Robert Iler (AJ Soprano), NFL Week 9 Preview And Billy Is A Chicken Breeder

Robert Iler (AJ Soprano), NFL Week 9 Preview And Billy Is A Chicken Breeder

November 06, 2020 1h 49m Explicit

Thursday Night Football was horrific and the Packers are probably back (2:32 - 8:09) . We preview the Week 9 slate including Joe Douglas being a sneaky genius, Mike Tomlin coaching down to competition, the Bears starting create a players on the Offensive line and the Bills getting a test of whether or not they're for real (8:09 - 42:39) . Cant Lose Parlay and Fantasy Fuccbois (42:39 - 50:07)). Actor Robert Ihler aka AJ Soprano joins the show to talk about his career, what it was like growing up on the Sopranos set, funniest cast members, James Gandolfini, being a professional poker play after the show ended and tons more (50:07 - 97:24). We finish with Fyre Fest and Billy being a Sub-Adult Chicken Breeder.


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Full Transcript

Hey, Pardon My Take listeners, you can find every episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music.
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On today's part of my take, we have an awesome, awesome interview with Robert Eiler. You probably know him as AJ Soprano.
Really cool story. You're probably wondering where he's been.
Well, he's got a podcast. He was a professional poker player for a while, and he's a very cool guy.
So we talk a little Sopranos. We get in-depth, maybe some spoilers, his acting career, what he did post, Poker World.
It's an awesome, awesome interview. Kind of out of left field, but he is a big fan of Barstool and Us, so he knows us, and it was really, really fun.
weekend preview NFL week nine coming up a nice slate a nice slate coming up for NFL week nine uh we have uh fantasy fuck boys and then we finish up with fire fest of the week before we get to all that part of my take is brought to you by ever had one of those days when it too cold to keep working? Nah, neither has Ariat. Ariat work jackets and boots are packed with all the cold-stopping waterproof protection you need to get the job done under any conditions so you can take any job out there and always deliver.
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Okay, let's go.

Boy!

Boy! We'll be right back. higher oh we gotta rock down to it's part of my take presented by barstool welcome to part of my take presented by the cash app go download it right now use code barstool you get ten dollars for free ten dollars to the aspca today is friday november 6th and the 49ers had a lot of injuries okay guys like what do you want them to do that wasn't a real win The 49ers had a lot of injuries, okay, guys?

Like, what do you want them to do?

That wasn't a real win.

The 49ers had a lot of injuries.

That game sucked.

America lost.

It felt like a preseason game, didn't it?

It really did.

It felt like week four of the preseason,

and you're like yelling at Matt LaFleur

for having Aaron Rodgers out there needlessly.

Aaron Rodgers didn't need to –

this would have been the perfect time for Jordan Love to get out there, get some reps in. My conspiracy theorist, tinfoil half says, Aaron Rodgers put the kibosh on that.
Yeah. We didn't even see the field.
We had a moment. It was the River Craycraft moment where we thought the 49ers were going to tie it up 7-7 and the nation held their breath in waiting in suspense hoping that we'd have a touchdown and a decent Thursday night football game it got overturned and it was never the same sentence that from that point forward it was just a terrible game Nick Mullins turns out maybe not so good still like him still think he's a good dude still would probably won't take him on the bears no questions asked but uh yeah aaron rogers packers i'll say this though and people are gonna say i'm nitpicking i think aaron aaron rogers look a little tired i think he needs a little sleep i think he's got little bags under his eyes maybe needs to smile a little bit more i think he's been up watching cable news that's what i think taking too close of notice to politics i want a quarterback that doesn't know what a television is aaron rogers he uh he also shaved i don't know if you noticed that he's like a little baby face out there i'm not really wanting to talk about bad facial hair but um i don't know aaron rogers he had like a beard mustache thing going for the last three years now all of a sudden he decides to go clean shaven sounds like you know it's like when britney spears shaved her head when she was having a nervous breakdown some people do that they just say you know what i'm gonna cut my bangs marcia clark did it in the oj trial yeah rogers going through a mental crisis right now we don't know or did he just lose to kirk cousins um so yeah this game sucked and i was promised some kevin white kevin white never really appeared either they're limiting his snap count for some reason i don't understand it well he's also he's been on the practice squad letting him develop a little bit yeah he's still getting some reps uh but yeah it was all in all a terrible game uh just just this this actually you know what we needed the wake-up call of like hey remember remember when thursday night football everyone complained about thursday night football this was a throwback to that because we've had a few good thursday night football games even when the jets played on thursday night football it was kind of entertaining uh but now we have a throwback and the four and the packers are back to like good status, better than good status.

But I don't know how much you can take away from a game where the 49ers were

playing like everyone from their practice squad and,

and then some river Craycraw Craycraft, which is a made up name.

Well, that's a name that I would think of if I'm like imagining a football

game in a dream, I would be like, Oh yeah.

River Craycraft went out there,

threw for 400 yards and five tutters.

Pretty sick.

Yeah, I had him on my bench.

Yeah, it's like a gibberish name.

It's a name that you hear and you're like, wait, what did you just say?

Reggie Crawford?

What did you say?

That's what it is.

Yeah, so, yeah, when you hear it in your dream.

He sounds like a good guy with a name like River Craycraft. It sounds like a solid hang.
A guy that would probably come over and play some poker, not interview too much. He looked like a River Craycraft, too.
I had no idea what a River Craycraft would look like, but then I saw him, and I was like, that makes sense. That's it.
That's the guy. River Craycraft.
Billy, had any thoughts on the game tonight? You're very close to the camera. I kind of of like it it's like you're like a cam boy and his mic's off so that was billy's thoughts on i just want to make sure that cj i want to see if cj bethard gets in because he's pretty electric yeah is he i mean what for sure i think the former days in iowa i mean he Michigan in that like crazy game.
Like I just want to put up 150 yards when they put them in at the end of the other game. That was the game that brought our friend Trent to New York city.
Yeah, I know. Yep.
I do want to give a shout out to Greg Kittle. He's saying that like Greg does not pay attention to doctors.
He does not care if you have a white lab coat or initials after your name, or even if you went to college, they tell him you're going to be out for eight weeks. And Greg is like, yeah, it's going to be two.
Just make it, make it two weeks for my foot. It'll be fine.
Trust me. And you know what? I believe, I believe him.
I believe two weeks max. I think he's going to be catching touchdowns on the weekend of Thanksgiving.
Yes, absolutely. So we actually made – we're recording this right now on Zoom.
We have the rest of the show in person. We made the actually genius decision to all go home and do the first five minutes after the game.
That was genius because this is one of those games that if we had stayed at the office till 1130 at night, we would have felt like such assholes

watching this take place.

So let's do it.

We're starting to yell at each other.

We probably would have had to order two dinners

just to keep ourselves occupied.

Right.

So should we get, though?

Should we do it?

Should we do the weekend preview?

So we've got weekend preview coming up.

We've got Fantasy Fuck Boys.

We've got AJ Soprano.

We've got a hilarious Fyre Fest where we get into some weird shit. Awesome stuff coming up and it's all in person.
Should we do it? Let's get it. When your home system or appliance breaks down, American Home Shield will help fix or replace the covered item no matter its age.
Visit ahs.com slash listen for 20% off any plan. See ahs.com slash contracts for coverage details, limitations and exclusions.
Okay. Weekend preview time.
Let's do it. How we feeling? I like this card.
It's not bad. We've got a couple games of the week.
I'm interested to see what happens in Seattle Buffalo. Seattle Buffalo is going to be great.
We also have that Saturday night Notre Dame-Clemson game, which I'm just adding to the Week 9 card. That's just an extra addition.
That's a bonus NFL game? Yeah, that's a bonus NFL game. But it is a good weekend.
We've got a couple games at 1 o'clock, a couple games at 4 o'clock. Cardinals and Dolphins are going to be – it's not prime time, but that should be the game that everyone's going to be like, ooh, let's watch this at 4 o'clock.
Youinals and dolphins are going to be not it's not prime time but it's that should be the game that everyone's going to be like oh let's watch this at four o'clock you know what though for some reason i'm thinking ahead to like 7 30 p.m on sunday and whichever team loses that game i'm going to like write off in my head as not being for real yes even though absolutely i think both teams are they're both pretty good decent ish yeah play. Yeah, capable of possibly going to the playoffs.
All right, so let's start. We'll start.
We're going to go through every game. Quick hitters.
Broncos, Falcons, Drew Locke. Can he bounce back from an unbelievable win? That's really what defines if you're a good franchise quarterback.
Can you come back from the highs and the lows? Because that was a high. I've updated the Drew Locke Moximeter again midweek this time.
Drew Locke has now advanced to a guy that can win you a game. So we can win with Drew Locke.
Okay. Yeah, we can win with Drew Locke.
Who knows with the Falcons. The Falcons, if they're going to do what they did last year, which they are very capable of doing just because they still have talent, now would be the time.
And by that I mean win a bunch of meaningless games when they're already out of it to screw up their draft pick. Because that's really like the full Falcon sadness is that, where it's you're bad, but then you get a little bit good so that you can't be really, really bad.
You're never bad enough to be good. If you want to be good eventually in the NFL, you have to be bad.
Right. That's what Hank is telling himself that he's going through with the Patriots right now.
Right, exactly. Actually, this is the Patriots' best season because they're getting great for the long term by being so bad right now.
Remember, it's Bill Belichick's best coaching job. It is.
And also, I've heard this start to percolate behind the scenes a little bit, that Belichick knew that this season was going to be a garbage season that was going to get thrown away by the history books and forgotten as being a fake season. Yeah.
So he knew that six months ago, and so he's planned accordingly. He's been tanking on purpose this entire time.
And Keyshawn Johnson threw out the idea that the Jets would trade the first pick to the Patriots so they could draft Trevor Lawrence. That was Keyshawn's big take this week.
Which, yeah, it was basically like they love Sam Darnold, they're going to trade Trevor Lawrence. All I took away from the take from Keyshawn, and this is a place, as someone who struggles with his weight, you never want to be in going viral with your face looking fat because Keyshawn, your face was looking fat And that sucked.
Because I saw it and I was like, whoa, Keyshawn needs a bucket of ice. Like he needs to put his face in some ice water right now.
Yeah, it looks like he got stung by a bunch of murder hornets, actually. So he, yeah, he's always had kind of a fat face, though.
But the problem with Keyshawn is sometimes when he gets a little on the chubbier side, his cheeks migrate down

to his neck.

Yeah.

So his neck gets cheeks and jowls on the side of it.

And that makes you just look, it looks like you're squeezing like a bunch of flesh colored

toothpaste out of a tube.

