The Commissioner

The weekend does not begin until you have downloaded and begun listening to the Fifth Hour with Ben Malloy. That would be me and flying solo by the edge of my seat this weekend. No West of the four or five to Sully. The podcast eight days a week. Remember, tell a friend, Tell a friends. All we ask you to do, you don't have. We don't charge for this.

There's limited commercial interruption. But just spread the gospel. Spread the word friends, enemies, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, whoever might be interested, and and have them subscribe to the podcast and they'll get it automatically. Every single day that the Fifth Hour comes out and is available, which is three days a week, so normally on Friday, we do something

a little different. We have a conversation. We typically will drag into the Magic Podcast studio someone that we know a lot of radio people because I've worked in my in my business and radio over the years, so I know mostly radio people. But we have athletes in here and whoever strikes our fancy. We've had political figures, political pundit's uh fire brands have come in here, everyone from Lenny dike Stra to Tony Bruno and everyone in between. But this week we are very excited to have our

first commissioner, our first commissioner. Now, is it Adam Silver? Is Adam Silver coming on today's podcast? Is it Gary Bettman, the NHL commission Roger Goodell, Roger the Dodger from the NFL, or Rob Manfred or none of the above? The answer is none of the above. But I'm actually more excited to talk to this particular commissioner, the commissioner of Major League Eating. I admit it's a guilty pleasure. But you watched, I know you watched. You watched it on the fourth

of July weekend. You did. The man who is the master of ceremonies. If you've ever watched the hot Dog Contest, the Nathan so Hot Dog Contest. You know, the guy with the funny hat that does the introductions every year with whittie commentary, old school carnival barking. He's got the wardrobe, the whole thing. His name is George Say. He is a throwback at this event to a much simpler time. Uh, the master of ceremonies with pauz as and razmatazz. Very verbose, outlandish,

over the top, brilliant, absolutely brilliant. The way that he is able to seemingly memorize those really long winded scripts. My goodness, man oh man, I am jealous of his ability to retain information and his delivery. So, without further ado, the Commissioner of Major League Eating, we welcome into the

Fifth Hour with Ben Maller, George Shay, and George. I know it's been a few days now since the Super Bowl of Competitive Eating, and even though you clearly are not one of the contestants, you're not scarfing down a bunch of hot dogs here. How long does it take you, George, to recover from the big hot Dog eating Contest weekend? Well, look, I I put a lot of energy into it. Because we do. We manage all the media, and then I

hosted and the Truth be told. It takes all of this week for me to shift gears and get back into regular because mostly what I do is regular, you know, public relations. And it's kind of wrenching because you're up there in the draw hat yelling and screaming and of course, you know, participating in history, and then you have to then you have to shift gears. But I'm sort of back at it. In fact, I've had a few client emergencies today, so that that's brought me back to the ground. Yeah,

and it was a little different. I watched this thing every year. I'm a fan, and it was at a minor league ballpark because you know, they're still coming out of the COVID and how would you grade this year compared to years past. Um, you know, it's so funny. I thought it was going to be horrible to do

it in the ballpark and lack any character. Um, And we got almost universal universal approval and praise for it, and um, you know a lot of people really liked it and it and it just worked out white well. We were also the beneficiaries of a truly beautiful day so, you know, but it was, it was it was really spectacular. I thought it was. It was just a really good event. Yeah. And of course you are known for those that maybe don't watch the event or I mean you your viral

every year. Your introductions go viral on on the on the internet. You have the hat, the whole thing. Uh. And you don't appear to have any notes. Uh do you have a photographic memory? Here? How do you remember

all that stuff? Well, So, the way I do it is I write these introductions and then I memorize them, and um, and the you know, it's funny, the longer ones that have a narrative component to it are much easier to remember than all of the you know, someone is six ft four inches tall, two fifteen pounds from

Las Vegas, Nevada or something. You know. Yeah, but I memorize them all and then I just have, um, um, one of my team holds up a car hard that has the order so that I don't get out of order, right, And then if you know that, maybe a word like the first word of the sentence, and then I will remember it. But I spent some time. I spent some time, and and then I'm very frustrated with myself if I don't deliver the correct you know, intonation that I wanted

on a certain word. But I will say this, I thought that, um, you know, Joey's introduction, which is always the one I spend the most time on, was very well received this year's It's to be honest, it's it's very gratifying. People really enjoyed it and it seemed to hit the hit the mark. No, it's tremendous. Who do you patting yourself after this? Like old school, like Coney Island back in the day. Is there anyone in particular.

