One of the most entertainingly twisted brawlers in the wrestling business, Mick Foley went to great (sometimes sickening) lengths to entertain wrestling fans. Despite the soap-opera theatrics of wrestling, Foley nonetheless earned 300 stitches, a broken nose (twice), dislodged teeth, a dislocated jaw and broken bones from head to toe. Oh, and he lost an ear. Is he a masochist? Actually, hes a stand-up comedian, and has been for several years now, touring around the world from the UK to Ireland to Australia, and performing for American service-members in the Middle-East and South Korea. A three-time WWE champion and two-time New York Times #1 best-selling author, Foleys one-man stage show returns to Canada at the end of this month. Hardcore Legend: An Evening with Mick Foley, is by turns uproariously funny, simply surreal, and surprisingly sensitive a full course meal for the senses, including a Q&A and meet and great all done with the use of just one, solitary F-bomb, the press release states. Before kicking off the Canadian leg of his tour on July 30 in Concord, Ontario, The Hardcore Legend chatted at length with WhatCulture for an exclusive interview about his new stage show, storytelling, and Santa Claus. WhatCulture: First off, congrats on your successful tour across the U.S. and your upcoming coast-to-coast dates through Canada.Mick Foley: Ah thanks, I can go out on a limb and say its improved a lot since I did some shows in Canada a few years back. WC: Whats it been like performing in the smaller clubs compared to the big comedy festivals?MF: Its funny because you can only see a certain amount of people no matter how large the crowd is, so as long as you can look out and see those first five or six rows of people enjoying themselves, I have as good a time in those intimate atmospheres as I do in front of 15,000. Its fun and it feels like being in the ring without getting hurt, and people tend to leave the shows with a huge smile on their face. WC: How different is performing comedy to cutting a wrestling promo?MF: Its much different, but I still consider all of it to be storytelling. This will be far more storytelling on this tour than the shows from a few years back, where I ventured on into other subjects. Ive learned that there are literally hundreds of guys who are going to be funnier on any other subject outside of wrestling. One of the main differences for example between doing a promo in wrestling and a story on stage is that the promo is usually at its best the first time its delivered, flaws and all, whereas a story can get better through repetition. You find different things that work, different ways to make it funny. Almost every road trip I make is spent thinking of ways to improve upon the previous nights show. WC: In the WWE program Legends of Wrestling roundtable discussions, you have a real knack for keeping your insightful stories short and succinct...MF: Well, I think just repetition has given me the ability to make things a little more concise. I also love the Q&A part of my show, which is more spontaneous. But I think the Q&A works when it follows up a performance. So people will get stories. And this is a new show. I started this show two months ago, and thanks to the notes sections of the iPhone, which I never would have dreamt existed, I can now drive down the road and instead of having a good idea that may or may not be remembered, I just make a note of it and find ways to make those stories work even better. Theres no such thing as a perfect show but my goal is to come as close as I can on any given night, but a lot of it depends on the atmosphere of the audience which is why the venue and the people in it are so important. I did Montreal (Just for Laughs Festival) and Edinburgh (Fringe Festival) a couple of years ago and those were really important for me because I received so many very good reviews from people who were not wrestling fans. Like, they get that theyre fun stories about unique individuals who just happen to be wrestlers. And I really pride myself on making the stories accessible to non-fans, but no question about it its geared towards the wrestling fans. WC: Can you pinpoint when exactly your comedy career began?MF: I would say that, if there is such a thing as a comedy career, it started at Hell in a Cell when I woke up the next day and realized I had to find a different way to connect with audiences if I wanted to continue doing this stuff. But it was really during that Rock and Sock connection where making people laugh became a big part of what I did. To this day, right behind that cell match are recollections of the Rock and Sock Connection. And people will say to me, hey you guys were the greatest tag team of all time. And I will respond by saying, can you name one match we were in? And they usually cant. And thats not a knock on what we did in the ring, because we had some good matches in the ring, but it speaks to how happy we made people that all these years later, 15 years later, people remember those segments. Im talking about This is Your Life, and others like they happened yesterday. WC: The comedic chemistry between you and The Rock in the ring, against one another as foes was also tremendous.MF: During our fierce rivalry I would kind of break wrestlers code, as you will, and claim that I would not sell that ridiculous elbow. And the Rock would say, you sure as heck will, and then when it came time I would sell it like Id been shot with an elephant gun. But those are great memories and its really flattering to know the matches meant so much to him, especially given who he has become. I just heard some comments that Rocks dad made about me that were very flattering as well and how much he thought I helped his sons career out. An amazing thing is Rocky ended up meeting the guy who was my video mentor when I went to college in Courtland, New York and took a liking to him and just out of the blue asked him and his friend if they