Tribute to Judo Expert, Wrestler & Stuntman Legend Gene LeBell

[00:00:00] This podcast is a production of Unfiltered Studios. If you would like to know more about joining Unfiltered Studios, please visit our website at unfpod.com for more information. We missed. We loaded. We edited. Sometimes we get so deep into conversation that we have separate segments worthy of their own place in the sun.

[00:00:29] Here is a reshuffled mini episode. Hey guys, in today's video this is a small segment from an interview I did with Stuntman Extraordinary Steven Lambert. I'm going to post a full interview later. I'll be posting other clips and snippets throughout the week. But all this information, you've got to get this book. Steven Lambert from The Streets of Brooklyn and the Halls of Hollywood, highly recommended.

[00:00:55] It will literally take you over a month to read, but the amount of content in there just with Canon Films and the Ninja Craze in the 80s, Steven Seagal's stories including this one in this video, Van Damme stories, Arnold, Sloan, and so much more. So much stuff, good stuff on the Titanic, on Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, just, you know, stuff on Sloan, Schwarzenegger. I do want to talk about Steven Seagal though.

[00:01:21] You are one of the four actual eyewitnesses to this whole Gene LaBelle, Steven Seagal story, correct? Well, I think there's more than four, but yes, I am. I had a friend of mine, speaking of Steven Seagal and Gene LaBelle, a friend of mine called me and informed me that you did a podcast already on this. And I listened to it and there was a few mistakes there.

[00:01:46] You had mentioned that you had read the story and when you told the story, it wasn't quite right. Oh, we definitely want to get the real story from the actual witness. So when I read the book, it seems like- From a man who is equal to my great friend and a wonderful talent, Conrad Palmisano,

[00:02:07] because there was conversation in there that I felt like the audience was having trouble believing my story. That was completely true. So yeah, there was two bodyguards, which was Steven Seagal's. There was Steven Seagal. There was Gene LaBelle. There was Lincoln Simon, who was stunt guy, who was with me in my honey wagon and myself. So there was six people there.

[00:02:39] Conrad, nobody else. There was no Conrad Palmisano. Nobody else. You see, when you're working on a show, the honey wagons, the trailers are situated in a configuration, kind of like a wagon train would do when the Indians are coming after them. They circle them.

[00:03:04] So nobody on the outside can come in or see what's going on in the inside. Gal didn't piss in his pants. He didn't go into convulsions. But there was a confrontation. It was a physical confrontation. But it didn't have anything to do with pissing in his pants and or going into convulsions. What happened was, you know, prospective honey wagons, trailers. Lincoln Simon and I were in our own.

[00:03:33] We were sharing one, playing parts on the show, playing ourselves. And we were in our trailer getting dressed with the wardrobe they wanted us to wear. We came out. We got dressed. We came out. I came out first. And I happened to open a door and I saw Seagal and LaBelle and the two bodyguards

[00:03:57] talking in front of the honey wagon, LaBelle's honey wagon, his trailer that he put wardrobe on. So and we were probably a good 30, 35 feet away. And I looked in back in the trailer and I said, hey, Lincoln, LaBelle's talking to Seagal. Let's go see if, you know, we can join in, you know, just innocently.

[00:04:21] So I jumped down and I start walking over and Lincoln's about 10 feet back of me, jumps down. We start walking over and we get there and they're just having a simple conversation in front of each other. And, you know, it's Seagal and, you know, the two bodyguards are on each side of them, you know, like the Adantis, you know, King and LaBelle.

[00:04:45] And they're talking about moves and introducing themselves, being casual and entertaining and everything's light. And they start talking about different techniques and they're talking about a chokehold. And Seagal starts the conversation and he goes, I see the way you do your chokeholds.

