Matt Iseman: Reveals His Journey from Doctor to Comedian to Ninja Warrior Host

Summary

Podcast Summary
Mick Unplugged
Episode: Matt Iseman: Reveals His Journey from Doctor to Comedian to Ninja Warrior Host
Date: August 21, 2025
Host: Mick Hunt
Guest: Matt Iseman

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Main Theme & Purpose
This episode delves into the extraordinary journey of Matt Iseman, tracing his evolution from medical doctor to stand-up comedian and Emmy-winning host of American Ninja Warrior. The conversation unpacks resilience through adversity, the power of authentic motivation ("Because"), finding hope and humor in chronic illness, and modern approaches to leadership learned along the way. The episode is a passionate call to lead with empathy, build community, and make your driving “because” the fuel for lifelong impact.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Matt’s Rheumatoid Arthritis Journey: Diagnosis, Isolation, & Community

• Prolonged Diagnosis and Despair:
  • Matt recounts his 18-month search for answers while his body and spirit deteriorated.
    • “One of the most challenging parts is when you don’t know why, when there’s no answer. Because even if it’s a bad answer…at least you know what you’re up against.” (Matt, [02:30])
• Medical Expertise vs. Real-Life Coping:
  • Despite being a doctor and surrounded by medical professionals, Matt discovered the difference between understanding a disease and living with it.
  • “What I didn’t know was, how do you live with it?” (Matt, [03:13])
• Power of Peer Community:
  • Finding the Arthritis Foundation provided the practical, emotional support he was missing.
    • “The family of people who knew what I was going through. And for anyone who’s experienced a challenge… it’s so helpful to have someone who’s walked a mile in your shoes.” (Matt, [04:13])
• Normalcy, Humor, and Healing:
  • Comedy became both Matt’s lifeline and outlet during low points and depression before proper treatment.
    • “Even if nobody laughed at my jokes, it’s being around a room of laughter… when you’re laughing, you’re not thinking about the pain.” (Matt, [07:07])
• Impact of Medical Advances:
  • Matt reflects on being among the first to benefit from new biologic treatments, honoring those who paved the way.
    • “I feel like I benefited from all the people who came before, whose suffering and willingness to be experimented on led to the advent of these incredible drugs.” (Matt, [08:11])

Giving Back, Advocacy, and Visibility

• Using His Platform:
  • Matt’s visibility as a younger male RA patient helps others feel less alone.
    • “I can share my story now so that the next person who gets diagnosed won’t feel so alone and go, ‘Oh yeah, there’s someone like me.’” (Matt, [11:34])
• Celebrity Apprentice & Advocacy:
  • Raised $1 million for the Arthritis Foundation, boosting both funding and awareness.
  • “We raised the money for the research. But also you raise awareness and you let people know, hey, there are a lot of people suffering with this disease. You’re not alone.” (Matt, [12:19])

The Art & Truth of Stand-Up Comedy

• Why Comedy is Essential:
  • Stand-up is both a vocation and personal therapy, demanding presence and vulnerability.
    • “There is something about being in a room with just you and a microphone in a crowd… It’s such an honest exchange.” (Matt, [13:48])
• Navigating Different Crowds and the Importance of Presence:
  • “If you ever just go on autopilot where you’re like, I know this joke works…the audience is very perceptive. If you’re not really present … that’s when you feel the audience slipping away.” (Matt, [16:04])
• Perils & Challenges in the Age of Social Media:
  • Crowd work versus rehearsed material, and the balance between showcasing talent and preserving original work.
  • “Crowd work is something that kind of happens that’s, you know, based on a night…it is fun, because the audience senses when something’s happened.” (Matt, [18:15])
• Comparison with Other Live Performers:
  • True craft lies in keeping each show fresh, not just “hitting the numbers.”
  • “How do you make a Tuesday matinee show still feel special? …Those are the really great performers.” (Matt, [20:56])

Leadership Lessons from Celebrity Apprentice and Beyond

• Collaboration Over Ego:
  • Navigating high-ego environments, Matt shares that seeking collaboration, not competition, proved most effective.
    • “When you didn’t make it about your ego…when I sought for collaboration…I managed a lot of the egos.” (Matt, [21:34])
• Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Leadership Model:
  • Matt shares how the new Celebrity Apprentice boss leads by appreciating and uplifting others rather than dominating.
    • “With Arnold, he’s the guy, he’s building everyone else up…He makes you feel appreciated and valued.” (Matt, [23:46])
  • Personal gestures, like hand-written thank you letters, underscore authentic leadership.
    • “Every time I do something…he writes me a letter…the day or two after saying thank you.” (Matt, [24:24])