would consider working on a book with him, so theyve made many trips down to Davie, Florida. And so Rocky Johnsons book will be co-written by one of my best friends from college. Very strange, so he just emailed me a clip of Rocky talking about me, and it was very, very flattering. WC: Youre also very active on social media.MF: Im probably too active. You know I get myself in a lot of trouble. Its not a healthy thing to have a keyboard at your disposal at a moments notice. (laughs) WC: On your Facebook page, you wrote a touching tribute recently when you heard of Santino Marellas retirement from in-ring action.MF: Yeah, I went out of my way and wrote a nice little post just thanking him for three specific moments and then asked people to share their favourite Santino moments. And we got hundreds of people sharing all these things, and even if its not something thats going to fit into WWEs television show, then theres still a way to express how much they love the guy. Personally, even if his in ring career is coming to an end, I can definitely see Santino making a big contribution to the company, hopefully as a general manager. To me, Santino would be able to put a stamp on that general managers role and create some levity in an era that can sometimes use it. WC: And you have a new documentary called I Am Santa Claus, where you are both the subject and the producer of the film, right?MF: Thats right, coming out in November but debuting at a major film festival in September, we hope. Im a fanatic of Santa, and am one of three wrestlers who has a year-round Christmas room in their house. Jerry Lawler is one of the other ones, and the other name eludes me, but I have very strong Christmas memories. I know Ive been on Smackdown, and what not, as Santa Claus but this is the real deal where kids are visiting me because I am Santa Claus. WC: What was it like when your own children discovered Santa wasnt real?MF: Its devastating, and its probably something Ill talk about in these upcoming shows, because in last years show I had an epic story about Santa Claus. And this year has kind of a bitter sweet conclusion. But the bottom line is, my son is 11, and hes running around the house with his elf costume and we were working on ways to make visits for other people more magical. So its about spreading the good will and cheer at Christmas. And hes all in. Because once they discover the truth about Santa, as a parent you make it all about giving and teaching them that it really is better to give than to receive. But thats a tough concept for the younger kids. WC: Do you have a favourite Christmas television episode?MF: The Twilight Zone episode, Night of the Meek. Thats my favourite Christmas episode of anything. WC: That episode, starring Art Carney as a forlorn department store Santa, has a really different feel to it compared to other episodes of The Twilight ZoneMF: Yeah, it really does. The budget from what I understand, they had spent a great deal of their budget and they were kind of shooting it on a shoe string, so it almost takes on a live performance feel, and its wonderful. I watch it at least once a year, every year, usually two or three times. Its an incredible piece of art. WC: Do you see yourself as an artist?MF: Its funny because people on the outside art world would shutter at the idea of wrestlers referring to themselves as artists. But when you can touch people and create memories with what you do, whether its physical actions or whether its an interview, or when you can cast an indelible memory on someones mind, I think you are creating art. I didnt get into wrestling with the idea of being an artist, but I accept that by some definitions what we do is art.
Marshall Ward is an arts, music, entertainment and professional wrestling writer based in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. A weekly columnist with the Waterloo Chronicle newspaper, Ward is also a contributing writer for Rock Cellar Magazine and has interviewed everyone from William Shatner to Olivia Newton-John to Ringo Starr. Email is welcome at marshall_ward@hotmail.com.
WC: What was it like when your own children discovered Santa wasnt real?MF: Its devastating, and its probably something Ill talk about in these upcoming shows, because in last years show I had an epic story about Santa Claus. And this year has kind of a bitter sweet conclusion. But the bottom line is, my son is 11, and hes running around the house with his elf costume and we were working on ways to make visits for other people more magical. So its about spreading the good will and cheer at Christmas. And hes all in. Because once they discover the truth about Santa, as a parent you make it all about giving and teaching them that it really is better to give than to receive. But thats a tough concept for the younger kids. WC: Do you have a favourite Christmas television episode?MF: The Twilight Zone episode, Night of the Meek. Thats my favourite Christmas episode of anything. WC: That episode, starring Art Carney as a forlorn department store Santa, has a really different feel to it compared to other episodes of The Twilight ZoneMF: Yeah, it really does. The budget from what I understand, they had spent a great deal of their budget and they were kind of shooting it on a shoe string, so it almost takes on a live performance feel, and its wonderful. I watch it at least once a year, every year, usually two or three times. Its an incredible piece of art. WC: Do you see yourself as an artist?MF: Its funny because people on the outside art world would shutter at the idea of wrestlers referring to themselves as artists. But when you can touch people and create memories with what you do, whether its physical actions or whether its an interview, or when you can cast an indelible memory on someones mind, I think you are creating art. I didnt get into wrestling with the idea of being an artist, but I accept that by some definitions what we do is art. 