REShow: Michael Mando - Hour 3

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Try Dove Men Plus Care Dry Spray goes on dry, clean feel all day. I find it very hard to see the logic behind some of the moves you have made with this fine organization. This is the Rich Eisen Show. All right, here comes the judge. Aaron Judge. The Yankees want to give him 17 million. Judge wants 21 million. Hey, Yankees, 4 million bucks.

How's got that in the ashtray? Earlier on the show, ESPN, college basketball analyst Jay Villas, Eagles offensive tackle Lane Johnson, senior writer for Sports Illustrated, Chris Mannix. Still to come, actor Michael Mando. And now it's Rich Eisen. Hour number three, the Rich Eisen Show is on the air. One of our favorite television shows, Better Call Saul, here on our program that we keep talking about over and over and over again. The man who plays Nacho Varga is in our green room right now. Michael Mando going to come on out here and talk some sports in our favorite TV show.

Vince Gilligan, our first ever in-studio guest in the history of this program. It was almost eight years ago, this is eight years ago this fall that he was here. And he, if I'm not mistaken, was just leaving the writer's room to help start right season one of Better Call Saul.

That was eight years ago. And now the final season of Better Call Saul hits the television screens on July 11th, the final six episodes of the sixth and final season starting on Monday, July 11th. Trust me, I am already circling that on my calendar. Michael Mando is here on the Rich Eisen Show and we have had a great chat so far with our our friends Jay Billis and Chris Mannix about the NBA draft and Lane Johnson about the National Football League. If you missed any of their pearls of wisdom, including Jay Billis coming, would you say a little cranky today?

Playfully cranky? It feels like Jay was a little perturbed by the view from his hotel room. That's what he started with?

And he started with that and then it just kind of snowballed. Six-story buildings is what he said you could see from his place in Brooklyn. I haven't spent a lot of time in Brooklyn but I don't know if that's good or bad. Well it definitely doesn't look out on the skyline of New York City.

There's a lot more than just six-story buildings. Brooklyn's been really built up in the last like decade or so. So Jay joined us with a bit more pertinent information while slagging on pickleball as well.

Which I know you love too, Chris. He just pointed out how great of a pickleball player 75-year-old Mike Krzyzewski is. And he also mentioned shuffleboard, which I'm sure Mike Krzyzewski doesn't do. So does Coach K have like a couple new hips and a back surgery? We've been taking phone calls all day from our listeners chiming in on the subject matter inspired by this being the 38th anniversary of the debut, the premiere of The Karate Kid. What fake sporting event would you have most like like to have attended?

And the phone lines are a little bit are lit here and we'll take a couple of them shortly. Michael Mando here in the Rich Eisen show. TJ Jefferson, you have been doing this for a few days now. The top player in the history of every franchise in the National Football League. I know our friends at, pardon my take, have fun this time of year.

They call it Mount Rushmore time of year because sports talk shows run out of things to talk about and they come up with the Mount Rushmore of a sport or a team. You just said we're taking three of those faces out. Just throwing them out, man. We're just going to one.

There's no easy way out. One player. One.

That's it. And yesterday you did the NFC South and you named Sam Mills as the Carolina Panther of choice, not Steve Smith, not even Luke Keakley or Cam Newton. They were all mentioned. You went Sam Mills and Brockman had a problem with not only that and also naming Deion Sanders as the number one Falcon and not Matt Ryan. That's okay. He's not a fan of either of those teams. So which division do you have today?

Well today, because we really had no direction when we started this. So today we're going to go with the AFC South. Okay. The NFL films music is now playing. Thanks to Jay Felley. Yeah. That means the floor is yours. Well, as you know, in the AFC South, we have four teams and they are the Houston Texans.

Yes. The Indianapolis Colts, which I still can't figure out how they got there. The Jacksonville Jaguars and the Tennessee Titans. So right off the bat, we're going to kick this off. Indianapolis Colts, lots of great players. We'll talk about them later, but we're just going to give you the name. It's Peyton Manning.

Okay. He's, he's my guy for the Colts as for the Houston Texans, JJ, what for the Jacksonville Jaguars, Fred Taylor, I heard you guys kind of discussing that this morning. Tennessee was tough, but I'm going to go with the MVP. I'm going to go with Aaron McNair. I'm going to go with Steve McNair as the number one player in the Tennessee Titans. Peyton Manning and Steve McNair were the co MVPs of the NFL.

The first year we were on the air on NFL network 2003 when we were in Houston, interestingly enough for our first Super Bowl that we covered. Brady's second Super Bowl win beating Jake Deloma and the aforementioned Sam Mills, Carolyn Panthers in that, in that city of Houston. You know, it was Peyton Manning and Steve McNair who showed up as the co MVPs on NFL total access. We were jacked to have them both at the same time on live TV. You went JJ won over Andre Johnson.

