on with our buddy in Miami. 0:06:48.920 --> 0:06:51.920 Yeah, that's great, weed man. When you're playing five dollars 0:06:51.960 --> 0:06:55.160 black jack and you've got a sixteen against the dealers ten, 0:06:55.520 --> 0:06:57.360 are you hitting or are you staying? 0:06:57.600 --> 0:06:58.559 Great? Great question. 0:06:59.200 --> 0:06:59.839 I'm staying. 0:07:00.240 --> 0:07:07.720 Your snaking? No, no, no, no, you gotta you gotta hit. 0:07:09.000 --> 0:07:12.880 All right, Well, great question, DJ Mike. Because you think gambling, 0:07:12.920 --> 0:07:15.840 you think weed man. Hippie Rob in the three two one, 0:07:15.880 --> 0:07:17.960 But this is going better than I thought. Rob in 0:07:18.000 --> 0:07:19.720 the three two one is ask a weed Man? 0:07:20.360 --> 0:07:23.680 Hey, Rob, weeds Man, how you doing. You're highly entertaining. 0:07:23.800 --> 0:07:26.440 So if you ever want to meet Jeff Bezos or 0:07:26.480 --> 0:07:28.920 Elon Musk and they said, hey, would you like a 0:07:28.960 --> 0:07:31.000 free trip to the moon, would you take it? 0:07:31.600 --> 0:07:34.080 Yes? Absolutely you would. 0:07:34.120 --> 0:07:36.200 What if it was a one way ticket, though, weed man, 0:07:36.240 --> 0:07:44.640 you couldn't come back? Would you know? All right? Thank you, Rob, 0:07:44.680 --> 0:07:47.400 It's ask a weed man, Bud. These are great questions. 0:07:48.320 --> 0:07:52.320 Let's see here, mister irrigation from Houston rights instances. Is 0:07:52.360 --> 0:07:55.280 there any certain way that running from the cops can 0:07:55.320 --> 0:07:59.280 turn out successfully? Great question for mister irrigation. Wonderful. 0:07:59.360 --> 0:08:00.559 Not unless you get away. 0:08:00.640 --> 0:08:03.200 You gotta get away, though, Have you ever gotten Have 0:08:03.240 --> 0:08:05.000 you ever been able to get away? Weed man? I've 0:08:05.040 --> 0:08:05.960 known you a long time. 0:08:06.120 --> 0:08:08.440 No, you're not very I actually did. 0:08:08.560 --> 0:08:12.480 Yeah, really, And irrigation shitting me a beautiful ben. 0:08:12.400 --> 0:08:15.160 Now a rig there you go. Enjoy that. Yes. Freddie 0:08:15.200 --> 0:08:18.120 writes and says, what's your dream vacation? Ask a weed man? 0:08:18.160 --> 0:08:22.680 He says, my dream vacation is coming out of California 0:08:22.720 --> 0:08:23.680 and staying with Dan. 0:08:24.000 --> 0:08:30.200 Oh my, No, let's make it happen. No, no, we don't. 0:08:30.240 --> 0:08:32.680 We don't need that, weed man. Let's say hello to 0:08:33.320 --> 0:08:37.800 nurse jockey in Cannes City. We're doing a random new bid. 0:08:37.880 --> 0:08:40.720 It's ask a weed Man or friend Billy. He's in Miami. 0:08:41.120 --> 0:08:45.400 Longtime loyal minion of this show. He sat through hurricanes 0:08:45.559 --> 0:08:49.240 because of our show and done all kinds of crazy things. 0:08:49.920 --> 0:08:51.199 Nurse jockey, what's up? 0:08:51.760 --> 0:08:54.280 Yes, weed Man, I just want to know if you 0:08:54.360 --> 0:08:57.000 have a patient who codes, what are you gonna do? 0:09:00.360 --> 0:09:05.040 I'm I don't know what you might want to call 0:09:05.080 --> 0:09:07.520 the corner at that point or something like that. All right, well, 0:09:07.520 --> 0:09:10.480 thank you, nurse. An amazing question. Our last one from 0:09:10.600 --> 0:09:12.959 King Rory. He says, does weed Man have more than 0:09:13.000 --> 0:09:14.120 one pair of underwear? 