BONUS Wrestling With Marc - The Beginning
Guest:Mark, that was fun the last time we talked about Morning Sedition stuff.
Marc:Yeah, it's interesting to get those memories back because, like I said before, I think, it all felt like it happened in waking consciousness because it kind of did.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Half dream state.
Guest:Well, and it was so much like a part of our life.
Guest:It was really like, you know, you you were doing comedy at the time.
Guest:But I remember like you really couldn't do anything else.
Guest:It's very funny.
Guest:Like people will bring things up to me about like movies or stuff that came out like in those two years that we were doing that show.
Guest:And I'm like, oh, yeah, that was in my black hole.
Guest:Like I could I have no idea what.
Marc:what happened really culturally or what people were into like that was life that was everything that's why it was fun was that was what we had to do for fun was morning sedition it was our whole life and that you try to have a weekend but it was just impossible almost but you do it you know you just kind of figure out you know that you take that nap for three hours on friday so you could have a friday night and then you know maybe try to pull it together for saturday
Marc:And then it all started over.
Marc:Was it all worth it?
Marc:I guess it was.
Marc:Here we are.
Guest:I think it definitely was because it led us to this, right?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:But also it's got me thinking about something.
Guest:And this is kind of a dovetail here of two things.
Guest:Like we're back looking at this morning sedition stuff and remembering some of the stuff and playing for people stuff that they may not have heard.
Guest:Most people haven't heard who are listening to this.
Guest:But there was also something that made me think of that you've been talking about recently.
Guest:In fact, it was something that we were trying to do a bit about on the show.
Guest:We were thinking, like, can we turn this into, like, a miniseries of some kind?
Guest:Which was, you know, your kind of constant refrain of having fun and trying to learn fun and understand, like, what do I like?
Guest:How can I have fun?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And we were talking about, like, frivolous things.
Guest:Like, well, what about if you started, like, watching the Marvel movies, right?
Guest:Yeah, right.
Guest:The Star Wars or something.
Guest:Or I even was like, what about if you, like, followed an NBA team or something, like, got into sports, you know?
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:I think the big thing that it kept coming up against with that as an idea, like, we've been talking about that Marvel thing for quite some time now.
Guest:I think even pre-pandemic was an idea we had.
Guest:And you would, like, maybe watch one movie and then not watch any more.
Guest:And, like, you weren't...
Guest:really getting into it and i wasn't pushing you to get into it and i think a problem is like to get into something like that and start to have fun with it you need to recognize like a shared passion and maybe have somebody else who can like push you toward it and i just didn't give a shit yeah well no i mean i i it wasn't gonna take i i don't know what locks me in a lot of times i'll get you
Marc:into somebody and I'll feel like I need to have all this stuff.
Marc:It happens with music all the time.
Marc:But even that doesn't last and it doesn't necessarily make this lasting impact on me other than I know I have the records and I know more about that person and I can appreciate them.
Marc:But that feeling of getting totally immersed in something doesn't last forever for me.
Marc:So I imagine that's the beauty of Marvel for Marvel people is that like it seems like it's going to last forever.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Well, this got me thinking about something.
Guest:I'll tell you exactly where I was thinking about it.
Guest:In fact, I'll show you where I was thinking about it.
Guest:Do you have your phone with you?
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:I just texted you something.
Guest:See if it comes through.
Marc:Oh, yeah.
Guest:So that's a video from a televised pay-per-view from two Saturdays ago.
Guest:And if you play it, you'll see a guy standing next to a professional wrestler, like cheering out of his mind.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:A guy with a blue mask and glasses.
Guest:That's you.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:When was this?
Guest:Like two weeks ago.
Guest:Who is that guy?
Guest:Yeah, who is that?
Guest:Who is who?
Guest:The guy cheering?
Guest:That was me.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:The guy I was cheering for was the champion of AEW, which is all elite wrestling.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And I went to it in New Jersey with our friend Chris Lopresto, who used to work on Morning Sedition with us.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And it was a sold out show at a hockey arena, about 12,000 people.
Guest:And I was standing there going like, this is just amazing.
Guest:I used to go to this stuff as a little kid.
