Jon Hamm on Meme Life, Busted Brackets, Masters Dinner Debate & A New Bearcat in Town | Ep 185

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23:02Jason Kelce:All righty, our guest today is a 6 '1 actor, director, and producer from St. Louis, Missouri. He's got a Critics' Choice Award, two Golden Globes, and an Emmy. You know him from his role on the town, 30 Rock, Landman, Madman. And now coming soon, the second season of the Apple Plus original, Your Friends and Neighbors. Yes, sir. 92 %ers, please welcome Mr. John Hale. Thank you, thank you, thank you. That is a WWE-style intro. I like that. Thanks. Chiefs Kingdom member. Certainly so, yes. Perhaps the sexiest member of Chief's kingdom. Maybe. I mean, you know, Rudd's in there. Suck's in there. I mean, come on.

23:40There's a lot.

23:41Jason Kelce:It's tough sledding. It's a hot kingdom. That's right. We got big Rob Rigg. Rob Rigg. He had his nice seasoned beard. Oh, yeah. He's got a little salt in that pepper. He's all right. How does it feel to become a meme, by the way? That was the weirdest thing in the world. I am so not on social media. I have zero footprint. literally yeah i think i have a facebook page from whatever 2002 those things are dangerous now man that's like a loaded gun for sure yeah but i mean i never i never engage with it i just don't so even when people send me like links to to instagram and stuff i have to open them on the web i don't have the app i don't i don't play the reindeer games are not for me yeah so i came home i was i've been shooting up in canada in winnipeg manitoba this next series that i'm doing called American hostage.

24:27And I come home and I get a text from Brian Williams. Like, what does Brian Williams want? You know, it's like, okay, I open it up. And he goes, I hope you understand that this has been going around. And he was the first guy that sent me the link. I was like, first of all, Brian, what's on your algorithm? But no, then it blew up like crazy. It was, it was bizarre. And it's bizarre. It's just one of those things, you know, I, I, you got no control over it. You You can't do that stuff on purpose. It just happens. Yeah, it has happened on camera. And I guess it was the best way for it to happen. It was positive.

25:02It was pleasant. It was funny. It was all the other stuff. Absolutely. Hell yeah. It was iconic, man.

25:06Jason Kelce:Tell me, what's this new series? You said you're up in... Yeah, it's called American Hostage. It's about a real thing that happened in the 70s in the States in Indianapolis. It was a hostage situation where a guy took a bank manager hostage, tied a gun around his neck, and walked him around for 63 hours straight. Jesus. Yeah, it's real. I was 1977. I was six years old. You guys weren't born yet. But I was like, I vaguely have a recollection of this incident when it happened. But it was kind of the first thing that happened where local story kind of blew up into national news. And I play the radio reporter that the hostage taker, he was his favorite radio guy, newsman.

25:43So he said, you got to get my story out. You got to tell the people my story. And so he's kind of conflicted. He's going live on the air with this guy who's a loose cannon who also has a dude at the end of a shotgun. and it could go sideways at any moment. So it's very tense. It's very exciting. Fuck yeah. It's going to be a good one. It'll come out in the fall at some point. Up in Winnipeg? Yeah, we're shooting Winnipeg, which is around nine. Which is my choice. Yeah, I was going to say. I don't know how cold you guys have been recently, but minus 30 is real, man. Yeah. We got one of our college teammates, Zach Lair.

26:12Shout out to Zach. He's the quarterback for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Yeah, I went to the Grey Cup this year, which was super cool. Saskatchewan Rough Riders versus the Montreal Alouettes. Alouettes. Ooh. Have you guys watched the CFL? It is fun. Three downs. Yep. Receivers can move forward before. Field's bigger. Way bigger. Yeah. Like way bigger. It's crazy. Dude, I love it, dude. We went up there a few times. Unfortunately, our guy got banged up the one game we went up there to go see him. So you're bad luck. Well, they won the Great Cup that year, I believe. All right. They love it up there, man.

26:45They go crazy for it. And it's fun to watch. It is fun to watch.

26:48Jason Kelce:You're a football fan. I'm a football fan. You played football? I played in high school. I got recruited to play like D3, Ivy League, and it was like there was a decision. I played middle linebacker. In my high school, we played both ways. So I played offensive line and middle linebacker. Offensive line and middle linebacker, yeah. Chuck Bednarik. Exactly. I was a running back, though. I didn't play offensive line. We all wanted to be running backs, especially in high school football. That's all you did. But no, there was a choice, and I was like, I don't think I can. I wanted to go to college, and I wanted to not be in the weight room and not be in practice all the time.

27:22I hear you. It's like, for sure.

27:23Jason Kelce:Can we just touch on this? Look at the, did you see his hood? Yeah, kid. There he is. The necro. The necro guy. The necro. Oh, this guy was fucking putting his forehead right on your chin. Let's fucking go. Absolutely. And arm sleeves, the old forearm shit. Yeah. For sure. There was not a pad I did not want to wear. I was like, give me more. They don't even make hip pads anymore. How crazy is that? I don't know. I watch you guys. I'm like, how do you not do that? You had the hip pads and the butt pad. The little tailbone pad. For six years, I didn't wear any pads on my legs. Until they changed the rule back to be like, hey, you have to wear any pads and thigh pads.

27:58So what do they give you now? Like a credit card and you put it in the thing?

28:01Jason Kelce:It's the thinnest pad. And then you even, once they give it to you, you cut it. You can't give me enough pads. That's what I'm saying, man. Guys are fucking putting their helmet right on my knee. Oh, dude, yeah. You've got to run across the middle. Yeah, no. Give me as big. I just want my whole leg being a pad. Give me a force field. I look at all these receivers. I'm like, dude, you guys are getting your shit fucked up. Put some goddamn pads on. For sure. For sure. What is harder, playing football or being an actor? That's a good question. Playing football. I mean, no way. Seriously. No way. Nobody's coming at you to try to take your head off in the middle of a scene.

28:36You don't have to keep your head on a swivel when you're in the middle of a scene. It's just not that hard. It takes mental energy. It takes preparedness. Obviously, both of the disciplines do. But the funniest thing about, and you've probably had it, both of you probably had it. You know, my buddy Glazer worked on your show with you guys. You know how it is to be on camera. Everything gets a little hyped up, a little, you get a little nervous and all that stuff. And it takes experience and reps to get it down to where you feel comfortable doing it. Like anything else. Yeah, exactly. I'm sure if you put anybody on an NFL field in a moment, even if they were fit enough to play, the grandeur and the largeness of the moment would freak them the fuck out.

29:16No doubt. Right? And so that's what happens sometimes when you get on stage, when we get on set and the lights are on and things ready and whatever's going. I remember one of the first movies I ever did was called We Were Soldiers with Mel Gibson and Greg Kinnear, Sam Elliott, a bunch of cast of thousands. It was great. Vietnam War movie. Really, really cool. And we had this one setup that was the whole day. It was just one thing for the whole day. and at the end of the day the guy hits the button and the whole place blows the fuck up and it was crazy we had all these lines and all these things we had all these cameras everywhere we run on 11 cameras and mel's in the middle of it he's calling in the airstrike and the director's basically like if you forget your line if you fuck up just keep going because we got one shot at this and so it goes around and around and around at the end of the thing they hit the buttons and the whole fucking forest explodes and they call it and they're like that's a wrap like we're done like okay we're like okay we did it and we were all talking to mel we're like don't you get like nervous like what would he go that's the one yeah no that's crazy no we just that's what just what i do yeah and you think about that of course in your line of work too like patrick mahomes is like he's this is what i do yeah it's well the old texas gunslinger right he's a little different he's built a little different i was uh i was just at waste management i was on i was uh playing in the pro-am right that's a real thing man so that's what i'm saying you're talking about like being in a moment where you're like oh shit you walk into that thing and it's like the thunderdome it's like yeah it's like the coliseum it's like how the fuck did i get here yeah you have to stand over a ball this size and fucking hit it you've hit a million times that you know you can do i had that experience i played augusta after the after the masters the year the last year that tiger won whether it was 2018 you can do a thing where they keep the pins in the same place and you play that you don't play from the tips, but man.