And this is why being a professional athlete is overrated because eventually you won't

be a professional athlete and you'll probably gain a little weight and everyone will be

like, ooh, you look fat, even though he's not fat, but he's fat in comparison to a professional athlete. So that's why I never went pro.
Yeah, exactly. Just stay chubby all your life and no one will be like, ooh, you look fat.
I want to back up real quick. You said that the Jets, you said that he said that the Jets are going to trade the number one pick to the Patriots.
I would appreciate that just for safekeeping. Old time's sake.
I just don't want to see the Jets screw up another really good really good player just right when the jets are about to take a step forward they make sure that the patriots take two steps forward well yeah i mean going there if you don't have your shit together in life now's not the time to be going out and adopting the cutest puppy in the world right i'd rather see you rehome that puppy to your uh your more stable neighbors right like if you're smoking meth in your garage give it to your neighbors that at least have a full-time job. And Joe Douglas, now we're just talking too much Jets because they're playing Monday Night Football, but Joe Douglas did say that Adam Gase is safe.
I think they should extend him. Well, no, Joe Douglas has figured out, I mean, we've touched on this, but he has realized that keeping Adam Gase is the smartest thing you can do as a GM because one, he's torturing him and no one likes Adam Gase.
I can tell you, I've never met the guy, but I can tell you no one likes him. And two, it actually, Adam Gase is your tank.
Like he is your tank, but not tanking. You can't be accused of tanking, but you are tanking when you have Adam Gase out there.
He's basically Cameron. He's the Cameron Payne of the NFL.
You just throw him out there and let him do his thing. And you're like, well, at least we tried.
No, you didn't try. You had Adam Gase as your coach.
Yeah. I think that the Jets should extend him.
I think you've got to bring Adam Gase back for at least one more year. Maybe two.
Yep. All right.
Seahawks-Bills. This is a game we talked about that's going to be a great 1 o'clock game.
I want to squat on a take, a pre-take. So, Carlos Dunlap traded to the Seahawks.
Jamal Adams is going to be back. I think that the Seahawks defense is going to start turning a corner here, playing well, and it's going to take a little bit of time for people to catch up to it, but in like 3-4 weeks, we're going to be sitting here being like, you know who's really's really playing well the Seahawks defense I think that if the Seahawks can get out to an early lead they could that's a team that like can still get after the quarterback I think if they know that you're gonna be passing the ball well Carlos Stenlop should help and Jamal Adams definitely will help because he's one of the best safeties in the league but I uh I just think that this in complementary football is important that the Seahawks offense is so good.
It put pressure on the other team's offense to try to score points all the time. So I just feel it's going to happen and there's going to be a perception out there that the Seahawks defense sucks in like five weeks, even though they won't suck anymore.
But this game to me, this is big test for the bills because the bills let's be honest we love josh allen we love bills mafia i any bills fan would tell you they have not looked good they have not looked good like they've they've looked okay they you know even they beat the patriots by three that wasn't a unbelievable win they beat the jets by eight after not being able to get in the Reds, you know, kicking field goals instead of touchdowns. They lost to the Chiefs.
They lost to, who else? The Titans? No. Yeah, the Titans.
So they're two and two in their last four, and the two wins have not been like, oh man, the Bills look like they did in September. So this is a chance for them to maybe recapture that by having a big win if they can get it.
It's an are you for real game for both sides. And I think that I'm very excited to watch Josh Allen play against Seattle because what often gets overlooked is in order for Seattle to play in these most fucked up games that are extremely exciting that always come down to the wire, have incredible plays in them.
There's two sides to that coin. Other teams have to kind of match the Seahawks' level of insanity.
I'm very, very excited to see how Josh Allen is going to step up to the plate and do something weird, exciting, maybe fucked up, maybe awesome. Who knows? Definitely awesome.
Definitely awesome. He's going to try to do something awesome.
And something crazy is going to happen from Josh Allen's feet or hands in this game because it is against the Seahawks, and by law, you have to do something. I don't know.
He's going to accidentally throw a pass off his dick and convert it for a first down. Done.
Something like that is going to happen this weekend. I could not be more excited to watch this game.
A little stat for you, too. The Seahawks have the best record going west to east in the last three years.
So they're 9-0 going west to east. It's tough to go west to east.
It's tough to go west to east. A little Marshawn Lynch revenge game right there.
Yeah. Marshawn Lynch thinking that Buffalo is in New York City.
All-time press conference if you've never seen it. Yeah, and then he got off the plane and there was snow and he was like, what is snow? What the fuck is this? What have I gotten myself into right now? It sucks.
It's going to be 60 degrees and sunny in Buffalo this weekend. Yeah, but points.
But points. Points.
Bears, Titans, Bears got the cocoa. So that sucks.
Also, the Bears, I have now just tweeted this name a couple times just randomly with nothing else attached to it because it just makes me laugh. But the Bears are potentially starting an offensive lineman named Arlington Hambright.
So the Bears are now at the season 15 of their Madden franchise, and we're just creating players out of nothing and slapping the faceless logo on them, being like, here's Arlington Hambright. He's got a smooth head.
Yeah. Just like no eyebrows whatsoever, just flat cheeks.
I am squatting on this take. I think Ryan Tannehill still stinks.
I know you do. Itannehill still stinks.
I think he still stinks. I think Ryan Tannehill still stinks.
I don't have anything beyond my eyes that tell me that he still stinks. Because there is nothing beyond your eyes.
It's my guts. It's my guts that are telling me that he still stinks.
I still don't trust him. I've never trusted Ryan Tannehill and I think that he's been really, really good for the last year, year and a half.
He's been great. You want to know how good he's been? He's been great.
Don't get me wrong. Ryan Tannehill is a great quarterback, but I still think that he stinks.
So the last year and a half, since Ryan Tannehill came in. Since Ryan Tannehill became good, he's just been delaying the stinking.
He is second in offensive passing efficiency only behind Patrick Mahomes, and he is second in completion percentage over expected only behind Russell Wilson. Those are too many numbers.
So he's the second best quarterback. Those are too many numbers.
Percentage completion over expected? Yeah. I don't know.
Is there like a guy in a room that's like, I expect him to make this throw. He did.

I do not expect him. No, it's the Drew Brees stat because Drew Brees just throws it for three yards.
So it takes into account Yak. Yeah, and also air yards, I think, as well.
So in other words, he passes the ball to his receivers. He's good.
And then they immediately get tackled afterwards. He's really good is what the answer is.
Their defense sucks. and so the only thing that makes me feel a little okay going into this game

is that if the Titans defense can't get a sack on the Bengals, maybe Arlington Hambright won't be so bad. Okay.
Maybe. Okay.
And that is how I've sold myself on this game. What position does he play? I think he's a guard.
Maybe a tackle. If he's a guard, that's okay.
Because you can him help. Count on Matt Nagy to really get the protection schemes together for Arlington and Hambright.
The problem is the entire offensive line is basically hurt or has the cocoa. So it's going to be a bad scene.
It's going to be a bad scene. I don't really know.
He's a tackle. I think he's the right tackle.
So, yeah, that's going to be, I don't know. And so the other stat I had was Matt Nagy can't figure out his play calling because he is, like, top of the league in passing in first down, which is, as Warren Sharpe always tells us, is smart.
And then he is, like, the worst at throwing on second and third down. So he basically is smart on first down, and then he's like, oh, I did my pass.
Let me be stupid now. Let's go back to the run.
So he probably runs the shit out of the ball on second down after they have an incompletion on first down. I think what we're finding out about Matt Nagy, the play caller, is he is essentially our level of intelligence when it comes to understanding analytics.
So we take away, whenever we have Warren Sharpe on, he gives

us a bunch of information, and we take away

one or two things. 12

personnel is one running back, two tight ends.

Right, or pass on first down, that's good.

All the time. That's Matt Nagy.
He's like,

pass on first down is good.

What's next? I've mastered

that. I've done it.
Can we just get to another

first down so I can pass again? And then I've

checked my box of analytics. I just can't wait to be

vindicated on the fact that Ryan Tannehill eventually

will stick again. Well, yes, eventually he's going

I'm sorry. I've done it.
Yeah. Can we just get to another first down so I can pass again? And then I've checked my box of analytics.

I just can't wait to be vindicated on the fact that Ryan Tannehill eventually will stick again.

Well, yes, eventually he's going to get old.

Yeah, and then I'll be right.

No, he's been good, though.

Ravens, Colts.

Don't get me wrong.

I agree.

Ryan Tannehill has been good, but I still think he stinks.

Yeah.

History will look back kindly upon this take.

All right, Ravens, Colts. I don't know.
Titans. History will look back kindly upon this take.
All right.

Ravens, Colts. I don't know.
I mean, the Ravens should win this game. They have a bunch of injuries.
Marlon Humphrey, he tweeted. He announced his coronavirus by saying, I got the Rona, which I like that.
It's kind of taking it away from Schefter. Schefter, can we just talk for a second that, like, Schefter and Rapoport and all these reporters are basically getting free retweets and likes from coronavirus news? It's bullshit.
When they do the tweet every Sunday morning, like no new positives. I see what you're doing.
You are benefiting off coronavirus. Yeah, he's a war profiteer.
That's exactly what it is. Those are blood tweets.
And listen, it's not just one tweet on Sunday morning. Schefter is not afraid to go through it team by team.
Right. Being like, remember that guy that I told you got put on the COVID list on Wednesday? Yep.
Still out. This weekend.
Like I told you. It's essentially tweeting I love football every time.
We do that every now and then. Oh, but I just do it because I love football.
But we also know that it will do numbers. But he does it every time, every Sunday, because he just knows I got the numbers.
When I wake up in the morning on Sunday and I tweet out the picture of the new 2020 NFL officially approved league ball, I do that because I'm genuinely excited to see that ball on my television. Absolutely.
Adam Schefter, yeah, you're right. I think he makes extra calls to figure out the Coco numbers.

He's taking advantage. I don't like it.

Alright. We're not the league office.

Have we heard, has the league office been clean on Coco numbers?

Or is Adam Schefter just not allowed to report that?

Yeah, Roger Goodell's going to report anything

like that? Come on. He's keeping that in-house.

Panthers are Chiefs.

Chiefs are going to win.

Yep. I don't...

The Panthers had a nice moment. We gave

them their love. If you go back to week five

Thank you. Panthers or Chiefs? Chiefs are going to win.
Yep. The Panthers had a nice moment.
We gave them their love. If you go back to week five or six, we gave Teddy Bridgewater his love.
Who we still respect. We still respect, but I feel like the air has come out of the balloon a little bit with the Panthers season where it's like, oh, maybe they were playing well, they were playing nice, and yeah, maybe they're not so good.
Well, it's the problem with having a new coach who needs to rebuild basically the entire roster besides Christian McCaffrey. Who might be back.
Who might be back. But this is the problem with bringing in a competent new head coach is that you're not going to be bad enough to get good like we were talking about earlier.
Matt Rule, since there's no tape really on what he's going to do as an NFL head coach, and most NFL coaches are too dumb to go back and look at the body of evidence that you have on Matt Rule from college. But there's not enough tape for them to get really acclimated to him.
So he's going to be a decent head coach, and they're going to have like a 6-10 record, 8-8 record in his first year, and then he's kind of going to screw himself over for the long-term rebuild. Right.
And by the way, our theory that when a good player goes out or is traded, the team does better, I think we called it the Christian doctrine. It actually was confirmed by, I can't remember where I saw it.
It was a couple weeks ago. But someone who played in the league confirmed it and was like, yeah, it's true.
Because when a defense plans and you know Christian McCaffrey's out there, you know he's going to touch the ball like half the time. When he's not, you don't know where the ball's going.
So, you know, stopping him is still hard, but yeah, we're smart. We had our finger on the ball.
The Bryce is wrong. I was actually talking to somebody that runs closely in NBA circles the other day and he was saying that you can actually go back.
You can just say LeBron. He was listening to our show.
And he said, you know what that made me think of?

Back on the 90s Knicks when they lost Patrick Ewing, they got really good.

And he's like, that's incredible that you were able to kind of deduce that from Christian McCaffrey.

Now he's like going back and applying it to all sorts of sports from the 90s.

He even made like a couple 80s New Kids on the Block references, Teen Wolf references.

