The beloved podcast hosted by Mike Tyson, Hotboxin', had everything: celebrity guests, unfiltered conversations, and your favorite "Iron Mike." Almost 257 episodes later and a journey spanning almost five years, the Hotboxin' podcast saw its closure earlier this year. But since it closed, fans have been wondering if there will be another edition of the show. Will the podcast return?
Tyson, 58, had to end Hotboxin' due to his other commitments. But his scheduled fight with Jake Paul was like a death sentence. He was finding it difficult to juggle his business ventures and the Hotboxin' podcast. The added burden of training had a knock-on effect on the recording of the podcast. He stated earlier this year:
So when Tyson, 50-7, appeared in an interview with FOX, the co-hosts were excited about the recent commercial success of the Paul vs. Tyson fight. They also wanted to know if the new popularity could help revive Hotboxin'. To this, Tyson explained how the podcast started. He said: "This is something fun. My wife got me into this. Yeah, it's not that it doesn't drive me crazy, I don't love it. I love it like crazy. But I'm really good at it, yeah."
After this, Brooklyn gave his one-word response as to whether fans could expect anything from the podcast soon. He continued: "Yes." But will former co-host Eben Britton also return? We're not sure.
Read also: Mike Tyson vs. Brock Lesnar?
Before the podcast is dated, one might expect Tyson to appear in another Netflix venture: his docuseries.
Mike Tyson Returns to the Spotlight on Netflix
The three-part docuseries will recall Tyson's famous and infamous accolades and acts, which made him one of the most popular faces of all time. In the same conversation, he addressed the subject and added: "We're working on it right now. We're doing everything that's about to come out of my new show. It will be on Netflix."
When the series was announced, Tyson told Netflix: "Most people are too afraid to look at their lives objectively, wanting to paint themselves as the hero of their own story... Having the opportunity to share my story through the thoughtful lens of my growth and maturity... will be a challenging, but very welcome journey."
You can expect three-hour-long episodes, which will consist of interviews with Tyson, his confidants and colleagues, and will give you an insight into his personal life and how he and his close friends saw his illustrious life unfold.
Chelsea Handler's Cannabis Ventures and More
The comedian, author and activist announced last February that she is developing her own cannabis line and was on site for a talk with Adrian Sedlin, CEO and founder of Santa Barbara-based luxury cannabis brand Canndescent, at the private launch party for the company’s sleek rechargeable white Stylus vape pen ($60), 200-draw cannabis oil cartridges in five effects ($50), and disposable, ready-to-use pens ($65) that launched on Jan. Some of the goods were laid out in front of her on a table, along with a small tin of Petra cannabis-infused mints by the Oakland company Kiva Confections. “I take those mints when I ski, they’re perfect,” she said, offering up Perrier or a Vodka soda.
Read also: Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul
Handler was first introduced to Canndescent through the cannabis media and lifestyle company Civilized that she has teamed up with for cannabis town hall events and told THR that she invests in. “It was all the things I look for as a woman, all the qualities I want, and it represented all the times of day that I need help dealing with people or myself,” she said. “And it feels smooth. I don’t want to cough when I smoke weed; I don’t want it to be a scene! What’s so great about these pens is you just take a hit and you know what the effect is right there and then.
Handler’s first-ever cannabis experience was with a bong: “Who came up with that contraption? To sit there with this huge piece of glass, trying to light it and blow bubbles. And I did it just to be cool and I remember getting really high, not feeling great. And then I smoked over the years until I got really paranoid for a phase: I pulled myself over once on the way home from Santa Monica to my apartment, which is not far, and hid in the bushes for like four hours. Obviously, something else must have been happening.
I used to take edibles, but now there is the vape component. It makes a difference. It’s a game-changer. You can take a little hit. You don’t have to be high; you can just take the edge off, which I think is what most of us are after. Most of us aren’t looking to be in a corner freaking out.
Handler’s go-to Canndescent cartridges are Connect and Calm, which has helped her with sleep issues. “I’d much rather be taking something from the ground than from some disgusting pharmaceutical company that’s poisoning us with opioids and then making another trillion dollars to discover the cure for it! … Now we understand that we were basically living during Prohibition. As for any politicians, she thinks could use a hit: “It would be great if Donald Trump just started smoking pot to begin with, you know what I mean? Because he’s the type of personality that just needs to be tamped down. Just something. Anything to take the edge off of whatever that is that is happening. So he would benefit from it.”