You've done this for years, so it's not like it's it's new to you, but is there someone that you you use as a template to kind of model yourself after. No, you know, the weird thing about this is is it it definitely has a Coney Island barker, you know, the hat and there's a little bit in some of the little bit of sports commentary and when you're when you're doing the actual event. But really what I'm doing is trying to go like you know, without getting to you know,

academic about it. But like you know, to me, it's just that people are they are unable to not react to a narrative. And that is true of all sports and all even business media. Right there's a narrative someone is telling a story may or may not be true. In fact, if there are all these stories out there, you know, there's always a bad guy, there's always a good guy. So many of the times it's not true.

It's just that that's how we tell stories. But so so that is always fascinating me, this idea that people really react to it. You see it in wrestling, you see it obviously in sports, same soap opera, drama, and so you know, that's what I'm touching on right in. Some of them are epic, some of them are comedic, some of them you know, you're, you're, you're just sort of like playing with this this sort of power of narrative. And that's really what Joey's about, writes you, he is

epic because you make him his epic. But he's epic because you make him epic. And and so that's really all of that is my own, you know, just my own interest. But you know, I'm the kind of kid who read a ton of site sci fi when he was young, and so all of this kind of like, you know, he is pure evil kind of like stuff is sort of like hearkens back to the garbage I used to read when I was young. Yeah, I see it benefits when you get older, see all that crap

we read his kids. I'm the same way like I do an Overnight show, and there's stuff like weird stuff that I read when I was in school. I was a terrible student, but I remember like random things I would read and then it would kind of stick with me. And I still like phrases and whatnot that I'll use this day. I gotta bring up the rap battle and that was a few years ago, but I still laughed

my ass. I. I was getting ready to talk to you, George, and I was going through some of the old videos from years past, and you had a rap battle Royal before. I think this was like it was a few years ago. But what what was the origin that it was out standing? Back and forth, back and forth? What was behind that one? Well, you know, my favorite guy in the whole world is bad Lands book or write, a veteran eater from started in nineties seven. He's now the chugging Champion of the World.

We had him on for a chug on ESPN and he won his three million followers on YouTube. It's bad Lands Chugs. He's like, he's irresistible, he's visually like you just can't beat him. He's just so so great, right, and as a result he has a ton of followers. But like, I just think he's terrific, and so he I would. He's a rapper as well. Now let's be clear, I am not a rapper, and so obviously I'm an old man and in a straw hat, in a blueblazer.

So so that the the one year I just used some of his lyrics to introduce him, and then when he came on to stage, he was mouthing the lyrics as I was saying to them, and it really caught fire. People like that. So then the next year I wrote a rap and did it with him, and then ever since, I've written these rops and then he and I will do them, and it's really one of my singular pleasures to do that. He's really dynamite and I sort of like,

you know, I get through. But on the rap battle, you know, we go out and we do a lot of these events, these live events, and you're messing around before right, there's like a show and so we always do this rap battle to the death and uh and uh he always wins. But but I I have a rapid fire list of about thirty five foods that I throw out. Be sure to catch live editions of The Ben Maller Show weekdays at two am Eastern eleven pm paciffect on Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app.

And I was thinking, and I don't know if this is You're the commissioner of Major League Eating, so you're the perfect guy to bring this upside. How about the Grand Slam of eating towards You've got the the Mecca, which is the hot Dog Contest in New York, but you know the ten Is Golf, they've got the Grand So I think Major League Eating needs a a Grand Slam. We got to come up with three other events that you could tie in as like the Big the Big Four,

like the Centerpiece. What do you think? Yeah? Yeah, so look, definitely Chicken Wings would be in it. Um. I think, Look, we've done DraftKings is a uh one of our partners and sponsors, and they did three events for this past year over covid um. We did one of Miami, two in Las Vegas, so definitely one of those would be in there. And and but definitely Chicken Wings to um and and that's a lot of fun. You know, we've done some other in down South. We did a series

for many years with Crystal Hamburgers. Um. You know, we've done a lot, right, like of different you know, we've done you know, Pizza Hut and all these different brands. But but I would say that you know, Act me Oysters could be one of those that you know, major major oyster festival in Orleans and the actne Oyster houses a restaurant down then we do it and that is very very um uh you know popular. How how does

this play? George? You know, I have we have listeners around the most of in the United States, but people in Europe and whatnot. And when I do a model at least one a year on Major League Eating, and I typically will get someone to be like, oh this you're disgusting Americans. Is there a market for for what you do in other countries? There is this mostly just an American persuasion here. Yeah, you know that we get that reaction, but much less, I think than you'd think.