Guest:I've had time in my life where I've totally ignored it.
Guest:But the sense memory was there.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:to immediately get locked back into it.
Guest:And I really have, especially with this promotion, because the things that they're doing with it are very recognizable to me as exactly why I started enjoying it in the first place.
Guest:And that's not because of Hulkamania or things like that.
Guest:It was, well, I'll get into it.
Guest:What made me think about this was that we did this on the air at Air America.
Guest:And we had a week long, it was more than a week, went over the course of a week, where we played out a wrestling storyline on the air.
Guest:With Mick Foley?
Guest:Yeah, eventually with Mick Foley being the big reveal of it.
Guest:And I started thinking about it.
Guest:I was like, yeah, I remember.
Guest:That was my first big thing I produced for the show.
Guest:I had never been on the air before, which is what made it work, because I could get on the air as this character that we created.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:and nobody knew it was me.
Guest:And I totally produced that thing based on my love and knowledge of wrestling.
Marc:I remember it.
Marc:For life.
Marc:Because that's how I learned about it.
Marc:Like, you know, the heel business and then, you know, you just baiting.
Guest:i don't remember how did it go you started talking about somebody was it mick no it was it was it was much simpler than that it was a um the layout was that uh we knew that we had access to mick he had been on once before mick foley who's a legend wrestler a hall of famer uh he was uh retired at the time or semi-retired and he was writing books and
Guest:And we had had him on once for a book that he wrote.
Guest:And then he had another book coming out.
Guest:And we thought, we got a pitch.
Guest:We want to have Mick Foley back.
Guest:And I was like, I do.
Guest:But I really want him to be doing something involving wrestling.
Guest:Because I love wrestling.
Marc:Right.
Guest:And the layout was that the key thing to wrestling
Guest:And I think it's interesting because, like, you think about GLOW, right?
Guest:And they have that scene in GLOW where Debbie goes to the wrestling show.
Guest:Like, she gets hired for GLOW, and she's a soap opera actress, and she's not that cool about what's going on, but she's going to do it anyway.
Guest:She doesn't really have any connection to wrestling.
Guest:She goes to this thing and watches it play out in front of her and she recognizes it as a soap opera.
Guest:That's a soap opera.
Guest:I can do soap opera.
Guest:Okay.
Guest:That's like the cliche.
Guest:Everybody said, oh, wrestling is soap opera for men.
Guest:Well, why do I like it then?
Guest:I don't like soap opera.
Guest:I laugh at soap opera.
Guest:What is it that engages me about it?
Guest:And I realized that standing in that arena...
Guest:Two weeks ago, I'm like, these are, it was not a kid's crowd.
Guest:It was grownups, you know, largely grownups.
Guest:What's going on here?
Guest:Oh, this is the connection of live performance, right?
Guest:These people here are, we are invested in their careers.
Guest:They've done this thing.
Guest:They've built this thing up and they are taking it week to week.
Guest:We're going to play this story out in front of you.
Guest:And now you're here live for the catharsis.
Guest:And it's really, to me, it's no different than you've been building to your special.
Guest:Like, you're trying to get this thing to a spot where you know you're going to hit this, hit all your jokes, hit everything in one way, where the full power of the thing you built works.
Marc:Right.
Guest:And that was that thing in my mind when we were, oh, we could do this on the radio.
Guest:We'll build it out over several weeks.
Guest:you know, shows.
Guest:And that when the thing finally hits, we'll get this great reaction.
Guest:Like you're just building, building for this pop from people.
Guest:And it worked.
Guest:We made it work.
Marc:I remember it was, you were a conservative guy.
Guest:That's right.
Guest:Well, the way we started it was, it was very simple.
Guest:It was like you were, and this is how all good wrestling bits start.
Guest:They start from a point where it's just an obvious expression of a character.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And your character was a guy who was fed up with all these conservatives, like, you know, being boastful and writing in and saying, you know, trolling you and whatnot.
Guest:And you kind of laid it down like, all right, fine.
Guest:I've had it.
Guest:I'm going to actually we're going to challenge you guys to put up or shut up.
Guest:If any one of you people who's a big keyboard warrior wants to come down to the studio and fight one of the hosts.
