Name: Aaron Rodgers Brings The Belt To New York City | Letterman
Uploaded: 2023-04-24T20:58:33.000Z
Description: Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Aaron Rodgers Brings The Belt To New York City | Letterman' from Letterman on Comedy Buff. Published 2023-04-24. Transcript available.

Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Aaron Rodgers Brings The Belt To New York City | Letterman' from Letterman on Comedy Buff. Published 2023-04-24. Transcript available.

The dude is here.
And by the way, Paul, you may have noticed, is missing.
Paul, yes.
We got guys coming and going here.
Paul had to leave for a gig.
24 hours ago, our first guest led his team to victory
at Super Bowl XLV, bringing Titletown,
their record 13th NFL title.
Severe world champion, Green Bay Packers.
Ladies and gentlemen, here's Super Bowl MVP Aaron Rodgers.
Thank you very much.
All right, fine.
Don't make me cut off beer sales, all right?
We were talking a little bit about your itinerary for today.
Under any circumstances, it would be grueling,
but especially after winning the Super Bowl,
MVP, and all of the traveling,
thank you, thank you very much for the trouble.
This is fun for me.
I mean, this is, uh, I watch your show a lot.
Do you?
I do.
I appreciate that.
No, it's good to be here.
There must be a lot of Wisconsin people out there.
I mean, uh, you know, it seems like, uh, uh, most years in a, in a good year,
you get a pretty good story, uh, out of the Super Bowl.
And, uh, this year to me is certainly no exception.
They have, uh, the, the drama with the previous Green Bay quarterback,
and they, they have your, uh, ascending to the throne of all of football.
And, and, but, but your, your, your high school experience,
tell me about your high school experience,
and then where did that take you?
Yeah, I was, uh, not really recruited out of high school.
Ended up playing baseball my senior year,
and thought about doing baseball.
Thought about joining the military, um,
but decided to go the junior college route,
which not a lot of kids, uh, kids go to who, uh,
who actually have good grades.
Um, I had pretty good grades in high school.
Uh, but, uh, that was a great opportunity for me to,
to advance my career.
But why weren't you recruited out of high school
for a college, a major college?
Uh, I think a number of reasons.
One, I, I wasn't, you know, even today,
I'm not gonna be the, a guy who pops out as, as, you know,
I'm not, I'm not 6'5", I'm not 240,
I don't run a 4'5", 40.
Right.
Um, but I think a lot of times the, the,
the things you can't measure
are often the things that, that give people the,
the most success.
How, how, how big were you in, in, uh,
how big were you in high school, your senior year?
I was, uh, like, 6'2", 190.
Really?
So you were, you could have been,
I mean, statistically, that would have,
well, 190 is a little light for a quarterback, right?
What do you weigh now?
Uh, uh, 230.
230?
Yeah.
Wow, that's pretty good.
You know what I'm,
you know what I'm thinking in high school
might have been the problem?
Were you given a hundred percent?
No.
Were you, were you given a hundred and ten percent?
No.
So then you go to play,
what is the team you played for in junior college?
I went to Butte Community College.
Butte Community College in Montana?
No!
Where, where's Butte Community College?
It's a, it's actually, uh,
in a, a town called Oroville,
which is about 30 minutes from my hometown, Chico,
in, in California.
In Northern California.
Now, what kind of team?
Who were your teammates?
Tell me about it.
We had a great, we had a great team.
We had, I think, uh, 13 guys
go Division I off of that team.
We went 10 and 1, uh, lost, you know,
lost one game, we put up 42 points,
and finished second in the country
in the, in the junior college rankings.
And, and I actually lucked into, uh, my opportunity.
Uh, Cal was looking at our tight end,
Garrett Cross, who was a great player.
Uh, Jeff Tedra actually came up
to watch him work out.
He liked my workout,
and he ended up offering me a,
you know, as he drove home,
he called me and offered me a scholarship.
That's fantastic, isn't it?
Yeah.
And, and what, what did you learn
besides, uh, you know, never give up,
which is, is important in all walks of life.
What else did you learn about managing a team?
And because you were 18 playing with
guys who had been in prison,
guys who had been, I mean,
I'm, I'm right about that, aren't I?
That's true.
Yeah.
So you were running,
you were running a club,
some guys older than you,
some guys certainly more experienced.
I think, uh, leading by example,
it was the most important lesson I learned.
Uh, it's hard to, uh,
to be able to have the words
to relate to a guy like that
who's been through prison,
who's been in the workforce,
who's been in the military.
I don't, I don't know why this is funny.
Now, uh, yeah, okay.
Brett Favre, his coming and going,
when he came to New York City
and, and he retired,
I can remember Brett Favre sitting right here
and I said,
so I understand you've retired.
And it was in all, everywhere.
And he says,
and it, and it turned out
he had not retired.
Now, was this, uh,
for you, his backup,
did this become a distraction
as you were taking his place
on the team?
I don't think it was a distraction.
I think, uh,
you know, I was,
I was the guy that took all the reps
in the off season
and he was the guy that took all the reps
during the season, so.
Yeah.
It's kind of worked out.
So there's a certain justice in this
then there, isn't there?
You know what?
I think so.
Is it, is it nearly,
I mean, there's only a handful of men
who do this, uh,
and some women,
but is it, is it,
is it, is it,
is it impossibly hard
to be an NFL quarterback?
I, I don't,
I don't know how to answer that.
If I say I don't think so,
it makes me sound arrogant.
Yeah.
Uh, you know what?
