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daily nutrition insurance. All right, let's get it going right here, right now, this is Eyes up Here, and you're watching and listening to a brandow episode of Eyes up Here, exclusively on our Patreon channel and on the Creative Control Network. It didn't know by now. My name is Chad, and every single week I'm joined here by of course, call me her hair Marcia, Marcia Marsha. I'm losing my hair,

so I'm trying to I'm so sorry. When we last left the Queen of Extreme she had this luscious, full head of hair, and now she's left with take a little bit left. She's got Charlie Brown hair. Now, oh no, you don't. I don't know what's going on, you know. I hope it's uh, it was a one time thing and hopefully it'll go back to its illustrious So I might have to buy new shampoo for thickening hair. I don't know what the hell's going you know, Hey, I

know it. Well, I'll tell you this. When we last left you last week, you were talking about, you know that your bad nights sleep that you had. Have you slept a little bit better since well, you know, I'm not really sure the pills are working, but we're not. You know, we have to give it some time because we don't know if it's the hair loss that's happening from the pills or just because I was gross and didn't brush my hair for three days. I don't know.

That's what you do when you're a stay at hoo mom. You put your hair up in a bun, you wear the sweatpants, and you walk around. I shower every day. Hear every day. You know, I'll admit it. And for those who look down on me, I say, do not cast the stone if you live in a glasshouse. That's what I say. All right, Well, our guest has joined the park. Are ready to Yeah, let me introduce him.

His name is ned roll Sma. I hope I said that right, roll Sma and I met him through the franchise Shane Douglas at our signing that we did at the Wrestling Universe in Queens, New York. So we'll discuss that. Look at that face, he's so cute. Got him on the screen. How are you? I'm doing good? Thank you for having me. Sorry for the connectivity issues a little bit, but no week, don't worry about it. That was last week.

This is a new week. We're fine, ned I before we start with the stories, I looked you up when we came home. Had to, because you know, I investigate when I have guests. One. Now, you have a big beard, but the picture of you had no beard. You have the cutest dimples. Much for your dimples, what are you covering or up there? Oh wow, that's hilarious. So you're now in the club with my mom, who also hates the beard. No, I don't the beard. I love beards.

I love guys with facial here, but your dimples. I could have stuck my whole finger in your face. Adorable dimples. I thank you, thank you. I appreciate that. Well, the beard was born from the coronavirus and not being able to get a haircut and not being able to go to a barber shop and get a trim, and so I thought, well, I'm just gonna let it ride. And I like those looks. But look at them. Yeah, look there is I know that was a while ago, but

those dimples. I love dimples. Yeah, no, that's the It wasn't that long of a while ago, but it was, uh the last twenty years. That was a long long time ago. Those are pre pandemic pictures, sure, and you can tell by the probably by the look on my face. Even as pre pandemic, it looked much about But you know, so like the beard thing though it you know, like I said, when you couldn't you during the coronavirus, you couldn't go to a barber shop. They weren't allowed to

like mess with your face. You couldn't take your mask down and all that stuff, and all the barbers were worried about. You just couldn't get a shave. But also, you know, so I get told a lot. So I'm a seven foot tall, three hundred and seventy pound guy, and so I get told a lot in auditions for things that you have too nice of a face, or you don't look like. I'll go out for these things

like Lord of the Rings characters. I'll go out for things on Game of Thrones characters, and a lot of times the feedback from casting people is like, you look too nice cod So yeah, so I'm thinking, well, there's just so much of that stuff right now out if you look at all the sci fi and fantasy type of programming that's out and coming out right now, it's huge right now, and I feel like they're I was telling my mom the other day because she stopped calling

it a beard a long time ago and just starts calling it that thing on your face, And so I told her, I was like, I still feel like there's money to be made here, so I don't want to shave, you know, because I'm like, as soon as I shave my luck. As soon as I shave uh, you know, the new Game of Throne series will call and want a giant guy with a big ass beard. Yeah. No, I like the beard. I do. I like facial hair. But I when I looked you up, I said, look

at those dimples. So that's that's the only thing I was putting over your your your cute dimples. So here's how we met, How I met Ned. That's a new show. It's a spinoff from Mother Now. Yeah, how about that. I I was I was running just a little late, not quite, but just a tad late for that signing at the Wrestling Universe. Right we go, Sandman and I

go to the wrong store because there's two stores. I'm dressed like a whoror by the way, and I have to walk down the street and go to the second store and there's this gentleman seven feet tall, huge guy, and he's standing like towards the doorway, and I had to pee, so I just run into the bathroom. Didn't really say hi to anyone, just ran in the bathroom, came out. It was very calm, Hello everybody, you know.

And Shane doesn't introduce me to dead. But nedd is standing there and he's holding an action figure he handed to me, and I don't even know what the character was, but it was a very disheveled older woman that the doll was made and the rib was it was supposed to me, can you sign this? I didn't talk for it, I didn't put it over. I handed it right back to when I went and sat down, had no clue who Ned was. And Ned comes and sits next to me, and I'm thinking to myself, this is the guy that

Shane told me about. That was on how I met your mother, and that's how Ned and I became such good friends. So we have I'll tell you that the bit. So the character the action figure was from Star Wars. It was like a secondary Star Wars character. I even think the character was black, even which was even further in these days. So you know, it made the bit. It made the bit even better. But that whole, that whole jokey bit was the brainchild of the franchise, Shane Douglas.

