Welcome to Just curious media. This is let's talk Cobra Kai. I'm Jason Connell.
And I'm Sal Rodriguez.
All right, Sal, we are back with kind of a special episode more of an update, if you will a timely episode, which I'm kind of excited to talk about.
Well, I'm glad you are. I'm bummed out here. This is the only episode of Let's Talk Cobra Kai, that I'm actually bummed out going into.
You tried to back out of it, and I have to get another guest host on tonight.
I did. I was like, I don't want to do this. I want to just like not talk about this, you know, because it really bums me out. It really does.
Now it's true. It's a little sad. But I felt relevant. To get into a lot of speculation about this episode we are talking about really Chad McQueen and the potential of him reprising his role as Dutch as you and I know he was in the Karate Kid and he was a very strong figure in that movie Sal. He represented the Cobra Kai as well. He knew martial arts because I believe he studied under the legendary Chuck Norris if I'm not mistaken. So you know, yeah, he was tough those a lot of scenes what's like, my gosh, he's even meaner than Johnny in a lot of these scenes. So I personally, and I know you do too, have always wanted him to come back.
Yeah. And I think when I watched the movies, I imagined that were there no, Johnny, then Dutch would have been in charge of the corporate guys. Aside from crease of course you got crease, then you got Johnny, then you got Dutch. I would say that he was the third man, I would say. Yeah, he
was absolutely number three in the call list, I would say. And you know that one amazing episode where all the Cobra guys came back. And what with Johnny on the road trip? Yeah. And where they looked like they were in Big Bear, but it was still Atlanta. Yeah. And yeah, that's when we all really want to Dutch. And of course, where did they say Dutch was in that episode? If you recall.
Well, it made sense. Because they said he was in prison as a fan. You go. Yeah, I could totally see that. Oh, yeah. Probably had anger issues, obviously probably assaulted somebody at some point. So yeah, made total sense. Also a nice foreshadow because we're thinking, well, he's gonna get out at some point and the man they're all going to meet him, you know, as he exits the prison. So there was a lot of anticipation, especially since Cobra Kai has been so fantastic about bringing everybody back. Hell, the little girl on the bell tower from Karate Kid to they brought her back. I mean, they're bringing back everybody. So and then we have Terry silver coming back. There's rumors about Mike Barnes.
Yes. Or even Hilary Swank.
Oh, my God. So there's so much anticipation for all these people to potentially come back and that have come back? Yeah. So this was just when I got this news. I was like, Oh, no. Oh, no. So yeah, this was a downer. But yeah, here we are.
And so the news you referring to came out June 11 2021. Chad McQueen's daughter Madison, who's also the social media manager for McQueen racing his company, because for those of you do not know, Sal, tell them who Chad McQueen's father is.
Chad McQueen is the son of a very famous actor from the 50s and 60s named Steve McQueen. I say that for the new person who may not know he was huge. He was a huge star, I believe an Academy Award nominee. I don't know if he won, but he was definitely nominated. Very huge actor, but very into auto racing. Yes. So now his son Chad. I mean, how good is your auto racing career that you can turn down Cobra Kai, you can be like, Nah, I don't want to be in Cobra Kai. I'm too busy with my other empire. Right. You know, how good is it for Chad McQueen right now that he can just snub his nose at Cobra Kai.
Exactly. We'll get into more of that at the end of this episode. So Madison McQueen posted on Instagram this message on June 11. Sal, do the honors.
This is from official McQueen racing. Quote, Sweep the leg Gianni and quote, we appreciate every single one of you diehard Cobra Kai fans, we read and love all of your kind words. Dutch will not be making an appearance in the Netflix series, hyphen at Mattie underscore McQueen. Well, I mean, kind words. Great words. Yeah, but disappointing words to the fence.
Exactly. I'd rather get in front of it like this and know the score. I didn't think he'd come back if it was any holdout who has no incentive to come back. It was probably Chad McQueen. So yeah, it was a note to the fans. I love the way she put it. But along with the post, or three photos of Chad as Dutch from the Karate Kid, which is kind of cool to see of course, you and I are so caught up on this. It's like oh, yeah, but if you haven't seen it in a while, you'd be like, Oh, that's that guy. Yeah, and let's look at the photo. So the first one of course is well this is that great locker room seen pretty all Valley tournament when Daniel was in there getting his GI on and the Cobra guys came in, if you recall the same, right yeah. Oh, yeah. And Chad has kind of the regret not kind of he is the aggressor there. Johnny was kind of on the outskirts like hanging back following senseis orders, not fight until the tournament and look at chat space. He's ready to fight. LORUSSO right here now.
