-What's up? What's up, everybody?
-I'm so happy you're back, Stephen.
-Man, it's good to be back, man. -You know I'm a big fan.
You have a lot going on. -Yes.
-You wrote a memoir. -Yeah, I did, man.
I mean, look, damn it, they made me.
I want to make sure -- they made me.
And I wanted to be, you know,
honest and tell my story to some degree.
I've been blessed and fortunate enough to have some success.
I mean, I am on "The Tonight Show."
-That's exactly right.
[ Cheers and applause ]
Is there a title to the memoir yet?
-"Straight Shooter." -"Straight Shooter."
-"Straight Shooter." -Stephen A.
You got to come back when that comes out.
-That's right, absolutely. January.
-Congrats at "First Take."
Every morning, it's the number one show for 10 years now?
-10 1/2 years, man. -Congratulations.
Did you know that it was going to be this huge?
-Oh, yes. I did.
[ Laughter ] I absolutely did.
I mean, you know.
-Wow, you didn't even think for a second.
-I had no doubt. Well, listen, man, the object
of a debate show is to basically have reason to debate.
And when my man Skip Bayless, who's now at FS1, asked me
to come and join him, I knew it was going to be successful
because we agreed on nothing. -Yeah.
-And I mean, absolutely, positively nothing.
And so, because of that, I'm like, "I'm not going to be --
I'm not going to struggle to find something to debate about."
And that's the trick. You've got a lot of people,
they'll sit up there, they act like they disagree.
It's good television. That's what they say.
He and I disagreed all the time.
And then I found out I pretty much disagree with everybody.
So, that's why I've been number one because it ain't hard for me
to find people I disagree with. -Yeah.
And very interesting, always, every single time.
You're doing the show from Orlando
on October 7th during HBCU Week.
What's it like to be part of that?
-Well, that's something near and dear to my heart.
I'm a graduate of Winston-Salem State University.
And over the last couple, two to three years, we've been blessed
and fortunate enough to raise about $12 million
in scholarships for over 2,000 students.
[ Cheers and applause ] And so, being from an HBCU,
you know, it saved my life because it gave me
an opportunity to see a different side,
to see something other than the streets of New York City,
'cause I was raised in Hollis, Queens, New York.
And so for me to go down to Winston-Salem State and to have
that experience, it's something that I want to make sure
a lot of students, particularly minority students
throughout this country, know and recognize what an HBCU is
all about and what it has to offer.
-That's good. -And Disney, obviously,
ESPN and Disney have helped immensely, putting that
on the national air waves and giving that kind of profile.
So I've been very honored to be a part of that.
-When you go to games, are you allowed to react?
-[ Sighs ]
Yes.
But, but, but, but it's tough because -- because, see,
I'm not supposed to have favorites.
Well, damn it, I'm gonna have favorites when it comes to
the Knicks and more importantly the Yankees too.
But more importantly, I got to admit this.
My lifestyle is very, very important to me.
So if I see the Lakers playing the Utah Jazz in the playoffs
and I know I got to cover the finals, damn it,
I'm rooting for the Lakers.
I want to be in L.A. I don't want to be in Salt Lake City.
[ Laughter ]
-You can't do it based on that.
-I'm sorry.
Listen, listen, honesty is the best policy.
We don't want people lying to each other, do we?
-No, of course not.
Let me ask you some other questions.
I feel like you're revved up now.
[ Laughter ]
-Me? No. -Yes.
I feel it. Here we go.
Aaron Judge.
He's about to break the single-season home run record.
[ Cheers and applause ]
But he's also -- he's about to renegotiate his contract.
-Well, first of all, he deserves his money.
Let's pay Aaron Judge. Let's be very, very clear about that.
-Of course. -Here's the problem.
They didn't pay him originally.
They offered him nearly $250 million.
He thought he was worth $350 million.
The brother bet on himself.
The bottom line is, is that he's wreaking havoc.
RBIs, home runs, batting average.
They gonna have to pay him.
And there's somebody in Queens that is the new Steinbrenner
in the Mets owner, Cohen.
They're making new rules for this brother because of
how much money he's willing to pay.
I mean, listen, he writing stuff off.
I mean, billions, whatever.
And I think that he's plotting to take Aaron Judge
away from my Yankees.
Now, I'm Yankees first, New York always.
Knicks first, New York always.
'Cause I'm a native New Yorker.
But I don't want to see him in a Mets uniform.
-No. -It's a different kind of
pinstripes in the Bronx. -Wow.
-That's the New York Yankees, I don't want him to leave,
and I'm worried.
-And what are you going to tell Aaron?
Aaron, if you're watching -- he watches.
-Please stay.
[ Laughter ] -No, no, no, no, no.
No, no, no, don't say please.
Say, "Aaron --" No, you yell. "You stay!"
-Aaron! -Yeah, Aaron!
You stay at the Yankees! -Look, man!
Look, they made a mistake not paying you!
They made a mistake not paying you!
Now, here's what the deal is! You go back to the negotiating
table and you look at the numbers, and you say,
"How you like me now?!" -"What's up?!" Exactly right!
-"How you like me now?!" But! But!
If they pay you, take the money.
[ Laughter and applause ]
-No! -Don't go to Queens.
I lived in Queens, okay? Alright?
It's better than the Bronx, but you ain't there anyway.
You know you in Midtown. You know you in Manhattan.
He listen to Jeter. He in Manhattan.
He ain't in the Bronx anyway.
He ain't trying to take no damn D-train, okay?
[ Laughter ]
He in Manhattan, man. He in Manhattan.
-Oh, my God. -Come on, man.
We don't need him going to the Mets.
We don't need that. We don't deserve that.
We don't deserve that. -"Know Mercy," your podcast.
This starts next week.
-Yeah. Monday. -Monday it starts.
It's not a sports podcast necessarily.
-Not at all. -Not at all?
-I don't know what they were thinking
unleashing me with this one. I ain't gonna lie.
You know, I mean, we talk about politics, news, pop culture,
entertainment, current events, the whole bit.
There are no limitations.
Obviously, when a sports subject is percolating,
I can talk about that too.
It's not just a sports podcast.
I can talk about anything.
It's owned and operated by me in partnership with Cadence13.
And I'm in 100% control of the content.
They done unleashed a brother. They done unleashed a brother.
-That's what I'm talking about, right there.
Stephen A. Smith!
His new podcast, "Know Mercy," starting this Monday.
Aaron, stay a Yankee! -Yes! Say it again!
-We'll be right back with a performance from Blood --
Stay a Yankee! -Stay a Yankee!
-Come on back, more "Tonight Show."