[00:05:11] And he was disagreeing on the way that LaBelle would do it. And LaBelle said, well, let me explain to you how I do it. Let me show you. Now, as you being a black belt, a martial artist, when you work with somebody, a master of black belt, you know, even somebody that is a white belt, when you're working with somebody, when you're showing somebody,

[00:05:39] it's an automatic known fact rule that you go slow. You're having a conversation, you're teaching, you're showing, you're expressing your movement. And that's just what LaBelle was doing. In slow motion, he walks around Seagal, you know, and he's in back of him, facing his back. And Seagal's kind of looking, overlooking. We see the two bike guards looking.

[00:06:09] And Lincoln and I are kind of, we're in back of one side, in back of LaBelle watching, you know, very innocent. You know, and LaBelle starts to put his hands around him. And very slow, just as I'm moving, right? And the minute his hands go around Seagal's neck, before he even touched him, you know, grazed him,

[00:06:36] Seagal just sidesteps, full blast, and forearms, you know, bang, forearms. You know what I'm doing? Yeah. But down, right in his crotch. That's crazy. Full blast. I mean, like, if I told you, if I spread my legs and I said, hit me in the crotch with your forearm, as hard as you can. And that's what Seagal did. And LaBelle jumped up like three feet in the air.

[00:07:05] And I see LaBelle's face. And it's literally three feet in the air.

[00:07:13] And the moment his toes touched the ground, he just sidestepped and spun his hand around the front of Seagal's neck and took his leg and put it in back of Seagal's feet and just threw his arm back and threw his leg forward. And he was like, yeah. And he was like, yeah. And Seagal went flying up.

[00:07:43] See the way my arms are? About four feet high and landed right on his butt and back. And the bodyguards looked at Seagal. And I looked at Seagal. And I looked at Lincoln. And everything, this is in slow motion. And Lincoln's mouth was open. And my mouth was open. I was shocked. Because that was full blast. Everything was full blast. Sure.

[00:08:13] And the bodyguards looked. After he looked, they looked at Seagal. They looked at LaBelle. And I'm watching this. And this happened a matter of a split second. And I'm thinking, oh, my God. Here comes a huge fight. Because I'm thinking the bodyguards are looking at LaBelle. And the bodyguards look back at Seagal. And I look back at Seagal.

[00:08:41] And Seagal shakes his head like a no. And the minute Seagal did that with his head, the bodyguards stood down. Because they were like almost in reaction mode. Confrontation reaction mode. And like I said, this happened in a matter of moments. And the minute LaBelle felt like, you know, everything was easing up.

[00:09:07] He stuck out his hand and said, but if I did that, let me show you what you could do. And helped him up. And I was scared that something else was going to go on. So I ran to get the stunt coordinator, Conrad Parzano. And he was busy with a camera, setting camera. So I'm in back of him. And he had producers, directors, the DP, everybody listening to him. So I'm in back.

[00:09:35] And I'm waiting for the right moment. You know? Because you can't just barge in. You don't want people to know. You don't want to make a big thing out of this. Right? So I go in back of him, wait for the right moment. And I kind of lean to his ear. And I said, Conrad, I said, there's a confrontation with Seagal and LaBelle at base camp. You know? You better get over here and break it up. Well, he didn't understand what I was saying. So he ignored me.

[00:10:03] And I'm just looking. And he's continuing with his camera work. So I walk away kind of hesitant, 5, 10 feet away. And all of a sudden, he pops up. And he realizes what's going on. And he runs over there. And he yells to LaBelle before he even gets over there. You know? He's like 40 feet away. And LaBelle, get back to your trailer. And LaBelle looks at him and goes to his trailer. Right?

[00:10:33] Back to his trailer. And that was the end of that. And that's what happened. Now, who told? Who got it out? Who spread it out? I know I didn't. I know Lincoln did it. At least I believe Lincoln. I don't know if the bodyguards did it. I don't know if Seagal did it. Leaked it out. I don't know if Gene LaBelle leaked it out. Gene LaBelle, I love him.

