Hey, what do you get when you take a depressed man, hype him with antidepressants, and throw him on stage? Well, you get Mickey Bell, the Alabama-bred Southern mama's boy that'll make you laugh until your bladder can't hold it no more. Hey, don't go anywhere. You're going to want to hear this interview. Ladies and gentlemen, the following contest is set for one flaw.
Introducing first, from Lithuania, he weighs 123 kilos, the Russian nightmare, the Kita Kolob. Now, the devil's nightmare. Welcome back to another episode of It's Time to Man Up. When you think of comedy, or do you think of comedy, it has been said that laughter brings merriment to the heart. In other words, comedy can change and transform the atmosphere of a room or just an individual themselves. And with me today, man, I have an award winner with me today. I'm talking about award-winning comedian, Mickey Bell on the line. Mickey, welcome to the Men of Show. Oh, speak through him, Lord.
Speak through him. Listen, I am so excited to be on this with you. I've heard so much about it.
I've enjoyed the podcast and to be able to be on it with you is an absolute dream. It's like an American dream. Oh, come on, baby.
Now, if you're talking about the son of a plumber from Austin, Texas, if you will, come on now. I love it. That's what I'm talking about. Oh, it's so good. Kita and I be the superpowers, baby.
I'm just saying, yeah, we the superpowers, yeah. I need that to be my voicemail. I need to record you do that to be my voicemail.
That was so good. Thank you for calling Mickey Bell. Yeah, baby.
Leave a message after the tone and he might call you back. Just saying. That's it. I love it. Well, how are you doing? I am amazingly well and really great at questioning.
Well, maybe I don't even have to ask how you're doing. I'm going to tell you what. We were together just a while back, a mutual friend, Jason Crabbe of the infamous Crabbe family, Southern gospel artists, award-winning in his own right. I got the privilege of emceeing the night, but sinning and experiencing your comedy was nothing short of astounding, let me just say. I mean, it was amazing. That means a lot.
That means a lot. I was sitting there looking at Nikita Kolov sit on the front row, hoping and praying he did not come up and Will Smith me right in the middle of my show. That's what I was hoping for. No, you didn't know. Did you or I'm trying to remember now. You at first didn't know I was even there, I don't think, right? Well, earlier that day when we arrived at the venue, there was a banner up that said that you were going to be taking part in the next day. You were going to be doing some stuff the next day. And I was like, is he coming tonight? And they said, Oh yeah, he's supposed to be here. So I was excited all after that. I was just like, man, I was going back to my childhood.
I was going back and watching old wrestling videos on the bus before the show that night. And, um, and then, and then I walked out and dare you sat and I was like, my, my, my kids did not appreciate, I have failed them as a father because they did not appreciate who was sitting on the front row. Oh, they're like, Hey dad, like, uh, like who?
When I said the Russian nightmare, they're like, all right, do you need to take your medication or are you okay? And I'm like, y'all don't get it. Now, now, now correct me if I'm wrong, but, uh, Alabama is a, is that, that's what you call home, but that's what you were born and raised to, right? It was Alabama right here, right here in Alabama, man. And people ask me, am I an Alabama fan?
I am because I like being a champion. Ah, come on, roll tide. Now this has been home, man. I'm telling you what, so I was right down the road from the Chattanooga, Tennessee wrestling venues. I was right down the road from, uh, from, uh, Atlanta, Georgia. And so, yeah, it was, uh, this has been home. I love it here. My schedule now has me being at home about a day and a half a week, but I absolutely love what I do. Uh, bringing encouragement to other people, man.
I'm telling you, it's just, there's nothing any better. Well, I want to, I want to dive a little more into that, but, but also talk about, uh, obviously Alabama was, uh, in its day, a Mecca of professional wrestling. I mean, the, the Armstrong family comes to mind. Bullet Bob Armstrong, Brad Armstrong. I mean, what do you have like three or four sons that all wrestled as well.
I think they were all right here. And, and it was just, it was fascinating to grow up and watch that as a kid. Uh, it started with my Pawpaw bail. My Pawpaw bail was in his eighties when he passed and I was just a little kid and on Saturday, he never watched TV. The TV never got turned on in his house ever.
No news, no nothing. But Saturday morning NWA came on. Then it was time for him to pull his rocking chair up and he would not, he would get so close to the TV that no one could go in front of him or the TV. And you had to leave him alone during that time.