Yeah, the look on his face is like, and of course when you watch the scene is like he hates LORUSSO. Why does he hate LORUSSO? More than Johnny? And yet does have such rage and disdain for Daniel? Why?
I don't know. But this is the kind of guy that winds up in prison.
Exactly. Yeah, made total sense. Makes total sense.
I mean, he looks intimidating man. And he was a badass and he knew martial arts. So you could tell in those tournaments when he's doing spinning back heel kicks around house like it's legit. I was always impressed with his karate, and I love the logo there the patch on his GI the fist and it says Dutch above it.
Oh, is that what it says? Okay, isn't that great? And if you look at Tommy Rob Garrison rest in peace. Yeah, it looks like he's like, Hey, what's up guys? Yeah. And Dutch is like looking at La Russa was such hatred.
Oh my god, he wants to kill the Russo and Larissa of course is fussing with his ski because, well, he's never put one on. And if you don't know how to do it, you got the inner strings to tie together. And then of course, tying a belt is a whole other thing, which he would know right away. I mean, a lot of people have trouble with that stuff. But who knew that Tommy just what 1520 minutes later would coin the famous phrase?
Put them in a body bag? Yeah. When I think of that, yeah, I think of John Cena.
Yelling back karate.
Yes, exactly.
Oh my gosh. So yeah, very good. And then of course, the third photo is a throwback to the skeleton outfits from the Halloween dance.
Nice. And that's like a behind the scenes I think.
Oh, again, I think it's Johnny. I think that's Tommy again and there's Dutch. chillin out all makeup on and I don't know who's on the right but I'm gonna guess that's John G Appleton.
I'm gonna guess that too. That's what it looks like somebody's speaking to them with authority is kind of cut off. You'll see a tiny sliver of his face. Yeah, I'm gonna guess that John G. Albertson. Absolutely. But they
look menacing, even just chilling out in between takes.
I don't want them chasing me. No way. No,
the face makeup really sells it as well as the costume itself, but brilliant job production. So I love that they gave us a little treat as they broke the bad news to us. And so yeah, Chad McQueen Dutch will not be a part of Cobra Kai.
Yeah, disappointing. But props and shout out to Mattie McQueen. No, she led us down easy. She let us know that she respects the Karate Kid universe, the Cobra Kai universe. She was tender is what she has a woman's touches what that is.
That's great. And so in the article, I also kind of went over some of the things and figured I'd talk about him here real briefly before we have our some ups on this because the news is out. And Sal and I are discovering it as we do on Let's Talk Cobra Kai. And so back in 2019 in Entertainment Weekly, Josh Heald, one of the CO creators of the show. He wanted Dutch and Cobra Kai and I think as you just alluded to a minute ago, and share the fact that they've done an amazing job bringing people back from the credit card franchise, so of course, they would want him but he even wrote this. And they included this in the article, it says schedules were such that it wasn't feasible for him to join us this time around. But we certainly mentioned his character being alive and in a very particular place on purpose. We could perhaps visit that story another time. So that's why we got the prison break down. And that made sense. And so yeah, thereby buying themselves some time sound figured like we'll talk him into it eventually. It sounds like
Sure. Yeah. Well, the creators of Cobra Kai, they write with optimism. They write with anticipation and hope. I got to credit him for that. I mean, I couldn't do that. I would have to know this is lined up for sure. In order to proceed, but yeah, they write with that hope in mind. So yeah, they gave us the teaser. They gave us the foreshadow the fans, the viewers were like, oh, yeah, he's in prison. He's probably going to come out at some point. And the rest of the gang is going to meet up with him. But yeah, it did not come to fruition.
No, and the fact that they referenced his character, and told us and shared with the audience where he was, that was great. Because even if he never made it in and it looks like he's never going to we at least his audience members aren't going with. They didn't even mention Dutch. So I credit them for even doing that and get in front of it.