Damn. About how that can be applied even to like things outside of.
It was crazy. I didn't even think about that.
Yeah. That's smart.
All right. Lions, Vikings, Matt Ryan – or sorry, Matt Stafford has the Coco, maybe.
So he might be out. And this is actually – so I've been talking up the Lions little itty-bitty baby run.
I actually think that this is two little itty bitty baby runs converging here. And whoever wins will be the champion of the little bitty itty baby run.
Guys, I mean, this is this is tailor made for Kirk Cousins. Not only is it against the Lions.
Right. It's at home.
Right. It's at one o'clock on a Sunday.
And Creed is reuniting. Right.
So he is going to be fucking pumped up this weekend. Yes.
Four touchdowns, 280 yards for Kirk Cousins this Sunday. And the Vikings, so they play the Bears next Monday night.
Obviously, I'm going to say that's a loss for them. But the next three games after that, Cowboys, Panthers, Jaguars, all at home.
So the be our little bitty bitty baby run team did was I premature to dunchain them in the preseason no I just think one of the winner of this team will come away with the late November early December watch out for this team they're a team that you don't want to play if you're gearing up for a playoff right we I hope I think we're going to get Chase Daniel on Sunday, which it's just fun to remind everyone that Chase Daniel has seven touchdown passes in the NFL. He's been in the league for 11 years, and he's made $37 million.
King. The finesse god.
And he's also the only quarterback that has a complete sentence for a name. Right, exactly.
But he is the finesse god, our finesse god. Giants, Washington football team, ugh.
This is Washington football team's itty-bitty baby run. They have a one-week itty-bitty baby run coming up.
It's right now. Have you seen this? It was either a tweet or a graphic that was going around that essentially was like, Daniel Jones and Jamarcus Russell are the same player in terms of turnovers.

And everyone's like, look at how biased the media is

being like not giving Daniel Jones the same shit.

And now there is bias in the media.

And if you want to claim, you know, racial bias

in terms of quarterbacks, I would agree with you.

But in this case, are people forgetting that

when Daniel Jones was drafted, we all shit on him? Like he's been shit on since day one. Jamarcus Russell was the number one pick overall and supposed to be incredible and ended up being bad.
I don't think anyone thought besides David Gettleman that Daniel Jones was going to be incredible. Yeah.
He had that comeback against the Bucs that skewed me for a while. I have not heard that take.
That is a blistering take that he has essentially... I've seen it been going around, yeah.
He needs to put on... I would actually like Daniel Jones a lot if he put on a shitload of weight.
If he put on like a solid 50 pounds around the midsection, fatten that face out a little bit, I think you'd find a lot more people willing to root for him. Do you know what that take has been? The phrase, I think it's bring that same energy.
Okay. Bring that same energy when talking about Daniel Jones.
I will bring. You know what I will? I will bring that exact same energy starting this weekend.
Daniel Jones, I'm going to run with that. He is Marcus Russell 2.0.
Do we not remember the Giants fans losing their mind when they drafted him and the Gettleman drafted a guy from Duke who he probably could have gotten like 20 picks later. We all shit on it.
Also, you can say that there are racial implications. I'll let somebody else have that discussion.
I'm just going to say that like straight up, Daniel Jones is the least Louisiana person in the world. Yes.
You will find nobody less, if you were in Louisiana, than Daniel Jones is. Real swag is no swag.

Yeah, Daniel Jones would go to bed at 10 o'clock on Mardi Gras if he was visiting New Orleans.

Absolutely.

Yes.

He'd be like, I've had enough.

No more hurricanes.

All right, Texans, Jaguars, Jake Lutton, baby.

Yeah.

Jake Lutton.

Is it Lutton or Luton?

I don't know.

I'm saying Lutton.

Because I was going to say Luton free.

Let's get that bread.

Find it, Jake.

I love what Doug Marone's doing here. Did you see the quotes? Doug Marone essentially, I'm paraphrasing our friend Doug Marone, essentially was like, I'm getting fired.
I don't care. Let's see what the kid's got.
We know what Mike Glennon is. He sucks.
Let's see what this kid's got. I fucking love it because that is the way, like doug marone is going out the way that every coach should go out and not like scared and like hey let's have mike glennon go out there and punt the ball 15 times no let's see if this fucking kid from oregon state can do anything probably can't but if he can why not so when they had that conversation last year after doug marone got fired, cried, kept his job, in that room, do you think the deal was made like, Doug, we will keep you around for another year so that we can get a great head coach to replace you, knowing that we're going to have a high draft pick and be in a good spot for rebuilding?

And Doug was just basically like, I will be your bitch next year. Yeah, I'll do it.

I'll be that dude. I'll do it.
I will be your sim next year I'll do that dude I'll do it I will be I'll be your simp I'll be the one I'll be the dude on the sidelines that looks like he's coaching but we have a handshake arrangement that we're going to tank next year and as long as those checks keep cashing I still have a job I will be your guy because he's just a fucking good ass dude yeah I mean Doug Marone is a he's just a good friend to have I'm sure that the jags front office like him as a person yep and so yeah more power to him if that's what he's doing jake lutton i'm 10 luten lutan clan a nut fuck with dash t-e-n is the pronunciation luten yeah luten i like that luten lutton i like lutton he's's a Lutton for punishment. I think if he plays well, that's a Lutton.
Yeah. If he's stinky, then he's Lutan.
Lutan. But yeah, let's give it a shot.
But I do, I miss seeing Glennon and his neck just bobble out there in a game. I need one of those a year.
How much does it suck to be Mike Glennon for Doug Marone to be like, yeah, he actually said, it's like, we know what Mike Glennon is, and he sucks. How much money did the Bears give him? A lot.
It was like $20 million, I think, but not all guaranteed. I've said it before, but there was a two-month time where I was all in on Mike Glennon.
All, all in. I remember vividly listening to the Cubs game on the radio when Mike Glennon threw out the first pitch and went up to the booth for an inning to just talk, and I was like, this guy, this is our guy.
He's got an arm. This is our guy.
He stands tall. One year, $1,187,500.
No, no, no, not for the Bears. Oh, Mike Glennon.
Yeah, for the Bears. Oh, for the Bears.
Yeah, they backed up the truck. They gave him like $20 million two years, something like that.

I said $20 million for $45 million.

Oh, wow.

But how much did they end up paying him?

What website are you on?

Spotrak.

Yeah, it should say what they ended up paying him.

I just see signing bonus, average salary, guaranteed at sign, total guarantee.

What was it guaranteed at sign?

$18.5.

That's what it was.

What do you think Mike Lennon spent his signing bonus on? Like the big purchase that he made with that. He's like, I finally made it.
I feel like maybe someone to sit on his head so his neck got smaller? Yeah. A big fat man? I was going to say he reupholstered a couch.
He got a really nice fabric on. Giving a guy like that $18 million is fun, man.
Nice tool shed. Give him it somebody who's going to blow it on something entertaining like chase daniel like chase daniel yeah uh all right wait i had one more question here when i saw jake luton's name lutton it made me think did sam bradford just fall off a cliff this feels like the perfect landing spot somebody should have given sam bradford 15 million million.
I know. I think he's retired.
His arm ended. Yes.
And expired. Yeah.
But forever a legend, he had that record. He did.
Completion percentage. He did.
We still don't know who won that trade. Yeah, no.
They'll be debating that one for years. We don't.
Raiders, Chargers, this game's going to be fun. That's all I got.
This game's going to be fun. I'm excited for this game.

It's got chaos written all over it.

Both these teams.

A late afternoon Raiders Chargers game has to get weird.

It just has to.

We will tune in.

It will be like 645 and something weird is going to be happening.

The late slate isn't great.

No.

Miami Arizona is going to be interesting.

Well, here's and we'll go to the next game. The late slate is doing, NFL loves to do this, where no matter how good or bad the national teams are, quote unquote, they're like, let's throw them together.
Steelers, Cowboys, throw them together. Yeah.
People will watch. You know what? And people will watch because it's colors, it's history, it's everything.
And it sucks. This game sucks.
I will watch just because I'm very excited to see Dallas lose by 45 points. Well, I got a little stat for you, PFT.
I don't think they're going to lose by 45 points. They're not starting Ben DiNucci.
I know. They're starting Cooper Rush, Maction Baby, Central Michigan, Bahamas Bowl.
So I had a little thought in my head. I was like, I feel like Mike Tomlin is a big-time play-to-your-competition coach and looked it up over his entire career as a Steelers head coach.
He is 1-9 against the spread as a road favorite over 10 points. What are the Cowboys against the spread, though? Aren't they like 0-8? They're 0-8.
They would actually break the record if they go 0-9. So it's like the unstoppable force versus the movable object.
The opposite. Yeah.
The very movable object against the continuously moving force. Right.
So I just know that if this game, the Steelers are going to win. But if this game is weirdly close, I wouldn't be shocked.
And you know what? It makes sense, too. Mike Tomlin is kind of a rah-rah guy, and Ben, Big Ben, is a very relatable, like, oh, I'll do it later, procrastinator kind of guy.
So he's probably like, well, we'll beat the Cowboys, and then they'll start losing. He'll be like, well, we'll beat them later.
You know what I mean? Yeah, we'll get them in the second half. Yeah, we'll just do it later.
Don't worry about it. Big Ben's going to treat his body like an amusement park this weekend, just get back on the porn, probably watch too much of it on the road in the hotel at Dallas, no supervision there, wake up in the morning.
I don't think – I can't in good conscience bet on the Cowboys because they're 0-8 against – I have to root for history. I have to be a part of history, Big Cat.
I'm sorry that you are willing to overlook this pivotal moment in time that we're all sharing as Americans when a team can go 0-9 against the spread to start a season. I need to be a part of that.
I'm in a phase right now where I just love betting really bad teams.

So it will probably only last for another week, but this is prime, prime.

14 points? Come on.

I love betting bad teams.

Give it to me.

And under most circumstances, I think I would probably bet on the Cowboys.

I bet on the Cowboys last weekend.

Yeah.

I bet on Ben DiNucci.

Who, by the way, is a perfect segue.

We're nailing these segues.

By the way, statistically speaking, Ben DiNucci was not the worst quarterback last week. It was Tua.
Really? Yes. Ben DiNucci was technically better than Tua.
Well, Tua went like two for seven. Yep.
Is that right? Yeah. Tua went 12 for 22, 93 yards.
Ben DiNucci went 21 for 40, 180 yards. I'm just saying.
So the Gucci DiNucci, not as bad. There was something about DiNucci where his passes were so bad that they couldn't pick him off.
Yeah. The defensive backs were like, this is a prank.
You're pranking me with this easy interception right now. He threw probably four or five passes that could have been picks or pick sixes.
Easily. And none of them right easily um all right so this game this is going to be a like you said a like will a good

ish like who's who's capable of going to the playoffs whoever wins this game is capable of

going to the playoffs dolphins or cardinals and we'll see to look shorter in the nfl than he did

in college yeah and kyler is every time kyler fucks up i'm convinced it's his height like i'm very much like that.

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Like, I'm very much like, oh, that was a short play.

He's too tall.

Oh, okay.

No, no, when he's playing well, he's tall.

When he's playing poorly, he's short.

Didn't we run the numbers on his eyes?

We need to get one of those new iPhone cameras that we can tell somebody is true height,

but just use it on Kyler's eyes because it only really matters how tall your eyes are. That's true.
Anything above that is wasted space. That's true.
So I feel like his eyes might be taller than his body is, like too tall for his frame. Okay.
Circle that. I'm going to circle that and come back to it.
But Tua, maybe it's the colors. Maybe it's the Miami Dolphins colors, but he looks a little shorter than advertised.

Yes, yes.

All right, last game, Saints at Bucs, Sunday Night Football.

Maybe Jameis.

Maybe Jameis. So Drew Brees got a little injury.

Also supposed to be kind of some bad weather, wind,

which I'm rooting for.