The Heart of “Because”: Matt’s Core Motivation

• Matt’s ‘Because’:
  • “I want to make people feel happy. And that’s always kind of been my nature.” (Matt, [25:56])
  • Compassion as Motivation
    • “Whatever I do, by and large I want it to make people feel better…if I leave a show and people are smiling…that’s it. I guess I’m a glorified hype man. That’s my because.” (Matt, [28:23])
• Humor Without Harm:
  • Prefers inclusive comedy, never wanting the butt of the joke to feel bad.
    • “I never wanted to do that because, you know…We all remember at some point when you were being picked on. I never liked that.” (Matt, [27:32])

American Ninja Warrior: Community, Courage, and Legacy

• Honoring Everyday Athletes:
  • Deep admiration for contestants who aren't professional athletes yet perform with courage and commitment.
    • “For most of them, they have families and jobs and they’re doing this once a year…putting themselves out there. I have so much respect for that.” (Matt, [30:11])
• The Triumph of Persistence:
  • Inspirational stories of competitors who fail season after season before breakthrough success.
  • “Kyle Scholzee…eight seasons he tried, and finally last season, he got his first ever buzzer…because of the failures that came before it.” (Matt, [31:24])

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Searching for an Answer:
  “Even if it’s a bad answer, even if it’s cancer, even if it’s a chronic disease and there is no cure, at least you know what you’re up against instead of just kind of facing like you’re in a room blindfolded and you just keep getting hit.”
  — Matt Iseman, [02:51]

• On Comedy as Survival:
  “Even if nobody laughed at my jokes…when you’re laughing, you’re not thinking about the pain, you’re not thinking about the sadness. Laughter was such a good tool to cope.”
  — Matt, [07:11]

• On Audience Connection:
  “The audience, they might not articulate it, but they’re incredibly intuitive. As long as the audience trusts you, as long as they feel safe, you can take them anywhere.”
  — Matt, [16:39]

• On Celebrity Apprentice & Learning from Arnold:
  “He never makes it a contest about measuring the size of your manhood…he’s building everyone else up…what a breath of fresh air it is to see someone who instead builds everyone up, and in so doing lifts us all up and himself too.”
  — Matt, [24:11]

• On His True Motivation (“Because”):
  “My because is ultimately, I just got…I guess I’m a glorified hype man. That’s my because.”
  — Matt, [28:23]

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Important Timestamps for Key Segments

• [01:59] Matt details personal RA journey and the challenge of diagnosis
• [04:13] Importance of community in chronic illness
• [07:07] Comedy as a coping mechanism for illness and depression
• [11:34] How telling his story publicly helps others feel less alone
• [13:48] The joy and immediacy of live stand-up, and what separates true performance
• [16:04] Why audiences know when you’re not present in comedy
• [18:15] Challenges of comedy in the social media era
• [21:34] Leadership lessons from Celebrity Apprentice and working with Arnold Schwarzenegger
• [25:56] Matt identifies his “because”—making people feel good
• [30:11] Matt reflects on the courage of American Ninja Warrior contestants
• [31:24] The triumph of persistence: celebrating competitors’ long-awaited victories

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Rapid-Fire Round [31:40–34:50]

• Best dancer: Akbar, but “not by much”—both are “awful” ([32:16])
• Favorite comfort food: Chicken tenders with honey mustard ([32:26])
• Most influential book: Chronicles of Narnia (childhood), recent read—Walter Isaacson’s Elon Musk ([32:59])
• “Lose your mind” song: “Any Way You Want It” by Journey ([34:17])
• What’s next: Travel show “Extra Mile Club” launching in October, new Ninja Warrior episodes airing ([34:34])

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Conclusion
This episode weaves an inspiring narrative of embracing vulnerability, building authentic community, and transforming hardship into hope and humor. Matt Iseman’s journey is a masterclass in using your struggle as fuel to help others, bringing laughter, encouragement, and realness to every stage—be it in medicine, stand-up comedy, or primetime television. Listeners are urged to identify and act on their “because”—and remember, the true impact lies not just in what you overcome, but whom you uplift along the way.

Transcript

[Matt Iseman]

In an arena with thousands of people watching or on tv, with millions at home watching. You know, there's something about anyone who has the courage, particularly for these people who aren't professional athletes. For the most of them, they have families and jobs and they're doing this once a year. They're putting themselves out there and I just have so much respect for that.

[Podcast Host (Mic Unplugged Intro/Outro)]

Welcome to Mick Unplugged, the number one podcast for self improvement, leadership and relentless growth. No fluff, no filters, just hard hitting truths, unstoppable strategies, and the mindset shifts that separate the best from the rest. Ready to break limits? Let's go.

[Nick (Podcast Host/Interviewer)]

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back for another exciting episode of MC Unplugged. And today we have someone who's a personal hero of mine. We're talking about a guy that's going from Ivy League Maryland to an Emmy winning comedian, cancer survivor, arthritis warrior, and the soul of American Ninja Warrior. He redefines resilience, elevates grit, and inspires transformation. Join me in WELCOMING My hero, Mr. Matt Isman. Matt, how you doing today, brother Nick.