0:09:14.440 --> 0:09:14.640 Yes? 0:09:14.760 --> 0:09:15.040 I do? 0:09:16.559 --> 0:09:19.199 All right? All right, well, I lie. There's actually a 0:09:19.240 --> 0:09:22.160 few more questions here. Let's see. Steve says, weed Man, 0:09:22.240 --> 0:09:25.760 hippie to you is what Guillermo is to Jimmy Kimmel. 0:09:25.760 --> 0:09:30.920 At least, he says, you're not making fun of Mexicans 0:09:30.960 --> 0:09:33.320 like Kim goes. I don't know about that. Benito says, 0:09:33.600 --> 0:09:36.120 what is the best beer to drink? That's from Benito, 0:09:36.160 --> 0:09:40.559 the long suffering cowboy fan. That's your go to beer? 0:09:40.960 --> 0:09:44.080 All right? Well, listen, weed Man. Amazing, what a great 0:09:44.120 --> 0:09:47.080 segment that was. Everyone loved it. We'll do it again. Yes, 0:09:47.960 --> 0:09:51.520 I love you all right every Monday night, ask a 0:09:51.559 --> 0:09:58.080 weed Man. Well, that was quite the segment of talk 0:09:58.200 --> 0:10:01.280 radio with weed Man Hippie. Up ahead, as this hour 0:10:01.400 --> 0:10:04.600 continues on the greatest hits of the Ben Mahler Show 0:10:04.640 --> 0:10:07.760 from the year twenty twenty five, we'll look back at 0:10:07.800 --> 0:10:11.720 a legend, a childhood hero who left us this year. Also, 0:10:11.960 --> 0:10:16.199 one of the most zany moments of the entire basketball 0:10:16.240 --> 0:10:19.199 season was a transaction. We'll take a look back at 0:10:19.200 --> 0:10:22.479 that night as well. When the Ben Mallor Show continues. 0:10:24.280 --> 0:10:27.760 Hulk Hogan died. I grew up a huge wrestling fan 0:10:27.840 --> 0:10:30.840 and one of my first childhood heroes was Hulk Hogan. 0:10:31.360 --> 0:10:36.600 Loved professional wrestling, and we spent some time honoring and 0:10:36.679 --> 0:10:39.679 giving a eulogy for hul Hogan, and I wanted to 0:10:39.720 --> 0:10:41.920 go back and this the end of the year and 0:10:41.960 --> 0:10:44.840 take listen again here let you hear some of my 0:10:44.920 --> 0:10:48.480 thoughts at the moment as the Hulk a Maniac himself, 0:10:48.520 --> 0:10:52.320 the leader of Hulk A Maniacs Everywhere, passed away earlier 0:10:52.360 --> 0:10:58.280 this year. And we're gonna start with a wrestling story. 0:10:58.320 --> 0:11:00.360 I think you know by now I'm assuming you heard. 0:11:00.640 --> 0:11:05.040 It's really the biggest story I believe in sports, and 0:11:05.120 --> 0:11:08.360 I assume you've figured it out. But the wrestling world 0:11:08.400 --> 0:11:12.040 and the sporting world mourning the death of a legend 0:11:12.120 --> 0:11:16.560 that transcended what was at that time the WWF now 0:11:16.600 --> 0:11:22.720 the WWE. Hulk Hogan is dead. Died in Florida cardiac 0:11:22.800 --> 0:11:26.920 arrest early in the morning hours on Thursday. I was 0:11:26.960 --> 0:11:31.360 seventy one years old and was born Terry Bulla and 0:11:31.440 --> 0:11:35.400 he joined the WWF in the early nineteen eighties and 0:11:35.960 --> 0:11:41.800 within a couple of years had become the biggest personality 0:11:42.120 --> 0:11:45.559 and really put that operation on the map and made 0:11:45.600 --> 0:11:48.520 a lot of people a lot of money in those 0:11:48.640 --> 0:11:52.360 days and even to this day, the day that Hulk 0:11:52.440 --> 0:11:55.840 Hogan left the mortal coil that we all share here, 0:11:56.280 --> 0:12:01.160 the revenues and the impact of the WDA are just 0:12:01.240 --> 0:12:04.160 next level. So let us discuss the question what are 0:12:04.160 --> 0:12:06.679 you going to remember about the life of Hulk Hogan. 