And so that one, uh, it went over like a part in church. It was the ship and I handed the doll back and I was like a nice try, and I just went, yeah, complete no cell Franny, no soulvent uh and rightfully, so that was the right move. But yeah, so then it turns out to franchise is a terrible friend. He didn't introduce the two of us. He forgot his manners. I know that was very much. And then you know then of course I'm hanging behind the uh the autograph table with the talent and uh,

and I was also mister cooler. I had the cooler stocked. And that's an old trick from the road for you wrestling fans that uh, you know, the Iron Chic used to always talk about cold beer Bubba. He would always have the cold beer on ice before the last match even went on. And so I'm usually on cooler duty too, and so we're like, who's this Mark behind the table with the cooler and everything? How do you get back here? Call security? Oh shit, he is security. Yeah, nobody's gonna

mess with you. And you also were nice enough to do some camera work for me. I turned around. I almost had a heart attack because my camera was gone, and I go, oh my god. And because you know me, I'll be whold. I'll have my glasses on and hold my cell phone and I won't know where either of them are because I forget that they're on my face and in my hand. The camera was gone, and I was like, did somebody come back here? And I turned the Shane, I'm like, are you ribbing me? Where's the camera?

Because it was recorded and here Ned took it and was getting highlights of the store and he that day, so thank you. I'm over there working at the comic book store like I was frigging George Lucas or something around. Creative for sure. Yeah, And so we were in Queen's too, so logically you would think the camera was stolen. Oh Jesus. My dad. My dad was born and raised in Richmond Hill over there in Jamaica, so he's a Queen's guy too.

By way of the Netherlands, and so the Rollsma family came through Ellis Island and settled in New York, and so I have a special connection with the York two, which allows me to make jokes about queens and those things like the you know, you gotta watch a neighborhood and real quick, I'll tell you. So, as Franchise and I were coming to that signing around the corner, we were looking for parking in the neighborhood, and you know, I'm the wheelman and testing my parallel parking skills, which

are on point. So were back in a spot, great spot right around the corner from the comic book shop, and I noticed that a couple of people in the car in front of us were having a little bit of heat and someone came out of the flat across the street to come over to the car, and kind of they were having beef. This dude's in his drawers. He's in straight up in his boxer briefs, walking across

the street coming out having this little confrontation. He goes around to the passenger side and starts like trying to pull the passenger out of the car. Then then they're not coming, so then he goes around the driver side and starts beefing with the driver. And like Shane and I look at each other. I'm like, we're out of here, and so we put it, put it in drive, get right back out of there, and go find another parking spot. But it's like, yeah, never, never a dull moment in

in the Five Boroughs. You know, interesting, interesting, Well why don't you tell us how you met Shane because I know the story. But you know, you're an actor. Yes, you come from well you know, you weren't born and bred, but you're from Hollywood. How did you end up in Pittsburgh to meet Shane Douglas? I know you said you saw him around town and oh yeah, well so uh, Troy and how I call Troy, but Shane will k

fabit and keep him Shane. So Shane, Uh, Shane Douglas is from sort of the same general area that I'm from outside of Pittsburgh. So my family's from he tells everybody. So it's okay, Oh yeah, well that's that's kind of that's a Pittsburgh thing too. There's a lot of pride in the area of being from there. And I thought because a fan came to the table and I signed something and he started putting over Philadelphia and Ned's like, I can't put that over. I'm from Pittsburgh, And I'm like, dude,

e c W is Philly. You have to put no, I'm from Pittsburgh. I'm not putting And I was like, damn, you're a heel. But anyway, go ahead, Well AnyWho the where was I? So growing up around Pittsburgh and the Pittsburgh Pride thing, right, So I was a huge wrestling fan as a kid like so many of us, and came up watching the Hulkster and and you know, really through the eighties and the explosion of rock and wrestling and being on the mainstream, and like it was everything

to me as a kid. I had all the action figures. I would always go to the matches. My uncle Kevin, God bless him, and my big brother Phil would always take me to the matches every time they came to the Civic Arena. Anytime there was local stuff, we always went.

And so wrestling was a big part of my upbringing of my life and that it was like my thing, and you know, knowing that around the same time, Troy of Shane was making his jump into the WWF at the time coming out of being a dynamic dude and then he now he's on the big stage and Royal Rumble ninety one I think it was, and you know, and he's the young up and comer and the whole thing.

And so you know, being a kid who is seeing someone on the big stage who is from your area, that's like it's first of all aspiring and it tells you that, hey, you know, if he can do it, he's one of us, and he's from around here, and he can make the big time anybody can, you know, you look up to guys like that from your hometown. And so he was always on the radar, of course,

and you know, followed his career. And but the funny thing about growing up in the area is I would always see him when he was home and he's off the road and like getting a gallon of milk at the grocery store, and that I would see him and it's like, oh, wow, there's I you know, so always

following his career. But the but when when he broke into ECW, he was also teaching at the same time, and so you know, it's just fascinating to me that like he would leave the classroom on like a Friday, run out to the car, grab the title belt, and his trunks and his boots, get on the plane, fly to Philly. You get off the plane, main event a show, defend the title belt, whatever the case may have been.

But so I always called him mister Martin because he was the teacher, and that's what his students would have called him, and so as always a respecting anytime I would see him at the grocery store, anytime I'd seeing him outIn about, and I would say hello to him, I always always address him as mister Martin and sort of raise my hand, like you know, the professor, you know.

But so I would say, since I came home to Pittsburgh from California, which sort of coincided with the outbreak of the pandemic, and then I had some adversity in my family, my dad fell ill and stuff, and so i'd come back from the West coast and of course bump into true I keep doing that, but bumping to

Shane at the grocery store. But then also his kids and my nephews were wrestling in the youth circuit at the same time, so I'd see him at youth wrestling matches too, and so we struck up some conversations and the one thing we have in common is that, you know, if you know, Troy's back, he left wrestling for a minute to take care of his dad. He came back to Pittsburgh. His dad was sick and needed him, and he stepped up and came back to look out for his dad. The same thing sort of happened to me.

And so you know, we're standing in the parking lot of a grocery store like for an hour, and he's telling me about, you know, caring for his dad, the adversity, the tough spots, all of the heartache and the and the stuff that you go through when you're caring for a loved one who's in the last stages of their life.