[Matt Iseman]

You are too good. You're making my ego huge here. The soul of American Ninja Warrior, that's got to go on my business card, man. That's very kind.

[Nick (Podcast Host/Interviewer)]

I mean it in every stretch of the imagination, man. Matt, I told you, you're my hero. I want to tell you why so rheumatoid arthritis personally affects my family. What you do for the foundations that you're a part of, man, like truly have helped me bring awareness to my communities, to the clients that I represent, that I work with. And so I just want to thank you because we are so much now aware of rheumatoid and the foundations and the, and the work that's being done. And with you being the front runner of that man, being a key voice of that. I just have to thank you, bro.

[Matt Iseman]

You're very kind. I feel very lucky. So for those who don't know, I have rheumatoid arthritis, as you mentioned. And what's interesting is for me, the reason I got so involved is my background is I'm a medical doctor, as you mentioned. And when I was diagnosed, first of all, it took a year and a half to get diagnosed. Year and a half where my body was falling apart and really my life was falling apart physically. I gained 50 pounds, I was unable to work out. I had stiffness in my neck, my back, pain in my hands and my feet. I mean my life. I became a shell of myself and I was going to doctors I was being tested for things, rheumatologic conditions like ra, and nothing was coming back positive. And the doctor said everything's normal. Even though I knew something's wrong. And it took a year and a half before I got the diagnosis. And when I got diagnosed and was told I had ra, that the thing was, first of all, I was relieved. Not because I wanted. R.A. is a chronic autoimmune disease. There is no cure. Obviously you don't want that, but I just wanted an answer. Because for anyone out there who's experiencing health issues, one of the most challenging parts is when you don't know why, when there's no answer. Because even if it's a bad answer, even if it's cancer, even if it's a chronic disease and there is no cure, at least you know what you're up against instead of just kind of facing like you're in a room blindfolded and you just keep getting hit. And so. But the crazy thing was, once I was diagnosed as a doctor, as my dad's a doctor, my friends were doctors, I was surrounded by good doctors. I understood the disease, I understood the pathophysiology of it, but what I didn't know was, how do you live with it? And so for me, when I got diagnosed, the crazy thing was, even though I was surrounded by all these people wanting to help, I felt alone. Until I went to a meeting with the Arthritis Foundation. And all of a sudden, I'm in a room full of people like me, a room full of people facing the same disease or a similar disease. People who could tell me, hey, this is how I cope with this day to day. These are some of the strategies I cope with. These are some of the things like, you can have kids still, you can, you can have a job, you. There are challenges, but here's what they are. And, and to me, what it was was the reason I've become so part of, so supportive of the Arthritis foundation in particular, was they were my family when I was diagnosed with this disease. And not that my other family wasn't there, but the family of people who knew what I was going through. And for anyone who's experienced a challenge, and I don't think it's limited to just health challenges, but it's so helpful to have someone who's walked a mile in your shoes and who can understand what you're going through and who can give you the, the real practical advice and sometimes just be there to say, yeah, it sucks. That's okay, it sucks.

[Nick (Podcast Host/Interviewer)]

Dude, you are so true, man. Like, so my grandmother had it before she passed, my mom has it, my sister has it, I have an uncle, or actually two uncles that have it. And I don't think people understand what you just said. Just that community of, hey, I'm here with you. Sometimes that's what you need because the pain that could just hit you at one o' clock in the morning. I mean, my mom sometimes has to sleep sitting up in a chair just because when she gets that flare up, like you said, there's not much that you can do. There's some things to ease it, but it doesn't go away. And then my sister just to, to walk up and down stairs sometimes can be a struggle. My uncle, who's one of the strongest men that I know is like, I can't use a screwdriver right now. Like, can you come over and help me? And. But I get it. And I don't think people understand like just that dynamic of the disease and of the illness, man. Like, how did you begin coping with it on both the mental and the physical?

[Matt Iseman]