That was a tough one. You know, Andre Johnson, great receiver in my fantasy football league. He's held in very high regards. Everybody in my league knows that, but you know, JJ three time defensive player of the year kind of just gave him the nod over people like Andre Johnson, Arian Foster, another great Texan, DeAndre Hopkins, Dwayne Brown, many years on the offensive line. But I think that JJ Watt was the right call for the greatest player in Texas. Did you think at any point in time that the Colts organization also still has the records of the Baltimore Colts within their world as well? That had Johnny Unitas.

He was right there. You know, there's a few others. There's a few others, a lot, you know.

But anymore, another great cult. But I mean, Peyton Manning is growing up to that was to us until Tom Brady went on this Super Bowl run for years. It was Peyton Manning's the best quarterback in the NFL. And, you know, I have no problem with Fred Taylor, sir. As you know, that was the name that I mentioned before the show.

Did you have another name and then heard me and then you were influenced by my head Taylor. But Tony Boselli was up there. Unfortunately, you know, his career was only six seasons. Fred Taylor, you know, 11 years, 7,000 yard seasons, 11,000 yards rushing for that team in a very demanding position. So that gave Fred Taylor the edge of my eyes over Tony Boselli. Also, Jimmy Smith. Jimmy Smith was really good, really good. Maurice Jones drew our friend, Mark Brunel, Keenum McCardell. They've had some great players, but I remember we used to do highlights back in the day on the night highlight show on Sunday night with me, Dion and Mooch. Jimmy Smith, I used to make some NYPD blue cracks, you know, for Jimmy Smith. Jimmy Smith was really good. But Fred Taylor, I think is the winner and champion right there. And again, with all due respect to Johnny Unitas, who I'm sure a lot of people will think, you know, I just gave the sheriff a little bit of a nod there over joining you. I think it's a great list. I feel like I came a little too hard at you yesterday, so I don't want to come that hard.

What would you what would you come hard? I think the only one I think for for the for the Titans slash Oilers. Eddie George. Well, well, let me stop you real quick. OK. Oh, so Earl Campbell is what you'd say.

Bruce Matthews. Well, it's funny you said that because we need one more. All right, we'll get one more. Wow.

Because of the long history of the Houston Oilers, you can I decided that I was also going to recognize them. Oh, and you know, it was very tough on the Warren Moon. There was. Yeah. Earl Campbell, Ray Childress, Mike Munchak, but you're on Bruce Matthews because, you know, back when I was in high school, guys, I wrote a story for my school paper about our offensive line. Right. And the editor couldn't understand why I was writing about offensive linemen. And I'm like, they're the big uglies.

Nothing moves without them. They deserve their respect. And I ended up winning the first place award for the Pennsylvania School Press Association.

So I've got a little, you know, got a little soft spot for the big uglies. And that's why I want to recognize Bruce Matthews in his 19 seasons playing for the Texan slash Titans, seven all pros, 14 Pro Bowls. You could do one more with the Colts, too.

We could have. I mean, you could have done that, but there's still the Colts. There's still the Colts, Colts, Colts.

Right. I guess they were the Tennessee Oilers for a year or two. They were. Don't you remember? I think they were the Memphis Oilers one year, too, right? Didn't they change their name a few times? Pittsburgh Eagles.

But, you know, I want to confuse people. You know what's amazing about Bruce Matthews real quick? Played every position. He made three straight all pros at age 37, 38, 39. Also was all pro at right guard, center and left guard. Yeah. He played every position on the line.

Maybe the greatest lineman of all time. I know. Definitely the most versatile. And then the lineage of the league as well. I mean, so.

OK, so just because they changed the name and the and the logo, that's why you're going to go one more. Like I said, TJ does a lot of weird things with lists. He's a big on ties. Like top five, he'll have seven. But it's all good.

Things my own way. I would have had him over Steve McNair, but. Who? Bruce Matthews over Steve McNair?

I think so. As a Titan? Well, the history of the Titans. OK, history of the Colts slash Colts.

You know, I mean, yeah, there's a lot of old school folks out there. So if you remember Johnny Unitas and and we do remember so. So so you're going Bruce Matthews is the oiler. It's not a snub to Dan Pastorini. No more snub to Earl Campbell and Warren Moon. It was the three of them. And it was just the lungs wanted to say the name. I just wanted to say the name of Dan Pastorini.

But, you know, I also want to give a shout out to Earl Campbell because for five seasons, nobody did it better than that guy. You should just say four names and have to say. I can't. I can't just say.

Let us say some more names. Well, I haven't said anything in like two hours, so I figured I'd get it all in right now. You know. So I was intentionally quiet.

It's the greatest event in the history of the Astrodome. Let them play. For real or fake?

