Billy Gardell (03-26-26)

And a good Thursday. Welcome in, Chase and Big Joe. One or two, five, the game. We are live at Circa Sports

Kentucky here at the Mint at Kentucky Downs. And excited to be here for the sweet 16 getting

underway. And they're going to have all the games on opening day, a major league baseball.

Those will all be on. So this is going to be fun. I'm Chase McCabeys, Big Joe Dubin,

Dr. Craig Nick Frazier back at the studio. Let's go. Oh, it's going to be a great day.

And listen, we're not bearing the lead today, ledE. We're not bearing the lead. We're

bringing the best right out of the gate. And I'm so excited who we have firing off our

show today. I'm going to let you do the honors. Well, I'm telling you, if you ever watch

Mike and Molly, you know, Billy Gardell as he's just a great comedian, a funny guy. I think

he's a legend. And guess who's on our show right now? Let's bring in the great, the wonderful

Billy Gardell. He's going to be at the Mint Gaming Hall here in Kentucky on April the 4th.

Billy, good afternoon. Thanks for doing this, buddy. How are you?

Guys, thank you very much for having me and did me a favor. Put in a trifecta for me.

I fixed four eight horses, all right? $2 bucks. $2 bucks. We got you. We're going to do it

soon. Yes, sir. Billy, you're coming to Mint Gaming Hall up here in Kentucky. I guess

you're on the road. You're doing your comedy. How are things going?

Things are good, man. You know, these days at my age, I kind of feel like Bolberum, you

know what I mean? But when I'm traveling, but performing part of it is still the greatest

joy. You know, I've been really enjoying being out on tour. And it's been so nice to see,

you know, fans and stuff I did on TV. You mentioned Mike and Molly and, you know, Bob Hearts,

Abbershellas, some fans. There's some young Sheldon fans. It's nice to see the work you do.

People still remember. They still appreciate it. And actually, it's a great day today, man,

because Netflix finally has picked up Mike and Molly and it starts airing on Netflix today.

So that's a little bonus. And it's actually my dad's birthday. So it's kind of good comedy.

And you're on the chase in Big Joe show. I mean, this is the best day in your life, Billy.

Absolutely, buddy.

Listen, I posted the day that you're coming on our show. And I did the picture of you,

Mike and Molly, and in the picture you now, everybody's talking about your weight loss, right?

What was the moment you decided, like, I got to change how I feel, how I look? And did you expect

all this outstanding love you're getting from people? How you transformed your life?

You know, man, what made me turn the corner was when we all went through COVID the first time.

You know, and they brought up the people that were most likely to be in trouble with people with

sleep apnea, asthma, type 2 diabetes, smokers. And I was like, Bingo, I got all of them.

I just decided that I was going to make a change right then and there. And also my blood numbers

have been creeping up. You know, you cannot run the map. When the map starts yelling at you,

you got to make a change. So I just quit smoking and that led to, hey, I'm going to take this

seriously. I went and got bariatric surgery. I follow a very strict diet every single day.

So I can maintain it because you know, like one in four people that have that surgery and they get

heavy again. And then there's other problems. And so I'm always very honest about how I did it,

what it takes to keep going. I always tell people if you're going to do it, make sure you understand

what you have to do to keep going. And as far as connecting with my fans, there's been a lot of them

that have been so loving and encouraging. And actually, there's a couple of people that I have

been lucky enough to inspire. And that always touches my heart. And that's the stuff you got to look

for because there's also a pocket of morons on the internet. We all know, right? When I was

when I was big, they were like, he's too proud. He's going to die. And now that I lost weight,

they're like, I think he's sick. Like people just, you know, you know, they're just living in a

basement somewhere with nothing to do. But you know, I tell like I tell my son all the time, man,

go with the love is. And if you surround yourself with forward-minded people, loving people,

and people that want to see you do well, then your circle gets strong, man. And that's, I think,

where we're at. And I kind of bring that to my comedy. You know, we have more in common than we

don't. And I talk a lot about being an empty nester and, you know, rooting for my kid. I think

it's low-hanging fruit to rip on this generation. I mean, they are up against it. And I also talk about

my father being my biggest fan. So there's a lot of good family themes that come through my show.