So I think there were a couple things that happened that, that happened pretty quickly. I think the first thing was by finding that community and seeing people living with it. Because again, when you read the textbook, when you search online, the majority of the cases you find are the worst case scenarios. You're seeing people completely confined to wheelchairs, people with the gnarled hands. But the reality is for most people living with ra, a lot of times it's what's called an invisible disease, where people look at you and they can't tell anything's wrong. But when they see, you know, my friend, I was 30 years old and you know, I went from like 197 pounds to almost 250 pounds. I couldn't move in my, my buddy looked at me and he's like, what's wrong with you? There's something wrong. And, and I think for me was, was finding that community of people who could tell me it's okay, there's a way through this. You know, there's a bright side and we're living proof of it. That was important. But the other thing was at that point I was doing stand up comedy. And for me, you know, that, that, that age old truism, laughter is the best medicine. I think for me that even, even in that 18 months when I didn't have a diagnosis, but I was really struggling physically and even emotionally, I, I was probably clinically depressed by, by the final few months where you're just so devastated. Sleeping 10 to 14 hours a day and still feeling exhausted. I think for me, the highlight of every day was going to a comedy club. And even if nobody laughed at my jokes, it's being around a room of laughter. It's that thing of when you're laughing, you're not thinking about the pain, you're not thinking about the sadness. And so for me, laughter was such, I think, such a good tool to help cope with the struggles of it. And I was very fortunate. I started on a biologic drug, which those. Those were only approved in 98. I was diagnosed in 2002. And I'm sure, as you're certainly your mom knows and maybe even your sister, before those biologics, the treatments were things like heavy metals, and very often the side effects of the treatments were as bad as the disease. And so it was. It was a real catch 22. And I've been very fortunate where I've responded pretty well. My disease hasn't progressed a lot, so I kind of feel like I benefited from all the people who came before me, whose suffering and whose willingness to be experimented on led to the advent of these incredible drugs that now, for so many of us, have offered us a way back into what we would call, you know, a life where RA isn't dominating. And so for me, I think, you know, the having that. That family of people going through it and then having the ability, the comedy where to me, no matter how bad I felt, if I was out laughing for that moment, everything felt normal. And I think when you're sick, all you want is to just feel normal, even if it's only for a few minutes. Because when you're sick, when you're in pain, it's so hard to take your focus off of that and focus on anything else. And so for me, being. Being out doing comedy every night, which was very fortunately, my job, I think, was probably one of the most important things of me getting through it.

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[Nick (Podcast Host/Interviewer)]

I love that dude. And again, I just want to thank you and applaud you for putting it on your shoulder, being a big visual, being a big voice because it's needed. And like I said, my family truly.

[Matt Iseman]

Thinks, well, man, you know, and that's something else too. I think that. So again, when I was diagnosed and I started searching, you know, you read about the textbooks and you'll read about, obviously people tend to write articles usually about the worst case scenario. And so one of the things I wanted to do and also RA tends to be a disease. It predominantly favors women. And usually women, you know, in their 50s or 60s, there can be juvenile RA and obviously men can get it too. But when you get diagnosed with this and you're like, I don't see anyone like me. Even when I went to the RA meetings, I still felt that, you know, guys in their 30s were kind of underrepresented. And that was one of those chances where I said, you know, I can share my story now so that the next person who gets diagnosed won't feel so alone and go, oh yeah, there's someone like me. And, and at that point, you know, I was already doing pretty well. And, and for me, the more I've gotten to do. You know, when I was on Celebrity Apprentice, my cause was the arthritis foundation. And we ended up raising $1 million for it. And as important as that, though, was that I got to tell my story. So we raised the money for the research. But also you raise awareness and you let people know, hey, you know, there are a lot of people suffering with this disease. You're not alone. And that's what stuff is. You could be out, your co worker might have the same disease, but because a lot of people aren't comfortable, they don't want to share their disease. They don't want people to look at them differently. For me, I just felt like this is a chance to share my story. So that because it was when I was diagnosed, you're just looking around and just to be able to latch on to somebody and go, okay, they're like me and they're doing okay, that gives me hope. I want it to be that for the next person.

[Nick (Podcast Host/Interviewer)]

And you're doing it well, brother. You're doing it well. So I want to transition a little bit to this comedy world of you, man. So, like, again, huge fan of you forever. Love seeing all of your, I'm gonna say, your old clips and bits that you post out on YouTube, dude. Like, you're one of the. The funniest people that I'm not sure the world knows how funny that.

[Matt Iseman]

Because I totally agree with you. But, you know, it's one of the things, like on Ninja Warrior, it's not a very funny show, you know.

[Nick (Podcast Host/Interviewer)]

Right.

[Matt Iseman]

It tends to be very earnest. And so I understand, you know, when I go out and do comedy, not a lot of people go, let's go see the host from Ninja Warrior, the really loud guy. Because I'm not particularly funny on the show, but stand up has been my first love. It's what brought me out to Hollywood. And it's something to me. I love tv. I love Ninja Warrior. It's awesome. But there is something about being in a room with just you and a microphone in a crowd and that immediacy of you say a joke and people can clap. Even if, you know you can fake clap, faking laughter is very hard. And so it's kind of that response. It's such an honest exchange with you in the audience where if you get them laughing, you've earned it. And to me, I always say it's. It's such a rush doing stand up comedy because, you know, I used to be an athlete. I was a college baseball player. Not particularly good, but I always think Back in sports, when Michael Jordan, you know that game when he hit, I think it was six three pointers in the first half. And he just said, I was in his own. Yeah, he get the hands up and he goes, the hoop looked like, you know, it was the size of a hula hoop. It couldn't go in. And he just talked about being in that state. And I think, you know, anyone who's worked at something and who's really good at something, we all have those moments when you're like, oh, it's, it's, it's like the Matrix, when everything slows down. And I think that's when standup comedy is at its best, is when you're on stage and the crowd's laughing and you just feel like it's also, you see everything, you know, the joke you're telling, you're present to it, but you're thinking about, where can I go next and what's happening over here? And it's just, to me, it's one of those states where you just feel present. Because I think particularly now in life, and I am so bad at this with my phone. I think we all get so distracted. We have a million things beeping at us, buzzing at us, instant ways to distract us. I love when something pulls you fully present. And to me, that's what stand up does, which is why I love it so much, dude.