Both. Fake is, you know, thank you, Bears. Thank you, Toros. And then let them play them play. You know, as Enos Cabell and Bob Watson came out and helped chant in their breakout uniforms while Bill Devane, who took over for butter maker, was chanting, let them play in his sort of Jean Cusinow jacket.

Yeah, that's called bad news bears breaking training, folks. I mean, that's if you want to talk. But if you're talking about actual games in the Astrodome, choose anything from the 1986 NLCS, brother. And I'm sure no doubt had you on the edge of your seat wherever you were. I believe that that was the best moment. I mean, that Astrodome was, that series was insane.

Game seventh, 86. Let's go. Just don't ask Mike Scott for the baseball.

You know that, right? A lot of scuffing. A lot of scuffing going on. Let's go let's go to D.C. and Carolina. What's going on? D.C. That's line three in Carolina. What's up, D.C.?

Hey, Rich. How's it going? Big fan. What's going on?

Taking my call. I wanted to talk about my favorite fictional sports moment that I wish I was at. The 2004 ADAA championship for dodgeball in Las Vegas for the movie Dodgeball.

Average Joe's knocking off the heavily favored global gym purple cobras. By the way, the 18th anniversary of that movie was happened the other day. 18 years, man.

The old shows with the Ocho turned 18. Yeah. Yeah.

The other day. Oh, man. Yeah.

Awesome movie. Unprecedented double fault by white goes into four sudden death overtime. And for the gamblers out there, 50 to one odds on average Joe's.

How can you not take that in the championship game? Yep. Just love that. Thank you very much.

Appreciate the call. House got cleaned out that day. House got cleaned out. Dodgeball. Chris in Los Angeles will take your call.

What fictional sporting event would you wish you were at? What's going on, Chris? Hey, fellas.

How are you doing? What's going on? So this might be a little weird one.

It's more in the realm of historical fiction, I guess. But imagine you're there at Super Bowl X and Robert Shaw comes running down the field and you're like, What's this guy doing? He's running at a sprint.

Oh, my God. You look up and Bruce Dern. He's in the Goodyear blimp blimp dive bombing into the stadium. You're like, What the heck is going on here? And out it goes to see. And there's a giant just for this. Just for the story.

I'd like to have been at the Super Bowl in black. You know, it's a terrorist event. Why would you want to be into that, Chris? Well, given the fact that it all worked out. Okay.

Oh, you're using 20 20 hindsight is what you're saying, Chris. Exactly. Okay, very good.

Thank you. You have that story to tell, you know, around the around the bar. And plus, you really wanted to go to the actual Super Bowl, which thank you for the call. By the way, Bruce Dern, who's been on this show multiple times, told us, you know, and it is he confirmed for us and everybody to go to our YouTube stream youtube.com slash rich eyes. And Joey asked him about Black Sunday on this show and the podcast version of this show that preceded our creation of this program. Back on the NFL Network days from 2011 to 2014. They shot that at Super Bowl 10.

Wow. They shot the real Super Bowl and talk about this movie would never be made today. That a an actual corporation, an actual product, an actual business, lent its name and iconic aircraft to a film to read to fictionalize a terrorist event at the Super Bowl. And the NFL said, okay, you can shoot the Super Bowl and make a movie out of it. Now, it never happened today, ever.

No, sir. I don't think the NFL would let anybody shoot a Super Bowl for any reason now for a movie. Right.

Could you imagine game on the line, somebody jumps out of bounds and hits a camera and it's not an NFL films camera, it's an actual film camera to shoot like some movie. You imagine expensive 2004 game for World Series that Drew Barrymore, Jimmy Fallon. That's right. They they were out celebrating on the field when the curse was broken. I still can't get over that.

Well, that's a different thing that you're there. They're part of a celebration. The series is over. Dude, you know, the number of times when I was covering the World Series and I could not get for for and for the rights holder of the radio rights, I was working for ESPN Radio, the rights holders of the World Series for radio. John Miller and Joe Morgan did the play by play and analysis of that.

The ESPN put their number one TV. Tandem in the booth for that number of times I did not I did not get the interview I needed right away because why is the name escaping me? The guy who the stage manager from Letterman show. Oh, Biff. Biff was on the field. Biff was interviewing Bernie Williams. I couldn't get to Bernie yet because Biff was there with his head set on. Yeah.

Yeah. Biff Henderson was he got credentialed. He was on the field. I couldn't do my job. I couldn't do my work. He's a famous line. Wow.

You know, so after the game's over, that's one thing, but this guy wants to be at Black Sunday. What did that? No, I didn't expect that one. All right, let's take a break. We love Better Call Saul and excited to meet this man because his work in it.

Fantastic. He plays the role of Nacho Varga and fans also of Orphan Black will know this man as well. Michael Mando when we come back in person. Michael Mando here on the Rich Eisen Show. Welcome back to our terrestrial radio audience.