And we really bonded over that, and so honestly, since then, our friendship really just and so I mean, you know, franchise Shane Douglas, in addition to being somebody that I looked up to as a performer and a character and a person from my area who did it at the highest levels, also just as a guy, as a dude, as a man, as a bro like Troy Martin, a franchise Shane Douglas as a stand up dude. One of my dearest friends. I would do anything for him. And

so yeah, that's you know, just being hometown boys. That's you know, most of it. Yeah, yeah, And what you told me, you came to ECW shows in Monaca, you came to the Golden Dome. How old were you when you're coming to see us there? Are you? So that's like ninety four, ninety five through ninety seven. So that's my you know, junior high in high school, fourteen fifteen, sixteen year old kid. And so all those shows at the Golden Dome, that was those were epic times and man,

sold out crowds, standing room only crowds. That place was a sweatbox, and like you know, they were turning them away at the door. And those were back in the days when everyone would come with stuff from home. They would bring, you know, things for the performers to hit each other with. So you'd see they'd come in with VCRs and crutches and toys and kendos sticks and all these things. And then of course the security when you're coming to the door, they're taking all this from you.

And so there were big bins. As you were walking into the Golden Dome there there were huge like wheelie karts filled with all this what was trash, old cookie sheets, pie plates, dishes, things for the guys that hit each other with and a lot of times then Sandman knw Jack those guys, the Dudley's, they'd go fishing through the bins and pull stuff out. And that was a big

thing for the ECW fans. If you remember that, there was a little bit of like street cred for having your item used and the match and they're like, oh shit, that's my VCR that you know, Bumba Range just bashed over, you know, and so those but those ECW shows are great memories and they're also you know, as far as wrestling goes, that was that was groundbreaking time and maybe you didn't you know, while you're living it, you're not necessarily aware. We have the benefit of hindsight now to

see what the influence all that had. But man, at the time, it was like the best combination of rock and roll, rap music, live events that you know, being there in the arena packing them in and then the energy of the extreme wrestling and the edginess and the grittiness. Man, that was those were golden times and you know, people definitely that lived it shouldn't take it for granted for

a second. And those of us now that can go back and revisit it should because the man a time from the birth of Extreme all the way really until they put it in the ground. It's just was beautiful times. And speaking of beautiful, right, So here's a good Franny story.

So I think it might have been Memorial Day Mayhem, which was like May of ninety seven, that was US television title Champion franchise Shane Douglas versus Raven Escort through the Ring by the Lovely Francine and so like, you know, this was like you know, again I'm a teenager, and so you know, the curtains part, and then here comes Franny sauntering down the runway in a Victoria's Secret nightie

some kind of like barely there before. Yeah, lace, you know, lace and Frilly and the whole thing and just beautiful and here she comes, and I mean, just like the in the best, highest praise, most complimentary way, what a bitch, And here comes Frannie c downdood. I mean she just you don't mess with Franny, Like just the look on her face looked like she would beat your ass. And uh, you know, but then uh, just I mean just those times and as being a wild teenager in the audience

at a ECW show when Franny is in the house. Uh. You know. It's interesting you say that because Pittsburgh. We've discussed this before. I've discussed it with Shane. Pittsburgh was the only place that we were babyfaces in. We were feels everywhere else. And there was a backstage altercation between Rick Rude and Shane one evening because Rick walked right up to him and said, you're a shitty heel and pulled me aside and said you need to tell him

he needs to be a heel in Pittsburgh. And I remember telling Rick, I'm not telling him, you tell him, you know, And He's like, I've told him. He doesn't listen to me, he listens to you. And I'm just like, what do you want me to do? And Shane would not heal the city of Pittsburgh. He just wouldn't do it. And like I always say, I agree with Rick Rude. I think we should have crapped all over Pittsburgh if

you're a healer or a heel everywhere. But Shane saw it differently, and I think that's the only time him and I didn't really get on the same page with something, you know. But every time we walked out, whether it was in Manaka or I don't know wherever we were, Beaver County, wherever Moon, I don't know where we were, they loved us. And I don't think we could have

did any wrong in Pittsburgh, you know. And I keep telling him we have to go to Pittsburgh for signing now, because it's been we haven't been there together since d c W. And I think fans would love to see us there. So promoters, if you're listening, if anybody wants to book Shane and I and you got built insecurity there too. Yeah, we'll take you, Ned, and it'll be it'll be a wonderful time. But enough about wrestling. I

want to know about you and your acting career. After I met Ned, I said, you have one of the most sultry, distinguished voices I've ever heard. He was he was viewing nonsense, but it sounds like music at one, Yeah, but it's but it was so eloquent. You can you can read the phone book, and you have you have a very nice, pleasant voice. And I told you that and I asked, I asked you one of the things, do you do voiceovers? You said, well, yes, I do, And I was like that voice How did you get

into the world of acting? It honestly goes all the way back to when I was a little kid. I was kind of a precocious kid and a performer kid. I was always in you know, school plays and productions,

community theater type stuff, church plays and productions. And then I was also a choir boy when I was a kid, So I did church choir, I would sing, I did competition choir honestly all the way up until my voice went from a nice tenor, like a pop music tenor, to a base and you know, and then the singing career kind of, you know, was put on the back burner.

But no, so I was sort of always into performing arts as a little kid, but so as a teenager, being in you know, high school musicals and community theater and stuff. That also kind of coincided with an extreme growth spurt that then all of a sudden, you know, my basketball career and being a college athlete and then a professional athlete sort of took the sort of the

front priority. But you know, but always in the back of my mind, though, and always I thought professionally or sort of the long term career was going to be something in performing arts or broadcasting. So I grew up at the tail and like I'm the baby of the family, but I still grew up at the tail end where we didn't have cable. You had four channels every night in our household, we have the nightly news on it.

So I grew up with Dan rather grew up with Peter Jennings and Brokaw and those guys, right, So I idolize those guys. I always felt like I just always thought, oh, I want to be a newsman, you know, I wanted to be on sixty minutes or something. And so my educational track while I was pursuing basketball was in broadcast journalism.