Yeah. Because the viewer in the fan can watch and at least know that he is regarded. Yep. They mentioned him. They let us know that they remembered him. Yeah, they're one
step ahead of us like Hey, I know we got all the Cobra guys here. And Dutch isn't here for a very Very good reason not just ignoring it that can upset a fan. It can rile the fans up. So Oh, yeah, well, yeah, so they do a very respectful job because they're fans themselves. It's evident in the show. They love it as much as us. So they honor it, respectively. And we're in good hands, as I always say. So just to add one more tidbit to this, and another interview, I think that dates back to 2017. And I actually heard this, I believe, is on a podcast, or at least I heard the audio of a radio show. Martin Cove stated that he and William Zabka tried to lower McQueen back to the franchise as well. So this is early on, we don't even know how big Cobra Kai is going to be, or what it is, or they were calling him repeatedly because I've guessed they've kept it up a relationship and to no avail. Sell. It just never got there.
Again. How good is your life? How awesome is your life that Martin Cove and William Zabka can personally call you and you can go, thanks. But now, how good is your life? I would be like on my knees like, Praise Jesus. You know, I mean, well, you know, good for Chad McQueen. And you know what one thing interesting about Chad mokwena. I would like him, Chad McQueen, and his father Steve, to Michael Douglas and his father Kirk. Yeah. If you look at Chad McQueen's acting resume, he did not take advantage of this dynasty that he was born into. He didn't there's only like 20 legitimate credits, I think to his acting resume. Yeah, he could have done so much more. Chad McQueen, if he had chosen if he didn't fall in love with auto racing so much. He could have been huge. He could have been again, like Kirk and Michael Douglas. He could erode that Steve McQueen train and been a huge star today.
Yeah, he didn't want it. And so he fell in love with racing at a young age. And that really was his passion. And the article kind of ends with that, like Chad McQueen at 10 years old visits his father, Steve McQueen on the set of LeMans, which is a great movie. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it if you've seen it revisited. But yeah, he was on the set. He called him over a Steve called over Chad, they went for a ride. They're gone like 100 something miles an hour. And like that passion was born right then in there. And he kind of just says, like, for better for worse. My life changed right then because I was in love with racing. So he was in love with it. Who knows how he even got involved with Karate Kid, he was a teen and maybe he thought, Oh, I'll do this. Or they're trying to recruit kids. And he had no karate sound. It was like, hey, as this guy as Chad McQueen, so he was kind of doing acting, but you know, deep down, he was always into racing. And also, if you haven't done something for so long, it's not your passion. You don't want to let yourself down.
Okay, so this is something else. I was thinking, Jason. Is it possible that Chad McQueen is not confident in his acting now? Just as a parallel, there's a parallel, right? People want Eddie Murphy to go back to stand up. Oh, Eddie Murphy, you should do another special. Is it possible Eddie Murphy's, like, geez, I haven't done stand up in decades. I don't even know if I'll be good anymore. You know, is it possible Chad is like, I don't even know if I'm a good actor anymore. I haven't done in so long as possible. There was some hesitancy on the part of Chad where he was thinking, I'm not certain I can even deliver.
That's exactly what I was thinking on many fronts. I think that there's no upside. He created a character. That was tough. I mean, look at him. He's filled, he knows karate, he was the aggressor. What's the arc of Dutch now? You know, I guess he could come back and be like, he could be anything. So he could be post prison and the guy on the right path. And maybe he found Jesus, I guess that endless what he could be. But if he chose to come back, I'm sure they'd write it however he wanted it to be. But that's sounds like it's not gonna happen. Won't happen. But I do believe. Yeah, he's not that confident in it. He hasn't done it. If he comes out and he fails to his own standard, not to our standard, we probably just love the fact that he's in there. Right. So his own standard? Yeah, what's he's probably gonna grapple with that. He's also Steve McQueen son. Oh, you know, he's already living up in some regards to a legend. And reprising her role that was so long ago that he did a great job and it's sometimes it's better to leave it alone. You know, he's not macho Zabka our Cove who've honed their craft so much more from the original. Sure. But yeah, I think now the gap is so great. Like, what am I going to do? You know, and if he was ever going to do it, so it probably would have been the episode where Rob Garrison passes away like that pie would have been the one where he could have been cloaked with everybody else, and it would have been too much impetus on
him. It would have been a In an ensemble,
exactly. And now it's just growing. If he shows up now it's like, what's he going to do? And honestly sound not to get sideways with this because obviously I respect everything that Chad McQueen does. And I think the racing, I looked into it on the Instagram was checking it out. But seeing him now, kind of looking at how he looks, he doesn't really even resemble Dutch. Whereas I think macho and Zab Well, first of all, rough macho, looks like he's not aging. He's like, a button.
