Rocking the Airwaves: Scott Ferrall's Unfiltered Journey Through Sports Radio

0:02 Hello and welcome to the Career Journey Podcast no Wrong Choices, where we speak with some of the world's most interesting and accomplished people to shine a light on the many different ways we can achieve success. I'm Larry Samuels, soon to be joined by Tushar Saxena and Larry Shag. Please support our show by following no Wrong Choices on your favorite podcasting platform, connecting with us on LinkedIn, instagram, youtube, facebook X and Threads, or by visiting our website at norongchoicescom. This episode features the legendary and very unique sports personality, scott Farrell Tushar. As somebody who has known Farrell for decades, you are undoubtedly the right person to set up this conversation for us.

0:48 Thank you, sam. Full disclosure. As Sam just said, I've probably known Pharrell for 30 years. That goes back to my time at WFN. That's actually where I met him and we have stayed friends ever since. To be quite honest with you, look this conversation. And we're not going to quite honest with you, um, look this conversation. And we're not gonna we're not gonna bs anybody. We already had this conversation with pharrell. This is not the first time we're hearing it. So, um, pharrell is one of the most unique people in sports, sports talk radio. For one, uh, he to me he's the closest thing that I've ever I'll say I'll ever done, I'll ever have the opportunity to be a rock star. He's about as close as you get to a rock star in any kind of industry out there.

1:31 He is both the most unique person who has ever been on sports talk radio. He has created a genre of sports talk radio which I will call rock and roll sports. No one has done it since him and he is the only one who has ever done this to any degree. He is both unbelievably humble about his talent. You'll hear him talk a lot about how I don't mean anything. He's unbelievably humble about himself as a person but really at times I would say egotistical about his talent, super confident about his talent, and it's warranted because he has created a career with his voice. I mean, everyone knows the voice that he says sounds a lot like gravel, that it shouldn't be, he should not be as successful as he is.

2:17 But he's not only is he successful, he's overly successful and that's what's so surprising and so uh, so surprising and so wonderful about Scott Farrell. He's a one of the most down to earth people you'll ever meet and at the same time, if you put a microphone in front of that guy and put them on camera, he's a million miles an hour. Everything you just said there's a thousand percent true, and then some, and on steroids and times a billion. Um, scotty Farrell's a lot man. I remember the first time I heard his voice I was traveling from college back home or home to college. It was a long trip and it was the middle of the night and scrolling up and down the dial looking for something that's going to hold my interest.

2:58 For a little while this had to be like 1996, 97, something like that, long time ago on a planet far, far away. But I heard this voice man and I'll never forget the voice. It's the voice that's just so distinctive and he was doing things that nobody did. He had the rock and roll, the heavy metal music underneath. He was talking about pouring people beers. He was talking about gambling, which nobody was talking about back then, it was so taboo. And then fast forward to Sirius Satellite Radio and Pharrell comes on board the Howard 101. And it was like meeting a rock star. Because I was intimidated T because I had listened to this guy on the radio for years.

3:40 And when I tell you the first time I met him, how gracious he was and that he just broke down all those boundaries and just a gentleman to the end, like seriously, he really opened his heart to me and to us and we really appreciate it. This interview is fascinating over the top, way over the top. But if you know Scotty Farrell, I mean that's what he is. He's a million miles per hour and I wonder why he had a heart issue after you hear this interview. So here we go, scotty Farrell, thank you for your friendship and this is going to be a fun listen kids. And that's exactly what we're in for.

4:22 The one comment that I'll pile on with is you know, in the short time that he and I crossed over, he did learn my name, meaning he made an effort to get to know the people around him. Even though he is all of those things and it is not for the squeamish, if you are easily offended you might want to spend some time doing something else. But this is an incredible conversation that is absolutely in your face, uses colorful and some people might say profane language and expresses views of our guest, not necessarily of this program, so be prepared With that.

5:11 Here is Scott Farrell. Now joining no Wrong Choices is the legendary and very unique sports personality Scott Farrell. Farrell has been in the business and heard nationally for decades, highlighted by his time with Sirius XM, cbs Radio and WFAN I can say it, WFAN. In New York. He currently hosts the podcast Pharrell Coast to Coast and In Game Live on SportsGrid. Pharrell, thank you so much for joining us. Guys, it's great to be on, and I was just thinking about when you said that that I started, I think, in in 83, doing Indiana University basketball and soccer.

5:54 So I did play by play for Jerry Yagley's soccer Hoosiers and when I was there they won three national championships. They won three national championships and then when I wasn't doing that, I was scared to death of him and I was fascinated by him. I wanted to go to school there to be around him.

6:41 The only reason that I went to Indiana University on the face of the earth was to be around Bobby Knight. I was obsessed with his greatness. I'm a basketball fanatic and I remember, you know, 76 when they went undefeated and then I saw 81. the night Reagan got shot. They beat Michigan to win their second and then I was there in my fifth year. I stayed five years for drugs and alcohol and women and to get revenge on losing to Cleveland State in the 86 NCAA tournament. I stayed one more year because I knew. I knew Alford and Bob Knight were going to do better than they did that day and I stayed.

7:24 And the last thing I remember was I was on. I was on Bourbon Street eating mushrooms after Keith Smart hit the shot to beat Syracuse Sure. Remember that yeah. So I started my career in 1983. And so I think I'm literally four decades later, 41 years. They've all fired me and they still haven't fucking got rid of me. So I've been fired 20 times but I've somehow stood the test of time and I think it's because, frankly, I don't matter at all. But I thought I never believed that really that I did.

8:06 I just knew that I was cool and that my show was cool and it evolved through the years and stayed cool and I saw like it transcended time, time. I saw the kid turn into the man, turn into the dad, turn into the grandpa and he never stopped liking the show. And then he turned it on to his kids and they became dads and they went to college and they ended up married and they turned it on to their kids. It was the weirdest thing to see through the years. So people say you say, oh, I'm some kind of legend, I'm nothing. But I do know that the show, no matter what form it was in, whether it was pussy radio for cbs, which is what it was it was pussy radio.

8:57 It was rules and shit and fucking bosses in my asshole. Or if it was working for Howard Stern, which was Shangri-La, which was cool and uncensored and no rules, and I could burn fetuses on the air porn stars on my show. That was fun. Everything else was kind of soft, but I always was able to make the show like cool, even though I had suits. Ruin it at every turn. They took away my music, they took away my beers, they took away my hookers, they took away my blow, they took away my bomb they took away.

9:40 All they did was ruin it everywhere I went, except for Howard. And then I went back to CBS and they and like the weirdest thing happened and Tushar knows this is true Like true. So Chernoff, when he was my boss back in the day, back in the 90s, he screamed and yelled at me every day of his life. I mean screamed and yelled at me like you have no idea. You have no idea how much this guy hated me and I used to sit in my pool on a raft, naked, with a doobie in my mouth and the phone on the side of the pool listening to him screaming me and I would just sit there and just blow giant hits into the air and then, one day you told me you're either here in seven days or you're fired.

10:33 And I said, listen, I'm doing Letterman on the 31st. I think I can make that work. I go, I'll drive from California to New York. So you're saying I got to live there, right, I'm doing Letterman the week before, so then can you put me up at least for a couple of weeks in a hotel so I can, you know, find a place to live, because I'm going to be really busy. And then the weird thing was that you know 38 years later, whatever, it was, 35 years later I think. I've been at sports for like five years. When he retired, he said to me I have never in my life met anyone that changed from an asshole to someone that I love more than you.

11:23 Wow, and I went holy fucking shit. And then I was friends with Chernoff, I was friends with Spitz and I was even friends with that pussy Russo, because he and Mad Dog and Fatso whatever the fuck his name was Mike Fatso. Those guys hated my guts like no one in the history of radio hated anyone. You thought imus and stern hated each other. Um francesa said he would quit working at the fan if they kept airing me and I was number one in every book for five years so he could work on my shaft.

12:04 And all I know is at the end now, today. I'm friends with Chris, I'm friends with Mark, I'm friends with Eric and I still do shows for Eric at the Super Bowl every year, and you know Steve Cohen when he was still there. So it's weird that the show I know this is very long winded and I'm painful, but the show transcended time and I was able to salvage relationships that I had burned at the cross Forest Bay, drugs and alcohol and hookers and porn stars and being a shock, jock. And then I just became a dad and a fairly reasonable guy and then my heart exploded and I died and I somehow came back from the dead like Jesus, and I'm still here doing your fucking show today.

12:52 Isn't that great? This is great. This is like Crib Notes version of. Pharrell. Have a good day everybody. That's the show. All right. So, if you haven't figured it out, the voice you're listening to is simply one of the one of the most legendary people I've ever known. He is an absolute. I mean by far and away the most unique person I've ever known, and I'm glad to call my friend Scott. Hey, me too. You mentioned just a moment ago. So why don't you tell everybody what you're doing today and how you're feeling, more importantly, how you're feeling Well? so I do uh sports grid tv, which is gambling tv, which is, uh, I think, uh a good fit for me. It's been a good fit for me. We'll see where it goes.

