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cover of episode Hour 1: Can David Samson Get an Amen? (feat. Gary Owen)

Hour 1: Can David Samson Get an Amen? (feat. Gary Owen)

2025/6/4
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The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz

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Gary Owen discusses his comedy career, the unexpected path to becoming popular with Black audiences, and his experience winning a "Funniest Black Comedian" contest in San Diego. He also reflects on the differences between stand-up and acting.
  • Gary Owen won a "Funniest Black Comedian in San Diego" contest.
  • His early success on BET and roles with Black lead actors contributed to his popularity with Black audiences.
  • He prefers stand-up for its immediate audience reaction compared to acting.

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This face makes me happy seeing it. He's coming to Dania, Gary Owen. He's got a new comedy special, Gary Owen, no S it's available now exclusively on mint comedy and it's five shows. Dania this weekend, June 6th through the eighth. Where are you right now? You're on the grind. You've got a two year old, you've got teenagers. You're still out here fighting on the comedy grind near Dania in a, in a hotel that looks, uh, swank, uh, you're living good, uh,

but you're on the grind. Good to see you, Gary. Thank you for making the time.

Thanks for having me. I'm in Seattle right now. You're in Seattle? Yeah, I'm in Seattle. I'm in Tuscaloosa tomorrow, and then I'm in Dania this weekend. That's not a great direct flight situation. Seattle to Tuscaloosa. What's a direct flight situation looking like? What is happening there? This seems inefficient. The tour goes through Chicago, Kansas City, Charlotte, Atlanta, Washington, D.C., but Seattle, Tuscaloosa, Dania seems like bad. That seems no good.

It's a lot. I ain't gonna lie. It's a lot. I do a podcast with another comedian called Nate Jack-- his name's Nate Jackson, and, uh,

I come out here once a month and we do, I come out here for three days and we record for the whole month. So that's what I'm doing in Seattle right now. How do you feel when you do Meet the Blacks or Ride Along or Think Like a Man when you're doing the movies? Does it give you the same kind of fulfillment that the tour does? No, stand-ups, it's so immediate. Whereas when you're doing the movies, you're not getting the reaction until nine months later when it comes out.

So whenever you're doing a movie, you're almost looking at the grips and the camera guys to give you the okay. Because the actors aren't going to do it during the scene.

So you're looking for the guy holding the boom mic to give you a little chuckle sometimes. Okay, so you're saying there's not, the reward is the laughter. Yeah, for sure. For sure. And so acting is just something to do on the side that does what for you? Build your stand-up fan base. Okay, so that's what it is. Okay, it's a means to an end then. It's like, it's...

It's work that allows the comedy to live because making a life at this on laughter is pretty hard no matter what your age is. I don't think people understand what a grind it is. I always tell people the hardest part about my job is the travel. The stand-up's the easy part at this point.

Now I'm kind of like almost in my Yoda years. Like I got it. I can work with any crowd. But yeah, like you said, the flying and the travel is the grind. But, you know, I am staying at decent hotels. Not flying Spirit. So it's not that bad. Okay. So can you... Spirit's safe. There have been no fatalities. We've talked about this a number of times, Gary. Everybody is out here crapping on Spirit. They've never crashed. I'm talking about comfort. I'm not talking about death. Okay. Good, Gary. I'm just saying. Yeah.

Some spirit deniers out there. There's no first class spirit. If the standard is not dying, spirit's got you. Other airlines don't, to be fair. Can you put us next to you whenever it is that you found out that Ebony magazine had proclaimed you Black America's favorite white comedian? Can you take us through whatever that story is, please?

No, one of the editors called me and I guess I guess I don't know how I got that title. But it was because my first TV appearance was was on BET. And then almost every movie I've done had a black lead actor. So I became like I became black people's guy as far as white people goes.

Okay, but I don't know what these quote marks are doing, and it doesn't sound like you've given this a lot of thought because it was at the BET docuseries. I mean, you did have – you had a reality show, right? Yo, we pitched it to all the networks. BET bought it. We went to everybody. But BET bought the show. So I'm like, yeah, I would have went on Telemundo if I spoke Spanish.

But where does that show rank in terms of giving you, I mean, it's such an unusual thing you have. All comedians are looking for a lane. Where do I find my constituency? Where are my customers that are going to be with me for decades? Because whatever, they ride with me over 25 years of comedy. It's a happy accident that you ended up being popular to black America. Yeah.