31:01So cool still, though. And I was standing on the first tee, and I literally, I lined up, I'm a decent golfer, I was like ready to play, and I looked down, and my knees are doing this, and I was like, wait a minute, no. And I stepped back, I was like, come on now. Deep breath. And then I stepped up, and I striped it, but I mean, I was like, whoa, dude, that was real. I was like having a moment, man. Gustav, are you kidding me? You already know. Yeah. Jason, you got a little experience of that.

31:28Jason Kelce:that whole one it's like sitting right there yeah man not good not a good start to the day not a good start wasn't good numbers are falling down so your friends and neighbors second season is coming out what do we expect there's a little twist at the end of the first season like i didn't i expected i thought you had gone good again right right right so you know most of the second season is kind of dealing with the fallout of the first season you say about you know he he kind of dips back into that world decides not to kind of go on straight and narrow yeah and then there's a massive kind of chaos agent that is introduced in the season which is james marston's character who comes in who's a new guy in the neighborhood and it's like who's this dude and uh he's he's not as he appears to be there's some shadiness and there's some stuff in it and it the whole season kind of leads up to how do we manage that and it's it's great it's it's it's super compelling television it's fun it's funny it's sexy it's it's uh you know it's really i'm i love the show it's fantastic i was gonna say this is it feels like it's obviously you're like your range is crazy but in terms of this character it feels a little different is this like a new experience for you i mean look i get having the majority of my kind of notoriety and fame be invested in madman the period piece is a very specific thing kind of this very brooding dark character to be able to play something contemporary that's funny and real and kind of, you know, someone that you could walk down the street and legitimately recognize.

32:56If I walked out of the street in Don Draper gear, people are like, what the fuck, what's going on? It's not Halloween, dude. Like, what are you doing? But if I, if I, you know, walked in, in, in Andrew Cooper gear, it's just as a normal person. And, and it's, so there's a lot of like that familiarity with that kind of character, but also that kind of deal of like the 1%, you know, people that really live that crazy life. And how is that, you know, how does that work out and is that is that all there is is that the kind of thing that people really want you know it's it's fun it's a little bit wish fulfillment and kind of fuck you to those people too so for sure no it's fun fuck yeah i'm always here for a good fuck you it helps man dude so you mentioned uh going to ut kind of being football isn't it i want to go a different route did you know that acting and i had done a lot of acting in high school i had done it basically since i was a little kid um i was never like a child actor or anything like that but it was just always something i had i had i was raised by a single mom my mom passed away when i was 10 so then i live with my dad and then you know i was always in whatever extracurricular after school activities i could get you know whether it was bowling team or cub scouts or this is everything man it was literally like just do that and so sports was obviously a big part of that and growing in the Midwest, all you have are empty fields, and whatever season it is, that's the sport you play.

34:16You know, it was like baseball in the springtime, football in the fall. You know, the wintertime was hockey, but I couldn't afford all that gear. All that gear, right. So, more of it was just like whatever we could do. Oh, yeah. And it was fun. You know, that was the big part of it. Growing up as a boy, especially, all you have is energy. You just want to, like, run through a wall. And so, when I got into football in seventh and eighth grade, when I went to the school I ended up going to, that was the, that was the saving grace, dude. End of the day, all this energy, you're like, let's, let's go hit something, man.

34:46Like it was fun and I was decent at it. But, um, but I knew that, you know, that's a choice as you guys well know. That's a commitment, man. You got to be in the, in the weight room. You got to be training. You got to be fit. You got to be ready to go. And I was like, I think I just want to be, I want to do this other thing, which I know I can do at a high level. I'd always gotten good feedback from people that were like, Hey man, you're kind of good at this. And then it becomes, it's not, I mean, it is, I guess, a lot like football. Like you got to get picked. You know what I mean? You can't just go in like, I'm going to be an actor in my room by myself.

35:18That's being a crazy person. But you got to be a little crazy to be good at everything. Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. So then, you know, it was like, you go to either LA or New York, basically. It wasn't happening in St. Louis. So I was like, all right, I packed up my shit. I had$150 in my name. My grandfather gave me a check for$100 and that tripled my money. yeah and i bailed out i went i went west man and that was it in 1995 so you know i've i've i've i felt like i had to give it give it a try or i or it would have been the too saddest word in in the english language like what if yeah you know so off i went and it only took three or four years to get it going i live with that so much because i always say what if i could have play quarterback in the national football league see i just couldn't put the reefer down man you

36:08Jason Kelce:wanted to be a basketball player you wanted to be a basketball player is what you wanted to be i did i did i really just wanted to play basketball in the big east i knew i didn't have a chance at the nba i couldn't fucking dribble but i knew i could play college basketball for sure i knew i could fuck i couldn't guard anybody but you could put me in the zone i mean shack and i can yeah rebounds exactly dude throwing bows i'm gonna use all five that was the one thing playing basketball growing up my dad came up to this you get five of them if you don't use three you're not playing the game right i'm just like got it files out before the fight like every game just getting filed out sost louis that it is crazy we talked to we're obviously really connected with kansas city right wriggle brudd jason sudeikis and i think they used to do like this improv thing as kids or something like that i think talking to them was there some city yeah it just i've never heard of these paths out of these like small midwestern like markets are there like a bunch of likest louis people yeah you know because i was a teacher i went back to my old my old high school and i taught school this is so cool man i graduated mizzou my z z-o-u all right man i graduated mizzou at 93 and then i went back and taught at my old high school because i needed a job like i was waiting tables and bartending all the other stuff but i was like i need a fucking job like i need a real job with a real paycheck and a real schedule i can't do this anymore because i was so old at 24 And I pitched myself, because the guy that was teaching theater at my high school who had taught me, I said, you have too many students.

37:36Like, you need a junior teacher. You need a helper. Yeah. And he goes, sounds great. Let's pitch it to the headmaster, the big man. I go, great. And I knew him. He knew me from being a student. I was a really good student. I was a three-sport varsity athlete. I was in the theater department. I had good credit. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Qualified for it. I had a theater scholarship from a zoo, and I'd done a bunch of plays, and I was like, just let me come in for a year. Try it out. What's the worst thing that could happen? So I did. It was great. They asked me to come back for another year, and I was like, I'd love to, but I got to try this out.

38:08I got to go. I'm not getting any. Hell yeah.

38:10Jason Kelce:But one of my students was Ellie Kemper, who was in Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt with me, and Bridesmaids with me, and other things. So I was like, I got a chance to walk the red carpet twice with one of my students. That's awesome. And yeah, we had a bunch of kids that were really, really good at it. Sometimes these clusters just kind of happen, you know, that talented kids find their way. And I was one of them. In my class from my graduating class from Burroughs in St. Louis, Sarah Clark was in 24. Like, we had a bunch of kids that made it out. So, you know, it happens. Yeah, very cool. St. Louis representing.

38:45Yes, indeed. I love it, man. And I always feel like anytime I'm like giving back in that regard, like I always find a way to like say something and then it gets reiterated in my brain. Like, man, I kind of got away from that. Like whatever it is I'm teaching or like whatever, like the fundamental is or the mindset. Yeah. It reminds you what you're supposed to be doing. And it kind of makes you stay more sharp on your own fundamentals. You know what I mean? For sure. Yeah. I would imagine. I mean, I'm sure you guys do youth clinics and whatnot and stuff. Of course. because the little kids look up to you guys like you're hung dude you already know not just that

39:18Jason Kelce:like every single year you reinstall a playbook yeah right so like you'd be sitting in this meeting it's like how many more times can i listen to like inside zone be installed yeah like it is mind-numbing to a point where it's like yeah i'm gonna step with my right foot check my a gap and yada yada yeah right but um and then you go every once in a while every once in a while like stout would have like the guys teach it or something like that right And it does feel like when you're teaching it, or a rookie would ask you a question. And in your own way of like, redescribing, I forgot that I think about it that way.