The last six episodes of the sixth and final season of Better Call Saul starting Monday, July 11th at 9 Eastern Time. The man who plays Nacho Varga is here and we just saw an incredible clip of you going underneath. Was that truly oil? Was that the real deal? No, no, no, no, no, no, truly oil. Was that the real deal?

That wasn't actually on my Instagram. I posted a behind the scene video of what it is and the guy explains it's a vegetable based. It's like a milkshake.

You can actually drink it. Yeah. Really? Yeah. It's like a milkshake based thing.

And in the video, he explains the whole thing. I can't remember exactly what it is, but I've put it up on my Instagram. I thought fans would love it. And people keep asking me, you know, what is that stuff? What is that?

Right. I loved. And there was a lot of symbolism to it, too. You know, it was about a guy who was that that whole episode rock and a heart place directed and written by Gordon Smith, who does a fantastic job.

It's one of my favorite episodes of the whole show. And he basically the symbolism of it is he enters through the darkest, the belly of the whale, you know, in like the Joseph Campbell kind of like monomyth. He enters the belly of the whale and he loses everything.

And then he comes back and purifies himself and then has no no desire for money or anything material and is then willing to make the ultimate sacrifice. So there's a lot of symbolism in that episode. So when did you first hear about Better Call Saul, Michael? You know, that first hit you?

Yeah, it's a funny story. I hadn't I don't watch a lot of TV generally, and I hadn't seen Breaking Bad. I walked into my father at the time, God bless his soul, was watching the last two episodes of Breaking Bad. And I remember making a sandwich and keeping an eye on the TV and going, God, this is good. And I remember the name Vince Gilligan at the end of every episode.

And life is mysterious in that sense. Two weeks later, I have an audition and I'm in Canada. Right. So it's a rare to audition for something big in the States.

And the name Vince Gilligan was on it. And I felt immediately like this. This is a really meaningful audition. I did the tape.

My friend left. I was supposed I had a deadline to send it and I realized there was no sound in the audition. So I had to call him back at like five in the morning and be like, yeah, I got you. We got to tape this again.

So we taped it again, sent it. And I was lucky. They called me in for a screen test. And from there, you know, I ended up getting the part. OK, so let's just rewind a little bit here. So you started watching Breaking Bad towards the end of its run.

Is that what you're saying? I accidentally walked in. It's like imagine, you know, I go into ego. You're invited at someone's house and they're watching it. And that's how you discover it. Your dad was watching it? He was watching the last two episodes. Yeah. And I saw the last two episodes and I said, this is a great show. Yeah, but I mean, did you go back and watch the rest of it?

Of course, yes. Once you got your gig or what? Once I knew they were interested in me, I wanted to do the research. So I started watching it. By the time I did the screen test and I was in L.A. and I met Vince and Peter and Melissa Bernstein. Yes, I was at season three. By the time I was cast, I had seen the whole thing and I had a book full of notes. And I was like, this is good. This is this is like the pinnacle of anything I've ever seen.

Yeah. Now we were huge aficionados of this. And Vince Gilligan was the first in-studio guest in the history of the show. And because, you know, I'm I was a diehard of Breaking Bad from the get go. I mean, from the absolute get go. And I knew who Vince Gilligan was.

Right. And I fanboyed him in an airport, in an airport right here. L.A. fanboyed, walked up to him. Everybody fanboys Vince Gilligan. He's not a sports fan.

He had no idea who I was at all. But I invited him to come on my podcast because I was such a huge fan of the show. I just took, you know, I took a shot. Yeah. He said yes. And he came on. And this was right after Breaking Bad ended.

So probably about a month after you first surfed into your watch, your your dad watching the final two episodes right around then. And so I we gave him a huge like an exit interview. Right. Like about a million questions about Breaking Bad. Yeah. And possibly nonstop, nonstop.

But I bring all that up to say that we're we're huge aficionados. And there was only you say one time, Chris, in the history of Breaking Bad that your character Nacho got mentioned. Right.

Just one time. Right. It's the first time we ever meet Saul, actually. He's kind of in the desert with Walt and Jesse and and Saul wonders, did Nacho send you? Was it Lalo? Yes.

And then that's it. Ignacio. Because did Ignacio send you? Yeah. Oh, my God.

Please, please, please. I had nothing to do with it. It was it was Ignacio. He's the one. Isn't that amazing? Yeah. So does that mean does that mean then I don't know if you had a conversation, did they did did Vince and Peter Gould sit down and say that one time we threw that out? Did they know of your character like in the middle of Breaking Bad? From my understanding of it was at the time they weren't sure what it meant. And then when they were doing Better Call Saul, my character in the in the audition and even when I was cast, I think initially was named Eddie. So that you they gave you dummy sides, they're not real sides from the show, but they want to know you're they want to understand the dynamic. So I was reading with a Saul type character, but the scene had nothing to do with the external drive. I think it was written by one of these assistant writers or something like that. Yes. And then when you got cast, after you get cast, they announce your character's name and they announced my character's name is Nacho.