0:12:07.000 --> 0:12:10.679 So my thoughts on this, I got shag Carpet, Prince Charming, 0:12:10.960 --> 0:12:15.400 and bulletproof, and we will combine all of these things 0:12:15.440 --> 0:12:19.199 together and we are gonna make the Goba Ghul. We're 0:12:19.200 --> 0:12:22.199 gonna make the gobag so A. The main reason I'm 0:12:22.200 --> 0:12:23.959 starting with this is it hits close to home, right, 0:12:24.000 --> 0:12:28.680 A chunk of my childhood as growing up and not 0:12:28.840 --> 0:12:31.400 knowing much about anything, like we all start out. A 0:12:31.400 --> 0:12:34.320 bunch of my childhood is gone. The man with the 0:12:34.360 --> 0:12:40.000 twenty four inch pythons and the Fu Manchu mustache and 0:12:40.040 --> 0:12:44.360 the whole thing is gone. That's it. See you later. 0:12:44.520 --> 0:12:46.280 Now what do I remember? What do I really remember? 0:12:46.320 --> 0:12:47.960 I'm not gonna sit here and there I go on 0:12:48.040 --> 0:12:53.040 with all scandals, lawsuits, the reality show, all that. Listen. 0:12:53.360 --> 0:12:56.520 There's no question hul Hogan was a flawed man, There's 0:12:56.559 --> 0:12:59.680 no doubt about it. But what I'm going to remember 0:13:00.280 --> 0:13:03.960 is my youth. Hulcomania right flashing back. I was a kid, 0:13:04.120 --> 0:13:08.880 fat kid. Haul Cogan burst onto the consciousness of America 0:13:08.920 --> 0:13:10.880 as I was growing up, and I saw it through 0:13:10.880 --> 0:13:14.600 my eyes, the eyes of a child. It was awesome. 0:13:15.280 --> 0:13:21.480 Fired off man, haul Coke impact that he has was 0:13:22.280 --> 0:13:26.319 next level on the culture in the nineteen eighties. This 0:13:26.440 --> 0:13:29.600 was a guy that stood in my head. This is 0:13:29.600 --> 0:13:31.240 how fed up I was as a kid. I don't 0:13:31.240 --> 0:13:32.319 know if you like me, I don't know how old 0:13:32.360 --> 0:13:34.040 you are. Maybe you're younger than me, and you think, well, well, 0:13:34.040 --> 0:13:35.880 you're just a boomer, dude, what are you doing. But 0:13:35.960 --> 0:13:38.840 as a child, in my head, like hul Cogan was 0:13:38.920 --> 0:13:42.440 toe to toe, belly to belly with the cartoon heroes 0:13:42.480 --> 0:13:45.440 that we all worshiped, like he was he man, you 0:13:45.640 --> 0:13:49.000 Captain of America. Hulk Hogan was them, except he was real. 0:13:50.440 --> 0:13:53.280 You said, no, he was. You're just a loser. But 0:13:53.440 --> 0:13:56.480 we'll try telling that to ten year old fat Benny 0:13:56.600 --> 0:13:59.560 who was sitting with his legs crossed on some shag 0:13:59.600 --> 0:14:03.440 carpet my parents bought years earlier, in front of those 0:14:03.520 --> 0:14:06.840 giant televisions that was the size of a Toyota and 0:14:06.960 --> 0:14:11.600 watching hul Cogan become a national treasure. And I don't 0:14:11.640 --> 0:14:14.120 do the whole Mount Rushmore thing. Other people do that. 0:14:14.200 --> 0:14:16.480 I'm not going to do that, but in my head, 0:14:16.679 --> 0:14:19.240 and I could be completely wrong about this, what do 0:14:19.360 --> 0:14:22.200 I know? But in my head, if I think back 0:14:22.240 --> 0:14:26.000 to that era in my youth, the biggest names in 0:14:26.080 --> 0:14:30.440 sports in the nineteen