Johnny "Backflip" Dudley

Full episode transcript, auto-generated from the audio and lightly formatted (verbatim, not edited).

Purple suiter [singing] canyon [music] that's where I hide. So you but you rode a yacht growing up I'm assuming? Not really. Oh really?

Oh [clears throat] that's cool. No my rodeo story is a lot different than a lot of people so. Oh in what way? Well just how I got started in it.

Oh okay. started together. Yeah man yeah we were rolling huh? Dude we keep it super chill man.

Okay super chill. You don't you don't freaking worry about nothing. Uh what's what do you mean it's like why was it so different? Well so my rodeo story was I guess growing up in Dayton um rodeo was kind of a big deal.

There's only about two things that come from Dayton and bull riders and drugs and uh you know as a youngster we used to go to some of my friends' houses and ride bucking barrels you know the old barrels. We just get on a barrel and with springs attached to it and ride it and that was fun in kindergarten at first and second grade. Um so I was interested in rodeo. And then my parents got divorced and moved away.

So I wasn't involved in rodeo anymore since I was 7 years old. Um graduate high school I went to the Marines. Uh soon when I was in the Marines in about 1999 a rodeo came to our base. Every year they'll do something for the troops.

Uh one year we had like Toby Keith came and sang for us. One year we had something else. And then this year we had a rodeo come to base. And I was thinking I want to do something with the rodeo because I grew up liking rodeo but I don't know much about rodeo anymore.

And so I volunteered to go down there and take tickets. How old were you at that point? Probably 20. Okay.

Yeah. And I'm taking tickets at the rodeo on base. And about halfway through the rodeo you know everybody's already in so I was able to go watch the rodeo. I go up there and I'm leaning up against the fence and I'm watching this clown out there and he's kind of funny and I'm just watching what he does and he jumps the fence runs into the crowd and a the biggest dude on base I'm talking about 270 lb, 6'4, like the Marine you would never want to cross anywhere.

And I've never talked to the guy. I see him in the gym almost every day, but he's always wearing earbuds and stuff and just working out. And his wife was smoking hot. She's sitting up there, good-looking blonde.

Well, this clown jumps out of the arena, runs up the stairs, sits in her lap, and I was thinking, "Oh, [expletive] It's going down. " Uh as soon as he sits in her lap, this big Marine takes out his camera and starts taking pictures and smiling. He thought it was hilarious. Yeah, he didn't get mad at all.

Didn't get mad at all. And I'm thinking, "I want to do [laughter] that." How about that? I mean, like I mean, not just but for her, but I mean, just in general.

I mean, I was thinking, "What can you get away with at this job?" I mean, everybody just loves you. Nobody wants to beat you up. Uh looks like a fun job.

So, I went up to him at the clown after the rodeo, and I said, "Man, I want to be a rodeo clown." He said, "Hey." He said, "If you come back tomorrow," he said, "I could use you in the show. " He wants me to help with the clown act.

Which in ro- now that I'm a rodeo clown, helping with clown acts, we're always looking for somebody to help us with a clown act. So, if anybody out there ever wants to volunteer, we can use you. I mean, Now you're saying like just somebody like just to help with like a bit or something. Yeah.

Yeah, okay. Yeah, just somebody get in the arena and like help me with a skit, you know, like a clown car or something like that. That's what he was talking about. Well, uh I went to Walmart that night, bought some makeup, and like I showed up the next day dressed like a clown.

And he was like, "Whoa, bro. " Yeah, well, I wasn't looking forward to that. Uh anyways, but he let me get down there and help. And uh next thing you know, I was like, "That was fun.

I want to do it." I get out of the Marines, I move back to Dayton, Texas. There happens to be a practice bull riding arena there. And so, I go out there and start trying to figure out how to be a rodeo clown, and I start fighting bulls a little bit.

Got pretty good at fighting bulls. Got my PRCA card, and first year with PRCA card, I was jumping a bull, and he hit me in my legs, blew out both knees at the same time. Pretty gruesome injury. Was that what were you were just jumping over him?

Yeah, it was selling the show. It was a It was a Mexican fighting bull that I've fought 10 times, and the same contractor had him a week after week, and I was working for that contractor, so I've jumped this bull a bunch. And the bull was finally figuring out that every time I run at him, I go over him, and so he got to where he's starting to throw his head up real high and trying to catch me, and he knows I'm jumping him, but I was pretty cocky, and I was like, he's he ain't going to catch me, and he caught me. Blew out both knees at the same time, and so the next week, I was like, man, I don't want to lose this rodeo thing, so I went and bought a microphone and a barrel, and said, this I called all my rodeos that summer.

I was like, hey, I'm not a bull fighter anymore. I'm a rodeo clown. So, you just straight up quit fighting bulls at that point? Yep.

And but well, because this injury happened in June, and I needed an income to get through the summer, and so I called these rodeos. I was luckily, I was working a lot of, you know, amateur, smaller rodeos, and a lot of them didn't have clowns, and the guys were like, yeah, come on. So, You were just you were hustling around just fighting bulls. Yep.

How like how old were you roughly? Then? Yeah. I started fighting bulls when I was probably 22, right when I got out of the Marine.

Who taught Who taught you to do that? I just go into that practice arena. Oh. just going into a practice pen.

They're bucking 60 bulls a week. You were just figuring it out on the fly. Yeah, just figuring it out on my own, just dodging dogs, cuz they had about 15 catch dogs out there. Try not to trip over a dog, make a round with a bull, and then I got hired for a rodeo as a bull fighter.

Go up there and fought that and like I said, worked my way up a little bit, and as soon as I blew out my knees, I was already working for Lester Meier a little bit. You know, Lester's he's helped started a lot of people in Central Texas. And so I went and worked all summer for Lester Meier with blown out knees. And you know, he's looking for a cheap clown.

And I'm just looking for a job. So it worked. That sounds like a song. Yeah.

Yeah, right. Right. That's sick. So what was the transition to Were you always like pretty good in front of a crowd or Really weird.

I've been kind of a shy person. I mean, I was I was never the center of attention guy. I was kind of back of the room. Kind of more of a follower, not the leader.

And real weird once I put that makeup on it's you know, like Superman putting on a cape. It's totally different person. But would you try to practice some things? I guess jokes, bits.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, over and over and over. I mean, but the thing about being a rodeo clown is There's no real way to practice it.

It's like being a stand-up comedian. The only way to practice it is to do it. Mic time. You need mic time.

Terrifying. Yeah. That's why I've always thought Yeah, like with stand-up guys and what you all do like I can practice to a certain Yeah, there's crowd interaction that comes with time that you can only get by just being on stage, but we can do a lot of practicing on our own. You guys really can't.

You just don't really know if that thing's going to hit until Well, and the hard thing about being a rodeo I mean, you know, not stop putting down any other profession, but being a rodeo clown every week I'm First of all, I mean, yeah, you're in front of different crowds, but and I'm working different arenas, but I'm working with different announcers and different sound men, you know, different people are pushing the buttons to play the different music. And then I'm working with different announcers that have their style of announcing. I mean, you go work Be a youngster and work with Bob Tallman. That's nerve-racking.

I mean, because I do not want to talk I don't want to step on him. If I cut him off, I'm might as well just cut myself off, you know. What was the What was the first time you worked with him? Oh, gosh.

First time working with Bobby T Actually, I think first time working with Bobby T was all was up in Montana at some little small rodeo. And it was really, really cool because he said it was his one of his favorite rodeos because it's just a super small rodeo in a small town in Montana. And he just got to be himself, just be who he wanted to be. Interesting.