So I'm a classically trained broadcast journalist. I learned the old school way of journalism, storytelling, news, development, news, and then again also was always doing performing stuff, you know, the theatrical and dramatic stuff. But so it's always sort of been there. And then you think in terms of okay, well, where are you going to apply that trade, where are you going to do that? It's either New York or Los Angeles, right, So everybody kind of moves to the

coasts for me. So I earned a Division one basketball scholarship. I went through college playing basketball. I had two different stops. I played two years at Iona College, which is in New Rochelle, New York. I transferred from Iona, played one season of JUCO ball in Manaca at the Golden Dome. That was our home arena. And so that was ninety nine two thousand, which they were still around that time, still doing shows occasionally there and stuff and but so

and then I transferred and finished at Tennessee Martin. In two thousand and two, I was drafted into the NBA's developmental League they called the G League now, but so I was at development egue guy. I played in the NBA Summer League for a few summers, and that was at Cal State Long Beach. Every July, the NBA the Lakers would host the West Coast Summer League at Cal

State Long Beach. And I got, you know, familiar with the West Coast, a little bit familiar with the lay of the land, and you know, I kind of fell in love with so Cal too, Like how can you not with the palm trees and the warm air and the beach and the whole thing. Like I'm a so Cal guy, an Orange County guy, hot rod guy, like I love that so Cal culture and so, but my playing career I started to sort of run into some

dead ends or closed doors. You know, the team that I was on would get you know, would fold, or I would get cut or released and have to come home and try the next thing. And at the same time, like I started booking gigs in commercials and pretending to play basketball more than I was getting real gigs to actually play, and so I you know, at that time that was about like two thousand and four five. Well, yeah,

and and my basketball experience too, you know. So I ended up doing like you know, the player Kevin Durant from Think Now. Yeah, he's one of the NBA's best players. I was in his first Nike commercial. He had his first shoe come out, and they did a whole rap music video and stuff. Uh and so like things like that,

opportunities like that where they're doing these basketball scenes. And for a couple of years there, I got steady work Southwest Airlines, Taco Bell, Coca Cola, Nike foot Locker, all these silly commercials mostly the character I played was victim number two getting dunked on by the celebrity seven seven foot white guy underneath the basket, you know, getting dumped

on by the celebrity. And so I'm in a lot of I'm in a lot of commercials like that where the hero gets to I'm putting him over and uh so I did you know? Did it? Steady dyed to that? And so you were a jobber in commercials? Is where you're trying. That's right, that's right. Yeah, I was enhancement talent. There you go and jerked many a curtain in my day of Yeah, many how many guys seven ft told

him that though, well, that's right, that's right. But like I said, I play a I have a special set of skills and I can look great and getting bashed on so so and you know, so then another an opportunity came up in two thousand and five, Like I said, I'd made the move to the West Coast and was sort of chasing the business and sort of orbiting around there. And then I had an opportunity to audition for a freshman sitcom that at the time was was brand new.

I read for a character that was supposed to be the you know, they were this Minnesota corn corn fed, middle American big family and the character of Marshall Erickson in the show played by Jason Siegel, the actor who he's six foot four. The joke was that when he came home to see his family, like he was the runt of the litter, he was the little guy and picked the pick on little brother, and so they cast

a family of giants essentially. So the character, the dad character, the Ericson father was played by an actor named Bill Fogerbach, who played Dauber on Coach. He's six foot seven himself. He also does the voice of Patrick the Starfish on SpongeBob. Yeah, so he's a big guy. I do too, he's tall. Then the Ericson mom was Susie Plaxon. She's six foot three. Oh so, yes, yeah, barefoot six foot three. She's done a lot of she was in the Star Trek universe.

She had a recurring character, I want to say, on Next Generation, and so she does a lot of the comic cons and the Star Trek stuff. But so Mama Erickson was six foot three, then myself at seven feet as Marcus Erickson, and then we have another brother two, who was like six six sixty seven himself, So they

had this whole family of giants. And then Jason Siegel and at six four and then his wife or girlfriend at the time, fiance, Lily, played by Alison Hannigan, who's five foot three maybe yuh yes, I remember her being very tiny next to him. Yeah, And so it made

for good humor. But so when the opportunity to read for that part came down the line again, they were looking for somebody to make Jason Siegle look small, like the run to the family, and I think, you know, Jason and I bear enough of a resemblance that we could pass for family, and so that helped me. And so they the audition came out and it was at Fox,

and so I walk on the lot at Fox. And you know that when you're the auditioning game and the trying to get in television and movies and everything like that, it's it's essentially like walking into the gas station and getting a scratcher and scratching off a million dollar ticket. Like it's the odds are like that. It's super competitive.

Everybody wants to do that, you know, So it's just like that when you go to audition for these things, even for a seven foot tall character, there's a line out the door and around the corner of dudes trying

to get this role right. And so but so I'm walking onto the lot at Fox and I'm going into the the rooms, the casting offices, and as I'm walking up to the door, these two ladies are walking in the building with me, and you know, they're like, you know, younger, younger ladies and good looking girls and the whole thing.

So I'm like, you know, I stepped aside and held the door for them, and like, you know, it was very gentlemanly but also flirting and you know, just you know, I don't know why, it's just I'm like, you know, you're just walking in. I'm like, okay, here are these ladies. I'll hold the door for them. And we made a little joke and we you know, had a moment, right.

