Forget about Joe Buck calling local MLB games for his retirement gig. When the time comes, he wants to host a podcast with Artie Lange.
Buck joined Pardon My Take this week and the idea of hosting his own podcast popped up during the interview. While it often seems like everyone has a podcast, some people even have two, Joe Buck doesn’t have one, at least not right now.
Buck used to have a podcast. And he knows he’ll probably have one again. And if he does launch another podcast, Buck promises it will be better.
“I tried the podcast thing for two years, maybe two and a half years, it was fun, I enjoyed it, we had great guests and we had no traction whatsoever,” Buck admitted. “When I get fired, which it will happen at some point. The podcast will be infinitely better, I promise.”
There’s no way Buck ever gets fired by ESPN, although that is the second time the renowned play-by-play voice referenced getting ousted this NFL season. But Buck is right, he probably will be a better podcast host without a prominent broadcasting gig looming over him.
“I did it with Oliver Hudson,” Buck said of his previous podcast. “Who is one of my closest friends and he was in the category of, ‘I’ve got nothing to lose. I’ll talk about smoking weed. I’ll talk about my sex life.’ And I’m just sitting on the sideline like, “I’m just gonna sit this one out and let you do your thinh and then I’ll pick it up when you’re finished.’”
Working for ESPN doesn’t stop Stephen A. Smith from talking about his sex life or dropping hot takes about smoking weed. Maybe Buck doesn’t have the same comfort level as Smith in just his second year at ESPN.
But are we supposed to believe Buck will just unleash an unfiltered version of himself when he retires? If Oliver Hudson couldn’t get us an unfiltered version of Joe Buck on his own podcast, who can? PFT Commenter suggested Artie Lange.
“I would do it,” Buck said definitively before repeating, “I would do it.”
The last time Buck attempted to launch a venture that would portray him as one of the guys, he had Lange by his side. And it didn’t go so well. Lange joined the sports announcer for the premiere episode of Joe Buck Live on HBO, and it was cringeworthy at best.
To be fair, there aren’t many announcers who could have fed off of Lange that night. But if you can’t beat them, join them, right?
No one expects this to happen, but in the overcrowded podcast space, an unlikely duo of Buck and Lange is a show that would definitely have the possibility to gain traction. Lange has avoided the spotlight in recent years and hasn’t made a social media post since October.
Last year, Lange’s friend and comedian Jimmy Palumbo told New Jersey 101.5 (WKXW) that Lange was sober and continuing to “get himself healthy.” Hopefully Lange is still sober, and hopefully he shares Buck’s interest in putting a podcast together.
