Mike Francesa: Chris Russo always answered phones on ‘Mike and the Mad Dog’ so callers would talk to him

While it’s been more than 15 years since the show last aired, Mike and the Mad Dog, WFAN’s long-running sports talk show with hosts Mike Francesa and Chris “Mad Dog” Russo remains one of the most popular and influential shows in the industry. This is true both in and out of New York, the show’s primary market.

Speaking on The Deal with Alex Rodriguez and Jason Kelly podcast, Francesa shared the tactic he — and those who put the show together — used to get listeners to interact with Russo when they called in.

“We sat down early and I said to the producer, ‘Hey, everybody’s always gonna ask me, ’cause they think I’m the sports guy. They’re gonna ask me every question. We need to have Dog answer the phones. I’m not gonna answer the phones, so that they talk to Dog first. Otherwise, they’re not gonna talk to him,'” Francesa said, H/T Funhouse on X.

Mike Francesa was on A-Rod’s podcast today. Big Mike revealed his master plan in the early days of the Mike and the Mad Dog show: Let Chris Russo answer the phones, so that callers would be forced to talk to him. Otherwise, obviously, every caller would only want to talk to Mike.… pic.twitter.com/9TLV7OR8TU

— Funhouse (@BackAftaThis) September 12, 2024

“What people don’t realize is, you have to have a division of labor to make those work,” he added. “Twenty years, Mike and the Mad Dog, I never opened the show or closed the show. You listen to two-man shows, they’ll be ‘Good night, good night, good night, good night’ — five times ‘good night’ because they each want to say ‘good night’ or ‘hello.’ I never, ever said ‘hello’ and I never, ever said ‘goodbye’ and I never once welcomed in a phone call, in 20 years.”

We’d call this a humblebrag. Though, to be fair, the “humble” part is admittedly a reach.

[The Deal with Alex Rodriguez and Jason Kelly via Funhouse on X]