[Nick (Podcast Host/Interviewer)]

And you're, you're great at it, man. You have an amazing gift and talent and I know you work hard at it. And I wanted to ask you this question because I know when you're doing standup, right, like, you've got your, your routine, you've got your flow that you're going to do over and over again. Are there moments when it's like, all right, I did this in LA and it was like, okay, but then I go do it in Alabama and the crowd erupts. It's the same joke, the same energy. What is that?

[Matt Iseman]

Like, it'll happen in the same night. Like, if you do two shows, you'll go out, you say a joke, it kills, and you'll go out to the same audience or, you know, virtually the same audience in the same city and it dies. And. But, but, but that's one of the challenges of comedy is that it can, it's always a high wire act. And that's what we say is, you know, if you ever kind of just go on autopilot where you're like, I know this joke works. I can just tell this. The audience is very Perceptive. And if you're not really present because. Because you're right, you've often told the joke. For a decade, you've told the same joke, but you're always tweaking it. But if you. If. And so the challenge is to make it feel, though, like every night is the first time you say it, and that's when you have to be present in the room and when you're not, when you go on autopilot. And every comic will tell you, we know when we do it. We know when. Sometimes you're just like, I'm tired, or, I'm not feeling. You know, and something happens, you go down. That's when you feel. You feel like the audience slipping away. Because the audience, they might not articulate it, but they're incredibly intuitive. And one of the things I say is, as long as the audience trusts you, as long as they feel safe with you, you can take them anywhere. If five jokes in a row go bad, but you don't panic, and you're like, I'm setting you up for something, the audience is okay with it. But as soon as you start getting. We call it flop sweat. And I just took a shower. That's why I'm sweating right now. And I'm so excited to talk to you. But it is that thing when the audience sends fear or when they pity you, then it's dead. So that's one of the great things with standup, is that you know you're set. Your jokes are always a living, breathing organism. There's always room to find something, and that's what we're doing. So we stand up. When I go out, I'll know if everything. I have 45 minutes. These are the jokes I will tell in 45 minutes. But when I go out there, sometimes you're like, something happens, and you'll just run with it, and you'll just go. And then you can dip back into your material if you need to, and then something else happens, and. And you can go back out. And we. You know, my friends and I, we were talking about it. We go. That's when you're being a comedian. That's when you're not just saying your material. That's when you're. That's when you're being funny. You're in a room the same way you do with your friends, where you're commenting on something, you got something, something else comes up. You don't ignore it. You play with it. You have fun, but you always know where you're going. And to Me, that's when standup is at its best. So, you know, there, there are a lot of. Right now on the Internet, you see a lot of crowd work because comedians, you know, a joke might take years to develop, and if you put it out online, that joke's kind of gone. But crowd work is something that kind of happens that's, you know, based on a night. You're like, let me just show this so you know I'm funny, so you come out and see my material. So that's been one of the challenges with comedy is with the ubiquity of social media, of, of how do I show people my material or how do I show people I'm funny without then burning all my material? So a lot of people are doing crowd work. And it's also, it's, it is fun. It is fun, kind of, because the audience also senses when something's happened. They tend to know when it's a joke that, hey, they might have told that joke before, but when something happens, you're like, guy with the glasses. And it's like, hey, that was because of the guy with the glasses. That happened this night. And now you might have had that joke where anytime there's a guy with glasses, but you make it feel special, you make it feel present. I think that's what stand up is. You always want to make it feel new.

[Nick (Podcast Host/Interviewer)]

Yeah. And that's why I appreciate your art, man. And I was talking to a pretty famously well known comedian. I won't say their name, but it's funny that you mentioned going on autopilot because this person said to me, like, Mick, I had to go back in the lab because my 45 minute set, I did two nights in a row for 30 minutes. It was like I was just in a flow. I wasn't really connected with the audience. And then I had to go. Another point that you just made, I had to go to crowd work because I knew at least I could go do that. And so now they're working on perfecting their crowd work so that they've got new material every time because the audience changes. So you're spot on with that, brother.