[00:11:01] You see how close Gene LaBelle are and I are in the movie. But Gene LaBelle is a showman. Right? I don't think he would tell a lie. I think that lie, that rumor, that part of it, pissing in his pants and going to convulsions, I think it was spread by somebody else. Somebody who was writing the story. You know? Yeah. Somebody to somebody to somebody.

[00:11:29] But I believe LaBelle would never say what was said to the magazines and all that. If I had to guess. And I also, let me say, I feel horrible for Steven Seagal. He deserved it, what he got, because he started it. But the after occurrence, all these years later, is brutal. Yeah, because he's still getting crap about it.

[00:11:57] And I just wanted to, you know, give the audience full context. So you just want the truth out there, obviously. If anything, you and Gene LaBelle are good buds. And if you were going to be biased, you would just go with Gene LaBelle because he's your buddy. But obviously, the truth matters more to you. Exactly what I told you just now. Exactly what I have in the book is I've seen Gene LaBelle many times. He's read my story. You know?

[00:12:25] He says that's exactly what happened. Right? If you put Gene LaBelle and I together on an interview, and I look at him, and I say for you, and as I say, didn't what I wrote in the book, Gene, isn't that exactly what happened? He'll tell you that's exactly what happened. Yeah, I don't doubt that at all. I think it's interesting. I think... Of course. And we've discussed this already. I've teased him. You know?

[00:12:54] He tells me that he didn't say that. Somebody else said that. He can't figure out. But he'll play with you. If you interview him, he'll play with you because Gene is a showman. You know? I think he likes the idea that the story is out there because I've seen him in other interviews where he won't necessarily confirm or deny it. I think because he got whacked in the balls, essentially, he just likes that Seagal, like

[00:13:20] the story is out there almost like it's deserving of that happening to Seagal because, you know, the incident that happened. So I kind of feel like maybe one of the bodyguards told the real story and the guy who heard the story probably added something and then told someone else and they added something. And then it's become into this, essentially. That's usually the way it starts. Yeah. Like I said, you know, Seagal's fault.

[00:13:49] It's his fault. I also said, I feel bad for him. It's brutal because it's carried on this long. But if he would have admitted it in a playful way with respect at the beginning or in the middle or even now, it would go away. A couple of people have called me, you know, and said and said, what what do you think would happen if we got them together?

[00:14:19] And I said, well, I'm sure Gene would come. You know, Seagal's got to get off his high horse. And the trick is, is to make it funny. Make it funny when they meet. Make it funny because I'm sure LaBelle would make it funny. You know, come here, Stephen. And, you know, you know, I still think the one thing I always loved about Batman is who would appear and like you'd see like Lurch and then you see Sammy Davis Jr.

[00:14:47] come out going, hey, Batman, what's up? Nothing much. Hey, Batman. Hey, Batman. Up the side of the building. Oh, yeah. I love the one where it was Kato and the Green Hornet come out. It's it's Van Williams and Bruce Lee and their client. What are you doing here? Fighting crime. What are you doing? Fighting crime. Good. We'll see you. Boy, that's great, Batman. There's always other people. Like, you know, and you're just like, OK, they're going to do the team up soon.

[00:15:16] You know, they did. And they did. And it was good. I liked it. The best part is Burt Ward and Bruce Lee. The fight ended in a tie. Oh, yeah. Yeah. That's the realistic. Well, I can bet Bruce Lee didn't want to happen that way. Yeah. Although Tarantino would probably agree. Quentin Tarantino would slam Bruce Lee in that. Even Chuck Norris is like, yeah, no, that's not it.

[00:15:41] Well, the thing I love about that movie was Judo Gene LaBelle, who you guys have never heard of. Absolutely. We've heard of it. Hello. No, Judo Gene LaBelle. The guy. Yeah. The guy who made Steven Seagal shit his pants. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. OK. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He fought Brandon Lee in rapid fire. He's one of the gunmen in LA Confidential. He taught Ronda Rousey. Yeah. No. We love that. He said something. He says, I think he had the fight with Bruce Lee backstage.