And like I said, I get a lot of joy out of that. It's almost like I can be observant. You know,

if I can make you laugh for an hour and forget your, your muck, that's good. You know what I mean? I

think that's a good way to be. Billy Gardell is with us going to be at the mint here at the

mint. It can tuck you down on April 4th. But you know, looking at your work, I've always been

curious of an actor like you that stars in a hit television show. It has a fantastic run. The

run comes to an end. And then a few years later, you do it all over again because I don't feel like

you see that a whole lot because, you know, for so many, like I remember a lot of the stars of

friends were talking about being typecast that, you know, like Matt LeBlanc is like, I'm always

Joey. And you were able to kind of overcome that. How difficult was that process when you moved on

from Mike and Molly? You know, man, I was just lucky enough to have an ally in Chuck Lorry. So when

we did Mike and Molly, after that ended, he kind of, he brought me into young Sheldon. He said,

he called me and he said, Hey, you want to play a red neck who's drinking beer in a chicken

coop? And I was like, Yeah, I do. So he started, he already started kind of painting the out of

that corner with that character. And there was such a fun cast to be a part of Lance Barber and all

those guys on young Sheldon. They were wonderful. And then he came up with this idea. He called me and

he said, Hey, man, I got an idea for another show. It's about a compression sock salesman from

Detroit who has a heart attack wakes up and falls in love with his Nigerian nurse. And I was like,

Okay, I'm in. I think I think it's the material and the commitment to being a different guy that

breaks you out of that. But the industry does have that thing where they box you in. And I did an

independent film that's actually streaming right now on Prime called the vortex or play gambling

addicts. I'm trying to show them I can do dramatic stuff. Okay, what was harder than anything is when

I lost the weight. Because there's always people in casting that take, well, he's not big anymore.

There's no way it can still be funny. Like your funny power evaporates because you lost weight,

you know what I mean? So I've been having to fight that uphill a little bit. But like I said,

slowly but surely the auditions just start to roll back in. And I'm also the place where I want to

do something different. You know, I want to keep stretching as an artist and stand up as always my

first love. And while I'm doing, you know, looking for parts that are different for me, older,

maybe the cranky police chief or the burned out fire captain, you know, yeah. And then but in

between that, I get the gift of being able to come to stand up. So so yeah, there's an uphill

battle to it. But it's also about you have to keep rolling and changing, you know, do you feel like

that when you do the stand up does the audience, they know who you are. Obviously, that's why they're

there to see you. But can they separate when they're listening to your act of, oh, this is Billy,

this isn't Mike or, you know, they actually are just listening to you, the person, do your routine.

Yeah, I don't think I have that much of a separation because I'm not that different as far as

humor wise. Like I'm from Pittsburgh. So I have that rust belt Midwest sense of humor anyway,

which is what Mike and Bob had. The only difference between me and them is I swear a little more.

I don't do anything that's going to run you out the door, you know what I mean? I don't,

that's not really my style. So I think most of the stuff I talk about is marriage and, you know,

coming from a working class childhood and, you know, things that are very prevalent to the,

you know, the middle west, the northeast, the southeast, you know, I seem to identify there

for pretty well. So it's not a big separation. It's not like, you know, they see me on Mike and

Molly and they come and then I'm like a magician. It's, you know, yeah, what are we watching?

Billy Gardell is with us. In 2017, you played Colonel Tom Parker in the set records series. We love

Elvis on this show. I have to imagine preparing for that role had to be a lot of fun with,

as much as you learn. What, what all went into that process of playing Colonel Tom?

That was probably the best acting I've done to date. And it was about the million dollar

quartet at some records, which was Jerry Lewis, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash and Elvis.

