This is an interview with Chuck Norris on David Brenner’s Nightlife Talk Show on November 19th, 1986.
Nightlife is an American syndicated half-hour late-night talk show hosted by comedian David Brenner that aired weeknights from September 8, 1986 to June 19, 1987. Produced by Motown Productions in association with King World Productions, the show was filmed in New York City and featured a house band led by Billy Preston.
The transcript below is from the video “Interview of Chuck Norris by David Brenner on Nightlife – Talk Show – 1986.” by Academy Channel.
David Brenner:
You know, I wish I had that power to go in and clean up a bar you know except with a mop. I mean, when you’re doing these even in the films, I would think yeah I’d be worried about doing some of these moves. Do you use a stuntman? I mean…
Chuck Norris (Actor, martial artist, film producer, screenwriter, U.S. Air Force):
Well, my brother is the stunt coordinator and I’ve knocked him out three times and I broke his leg once. You know… I did a movie called Eye for an Eye, and the opening scene is where my partner is killed and I chased the guy up the stairs and we do this fight scene in this room it’s four stories up and my brother plays the the bad guy. So I’m supposed to kick him out the window. But when I do his head hits the beam and so he loses his balance and he falls wrong and and broke his leg. And then when I did… did you see the Octagon.
David Brenner:
Yeah.
Chuck Norris (Actor, martial artist, film producer, screenwriter, U.S. Air Force):
I’m in this compound right? and I’m doing the fight on the water and all the stuff here. The last fight is in this maze.And so now I’ve been fighting for about 14 hours. It’s like 4 o’clock in the morning and I’ve you know I’ve gone through a hundred guys so far. And this is the last fight and the director says it’s a four-man fight so the director says, well let’s finish it tonight,everyone’s exhausted. So we sent the four stunt guys I’m gonna fight home. Two minutes later comes back and says no no I’ve changed my mind we’re gonna do it right now before it gets light. So I got my brother there and two other stunt man.
Chuck Norris (Actor, martial artist, film producer, screenwriter, U.S. Air Force):
But the guy that I had choreographed to fight with is gone. And so my brother says, well we can do it. We have to find one more guy. So, this guy who plays an extra walks to him… says well I’ll be the fourth stuntman. My brother says, well you don’t understand my brother makes a little bit of contact. You know which I do, but he says no no I am a stunt man, I’m in good shape and all that. So we had no choice, so we said okay, you’ll be the first guy. Chuck will back kick you in the stomach and then the next guy attacks and three guys. So I said well put a pad on him, so I won’t have to worry about it. He said, no they’re not wearing pads, I’m not gonna wear a pad.
Chuck Norris (Actor, martial artist, film producer, screenwriter, U.S. Air Force):
So I said okay. So anyway we start the scene as I walk into this maze he comes up from behind me. I back kick him in the stomach. When I do as his eyes roll back into his hand he falls down to the ground and he starts convulsing on the ground. And I was like Oh my gosh I’ve hurt him. You know I’m looking down all of a sudden, here comes the second guy attacking me. Well, when they attack they attack for real because I have to react to make it look real. And I don’t know what I don’t know what I’m supposed to do. I’m totally… because my mind is blank because I lost my concentration. So he meted out… I react. I hit him right in the jaw and I knock him out. So my brother… my brother’s hiding behind the building he hears the contact, but rather than staying there he jumps out at me and again I react and I kicked him in the head and I knocked him out. So the fourth guy’s on top of the building looking down he looked down and says, I’m not coming down there. No. No. Stay up there. [Applause]
David Brenner:
Welcome back. You know, you always hear about all these belts and everything. You know and I mean… I’m not into… you know I’m obviously I’m not into that. I’d have a pink belt. But what are you gonna do… like a brown belt, this guy has a black belt. Is there that much of a difference that makes you so much better from…
Chuck Norris (Actor, martial artist, film producer, screenwriter, U.S. Air Force):
Well not really. The thing is you have like white belt which is the beginning stage. Then blue belt which is advanced beginning stage. Green belt intermediate, brown or red depends on the style which is advanced, and then of course your black belt is signifies your instructor ranking.
