Wrestling with emotions and tickling funny bones, our multifaceted guest weaves a tale that goes beyond the mat and stage. Their life, marked by the void of a father figure, unfolds in a narrative that challenges the traditional family tableau with humor and heart. As they recount the layers of their upbringing, we're drawn into the complexities of finding strength in the absence of a dad, the extraordinary impact of maternal love, and the surprising connections that can turn strangers into family.
Embark on a journey that navigates the highs and lows of self-discovery against the backdrop of an absent parent. With no bitterness in their voice, our guest shares the joy of connecting with half-siblings and the inner workings of reconciling with a part of their identity that has always been a silent presence. Their story, punctuated by the laughter and persistence of a comic and the physicality of a wrestler, serves as a living testament to the diverse forms family can take, and the indomitable human spirit that thrives in the face of life's unexpected turns.
Wrestling with emotions and tickling funny bones, our multifaceted guest weaves a tale that goes beyond the mat and stage. Their life, marked by the void of a father figure, unfolds in a narrative that challenges the traditional family tableau with humor and heart. As they recount the layers of their upbringing, we're drawn into the complexities of finding strength in the absence of a dad, the extraordinary impact of maternal love, and the surprising connections that can turn strangers into family.
Embark on a journey that navigates the highs and lows of self-discovery against the backdrop of an absent parent. With no bitterness in their voice, our guest shares the joy of connecting with half-siblings and the inner workings of reconciling with a part of their identity that has always been a silent presence. Their story, punctuated by the laughter and persistence of a comic and the physicality of a wrestler, serves as a living testament to the diverse forms family can take, and the indomitable human spirit that thrives in the face of life's unexpected turns.
Speaker 1:
I've only done one thing in my life, that's wrestling and make people laugh. I can be stupid and not wrestle, but that's it and I'm made of living with that. You listen to me, you go to the top. Bobby, bobby, bobby, bobby, bobby, bobby, bobby, bobby, bobby, bobby, bobby, bobby, bobby, bobby, bobby, bobby, bobby, oh, bobby, bobby, bobby, bobby, bobby.
Speaker 1:
I was a kid growing up. I didn't have a father. My dad had wrecked my mother and who knows where everybody's at. It's not important. She may have been a pain in the butt, so may he Doesn't matter. But you wonder how this affects a kid. She may have been a pain in the butt, so may he Doesn't matter. When you wonder how this affects a kid, I'll tell you exactly how it affects a kid. I was never affected because I had a lot of love for my mother and my dad was gone.
Speaker 1:
Years later I got to meet my brothers and went to the grave site where my father was buried and I put my hand on his grave. I wrote this and I said I'm not mad at you. And she did what you had to do, no problem. And I patted him in front of my wife and my brother. And I'm not mad. Why did you beat me? Why did you do this and that? I don't know. I'm not there, I wasn't there.
Speaker 1:
But I was never mad and I never felt cheated During Father and Son days. Philip just didn't go. I thought my dad had died or something. I asked my mom when she knew he was just gone. So that actually never came up a whole lot. No, there were never. No pictures of my father or anything about him, and my mom just told me he was gone.
Speaker 1:
But I had so much love for my mother and my grandmother and my aunt and my friends that I never missed him Because I never was raised with him. Had I been raised with him and he was loving and caring which I'm not saying he wasn't because he was to my other brothers, but that could happen. It never bothered me. It never did, because I didn't know him and they never talked. My mother never talked to me that he was a bad person. They just didn't get along. So I had no problem with that. I never had a problem with that. No. And you never saw me playing football games or baseball games or anything like that. No, I didn't, because I only went to grade school. We never had a team. I never played in a high school team or anything else. I played with my mom and grandma.
Speaker 1:
But you know, when you're raised with someone all your life, like my mother and grandma, all you know is them. Even if my dad had shown up and said, thomas, I'm your dad, you're not gonna follow me. I'm really alone. Water's not thicker than water Scotch is. You're not going to follow me. You're really alone. The water's not different than water. It's scotches. I like that.
Speaker 1:
Did you ever wonder why he didn't? You know? Because it's like he was just gone and he never made contact. No, no, I never cared about him. I had so much love for my mother and grandmother. She never hurt me because I never knew him.
Speaker 1:
I was too busy trying to sabotage a neighbor's will. Yeah, or do something wrong man? It never bothered me because I never grew up with it. I grew up with him. If he'd have left me, that may have bothered me, but he was somebody that was. He was like Big Bruce in the 100 Home Runs. I never saw him do it. My dad was my father. I never saw him do it. It just. I have a different thinking maybe than most people, but it never bothered me.
Speaker 1:
While you're talking about that, what about people who blame their life for the way their life has gone and not having a father? I always think that it's because whoever raised them didn't raise them right. They didn't tell them that. Let's say, you have a wife and a father and say and he's a cowboy, and he beats the boy, he beats his wife. It takes off. Well, the kids have seen that, so they have a judgment. The mother was crying, the father was beating them.
Speaker 1:
I can't understand things. I'm four, I'm seven, I'm eight, I don't know. I never saw none of that. My dad left when I was like six months old, maybe it's that. So I could never judge him because I don't know him. And my mother never knocked him. She never did. She just said he's gone. She never told me bad things about him at all, nothing, and no one ever said anything bad about my father. So I just said gone, mie, missing Andrew in a pit show. I don't know, didn't care because I don't know him.
Speaker 1:
So I'm isn't different than what I am and I never had the desire to find him Until Warrior Island. It was since he was star searcher. He's heard of searchers and all I wanted to do is I didn't really want a relationship with him, not because I was mad at him, I didn't know, I didn't really think about that, I didn't think he'd even be alive. I didn't want to see a picture, just so I could see if he hopes left me, or I don't think my mom or Cindy called my wife, called at 800 shares or something, saw my brothers and everything, and it turned out to be immensely rewarding. And you know, the old man wouldn't have been a bad guy. I think I'm glad he didn't rub him because he would have stank me a lot probably. But I think he's been a good guy because I've got three good brothers that are really great, decent people, really really.
Speaker 1:
So he had your son right, oh, exactly, oh, he moved. So what about? So your mom kind of played the father figure role too. No, no, is that it? Yeah, there was. No, I don't know what a father figure is. Well, like, maybe you saw your friends and their dads and stuff like that was there. Well, you lived in Chicago. I lived in an apartment building, so everybody worked.
Speaker 1:
Oh, yeah, when the father came home at 6 or 5, you never saw him. You never saw him at night, saturdays and Sundays we played ball, we went to the cup games, we went to the beach. In those days it seemed to be heard. It wasn't meant to be invited. So it wasn't like um, like he'd throw the ball at me. I mean, of course you throw the ball, you're in an apartment. And it never came into play. It never did. I never saw him cry because he lost his dad or his dad was bad at them. No, no, it was um. It never came to the patient. I told her. I said you beat Nick one more time. You get the cable. Put the word in the streets.