He's He's the declerck of martial arts. Yeah, so
there's that Safco looks great. And he's conditioned. And same with COVID was actually older than Maggio's. aapke. But just Chad McQueen looks older than he is, and a little more frail on the photos I've seen. So he probably doesn't want to come in and have this performance or maybe have Dutch be less than what he was before. Yeah, you know, I think there's a lot of that at play my opinion, personal opinion.
No, yeah, there's a lot of speculation. Obviously, that's all we can do. There's not a lot of press on this. I mean, aside from the Instagram posts from Matty McQueen, there's not a whole lot of other stuff to draw from. So we can speculate all night about this. But yeah, I would say there's a lot of things to consider as far as why it's easy to go, Oh, his career so great. And he doesn't have time, right. That's an easy one. But who knows that there's other things involved. Let me tell you something, Jason, I haven't done Stand Up Comedy in a little while. And some of my friends are. Because I visited a local comedy club, a brand new Comedy Club opened up near me, like literally walking distance. So I went down there and saw friend perform. I had a great time last night. So I post that on Facebook and all these friends like, Hey, you should do stand up again. You should do stand up again. I haven't done stand up in a while, you know, so, do I want to while sort of, but meanwhile, it's like, I'm just seeing like this giant incline in front of me. Yeah. You know, like, can I be who I once was, you know, so there's a lot of self doubt there.
Yeah, we hold ourselves up to our own standards. And that's what I was saying. This is internal, is like, what's the upside? Yeah, if you go back, and you aren't that good? Are you then gonna walk away? Or is that gonna you're gonna double down and Chad pie doesn't even care. And I think he's probably fond of the franchise, and it's probably cool a Cobra Kai is doing, but I don't think he's overly connected. Because even again, this is just Instagram. But looking over that account, there's only two other mentions of the Karate Kid. And in keeping with the spirit of this episode, Sal, we might as well break down these two photos. Yes. So there's the black and white photo Sal, which is awesome, because you have you know, of course, the set in the background, but they're on those director's chairs with their names and like five Cobra Guys, can you spot the Cobra? Guys? Can you read the names on there?
Chad McQueen? Yeah. Rob garrison. Yes. It's got to say Bill Zabka. That's too short to be Williams at our belly.
Yeah, you're absolutely right. I don't get the that's the guy from the head of the class. Tony O'Dell played Jimmy. And then there's Bobby Ron Thomas.
There we go. Yeah. And of course, Bobby is still a part of the show. A playing a preacher and still a wonderful friend to John and absolutely wonderful, good friend.
Yeah, it's a great shot though. I love this chapter. The post. Yeah,
yeah. How historic is this? I mean, ah, for the fans to see this. But then for these guys at that time, I mean, Little do they know how huge this moment would become, you know, and
the next photo is amazing. This is like a behind the scenes shot from all Valley. And you have well go ahead and set the stage. So this is too good. Oh,
yeah, there we have Lamar. I always think of Lamar from Revenge of the Nerds. Absolutely. And next to him now. There's a guy next to Lamar is left. Can't do that. It I can't tell you that is so that's an
understatement. A Cobra Kai above them, but we have no idea who that yes, yes.
These are some ancillary characters. Oh,
by the way, Lamar plays Jerry and that is Larry B. Scott.
Larry B. Scott Lamar. Yes. And then we have COVID. They're into coves. Right. We have Tommy. Yep. And then to coves left, we have of course Dutch flipping off the camera there is flipping off the I gotta hand it to him because this was before flipping off the camera became a thing. Yeah. But back then it wasn't a thing. I don't think anyone was flipping off the camera in the mid 80s. Yet. Let's see. Maybe a punk rocker, maybe punk rockers did it. And then to his left Tony O'Dell and then and then a guy I've never seen before. Yeah, another extra an extra Cobra Kai. Madden. If you're that actor, how close you were.
