16-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
Terry Bradshaw talks Tom Brady, Bill Belichick, and country crooning ahead of Foxwoods show
A four-time Super Bowl Champ, he's also a passionate singer: He had a top 20 country
With a handful of Sport Emmys as a personality/analyst under his belt, he channels his energy now into 'The Terry Bradshaw Show' — a mix of stories, laughs, and song — that comes to New England for one night at
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'I want everybody leaving there going, 'Oh my god, Joe, this guy's really good!' That's what I'm shooting for' Bradshaw, 76, says with a laugh.
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Q: Tell me about the show you're bringing here.
A: It's a high-energy show, off-the-cuff, lots of humor, songs, crowd-interaction. Originally, we created dialog for the show, which opened in Vegas. Then the pandemic hit, that show [stopped]. Which was good, because I didn't like the show. It was too structured. And I'm not necessarily a structured human being.
I live life by the seat of my pants. The show needed to reflect that. I took out all the dialogue. Now it's freewheeling, whatever comes to my mind. There are stories I tell, some I forget to tell, songs I sing, some I forget to sing. [laughs] I laugh, have fun.
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Q: Nice. What songs will you sing? I know you've covered Hank Williams.
A: I added three Hank Williams songs. One Glenn Campbell, I got a Brooks & Dunn. I do—ohh! I just added a Bobby Bare song. You heard of Bobby Bare?
Q: I love him.
A: I cover [breaks into full verse of 'Marie Laveau']
Q: That's a classic.
A: Sometimes we'll just crack out a couple of gospel songs. I'll talk. Where it ends up, nobody knows — including us.
Q: Tell me about the 'personal stories' you mentioned.
A: I'll talk about my grandfather, my upbringing, the Steelers, Tom Brady, Louisiana Tech. I cover my life, my football career.
Q: What's a Brady story?
A: I can't tell you because you'll write it. [laughs] But I'll [tell you one joke]: He's gone from MVP to AARP. Stuff like that. [laughs]
Q: I read you had elbow surgery in 1983
A: Isn't that something? I snuck into the hospital under an alias, but we wanted the TB initials. So I came up with Thomas Brady.
Q: That's wild. Have you talked to him about that?
A: I haven't. I don't know him that well; I'll never know him that well. I just won't. I'm too old. I'm old enough to be his father. I'm in
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Terry Bradshaw brings his show to New England this week.
BOEHM LISA
Q: What did you think of the Patriots last season?
A: I like their quarterback, [Drake] Maye. He showed me something. I like Maye a lot. I've spent some time with
Q: What did you think of Bill Belichick going to coach at UNC?
A: Oh my gosh! Shocked.
Shocked
! I'm not an insider, so I don't know what all happened, but I'm so surprised he didn't land [an NFL] coaching job. But I don't know— Bill's probably got all the money he wants. Maybe he thought: my dad coached at the Naval Academy. He can go and not have to deal with agents. I don't know. I find it hard to believe that he won't be back in the NFL. And I'd think that if any team beats North Carolina, they're gonna go 'Hey! We beat Belichick!'
Q: [laughs] True. So you've also acted in so many things. What do you like about acting?
A: Nothing. I just did it to meet Burt Reynolds, Sammy Davis, Sally Fields, Matthew McConaughey, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kathy Bates — the list goes on. That's why I did movies. I don't have any interest in it. I love to sing. I'm doing what I love now.
Q: Have you loved to sing since you were a kid?
A: I have. I used to put a Victrola — oh. Is a Victrola where you crank it? [bursts out laughing] Well, I'd put a record on and sing to
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Q: Did you always want to be a football player?
A: Since I was 7. I'll never forget it: It was after church, mother was cooking dinner, my dad was in his chair reading the morning paper, he had the football game on, I told him, 'Dad, I'm gonna play in the NFL one of these days.' I got a football for Christmas, fell in love with it, and had a football in my hand ever since.
I worked at my craft. I'm no different than you, maybe always wanting to be a writer. Maybe you were a little bitty girl writing poetry.
Q: True.
A: We all get exposed to things as a child, you try something and go: 'Oh! That is me.' When I got a football, the love affair started. It's never stopped.
Q: I love that. Any New England connections?
A: Yes, all my doctors are in Connecticut. I go to Yale for everything but dentistry. My
Q: Are you really?
A: I am! I'd love to tell you it's on phylogenetics or something, but it's about cancer and how it affected my life as a patient. I wish I hadn't told you that. I wish I'd just left it at 'I'm lecturing at Yale.' All your readers would go, 'Yeah. Ooookay.'
Interview has been edited and condensed.
Lauren Daley can be reached at
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Lauren Daley can be reached at