Well, you know, I was in the Navy and I was in San Diego and I was listening to the radio station called Z90. It was a hip hop station. And they said, we're looking for the funniest black comedian in San Diego. So I entered.

And I won it. And so once I won it, that got me auditioned for Comic View. And then that got me on BET. So when you're early in your career, you're just trying to get on TV. And you don't choose your audience. They choose you. So I just kind of, my first couple breaks was on black entertainment television. So I just kind of ran with it. I'm sorry. Did I misunderstand you? Did you win a funniest black comedians contest? Oh, yeah. But it was San Diego. It's not like it was Brooklyn. Oh.

But wait a minute. But wait a minute. It's an important distinction he made. Okay, but what was the competition? It wasn't too stiff. San Diego, not New York. What do you got, Tony Gwynn? But were you the only white guy? Oh, we got Tony Gwynn and Natron Means.

Careful, Dan's going to ask you for more. No, I am going to ask him for more. You know me so well. What are the after effects of the docu-series, The Gary Owen Show? When you look back on that as a piece of work in your life and what it is you were trying to achieve with it, how close did it come to being what you imagined? I guess I didn't put too much thought into it.

It was cool. We didn't break the curse. When we got the show, we said, don't do reality TV. Everybody gets divorced. Yeah, we didn't break that curse because we got divorced a couple years later.

That's universal? That advice everyone gives you on the front end? That's what everybody says if you go to social media. They're like, yo, if you do reality TV, everybody ends up broken up or divorced eventually. And yeah, we kept that streak going. Well, but it seems invasive. It seems like there's no way to not have a private life if you've always got cameras around. It seems impossible for a relationship that's navigating that kind of fame and attention to not break, like, or be threatened because just people are around all the time.

Well, let me tell you something. Those producers are good. They're like, because my ex-wife, she was like, oh, they're not coming in our bedroom. They're not recording our bedroom. Day one, they was like, we got to be in the bedroom. And they were in the bedroom. It's like, how'd this happen? That was like her big thing when we pitched the show, like they're not going to be in our bedroom. That's going to be our sanctuary, our private area. But somehow they got in there.

Do you have a pop culture topic that everyone's seeking your opinion on these days? Any question that you're getting about what's happening in the news that is about one subject matter more than another? I mean, everybody's asking comedians about bitties. That's the big one right now. And you just do what with that? I can't say it on your show. Sure you can. But you do a private show? You do a private show for all of the people? This is network TV, right?

I mean, no, not network. Network is DraftKings Network. Subject to FCC fines. We're totally good. We let it run. Billy was calling me a star f***er earlier. Oh, my bad. Yeah, my biggest thing is like it's nice to know that his penis is like a Tootsie Roll because so far black guys have all had just huge dicks. So it's nice to know we're on the other side of it a little bit. There's balance. Dan, you don't get to make that face.

He warned me. Dan's question was like, hey, what's the pop culture thing everybody's asking you? All right, talk about that. Everyone's mind went to Diddy, right, when Dan brought up the question. We're like, okay, you're asking him about Diddy. And your opinion on it? Just ask him about Diddy. Well, but I didn't know whether it would be Belichick. I didn't know whether it would be Kendrick Lamar's tour. I don't know what he... How could I possibly know the thing that everyone's asking him about? You don't get to make the face is what we're saying. You don't get to be like, well, that's right. People talk about his little pecker. No, but that's not...

You think I was seeking that as his answer? Yeah, quite literally. You asked him, what is the pop culture thing everybody is asking you about? And then you're like, Kendrick Lamar's tour. What are you talking about? There are other choices. There are other choices he could be making. Kendrick Lamar's tour. Where'd you pull that one from? What do you think about terrorists, Gary? See now, old man. Over 20 years, I didn't think you could get worse at tossing things up to comedians. But yet, here we are.

Did he follow up or no? Did he follow up? His new comedy special, Gary Owen No S, is available now exclusively on Mint Comedy. And if you want upcoming dates and tickets, GaryOwen.live is where you go. After 30 years or 25 years, I don't actually know what the number is. Why is this comedy special special to you? Uh.