I'm rooting for Tom Brady and Drew Brees to have a game in, like,

fierce, fierce winds and see whose arm strength has fallen off more. Are we going to get Antonio Brown this weekend? Is he cleared to play? I think he is, right? Is Antonio Brown, they're like best friends, huh? The roommates.
I've got to take them. It's crazy.
I think they're in love with each other. I think they're dating.
Okay, hold on. Yep.
I'm sorry, I missed that. Siri, I said that I think that Antonio Brown and Tom Brady are fucking.
I think Tom Brady is more in love with Antonio Brown than Antonio Brown is in love with Tom Brady. Yes.
Oh, really? I think it's a prove-it thing. I think Tom Brady is smitten with...
Tom Brady is... And this is a credit to him as a competitor.
He knows he's like... I only got a like, I only got like 10 more years until he's like 53 to play in the NFL.
If someone can help him win a title, he doesn't care. He'll have the whole roster live in his house if he can win a Super Bowl.
Right, but no one's asking Tom Brady, hey, can you shelter Antonio Brown while he's on the table? Like Tom Brady, he moved to Tampa. He was looking at houses, and he was, like, silently walking around the house with a realtor, imagining to himself, yeah, I could see Antonio.
There's Antonio's house. Derek Jeter's house, mind you.
Yeah. How does Giselle factor into this roommate situation? I don't know.
I think she gets a choice. It's weird.
It's messy. I mean, love is love.
I'm not slut-shaming anybody here, but I think there's something behind the scenes between those two. I also think he wants to prove to Belichick and Kraft like he was right.
Antonio Brown is a good move. Yeah.
Yes, I would agree with that. Do you think Antonio Brown's like sneaking out of Tom Brady's house at night? Like tying bedsheets together and climbing down from the window? Probably.
Going out and being like he's suffocating me. Yeah, meeting with T.O.
he wants to do is Is watch film and chill Yeah He keeps asking me to come And watch film And get under the blankie Would you say Tom Brady is pressed? Yeah Pressed on Antonio Brown? Yes And Antonio Brown is pressed By how much Tom Brady loves him Yes He's pressed He's pressed like this is too much for me.

It also is very funny.

I saw Kyle Brandt had a thing on the Good Morning Football show.

He basically broke it down, and Antonio Brown, almost word for word,

did his exact press conference from Oakland that he did for Tampa Bay.

Yeah.

Being like, yeah, I'm here because Bruce Arians is an offensive guru,

and he said, I'm here because John Gruden is an offensive guru,

and all the same lines.

Dude, I'm telling yeah, I'm here because Bruce Arians is an offensive guru. And he said, I'm here because John Gruden's an offensive guru.
And like all the same lines. Dude, I'm telling you, I know he's a great receiver.
It's not going to end well. No.
It's just not. I'm calling my shot on this.
Antonio Brown is a legit psycho. You're hot right now because essentially your shots are perfect that eventually someone's going to be old.
Yeah. It's not going to end well.
He might retire. Tom Izzo is a bad head coach.
I will be proven. One of these.
Ryan Tannehill, eventually he's not going to be good. Yeah.
No, I mean with Antonio Brown, I think we can all agree that he's like, he's bad news. Yes.
Big, big, big time bad news. Is he going to show up on a hot air balloon? Has a hot air balloon been spotted in Tampa? I don't know.
Yeah. He's here comes trouble.
Yep. Yeah.
Big time. All right.
Should we do some fantasy fuckboys? To be fair, Antonio Brown hasn't committed sexual assault that we know of in the last six months. At least.
Maybe even 12. We don't know.
Let's do some fantasy fuckboys and we'll get to a great, great interview with Robert Eiler, aka AJ Sopr. AJ Soprano, in a minute.
All right, fantasy fuckboys, ready to go? Yeah! Let's do it! Let's go! Go, go, go, go! What's up, boys? It's Marty Microphone. What's up, Marty? Marty! My stardom is Chick-fil-A sauce.
Hell yeah! Nothing better. I don't know if it's honey mustard.
I don't know if it's ranch. I don't know if it's whatever it is, but it's fucking fire.
I want to douse that thing on my dick. Wait, you're going to suck your own dick after you're playing Chick-fil-A sauce? Chick-fil-A would not be happy with that.
Who needs lube if you got Chick-fil-A sauce? Hell yeah, brother. My sit-em is ankles.
Fuck them. Ankle.
I like them. I like them.
Ankle. They think she's the one, and then you're like, fuck.
Kegels. Kegels.
Kegels. Kegels.
Kegels. That means they won't turn their ankles.
Steph Curry needs a pair. That's right.
That's right. And my sleeper is Jerry Judy.
He's poised for a breakout week this weekend, boys. Oh, hell yeah.
Pick him up off the waving wire. All right.
I like it. I like it, Marty Mike.
I'm Shorty Sciano. Marty Mikey.
Marty Mikey over there. Fuck you.
Shorty Sciano is my name. I'm starting this weekend.
Weed in New Jersey. That's right.
We just legalized the sense of me. Some Hoboken kind bud.
Some Seaside sativa, baby. Get the boys together.
Some, some Bruce Greenstein, some, uh, Bon Jovi. Let's get it.
Everybody over to the house. We're smoking some pot.
Hell yeah. I'm sitting touchscreens.
Fuck touchscreens. You got John King on CNN breaking it down like he's everybody's boss.
Give me, give me Baldy taking a, looking at a fucking video on his phone that he took of his television, shoving his broke-ass pinky in front of it, breaking down film that way. I'm old school.
That's the old school way. OS for life.
Fuck a county. Shout out Jeff Schwartz's spoon.
I'm sleeping. My sleeper is Washington football team.
Little bitty baby run. One game.
There we go. One game.
There we go. All right, what's up, guys? It's Francisco Tempora.
What's up, Frankie Tempe? My stardom is Cooper Rush. Cooper Rush starting for the Dallas Cowboys.
That sounds like a guy from West Texas who won three state titles and knocked up his girlfriend when they were 17 and went on to be a town legend. He's actually from Michigan, but he's built for being a cowboy.
My sleeper is... Or no, my sit-um is Wolf Blitzer.
I don't know, something about that fucking guy's face. Mr.
Blitzer. I fucking hate his face.
What doesn't compute in my brain is his beard gets smaller every year, but you can see it more. His name's Wolf.
That's fucking cool. What the fuck.
And my sleeper is the Blue Turf, Boise State, BYU. Friday night.
Unbelievable game. The Blue Turf is back.
Don't sleep on the Blue Turf. BYU's gonna smoke them.
Yeah, they are. What up? It's Dino D'Agostino.
You're too loud, Dino. I don't have my headset.
My stardom is Natty Daddy. Just like going to a gas station and buying Natty Daddy.
My sit-em is Sports Illustrated. I drink Bud Light.
Anheuser-Busch. My sit-em is Sports Illustrated pre-workout.
I took a nap after drinking it. It was terrible.
Don't take it. I only stick to the brain formula.
I drank it and I took a nap. Terrible.
What is is this? Fucking story time. What is this? Terrible.
Fucking terrible. Terrible.
Anyway, my sleeper is the Jets. Terrible.
Because after the Giants had a pretty good game, I think the Jets actually might beat the Pats. I'm a New York fan.
What are you, living in Oregon? You fucking smoking dope? I am doing cocaine. It's legal.
Legalize cocaine. Anyway.
The Jets. Nice.
I'm going to call you theets, man. Oh.
Let's. No, now you're out of the closet.
Let's do the Can't Loose Parlay and the Berserker real quick. Ready? Oh, yeah.
1-800-GAMBLER. If you have a gambling problem, responsible gambling.
Is your fraud-ass hedgehog still making picks? Wait. So, Billy, tell me.
Why did your hedgehog not make a pick last week? wasn't feeling it What do you mean And by him you mean He went 50 Did your hedgehog die No no my hedgehog's alive I think Billy's hedgehog is dead And Billy's covering for it By saying he didn't feel like it Proof of life Proof of life Proof of life hedgehog He went 500 over the weekend And he was like You know what He like wasn't feeling it I want to see I want to next to your Alive Hedgehog. Okay.
I can make that happen. So my Can't Lose Parlay, I'm doing something a little different this week.
I'm adjusting some lines and I'm doing 1 o'clock, 4 o'clock night game. Three games.
Spread it out. Chiefs minus 9.5 so it's adjusted.
They're going to kill him. This one's ugly.
Cowboys plus 17 and a half. 17 and a half? I actually like that a lot.
Yeah. 17 and a half.
17 and a half. And then I think if they lose by 15, they're going to lose by 30.
17 and a half. And then Bucks, Moneyline.
So plus 285. And it'll probably be boosted in the Barstool Sportsbook app.
Plus 285 there. Three games.
All I'll do is do three games. I love it.
Billy. The Hedgehog Picks.
We got Packers minus 7. We got Giants plus 2.5.
We got Bears plus 6.5. We have Ravens minus two, and we have Bills plus three.
How did you decide to pick these games? Actually, I got that wrong. 49ers plus seven.
Washington minus 2.5. You made these picks already? Yeah.
I just haven't made the TikTok. How did you decide? Yeah, but how did you decide which game? Wait, you haven't made the TikTok.
You're in the process of making it. So you videotaped your hedgehog doing it.
Right. But you haven't edited it yet.
Yeah, I videotaped the pics. Can I see it on your phone? Can I see the pics? I actually have.
Do you have the video? I have the video right here. Okay, there's your hedgehog.
Why isn't it moving? This is one of the old ones. That looks like an old hedgehog.
Yeah, it is. Packers.
Oh, that looks old. Washington.
Why does it have all that paint on it? Bears plus 6.5. Oh, okay.
All right. Ravens minus 2.
You could just be faking this every time. Buffalo plus 3.
All right. Let's get to our interview.
You ready for it? Ready for it? Great interview. Great interview.
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One also has other delicious flavors like birthday cake, maple glazed donut and blueberry cobbler. Find all one bars at a retailer near you or on amazon.com and now robert eiler okay we now welcome on a very special guest it is robert eiler he is also known as aj soprano he has a podcast pajants.
Go listen to it right now, wherever podcasts. You can get it.
Who else is on that podcast? Jamie Lynn Sigler is on it, who played my sister on Sopranos, and then our friend Kassim. Okay, nice.
Where do you want to start? We obviously want to talk some Sopranos stuff, but I want to talk about that you've got going on in your life. Do you want to do the Sopranos first and get it out of the way? It's your show, whatever you want to know.
All right, let's do the Sopranos first. So we did the Mount Rushmore of worst TV characters a couple years ago, and you were actually my number one pick.
And, you know, my brother is a lacrosse player up at Brockport. And he hit me up and he was the one who told me about it.
He's like, oh, my friends are talking about this. And when he told me, I was like, I'm just, I feel good that I was the worst.
Yeah. Because if you said I was like the fourth worst character, well, that's just pathetic, you know? Well, and it's not, it's not, it's actually a testament to your acting acting because I think – and you can tell me if I'm wrong, but like that – AJ Soprano, the character, was kind of written that way of like you were – as a viewer, you're constantly frustrated in him because, you know, you have Jamie Lynn Segaler, you know, Meadow being the overachiever, you know, Ivy League, all that stuff.
And then you have AJ who can't ever do anything right. And it's, it's written that way.
So you did a great job. It's like, it's a weird thing to say worst, but you did it perfectly.
Thanks. Yeah.
You know, it's always like, I think it's even harder when you're, you know, 14, 15 and you're just starting to like, girls are starting look at you, and then, like, every time you get the script, you're like, God, I have to be a douche again. You know, it's like there were those times you're like, I just want to do something cool.
And, like, there were times where you almost think he's going to do something cool, and then he just miserably fails at whatever he's trying to do. Yeah, right.
You're like, oh, AJ's a football player. Oh, he passes out on the field.
Yeah, for a second you thought, you thought like hey maybe i'm going to join the army and i'm going to become like who knows like a green beret or something yeah and then you give up on that oh he's got a sweet car oh he lit it on fire yeah yeah oh he he actually might like go and kill uncle junior and then he's like laying there crying getting tackled by like orderlies or whatever yeah it's so perfect yeah it's interesting because i'm sure that at that age you want like there's a certain part of you yeah you're acting you're playing a part and yes it was a shitty character like the guy you know the character that you played was a shithead but it was he was a compelling shithead you know yeah we wanted to watch we want to see it would be much worse if it was just like a character that we didn't give a shit about. But I've also read that there were some guys on the show, I think Vito, the guy that played Vito, he came to the writer, or I forget if it was a director or one of the producers or whatever, with the idea for the character arc to be like, I want to be the gay guy, and then that gives me all these different areas that my character can go or at least you know worked in conjunction with them did you have any of that opportunity for yourself i know you were just you know you were a younger kid at the time but did you have any uh openings where you contributed to the character arc of aj uh not like i would sit down with david chase and be like oh here's what i think but i noticed like i would show up to set in like a Pantera shirt with a marijuana leaf on it skateboarding.
And then in the next episode, I'd be skateboarding with a Pantera shirt with a marijuana leaf on it. I'd be like, oh, okay.
You know, there's definitely or like, I was big into like heavy metal, death metal, like Slipknot was my favorite thing in the world. So like, all of a sudden we start, he started putting Slipknot in and yeah yeah but we never really like I was a you know 15 year old moron I was never gonna sit with David and be like you know I think uh maybe my character should because one thing that was so great about the show which I didn't realize till after is like the the writing was so good that you you never had to like I they were just they were unbelievable at their job every and when I look back at Sopranos it's one of the most like things I'm grateful for is at such a young age getting to see people in all different fields who are like the best at what they do yeah like you're watching the best actors the best directors the best even their publicist like everything you're like holy shit Cause then you go and try and do other shit and you're like, Oh man, this is what, what like the normal level of like, these people are good and they seem terrible because for so long we were working with just, you know, HBO really did right by us and they, they treated us right.
And just every, it was like on Friday or on Thursday I'd be in the park like drinking 40 smoking blunts with my friends on Saturday I'd be on a first class like trip to LA to go to the Emmys on the red carpet everything and by Monday I'd be back in the park smoking weed with my friends it was just crazy like I look back now and I'm like how was that like it just seemed normal to me at the time but now I look back and I'm like that's insane yeah yeah that is that is insane and it's also I mean it's uh rare that you have a character an actor grow up on a show and in real life simultaneously because so walk us through so you get the you get the role how did you get the role first of all did you was it a bunch of kids that showed up and you're like you know this is going to be tough to get but you how did it all work out so I was uh I was six years to start at the beginning I was six years old walking down the street and a guy approached my dad and was like hey your son should be like you know he didn't know i was gonna be so short but he's like he should be a model or an actor or like get in the business somehow and then my mom ended up calling the phone number and that guy is still my manager now 30 years later whoa that's that's like a leap of faith yeah to have like a guy just be like hey that kid's good looking you ever look back and you're like mom what the hell were you doing calling this guy uh no because i mean we were like as broke as you know my grandfather was a super and we were living like five or six of us in a one bedroom in manhattan and the only reason we had that apartment is because my grandpa was a super so he got to live rent free in the building wow so so it was like any opportunity was like hell Like of course yeah yeah so you start acting and then what what what age did you get the sopranos role so i i was going on auditions for about six years and then uh i went on the audition for sopranos and i remember at first they thought it was like a show about singing that's what everybody thought and they're like oh you know my my son doesn't sing and then they're like no don't worry it's a show about like Italian mobsters and I showed up and I'm like fat and full of freckles like I was just a very Irish little kid and every kid in the audition was like the white t-shirt with the black leather jacket and trying to like with like gel in their hair and trying to play it up like oh over here and then I just kind of walked in and was like, you know, like David Chase said, like, I just like every time I said, fuck, he laughed because all the other kids were like really trying to hit the fuck and like trying to show like, oh, look, I'm this crazy little kid who just said fuck. And I was just like, hey, are we fucking done here? Like, you know, can I, because I just, we went there with the idea of like, oh, you oh you're not gonna get this so it was a lot easier to just kind of be like oh this is just another and nobody doing a tv show on hbo wasn't a big deal then and the sopranos meant nothing because nobody had ever heard of it right you know right that's that's great just being able to say fuck i mean that is a skill in itself like there's, there's an art to swearing, and that was your ticket onto the Sopranos.
That's awesome. I think it's because you played it cool when you were swearing.
Like, it didn't sound like, you know, as you put it, you weren't trying to, like, hit the fucks. And you would sometimes, like, it sounded like you were a kid that was still learning how to swear and still thought that it was cool to, like, be able to cuss and get away with it.
Or, like, you know at you for like you'd say stuff like man that's dicked up and it's like i've never thought about saying dicked up before that's fucking brilliant what what a genius yeah uh did you did you like ad lib any of that stuff or was always you know what the writer would say like hey we want you to like uh piss off your dad by dropping an f-bomb at the dinner table no they i mean the writing mean, the writing was so good that it wasn't like they told us, Hey, don't ever ad lib, but you just, you're like, this is perfect. I'm not, I'm not, why am I going to say something different when this is so good? But then there are, there are other scenes where they're like, you know, okay.
In the first like 30 seconds of this, you guys are just sitting around talking or your guys are doing whatever, or, you know, and they don't have a script for you where you're ad libbing stuff. But normally like, you know, I'm a 15 year old kid who's like smoking weed every night.
I'm not going to be like, like trying to change David Chase's lines. You know, I'm like, he, he knows what he's doing.
Yeah. Yeah.
Do you feel like there was maybe like a little bit of stolen valor because you weren't like a stereotypical Italian kid who got to play

