98: The Wayback #98 | Mike Vecchione - School Walkers

Summary

The Wayback with Ryan Sickler Episode 98: Mike Vecchione – School Walkers Date: November 13, 2025

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Episode Overview

In Episode 98 of "The Wayback," host Ryan Sickler reunites with comedian Mike Vecchione for a nostalgic and lively discussion diving into their childhoods, formative experiences, 1980s pop culture, sports obsessions, and the quirks of growing up middle-class. With the signature warmth and humor of the show, the pair retrace their steps through old neighborhoods, iconic music, legendary boxing matches, and forgotten collections, blending laughs with authentic reflection.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Where They Came From

• Mike’s Roots: Grew up in Youngstown, Ohio, and Boca Raton, Florida—two vastly different worlds, but both fondly remembered.
  • "I can't speak highly enough about Youngstown area... and Boca Raton, Florida—two very different places but great people in both places." (03:34 – 03:54, Mike)
• Old Addresses & Family Homes: Mike recalls the house at 45 Maple Street in Canfield, Ohio, bringing up vivid childhood memories—his grandfather’s separated garage, the backyard garden, and basement family dinners.
  • "The garage was actually separated... my grandfather used to have a garden out back... kept his beer in the back of the garage, which was like his workstation." (04:11 – 04:28, Mike)

2. School Days & Small-Town Life

• Walking to School & School Memories: Both reminisce about being "walkers," walking to school, and the iconic feeling of being dismissed to walk home.
  • "I could walk to school from 45 Maple Street... just a wonderful [time]." (05:55 – 06:12, Mike)
  • "The buses would come, like, 'walkers are dismissed.' Three o'clock, we're gone." (09:37 – 09:40, Ryan)
• Middle and High School Experiences: Mike shares stories from Canfield Middle and High School, wrestling teams, and the unbeaten football season. A touch of pride for local athletic achievement shines through.
  • "Football team was undefeated. We were 8-0." (05:47 – 05:53, Mike)
• Nostalgia Trips via Google Maps: The hosts track down childhood homes and relive neighborhood landscapes, like the proximity to Sykesville Carnival and freedom firehouse, underscoring the power of place in memory.
  • "Kirsten, go down that street right there, that's where the carnival was..." (08:24 – 08:27, Ryan)

3. The Soundtrack of Youth

• Hair Band Mania: The pivotal role of '80s hair bands—Bon Jovi, Poison, Motley Crue, Def Leppard, and Ozzy Osbourne—in shaping their youth.
  • "That Bon Jovi Slippery When Wet album... every song was a hit on there." (07:12 – 07:17, Mike)
  • "Bon Jovi was so big at that time... if you got a knockoff band to come in and just sing their songs, the kids would go crazy." (09:29 – 09:48, Ryan)
• Music & Parental Anxiety: Reflections on growing up Catholic and the perceived taboo of listening to rock icons rumored to ‘worship the devil,’ as well as 1980s culture wars over "explicit" music labels.
  • "The big thing then was like, worshipping the devil... because I grew up Catholic...is this okay for me to buy this and listen to this?" (13:25 – 14:55, Mike)
  • "Tipper Gore came in, all she did was help... Now I'm finding new bands because they have that sticker." (14:03 – 14:16, Ryan)

4. Sports Fandom & Boxing Legends

• Mike Tyson Era: Deep admiration for the ‘Tyson era,’ with vivid memories of watching his rapid-finish fights and the social phenomenon around Tyson bouts.
  • "Tyson fights for the next ten years were a thing... they had to start building the undercards because he would knock the guy out in the pre-fight fight instructions." (15:03 – 15:38, Mike)
  • "A friend of ours... they go out to get drinks and when they come in, it's over. They spent all this money... and it's already finished." (15:38 – 16:14, Ryan)
• Buster Douglas Upset & Aftermath: The legendary Tyson vs. Douglas fight and its shockwaves through the sports world.
  • "My fantasy football team has been Duster Buglass forever... this guy had no chance to win. And then he wins. It's the biggest upset in boxing." (17:09 – 17:49, Ryan)
• Legendary Moments & Anecdotes: Howard Cosell announcing a street fight, the infamous "fan man" flying into the ring at a heavyweight bout, and George Foreman's epic comeback are recounted with reverence and laughter.
  • Notable Moment: "Suddenly the fight stopped. The kids looked at him dumbfounded... Then he spoke: 'Now listen...' "* (23:18 – 24:41, Ryan reading Howard Cosell’s street fight intervention story)

