AJ Benza joins the DL to talk about his fascinating life and career.  Benza has done everything from hosting TV shows to doing radio to acting in movies to writing a gossip column to working for John Gotti.  Yep. The Godfather – not his son, who was arrested yesterday on murder charges.  And no, we don’t ask if he knows where the body is.

We were put in contact with Benza by one of his old bosses, our friend AJ Daulerio at Deadspin.  The two worked together at Oddjack and while an invitation was extended to Daulerio to join the show as well, his schedule wouldn’t permit.  We take that opportunity to let Benza bag him in hilarious fashion.

We talk talk about Benza’s career and how in essence, he’s worked his butt of to become a professional celebrity.  We spin that to talk about his time on VH1’s Celebrity Fit Club and his interaction with the likes of Dustin Diamond and Brian Dunkleman.  Turns out, Screech is trapped in a 15-year old’s mind and Dunkleman REALLY hates Ryan Seacrest.  There were four child actors on the show with Benza (Willie Aames,  Erin Moran, Tina Yothers and Diamond).  That begs the question...are there any former child actors who don’t end up crazy or strung out on drugs at some point?  The only name we can come up with is Jerry O’Connell.

We go in depth about High Stakes Poker and its eventual return to the lineup on GSN.  They picked it up again, but we learn it won’t even start taping until November.  Man alive.  We talk about the difference between HSP and WPT and WSOP and what he thinks of the shows.  Personally, I’d rather watch professionals play, and with the cash-game format, the HSP model is perfect poker TV.  ESPN has all the production

value, and I love Norman Chad, but watching one or two pros play with six or seven people I’ve never heard of isn’t that interesting.  I know there’s an ‘everyman’ quality to the ESPN poker shows, but there’s a reason nobody watches minor league baseball or the AFL on TV.  We want to watch the best.  I hope at some point ESPN realizes that and starts showing more poker with the top names.  But I digress.

We talk with Benza about the inner workings of how the show is done, and he gives us a unique behind-the-scenes explanation of how they produce HSP.  We also talk about Gabe Kaplan, and what it’s like working with a true television icon on a poker show.  It’s as great as it seems.   

Since AJ is a ‘professional celebrity’ we ask him how hard it is to let things roll off your back when people are negative and rip on you, which leads to a great rant about blogs.  Must-listen disdain.

We end with some movie talk, including his role in Rocky Balboa. Man, those Italian guys love Stallone.  He’s like Sinatra of the silver screen for anyone growing up in the last half century. I’m pretty sure Benza credits Stallone for helping him lose his virginity, and Benza drops a little info on their relationship now.  He also likens his character in Rocky Balboa to Drew Rosenhaus, as his reading for the part was the same day as...NEXT QUESTION.

We end with a talk about Benza’s Real Guys Movie Reviews and ask him why the hell he doesn’t have a blog.  Turns out...he WANTS ONE. I think I have a new job.

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