Yeah.
Guest:Then go right ahead.
Guest:Come down and fight.
Guest:We're not going to be the limp-wristed liberals anymore.
Guest:We're going to fight.
Guest:Right.
Marc:You know what?
Marc:I'm going to reach out to our listening audience, even the people that don't like us.
Marc:Look, I say that we have a real fight.
Marc:I say that we take on a Republican.
Marc:I want any Republican who's listening out there to come in and wrestle one of our hosts.
Marc:That's what I want to do.
Marc:I'm putting that out there to you people.
Marc:I want you to come in, but we want to have a real fight.
Marc:We've got the nads.
Marc:We want to take on one of our Republican listeners.
Marc:We want you to email us.
Marc:at SeditionAirAmericaRadio.com, and you come on in and wrestle one of our hosts, and we'll see who's got nads.
Marc:We are going to transcend.
Marc:We are going to be victorious here at Morning Sedition.
Marc:That's all I'm saying, Riley.
Marc:I'm putting it out there.
Marc:Okay.
Marc:I'm sick of this crap.
Marc:Okay?
Marc:It's time we turn words into action.
Marc:Is that all right?
Marc:You know, I just came from a doctor's perspective.
Marc:Riley, you know what I mean?
Marc:It's going to be all right.
Marc:I've got a plan.
Marc:I know how, you know what I mean?
Marc:I'm going to riff.
Marc:I'm going to improvise.
Marc:We're going to see what's going to happen.
Marc:You come in, take on one of our hosts.
Marc:That's all I'm saying, all right?
Marc:Republicans.
Marc:That's all I'm saying, all right?
Marc:Now let's get to this absentee ballot issue.
Guest:then we played it off like we were getting we were getting some emails like some people would write in yeah but then I was writing in I was writing fake emails that you were reading as though they were really sent yeah as this conservative character yeah was like basically me just a conservative like a guy who's like I'm not a big guy I'm not tough but I can still I'll still stick up for myself and come down there and you guys being liberals are gonna run tail like you you're you're you're not gonna fight me I know it we're
Marc:Still taking emails, but also this one.
Marc:This one has promise.
Marc:You want to read it?
Guest:Yeah, I'll read it.
Guest:All right.
Guest:Losers!
Guest:I just heard you call for a Republican to come on your show for a fight.
Guest:Well, I'm 5'6", 145 pounds, I'm a Manhattanite, and I'll gladly take up your offer.
Guest:And you know what?
Guest:I'll beat your ass.
Guest:You know why?
Guest:Because you liberal Americans are nothing but a bunch of cheese-eating surrender monkeys, and there's no way you'll ever go through with it.
Guest:I'd love to come down to your show just to see the look on your face when someone actually takes you up
Guest:on your empty challenge by the way you chickens have no idea what it's like to be fed up i've been living in this city that i love for 25 years and i'm sick of dealing with liberals like you thinking you can run this city remember rudy giuliani equals republican david dinkins equals democrat oh i'll see you in the studio oh geez wow dave from manhattan registered republican dude come on dave let's do this i think that's our guy i think
Marc:that's the guy.
Marc:I have to admit, though, I've been cutting down the cheese, but occasionally I am a surrender monkey.
Marc:I got three words for Dave.
Guest:Protect your neck.
Marc:You come in here, we'll house you.
Marc:That's right.
Marc:We'll get in touch with Dave.
Marc:I think he might be our guy.
Guest:And then eventually accepted your challenge and came down to the studio.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:He's here.
Marc:He is here.
Marc:This is kind of weird.
Marc:Hey, what's up, man?
Marc:Hey.
Marc:Yo.
Marc:That's Dave.
Guest:How you doing, man?
Marc:We're not giving his last name.
Marc:What?
Guest:We're not giving his last name.
Marc:All right.
Guest:All right.
Guest:You're not using his last name?
Marc:How you doing?
Marc:How you doing, man?
Marc:How you doing, man?
Marc:You're Mark Maron?
Marc:Yeah, I'm Mark Maron.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Have a seat, Dave.
Marc:Thanks for coming down.
Marc:What's up, man?
Marc:Are you ready?