Now, Nacho is short for Ignacio. And I think after season one or two, they committed to the idea that that was who they were talking about. I mean, it's amazing the way they do it. They go back and forth with so much detail. There's so much attention to every camera shot, every word. I really think, you know, to me, it's it's one of the most cinematic shows that I've ever seen in the history of film or TV. It's art. Yeah, it really is. Everything is deliberate.

Every camera angle is deliberate. Every costume, every color. I was so blessed and fortunate to learn so much on that show. I've got Michael Mando here on the Rich Eisen Show playing Nacho Varga in Better Call Saul. We've had a whole host of your colleagues from the history of Better Call Saul and also Breaking Bad here.

Giancarlo Esposito coming here. And he said some of the scenes that he was asked to do, that he would have to go to a dark place and that he would have to, you know, really kind of think I saw that interview where he really he would he would really have to go to a dark place and then take some time after a scene was over. Did you have a similar experience with some of the scenes that you were asked to do in this? You know, the character, honestly, I mean, to speak all frankly, was very heavy, was very heavy to carry around. It was like the guy was just trying so desperately to get out of the cartel. And the harder he tried, the more they pulled him in and the more they pulled him in that they started threatening his father, his father's life.

And his whole thing became about wanting to do the right thing and wanting to protect somebody that he loved that was completely innocent, you know, so clean, wouldn't even upsell Mike Ehrmantraut, you know, in like season two. And it was twice as hard because at the time to where towards the end, my father was diagnosed with cancer. And it was just one of these kind of like existential moments where you're going, I'm trying to save my father's life on a show. And I can't save my father in real life.

Come on. And it was just that it was hard. It was it was honestly really, really hard for a few years. And it was like, but it was, that's what you I think it's like, that's what you live for. Because you go, this is this is what will make me what I want to be. This is the kind of things that will help me bring my art to life and life to art and deeper, have a deeper understanding of what it is that I'm doing.

And after my father passed after season five, season six was the first time I ever got in front of the camera and my father wasn't around. And you could feel the energy shift, you know, in that character and in me. And you go, wow, you know, essentially, I think art is there to inform life.

And life is there to inform art. And that was the perfect crossover between the two. Well, I think the scenes were you and your fictional father in the in the show. Yeah. Where, you know, he your your your father on the show is a straight up, straight arrow, great American. Yeah, great citizen. Hard working. Yes.

Okay. And so your scenes with him, where he knows you're kind of in trouble. He wants to help you out. But he also knows you're kind of lost. And in a way, he's also being threatened. And you know, the threat that he's under and you're trying to save him. I'm sitting there watching this with my wife and I'm feel I feel it. I feel it through the television set. And now I know the backstory. It's kind of moving for me to even hear that, Michael. Yeah, thank you.

It was it was Juan Carlos Cantu. Shout out to him. He's a wonderful actor. And those scenes were so well written by Gordon Smith, especially in that last step, that last 603, you know?

Yes. And it was so interesting because when you read the script, they barely say anything like the way it's it's so it's so circumstantial, you know, like the emotion comes out of the silences, not of what is being said. And that was just an unbelievable experience. And yeah, that was a tough one.

It was a tough one to shoot. Michael Mando here on the Rich Eisen show. So we have a little bit of a lighter side to take your character. We just got really deep here. But just to show you where we're diehard fans of this program, our our digital producer put this all together. Sean Mitchell, one of our top art, top notch producers here on the Rich Eisen show coming up with the alternative outcomes for your character.

Not OK, great. If you got out of the vacuum shop, the nacho restaurant. Yes. Well, I think we have three of them, right? Mike Hoskins, you want to put the first one is you become the man. Nacho becomes a man. You tell us which one you like.

OK, becomes the manager of a Nebraska mall hot dog on a stick directly across from the Cinnabon. That's what we got right there for you. What do you think? I like it.

I like the swag. And what do you think? Well, let's see what else there is.

That's a possibility. OK, OK, so here we go. Next up, which one do we have here? OK, tell me if you like this one here.

You live out your days in Pocatello, Idaho as a pharmacist who always gets the doses right. What do you think? OK, I think mother would be prouder of this guy.

He sounds like he's got to pay his taxes on time. OK, OK, we'll see. I mean, I like them both.

I like them both. OK, he has more friends, though. OK, here's the last one.

I don't know if this has already been done as a show, but we'll see. You're the hotel manager at a Maui resort where you've outlawed the use of of call bells at the main desk, where I'm a manager at the at a Maui hotel. But you cannot ring the call bell because it just sets you off. Oh, I see. No, no bells allowed at the desk. If there was a bell, I'd go with that.

