Wrestling fans know him as the Hardcore Legend whose extreme antics included losing an ear in a match, being thrown through a table from the top of a cage by the Undertaker and using a dirty sweat sock named Socko to help him win matches. Others are more familiar with Mrs. Foley’s baby boy, the flannel-wearing intellectual who writes best-selling memoirs, supports good causes and dresses up as Santa Claus. When it comes to his Hardcore Legend: An Evening with Mick Foley one-man shows, you’re likely to hear about all these things and more as Foley recounts various moments from his life and career in candid detail. Currently on the Southeast leg of his comedy tour (including performances on Nov. 14 at the Superstars of Wrestling fan fest and on Nov. 16 at Atlanta Improv, 56 E. Andrews Drive NW, Atlanta, 678-244-3612, www.theatlantaimprov.com), the WWE Hall of Famer talks to Wrestling with Pop Culture about wrestling, comedy and his new film I Am Santa Claus.
When I saw you perform at The Punchline last year, you had just become an official Santa Claus. And I’m not certain how to properly phrase that.
I had just graduated with a degree in Santa Clausology from the International University of Santa Claus.
Well that time of year is approaching and you’re the producer and one of the stars of a new documentary called I Am Santa Claus. What can you tell me about that?
It’s a project I began as a subject in that intended to follow Santa’s ambassadors around to find out what they did during the rest of the year. My role in the documentary was going to be the rookie, the guy who’s dabbled in that world but never really plunged into it. I got a chance to plunge into it and I loved it. When I did emerge, as long as we’re going with the plunging motif, I really loved the idea of being in that chair and being in that suit and doing it every year for the foreseeable future.
Is there anywhere in particular you’ll be doing the Santa thing this year?
It’s a hobby for me. I can kind of do it wherever I want to. So I’ll be on stage with my friends in Puss N Boots, Norah Jones, Sasha Dobson and Catherine Popper, actually singing as Santa on Dec. 11 in Brooklyn. Then I’ll be doing a lot of things behind the scenes, like making visits for a group called Christmas Magic, which helps make the magic of Christmas morning possible for families with very limited means on Long Island. And I’ll be doing a book signing with my son Hughie for a Christmas story he wrote. So I’m all over the place. I’m doing a few photo sessions and a bunch of appearances for good causes.
You tend to draw an audience of wrestling fans for your comedy shows for obvious reasons. But tomorrow’s Superstars of Wrestling show will consist of an especially concentrated group of wrestling fans. Do you expect that show to be much different from a show at a comedy club?
The fan fest signing and meet-and-greet is right after my show and there’s no extra charge for that. I’ve done a couple of other shows at fan fests and you get the really passionate fans, which is great because they’ll get all the subtleties. Of course I’ll work in some special material just for those guys. And it’s fun to come to an area like Rome or Atlanta where I have history. I think I last wrestled at the Alpharetta Auction Barn in 1994, about an hour away from Rome. Of course I lived in the Atlanta area for five years. So I’m excited about it. I love doing it and I think people get that within the first ten minutes that I’m on stage.
How different is your show from one night to the next? If someone goes the show in Rome as well as the show in Atlanta, will they see similar sets?
I try to make them largely different. I might have a couple of core stories that I include both nights. I’ll go out of my way, especially since they’re only about 70 miles away, to make sure they are different shows. I’ve done weekends at a club where I’ll do four different shows over two days and the owner will be like, “No one does that!” It goes back to my days as a wrestler and thinking I’d be disappointing one or two people who may have driven 300 hours if I didn’t do something special. I’ll even ask when I’m doing the late show, “Anyone here from the early show?” One person will raise their hand and I’ll go, “I’m doing an entirely new show.” It’s just a point of pride with me.
Speaking of your history in Georgia, do you have any favorite memories from your time wrestling in Georgia?
Yeah. One of the stories that I do tell on the current tour is about getting the call from WCW for the big tryout. When I arrived, I was under the impression I’d be getting a promotional push from the company only to find out that my opponents for that evening were the Steiner Brothers. I momentarily contemplated quitting the wrestling business until finding out they actually had a unique idea for me. It’s a fun story and it’s always great to tell the story in the city of its origin, in this case Atlanta. But I’ll have plenty of material for the fans in Rome and Atlanta. Every night we do a Q&A, which means every night we get different questions and the potential to take off in different ways.
I was a big fan of your work in WCW, particularly the matches you had against Sting. Do you have any favorite moments from your feuds with Sting?
Oh, yeah. Sting was one of two primary opponents that put me on the map. It was Sting in WCW in 1991 and the Undertaker in WWE in 1996. Without those two rivalries, you and I are probably not having this phone call. When it comes to Sting, the big moment would be busting out of the box on Clash of the Champions and dropping the finest elbow of my career – an elbow that was so good that I specifically asked for it to be included in the Santa Claus documentary.
Any speculation on what his role might be in WWE?
I have no idea. I don’t know if he’s going to wrestle or if he’s just an ambassador. But he’s clearly a big iconic figure and a great gain for WWE.
You’re also involved in Blanc/Biehn Productions‘ Hellevator Man coming out in 2015. What can you tell me about this film?
I did one of my shows in the Los Angeles area, drove out at midnight, shot until 6 a.m. and was back on the road. That was really just my chance to work with Jennifer Blanc-Biehn, who had helped me find my way to The Artie Lange Show when I had no idea where I was. She saw this very confused-looking guy and guided me to the show. I looked her up and sent her a nice message and she had no idea who I was. She had no idea that this guy she had helped out was this noted wrestling figure. I really enjoyed it. I hadn’t acted in a while, but I look forward to doing more acting projects, especially Santa-related projects, in 2015.
Hellevator Man doesn’t appear to be a Santa-related project.
No, it’s a horror film. I do have another project coming out called Dixieland. It’s a really cool independent film that stars Riley Keough, who is Elvis Presley‘s granddaughter, and Chris Zylka, who was in the last Spider-Man movie and I believe [will portray] Venom in the upcoming Spider-Man movie. He’s such a big fan of mine and got such a kick out of me playing myself in a dream sequence at a strip club with Elvis’ granddaughter.
You always seem to be working on something new. Do you have any other books or movies coming out anytime soon?
I just started getting some thoughts of doing a memoir about my experiences as Santa, one of those heartwarming 20 to 30,000-word mini memoirs as opposed to the vastness of Have a Nice Day!.
You recently appeared on Raw, just before the Hell in a Cell event. Do you have any plans of being on WWE TV again anytime soon?
I don’t know when I’ll be on the main show, but I imagine I’ll be doing something in the future. I believe WWE will be airing my one-man show special on the WWE Network in 2015. That will forever answer the question of, “What does he do?” Because 90 percent of people who think enough of me to put their hard-earned money down to come to my show have no idea what to expect. So it’ll be a real relief, knowing that the shows outperform people’s limited expectations, to just have something out there for people to go, “Oh, I see.” My feeling is that people will be much more inclined to come watch it live.