It's crazy how this comedy special came about because I was recording my last one, Broken Family. And you know, when you do comedy shows, you'll do a couple episodes and edit them together. And we record that Friday. And I said, are we good? We get that in the can? They go, yeah. I go, I think I got another hour. So then we recorded this one on Saturday. So this one was more like just spur of the moment.

Kind of winging it a little bit. So it came out kind of dope. I was actually kind of excited because comedians, when you get a special, you work so hard for that hour. This one just came about. So. Oh, so it didn't take like a year of work and crafting. You were able to release something into the wild without having to suffer it the way you normally might. Like it was easier. It was easier. It's almost like a freestyle rap a little bit. Oh, that must have felt good to not have it be a tortured exercise where you get tired of your own act on the way to making it.

Yeah, right? Yeah, I would think so. But to have it meet your standard is the tough thing, right? Like to be unforgiving enough in what it is that you're making to not have to obsessively crush it with however it is you sculpt these things. Well, you do your hour and you're cutting and pasting the whole time for the year getting ready. But this one was like...

All the stuff we were cutting, I go, ah, some of that stuff's still funny. So it's just like, oh, we still got so much left over. Let's piece it together. Not just has to make sense because you got callbacks and things like that. So it was kind of a just recording it. It felt like, oh, man, this is...

This is coming together nicely without any pre-production or planning. Roy, can you play for us, please, the late Bob Saget telling us his saddest stand-up story? And we will ask Gary Owen to recall a time that he had to perform in a sad venue. But let's hear from the late Bob Saget first. We were three comedians doing this gig at the strip club. And Kevin Neal and I went to go look at Mount McKinley, like two guys would do, like two bros. And the other guy, the other comic...

was just in the trailer with the strippers all weekend. So they were going to introduce me, and there was a stripper on stage, and she had pie pans over her chest, two pie pans, and then another one lower in her lower region with matches, literally just matches, paper matches, and

scotch tape to the pie pans and then she lights them not even sparklers you know just matches just matches lights them she has she lights the top pie pans and she lights the bottom pie pans and then she blows herself out and then literally blows herself out and goes ladies and gentlemen Bob Saget laughter laughter

Surely you don't have a story quite that good. Can't top it. I can't top that. It's another bad setup for a comedian. Yeah, totally unfair by me. What's the saddest place you've performed, though? You've got to have something. That's better. I think in the beginning, there used to have a Funny Bone in Evansville, Indiana.

And, like, nobody laughed the whole weekend. They didn't laugh at the whole weekend. That's not great for a comedian. No, it was awful. It was like, they just, but they didn't boo. And they didn't, they just sat there. That's indifferent. That was worse. I really get booed. Like, it was four shows of just guys in John Deere hats with their arms on their feet. This must have been a rough week for Evansville. I don't know.

let me tell you something. The only reaction I got all weekend was by Saturday, the late show. I just went, Hey guys, this is all we got. We haven't got a laugh all weekend. Layer the cable guys, not walking through those doors. And this dude stood up. He's like, Whoa, those are big shoes to feel buddy. You guys are alive. You are alive.

New comedy special, Gary Owen, no S, available exclusively on Mint Comedy. Go to GaryOwen.live for upcoming dates and tickets. As I mentioned, he's got Chicago, Kansas City, Charlotte, Atlanta, Washington, and June 6th through the 8th, five shows. Dania, from Seattle to Dania, the way all the comics do it. Thank you, Gary. Appreciate you guys.

Howdy folks, it's Mike Ryan. Now if you've been listening to the show a lot lately, you've heard so much playoff talk. Playoff hoops down here in South Florida were especially enamored with playoff hockey. It's not just limited to the playoffs. Motorsports, tennis, golf. It's truly one of the best times in the sporting calendar. And with the weather outside warming up,

It's just perfect to hop in a pool, maybe grill up some food, but most certainly crack open some Miller Lights. I just described a pretty perfect day, didn't I? And it culminates with Miller time. There's something about a perfect grilling day. The sun's out, friends show up, and that first sip of Miller Light just hits different. I've been stocking up the cooler with it for years. This year, Miller Light turns 50.