[00:16:10] I think that's supposedly based on that. I think so. I think you mentioned something. I used to read a lot of MMA forums, and I think that story did come up. Yeah. I think he did come close to beating Bruce Lee, and they had to stop it. He was a fortress. There's a reason he's one of the favorite stuntmen of all time. He was what many of these pioneers were doing. He was finding alternate ways to do high falls.

[00:16:38] Most people, everyone else is doing all these stunts, but he was skilled with all different kinds of MMA and wrestling moves. Yeah. He was a guy that was in California. He never really hit it big. I think he was in California wrestling, and he ran a – he was like a black belt. I love martial arts stories. This is awesome. Sorry. Black belt in judo, and Steven Seagal, I think, wanted to take him on or something. Yeah. And he's like, I'm not putting up with your shit no more, dude. I'm not putting up with your shit, pal. And Seagal's like, okay, really?

[00:17:07] And he took Seagal to the mat, and he made Seagal shit his pants. And you ask anyone else on that set, they'll back you up because I knew a guy who worked on that. John Kan, he's been in everything. Universal Soldier 2. Yeah. He shoots Sandra Bullock's partner at the start of Miss Congeniality. They had to cut it just to get a PG-13 rating.

[00:17:30] But he's one of the prisoners in Tango and Cash, and he had some hysterical stories about Kurt Russell and Stallone's egos back in that day. But he played a guy who got stomped on bicycle, and he had to – he's like, do it on your back because if you do it on your belly, you're not going to walk again. And the scene's not even in the fucking movie. You're credited, and you get your stunt residuals. But he's like, god damn. So I think everyone by the end of that shoot was just done with all his misbehaving.

[00:18:01] You're like, you're going down, dude. And Gene LaBelle was like – Gene LaBelle was like, okay, I've had enough of your shit. Yeah. Because Seagal thought he was – Seagal thought he was the greatest thing on – you know, since White Bread. Absolutely. And LaBelle's like 20, 30 years older than him, and he just puts him in this – he puts him in this move, and it's like, you know, he can't fucking fight his way out, you know. No. So –

[00:18:27] But that's the great thing I love about hearing about that is, you know, Eugene LaBelle meets Steven Seagal shit his pants, you know. Yeah, absolutely. What do you think overall MMA fighters nowadays, some of the UFC champions? Some of them are very good. Some are retired. People like Randy Couture. To me, he is – in his time, he was the best at his weight.

[00:18:54] And, you know, I like people that are not only good, but they're nice people. Randy Couture is one of the best. And a lot of them are real nice people. But not ever pretty like me or you. Or as mean. Nice guy, but don't piss him off. I've heard stories of you taking out guys who were trying to rob your car, trying to rob your dirt bikes. So even nowadays, I don't want to mess with you, Uncle Gene.

[00:19:21] I was wondering, how did it come about that you ref the Muhammad Ali versus Antonio Noki match? What was that like? There were 200 people that wanted to referee that because it was big, it was international, it was taliburis, I'm paid to be all over the world. And when Ali first fought for my mother at the Olympic after he was an amateur, and she made him wear a button that says,

[00:19:51] I'm the greatest, he said, Mrs. Eaton, I'm sorry, I couldn't wear that. What would people say? She says, I don't care what they say. If you sell boletos, tickets. And so he wore this and he ran from the Olympic 18th and Grand to Third Street, which was the gym that everybody worked at with called Main Street Gym. And he got a lot of coffee.

[00:20:19] Then he said he wanted to go to the wrestling matches and see the interviews from Freddie Blassie. He called him Gorgeous George, but Freddie Blassie was not Gorgeous George. So Freddie says, I'll annihilate, mutilate, assassinate that lounge lizard. The lounge lizard, do you hear me? And Ali said, I want to be just like him.