So then I go in the waiting room. Like I said, there's a line around the door of every big dude in Hollywood has at this stupid reading, right, And so you know, they call you in the room. They're like, ned, come on in. I step in the room and I'm auditioning for the two women, I held the door. That's that's freaking corny. Get good. My mom always says that, yeah, so,

but also like it's it. You know, I got a little bit of an edge perhaps over the other guys there because I had a moment that they didn't get with the casting people. So you know, the like you read one line and it's a throwaway line. It was something like, you know, the scene was at a Thanksgiving dinner, and the bit was that I asked Lily. I said, Lily,

will you pass the corn? And she takes a plate of baby corn and passes it out of frame to me that you know, or that it was giant corn for her, and she passes it to me in a baby corn on the plate. But the line was Lily, will you please pass the corn? And so I go, Lily, will you please pass the corn? And these two ladies like cracked up laughing like they were watching you know, spaceballs or placing saddles or something. You know why, because in their mind they said whole, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's

a family. When you say corn, everybody, yeah, core hole. So it's a funny joke. I'm thinking of the scene from the show. Yeah, yeah, so the audition, that's why they popped. Yes, can let me just serve in for a second. So as a as a as a watcher of the show and knowing that episode, the Thanksgiving episode was always a big deal, and this was the first season, so it was you know, we didn't know it was going to be that running joke that it would be.

The reveal of the family is the best part of that episode because, like Ned said, he's this huge guy in New York City among everybody else, but when he goes into his house in Minnesota, he's the run and he's getting picked on by Ned and the other brother. It's the funniest freaking reveal they could have possibly had.

I love that. Yeah, I agree, I agree completely, And that was you know, they played it up so you know, like when I first come in, when they Marshall and Lily come to the door and the family comes in, like I, I lead the way through into the kitchen, I have to duck real low. The doorway was like six ' five, you know, so I had to duck really exaggerated duck under the doorway and everything, and that

cut everybody up. And there's also a bit in that exchange where the Ericsson's created the ultra dangerous game called basque ice ball, which was a mashup of ice hockey, basketball, lacrosse, and just good old fashioned whaling on each other. And so you know, there's a back and forth with Lily about oh, you know, honey, it's really not a sport for a girl, and she goes, well, that's funny because your brother throws like a girl. And she chucks the ball at me, and Marcus chucks the ball back at

her and hits her right in the face. I think you got the role because you were nice to the ladies in the elevator. Is that what you're trying to tell us? Well, I mean, I'd like to think I got the role because I'm the greatest seven foot tall actor that there ever was, and I like, you know,

Sir Lawrence Olivier and al Pacino. No, but probably I would say that the happenstance and the moment that I got where, you know, because again every guy in the line for this audition read that one line, like you you're just going there for long. They wouldn't hire you because you were charming in the elevator. I wouldn't know.

But it's like, but but I got an extra thirty seconds to vibe with them, like I got, I got, I got thirty ninety seconds of their time that the other people didn't get, where I was able to just show personality. I was able to show my voice. You could how much can you get out of the line? Say that again? Don't sell yourself short, because no, to me, you're saying, you're basically telling me that if you didn't have that moment in the elevator, everybody says the same line,

you might have not got that job. Could be could be you know, it may have been the difference between me just being another face in the crowd and being somebody that they vibed with. Right, But I'm saying, if you sucked with your deliverance of the line, I wouldn't have had a chance of a little bit of credit. Well thank you. I well listen, I'll let you put me over and I'll I mean, maybe it did it.

I'll play it humble. I mean, it could have stilled his cologne or something, you know, like they're just something that made him stand out. No, I'm just saying, if I'm in the elevator, I might say, oh way, I want an endearing guy, but when he comes in the room, if he the deliverance sucked, I wouldn't hired you. That's true, Yeah, thank you. You've got to put yourself over Okay, well so, but anyway, so back to the basketball scene, right and hitting her in the face of the ball. So the

scene is great. They filmed it in two pieces, so obviously she chucks the ball at me and I catch it, react and then throw the ball back, and that's I'm in a single, or actually it's not a single. I'm aware with the other brother and the person playing my wife. And there was a prop guy who stood off camera, and I gave him a good hard chest pass basketball

pass right to really throw the ball. And then of course, then they switched the camera and they had a a basketball pillow that was totally just a pillow that was airbrushed so perfectly. You gotta love Hollywood movie magic. They airbrushed this thing and looked exactly like the ball. And so then they laid out the big matt, you know, the cushiony matt for her, and she took the pillow ball.

Then somebody threw from just off camera just threw the pillow at her face and then she you know, reacts, takes the bump onto onto the mat, which was great. And so you know, again, like you had mentioned, Chad that that show at the time purchased, that was only nine episodes into their first season, so it wasn't a

huge hit. It was just starting to get steam. But what they had was you had Doogie Howser in the cast, and you had the chick from American Pie that everybody loved with the flute and and so that for me, like when I when I got the reading for the part, I said, I called my sister on the phone because I had already seen the first five episodes on CBS, so I was a fan of the show. And I remember talking to my sister here in Pittsburgh telling her, oh man, you know, have you watched this show with

Dougie Howser and the chick from American Pie. It's really funny, and you know she so we were both fans. And then I got the call to go read and eventually got the part, and so it sort of picked up steam after that. But the one thing I'm very proud of as a former basketball player and a guy who was a you know, collegiate basketball player and a pro.

They used that scene after season one into season two, CBS took that scene of me throwing the ball off of her face and they used it in the promos for the NCAA tournament for March Madness, And so I geeked out. I marked out for that big time, like you know, like on all the games, on the National Championship Game, the final four, CBS was on promos for their shows and they were showing me chuck the ball off of Alison Hannigan's face, and so I was like, super that just geeked me out for the matt to

be a part of March Madness. Right. But so the character Marcus Harrickson kind of you know picked up a little bit of Steme. The writers kind of liked me. And here's another thing about you know, sort of one on one moments when you're on the set or something. You know, we'd be at the craft services table or we'd be in the makeup chair or whatever for like this first episode, and I always made a point to like chit chat or talk it up with the writers

and the creators of the show. And I think through some of those conversations like they maybe we we vibed and they picked up on maybe some comedic timing and maybe that they're like, okay, well they started writing me material.