That is five decades of cookouts, laughs, and ice-cold moments that never miss. And if you've listened to the show for its 20-year existence, you know this to be true. Miller Lite. Great taste. 96 calories. Go to MillerLite.com slash Dan to find delivery options near you. Or you can pick up some Miller Lite pretty much anywhere they sell beer. Cheers to 50 years of Miller time. Celebrate responsibly. Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 96 calories and 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces.

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Don Levitard. I'm not going to apologize. I wouldn't expect you to apologize. You're a giant infant. Okay. You have no control over your emotions. You have no control over your emotions. When you're calling someone you know an idiot, I don't deserve it. Okay. I don't deserve it. All right. And you're a fool for saying it. Okay.

Stugatz. You're a fool. I was kind of following you. Oh, you're locking in right now? You're locking in on us? Yeah, right. Let's drop the gloves, pal. Let's drop the... You should be thanking me. For what? Every day. For what? For what I've done around this character. And the second shit gets real for you, you want to come at me and call me a fool?

Huh? No, no, no. Seriously. Seriously, pal. I've added 10 years to your career. This is the Don Levitas Show with the Stugats.

We've got Boldest Take to get to here. Great. Yes. Was waiting for that since the start. I want to get to Boldest Take. And I also want to tell people that we've got a couple of watch parties. Actually, over the next week, we're going to have three sort of pop-up things, right? Because we're going to pop up as a show for one of these finals games.

at least in the NBA. Roy, what are you doing with the hockey show and Dwork and Rose and who else is involved with these events?

Festivities. On Friday, we got game two. We're going to do a live stream, much like MMA Hangout does. Their live stream is going to be at the Dead Flamingo. So that's going to be a lot of fun. Come on out and watch it with us. So come on out. What was that? I said come on out and watch it with us. No, but the Dead what? Dead Flamingo. Dead Flamingo. Formerly known as Casa Tiki, now Dead Flamingo. FKA. FKA.

Okay. And Tony, what are you doing? Saturday night, Dano UFC three 16, the rematch for versus Merab, the wallish Vili and Sean O'Malley. And we're going to have Kayla Harrison versus Julian opinion for the band and weight women's championship. A very exciting night of fights. Greg Cody, you will be there.

It's a strong possibility. All right. I'm really excited for that. Dead Flamingo, Saturday night, possibly a Mike Ryan appearance. We don't know. Yeah, Sean O'Malley. That's a rematch, right? Isn't it? So I'm excited about this one. Great card. We'll be there 10 o'clock start for your time. I felt. If you're a listener and you show up to both watch parties this weekend, you get to go to lunch with Dan at a later date. You just sleep over. Just stay the whole night at Dead Flamingo and then start up for MMA Hangout after.

So I'm subject to change. It's usually Billy that does this. That's your EP, Dan. I was joking. You're not going to lunch with Dan. But at least you didn't interrupt me in order to do it. Good joke, though. Yeah, great joke. Except that the last time you guys promised that, I ended up watching the March Madness. Well, we didn't promise. That was a sales thing. Okay, well, all of you are in cahoots.

You agreed to that. To be fair, that was Billy's idea. Dan approved that idea. It was supposed to be a bigger idea. Don't push back on the fact that you conceptualize. You conceptualize. He agreed. It was a better idea when I presented it. I have to. Okay. See, now our business is in people's face, and I knew that was going to happen, and thank you for nothing. Sorry about that. No, please. No, great being. It's why it's a Wild Billy Wednesday, but at least you didn't interrupt me to get it in there. That's the best part of it. What were you getting to?

Yeah, I don't remember. The third watch party. The third watch party. No, I wasn't going to the third watch party. Well, you should because they're a partner. Yeah, you should. You should be at every one. Love the third watch party, by the way. Yes, a FIFA Club World Cup watch party, Saturday, June 14th at Grails in Miami. Dan, we'll be there. That's a fourth watch party because Dan said there was a pop-up for the finals, too. There is a fourth one. There you go. Is that one somewhere? This one's presented by Boost Mobile and DraftKings. It's Inter-Miami kicking off.

The Club World Cup, which I actually think is going to be sneaky awesome. What's the Club World Cup? It's the FIFA Club World Cup instead of countries, it's clubs. It's the first time they're doing this. It's a World Cup, but instead of countries, as Tony pointed to, it's some of the best clubs on the planet. You get to see Champions League, and that determines the champions of Europe.