5. Sharing Rooms, Childhood Collections & The Value of 'Stuff'

• Sibling Dynamics: Mike details sharing a room with his older brother, describing their amicable relationship and quirky disputes (like who should vacuum).
  • "I was in a cleaning-my-room phase... I was like, let's vacuum the room. And he refused to take turns doing it, so I just remember vacuuming half of the room." (25:12 – 25:54, Mike)
• Beer Cans & Soda Cans: Both hosts laugh about collecting beer and soda cans, convinced they’d be valuable one day—a belief later dashed by evaporation and reality.
  • “We as idiots thought that they’d be worth something someday, like a 007 beer can is gonna be worth a lot of money.” (25:55 – 26:04, Mike)
• Defining Richness: As kids, having an in-ground pool, above-ground pool, or the right Matchbox cars became cultural markers of wealth.
  • "If you had an in-ground pool, man, you all were Russian. You're rich." (27:03 – 27:19, Ryan)

6. Cars & Pop Culture Symbols

• Muscle Cars: Reminiscing over coveted vehicles of their youth—Trans-Ams with T-tops, classic Corvettes, Ferraris.
  • "My father had a Corvette... it was all made of fiberglass. So if you get into an accident, you're dead. But you’re living flashy." (27:34 – 28:44, Mike & Ryan)
• TV Favorites: 1980s sitcoms like The Jeffersons, Sanford and Son, Good Times, Taxi, and Miami Vice discussed for their influence, diversity, and unforgettable characters.
  • "The Jeffersons was a very underrated... brilliant, brilliant show... character, Sherman Hemsley's character, George Jefferson, is one of the iconic characters of television history." (29:42 – 30:06, Mike)
  • "What's Happening, Good Times, Sanford and Son... I would say 50/50 on diversity." (31:08 – 31:31, Ryan)

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• On Youngstown, OH roots:
  "Originally Youngstown, Ohio. But then I spent half of my childhood in Boca Raton, Florida. So two fantastic places... great people in both."
  — Mike Vecchione, (03:34)

• On music experiencing and cultural taboos:
  "I didn't go to a Catholic school, but was raised in the church... the quandary of like buying an Ozzy Osbourne album... while you're Catholic... it was not like we don't look at it like we do now... we thought that was real."
  — Mike Vecchione, (14:16 – 14:55)

• On 1980s shared experiences:
  "When you would come home... MTV would have their countdown on, right, and ‘Home Sweet Home’ was number one every day... So big they eventually retired it."
  — Ryan Sickler, (10:41 – 11:22)

• On the Buster Douglas/Tyson upset:
  "This guy had no chance to win. And then he wins. And it is the biggest upset in boxing... probably sports history."
  — Ryan Sickler, (17:44 – 17:49)

• On Cosell narrating a street fight:
  "Now listen. It's quite apparent to this trained observer the young southpaw does not have a job requisite for the continuation of this fray... confrontation is halted post haste."
  — Ryan Sickler (as Howard Cosell), (24:23 – 24:41)

• On collecting things that turned out worthless:
  "We as idiots thought they'd be worth something someday, like a 007 beer can is gonna be worth a lot of money."
  — Mike Vecchione, (25:55 – 26:04)

• On TV’s diversity in the 1980s:
  "We watched all the black sit... I wouldn't call them black sitcoms—they were just for everyone back then. We all grew up on that, all of us."
  — Ryan Sickler, (31:40 – 31:48)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Introductions & Promotions: 02:49 – 03:30
• Youngstown, Childhood Home Stories: 03:34 – 05:36
• School Days, Wrestling Memories: 05:36 – 07:01
• Hair Bands & Music Nostalgia: 07:05 – 11:39
• Catholic Guilt, Devil in Rock: 13:25 – 14:55
• Boxing & Sports Fandom: 15:02 – 22:22
• Howard Cosell Story: 22:30 – 24:48
• Sibling Room Sharing, Childhood Collections: 25:12 – 26:59
• Defining "Rich" & Car Talk: 27:03 – 29:39
• 80s Sitcoms & TV Pop Culture: 29:42 – 32:14
• Wrapping Up & Final Promotions: 32:25 – 32:41

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Closing Thoughts

Brimming with laughter, “the way back” memories, and cultural touchstones, this episode is a vivid snapshot of the humor, anxieties, and small joys that shaped a generation. Whether dissecting the mythos of Mike Tyson, trading band stories, or marveling at childhood collections that never paid off, Sickler and Vecchione deliver a warm invitation to relive those formative years.

Mike Vecchione's plugs:
Follow at @ComicMikeV on all platforms. Watch his latest special “Low Income White” on the Nateland YouTube page.

Ryan Sickler:
@RyanSickler on all platforms – look for more nostalgic journeys every week.

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Transcript

[A]

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[B]

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[A]

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[B]

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[A]

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[B]

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[A]

It's just so beautiful. Oh yeah, nice.