13:33 Uh, I don't know, like anything else, how things go with with uh the man. You know I've always worked for suits and and bosses and owners and companies, big companies, and I worked for Mel Karmazin, and you know I've worked for the biggest people in radio and TV history and I have had my fair share of success and I've had a lot of failure and I'm not afraid to be fired, I'm not afraid to lose gigs. It's happened to me a number of times. Any which way you slice it, buyouts flips, format changes, ownership changes People just hating you.

14:17 Corporate takeovers, what else? People just hating. You People hating me. I've gotten it every which way but loose. I got fired in bed. Opie and Anthony had sex in the church at St Patrick's Cathedral. When the guy did his wife on the Day of Atonement at St Patrick's in front of 200 parishioners, they called me up. I was in bed sleeping with 34C and they said you're fired. I said what did I do? They said you're friends with him. 34. C and they said you're fired. I said what did I do? They said you're friends with them. Wow. And I said well, what the fuck does that have to do with anything? They go go ahead and sue us. See how that goes for you. You against CBS. We'll see you soon in court. Click and I got nothing. They owed me all kinds of money, so I've gotten it every which way but loose.

15:00 But when I did a Pharrell on a bench in LA all those years ago in the nineties for Mel Karmazin, when I was on all the Stern channels, in other words like every station he was on with KLSX LA, I was on in New York. I was on everywhere. Everywhere he was on, I was on. He was on in mornings, I was on at night. That's how they did it. They syndicated Howard, they syndicated me, CBS and infinity and Westwood one. I did this show from Westwood One in LA and you know so I used to do gambling on it every Friday night. I would literally do every college football and pro football play for the weekend and I'm talking about that's a cash baby. I'm talking about 200, you know football games. I did every game.

15:41 I mean Hamtramck Tech against Little Sisters of the Sluts. I did every game on the board it didn't matter who was playing. I had a spread, a money line, a total. I did all that and back then people wrote them down with pen and paper. People didn't have cell phones. People knew that Friday night you had to get ready because I was going to fire off winners. And then I was always in trouble Gambling drug use, weed pills, coke, booze, and they were like this guy's serving drinks and he's telling people to gamble. He's the devil. He needs to be stopped. The FCC sued me.

16:21 Everyone was after me and I was like gambling they're like taboo. He is bad for children. He is a bad person. He is evil and unholy. And I was like give me the Browns plus the seven. I taught people how to do reverses. I taught people how to bet. I taught how to make money betting, how to, you know, play certain bets, how to bet you know, either big or how to nickel diamond. I taught people how to do everything. So fast forward 40 years, 35 years, and then this guy comes to me and says we want you to be the face of the network, gambling network, and they legalized sports betting.

17:03 And you know, for the first time in my career I could, even when I was at CBS Sports Radio. You know, five years ago, eight years ago, 10 years ago go back 10 years they had a problem with me going on the air at night and talking gambling and talking betting and money which is illegal, and so I was no different than a heroin dealer to them. They're like stop with all the gambling talk, stop with all the music, stop with the beer, stop with the drugs, stop with the hook. But for the gambling it really got them mad. And so then one day a guy says to me we want you to talk gambling on our network.

17:44 That's all we do, is sports betting, that's all we do. So I took the gig and for the first time ever I didn't have restraints, I didn't have cuffs on, I didn't have anybody giving me problems for gambling. The problem was that, you know, like everything else, they legalized it and I took the gig and when I started they had zero viewers and now it's in 150 million homes. The problem I have with it is is that everybody and their fucking brother does it. Now I got uh, everyone, I mean every person, even you know guys like larry, you knew me and and and too sure I. I knew Larry Samuels for a little while I knew you for a little while, I think in a window of a year.

18:30 Yeah, that's about right. But the reality is, is that a lot of people that we know together I could name them right now suddenly are gambling experts? Yep exactly. Now. I know chicks. I had a chick come on my show one day and tell me on july 10th. I'll never forget it. I tell this story all the time to people. On july 10th she was. They made me have her come on my show like for. They forced people on me. Like you know, we want you to promote her and I'm like okay, uh. so they bring her on and she says to me in the break it's july 10th, remember you know what break? It's July 10th. Remember you know what? What happens on July 10th? Nothing Fucking baseball. That's all that happened. So the girl says to me Scott, it's great to meet you, I'm really excited to come on the show.

19:14 By the way, I don't talk baseball. I said thanks for coming. She's on ESPN and she's an expert and she's a genius. Now she's on ESPN and she's an expert and she's a genius and every bet she makes is going to cash and everyone knows every result of every game, everywhere. Everyone, like in the middle of the NBA games. Now Kenny to Jed and Barkley hey, fanduel pops up and Barkley says Kenny says who do you like tonight in game, chuck? He's like what about Kawhi? You going to go over to 23 and a? No, I'm not going over 23 and a half, no way. Well, go to the sportsbook app right now and bet in game. And chuck hasn't hit a bet since before christ, but he's now betting.

19:56 And then this chick's betting, that chick's betting. Every chick I met, which I love, all of them smoking hot. I love women. I got no problem with women, but every hot chick I've met that worked five minutes in gambling. They're all now on television and they're movie stars. I mean, everybody's a fucking movie star now. Everybody's on TV, everybody's a gambling, everybody's a bookie, everybody's a genius. Uh, they got like MSG. They got this penis on there selling. Fucking. He's eating cannolis and trying to be real funny and he hasn't got a game wrong in six years. And you watch any network. How about the guy on the Knicks games? Hey, folks in game right now, you can still pounce on that Knicks total.

20:39 Get that over going right now. I'm like, yeah, whatever, fat. So everybody's a fucking genius and all I know is that I did it before all of them and then I'm doing it now and I get so sick and tired to watch everybody be so fucking right all the. And I go on air and say I sucked massive talk last night, took it in the ass and I lost five thousand dollars. When I watch games live. I do an in-game live, right, I'm on when a hundred college football games run.

21:21 I literally I believe, I truly believe these people tried to kill me and they gave me my open heart surgery. My heart exploded, my valves on my heart blew off, my fucking heart Passed against my cavity of my chest wall and my heart sprayed blood. For 16 hours I was walking around my house going damn it, I'm having a hard time breathing. I said to my wife I go. You're sweating right now, oh my god, no idea why you had a heart attack. I don't know. My hands are numb. I don't know I'm, I climbed the stairs and can't even fucking breathe I play basketball in the morning.

22:01 I go. I can't breathe really well, and then that night I had surgery. So I believe that watching sports and gambling and cussing and screaming and yelling and losing money Like when I lose a game I call it a Marley, a bad beat. Everyone else calls it bad beats. Scott Van Pelt had bad beats tonight with Steve Stanford. Steve, we're going to do the bad beats for the week and meanwhile they all couldn't hit a bat if it fucking smacked him in the fucking head. And he's another super talented guy Great, Making all kinds of money. Good for you, You're great, You're awesome. Your family loves you. You're a super talent. Everything else Shut the fuck up. Because Because you and your bad beats, I call them Marlies.

22:43 You know what Drill Drill Marlies are. When you lose a bet in the last second by a hook, it's because I went to the Super Bowl. My producer Mafia and I went to Marlies to have a burger and we both vomited for 36 hours with salmonella. So every time, we lose a bet by a hook that's called a Marley. It's way better than a bad beat everybody's got. Hey, did you see that bad beat the other night? So what the moral of the story is is that I believe, at the end of the day, uh, losing money and losing bets, that I'm watching a game and I'm screaming and yelling and turning purple, sweating profusely, I believe, because they make me do this show. So at the end of the day, I think, between my wife and my company I won't say their name, I think they're all trying- to kill me, trying to kill you that makes sense.

23:32 My wife wants to kill me because- 600 questions here. You haven't even gotten to the first one. She wants to kill me, this bitch because she's smoking hot and she knows she can get like 7 million in life insurance. So I had another friend die over the weekend of a heart attack. Guy had a heart attack skiing at Vail and it was a horrible story. Four daughters, the whole deal. Guy was a Spartan trainer, crossfit athlete, weight lifts weight, perfect health. Guy never smoked a day in his life. He died. And my wife goes to me and I don't know the guy, I don't know him, she knows him. My wife knows everybody, she knows everybody's business. She says to me, right to my face, she goes that should have been you. I mean, could have been you.