eighties, that's Joe Montana with the 0:14:30.480 --> 0:14:33.920 forty nine ers, Magic Johnson with the Lakers. In boxing, 0:14:33.960 --> 0:14:36.960 it was Mike Tyson, and it was Hulk Hogan, all 0:14:37.000 --> 0:14:39.800 of them larger than life. Of course, those other guys 0:14:39.800 --> 0:14:43.440 played real sports. Hulk was not about that. He was 0:14:43.440 --> 0:14:46.240 a spectacle. It was the theme music, the real American 0:14:46.320 --> 0:14:48.400 and all that. We played some of that and just 0:14:48.640 --> 0:14:51.880 the whole thing, the national anthem on Saturday mornings. And 0:14:51.920 --> 0:14:52.840 that was the Stone Age. 0:14:52.840 --> 0:14:52.960 Man. 0:14:52.960 --> 0:14:54.440 I grew up in the Stone Age. There was no 0:14:54.520 --> 0:14:57.040 Internet and all that. You'd watch the cartoons. You had 0:14:57.080 --> 0:15:00.120 the big big hit, you had Transformers, Gi Joe, and 0:15:00.160 --> 0:15:06.280 then boom right into WWF Superstars with my original broadcast 0:15:06.320 --> 0:15:10.239 hero Mean gene Okerland, who stood there in a tuxedo 0:15:10.600 --> 0:15:14.200 talking to giants, literal giants like Andre the Giant. It 0:15:14.280 --> 0:15:16.520 was absurd. As a kid, it was glorious. It was wonderful. 0:15:16.560 --> 0:15:18.040 I want to give a little taste here, so we 0:15:18.080 --> 0:15:20.359 have a little clip here. This is Mean gene Oakerland, 0:15:20.720 --> 0:15:24.480 Hulk Cogan and Macho Man Randy Savage. They're all gone now, 0:15:24.480 --> 0:15:26.680 they're all dead. But listen to this. This is this 0:15:26.760 --> 0:15:29.360 is what it was like watching this as a kid. Tigers, 0:15:29.720 --> 0:15:34.240 Oh Comania, two Mega Powers, being Air, the Mine, Hulk Hogan, 0:15:34.520 --> 0:15:35.320 what has happened? 0:15:35.360 --> 0:15:37.040 Well, you know me, Geen, we really don't know what 0:15:37.080 --> 0:15:39.240 we're dealing with here, man, And I'm just kind of 0:15:39.280 --> 0:15:43.280 a little worried about washing up here because we just 0:15:43.400 --> 0:15:46.160 might pull the whole planet up. You know, everybody knows 0:15:46.200 --> 0:15:49.320 that whole Comania is the strongest force in this universe. 0:15:49.800 --> 0:15:52.120 But when I get that ring and I saw what 0:15:52.160 --> 0:15:55.320 the madness was all about, I realized there was a 0:15:55.320 --> 0:15:58.320 whole other universe out there, a whole on the frontier, 0:15:58.640 --> 0:16:01.880 and the power of the mad in the media just 0:16:02.040 --> 0:16:04.400 bloom on twenty four inch guns out. 0:16:04.520 --> 0:16:06.960 You mean to tell me there is another solar system 0:16:07.000 --> 0:16:13.120 monto Wolton state of shock right now? All right? So no, 0:16:13.280 --> 0:16:14.680 I'm not going to sit here and tell you they 0:16:14.720 --> 0:16:16.800 were all doing coke. But you know, I didn't think 0:16:16.840 --> 0:16:18.840 that at the time, but looking back, they probably were. 0:16:19.360 --> 0:16:22.640 But page two here, what was the secret ingredient as 0:16:22.680 --> 0:16:24.920 we say goodbye and pour one out for Haul Cochin? 