And I played Colonel Parker and how he stole Elvis away from Sam Phillips. And it was directed

by Roland Jaffee. It was shot beautifully, written beautifully. And it was eight episodes

and it's streaming on Paramount right now. And they got to the end of the first season. And I think

CMT took a look at that price tag and said, we should probably go back to those shares where people

catch fish with their own. I think had it been on a bigger platform. We would have had a shot. I

think it was just a little too much of an undertaking for them. But it's a beautiful show and it's

on Paramount. And I'll tell you why I love doing it so much. I really got access to the folks

at Sun Records and the folks at Graceland. And my dad was the biggest Elvis fan I ever met in my

life. Like he called off a worksick in 77 when Elvis died for two days. And he's the only guy I

ever knew that didn't like the Beatles. And I quote, those hippies knocked Elvis off their throne.

They're dead to me. They have nothing to do with the Beatles. So we were in Elvis out. So while he

was alive, getting to play Colonel Parker and sending him pictures of the sets and then I flew

him down so he could go to Graceland. And he was just I did that was his favorite thing that I ever

did, which was really cool. I love it. Billy Gardell is with us on the chase of Big

Joe show. You know him from Mike and Molly and Bob Hearts. I'll show the Billy. This is how worlds

collide. You ready for this? Our afternoon show has a guy by the name of Willie Donick. He is the

TV voice of the National Predators. Willie Donick went to the same high school you did in Winter Park

high school in Orlando, Florida. Oh, wow. Yeah. He sent me a picture. He said, go wild cats.

It's just funny, Billy, how we're all we're all weirdly connected somehow.

Well, that's a lot about what I talk about, man, because you know, in the world today,

um, we spend a lot of time looking for the differences and not remember the similarities.

Yes. And I keep things very simple, man, and that is this. Most of us, most of us on this planet

are looking for a hand to hold, a roof to live under and a job to pay for it. And we will give

each other a little space to do that. Then we become better as a community. We become better as

a society. And, uh, you know, we've forgotten that a little bit. We've gotten very judgmental,

social media's poisoned us, you know, and so it's kind of like social media is like,

you ever see two dogs, you know, and there's a glass door in between them and there's a

bark and a snout. And then you slide the door and they're like, hey, how you doing?

That's how you have to look at social media because I think people inherently are good.

I think people are inherently struggling right now trying to figure out what's next.

And, uh, I don't want to be a part of the chaos, man. And I, and I still do believe that, uh,

there are more kind and good people out there than there are not.

Amen. Uh, Billy, I will tell you this. I've never been thrown out of a movie. I came close.

One of my, one of my favorite movies is Jersey Boys. And when you pop, when you pop up in that,

and I'm like, there's Billy Gardell in the middle of the movie theater.

What, what was that like working doing? Cause that's a great movie. But you also worked with Clint

Eastwood. Yeah. I, um, I, I was on Micah Molly at the time and his casting office was right

around the corner from our stage. And I've, I'm, you know, my dad, God, we sat and watched every

spaghetti western he ever did, you know, Josie Wales. I got high and then dirty Harry and I was

legendary. So I walked over to the casting agency and I started the casting office and I said,

Hey, uh, I'm Billy from Micah Molly and the receptionist. They go, yeah, we know who you are. I said,

okay, I go, hey, listen, I've always wanted to work with Mr. Eastwood. If you guys have anything

available, I'd be happy to do it just to get a day of work with them. And she said, well,

we don't have any major parts left. There's one little part for a bowling alley owner who gets

to yell at the poor sheep. And she said, okay, let me, let me ask them if they'll do that. And then

the next day they said, yeah, we'd love to have you. And I got to go out to this little area in

California. Clint Eastwood, he films so cool, man. It's like you get two takes and we're moving on

and you better know your stuff. And he like, he's no nonsense. It's all quiet and calm and professional

and like, and when he says, he doesn't say action of God, he goes, all right, begin. And you do.

Oh, that's great. And then at the end of the scene, he doesn't say, cut, he goes, all right,

that's enough of that. And I got to go do that. And I'll tell you, it was such a big deal to do

that because you see, I mean, that's a legend of the game, man. I mean, I can't. And that was

the only time my wife, my wife's super supportive of me. And she's usually like, have fun. Bye,

love you, goodbye. You have fun, honey. Do good. But when I told her I was working with her at

any sort of thing, she's like, I'm going to work with you that day. You turn to meet him too.