24:12 That's what she said. That should have been you, I mean, could have been you. So that's when I knew, with my bosses trying to fucking kill me, okay, hold on. That was incredible, and that's why he's Pharrell. So we need to know how this was built, though, man, we need to kind of like really take you back to the beginning. I mean, you grew up. Did you play sports? Did you come out of the womb with this gravelly voice? Yes, you know. Smoking eight cigars a day and drinking a fifth of whiskey. Like exactly how did a day and drinking up the age of 12? Like exactly how did. How were you? built man. Did you always want to do this? I guess, yeah. So when I was um, I have a picture in my studio of the wall street journal and they called me, uh, generation x's howard cosell.

24:56 I was on the cover of the wall street journal one day and, uh, with the dots, you know the dot pictures that they do in the wall street journal, sure? you get on the cover of the front page of the Wall Street Journal. And there is no reason in the fucking world for me to be on the cover of the Wall Street Journal. Let me tell you something that is the dumbest move they ever made, but they did it and it was because they called me Howard Cosell. When I was a kid, when I was a little boy, I wanted to be Howard Cosell, so I thought he was brilliant, I thought he was a savant, I thought he was smarter than everyone. I knew his education, his background, you know, lawyerll for Generation X, that was it for me. I had made it and arrived.

25:49 I got this voice. My father had a golden throat, he ran US Steel and he had a very deep. Good evening, everyone. And. I got halfway there, gravelly voice, because I smoked 7,000 pounds of weed and I drank whiskey and beer and I partied and it just turned this way between, I'd say, 15 and 21 and it never changed. And the funny thing about it is that I never lost, never. I never lost it Like people. I think there's a lot of pussies in the business. I can name a bunch of them right now if you want me to.

26:30 So there are people that do a show. They do a big show, like at the you know, super Bowl or New Year's Eve, and then the next day they can't work because they lost their pussy voice. I've never had that problem voice. I've never had that problem. I have massive nuts and I have a massive, you know, gravelly, broken glass, fucking, cancer, acidic voice. That is painful as fuck, but no one has ever forgotten it. One of the things is people hate it, people loathe it, they hate me, want me dead all the rest, and they never forget my voice. Oh, that's that fucking guy with the gravelly voice. I remember him.

27:10 He's an asshole. That's fine with me, because no one ever forgot it. I had a bike with poker cards in the rear wheel that clicked when I rode down the street I had a Huffy and. I thought I was cool because I could ride in the dirt and I had a poker card clicking on my back wheel and all the moms liked me and I'd wink at them like that kid, I feel good today. I used to ride down the street on my Huffy and all the moms like me and I'd wink at him like that kid, I feel good today. I used to ride down the street on my Huffy and I'd wink at all the girls and I'd tell them someday I'm going to be huge and there's nothing stopping me.

27:55 I'm getting out of this small town of Pittsburgh and I'm going to make it big time in New York, and I was lucky enough to, I guess, fucking pull that off. I actually liked living in LA way better, though, because I am a massive chaser of dental floss bikini ass. I like girls that smell like fucking copper tone and I want to have sex with them, and I like girls with blonde hair. So if my wife wasn't a blonde, I would have already fucking left her all right. So, building upon all of that um gravelly voice, 15, indiana becomes the, the next stop along the way.

28:37 I assume you got involved with all the, the college radio stations there, like no, okay, I, I did not. I got involved with a stage, a real station okay uh, that was owned by a company in chicago that owned stations all over the midwest. And I went to a party with a, a friend of mine, that worked for the sports information office at indiana and I went. He said I need you to meet this sportscaster. He's a legend here and you need to meet him If you're going to be a sportscaster here. You got to meet him. We're not just going to give you some job covering Bob Knight and doing anything unless you have a job that matters.

29:17 So he was on the local station which was at the time called 97 WB. It was an FM top 40 station. They played Madonna and shit and they did, but they did massive news, weather and traffic every half hour, top and bottom, and they did. You know sports. And so he was the sports director and I went to this party and I said listen, here's what's going to happen today. Joe, I'm Pharrell, I'm going to get you shit faced and I'm going to drink you under the fucking table and then you're going to put me on the air and I'm going to be bigger than you. And he laughed. He said who the fuck do you think you are? I said I am the fucking greatest thing that will ever happen in your life.

29:59 And how old are you Put me on the? air and we'll see how funny it is. And he goes all right, hot shot, I'll make you an intern. This is after about 15 beers. And I'm like you want to come up and join. He's like no. I go but. I do. I go listen when do I start? And then he goes come in Monday and we'll see what you can do. He put me on the air and the next thing you knew I was making. I think I was making around $25,000 a year in college for five years. So I had money, I had bitches and I covered the Hoosiers in basketball and soccer. I did not cover the football team because I said they were communists because they never won and I said I'm not covering a team that fucking takes it in the ass every Saturday.

30:42 I'm going to cover basketball and they said we want you to do soccer. And I said what is that? And then when I went and they won every single game they played, I became a fan real quick of Indiana soccer because Yagley's son now coaches them and back then his dad, jerry, was a legend and I went to every game. Pete Stoyanovich played there at that time the Dolphins kicker, and they won titles and so I actually worked at a real station and got paid. So in college I had money and I got a Sam Smith broadcasting scholarship from ABC News. So I went to college for free. I never paid a dime to go to India and I had cash, which meant I had drug money, pussy money, beer money, car gas Priorities.

31:28 You want to buy a keg? Let's go. I had a fake ID Of course I had it all, and so the local station, the college station, was kind of soft and I was on the air and back then I used to go this is Scott Farrell, and that was how I started my kind of pussy. You know, I'm going to have a little shtick going. I used to go, this is, and I used to have hats that said this is on them and people all in my fraternity, five size, they all wore this is hats. Because I became really notorious on the campus 50,000 students as the local, you know college dude doing a kick-ass show. So I did sports and I overnight DJed and what I used to do is I used to bring girls in there at night and lock the doors to the radio station and I would play Led Zeppelin and ACDC instead of Madonna and Billy Idol.

32:20 I'd play everything and I'd bang girls on the fucking top of the floor and I'd have sex with them and then I'd drink booze all night and smoke cigarettes and dope and and then, you know, I became pretty big on campus and with you know the shows that I did and I spun the coolest tunes. I broke all the rules. I got fired like nine times but they kept bringing me back because the students revolted the rules. I got fired like nine times but they kept bringing me back because the students revolted and Joe is now like he's now. I think. He's like, I think he might be 80 now and we're still friends. No-transcript, how much you mean to me that you made me.

33:08 You know, you just even thinking of it makes me break up, because and I'm not a bitch he made me, he put me on, he was the first guy that ever put me on and I don't ever forget any of my people that made me or that gave me opportunities him, mel Karmazin, howard Stern, tim Sabian him, mel Karmazin, howard Stern, tim Sabian, turnoff, spitz, Steve Cohen all the people that meant something to me along the way. He was the first, so he has a real special place in my heart and I love him. And when Bob and I died on November 1st, I died too. And then on November 17th I almost died when I had my heart explode and I had open heart surgery.

33:50 So it was all really bizarre. Like you know, bob died and I was friends with him for 42 years. The guy called me asshole for 42 years. He used to come on my show on. Stern and go asshole. I cannot believe some woman would actually fucking marry you and have children with you. Such an asshole I gotta go. By the way, that was a great interview. You're still smart. I love you. Click and he'd hang up on me that's great so that was how it. That was how it started, um, with a guy giving me a break. Everyone needs a break. So my entire career is, I think, probably tushar knows the best I, um, there was a lot of people, a lot of kids, uh, a lot of guys um, that I gave opportunities to got opportunities to uh, whether it was shows, internships, gigs or otherwise recommended them for uh spots and to see all of my guys every one of them to a man turn into, uh, you know, stars or turn into something in the business.

34:48 It's very gratifying for me. I always felt like that was more important than money, fame being huge, successful, whatever. None of that meant anything to me. The friendships to see young kids, all of them. You know the one guy that uh, two of them Shep, who everyone hated uh Shep, everyone wanted to die. He's uh, he's got mental health issues. There's something wrong with him. That guy's fucking crazy. And then now he's on NBA radio, on Sirius, and he's on CBS Sports Radio nationally. Uh, they all hate him. They still make fun of him. Meanwhile he's a star now. The other one was Rahsaan at Sirius.

35:30 No one would pay him. They wouldn't give him anything, nothing, not a penny. I put him on the air on Stern, on Howard 101, and now he does the wrap-up show with Baba Booey, gary Delebate. He's making all kinds of money and he matters. I'm really proud of all the guys. Mafia has been with me 20 years. Producers I've given hundreds of internships. I've tried to see every guy, whether they left the business and did something else in life, to see them have kids, get married, be successful at what they do and stay tight. And friends with me means way more to me than any kind of job I've ever had.

36:12 Jobs to me are fleeting. I've been, like I said, I've been through so many jobs I can't even track them anymore. But like friends are like Tushar. Tushar and I've been friends for so long that, like he called me, up and we talked about our fucking CPAP machines for an hour. We talked about our fucking sleep apnea problems and snoring and fucking. And you know I'm buddies with Tushar forever and we really don't give it like I was like, oh, you work at CBS there, I don't really give a shit, but how's your snoring going? Like when I saw larry shea today I was like holy shit, I haven't been years man, 20 years fucking larry shea.