I'd love to think that every time you want. Oh, really? We thought we thought it would be too disturbing for Nacho. I mean, spoiler alert, spoiler alert. He goes up on top, man. He's got no fear. Nobody at the end. Well, this is the alternative.

Get the bell in a bucket of chicken. You've already been through the oil, man. You've been through it. He's not scared of anybody.

He just he's he you know, he knows exactly what he wants to do and he transcends all those. But this whole game, we're assuming that you get away. Yeah. And you go see the vacuum. Yeah. And you go see the back. No, I get it.

Yeah. You go see the vacuum, man. I would say, you know, I like the hot dog. I like the hot dog. Oh, you know why?

Because the people around them are smiling. And yeah, can we see that one more? There it is.

But you still have sort of that intense look about you there. Yeah. I mean, it looks like he's got a side business, too. I don't know what he's doing, but he looks like he's in a good place. He's selling nickel bags in the parking lot. No, but again, he's across.

He's across from the Cinnabon at the Nebraska Mall. Yeah. I mean, so him and Jean just hanging out. Jean. That's right. Jean.

It's not you know what? Actually, I'm going to go with the pharmacist. OK, I'm going to go with us through the pharmacist. He's a pharmacist. He's cleaned up. Pharmacist. He's married.

He's got beautiful kids and a dog. Yes. Oddly enough, you always get the dose right. Always gets it. Yeah.

He always gets it right. And although one particular guy who pissed you off, you you put you put a different medicine in there. Could we do that, too? You know? Yeah.

I just love that. That's the switch scene in 60608. Right. No, I what is it?

308. Right. Yeah.

That was fun. What an incredible actor he is, too, right? Mark is fantastic. Mark Margolis.

Shout out to Mark. At the end of the shoot, he said to me, I really didn't want to like you, but I do. He said to me right before exiting the the honey wagon of the where we do our makeup is the last thing he said to me. He said, I really didn't want to like your character, but I do. Oh, I thought you meant as a person. No, no, no.

My character. I mean, Mark is is is a is a fantastic actor and a really, really beautiful person. I mean, he just says what he thinks and you never know what he's going to say. And that, to me, was like the highest compliment coming from him. He doesn't throw in words like that, you know, easily.

And I just felt so proud because he said that. Well, I got to be honest, and I know you really can't give it away anything. Yeah. Do you know how it ends? Yeah. OK, but what happens to your character in my mind does not bode well because we've had Patrick Fabian on this program again. Shout out to Patrick. Yes, we had. Hey, Patrick.

Hey, buddy. You know, we got to go to the beach this weekend. We had. Let's do it. We can we can record it. You know that the we actually, if I'm not mistaken, I have the H.H.M. pen that that he gave me when he was here last time.

Not to make you feel any pressure if you brought anything. But, you know, Mr. Hamlin of Hamlin Hamlin and McGill, he doesn't make it. And anybody who we've seen in this show, who we don't eventually see in Breaking Bad meets a very untimely end.

And can you just at least tell me if that is consistent or it is inconsistent? Well, here's what I can tell you. That final scene where Nacho does his soliloquy and really speaks his mind, he speaks truth to evil, you know?

Yes. Everybody in that scene is dead. You just don't know it yet. Every single person, Mike, Gus, the twins, you know, the Jeremiah and race characters, Giancarlo, everybody's dead. And they're there to watch the first man die. And they just don't know yet. And he comes in. Did they do that on purpose?

I mean, do they do that on purpose? That's where Mike had a clean shot to kill Hector and didn't because Nacho was standing in the way in season, I think, two or one at the end of season two. And there was an innocent, not an innocent, there was a cartel guy who got killed because Mike did something that he shouldn't have done. And Hector blamed the driver. And I go to Mike and I go, look what you did. You know, we're going to watch this guy die. And the guy comes out screaming and kicking and doesn't want to get killed. It was just so interesting to flip that and then have Nacho be there for his final moment and go out the way he did kind of like fearless. Way to give me an answer and also give me something without giving me the answer to the question I actually asked.

I think that was very interesting maneuver on your part, Michael. Well, you know, you can't give away any spoilers. I know.

But it does. Again, those characters that we're seeing in Better Call Saul that aren't there. And it's interesting.

Patrick Fabian gave us a little head fake when he was here last time. He goes, I don't know. I mean, maybe, you know, some of these characters, maybe, you know, Saul is married in Better Call Saul and we just don't see his home life.

Everything's open. I mean, it's it's a mythology. It's a saga. You know, I mean, it really is like, I don't want to, you know, say something out of place, but it's like the it's like our Omar Odyssey. You know, it's like it's like that.