It was so good. I've heard so many stories and I've guessed it. He might've had a fist or two flying while the action was going on, uh, on that tube cane with him that had the little hook on it.
And so if you even got close, he was jerking you out of the way. Oh, those Pawpaw stories, man. I love it.
I love it. And so were you able to, so you, of course you saw a lot of the television wrestling and there's, were you able to, I know you said you were just a stone's throw from Chattanooga in Atlanta. So were you able to take in some, some live matches, uh, over the year in the early years? Here's why.
I was raised, I was raised independent fundamental King James version only Baptist. So everything was real strict. So we couldn't go to the movie theater. We couldn't go to the high school dances and even considering going to a wrestling match. Was out of the question. Well, yeah, because you guys didn't wear clothes. And so that's why we couldn't.
I mean, you know, it was a little bit too much exposure. I mean, I had better luck watching solid gold than I had watching wrestling, soul train, soul train. I just, I couldn't, no, I, so I didn't get to take a lot in as a kid. Cause I was still fascinated with it.
I'm fascinated with the art of it. And, but no, it was, um, but it was something that I watched, man. I'm telling you, I was glued to that television set when my mom and dad was at home and uh, I was, I was taking it in. I was taking it in. Well, that's, that's always, I just, that's part of the joy for me now, Mickey is, you know, whether I'm out doing an autograph signing or, you know, even doing a conference or men's conference or a camp, you know, of course you probably remember the name, Lex Luger, remember that name, the total package, you know, he and I do this camp every spring and every fall down in a little town called Royston, Georgia called man camp.
And, uh, and the goal is small group of men, 20, 25 men come in and we just so into pour into those men, you know, over the course of five days to send them home with the course, the vision being, they have the tools or they're better equipped to be Godly men and Godly husbands, Godly fathers. And, uh, so it's been incredible. Yeah. Never in a million years, just like you may be there thinking I never, never in a million years where I thought I'd be having a face-to-face conversation or meet the Russian nightmare.
I can tell you never in a million years, I think the total package, uh, uh, Lex Luger and Nikita Kolov would be teaming up and, uh, and building God's kingdom either. So it's been pretty, pretty incredible journey in that regard. So, okay. So, so at what, so at what point were you able to break out of all that, that religion and, uh, and, and, and get, get some, a sense of freedom Mickey. Yeah.
Well, it kind of started when, um, as a kid, uh, I learned because of the religious mindset, not that I am disagreeing or not that I'm going against my biblical foundation because I thank God for that. Right. Um, but there, there was kind of a, um, an unwritten rule, I guess you could say where you pray about everything, you just don't talk about anything. So you can't talk about three motions. Don't talk about what you're feeling. And so I did not know that hurting myself by allowing my emotions just to stay inside of me. So I would go from one tragic moment to the next.
I'm just taking all of my faults, all of my and just keeping them inside. I did not know. Um, people say, well, how did you know?
I did not know that there were actually professionals out there that you could talk to to get help. I did not know that, you know, you could go to your pastor and talk to them. You know, I just, I just viewed them as them being on stage and preaching hard and telling you what not to do.
So I, I don't know that. And when I was 13 years old, my family, my parents sat me down and they explained to me that I was adopted at birth. And the first 13 years of my life, I did not know that what I thought was true was not really true. And that kind of messed with me a little bit. Um, it didn't change my love for them. It didn't change anything toward that relationship. Me up internally because then I started questioning everything else in my life.
Okay. If I thought all of this was true for the first 13 years, what else is not true or what else am I going to be told is kind of kind of blow me off my feet. And so I just, but, but because of the way that I was raised and because of the mindset that we had, I just kept it all inside. And from one tragic moment to the next, I just kept compiling all those emotions and was told that, you know, men are not supposed to talk and they're not supposed to share their feelings.
And you know, this whole, this whole thing of finding an accountability partner in our iron sharpening iron. No, you didn't tell anything because you couldn't embarrass the family. Don't embarrass the church and especially don't embarrass yourself. And so, so it wasn't until I became an adult actually, and I was serving as a pastor of a church and um, those feelings and emotions started coming out and I started falling. And when I started falling, I started falling fast and it started messing with my emotions.
It messed with my thought process. I started making bad decisions that turned into sinful decisions and it ended up costing me my job at the church. And uh, man, that's when I failed. And when I felt, a lot of people try to say he failed from grace and I don't like that saying because when I fail, I did not I did not fall from grace. I actually fell into grace because I fell into God's hand that actually told me that he would pick me back up and he would create something new out of my broken pieces. And so that's when, it's when I was an adult, to answer your question, it was when I was an adult and after my life had completely fallen apart that I started realizing that there is an actual God that's much more personable than what some of the messages that I heard growing up and how some people interpret the scripture.