[Matt Iseman]

It is, you know, and then, and that's one of the things that, that I love about stand up is it's, it's just, it's. It is a bucking bronco. You know, you, you can ride it, you can be on it, but at any second you can get thrown off. And that's part of the rush, I think, that, that we love about it is it is one of those things that forces you not to just kind of go through it because, you know, like, I went to see a Vegas show, and it was a very, very famous magician who'd been on TV who done everything, and I watched him, and I just saw him magic, and I was just like, this guy has done this for 23 years, and there's no magic left in his performance. He was just hitting the numbers. And you're like, wow, you know, that's. And that's the challenge, like, when you. Especially when you have, like, a residency in Vegas where you may be doing 10, 12 shows a week. You know, the real challenge as a great performer is how do you make each one feel like it's the first time you've done it? How do you make a Tuesday matinee show still feel special? And that's, you know, that's. That's. I think those are the. The really great performers are the ones who can do that.

[Nick (Podcast Host/Interviewer)]

Yeah. So another thing I want to congratulate you on, brother, was. Was winning Celebrity Apprentice in your season, your year. You were kicking names or kicking butts, taking names.

[Matt Iseman]

Right.

[Nick (Podcast Host/Interviewer)]

What's a leadership lesson that you learned throughout Celebrity Apprentice that maybe you didn't know until you were on?

[Matt Iseman]

You know, I. I think it was. I've played sports, been on some shows that were, you know, network shows and things. I think. I think the interesting thing with that was that was probably the biggest collection of people, alphas, people with big egos, people who might not have been, you know, at the top of their game success wise, but. But, you know, people who'd been hall of fame, NFL players, world champion boxers, like, you know, superstars, heads of bands that were, you know, have sold 100 million albums. You're around these people, and especially as someone coming in, I was probably one of the lesser known people. I think it was a chance to really say, all right, I got to swallow my ego here and see what do I need to do to get people on the same page. And what I found was one of those things that. That when you didn't make it about your ego, when you didn't make. If someone challenge you, make it like, hey, this is a maneuver going, all right, well, what's your idea? Let me hear you. It was one of those things that when I sought for collaboration, I found that was how I managed a lot of the egos. Now, the great thing about it was, for those who don't know, I was on with a new boss, Arnold Schwarzenegger. The old boss had Moved on to a different job. And unfortunately, you know, I won. I'm the new Celebrity Apprentice. The show got canceled because of the political connections to.

[Nick (Podcast Host/Interviewer)]

Wasn't because you won. It didn't get canceled because I'm going.

[Matt Iseman]

To say political stuff. But what was great was when the show was canceled that day, I was literally standing in an airport and I saw the text after I won, and it's like, you know, NBC announces Celebrity Apprentice is canceled. And right then, I got a call from Arnold Schwarzenegger, and he's like, izzy, I just want you to know you're still my apprentice. In two weeks, we're going to Columbus, Ohio. And, like, since then, that was in 2017. Since then, I've traveled the world with this guy. I've gotten to be up close. And to me, Mick, that has been like business school, graduate school, the school of hard, like, being around someone who I think is one of, one of one. But, you know, certainly in my generation, I can't think of many people who've had the amount of worldwide fame, the amount of success in so many different areas, from bodybuilding to real estate to movies to politics to philanthropy to climate change. To be in his orbit has been such a lesson in leadership and seeing how he does it, because he has me host this Austrian World Summit on climate change that's held in the Hofburg palace in Vienna, their version of the White House. I'm up there hosting with world leaders, presidents, prime ministers, leaders of billion dollar companies. Arnold puts me up there, and I watch this, and there's no question with all those people in the room that Arnold is the biggest person in the room. But the thing I love about him is he. He never makes it a contest about measuring the size of your manhood. With Arnold, he's the guy, he's building everyone else up. Everyone who comes in, oh, it's so great to see you here, Prime Minister Vanderbelen. It's so great to have you here. It's incredible what you're doing. And he makes you feel appreciated and he makes you feel valued. And when I watch his style of leadership, I've worked with him now for going on almost a decade. And every time I do something this, this is it, he writes me a letter. He'll write me a letter that gets there the day or two after saying thank you. When he's up on stage, he'll say, I. It's so amazing having Matt Eiseman host and, and, and Monica Longtola planning this. You're the best planner in the world. He builds everyone up. And Mick, in this era, when we see people, you know, the leaders who have to push people down or smash them down or remind them I'm the leader, what a breath of fresh air it is to see someone who instead builds everyone up and in so doing lifts us all up and himself too. And it's to me, when I see his style of leadership, I think that's. That's someone who moves the needle in such a significant way in so many different areas.

[Nick (Podcast Host/Interviewer)]

I love that, dude. I love that. You know, Matt, I normally start my conversations by asking my guest what their because is.

[Matt Iseman]

Yeah, right.