They started writing bits and jokes and things that were sort of for me and my character that in that universe in How I Met Your Mother the Hemium Verse, uh, that that character sort of developed into something and and then it really just is one of some of the most special memories I have and and really one of the best jobs I've ever had. Like I mean, I look at all the jobs I've had in my life of different things you can do to earn a buck. My time on How I Met Your Mother was like

a dream. It really was. And that was low key politicking without politicking. Yeah, I just think, yeah, you're you're networking, You're you know, you're you're just getting to know people and stuff and trying to fill the space. But also, I mean there is some you're playing the angle a little bit, just trying to forget about me over here.

You know, I know, I'm not I don't want to be a wallflower, which sometimes I will default to that, and so you sort of have to push yourself out of comfort zones and being like you know, quiet or just you know, so you were Yeah, but it sounds to me like you were doing it because you're you're a nice guy with a good per personality. You weren't doing it to throw people under the bus and try to take somebody else's scenes away from them. You know

what I mean. It's natural coming out of here. Yeah, you can say that it's good, but oh, I'm sorry, Chad, I stepped on you say other day. It's a reason we remember Marcus and not the other brother. That's it did help. It's mayor stand out. Yeah I would say that, and yeah, there was. You know, being being seven feet sometimes has its advantages. It's not great on an airplane, it's not. It's not great on a submarine. Not great in a yeah it's not. It's not great in a Prius,

but sometimes it has its advantages. You don't drive a smart car, is what you're telling us. You know. No, And here's a crazy thing about me. It's I don't own a car. I haven't owned a car in twenty years. Wow, So I uh, you know, so went to college and I own a New York and the New York metro area. You know there's nowhere to park. You ride the subway, you ride the train. That's the deal, okay. And then

you know try like through the basketball thing. You know, you go overseas to Europe, you're over there for weeks or a month at a time, come back. And so I never I always kept tried to keep all my loose ends tied up so that I had freedom to make moves when the phone would ring. And so then it just put it off. Never had a car. Then when I moved to California again, you can't you can't

park it anywhere. And a lot of places in California you're driving around doing laps looking for parking or it's expensive. And also, like I sort of bought into the green thing a little bit, which I can tell you about, Like I kind of, you know, bought into the whole sustainability, eco friendly thing a little bit, and so that was a part of it as well. I did a lot

of walking, biking and taking public transit in California. But you know, Cali is like the car capital of our country outside of Detroit, where you know that they're repuation, but I mean Calli is like car country. It's the car capital of the world, the freeway system, everybody drives. It's very annoying. It's just a part of it, right, And so people would tell me all the time, they say, you can't live in California and not have a car.

And I said, for every person that says that to me, I'm adding a year on the back end, and I'm not having a car out here because you know, like you, I would prove you wrong. I could do it, and I did it for a long time. And so you know, right now, as I'm here in PA and kind of handle some family things, I drive my mom's car a lot. She has a Chevy Tracks. She has a Chevy Tracks, which is one of the smaller you know, Chevys. It's not an suv. It's like a crossover, but it's small.

So you have to put the chair like it's ridiculous. It's ridiculous. It's completely unsafe. Uh it's you know, it's like not you're not supposed to drive like that, right lay yeah, yeah, yeah, So I got the backseat way back. And so my friends will give me a hard time because they're like, when you drive up, we can see your knee in the window. Yeah, knee is bent up

where you can see the out the window. And then the other funny thing is that I, like you said, I've got the seat lean back so much that when I make a left, I look out the back window, which is terribly unsafe because you're like right, You're right in that side impact zone. So god forbid if I took a t bone, if somebody t bone me or hit me from the side, I'm gonna get messed up. And my knees are so messed up in the dash and don't fit. If I get in a front collision

or something, I'm gonna get messed up. You need like a horse and buggy where you're fruit, and you could just well, I've already got the amish beard I should. I could hit the horse gallop, and I think it would be brilliant. But I'm also, you know, like I said, north of three hundred and fifty pounds, so that would be messed up with you having set looking dude, No, it's look at you. Big show that was backstage you see at ae w's premiere or their show they do

the Friday night show on TBS. Yeah, they dynam on TNT, and so we duck backstage at ae W and we're meeting with everybody, and so I told Big Show. You know, people people yell Big Show at me all the time, Like I'll be in the grocery store or I'll be somewhere and people are like, hey, Big Show. Just put your arm up and be like hey, yeah, that's yeah. And so I told him that. I said, dude, people shout Big Show at me almost probably as much as they do it to you. He was like, sorry, like

it's okay, but it's okay. But you look at us in that picture like we're two goofs. Like look at that picture, like we look like two goofs, the two of us. When he just put that picture up really quickly, I just looked at your eyes. I thought it was Brian Danielson at first, but then I said, no, he's too large. Yeah, I didn't expect you to be backstage with show. And then I was like they And then Shane told me that you guys had gone to the

show together, So yes, makes sense. So the quick backstory on that is that that ae W show happened the weekend that Dominic Denuci passed away, which, for you wrestling fans know that Dominic trained Shane Douglas and Cody Michaels and and Brian Hildebrandt and McK foley, and so Dominic was a legend in the business and a legend in Pittsburgh. And he yeah, he passed away that weekend. And so I so I knew that the wrestling show was in talent.

I had planned ongoing. I know that Shane didn't. You know, that's not something that he would do. And so I went to the Wednesday night show, the live taping on TNT, and I was backstage hanging with guys, you know, some of the other guys in the promotion of friendly with them, Badass Billy gunn uh you know, friendly with some of the other performers they are there now. And so just sort of hob nob in backstage and I said to Taz, I said, hey, man, I was like, you know, who

would really love to be here? And He's like, who's that? And I'm like, franchise Shane Douglas. He's like, he ain't goven here, he ain't govern here. And I was like, well, you know, it would be it would be a nice thing. And so then when when Shane called me and told me about Dominic, the next day that I think it was that Thursday. Like I thought to myself, you know, okay, so we have a pro wrestling show on national television

in the city of Pittsburgh, coinciding with Dominick's passing. I was like, it would be we would be remiss if we didn't honor Dominic and honor like the roots of professional wrestling and especially Pittsburgh Professional wrestling, like the name Dominic Denucci needed to be spoken and honored that weekend, right. And of course the dudes at AW, I mean the Vets, Aren Tully, Jake the Snake, Roberts, Big Show, Mark Henry

