Exclusive: Mick Foley Interview

Last Friday, well before last night's Raw appearance and just before his stand-up tour came to an end with a double showing at London's Leicester Square theatre - which sold out within a day of the tickets being released - myself and Michael Atkinson (who definitely has a future of looking like Foley on its way) found ourselves sat within a braying crowd.

"Foley! Foley! Foley! Foley!" A cacophony of appreciative noise for the large man currently standing on the stage in front of us in red flannel. And he's lapping it up, playing off the crowd's reaction in mock-humility, and when he decides to get a hold on the room, he doubtlessly sees hundreds of beaming faces looking up at him. Most have never been this close to Foley: this 700 hundred or so seat venue in the heart of Newcastle is about as intimate as it comes for a WWE star, and we largely have British comic, and compere for the evening Chris Brooker - who has himself just left the crowd in stitches.

Flash forward a couple of days, and I manage to grab a few words with Chris on the phone, recovering from a tour that has allowed the wrestling fan the opportunity to live the life of Riley, in his own words. But why Foley? What did he see in the Hardcore Legend that made him so determined to set up a tour in the UK and Ireland?

Well it's simply really, it had to happen.

"As soon as I saw he was dabbling in comedy, I wanted to get him across to gig. Mick was floating between promotions, and the tour could coincide with the WWE shows... And it was something of a flight of fancy, and quite selfishly, it was the opportunity to meet one of my idols." Chris goes on to talk about the similarities between comedy and wrestling - something that has repeatedly been discussed since Foley started gigging, more often than not in defence of Foley's latest career choice: "if you make a connection with an audience, it doesn't matter how athletic you are as a wrestler, or how well your jokes are written as a stand-up".

Interestingly, Chris also mentions that finding outlets willing to cover the tour was a little difficult: despite tweeting Jonathan Ross, who had put out a call for guest suggestions, and setting up the hashtag #JonathanRossMeetMickFoley the organiser got no dice. People just weren't biting, which is astonishing for myself and surely fellow Foley fans to even conceived of, because as Chris Brooker rather understates, he's an interesting person to talk to.

And jumping back to Friday, in the belly of the theatre, and a tiny dressing room that you might call "minimalistic", we're sitting looking into Mick's face, learning just that, and also that there is much more to the Hardcore Legend than his in-ring commitment and brilliant promo work. But then, you already knew that. Here follows our interview with a true legend of wrestling. Ladies and gentlemen, we give you: Mick Foley...

MA: So, hardcore wrestling legend to stand-up artist €“ how did that come about?

You know it's funny, I mention this in our tour programme, that oddly enough the pivotal moment in my deciding to do comedy was probably the infamous Hell in a Cell match, which ended up with a tooth being in my nose, because it was at that point I realised that I just could not continue to treat my body like I had for so many years.

There's only so much gas left in that tank, and I was just about on empty. And so I had to find new ways to get the audience to care about me, and I had injected humour a little bit here and there, there's a famous saying in wrestling "make them laugh, then cut them off", but I made a concerted effort to make the character more humorous, and it turned out to be the best thing I possibly could have done. It extended my career for a couple of years, it greatly increased my popularity and so it was surprising when I started doing comedy that the same people who had laughed at my stuff in wrestling but be the people going "really, you, comedy?! Doesn't seem to make sense."

So it's been a little process to get people to understand that this is what I'm doing, but the feedback's been really positive and I love it, and I think it's pretty easy for people out there to see that although I may not be polished as a veteran of the comedy circuits would be I really do enjoy being up there.

SG: Reading your books you have a way with words that works with comedy, and as you say, there always seemed to be a comic slant on your characters and in your promos - especially later - and I always felt that that comedic side added effect to the more hardcore elements. Had you considered a move into stand-up before?

I started doing it a couple of years ago, I really had quite a bit of experience in that I had spoken to probably 50 universities or so in the US from 200 through about 2007 and some of the stories were humorous, but they didnt have to be. I was never told to go out there and be funny but I really enjoyed the humorous stories and so part of the challenge has been how to take a humorous story and actually make it funny. You know, to go from causing people to chuckle and smile knowingly to actually laughing out loud.

