Shaquille "Shaq" O'Neal: A Night at the Roxbury

0:00I never said my shit don't stink. I never said that was 100%. By the way, a great, a great, a great wrap. Thank you. That was awesome.

0:20Hey, everybody. Welcome to Literally. I have one of my favorite people on the show today. I mean, you want to talk about larger than life. You want to talk about Hall of Fame. You want to talk about a living legend in so many different areas and just an all around great spirit. The one and only Shaquille O 'Neal. He's got four rings. He's got, I believe, three MVP championships. I mean, it's the basketball career is insane, but he's so beloved now for inside the NBA. and just what a great guy he is. Let's dunk it. Let's do some dunking with Shaq.

1:13All right, are you coming with Untold Stories today? Yeah. All right, hit me. What you got? Is that how we start an interview? Yeah, we just go. Oh, well, thank you. I learned from you. I learned you guys have the best show on television and you guys just start talking. You taught me how to do a superstar. Who did? You, because you were the first superstar I met. You remember when we met? Did we meet at Magic's birthday party at Magic Mountain? And I came to your house, too, once. Oh, that was the second time. First time we met was at, what was that? Roxbury. And I was standing in line, and they didn't let me in.

1:53And you saw me, and you got me in. And you were so nice. I always said to myself, if I become a big superstar like Rob Lowe, be nice to people. And then I started to get magic and it was really cool. And then you came to my house. And, you know, we're the same financial guy. So I always wanted to tell you that. Thank you, brother. That's a great story, Chuck. I love that. Yeah. Yeah. You taught me, yeah. You taught me how to be a superstar. I mean, nothing we're ever going to talk about is going to top that from my perspective. That's amazing. Because I saw a lot of people when I first got to LA, but you were like the first movie star that I saw.

2:32And I was like, oh. You were like, hey, come in with me. And I was like, hey, for real? Yeah, yeah. You got me. You remember that spot, Roxbury? Oh, do I remember? On a Tuesday night? Oh. Remember that? Oh, it was crazy. Those are the days. I mean, clubs, I mean, you know, we're over the hill now. But I wonder if the kids still get that kind of good scene that we had coming up. They know. Yeah, you caught it right at the, I think, the tail end of when it was really, really great. That first year, I think it might even have been the year before you played for the Lakers. I think you were still coming out of school.

3:10Yeah, it was. Is that right? Yeah, those were good times. Where are you? I'm up in Santa Barbara right now. Oh, nice. Okay. And where are you? Where are you catching you? I'm in New York. dude so much going on in the NBA right now holy moly I mean how do you feel about all of it all the gambling stuff I mean I've heard you on the show talk about it I thought you were great I mean when I was coming up this thing of ours was so pure and the only question being why would you do something to put your family your name in jeopardy like that you know I'm my homeboy gambler I'll bet you$20 you know I've never played poker I don't know what some of these things are.

3:58And it's very unfortunate, but I know the other leagues and the legal authorities, they're going to do whatever it takes to clean it up. And the guys make a lot of money. I don't think I would jeopardize that for stupid-ass parlay. You know, when you're making$26 million, what's an extra$20 ,000,$30 ,000 on this? especially when it believes towards this man. It is, I mean, I guess maybe it's the, this is not an explanation, but it's the, it's like they say, it's the juice of it. It's the adrenaline of it. It's the knowing you're getting away with something. It's that part of the addiction, maybe.

4:37You don't do anything to mess up your mother's house. Yeah. You never put your kid's future in jeopardy, especially when there's letters of the law that says you should think you can't do it. I got out for a fact twice a year they do these forms, talk about gambling and talk about drugs. They didn't give you the consequences. Like, hey, don't do this, don't do that. And, you know, it's not. I remember when they were always telling us stuff like, hey, if people call you and say, are you going to play in the game? I really like the answer, but it's kind of illegal. So, guys know better. I was thinking about Terry Rozier, and he obviously plays for the Heat.

5:20Obviously, you know all about the Heat, and we all know about Pat. Our guy Pat must be beside himself. Oh, yeah. I know he's upset because, you know, that culture and organization, they do everything, talking to the Lions, and they're out there to fill the air with their name. You know, there's some unhappy people out there. Talking about Pat Riley, obviously. Are you still close to Pat? Do you see him around and catch up with him? Yeah. I'll see it right now. I'm close with the owner, Mickey Harrison, because I still do things for Carl and Foosnets. In your NBA, there's so much to talk about with you.