36:55 And I knew, like I said, I knew larry samuels a little bit and no disrespect, total love larry samuels. But I knew these other guys a little better and uh, I was like uh, I almost fell over when I, because when I heard it was the larrys, I was like larry fucking who? because there's two of them and he goes. Yeah, larry I don't remember, and I got early for alzheimer's and then all I had to do was see larry shay's fucking ugly face and I knew him immediately and that kind of shit means way more to me than any job no doubt all right. So I got a good story. And, yes, absolutely, I've known pharrell for basically 30 years at this point, when I was, when I was working at wfan, so I was just a tape cutter back then, essentially just nothing more than like a da.

37:37 And when pharrell did, I think you did a week of shows, like when you first came to new york did a week of shows at fan. And I was listening to you when you were still playing at fan, one of the few guys there who was listening to you when you were still playing at FAN, one of the few guys there who was listening to you. Because I was like you know what? Yes, I love what FAN does, but I want to hear something new. And you were on, obviously, at 10 o'clock at night, 10 to midnight 10 to 1, I think. I think you're right. You're right and I'll tell you I was like man, this is some great radio, especially because you played that metal track underneath. So Pharrell and I had wanted to be on FAN forever. So, pharrell, when I got to meet him for that one week, I got to meet him for that one week, we got to talk, we got pretty friendly. So near the end of that week he's like.

38:17 He's like, he's like too sure, I'm going to put you on the air with me sometime. We're going to talk hockey. Like you wouldn't believe and I'm not a big hockey guy at all, but I remember the week after he called me up and was like okay, tomorrow you're going to talk Rangers and Ducks with me and we're going to talk about the Rangers and Ducks. You're going to be on for like 10, 15 minutes. You've got to bring it. I was like, yes, no problem, absolutely, I'm working the next night, I'm working that very night. So when he calls at 10, 20 in the 10, 20 in the evening, I have to run to like one of the tape rooms in the back. I'm still actually on shift working. But I'm telling you this I have never talked, I have never said like more of a hockey expert in my life.

38:58 I think, Adam Graves had two goals to assist, had a huge night. That line had a huge night. And I'm like, oh, pharrell, I'm telling you this right now man, this adam graves gravy had a huge night, blah, blah. He's like, uh, to show you were sick, you, how can I be the man with you, the man blah blah, I, one of the best, one of the most fun times I ever had in radio got me. It got me interested to kind of love radio once again. But you were instrumental in, you know, helping to spur me forward. You are I'm one of the pharrell fraternity. Absolutely I'm one of the frail fraternity. Absolutely I'm one of the frail fraternity remember our boy getting down and dirty with sweeney murdy so sweeney, he did a story. He wrote a story one day uh, I don't know where it ran, I, I, I maybe it was like you know.

39:40 I don't know if it was in the paper, if it was in the post or the news, or if it was in like one of those media uhloids. I don't remember what it was, but I have the story to this day. I just don't. I don't remember which one it was on, but he wrote this magnificent story of the night that he didn't know me and I came in to do the show at Rosie O'Grady's in Manhattan and it was snowing and there was a foot of snow on the ground and I was doing this show. It was a foot of snow on the ground and I was doing this show. It was the night of the. Uh, the Syracuse won the national championship with Mello, I think. Uh, playing in the NCAA tournament for Boeheim and uh, I fucking hate Boeheim anyway.

40:21 I just wanted to say so, sweeney wrote the story of the night that I got to meet this lunatic and I produced this show from Rosie O'Grady's and this guy walked into the room and he took over that bar and he started sweating. And I mean, this guy was like fucking Angus Young, he was soaking wet, his hair was long, he had. He literally was the devil. He looked like Jesus, soaking wet, wearing hockey jerseys, smoking, drinking, drinking shots of whiskey right in front of bosses and everyone. And then here comes David Letterman down the stairs in a trench coat, in a snowstorm, with galoshes on, in Rosie O'Grady's, which was right across the street from the Late Show Theater, and he came in and he sat on the stairs because the place was packed to the gills and people were like holy shit, letterman's here.

41:18 And then I said to Sweeney I go, fucking go over there and tell him I want him to come on the show. Get him to come on the show, because Letterman was my hero and literally, my hero. Right, literally my hero. And everyone else sucks massive dick compared to David Letterman. All these guys that think they're so fucking funny and hosting the Oscars you heard me, jimmy? And that's Howard's best friend, right? I don't give a fuck, no one. Stephen Colbert, you bitch. Listen, who's the other one? I like Jimmy Fallon. I think he's great. He knows he ain't no Letterman, at least he knows it. The other ones don't. The other ones think they're fabulous and I'm not tripping, I know, I know they think they're fabulous.

42:03 Jimmy knows Letterman was the shit, right, the man. He was the man. So he's sitting over on the stairs and I'm like you fucking get him on his fucking show is all I fucking do. And Letterman looked over at me and he's like I'll call you. So then I was like I was like fucking David Letterman and people were like the bar was fucking tilted lit and there was a blizzard outside. This guy walked in a blizzard to see me and then I went back to LA and I don't know, six months later I get a phone call from the late show and they say Dave wants you on and we want to fly you to New York. Put you up and put you on Letterman, and I would have blown him for it, right, like I would have blown him and I flew, put you up and put you on letterman.

43:03 And I would have blown him for it, right, like I would have blown it and I flew, and I did it and, um, I went on and I was so crazy when I went on I was so insane when I went out because he loved my show and the s for like I don't know seven minutes and I behaved poorly for seven minutes and he was crying, laughing and then, like two years later, he called me to do it again and I went back and did it again and the second time I did it. Now you do it once. You got like a massive boner. When you do it twice you're like a friend of his, like I know a lot of people. Russo did it 30 times. I think Howard did it 50 times.

43:44 I did it twice. The second time I did it. I literally I don't know if you remember this or not, too, char, but I went on Letterman and I stripped down. I started peeling jerseys off one by one. I had like nine of them on. I was going to say did you start? You were like wearing, was your last one, a Penguins jersey. The last one was the Thrashers and I announced that Ted Turner had hired me to be the play-by-play boys to the Atlanta Thrashers in the NHL and that I was leaving New York to go to Atlanta to be the hockey announcer. And my boss, joel Hollander, was on the side of the stage at Letterman Cause they all came to see me cause they all wanted to suck his dick, and I walked up and he goes, you fucking cocksucker, and I go.

44:27 I quit you, pussy bitch, see you later. I already signed the deal and he's like you'll fucking regret that. No, I won't. And then the funny thing was, because that was really, it was really a bad thing to do. I quit on national television. I quit on national television and I and then I took the job. Now listen, I won't deny I only lasted a year. The night I said on air we were losing seven to one. I go, we're taking it in the ass. That was the end of my hockey career. But I don't regret it because millions of fans love me doing the games. The GM and owner, ted, loved me. The GM Don Waddell, who's the Carolina hurricanes GM Now he hated me.

45:08 Ted loved me. The GM, don Waddell, who's the Carolina Hurricanes GM now he hated me. The president hated me. But how about this? The story gets even better. You know, fast forward 13, 14, 15 years. I met Del Frisco's one night in Manhattan. I walk in and there's Joel having dinner and he goes. I got to tell you from that to Howard Stern he goes. You are one slick motherfucker. He goes. I got to tell you he goes. I'm proud of you. You actually. You actually came back and turned into something huge after leaving for that pussy job. I actually did not like doing hockey every night, wearing the same blazer, getting on the plane, getting on the bus, getting off.

45:49 So what was weird was is that I was actually and I'm not even being vain I was more famous than the players. They were all. It was an expansion team and back then they didn't get any good players like Vegas and you know all these guys. Seattle and Vegas got all these great players. They won a Stanley Cup. The Atlanta Thrashersers. They were the worst team in history nobody, nobody got off the plane and off the bus in every city. Uh, I got off the, uh, the bus and all the fans wanted to take pictures with pharrell and have pharrell sign autographs and jerseys. None of the players, not one player, even ray ferraro. No one gave a fuck about any of them. That bothered waddell beyond reproach, and it was uncomfortable for me too, because I knew I didn't matter.

46:31 I was just trying to call hockey games and get through it at the end of the year. They go. What do you want to do? I go. I want to go home, they go. We want you to go home too, and I go. Well, what's really cool about that is is that you owe me three more years of paychecks. Perfect, so send them to the mailbox and you guys have a great season. 10 years later, they were broke and they moved to winnipeg. And now these cocksuckers have applied for another expansion team for the third time. They got the flames left, the thrashers left. Now they want a team in rich foresight county where all the rich white prick assholes live, and they're gonna try to get in. They're gonna give them another hockey team in Atlanta, which is Gary Bettman's worst mistake.

