Weasel Tales: The Bobby Heenan Archives - Family Matters

Text Me, Ya Ham And Egger

Wrestling with emotions and tickling funny bones, our multifaceted guest weaves a tale that goes beyond the mat and stage. Their life, marked by the void of a father figure, unfolds in a narrative that challenges the traditional family tableau with humor and heart. As they recount the layers of their upbringing, we're drawn into the complexities of finding strength in the absence of a dad, the extraordinary impact of maternal love, and the surprising connections that can turn strangers into family.

Embark on a journey that navigates the highs and lows of self-discovery against the backdrop of an absent parent. With no bitterness in their voice, our guest shares the joy of connecting with half-siblings and the inner workings of reconciling with a part of their identity that has always been a silent presence. Their story, punctuated by the laughter and persistence of a comic and the physicality of a wrestler, serves as a living testament to the diverse forms family can take, and the indomitable human spirit that thrives in the face of life's unexpected turns.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
I've only done one thing in my life, that's
wrestling and make people laugh.
I can be stupid and not wrestle, but that's it and I'm made of
living with that.
You listen to me, you go to thetop.
Bobby, bobby, bobby, bobby,bobby, bobby, bobby, bobby,

(00:25):
bobby, bobby, bobby, bobby,bobby, bobby, bobby, bobby,
bobby, oh, bobby, bobby, bobby,bobby, bobby.

(00:51):
I was a kid growing up.
I didn't have a father.
My dad had wrecked my motherand who knows where everybody's
at.
It's not important.
She may have been a pain in thebutt, so may he Doesn't matter.
But you wonder how this affectsa kid.
She may have been a pain in thebutt, so may he Doesn't matter.
When you wonder how thisaffects a kid, I'll tell you
exactly how it affects a kid.

(01:11):
I was never affected because Ihad a lot of love for my mother
and my dad was gone.
Years later I got to meet mybrothers and went to the grave
site where my father was buriedand I put my hand on his grave.

(01:35):
I wrote this and I said I'm notmad at you.
And she did what you had to do,no problem.
And I patted him in front of mywife and my brother.
And I'm not mad.
Why did you beat me?
Why did you do this and that?
I don't know.
I'm not there, I wasn't there.
But I was never mad and I neverfelt cheated During Father and

(01:57):
Son days.
Philip just didn't go.
I thought my dad had died orsomething.
I asked my mom when she knew hewas just gone.
So that actually never came upa whole lot.
No, there were never.
No pictures of my father oranything about him, and my mom
just told me he was gone.
But I had so much love for mymother and my grandmother and my

(02:19):
aunt and my friends that Inever missed him Because I never
was raised with him.
Had I been raised with him andhe was loving and caring which
I'm not saying he wasn't becausehe was to my other brothers,
but that could happen.
It never bothered me.
It never did, because I didn'tknow him and they never talked.

(02:42):
My mother never talked to methat he was a bad person.
They just didn't get along.
So I had no problem with that.
I never had a problem with that.
No.
And you never saw me playingfootball games or baseball games
or anything like that.
No, I didn't, because I onlywent to grade school.

(03:03):
We never had a team.
I never played in a high schoolteam or anything else.
I played with my mom andgrandma.
But you know, when you're raisedwith someone all your life,
like my mother and grandma, allyou know is them.
Even if my dad had shown up andsaid, thomas, I'm your dad,
you're not gonna follow me.
I'm really alone.
Water's not thicker than waterScotch is.
You're not going to follow me.
You're really alone.
The water's not different thanwater.

(03:24):
It's scotches.
I like that.
Did you ever wonder why hedidn't?
You know?
Because it's like he was justgone and he never made contact.
No, no, I never cared about him.

(03:44):
I had so much love for mymother and grandmother.
She never hurt me because Inever knew him.
I was too busy trying tosabotage a neighbor's will.
Yeah, or do something wrong man?
It never bothered me because Inever grew up with it.
I grew up with him.
If he'd have left me, that mayhave bothered me, but he was

(04:04):
somebody that was.
He was like Big Bruce in the100 Home Runs.
I never saw him do it.
My dad was my father.
I never saw him do it.
It just.
I have a different thinkingmaybe than most people, but it
never bothered me.
While you're talking about that,what about people who blame
their life for the way theirlife has gone and not having a

(04:28):
father?
I always think that it'sbecause whoever raised them
didn't raise them right.
They didn't tell them that.
Let's say, you have a wife anda father and say and he's a
cowboy, and he beats the boy, hebeats his wife.

(04:52):
It takes off.
Well, the kids have seen that,so they have a judgment.
The mother was crying, thefather was beating them.
I can't understand things.
I'm four, I'm seven, I'm eight,I don't know.
I never saw none of that.
My dad left when I was like sixmonths old, maybe it's that.
So I could never judge himbecause I don't know him.

(05:15):
And my mother never knocked him.
She never did.
She just said he's gone.
She never told me bad thingsabout him at all, nothing, and
no one ever said anything badabout my father.
So I just said gone, mie,missing Andrew in a pit show.
I don't know, didn't carebecause I don't know him.

(05:39):
So I'm isn't different than whatI am and I never had the desire
to find him Until WarriorIsland.
It was since he was starsearcher.
He's heard of searchers and allI wanted to do is I didn't
really want a relationship withhim, not because I was mad at
him, I didn't know, I didn'treally think about that, I

(06:03):
didn't think he'd even be alive.
I didn't want to see a picture,just so I could see if he hopes
left me, or I don't think mymom or Cindy called my wife,
called at 800 shares orsomething, saw my brothers and
everything, and it turned out tobe immensely rewarding.
And you know, the old manwouldn't have been a bad guy.

(06:26):
I think I'm glad he didn't rubhim because he would have stank
me a lot probably.
But I think he's been a goodguy because I've got three good
brothers that are really great,decent people, really really.
So he had your son right, oh,exactly, oh, he moved.

(06:46):
So what about?
So your mom kind of played thefather figure role too.
No, no, is that it?
Yeah, there was.
No, I don't know what a fatherfigure is.
Well, like, maybe you saw yourfriends and their dads and stuff

(07:12):
like that was there.
Well, you lived in Chicago.
I lived in an apartmentbuilding, so everybody worked.
Oh, yeah, when the father camehome at 6 or 5, you never saw
him.
You never saw him at night,saturdays and Sundays we played
ball, we went to the cup games,we went to the beach.
In those days it seemed to beheard.
It wasn't meant to be invited.
So it wasn't like um, like he'dthrow the ball at me.

(07:37):
I mean, of course you throw theball, you're in an apartment.
And it never came into play.
It never did.
I never saw him cry because helost his dad or his dad was bad
at them.
No, no, it was um.
It never came to the patient.

(07:57):
I told her.
I said you beat Nick one moretime.
You get the cable.
Put the word in the streets.