It's to me, it's that Breaking Bad world is that big. It's got all these incredible characters and they're all mythological in some way. And they they have very clear iconography, you know, like Nacho to me represents kind of like true love and sacrifice in a way.

He's like a romantic figure, you know, and you can like it's like a tarot card. You can hold it and go, oh, that's that's sacrifice. That's this. That's that.

And they're just what an unbelievable show. Hats off to Vincent Peter. No question about it.

All right. You want a Tony Dalton story. We got to have like a lot of mythological characters like this guy Lalo has come in the last two seasons and it's just taken over. Like, how great is it working with Tony Dalton has been awesome. And it was amazing, man.

Everybody on that show brings in so so much. And I think Vincent Peter set it up really nice so that when Lalo came in and said, nice, so that when Lalo came in, they wanted a character that sort of just didn't abide by the rules that were established. Right. And that sort of put like a wrench in the wheel on purpose. And Tony and I became really close. You know, we had great talks, late night talks, you know, over the weekend and got to know each other a lot and talk. And he he introduced me to stuff that I that I can't talk about on TV.

That was really great stuff. No, really smart guy. Very smart guy. Very kind guy.

And it was really great to have him on the show. And is that before or after you hit him with a pan? I didn't hit him with a pan. He hits the he hits the. Oh, somebody. I'm trying to remember.

He hits the. Oh, you try to assassinate the guys who are one of the assassination. Oh, yeah. I messed up that scene. But you did.

You did try to take him out. I mean, well, I mean, the family has no respect for you when someone has no respect for you. There's no such thing as loyalty.

Right. You can only be loyal to somebody that respects you. And the Salamancas don't respect anybody but themselves.

You know, it's like when someone's life is in jeopardy, they they think it's funny. So when someone treats you with disrespect, then the question of loyalty is not on the table. I mean, in terms of the characters, you know what I mean? So I don't I don't see it as like I don't think Nacho did anything wrong when you don't respect somebody and you don't care for their lives or their parents lives. You know, Hector threatens his father's life. Yeah, no.

So you go, you know, terrible. If you don't care whether I live or not, why would I what am I what is there to be loyal? Lalo remember kept a guy just who looked like him off, just like in wait, because he knew he was going to have to fake his own death at some point. And Gus does the same thing.

Gus has the has like the like doppel doppelganger. Is that what they call living right next door pays money and goes, hey, you can live a good life. But at some point you might. Yeah. You might have to sit in for me. Yeah. Hey, man, you're great. You're great. If there's if you had been on this show about five years ago to bend your ear about Orphan Black.

But we're we're just we're so locked in on on Better Call Saul. Congrats on everything that you've done in your career. Thank you. And you deserve all the kudos and accolades that come your way, sir. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. And then we'll talk some hoops next time you come on.

I know you're a fan of basketball, but the last six episodes of the sixth and final season of Better Call Saul start airing Monday, July 11th. I have that circled on my calendar. That is for darn sure.

We are back to wrap up the show and get you set for the rest of the week in a moment. Rogue ST drivers are ready for you to go check out and use because this particular stick is, in fact, what the company from Callaway says it is. Every golf equipment company claims to be longer off the tee. Callaway's new Rogue ST driver, though, is the one only one built to completely bomb it. Speed tune to be Callaway's fastest, most stable driver ever. Most golfers will fit into the offering called the Max because of its incredible combination of distance and forgiveness. The Max D is their dedicated draw model for players who need more shot shape correction. If you want some more low spin, there's the Max LS, which gives you a stronger trajectory with a more neutral ball flight. But for the true players out there, the Rogue ST triple diamond LS, that's the low spin compact head that the tour players love. Callaway's thought through every aspect of speed, so all you've got to do is go Rogue.

Find your Rogue ST driver at CallawayGolf.com slash go Rogue. That was just a treat right there. Love that guy. He's so good.

So good. And I just love how deep he, you know, I know that they're, you know, he's a professional thespian actor, but I mean, he's so deep in, in his character. He's like defending Nacho's behavior. You know, I think he, I don't think he did anything wrong. That's what he said at the end. Great point. The Salamancas don't respect anyone.

Right? Hector Salamanca. Why should he be loyal to them? He's the one who put Salamanca in that wheelchair. You know?

He did. What a story. So today we've been asking all of, all y'all to call in if you want and tell us the fictional sporting event that you'd want to go to and be at in honor of the 38th anniversary of The Karate Kid, which is, do people call it a sports movie? Do they really call it a sports movie? I don't know. Like what's your favorite sports movie and you name The Karate Kid when the only thing that's an actual sport or is the event at the end that we're playing off of for today's construct? You know?

Well, they have a little beach soccer game going on. That's true too. You know, there's that.

That's true too, which Elizabeth Shue mentioned. It's called a Halloween movie. It was a great, you know, costume.