You know, he had he had a house up on Flathead Lake in by Kalispell for a lot of years. And so, he loved to go up there in the in the summer times. Huh. Were you Were you pretty nervous?

Oh, yeah. Did you get to hang with him much before y'all performed or not really. I didn't I didn't become good friends with Bobby T till later on in my rodeo career. I mean, this only happened over the last 10 years.

Uh I was Hadley Barrett's guy, though. So, Hadley Barrett, another, you know, Hall of Fame, first ballot Hall of Fame rodeo announcer, in my mind, greatest ever. Uh When I was young in my rodeo career, I got to work with him one time, and he really liked me. So, he started like telling people to hire me.

And next thing you know, I get a phone call from San Antonio. And it's like, "Hey, Hadley said to hire you." Wow. Yeah.

So, I got to work San Antonio 2 years in a row. Yeah. When was that? Uh I was just there for the extreme bulls.

Um they had they had Leon Coffee for the whole rodeo. But, Hadley was trying to get my foot in the door there a little bit, I think. Um and it was maybe 2017, 2018. I was there for the extreme bulls and the and the bull fights.

Yeah. How do you How do you handle a lot of the travel? That's tough cuz you got kiddos, don't you? Yeah.

Uh I've traveled every way you can travel. I've traveled by air, and you know, I've had a bus at one time, trailers, hotels. It's a grind. I've tried I've tried them all, and I don't know which one my favorite is.

I kind of switch back and forth. Yeah, I mean, you Yeah, did you always have that thing that you wanted to be out and gone and going and like the adventure thing or do you like being home or a little bit of both? I like to travel. I like to be on the road.

It's I don't know. I guess it's just so many years of being on the road that I just like being on the road. I mean, there's something really cool about being in an RV if traveling by myself and we're in between rodeos in Idaho that you run up on a river just in the middle of nowhere. You just pull down there next to it and stay 2 days.

Do a little fishing, do a little swimming. Were you always comfortable being alone? Um big time. Big time uh I'm a whatever it's called where you always want to be alone.

I don't know the word for it. Really? Like your whole life you've been like that? I think so.

Mhm. Kind of kind of strange, but No, I don't think that's like necessarily strange. It's just kind of I'm the I'm the guy that if you ever walk into a restaurant, like even a busy restaurant, and you see one dude sitting at the bar by himself eating, that's me. Isn't it crazy nowadays how weird that looks?

It's always me though. [laughter] Like I'll do it too. I love it. I think it's cuz of the phones though.

Especially if you're not on your phone and you are just sitting there with yourself. Looking around, you kind of look crazy. Probably [laughter] I probably do. Nowadays for sure.

I like to watch I like to watch TV. I like to watch sports and I just sit at the bar and get a beer and eat by myself. Yeah, it takes a lot of confidence to do it. Or just not liking people.

[clears throat] I don't know. [laughter] I find that hard to believe. No, I If you're an entertainer, I mean I think I just like to go at my own speed. Mhm.

I don't like to wait very much. So, if I feel like I'm not big with eating, you know when you go in a group of 20 people to eat and you're there for 3 hours? Yeah. No.

I'd rather let those 20 people go sit down. I go eat at the bar and drink a beer and then go say hi to them, you know? Oh, funny. Funny.

But Yeah, so uh how long you been doing the North Texas Rodeo? Oh gosh. So, North Texas Fair and Rodeo, you know, I moved up here in 2011. I bought a place in Denton in 2011.

Um and I went up here and I met Glenn and kind of knew everybody, but uh Rudy Burns, you know, my hero. Uh the guy that probably I learned more about rodeo clown from Rudy Burns, man. That dude's just next level to me. I mean, he is top-notch.

I think probably definitely on my Mount Rushmore of rodeo clowns. Um Rudy Burns worked it for 27 years. And in 2016, uh I think there was a bad flood back in Louisiana or something. I think he Rudy had a there was a flood going on.

I think he lost his sister-in-law or something. I can't remember. Not in the flood, but just so happened at the same time. Uh so, Glenn called me and said, "Hey, uh Rudy can't make the first three perfs at the rodeo."

And it's the PRCA nights. Uh and you know, I have PRCA card. PRCA clowns are probably hard to find, you know, a week out, you know. And I just happened to be off that weekend.

And uh I said, "Man, that'd be awesome." So, he let me go up here and work the first three perfs. And he told me that day, he said, "Whenever Rudy's done, Rudy retires, he said, you're next. " So, when did Rudy retire?

Maybe pandemic time, I think. Oh, yeah. because I think this may be my fourth year at the rodeo. So, yeah, 2000, 2020, 2021, somewhere in there.

2022. What do you What do you think's like the like when you're talking about guys that are like great rodeo clowns and you're saying What are some of the factors that you think are the most important? Like what really makes them great? Is there something other than just being like funny?

Timing. Mhm. 100% timing. Uh good rodeo clowns, I'll tell you the hardest thing about being a rodeo clown.

And I tell people this all the time and they never believe me. The hardest thing about being a rodeo clown is knowing when to shut up. That's it. I mean knowing to shut up because I study the day sheet of the rodeo.

I know who's there that night. If I look on the day sheet and you know, we got Trevor Brazile or if we got, you know, back in the day Joe Beaver today Shad Mayfield or Riley Webb. And speaking of Riley Webb, he's from Denton, Texas, three-time world champion. We're North Texas Fair and Rodeo is super proud of him.

Uh Kind of Local boy. Local boy. I got a cool story about him, too, but uh like when I see Riley Webb's going to be there and I know where he's at in the order. So, if he's the sixth guy out I better not have a joke ready for then, you know?

I mean, Riley Webb's next. Go hide, you know, because that announcer's going to have so much to say about him and build him up. So, it's the good clowns know when to be in there and when not to be in there. When they're needed and when they're not needed.

And if I'm telling a joke, I'm looking down there and I can tell if somebody's about to nod in the bull riding or in the calf or whatever. Uh and I have to give that announcer time to set that cowboy up. And so, the good clowns aren't on top of the announcers, and the good clowns don't start a joke and then say "Hey, I'll tell you after this guy." Because they know that they don't they can't get fit that joke in there.

So, the joke that I'm saying, I'm looking down there and I'm timing my joke. Sometimes I have to speed it up. Sometimes I might just have to set my own joke up for myself and cut it off. And a good announcer after the next round will come back to me and say, "Oh, tell me about what you were saying."

Or, you know, Right. So, that's what the good guys do. Is it I feel like it might be God, it'd be a tough thing to get better at cuz I have a suspicion that y'all don't probably get a ton of constructive criticism or feedback. It's like either they like you or they don't, but they might not be willing to tell you like why or like, "Hey, work on this."

or It's Some do, some don't. Uh like I There's guys that I work with so many times and we're good about that. Oh. And because Yeah, but when you were first starting out, I wonder if it was Yeah, when I was first starting out, a lot of the good announcers would just ghost me pretty much, you know?

Like afterwards, I'm like, "Hey, good working with you." and they're like, "Yeah, nice." You know, and just leave. And I always thought they were kind of being, you know, jackwagons to me, but now it comes back I'm like, they just didn't like me, you know, I wasn't good.

And nobody starts out good. You have to learn. So, the only on-the-job training in this business is pretty deep. So, I would imagine there's probably some guys that did that to you that didn't like you at the time, but maybe you guys are like closer now or something, maybe?

Oh, 100%. Yeah, funny. I worked big rodeo in California uh with uh Wayne Brooks one year. Wayne Brooks is a Hall of Famer, man.

That dude is the smoothest voice in rodeo. He's good. And I worked it with Wayne Brooks and I just didn't get a lot of mic time. I mean, I'm out there trying I'm getting paid a lot of money for this rodeo.

