Classic Moment: Cam Neely

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Bad the ball.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
Oh yeah, and bad to the bone is a key word.
Because we have Cam Neely from your Boston Bruins on
the phone. Cam.

Speaker 1 (00:12):
You there, Buddy, I am Billy.

Speaker 3 (00:14):
I see what you did there?

Speaker 1 (00:16):
You know that smooth? Buddy? Come on right, I'm great. Cam.
Now became your theme song? Is it still your theme song?

Speaker 3 (00:28):
I don't have a theme song? You know?

Speaker 1 (00:31):
They should play that was.

Speaker 3 (00:32):
Retired a long time ago as well.

Speaker 2 (00:34):
Okay, but I'm just saying, when you walk into the
luxury suite, the Presidential suite at the TD Garden before
the game, they should play bad to the Bone and
then you waved everybody.

Speaker 3 (00:46):
That's not a bad idea.

Speaker 1 (00:48):
Here we go again, buddy, comics come home.

Speaker 2 (00:50):
How many years is this?

Speaker 3 (00:53):
This is twenty nine. We lost a couple during the
COVID years, but this is twenty nine, which is kind
of crazy if you think about it.

Speaker 2 (01:03):
And it's really a beautiful story. I was there at
the beginning. It's a beautiful story. How it was born.
We get new listeners to the show every day. Cam,
can you briefly tell us the story how it was born?

Speaker 1 (01:15):
The foundation?

Speaker 3 (01:18):
Yeah, so just before I got traded, my father was
having seizures. This is April of eighty six, he started
having cazars. I got traded in June and subsequently found
out he had a brain tumor. And then well, my
dad was going through that. My mother wasn't well and
ended up having cancer of the secum, which is part

(01:38):
of the colon. So you know, as a professional athlete,
you get asked to a lot of charitable things, and
I was like, Okay, if I'm going to give my time,
I want to make it more meaningful. So I got
involved with more cancer related charities and then I said, well,
as a family member of a cancer patient, I kind
of saw some things that were needed for to I'm

(02:00):
a big believer in research obviously, but I noticed that
there was a gap to be able to help patients
and families today. So while playing in Vancouver, the Canucks
were heavily associated with the Ronald McDonald House, and I
really liked that concept. So I, a long story short,
ended up connecting with Tufts Medical Center at the time

(02:23):
New England Medical Center and they said, well, we have
a vacant wing. If you want to renovate that, you're
welcome to do so. And that was the birth of
the Neely House and memory of my parents. It's really
to help cancer patients and families, and we've had you know,
since it's open, we've had over forty thousand families. It

(02:47):
really is. I mean, it just gives you an idea
of the need for a facility like that. And you know,
we're very blessed with the support we've got. As I've
said many times, most everybody has been touched by cancer
in one way, shape or form.

Speaker 2 (03:00):
Well as it happens, Cam, I lost my dad to
a brain tumor. But it's amazing when you've seen the
Neely House and the foundation grow.

Speaker 1 (03:06):
I mean, you really see.

Speaker 2 (03:08):
Your money at work. And now we've got comics come Home.
It's happening again November eighth. And I know Dennis Leary
traditionally kicks off the show and it's one of the
highlights every single year. I always wanted to ask you, Cam,
when does he start rehearsing that?

Speaker 3 (03:25):
Oh, I mean he does our event in Michael J.
Fox's event, and you know he hosts both of them
and they're a week apart. What I do know is
that he starts, you know, not long after both events
are done. You know, he starts cultivating ideas and how
he's going to kick off each each event. But with
the comedy show, I know he works on it probably

(03:48):
eight months leading up to and then really founes it.
You know, his schedule is crazy. Right now, he's in
Ireland shooting a series. So you know, I give him
all the credit in the world for not only not
only putting putting the show on and kicking it off,
but inviting all the comics that have come over all

(04:10):
these years and gratefully they have donated their time, which
also is a huge benefit to the foundations.

