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**Schlomey** · 06-23-2010, 12:59 PM

PART 2

Are there any previous game show hosts that you have looked up to or pattered yourself after?
Game show hosts are almost like being talk show hosts. It's really the same concept. I always loved Richard Dawson, I thought he was cool. You know, Monty Hall, Gene Rayburn and those types of guys but to me Johnny Carson was the man. My overall goal in showbiz so to speak would be to have my own talk show. I don't think there's ever been anyone as good at it as Johnny Carson as far as just listening to the crowd and listening to the guests, not trying to get his own jokes in but trying almost to be the straight man for everyone else. That's kind of what it is for the game show. Nowadays, people are flying themselves in from all over the country to audition to be a contestant. People are really looking for cash nowadays. There are some real livewires and great personalities just as contestants alone. You've got to be able to cultivate that and work with that because that's what makes the show work too. People that are playing for the money, you really want to see them win. The more you get into who they are, the more you get into the show.

Plus, Richard Dawson was best known for trying to stick his tongue down everyone's throat.
Well, that's just the best! I just want to kiss every chick ... fat, skinny, hot, ugly. It doesn't matter. I'll even throw in the guys too. It's the new millennium, what the hell!

How exactly did this deal come about? I know you have an agent which is something in wrestling that a lot of guys don't have or take advantage of.
Actually, I've had an agent for years and then I got a new agency, a pretty good one, when I did the Larry King bit on his show where I was a real (expletive) to him and didn't break character the whole time and he was completely sure that I was being serious. Obviously I wasn't. The agency saw that and said well, this guy's a pretty good actor. I signed with them about a year ago and there have been a couple of things that have popped up. You know, a lot of it you just don't have time to do the stuff you'd like to do with the full time schedule of the WWE. It wasn't something that was handed to me. It was an audition but an invited audition. They wanted to see me specifically. But afterwards I found out about 150 people auditioned for it and there were 20-some people that were put on tape for producers to see. It was quite a length audition process and for whatever reason I was the one they wanted for the show which was great.

Are there any entertainment opportunities you have your eye of things you would like to do in the future?
Well, I'm pretty much doing it. Fozzy obviously is a huge passion for me and the band is really drawing and this new record (Chasing the Grail) has done well. We've got shows coming up in France, England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Australia so there's a lot of opportunities with the band which we've worked hard at. For ten years, the band has been around and really turned the corner as a legitimate, kickass rock and roll band with great songs. I've just finishing up the second draft of my second book which is going to be great. Reading through it, it's almost as good as the first one if not better which is hard to believe but so many ridiculous things have happened to me in my life. It's kind of fun to put them down on a page and read it and go 'holy smokes, this is pretty nuts'. I'd like to do more acting as well. I really enjoyed the stuff I did with MacGruber. It was a quick part but it was a good one and there's a lot of opportunities for that as well that are waiting in the wings. I've never been short of opportunities. I've never been short of work. It's good. Like I've said, working in the WWE is show business boot camp. You've got to take advantage of all these great opportunities when they come to you.

With all of these other opportunities, has it been difficult to work with WWE scheduling-wise considering that's already a busy schedule?
Yeah but the cool thing about Downfall is that it was a pretty quick turnover. We filmed six shows in three nights last week. It's long shoots from 9p.m. to 5a.m because it has to be at night to be on the rooftop and have the LA skyline behind you. The work ethic that I have that's been cultivated over the years it's probably second-to-none and that's one of the things that really endeared The Rock to Hollywood when he first started is the fact that he had a great work ethic. You have that when you come out of the wrestling business. You get the job done and that's all there is to it. If 'Downfall' does well and they decide to do more episodes, it's a perfect way for me to kind of branch out and be seen by a whole new audience and not have to spend six months in New Zealand doing Lord of the Rings part four.