47:12 You cannot give a team to a town that has already failed twice at having a hockey team, when there are great cities that could do so much better. I don't think Atlanta deserves it. I love Atlanta, I really do but I do not believe they deserve it just because rich white people want to have a little fucking hockey fix on Thursday and Saturday night in the new arena that they build in town. I think when you fail twice, you don back in New York with Howard Stern and CBS and CBS Sports Radio and now Sports Grid. So I've been here roughly, you know about 25 years somewhere in that neighborhood, right?

47:58 So I left here to go there. I was already here, went there. Then I went back to here and I've been here ever since, and I had two kids. Then I went back to here and I've been here ever since, and I had two kids. I got a son who's a freshman Dean's list at San Diego state in college. He's transferring to Indiana. He finally got his shit together and realized that fag school he goes to that fucking sucks with. He said his classes in high school were harder and he's going to go to Indiana or like a man in the big 10. And he's going to see Assembly Hall and basketball games and get his rocks off and get a real education. No offense to San Diego State. They got tons of hot pussy out there. I'll give them that. They got all the hot pussy out there. That's about all they got. And they got great surf.

48:39 I go there surfing a lot, but my daughter is a basketball star in New York City and I got a. My wife has been with me ever since. I've been with her 24 years. So of the 25 years I've been in New York, I've been with 34C for 24 of them. And here I sit with you guys. All right. So I got to ask the music. Obviously the music has been an iconic part of your show forever. Where did that idea come in in and when? When did you first start to institute that? so I like um, you know, I got to work with metallica. I did acoustica album if you listen to the album I'm the voice on it and um, I got to part when I was in la doing the show.

49:20 I got to party with everyone, and I mean really party. So I went out with gunss N' Roses and Slash and they picked me up and I came back five days later and I never showered. And then I went out with Motley Crue and Tommy and same thing bought a four day bender and I never went to bed once bed once Metallica hires me to do that. That was cool. 96 San Jose, making it in Rolling Stone magazine and being on that album was really cool for me. So I've growing up as a kid. I went to see every band in the world.

50:00 I saw the Stones 30 times. I'm going to go see them in May. I'm a huge Stones fan. I've seen've seen metallica 30 times. I've seen every band you can name, every heavy metal band you can name. I've seen him live. I've had every rock star in the world on my show. When I saw slash at um howard stern, he said holy shit, you're not dead yet, you're not dead either. And uh, he gave me two tickets, front row uh, to the concert and I went to see him and uh with my wife and uh. So when I was, when I first started uh the show and being big um, I wanted to be different and I wanted to play heavy metal music under the show and I knew that it would drive people fucking insane and I knew I was dead right, nobody did this.

50:56 Nobody did it, nobody does it. All the bosses at program directors at stations all over the country complained about it. There's, there's some kind of music playing in the background. And it is absolutely. I have you caught on it Cause it's we hear it. There's some kind of music playing in the background and it is absolutely. Have you caught on, because we hear it. There's something. One of the other studios has got a bug on. And there is actually music playing in this talk show and are they hearing this in Cincinnati and Cleveland? Because we're hearing it and this is a real. We have a problem with it. Has he paid the ass cap fees because there is something amiss and this music is is really bothering our listeners and we are now granted.

51:37 He's been number one now for two years in every book but right we're having issues with it. And so it drove everyone nuts churn off. It drove nuts. He said to me one day I'll never forget it he goes. Just just stop with the fucking Jesus lizard, for Christ's sake, and stop fucking talking hockey. Just for one day. Can you turn the fucking music off? Your fucking music? Honestly it's. This is W F A N in New York. We don't play music, we talk sports. I talk sports and play music. You, fucking mel, hired me. He's my boss. You fuck with me because you don't know any of the songs. You're a pussy. You go to the symphony, your wife is fat and you go to the met gala and I went to the fucking acdc concert and you're fucking jealous.

52:23 That's all it is. You're gonna fucking stop with that fucking music if it's the last thing I do. Every single station complained about it. I got into when I played god smack in la, when I broke god smack in and I've been friends with uh sully earneth ever since. He's like this dude's got some nuts because I started playing god smack before god smack started playing music. And I aired it first and then they said I was Satan. The Miami Herald called me Satan. I am spreading venom to children. I'm a bad influence on the community and the society in general. You are a bad influence on the community. They're all in reproach.

53:04 And then they showed a picture of me. I had it right here on the wall in my studio and my face is purple, like I'm doing a show and I'm out of breath and I'm purple. And so they exploited me as a you know Satan. I looked like my face was red and um, you know, uh. But the funny thing was that that was the plan all along and um, to play music. And at the end of the day they finally got me and they fucking ruined me. They took the music away from me because of the royalties and the money that it cost to play it. And the last place that I was ever able to do it was at Howard Stern, because Sirius has all the rights to the music. And it was the last time I ever got to play the music.

53:49 When I went to cbs radio, they wouldn't let me do it. And, um, when I went to sports grid, they wouldn't let me do it. So they play their, I mean just flaming gay bumper music. Whatever it is, it's the worst. And I'm like, oh, is that your? Is that your? Is that your rock and roll rendition? Right there, that little bumper music? Oh, my god, this is so awful, I go right on the air with it. I go, how awful is our music. Some guy in the garage did that on his like on his electric beat. You know piano. He's the guy made the dj did all our music. They ruined me. So eventually, uh, the, you know the, the powers of television radio, the executives, the, the bosses, the suits, they always fuck everything up in life.

54:36 That's good. Everyone hates their boss. I hate all of your bosses and mine way more than you do. They literally they literally destroyed my career, my vision, my dream, my the way I did it. And I thought so. I was doing a radio show for sports grid, which I love, sports grid. But here's the truth they were making me do a radio show when COVID started and they wouldn't let me play any music and I go. So one day they said to me well, my deal was. I said I want to retire from doing radio because you guys have fucking ruined it for me. I hate this. It's the worst show I've ever done in my life. It's destroyed me. It's ruined me. I'm the biggest pussy on earth because of you people and all your fucking rules.

55:21 And honestly, like just, I came here to do TV. Can we just, can I just do TV and let someone else do it? So they did. They made me do more TV, more work, more. I got no problem with that, but they ruined my radio show. I would say all radio executives you know, in general, I hope they all die because they ruined my show and I wish nothing but ill will and cancer on all of them. They ruined my show. It was a great show. There was nothing wrong with it. It was the coolest show fucking ever and they destroyed it. I never thought I was better than anybody. I never thought I was this significant icon, some kind of oh he's just so wonderful.

56:03 I never was that dude. I was the dude that I was friends with Larry, shea and tushar. That was cool. I showed up. Sometimes. We were drunk and we showed up a little drunk and they said more than a couple times. They actually told me mel carmison told me in an elevator one day on thanksgiving, the day of uh, the day before thanksgiving, you know, the wednesday, when everybody goes home, he's in the elevator and he goes. You know, you should really start drinking and doing coke again, because you were way funnier than I got kids. Now I'm married and he goes you know, imus always did the blow. He was way better on blow than when he wasn't. And I go, I'll keep that in mind, thanks. so I did go to vegas with the imus and do drugs and I did um bad things with him over like a three day period.

56:48 I loved, loved him. He always told me tell him to fuck off, you're number one in New York. Tell him to fuck off. Tell Chernoff to fuck off and I would sit there and go. This is the greatest advice I ever had. But I'd go to work. I'd go hey, mark, fuck off. Ok, I'm number one. And all of that was the worst advice ever. So, like Imus is in his grave spinning laughing at me because he fooled me into telling all my bosses to suck my dick and it didn't go over well and eventually they got me and they ruined it, I firmly believe that I could still be doing a kick-ass radio show that would make people millions if they would just let me be me. But they don don't and I can't do clean anything.

57:29 When I came on here today, I go listen. Uh, I tried to be real cool about I go um, is this censored? why even bother to ask such a question? You're gonna do what you're gonna do. I only am happy when I. I think I'm only good. Actually I never thought I was that good. I think I'm good when I'm dirty and funny and cool, and I play cool music. At Howard Stern we played the entire. The difference at Howard Stern was we played entire album sides. We would literally stop talking and play Dark Side of the Moon the whole album and then we'd come back and be like we just went out and did 15 lines of blow and smoked 12 joints and drank six Guinness and two shots of Patron.

58:13 Has the album stopped yet? And we'd come back on and start taking calls. So we did horrible things, we're all horrible people and I was the ringleader. And then you know radio executives, they plotted, I think they plotted, they colluded, as they say, colluded together to destroy me, and they did a good job of it. So fuck all of them sideways, six ways until Sunday. I want to talk about your Shangri-La. Let's talk about how the Stern gig came about and, because that's when our, that's when our paths crossed really's, two stories right my version and my wife's version.