I'll be present. I'll be present.

at the girls' watch party. Very exciting. But Cody gave you a very insincere, very possible, or very probable, and Roy laughed, braying laughter in his face, like a mule eating briars. Roy was laughing in his face. It's a possibility. It's a possibility. That's all I said. That's all I was. It's not a possibility. It's a possibility. I don't believe he will think of it again. Let's put a percentage. I've got to check with my staff.

You know, see what my schedule looks like. Put a percentage on it. Put a percentage on it. Somewhere between 4 and 70. But he's a senile old man.

Inter-Miami's got no shot at winning this. But if they were, if they were to win this, it would be the biggest honor ever bestowed on a club. They'd be the inaugural champion, and you get to see where they stack up against the world's elite. You're going to have dream matchups. LAFC just qualified over Club America. You got LAFC in Atlanta against Chelsea FC. You have real huge dream matchups, and the cool thing is the process.

The prize pool is such that these teams are going for it. Anytime you see these teams from Europe travel across the pond and do their summer tours, they're getting rotational guys in, developmental guys in. No, they're actually making signings for this. You're going to see Trent Alexander-Arnold in a Real Madrid shirt. You're going to get to see the best.

The cream of the crop. And they're going to match up against some MLS teams that are in season. So it'll be really interesting to see where a team like Inter-Miami stacks up, not just against the Al-Alis of the world, but against some of the top teams in Brazil if they advance and get to the knockout round. So you see rematches of Messi versus one of his former European clubs. It's incredible. Yeah, I was shocked to look at the betting odds for all 32 teams.

I thought because of Lionel Messi alone that they would be higher in regard than they are, but they're middle of the pack. You know, they are just strictly middle of the pack. It's actually quite flattering that they're middle of the pack. And actually, the Egyptian club that they're playing...

you know, this is the first year that the FIFA Club World Cup has been a full tournament with 32 teams. But the tournament actually has its lineage to the early 2000s. But the thing is, they always used to only play with seven clubs. And so it was a very minor deal. It didn't nearly have the stature and the attention. That feels like a back in my day. Anytime you say they only used to play with seven clubs, that sounds like a back in my day. Most people didn't even know this thing was going on. It would happen in

middle of the year, usually somewhere in the Middle East, and some of the upper echelon clubs would kind of join in progress. This you actually get to see. Who is the best club in the world presently? They get to tout that for four years because this is a World Cup-style knockout tournament. Yep. Really looking forward to it. And also the first Inter-Miami match at Hard Rock Stadium. Super interested to see whether they fill that place.

You will not be at Tony's thing. I don't believe there's any. It's a possibility between 4 and 70. I think it's well below 4%. It could happen. You know what?

I will bet you $1,000 it doesn't happen. Greg, me, you go 50-50. Yeah, Tony, I'll be there for about five minutes. That's fine. Get my money from Dan, then I'm out of there. He just saw $1,000 laying on the floor. Greg Cody will travel many a mile to pick up that $1,000. He didn't put any parameters on it. No parameters. If I show up, I get 1K from this guy. 50-50, man. Where's it at? It'll be in a trash bag that Dan got at the bank the other day. That kind of thing, though, formerly known as Casa Tiki.

It has to be real support offered as part of the MMA coverage to work with Tony as part of the celebration. It's not an appearance fee to appear and take the $1,000. Backtracking it. It's for a night of work. Look at this guy. It's for a night of work. Welshing on his back. You don't get to make it a driveway.

That's what you said. If you go, I'll give you $1,000. Greg comes on. He says a couple of things. He talks about some of the fighters. Bing, bang, boom. That kind of thing. He's out of there. And you know it. He doesn't know what time these cards start.

He won't make it. 10 p.m. is the first fight. I'm there, man. I'll be there at 10.01. That's on Saturday. You're not driving. Well, see, you know. See, Chris, you know that we're sending him out to the faces of a crime. Yeah, but $1,000 might be the number. It's big enough that that might be the number. If he wants to work that evening, again, it's a bet of $1,000. So now he has to show up or he owes me $1,000. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

You said, and you can roll the tape or whatever. He said, I'll bet you $1,000. And these are the parameters. He said, I'll give you $1,000. Well, you're going either way. So what's it to you? The word bet was not used. I would bet you $1,000. That's how I heard it.

