Wrestling legend Mick Foley grapples with the comedy circuit

Mick Foley knows how to reinvent himself. Professional wrestling’s hardcore legend did just that in the ring, developing characters that ranged from barbed-wire-bat-wielding Cactus Jack to the lovable Mankind, who wore his tube-sock tag-team partner, Mr. Socko, on his arm.

Now, he has done it again. Outside the ring, Mrs. Foley’s Baby Boy has found success as a New York Times best-selling author and, most recently, as a comic. But don’t let him catch you calling him a comedian.

“I still don’t call it stand-up,” Foley tells The Pitch. “I know it’s crazy because I’m in stand-up venues, and I am standing up and I am making people laugh, but I feel more comfortable labeling myself a storyteller. I just love it as a way of communicating with an audience and getting reactions, which is always the pull for me as a wrestler.”

Foley is about to connect with the audience again, launching his 2015 world tour at the Improv in Kansas City. The Pitch spoke with Foley about the evolution of his show, the tooth that got knocked out in his iconic Hell in a Cell match, and more.

The Pitch: How has your show evolved since the last time you were in Kansas City?

Foley: The biggest difference is that I now have a special that people can see. So when they show up, they will not be surprised that it’s a good show because I have video evidence. The difference is, people should be coming with high expectations now. The WWE was good enough to work with me on a special [Cheap Pops] that debuted on their network, and the response has been overwhelmingly positive.

With that in mind, it will be a completely new show. What’s kind of neat about Kansas City is, I’m in the same situation that I was a little over two years ago, where Kansas City begins my new tour. So you guys will get to see the first show of the new tour. There’s nothing like that first time getting up and having no idea what’s going to work and what’s not, and then feeling like you’re striking gold when something really clicks.

You’re a natural storyteller, so it’s surprising to hear that you see that as a challenge.

It is. Even if you’re a natural storyteller, stories are at their best when they are worked on. But there’s something beautiful and natural in seeing them in their natural opening stages.  

How did your WWE Network special come about?

Going back as far as three years ago, I was asked about doing the show at WWE Axxess, and I politely declined. They didn’t know what I did. I had to explain: It’s a show that requires people’s attention. It’s not just something you walk by and happen to listen to on your way going somewhere else. So we kind of talked the past year about the best time to do it. We thought we had something during WrestleMania week, but in retrospect, I’m glad we waited. I got a text from Mr. [Vince] McMahon, saying, “Call me. It’s important.” I think he probably thought that I was going to be disappointed that we were not going to be doing the show during WrestleMania week. Instead, he suggested doing the show at Full Sail University, WWE’s state-of-the-art developmental facility, and I knew then that we’d have access to a great set and that the people coming to the show would be anticipating a good show. WWE did not disappoint, and I did not disappoint them. We gave a much better show than anyone would have guessed.

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Is this something that you’ll be doing more of with them in the future on the Network?

Ah, sure. I’d like to make it a yearly event, if not a biannual event. It’s likely that you’ll be seeing some stories that begin in Kansas City eventually on the Network.

One bit on your Cheap Pops show was a story about getting an e-mail from Stacy Keibler about showing George Clooney a match of yours. I don’t recall which match you suggested that she show him.

I told her the [Hell in a] Cell match and then I gave her a couple of interviews. That was a story that I’ve been telling the first part of, off and on, for a while, and part of the fun of doing these shows is connecting the dots and finding out how you can make a story much more than just a punch line.

It’s a challenge for me. It’s fun. It feels very much like trying to put the best possible match together, where you may have a great series of moves and especially, in my case, because I was a guy who did not have too many moves, and the secret was always to put them together in the most meaningful way possible for the most powerful outcome. I was always concerned about leaving a lasting impression with the match. And that’s the way that I feel about my shows. Laugh for laugh, there’s got to be hundreds of guys who are going to provide more laughs per minute than I do, but I think on the big-smile ratio and the smile on a person’s face when they leave the show, I’m very happy with where I stand in the entertainment community.

Do you wish you’d started doing stand-up while you were still an active wrestler?

Nah, I think it’s come in as a great way of filling the void that almost every wrestler feels when they leave the ring. So if I had been doing stand-up while I was wrestling, it may have been sensory overload. Plus, I received plenty of laughs, especially with the Mankind character. And then I had the books coming along, so I didn’t need another way to connect with the audience.

One of the iconic images of the Hell in a Cell match was the tooth stuck in your nose after the Undertaker slammed you through the cage. What happened to that tooth?

It was placed into a glass of milk to keep it vital and it was reinserted and, unfortunately, after 17 years is about to make its exit, as the four teeth that were damaged in the Cell match all need replacing.

You were able to save it?

Yeah, yeah. It’s in there. Right now, it’s so loose that I could pull it out if I tried. As of this Friday, those four teeth are going to be history, and thus begins a six-month procedure to replace them the right way.

My hope is that I’ll have a partial flipper to cover up the four missing teeth. I have no concern about the two missing top teeth, but as I explained to my 12-year-old when he asked why I’m getting the bottom teeth replaced, I said, “Son, the difference from having a rugged, endearing smile and looking like a meth head.” So I’ll be replacing those four bottom teeth.

As for the Kansas City show, it sounds like people should expect a new beginning.

The polish won’t be there, but there’s something exciting and brilliant about seeing somebody try something and fail. The people in Kansas City can be assured that I’ll be extra nice at the meet-and-greet. And that will be the case for those first few weeks as I work out the kinks. I love it. It’s such a great process because you start out with so many ideas, you start seeing what shapes up and then you start seeing what the show is going to be. But it all starts with day one, and it’s just fun for me that my day one in 2013 was in Kansas City, and my day one in 2015 is in Kansas City.