5:52That's why I was, first of all, I love you. You know I love you, brother. So it's always good to be with you. Likewise. There's always so much, I mean, you've got your hand in so many pies and I love it. But your NBA career, I gotta talk to you. I remember one time, because you were the last year where I had season seats. so I was lucky I got to come up with with Magic and the Showtime group and I had season seats for that and then and then you when you arrived and then when Kobe arrived and then I moved out of LA and that was kind of the end of it but I feel like thank you for the great run that you gave me but dude they you're you were such a powerhouse but what people forget is the beating that they used to inflict on you because they knew they could get away with it and the refs would let it go every night I would sit there.

6:43It was, people never think about that because you're such a powerhouse. They thought you were inflicting it. The truth of it is, people would just hammer you. But I was also dishing out. You know, when you're a football player at first, a lot of people don't love that football is my original sport. I really didn't feel it. You know, I always said to myself, okay, you're going to allow this to happen? Okay, then watch this. So I think it was a similar, I received a lot of things, but I was also trying to flip a lot of things also. There was nothing better in the day than watching you go coast to coast.

7:18It was, I thought watching Magic go coast to coast was great, but I was like, well, you were like, hold my beer. Oh, exactly. Thank you. I remember a great story. You were playing, it was the finals against Michael. You were still in Orlando. and I came to your house to pick up some tickets. You had such a good setup down there, man. That setup, do you still live there? No, I actually sold it. And actually, when you came, it was 25 ,000 square feet. I actually made it 76 ,000 square feet before I sold it. But it was awesome, yeah. Okay, here are my favorite things you had. You had a van that had so many big speakers in it.

8:03Oh, yeah. And I think that there were only two seats in the front because the rest of it were speakers. Am I right about that? The van of death. That's what I called. Yeah. It was. You remember all that? Yeah, dude. Listen, I was blown away at your setup. The van of death. Yeah. My other thing that was amazing is you had all your guys were chill and so nice. Everybody hanging out. And I love that there was a, there was your, the housekeeper was literally in a French maid's outfit, which made, which was my favorite thing I'd ever seen. You know, I was young. We're both, we're both young and single.

8:43And why not, why not go there? I thought it was great. Also, you had a studio set up and I, and not only were you rapping the day I came to visit you, but I remember the rap. You do. You want to do it? Want me to do it? Yeah, let me hear it. Okay, here it is. Hang on. I'm going to do my Shaq. I've got one here. This, I look like I'm pro now because I have... Oh, yeah, nice. Yeah, right. This is good. Ready? Here it is. Yeah. By the way, guys, I'm dead serious. This is not a bit. This is what Shaq was rapping. I never said my shit don't stink. I never said my shit don't stink. I never said... That was 100%.

9:25By the way, a great rap. Well, thank you. Yeah, that was awesome. So good. You asked me if I could rap, and I was like, fuck, no, I don't know how to do any of that stuff. I remember. Remember? You've got a great memory, yeah. I remember all those days. And then the other great thing was I got a nice tour, and you had that dock out on, is that a lake? It was a big lake it was on, right? Yeah, it was a lake, yeah, yeah. The Butler Lake of Chains is what they thought of. And I kept asking the guys about alligators, and they were like, yeah, there's alligators in the lake. And I was like, oh, my God, there's one right there, just fucking with them.

9:57And, man, they all ran. Everybody ran screaming into the house. It was great. Yeah, it was a lot of games there. You sold the Orlando place. The Superman, the circular bed, the big gigantic. They're still with me. How big is it? How big is it? It fits about 50 people. Not that I tried, but I just heard that it fits about 50 people. There was just a rumor out there that it fit 50 people. We don't know for sure. We just think. Yes. It's just unbelievable. You want to hear my favorite Charles Barkley story ever? Yeah, there. Okay, it's not going to surprise you. So I got sober like 35 years ago, right?