And the biggest paycheck I've had at the time, and I'm trying to impress. Well, I can't get a word in. I mean, I can't find a spot. I'm just struggling.

There's two announcers. They're both great. And I can't get a word in. And then at the end of the rodeo, I'm thinking, I just didn't have a chance.

I don't know what happened. Well, and then not talk to Wayne later on, he was like, "Well, you got to improve on this and this. " and I was like, "All right. Sounds good."

And then 10 years later, guess what? Wayne Brooks put in a word for me and I got the Pendleton Roundup, you know? So, he's he helped me at the beginning when I wasn't that good, and I thought I was good, but I wasn't, and he gave me some constructive criticism. Yeah.

And then 10 years later, he's pushing for me to get the Pendleton Roundup, which is one of the best rodeos in the world. Isn't it funny how criticism like often just gets taken sometimes as being mean? I find like the nicest thing you can do to somebody is probably give them a little bit of constructive criticism. But in the moment, it seems like you're just being mean.

Yeah. But like to even care enough to like tell somebody something. What I run into a lot in the rodeo business is these announcers, young announcers, mostly. You know, the young announcers or the young bull fighters or the young sound men are respecting me now because I've been in it, you know, so many years.

And they're coming up to me now and saying, "Hey, what can I improve on?" And I don't want to be mean to them, you know, so I'm getting to the point where I'm like, "Hey, don't take this the wrong way, but I'm doing this you're going to appreciate this someday. It probably sounds like I'm being an [expletive] to you now, but I'm not." But yeah.

I think it's way meaner to I've always said it about music. Like I had when I first started a lot of family members and stuff where like everybody was like supportive and stuff, but I had some key family members that were pretty brutal. Like I mean would just be like they'd stop me in the middle of playing and just be like, "That sucks. [laughter] Don't do that ever again, you know?"

And that seems mean, but what's way meaner is to just be like, "Oh, you're great. That's amazing." and then send me out to go play in front of other people even though I'm terrible. I think that's way meaner.

Right. Rather than be like, "Don't That's awful. No one likes that." Yeah, [laughter] I get it.

Yeah, that's kind of the same deal as And kind of like you with songs, I'm that way with jokes. So, you know, I'm a lot of windshield time. Driving down the road and I'm just thinking about jokes the whole time. I'm trying to think these jokes and make up new jokes and tell these jokes.

And then I And I think, "All right, I got a good joke." And I'm ready to, you know, perform it. And I get to the arena and I throw it out there and crickets. I'm like, [snorts] that's really funny to me.

I mean, I think it's hilarious. God, what about Yeah, holy cow. It's Yeah, you can't The audience is always right, whether or not they like something. Mhm.

They're 100% right every time. [laughter] Yes, and I'm And it sucks. And then there's some jokes that are just so good and I'm so mad that they're not They're not laughing at them. Yeah, but like I try it again and I set it up differently and try it again and it's So you've never done stand-up or nothing?

No. You never thought about doing it? about it, but I don't have time for it. I'm really, really having fun with this rodeo thing and stand-up, I feel like you can be a hack.

I mean, if you get called out as a hack in stand-up. If you do a joke that might resemble somebody else's joke, you're a hack. You're You know, you stole somebody's stuff. Rodeo's totally different.

It's like as soon as you do a joke that's good, somebody just saw it on the Cowboy channel, saw me do a joke on the Cowboy channel, and by the next weekend I do my own joke at another rodeo, and everybody's like, "Oh, you stole somebody's joke. " I'm like, "No, that's my joke. He stole it from me." Woah.

it's Yeah. But the if a joke works in rodeo, give it a month, everybody be saying it. How funny. It sucks.

I know. I wonder I wonder why I wonder why that's like okay. Don't know. There's multiple things like that exist uh in like the Western world.

And it's not exactly like that, but I've always thought like training horses even. Uh the amount of people that are like start a colt or uh fraternity something uh and then they'll just get it pulled out from underneath them, and then another trainer gets it and like doesn't really do much work with it and then goes and wins or something. Mhm. And then they get all the credit and like give zero credit to the person that like actually started it and that they like got this horse from.

I've always thought that's bizarre. That would be like covering somebody's song and just acting like it's yours in my opinion. And I just think that's so weird. But there's multiple things that exist like that kind of in our world that I've always thought was odd.

Like how do you steal somebody's joke? I feel like that's I don't know. Like it's funny, it works. And then well, what ends up happening a lot of the times, I'll be working with an announcer and I'll tell a joke or I'll do something with the crowd that's funny, it works.

Well, then next week that announcer might say it. And then the clown over there saw it work. So that clown starts saying it and thinks it's his joke. some point you don't even know where it Yeah, there's a lot of them.

Any good jokes been stolen so many times now that everybody's saying them. I have a couple jokes that I'm the only one saying and I got so many jokes that I brought to rodeo. I have something that I brought to rodeo a couple years back. It worked.

I did it at Waco for the first time and the crowd just ate it up. A year and a half later I'm watching it. I'm at the NFR. We're at the NFR and the clown did my thing at the NFR.

And I was like And I got people calling me and like, "DID YOU SEE THAT?" I'M LIKE, "YEAH, I SAW IT. " OH, NO. I mean I didn't I didn't call it out or anything because by then it's already changed so many different hands that there was 20 guys doing it.

No way, no way. So nobody [snorts] even knew that it came from me. I yeah, in a weird way I guess it's kind of it's kind of cool cuz at that point it just really just ends up about the audience. Yeah.

It's less about like the performer. Right, kind of is cool. Right? It's less about like but at same time kind of sucks cuz you don't get credit.

But if you do enough good stuff and do enough good work it like it comes around I guess. Well, it goes both ways because everything I say out there is not my own. You know, I mean I have taken a lot from others as well because that's just part of the business. Yeah.

On this business. Like but on the stand-up business, that would be unheard of. For sure. Well, I Dude, there's a market right now for like there's no like cowboy type stand-up guys, really.

There's not a bunch. Not a ton. There's a guy named William Martin, Bill Martin, who I'm buddies with. He lives actually around here.

And he's got a really successful stand-up career. Uh but he kind of comes out of the cowboy world, but other than And then like you had Rodney Carrington back in the day, but yeah, I mean, he was kind of like I mean, he wasn't really like cowboy, but uh Yeah, I went saw Rodney Carrington back in about 1998. I was I was in the Marine station in Beaufort, South Carolina, and uh I heard he was coming to He was big in Texas cuz I had the CD, you know. Oh, yeah.

He was big, and nobody knew about him out there. So, I went, paid 15 bucks, sat front row in a in a little comedy club that sat maybe 40 people. And I'm sitting front row with Rodney Carrington. It was awesome.

Yeah. It was And I got to talk to him afterwards cuz I was wearing a cowboy hat, and I did that on purpose. [laughter] Just so he would you know Totally. somewhat respect me as a cowboy, let me hang out with him.

Yeah, so you got to like chill with him? Yeah, yeah. He was cool. Yeah, I saw him in Vegas.

Yeah, I saw him in Vegas. rowdy show. Yeah, I think back then he was way better. Better?

He was so I mean, back in his prime, you know, well, back in late '90s, early 2000s, gosh dang, he was good. Now, I went saw him in Vegas a couple years ago as well, but you know, it's a lot of years, you know. For sure. A lot of years.

Yeah, I didn't realize that like the people were going to take their tops off. [laughter] I went there in NFR, so Oh, yeah, me, too. And there was one lady. I was like That's it?