That's a great bike movie too. So we asked you folks to call in. Last couple of calls here on The Rich Eisen Show. Bruce in Kentucky, you're here on the program. What's up, Bruce? Hi, Rich. Glad to be talking to you again.

Yeah, good to chat. My favorite was Bring It On. Bruce, you've got to finish the sentence now. That's the sporting event?

You'd want to, is it because of the cheerleaders? Is that what it is, Bruce? Oh yeah, baby.

Hey, Kirsten Dunst, Elijah Dushku, Gabrielle Union. Okay. Come on now. Okay. So I assume you'd want a good seat for that event, right?

You wouldn't want to be sitting in the rafters, is what you're saying, Bruce? Absolutely. I mean, hey, listen, and the reason I call that a sport is I have two granddaughters that are at a cheerleading, and they've had as many broken bones as a professional football player.

So that's a sport, dude. Okay, man. Thanks for the call, Bruce.

Greatly appreciate it. Bruce is a real one, man. A little clap for Bruce. Yeah. Nobody mentioned Lucas yet. Okay. I don't think these people know Lucas. I don't know.

I don't know. I know. I know. You know, I know Lucas. Lucas, is that a sports movie?

Well, I mean, it takes place around a football team, so kind of. Randall in Seattle, Washington. Shout out to Corey Haynes. What's up, Randall? Hey, Rich. Can you hear me okay? I can indeed. All right.

Thank you so much. So a couple things. So the fictional place I would like to be at is Rory Munson versus Ernie McCracken. Big Ernie.

Yeah. In the bowling tournament of a lifetime. And secondarily, I'm aging myself, but whatever happened to watching pro bowling on TV on wide world sport? Oh, I remember Chris Schenkel was doing the play-by-play.

Chris Schenkel would do the play-by-play and the pro bowlers tour. Oh yeah, man. I remember that back in the day. And Earl Anthony would take the bowling ball and you'd hear like the pop of the thumb coming out of the bowling ball and then the rumble down and then the splash of the pins. That's a childhood memory of mine.

And that's what Kingpin was playing off of. And lastly, DJ Deez Nuts has been Munsoned. There you go. Thank you. Well done. That's Randall.

Well done. You remember, Rich? I told you I was in Kingpin. This is probably like a year and a half ago. You might have forgotten. Ashton?

No, this is living in Pittsburgh. I was an extra in Kingpin. And remember Brockman, you and I just talked about this. I told you, I still didn't. I never cashed my check from like 1996 or ever. How'd you get involved in Kingpin? I was, you know, living in Pittsburgh. The Fowley brothers were just casting? Just extras casting. So which one were you in? The disco one at the beginning? I was in the scene where Randy Quaid was stripping. It was in a strip club. And then I got to do the conga line behind Vanessa Angel, but the scene got cut out the movie. So you're not actually in Kingpin.

So we can't like rent Kingpin and see TJ Jefferson. But like I said, I still have my check uncashed for whatever reason. I never cashed it. How much was your check? There it is. Holy cow, you still had that. 31.38.

31.38. Okay. Yes.

You haven't cashed it? I mean, it was void after 180 days. Yeah. And the date is October 17th, 1995.

Yeah. Should we celebrate every October 17th? Like Bobby Bonilla Day? Wait, so hold on.

Like Bobby Bonilla Day. Your extra rate was like $4.25 an hour? Terrible, right? That's minimum wage back in 95, I think, right?

Yeah, I guess. Well, I was making minimum, no, it's a little bit less. That's less. Because I was making minimum wage just about my first TV job in Redding, California. I was making $6.20 an hour. $4.75 I think was minimum wage. But look, man, I would have done that for free. You probably spent more money there.

You did work for free because you didn't cash it. It's a very good point, Chris. Excellent point, Brock. Big urn McCracken is way down, too low down on the list of great Bill Murray characters. And I understand that Caddyshack gets mentioned and strikes meatballs.

I watched meatballs last night, by the way, Rich, if you guys are meatballs fans. Big urn McCracken, man, with that big, huge... In his bowling bowl with the rose in it.

I want the bowling ball. Great idea, guys. Great idea, guys. Good one, Brock.

Well done, everybody. Everything about that movie has aged well except Randy Quaid. That'll wrap it up for this edition of The Rich Eisen Show.

Knock that right in. For the real story behind some of wrestling's biggest moments, it's Something to Wrestle with Bruce Prichard and Conrad Thompson, too. All-time Hogan opponents, Macho Man's got to be in the conversation. Where's Andre for you? I've always said Andre was number one. Wow. Because even going back before Hulk Hogan was a babyface, Hulk and Andre were able to go in and headline at the New Orleans Superdome at Shea Stadium in Japan. Wherever they went, that was an attraction. Something to Wrestle with Bruce Prichard. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.