He's telling everybody his whole life. No, I was a Cobra Kai.
Yeah, yeah, right.
I even liked the way he posted this out because he took a photo of this probably on his desk or something and look to the left. There's one of his hot rod cars like a figure. Oh, yeah.
Neat. It's like he put the photo up. Took a picture of it. And then yeah, next to that is like a Hot Wheels car. Yeah, yeah.
So again, this is cool that he has it in his war chest and he's proud of it, but But it's just like he's reminiscing, he's moved on.
I'm kinda reminded recently I've been reading some press about Harrison Ford and some quotes when people ask Harrison Ford like about hands so like, well, Han Solo and like, you know how to get real nerdy. And Harrison Ford like he's not into it. No, he's not into the whole, like, nerd culture of Star Wars.
Now. He's not like William Shatner.
Exactly. People. It's just a TV show. From Saturday. Exactly. So yeah, so for Dutch this was a roll. For Harrison Ford. It was a roll. And then you know, life moves on. Here you go. A couple of things I found incredibly interesting as I was reading more about Chad McQueen, reading about his dad. So his dad Steve McQueen. Studied Tang sudo under Pat E. Johnson.
Oh my gosh.
What? What Why have we never talked about this? Pat E. Johnson, the ref from Karate Kid, the actual ref who was a martial artist and fight choreographer? Yes, of course. Steve McQueen studied under Pat E. Johnson. Tang pseudo and who else mentioned Tang pseudo but creases Sergeant right or was it the captain? Yep. He said he studied Tang sudo. So I think that was a little tip of the hat to the McQueen's when he mentioned tank sudo. I mean, if you think about it, that commanding officer who said that to a young crease, he could have mentioned any martial art. Yeah, right. He could have studied anything he mentioned tank sudo I think was the tip of the hat to the McQueens.
I liked that cell nice info bringing that in. I like it also Jason
fun fact. The McQueen family. Chad's mother, Chad McQueen's mother who married Steve McQueen. Her family is related to the Yglesias Julio illness. Yes, and Enrique Douglas. Yes, they are like distant cousins of the McQueens. But it would be Chad McQueen's mother's family from the Philippines distantly related to the Yglesias music dynasty.
Whoa,
I did not know that very interesting. Fun fact.
Okay, man, that is wild. I would have never put that together to all the women I've Loved Before.
traveled in and out my door.
I remember Julio. So so as you were sharing more about the lineage of Steve McQueen, who obviously got Chad McQueen into martial arts, which led to him being in the Karate Kid and not being in Cobra Kai. But I did look this up because I remember reading this or hearing this back in the day. Chuck Norris was also a sensei of Steve McQueen and Chad McQueen. Because at one point in time, Norris opened up that chain of karate schools and had a lot of celebrity clients, which included them along with Priscilla Presley, and Donny, Jasmine, and Maria Jasmine, and I'm sure many others. So yeah, those guys bounced around. They had some really great trainers, obviously Pat E. Johnson and Chuck Norris.
Well, very cool today just spending a little bit of time learning about the McQueen's and their lineage and where they been and where they're going. Very interesting. Yep. Very interesting. And now here we are today, unfortunately, having to deliver the unfortunate news that Chad McQueen will not be a part of Cobra Kai.
Yes, he will stay in prison indefinitely. Yeah, it's a life
sentence. They'll come back and season four and say, Well douches in for life, he got 25 to life. So he's not coming out.
He killed someone in prison. He'll be staying there. So I mean, that's really it's out. We have more episodes to come. As news breaks. We have interviews that are beginning to line up, get scheduled, if you will. And we have more fun special episodes like finding the cast members of karate kid or Cobra Kai and random things that somehow tie together but a lot of fun stuff. So as we march towards season four,
yeah, I'm starting to feel the energy. I'm starting to feel the anticipation of season for him right now. I'm starting to feel it. I'm looking forward. And by the way, I need Season Four like I need to think about the upcoming season four of Cobra Kai, I need that in my life right now.
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