That was it. There was a lady at our table that cuz like the tickets, they just give you like some of the tables you end up with like random people. One of the ladies at our table, when he did the show them to me song or whatever, she took her top off and it was [laughter] like it was just like you know the rest of the show, you know, it's just like well I don't know you and you she's like there with her husband. Yeah.

It's pretty weird. Yeah, the only thing we had the table next to us a fat guy took his top off so that's about all I got out of the deal. I guess if I had to choose Yeah, you won. If I [laughter] had to choose You won.

Yeah, Luke Bryan Cranston gave me tickets to that show so Oh, I thought you When [laughter] when he saw were going to say I thought you were going to say Luke was the guy that took his top off. So Luke did take his top off but he also gave me the tickets to this 100%. Well, you know, that came along with getting the tickets so you know. Yeah.

You're going to have to see me with my top off. You're going to have to, [laughter] yeah. Yeah, he's a cool cat. How long you known him?

Oh, Luke oh, I don't know 15 20 you know, just through rodeos and stuff. I actually named him my youngest son after him. For real? Yeah, I called him up one day.

I said well, we was trying to I was naming my kids, you know, and we're trying to pick names, you know, how that whole thing goes and found Luke and I was like but I want everything to be uh mean something some something meaningful. So we liked the name Luke but if I didn't know a Luke that I respected then I probably wouldn't name my kid Luke. So I called him Bryan Cranston up. I said hey Bryan, I said got something for you.

What do you think about this? I said my son's you know, was just born. I said we're coming up with names. I said I really want to name him Luke after you.

He was like man, that's the coolest thing ever. So named Luke. Yeah, that's so flattering. What's your other kid's name?

Jase. Is that which is Luke? Is that the oldest one? He's the he's my youngest.

My 10 year old. He's my youngest. My oldest is Jase. He's 12.

He's named is J A S E after Uh, Jase from Duck Dynasty. Oh, yeah. There you go. Are they into like horses or anything like that?

They're really big into animals, which is really awesome to be in Denton because North Texas Fair and Rodeo, you know. Uh, we just had the youth show a couple weeks ago and uh, my son Luke uh, won the horticulture. Like there's like 100 plants out there and he's 10 years old and he grew his own plants and won grand champion. I don't know anything about that.

How does How does How does How does all that work? What do you mean? They like grow Would they grow something in like Yeah, so like at the county fair or the youth fair and you know, they have you probably understand the cattle side of the house, you know, they got this grand champion steer and you know, all these kids showing steers and hogs and you know, pigs and whatever chickens. Then they have they also have a horticulture um, thing where they grow plants.

And there's probably 100 plants entered. And my son they have the Denton these ladies that are professional at you know, gardening club or something that come and judge it. And so you have these older ladies that go out there and judge it and they picked and it there's no names on none of the stuff. You know, so it's Sure.

Yes. My son Luke won grand champion. So he got to go to the sale. And the through the auction and shoot, made a couple grand on his plant.

On his plant. What kind of plant? I don't know what it was. You don't even It was it was a pepper or something.

Uh, which is apparently a hard plant to find and hard plant to grow, but Pepper what is it? Like it what it's a It's just a leafy plant. Huh. And like an ivy It's not an ivy, but it's like a leafy plant and well he got it because his favorite food is pepperoni pizza and it sounded like pepperoni, so [laughter] that's why he got the plant.

And he made thousands of dollars off this plant. That's Yeah, that's the way it should be right there. It was awesome. And then Isn't that beautiful?

Yeah, life should be more simple like that. Luke, he loves to bake. He with So his grand My mother-in-law likes to bake and Luke always makes a cake with her. So he made a cake on his own and entered it.

There's 100 cakes and chocolates and stuff you make foods. He won grand champion food. All the same year? Yeah, it's the same show.

He just cleaned up, dude. So he sold uh So he sold that cake for over a grand at the auction. And then he won grand champion chicken. I mean, he dude just cleaned up.

He had the best show ever. Yeah. And his older brother is just mad because, you know, he didn't really win anything, but Jace? Yeah, Jace won some stuff, too, but he didn't win as much as Luke at this show.

But Jace has won before. Okay. So it's cool for Luke to finally break through and win. Yeah, so like uh Yeah, does uh mom help with them a lot on that kind of stuff or Yeah.

mom helps and uh with the cool you know, since it was our local youth show, which is North Texas Fair and Rodeo, I mean, there's so many volunteers and to be able to go to the show that I'm working the rodeo, but this is the youth fair. This is what That rodeo that has that, you know, $12 million, you know, community impact and that rodeo that's it's what's bringing the money to this. You know, all the they have a the rodeo has a group of people that come together to buy the grand I think it's called the grand champion club or something like that, but they bring this group of people together to buy these animals that these kids are selling. So your grand champion steer, instead of just auctioning it off to somebody and selling it for 1,000 bucks, you're you know, whatever, It sold for like 20 plus thousand bucks because of the money that's brought by this fair and rodeo.

Yeah, there's a lot of good people involved in it. I've played a lot of I've played a lot of fairs and county fairs and rodeos and stuff and I mean most places in small towns and stuff it's like it's great people. The interesting thing about Denton is like the volunteers and the people involved with it still has like a very small town vibe. Uh which is kind of fascinating cuz it's really not a very small town.

Right. Yeah, it's super small town vibe. I think it's because you know, where the rodeo arena is at now and the you know, where you're singing at now it's landlocked. There's they can't grow.

You know, Oh, yeah. So, it's still right in the heart of the town and it's been there since like 1948, you know, it's in the same spot. So, it's outgrown the facility now. It's such a big deal they had to bring in more stands.

I mean the rodeo's bigger, the fair's bigger, it's going better than ever. They're moving it. They acquired some back in I think 2023 there the Texas legislature approved of funding for them to get a new facility. Oh, I didn't even know that.

Yeah, so just north of Denton on 35 they I think they have about 95% of the land acquired now and they're building a multi-purpose event center out there at fairgrounds and concerts. It's going to be to make it huge. It's going to be awesome. Woah.

But you know, it takes time. Yeah. And so, they hadn't I don't I don't think they broke ground on it yet, but they've acquired the land. So, it hopefully within the next I don't know, 5 to 10 years.

I don't know. I have no clue on when it's going to be. But they're going to be in There's going to be a new facility and it's going to grow. It'll help I don't mean yeah, it'll help a lot.

Oh gosh, and there'll be parking out there. So, you don't have to bus in. That's probably the biggest thing right now, huh? Is parking?

I would I'm not real familiar with everything. I mean, I got I got a parking spot. So, [laughter] I don't know I don't know about it everybody else. Dude, that was one of the first like places that booked me, Glenn Carlton.

Uh-huh. Um and he's cool, man. Like he even had stories about like first time I played there, you know, he was telling me about uh Cody Johnson played there, you know, for like a thousand bucks or something like that. Years and years ago and he was telling me that story.

And they've just consistently kept uh They really make an effort to help local people and keep it local. But, they also still they bring in some massive acts. Like I got to open for Gary Allan one year, which I thought was just God, freaking love Gary Allan. That was like the coolest thing ever.

And they say they bring in massive people, but then they also they make an effort to uh help local talent stuff, too. Yeah, Cody Johnson. Yeah. That's my That's my dude That's my dude there.

Oh, yeah? Yeah, we uh we go way back. Uh I helped He actually wrote a song about me back probably when he was probably 15. Um we I bought his first CD that he made in his in his house when he was probably 15 years old, 16.

Well, that probably makes sense, too, cuz you're I was fighting bulls at uh his That's back in my bull fighting days and he was attempting to ride them. You [laughter] know? And uh so, he got me hooked a bunch. He fell off a bunch, didn't And I was the guy Yeah, yeah.