It's something that you're,
you really got to put the time into.
I feel like I've been successful
because I've not only been
surrounded by great people,
but I care about my job.
What, what, what is your greatest asset
when you get out there
in a Super Bowl
in an exhibition game?
What is your greatest asset?
I think my confidence,
which comes directly
from my preparation.
I put the time in,
I watch film,
I study our game plan,
I practice hard.
So I go into the game
and I expect to play well.
Yeah.
And, and your first season
as full-time Green Bay quarterback
your, your, what was your record,
like six and ten was that?
Yeah, six and ten.
What, now what is that like?
Is that like, oh geez,
maybe, maybe I can't do the job?
Do you ever get any of that
with your confidence?
You know what?
Thankfully, I was surrounded
by a group of guys
who really believe in me
and supported me
even through that.
the fan base was great.
But, yeah, I mean,
you go through stages
where you start to lose
some confidence,
you wonder if you can
really get it done.
But the biggest, you know,
the biggest change,
I think, in my development
went, was that offseason
when I just said,
you know what,
I want to be the best
in my position.
So I need to make sure
that I take the steps
this offseason
to put myself in a position
to be successful.
How many different plays
did you run yesterday?
Different plays.
Mike likes to repeat
some calls sometimes,
especially if they work.
Well, there's your
coaching key right there.
Not this one again.
What were we talking about?
20, 25?
We only had about 60 plays,
I think, in the game.
So we probably ran
40 different plays.
Now, at this stage of the game,
you don't get guys
coming into the huddle
saying,
is that where I go left?
Is Larry going left?
At this point,
you don't get that,
do you?
Well, you actually do.
Wow.
Oh.
Well, you talk about
all of the guys
that you've benefited
from as teammates.
Charles Woodson,
at halftime,
he's got a busted
collarbone,
for God's sakes.
Now, here's a guy,
key to the defense.
What goes on
at halftime yesterday?
That was tough.
I mean, one,
it's a 28-minute halftime
compared to a usual
12-minute.
So you have to,
you know,
find ways to keep
yourself busy there.
But Charles was
beside himself.
I mean, he's,
you know,
he's pretty cut up
emotionally,
and, you know,
they're saying,
hey, go talk to Charles.
I'm like,
you know,
what did I say to Charles?
He's out for the game.
He's our emotional leader.
He's our guy
that talks before every game.
So I just went over to him
and said,
hey, man,
sorry you can't finish it,
but I'll see you on the field
afterwards to celebrate.
Yeah, cool.
All week he talked about
the one thing
that he wanted to do
was celebrate
with his little son,
you know,
Charles.
What a great thing that is.
You know,
in the confetti there.
And this was his second Super Bowl,
first with the Packers.
Now, is it possible
for a guy to be a team leader
who is not the quarterback?
I think so.
Or does that just come with the job?
You've got to be the leader.
I do have to be one of the leaders,
but I think it takes
multiple leaders
to have a locker room
that functions properly.
And thankfully,
a guy like Charles,
he comes in with his reputation,
with his experience,
and with the way he plays.
He's got instant credibility
with the guys.
So he's really taken
more of a speaking role
this year in the locker room.
And me,
I'm more of a leader by example.
So you think he'll play next year?
It looked early on yesterday
like it was going to be
an easy victory for the Packers.
And then things got a little tense
toward the end.
And the final drive,
and we've seen this before
from Ben Roethlisberger,
that must have been
a little tough to watch, huh?
No, it was.
You know,
I told the guys in the huddle
when there were seven minutes left,
you know,
we take this down,
we get a touchdown,
the game's over.
We're champs.
And we put together a good drive.
You know,
I hit a couple passes.
Jordy made a big catch and run.
Hit a pass to James
down the sidelines.
You know,
a third down,
just missed Jordy
to really close the game out.
Kicked a field goal,
and I'm thinking,
you know,
one,
I'm a little bit worried
about a special team.
Every time we kick off,
I kind of hold my breath.
Now, why is that?
Because earlier you spoke
of nothing but confidence
in the team.
It's just too many
bad memories of us
taking control of the momentum
and then losing it
with a kickoff returner,
you know,
and that just seemed
to happen at times.
But we got lucked out.
One of the guys,
you know,
punched one of our guys,
got a 15-hour penalty.
Yeah, you can't do that.
No, you hate to see that.
It's just tough,
you know.
Is it fun
when you're out there?
I mean,
you're overwhelmed
by adrenaline for a while,
aren't you,
when you're out there?
Yeah, I was pretty hyped up
starting the game.
I'm usually pretty calm
throughout the game,
but I was a little hyped up,
missed a couple throws
early on.
But once we settled
into the game,
it just felt like
another game
and was able
to go through
my progressions
and make some plays.
What is the belt
we have here?
Tell us about
the origins of this.
You know,
the belt's really
caught on.
Go ahead and spin it.
You're dying to spin it.
Yeah, no, I am.
It's just a celebration
to start in practice,
really,
and the fans love it,
so we've got to...
Yeah!
You've got to give them
what they love.
It's usually just after,
like, a run or something,
because I usually
surprise myself on those.
Well, now you got one
for real there,
my friend.
Do you mind
just throwing me
something simple?
Don't hurt me.
I'll be over here
in the aisle.
Don't hurt me,
all right?
Easy, easy, easy.
All right, how are you?
Whoa!
Nice going.
Aaron Rodgers,
ladies and gentlemen,
Super Bowl MVP.
Congratulations.
Thank you very much,
Aaron.