Since there are things breaking out for you in entertainment, have you put any kind of timetable on how much longer you would like to keep wrestling on a regular basis?
Yeah, the same timetable I've always had. When I'm finished with it and I feel I can't be at the absolute best any more I'll finish up. The stuff I've done over the last couple of years -- the last two-and-a-half years – to me has been the best stuff of my career. And that means a lot to me because when I came back, I didn't want to come back and be a nostalgia act. I wanted to do something completely different and make an impact and I've done that more than I had ever in my career. Even last night, working with Evan Bourne it was the best match I've had in months. I was like 'stole the show, hadn't stolen the show in a few months' but I haven't really been given the opportunity to working with The Miz against the Harts, those types of things. I think at WrestleMania Edge and I came close to stealing the show. I wasn't completely happy with the match but it was still good. But last night was one of those matches, like, for me, because I can only judge by how I feel and last night was one of those 'give it up for Jericho', that was a Jericho match. That's a classic for me. So it's good to know that those are still there. When you do those and have some great promos... You know, I always have, storylines are always important to me. I always laugh when I start a storyline because they're always very intricate and drawn out. You do something for one or two weeks and people make assumptions. Jericho is on a losing streak or Jericho is this or Jericho is that. That just makes me laugh because you should know by now with Jericho that things are never what they seem and you should sit back and shut the (expletive) up and let me do my job and just enjoy it and not analyze it until it's all said and done. The same thing I did with (Rey) Mysterio or Shawn Michaels or Steve Austin or these old-timers or the Mickey Rourke thing, there's always more to it than meets the eye and you never really know exactly the whole story until it's over. It's kind of like Pulp Fiction – Jericho is the Pulp Fiction of wrestling.

Why do you think things have been so good for you since you came back from your hiatus? Is it because you had an opportunity to clear your mind and heal up?
That was some of it. I studied acting intricately and really learned the nuisances of method acting which is as pretentious as it sounds. I play a character every week on Raw or Smackdown. It's nothing new for me to be acting. But to actually learn what an actor does and how to make it work was invaluable as far as playing this new character that I created. When I saw the movie No Country For Old Men I just knew that was a perfect character for the WWE and I've kind of taken that and worked on it. You've got to constantly reinvent yourself. It's the only way to stay relevant and I think that's the reason why. I found this character and was lucky enough to have that one thing with Shawn (Michaels) where I was the guest ref and nobody had a finish and Shawn came up with the idea that maybe he hurts his knee and I came up with the people are hypocrites for liking you, they're saying you're the favorite when you're cheating. We just caught the tail of a rocket on that. I think the combination of that eight month long thing with Shawn and the fact that I was able to really drop into this character and make people believe that I really was this real crazy (expletive). It really all connected at once to make a very memorable angle and make this character somebody that people still hate after two-and-a-half years which is pretty rare in this business. It's hard to be a villain and stay a villain. When the best villains of all-time end up turning babyface whether it be Darth Vader or Terminator of Hannibal Lecter because it's so damn entertaining. When you get that entertainment value involved, people start wanting to cheer for you because they like you. There's a fine line to be able to stay hated and I take great pride in the fact that I've been able to do that.

Even in the case of Evan Bourne last night and working in the Nassau Coliseum where the people are cheering mostly for Jericho, that more of where we are. The fans up in that area are really (expletive) fans that like the bad guys but halfway through, lo and behold, they started chanting 'let's go Jericho, let's go Bourne' and that to me was cool because they're just getting this guy going and that's one of my jobs at this point. That's one of the things that I like. I could be the world champion, sure, that's fine. But to me – don't get me wrong, I'm not minimizing it – the most important thing is to start making new stars and pass the torch and pass the knowledge and pass the rub whatever that may be to some of these guys because I'm not going to be here forever. And my style of wrestling is not going to be here forever. I mean, the guys that came in the way I did, the hybrid Japanese-Calgary-Mexican guys are pretty much gone. There's a few of us left but not many. I wish to God there would have been a guy like that to work with me in WCW. Someone who wanted to make some stars. I could lose 100 nights in a row, I could lose to you, and it wouldn't make a frickin' difference. I could win the world title the next night and everyone would buy into it because I'm at that level where I'm bulletproof. We have to take advantage of that and use it for the good of the company and the good of some of these guys that are coming up that I feel have some of that mojo that can really do something in the business.

Is your contract coming up? I know you've been back with the company for almost three years now.
Yeah, it's coming up fairly soon, it's coming up very soon. It's one of those things we've been talking about for a while to get it rolling again. Like I said, to me, I'll leave the business when I'm ready to and I'm not ready yet. I still want to continue to work. I still have some things that I can offer. I still think I'm among the best in what I do, if not the best just because of the fact I have 20 years of experience which is a rare thing nowadays. You can't teach experience. You can teach someone to do a promo kind of, you can teach someone to do a move but you can't teach someone experience.

