Jake “The Snake” Roberts Talks Business Of Marketing Nostalgia In Wrestling
Jake “The Snake” Roberts was recently interviewed by Wrestling Epicenter’s Interactive Wrestling Radio. You can see highlights below, and the full interview at this link.
Deciding to do the Dirty Details tour:
“I just wanted to have fun, man. Get out there, see the fans. Rub elbows with them. See if I can’t help some people on sobriety’s road. This is how I’m doing it, man. I went and saw Mick Foley’s show and I said “I know I’m funnier than that! Why don’t I start me a show?” And then I said, “Well, heck. Instead of writing new comedy, why not go over the things that happened in the past!” Lord knows I’ve got plenty of that to go over. I have wrestled for 37 years. So, I’ve got 37 years of material to go over. I’ll be busy for a while!”
On the popularity of classic wrestling stars:
“I think with Vince putting it out there all the time with the (WWE) Network, it creates new fans of that era. I go to Comic Cons all the time and there are kids there that are 8 and 9 years old and they want my autograph and I say, “Wait a minute, you weren’t even born yet when I was wrestling.” They’re like, “Yeah, but we watched you do this and you on that.” I’m really grateful for it (The Network) man. It’s given me another career.”
On comparing himself in 2003 when we last interviewed him to now:
“I was miserable. I was still drinking and using drugs. Those were dark times for me, man. I’m very fortunate that I made it through it. By all rights, I shouldn’t have because I was a mess. I didn’t even want to live anymore. Really dark times. But, I came through it. It took a lot of hard work but I’ve been clean now 7 years. Things are beautiful.”