said some beautiful things. All the ECW guys like they all recognize, but like Tony Kahan, like he don't know anything about Dominic Danucci, you know. And some of the fans, the AW fans that may be newer to pro wrestling or newer to the scene, then maybe right over their head, right, And so I thought, I told Shane, I go, look, there's a pro wrestling show in Pittsburgh, and Dominic Danucci

just passed. We need to go. And I also thought that Troy and I'll call him Troy in this moment because it means something like Troy needed that, he needed the love and he just lost his mentor who was like a father to him or like it. You know, he just he loved Dominic and I did too. But I love Troy. He's such a good dude. And I thought, you know, he's got to be hurting, he's got to

be mourning, he's got to be bummed out. And there's a wrestling show in town, and it's all the boys he knows and all the boys that love him, and like, he wouldn't do that for himself, Like he wouldn't show up there and be like, hey, you know, hey guys or whatever. But so he I dragged him along and it was a beautiful thing, man, to see the outpouring of affection for Shane Douglas, who you know, good, bad, are indifferent is a heat seeking missile in his business

to this day. And like I mean, he you know, god bless. I mean, I'm not talking out of school because I'll tell him this later on. Like he's a polarizing character. He you know, people people love him, people hate him, and all things in between, and and like, but he deserved, you know, he deserved love and affection and outpouring and like, so so we walk in that

Friday night for the new show. It is the season premiere, the premiere of the show on TVs, and the first faces we see is Arn Anderson and his son, Billy Gunn and his son Taz and his son and like and then it just started and it was a parade of every single person like kissing the ring of the franchise, honestly, which he deserved, that he needed and it was awesome. But like I said, Tommy Dreamer, Jerry Lynn, and so, uh there's a picture that then made the way around

that Jeff Jones organized the picture. Yeah, I'm not that good. I'll try. We'll find it and and again we can we can insert it later. But it's sort of like an impromptu hardcore reunion Jerry Lynn, uh, gosh, Dean Malenko, Shane Douglas, Taz Dreamer, everybody in, Jeff Jones and and that that was so cool and like not orchestrated at all and just happened. And but yeah, so I said Mark Henry, Mark Henry, like I flagged him down. He's walking by backstage. I don't know if he saw us

or whatever. And I was like hey, you know big man, come and say hi, and he he walked right over. I say, you remember this character it is. Yeah, there's another one too, because Malenko, Dean Malenko was there. He's he was in it. There's another picture that was bigger, that had more of him in it. But yeah, that's the the one that got around Twitter. Yeah, yeah, yeah that But so AnyWho, Mark Henry actually, you know when I told him, I said, hey, man, just to freshen

his memory, I said, you remember franchise Shame Douglas. He's like, of course, I said, his mentor, Dominic Denucci died. He goes, I know, and he just said the most beautiful things to Troy. He like he got tears in his eyes Mark Henry, and I was like, man, what a sweetheart, you know, what a wonderful guy, and and like so that was one of that that's such a great memory for me, and I know it is for Troy. He'll

he'll he'll know sell it. You know. He actually told me, he told me when when you took him to it, and he's he's mentioned it once or twice afterwards, and he was like, you know, he goes. I was just sitting around sulking, and it was great for Ned to come and grab me and take me there and get me out of, you know, my isolation because it's just you and your thoughts. Yeah, we needed that. You were

a very good friend to him that night. You're you're a great friend to him always, but he really needed you that day and you came through. So I think we're doing that for him. And there's there's more. There's a ton of good stories even from that night. And

then for me too as a fan. I don't you know what I mean to like bore everybody here, but you're all wrestling fans too, sure, but so you're sitting for me as a fan again growing up watching Shane Douglas, the young up and comer who then became the franchise, the fucking franchise and is a goddamn legend. He and I up in the rafters right of course, the Triple

Threat and the whole deal. Man. Uh he you know, he was like breaking down matches and we were like talking shop really and like you know, I'm just soaking it in, like you know, he's look at this, look at that, Look how they're doing this. And we're talking about things and no one around, nobody saw us. We're up and all the way almost up in the balcony, just the two of us, and he's like breaking it

all down. That that was a that was a fun thing too, to talk shop and to sort of bend the ear of a legend while this while the show was going on. And that was a big show too. There was a few things that happened in it so that like all everybody was there, all of their their whole roster almost was there, all of their road agents were there, and it's like a who's who, and you know, we we had such a good time. I've got a million stories from then, and but we you know, we could.

I could talk to you guys all day. I love being a part of the show. Thank you. Except I still contend Tony Khan is afraid of Shane. So is that right? I think Shane all the time, I said, I think Tony is afraid of your character and what you did in the ring, so it'll could keep his distance. I could see that. I mean, uh, you know, like physically, I mean, Tony Khan should be afraid of his own shadow. I mean he's he's tiny, Like I gotta put Tony Kahan in my expressed from Chad and Ned or not

the music. Yeah, Hey, Tony Khan called me because I you know, I'll come the work in a second. So I'm not saying, yeah, you know, we're all available for bookings here, so I'm not trying to bury anybody. But no physically though, Tony is you know, he's not intimidating anyone, but the Yeah, I understand what you're saying though. And it's like we said, the franchise Shane Douglas, a franchise character is is a wild card? Is a wild card?

That weekend that you guys were in New York, Shane called me on a Friday night and you guys were driving and he asked all these questions and I'm going off about this, this and this, and then he says something. He goes, yeah, my buddy Ned right here, and I'm like, I've been saying all this shit for like the last fifteen minutes. I had no idea anybody else was in the damn car. So it's just kind of funny. But he's, yeah, he's been talking about you for years and now cool.