But nonetheless, I think some cultures would be not not um poised to to embrace this. Uh, you know, I don't think you're gonna do well in France, very it's very big in Japan and in Asia, right, So we've done a ton of contests on the Pacific, Rim, Singapore,

in China um and other places. We had a group come to us wanted us to do a hundred and twenty events in China Um but the but the yeah, but, which would have been like an extraordinary opportunity, but we would have done it given the economics we would have done it with no Essentially it would have been a wash for us, and like in the sense of there would have been no money and that's a lot of work. So we didn't pursue that. But so China, Asia, they're

definitely a place for that. So one thing is, though you you lose culturally, part of the appeal to this is the hosting and the whole bombast and the joke and the and the you know, the humor, but also the energy and the boost bumps that you can get. And I don't know that we could reproduce that in a country that doesn't speak English, you know. So um, you know, we've done it. We've done stuff in Australia and uh and stuff and in Germany. But you know, I don't think I think some of those you have

it'd be a barrier with a different language. Yeah, and George, I mean you've been doing this forever. Anybody's surprised you that's a fan of of competitive eating here, Any celebrities or anyone you didn't suspect would actually be into this that has said, Hey, I love it, I love what you do. Anybody come to mind here? Well, you know, we get we get a lot of get a lot of comments, and a lot of stuff on social media.

You'll hear someone do something. But one oh, and there was some big, really big music guy and I forget and and then I just forget who it was. But but um who I liked. Also in the music world, Snoop Dogg like was watching was watching the contest one year and he's going, He's going, I forget the exact words, but he goes he posts on it, and he posted a video and he goes gets his own stone cold

intro zone like that. Whatever it was, it was like it's so Snoop and it was like it was so gratifying but also during the U during the two thousand and sixteen campaign with um Obama Um he there's a big, huge double truck like a double two page spread of Obama watching the Fourth of July contest with his family in the in the bus the that that drove around for their campaign, right, And I thought that was like they go, Obama and his family take a break to

watch the fourth of July Hushdown contest, which I thought was like a personal like like very very you know, great milestone. But Obama was like watching and then his wife and his daughters had the look of horror. They were just completely disgusted, which I think may be the breakdown in in in our fan base, you know, in a picture. Yeah, yeah, that's just imagine George at the Pentagon. They're taking breaks to watch likely what you're what you're

doing here? It's insane, I mean, and you're I love it the the over the top of me. You've I've read interviews, you've done. I mean, you you know that this is uh, this is out there. I mean, this is and I love it too. I think it's great. But it's the most relatable sport to everyone has to eat George, Right, we all have to eat at one point or another, so you unlike nobody has to play baseball or basketball or football. You know, you don't have to do that, but everyone's gotta eat, so you're very

it's a very relatable sport. You know. I've said the same thing myself. If you think about it, you could eat three hard boiled eggs or something like that. If Joey eats a hundred and forty four in eight minutes, you get it right, like so um. But you know, there's also there's also an element of this which is somehow people It's not somehow. People are obsessed with food, right. I mean how many people take a picture of every

meal they get and put it on Instagram? I mean how many millions and trillions of like, oh this is what I had for lunch. People are obsessed with food, and um. There's also an element um of if mom doesn't like it, it's got to be fun, right, So there's you know, we live in a culture. I mean, look, this isn't me getting political where you have to be so sensitive. Everything is trouble, right, you can't do anything right.

I mean, there's just a reality to that. It there's a buzz saw in general going on not not right, not left, just in general. And and so this this, I think, I think it does appeal to people in the sense of, you know, this is this is outrageous. I like it. You know, it's it's there's a little bit of a twinge thereof um, you know, maybe you know that there shouldn't be you know, Mom wouldn't like it that kind of thing. Yeah, no, absolutely, it's it's

a little taboo, but it's a it's acceptable taboo. And you you bring up Joey Joey Chestnut, the greatest eater of all time. I did see he popped up on TMZ after the contest, and you know it was hitting about maybe getting too old? Are you Are you concerned, George, that that Joey Chestnut might be coming to an end? Here? He's gonna retire soon. You know, I'll leave that up to him. I think, you know, he's an epic hero and I just don't see anyone ever approaching his numbers.

