The Fighter and The Kid: The Beginning
Though they are good friends now, Bryan and Brendan’s first initial meeting was on Season 10 of The Ultimate Fighter after Bryan was brought in by the coaches to provide entertainment to the fighters in the house. A short time after that, Brendan moved to Los Angeles. Once he did this, he’s been very explicit in stating that Bryan took him under his wing and they started hanging out regularly.
Once they began to hang out, they really hit it off as friends. Bryan already had a podcast that wasn’t very successful when he asked Brendan to pair up with him and do a show based on news from the sport of MMA. Initially hesitant, Brendan stated he didn’t want to do a podcast with fighting as the only talking point. Callen agreed to meet him in the middle and discuss other things in addition to fighting.
Callen and Schaub credit their fans and their snappy brand of comedy for their rise to prominence. They’ve stated in repeated interviews the ideals of sticking to your guns and owning up to your mistake when you say something people don’t agree with. Brendan and Bryan place an emphasis on being genuine with your audience. Even the advertisements they do are exclusively for companies they believe have a good product. Callen believes in this principle (if that’s what you want to call it), so much that he’s been quoted as saying he feels connected to his fans and massively respects them.
Live Show Performances
Prior to meeting Bryan Callen, Brendan Schaub thought of himself as an athlete. Nothing more. However, as he’s said time and again, Bryan accepted Brendan under his wing as a comedian. Initially, when Bryan pitched the idea of taking their shows live, Brendan was against it. He’s said that he felt that doing a podcast live would be stupid and nobody would watch it. What’s the point?
However, after being given the chance to explain himself, Bryan stated that it would be a show. It would be a similar brand of comedy, but for all intents and purposes, this show would be a SHOW. Not a podcast. They started off light, with Schaub telling stories that had happened while he was fighting, in college, or that were generally funny. Callen would do stand-up for a while, then the two would come on stage at the end and perform together.
Though it’s nothing new to Callen, Schaub has stated that performing on stage is much more of a rush than playing sports or fighting in front of 25,000 people. Fighting, though he was relatively skilled, was not Brendan’s favorite thing. He didn’t enjoy trying to inflict pain on opponents and because of that, grew disillusioned with the sport. It was because of The Fighter and The Kid, that Schaub was able to retire from fighting and focus on doing live shows and podcasts.
The Fighter and The Kid 3D
The Fighter and the Kid 3D is a web series developed by Brendan “The Fighter” Schaub and Bryan “The Kid” Callen. Though Callen correctly maintains that the show “isn’t actually 3D”, the idea for the show came from Hollywood producer, Evan Rodner. This web series rides the enormous popularity of Schaub and Callen’s podcast, The Fighter and the Kid. Right now, they’re on sale for $30 and that comes with a t-shirt, Callen’s stand-up special, and the full first season of TFATK 3D.
The show itself seems to rely on Schaub and Callen’s humor exactly as the podcast would. It simply lends a visual to the already hilarious audio. It allows for a new channel of comedy to open up as well. Particularly for Brendan. While Callen has developed his comedic style to be witty and cutting, Schaub is still largely unpolished. That’s not to say that he isn’t funny, but he hasn’t focused on one particular brand of comedy. While it’s fairly obvious that Callen is his mentor, Schaub is seen dabbling in slapstick comedy in the first season. Such a style loses it’s zip unless it can be seen, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see the square-jawed Schaub get a few parts in movies playing a slapstick style role, much like Will Sasso or Chris Farley.
Special Guests
Callen’s Hollywood contacts give the show an ‘in’ with lots of celebrities and movie stars. Schaub’s MMA contacts allow the show the opportunity to interview high-level fighters as well. Outside of their immediate contact list, however, they didn’t have very many notable contacts starting out.
Like any good podcast, The Fighter and the Kid built a rabid following of fans. With those fans comes celebrity fans and notoriety. This new found notoriety allowed Brendan and Bryan to begin to interview more high profile celebrities and athletes. Notable guests of the show in the last year include such stars as Ronda Rousey, Will Sasso, Luke Rockhold, Bill Burr, Tom Segura, Royce Gracie, and many more.
As you can see from the list, it consists mostly of MMA fighters and comedians. Ronda Rousey and Bill Burr are mega-stars making an appearance on the show, and it serves to demonstrate the reach and influence the show has garnered in its time on the air.
T-Shirt sales
As I mentioned earlier, the first season of TFATK 3D can be bought for $30 and that comes with a free t-shirt and Bryan Callen’s stand up special. As Brendan Schaub so artfully boasted, “We sell more t-shirts than Reebok. They should stick to crossfit.”
The shop on their website is very easy to navigate and allows the visitor the possibility to get a shirt that they feel can express the way they feel about the show. As a nod to his Northeastern roots, Callen has several shirts from their live tour from cities like Boston, New York, and Philadelphia. Meanwhile, the remaining shirts are fairly generic and can be bought for less than $25.