59:08 And I think hers might be right. I don't remember a lot from I got early for Alzheimer's too. I don't remember exactly I remember it going this way that I had worked with Mel Karmazin and I had worked with, you know, on CBS and I was on all the Howard Stern stations at KLS. There's a famous lunch right in San Francisco where Mel takes you to lunch. So Mel takes me to lunch and he offers me the job and I get the job. And I was screaming. I'm like this is fucking awesome. He's like you're embarrassing me. And he got up. He said he was leaving the table after he got what he wanted. He goes.

59:51 I'm going to sign you to a multi-year deal. I'm going to put you on a 250 stage. You're going to do a show out of LA uh in New York on WFAN. You'll be on all the Sterns uh stations. How does that sound to you? I go, can I suck your dick right now? And he goes no, and I go can I eat your salad If? if you're not going to eat that, would you? Because the chicken could I, so I can have that, thank you. So he left and never ate, never took a bite. I got the gig and, um, I went on all these stations and I did my thing, so fast forward, whatever. 20 years, 20 years and uh you have to understand. I had worked for tim sabian, uh, at cbs and at wnew um, he was my boss and I loved him, we were cool. And then I just remember from my story, I just remember Tim calling me and saying we want you to audition for Howard Stern.

1:00:44 I said you want me to what? And he goes we need to come in and audition, to go on the Howard Stern channels and do a show and see if Howard likes it. I go oh, you mean the guy that says he's never heard of me, that guy, you mean the guy that says I have no idea who Pharrell is. And I actually fucking like, believe him now that he never knew me at all, even though I was on every station with with him, even though don buckwald was my agent and was his agent. Uh, he always said I never heard of you. And I went oh, that is just a very humbling fucking result, right there so I went in to do the show. Uh my wife tells the story differently that my agent uh, called me and said how Howard wants you to audition.

1:01:27 We're going to put you in there and see what you can do for a day, one day he's giving you one day. He's going to give you four hours one day to do a show. So I went in there and I mean to fucking tell you I fucking flew a fucking load like you have never seen in your life. I went fucking absolute bat shit crazy on the air and I mean I flipped the fuck out and I fucked with people for four hours and I set the bar so high that they told me they wanted me to come back tomorrow and do it again. And at that point I knew I had a shot.

1:02:07 And I came back the next day and I brought a smoking hot bitch with me because I figured if he's got. Robin, I'm going to bring in some tits and ass and I'm going to fucking talk about pussy for four hours. And I brought the hottest chick in the world with me to do the show and Howard wanted to fuck her, like everyone else that was there, and I did four hours with her. She barely got a word in because I'm so fucking crazy, but I was like God, you're fucking smart, I want to eat your asshole. I want to eat your asshole. And. I was on the air. I will eat corn out of your asshole. And literally Howard hired me that day. It was asshole. And literally Howard hired me that day.

1:02:48 It was over and then I went on. I never I literally never stopped doing shows. I went on the next day, the next day, the next day, the next day. They gave me a great deal. I worked there for nine years. I went to his wedding. I became friends with everyone. I will say I think the key to my success there was simple, was that, like I was way more friends with Larry and Tushar and the normal people than I, was swinging from his cock like everyone else. Everyone wants to be on his nuts and I never did that. I knew my job was and they know it, everyone there knows it it's simple I just did what I was brought there to do. Howard doesn't even like sports. I did a sports show and my job was to bring millions of men to his feet and I did that every night and by the time the morning show started they were ready and they were able and they listened to him religiously and I brought a whole new perspective to his audience, which was I didn't help him do shit, but I brought sports fans to his show.

1:03:48 Sports fans don't give a fuck about him. He doesn't give a fuck about them. But I, my job was to bring them to his feet, I believe, and I did that. But you see him, he'll go to a Knicks game. He wants to be seen. He doesn't care about the Knicks game. He never talks sports. When he does, it's like Paul Farrell ask him what the deal is. So I did what I was supposed to do. I adored him, I loved him, I look up to him. He's one of my favorite people ever. But you know, when it was over, at the end, when I knew change was coming, I would have done it too. If I were him, I would have made it all about him, both channels. They brought in a chick, they replaced Tim and they brought in Marcy and she took over and made it all about Howard, which I would have done too.

1:04:32 They offered to move me to Mad Dog. I went to lunch with him and I said I don't know, man. And then my agent called me and said CBS wants you again. They're starting CBS Sports Radio and they want you to run the Knights and they're going to give you your pension back and everything else. And I was like okay. I thought to myself I'm like you know, this is over, dude, it's over. I don't want to. I really don't want to work for Chris. I love Chris, whatever. I think he's mega talented, but I don't think I could really take orders from him. I'm too much of a dick and, like I'm, I'm just not into that. You know, that'd be like so phony of me that, like one of my all time enemies, who I am, I do get along with now and I'm friendly with him, shake hands with him. I always say hi to him when I see him every year at the Super Bowl.

1:05:14 That's about it. We don't have much contact. I could never be that bitch here. I'm going to go work for him now and suck his balls. I'm not going to do that. So I took the pension and the money and I did the deal and I went to CBS and I don't regret it and that's the way life goes. If I had my way I would have done the Stern Channel Hour 101 forever, because it was the most fun I ever had in my life and I have nothing but fond memories of everyone. I loved everyone there. I had no games, no issues, no jealousies, no bullshit. I did SNY TV. It was just fun, I had fun. I did SNY TV. It was just fun. I had fun. I did SNY TV for a couple years.

1:05:54 They fired me when I hung myself on television with a noose when the Mets blew a seven-game lead in 17 days. Every day I tightened the noose further. And then the day they lost the division. I hung myself and the Wilpons fired me and I thought I did a tremendous job. They're getting fired. I had that planned out. The night that Kurt Gowdy Jr told me he goes, you're, you're done here and he goes, but I'm going to need you to finish out your contract for the next couple of months. We're not going to renew you, but we're going to need you to. We're going to need you to do uh, you know, two and a half more months of shows. I said to him I literally quote out of my mouth I go listen, I'm going to go to St Martin tomorrow.

1:06:34 My lawyer's got a $10 million bill and I'm going to fucking drink rum. I'm going to fuck my wife and you're never going to see me again as long as you live. And, by the way, you're a quarter of the man your father was. Wow. And that was the end of it I never went back another day. And you know what I said when I was going out the door too I go, hey bro, I'm already fucking rich, I don't need this shit, I'll see you later. Peace everybody. I was the most entertaining guy on that pussy channel too, and then, after I left there, they put one bitch on after the next, and they've been doing it ever since and no one watches ever. But when I was on there, I was number one for two years and they couldn't handle the truth and they wanted a guy on there to be a bitch and a pussy and to say whatever you know, let's, let's suck the Mets off and the Jets.

1:07:22 Meanwhile, the Jets and Mets are the two worst franchises in sports and all they do is lose. And I'm not going to be that guy. So I went on the air and I did it and I said you know what? I'm going to do this as long as I can until they fire me, cause that's what they're going to do. This one I can smell coming and that's what happened. And uh, just like I said, like I've been, I'll be fired again, probably in a week. Uh, I don't, I don't worry about that shit. I, uh, I try to be who I am and, uh, go to the grave. Uh, that way I guess, and if that makes me a bad person, then I am. All right so are you still happy with the industry at this point? I mean, obviously you've had a very long career and you've had your problems with upper management etc.

1:08:06 Are you still happy about the business the way it is right now and do you see yourself continuing to do this for a while? I don't know. You know, because I don't have really problems with suits and bosses anymore. I don't argue with them, I don't have anything to do with them. I used to try to figure out, you know bosses and suits, and how do I manipulate the situation and be on their good side? Or, you know, go stop in their office and say hi once every two weeks or something like that. I've always said that I don't matter. I've always said that like I saw, like you know, let's just be honest. Howard told me a hundred times he was going to retire and he's still doing it and he's 69.

1:08:50 I did it till he was 80. The schmoozer is still doing it, not every day, but he's still doing shows there and he was like 72 when I was there and I was like listen, here's a newsflash for you, bro. Everyone here wants you dead and gone, like just so when you're in there doing the show, like everyone out here is talking shit about you. I just so. I saw that and I saw all that treatment and I was around it and one thing I am is I'm smart and I don't want to be that guy. I don't want to be the guy that everybody's like oh my God, this fucking guy just won't go away. I'd rather just do it till I'm 65 and call it a day. I'd rather go surfing, I'd rather go eat good food and I, I'd rather, uh, enjoy life than, um, I've already done 41 years christ is that enough for everybody.