You know, that sacrificed for him. Well, and then you said Dayton's like just north of Houston or something? Uh-huh. Yeah, okay.

hour from And then And he from kind of around there? Yeah, Huntsville area. Okay. It was Best Buy or something like that.

Conroe, Huntsville, somewhere in there. So, what's his What do you What do you What's his song? It's on his first record? No, it's not even on a record.

Oh. It was on his first CD that he made in his garage or in his bathroom or something. And then he sold it that he burnt himself. And uh he brought him to the high school rodeos.

And he had he had a first gen Dodge red truck. And I'll be honest, uh after the rodeo, he'd go sit out there and pull out a guitar and sing a little bit and kind of like you was talking about earlier about the um like the constructive criticism. I just kind of sit out there and listen to him and yeah, like all these little high school girlies were around and stuff and I was like, "Yeah, he's just some dude out there singing, you know?" I didn't really give him any constructive criticism.

I didn't think he was that good, but he was he was a cool cat and I enjoyed listening to music. Uh next thing you know, start to hear they graduate high school and he goes to work for the prison and then I hear that he's starting to play the clubs around Huntsville a little bit. And I was doing a rodeo in Huntsville one year and I went up to one of the clubs and he had a good college following and he sees me down there and he freaking calls me up on stage, gives me a big hug. So, that was cool.

Then we had the we had the same sponsor for a little bit, uh Redneck Hurricane is the energy drink. Um and we're doing some mud rides somewhere, Jacksonville, Texas. And Cody Johnson's singing. I mean, he's playing like at 2:00 in the morning because it's an all-night deal.

And he pulled We've been drinking a little bit and he pulled me little bit. bit. The stage is about 10-ft tall and it's plywood. And I'm wearing boots.

And he pulls me up on stage. He said, "Hey, I want a picture." He and he's He explains the picture that he wants. He wants a picture of him singing, me upside down doing a backflip off the stage.

It's 2:00 in the morning, we're drunk. Drinking a little. We got the We got the photographer ready. He's singing.

I'm ready to freaking sell out this backflip. Chicks everywhere. This is going to be awesome. And I went to go and I slipped.

And it was a cool picture. I'm upside down. [laughter] I landed flat on my face. My tooth went through my lip.

Yeah. 2:00 a. m.? 2:00 a.

m. Yeah. [laughter] Wait, so you ended up you still got your feet over your head? I got think.

But then [laughter] I think. Did you land it flat on your Landed flat on my face from 10 ft up. I'm bleeding. Uh it was a long walk back long lonely walk back, you know.

Oh yeah. Oh yeah. You know it was from hero to zero in a hurry. For sure.

Isn't that's like your thing too is doing the back flips, right? wrecked out twice. And that was one of That's one of two. That was one of two.

What a horrible time to do it too. Hey, did you see that video the other day that uh I think it was a saddle bronc guy. I can't remember. Oh yeah.

When he got ran over? Yeah, what a dummy. I don't know what was he I just Yeah, backflips are stupid. Well, yeah.

I mean he did the backflip, but then I guess that pickup horse or whatever ran him over? Yeah. Yeah. He didn't even call it wasn't even a qualified ride.

It was a ranch bronc riding event and Oh it was Yeah, it was ranch bronc riding. [laughter] And he jumps up on the fence to do a backflip and just got smoked down. Like he didn't even cover? I don't think so.

[laughter] He was excited though. It was Florida, you You said it was Florida? It was Florida. They're fired up, dude.

They're fired up. Dang, I didn't know that. I just saw him get run over. Yeah.

I bet that hurt your ego more than anything. I would think. [laughter] I could never do a backflip. I used to be able to do like a gainer uh backflips always almost scared me more.

Front flips are harder. Harder? Yeah, because backflips you can see your landing. Cuz when I do my backflip, I can see my landing.

When I do a front flip, you're how you're coming over it's hard you can't see a landing. Dude, so how many backflips do you do a night? Uh it was a great name when I was 22. Um Yeah.

I do Especially with freaking two bum knees. I'm about to be 50 and Are you really? And I do I still at the good rodeos, I do at least one a night. Depends.

There ain't a lot of 50-year-olds I used to do a bunch a night. I mean Yep, you're doing it off like the barrel to do it over bulls. Yeah. And now I'm like just do it off the barrel and call it good.

Dude, what was the Did you have a bad one trying to backflip over a bull? Any bad wrecks? Nah. So the one where you blew out your knees, you were just you were like him like head to tail.

Like he's running at me, I'm running at him and I hurdled him. And this one instance You ever I don't know if you've ever played basketball, but if you've ever played basketball and you're going to jump and then for some reason you go to jump and nothing happens. You're like, "Whoa, I meant to jump and I just didn't jump." Well, yeah, I'm white so Yeah, exactly.

Same. Happens all the time. So that's what happened. I was going to jump and I jumped and I didn't get up very high.

The white guy got to you. Yeah, I mean the white came out in me. He did. And so you just crushed both knees.

Yeah, he hit me in the shins and both blew up both knees. Like ACLs all that? God damn. How bad is that bugging you now?

Still bad because I was I mean that was 20 years ago and I wasn't big on rehab. Mhm. Or rehabilitation with for my knees, you know? I [laughter] got it.

I probably should have went to rehab for alcohol during that during that time because instead of going to rehab for my knees, I'd just go to the bar. You know, I was like, "That's way more fun than rehab." Oh, for sure. So and here we are.

Yeah. But still grinding it out. Grinding it out all the time, but feel like I'm at that point in my career where everything's just cooler than ever. No pressure anymore.

That's got to feel nice. That's It's cool because I feel like earlier on in my career, you're trying to impress everybody and you're Now I just don't care anymore. I mean, I care. I care about my performance, but I don't care about the impressing people.

I know I'm confident enough in myself that I'm going to go out there and I know I'm going to do a do a good job. Yeah. And I know I'm going to do the best I of my ability. So, I'm not going in there scared anymore.

I'm not going in there worried about what I'm saying. Yeah, just that anxiety and nervousness. Yeah, totally. I When I say I don't care, I don't mean it like that.

I just mean I don't care. I just have fun. You can enjoy it more. Yeah.

Yeah, but the only way you can get there is the perspective of just freaking grinding it out and putting in the work, you know, if you don't if you don't have that, then you're not going to have the perspective on the back end. You probably won't ever get to enjoy it that much if you haven't put in that much work. Probably so. I don't And you know, I've got to the point in my career where I've won awards and you get voted as, you know, clown of the year, you know, or nominate nominated for stuff like that.

It's and it's still cool, but I'm just enjoying life. I mean, there's bigger things now. You know, back then it was like you're chasing those awards and you're chasing those big rodeos because that's what you want to do. You want to be known, you know, you want to work those big rodeos.

Kind of like in the, you know, I'm sure it's the same thing in the country music business. You chase awards and you want those and then sooner or later you get there and you realize, okay, you won the award, now what? Well, that award that award was cool for the minute I was up on stage and it was cool for the 30 minutes afterwards, but then once you lay your head down that night, you're like, it's over. Now what?

It's the process, man. Yeah. I mean, it's such a cliché, but it really is just enjoying the actual like putting in the work and enjoying the process cuz like the end goal usually is pretty fleeting. Yeah.

Especially like attention and accolades, man. If you're worshipping that, that stuff can go away pretty quick. Yep. Then it's like then what are you left with?

Yep. I mean, I won the biggest award in rodeo. I mean, as a rodeo clown, the most I guess the most premier award, the hardest one to get, the most exclusive Actually, this award, I mean, you know, someone like Trevor Brazile or something like that would never acknowledge this or but the most exclusive award in rodeo. What is it?