Guest:Yeah, I don't have these on yet.
Guest:Hey, wait a minute.
Guest:Dude, you do look about 5'6 and 145.
Guest:You weren't lying about that.
Guest:Well, I'm not the kind of guy that lies.
Guest:So, you know, that's not my side, remember?
Guest:No, no, no.
Marc:That is your side.
Marc:And that's why we're here.
Marc:We're going to finish this thing.
Marc:Which one of us is going to do this, man?
Guest:If I had a choice... Choose the white guy?
Guest:Is that what you're saying?
Guest:Repeating hundreds of years of oppression.
Guest:If your fighting's as good as your comedy, I'd probably take you.
Marc:Dude!
Marc:You know what?
Marc:He's sitting below the belt now.
Guest:Yeah, I mean, it's like... Well, you, Mark Riley, you might have given me a good shot like 25 years ago.
Guest:Oh!
Guest:Yeah, well, I've been working out for the last 25 years just to give you a good shot now, girlfriend.
Guest:I hope I don't break your hip or something.
Guest:And so then the big reveal was that that day you had hired Mick Foley to be the guest host of the show so that it wasn't a lie.
Guest:You were saying, come down and fight one of the hosts.
Guest:Right.
Guest:Well, today the host is Mick Foley.
Marc:I remember how you played that.
Marc:It was so sad.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:You're like, this isn't fair.
Marc:It was so sad.
Marc:I want to introduce our guest host.
Marc:He's a best-selling author.
Marc:His new children's book, Tales from Reskill Lane, comes out October 19th.
Marc:His first novel, Tietam Brown, is now in paperback.
Marc:Oh, and I forgot to mention, he's three-time world wrestling entertainment champion.
Marc:Please welcome our guest host for today, Mick Foley.
Marc:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Marc:All right, so what's up, Dave?
Marc:Yeah, Dave.
Guest:So Mick's going to watch and fight you guys too?
Guest:No, Mick's going to be an active participant.
Guest:I'm going to kick a little conservative cam.
Marc:Yeah, how about that?
Guest:That's a funny bit, but I know you think you're a comedian, but I know that I signed on to one of you guys.
Guest:Yeah, does he look funny to you?
Guest:Can I ask you a question?
Guest:Do I look like I'm joking, you Conde coddling communist?
Guest:All right.
Guest:Would you like me to put one hand behind my back?
Guest:Uh-oh.
Guest:Uh-oh.
Guest:This is all legal, right?
Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Guest:Don't worry.
Guest:You signed the waiver.
Guest:No, I knew you guys would... Ooh.
Guest:Ooh.
Guest:Ooh.
Guest:Well, you got me down here.
Guest:We should do something that's actually, like, a real...
Guest:This won't be relatively real.
Marc:Why can't we have an October surprise?
Guest:You always talk about O'Reilly and being an ambush guy.
Guest:This is a real ambush.
Guest:So it hurts, right?
Marc:It hurts when it comes from our side, right?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And this is going to be fun.
Marc:So what, you're going to wuss out?
Guest:Come on, man.
Guest:It appears as if he's in wussing out mode right now.
Guest:Where's the restroom?
Guest:No, no.
Guest:I mean, like, if this is, like, a real thing, I've got to, like... What, are you going to find your shiv in the toilet?
Guest:Yeah, really?
Guest:All right, all right, all right.
Guest:Wait, let him go to the bathroom, and we'll see if he wants to do this.
Guest:Yeah, we'll see if he wants to come.
Marc:Whoa.
Marc:See you, Davey.
Guest:Whoa.
Guest:Don't go away, man.
Guest:Just go away.
Guest:Awfully sensitive.
Marc:Make sure that guy's cool.
Marc:Yeah, well, that was good.
Guest:That was like the way we kind of wanted it to be.
Guest:Like, again, like there's plenty of people out there who watch wrestling who like the heels because they sympathize with them.
Guest:And they're like, oh, that guy, he's just trying to catch a break.
Yeah.
Marc:But like, and then we had the big, the scuffle and like, you know, the idea that, and of course we had all these, we were doing these bits and I'd have to say that at least half of our audience, whatever we had, we're just, you know, reasonable older people.
