Hour 3: Avery Wilson’s Vocal Battle and the Knicks’ Cookie-Eating Dog

**Craig Carton** (0:00)
429 Carton Show, Big Mac.
I got Avery Wilson sitting in the green room right now. The Good Luck Charm of the Knicks, our anthem singer, gonna come in here. You might know him from Broadway and The Wiz, right? It's not his big claim to fame. I think he's the scarecrow on The Wiz. We also have The Wheel coming up a little bit later on tonight. If we have time to squeeze that in.

**Chris McMonigle** (0:21)
I'm so excited to watch you play The Wheel. It's gonna be so much fun.

**Craig Carton** (0:24)
Not tonight, but it's coming.

**Chris McMonigle** (0:25)
You're turning The Wheel today.

**Craig Carton** (0:26)
It's coming. It's coming.

**Chris McMonigle** (0:28)
Come on.

**Craig Carton** (0:28)
It's coming. How great was that? That was awesome. Awesome. I can't believe Gerald's not doing more media. That dude was awesome. Money. I had one of my favorite Knicks of all time. He's one of my five favorite Knicks. Before I get, there's Avery Wilson. Avery's joked. What? Man, Broadway dews aren't that broke, Bill.
What's up, David? Good to see you. Oh man, I feel like half a man now.
I'm like, I know a lot of Broadway dews. I go, well, you are working out.

**Avery Wilson** (0:57)
That's a lot of work.

**Craig Carton** (0:58)
You are working out.

**Avery Wilson** (0:59)
Yes, sir. Yes, sir. How are you, man?

**Craig Carton** (1:00)
Good to see you.

**Avery Wilson** (1:01)
Man, I'm good. It's good to see you, too. It's so hot outside. Oh, right?

**Chris McMonigle** (1:04)
I know, it's unbearable, right?

**Craig Carton** (1:05)
It's nice and cool in here, though.

**Avery Wilson** (1:07)
Listen, they've got the air conditioning going great.

**Craig Carton** (1:09)
What's it like when people refer to you as the New York Knicks good luck charm, only one loss in games that you've done the anthem for? You hear that stuff, get back to you, or no?

**Avery Wilson** (1:19)
I guess a little bit, but not too much. I mean, I try to just walk in there every single time and do my job. Where you think I would hear a lot of the reactions, I have in-ears in, so I hear, they're like little monitors that people don't know, that performers wear, that hear the microphone, and I literally just only hear myself. Now, sometimes in certain games, it's a bit louder than normal.

**Craig Carton** (1:40)
I imagine game four was loud.

**Avery Wilson** (1:44)
Game three was one of the sick loudest, but I just try to focus in on the game and the song and doing my job and raising the adrenaline.

**Craig Carton** (1:52)
What's the difference like being at the garden, 18,000 people just ready to explode versus being on Broadway in front of let's say 2,000 people? But live audience, you're performing live, there's no net for you to fall onto. Is it a much different animal for you or no?

**Avery Wilson** (2:07)
I think it's a bit different.
Games, obviously, there's a lot more freedom to express yourself. I think Broadway has a certain way of holding themselves. They wait to clap, they don't really interrupt, they don't do anything like no hecklers or no like real loud things.

**Craig Carton** (2:25)
You're made of hang.

**Avery Wilson** (2:26)
You're made of hang.

**Craig Carton** (2:27)
Michael Jackson was the best. Was better.

**Chris McMonigle** (2:29)
There's no brain in there.

**Craig Carton** (2:32)
Where's Nipsey Russo? He was the original Tin Man in the movie!

**Avery Wilson** (2:36)
This is weak!
Yeah, it's completely different. But you know what? I feel like it's still very intense, though, where you have a game where you can actually hear everybody and people are talking back and responding to you in between the songs. On Broadway, they're not doing that, but when it's just you and there's so many lights, you don't see anything, so you know there's people there and it's very black. You can see maybe the first two rows. And it's like that, it's still very intense. Because people are quiet and they're more so doing this.

**Craig Carton** (3:03)
It's almost like in Broadway, I get the sense, I've talked to Miles Frost about this. He was the original Michael Jackson in the show. He was brilliant at it as well. I think he's over in London still maybe or he was over there. And he's right, like he goes, you can't see the entire crowd, but you can feel them.

**Avery Wilson** (3:17)
You can feel it. You can feel it.

**Craig Carton** (3:19)
Whereas at the Garden, it's both.

**Avery Wilson** (3:22)
Yeah, you can see and feel, which is completely different. And sometimes you can't really see, but I'm like, certain games, I'm really like, wow, it feels like a fishbowl in here.