[00:20:47] So he gets on television and says, my opponent's a bore. I'm going to knock him out in four. I says, Ollie, I know you boxers, you lie a bit. Because he said he could knock him out in one. You've got to go four rounds and then knock him out. And of course, you know, I like keys and everything. He went four rounds. Guy never touched him.

[00:21:17] Fourth round, bam, he was out. And after that, he started predicting every fight and putting on these little schticks and selling tickets. And he says, I want Gene as the referee. And so Gene made $5,000 and Oki made $2 million, which is a lot of money.

[00:21:45] And Oli made $6 million, which is still a lot of money. Now, you've mentioned Carl Goss and Luthes. What about some of these old catch dresses? What do you think that differentiates kind of the catch style technically and attributes and their goals of grappling versus like nowadays, you know, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is so popular in common. What do you think the difference is in the kind of catch style, catch-as-catch-catch style of human things? They have much in common.

[00:22:16] The Brazilian style is copied after a lot of the old pro wrestlers, the legitimate shooters. And I love Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and it's great. And the participants are fantastic. But they say they know the Kimura. Well, I'm going to tell you, and you won't hear it anyplace else, where did the Kimura come from?

[00:22:45] There was a gentleman, all Japan Judo champion, and he won all his matches. Then they kicked him out of Japan in 1955 because he was a professional in taking money. And they wanted to keep him amateur. So they went down to Brazil and beat everybody with a double wrist lock, downward arm crank. And they couldn't pronounce double wrist lock or downward arm crank. So they called it the Kimura.

[00:23:15] So now you know where the Kimura comes from. How about the guard? If you know what the guard is, where a man's between your legs. It was called foot and leg control, where you control men's feet, knees, usually below the waist. But you can go into triangles and everything. They have amablata, which is a chicken wing.

[00:23:44] And they're all pro wrestling holds. But they were not embedded by you, me, or the Brazilians, or guys from the United States. They're all pro wrestling holds, the legitimate shooters. There's not that many real hookers, real shooters left nowadays. There's yourself. What do you think of some of the other guys?

[00:24:10] Well, there's some good ones, but most of the good ones have died out because they're older. Luthes gave you a cauliflower here, an iron-wool award. Yeah, and Luthes was, he could shoot. I did a book, the last time he was on the mat with me, about six weeks before he passed away, and he was like 86.

[00:24:40] And he and his wife, Charlie, great gal, and she's still around. He was unbelievable. And, you know, you don't see him anymore. They just, they're non-existent. I got one last question for you. I hope you don't get upset by this one. If you don't want to answer, it's fine. But recently, Steven Seagal has been in the UFC news because of Anderson Silva and the Otomachita.

[00:25:06] And he was asked about it on an MMA show, the alleged incident with you choking him out. And he said about you, and I quote, he said, if he was saying that he was a pathological scumbag liar. Now, I don't know if you want to address the incident at all, or maybe you're legally not allowed to talk about it, or if anything happened to him. Well, we'll put it this way.

[00:25:29] Steven Seagal, if brains were of measure than Cadillacs, he'd be on roller skates. These were not nice words, and this was just about too much. Well, the guy lives in the land of Fantasia. He's a good martial artist, but he insulted a few guys that threw in the gauntlet.

[00:25:56] And he claims he taught different people holds that are standard holds. And he's an interesting person. He's good-looking, he's tall, but he's teaching Bones Jones or other guys. These standard holds that they've been doing all their life.

[00:26:27] But he gets publicity on it. But Randy Couture, he challenged Randy Couture. Randy Couture says, if I come out of retirement, I want to fight just one person, Steven Seagal. And it's a shame he should take some kind of medicine because he's got diarrhea of the mouth.

[00:26:51] And I say he's a great actor and a great martial artist. And after my incident with him, I spent a few months with lawyers. And, you know, he's something. But, you know, the whole thing is, if you get entertained watching a fellow like Steven Seagal, sit back and enjoy it. These movie movies were good.