39:50You know what I mean? Well, the whole point I would imagine, because it's the same with us, is that you do it, and you do it until you essentially forget it. And it becomes second nature. That is, yes. You know how to do it so well. Tramp calls are blacking out. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, right. For me, it's like, it's nonstop, football's nonstop evolving. Like, the plays are nonstop evolving. Like, the more you, the more coverages you see, because that play works you're going to see different coverages i try and stop it so the play is non-stop it's evolving on how i need to run this route how i need to do this and then it's like it gets to the point where it's like not i'm thinking about this coverage this coverage this coverage this coverage how i'm going to run it here and coach reed will just come up to me he's like just run the fucking route you know get it back down back down to simple yeah for sure i will just run it how you how you teach it i'll run it how you teach it that happens every year too right Right?

40:39Whoever wins the Super Bowl, everybody imitates them for the next season, right? That's basically what happens. Okay, now we're going to run that, and that defense is going to work against this or not. And like you said, it's constantly evolving, and that's what's really fun to watch it. If you love the game and you know the game and you really watch the game kind of at that granular level, that's what becomes really cool. And I think that's like when Romo first came into the booth and was starting to call all that stuff, you're like, holy shit, right? You still know this. Hell yeah. It's like amazing.

41:07Absolutely. Obviously, we keep mentioning St. Louis, the Rams. We got to talk about the Rams because - How are you Chiefs Kingdom? Here's what happened. Let me give you the history of my football rooting. All right, now. Please. And I bring this up to Roger Goodell every time I see him, and I did it again. 1989, the Cardinals moved from St. Louis to Arizona. Yeah. So we're fucked. And I go, God damn it. But then they were like, no, you're going to get an expansion franchise. And we had the name picked out. We had the logo picked out. It was the stallions. It was a terrible fucking nut. But then they go, no, just kidding.

41:39It's going to Carolina and Jacksonville. And we were like, fuck, really? God damn it. Then it becomes like, well, maybe we can get the Rams to move to St. Louis. And everyone's like, they're not going to move to St. Louis. There's no way. Of course, they build this half a billion dollar stadium. They're like, hey, all of a sudden the Rams are in St. Louis, 94. Next year, I moved to L.A. So the Rams are now in St. Louis, but I'm in L.A.

42:01Jason Kelce:That's funny. And they're terrible. The first couple years, they're terrible. Rich Brooks? I can't remember who the coach was, but he came from Oregon. He was not ready for the pro game at all. It was just, Tony, who was our quarterback? Oh my God. Anyway, it was bad until Dick Vermeule shows up. Oh, yeah. And then all of a sudden, Kurt Warner shows up. And then Marshall Falk shows up. And then Isaac Bruce shows up. And then Torrey Holt shows up. And it was like, all of a sudden, this nucleus coalesced. And it was the greatest show on turf. And Mike Martz, OC. And it was like, oh, my God. Like, then it was football became a thing in St.

42:39Louis. And people were crazy. I went to one game at the stadium. And I'll never forget it. It was like, the place was electric. And I used to go to see football when the Cardinals, with my dad, in minus 10 degree weather, aluminum benches. We're not even seats, like aluminum benches. So cold, so deeply cold. And this was like indoors in the dome. There was a play, I'll never forget it. I got there like five minutes late. This is luxury football right here. This was St. Louis versus Atlanta. I can't remember what year it was, but I got to the game five minutes late. There were five minutes off, or there was a minute off the clock because what had happened was the first kickoff was run back for a touchdown and then the ensuing kickoff was run back for a touchdown.

43:21It was 7-7 before I even got to sit down. That's some action right there. What is happening? So right before the half, it was a fourth and 30 and they were like, well, they might as well. They didn't even punt. It was like Warner just lines up under center and throws a dart to Torrey Holder, like a deep post to Torrey Holder and they score. Fourth and 30 right before the half. You're like, okay, this is a team worth watching. So that was super fun to watch. Then they win the Super Bowl in 2000, and they should have beat the Patriots in 2001. I have a theory about that. And then they move back to L.A.

43:54And then they move back to L.A. They win the Super Bowl in L.A. with Stafford. Oh, yeah. So that's when I got nothing left in St. Louis. Then it's like, well, at least I got the team in Missouri on the other side, and that's the ascendancy of you guys and everybody there. Now they're moving that to Kansas. So I'm like, come on, man. Where do I go from here? the battle hawks I mean I don't know but it's no it's still it's great watching watching the the Chiefs come together in the way that they have Paul and I Paul Rudd and I have been buddies since high school since I was 15 he was 17 love that dude man we were at the game when the first Super Bowl you guys won he was there with his son he was about 15 or 16 years old he was so emotional he got a bloody nose he was just like oh I remember that hell yeah he was awesome he got to go down that was in Miami I think yeah that was really really fun but it's been great you know it's been great to watch you your your success as well i mean couldn't happen to two nicer guys that's all i'll say there's a man dude we too got our team shipped as kids so we know that yeah for sure right yeah now i look at the baltimore ravens as basically the evil empire yes and what could have been in cleveland because they ended up going on to like win a super bowl within the first like five years yeah just non-stop success yeah yeah but hello so is it favorite football player growing up either Cardinals or Rams or?

45:15I mean, OJ Anderson, I loved. Mel Gray, I loved. We're going back to the old Cardinals. Hell yeah. Dan Dierdorf, who's a lineman, who I really loved. I got to know him a little bit afterwards. Rest in peace. He's a great guy. Wonderful, wonderful man. And a huge supporter of the city. You know, one of those guys. Fuck yeah, man. Everybody knew Dan. It was like Stan Musial in the Cardinals. It's like everybody knew him. He was around town all the time. You'd see him. He'd say, hey, how you doing? He had a steakhouse. you know you just show us the best dude that kind of midwestern thing like it is in kc i know you guys have the restaurant in kc we got a crazy ambassador program around there when i first got there the first the first like meeting you have is literally with the ambassadors of the chiefs like the owner clark honk comes in with it's called the little rookie meeting and you're sitting there with the guys that have played and stayed around in the city it's nice you just hear all the stories r.i.p lind dawson he was like one of the first conversations i had in kc and i'm just like man I'm speaking to the...

46:11You meet those Hall of Famers and you're like, wow, you know, it's real. It's real. And it really enforces the idea that the community is huge. It's a huge part of the success of the franchise. That's why it's so devastating when the teams leave. You're like, come on, man. It's crazy.

46:28Jason Kelce:Did you watch any college football this year? Kurt Signetti, the national championship coach. I didn't see the whole national... I saw the highlights of the game, but I was very much paying attention to Indiana the whole season. Have you heard of these calls for you to play Kurt Signetti in a movie? No? Oh, I haven't heard of you. Apparently there's a picture running around. I had a lot of friends that went to IU because that was a big destination. If you were in St. Louis, it was just about a three-hour drive. We had some fun weekends up at IU. He's a character now. He's got that old ball coach feel to it.

46:57For sure. High energy. But even like the new high energy, like the McVeighs of the world, you know what I mean? Yeah. It's a different world. He's just got this old wisdom. well and he's got the way he says it's of just like you're not gonna stop what i'm gonna give you sorry yeah you're about to get a taste of this it was his quote i win google me damn okay i mean it's it's pretty baller like the guy is just straight up and he does i mean how

47:25Jason Kelce:about that indiana running the table yeah i mean i know they got a lot of money behind them too but that's still crazy that's just the new reality like alabama doesn't like no they all do that's Seriously. My guy Pat Mahomes over there at Texas Tech. Right. They have oil money down there. Yep. They're ready. How did you guys get all these transfers in every sport? TCU, all those kind of places that historically were kind of second tier things. IU. Yep. Like now all of a sudden, which is, I don't know, I think it's kind of great. Yeah, no, I think it's a nice refresh. I mean, Alabama was on a run there for a while.

47:59It was, yeah. Yeah, you think? And it's like, all right. It feels like now the tables are at least a little more even. Yeah. Right? I'm with you. It's not just the haves and have nots. Absolutely. The haves and the haves mores, but whatever. No, I'm with you. I love it.

