Step right up and witness the stories of a figure larger than life itself—Andre the Giant. Our episode today is a heartfelt toast to the legend whose personality dwarfed even his own towering frame. We regale you with tales fit for a king, from Andre's epic showdowns in refusing to be out-heighted, to the bar tabs that are the stuff of legends. But it's not just about the grandeur; we peel back the curtain to reveal the tender humanity that connects us all, through the eyes of wrestling's greatest icons. Expect laughter, a touch of nostalgia, and perhaps a new appreciation for the man who was much more than a giant in the ring.
Prepare to be entertained by the chaos that ensued during one man's audacious encounter at a Chinese restaurant—an event that transformed a regular evening into the hot topic on everyone's lips. We recount how a simple act of nonconformity can stir up a whirlwind of reactions, leaving a lasting impression on a community. This isn't just a story about a disrupted dinner; it's a snapshot of the hilarity that life throws our way, and a reminder that sometimes, the most memorable moments are those that catch us completely off guard. So sit back, relax, and let us guide you through these unforgettable slices of life.
Step right up and witness the stories of a figure larger than life itself—Andre the Giant. Our episode today is a heartfelt toast to the legend whose personality dwarfed even his own towering frame. We regale you with tales fit for a king, from Andre's epic showdowns in refusing to be out-heighted, to the bar tabs that are the stuff of legends. But it's not just about the grandeur; we peel back the curtain to reveal the tender humanity that connects us all, through the eyes of wrestling's greatest icons. Expect laughter, a touch of nostalgia, and perhaps a new appreciation for the man who was much more than a giant in the ring.
Prepare to be entertained by the chaos that ensued during one man's audacious encounter at a Chinese restaurant—an event that transformed a regular evening into the hot topic on everyone's lips. We recount how a simple act of nonconformity can stir up a whirlwind of reactions, leaving a lasting impression on a community. This isn't just a story about a disrupted dinner; it's a snapshot of the hilarity that life throws our way, and a reminder that sometimes, the most memorable moments are those that catch us completely off guard. So sit back, relax, and let us guide you through these unforgettable slices of life.
Speaker 1:
Relatives are like fish After three days they stink. Bobby, bobby, bobby, bobby, bobby, bobby, bobby, bobby, bobby, bobby, bobby, bobby. Oh, bobby, bobby, bobby, bobby, bobby. Yeah, half a pound of Tappany rice, half a pound of treacle. That's the way the money goes. Pop goes the weasel.
Speaker 1:
The Andre never wore a coat. It'd be wintertime. I don't care if we're in Winnipeg or Montreal. Have his shoes on, no socks. His pants Shirt opened, sometimes a sports coat, sometimes not, that's if he decided to take off the car that night or it wasn't covering the pool.
Speaker 1:
He liked this one French restaurant in Connecticut and a guy used to cook for him French waiter cook, and it kind of was like his mom used to cook. So Andre liked to go there and nobody bothered him, and they had an old guy named Ralph that played the piano. So you ever been to a French restaurant? You know what French food is it's liver, it's lips, tongue, lungs. So I used to call the place the autopsy grocery, autopsy grill, I mean. So they had this old guy that played the piano there. His name was Charlie. I said, charlie, one of these days you're going to be on the menu here, but I'd be like him. That's what they liked All that liver and stuff like that. It's called autopsy grill and Andre could sit there in quiet and be bothered if he liked that. I remember he had Princess Bride in the movie.
Speaker 1:
Rob Reiner told me that I met him at the Comedy Awards in LA. A friend of mine, a producer that did Laughing and Real People, george Slaughter. We met him at Nappy years ago and he liked me and Okram and we became real good friends so he invited my wife and I to Comedy Awards. My God, everybody was there. The Reiners, I mean we sat across from. We sat at table once with DeGeneres and her family. I sat with JJ Walker I was about 50 feet from a Kel Welch she is beautiful. And Phyllis Dillard was across the table. You know she's about 80. Had so much plus of surgery and my wife looked at me. She said look, she has a dimple. I said that's her asshole. I came up so far. So Rob Reiner was there. He was a meathead in all the family. He was the producer of the movie Princess Bride.
