With Christopher “Mad Dog” Russo being on First Take with Stephen A Smith every Wednesday morning, it allows a new audience to get to watch him that may not have had the chance to listen to him when he co-hosted Mike and the Mad Dog on WFAN with Mike Francesa and he has enjoyed the chance to have other people get to know him.
Russo was a guest on the latest episode of the New York, New York with John Jastremski podcast and he said that even he has been surprised about the attention he has received from being on First Take.
“They are getting to know me. I am appealing to a different audience, which I hadn’t had in the past….I knew I could do well with it, but I never thought that I would have the impact with the one day a week with Stephen A. so that’s been a big plus for me.”
While Russo doesn’t get the chance to go on many 15-minute monologues anymore, he mentioned to Jastremski that he does not feel rushed on the show and that Smith allows him the opportunity to do whatever he wants to do.
”No, you are talking soundbites moreso than expound. You’ve got 2-3 other guys on set with you so you want to make sure they get a chance to talk, too. It’s not an adjustment. I can talk in that 15 seconds and give you an answer there or I can do 5-6 minutes, god given the way my mind clicks.
“One thing about Stephen A, he does give you the chance to do what you want to do. When I do that segment called ‘What Are You Mad About?’, it’s just me, so I’ve got 7-8 minutes to do anything I want, 3-4 different topics.
“I really haven’t had any adjustment getting used to the medium and the camera. Got to be a little more careful of what you say. If you make an error there, your career is over. Not as much on the radio, you can get around it…If you make a mistake on the radio, people might not pick up on it, it doesn’t go viral. If you do it on TV, you are dead. So for the most part, I’ve been able to stay out of trouble. That’s the one thing I concern myself with. I kind of edit myself as we go along.”
Right before Francesa was supposed to be on First Take with Russo and Smith back on February 1, Tom Brady announced that he was retiring. Russo said that the show did have to change a little bit from its original format, but it did give the show a main topic to talk about.
“We obviously already had a show formatted properly for a little more Mike and the Mad Dog. Once Brady happens at 8, we are on at 10, you’ve got to spend a lot of time on Brady. Partly it was good because it gave us something to talk about, break down the quarterbacks Montana/Brady, but it took away a little from the Mike and the Mad Dog thing. You also had to do it twice. You had to do it at 10 and then you had to do it again at 11.”