48:13Jason Kelce:We're big fans of comedies. What's your favorite comedy movie? Comedy movie? Yes. Well, that's a good question. I mean, look, I had the good fortune to be able to remake Fletch, which was one of my absolute favorites. And I had the good fortune to meet Chevy. I met him, he kind of ambushed me in the LAX airport lounge. It was like seven o 'clock in the morning and I was actually getting ready to fly to Fort Worth to do Landman. Okay. And I'm scooping out my shitty microwaved eggs or whatever in the lounge. Yeah, airport food. You know exactly what I'm getting ready to eat. You know, you're like, oh boy, it's too early for anything, but I gotta get something in the gut.

48:53I gotta get something in the gut. I hear this guy go, hey, I heard you played Fletch and I turn around, it's Chevy Chase, and I was like, oh my God, oh my God. That's insane. I go, yes, I did. Mr. Chase, oh my God, it's so nice to meet you. I love all your work. All I do was watch your movies growing up. I loved you on SNL. I just love-bombed the guy. I floored him with an avalanche of like... And I was getting ready to go work with Demi Moore. And my wife's favorite movie, one of my wife's favorite movies, is this movie that you probably, if you've seen it, good luck. It's called Nothing But Trouble.

49:23It's directed by Dan Aykroyd. Dan Aykroyd plays this weird, crazy character. It's nuts. Look it up. I got to watch that one. But it's a, it's, it's a Chevy and Demi Moore. So I said, I'm actually starring with one of your co-stars. I'll give her my best, this, that, and the other. And anyways, so cool. It starts with Fletch, but then he - I thought he was going to come in hot with something. Well, I did too. Yeah, right? Because you already know that he's that guy. I did too. And that's why I kind of - I was waiting for the - I was waiting for the dude. The judo love, you know what I mean? I had a lot of heart.

49:51You already know. That's hilarious. Judo love. That's good. Because I felt like there might've been a little, a little shot underneath. Yeah, yeah. But no, all of his movies, I mean, he went on a run. You look at Caddyshack, you look at Fletch. Oh, come on here. That's what we grew up on. Yeah, the 80s, that was what you did. You rented movies. That was all you did throughout high school. It was just you rent five movies and watch them five times over the weekend, and that was it. But man, Big Lebowski, that's another one that I absolutely love. Yes, come on now. You know, I got a chance to work with Jeff Bridges in my career.

50:24So, you know, So it's, I'm - Bad times. Bad times of the Royal. Yeah, dude. Yes, indeed. I love that fucking movie, by the way. I mean, it's a great film. I make great movies that nobody sees. It's top. That's kind of it. I actually got, I made a movie called Million Dollar Arm that was based on the career of this guy, J.B. Bernstein, who represents Barry Sanders. And he was at the honors last night. So I was able to say hi to him. And he is funny. He's this tall and he's just a hard worker. You guys, I can't believe you got to play me. I go, I got to play you. you got me to play you that's yeah but you know having a career doing it as long as i've been able to do it it's really nice to be able to look back and be be proud of what you what you've done and to work with the people that you've gotten a chance to work with oh yeah all of that stuff is amazing you know it's it's uh being in something like top gun yeah well that i remember walking on that set and there's a six-story high american flag and tom cruise is walking toward me all i could see is a smile walking toward me and i was like how you doing are you ready to go thanks for the cup of joe right there uh but i was like this must be weird for you this is the same set that you shot on 25 years ago is this weird he goes it's crazy it's crazy we're doing it again that's amazing it was fun man well i uh i share an honor with you of uh standing on that snl stage man when i tell you still to this day one of the coolest fucking things i've ever done um your time on snl do you have a favorite skit do you have a couple yeah i was gonna i mean i have a couple man i've hosted four times and i was and i was i've been on the show like probably 15 more times and it's it's it's such a unique experience as you know there's there's not a whole lot out there like live television i also did 230 rock lives on that same stage so it's super fun but when i first started hosting i had the home run hitters man i had the the all-stars it was wig forte armison sudakus legends everybody on that show were were just were just home run hitters so the ones i did with wig we had so much fun the woman she said don't make me sing so fun i did a sketch with will forte that would never get on the air now that was a halloween sketch where will comes to the door rings the bell i answer the door and he's he says happy halloween i said are you what are you dressed at he said i'm a child molester

52:53can you sign and date these papers i'm like wait what what's up what actually is happening look it up it would never get on the air again but boy oh boy it was funny uh so i know i have i have tons of great memories like that and as you well know man when you're getting ready to go on that stage and that band is playing and thumping and ready to go behind that door man And that is a - And no one realizes it, but there's about a foot behind that door. You were up against the wall of that thing. My shoulders were touching the door and the wall behind. Yeah, it's the same thing. And then she's screaming out, five, four, three.

53:23There you go. You shot out of a cannon and you hold on for dear life. But it's fun, man. It's fun. It's so much fucking fun. You looked like you were having a good time on it. I noticed that. We grew up on the Farrells and the Farleys and Sandlers. For sure. So it's like, that was inch heavy. Like my mom and dad were huge, like SNL before we were born. And it's so funny thinking back because I watched it when I was a little kid. I mentioned my parents split up when I was younger. If I was at my dad's house for the weekend, I got to watch. Yeah, baby. So, you know. The Bushy little Ackroyd. For sure.

53:56And like super inappropriate. I was five, six years old. Like, you know, whatever. But I was into the land shark and, you know. Oh, yeah. So fucking cool. All the stuff, man. It was so good. It was so because it was so transgressive. There wasn't anything like it. And if you didn't see it, you didn't see it. There was no DVR, there was no clips on the next day. Crazy to even imagine nowadays. So you had to talk to, you know, you had to go to school the next day and not, or Monday and not have seen SNL. Be a part of those combos where everybody's dying laughing. You were on your back foot, man.

54:28It was not great. Absolutely. That's funny as fuck.

54:30Jason Kelce:All right, last one. Welcome to Hollywood moment. Ooh. Do you have one? I remember, I mean, like I said, I had no money when I rolled into Hollywood. And then I remember I'd gone, I had to go back to St. Louis to do a play that got me my equity card that got me into the union that got me into this and that. Then I got my car towed because I had like$2 ,000 worth of parking tickets that I wasn't sniffing being able to pay. So then one day I just looked outside, I was like, well, I guess that's gone. So now I'm on the bus. And I was working a restaurant job and trying to audition and you know it's LA is not a easy place to use public transportation so I remember I had I had rollerblades and I would throw the rollerblades over my shoulder get on the bus as close as I could get to wherever my audition was and then you were blading it around LA in LA I mean not safe so I'd show up sweaty as a motherfucker to whatever commercial audition the ivory soap or whatever you know i'm just being like i don't think i'm gonna get this i look like a hundred pounds of dirty laundry right now but uh yeah i mean it's you just do what you can you you ain't nothing to it but to do it that was the first lesson i learned was like listen no one's gonna give you any excuse you just gotta figure it out you gotta send a man can't live with those what ifs yeah and you just and you gotta figure it out you know it's like It's hard.

56:00Life is hard. I remember my best friend growing up. He was the best man at my wedding. His dad played professional baseball. Ted Simmons. Maybe you know, maybe you don't. He's in the Hall of Fame. Great guy. Wonderful man. Kind of a surrogate dad to me after my dad passed away, especially. And when I was going through all my transitional difficulties and whatever, trying to figure out where am I going to go? How am I going to make it? My dad just died. What am I going to do? He goes, look. A lot of sad stories in the world. A lot of sad stories. I played with guys that grew up, not only did they not have parents, they didn't have a glove, you know, but they were gifted, you know, they grew up in the Dominican, they grew up wherever, and they just made it happen.

56:39No one's going to make it happen for you. You got to make it happen for yourself. And I really took that lesson to heart. I still do every day. It's like it's on you to figure it out. And listen, we're all very, very fortunate in our lives, right? For sure. Not just health, but career opportunities, all the other things. Getting picked, like you said, man. Getting picked. But it's what you do after you get picked. Do you come correct? Do you show up? We can all get in the batter's box. And no one bats 1 ,000. Right. No one. But if you show up and you're prepared and you're ready to go, that's what it's all about.