[C]

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[B]

Guys, it's been, I think a little over a week now and I can't thank you enough for all the kind words and the great feedback on this special. I am going to sit here and pat myself on the back. I went from almost being killed to releasing this special and it's been a two and a half year labor of love and we crushed it. I found every single person to work on this within a single dad budget living in this expensive ass city of Los Angeles and I'm going to say we crushed it. We did. This is nothing like my last special. This special is special. It's a bit of a one man show retelling of a near death experience. Live and alive streaming on my YouTube now. And go give it some extra love because YouTube demonetized it within two days. Somebody complained about it, they took it out of the algorithm, we fought, they got us back in there, but it's already killed the momentum. So it is what it is. Go over there, tell everyone, share, everyone, like comment, help to get back in that algorithm. All right. And while you're there, go to the store. All right. Go to ryancickler.com click on the merch. We got a fall clearance sale going on right now. You're going to get a free t shirt and three free gifts with every apparel purchase. We got $10 tees and hats. We got $20 hoodies and pants. That's joggers. That's night. Telling you, you're not going to find this sale anywhere else. Get it now. When they're gone, they're gone. Christmas is coming. Go to the merch store now. Get your Steve shirts. Get your honeydew merch. Go get it now. Hey baby. We gonna be here all day. We gonna be here all day, baby. I like this kind of party. Welcome back to the Way Back. Everybody, Ryan Sickler here. Thank you guys for supporting this show. This is one you really need to watch. I Love what we got. This has been a really fun show to dive into people's pasts, get them in here in a way back and see how they grew up. I'm very excited to have this guest back here with me today. Ladies and gentlemen, back in the way back, Mike Vecchion, everybody. Back in the way back. Before we get into some old stories and stuff right there, promote everything you'd like.

[C]

Please, please give me a follow at comic Mike V on all social media platforms. That's at Comic Mike V. I also have a special on YouTube, the Nat Land YouTube page. Nate Bargaz is a friend of mine and he's very graciously giving me a second special on his YouTube page. It's called low income white. Please go watch it. Low income white on YouTube Omic Mikev on all social media platforms.

[B]

So if you didn't see Mike's honeydew episode, go watch it. We talk about how you grew up middle class and then became low income white because we're supposed to outdo our parents, but you're not doing as well.

[C]

We're going the other direction.

[B]

The other direction. But let's jump back in time here. So where are you from originally?

[C]

Originally, Youngstown, Ohio. But then I spent half of my childhood in Boca Raton, Florida. So two fantastic places. I can't speak highly enough about youngst the Youngstown area, Boardman, Canfield and Boca Raton, Florida, which two very different places but like great people in both places.

[B]

Do you remember your old address in Youngstown?

[C]

No, because we lived a bunch of them. 45 Maple Street, Canfield, Ohio. That's where my mother grew up and I lived there for a year with my. With my family.

[B]

Oh, my God.

[C]

Oh, man, that blows me away. That blows me away. The house, the garage was actually separated from the house. They must have connected them.

[B]

Oh, really? So this little garage over here wasn't. How far can we go back to 19. So that was a separate standing. And they connected it.

[C]

Yep, they connected it. And my grandfather used to have a garden out back. There used to be a tire swing connected to that tree to the right. And he had a huge garden in the back. And he kept his beer. He was a drinker in the back of the garage, which is like his workstation. But my mother and four other. There were five kids in that family. They lived in that house. And the basement is where we used to have dinners, like big holiday dinners. Yeah, yeah.

[B]

It was finished basement.

[C]

No, no, not finished. It felt like very rustic. There was big poles in the middle. And she put the tables out and we'd all go down there and eat. And then in the summer it barbecues out back. It was. What a great town. Canfield, Ohio, man. I went to Canfield Middle School in high school.

[B]

Canfield Middle School.

[C]

Canfield Middle School is where my mother went to.

[B]

Oh, wow.

[C]

She went to high school. My. My mother and my uncles there. It is great memories there. Holy smokes. Ah, it's blowing me away.

[B]

That's why I love this show.

[C]

Went to 8th grade wrestling.

[B]

Funny, we're older, we could do this to every house we've ever lived. I don't do it. I don't do it. And then I go look at my old houses and I'm like, man, this was eighth grade wrestling right here.

[C]

Eighth grade, learned to wrestle. Football team was undefeated. We were 8,08 games.

[B]

What's your mascot there?

[C]

The Cardinals.

[B]

Cardinals. That's what we were at our middle school.

[C]

Canfield Cardinals. And what a great. I could walk to school from 45 Maple street and just a wonderful. I was only there for, you know, we lived in Boardman and then we lived in Canfield. I was only in Canfield for two years, but I.

[B]

The high school too, you said?

[C]

Yeah, I went to one year of eighth grade and I went to the high school, which is.

[B]

Is it Canfield High?

[C]

Canfield High School, yeah. That looks like it can.