Marc:who were listening to a political network to get news and shit.
Marc:So they were all overly concerned about everything we did comedically in a way.
Marc:And they were suckers.
Guest:But that was where we get the fighting for our lives call.
Guest:There was a guy who called in and was like, stop playing these games.
Guest:We're fighting for our lives.
Guest:And that became like a calling card of yours.
Guest:I know.
Guest:Oh, my God.
Marc:Talk about the issues.
Marc:Talk about the issues.
Marc:We're fighting for our lives here.
Guest:Yeah, well, we did get calls.
Guest:The CEO, Doug Krieger, came up to the studio to make sure everything was okay.
Guest:Like, he thought it was real.
Guest:He thought a guy really got hurt on the air.
Marc:Well, yeah.
Marc:How did it unfold?
Marc:It was noise, right?
Marc:You could do anything on the radio.
Guest:You know, I talked to Mick.
Guest:I was, you know, told him actually put me in a hold, you know, and I would react to it.
Guest:We played it off.
Guest:Like this guy finally came back in and said, yeah, okay, I'll fight.
Guest:You know, I'm not going to be a chicken.
Guest:And Mick was like, well, okay, but I'm not going to back down.
Guest:Like you're agreeing to fight.
Guest:I really will fight you.
Guest:I will.
Guest:I'm, I'm a professional.
Guest:I know how to do this.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And so he just hurt me.
Guest:Uh-oh.
Guest:Uh-oh.
Marc:Oh, man.
Marc:Dave is back.
Marc:He's got his game face on.
Marc:A Republican guy.
Marc:So did you sort it out with yourself or what?
Guest:Well, I didn't have to sort it out with myself.
Guest:I had to yell at your producer a little bit for bringing me in here like this.
Marc:Did you find them?
Marc:Hold on.
Marc:Let me just reset this.
Marc:We got his guts.
Guest:Yeah, it's intestinal fortitude.
Marc:Dave is a Republican.
Marc:He came in.
Marc:We solicited that he's going to fight one of the hosts.
Marc:You lied to me.
Marc:We didn't lie to you.
Marc:He's our guest host for today.
Marc:Mick Foley is our guest host for today.
Marc:He's going to be here for the whole hour.
Marc:And that's the deal.
Guest:Right.
Guest:Well, all right.
Guest:So that's the deal.
Guest:So, you know, I'll do it.
Guest:Because, you know, I probably won't win, but I'll do it.
Guest:Yes!
Guest:Whoa!
Guest:What was that word?
Guest:Probably?
Guest:Yes!
Guest:I probably won't win?
Guest:Oh, man.
Guest:This is going to be beautiful.
Guest:What do you want me to do?
Guest:If I back down, then you guys would make fun of me for that.
Guest:Yes, we would.
Guest:Yes.
Guest:We're still going to make fun of you.
Guest:You just wouldn't be injured.
Marc:You're talking like your side doesn't do dirty tricks.
Marc:You know, you're talking like, you know, like this is like, you know, like some out of the left field thing, you know?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Granted, we're using the bait and switch.
Guest:We baited it with the Marx switching to Foley, kind of like the president did with weapons of mass destruction and Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Guest:Listen, Dave, Dave.
Guest:I don't think you want to do this, man.
Guest:I really don't.
Guest:I think you ought to think about it.
Guest:I know you thought about it in the can, but that was then.
Guest:I think you need to think about it now.
Guest:Right, and you're telling me to do that.
Guest:Look at him, look at you.
Guest:You're telling me to do that, and then I'm going to think about it, and I'm going to leave, and then you guys have a fun time in here.
Guest:Exactly.
Guest:No, they're going to do it.
Guest:Hold on a second.
Guest:Dave, you do understand there will be consequences for your actions or lack thereof, right?
Guest:You understand I've got a reputation.
Guest:I'm not going to come on Air America and make a joke out of this thing.
Guest:Yeah, sure.
Guest:You do understand you might look a little bit different when you leave.
Guest:And there are plenty of blunt objects around here that can help in that regard.
Guest:All right, fine.
Guest:Oh, my goodness.
Guest:He threw it out of the head.