1:09:40 I don't think I want to be that dude that's crusty as a motherfucker, doing it like till he's 70, 75 years old, like for me. It's embarrassing, uh, to see that all these guys are so vain, they just can't stop and everyone thinks they're so fucking wonderful that they just have to. More of me and more of me. I swear to God, everyone that knows me, that really knows me, that are true friends of mine, that are like hardcore people that know me. They know I'm telling the truth. I've given it everything I can. I'm telling the truth. I've given it everything I can. I'm still good at it and if they want to rub me out and fire me, then go ahead and that'll be the end of it. And if I can do six more years of it, I will, I predict.

1:10:24 You know my financial guy believe it or not, I'm gay like that. I have a financial guy. He said to me I need you to go to 67. I said, greg, suck my dick, suck my dick. How does that sound? Have a sandwich with mayonnaise on it. I actually just want to. I don't need that much. I'm not this, you know, billionaire. I'm not this millionaire. I'm not this dude that's making tons of money. I've always been the normal layman, the normal average guy. I've made good money working. I was the king of late night radio. But let me tell you something they don't pay late night like they do in mornings. Right, that's for sure.

1:11:05 I've never been on network television. I'm not David Muir, for Christ's sakes. I'm on a gambling network which I think is awesome. I love SportsGrid, but it ain't ABC. I'm not hosting 60 Minutes, I'm not anyone that really matters. So at the end of the day, I'm pretty normal. I've done okay. I've done well. I've always had everything I ever needed and I'm totally cool with that. I've saved a lot and I I try to have a nice lifestyle, a nice setup. I'm cool. There's nothing I need more in my career, uh, than to uh make people happy, make people laugh, make people money gambling, and if I do it for them, great.

1:11:47 If I do it, uh for somebody else, uh, so be it. Like, if they don't don't want me, you know, I've always said if you're stupid enough to let me go, then do it Because I'm the best thing you got, and you just don't want to admit it because they think that I want a bunch of money or something or all this other shit. I've never been that guy. I'm just like listen, I am the shit. So why not just stay the fuck out of my way and just let me do my thing. Your wife will look at me like we be the man when you're the man that's right, I don't want to do anything else. And if that bothers people, then you know. As they say in the south of france, walk home.

1:12:31 So you know, with all of that, I think it's impossible to ask the next question, which we typically ask at the end of a conversation, which is if somebody wanted to follow in your footsteps, what advice do you have? I think that's pretty much impossible in this case the most ridiculous question we've ever asked on this show. I've had a lot of fun here today. Bring a helmet. I've had a lot of fun here today with you guys. I don't typically do this a lot. I did it twice this week. I did it today with you and I did it with Shuley on his show, the Bullshit Show. Shuley was on with us too. We've had Shuley as well. Shuley's my dear friend and he's the greatest Jew I've ever met. I love him, uh, we're boys for life, for sure.

1:13:18 And I went on his show, uh, the other day for an hour and let's just say it was just a tad filthier than this performance. I'm just a tad and um, he's so fucking crazy. I love that guy but, um, you know what I would say to people? The same thing. I always tell uh, everyone uh that has ever worked for me or anyone that I wanted to make. I've always said I made people that you know, like no one likes to hear it, they don't like, they believe that they did it all on their own. And I told you that Joe Smith made me. Carver High worked for Schmoozer at WFAN, right, he was a producer there and he never got on the air once ever. He made no money. He pushed paper and Steve yelled at him every night.

1:14:01 You know, just yelled and screamed at him every night. That's what he does and I love the Schmoozer, we're good friends. I'm just telling you like this guy's been doing radio for 50 years. He's in charge of that room. Trust me, you when I tell you when he's running a show he's telling people what to do. I'm not that dude Right. So I walked up to him one day and I said, steve, you know I love you Schmooze. I'm going to turn Mike Carver into my Artie Lang I go. I think Mike Carver is a guy that's angry. I think he's stressed out. I think he's got two babies at home. I think he's an alcoholic. I think he's got tattoos all over his arms for a reason. I think he's a sour, bitter, uh, stressed out.

1:14:42 I think he rides a train and wants to fucking shoot people, and I think I can make money with that. I think I can turn him into a star. And he said go ahead. And so I took Car carver high, put him on the air at cbs sports radio. He became instantly a hit, instantly famous. Uh, in his world he had never had that kind of attention and he became, well you know, one of my sidekicks and I put everyone on the air. All my producers go on the air every night. Uh, tushar has been on the air with me a million times, so everyone becomes a part of the show. And then I took him with me to sports grid and now he hosts the show with me a million times, so everyone becomes a part of the show. And then I took him with me to sports grid and now he hosts the show with me on TV during the weekdays. I don't work with him on weekends. I do other shows in game live, and I do this betting above the rim show, which is a basketball show I do with a coach, james Young.

1:15:25 But, mike, when I'm not there on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, like today, he's hosting the show as we speak and he does it with this Italian mobster guy who I love, joe Lisi. I call him Joey Prawns and everyone has nicknames. But I wanted Mike to be a star Now. I wanted Mafia to be the greatest director and producer ever. I never envisioned him on air that much because he's a very shy guy. I don't believe in shy guys being stars on television and radio. I look for something else and I think he's the most magnificent producer I've ever had. You have to be great at what you do in life. Be you. This is your chance to shine as a person, as an individual, as a talent.

1:16:11 Be that guy. And I want you to be the fucking idiot. I know you can be on the air and I think you can run with this and turn yourself into a great career. And that goes on and on and on. The lineage of the I'd say over a hundred guys I've done it for. I've seen a lot of them become hugely successful in life and I always tell them the same thing successful in life. And I always tell them the same thing Just be you. And when that fucking light comes on, I don't give a fuck what your problems are in life. I don't care if you got diarrhea. I don't care if your wife is leaving you and fucking your best friend, I don't care if your kids are stealing your car and your money.

1:16:52 When that light comes on, I need you to be funny and entertaining with me, even if you hate me, and I've had producers like that, you remember. Noboa hated me. I never knew it until one night. He goes, you're a cocksucker, I want to fucking kill you, I go. Well then, let's just fight right now. Motherfucker, I'm 6'4", 240. I ain't afraid of you, bitch. And then we went at it. And it was all because he hated the Penguins and he loved the Rangers and I was like the Rangers suck cock and the Penguins want another Stanley Cup, motherfucker. And he snapped and he wanted to kill me. So here's the thing Even if you want to kill me, be you, be yourself, be good at it, be good at trying to kill me, good luck. And then, on air, just be great every day, no matter what your problems are, because I have had millions of problems and I've never brought them to the air.

1:17:40 I've always tried to be great every night. Be you, be great Always when you're on air. Be unique, be different, make, make yourself magnificent in life by being a character and turning yourself into whatever you want to be, but do it when that light comes on and then the rest of the time. So, like I have nothing to do with Mike in life ever, I went to his christening of his daughter or something, and I went to him at the christening, I go listen, don't ever invite me back here to this fucking company. Don't ever fucking me back here to this fucking country, long Island, don't ever fucking do it again. I don't fucking care about your family. I hate this fucking communist Europe where you live, whatever the fuck it is.

1:18:25 I drove three hours to this shit. I got to watch some baby spit on me. I go listen, bro. So I don't really hang out with him, do anything with him, ever go anywhere with him. I've taken him out to dinner a million times in Vegas. I take my producers out to dinner. I'm a cool dude. I take people. I'm like let's go out and get fucked up and eat some steaks. But I don't typically hang out with any of them. I have been known to, you know, exchange a Christmas gift or something or get them a bottle of whiskey, a bourbon, whatever on their birthday. But what I want people to do is I don't need to be friends with you. I need you to be successful in life, and I've given you that opportunity.

1:19:07 So run with it. And if you want to fuck it up, you can do that too. And then you know I fired 30 or 40 guys over the years, and even some of the ones I fired I'm friends with today because they said you needed this. I've been fired many times and told this is going to be good for you. You'll learn one day what it means. And then they were right, right and I. I had to learn the hard way and then I think sometimes I've had to do that. Uh, just some kids along the way, uh, that didn't get it and it is what it is. But mostly in life I swear to god. Um, like even when tushar called me, I was like holy shit, that's great.

1:19:48 You're at cbs paramount, you're on 57th Street. You're not out. You're not down there with all the fucking peasants down on Hudson. You're fucking up with the big boys up on 57th Big dollars. I was really happy for him and you know, just like seeing Larry Shea today, larry Samuels, I'm happy for everybody that's got a gig and that's working and that is employed and I want everyone to have a job and to be able to take care of their families and take care of themselves. And I used to think it was us against them, management against us, and I still do. Wow. Well, I think that's a good spot to wrap up.

1:20:29 I think you gave us the title for the episode, which will be Be you, with Scott Farrell, without a doubt. Tushar, do you want to say a final goodbye to your friend? Yes, absolutely. You keep saying that you don't matter. Scott, I'm going to tell you right now you matter. You matter not only to me, you matter to Shay, you matter to Sam and to the, like you said, the fraternity of people Legend. Seriously, like you said, the fraternity of people that have. You're a legend. My wife told me that when I started eating all these heart pills and I lost my boner, that I was still. I had a small penis. And I told her that when the doctor gave me my cardiac band for my, they keep track of my everything my stress, my strain, my heart rate, my resting heart rate, my sleep.