10:45And so I'm newly sober. Charles is playing in Phoenix. And I call him up. I go, I'm in Phoenix. I think I've literally just gotten out of rehab. and I had to tell him that. And he goes, that's great, brother. I'm so happy. Same, I don't drink anymore either. I go, really? He goes, yeah, man. I go, great. We go out to dinner, sit down. He goes, I'll have a Long Island iced tea. I think he thought because the word iced tea was in it. Right. It wasn't alcohol. Do you love doing Inside the NBA as much as it seems like? It looks like you guys just have so much fun. That's a great show. they allow us to utilize our humor throughout our band.

11:29They just let us be who we are. Charles Oliver, all of them are getting together championships. Marty wins Emmys every year. It's just great camaraderie there. We just do a great job of making people laugh. Was there ever a moment early on where they tried to, quote-unquote, produce you guys? I think the first couple of years were kind of tough for me is I wanted to be professional and be on my right, don't believe it. Yeah, my boss, TK, then said, hey, we don't need you for that. We need you to be real. And so, after that, we started winning head beats back and back and it turned out to be great.

12:10That's such a great lesson, though, for people in any line of work, I think, is what one brings, what their own view is, is the secret sauce. Yep. And, And Brent Gumbel, that's amazing. I can see that. I'm just going to be very, very non-professional. No, they just want you to be Shaq. Exactly. So, in all seriousness, what is Chuck going to do with the wardrobe now that he's like the skinniest? He's got abs. We've lived to see the day. He doesn't have the abs, but you know, he's close. He's getting there. You know, yes, yes. Yeah, looks good. I mean, all you guys, you look like very dignified.

12:54You got the gray beard going. Thank you. Thank you. I'm old. You're not. I'm old now. I'm old. If you're old, I'm old. We're like, do you ever feel that way when you watch the league? Do you feel like you're from another planet? Because as a longtime fan, I do. And I'm not in it like you ever were. Yeah, I'm a little bit. But I really show old when I try and play. Like when I go to the ship every now and then I grapple balls. and just get up there a few minutes. I'm like, who was I? Like, you know, it's all gone. Okay, what's the thing, if you could go back and, like, do now, what would it, you could still dunk, obviously.

13:32Yeah, but I would like to dunk with force now. Like, right now, I struggle a little bit to dunk, but I remember when I used to get, like, you know, my elbow. So, like, if I could still do that till the day I pass away, like, I would like to have that power. How many times did you break the backboard? Twelve. That should be a stat. That is what is a stab. We just talked about it. Why don't you guys have that as a thing on the show? The Shaq Backboard Award for somebody who's going to pull that thing down. I was at a game where you pulled the entire stanchion down and the game had to stop. Oh, you were there?

14:08Yeah. Oh, no. Yeah. To answer the question, the guys don't really play like anybody shoot three, so that probably wouldn't be a long segment. Do you miss the era of the big man? I do. You know, the game is, a lot of people call it evolving. I don't really think it's evolving. I just think it's different. Different times, different eras. Guys don't like the physicality of it anymore, so they rather just shoot jumpers. There was nothing more fun than watching you or Kareem or Elijah Wan or, you know, set up. Like, just setting up on the block. I agree. You know, just the era and the invincibility of the big man.

14:54It's all gone. I wonder if it comes... No, it'll never come back. Never come back because of the analytics? Because the analytics have proved that it's better to miss two three-pointers than make one bucket down low, right? I mean, that's really what it comes up. Let's talk about the analytics. Like, guys are creatures of habits. All the young kids that are watching, all the big young kids now, So the Washington Big Kids, you know, they're going to practice what they see. When I was coming up, it was Kareem and Moses Malone and, you know, David Robinson, the people of the last line. So they all played inside.

15:28So I was taught to practice and play inside. If you'd have grown up seeing a guy your size standing on the perimeter shooting threes, you would have done that, right? No, I wouldn't have done that. I wouldn't have done what was easy, what was more exciting to the fans.

15:55How else do you feel like the league has changed? Look, it's a young man's league. Young men are changing. It makes perfect sense. By the way, baseball is the same. It feels like the only sport that hasn't changed as much is football. Yeah, I agree. Well, football is a little soft, also. The only thing I have a problem with is the load management aspect. When you're young, you don't practice two, three hours a day. When the fans pay all this money to watch you perform, you should gladly want to be out there performing. Is that, do you think, just a desire? I know that you guys loved it, loved the game.