Guest:I'll tell you what.
Guest:I'll tell you what, you bush-loving fool.
Guest:I'm going to teach you a little lesson here.
Guest:I'm not going to smack you around.
Guest:I'm just going to twist your body.
Guest:I'll tell you what.
Guest:I'll tell you.
Guest:Tell me you love the environment.
Guest:All right.
Guest:I love the game.
Guest:Ow!
Guest:Ow!
Guest:Come on.
Guest:Say that every kid deserves a fair shot in the sight.
Guest:You can't pull my arm like that.
Guest:Say every kid deserves a fair shot in the sight.
Guest:Hey, hey, hold it.
Guest:Hold it, hold it, hold it.
Guest:Mick, Mick, please, Mick.
Guest:Wait, wait, wait, wait.
Guest:Regardless of how much money is for you, Mick.
Guest:No, no, no, no, Mick.
Guest:Hey, Mick, we're going to get somebody in here, Maren.
Guest:Maren, we've got to get somebody in here.
Guest:And people got concerned.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And then we did tip it at the end, if you remember, which was really me just totally ripping off that scene in Jackass, the movie where Johnny Knoxville gets knocked out by Butterbean.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:And he gets a concussion.
Guest:And when he comes to, he says, is Butterbean okay?
Marc:Yeah, I love that.
Marc:It's my favorite part of the movie.
Guest:And that was how we wrapped up this bit.
Guest:I'll tell you his feelings.
Guest:It will hurt.
Guest:It will hurt the president's because he is a wrestling fan.
Guest:Uh-oh.
Marc:Dave is back.
Marc:I thought that we were going to... No, it's okay.
Guest:You alright, man?
Guest:Yeah, I want to make sure Mick was okay.
Guest:You alright, Mick?
Guest:Yeah, man, you see, he is sensitive also.
Guest:Okay, cool, man.
Guest:I just want to make sure we're cool.
Guest:We're cool.
Guest:Alright, I'll buy the book.
Guest:You need Kayla to open the door for you, man?
Guest:No, I'm okay.
Guest:You alright?
Guest:You sure?
Guest:I'll get the guy to get my crush.
Guest:Hands still work?
Guest:Thanks, guys.
Guest:I like being on the show.
Guest:You did.
Guest:It was fun.
Guest:So, yeah, I mean, like, that, I think you're right, was really your first entry into pro wrestling as something other than, like, what's this stupid thing?
Marc:Well, over the years, you know, because we've worked together for so long, you know, I've had to learn from wrestlers because your interest in wrestlers has brought a lot of wrestlers around.
Marc:I mean, I've interviewed several big wrestlers.
Marc:either at Air America, which I think that was just Mick, but on our show, CM Punk and Colt Cabana and Mick maybe a couple of times.
Guest:Yeah, Mick, Chavo Guerrero, and Kia Stevens, who's awesome Kong.
Guest:And also CM Punk's wife.
Guest:AJ Lee, yes.
Guest:And I think the interesting thing is that they almost always have some connection with you that I think you...
Guest:you know, relate to their, I wouldn't say it's necessarily 100% nomadic, but it's like the life of a moving touring performer, you know, someone who's always going to the next town, whose, you know, job is to satisfy live audiences all across the country and all across the world.
Guest:And they have to deliver for them in those places all the time.
Marc:Yeah, it's an entertainer's wife.
Marc:I remembered kind of realizing that when I watched The Wrestler, I think is probably the first time I fully noticed that.
Marc:And look, and I remember they used to have that local professional wrestling in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Marc:I remember seeing it from the Civic Auditorium on Sunday mornings.
Marc:I can picture the guy that used to host...
Marc:the announcer guy that used to interview the wrestlers, but they were all kind of still wearing unitards then.
Marc:But I remember it.
Marc:I remember turning it on and wondering who watched it.
Marc:It was very stripped down then, though.
Marc:I mean, that must have been in the early 70s.
Marc:Sure.
Guest:And that was in the era of what they call kayfabe, which was the carny lingo for
Guest:them still pretending it was real.
Guest:And they would never reveal to the audience that it wasn't real, even outside of the business.