the son of a mob boss in a TV show called The Sopranos? If there was, I didn't feel it because everybody just thought I was Italian and still like I have friends who I've been friends with for 20 years who know I'm not Italian. And then when something Italian comes up, they're like, yeah, he knows.
Like, you know, and I'm like, no, dude, I'm not Italian. People always forget.
But it's also like I was kind of raised like the Italian pride on the set of Sopranos was so clear where in my home it wasn't like you're Irish. Like, you know, do Irish things where like on the set of Sopranos was like I felt very much like I was.
I remember one time we had like a catering thing and there was some terrible pasta there and I was eating it. And they were all like do you fucking eat that garbage like oh you're like like I think the word may be gone which is like you're American like you're some American you know and I'm like oh this is great and they're like dude that's like you know mac and cheese like and then they would take me to these like really high-end Italian places when I was 14 years old and it was uh yeah it was it was crazy so I I read that you actually have not watched The Sopranos like pretty much at all is that true like you don't you've watched basically none of the episodes so when we would do um when we would go to the premieres they would show us the first episode or the first two episodes so the only episodes I've seen are those and uh and when the first episode came out obviously I watched it like with my family, it was a big deal.
But yeah, we would all go to like Radio City Musical for the premieres and there would be, you know, thousands of people, but all of us like sitting in one section, watching it together, laughing. And those memories are great.
But like I decided I didn't like watching it. It made me feel uncomfortable.
But then like after James died, I was like, I could never watch it. Like just sitting there and watching 80 hours of video of him would be brutal.
Do you think there will ever be a point in time in your life where you're like, you know what? Like I'm going to sit down and watch this. Like maybe, you know, 20 years from now, 30 years from now, you're like, all right, cause I, I totally understand what you're saying.
Watching yourself, listening to yourself is weird. I can't imagine doing it as a kid to like now watching yourself as a kid, but do you think there'll ever be a day where you're like, all right, let's, let's start this, uh, from the first episode and go through the whole thing.
I don't know. I, we talked about doing it with Jamie.
Cause when, when I talked to Jamieie about starting a podcast we got an offer for money to like sit and do a rewatch where we watched all the episodes and talked about it and we just both kind of got together and we're like that's just not what we want to do you know like and especially if i ever do decide to watch it i don't want to feel like it's a job you know i don't want to get to episode 10 and be like i I don't want to watch anymore. And they're like, Oh, you only have 73 episodes left,

you know?

Right.

Right.

We won't spoil any of it for you.

No,

we won't.

Yeah.

We were not going to die at the end.

Yeah.

Your whole family gets shot at the table.

And that's,

what's crazy is like people always who think,

who talk about me not watching it.

They think I don't know what happened.

You know,

there's a lot of people who think I have no idea.

And I'm like,

no,

we sat around every episode before we recorded the episode.

And you do a read through where everyone sits with the script and you read

your part.

And those are like,

Thank you. think I have no idea.
And I'm like, no, we, we sat around every episode before we recorded the episode and you do a read through where everyone sits with the script and you read your part. And those are like some of my best memories by far from Sopranos of all, they would just have food around and everybody would be sitting around in like pajamas and everyone would read the script.
And the laughter in those rooms were crazy. So when it, when it came time to rehearse the very last scene where you guys are in the restaurant and you guys are reading through that, getting ready to shoot it and you're getting all the notes and all the feedback, do you know that you're going to die at the end? Is that something that's told to you? Like, hey, we're going to film it and you're going to get shot and it's going to be a bloody mess, but we're just not going to use that last five seconds.
Were you there that's exactly what that's it you know what's weird is people talk a lot about that last scene but for us we didn't shoot the last scene last so it's like when we shot that scene it was very like oh it's just another day at work and then two weeks later was everyone's actual last day so even though that was the last scene it didn't feel like the last scene and everyone I watched it live I think I think I started watching the show live around season three and three or four but I remember vividly

I thought my cable went out and that was pretty much everyone in America thought their cable went

out so thank you for that uh even though you didn't write it but I appreciate that and the

scare that I got because that's like the scariest moment in the world to have your cable go out

I'll see cable went out. So thank you for that.
Even though you didn't write it, but I appreciate that. And the scare that I got,

because that's like the scariest moment in the world to have your cable go

out.

Who was the funniest guy on set?

When you talk about like,

you know,

doing the table reads and getting ready,

who was the person who just made everyone laugh?

For me,

it was probably Johnny V who played Artie Bucco.

Okay.