SG: And how is the tour going so far?

Tour's been - and I know this is an English word - brilliant, you know. I've really had a great time, I mean I hate to see it go and so I'm happy to know that I'll be coming back in February. I've really had a wonderful time.

MA: So you'll be putting more dates on...?

Yeah, I think we've got 8 cities next time, and I will not have a wrestling tour to jump onto in the middle of it. It's been neat for me in that I've been able to not only do my stand-up, but I also made my return to the WWE, and I got to see my favourite performer Tori Amos who was a block away from me in Glasgow, and who will be spoken of tonight in loving humorous fashion...

MA: You didn't arrange your tour dates around Tori Amos, did you?

Ha! No, actually I arranged to come to the UK with the idea of seeing her in Manchester, and then I got booked for two dates in Ireland. And so when I found out that I was booked in Glasgow the only other day I could see her, I literally pleaded with the promoter to let me do my meet and greet before the show and then I snuck... I didn't sneak out, I actually put on a dress shirt and sports coat, waved to the fans and then took off and walked the one block. I'll never be in a geographic situation like that again, so it was really a very special night for me.

MA: Do you think there are similarities between the two worlds? The way you play off the audience, building chemistry and playing off their reactions for instance. Is it more of a challenge without someone else in the spot-light with you to bounce off?

Yeah, I mean the similarities to me are really obvious, you know. You go out there, in front of a crowd, you're getting reactions, which is what wrestling was all about to me. I may talk about the difference between a competitive spirit and the need to get reactions in the show tonight. Some nights I do... And like wrestling, there are times when you feel elated after a show, and then there are times when you feel a little down after a show. And like wrestling, you try to think of ways you can make things better for the next time. Similarities end in that there's relatively little physical pain. In my stand-up it's more emotional pain.

SG: I like that you say "relatively little"...

Yeah, yeah. Relatively. Actually my foot is hurting from standing so much. But that's not even worth complaining about...

SG:Hardcore!

SG: How do you prepare for something like these shows? Do you script yourself? And did you consciously sit down and watch other stand-up shows?

Well, I use what I call bullet points. And you can still see the ink on my hand... I'll write seven or eight words down. Last night I ended up not using three of them - I like to go out there, and as they say in wrestling put in a lot of time, I dont really do punchlines, they're more stories, and some of the stories take a while to evolve. And sometimes that's good, and sometimes its not. And I have studied some great comics, but I try not to study so much that I'm emulating whether consciously or not.

SG: Would you say you have any stand-up heroes?

Yeah, my first comedy album I ever heard was George Carlin's "Class Clown", it's like an all time classic. And I loved the way that he used the English language to point out the absurdities in the language. And he did it better than anyone for forty years or so. I love the story-tellers like Bill Cosby, and I really remember enjoying Jerry Seinfeld in the US long before he became popular - just making observations. I'm not in anyway saying that like - oh, my observations are better, but after having been around the world many times and travelled with a cast of unique characters my observations are different to anybody else's. And I share those observations with the people out there.

MA: You've split duties during the tour with a few high-profile appearances at WWE events and it's widely rumoured that there's something coming up in the near future (we knew he was returning to Raw, but couldn't tell anyone!): what was the reaction like when you made your return in Dublin?

It was really very gratifying, but clearly there are a lot of kids out there who don't know who I am. So it was either, you know, the people aged 20 and older going crazy, or the kids being like "there's a large man in a flannel shirt, what is he doing in my ring?!" But it was very nice, not only to be in front of the crowd, but also to be back stage. I believe in Birmingham I quoted Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz and said "there's no place like home!" And it did. It really felt like coming home.

MA: And you must be sick of being asked if you're about to come out of semi-retirement to fight?

Ha, ha, ha, ha... It's pretty interesting. It means that people care, because at least they're talking about the future. The one question - and I may allude to this tonight - that I always get you know... yes, it did hurt when the Undertaker threw me off the cell - that's the match I can't quite live down.

SG: You're inevitably always asked who would be your dream match-up of the current WWE crop €“ and I agree about the natural choice of The Miz, and the chemistry between the two of you...

Yeah. ...