16:41And so it's like, if there's a game, I want to be in the game as opposed to it's a night of business and maybe I'll miss this meeting. You know, I think guys are more worried about their brands and they worry about the monetary value of it. Sometimes they don't realize if your game is lacking, we'll be able to get more lucrative deals. I would say you were the first in a generation that could be somewhat, somewhat friendly with players on the other team. Like, I think there's a world where you'd have a party and people would come over and it was, but like, and now it's gone so far that way that you can't imagine people not hitting each other up after a game.

17:28Whereas like, can you imagine Larry Bird and Magic doing it? Like you would just, would never happen. Michael, like it just wasn't done. It definitely doesn't happen. Plus once we got inside those lines, like friends with that, I was trying to tear your head off. What's the most physical game that you can remember? Do you have a memory? Do you have specific memories? You must. Oh, I mean, because nobody played me one-on-one, so no. No, never. I always got triple or quadruple team. No, coming to New York was tough because those guys tried to beat you up. But other than that, I don't remember any of it.

18:05Those guys were not, and that was when Pat was coaching them, right? Yes, yeah, yeah. Do you think they were more physical than, and I know you didn't play the bad boys in Detroit. I don't know about the bad boys there. I didn't play, but they were definitely fiscal with me. I once went water skiing with Bill Lambeer during the, it was like 2-3-2 was the setup at the championship. And so you're stuck in Detroit for three days. Three games. An eternity. So it's me, Pat O 'Brien, Glenn Fry from the Eagles, and Jim Hill. Oh, yeah. I remember Jim. And we're out. We go water skiing at Lambeer's Lake, and he's the nicest man in the world.

18:48The nicest, shocking, nicest man in the world. We say goodbye. Next game's in LA. He's warming up. He's getting stretched on the floor. I go by. I go, hey, thanks. That was really, really funny. He looked at me, and he said, fuck off. Real? Nice. The game face. Game face, man. Yeah. Yeah. So how did you, first of all, I didn't know you were involved in my favorite, one of my favorite food places, Five Guys. That was a long time ago. How did you, how did that happen? You had like 155 of them or something? Is that possible? Am I misreading this? Actually, that was a long time ago. I actually sold those and I started my own, which is now called Big Chicken.

19:34Do you have one in LA? I think we have one in Pasadena, and I know there's some, they're all over. I will have to, I will have to, I'll shoot you the information. Yeah, I want that. Okay, here is a list. It's probably not a full list of all of the brands that you work with. And obviously some of them you no longer do, and some of them are current. So I'm not, we got Reebok, Nestle's, Crunch, Golbon, Buick. Hershey's, Hershey's. Hershey's, the general, of course. Papa John's, Hulu, Epsom, Carnival Cruises, Frosted Flakes, America's Express, Vitamwater, Icy Hot. Somebody said the brand of Shaq, the reason people love Shaq is when you, people's brands, if you can dilute them down to one word, is very important.

20:28And Shaq is fun. And I thought, that makes perfect sense. Like, everybody's happy to see you. Everybody's happy to hang out with you. And I got it from you, brother. I love that. That's right. It was really, really amazing. Seriously. And I got it from you. But it's, well, thank you. And it's true. I've seen you out in the world and you, I like love the way you wear your legend. You know, if you're going to wear Superman's cape, You got to wear it. Do you know what I'm saying? And you do. You always have. I agree. Where do you call home now? Atlanta, Miami, Vegas, Dallas. Jesus. Wherever I'm at.

21:14That's a lot. You're traveling a lot. I get around. You never played golf, though, did you? No. Golf was not. How did you miss that? You'd be such a great addition in, like, the golf circuit. Yeah, who has time to walk around 19 holes? I don't. Charles does. I work for Charleston's. I have a job, so Charleston does stuff like that. How much a day do you devote to quote-unquote business versus... Most of the day. Give me your day, like a typical Daily Shack schedule. So today I woke up. You woke up at what time? At eight today. I've been going over six. Are you as scheduled as... basically every, it's one meeting after another, after another, till the end of the day, would you say?