I said, I'm pretty sure he said, I'll give you $1,000. Look, it's usually implied that he just hemorrhages money and doesn't get anything in return on this show. I get it. He does hemorrhage money. That's one of the great jokes we tell around here. It's a lot of fun, that one. Look, I'm pretty sure for $1,000 you were going to do it because that does feel like the number. He's just got to work with Tony. He should support his teammate. Like, I don't even understand. Like, that's bare minimum on being a good teammate with teamwork with someone you work with. Are you going to be there?

Possibly. Possibly. What about this whole teammate business? He's going to do the one that's online. Not a teammate. I'm...

I lord over the team. I am not the teammate. He's Dolan. What are you confused about? He bankrolls the operation. I am not Dolan. I am not Dolan. Ishbia. You don't wear a hat like that. Ishbia's fun to say, huh? It is fun to say. Put it on the poll at Levitard. It's exotic. Is Ishbia fun to say? We're going to get to the boldest take in a second. I can't believe we didn't get to this with Samson, though. Have you guys heard Pablo is doing good work on Pablo Torre Finds Out? Dan, I want to say something.

I think I'm back on Pablo. Oh, you heard the Bill Simmons episode? I did. I heard it. I was listening to it. I was like, you know what? Pablo, likable. I'm Bill Simmons. No, Pablo held his ground and all the arguments that Bill was making on the front end evaporated like that. Pablo was a man in that interview. Pablo was like explaining to Bill basically like, hey, this is what I do. This is how I do it. Yes, it's stupid, but I take stupid things seriously, right? That's his whole moniker.

Well, he was very likable in a way that sometimes he's not on the show. But I don't know if that's because of Bill or because of you, Dan. I don't know. We will find out. Everyone here is both a little more likable and a little less likable because of their proximity to me. That's why I go to the bank and cash my cash in garbage bags. That's how the whole thing works.

David Sampson has lured Dominique and Pablo into a conversation where he reveals something that might be up for suey best revelation. This made my skin crawl. Okay, so how many people heard about this? This is so foul, and David Sampson is so foul, but he will take you in the bowels of sports business where no immorality can go unnoticed.

can go without shame. Like, it's unbelievable to watch and listen to this story. Let's listen. - I don't love the fact that I went into an all black church trying to get votes for the stadium, and I stood up there and I said, "Can I get an amen?" I don't love that I did that, but I did. - I didn't know that you did that. - Oh, I gave a whole sermon. I gave a sermon to a major black church in Miami.

because I needed their support for public money for the ballpark. How did you dress? How I dressed is I went to visit a black tailor and I had a suit made for me by Andre Dawson's tailor. So I looked like Andre Dawson and it was awesome.

And we had a plan of all the different people we had to get votes from. So we went to the Cubans, we went to the non-Cuban Hispanics. You had to wear a guayabera. 100%. I had to go get one personally made, a guayabera. So I had to wear that to the Cuban. I think it's guayabera. I don't really know. You guys are funny. But I did give the sermon. And I did, I felt like I had the room enough. What does a sermon mean?

It was about all the things that this 65-inch white Jewish guy could do for them. It was going great, and I had eyes with my Cuban consigliere. It was going great. It was. So they were giving you amens. They did that? No. I just had the view that I had their attention. I had the view that they were looking at me as though I was one of them. And so I built up this crescendo, and I look over at the bishop,

Then I look out at the audience. I look back at the Cuban consigliere and I look at the crowd. I say, can I get an amen? And then I walked out. And it was awesome. Oh, God. I didn't like that. I didn't like how he said guayabera. That's what I'm referring to. That was the part. Everything else seemed fine.

Guy Avera. So I want to do something with this because I'm telling you, we have a total new ad campaign around here. If we started to sell with David Sampson, gringo trying to poorly be Hispanic guy, I sell you Guy Avera's.

instead of guayaberas, instead of tetas. Can you get the sound of him trying? We've got to do a Spanish off with David Sampson because I want you guys to absorb how hard it would be to offend black people the way that he just did and have them be the second most aggrieved group in everything that was just said because of how he pronounced guayabera. Well, thankfully, we had the most popular black comic in San Diego. Yeah. Yeah.

Gaia Vera is absolutely a great ad campaign. David Sampson will do things on behalf of business that are, yeah. Gaia Vera.