But you know, there, you know, and nor do I want him to retire. And he's a great guy and a great champion. Um. But on the other hand, you know, so I'd like him to stay as long as he'd like. But you know, these things change, you know, and and and um, so I will let him determine his his

own longevity. I think, you know, in a way that he's established a legacy that is impenetrable, right, I don't even know it's you know, in our world he is Jordan Lebron, James Um, Kobe Bryant, everybody all wrapped into one, Tom Brady, throw in whoever you want, and and and you know it's that much his statue is that much higher than everybody. So he certainly has a legacy that he can live on. But you know, the other thing is he's a competitive leader. So this is what he does.

And I also think not him necessarily, but but you know, these there's a very very powerful positive feedback that you get from the attention and stuff like that that's hard to give up to. You see that with lots of folks, whether they're a rock star or sports uh you know hero, it's it's hard to hard to step out of the spotlight. Yeah, So would he like end up working for you as like a broadcaster or something if when he does eventually retire down the line, is that something you guys have thought.

You know, we haven't even discussed it. Although certainly that's that's a good thought. You know, Mickey Sudo who as a female champion and is expecting a child, couldn't compete this year because of that. But she um, she was a she was an on air um talent on the ESPN show. So certainly there's room for that. Although as I said, we haven't even we haven't even contemplated his retirement. No, no, I I don't want to do to retire it. Also,

what's what's it like backstage after this? I I've heard stories from from people that it's pretty crazy with you know, the reaction in the human body when you eat thirty or more hot dogs or twenty or more hot dogs in ten minutes. But you're you're there, I mean, kind of paint the picture. What are we looking at fifteen

twenty minutes after this thing ends? So what's it like backstage? George? Well, I mean, Joey is just exhausted, and and to tell you the truth, I am exhausted because there's as I mentioned, you know, there's a lot of work that goes into this, and anybody who's ever running event or hosted an event, right, you know, it's just exhausting. But and and compared to me, Joey's three times as an exhausted right, so there's it's

a little bit of a wipeout. You have to do a lot of media and you can't just you can't just quit on the media because this is an event for media. So following the event, we we accommodate all the media who want a specific photo or a or

a an interview equipped SoundBite. Um, and that probably takes twenty minutes, and then Joey generally goes and just you know, rest and relaxes for a bit and the the the this year, we had a separate live zoom interview that a that a good friend of mine who's a journalist, you know, it's become a good friend, wanted to do.

So Joey accommodated us with that. But then what happens is Joey gets his second wind and they all go out to a party at this bar called Professor Tom's or in in Coney Island at a bar called Rubies on the Boardwalk, and uh, and I don't drink, so I don't I don't go to the party's Also, I'm very boring in real life and so but but there's a big party that goes on all that night, and then and then the next morning. We always have the Today Show, So Joey's gotta you Know rally for the

Today Show at eight am. Be sure to catch live editions of The Ben Maller Show weekdays at two am Eastern eleven p m. Pacific. What's up, everyone, It's me three times in fl all pro Schmber and I have a new sports podcast called The lights Out Podcast with Sean Maradier. This podcast especial to me is I get a chance to talk to some of the best we've

ever done it on a field or the track. So whether it's talking to a Super Bowl champion or a NASCAR Cup Series champion, the lights Out Podcast will bring it to you the only way I know how to. I'm giving you the best insight and the best we've ever done it. Listen to lights Out with Shawn Mari on the I Heart Radio app or wherever you get your podcast. You're not a competitive leader, George, You've never what's the most hot dogs you've eaten in ten minutes?