57:14And I've been really fortunate in my career that I've had those moments. I'll never forget the first day shooting Mad Men. I remember looking at myself in the mirror and going, okay, you got the job. What are you going to do with it? Hell yeah, man. And it was that moment. That's crazy. It was that moment where I was like, I'm going to fucking kill this. I'm going to kill it. That's what I'm going to do with it. That's so badass, dog. It was, it's challenging. It ain't easy. Oh, no. If everybody could do it, everybody would. Yeah, but that's the beauty of it being that challenging, though, is because when you fight through and you get to, you know, where you are now.

57:43You look at Bobby last night, Bobby Wright, man. Yeah. What a story. Yeah, yeah. Dude. It's those kinds of stories that you go, all right, you know. I had no idea about Bobby and his story like that. So that was another, like I've always appreciated his game. For sure. And then all of a sudden you just, when you get underneath that face mask, all of a sudden you get to hear, you know, how amazing the guy really is. Yeah, crazy. We'll let you get out of here, brother. Thank you for all the fucking time. Thank you so much. Thank you for the wisdom, man. Gentlemen, gentlemen. My pleasure. Let's all go, dog.

58:14Can't wait to see everything that you got coming out. Season two coming out April 3rd?

58:19Jason Kelce:3rd. The 3rd, baby. There we go. Thank you to our partner, Apple. There's nothing like your first Mac. I first got mine when my dad brought home a Mac, and I felt like I was the coolest kid in the world because I could finally get on a messenger. It was like the coolest thing ever as a kid because you got to text your friends and all be on the same chat. Hell yeah. It definitely felt like a level up. I think everybody felt that way when they got that first Mac in touch. Oh, man. I still feel that way every time I get an iPhone or a new Mac. And it's just like the new technology just makes me already feel smarter.

58:53It already makes me feel better. And now the old new MacBook Neo is here and it comes at a surprising price.

59:01Jason Kelce:That's right. So whether you're in school starting something new or just want to fly through everyday tasks and apps, this is your moment. Check out the all new MacBook Neo. Learn more at apple.com slash Mac. Thank you to our sponsor, Allstate. Checking Allstate first could save you hundreds on car insurance. That's smart. That's right. Not checking if your cleats still fit before the first day of training camp. Rookie move, not very smart for your feet, toenails, all that. Yeah, checking first is smart. So check Allstate first for a quilt that can save you hundreds. You're in good hands with Allstate.

59:39Jason Kelce:Potential savings vary. Subject to terms, conditions, and availability. Allstate, North American Insurance Company and affiliates, Northbrook, Illinois. Thank you to Jon Hamm. Once again, that conversation was brought to you by Apple. Last thing before we wrap up, let's take a look at the old New Heights, Greases, March Madness bracket challenge. Yeah, baby. We've been having some upsets, some incredible games. How about that UConn-Duke ending? That was insane. Yeah, that was absolutely insane. I was watching that on my iPad because we were on vacation this week and audibly screamed in a... I hadn't jumped out of my seat from a sporting event in a long time.

1:00:20And it was fucking magical when he fucking hit that three. I was like, in my mind, I'm like, too much time when he threw it up. And I was just like, I was just fucking, he drained it.

1:00:33Jason Kelce:The moment the ball got tipped, you're like, oh, no. They're going to have a chance to chuck a three. And then they passed it. He caught it. Didn't like anything. so he just fucking threw it to the first open guy. Oh, man. Yeah. That shit was so fucking epic. He also said shit on live television, I believe, when he was in his post-game talk with the reporter on the court. Yeah, freshman, freshman, getting used to the whole situation, a lot of emotions. I get it, man. And also, who didn't say shit at some point? Even the head coach's mom is in the stand saying, holy fucking shit. Yeah, right. It was epic, dude.

1:01:12Jason Kelce:Yeah, Dan Hurley, obviously head-butting officials. Always love to see that. Well, let's get into our bracket. Shout out to the 92 %ers and the leaders of the women's bracket. Emily Interante is in the lead. In second place, we got Amanda Trujillo, who both have UConn winning. And then we have somebody rolling with the Gamecocks, Vanessa Blecha. I don't know if any of these names are pronounced correctly. Sorry if they're not. But congratulations. You're doing some pretty good job. It does seem like if the Gamecocks win, Vanessa might have a chance. Ooh. All right. Men's leaders, we have Connor, who has got Michigan.

1:01:50Jason Kelce:Second place, we have Abby Pierce rolling with the Illini. The Illini, I did not know that the Illini, I have not watched college basketball. Yeah, that was one of the highlights I remember seeing, and these boys know how to move, man. Dude, I'm enjoying watching them. I mean, they knocked out my team. Fucking Houston, goddammit, they forgot how to play offense. But anyways, great job to the Serbs. The Balkans. Dude, the Balkans are killing it, man. They're freaking lighting up a lot of itches and witches. Abby Pierce knew. Or Yakovic's. Yeah, no, they're killing it. James Lewison. UConn. They got winning.

1:02:25Jason Kelce:James has UConn. And then Austin Stilger has Arizona. All right. So the top four all have different teams. I do think Arizona's going to win. Although I did think Houston was going to win. So what the fuck do I know? I also watched no basketball. I'm not going to lie. I'm fucking jacked up. I'm pumped up right now because this is going to be a hell of a final four, man. These teams, I think, all match up pretty goddamn well. And Michigan's been playing their tail off. I didn't know how big Michigan was, man. Michigan's got like an NBA fucking front court, man. But it's going to be fun to watch these guys go.

1:02:57And it looks like UConn's got the juice right now after that last win against Duke. Yeah, New Heights staff update. It's currently time for first in the men's bracket, our intern Brandon and researcher Diana, who both have Arizona winning it all. Jason is in second, but had Houston winning it. Travis is in third. That's me. Also have Arizona winning it. So I can't pass Brandon or Diana, but I can take over Jason.

1:03:23Jason Kelce:You will pass me. Probably. All right. Jack Jake is in sixth, but will win it all if Michigan makes the finals. Oh, wow. Wow. That's crazy. This is a tight race. Yeah. In the women's bracket, Brandon and Diana also tied for first. Okay. They watch basketball and Brandon has Texas winning and Diana has UConn winning it. Jason is in second with South Carolina winning it. And no one from the new heights production team picked UCLA to win it all. I don't know why that's in there. All right. New heights staffer. that is in trouble. Men's loser with a whopping zero points gained after a round of 32.

1:04:05Our official loser of the men's bracket is our producer, Aaron Lurik. Sorry, Aaron. Apologize for throwing you under the bus there. We got to do better, though.

1:04:15Jason Kelce:It's honestly insane. I don't know if I've ever seen anybody with zero points gained after the round of 32. He missed, like, even if you're flipping a coin and picking. He missed all 16 games. That's crazy. That's wild. It was upset central over there on Aaron's bracket. He definitely just clicked. There's a click that says you can have it automatically filled out. He hit that for sure. Guaranteed. I say that because the women's loser and finally with 68 points, but no more points remaining. Our official loser of the women's bracket is me. Yes, it is. How are we feeling, Trav? I feel pretty upset that I let it get to this point.

1:05:05But, you know, you just got to do better in life. And you got to understand the circumstances better. And you got to understand that your brother is going to go out and cheat. And there's nothing you can do about it.

1:05:16Jason Kelce:What are you so upset about, Trav? Why are you so upset? What are you so upset about? What am I so upset about is that this was just a friendly competition. and then after i submitted my fucking bracket and you hadn't submitted a bracket yet we decide as a group this is a false time let him talk let him talk let him talk during the show yep you started to fill out a bracket did you not no i did not fill out a bracket i was talking about what were we doing in the final four in the show i literally told you guys i have not even looked at the brackets yet. How am I supposed to do a bracket recap?

1:05:55Jason Kelce:And I just started bullshitting in the Final Four. And then we talked about there being some type of punishment for the loser on the show. But on the show because I didn't know that we were doing a play for kids. You can make bracket adjustments up until it's due. You can make adjustments up until it's due. Thank you, Brandon. There's injuries that come up. I didn't submit it. I didn't submit a bracket I already had submitted it because I did Neither of you looked at the bracket Neither of you looked at the bracket We recorded the show under false pretenses Neither of you looked at the bracket Erroneous the timeline You're misleading You are misleading with the timeline Bullring nose piercing That I would fucking Have Howard beating Fucking Michigan No I wouldn't You thought they were due I'm just going to throw it out there Your bracket was not submitted until after we talked about there being a punishment on the show episode.