[B]

Yep.

[C]

A little farther away, but great school, great community.

[B]

And you're wrestling here in high school.

[C]

Yeah, and my coach was very, very tough. Very good, very good coach. And then they've won. Since then, they've won, I think, a state championship. They always have. They're always in. They're very good high school wrestling. And, and, and they were good when I was there, but they were trying to break through and they've gotten significantly better, whereas I, I think they're in. I don't think they've won states as a team, but they. They've had. They have a lot of place winners and we had a guy win states when I was there.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

And. And it's very hard to do in Ohio, as you know.

[B]

I was going to say Ohio is one of the toughest states.

[C]

It's unreal.

[B]

So is this where you're in the hair band music, too?

[C]

I loved it, man. Poison.

[B]

Yeah, yeah.

[C]

That Bon Jovi Slippery One. Wet Album. It was. I mean, every song was a hit on there.

[B]

I still remember Sykesville Carnival, Freedom Firehouse. Look that up. There it is. Sykesville. Wow. Okay, so do this for me. Look up 912. 912 North Avenue, 21784. All right. So when my father dies, my mother is living in this place by herself. Okay. And the state tells us she didn't want us. The state says, well, if you want to stay in the school district and everything, you got to go live with her. So this is like a duplex right here, Right? So people live on this side. So she's just. This was our place right here. Just this whole thing. Our little gravel driveway right here. And the top right room is me and both my brothers. That's where we're living over there. And then to the left was my mother's room. Down here is a kitchen with a toilet in it. Everything. If you turn to the right, Kirsten. And go down that street right there, that's where the fucking carnival was.

[C]

Oh, my God.

[B]

See that big grass?

[C]

Yeah. Yeah. Okay.

[B]

That's how close we are to this Sykesville. Right there. It's on. There it is.

[C]

Wow.

[B]

That's how close we are. Yeah. That's the house you can see. Yep. We're just back there, guys. That's how close we are.

[C]

So, candy for breakfast.

[B]

I'm on one of these. I'm on, like, the Zipper or something in here. And we're flying. Actually, I might be on these. And we're flying around, and another ride over here is playing Bon Jovi. Now, I knew Slippery When Wet, but I didn't know Runaway.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

And to this day, I can remember the first time I heard Runaway by Bon Jovi. I am on one of these carnival rides going by another ride, and I'm hearing. I'm like, what is that? It's a colon. I'm like, oh, that's the same Bon Jovi. So, okay, I went to Sykesville Middle School, and they had a. I don't know who decided to do this, but they had a band come in for seventh grade. Like a local band, right? And they came in and did Bon Jovi songs and stuff. Wow.

[C]

For a prom or something?

[B]

No, just for, like, there's our middle school right there. I was a walker, too. You were a walker also?

[C]

When I was in Campers are dismissed.

[B]

Was the first thing they would say. The buses would come, like, walkers are dismissed. Three o', clock, we're gone. I loved walking school, too, man. But, yeah, they had a band come in here and do Bon Jovi and in the middle, because that's how big they were. Like, Bon Jovi was so big at that time. If you got a knockoff band to Come in and just sing their songs. The kids would go crazy.

[C]

Slippery when wet. I forget when it hit 86, 87. When it really hit in 87, it was like, oh, my God, I've never seen anything like this. It was kind of like Thriller where every song was a hit.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

It was like they were like the best man. And then you go of the hair bands anyway. And Def Leppard.

[B]

Yep.

[C]

But like Motley Crue was already in full flux. Poison was like one of the later hair bands. Like Motley Crue I think was like. But Molly Cruz I consider harder than these guys. Like they were.

[B]

They were.

[C]

Their music was hard.

[B]

Their lives were hard. These guys are dying with heroin needles in their arms and shooting jack.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

But when you would come home, this is how I knew we were home. We come home from school and MTV would have their countdown on, right. And Home Sweet Home was number one every day for Kirsten. We look this up. I think they retired it. Did MTV retire the music video Home Sweet Home from the Countdown? Just put that. Let's see if something comes up. Yes. MTV, in fact retire MLE Cruise Home Sweet Home from the countdown on its dial MTV show in 86 by creating the Crew rule, which terminated a video's eligibility. Wow. Thirty days after its initial release due to the song's unprecedented three month run at number one.

[C]

But it's good because they didn't get too relaxed and they came out with girls, girls, girls, like in the late 80s, like in the later 80s. And that, that kicked in.

[B]

And then Dr. Feel Good.

[C]

Dr. Feel Good was on that same album. Yeah. And. But that was awesome. See, I first got introduced to this stuff through like Ozzy.

[B]

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[C]

Like in 82. Like, my first cassette tape was Blizzard of Oz and then followed by Diary of a Madman. And it looked like crazy. I mean, the big thing then was like worshiping the devil was like, you know, because I grew up Catholic, not, you know, that's all we ever heard.