During her talk onstage, Handler said, “After Trump was elected, I was filled with rage, with outrage. How could something like this happen in my world? Why haven’t they shot him yet? What’s going on?
Read also: The Legend of Iron Mike
Handler broke the news exclusively with THR that she just signed a deal on Saturday to partner with San Francisco-based cannabis operator NorCal Cannabis Company for her own cannabis line. “I didn’t want to do licensing; I didn’t want to do some bullshit weed line.
Her latest crazy cannabis adventure? “I did some frog thing in Venice a couple weeks ago. What’s it called? DMT. Actually, it was really scary. It’s called Fxt 5-MeO-DMT [a psychoactive compound found in the venom of rare toads native to the Sonoran Desert ]. It’s this frog venom thing where they light it, you inhale it and you basically hallucinate. You see visions and colors. I was at some woman’s house, lying in her living room on blankets, and I was immediately drenched in sweat feeling as sick as I’ve ever felt. I went to open my eyes to focus because I was spinning and I thought, ‘This isn’t good, I don’t like this.” She said, ‘Just keep breathing.’ And I’m like, ‘You need to hold my hand.’ It was super-intense and then it was over after three minutes of panic and I said, ‘OK, I’m alive.’ That’s my latest story.
Handler also mentions once having a “marijuana facial,” saying: “I wasn’t right for three days - I literally woke up two days later and I still couldn’t open my eyes all the way. There’s just something when it’s in your pores that makes it … I’m not into that. I like to be highly functioning. While she hasn’t tried any of the cannabis lines by other stars such as Snoop Dogg, Whoopi Goldberg, Willie Nelson, Mike Tyson, Jimmy Buffett or Francis Ford Coppola, Handler did smoke some really strong weed with Willie Nelson once.
“We were filming for Netflix and it was in his trailer before he was going onstage somewhere,” she says. “We smoked a joint together and I drove there and couldn’t drive home. So I’ve smoked weed with Willie Nelson and I feel like that’s all I really have to do in life. You know what I mean? I don’t care about whoever I smoke with again.
While at a holiday party for her agency, UTA, Handler says she noticed that nobody was at the bar and wondered if it had to do with “the cannabis kick” she herself was on. “The bartender said it was crazy because people are not drinking like they used to, especially at agency parties, which I thought was interesting,” she says.
The result was being able to focus on her own book, Life Will Be The Death Of Me; she is already planning to add cities to her book tour in April because the ticket sales have been so strong, she tells THR. “It’s a very different book than anything I’ve ever written. It’s deep and it’s honest and it’s really vulnerable, which is never a word I knew before.” One chapter focuses on her experience when her oldest brother Chet died at age 22 when Handler was 9 years old. “I read my audio book last week and I was bawling.
Handler also shared with THR that the Netflix documentary on white privilege that’s in the works will drop in July and that the concept was based on her own privilege. “The election kind of spun me into a mid-life crisis situation. That’s exactly what it was. It was an identity crisis. Like, what is my identity? Is it just me on TV? Is that my life? Is that all I am? I don’t want kids. So once I turned 40, I was like, ‘Oh my god, what if this is all that matters to me?’ Your fame, your money and the grossest parts.
“I got rewarded for things that people get in so much trouble for - bad behavior, talking about drugs, sleeping around, writing books about it. Everything I did was gross and people just kept throwing me opportunities and money. So it made me really think for the first time and look around and go, ‘There is a real racial divide in this country.’ It’s a very personal film. It’s about me and my privilege and where I came from. We go to meet an ex-boyfriend, a black guy I dated who spent 14 years in prison. We see him. It was a lot of stuff that I found hard to do. But I like when it’s hard to do. I like to be challenged.” She later asked the audience to help her choose between the titles What Privilege?
As for whether she’ll do another talk show? “ I hope not!” Handler says. “ I’m in my 40s now. I want to ski all fucking winter.