Guy Avera is like your dad's friend, Guy Avera. You're like, oh, I know that guy. That's Guy. I know him. Guy Avera. I feel like that's also how he would say the name of the dictator before Castro. Guy Avera. Like, I don't think he knows the difference between those things. Guy Avera. Find the tetas. Tetas? Tater tots. That's what she said. Guy Avera.

We'll get to the boldest take in a second. I thought we were all in agreement that James Dolan is a known buffoon. Am I saying anything that is not? There's no way that this is in any way controversial, correct? That he is meddlesome. He is the worst of what rich owners are. That he disrespects Nick's royalty such that it is they don't really have royalty because they don't have any real winning. But the royalty that they do have that represents winning is.

One about as much as the guy they just fired. It's the best of Nick's history is not a great Nick's history. They just fired the coach most responsible for producing the best feeling there in 25 years. It's weird.

Whatever your standards are on what coaching and leadership are supposed to be, I can say that everyone can get tired of a voice after five years. And I can also say, you're not going to do a whole lot better than Thibs. He's pretty good. Like whatever it is that you're getting might be different, might be a different ingredient, might be part of changed architecture, but he's among the best. We all know this to be so. Yeah, but what about an impeccably dressed Jay Wright that walks in? Could he be better? Hmm.

The unknown college coach with the Armani suits brings suits back to the NBA. All of a sudden, Jay Wright's on the sideline with a suit on. We're saying, hold on. New York is back, baby, in a big way. So this is what we're doing. Raleigh 2.0. This is what we're doing. This is how we're going to do it. Could be the savior, Dan. All right, but this is how—

We're going to coach. We're going to take leadership. We are all in agreement. The analysis of the Knicks autopsy is the team exceeded every expectation over the last two years to make New York hope for the first time in 24, 25 years that they would be good enough to beat the Celtics built to beat the Celtics did,

beat the Celtics hadn't accounted for the Pacers. Changing times, changing architecture, the whole thing can fall apart on you fast. Dallas is in the playoffs. No, they're not. Kevin Durant and Phoenix are right there. No, they're not. Boston's right there. Three, four years. No, they're not. Seven champions in seven years. Now who's got to be better than OKC? How do I build it better than OKC? Tibbs, you're fired. How do I build it better than OKC? How do we get past OKC? Tibbs, you're fired.

And it's like, okay. But if that's what the standard is, it's not going to be because Jay Wright comes through the door. It's going to be Jay Wright comes through the door and we're trading Carl Anthony Towns or we're doing something because this group of players, this amount of money, 93% tied up in six players means you can get some bench, but not much.

And it's going to be this sixth guy. And I hope Bridges can play another round of seasons without getting hurt because he always does as we waste another year of Ananobi and his perimeter defense because this was built to beat the Celtics and that's not what you got to beat anymore. Now you got to beat OKC. It's not about beat the Pacers. Yeah, it's the Pacers and Cleveland and wherever Giannis ends up and and and and and and now you're behind. And now two weeks ago we were saying, hey, your management team, what a great job the Knicks management team did, huh? Put all the

all the right places and all the right places. Beat Boston. Built it. Best feeling in 25 years, Tibbs, you're fired. It's asinine. We can agree on that, right? That's not particularly fair, but Tibbs...

for damn near 20 years has always been reputed as a guy that just can't quite get over that hump he is a franchise changer he is kind of a fixer but he's a guy that just won't get you over there kind of the way that larry brown was viewed for a very long time until he changed that narrative kind of the way that rick carlisle was viewed for a very long time until he changed that narrative it's a bummer that in new york after giving them something that they've been yearning for for decades

that's not viewed as enough. He's not given the opportunity to change the narrative the way that the other two coaches were. Can I just talk to you guys about this part of it, though? When we do the analysis and I say to you, Carl Anthony Towns is bad at defense, is it because he's bad at defense or is it because he doesn't care and there's something physically about him that's

either is a deficiency at defense can't block shots cement footed not good at defense or doesn't care enough to give you defense when you say change the narrative on can't get you the next step if I sit here and tell you that Tibbs was the one coaching OKC would you say that he's the coach who can't make it the next step like because I believe we can all agree he maxed out whatever this was whatever you had on next steps these are the furthest steps the Knicks have taken and so whatever you thought

this was going to be that's better than this two games from the finals to me there's not a coach who's like and I can do this and I can do that and I'll be six games better because you know it because there's another coach who does know how to take next steps I'd say as it regards Larry Brown oh he could have always done it and then he had the team that actually did it