[00:27:17] And I'm glad, I think you kind of said without saying what his is. And he's known in the stunt community for hurting people. And everyone loves you. You try to help me out. I'm nobody. You try to help everybody out. And everyone knows you. You're a kind and good man. Well, you try to help people out. I've been there. I've been damn lucky. I've been blessed. I've made a lot of money in the stunt business. I've made money in the pro wrestling business.

[00:27:48] And as far as a fellow like Steven goes, to put a person down, that doesn't make me a better man. You know, if I have to brag, let somebody else say, hey, Gene was good in his time. You know, and, but you people, you've got to know the difference between BS and legit.

[00:28:19] And so you see somebody by Steven talking, I, I, I, me, me, me, and I, I, I. And Ronda, rowdy Ronda, Rousey challenged him to a death match. Now, Ronda is the champion, a woman. And Steven's very good.

[00:28:46] But I would bet the farm, and I've got a farm, I bet the farm that he wouldn't last a round with it. She'd annihilate, mutilate, assassinate him. But that's just my opinion, and that's what makes gambling. Well, there you have it, folks. Thank you, Gene, very much. You are the man. Time to go through something. Come on, let's get out of the man. Let's go twist some people. You got it.

[00:29:16] We'll return after these messages. Hey, it's Brent Pope, the host of Brentfist with Brent Pope. You've seen me on some of your favorite TV shows saying things like, Give it up, Jimmy. You've got to sink this putt to win. On Brentfist with Brent Pope, I sit down with guests from the entertainment world, and we do it all over breakfast. Or should I say Brentfist? Every week on Brentfist, you get inside Hollywood info and tips, great breakfast wrecks and booty debates. Most of all, you get the most delightful 30 minutes of your week. So dig in. It's Brentfist time.

[00:29:45] Listen at Brentfist.com, Apple Podcasts, or wherever fine podcasts are found. Welcome to the Better Call Daddy Show, the number one podcast where we admit no matter what happens, daddy has the advice we need to fix our problems. Introducing my dad, Mr. Wayne Friedman. That was good. It would be nice if you could also sing a song. What would the song be? You love Paris in the springtime. I just made up some words to it. I love Rena in the springtime. I love Rena in the fall.

[00:30:17] That's right. That's good enough. What I do is interview people of interest, share it with my dad, and get my dad's advice. My dad is my hero. Nobody's got my daddy. Oh boy. Let's go to grandpa. You like to be a little rebel. I tried to rein you in. I have a daughter named Rena that acts just like I did. She's got a son that is not only just like me, but it's just like her. I'm your host, Rena Friedman Watts. Invite your friends, subscribe, and I'm excited to take this journey with you.

[00:30:47] Let's dive in. She was teasing this guy with the sword and she accidentally cut his dick. Oh my God, I'm dying. And then he started to enjoy it. I started going down the phone sex rabbit hole. You've got the wankers and you jerk off in five seconds and then they're done because A, they don't want to spend money and B, they're quick. My stepfather had mania. If I'm yelling at one of my kids, that fear, that rigid fear. Mom even said to me, I hope you have a kid just like you.

[00:31:12] There are lots of people that are being bought and sold right now for profit. If you think you're going to kill yourself, shut up and kill yourself. If you're not going to kill yourself, then shut up, smarten up, and it's all on you. The bullshit has to end. Wow. When I was 11 years old, I was raped and molested over the course of a year. What Jeffrey Epstein had was a sickness inside of him. I am Evan Castrilli Carmichael. I could do anything that I believe that I can. I'm so excited too. Let's go.

[00:31:40] Next on Better Call Daddy with my mom and my grandpa. Stay tuned. Follow us on the web on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. The podcast is available on Podbean, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Anchor, Apple, and anywhere else podcasts are available. Feel free to review our show and leave comments on any of those sites.

[00:32:09] Thanks a million for listening.