06-23-2010, 12:59 PM	#2
Schlomey Black Sheep Jew Posts: 8,859	PART 2 Are there any previous game show hosts that you have looked up to or pattered yourself after? Game show hosts are almost like being talk show hosts. It's really the same concept. I always loved Richard Dawson, I thought he was cool. You know, Monty Hall, Gene Rayburn and those types of guys but to me Johnny Carson was the man. My overall goal in showbiz so to speak would be to have my own talk show. I don't think there's ever been anyone as good at it as Johnny Carson as far as just listening to the crowd and listening to the guests, not trying to get his own jokes in but trying almost to be the straight man for everyone else. That's kind of what it is for the game show. Nowadays, people are flying themselves in from all over the country to audition to be a contestant. People are really looking for cash nowadays. There are some real livewires and great personalities just as contestants alone. You've got to be able to cultivate that and work with that because that's what makes the show work too. People that are playing for the money, you really want to see them win. The more you get into who they are, the more you get into the show. Plus, Richard Dawson was best known for trying to stick his tongue down everyone's throat. Well, that's just the best! I just want to kiss every chick ... fat, skinny, hot, ugly. It doesn't matter. I'll even throw in the guys too. It's the new millennium, what the hell! How exactly did this deal come about? I know you have an agent which is something in wrestling that a lot of guys don't have or take advantage of. Actually, I've had an agent for years and then I got a new agency, a pretty good one, when I did the Larry King bit on his show where I was a real (expletive) to him and didn't break character the whole time and he was completely sure that I was being serious. Obviously I wasn't. The agency saw that and said well, this guy's a pretty good actor. I signed with them about a year ago and there have been a couple of things that have popped up. You know, a lot of it you just don't have time to do the stuff you'd like to do with the full time schedule of the WWE. It wasn't something that was handed to me. It was an audition but an invited audition. They wanted to see me specifically. But afterwards I found out about 150 people auditioned for it and there were 20-some people that were put on tape for producers to see. It was quite a length audition process and for whatever reason I was the one they wanted for the show which was great. Are there any entertainment opportunities you have your eye of things you would like to do in the future? Well, I'm pretty much doing it. Fozzy obviously is a huge passion for me and the band is really drawing and this new record (Chasing the Grail) has done well. We've got shows coming up in France, England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Australia so there's a lot of opportunities with the band which we've worked hard at. For ten years, the band has been around and really turned the corner as a legitimate, kickass rock and roll band with great songs. I've just finishing up the second draft of my second book which is going to be great. Reading through it, it's almost as good as the first one if not better which is hard to believe but so many ridiculous things have happened to me in my life. It's kind of fun to put them down on a page and read it and go 'holy smokes, this is pretty nuts'. I'd like to do more acting as well. I really enjoyed the stuff I did with MacGruber. It was a quick part but it was a good one and there's a lot of opportunities for that as well that are waiting in the wings. I've never been short of opportunities. I've never been short of work. It's good. Like I've said, working in the WWE is show business boot camp. You've got to take advantage of all these great opportunities when they come to you. With all of these other opportunities, has it been difficult to work with WWE scheduling-wise considering that's already a busy schedule? Yeah but the cool thing about Downfall is that it was a pretty quick turnover. We filmed six shows in three nights last week. It's long shoots from 9p.m. to 5a.m because it has to be at night to be on the rooftop and have the LA skyline behind you. The work ethic that I have that's been cultivated over the years it's probably second-to-none and that's one of the things that really endeared The Rock to Hollywood when he first started is the fact that he had a great work ethic. You have that when you come out of the wrestling business. You get the job done and that's all there is to it. If 'Downfall' does well and they decide to do more episodes, it's a perfect way for me to kind of branch out and be seen by a whole new audience and not have to spend six months in New Zealand doing Lord of the Rings part four. Since there are things breaking out for you in entertainment, have you put any kind of timetable on how much longer you would like to keep wrestling on a regular basis? Yeah, the same timetable I've always had. When I'm finished with it and I feel I can't be at the absolute best any more I'll finish up. The stuff I've done over the last couple of years -- the last two-and-a-half years – to me has been the best stuff of my career. And that means a lot to me because when I came back, I didn't want to come back and be a nostalgia act. I wanted to do something completely different and make an impact and I've done that more than I had ever in my career. Even last night, working with Evan Bourne it was the best match I've had in months. I