1:21:12 It does everything my strain, my heart rate, my resting heart rate, my sleep. It does everything. And when they engraved it at the ICU I was there for a month. It says 30 minutes to the morgue. And then I'll never forget, when I left the cardiac unit, the head nurse who I gambled with I used to play poker with her and bet on sports with her. She said tell your wife she's number 104 in line to fuck dr bastides. Thank god it's gonna take him a while to mow through those hundred pussies. I'll tell you what it's not like. He earned it, though. She'll be old and washed up by the time he gets around to cranking her I gotta tell you. He was really good looking even at a Rolex.

1:21:53 He looked like money. I tell people he looked like the guy in the cologne commercial with the arrow with the perfect body, and he shoots the arrow up into the sky and the sun explodes and he's got a 12 pack and he's really tan, with perfect teeth and he looks Greek. That's what that guy looked. I'll never forget. He came in and he goes. You should be dead. I'm going to save your life instead. See you in the morning I woke up and I was hooked up to 10 tubes. So lucky to have friends like you guys, Lucky to be alive. Hopefully we'll all keep doing cool shows like this one. And check out PharrellOnTheBenchcom. It's badass I do uncensored.

1:22:36 It's called Pharrell, unplugged every morning, seven days a week. It's 10 minutes or so of me doing basically sports center, with cussing and calling people pussies, and then I do all my picks on there. And then I do another show with this crazy Jew friend of mine who I'm partners with and Shuley's friends with him too, and he's another whack job. Funny. This guy's like the craziest dude you ever met in your life and he's a sharp, he's a great, better, he's a savant and he's better than me at betting and the two of us together are dangerous. And we do all these shows on pharrellandabenchcom. And then you can check me out on Sports Grid TV, Sports Grid app, Sports Grid dot com slash watch. I'm on Freebie Roku Sling Fubo YouTube.

1:23:17 I'm on Sirius XM channel 159. For the time being I'm still on. So if they'll have me, I'll do it, If they won't, that'll be the end and that'll be that I think. If they whack me I'll probably keep doing the uncensored stuff on my website. Like Shuley's show is super successful. Those guys are crazy and they do it on their own. There is some semblance of me that says I should do that too. Just do stuff on my own while I'm old and finished and wrap it up that way in my life. I make way more money betting than I do doing TV and radio shows. I can tell you that much, and I'm lethal at it and I am the devil.

1:24:01 You forgot to mention your podcast. By the way, pharrell Coast to Coast, I don't know. So they run Coast to Coast as a podcast. They run also Pharrell on a Bench. It's like an 11 and a half minute podcast. I think they're available everywhere. I don't know anything about it because I've never looked, but I know they run it and I don't care. I subscribed to it. I subscribed to it. I like the fact that they do it. I think it's cool. I don't promote it because I just am not that savvy, right? I don't I? You saw me. I can't even turn the microphone on. And then I'm like you want me to go find some podcasts. What's next? I got to go find ancestors. I mean, I don't know how to do these things, so I think it's cool that they do the the Pharrell coast to coast podcast and the Pharrell and events or whatever it is.

1:24:50 I think it's 11 and a half minutes. It has something to do with Fandle and bet MGM. So when they run this 11 and a half minutes, it's cause Fandle doesn't want, uh, my bet MGM segment of 11 and a half minutes on their air, so they run a separate one and then they podcast that and I don't give a shit, but I do it. That was the show I was doing before I came on with you. I taped this 11 and a half minute thing and really what it is is it's a giant thick hemorrhoid stuck in my asshole that bleeds from my rectum daily. I have to do it every day and it bleeds. I had fissures and fistulas, like Howard Stern and I both had. Remember, howard had fissures, I had fissures. I had four ass surgeries.

1:25:30 The first three, they failed. The fourth guy goes I'm way better at fixing rectums than your other doctor. I promise you I'm going to replace your rectum with a rubber rectum and you're never going to have this blood problem again, and he was right. He saved my rectum. But when my wife used to stick the 14-inch Q-tip in my rectum every day, I always used to say to her how do you like me? Now him every day? I always used to say to her how do you like me now? I think that is the exact right spot to wrap up. Larry's going to go to church after this and light a candle after this show Scott, thank you so much for joining us. Pharrell, you're the best I love you guys Keep doing your thing. No wrong choices rules.

1:26:13 That was Scott Pharrell, and I think that I can honestly say I'm exhausted coming out of that interview, despite the fact that I said almost nothing. Larry Shea, what are your thoughts? Yeah, I can't imagine why he had any heart issues. He's so calm, he's so serene, right? I mean Farrell, I want to touch on a couple of things. I want to touch on his generosity. I mean, like Pharrell, I want to touch on a couple of things. I want to touch on his generosity. I mean the discussion about how many people he set up in their career and the loyalty and the generosity of finding people who are, you know, with him on the team and kind of setting them up for success. You know, there was so much of that that we talked about with Pharrell and I just also want to talk about like he wasn't looking for people who were shy, right, like he needed you to know that you're an entertainer, that if he's going to put you on the microphone, you're there to entertain.

1:27:02 Forget about you know, your sick dog or you know going to the supermarket afterwards or whatever it was. There's a job to do and you're there to entertain and he knows his business. And I just think it just the biggest thing I take away from it is know who you are and know who you are not. And Scott Farrell knows exactly who he is and I thank him for it because I'm always entertained by him. I really appreciate his friendship and he's just an amazing guy man. He rocks your world right. Like you said, you're exhausted at the end of it, but it's a thrilling exhaustion. I will say this. I mean, I know that before we started that interview we always game plan before an interview. So the three of us before we game plan.

1:27:44 My warning was to them hey look, we need to be prepared for when Scott's on because we should not anticipate short answers and it basically happened like that, right? So he said hello, Pharrell, and he goes on for 15 minutes. So I mean, look, that's the kind of guy Scott is. I mean, you know he loves it when the camera's on him, which is a good thing, right. And I think a couple of things I always take away from this conversation which I didn't know before, which were, you know, he started out his career in a very traditional sense, right Is that he started out as an update guy and that you know he was when he went to Indiana University. This was a guy who was young and understood his talent and understood what he wanted to do early in his career.

1:28:27 That early in your career is almost unheard of. It's almost unheard of. And when he became famous, even in that small market, he continued to have an unbelievable amount of confidence in his talent. And he coupled that, obviously, pushing it forward and pushing it forward and pushing it forward to once again, I'll say it again he has created a genre of sports talk which no one has ever done since and probably no one will ever do, because they just don't understand how to get, how to do it. Now, obviously, we as broadcasters, we probably have picked out pieces from his, uh, from his career that we all kind of use. Even this, even in our past, lives in the. In the fellas we did a gambling segment on fridays with football.

1:29:07 It's not like it's not like it's all that unique, but he was the guy who started talking about gambling all the time and that was frowned upon in the industry. He is a trailblazer like we cannot believe. I'll say it again he's a trailblazer like we cannot believe. He is generous with his time. And the one thing I've always appreciated about Scott Farrell is his honesty. He is super honest about what he sees in a person, right. So he talks about one one of his producers. That guy wanted to be on the air. He basically said to him look, you are not an on-air guy, you are a great behind the scenes guy and sometimes you need someone to break down and be honest about what you can do. Right, you know, uh, there's an old line and then there's great line from a clint eastwood movie.

1:29:51 A man's got to know his limitations. This is one of those instances where he says look, you come on board with me and I will push you to your fullest potential, but what your fullest potential is may not be what you always think it is, and that is what makes Pharrell so great. He understands those people around him and he wants to lift them all up to be the best that they can be. Absolutely. And, picking up upon that theme, the words BU kept coming up in terms of his advice to others, in terms of how he lived his life. And you know, I think about my time as a young broadcaster, first coming into this business.

1:30:31 It was so hard to stop being a broadcaster and to start becoming me and to learn how to be you or to be me. It's incredible advice that applies to every single aspect of our lives. If you learn who you are and you get in touch with that and you stay authentic to that, you can go a long way in life. So just incredible advice, incredible perspective and what a remarkable conversation. So, scott Farrell, thank you so much for joining this episode of no Wrong Choices. We also thank you for joining us. If this episode made you think of an inspiring person in your life who could be a great guest, please send us a note via the contact page of our website at norongchoicescom.

1:31:18 We also encourage you to connect with us on LinkedIn, instagram, youtube, facebook X and Threads On behalf of Tushar Saxena, larry Shea and me. Larry Samuels, thank you again, and always remember there are no wrong choices on the road to success, only opportunities, because we learn from every experience.