Took that team from Carlisle, though. Yeah. It's the moving lever of this guy's good enough until he's not good enough until he is. But it's nonsense. This is a narrative that we've seen in other sports. Tony Dungy just couldn't get over the hump. Now he could in Indianapolis, but they needed Gruden to get them over there in soccer. There is bountiful examples of managers that aren't viewed as guys that can win and then the replacement just strolls on in and changes fortunes.

Thank you. I have now filibustered long enough, Greg Cody, to get the sound that I wanted, which is the correct sound you guys have seen over the course of the last few years. It's been a marvel and delight to watch blossom on television. The reinvention of the career of Mad Dog Russo, who once upon a time invented barking sports radio.

and makes a career resuscitation no one saw coming in his 60s, just pining for the days of 60s basketball players. No one thought there'd be a lane for it, but again, the old white man wins in the media. It's a rare upset.

So Mad Dog is back. And of course, everybody would want to know Mad Dog remains. This is what a titan of a career remains an important New York voice. People want to know what he thinks about things happening in Knicks management. And so when Mad Dog goes crazy on satellite radio and one of the most amazing careers anyone has had, people want to hearken back to the time.

of Dolph Shays and whatever it is that my dog wants to talk about from the 60s. Let's see what name pops up here from the 60s or 70s. Anybody who knows anything about basketball knows that Indiana had better players and more of them than the Knicks did. Or if God didn't let the ball bounce in with Hal Burton's three or two at the end of game one, the Knicks would have won that series.

This has got nothing to do with, you think Rose wanted to fire Tom Thibodeau after he got to a conference final? But Rose doesn't have any power there. Dolan does. He sits on the baseline with a dopey hat on, thinking that he knows something about, but he wouldn't even know who George Mike is. There's nothing. He's there because his own was a brilliant businessman and he took over. That's what this is all about. Oh my God. It's a guy that ran Marv Abbott out of the building.

What a joke. Have Dolan sit there and get peppered with questions by legitimate media people, not guys who work, and I'm not saying they're not legitimate, but they're in a difficult situation. Not the guys who work for MSG. Let them have a press conference for, I don't care if it takes six hours, and everybody has a chance to go and ask them a why. Because this is not fair. Who gave his life and blood to the franchise and took him to the conference, fought on Benet since 2000.

My God almighty. And you get him out? Because you lost a rugged six-game series to Indiana? Oh, come on, please. What a disgrace. That is quality, quality, man. Talk about fastball. He has. George Mikan. He doesn't know who George Mikan even is.

Well, I heard Roy get complicated there where he's like, yeah, but Marv had that biting thing. And we all just sort of wandered away uncomfortably from the name Marv Albert. Yes!

If we were to call my father now, we should call my father and just get his thoughts on Marv Albert. We could just do a private thing out there maybe. Let's do the Boost Mobile hotline. The Boost Mobile Boldest Take is presented by Boost Mobile, the newest 5G network in the country. You can call at 305-486-GOTZ. That's got 305-486-4689.

My name is Lew Sellers from Greenfield, Wisconsin. My boldest take is Def Leppard.

is the Nickelback of the 80s. This is Chris on a mobile from California. I think every NBA and WNBA coach should have to run a wind sprint if they lose a coach's challenge. Thanks. I'll hang up and listen. George Kittle looks like he wears shoes with holes cut out for each individual toe. Hey, it's Paul from Georgia. I got Mrs. Klump from the Nutty Professor.

Ooh, it's my little Hercules. Hercules, Hercules. Hey, it's Cincinnati Lou. If you yell mashed potatoes at a golf event, you should be immediately ejected.

Right.

Rafe LaFrance played several places. Started out at Kansas, ended up with the Blazers. He was just okay, but they let everyone in. So Hall of Famer one day, he blocked shots back in people's faces and he knocked down threes on a regular basis when Rafe LaFrance...

Played in all those places. This is Evan from Broward. My boldest take. Mother Teresa. The most famous mother. I can't name another famous mother. Rackham. Mary?

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