0:16:25.160 --> 0:16:27.360 What was the thing that made him so special in 0:16:27.400 --> 0:16:29.880 the wrestling game? Well, the obvious thing that you don't 0:16:29.880 --> 0:16:31.440 need me to tell you. This guy was one of 0:16:31.440 --> 0:16:36.280 the great showmen, charismatic, He had this magnetic personality, great 0:16:36.320 --> 0:16:41.480 stage presence. Vince McMahon and his dad cooked up the 0:16:41.520 --> 0:16:45.160 formula which had been around for a while in professional 0:16:45.240 --> 0:16:48.000 wrestling was the WWF at the time, and it was 0:16:48.040 --> 0:16:50.240 the age old battle between the good and the bad, right, 0:16:50.320 --> 0:16:51.560 the good and the bad and all that, and the 0:16:51.680 --> 0:16:54.640 rivalries between what they call in that business the baby 0:16:54.720 --> 0:16:58.000 faces versus the heels. That is responsible, that sells the 0:16:58.040 --> 0:17:01.480 tickets right, gets people intrigued and all that. But nobody 0:17:01.600 --> 0:17:04.399 did it better than the Hulkster, and he was able 0:17:04.480 --> 0:17:08.040 to blur the lines between fiction and reality. Again, as 0:17:08.080 --> 0:17:09.840 a kid, I'm sure there were adulta who is the 0:17:09.880 --> 0:17:11.399 dumbest thing in the world, But as a kid, I 0:17:11.440 --> 0:17:16.040 was like, this was Prince Charming, mesmerizing, captivating and just 0:17:16.160 --> 0:17:21.840 how successful was it? The number that is mind blowing? 0:17:22.359 --> 0:17:25.679 Going back at WrestleMania, I think it was the famous 0:17:25.720 --> 0:17:29.680 WrestleMania three in the early eighties. There were thirty three 0:17:29.760 --> 0:17:34.080 million people that watched hul Cogan versus Andre the Giant. 0:17:34.160 --> 0:17:37.080 Thirty three million, And I put that in context. Our 0:17:37.080 --> 0:17:39.639 friend in Fox Sports Radio's form a morning host and 0:17:39.840 --> 0:17:43.200 FSR alumni member Klay Travis pointed out more people watched 0:17:43.280 --> 0:17:46.080 that than the World Series, the NBA Finals, and the 0:17:46.119 --> 0:17:49.200 Stanley Cup Final combined. This year, if you combined all 0:17:49.280 --> 0:17:52.600 of those events, there were more people watching a staged 0:17:52.680 --> 0:17:56.240 wrestling match between Hull Cogan and Andrea the Giant. And 0:17:56.920 --> 0:17:59.480 you know, look, I get it now. You know, we 0:17:59.560 --> 0:18:02.760 know now how it's scripted. But back then, as a 0:18:02.880 --> 0:18:06.760 naive kid, I didn't think about it, didn't really care, 0:18:07.240 --> 0:18:11.240 didn't know. It was just magical. You'd see Hulk Hogan 0:18:11.280 --> 0:18:16.040 there sweating like he was, you know, dying under the lights, 0:18:16.119 --> 0:18:20.359 dripping water, hulking up if you will, and obviously on 0:18:20.400 --> 0:18:23.080 steroids that came out later. They were all on steroids, 0:18:23.119 --> 0:18:25.960 it seemed, uh. And then you know, shaking the the 0:18:26.080 --> 0:18:28.480 righteous fury as as he could in those early days 0:18:28.480 --> 0:18:31.399 and pointing the finger of doom and all that. And 0:18:31.440 --> 0:18:33.919 you know some loser villain guy, you know, the iron 0:18:34.000 --> 0:18:36.680 chic who literally, I think literally really like hates Hault 0:18:36.720 --> 0:18:38.919 Cogan like it is, you know, the end of the life, 0:18:39.240 --> 0:18:43.080 Big John Studd, Rowdy Roddy Piper Enow. If you're if 0:18:43.080 --> 0:18:45.840 you're of a certain age, these are massive names. If 0:18:45.840 --> 0:18:48.520 you're also of a younger age, you're thinking, boy, this 0:18:48.560 --> 0:18:52.120 is the worst monologue ever. Oh my god, this is terrible. 