[Nick (Podcast Host/Interviewer)]

But I needed to. To talk to you about being my hero and why. And so that was really important for me. But now I do want to ask you, Matt, like, all the things that you do in life, all the goodness that you bring forward, what's your because? And for me, your because is that thing that's deeper than your why. Like, I could guess your why, but your because is really the fuel that makes everything happen. So for Matt Eisman, man, what's your because?

[Matt Iseman]

So, you know, because I. I know that's your question. And I've been thinking about that. You know, when I went into being a doctor, the idea was, I want to help people. And then when I left medicine and got into stand up comedy, it was kind of hard because, like, hey, you were directly helping people and now you're out there being the center of attention. But the thing I think I realized was growing up, as I looked at it, I was always, I like to make people feel good. I'm a pleaser. I don't like conflict. I had a brother. We'd fight. I never wanted to fight. I always would. That's why I got into comedy. Let me laugh, let me defuse people. I think the thing was I want to make people feel happy. And that's always kind of been my nature. I think, you know, with Ninja Warrior, it's so great. We found a show where, you know, wipe out the show when people fall. You can laugh on our show. When people fall, even it's on the very first obstacle. We don't laugh. We say, you know what? It took a lot of courage just to get here and a lot of effort. And, you know, whether you make it all the way or just one step, you still put yourself out there, you still risk something. And you go back to that awesome Teddy Roosevelt speech about the man in the arena, you know, that's the one who deserves the credit, not the people online. Sniping at you or tearing you down. And so I think for me, my. My. Because is I always have had this need to want to make people feel good, to feel better. And I thought with medicine, I was going to do it that way. And I realized, well, I'm not going to be a brain surgeon or a heart surgeon. Instead, I'm going to do it through my words, through my actions, through shows like Ninja Warrior, or through my comedy, where my comedy, for the most part, is very goofy. For the most part, I'm the butt of the joke. You know, I always remember when I started out doing comedy, my mom and grandma came to some shows, and the thing they both said, well, a lot of comics would go up and they would do crowd work and they would rip on people. And my mom always sat in the back because she just thought, oh, I would feel so terrible if someone picked on me at a show. And I just thought, yeah, you know, that's great. And some people love it. I mean, Don Rickles was the best. It's great. But for me, who I am, I never wanted to do that because, you know, you just. We all remember at some point when you're being picked on. And I thought, I never liked that. Instead, I liked the idea of, hey, we can laugh together. But in the end, I want it to be like, I got to put my arm around you, and we're going to walk out of here laughing, kind of, you know, nudging each other like we're friends. You know, if it's like a roast to me. I did a roast once of Dennis Rodman. Now there's an easy target. I met him that night, and I'm going up on stage, and the thought behind every joke was, I wanted to go, hey, Dennis, this is just a joke. Like, you know that. But it was just so critical to me. I'm like, I don't want this guy up here going, man, does this guy hate me? And that's part of my personality. I think that, for better or worse, impacts how I do comedy. But. But it's something for me. I think my. Because is when I do stuff, by and large, I want it to. To make people feel better. I think that's when I leave a show and people are smiling or we do Ninja Warrior, and you get texts or emails or people saying, man, that show was fun, and we loved what you said about us or how you celebrated us. I'm like, that's. That's it. I think my. Because is ultimately, I just got. I guess I'm a glorified hype man. That's my because.

[Nick (Podcast Host/Interviewer)]

And you do it great, brother, and you touch a lot of lives you make. The reason I call you the soul of American Ninja Warrior, and you can tell Akbar said it, but it's because you're pure, right? Like, who Matt Isman is, is who you are, and that's seen through. So even for people that don't personally know you, they know you. And I think that that truly aligns with what you're.

[Matt Iseman]

Because, well, it's funny. I think that's. That's one thing that we really got. I don't know if it's luck or if they knew it intentionally, but when we started, Akbar and I, I think both kind of share that sensibility. And he's a guy obviously, played in the NFL. His brother was an All Pro, nine years at. @ Green Bay. And Akbar always said, I was a journeyman. I was a guy. You know, I bounced around from team to team to team. I was never a star. I always had to work for everything. And he goes, when I see these ninjas out here, the ones who are struggling getting by, the ones who maybe haven't hit a buzzer, he goes, that was me. And he's like, that's. That's me. That's the guy I want to celebrate. I think we're both like that, of having played sports and having, you know, attempted physical things, particularly in an arena with thousands of people watching and on TV with millions at home watching. You know, there's something about anyone who has the courage, particularly for these people who aren't professional athletes. For the most of them, they have families and jobs, and they're doing this once a year. They're putting themselves out there. And I just have so much respect for that, because, like, Celebrity Apprentice, that's. That's. You know, we did Lip sync battle and RuPaul's Drag Race, where you're. You're out there being judged, but. But it's. It's something on Ninja Warrior where it really is you versus the course. And I just. I'm so appreciative that there are people who were like, I'm willing to go for this glory knowing that, you know, a fall is part of it. And that's one of the cool things with our show, is we're heading into season 18 is. You know, we've had seasons where people have fallen. We had a guy, Kyle Scholzee, I think it was eight seasons he tried, and finally last season, he got his first ever buzzer and, you know, so we've had thousands of buzzers, but that was his first buzzer, and that was a moment none of us will forget because of all the hard work, because of the failures that came before it. And that's what's great with the show that's gone on this long, is we get to see these story arcs. We get to see people who came in here as little kids who are now married with their own kids doing ninja. And it's really cool to see this kind of full circle and see this community and family that's developed from it.