Speaker 2 (04:15):
And let's not forget Dennis Leary is also an outstanding actor.
I mean everything he's in he's really good, and you've
got an outstanding lineup. Sebastian Menascalco is coming. Is this
his first time it Comics Come Home?

Speaker 3 (04:29):
Yes, it is, And we thought we might have had
him a couple of years ago, but his schedule didn't permit.
He said, believe me, it'll be back, and he was
true to his words. So anybody that knows his comedy
it's gold. So we're very excited to have Sebastian this year.

Speaker 2 (04:45):
And I can't remember if you've had Sarah Silverman before
she's hilarious.

Speaker 3 (04:49):
Oh, she's all right. She came early on in our benefit.
I don't know what year it was, but it was
early on and we're thrilled to have her back. She
is the right.

Speaker 2 (05:01):
Yeah, I got to tell you the Morning Show, the
entire Morning Show goes every single year and Lisa am
I lying.

Speaker 1 (05:06):
We just laugh one minute to the next.

Speaker 3 (05:08):
It's our favorite event of the whole year. Well, it's
you know, the beauty of it is, you know, everybody's
going through something in life, right, and you know, the
last bunch of years has been very, very toxic. If
you if you will and to be able to be
able to you know, whether you're dealing with someone that's
not feeling well or ill or or whatever's going on

(05:30):
in your life, you can go to go to this
event and help raise money but also laugh your butt
off for a couple of hours. It's not a bad
not a bad way to spend an evening.

Speaker 2 (05:40):
You know, you're right, cam, if you're feeling down, something's
going on with the family, why not go to one
of the best comedy events of the entire year. And
it's always at the TD Garden. Although it didn't start there, or.

Speaker 1 (05:50):
Did it cam No.

Speaker 3 (05:52):
I mean, you know, initially I'd asked Dennis would you
do a benefit for the foundation. I thought it was
just going to be him doing an hour set and
you know, we'll raise some money, and he said, listen,
I'm going to invite Thomas come home. Was really about
a lot of local comedians, you know, got their start
here in Boston, whether they're from Boston or in Massachusetts.

(06:14):
But you know, there's as you know, Billy, there's a
lot of great comedy houses in Boston area. So we
started the orphiuan was twenty five hundred seats. We sold
out right away. We kept selling out. Then people kept asking,
you know, can you put me on a waiting list?
I want to go. Yeah. Then we went to the
Aganist Arena and I think it was six or seven

(06:34):
thousand seats, and then Dennis, as we were approaching our
twenty at Dennis goes, do you think we can get
the Garden? I said, well, I'm fairly certain we can
get the garden, but do you think we can sell
it out? He goes, I know we can sell it out.

Speaker 1 (06:47):
Yeah, You've got some connections at that garden. Speaking of
the garden camp.

Speaker 2 (06:52):
My son Chris's company I think is right above your
office in the garden for a card vault by Tom Brady.

Speaker 3 (06:59):
Oh yeah, yeah, right the Verizon tower there.

Speaker 2 (07:02):
Yeah, you know, Cam wouldn't kill you to drop by,
knock on the door and say hi Chris, because let's
not forget when my son Chris was born. You were
the first person to visit and I was so close.

Speaker 1 (07:12):
To naming him Cam And I'm not even making that.
How could he possibly.

Speaker 3 (07:19):
Remember that day like it was yesterday. It's crazy how
long ago that was, Billy Well.

Speaker 2 (07:24):
Cam always a pleasure. We can't wait for comics to
come home. It's November eighth. Where do they go for tickets? Cam,
They're going to go fast?

Speaker 3 (07:31):
Yeah, ticketmaster dot com. I mean there's they have done fast.
So if you're interested in going and supporting a great
cause and having a great night, elast go to ticketmaster
dot com.

Speaker 1 (07:42):
Ah I Cam loved Pauline and the kids.