Okay. Dude, he, he is, he's hilarious.
Like he would, we would be like, uh, on a trip to California or something. He would just go into an impression of somebody and just stay that guy, you know, like he would be walking around the hotel pretending to be somebody else.
He was Johnny V is hilarious. Um, who else is really funny steve sharip is pretty great yeah he's a good time he's a fun guy yeah yeah i mean already bobby baklava right yeah artie bucco just a total tragic character you want to talk about other guys who like the way they were written just the saddest character yeah he felt bad for him the entire time yes Hot wife Yeah very hot wife What about And then I did We actually had

Drunk Baddest character. He felt bad for him the entire time.
Yes. Hot wife.
Yeah, very hot wife. What about- And then I did, we actually had Dre DeMatteo on a couple times on our podcast already.
She's hilarious. She's such a, I don't know how to put it, but she says she's abroad.
She's not a girl where you have to watch her words around her. She like she'll push the top like she'll make you uncomfortable you know which is like it's it's

just such a treat you know yeah that's adriana obviously for people who uh might not know yeah

i was walking around uh the west village one time and i heard her behind me and i was like that's

adriana i turned around and it was adriana sure enough like you hear her coming before you see

her sometimes yeah and then you see her and you're like holy shit yeah she was she was for me she was

I'm going to... Adriana.
I turned around and it was Adriana. Sure enough, like you hear her coming before you see her sometimes.
Yeah. And then you see her and you're like, holy shit.
Yeah, she was. She was for me.
She was by far when when we started the show, I was like 13. She was the hottest chick I'd ever seen in real life.
Yeah. For a lot of people who watch the show.
And she was she she might be up there. We should do like a rankings of characters because she might be up there for best.
Do you say actress still or actor? Is everyone an actor? Thespian. Thespian.
I would say her performance is up there top three. Mm-hmm.
Yeah. She's unreal.
When Christopher sat on the dog and killed it when he was high on drunk. R.I.P.
Cosette. Did you guys get sad on set? Yeah.
Were you guys like, man, we're not not gonna be able to work with this dog anymore yeah well you know you know what's crazy there's people who like lorraine baracko who people think like oh you worked with lorraine baracko for 10 years and it's like but i never had one scene with her you know so when things like that scene are going on you don't even know you know you hear about it in the read-through and then you hear nothing like even scenes that I've done, I've gone, I've seen like little clips of it. Like I saw me like sweeping up glass in the backyard one time.
And I was like, I never did that. You know, like there's, there's no, I'm like, what the fuck is that? Like, why was I sweeping up glass in the backyard? It's just, it's, it's people talk about like these scenes and they're so memorable to them.
But for me, it was like something I did with my friend 22 years ago. Yeah.
Like a scene that you just, it was like going out to, it'd be like, remember having lunch with your friend 22 years ago and you said this and he said this and you're like, no, of course not. That actually has got to be maddening because everyone does have that one friend who will remember certain like conversations or they'll be like, Hey, remember when you said this at in 2004 you're like no i don't and thank you for telling me i'm stupid for saying that but you have that just constantly with every moment of your life being on on camera there for like those those 10 years that's got to be a little crazy yeah i i can understand why you're not going to watch back the whole show and you forget about some of them and people remind you and you're like oh that hurts you know like people are like oh you remember when you when you cried and you fainted and you're like oh yeah that was you know you forget all about that like there was a bear and you started crying and yelling for your mom i'm like oh yeah okay so when you first started acting on this how old were you when when you first started filming so i was 12 years old when the show uh recorded and then when it first aired i was probably like 13 maybe 14 so i i wouldn't call that being a child actor you were definitely like younger and but you were like going through like a big change in your life at the time like 12 13 years old that's like you know middle school that's when shit starts to happen in real life where you kind of take control of your own life as a kid.
Did that fuck with you at all? Like having that – like trying to have that delineation between, okay, I'm at work playing a character and then this is me, you know, offset. Like did the character of AJ start to blend in with your personality or how did you keep that separate if not? For me, never because what was so great about – like I think about kids who did Nickelodeon shows.
And I'm like, Oh, no, that must be so crazy. Because you go to school.
And it's just insane. Where for me, I'd go to school, there was not one kid in my like, I went to public school in New York City, my whole life, there's 1000 kids in your school, there was not one kid in my school who watched Sopranos.
Ever. That's, you know, and if you're 14 years old and you're going to a party with a bunch of 14 year olds, nobody knows the Sopranos.
Nobody like people have kind of heard of it or this, but there were no 14 year olds then like watching Sopranos every Sunday night. Like, you know? Yeah.
Okay. We got more AJ Soprano coming up.
Robert Eiler. Before we do that though.
Hey, what's going on there, pal? We saw you at the hockey game on. Do I know you guys? I'm Ryan Whitney.
I got a drink named after me. Not a big deal.
Pink Whitney? That's what I thought. See you, fellas.
I invented the thing, you pigeon. Pink Whitney for legendary moments.
Okay, back to Robert Eiler. All right, so let's talk a little after you finish, after the Sopranos ends.
You took an interesting route, and I respect the hell out of this. You basically just said, I'm going to go live my life for a while and enjoy myself.
So you went and became a professional poker player in Vegas. Is that right? Yes.
So when I was 22, we finished Sopranos, and I remember everybody talking about, like, oh, what are we going to do next? And am I going to do a play and a movie? And I told my manager, I'm like, don't call me for six months. Like pretend like I don't exist.
I don't, even if it's important, I'm like, I just don't want to hear it. And, um, that's six months turned into like, you know, 12 years or however long, because I just kept pushing it off and pushing it off.
then I was partying so hard uh that I went to Vegas alone for two weeks to play in the world series of poker and I got like 275th in the main event and it paid 40 something thousand and I just took that money and I was like I'm gonna put this in account and get an apartment here in Vegas for a year and when that's gone I'll go back to New York so I went to Vegas for two weeks and I came home a year and a half later. That's okay.
That's crazy. Yeah.
That's, that's incredible stuff. So how were you like good? I mean, it's, that's a dream that a lot of people I think can relate to.
We're like, Hey, let's just go to Vegas and, and try to make it work a year and a half. It's a long time.
Like how would you rank yourself as a poker player? Well, 13 poker was different than it is now you know they figured it out with solvers and computers and all this stuff and and so like 13 years ago all you had to do was not have a day job and you were a good player because half of the people at the table would have a day job or kids or they'd be there like one day a week playing poker like oh it's my night out I'm coming to play poker where now you know the level of what happened was they had a computer figure out like BTO game theory optimal which is like the best way to play poker so now people study that and they play that way and it just it makes it a lot harder it makes it also a lot less less fun. People are just sitting there, not talking, figuring out mathematical equations in their head.
When I moved to Vegas, everybody was drinking and laughing. And the poker table was like a party, where now it's like a classroom.
Yeah. So if you're playing by the book or by the computer and you're going up against somebody that is just dumb as shit, like you know that they're not doing any sort of math in their head, right? Like they're totally wildly unpredictable.
How do you incorporate your computer model into evaluating a guy that's like maybe a legit psychopath or just stupid as hell? So I probably studied GTO for like a year and it was when I was like falling out of love with poker. But before that, like I would say from 19 to, you know, 28, I was just obsessed with poker and you, you go and you play against people who they're, they don't like, you know, I had a poker tracker, which is like, I know how much money I make an hour.
I know how much I made this year. I'm most people go and they just think when they lose money, they're like, Oh, I got a bad beat, you know, or whatever, where when I started studying GTO and doing all that stuff, I kind of lost the, it wasn't fun anymore.
You know, like I was just like, Oh, I don't want to be a guy sitting here doing math all day. And it's like, when, when I used to bluff people, be like I'm picking my spot you know like I'm gonna do this where now in GTO you take like you know something like a clock and you're like okay if if the minute hand is between uh zero and 15 minutes and I'm supposed to bluff uh you know 25 percent of the time that's the time I'll bluff so when you have your hand and you go this is the hand where I'm supposed to bluff 25 percent of the time, that's the time I'll bluff.
So when you have your hand and you go, this is the hand where I'm supposed to bluff 25% of the time, you look at a clock and you see what time it is. And you're like, that determines if you're going to fold or play.
That's crazy. Yeah, that does sound like it can take the fun out of it.
So you also played in a lot of the New York games. I would assume, I watched that movie Molly's Game a couple months ago where did you play in some of those games so I didn't see Molly's Game but I know I don't know what you know it's dangerous because I didn't see the movie I don't know what I'm allowed to talk about but there were people who when I started poker were having like these smaller games by smaller it's like you know a thousand to to 2000 buy-in and it was all businessmen and everybody was having fun.
And then it became, uh, the games got a lot bigger in New York and they became like a hundred thousand dollar buy-in and I never played those. Like I'm, I'm never, I never showed up to play poker with more than 10 grand because if I, if I was going to lose a hundred thousand dollars and I wouldn't sleep for weeks yeah that i mean that makes sense the uh i i just i uh i saw in on your wikipedia it says that you were at one of the places that got raided which that's got to be a thrill to not be arrested too you weren't arrested but you had a there was a raid at a poker lounge in new york that's like the coolest thing ever.
Were they wearing the windbreakers, like the FBI, the blue and yellow jackets? Yes. So I was drunk, and I showed up to play poker, and there was a cop in front of the poker place, and he saw me going in, and he looked at me.
He's like, hey, get out of here. And I was like, oh, okay, just bounce.
And I went to meet my friends at a bar, and we drank for like hours and i and i was like oh you know they'll be done by now and i went back to the poker place when the elevator opened it was just all the police officers were in there and the one guy was like i told you to get the fuck out here you know oh yeah like i was just i was just i was an idiot you know i was 21 years old like thinking i'm you know invincible or it was. It was just a dumb – but I was doing a lot of dumb shit back then.
Yeah, when you're playing in these underground games, that to me just feels like it would be cool. You'd feel like you were getting away with something the whole time.
Is there anything that you missed now that – poker is more out in the daylight than it's ever been, but was there an element of feeling like it's pretty fucking cool to be in like some dimly lit basement knowing that you were breaking the law just by playing a card game yeah you know part of it is like you feel sleazy and then part of it is also cool where like you know there were times where i'd be walking with my friend somewhere and i'd be like oh hold on let's walk in here real quick and we'd walk into this like shady spot and i would grab a thousand dollars from like some shady dude and my friend would be like what the fuck was that and I'd be like oh don't worry about it you know like it's just so like it was there is a feeling of like it was cool to know that there was this underground world going on in New York City and like I'd be on a block eating lunch somewhere and I'd be like oh shit I know that there's a high stakes poker game going on right there and you see like you know people justueless and shit. But, uh, most of the times, you know, there's such a variation of those games where like you go to some place and you're like, wow, this is really nice.
And everything is really classy in this. And then you go to some places and you're like, well, there's like a cockroach crawling up my leg right now.
And I just want to get the fuck out of here because it's disgusting. But you know, you're like, you know, it's Sunday night at 2am.
This is the only game that's going so you're just you know you you stay and you play i would imagine too that did that ever happen to you with with the sopranos where you're like the acting melds into real life and you're kind of walking around being like i'm a protected guy because like my dad's tony soprano well there there were guys you know uh the guy who played Paulie Walnuts, Tony Sirico. Yeah.
The great, by the way, I can't believe when you said who's the funniest guy, he's the funniest guy by far. I don't know how that slipped my mind, but he was just hilarious being himself because he was, you know, Paulie Walnuts.
Like he came to my confirmation. I guess I don't know how old you are, 14 or 15.
and he came over to me and he gave me an envelope full of cash and he was like listen if you ever have a problem you call Uncle Tony so it wasn't just the acting like there were times where I really was like okay and he would bring people around like to dinners and stuff and he'd be like yeah this is Jimmy the hat like you know and there would be these guys who are like all these, like some of them were just big dudes. Like you, it's like he rolled around with this dude who, who was like, uh, he gave me like a pin that he won the golden gloves and he was like six foot six, like some crazy.
And he's like, yeah, this is, you know, this is big Mike and this is this guy. And that, and you, you got the vibe where you're like, I feel protected, not from the acting.
I feel protected from, from these guys, you know, that's awesome. Is there any, like, uh, is there any pull for you to get back into acting or any point? Are you like, you know what? That's in the rear view mirror.
I was on maybe the best show of all time. There's really no need to get back into that.
You know what? It's like, especially with doing, uh, the podcast, it's like going somewhere where you get to decide what to do. And you don't like people like, okay, show up at this time, you're going to say this, you're going to wear this, you're going to eat this, you're going to act like this.
It's like, it just gets to the point where you're like, fuck, I don't really want to do that. You know, and especially with a TV show, because it's like, it starts in one area.
And then three years later, you're somewhere totally different where you're like, I didn't sign up for this shit. You know, you have no idea where it's going to go, where maybe if it was a movie and I thought it would be cool to do, like I would think about it, but I don't desire to be in, you know, to do like some long-term TV show anymore, you know? Yeah.
I did see though, in another relatable moment that you have been in a couple Law & Order episodes, and that was strictly to get out of jury duty. Is that true? Oh, well, you did your research, huh? How did you see that? I have a long history with jury duty.
I've been trying to get in and out of jury duty for, like, two years. So when I saw that, I was like, fuck yes, this is awesome.
Like the fact that you could just, just so is that how it actually went you got jury duty and you're like hey law and order i'm ready for my episode so i don't have to do jury duty that's exactly what happened i got the i got the phone call and they were like hey you have to come down to like whatever it is center street and and i had been on probation for three years and going down just to that area and walking in those buildings would like turn my stomach. Cause I just, I hated it so much.
And they were like, yeah, come down to a center street and do a jury duty. So I called up my manager and I'm like, can you get me a job to get out of jury duty next week? So he called me back.
He's like, yeah, I have a job for you on law and order. If you do the episode of law and order, they'll send a letter in that you're working and you can't make jury duty.
And I didn't even ask what I was doing in the show. I was like, okay.
So what did you do in the show? I hit a spoiler alert. I think I like killed my sister's parents or some shit.
Wait, so you were the culprit? You were the guy? Yeah, yeah, yeah. You just showed up, just trying to get out of work, and you just showed up, and you're like, okay, I guess I'm going to be the star of the show and be like a multiple murderer.
Okay, whatever. Tell me where to stand, what knife to hold.
I'm good. And I also have a horrible fear of paperwork, and I just imagine that jury duty would have a bunch of paperwork.
Like when I won the $40,000 at the world series of poker, you get knocked out and then they send you into this room and the person handed me like a four page thing to fill out. And there was part of me that was like, I should just leave.
Like, you know, I like when it went all those like empty spaces and having to fill in all your information, I never know any of the fucking answers. Like I'm just i'm clueless i paperwork is like my number the thing i hate the most oh it it definitely sucks because i've had to do it and i uh yeah jury duty is not fun i got out of it because i was just like hey i have an interview i have to do who who are we interviewing shit i it might have been um from that 70s show and tover grace yeah tover grace i was like hey um i have top for grace we're interviewing him tomorrow and the person was like oh top for grace i was like yeah and they're like okay you can go so i have a not not as cool as long calling up and being like put me in law and order you're like i gotta go murder top for grace yeah um it would have been i also might have embellished a little bit because i also threatened them and i was like hey listen i'm have a radio show and a podcast so whatever uh case i get put on i will be talking about publicly a lot and they're like well that doesn't work your excuse falls somewhere on the cool level in between mine and my grandpa's which was my grandpa would be like just tell him you're racist he's like that's what i do i'm like okay that's gonna work out great for me yeah just go in there and tell him he's racist i could actually see junior soprano doing that on an episode of sopranos just like going and pretending you know i'm a racist he's like i'm very racist you know i love you and pussy but i'm racist um by the way junior shoots tony in one of the episodes when he does actually get dementia we should bring bring that up spoiler alert if you haven't seen it so Hank started watching the series, what was that, like four years ago, and our producer would watch it and he was doing like two episodes a week, and so then just because we're dickheads, we decided to spoil every single season of The Sopranos for him and tell him everything that happened I know Glennie I know Glennie Glennie Balls is a big fan right yeah he went to the house he went to the house uh for for like Sopranos Con or whatever it was a couple weeks ago how much time did you actually spend in that house or was that were you taping it somewhere else so we filmed uh the first the pilot the first episode at that house and then we filmed at that house any time that there were scenes in the pool any outdoor scenes, shit like that would be there and then everything else was in a studio in Long Island City in Queens at Silver Cup I did hear that there were things about the show that the FBI would kind of pick up on and they thought that there was somebody that was on the inside that was writing for the show that also worked in the FBI or like feeding things back and forth because you remember when they had the bug down in the basement of that house that was it got like moved next to the furnace or something like that that's something that actually happened where the FBI tried to bug somebody's house and I think they put it in a lamp the lamp got moved next to either an air conditioning unit or a furnace so I guess what i'm asking you is are you a rat were you did anyone ever approach you from the fbi about like hey if you get any good ideas let us know so that we can then use those in the field i know they uh they would use stuff in the script sometimes that people who were wise guys would like come up and say to people like the actors on our show like there was a scene where uh somebody comes over and says i think to tony like wise guys don't wear shorts like you're not supposed to wear shorts and that was something that really happened in real life was a wise guy went to james ganolfini like at a bar or something and he came over to him he just like said in his ear he's like listen no wise guy would ever wear shorts they just put it in the show that's I mean that's what makes it authentic that's what makes it uh great was it so we talked about James and and how watching the show would be painful so I know you had a very close relationship with him but was there ever a moment when you were taping the show that you had like a step back like I can't believe I'm sharing uh you know the screen with this guy who is such an incredible incredible actor like could you feel it in the moment and never and the crazy thing is is it wasn't until I would watch other shows and I'd be like wow it must be dope to dope to be those guys.
Then I was like, oh, wait, like I kind of am those guys. Like I'm sitting there working with James and everybody loves to talk about James.
He is one of the greatest actors of all time. But another thing is like Edie Falco is so unbelievable.
Like she is, like sometimes I would definitely sit there and you see, and especially because, uh, you know, Tony was very different from James, but also Edie was very different from Carmela. And you would sit there and be like, holy shit.
Cause you would see her in the hair and makeup trailer, like show up with her dog and we'd hug and talk and how are you? And very sweet. And then she would go into hair and makeup and come out with like the long nails and the crazy hair and the makeup done and like Versace clothes.
And it was just like the transformation was crazy. So there definitely were times where I was sitting there with Edie and I was like, wow, she is on such another level.
Yeah, I mean, yeah, I don't even know if you could do like a top five character list because she also would be easily top five easily in terms of just acting these were all these were all actors who not only were trained and like unbelievable actors but they had been trying to make a break in acting for so long and then you have me who's like 12 years old never took an acting class and i'm just sitting on set like yeah i belong here too you know which is know, which is just not true, you know, but it was, it was, it was crazy, man. The same thing.
It's like, it really, that's the thing I think about all the time of like how Edie Falco, James Gandolfini, people like that were just out there going on auditions. And then a year later there, you know, Tony and Carmela Soprano.
And you're like, how did, how did, how did people let them walk out of a room right yeah right and you you bring that up though about like you just being a kid i think that's actually like thinking about it why your character was so good and hateable because you were just you and you were a kid at the time and i think that like you said in in terms of your first time when uh when everyone was trying out for it not trying to act too much was why your character was so good uh because you were really just a kid you know what i mean like that's thinking about it like it kind of all makes sense it just it never felt like a big deal you know like even the first time we went out to the emmys they rented a bus and they painted like New Jersey transit on the side. And we all got in the bus and went together like a family, you know, and you would see when we would go to the Emmys, it would be like, Oh, there's Matt LeBlanc.
And over there's Jennifer Aniston. And this, and these people where, when it was, when we were there, it was like, Oh, there's the Sopranos.
Right. Because we never, like, we never left each other's side.
We would go and pull like eight tables into a corner somewhere and just sit there for eight hours and laugh and drink and hang out. And we just like, it was crazy.
It really, doing other things after that, I realized how, but that's what made me realize how special it was. Cause you're like, wow, we were straight up like a family, you know? Yeah.
say had the best post-Sopranos acting performance? Would it be Edie on Nurse Jackie or would it be Michael Imperilioni on those tequila commercials where he'd pour them upside down and be like, my tequila pours itself, bitch. What the fuck can yours do? You're missing Tony Sirico was in blockbuster commercials.
I think those were where he would threaten people if you rewind the tape and deliver it back to you're missing uh tony sirico was in blockbuster commercials i think those were where he would like threaten people if you rewind the tape and deliver it back on time i forgot about that all right yeah he's the winner obviously easily the winner there well i got a question for you guys so i was thinking if if you guys did like barstool therapy and did like real legit sessions with people, who do you think would make the best season if they were honest? I think between Stu Feiner, Rico Bosco, and Frank the Tank. I would say Stu seems like the correct answer.
Just like the shit that he's seen. I don't know.
Stu is – I would actually probably probably go with rico rico's got something real fucked up in his head like stew is fucked up but stew also i'll always give stew credit he's like a true family man heart of gold type of guy so and and frank we just be like i think everything would just lead back to the mets where it'd be like my the source of all my misery and happiness is the new y Mets so Rico would be the one I'd want to sit down and really try to be like so what is going on Brandon Walker wouldn't be bad either yeah I'd like to know what's going on on the surface but yeah with Frank I think it it's not a mystery with Frank like what you see is a hundred percent what you get right if you yeah if you were to sit down on a psychiatrist couch that'd just be like yeah well I think the problem at the end of the day is your bullpen. Your bullpen just stinks.
Right. And I can't raise you a prescription for that.
I'm sorry. And Rico is like, you could sit there and be like, Rico, do you know you're crazy? And he'd be like, yeah, yeah, yeah.
No, no, no, no. You just do that for like three hours.
We just have that conversation. Like diagnosing his paranoia would just be so amazing.
But I also, the reason why I think Frank the Tank is because I could see like the first two episodes, you're kind of like, I don't know if I'm in. And then somewhere in like episode three, he just breaks.
And like even his voice changes, like he just starts crying. And like all the truth comes out about like what's really going on.
Yes, yes, that's true. That's a good, I like that hypothetical uh the final question is brought to you by cross-country mortgage america's crazy good mortgage company go to ccmlens.com slash take to learn more about your future home buying experience or refinancing needs equal housing opportunity so you also um you little shout out to play barstool app you were telling me that you went what nine and one like two weeks ago i love that i i just it's just crazy like how the world kind of works out uh that aj soprano is playing the play barstool app and like that's that's a thing and you're actually doing really well on it well what what i used to do is like i would write down uh my picks in the beginning of the week then i listen to all like the podcasts and the stats and all these things and then I look at my bets at the end of the week and see how they're different from the beginning of the week and then I realized like my friend told me about the Barstool Play app and I started using I'm like I could just use this and place all my bets on here and I could track them and then maybe one day if something insane happened win 25 grand yeah