1:06:56Punishments were talked about. Punishments were talked about. That is a true statement.

1:06:59Jason Kelce:We hadn't decided on one, but the idea of your punishments was going to come up. Yes. Nobody's going to have to get pierced. We're not piercing you. We're not going to pierce you. The woman's bracket, you're right. I took a chance on Iowa. That's fair. Dude, women's bracket, just slide the number one forward. Just slide the number one forward. What is the, is there a punishment for both brackets or only for the men's bracket? The punishments are for New Heights team members only. Yes. And I believe we already have our loser of the men's. I trusted the power of Caitlin Clark, Claire Kittle, and George Kittle.

1:07:30Ooh, a little name drop. I like you work the name drop in there. That's good. Sounds good. No. My friend George and Caitlin. I don't know if you've heard of them.

1:07:39Jason Kelce:I don't know if you guys heard. My friend, I just call her Kate. I may be a loser in the bracket, but I'm a winner in life. You just feel the energy from me. You're like, those are good people. I'm going to pick Iowa. In the women's bracket. Would have been good. You did pick him in the men's as well. That was a better pick. Yeah, I didn't have him go into this lead eight, though. So the bet is only for the men's bracket? We're not incorporating the loser in the men's bracket? Oh, no, I know. It's kind of sexist. So what is the ratio? How do we figure this out? How is it determined who lost, who is the loser of both brackets?

1:08:12Yeah, I'm glad we're figuring this out at the end of it. This is awesome. Give it to me, Brandon. I know you got something. No, Travis, you've already lost the women's. Tell me what I've lost. Tell me what I've lost was my punishment. You lost the women's bracket. So who has to eat the waffles at the Waffle House? Well, if that's the punishment we'd like, Travis might be joining the Waffle House.

1:08:34Jason Kelce:Oh, so two people. You lost the women's. You lost the women's. So there's going to be two people that have to do this. I feel like we should do two punishments. Yeah, that's only fair. We should do two punishments. Do you guys understand how betting works? We talked about there being a punishment, Travis. We all agreed to a punishment. We all agreed to this. There was a blood oath. Nobody agreed to the agreed to punishment. We said it on Mike. We said it on Mike. On Mike is sacred. We also said on Mike Jason's final four in the men's bracket. Well, he didn't submit. He didn't submit. You can put anything you want there before you hit submit.

1:09:04Jason Kelce:It doesn't count. You can do whatever you want until the ball is snapped. You think I'm going to trust Wyatt, Travis? I did. I did. I trusted your daughter, and your daughter has no integrity. She knows fucking nothing. Well, let me tell you. She does know nothing. She is six.

1:09:19What are you teaching her over there, huh? She doesn't even know who'd win in a fight. Between Michigan and Howard.

1:09:26Jason Kelce:She's starting to figure out how to use her numbers to do math above the number 10, Travis. Hell yeah. That's who you trusted to even get 16. We got to get her in the advanced classes, Jason. She can barely count to the number of teams in the NCAA tournament. There's no way. She's six years old and can't count? She can. She can definitely count. I said barely. I was going to say. Takes a second. Once she gets to 100, it starts to get a little dicey. Does she just do the thing where she just starts counting and just wants you to know how high she can count? Yes, we're in that stage. I was hanging out with some children.

1:10:01They're like, you want to see something cool? And I was like, sure. And they're like, you want to Ohio count? I was like, oh, fuck, no, I don't. And then they just went. We got to 45. I was like, do you want to go outside?

1:10:09Jason Kelce:Welcome to 98 and 99 bottles of beer on the wall, but we're not going to stop early. We're going to keep it going. Do you want to Ohio count? I'm like, oh, no. That sucks. That's a terrible trick. I don't know. I think you can kind of shut your brain off once they start counting, right? You don't have to keep them honest. You'd be surprised. You could just let them go. No. They demand attention. You've already heard it a bunch. Do you want to... Let's do... Maybe podcast? So the men's bracket is still up. Oh, there is a loser in the men's bracket. Who's the loser in the men's bracket? Aaron. We could do one overall loser of combined worst score.

1:10:44Jason Kelce:Would you guys rather do that? Would you guys rather to do that yeah are we no no well then what do you want to do you're being fussy can we stop acting like eating waffles at a waffle house is that big of a punishment as long as you do before training camp you're fine but how do i in every waffle is an hour here's aaron here's aaron explain your fucking you got 24 hours and every waffle is an hour can specialty waffles like if i eat a blueberry waffle can i add like an extra 30 minutes taking off or like no you're just straight no no i will not allow aaron i know your your work hours you have nothing but time hey Travis is the one who's got stuff going on I'd rather do a drinking situation than do a fucking waffle situation like this I'd rather have to sit at a bar from start to finish the punishment isn't about what you would rather do loser the punishment is a punishment we didn't agree we agreed to a punishment we agreed to a punishment we did agree to a punishment that is on record but we did agree to a punishment a drinking festivities with your buddy Aaron what if we ask one of our guests today, Coach Calhoun, what the punishment should be.

1:11:49No. We're going to do Coach Calhoun. I'm going to ask him. That's my one question to Coach Calhoun.

1:11:54Jason Kelce:Aaron, how did you not get a single Sweet 16 team? Fuck if I know, guy. I don't watch college basketball. Neither do I. Neither do I. None of us did. That's not an excuse. And fucking asked his fucking ESPN colleague that is a professional in sports gambling. I did not. I did not. Who's going to fucking win? What fucking job? it is so rediscent Jason fucking cheated so bad and you guys are just gonna here we go now here's the real accusation let's get into this I did not ask an ESPN colleague I asked my best friend Corey Sims who used to be an equipment manager for the Cincinnati Bearcats who is now my financial advisor and he gave me the lowdown we went astray with you you're right you're right you gave it to you you had somebody else fell your bracket which is my entire point I don't know about this I would have had somebody else We filled it out together.

1:12:45We filled it out together. I would have fucking called Jay fucking Billis and told Jay, hey, what's your bracket? Let me copy every fucking answer you have. You cheated, Jason. A little name drop there. A little name drop from Travis. Yeah, I know Jay Billis. It's called teamwork.

1:12:57Jason Kelce:It's called teamwork, guys. That's called collusion. I don't know what you're talking about. That is called collusion. It's called teamwork. It's called teamwork. I'm giving Corey credit. I'm not telling you that I picked the names. I'm saying I went to my buddy who's an expert because I don't know shit about fucking basketball. And I asked the guy that I used to go. That's the fun of it, Jason. I do. First place in both men's and women's. Ball nowhere right here. No, you did not. No, you didn't. Ball nowhere. You didn't even pick Texas. Stop it. I can't believe you guys don't want to go hang out in a Waffle House.

1:13:24We don't have Waffle Houses in California. You got to find something else.

1:13:26Jason Kelce:Yeah. I mean, if it's a Waffle House, at least it's like, you know, waffle on a show. It might be a fight. So that's a positive. If you get in a fight at the Waffle House, you can leave immediately. Let's do it. Wait, hold on. Hold on. If I get a fight at the Waffle House, are you guys, is the company covering my legal fees? I will. No. I'm sorry, what was that? We do have no lawyers or HR on this staff. Next week, we're also going to announce the winners of our Reese's and New Heights Bracket Challenge. So tune into that. And the last thing, there was another huge basketball story this week, and we had to get this guy on to talk about it.

1:13:58That's right. Let's go ahead and toss it to the old University of Cincinnati ball coach. What's up, boys? Welcome back, coach. How we feeling? Oh, man. Exhausted. It's never in. like a never ending cycle. You wake up, you go to sleep for four hours and just deal with chaos from start to finish. But it's good to be back, man. Oh man. I had, there was my favorite question. Cause everybody loves to talk about the old chili down there in Cincinnati. And I'm very curious. What's your, what was your first culinary stop? What was their first like go to, I got to get some food. I've missed it so much as I've, since I've left.

