Dave Portnoy continuing to overhaul his ‘Wake Up Barstool’ episodes

As Wake Up Barstool enters its third week, Dave Portnoy is continuing to tinker with the FS1 morning show’s format.

After initially hosting his first two episodes from Barstool Sports’ Chicago offices, Portnoy hosted Monday’s episode remotely from Nantucket. That, however, wasn’t the only change to the show, which featured T-Bob Hebert and Brandon Walker in-studio, with former NBA point guard Jason Williams seemingly no longer a part of Portnoy’s Monday crew.

“I’m excited to see how this remote works,” Portnoy said at the start of the episode. “A big step in the show, a big progression,”

After Walker asked if he was a fan of the two-person studio setup, the Barstool Sports founder answered: “I think every time we eliminate a chair, it looks cleaner. I will be back in the office next Monday and most of the Mondays, but it does look cleaner with two chairs.”

“Ominous,” Hebert replied.

“I hate the refs. That pass interference, to me, totally unacceptable.” – @stoolpresidente https://t.co/Ze3RbXaCF9 pic.twitter.com/0J43qx2l0B

— Wake Up Barstool (@wakeupbarstool) September 15, 2025

The changes weren’t necessarily a surprise.

During last weeks episode of The Unnamed Show, Portnoy admitted that he still wasn’t thrilled with how his Monday episodes had been going. After initially kicking off with a four-man panel, the Boston native shrunk his cast to three, “suspending” Barstool Sports personality Rico Bosco for last week’s episode. He also said that he wasn’t a big fan of being put in the hosting role, which could speak to why Hebert has seemingly replaced Williams alongside Portnoy and Walker.

“It’s OK-to-average right now,” Portnoy said of his Monday episodes on The Unnamed Show. “We haven’t finished a show where I’ve been like, ‘nailed it. That’s great.’ And I feel like I have a pretty good idea when I do my own content.”

The 48-year-old also conceded that the show’s ratings had been “awful,” with the first week’s episodes averaging 16,500 viewers across four shows. In discussing the underwhelming  numbers, Portnoy pointed to Wake Up Barstool‘s lack of promotion, as well as the reality that the upstart program was still finding its footing.

Monday’s adjustments could very well be a step in that direction, with Hebert and Walker having already emerged as the two breakout talents of the daily morning show. With a rotating cast of hosts each day, it will be interesting to see how the change affect the rest of the lineup and whether this shift can help boost Wake Up Barstool‘s lackluster ratings to this point.