[Nick (Podcast Host/Interviewer)]

I love it, brother. I love it, brother. Matt. I want to give my. My quick. I usually do a quick five. I'm gonna do a quick four because I want the last one for you to tell people about all the cool things you have going on. So quick five, rapid fire. Recently married.

[Matt Iseman]

Yes. I saw.

[Nick (Podcast Host/Interviewer)]

I saw the dance moves. Who's the better?

[Matt Iseman]

We did what we came down the aisle to. This is me. And then our first dance was to faithfully. And we did. We did interpretive dance, which, yes, was, you know, a bold choice, I will say.

[Nick (Podcast Host/Interviewer)]

So who's the better dancer, you or Akbar?

[Matt Iseman]

Akbar. Not by much. We are both awful. But he's bigger than me, so I'm going to say his name so it doesn't beat me up next time.

[Nick (Podcast Host/Interviewer)]

All right.

[Matt Iseman]

Your favorite comfort food, chicken tenders with honey mustard sauce. My wife.

[Nick (Podcast Host/Interviewer)]

See, wifey. Marcy. Matt eats chicken tenders, too. So our wedding a couple of years ago, everybody has steak and chicken and salmon. I wanted chicken tenders. I was like, just give me chicken.

[Matt Iseman]

We had chicken tenders late night, and I was so happy. That was my. My wife was like, are you serious? I'm like, yes, I am.

[Nick (Podcast Host/Interviewer)]

See, we have so much in common, dude. So much in common. Your. Your most favorite book that you've read.

[Matt Iseman]

What jumps to mind? You know, I got to go back. I'm going to go back to the Chronicles of Narnia because I think those were the first books I remember, and because there were a series of them, they drew me into reading those books. I remember, like, giving me the passion to read when I just couldn't wait to put one down. And it was just such good storytelling. And there's so many since then, I think so many incredible books I just read. You know, a fascinating book I just read was the book on Elon Musk by Walter Isaacs in the biography, where, you know, Elon, such an obviously charged figure right now. But just when you see what it takes. I think, you know, anytime you're someone operates at a very high level, like must does running so many companies, I think you want to know how do they do it? And when you see the way he lives, you're like, oh, that is something I couldn't do the drive there. But it's fascinating. The same thing with Schwarzenegger where I think when you have an opportunity to glean the insights from these people who operate at a level that is, you know, the super rare stratosphere to me. I love learning about that.

[Nick (Podcast Host/Interviewer)]

I love it. All right, last one. If Matt's playlist comes on. Music playlist, what's the one song that you immediately lose your mind to?

[Matt Iseman]

And no matter what, you want it by Journey. I love Journey and that's any way you want it. It's like such. I love. It's a happy song. It's a song about potential. It's. It's amazing.

[Nick (Podcast Host/Interviewer)]

Love it, brother. And then the last question, Matt, is what do you have going on now and where can people find.

[Matt Iseman]

So Akbar and I just shot a little travel show called Extra Mile Club. It's going to be coming out in October. I've got some corporate gigs coming up. We're going to be Ninja warrior. The season 17. We're heading into the final stretch. I think we've got six episodes left. Season 17.

[Nick (Podcast Host/Interviewer)]

Love it, love it, love it. I'll make sure we have links everywhere in the show. Notes and descriptions. Matt, brother, I know how busy you are, but like I said in the beginning, truly honored that my hero could come on what you mean to not just me but my family and everyone that's struggling or suffering with arthritis. Man, like just truly love you, brother.

[Matt Iseman]

Well, thank you and I hope they're doing well. Godspeed.

[Nick (Podcast Host/Interviewer)]

You got it. And to all the viewers and listeners, remember your because is your superpower. Go unleash it.

[Podcast Host (Mic Unplugged Intro/Outro)]

Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Mic Unplugged. If today hits you hard, then imagine what's next. Be sure to subscribe, rate and share this with someone who needs it. And most of all, make a plan and take action because the next level is already waiting for you. Have a question or insight to share? Send us an email to hello@mc plugged.com until next time, ask yourself how you can step up.