was like 'stole the show, hadn't stolen the show in a few months' but I haven't really been given the opportunity to working with The Miz against the Harts, those types of things. I think at WrestleMania Edge and I came close to stealing the show. I wasn't completely happy with the match but it was still good. But last night was one of those matches, like, for me, because I can only judge by how I feel and last night was one of those 'give it up for Jericho', that was a Jericho match. That's a classic for me. So it's good to know that those are still there. When you do those and have some great promos... You know, I always have, storylines are always important to me. I always laugh when I start a storyline because they're always very intricate and drawn out. You do something for one or two weeks and people make assumptions. Jericho is on a losing streak or Jericho is this or Jericho is that. That just makes me laugh because you should know by now with Jericho that things are never what they seem and you should sit back and shut the (expletive) up and let me do my job and just enjoy it and not analyze it until it's all said and done. The same thing I did with (Rey) Mysterio or Shawn Michaels or Steve Austin or these old-timers or the Mickey Rourke thing, there's always more to it than meets the eye and you never really know exactly the whole story until it's over. It's kind of like Pulp Fiction – Jericho is the Pulp Fiction of wrestling. Why do you think things have been so good for you since you came back from your hiatus? Is it because you had an opportunity to clear your mind and heal up? That was some of it. I studied acting intricately and really learned the nuisances of method acting which is as pretentious as it sounds. I play a character every week on Raw or Smackdown. It's nothing new for me to be acting. But to actually learn what an actor does and how to make it work was invaluable as far as playing this new character that I created. When I saw the movie No Country For Old Men I just knew that was a perfect character for the WWE and I've kind of taken that and worked on it. You've got to constantly reinvent yourself. It's the only way to stay relevant and I think that's the reason why. I found this character and was lucky enough to have that one thing with Shawn (Michaels) where I was the guest ref and nobody had a finish and Shawn came up with the idea that maybe he hurts his knee and I came up with the people are hypocrites for liking you, they're saying you're the favorite when you're cheating. We just caught the tail of a rocket on that. I think the combination of that eight month long thing with Shawn and the fact that I was able to really drop into this character and make people believe that I really was this real crazy (expletive). It really all connected at once to make a very memorable angle and make this character somebody that people still hate after two-and-a-half years which is pretty rare in this business. It's hard to be a villain and stay a villain. When the best villains of all-time end up turning babyface whether it be Darth Vader or Terminator of Hannibal Lecter because it's so damn entertaining. When you get that entertainment value involved, people start wanting to cheer for you because they like you. There's a fine line to be able to stay hated and I take great pride in the fact that I've been able to do that. Even in the case of Evan Bourne last night and working in the Nassau Coliseum where the people are cheering mostly for Jericho, that more of where we are. The fans up in that area are really (expletive) fans that like the bad guys but halfway through, lo and behold, they started chanting 'let's go Jericho, let's go Bourne' and that to me was cool because they're just getting this guy going and that's one of my jobs at this point. That's one of the things that I like. I could be the world champion, sure, that's fine. But to me – don't get me wrong, I'm not minimizing it – the most important thing is to start making new stars and pass the torch and pass the knowledge and pass the rub whatever that may be to some of these guys because I'm not going to be here forever. And my style of wrestling is not going to be here forever. I mean, the guys that came in the way I did, the hybrid Japanese-Calgary-Mexican guys are pretty much gone. There's a few of us left but not many. I wish to God there would have been a guy like that to work with me in WCW. Someone who wanted to make some stars. I could lose 100 nights in a row, I could lose to you, and it wouldn't make a frickin' difference. I could win the world title the next night and everyone would buy into it because I'm at that level where I'm bulletproof. We have to take advantage of that and use it for the good of the company and the good of some of these guys that are coming up that I feel have some of that mojo that can really do something in the business. Is your contract coming up? I know you've been back with the company for almost three years now. Yeah, it's coming up fairly soon, it's coming up very soon. It's one of those things we've been talking about for a while to get it rolling again. Like I said, to me, I'll leave the business when I'm ready to and I'm not ready yet. I still want to continue to work. I still have some things that I can offer. I still think I'm among the best in what I do, if not the best just because of the fact I have 20 years of experience which is a rare thing nowadays. You can't teach experience. You can teach someone to do a promo kind of, you can teach someone to do a move but you can't teach someone experience.