[B]

To play it backwards. They worship the devil.

[C]

If you play it backwards, they worship the devil actively. So but that would, that was a thing. Like it was a genre which is like, you know, worshiping the devil was, it was a thing, I guess, to make it like off limits to like buy the album, you know, dangerous to buy the album. And then like Tipper Gore came in.

[B]

With all she did was help. Yes. As soon as you put those parental, explicit, parentally explicit, do not buy all you wanted. Now I'm finding new bands because they have that sticker on it. You know what I mean?

[C]

I just want to say, just something occurred to me, which is like, you're being ra. I didn't go to a Catholic school, but I was raised in the church, you know, Catholic church. And it's like the, the quandary of like buying an Ozzy Osbourne album with the Diary of a madman and the devil implications while you're Catholic, you know what I mean? It's like that. It was not like we don't look at it like we do now where it's like, ah, it's just a, he's just branding, you know, we, we thought that was real. And it's like, it was like, is this okay, is this okay for me to buy this and listen to this?

[B]

You know? Yeah, I'm going into church, right?

[C]

Yeah, yeah.

[B]

Let's talk about fights. You were a big fan of the big fights back in the day.

[C]

Huge.

[B]

Oh, bro.

[C]

Because Tyson was emerging in the mid-80s, this 18 year old from Catskills, New York, and everybody was like, oh, this is this guy. I remember my cousin having the Sports Illustrated. It's like the next heavyweight champion of the world. And it had him at 18 before he beat Trevor Berbick and. And then Tyson fights for the next 10 years were a thing that was a huge thing where it was like a Super Bowl. A Super bowl that would last one round, no doubt. They had to start building the undercards because he would knock the guy out in the pre fight fight instructions.

[B]

A friend of ours, his dad told us this story that they flew up, they took a helicopter from Baltimore to Jersey. His, his buddy owned Morgan Creek Productions and they're going from Baltimore to Jersey. They take a little helicopter up, they're going to see the Tyson, I think it's the Spinks fight. And they go out to get the drinks and when they come in, it's over. They spent all this money on these seats, the helicopter they're doing. Because you said it's like a Super bowl back then. Yeah, this is. Yeah, that's so just funny. The street in Atlantic City, let's fly.

[C]

Up, it's not so funny.

[B]

Get their drinks and then they come down, it's ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. They're like, nah, this knocked him out already. Yeah, Mike Tyson was that he was unreal. And when he lost to like to this day, I was at before it closed, Caroline's doing a show year 2016. I can remember 2016, God damn. Nine years ago. And this drunk dude's out front talking to me about, let me try, I'm gonna say it right. Duster buglass, he keeps telling me about Duster buglass. So if you don't know, Buster Douglas was a guy who was giving no, no chance to beat Mike Tyson in Japan, right? And the story goes, Tyson and his team were very cocky. They were knocking motherfuckers out like it was nothing. They went over, they party got fucked up. They didn't even have, you know, they didn't even Have a ring guy, a corner guy, nothing. If you go back and look at the footage. Kirsten, go back. Let's look at it. Look up.

[C]

It's after Kevin Rooney was no longer in his ring, it was these new guys who took him up, Don King.

[B]

So these guys, they didn't have end swells. They had nothing. They are. They thought this will be over in 10 seconds. They got a rubber glove filled with water and they're just rubbing it on his face to do anything they can. So my fantasy football team is. It has been Duster Buglass forever. I am. You see me out there playing. I'm Duster Buglass. But this guy had no chance to win. And then he wins.

[C]

And it is the biggest upset in boxing.

[B]

Biggest upset and probably sports history.

[C]

Yes.

[B]

I mean, there with Miracle on Ice, all that stuff like no one had ever even given. And his mother just died.

[C]

Mother just died.

[B]

His mother just died. He had nothing to lose.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

And he goes.

[C]

And he fought a great fight.

[B]

He did.

[C]

He fought a great fight and he almost still lost.

[B]

He did. Well, he did lose. I mean, he got knocked down. That was a slow, long count. I mean, he probably. You could argue that he was down. But whatever. Boxing is boxing. And if you don't knock the out, you leave yourself open to whatever those judges decided.

[C]

He.

[B]

He also was in great because he blew up after that. He ballooned. But he was.

[C]

He fought Holyfield, I think and lost the Holyfield. I think he got stopped by Holyfield. So. And then. And then it just. He just spiraled out. And then. And then Tyson had legal problems and.

[B]

But.

[C]

And then. But at this time, Tyson is unstoppable, man. It's. No one's ever seen anything like it in boxing. Even Ali was the best. But it's like, no.