And to me, it's the Coors Man in the Can award. So, the Coors Man in the Can, this is a program's been around for 45 years. It's only had 11 winners in 45 years. Uh the PRCA gives away 10 gold buckles a year.

Um and that goes for each of the events, and then the team roping header heeler. So, that puts you I think it's seven. Uh the eighth gold buckle goes to the steer tripper. The ninth gold buckle goes to the all around, and we're not using WPRA here.

Are they doing breakaway now? Well, that's that'd be WPRA. That's the women's side. The barrels and the breakaway stays on or I'm considered on the women's side.

Got you. So, you got your six main events plus your seventh being your uh your heeler because team roping has two. Um then you got your steer tripping, you know, and then your all around. And nobody knows, but the 10th gold buckle goes to the Coors Man in the Can.

So, I mean, they 1099'd me for like 19,500 for this buckle. So, it's a good It's a cool award. And it's only had 11 winners in the 45 years of this program ever. So, and I was the 11th.

When did you get that? 2019. Oh, damn. There hadn't been a new winner since.

So, it like they it really just has to be a standout. Like they just a lot of time they just don't even give it out. No, they give it out every year, but it's multiple winners. So, therefore, Flint Rasmussen's won it eight times.

Mhm. You know, John Harrison's won it multiple times. Uh Keith Isley's won it six or seven times. So, you know, Rudy Brothers won it I think three times.

Rick Young's won it multiple times. So, it's pretty much just legends in rodeo winning this award, and I just happened to be the 11th one, and there hadn't been a 12th one yet. Yeah, so you're saying there's only have been 11 winners. Right.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And that was your yours was in 2019. I won in 2019. Keith Isley won it the year after me, uh but he's won it before.

Right. Uh John Harrison has won it multiple times since then, and but John Harrison also has won it before. When did you meet Flint? You know him very well?

Yeah, I know Flint pretty good. He lives over here now. Yeah, yeah, he's living here now. It's pretty cool.

We got to hang out at Denton last year on I think it was I can't remember if it was a Tuesday night or Thursday night or whatever. Dude, I was there. Um I got I There's a part of me that feels like I met you there, too. Chancey Williams was playing one night.

that's what So, Flint was up there to see Chancey. Yeah. And I went over there and I was hanging out with Flint that night. Yeah, I'm pretty sure I met you over there.

Okay. Uh cuz I went I'm good buddies with Chancey now, and uh we went over there to watch him, and I hadn't hung out with Flint before, really. Like I we'd been around each other a little bit in Vegas, but uh it's kind of funny. I'm sure you've been around it some, too, like the entertainment business and like kind of what we do.

It's like it kind of takes a couple times to like hang out with somebody, and you kind of got to see if uh especially like for somebody like him or something, like what are the does somebody want something out of me? Like are they being genuine? You know, that kind of thing. Yeah.

So, it's like then So, when we went and saw Chancey, uh it was like a freaking Monday or Tuesday or Sunday night or something like that. it was like a It was It was a It was a It was a It was an off night. I know it wasn't It wasn't Monday because Yeah, it definitely wasn't Monday. And so, we uh like the crowd was like a little bit light.

It was a good crowd, but like it was like a freaking Monday. So, it was like a little light. And I remember I looked at Flint and I was like, "We're going to freaking go get this party started or what?" And he was like, "What?"

And I was like, "Let's go out front, dude." You know, and so we like went out front and we were just like hyping Chancey up. Yeah, yeah. [laughter] And I was down there with Flint at the time and then I'm pretty sure we were hanging out.

Some Asian guy starts freaking doing some kind of weird like country dance like he thought like he'd seen on the movies, you know? And then so Flint starts doing it. [laughter] It was hilarious. Yeah, he can get people going, too.

I think I think it was probably a Tuesday night because Jake Hooker is our Monday night at Every year on Monday night is Jake Hooker at North Texas Fair and Rodeo. And it's one of my very favorite nights to go. If anybody's listening to this, I'm telling you. Yeah, Jake Hooker's Monday night.

night is because it's the uh it's the ranch rodeo night. Right. So, it's the lightest night of the week. You know, ranch rodeo, Jake Hooker.

So, you walk up to that stage and you can dance. You can, you know, you can two-step. You can bring your partner. You can get front row without fighting a crowd.

It's just Yeah, but dude, Jake is freaking great. I still haven't met him, which is crazy cuz he lives over here, too. Yeah, he lives here. Dude, and he like used to be a horseshoer, I'm pretty sure.

Yeah. And I just can't believe I've like had so many people We have like mutual friends, and I still just haven't met him. I needed to get him on the podcast or something. That's what I need to do.

You got to see uh I saw him last week. And, you know, he's still playing, you know, that stand-up bass. And Oh, yeah. Uh and his whole his whole his whole band's a bunch of teenagers.

Yeah, they're really good. really good. It's just kids, and it's cool. Yeah, I've only heard good things about him.

Yeah, I need to we need to make a night of it. I'll plan on going out there. You don't want to miss the first Monday? It's the only Monday.

Oh, that's right. Uh Yeah, it goes Friday through Sunday. Yeah. Friday through the next Sunday.

first What's the first What's the first day? What day is it? Starts on Friday 21st through the 30th, maybe? That's right.

Yeah, August 21st through 30th, uh 2026 is Friday through the next Sunday. And the final Sunday That's a fun one, too. But you know, I mean they're all good They're all good dates. Uh but the final Sunday is awesome because we also have the bull fights.

Um and the it's called bull games, Ultimate Bullfighters Bull Games. So, we're out there you know, fighting bulls and just playing with mean fighting bulls. These guys are doing backflips over them and front flips over them and playing games with them and You still step around any? Uh every once in a while.

But the cool thing about the Ultimate Bullfighters that it's They're on the final Sunday. It's just a different world, almost. And it And it happens to be the Hispanic day, too. And It's crowded.

I'm talking about it's rowdy and these fighting bulls are out there and these guys I mean, you got The micheladas flying. Yeah, you got you got the meanest fighting bulls in the world against some of the baddest ass fighting bulls, you know, dudes. Uh Cody Webster's there. Uh It's worth it.

They run it They So, cuz it's on a Sunday Right. Uh and so, they When do they normally start that? Like in the afternoon? Is it earlier in the day?

No, it's a night rodeo. It's Yeah, it's Yeah, it's all late August. It's uh You don't want to do anything much in the middle of the day. Look, dude, 2 years ago I played and I think it was 2 years ago.

And I guess when you like open for somebody cuz they have those two separate stages that face each other. It's like when you open somebody for somebody, you technically actually just play after. And so you don't go on till 11:30 or something, 11:00 at night. Right.

And it was It was the year I played with Gary Allan. And dude, it was still I think it was like 102 when I went on. Yeah. It was like 11:30 at night.

I remember that [laughter] year. I remember seeing Oh, dude, my parents were so excited, too, cuz we got to go backstage over there to Gary's deal. And then they took us around like right there to the front of the stage to be able to watch him. And my parents are like huge Gary Allan fans, like Smoke Rings in the Dark.

Yes. I would I used to watch my parents just dance to Smoke Rings in the Dark. And so we took them around front. My mom got to sit there and watch him.

But they were all wearing black and like that sun was just going down on that stage. And I was like, "God dang, dude. [laughter] I would die." Yeah, that would not be good.

I've gotten soft, you know. Used to be a horseshoer. Now I'm just soft musician, you know. Yeah.

I don't Great choice. I wouldn't want to be a horseshoer in this weather. No, dude. But now that North Texas Fair and Rodeo is it's meant so much to me and that it means so much to the community over there, too, because I don't know how many total volunteers.