22:05Most of the time. But on a typical day, I try not to start working till after 12. Do you like to work late? Not really. I like to, I like to, whenever I'm tasked to do, I like to, I like to get it done so I could, you know, rest after that. If you could have any day off and do your dream thing, is it, is it? One day. I can't accomplish it in one day. Okay, give me your week. You got two weeks off. Where are you going? What are you doing? I'm going to Monaco to hang out with Prince Albert. Really? Yeah. Prince Albert? Yes. He's a very nice guy. I've known him for years. Yes, he is. I didn't know you knew him, but I never would have thought.

22:50That's so interesting. Yep, that's what I'm going to do. Well, he does have it wired there, wouldn't you say? Yeah, he does. he so do you go to the you go to the casino you do by the way I've never I've always got my shirt handed to me in Monaco I think Monaco's super tight as the gamblers would say I find it I mean I wouldn't go there for that I'd probably just give him a little boat just just sit there and just watch Magic has a big boat trip he goes on he does every year he's figured it out that's his thing too right but like when you travel the world there's no way you can hide. There's just no way.

23:31Like you can't go anywhere without people all over you. Do you find that there are certain countries or certain places where you feel more comfortable or less comfortable? What's it like walking in the... I know it's like to be in LA with you. I know it's like to be in the line at the Roxbury. What's it like to be Shaq out in the world? You know, it's pretty much the same all over the world. It's just nice to be recognized for doing something that you love, something that you work hard at. What country loves basketball even more than the United States? Would it be Eastern European countries, would you say?

24:13Like Dubrovnik, Croatia, places like that. Right. Right. You played with Vlade, right? Or did they trade him for you? Yes. He traded for me, yeah. One of the great... That's a... No offense to Vlade, but that's an upgrade. Yes. He used to smoke. You know who smoked? Larry Bird smoked. I didn't know that. Larry smoked. Yeah, I never knew that. Okay, so you overlapped with Michael for what? Three seasons? I came in in 92. So yeah, and you brought Orlando to their first final in your first year, unless I'm mistaken. 94, 95. There aren't that many rookies that have done that. Magic did it, but he had Kareem.

25:03Yes. I can't even, and no offense, I can't remember the supporting cast in Orlando. You had a good point guard. Yeah, Nick Anderson, Penny Arleway. Penny. He's got, yeah. Penny. Penny. Penny. He was a baller. No, yeah, he was good. He was good. What's your opinion on the Lakers this year? They got two great players and they got some role players who definitely have a lot of work to do. It's going to be vital that the role players can be consistent in what they do. Especially Yakima and Riemann. They really did have outstanding years.

25:53And I want to talk to you about your sleep apnea. I was really surprised to hear about that. I have friends who have it. It's brutal. But before I do that, you know, being in the public eye, people see what they want to see. They project their own stuff onto you. I was watching the Laker opener and I was watching LeBron on the bench. and seemingly to me very disengaged. But then I also remember, no, no, no, Rob, you've been in the public eye. You don't know what's going on behind, you know, you could have the flu. You just don't know. And it's very hard to judge. But that said, did you have any, did it get on your radar?

26:41Because I had never seen somebody that disengaged on an opening game. I saw her. You know, you just have to be who you are. And sometimes he's jovial on the bench, and sometimes he's serious on the bench. I can say, you know, you don't know what's going on. Of course, you can take a few clips and say, oh, he's not excited about the game, but maybe he was upset because he was out there with his teammates. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, so, you know, he's a great guy. He's done a lot for the game. He's a family guy. He's a positive guy, so I don't really pride him. I'm bad at him too much, because he's done everything the correct way.

27:22He's been such a stud for so long that I think people take, if it's possible. Now, he's on the Mount Rushmore, but I still think people take what he's done for granted. Yes, they do. I mean, the durability of it. What do you attribute it to? And then I'm going to talk to you about your sleep. How does he keep, he's a beast. How has he not broken down? Well, you know, the game was less physical, So, you know, I think he doesn't really get fat a lot. So it's just running and jumping. He just eats right and stays in shape. He's done an unbelievable job with that. Speaking of health, have you always had sleep apnea or did you recently realize that it was an issue?