Man, that's, I'm going to tell you what's powerful of that. I want to interject a couple things here and just make it a couple of notes because sometimes we go through tragedy in our life and people do fall away and fall away from God, right? Turn away from God, fall away from God. But I love what you said about falling. I wrote down falling into the arms. I know you said falling into his hands. He picked you up.
I just envisioned as you were saying that falling into the arms, his arms spread wide open on that cross and willing to just wrap his arms around you and embrace you through that tragedy, through those tragic moments. Here's the other thing, Mickey, that comes to mind that you will really, I think, appreciate it. And I'm hoping our listeners as well.
In fact, I just did one of our Man Up conferences last weekend at one of my producers, Robbie Dilmore's church in Asheville, North Carolina. And in that conference, I specifically take about, I don't know, 45 minutes or so, and I talk all about the emotional cup, Mickey. What you were just talking about, how men are taught or told, bottle it all up, keep it all inside. As you just said, don't talk about it. But man, it's the emotional cup, meaning, you know, if something happens, a tragedy happens, or somebody says something, does something, you get your, as you say, your feelings hurt, man, if you don't deal with at that level and you bottle it up, then it just builds up, right?
And it builds up and builds up and builds up until you, what you just shared was, until it just spills over and all the toxicity comes out. And guess who comes out on? Everybody. Anybody around you, right? And so I talk about that in our conference and we go deep and dive into that at our camps to help men be emotionally healthy.
Oh, that's so good. Yeah. And know it's okay to talk about these things and not to suppress it or bury it. And so, which really on that note then too, cause I know you're a passionate advocate for mental health awareness and that's part of what we're talking about, right, Mickey? So take a minute to talk about that. Talk about, you know, your, your support of, of mental health awareness. Well, the reason that I talk about it is because the arenas that I'm going into, and it's not only the comedy clubs, it's not only the performing arts centers, but it's also the churches.
You're listening to the truth network and truthnetwork.com. If you would like to support Kolah for Christ Ministries for a gift of $25, Nikita will send you his two CDs, Adoration and Declaration. For a gift of $50, Nikita will include his book, Wrestling with Success. And for a gift of $100 or more, Nikita will include a signed copy of his newly updated life story, A Tale of the Ring and Redemption. Go to www.kolah.net and donate today. We'll be right back to It's Supernatural!
You can give monthly, annually, or one time. God bless you for making a difference around the world. You're listening to the Truth Network and truthnetwork.com. The churches especially, that seems to be the one place that we're not able to or confess or talk about the fact that we deal with mental illness, because we have pastors who don't know how to handle or answer the questions of what do I do. Because it really will challenge your faith, and it really will challenge someone's thought process when it comes to what they believe and what they don't believe. Because I say that I deal with mental illness doesn't mean I have lack of faith. It doesn't mean that I'm living a sinful life. It doesn't mean that I'm not close to God. It just means that just like most people who deal with sin, and they have issues with sin, and they have to stay away from certain areas because they're tempted for that sin, that's the same thing with my emotions. There are certain trigger points that I have to stay away from. There are faults that I have to stay away from. And so I try to encourage people to let them know that you can be close to God and still deal with mental illness.
You can still deal with depression. They're like, well, what about the joy of Jesus? And I'm like, well, what about the forgiveness of sin? But you still sin.
So there's just, you got to understand that there are people who have a hard time understanding the struggle and the fight. And I just want to let people know that God doesn't talk to us like a lot of other Christians try to talk to us when it comes to the things that we deal with. He's actually compassionate.
He's actually loving. And he wants what's best for us. He's not there to just, he's not there to condemn us. He's there to lift us up and bring us out of those pits.
And we just have to learn how to keep ourselves from falling back in. That's powerful. And I know too, as you were sharing some of your story earlier about pastoring and everything kind of falling apart and you losing your job, I know at one point too, not only were you fired, you even found yourself homeless. But your story is quite a story of recovery and redemption and your passion for help. And let's face it, I think the truth is anyone paying attention, there's a lot of mental illness in our nation that is right before our very eyes. And so I appreciate you having such a passion for that and wanting to help others get educated on that. And for those who need that, get help. Mickey, if there is somebody, maybe they have a family member or somebody out there who has some issues with mental illness, that sort of thing, where can they go get?