[B]

Oh, you don't remember, fan man, this was the guy that flew into the ring.

[C]

Oh, I do remember. Okay.

[B]

Yeah, on his back. There he is over here on the right. This guy. This.

[C]

Yeah, that's right.

[B]

This guy in the middle of a fight.

[C]

Holyfield.

[B]

Yes, Holyfield. And Holyfield sees him and he's trying to tell Bo. And Bo, if you watch, he. He won't look back. He's like, oh, no, no, no. I fall rattle. He's like, there's a flying in the ring, right?

[C]

Hilarious.

[B]

And this is one of the things when this guy gets.

[C]

They didn't show him on that broadcast. I something.

[B]

No, yeah. Like what the going on. But then he got stuck in the ropes. You couldn't help but see that.

[C]

That's hilarious.

[B]

And he's got a fan on his back. And there's a guy in here. If there's. There's a video, if you can see it. Kirsten. This guy takes, like, a cell phone or something from back then, like a walking.

[C]

Yeah, big one.

[B]

And he just starts beating the. Out of this. This. We're all. And that's the other thing with the East Coast. Like, those fights are. A lot of times they're in Vegas. Whatever. It's a midnight. Yeah, it's a midnight start for a Super Bowl. People there all night up. I know they're wasted.

[C]

A lot of people like Tyson is responsible for parties.

[B]

No doubt.

[C]

For the. For the boxing parties that would have. We don't have anymore.

[B]

Is this where he comes in? Yeah, look at it. There's his feet right there.

[C]

I'm gonna see him. Tell him.

[B]

Okay, can you go back a little bit as Holyfield see it? Who notices it first? Yeah, here we go. There's Holyfield right there. And he pushes off.

[C]

Okay, so Holyfield sees it first. Yeah. And then Mills Lane taps Bo and calls timeout time.

[B]

Yeah, we got a guy on the fucking ropes here with a fan. Look at it. I mean, where. How. I know. Caesar's pal. So that. That's another thing. That's an outside fight.

[C]

That's not sad. That's outside.

[B]

It looks. You know, you don't see all that, but that's outside. So this guy's parachuting into a heavyweight.

[C]

Fight, and for him to make the ring is pretty good a.

[B]

It is. I mean, it's incredible. It's incredible.

[C]

That guy's on a championship level himself for landing in the ring.

[B]

That's great. It's crazy.

[C]

Be great if both those guys just then beat him. I mean, he got.

[B]

Oh, they're him up in here. They're not being kind to this guy right now. They're trying to kill this.

[C]

Yeah. Because they don't know what he's got. If he's.

[B]

What the hell's going on here, man? Man, everybody's running up like, what the. There they got him. They got him quick, boy. Look, they're like, there. There he is. There's the guy right there. You see him there? He's got it in his hand right there. The guy in the ar. Yeah, he's pummeling this. Like, he's taking it to climb over.

[C]

The fan and all to climb on in the contraption. They have to climb into the contraption to get him out.

[B]

Man. Heavyweight fights were the Best. Best at night. We had so many good ones. We had. George Foreman was great.

[C]

Making a comeback in his 40s, too. A big. A big guy. No, no. When he came back in the. He came back in the. In the 90s, I think, like in his.

[B]

Still didn't sit in the corner.

[C]

Fantastic.

[B]

Put that George Foreman grill out there. And then went out and whooped up on some young boys too. Some young ones, yeah.

[C]

He would just do the thing where he, like, guys would fire punches.

[B]

He just cross his arms and block.

[C]

It, you know, he ain't. Not too much head movement, but he would block it with his arms and as. And all the guys in their 40s would root for him.

[B]

Oh, yeah.

[C]

I mean, I was rooting for him too, but it's like he's such an underdog, you know what I mean? It was so great in like the 70s, in the 80s.

[B]

I heard this story. We're going to look this up because I don't know if this is true or not. I once heard Howard Cosell. You remember Howard Co. The great?

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

My dad was never a fan. My dad could never like them.

[C]

Didn't like.

[B]

But he was the great, you know, sportscaster of the 70s, 80s. And I read a story one time that he was Howard Cosell at the time, already legendary Howard Cosell. And he's driving somewhere with his wife and he's in a neighborhood or something, and a fight breaks out. And he gets out and he announces the street fight.

[C]

That's insane. I never heard that.

[B]

Can we look it up?

[C]

I've heard.