I tried it once against the journalist a guy named Gersh Kinsman and h he ate nine and I ate six, and it was really my shame I wear I wear that as as a as a a banner of shame. I couldn't go further. We we actually had on the the Overnight Show, we had a competitive viad. This guy he's not doing any more, Big Sexy came in and they had it was it was crazy and he ate I I think he ate like six or seven and ten minutes. And then I had my board op go against him and we were all taken aback by how

fast he ate. And he he ate like my guy one hot dog and he couldn't he couldn't eat because he was We were all watching the technique there. It's these guys are crazy and and you know, you think about you mentioned Joey Chestnut, the I guess the unicorn there? Why is he so much better? Would you any idea? Like a lot of people have done this over the years, You've been doing this since the early nineties here, and he's light years ahead of everyone. It's not even close.

Like what what separates him? You know? I think that he puts more attention, more time, and more commitment into it than other people do. He also has a very big frame, and he's really studied it, you know, in terms of just managing getting the hot dogs into his mouth. So there's a capacity issue, but there's also like, how do you even manage eating that many hot dogs? Literally

just literally getting them into your mouth forgets? And you know, he he has this down to a science, and I think it really boils down to complete and utter commitment and and and he has demonstrated that when you apply that to something, you can excel in a way that others do not. And you know, there have been others

who have done the same. Carmen Syncatti two years ago, great champion, but quite small frame, and he ate sixty four and he was that was his second year, you know, so you know, sixty four in sixty four in ten minutes. And Joey's second year he ate fifty four I think, or in the fifties in twelve right, So it can be done, It has been done, it will be done. Um. But um, you know, I just think you ask why Michael Jordan's UM was better than others. I think he's

more competitive. Obviously a fantastic gifted athlete. You know, I could be more competitive than than everybody in the world. But I wouldn't. I wouldn't achieve you have to have, you know, that magic mix. But but Michael Jordan would not have been Michael Jordan's if he had not been as competitive as he Hasn't that's really true, Joe, Yeah, I know I wanted to ask you. You have the women's division. You that's relatively new, right, Jo? I mean

you didn't. This is something that started a few years ago. Before it was everyone was a free for all. How is that going? How is the people gravitated towards the women division of competitive eating? Yeah? You know, you'd be surprised how many women want to do it and how well they do. Mickey sudo is the undisputed number one ranked female and she's eaten hot dougs and buns in ten minutes, right, And but we've had some great eaters,

Sonya Thomas, I mean Michelle LESCo that let's go. This year's champ is great, um, But yeah, I think that you know, on the circuit, if it's not the championship at Nathan's, everybody is mixed together, and they used to be mixed together at nathan And to be honest, I kind of preferred that, but this allows the women to get a little bit more stature to get you know, I guess you could do it together, but this allows more women to compete on the fourth and um, you

know it's been it's it's been very well received. Um and you know, I think that that Mickey has really helped elevate that because she's such a great champion. I know you're short on time, George, So any anything you want to promote here, I know the website. By the way, you gotta get hats, George. I need a I need a major league eating had. I tried to buy one, but you guys don't have it. So you gotta get hats on the website. I will. We're gonna work on merch.

You know, we used to have this dynamite dynamite merch, but it was was a monumental amount of effort um and we kind of let it go. And now we have sort of this this kind of thing, this autopilot kind of like you know, they just does it as a third party. We'll get that. But you know, the only thing I would say is that we you know that that you know, having Nathan's and Draftking and we had bounty this year. Obviously it's a mess, so it's

good to have bounty as a secondary response. So that was a huge lift for US and UM and I think I think it worked out really well for them because it's the right audience, it's the right level of visibility. You know, we got the media report back, a preliminary media report on the scope of of what we did this year. It's like billions and billions and billions. It's

like it's just incredible. So the the the I am I'm very pleased with, you know, the continued interest in this and and you know a lot of that goes to the to the champions as you were just mentioned. Yeah. Absolutely. And the next big event you said, is it in Buffalo? Is that the next big event you've got coming up Buffalo Chicken Wings Labor Day UM in the in the football Stadium up there. It's a new location for US this year, and there'll be twenty people there. That's that

is great. It's just a great Buffalo is a great city, by the way, and and it's it's always a great time of year to be up there. Yeah, that during the summer time of the years ago, and you gotta have bills Mafia. George, you gotta bring the bills mafia like break tables when you have the I'm sure you will. You're a marketing genius, so I'm sure the whole When I've been up there, my observation is the whole town is bills mafia. So like they're in the house both

and they are drinking. All right. Listen, George, I know you're busy, you got all kinds of you know, plates in the air, but thank you for spending some time with us. Appreciate it very much. Appreciate. I wish you good luck.