0:18:52.840 --> 0:18:55.240 But just let me just let me finish this, okay. 0:18:55.840 --> 0:18:59.520 So then Hulk had the leg drop the signature move, 0:18:59.640 --> 0:19:02.000 you know, one, two three, the crowd goes wild, the 0:19:02.080 --> 0:19:06.400 music hits, he's flexing the biceps there, and he could 0:19:06.440 --> 0:19:10.520 solve all the world's problems all in that moment. And 0:19:10.680 --> 0:19:14.199 Halcogan did he get rich? Well, everything's relative, right. He 0:19:14.280 --> 0:19:16.680 made a lot of money, made a lot of money. 0:19:16.680 --> 0:19:20.480 He also lived very interesting life away from the ring, 0:19:20.720 --> 0:19:23.480 involving you know, sex, drugs, rock and roll, all that, 0:19:23.800 --> 0:19:29.400 and you know, bad decisions and things and so spanning 0:19:29.560 --> 0:19:34.680 his his career. Based on a minutes long Mallar investigation, 0:19:35.240 --> 0:19:38.160 starting in the nineteen eighties, when hulk Amania took off, 0:19:38.880 --> 0:19:42.240 it's estimated haul Cogan made one hundred and fifty to 0:19:42.320 --> 0:19:47.240 two hundred million dollars before taxes, before paying off spouses 0:19:47.359 --> 0:19:51.879 and other poor decisions that he made. And remember, money 0:19:51.920 --> 0:19:53.640 was worth more in the eighties. It was worth more 0:19:53.640 --> 0:19:56.000 in the nineties than it is today. Just like you know, 0:19:56.200 --> 0:19:59.239 if we get to twenty fifty, money today is going 0:19:59.280 --> 0:20:01.639 to be worth more than was is then. Now the 0:20:01.720 --> 0:20:05.920 last word here, So how much power, power, power, power 0:20:06.160 --> 0:20:10.760 did Hulkogan have over kids in those early days? And 0:20:10.840 --> 0:20:13.160 I can speak of this because I was a kid, 0:20:14.119 --> 0:20:16.720 so we all bought it right. In my head, every 0:20:16.880 --> 0:20:21.439 kid bought in completely. He was the master salesman. You 0:20:21.520 --> 0:20:25.159 talk about product placement, the Hulk Mania T shirts, the 0:20:25.240 --> 0:20:28.480 action figures, all kinds of crap that's in landfills right now. 0:20:28.760 --> 0:20:32.360 And I was a kid that got fat on WWFA, 0:20:32.440 --> 0:20:35.560 these ice cream bars that I got, and I was 0:20:35.680 --> 0:20:38.400 convinced that I had to get these. I remember pestering 0:20:38.440 --> 0:20:40.520 my dear old mom if she rest in peace, I 0:20:40.560 --> 0:20:43.640 had to get my hands on those WWF ice cream bars. 0:20:43.640 --> 0:20:46.240 And I couldn't stop eating them. I thought they were 0:20:46.240 --> 0:20:48.879 the greatest right and the whole thing right. And now 0:20:48.880 --> 0:20:51.040 I was more of a mean gene Oakland guy, but 0:20:51.119 --> 0:20:52.760 I couldn't wear a tuxiedo. I remember me and my 0:20:52.920 --> 0:20:56.520 older brother we went to the Anaheim Convention Center, which 0:20:56.560 --> 0:21:00.720 is an absolute shole, but there was wrestling there and 0:21:00.800 --> 0:21:04.080 we stayed after to see the wrestlers walk out to 0:21:04.160 --> 0:21:06.399 their to their car. You know, there was like a 0:21:06.400 --> 0:21:08.679 bus thing take them to the hotel. And uh. I 0:21:08.680 --> 0:21:10.760 remember seeing these guys and they were wearing like these 0:21:10.920 --> 0:21:14.320 uh soprano. You know, if you remember the old jumpsuits 0:21:14.320 --> 0:21:16.440 they would wear back in those days. And so I'd 0:21:16.440 --> 0:21:18.960