[B]

I want to see. Now, Howard Cosell announces, like a neighborhood street fight or something like that. It says. As usual, he consumed four or five glasses of vodka on the rocks before the food came. He could hold his liquor well. But by the end of dinner, he had an aquarium's worth. Wow. And in Kansas City, the limo company at ABCU's were white and twice the average size. We also had a regular driver, a woman in her mid-50s named Peggy Cosell and I finished dinner around 8:45, still twilight. We got into the back seat and Peggy began to drive back to the hotel. The route took us through a gritty neighborhood, and soon we came to a traffic light. And on the sidewalk to our left we saw two boys, maybe 16 or 17, in a serious fistfight, surrounded by other teenagers egging him on. Cosell opened his door, began to get out of the limo. Peggy screamed, Mr. Cosell. Mr. Cosell. No. I tried to grab him. It was too late. He was out of the car and onto the sidewalk. I had a wife, an 11 year old son and a 7 year old daughter. I really fight a pack of teenagers to stick up for Howard Cosell. Should I tell Peggy to drive away? There's no cell phones. You can't call a cop. Cosell standing on the court, on the corner, toupee on his head, cigar tangling from his mouth, ridiculous yellow blazer making impossible not to notice. Suddenly the fight stopped. The kids look at him dumbfounded. Their eyes are mouth and mouths wide open. It was as everyone was thinking, what the fuck? Then he spoke. Now listen. It's quite apparent to this trained observer the young southpaw does not have a job requisite for the continuation of this fray. Furthermore, his opponent is a man of inferior and diminishing skills. This confrontation is halted post haste. That's fucking great. They called him out. Howard Cosell really got out of a car and did that? Look, in total. He got back.

[C]

Signed autographs.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Wow. He signed autographs afterwards and reentered the limo.

[B]

That's badass.

[C]

Oh my God, that's. And that's a great story.

[B]

That's a great story.

[C]

I'm glad that's true.

[B]

You imagine though, you're in a street fight with somebody and Howard Cosell gets out and starts announcing it. Pretty badass.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

If I was a announcer, I would do some like that. That'd be pretty badass.

[C]

That would be all over tick tock today.

[B]

Oh, you're right about.

[C]

That would be huge.

[B]

Tell me about sharing a room with your brother. Who was older.

[C]

He was older. He's older. Two years. So my brother is like the nicest person and he's easy to get along with. So it's like there was never any kind of. And he was into music, like threw himself into music. And I was into sports, so there was never any kind of weirdness there. And I remember I was in a cleaning my room phase for a while and he. I was like, let's vacuum the room. And he refused to take turns doing it. So I just remember vacuuming half of the room. You know, I gotta clean half of my room. And we used to collect beer cans. Do you ever do that?

[B]

For what?

[C]

Because we as idiots thought that they would be worth something someday. Like a double oh, seven beer can is going to be worth a lot of money someday.

[B]

We thought we were just unopened or.

[C]

Hiding our time open.

[B]

Yeah. So even worth less money open. So my dad worked at the airport and he would come home with sodas from like sprite from Japan and all this stuff. They were wild. And we were like, oh, this is gonna be worth some money someday. We're. We had soda cans from different countries in our bedroom on the dresser. Like it was.

[C]

That at least makes. That at least makes sense. The beer can thing doesn't make any sense. Exotic beer cans. 007. This beer can is like.

[B]

But also, who thinks a Sprite from Japan's going to be worth something one day? And then a few years later, they just sat there forever. I go to pick it up, I'm like, of course. Of course it evaporated. Of course. There's not as much in here anymore. Man. This was upset about it. Like you. We grew up thinking that was the other thing too. Like we were.

[C]

There was no Internet to check it.

[B]

Against and we had no money. We like.

[C]

Yeah, you would just live with.

[B]

We thought rich was if you had an in ground pool, bro, you had money. Yeah, you had money if you're in.

[C]

Ground pool was if you had an.

[B]

Above ground pool, you had some money if you had an in ground pool, man, you all were Russian. You're rich.

[C]

That's unreal.

[B]

That's how we thought Matchbox cars.

[C]

Did you collect them?

[B]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[C]

Trans Am was like a big thing.

[B]

You see the smoking?

[C]

Yeah, I saw that. The Trans Am smoking. The bandit. And also it's a sister car which was a Firebird. Yes.

[B]

That's the Trans Am on the left.

[C]

And the fire red car. T tops. Yeah, yeah. Or Corvettes were big too back then. My father had a Corvette. It was awesome. He did, he did for a while.

[B]

You know what year now?

[C]

It was like a stingray. Something like it was in the 60s. It was like a 60s.

[B]

Oh yeah. One of the older ones.

[C]

Yeah, yeah. It was a two seater split window.

[B]

That's the split window. Is that what he had?

[C]

That. It was like the more closer to the one on the bottom.

[B]

Yeah, yeah.

[C]

It was a convertible. Yeah.

[B]

Oh, damn.

[C]

Yeah, yeah. But that was in good Corvette. Yes, it was awesome. Pictures of it still do you, man.