yeah it's a great way to do it yeah the other day i had uh the if the bills score uh one field goal

or a touchdown instead of a field goal they scored like six or seven field goals that game

if i i think six field goals if they scored a touchdown instead of a field goal or

one extra field goal i would have been perfect on the barstool app wow that's that's impressive

Thank you. I think six field goals.
If they scored a touchdown instead of a field goal or one extra field goal, I would have been perfect on the Barstool app. Wow.
That's impressive. I don't think I've ever come close to that.
But it's total luck. It's obvious it's total luck.
But it's also real. So I want to make a bet based on what you think is going to happen tonight, the Bucs and the Giants.
So we're going to air this. Probably Friday.
We're going to air this Friday. So you're going to either seem like a genius or a complete idiot.
I like Tampa Bay minus 12 and a half Monday night football, which way. So what I did was I put the, the bucks in my 10 point teasers.
So I got the bucks minus two and a half. Ooh.
Okay. I like that.
That's smart. I think I have the bucks.
I had the bucks and the Eagles in a teaser. Each one was down.
I think it was like a seven-point teaser. So I'm still alive there.
What about the over-under? I'm the – whatever I say, go the opposite. I'm horrible with over-unders.
What is it, though? What's the total? 46 and a half. Yeah.
God, Tampa Bay's defense is so good. Giants so unpredictable i just uh i guess i would take the over i don't know i like that you're on the fence i love the under now you're gonna still end up going on the no no no i like the under i actually do so that's perfect that's perfect um i'm the worst at totals it's crazy and that and i have like a few teams where if I bet on them, you should bet the opposite.