Guest:If they saw a kid in the street, they would act in character or whatever if that kid came up to them.
Guest:That's largely gone now.
Guest:And I think people wonder, you probably even wondered it for a time, like, but it's stupid if you know it's fake.
Guest:What's the point then?
Guest:Why do you care about it?
Guest:And it's very easy to answer that for me, especially now having
Guest:you know, uh, lived most of my life dealing with entertainment is I don't care.
Guest:Like there's nothing about it that I'm even worried.
Guest:I'm not even concerning myself with artifice.
Guest:In fact, it's very real from the sense that does the guy or woman who's playing the role and trying to get something across through this tremendously athletic, difficult performance, do they deliver it?
Guest:Right?
Guest:There's this amazing guy right now that's at the top of that promotion, AEW.
Guest:His name is MJF.
Guest:It stands for Maxwell Jacob Friedman.
Guest:And his gimmick is just like, he's this Jewish kid from Long Island who thinks he's better than you.
Guest:That's even his catchphrase.
Guest:I'm better than you and I know it.
Guest:And I'm better than you and you know it.
Guest:And he did this whole bit that he was angry with the promotion, because they weren't taking him seriously enough, and he left.
Guest:And they played it off this way.
Guest:They let him leave for three months.
Guest:And he was gone.
Guest:He was off TV.
Guest:Then he comes back, and he's going to challenge for the title, because now he's back, and he's got the rights to challenge for the title.
Guest:And he goes to a guy who's managing the champion, and he's like, I'm doing this because of you.
Guest:Because you used to work for WWE and you did not hire me.
Guest:And in fact, you sent me these emails encouraging me to keep sending you tapes and to keep in touch and try to get a job with you.
Guest:And then sent me this email and he reads this email in the ring to this guy saying...
Guest:you know, a real email ostensibly saying, you're not right for us.
Guest:Please stop sending us emails.
Guest:And you know, WWE hires world-class athletes.
Guest:Maybe someday you'll be one.
Guest:You're not one.
Guest:And he's like, that email made me want to kill myself.
Guest:And every day I've lived my life thinking I'm going to stick it to you.
Guest:Right.
Guest:And this guy is supposed to be the heel.
Guest:Right.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And so the manager, he says to him, look, I.
Guest:I'm glad you feel that way.
Guest:Like, frankly, when I send an email like that to you or anybody else, I'm trying to light a fire under you.
Guest:He's like, I used to work on the carnival circuit.
Guest:I would get my face beat in every night by these guys when I was 17.
Guest:And I'd be crying in my bed, bleeding.
Guest:Like, if you're worried about an email, you've had an easy life.
Guest:And he's like, stop taking shortcuts.
Guest:Stop doing all these things.
Guest:You come out, you cheat.
Guest:You claim you're better than people and that.
Guest:Just try to do it, earn it, right?
Guest:And so they set this up.
Guest:He finally says, I'm going to fight.
Guest:I'm going to do it all.
Guest:I'm going to throw away the things I used to cheat.
Guest:I'm not going to hit people with foreign objects and that.
Guest:I'm going to do it for real.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:And I'm going to this show.
Guest:This was the show that Chris and I went to.
Guest:And Chris and I are both like, well, he's got to cheat to win, right?
Guest:And in fact, what would be the best thing is if he is going to cheat
Guest:and then doesn't.
Guest:And the manager realizes he did the right thing.
Guest:And so the manager turns on his own guy and cheats for him, right?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:That would be the best story that the manager finally sees in him what he wanted to see in him.
Guest:Well, sure enough, that is exactly what happened.
Guest:The guy gets down to the ring.
Guest:He's going to hit him with, he has a giant ring.
Guest:He's going to put the ring on the finger.
Guest:The manager says, like, you're not going to, pointing at him.
Guest:You're not going to do that.
Guest:He takes the ring off.
Guest:He throws it away.
Guest:But now the guy, the champion, puts him in the sleeper hold.
Guest:He's fucked, right?
Yeah.
Guest:The ref is knocked down, and the manager says, go wake up the ref.
Guest:You've got to wake him up so that he can see you've got this guy in a sleeper hold.