[B]

I. I'll never forget my dad told us he used to have this just this tits Chevelle. And we're like, what happened to it? And he's like, ask your mother. And she wrecked it. She rolled it in the snow. She rolled it. He's like, you don't even understand. I'm like, I get it. I get it.

[C]

I remember them telling us about that Corvette too. It's all made of fiberglass. So if you get into an accident, you're dead.

[B]

You're dead.

[C]

So you're living flashy. You're living great. If you get into an accident, it's all fiberglass. So you are going to die immediately.

[B]

And it was. Look up, look up Trans Am. T tops. Kirsten, those T tops. Like the whole roof was off.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

The whole. And no one's wearing seatbelts.

[C]

Could you imagine if a car beeped until you put your seatbelts on back then it's like seatbelts were.

[B]

Look how much of that is open though, when you see the top of it. Like that thing. Look at. There you go, that black one in the middle down at the bottom here. Look at that. The whole thing all. There's nothing. There's nothing to protect you if you're rolling over. That's badass.

[C]

But the Trans Am and you're.

[B]

Oh, I love that trans.

[C]

It's awesome. Yeah, those were the cars. And then Ferrari, the Ferrari. You would be like, I remember like having a Matchbox Ferrari and being like, this is awesome.

[B]

Yeah. Remember the Testarossa came out.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Miami Vice.

[C]

Miami Vice.

[B]

Miami Vice was the show. You'd see that old spider and then they got the Testarossa.

[C]

Bunch of half shaven guys.

[B]

What other 80s shows did you watch growing up?

[C]

Jefferson's. I thought Jefferson's was a very underrated. Brilliant, brilliant show. And I know it came out of.

[B]

Still is.

[C]

Yeah. It's a spin off.

[B]

Spin off Archie Bunker. Archie Bunker. But all Norman Lear stuff.

[C]

But just a groundbreaking. Funny, funny. Very well written. That character, Sherman Hemsley's character, George Jefferson is one of the iconic characters of television history.

[B]

No doubt.

[C]

He's unbelievable.

[B]

Unbelievable. Took from nobody.

[C]

Yeah. Like a businessman.

[B]

Sassy had a. Had a maid that lived in his home.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Like you see a real black man coming up and providing for other people too.

[C]

And tons of heart. He had tons of heart.

[B]

Like he was a good person.

[C]

Yes.

[B]

Wheezy kept him straight.

[C]

Wheezy kept him straight.

[B]

But then you had the mixed couple next door, which was progressive. As for the 70s and 80s too, you know.

[C]

Yeah. It was a big thing.

[B]

That was. That was. He was super white. Nobody cared. No one cared that he made fun of Mr. Willis. He was white as. Like he was the white people we'd make fun of.

[C]

Yes.

[B]

You know, and that's. That's Lenny Kravitz's mom.

[C]

Yes.

[B]

Yeah, the.

[C]

Oh. So. But I mean the jokes just to, to build the characters like that. To have the mixed race couple and then Mr. Bentley, who was a British ambassador. It's like him kind of being done. Yeah.

[B]

George's mom would come on and she was fun, funny as old lady.

[C]

Just the dynamic of all the characters and how they interacted with the themes of the time.

[B]

It's so funny. Cuz as we get older they're like, well, there's not enough diversity in TV and there's not enough brown people on my screen. And when I grew up, we watched the Jefferson, what's happening, Good Times, Sanford and Son. I mean, I'm thinking back to the shows I grew up and I would say 50, 50 on. On diverse diversity.

[C]

And the great thing about those shows is like especially the Japanese, nothing was shoehorned in. It was organic. It felt organic. And that's why you love the shows 100.

[B]

You know, we watched all the black sick and I wouldn't even call them black sitcoms. They were just for everyone back then. We all grew up on that, all of us.

[C]

And Good Times Cosby. And then, I mean Cosby rewrote like the sitcom.

[B]

Right, but still a black family.

[C]

Yes.

[B]

Right. On tv.

[C]

And they originally, originally had a night. They originally had him, had him be some kind of a blue collar job.

[B]

Is that right?

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Oh, I didn't know that. Was there a pilot or something like that?

[C]

It was. The idea was for him to be a plumber.

[B]

She's a lawyer.

[C]

I think it's fantastic. I mean as a show is on.

[B]

And then right after the different world is another one that comes on. But we had Taxi. We had Taxi. Still one of my favorites.

[C]

That's still so many legends on that show, dude.

[B]

Thank you for doing this.

[C]

Yeah, I appreciate it, man. Memory lane.

[B]

Please promote one more time.

[C]

It's at Comic Mike V. All social media platforms and the special is low income white. The comedy special. Please go watch it on the Nateland YouTube page. Thank you. Thank you for having me, dude.

[B]

Thank you for being here. As always. Ryan Sickler on all your social media. We'll talk to you all next week. I.