Oh, that's so cool. Sweet. You guys took a picture with us. And I said, my wife loves him.

He goes, well, she's obviously got very good taste.

What a memory. And you know, it was really cool, man. The, the second taste, he could tell I was a

comic. And it was like, listen, really give these kids the business. Just go off the coffin,

really rip them up. And I got, so I got to improv a little bit of that scene. And he kept some of

that in there. So I get to be a part of Jersey boys. I got the work with Clint. And I got that

for a few of my life. Oh, I love it. Billy Gardell's with us. He's at the Mint Gaming Hall or

Kentucky Downs on April the 4th. For real, you go, you know, Mike and Molly, right? I mean,

it's so great that you have embraced all that because I know there's some acts like, oh,

I moved on from that. I mean, that, did you have any idea, Billy, how powerful that show is?

And now it's on Netflix. Now, whole new generation gets to see it. What a wonderful ride that had

to have been. Yeah, you know what the gift of Mike and Molly was, man, it was the relationship

that the cast had with each other. We still get together once a month for lunch. And now it goes

from what project you're working on to, whatever party your body's hurting, the kids don't call

and we can't digest food anymore. But the gift of that was, it was life changing for all of us,

because at that moment, you know, most of us were over 40 when that thing hit. And so the gratitude

that happened during that show was not only life changing, but we were lucky enough to know how

special it was while we were in the middle of it. And I think that's something that didn't leave

any of us. And I think the love we have for each other still to the day is what came through

that screen. Now, later on, I found that, and I do believe, look, I think Bob Hart's show was

a very good show. It's very sweet. And it says love conquer all. But I think Mike and Molly's

at that classic level. And I'm very proud of that. And I looked back at great fondness. Like,

when I see the episodes today, they hold up. They're funny. And they're sweet. And that's a great

combination. But I, I really felt like in the middle of that, we all kind of knew, wow, this is

a once in a lifetime deal. Like everybody, that whole set was family. Like we really, really,

like, you know, like the day I played Vince, like we used to have the camera guys. We throw

them parties in his backyard and take care of our crew that way. Like we took Jimmy Burrows,

the legendary director in the props department of the San Amida for a day, a gambling on horses.

Like it was just a, it was a wonderful experience to be a part of it. And I don't think anybody on

that show would tell you different because it was so, so meaningful at that moment. But again,

we realized the while we were in it. And then, you know, and then later, you hear things,

you never know where an aspect of kindness is going to resonate. Like later on, I got a couple

letters from people, one letter from the lady who told me that, you know, her father had horrible,

horrible dementia. And the only thing that calmed him down was watching Mike and Molly from

noon to one every day in his facility. Yes. So when you hear, when you hear things like that,

you go, you know what, man, maybe, maybe, you know, maybe it's not about us. Maybe we're here to

lift others up and we're doing that. We get peace. I try to hold on. Love it. Love it. What do I know?

You know it all, Billy, Billy Gardell, be here April the fourth comes CM up here at the

Midgaming Hall Kentucky Downs. Billy, thank you. I know you've got to run. Man, we appreciate this

so much. I want to talk to you down the line. Guys, I appreciate you. And I love coming on

radio still because I'm from Earth one and my fans still reading think so I really appreciate you.

And I'll see everybody down at the minute. Let's go. Let's win some money and laugh.

Those things are kind of both. Absolutely. Thank you. Thank you, Billy. Appreciate it.

Guys, bye bye. Yeah, that was awesome. Billy Gardell going to be here April 4th at the

Mint here at Kentucky Downs. We're at Circa today inside the Mint. But I really appreciate him

joining the show. And I texted someone and said, once again, the Chase and Big Joe show has

landed a random guest, put a fun guy. Yeah, right. And it comes out on Netflix today.

I mean, that's awesome. That's awesome. Different generations here. That's really cool.

615-737-125 is our phone and text line driven by Wilson CountyHoney.com. When we come back,

we'll give your question of the day. Plus, we'll talk some boxing at the bottom of the hour.

More coming, Chase and Big Joe, 1-025 the game.