Is there somewhere you would direct them towards? Well, it's just the fact that you've got to understand how to communicate. It all boils back down to communication. If you've got an individual in your family, it's one of those things of trying to learn how to better communicate with them and helping to understand what they're going through.
Don't try to answer their feelings and their questions by how you feel because you're two different people. And everything you think, the way that you think it ought to be, we're not thinking that way. We're fighting an enemy that's trying to distort the truth. And while you can see the truth, you can't hold it against us just because we can't see it as clearly.
So you've got to be compassionate with those individuals. And it can get very heavy at times. It can get very frustrating at times because you're like, why can't you see it? Well, that's the issue. If we weren't so distorted in our thoughts, we could be able to see it. So we have got to constantly remind them of the truth, constantly remind them that the things that they are thinking are not the absolute truth and to run after the truth.
And so you just got to find ways to communicate better with them and understanding their feelings and what they're going through. That's good. Well, and from a kind of a heavier topic to more of a lighter note, I do want to kind of head our show in the direction of what I got the experience on a lighter note, even though you shared a lot of that from the platform. You were a part of Jason Krabs, the concert he was doing that night. You came out and did a bit there.
And I want to tell you what, man, I don't know how I continued to sit on the seat I was sitting at. You had me rolling. And your ability to take, whether it's tying things in with Jason and his music, or just even things that people in the audience and turn that into comedy.
I just want for our listeners to, so I've got a couple of notes here. 2021 Inspirational Country Music Awards Comedian of the Year. So 2021 Inspirational Country Music Awards of the Year, Comedian of the Year. Award-winning comedian, as I mentioned early on, released at Albert Live from the Paramount earlier in 2024, debuting one pound at a time. So at what point, and you do over 150 shows a year now, are some of those on your own or all of those with Jason Krab, or who are those with? Oh, we're a mixture.
I travel with a lot of different artists. Jason and I, we formed a brotherly bond during COVID. While churches were shut down during that COVID season, Jason and I, we started going into some of these churches to help them reopen.
We would give them a free event so they could invite the community in to say, hey, look, it's okay. Everything's safe. We're doing everything properly, but we're opening our doors. And so during the COVID year, we probably did 120 churches together. And so that was at a time where I was developing.
I was just starting. And so instead of going to the comedy clubs, you know, helping those drunk people laugh there, I was going to the Baptist churches to help those drunk people laugh. So I was able to develop my comedy during that COVID year.
And I was able to go in and kind of learn my craft. And we formed a bond there that we just made the decision that we would always do shows together. So I will be on separate tours. He'll go on separate tours, but we'll always do shows together.
And he tries to make it happen as often as possible. But this year, I'm actually starting to do more solo shows. My comedy CD that was released live from the Paramount, it was released on April the first and they released it.
They told me, they said, no, Mickey, don't expect anything because you're a clean comic. And, you know, like Jason, when Jason releases music, just using him as an example, he is in the contemporary Christian genre. So that means he's not having to go up against Beyonce. And he's not having to go up against Taylor Swift. He's going up against Chris Tomlin and Matthew West and casting crowns. What's a little bit different category? Well, when you release in comedy, you're you're up against everybody.
There's no clean genre. You're up against everybody. So they told me when we released this, don't expect anything because you're a clean comic, but you also profess to be a Christian.
So you're going to be up against all the explicit comedians, all of that. They released it at midnight on April the first. And by noon on April the first, they called me and told me that my project had gone number one on action. Come on.
So people were relating to the clean comic stuff. So because of that, that's opening up a lot of doors, the phone's ringing. And so this year, by the end of the fall, we're going to be doing a lot of more, a lot more solo dates. We're doing some, we're also going to be doing some men's conferences.
I'm doing some crisis pregnancy centers because of my story. So yeah, the doors, the doors are opening and we're just running right through them. That's amazing. Well, and some of you out there may recognize names like Chandra Pierce and Mark Lowry, David Phelps, Unspoken, except those are just some of the names that, that Mickey has shared the stage with and the platform with. And Mickey, I love this.
I'm going to read this just as it is. What do you get when you take a depressed man, hype him with anti-depressants, throw him on a stage, you get Mickey Bell, the Alabama-bred Southern mama's boy who will make you laugh and tell you can't hold it in your bladder any longer and all without a cuss word. And Mickey, I'm going to tell you in our last couple of minutes here, I got to say, before we run out of time, I'm going to rank you right up there with a couple of my favorites, Clean Comedy, Michael Jr., Michael Jr. and Jeff Allen. All right.