Speaker 1:
So I went up and introduced myself. He said well, andrew is quite a guy. I said he certainly was. He said you know what his bill was at the highest for the month we shot the movie. I said he certainly was. He said you know what his bill was at the highest for the month we shot the movie? I said no, he said $40,000. I said that was. He said there was no movie on it. There was no movie on it. He said of course he never left the bar $40,000. And he told me. He said at the end of the movie where Andre rides away on the whore, that's not Andre, he was too big, they wouldn't SPCA, they wouldn't let him. They tatted a guy in a suit, andre.
Speaker 1:
It was this bar in Atlanta called it was Wrestling One's bar, not Charlie Walker 2, it was Wrestling One, tim Woods and Andre's in the bar one night and there's a girl in there and she's quite well endowed. So Andre says let me see your what we'll call fun bags. Yeah, so she took her bra off and gave it to him and said if you go across the street and put it on that horse, now across the street there's a bar called the Crystal Club and on the roof of the bar there's a wooden horse, like you see it outside of a country western store 3 o'clock in the morning here's a guy, 7'5", and he's got the cook out there with a ladder, take him up to the rooks, puts the ladder up against the horse and he's putting this bra on a horse At 3 o'clock in the morning on Stewart Avenue in Atlanta, gets down off the thing, goes back in the bar. She's gone. She's gone, but the horse across the street looked good.
Speaker 1:
John was a real nice, quiet man. He loved his son, john, and his daughter and his wife and, uh, he just wanted to be home and he, he always wanted to do the right thing. Sometimes I would get upset with people on the plane. They combined bug you trying to sleep, and john would say be nice, I'll sign the autograph. Oh really, yeah, he was just a real decent man.
Speaker 1:
The business was far beyond him. I mean, yeah, I don't ever remember him ever saying damn it, yeah, yeah, he was just a real nice guy and he wanted to be the biggest guy in the business but he couldn't because of Andre and Andre didn't like big guys. Oh really, oh yeah, a pretty girl, another pretty girl. Oh, okay, yeah. And I remember Manute Ball would come to Washington to the Cap Center. He was a basketball player from Nigeria. He was about seven, eight. Andre would never go out and meet him Really, because Vince McMahon Sr, don't ever let anybody see you with someone bigger than you and take a picture of it. Wow, You're going to be the biggest guy in the world. So Andre always never went around big guys. So when he worked with Stets, andre wanted to bump him around with Stets Can't Take Bumps. And then Stets was always talking about he's the real giant and I think andre sometimes believes those interviews. And then when he was getting the ring with andre just pulverized him, yeah, and towards the end, uh, he pulled some of john's hair out and loosened some teeth and john couldn't understand why. It was simple, andre wanted stud to stay on him. It was simple, andre wanted to stay on him and beat him down and John didn't want to make him mad. So that's what happened, wow. But other than that, no, john was a real, real nice man. He was kind of like a Howard Sprague from Mayberry.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, I'm just sitting in a bar when I get to a shirt right open, so I'm boxing. The place is called the Twilight Club. All country, western Atlanta. Bouncer comes by, little bouncer. He says hey, got a button in your shirt. I'm just says nothing, keeps drinking Guys. Hey, I told you to gotta button your shirt. Andre says nothing. Keeps drinking Guys. Hey, I told you to button your shirt, nothing.
Speaker 1:
Here's the manager of the manager. He says you gotta button your shirt. Says nothing. Call the cops. Here comes Barney. He comes in all by himself. Says you gotta button your shirt. Andre says nothing. Calls for backup. There's 20 cops in the bar. Sergeant comes over and says you got a button in your shirt. Andre says nothing. He calls for backup. There's 20 cops in the bar. Sergeant goes over and says you got a button in your shirt. Andre says nothing. The cop says okay, stand up. Well, andre stands up and never stops. And the cop watches him get out of that chair and just keeps watching him and watching him and watching him. And he turns to the other cops and he says hey, there's rotten here. Hey, let them go. They're gonna be done for Twenty cows, for the fuck. Oh yeah.
Speaker 1:
He went to a Chinese restaurant one day and he had a shirt open. He's a four o'clock, big guy, little Chinese waitress comes. She says oh, buttoned shirt, buttoned shirt. I didn't say that button shirt. He says if I can't show you my chest, then I will show you my ass and he ruined the whole Chinese restaurant. Now think of the guy that works for H&R Block going in in the morning. Hey, freddy, me and Marge last night were out at One Phongs and this guy came in. And this guy came in. He was 8 feet 30, weighed 4,000 pounds and he mooned us. Oh yeah, I told him. I said you beat Nick one more time. You get to keep him. Put the word in the streets.