David Brenner:
So you can teach it. Which is what it did for you. Is that how you stay in shape, do you still work out?
Chuck Norris (Actor, martial artist, film producer, screenwriter, U.S. Air Force):
Yeah. Three hours every day.
David Brenner:
Really doing what I mean… karate workout?
Chuck Norris (Actor, martial artist, film producer, screenwriter, U.S. Air Force):
Three days of the week, it is strength training. Weights and pull-ups and push-ups and all that. And then the other three days is my karate training. So… because my movies you know as you can tell they’re very physical films and… You know when I do a fight scene like… that fight scene you just saw which is a lot longer than that. There are seventeen guys I fight in this film. And that one fight there. But it took us four days, 14 hours a day, to get that fight scene done. So you can realize how many kicks that I threw in those four days.
David Brenner:
Pants
Chuck Norris (Actor, martial artist, film producer, screenwriter, U.S. Air Force):
No I wore stretch Levi’s.
David Brenner:
[?]
Chuck Norris (Actor, martial artist, film producer, screenwriter, U.S. Air Force):
I did that once.
David Brenner:
Yeah.
Chuck Norris (Actor, martial artist, film producer, screenwriter, U.S. Air Force):
I was working out with Bruce Lee years ago, before he went to Hong Kong and so we worked out in his garage. So one day I went over and I had these pants on. He makes… he used to make all these dummies to kick and punch. So he had this one dummy whose head would rock like this… So he says, kick the head. And I go geez I don’t know my pants are kind of tight. He says, Oh come on. So I kicked and I ripped all the way up the back and they fell right to my ankles. It completely ripped right off just… tore up. So now, I wear stretch pants from now.
David Brenner:
What was the first movie you made with Bruce Lee, I remember seeing it.
Chuck Norris (Actor, martial artist, film producer, screenwriter, U.S. Air Force):
Return of the Dragon
David Brenner:
Return of the Dragon. He beat you in the film.
Chuck Norris (Actor, martial artist, film producer, screenwriter, U.S. Air Force):
Umm Hmmm
David Brenner:
Now in real life how do you think you know Bruce Lee…did you ever.
Chuck Norris (Actor, martial artist, film producer, screenwriter, U.S. Air Force):
Well you know that’s that’s an unanswerable question, because the thing is you don’t know until you do it. The thing is… I was a fighter. I fought for years. Bruce never competed. He never fought professionally. And… but he was one of the best technicians and one of the best conditioned guys, I had ever ran into. He would have been a phenomenal fighter. It just wasn’t the route he took. You know he went into films early. Well into that TV series The Green Hornet.
David Brenner:
Right yeah
Chuck Norris (Actor, martial artist, film producer, screenwriter, U.S. Air Force):
And so he didn’t have to go the fighting route like I had to go
David Brenner:
What do you think you know and and and put modesty aside, what made you I mean you were a champ for so long and what what do you think the difference was what made you so good?
Chuck Norris (Actor, martial artist, film producer, screenwriter, U.S. Air Force):
Well, you know it’s a hard thing to answer. But I think the main thing… you have to be ready. It be physically, mentally and psychologically prepared. A lot of fires would be physically prepared, but not mentally or psychological or vice-versa. And what that means is physically means be in the very very best shape you can possibly be in. Mentally means that you have the intellect to know what the weaknesses of your opponent is. What is his weaknesses how can you penetrate his weaknesses or what are his strengths that you have to watch out for. And then psychological, it means believing in yourself that you can win. A lot of Fighters, it’s amazing, would go into the ring and you could see in their eyes. That that they weren’t going to win. And so you’ve got to have that belief in yourself that there’s no one that can beat you. They do of course I’ve lost two. But you don’t want to… but you go in there believing that you can win.
David Brenner:
I always felt part of the edge was always how much money you had in your
wallet and we’re willing to give… you know
Chuck Norris (Actor, martial artist, film producer, screenwriter, U.S. Air Force):
In karate there’s no money everyone. There’s no money in it.
David Brenner:
And then of course.