If I bet on the Falcons, you should do whatever the opposite I did.

And the Chargers, do whatever the opposite that I did.

Because I've never won a Charger bet in my entire life.

Well, the Chargers never won a Charger bet in their entire life, too.

Because they just lose.

We had that stat today.

38 one-score losses in the last five years.

That's unfathomable.

I don't even understand how that's possible.

Yeah.

Well,

Thank you. We had that stat today, 38 one-score losses in the last five years.
That's unfathomable. I don't even understand how that's possible.
Yeah. Well, you know what's crazy? So last night, every Sunday, we go over to Jamie's house, and we smoke an eight-pound short rib and watch football.
And you know what Jamie's last name is now, right? Yeah, Dykstra. Yeah, that's right.
Yes, yes. We got Lenny Bat.
We got him in here, yeah. We go over to Jamie's house and we watch football and everything and I bet on the Eagles against the Cowboys.
I'm so used to betting against the Eagles that during the game I was rooting for the Cowboys and I would catch them. Like the Cowboys would drop a pass and I was like, fuck.
And I was like, Oh wait, I'm so used to rooting for like against the Eagles, you know, like, yes. I was making, I was like cheering for the wrong team during the game.
Yeah. That will happen.
What happens? Diehard twist. Yeah.
Twist yourself up. Well, Rob, this has been awesome, man.
We really appreciate this. Hopefully you're in New York sometime soon.
You can come in and hang out in person. need to get you on barstool sports advisors just walk in and be like i'm the boss now and just intimidate stew finer that would be fantastic i would love that yeah are you i could be like uh part of the mortal lock if you if for some reason someone ever picked the jets or the giants as the mortal lock right the jersey yes yes yes.
Or get you to do a burger review with Glenny Balls. Oh, yes.
That would probably make his entire life. You have to do that.
You would absolutely love it. You would absolutely love it.
Also, way better at betting on sports. I feel like I'm one of the best in the world at predicting what Dave is going to rate a pizza.
When he's like, I'm nasty.'s so many times where I'm like, it's a 6'8", it's a 7'. I know he's dancing between 7'9", and 8'1", and then he's like, anybody who knows who watches this, I'm dancing between the 7'8", and the 8'1".
I would put money up if we wanted to do that one day too against anybody. That would be a very funny betting market.
Have like you, Tommy, and Frankie watching behind the scenes and like trying to predict what he's going to do. You pause it right before he gives a score.
You guys each have to write down your scores independently. Yeah.
I like that. Yeah.
All right. Well, Rob, thanks so much.
Everyone go listen. Pajama Pants, his podcast.
We appreciate it. Hopefully we see you soon, we see you soon man yeah man thank you so much for having me i'd love to have you guys on one day if you're uh if you're free absolutely absolutely thanks man thanks a lot man see you soon that interview with robert eiler was brought to you by our friends hey it's ria from tricks in the office it's officially-skort season, and Abercrombie has the ones to go out in.
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Okay, let's wrap up with Fyre Fest. It's been a week.
Enjoy yourself. Have a Friday.
Relax. It's been a week.
Fyre Fest of the week, though. Hank, you want to start? Billy, you can start.
Let's go, Billy. Billy, you start.
I'll start. Billy got Vanny Woodhead towed, and it's still in my name.
No way. How'd you find out?

That would be my fire fest of the week.

Did Billy try to hide that from you?

Undoubtedly, I will be owing so much money on this stupid fucking van.

Because, oh wait, hold on.

Here's the best part.

Oh, here's the best part.

Billy, we didn't have the title.

So Billy was tasked with getting a new title sent to me. Did that.
Congrats, Billy. Good job.
Gave Billy the title. Asked Billy today, what happened to the title? I thought you were just going to get rid of it or sell it or whatever.
His dog ate the title. We're getting another title.
That is the excuse he uses. My dog ate the title.
He literally used my dog ate the homework as an excuse for me. There's a tweet of the ripped up title.
This is a conversation that happened. My dog ate the title.
Did it swallow the title? No, it just ripped up the title. Anyway.
Look, what was the title of a car doing at dog level? Right. I'm trying to figure out the series of events that could have The dog is getting very large and jumps up.
The title of a car on the floor of your barn to a dog. You put it in your backpack and then And then he just gave it and then he walked home and he's like, here Whitey, have this.
Billy's dog's name is Whitey for Whitey Ford. Uh-huh.
Who was Billy's favorite player? I have a picture of Whitey Ford.

He played in like 1922.

I know, but I have an autographed photo.

He just likes the name.

My favorite player is Satchel Paige.

My uncle's also.

Anyway.

All right.

Okay.

Sorry.

But yeah, Whitey.

So that's my fire fest.

Yeah.

So where was where to get toad from?

Who knows?

Okay.

No, it didn't actually get toad.

He also lives like in a barn. I was like, just put it in the barn, dude.
Okay, we're figuring it out. Very complicated.
Anyway, we're figuring it out. Is it my Fire Fest? Yeah, go ahead.
My Fire Fest of the week was, I think PFT got the FBI watching me. Okay, I was going to suggest that for you.

No, I legit walked out of my house this morning

and I saw a tinted Ford Taurus just parked outside

and just like in a very sketchy spot.

And then when I looked at it, it started driving away quickly.

So I think the FBI is happy.

Did it have that spiral antenna on the back that they spotted

in that Ben Affleck movie, The Town?

Yeah, it's like FBI. Yeah, it had weird foot and a half.
Oh, the four-inch CB antenna. They've been using that for fucking years.
Might want to hide that. On the unmarked cars, they have the weird thing on the rear view mirror, on the side mirror.
Anyway, so that was weird. PFT.
Basically, I built. No, I built.
Let's put some context around this. Okay, let's put some context around billy billy tweeted out last night this is word for word his tweet i saw it i retweeted i signal boosted it as they say looking to buy sub-adult hens in the tri-state area dm me built a new hen house and have a lot more room all right so built so that i'm getting a new so the There were lots of red flags.
I saw somebody call you Jeffrey Eggstein. I alerted the FBI.
I said, I'm not sure what the language meant, but it's obvious that you should investigate this. No.
I built... I got a bigger hen house because the hens got bigger and I need a new heating system.
I'm looking to buy sub-adult hens in the hen house because the hens, they're not fully adult. So I wanted to get them the same age.
I didn't know what else to call it. Sub-adult? Well, they weren't chicks and they're not adult hens yet.
So juvenile, like sub- Teenagers? I don't know. It's like not, they don't lay yet.
Oh, you're 15, yeah, 14. I'm trying to get these chickens to start laying eggs.
He's trying to get these sub-adult teenagers pregnant. No.
Oh, God. It's simple.
Wow. Anyway.
So I stepped in it again. No.
So anyway, I think the FBI. There was maybe a possibility that you could have had this thought and not tweeted it out.
Yeah. Well, legitimately, I want, like, low-key, like, I have already located a place to get hens, so it worked.
So I have chickens. The hens justify the means of doxing yourself as a sub-adult.
No. The hens justify the means.
Oh. And then you tweeted out a picture of your cock right afterwards.
Yes, I started putting out pictures of my chicken so everyone knew I actually have chickens. Right, right, right.
Right. It makes sense.
All this makes sense. Totally normal.
Hey, what's your fire fest? I was walking Norman. Obviously, he had a week.
He had quite a week. What happened? One week ago today, you guys saw a picture of his dick.
How's he doing? It got tweeted out on Friday night. He's doing okay, but we are walking in public in a pretty busy place, and two guys were across the street like, Big Dick Norman! Dude, he's a stud.
He knows it. People think that they're saying that to you.
Correct. You're Big Dick Norman.
Correct. That's also cool.
I just had to keep walking, and people were looking at me like I was Big Dick Norman. That's cool, too.
Very cool. No, it's my dog.
Yeah. Who has the big dick.
Yeah. If you see Hank in public, don't call him Big Dick Norman.
Do not. Don't yell it at him.
Make sure when you say Big Dick Norman, you point at his dog. Right.
Yeah. Just anything below his waist level.
Point around that area. PFT, yours? My Fyre Fest is, I guess I'm a narc, because I alerted the authorities.
But you needed narc. Yeah, I guess.
But you know what? You did the right thing. Yeah, I mean, I guess if you want to call me a snitch or a Karen, that's fine.
But I really want to stop. Let's see the coop logs, Billy.
Someone's looking for sub-adults. The authorities need to be alerted.
Yes. Jake, do you have one? I do.
I think it was Monday or Tuesday. It dropped to, I dropped to I think mid 30s So it was time to rip out the winter jacket Mine's broken Zippers are screwed up It's been 6 years 4 years in Syracuse 2 winters in Burlington It's time to get a new one And that jacket's seen some shit in cities like that Is this Jake doing his first I need like, I need a free jacket plug? Our boys growing up.
No.

Very cold, Jake. I just love

that that's your fire

fest. Like, our two sons, one has

a zipper broken, the other is trying

a black market for sub-adult hens.

You couldn't be more different.

Do you have the paperwork for us? If you're in the tri-state

area and you have a chicken farm or a poultry farm...

Also, whenever you say

tri-state area, it sounds way too

official. Why? It's lot of people in the tri-state area.
Have you been part of a fraud? No. Have you given your sub-adult chickens that? That's what you called.
I don't want to put a bunch of full-grown hens with the younger hens, and then there's some fucked up situation. You really want to get Pennsylvania chickens? You're cool with Pennsylvania chickens? That's not in the tri-state.
Wait, Pennsylvania's not a tri-state area? No, it's New Jersey, Connecticut, New York. Fuck that.
You definitely don't want Connecticut hens. It's rich.
Those aren't pretty enough. They don't lay eggs.
I actually want to buy some hens Because you can't just order them online like chicks

Yeah I know

You actually have to go pick them up

Because you can't ship hens

Alright what's the number?

What number?

69

18

69

1

Do you pick 69 every time?

Yeah because it's more likely to hit

Because it's funny

I can't

I feel like we have to mix it up

8

8

8

4

Kangaroos can't jump backwards

We already did that one

No

They didn't get it on the record

Correct

4

8

Thank you. Kangaroos can't jump backwards.
We already did that one. No.
On Wednesday. They didn't get it on the record.
Correct. Eight.
17. Shut up.
No, it's not. It's not.
Damn it. Does 17 ever happen? Oh my God, what the fuck? What? You usually pick 17.
Are you serious? Oh, no. Oh, Hank, that's too bad.
How many times did you pick 17? Huh? A lot.

A lot? And then fucking Jake started picking 18

so I switched.

Yeah, he must do.

I picked 18 since day one

so Hank thinks I'm cucking him

by doing that.

Not doing crazy.

Is that a curse?

No.

No.

Jake doesn't curse.

There he got me.

Um, yeah.

You won't go back to 17 next time.

Lightning strikes twice.

Love you guys.

Bye. Lightning Strange Twice.
Love Take on me Take me on I'll be gone Every day I'm obtained Needless to say I'm on sentence But I need so little Thank you. Take me on me Take me on I'll be gone In a dark tree All the things that we say Is it a lot of hope Just to play my worries away You're all the things I've got to remember You're shying away I'll be coming for you anyway Take on me Take me on on I'll be gone indeed I'll be gone

In a day

It's Pardon My Take presented by Barstool Sports.