Guest:As he turns to go get the ref, the manager slips him a pair of brass knucks to MJF, who gets up, uses him.
Guest:He becomes the champion.
Guest:I was so thrilled that the story played out like that.
Guest:Like it was it was not that I wanted it to be real.
Guest:It was that I wanted them to really tell the story that made the most emotional sense that could go on the most ups and downs.
Marc:Right.
Marc:It's a script thing.
Guest:Yes.
Guest:But here's the other thing.
Guest:When you really look into what it is, they're not scripting it from the perspective of they're writing it down on a piece of paper and here's you guys' roles and what you're supposed to do.
Guest:At least that's not what these guys are.
Guest:WWE does that to an extent.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:This is all improv, right?
Marc:Yeah, right.
Guest:These guys sit and they talk about, much like you and I did when we had Mick Foley on, here's what's going to happen.
Guest:Ultimately, we're trying to get to here.
Guest:It's up to you to perform your part so we can get there, right?
Guest:Right.
Guest:Nobody said to you, Mark, here's everything you have to say.
Marc:Yeah, I've done movies like that.
Guest:Exactly, right.
Guest:It's very, very close to a long-form improv.
Guest:All of this is to say, this is leading up to the fact that...
Guest:And you and I are going to go enjoy this the way I just did, live and in person, out in Los Angeles on January 11th.
Guest:They're going to be out there at the LA Forum.
Guest:You're flying out?
Guest:And I have tickets for us.
Guest:Yes, I'm flying out.
Marc:And we're going to go to AEW wrestling.
Marc:I'm in.
Marc:I'm ready.
Marc:I mean, I got choked up you telling me the story about the kid.
Guest:Hey, you know, the other thing about him, he says he based his whole persona on Don Rickles.
Guest:Like he was like, oh, that's why I am the way I am.
Guest:I insult the crowd.
Guest:But, you know, if you can be like Rickles, you can connect with people.
Guest:So, you know, I think there's a lot that you can appreciate from it.
Guest:I don't expect you to be like a dyed in the wool fan, but I do expect you to have a good time, largely because I think my passion for will rub off on you, which was the element that was missing in all these things we were talking about.
Marc:Oh, my God.
Marc:I got to do some prep.
Guest:I mean, you kind of do, but I don't think you should.
Guest:I think if anything, maybe I like one week we'll watch something, you know, that's on TV at the same time.
Guest:But that's that's that should be your prep is just, you know.
Marc:Well, should I watch some other matches?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Like they they're on every week.
Guest:It's a regular TV show.
Guest:So you can just watch a TV show.
Marc:Oh, yeah.
Marc:What network is it on?
Marc:TBS and TNT.
Marc:You just got to tell me when it is.
Marc:The other thing I remember about growing up, and I don't know why I never got into it.
Marc:I don't know why I never got into anything.
Marc:I think I'm broken.
Marc:Well, that's not true.
Marc:I like some things.
Marc:I used to go down to Skaggs Drugstore.
Marc:to the magazine section, because I liked Mad Magazine, National Lampoon.
Marc:Yeah, I liked looking at magazines.
Marc:But there was always two or three wrestling magazines with just guys covered in blood on the cover.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Like next to True Detective magazines with dead ladies.
Guest:Well, and that's the kind of disreputable reputation it has.
Guest:It comes from a tradition of carny salesmanship.
Guest:And so, you know, those wrestling magazines, like a guy would gig himself and bleed all over literally just because there was a guy with a camera right at ringside that's going to snap that photo.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And that was money for them.
Guest:They would get draws.
Guest:So there's tons of guys that are in the profession right now who looked up to that.
Guest:And that's the style that they got invested in.
Guest:But the business itself now as something that's on TV multiple hours a week is a lot different than that.
Guest:yeah yeah no i just i just remember it clearly just these guys in unitards bleeding well i mean you know this this will be a good test too to see like what the type of character that someone does as a wrestler particularly not a cartoonish wrestler like all these wrestlers in this aew are just generally people and they're not playing a a cartoon right and so i would be i'm going to be interested to see what you wind up latching on to
Marc:Exciting.
Marc:Good plan.
Marc:We got a fun field trip coming up.