I mean, there's 500 probably. Just volunteers and just people involved in the whole community coming together for one goal. And the one goal is not only to promote Denton and promote the North Texas region, but also to for the kids and scholarships. I mean, they're giving away you know, hundreds of thousands of dollars run through that, you know, just through that Fair and Rodeo that send kids to college and they're giving money back to students and kids and ag programs.

Um my Like I was telling about my kids that are involved in the 4-H and the Denton County stuff over there. And every time something comes up, then North Texas Fair and Rodeo has some kind of monetary, you know, investment in it. So, and it all comes from this 10 days of rodeo. Yeah.

Yeah, it's going to be a really, really good time. What's the uh You were telling me about a Riley Webb story? Oh, so when I moved to Denton um there's a road north side of Denton FM 428. There was a an arena out there called the Diamond T Arena.

Um it was not even a mile outside of town. And so as soon as I live 2 miles from there. So, as soon as I moved to Denton I didn't know anybody and I was involved in rodeo. So, what did I do?

I jumped in my truck and went to the local arena that was close to the house. Walk in there looking for whoever's running this place because what if they need a rodeo announcer? What if they need a rodeo clown? Something that I can do, you know, just to have fun and get to know the community a little bit better.

So, I walk in there and there's this little snot-nosed little kid about 7 years old walking around with a rope in his hand just spinning it. And I'm watching I'm thinking that kid is like literally handling the rope like a man. I'm talking about spinning it and jumping through it and I was like I walk up and say I said, "Hey uh who runs this place?" He's like, "My dad.

" I said, "Who's your dad?" He said, "Dirk." I said, "What's your name, buddy?" He said, "Riley Webb."

And I was like, "All right, thanks. Nice to meet you, Riley." So, I've known Riley since he was 7 years old. And then watching him come up and like every time my kids have a birthday party, we want some goats or something.

We call Riley up. "Hey Riley, you got any goats?" Cuz he was homeschooled. Riley would be 14 years old delivering goats to my house with uh oat in a snow cone or not a snow cone but a uh ice cream cup and to feed the goats.

So, these kids loved Riley. My kids loved Riley and so we watched him grow up and then he starts roping and then I started thinking, "Oh crap, he's good. " And then Riley was still in he's probably 14 years old and I was hosting an NFR watch party at the Plaza Hotel & Casino in Vegas. And I asked Riley to be on my show.

He shows up to get on the show and I you know, I got 500 people in the stand, you know, he stands right there and I said, this little kid right here, you know, he's from my hometown, Riley Webb. And they didn't know who he was or anything. His name hadn't got out there yet. And I said, he's pretty dang good calf roper.

I said, Riley, what's your fastest time ever? He's Mind you, he's 14. He said, well, it was 7. 2.

Jeez. And everybody's like, whoa. He said, but I was 7. 1 this morning.

[laughter] You know, at like a junior rodeo out there. He said, it was 7. 2, but I was 7. 1 this morning.

And the crowd's like, holy crap, you know, man. Do you even think at that he knew at that time, right? knew at that time. How bad he was, right?

Yeah. Okay. But, you know, it was at it was that's a youth rodeo, so he's handling small calves. Well, sure.

Right. Of course, you know, of course. But, still, 7. 1.

Oh, dude, come on. You can't do 7. 1 on a dummy. So, yeah, he was he was in the sevens at that young of an age on smaller calves, but now he's What was he at Houston the other day?

Like 6. 7? Oh, just nasty. Yeah.

Stupid. Stupid. Yes. Yeah, what was the team roping deal the other day, too?

They set a record. Did you see that? Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. What was that one? So, the funny thing about that, the team roping deal uh Who was Who was it? Rance Doll.

Rance Doll, I think was the healer header healer, I'm not sure. It's Roy So, Roy Doll uh made the NFR. He's a PRCA judge now, PBR judge now. Um his son, Rance, is a team roper.

And last year, he set the team roping world record. This year, he set the team roping world record again at Austin. Uh So, with a different with a different partner. And then, he had it for maybe, I don't know, a day and then somebody busted it again.

So, I don't know who has it now, but it's Yeah. it's about to the point where you can't get any faster. No. It's absurd.

I don't know really what where you go from there. They're just so good. So good. Yeah, it's scary.

I can drink beer. Yeah, I can do that. Yeah. I was at I worked the American qualifier for the American Rodeo.

And the other day the top 10 breakaway ropers, I don't know if you keep up with breakaway roping at all or if you know times in breakaway roping, but if you get under 2 seconds of breakaway roping, it's unheard of. Stupid fast. You see it once a month maybe out on the pro rodeo trail. To get down into the ones.

I think 10th place was a 1. 8. Yeah. Yeah, [clears throat] it's stupid like Stupid.

10th place been 1. 8. I've That wins every rodeo in the country. But Yeah, it is so funny like people that don't know anything about rodeo and stuff.

They're Usually their first thing is like, "Well, now you have how many horses and you travel how far for how much time?" Like, it's the hardest thing for them to wrap their heads around. I'm I've been professional rodeo for 25 plus years and uh I still don't wrap my head around it. I was at Nacogdoches doing the rodeo in Nacogdoches the other day.

And Boogie Ray was there, a team roper, good friend of mine. And I said, "Hey Book, I said uh where you headed after this?" "Oh, I got to be in Fort Stockton tomorrow." Nacogdoches and Fort Stockton might be in the same state.

But they're very, very far apart. Yeah, like some of these some musicians and stuff that complain about being on the road and driving and all that. It's, you know, Like we drive a lot, uh but like rodeo cats are doing the same thing. Well, and And then they got livestock, a lot of them.

Well, like with Boogie. Boogie left Nacogdoches with his partner. Went to Fort Stockton, which is I don't know what, 9, 10 hours? To make one run.

I know. And then turned around and drove to Fort Worth. Diesel's $5 a gallon. You know, so The but it adds to the romanticism, too.

Like you put in that much time and effort just to perform for you know, 7 seconds, 9 seconds. Uh-huh, 7 seconds. 17 seconds, you know, like Well, you if you're in the team roping, if you're 9 seconds, you don't get a check. So Well, yeah, team roping for sure.

you're performing for 5 seconds and Yeah, at least I mean the to pay for your fuel. Oddly enough, the barrel racers are the least crazy ones if we're basing it off of time. Right. [laughter] The irony.

But barrel racers are by far the craziest ones, though. [laughter] I know, but it's funny if you based it off time. time. They're you know their money's worth.

They're getting their money's worth, for sure. Especially if you hit a couple cans, you know. Yeah. It's worth the trip.

Yeah. But yeah, like to be able to focus, you spend so much time to think about it and to practice, but you have to perform in just like an instant. That to me, honestly, is what adds to the romanticism of it. That's what makes it so cool.

Yeah. And uh you don't make any money unless you win. That's a fact. That's the craziest part for me.

That's what I One thing I learned uh really early on as you know, being a rodeo clown, I get paid every rodeo. I go to one rodeo a weekend and I get paid. These cats are out there hitting four, five, six rodeos a weekend and hoping they get a check. Yeah, and like your fear is like, did I get did I get enough laughs?

Yeah. [laughter] Somebody going to steal my Hey, somebody going to steal my joke good enough for somebody to steal? I have one joke that I've been saying for about a year now, and nobody stole it yet. And I know it's really, really good, but nobody stole it, so I don't know how to think about it, you know, if it's good or not.

Hey, so [laughter] I have actually just said this on stage over the weekend. I had a song called Marboro's that um we didn't know it like it wasn't till like a year after I put it out and then Micah was like going through some like data or whatever and he found that it went number one in on iTunes in Spain for like You remember what It was like a couple weeks or something Micah? You remember that? I remember he just pulled it up one day and I was like no [expletive] Like that's crazy.