He thinks very highly of you too, so wow. Yeah, and I'm sure some other event that we are all together, you will be there as well. So I look forward to seeing you again in person. If anybody wants to find you, do you want to let the fans know how to how to get into you? Know, I I would rather they didn't find you, don't find me. No, I tweeted out your info a minute ago, but I could tell you I found them in two seconds. Yeah, I'm old school when it comes to that. Like you'll see,

a lot of my social media stuff is outdated. I stopped again. I don't want to jump on the go down the rabbit hole because I know we're tight for time. But like I I don't know. I got offended by a lot of the stuff that has gone on with social media, and not only the toxicity and some of the other bullshit that goes on on there, but also I'm not into the censorship kind of that was going

on with Facebook and and some of these things. Like I was turned off by all that to where anymore, Like I just kind of don't participate and I call you know, I call Twitter, like Twitter on the shitter. If you if you find me on Twitter and you see me doing anything liking to commenting on things. I'm taking a ship and the next one. But I always wash my hands and always wipe down the screen with

a fantasizing way. But but no, I honestly I feel like that's about all Twitter is worse because once you're off the shit or you probably shouldn't dedicate too much of your life to it. I understand the trappings professionally, and we're all trying to promote ourselves, and so you get caught in the web of like, well, I kind of have to because you know, I need to reach people and communicate and promote, and that's okay. But as far as me, you like my personal life and everything,

I don't mess around like that. But but I would say I would encourage everybody to look, look my I'm seven feet is my Twitter handle. It is all written out, so I have I had a Twitter profile that I used to tweet all the wacky stuff people would say to me, the crazy questions, the wild interactions in the grocery store, at the ballgame or whatever that really happen from the time I leave the house until I come home.

Almost every human interaction I have outside of my close loved ones that are over It involves how tall I am, How tall are you? How tall are you? How tall you I'm seven feet, I'm seven feet. I'm seven feet all day long. So my Twitter handle I'm seven feet. The Instagram handle the same. A lot of people. The Instagram because it's photo based. What people will stop me and say, can I take a picture with you? And I'm like why, why? Why do you want a picture

with me? Okay? Or how I make your mother family, which is rare most of the time, it's like people want to roast me or you know, show their friends look at this freak I ran into in the in the grocery school. Delightful, and I don't say that. They're saying that there you take a picture of you, like like I'm a goddamn dancing bear at the circus. But so, yeah, I'm seven feet on Twitter, I'm seven feet on Instagram. And then you know, how I met your mother is

in the reruns. I often they're on Hulu, and I think they'll they'll come up on TV, sometimes on different channels, but you know, I direct people to Hulu to find the reruns, and you know, for my friends and family, I always joke with them I'm like, listen, when you're going to sleep at night, just put it on Hulu, grab one of my episodes and just play in the background when you're going to sleep, because I'll hit the residual. There you go. We need to do that. Absolutely, go

watch it. Just put them on in the background. You don't even have to watch it, just let it play. That is right. Well, and you and I are now best friends and we know how to get in touch

with each other. So I'm so happy about that. Yeah, And fifteen, sixteen, seventeen year old me is also so happy about that because, like I said, when you when you hit the scene that was right, you premiered like ninety four, ninety five, right, I started in ninety three at their training restaurant school, and then all of ninety four I did house shows. Ninety five is when I got on television. Yep. So that was thirteen fourteen, fifteen year old wide eyed ned mad to help you go through.

Sexy Friend sauntered down the aisle, and so thank you for thanks for the memories. You are greatly welcome, and like I said, I'm sure to find you down the road somewhere. Would you know. I'm happy to have done this with you guys. Thanks for sharing the time with me, and you know, best of luck going forward with the show and the appearances. And you've you've got a friend. Well have you got for tell more stories and shoot

the ship again. I've got many more. And but you've got a friend in me, a seven foot three and seventy pound friends. So if anybody ever gives you a hard time, I'm there for you, wonderful. If you ever need anything off the top shelf, you need me to dust off the top of the fridge. Those are like my zones, you know when I come in the house, like you got to have you got to have the tops of your your furniture set like a lot of people. I just have a lot of people don't dust out there.

You know, I get invited into someone's home or you walk in the kitchen and I'm seeing things on top of the fridge. Perfect, perfect of mind, delightful. Thank you so much for coming on, and everybody go watch how I met your mother. Soon that can make some coin and we will we will speak again soon, I'm sure. But have a great day, and thank you so much for love you guys very much. Is He's the man a day. Yeah, he likes to talk, but it's it

was compelling what he said. And again it was so it was right place, right time with that show when when Dominic died, because you know, Shane was in kind of a dark place and Ned flew in like a superhero and picked him up and took him on his way. So it was perfect timing. But it was shocking because you know, I never expected him to even be because we would always joke to out, you're going to show up tonight, You're coming through the crowd, or I'm not

going anywhere near that arena. But Dominic died on a Thursday. That show was live on Friday, and he yeah, really helped them a lot. That was good friend. Okay, So on Patreon, So this week on Patreon, we are going to check out you and I are are always fans of old television and having a TV show personality on this week helps. We're going to look at TV reboots that stink. Okay, like come on, like they did not need to be spun off. Remember, Oh and the other

thing too. The reason I went with this is because I said if Eyes up Here had a spinoff series, it would start the Sandman right, So that's why I thought TV reboots and spinoffs that stink. We are going to check out more from the gathering. We watched the speech. We're going to check out the convention and then kind of in the watch along category. I thought this was interesting. So Wrestling with Regret is another one of these YouTube series, right, But this guy, it's it's not like a countdown or

this or that. This guy it's about a ten minute retrospective of WEW. But he is not very nice to w No, he's not nice. Okay, that's why I you know what this is interesting. Let's let's see what this is all about. I have not watched it, so I just I want to preface so I don't know what he says about you. If he says anything about you. What I just saw he's a hater and he's talking about we W all right, can't wait to do that one. Well, where can people find you? At chatty and be on

Twitter at ib exclusives on Instagram. I am at e c W dver freteen across the board and with that, that is a rap