| Hogan talks Fast Chat |
 ARRRRRE YOU READY TO RRRRREE-PORT??!!!In this corner, we have the youthfully middle-aged freelance writer Frank Lovece. In the opposite corner, 14-time wrestling champion HULLLLLLK HOGANNNN!!! And NOW … Now we put the wrestling shtick aside, much like Terry Bollea, the 52-year-old, not-quite-former pro wrestler, aka Hulk Hogan, paternal star of VH1’s Sunday-night reality show “Hogan Knows Best.” Sitting today in a midtown hotel, he is soft- spoken, expansive, willing to answer any question in what seems the truthful tone of an American icon – or perhaps Americana icon – who’s beyond good or bad publicity. It’s natural to be skeptical: His 2002 autobiography, “Hollywood Hulk Hogan,” was, according to some wrestling fans, a bit filled with tall tales. He still claims that the late wrestler Andre the Giant weighed 700 pounds when Hogan lifted him during a match – even though the world record for weightlifting, set Sept. 14, 2003, is 213 kilograms, or not-quite 470 pounds. Even so, the effortlessly charming Hogan seems utterly sincere when he describes doing his reality show as a means of helping his daughter, Brooke, 17, an aspiring singer, get the same cross-media exposure as do Lindsay Lohan and Hilary Duff. When it comes to being a doting dad, hey, you’ve got to admit he’s a champ. Also a former bass player in a rock band, which you need to know because it involves how Ferocious Frank made Hulk Hogan beg for mercy.I was reading that GPS locators, like the one you put in your daughter’s SUV last season on your show, are the next big mainstream technology. So for all the jokes people made, you might have been ahead of the curve. And it had nothing to do with the TV show. As soon as she got her driver’s license I was ready to put this GPS in her car. It’s gonna happen with my son, too, when he turns 16. So instead of her going to the mall and disappearing and [us] waiting three days to find her dead body somewhere, now she goes to the mall, she’s not home on time, I go on the computer. If the car’s heading a thousand miles north to New York City, I know right where she’s at instantly. Or at least where the truck is, so it gives you some type of lead there. It’s a little weird to some people, but to me it makes sense.On the other hand, you do have her face and everything on TV every week. It’s helped my daughter ; and my son, it’s helped him with his acting and his racing, which he’s doing now. It was tough the first season, but then we kinda got sucked into it where we became real good friends with the production company and the camera guys, and when we’re done filming we’d hang out and work out, or go to the beach, or drink beers or whatever. It looks like we’ll probably be heading into season three full-blaze.When you first wrestled for [promoter] Vince McMahon, he hooked you up with old-time wrestler Fred Blassie, who was Andy Kaufman’s idol.  Vince … stuck me with Fred Blassie as my so-called wrestling manager, which he was just – he was not my real manager. Ever meet Andy, our own Great Neck guy? I heard you twisted your ankle filming the [upcoming] movie “Little Hercules in 3-D.” What would you have done if somebody had said, “C’mon you big baby, walk it off”? Zeus. Thank you. And Paul played Marduk, god of Babylon. I was sitting in the makeup chair, and he walked by and stepped on the side of my foot, and I went, “You — !” I’m barefoot, in my toga, and he’s steppin’ on my — foot! I got it X-rayed and it wasn’t broken; it was what they call a real bad sprain. But it took almost three months to get over that. Let me know if anyone’s ever dared tell you this joke: What do you call a guy who hangs out with rock bands? A guy that hangs out with rock bands? No idea. The bass player. |