I'm going to rank you right up there with some of those guys. So, hey, before we run out of time, so if churches or there's promoters out there, not that you're already busy, not busy enough, but if somebody wanted to book Mickey or find out more about Mickey Bell, tell them where they can go. I know you're on social media. Let our listeners know where they can find Mickey Bell. Social media, all of the socials are there.
It's The Mickey Bell. And then my website is themickeybell.com. You can go there and check out everything and that'll tell you how you can book us, where you can come see us. And yeah, man, I just appreciate the opportunity of being able to talk to you.
This was, for me, a dream come true. And man, you just don't know what it means to be able to talk with you. Well, and I appreciate, I love hearing all the old school stories of people growing up and the Papaw stories, as I said, and you know, Mamaw and Papaw, what avid wrestling fans they were, and just you, Mickey, for real, when you came out on that platform. And I want to tell you too, you're out there in listening land. Listen, if you ever want to, if you want a unique tag team, okay, I'm not talking about- Oh, come on. I'm not talking about the super power of Nikita Koroloff and Dusty Rhodes right now.
What I'm talking about is Mickey Bell and Jason Crabbe, man. If you want a powerful, and hey, pass this along to Jason. I'll message him every now and then, but I, you know, I know how it is as an artist. You don't want to be bothered by everybody under the sun, but do tell him because of him and that concert and then your comedy, that combination, one, it blew me away. But I also not only became a big fan of Mickey Bell, but I also became a big fan of Southern gospel music, which I had not been up to that point.
I didn't dislike it, but man, I have it on all the time now. And so pass that along to Jason as well. And so last thought, Mickey, what do you want to say to our audience?
You got just about a minute, minute and a half here. What do you want to say to our audience? Maybe whatever God puts on your heart. We're living in a day and time in this world where there seems to be so much uncertainty. And if we're not careful, we could buy into the hype of the uncertainty. But as believers, we have God's word that is for certain. And so in those moments that we feel like we need to stress or we need to fear, or we need to question a lot of things, let's run back to the source that gives us our power, that gives us our peace, that gives us our comfort. And let's not allow the world and everything they're trying to push and everything they're trying to promote and report. Let's not run after that. Let's run after what we know to be true. And that's God's word and His love for people.
Man, and that is a good word. And I just want to encourage all of you out there, especially as I said, if you're a pastor, you're a promoter, or you have instantly become a fan of Mickey Bell, be sure to go check him out, The Mickey Bell, on his website, TheMickeyBell.com. Go check him out on all the social media platforms. Follow him, support him.
I'm going to tell you, if he comes to your area, he says he's starting to do some solo things, if he comes to your area, you put it on the calendar, make a note to go out and see him and support him. I assure you, I feel confident to say, when you walk away that night, you will have had a belly full of laughs. This man is ingenious, the way he can weave and tie stories together, not just his own testimony. Mickey, thank you for being on The Man Up Show today. My goodness, thank you so much for letting me be a part of it.
Like I said, a dream come true. Well, and to each and every one of you, week in and week out, you are so faithful to help spread the word on The Man Up Show. Now having been listened into, at this point, 93 different countries, I just can't thank all of you enough to help and get the word out there. My challenge to you, if you hadn't been challenged already by Mickey's story, my challenge to you is go out today and just live a God-filled and have a God-blessed day. This podcast is made possible by the grace of God and your faithful prayers, support, and generous gifts.
May God bless you for your continual contributions. Go to Kolob.net and donate today. If you are enjoying The Man Up Show, would you help us spread the word? Tell your family, tell your friends, tell your neighbors to download, subscribe, and leave a comment. Hi, Nikita Kolob. Be sure to check out The Man Up Show, now available on television, broadcast, and podcast. Go to MorningStarTV.com or the Truth Radio Network. Check out your local listings or better yet, download the Truth Network app today. Nikita Kolob here. If you're needing to buy a car and have marginal credit and considering using buy here, pay here, that's worse than taking the Russian sickle. Winston-Salem Motor Cars will put you behind the wheel of a car you can rely on while helping rebuild, repair, or establish your credit score. Conveniently located on Silas Creek Parkway in Winston-Salem, be sure to check them out today at wsmc1.com because you are number one.
