When two people who make their living with words go at each other with a camera on them, it gets interesting. William F. Buckley and Gore Vidal nearly came to blows when, during a 1968 ABC News debate, Vidal called Buckley a “crypto-Nazi.” An inebriated Norman Mailer and Vidal hurled insults at each other when they appeared together on Dick Cavett’s show in 1971. When comedian Greg Giraldo, a Harvard law grad, humiliated fellow comic Dennis Leary on Comedy Central’s Tough Crowd in 2003, show host Colin Quinn, fearing a physical confrontation, stepped in between the two adversaries. But this summer, it got physical when comedian Sam Hyde appeared on Harland Williams' Harland Highway podcast.
Williams, goofy on the surface, isn’t someone to trifle with. He's skilled at improvisation; good at slipping a punch and responding with a harder one. When he messes with someone, a similar set of skills is required to stand up to him. Sam Hyde lacks those skills. There's much speculation about what transpired in that L.A. podcast studio. Some claimed that Hyde trying to force Williams to the floor was just schtick. Others think that Hyde bringing a posse of five to the show set Williams off. It's also possible that Williams doesn't like Hyde, and planned to go after him from the beginning. What's indisputable, however, was there was a weird vibe between the two.
Hyde has a need to be in control. When he appeared on Matan Even’s podcast, he brought about 20 people along who caused chaos, damaged the podcast set, and physically confronted the diminutive Even, who's known as a troll who tries to provoke his guests. It takes a confident comic to appear on his show alone, but Hyde was taking no chances that Even could get the upper hand. He probably thought that bringing his posse with him on the Harland Highway would afford him the same protection. That didn’t happen.
The first sign of tension was Hyde’s power move of directing his posse member, Damian, to stand very close to the seated Williams and just watch him. Williams isn’t the type to demand that Damian get out of his space. Instead, he gets even. His first shot at Damian was to call him “lasagna lips.” Williams then introduced each posse member by name, but used made-up names, including calling Damian “potato pancake tits.” Later, when his hand accidentally brushed Damian’s side, he said, “I'm sorry, did I touch your ovaries." Hyde knew that all the insults were directed at him.
Some background: Hyde once donated $5000 to a legal defense fund for The Daily Stormer’s founder, well-known neo-Nazi Andrew Anglin. In 2016, Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim canceled his show after reports that it had ties to alt-right themes and that some crew members promoted extremist content online. He’s the kind of guy Williams would enjoy baiting.
Early in the podcast, Hyde made up a story about recently converting to Judaism because he “needed the money.” His fixation on Jews would reveal itself as the podcast progressed. When Williams said, “Harland Highway podcast,” speaking in a strange accent, Hyde asked him if it was a Jewish accent, even though it didn't sound remotely like one. Williams made up a story about also being Jewish, and Hyde immediately perked up. “I need to know if that's true,” he said, and wasn't joking. When Williams admitted to being Catholic, Hyde looked relieved.
As part of the buildup to the bizarre finale, Williams told his guest that he loved making fun of him. He wasn't joking. It was an aggressive comment meant to show his intentions and lack of respect for Hyde. Hyde told Williams that when they were talking before the show began, Williams was making “sinister” sexual references, to which Williams responded by licking his lips lasciviously. “Do you know you're licking your lips right now?” Hyde asked him. Williams replied, “I don't do that. What am I, a party boy?” Hyde stood up and got in his interviewer's face, but soon backed off. Annoyed by Damian’s continued “lurching,” Williams told Hyde that Damian “blabber snots into my mic.”
Hyde responded, “He wants you to fuck him.” Adding to his anger was the fact that his posse was laughing at Williams more than they were at what the boss was saying. Hyde, a trained heavyweight boxer, was getting schooled by a middleweight with quicker hands.
The talk turned to rape. Williams asked Hyde, looking straight into his eyes, “Have you ever been raped? You look like you have.” He was calling Hyde a bitch. The sting on Hyde’s face was clear. Williams asked him again if he'd been raped “By who?” he asked, who told him to choose, suggesting Barry Manilow. Hyde asked his host, “Do you have that kind of work in you”? Williams told him he'd “do it” (rape Hyde) for “two-fitty.” Williams said, “I want to talk about cunnilingus,” to which Hyde responded by asking if the show was just going to be nonsense talk instead of serious talk.
He then tried to go into an improv bit about cunnilingus, something Williams could do effortlessly, but it petered out and he quit, embarrassed before the master. Williams asked Hyde and his crew to demonstrate their cunnilingus techniques, which they declined. Williams was turning up the heat, and then the explosion came. He asked Hyde if he liked nature. Hyde, sensing that this question was a setup, tensed up. He tested out Williams’ desk to see how heavy it was. Hyde tried to get off the topic of nature, but Williams told him that gorillas make nests in trees, adding he’d love to see Hyde make a gorilla nest. Hyde stood up and tipped over the heavy desk, wrecking some equipment.
Williams protested, “Oh no, we're going to bring out the gorilla twigs.” An assistant brought the twigs out. Hyde (40), with his belt undone, hanging down on both ends, tried to force Williams (62) into the twigs, but failed. Hyde’s posse looked uncomfortable as Hyde spent the next two minutes manhandling Williams around the set, insisting that Williams was going to be the one demonstrating how to make a gorilla nest.
Hyde eventually realized that Williams had provoked him into humiliating himself, and began to act like it was all in fun. But Williams wouldn't play along. He asked Hyde if he could feed him some of the cookies he had, the suggestion that it’d be like feeding a gorilla at the zoo. Hyde said he'd slap it out of his hand if he tried.
The podcast was about over. Williams, pretending everything was cool, asked Hyde about his new show. Hyde, back to normal, gladly talked about it, unaware this one final setup. When the podcast ran, Williams bleeped out the name of the show, and how one could watch it.
I've watched a bunch of Williams' podcasts, which are usually full of friendly comedian-to-comedian banter. Williams seems harmless, but can disembowel someone with a few kicks. This one was a planned hit on Hyde, someone he clearly despises.
Harland Williams beat Sam Hyde because he never broke character while Hyde attacked him. In fact, he enjoyed his adversary’s violence even more than Hyde did. He's not going to sue Hyde for damages. He obviously thinks that Hyde’s like a gorilla, and he set up Hyde to prove that's exactly what he is.