1:14:36Well, it hasn't been skyline yet. Honestly, It's been the football cafeteria, man. It's the closest thing. There you go, man. Tell you what, you guys built a heck of a facility, guys. Wow, that thing is a beast. I'm assuming it's been pretty crazy for you because you've been kind of separated from the university longer than we have. How crazy is it seeing how much the campus has grown since you're being back? Yeah, man, I told Huggs, I told all those former players that were there, I can't even recognize it, honestly. You know, when I was here, man, this this was kind of a school in the in the inner city and, you know, like a commuter type school, to be honest with you.

1:15:17And it's just changed so much, man. It's it's a phenomenal institution. We have a ton to sell, man. I think this thing's going to be great.

1:15:25Jason Kelce:Yeah, it's remarkable. Every time I go back, like, you know, obviously the facilities for the sport for the football team, basketball team are all pretty brand new. But it's not even just that, like around campus. The whole area has been built up so much. There's so many restaurants and bars and things that weren't there when we were there. UC used to stand for under construction. That was the whole joke when I was there. We're just constantly trying to build it up. No doubt. But it's remarkable what it's turned into. What was your favorite spots? I know you guys had some spots when you were down here.

1:15:56Jason Kelce:Skyline was one of them, especially at 2 in the morning at Skyline over on Ludlow. No, first of all, Jason's speaking for himself right here. Jason's speaking for himself there. Skyline would be the last place I'd go. Shout out to Skyline, though, and Gold Star. Much love to you guys. I know you guys have built the hell of an establishment, but I'm an Adriatico's pizza guy. Yes, yes, yes. I want to go there. I haven't been there yet, Trev. I got to hit it. Adriatico's is fantastic. And then I got a shout out of Spot Martino's over on Short Vine. Good people that run it, and they had these Pittsburgh-style wings and this Pittsburgh steak salad that we used to get there, and we just got to know the people that own that place.

1:16:36Jason Kelce:And it's an awesome spot. So you get a chance. Martino's is great over there on short find. I'm going to hit it. Yep, I'll hit it next week. And then, of course, you know, Montgomery Inn. Come on now. Get some of them barbecue ribs. That's where Huggs' radio show used to be. So I'm looking forward to it for our radio show. We'll be out there. Yeah. I didn't know this. You actually were a student at Cincinnati as well. So you started at Cleveland State as a player. Yep. And then you transferred to UC, finished your degree, and went into coaching right away. What does Cincinnati mean to you? How do you feel being back?

1:17:06To be honest with you, it's kind of crazy. It's surreal, right? You go through life. There's certain things that happen in your life that you're like a wow moment, probably for you guys, whether it was your first start, first Super Bowl, whatever it was. There's just certain things that happen, and this is kind of one of those. It's been a crazy journey. I took an unconventional path, took a D2 job from West Virginia. You know, after I didn't get Travis, you know, I had to go a different route. He turned us down, man. He turned us down.

1:17:37Jason Kelce:I'll tell you who turned you down. Ed Kelsey turned you down. That's the real story. We can get into that. Yeah, we got to get into some of that if we got time. Are you kidding? We would love to. You know, just been a wild journey, man. I've coached at every level. Obviously, Utah State's one of the best schools in the country. Best student section I've ever seen. We got to get that back here at UC. but this is a place where you can win a national championship. And I think it's the best job in the state of Ohio for basketball. I really do. I've always thought that. Our alumni here is real. We've got a real fan base in this campus we can sell.

1:18:15So I'm excited. That's awesome to hear, man.

1:18:18Jason Kelce:Everybody, I think, was rooting for Utah State in the tourney just because we were like, hey, we're all hoping that Coach Calhoun comes back home. And it was fun watching you guys this season and in the tourney. Yeah, it was so cool to see what you guys built over there in Utah, too, man. You could tell. You could tell. So dating back to old 2007, back when you and Huggs actually and the entire staff went to West Virginia, I believe Kansas State maybe before that. Yeah, yeah. Going into West Virginia, I had already kind of committed. And I was looking around at some basketball schools and old Barry Egan, Coach Egan, Ohio basketball coach, coached me my junior, senior years.

1:19:05And Egan had a really good connection with you guys down at Cincinnati. So I go down to West Virginia. You're my point of contact. You guys treat me like fam. Like I had never been treated before. I was Jason's little brother, and Cincinnati didn't even give me this much attention. Trav I'll be honest man you could hoop man that's what people you know obviously you're going to go down as is the greatest tight end in my in my book but uh you were a hooper man I mean you know all those heights guys you were a beast I appreciate that I was I was a hooper at heart for sure you went to Villa Angeles St.

1:19:38Joe's you went to Joe's right yeah Joe's guy man yeah I wish you would have told my dad that so I came back from uh the West Virginia trip and I told my dad, man, I was like, dad, I think I want to really give myself a chance at playing Division I college basketball and play for Coach Huggins. He looked at me and said, you are a man of your word. You want to be like these kids that commit to a university and then decommit, and now the integrity of your word doesn't mean anything. You have to be a man of your word, and I look around at everybody nowadays in college. I'm just like, what was I doing?

1:20:12Well, nowadays, you guys would have made a lot of money. I could tell you that. A lot of money. No, man, but you could tell the way you guys ran or the way you guys ran the ship in West Virginia and just the camaraderie that you saw on the floor and how everybody on the bench was involved in the game. You could tell that's something you kind of took from the Huggs regime, correct? Yeah, I mean, honestly, guys, Huggs is one of the greatest coaches of all time, but what people don't talk about is He's got three former coaches, assistants that are now in the final four. Brad Underwood at Illinois, obviously Frank and Mick Cronin.

1:20:53And Coach Cronin's been unbelievable to me throughout my coaching career. So when this opportunity came, he was one of the first guys I called. But, yeah, I mean, I've taken some stuff from everybody. Joe Mazzula is one of my best friends. I was the best man in his wedding, coached him at West Virginia. So he's going to be involved in the program. Nice. You know, we want to get you guys back. We're talking about doing a fantasy camp. We used to run one at West Virginia, so we might have you guys get back as well if we can get your schedules cleared, as I know you guys are, you know, doing a lot.

1:21:27You know, we would love to. That would be a blast.

1:21:30Jason Kelce:Travis knows this, but I've been trying to dunk for the first time in my life. I think I'm going to get there. I think it's going to happen. You look good, man. You look good. 38 years old. I'm dunking, baby. It's going to happen, Travis. I know I think my wife loves your wife, Jason. She thinks she's awesome. So you guys have your personalities and your brand, man. You guys are connecting so many people. And you guys don't know this, but I was very close with Donald Delisio, Trav. So we will come to the Chiefs. How about that? Yeah, we became diehard Chiefs fans, man. We flew out every year with a group of Youngstown guys.

1:22:04And, you know, the Phantom Fireworks guys and all those guys. Oh, yeah. Bruce Zoldan. That's creepy. Yeah, that's our crew.

1:22:12Jason Kelce:Those Youngstown guys, they stay together. Wait, so are you from Youngstown or East Liverpool basically is Youngstown? I was born in East Liverpool, but I grew up in Cleveland, man. I'm a Cleveland guy. But yeah, I spent seven years at Youngstown. Jim Trestle was a huge mentor of mine. And, you know, so I've had a lot of good guys help me along the way. There's some good people in that Youngstown area, man, or that area. And they really do lend a helping hand. And Tress is, I mean, I could throw out countless names that have said the exact same thing about Tressel being able to be such a helping hand in their journey, man.

1:22:47So that's awesome, big guy. And it's cool to hear that Missoula is even coming back to or coming around UC. That's pretty cool stuff right there. Who do you guys like? Who's your NBA teams, man? You watch any of it? I live in Philadelphia. I'm connected to the Philly teams. Yeah, you got to watch what you say, Jason.

1:23:04Jason Kelce:Well, I like the Sixers. I'm a Cleveland fan through and through, yeah. Yeah, me too. I mean, I love the Cavs. Sam Merrill, Utah State guy, so we've become close. I'm a Mark Price guy. The price is always right. We can go down the list. Bobby Surrow was one of my childhood favorites there in the 90s. Yeah, me too. Oh, my God, I had the jersey. Oh, the three. Yeah, the three. Yeah, the throwback. Yeah. I'm a big Anderson Vergeau guy. I like hustle defense, man. I want those hustle plays, coach. You got to have them. I got to say this too. While we're on Cleveland guys, there was a quote of referencing you to another Cleveland guy, Maverick Carter.

