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Chris Jericho On His New Book ‘No Is A Four Letter Word,’ Branding, Going To Concerts, And Living In Tampa

By Darren Paltrowitz
Published on: 01:30 PST, Sep 12, 2017

Chris Jericho is a lot of things to a lot of different people. To millions, he is one of the all-time greats of the WWE, a multi-time world champion known as “Y2J,” and for “The List of Jericho.” To hard rock fans, he is the frontman of Fozzy, which released its seventh album, Judas, earlier this year. To podcast listeners, he is the host of PodcastOne favorite Talk Is Jericho and the leader of the Jericho Network. To watchers of television, he has appeared on Dancing with the Stars and hosted things like the ABC game show Downfall and the Revolver Golden Gods Awards. Jericho is also the author of four books — three of which New York Times Best Sellers — including the just-released No Is a Four Letter Word: How I Failed Spelling But Succeeded in Life.

However, you primarily know Chris Jericho, the key is that he is an entertainer. He is always working on something, and No Is a Four Letter Word gives more insight into why it is that he decides not to rest on his laurels. Somewhere between a self-help book and a collection of anecdotes, No features a Jericho-related story in each chapter and explains what there is to learn from it. While not every bit of knowledge dropped is for everyone, if you enjoy pop-culture references and jokes, No makes for a quick read. But the book is particularly angled toward fans of Jericho’s work as a WWE Superstar and a member of Fozzy.

I had the pleasure of speaking with Chris Jericho via phone in the midst of his No Is a Four Letter Word — now out via Da Capo Press and featuring a foreword from KISS frontman Paul Stanley — media blitz, and below are some of the highlights. More on Jericho and his various endeavors can be found at www.chris-jericho.com.

Throughout your new book, you reference writing a fifth book. Have you already started writing the next one?

Chris Jericho: No, I have some ideas. I have so many more stories, which is why I decided to do, which is why I decided to do No Is a Four Letter Word the way I did. It is more of a motivational self-help type book because does that make a fourth autobiography might be a little bit too pretentious. (mocking tone) Four autobiographies in 10 years! (end of mocking tone) But I’ve got a lot of ideas, a fifth book, a sixth book, maybe even a seventh book. There are kind of different ways you could change your life. I love to write and I have a little bit of a literary fan base that enjoys reading — not a little bit, a lot of it — that enjoys reading my stuff. So I could get away from autobiographies and go to some more specific subjects.

One of the things I really enjoy about your writing is that it sounds like the way that you speak, yet you actually studied journalism in college. Did you ever have anyone trying to change the way that you write?

Chris Jericho: No, not at all… I think journalism is a little bit more official because you’re reporting, you know? If you’re doing on the spot news reporting, you’re not only going to be flowering up euphemisms and anecdotes like I do, but I think as far as the reason why people like to read my books is because it is sounding like the way I talk. Every word, there’s no ghostwriter or editor, it is completely up to me… But I think because I write everything from the dust jackets to the captions of the photos… So it is like I am talking to you because, in reality, I pretty much am. That is my thoughts directly onto the page.

One of the things that comes up a lot, especially in this new book, is branding. Nowadays, everyone knows what branding is, but do you remember what first inspired you to learn about branding? Or when you first became brand-conscious?

Chris Jericho: It seems like such more of a master plan than it really was. For me even when I first started wrestling I never considered myself just a wrestler because I was small. I was small at that point in time in 1990 when I started, it was all about giant guys and I knew I could never be the biggest guy in the show, but I knew I could have the biggest character, biggest charisma, biggest personality.

So, therefore, I was looking at myself as more of an entertainer. I was always playing music as well. If you read the book I wanted to be a musician, I wanted to be a wrestler as much… I guess even at the start it might have been a primitive version of branding, even though I didn’t know that was considered a word. But I knew I wanted to be very versatile as a performer and have a lot of diversity.

Probably I think, right when I joined the WWE, that was when I realized, I am not going to be a wrestler forever. Even at 29, I am too old. I want to do more music. I want to do more writing. I want to do more whatever is out there available. Entertainment… But I had already been working on that for many years prior.

Another thing has come up in your books is that you initially wanted to be a musician and a wrestler and now you’re not only both of those things, but you’re also a top podcaster. You also have the Jericho Network of podcasts, you’ve had four bestselling books, you have acted, and there are other things that we can talk about that you’ve done. But when somebody asks what you do for a living, in the rare case they don’t know who you are, how do you describe yourself? Do you just say I am an entertainer?

Chris Jericho: Basically, yeah, that is basically is it. I am in show business, you know? That is the truth. I think one of the reasons why I do so many different things is because I realized once I made it in wrestling and music, there is no limitations here. I mean, obviously I don’t want to go play Center for the Islanders, it is probably not going to happen. But if you’re talking about things that are creative as an artist, things that I feel I could really do, then I will take a chance and do it. That was even more compounded after I did Dancing with the Stars. The first two times they asked me I just didn’t think I’d be able to want to do it…

There are a lot of things out there that I want to try and do, and if I want to do it I am going to do it. I have already learned through these last 20 years and understand that it doesn’t matter what other people think, doesn’t matter what other people want me to do or whatever kind of box they want to put me in, I can do whatever I want to do because I have the belief in myself to do that.

Sure, Dancing with the Stars was one of the biggest career risks that you could have taken. Is there anything else that you’re still hoping to accomplish? Or a certain kind of role that you want to have?

Chris Jericho: It is hard to say that because things just… I got two really interesting proposals yesterday… I think that when you get your name out there and show that whatever you do is always quality and that you have a great fan base that follows you wherever you go… I don’t really have a bucket list of things to do. I just know that I have no idea what is coming around tomorrow or next week or next month. I love acting, that is sort of what I would really like to do more of, but then I just shot season two of But I’m Chris Jericho, that was a big award winner two years ago.

There is always stuff coming up like that, so I just try and continue to focus on what is going on now and have complete knowledge that things would come across that proverbial desk tomorrow… It is a pretty cool position to be in because the one good thing for me is that I don’t do anything for money. I do things because I want to do them, I do things that they are just me, I do things that challenge me. As a performer and as an artist, that is a great position to be in.

When you’re not busy with work, which doesn’t seem to be very often, what do you like to do for fun?

Chris Jericho: I just spend time with my family. Work is fun for me, you know? I like hanging out with my kids. I don’t have any friends in Tampa, not in a bad way. It is all kid stuff, like this morning, wake up, make them breakfast, take them to school, drop them off, pick them up, go to football practice. There is always something to be done. That is kind of the balance. It is all done with family, that is a good pastime, not even a hobby. It is just a balance of when you are on the road, gone as much as I am. When I am home it’s got to be all family all the time and I like that.

What was the last concert that you attended for fun? I ask that because live entertainment is your business per se, and a touring musician isn’t necessarily going to think of going to a concert as fun…

Chris Jericho: Oh, always, always. Actually, I saw Metallica about a month ago in Atlanta at the stadium. I saw Guns N’ Roses five days ago in Winnipeg at a stadium. So that is another good thing about having a job where you are able to save up some money. If I want to go see a band I don’t have to wait for them to come to my town, so I take rock & roll road trips all the time. This has been a great summer, I saw Paul McCartney as well, he’s one of my favorites. KISS, I saw, I always go and see them.

So in closing, Chris, any last words for the kids?

Chris Jericho: Doing it for the kids… (laughs) I’m very proud of this book, because I find a lot of people now getting something out of it. The bottom line of the book is if you want to do something, don’t make excuses, just go make it happen. This is how I do, so you can do it too.

[Featured Image by Barry Bloom]

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