But I said that on stage the other night and then I was like I was like but it was Spain so I don't really know how to feel about it cuz I was really proud of the lyrics but they don't speak English so it was muy bueno. [laughter] Yeah, so like I don't know if the song's actually that good cuz they don't really know what I was saying anyways. [laughter] Definitely a double-edged sword. Yeah.

So yeah, hopefully uh If you want to tell a joke here we could get people to steal it. All right, so I'll tell you that it's a funny joke to me and you know [laughter] That's the worst way to set up a joke. Yeah, it's well it's funny to me. It's funny to me.

So the deal with being a and I tell people all the time especially when I'm on like television because people put me on the spot all the time. They're like tell me a joke clown. I'm like well my jokes aren't it's situational comedy. It's not just a funny joke just like knock.

It's it has to be set up in a certain way and all my jokes are planned with a crowd. 100% or going back and forth with an announcer. You know, setting it up and making it believable and then surprising them with kind of a punchline type Well hell, you made the one earlier you made it super believable. I thought we were like really I asked you like 10 I'm like wait but So this is something I just use at a rodeo.

I mean you could use it at one of your shows and it'll go over awesome as well. But I set it up and like I was like you know what I need? I need more social media followers. Everybody needs social media followers.

That's how we get money. That's how we get sponsors. I said so we got time for this and the announcer usually is like yeah, what you got? I said anybody here under 20 years old make some noise.

Under 20, where y'all at? You know, getting the crowd involved. They cheer a little bit and I'm like, "Hey, follow me on what? Tik Tok.

You know, hit me up on Tik Tok. I got you." Yeah. You know, anybody in their 20s?

They cheer. All right. Hey, Snapchat. Hey, backflip Johnny.

I got you. You know, anybody in their 30s? They cheer. I'm like, "Instagram, we're there."

You know, and then it starts making sense. They're like, "Okay, I see what he's doing here." And 40s, and it's always the loudest cheer because now they finally figured it out what's going on. And the 40s is probably the that's probably the main people that go to rodeos in their 40s because they have kids that want to go, so it's a good group.

And I'll say, "All right, anybody in their 40s?" And they get a big cheer. Facebook, you know, I got it. Hit me up.

Johnny Dudley with the blue check mark, you know. Anybody in their Now they're they don't know where we're going next. Sure. Anybody in their 50s?

They cheer. I was like, uh MySpace, you know, hit me up. [laughter] I don't know if I still have it, but if I do, I'll put you in my top eight. I will.

60s, and they cheer. All right. Yeah, email me. [laughter] 70s, and they cheer.

I was like, "All right, write this down. It's PO Box 117, Denton, Texas. You know, send me They probably crush it, yeah. Yeah, send me a Christmas card or something.

[laughter] Yeah, it's You don't go into the 80s? So, I was at Giddings, Texas last or 2 weeks or couple of months ago, I don't know when it was. Couple of weeks ago. Um, I'm at this rodeo and uh Miss Tootsie, she's the pitmaster at Snow's BBQ in Lexington, was in the stands.

And it was her 91st birthday. So, I get done with the joke. And this old lady comes up to the fence and she's like, "HI! HEY!"

And I already knew she was there because they already said it was Miss Tootsie's birthday and everybody pointed at her and cheered, you know? So, I knew she was. Yeah. And I went up to her, and said, "Yes, ma'am."

She said, "You didn't say anything about the '80s or '90s." [laughter] And I was like, "I am so sorry." I said, "Miss Tootsie just corrected me." And everybody around there knows her.

And I said, "Anybody in their '90s?" And she was the only one doing it. She went, "Ooh. " I said, "Send me a smoke signal."

[laughter] What was her name? Miss Tootsie. And I said I said, "Send me a smoke signal." I said I said, "Make sure you got some brisket under it, too."

[laughter] Cuz she's the pitmaster. She's like the queen of Texas barbecue. Everybody knows Miss Tootsie. Where was she at?

Where was that at? Snow's Barbecue, Lexington, Texas. Okay. Yeah, yeah.

Old Miss Tootsie got posterized with the freaking smoke signal, dude. Smoke signal. Yeah, she is She laughed at it. Yeah, I bet.

[laughter] Yeah. But she's a good She's a good one. Well, cool, man. Well, thanks for doing this.

It was good chatting with you. I feel like I could talk to you all day. And we'll end up hanging out some, for sure. Yeah.

And uh We need to hang at that, Jake. We need to go to Jake Hooker's show. Drink some beer. And like I said, North Texas Fair and Rodeo coming up.

I hope everybody comes out and sees us, man. We're It's 10 days of rodeo. It's 10 days of concerts. It's all for the kids.

I mean, North Texas Fair and Rodeo don't keep any of this money. It all goes back to the community. It all goes back to the kids. And I'm just in a position right now where two of my kids are some of the recipients of it, which is awesome because out of all the rodeos I've worked all these years, I always hear about this money going back to the kids, going back to the kids at all the rodeos I work.

And you wonder, does it really? Yeah. Well, now I'm involved and now I have kids, and I see it with my own eyes, and it's so cool, the community involvement, and you know, it's all for the kids, which is which is what more people need. For sure.

And then I play What day do I play? The 28th? I think it's a Friday. Oh, yeah?

Yeah. Play the 28th on a Friday. I don't know who else is playing. Who else is playing that day?

Do you know? Oh, yeah. Aaron Watson. He's my homie.

Yeah, that'll be a fun night. So, I guess that's the Is that the first That's the last Friday? Yep. Yeah, that'll be good.

That'll be a good time. So, you're on the big stage or you on that other stage? No, I'll play after Aaron. Oh, you're the after party.

Hell yeah. Yeah. All right. You got room for me?

Hell yeah, dude. Don't you bail on me though. No, I won't. I'll come drink with us.

I mean, hang out with us. 100% 100%. It's going to be a great night. forward to it.

Uh do you sing at all? You don't want to You don't want that. I mean, if you have enough cocktails in you. No, no.

It's not good. Yeah, no I can I sing, yeah. Not good. I mean, it's bad.

We'll get you up there. I don't know. A little air guitar solo or something. Maybe so.

Maybe so. We'll have to break something out. Let's break [laughter] something out. I'll have to I'll work on it between now and then.

Yeah, for sure. All right, cool man. Johnny Dudley. Johnny Dudley.

Uh with the blue check mark. Backflip Johnny, yep. Johnny Dudley with the blue check mark. My whole Facebook got stolen like 6 months ago.

And so, I had to start a new one. So, they won't let me have my backflip Johnny anymore. Really? So, it's now it's just Johnny Dudley with the blue check mark.

Oh. Well, we all know. Just don't backflip in front of bunch of pickup horses. Yeah, or fighting bulls.

Oh, that too. know which one would be worse. Well, I don't know. It sounds like it's more dangerous just to jump straight over them.

Maybe you should go with the Well, it's at least if you get hit in the back of the knees, that's the way they're supposed to go. When Hey, that Friday night, since you're playing so late, if you want to come get in the barrel. Um Hey, I'm in. I'll holler at you.

I'm in. I'm in. You're in? I'm in.

Okay, deal. 100% I'm in. I don't even know what's I think that's bull riding night anyways. I'm in.

[laughter] That's going to happen. 100% I'm in. If I do that though, then you have to get up and like halfway sing one with me. Okay.

We'll just like have fun with it. Sounds like a plan. All right. Hell yeah, dude.

All right. Love it. All right. See y'all.