1:23:43Jason Kelce:I've known Jared since we were 11 years old. And the only person that I've met that loves the game is as committed to the game as LeBron. And it's a tie. That's an incredible quote. Cause I think LeBron is renowned for his love of basketball. But I do got to know, do you love the game enough to headbutt an official? If you potentially aren't. Maybe a few years back. Yeah. Yeah, that was – Danny's on a whole other level. But, hey, he's got two natties, so he can get away with that. Maverick and I grew up together. You know, we were both AAU guys, so we would spend the weekend at each other's house.

1:24:19You know, I eat, sleep, drink basketball. I don't golf. You know, I'm constantly trying to evolve, learn. I think one of the things we'll be able to attract to Cincinnati is our style, man. We really teach guys to play green, to find, create, keep advantages. We teach spacing. It's all about reads, right? You've got to be able to read the game, and you guys are elite guys that have read the game for a long time, and that's what we do. We try to train their eyes, man. It's a whole progression from the offseason to the preseason, and a lot of this I got from Joe. I'll be honest, man. When I went up to Boston five, six years ago, it changed my trajectory as a coach, and kids will want to play in our system because we score the ball.

1:25:01And at the end of the day, man, it's entertainment. People want to pay money to see touchdowns, and they want to see the ball go through the basket. So we're going to sell it. Man, you're getting me fired up right now, Coach.

1:25:13Jason Kelce:I love talking about this stuff, too, because football is – I think I got like one semester left of eligibility, Coach. Hey, we'll get you a good NIL deal, man. Yeah, yeah, I'm sure, yeah. You got to ask your wife. You're a good six-man off the bench, yeah. Sweetie, I'm going back to school. you are bringing up something though that I've thought I've always been fascinated with. And I've never understood because I never played organized basketball, played pickup basketball. And something I've always found fascinating is like, it's a free flowing game. Football is much more rigid in your rules and assignments.

1:25:42Jason Kelce:Each play, you have a very specific responsibility. And one of the things that I think has allowed Travis the ability to excel in football is because he played basketball, because he has the ability to understand what you're talking about with spacing and like to go off schedule and do something because you just know that it's the right move to make. How much has basketball continued to evolve in that regard? Like you think about like the triangle offense and how innovative that was. And I don't, I don't even know what I'm asking you because I don't know a fucking thing about basketball. I know where you're going with it.

1:26:15I mean, at the end of the day, you have to evolve. You have to change with the times. Right. And I think there's not a better guy that's done it than Joe Mazzulla. I mean, look what he's done since he's gotten to Boston. But it's beyond that. It's relationships. You've got to have the chemistry, right, what Travis has done. And my family teases me. I changed from the Browns. There was only so much I could take from the Cleveland Browns. So I got on the Chiefs wagon with the Youngstown crew and we made a lot of trips out there. Trav don't even realize. I've been in Arrowhead a lot. That's awesome.

1:26:52man. It's a good place to watch a game. Oh, it's unbelievable. I mean, if people haven't seen a game in there, it's forget the game. The pregame tailgates are it's like a college atmosphere. It's crazy. I had no idea you were you were already on the the chief's wagon, man. That's awesome. I'm going to send you a picture of me at the game with my boys. I'll send it to you. You'll love it. You got to come back out for another one, man, if you get a chance.

1:27:15Jason Kelce:Coach, I saw you on Dan Hort earlier this week talking about the cross down shootout and how important is it to dominate Ohio? That was a big thing I took away from it. Yeah, I mean, at the end of the day, man, you know, rivalries are everything, right? We all got them. We all have that team. But this one is really special. You know, I think it's one of the most unique. You know, you got Duke Carolina, you got Cincinnati Xavier, right? There's two monster basketball programs within four or five miles. So those are games you got to win, right? You got to defend home turf. You got to rep your city.

1:27:50we're going to take a lot of pride in that. And President Trestle talked about Ohio State-Michigan with me for years. It's got to be talked about. It's got to be trained in our guys' minds that we've got to win this game. And it starts in the recruiting process. It doesn't matter where you are. If you have the chance to watch UC basketball, you're always going to check that Crosstown shootout game. And I mean, it's just, it's something that I, I already know you're going to take to heart, man. But I got to get back to some of the, some of the high school days. And it's a little bit more of this Northeast Ohio love, man.

1:28:27One thing I have to ask you about is the final game of your high school career was against one of the greatest basketball players of all time. Yeah. I had the pleasure of seeing LeBron in high school and he looked like a man amongst boys. How did it feel playing against him in high school? Well, I'll be honest. That's one that haunts you, right? Like you got games that haunt you. That one still haunts me because we would have been state champs. I'll never forget, Trav, my high school coach, Ted Kwasniak, just a tremendous person. He went and saw LeBron. He came back. He saw Clark Kellogg back in the day at Joe's.

1:29:04This is the greatest high school player I've ever seen. And I'm like, I'm a senior. I'm like, you know, who's this freshman he's talking about? So, boom, fast forward two months later. And this dude is just killing. It was crazy. I mean, we were up the whole game, back and forth. Maverick was on that team, so we talk about it a lot. But, you know, what made LeBron so good is guys like you, Mahomes. I mean, you look at every sport. They just know the game. They see the plays before. He had a cross-court pass. I still think about to this day in transition as a freshman. That was one of the things.

1:29:39Obviously, his athleticism, I didn't get to see him until he was a senior. So his athleticism was like he was in the NBA already. But his ability to pass the ball anywhere on the dime at any moment was so unique. And he made it look so effortless. I mean, at that point, he was like 6 '6". And he grew like from freshman to sophomore. He got like three more inches, you know. Crazy. Absolutely crazy.

1:30:05Jason Kelce:I got one last thing. If you see, if you happen to see a Super Bowl ring lying around some chili in Fifth Third Arena, you make sure to let me know. Did you lose it in Cincinnati? Was it a good night? It was a great night. It was a great night. It was an unbelievable night, yeah. Well, we got to get you guys back. Absolutely love to come back. Definitely coming back for a game to see you rock it out. And hopefully we can even get back for a little crosstown shootout. That'd be great. Yeah, I'm glad Reggie connected us, man. Reggie King, great guy, man. Shout out to Reggie. Hey, shout out to Reggie.

1:30:38Reggie, man. Raise your guy a chest. Great dude. You're the man. Coach, we appreciate you, big guy. We're rooting for you. And if you ever need a thing, man, please just reach out. Thanks, guys. Appreciate this. Thank you to Coach Calhoun.

1:30:52Jason Kelce:Coach Calhoun, baby. Yeah, baby. That's the one and only. Happy to have him back in Cincinnati. That wraps up another episode of New Heights. Thank you to Jon Hamm and Coach Calhoun. Check out Jon Hamm on the new season of Your Friends and Neighbors on Apple TV starting April 3rd. And get your ass to Fifth Third Arena for some basketball, baby. Season tickets are on sale now. The Bearcats are fucking back. Oh, make sure you subscribe to the New Heights channel on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts. Once again, New Heights a Wondrous Show brought to you by AT &T, the number one cellular service and Wi-Fi service and cable service.

1:31:31You know AT &T. Follow the show on all social media at New Heights Show with 1S. We got a bunch of fun clips throughout the week. And thanks to the New Heights production team for always making us look better, but making our jobs so much easier. and really doing all the work. We appreciate you for that. And to the 92 %ers, we love you guys too for tuning in to what the New Heights production team does. Love you guys. See you guys next week.

1:32:03You want to do a top show?

1:32:05Jason Kelce:Yeah, let me get one more caffeinated beverage, but yes.

1:32:12it's fine i just feel like there's always something

1:32:16Jason Kelce:his eyes roll oh you guys aren't ready that actually did sound like brandon i got a great impression do it do it how do i sound jason do my dude impression of me how do i sound oh how do i sound jason god damn you damn you jason kelsey game. Thank you.