SG: ...but to add a bit of variety to the question which stand-up comic, past or present would you choose to take on in the ring?

(Laughing) In the ring?! Oh jeez, let me think about that.

SG: Not necessarily to hurt, but for the banter, the bouncing off...

I think a classic mid-90s Cactus Jack doing verbal battle with Sam Kinison in his prime. That could have resulted in something really... Oh God, imagine it... I know I should have a great English comic lined up.

SG: It's ok, there's not that many who you'd know presumably...

Ha, ha. I was actually thinking... I went on the Curry Mile in Manchester, and I had a garlic naan, and I was thinking of walking out and saying: "Garlic?! Naan?!" Just so people could see that I'd studied a little bit of English comedy.

SG: And one more for our wrestling fans: if Mick Foley came onto the scene today, how would fit he into WWE's current style? Do you think there would be a place for Mick Foley today?

You can never tell. There supposedly was not a place for me in 1996 and I found a place, you know.

I'd been told for years that I wasn't a WWE type of guy and the truth is that Mr McMahon put me behind the mask as Mankind, because he didn't think I looked like a star. it turned out to be the best thing that ever happened because then I had a whole new dimension when I took the mask off. But I think it was kind of encouraging to other wrestlers out there, or maybe in a broader sense people in life just thinking they shouldn't take no for an answer. That they should at least try their best and go after their goals.

SG: We already know there was talk of a film of your life happening: how certain are you that it will happen and if it does who should play you?

Yes, I have been approached. Yes, I do think it will happen.

I have a script in my bag right now, which I'm changing, you know. Trying to put the emphasis on less moments, and making them stand out more, as opposed to trying to do an A-Z biography, which always tends to be rather dull. I always use the two Wyatt Earp movies that were out simultaneously in the States - one group made Tombstone and the other one made Wyatt Earp. One was a huge success, and one was failure. I don't want to make Wyatt Earp. You know, I don't want to come out and say I want this guy to play me, as that's the director and producers' jobs.

I don't think we want to tip our hat and go out and publicly let an actor know that I want someone to play me. But he's got to be really handsome. Bang Bang!

MA: You've been a wrestler, a novellist and best-selling diarist, a committed philanthropist and now a stand-up artist, what's next for Mick Foley? Politics?

Noooo! I used to think about politics though. I really knew my stuff a couple of years ago, but I was afraid that some journalist would come looking around and would literally be crushed by the skeletons that fell out of my closet. So out of concern for their safety, I decided not to. I really think the work I do with RAINN at home is probably the way I can make the biggest impact. I think everyone needs to know where their piece of the puzzle is, but I don't see mine as being in politics, if that makes sense.

SG: Totally. I do have one final personally motivated question - have you still got the Christmas room?

No, we moved, so I don't have it anymore.

SG: That was the moment for me. When you became more than the hardcore legend, more than the best-selling writer. When I learned that you were a kindred spirit, it was like... magic.

With the Christmas room? Aww yeah! But like, some people would come to the Christmas Room and they'd expect more from it. Like WWE came with a camera crew, and they were like "it's just a bunch of Christmas decorations". You know, paintings on the wall, and Annalee Mobilitee figures - not dolls - Mobilitee figures. But now it's all down, and I have to figure out a place in the house to make my own.

MA: And why not! Thanks for talking to us Mick, really appreciate it.

Enjoy yourselves out there.

SG: Definitely.

And with that, he's gone. We're left standing in the small dressing room, completely flawed by this amiable legend. Michael turns to me: - There was a point there where I forgot we were interviewing, and I just wanted to have a chat with him. Exactly. The man in red flannel certainly has a way with words, and the kind of easy charisma that translates perfectly to what he is about to step out on stage to do.

Mick Foley will be touring again in 2012, with the following dates currently confirmed: 24th & 25th Feb 2012 - Leicester Square, London 27th Feb 2012 - Glee Club, Birmingham 28th Feb 2012 - Glee Club, Cardiff 29th Feb 2012 - Memorial Hall, Sheffield 1st March 2012 - Liverpool Olympia 2nd March 2012 - Dublin, Venue TBA 3rd March 2012 - Belfast Empire Seriously go and see him.