IE 11 is not supported. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser.

Will Ted Nugent find success in reality TV?

Guitarist talks to Tucker Carlson about new show, 'Wanted: Ted or Alive'
/ Source: msnbc.com

Ted Nugent is known for being a great guitarist, activist, survivalist, and now a TV host, with his new reality show, ‘Wanted: Ted or Alive’ featured on the Outdoor Life network.

Nugent joined Tucker Carlson Friday on ‘Situation’ to explain what this new show will be about and what Americans are looking for in politics and television.

To read an excerpt from their conversation, continue to the text below. To watch the video, click on the "Launch" button to the right.

TUCKER CARLSON, HOST, ‘SITUATION’:  Now you live most of the time now, you just told me, in Crawford, Texas. 

TED NUGENT:  Crawford, Texas.  They need me there.  Yes.

CARLSON:  I think they do need you there.

NUGENT:  I do agree with that.

CARLSON:  Do you feel as represented by the president as you once did? 

NUGENT:  No.  They're a bunch of failures.  But he's great man, oftentimes, a very great man, but all too often, less than a great man.  I think his tax and spending is just very un-Republican.  His failed—there is no border policy.  Immigration, I don't know what that policy might be.  He's done a great job on the war on terror.  You know, I'm no military strategist, but I'm from Detroit, so I have some tactical background.  I think he's done a great job there.  The military has certainly done an amazing warrior job. 

But I like the president.  He's my neighbor.  I respect him greatly.  He's my commander in chief.  But there's a lot of room for upgrade, is there not? 

CARLSON:  Seems to be. 

NUGENT:  Seems to be, yes.  The Nugent family prays for him, and we communicate with our employees, including the president, so he knows how we feel and what we expect.  And I believe upgrade is on the horizon.  Somebody's got to teach him the basics of public relations.  He doesn't need to smile when things are terrible.  You know what I mean?

CARLSON:  I know exactly what you mean.

NUGENT:  Just the presence, he needs to just let it rip, be down to earth, be that working hard, playing hard guy that got him elected and return to those basic constitutional, Ten Commandment, golden rule, guts of the American dream. 

CARLSON:  The guy freezes up in public.  He gets too tense when he's in public. 

NUGENT:  You know, nobody's crazier than I am, but I have no responsibility to perform for anyone.  Just talk to me, man.  What do you believe?  Forget the consultants.  Talk to me.  That's what America's looking for, I believe. 

CARLSON:  America is also looking for a show like “Wanted Ted or Alive.”

NUGENT:  You know, Tucker, I understand I'm going to win the black redneck of the year award again. 

CARLSON:  I don't even know what that is.

NUGENT:  In the precious and adorable categories.  It doesn't matter.  I think that this show is the personification of the middle finger in the world of political correctness, where I celebrate hunting, fishing, trapping, the shooting sports, Second Amendment, rugged individualism, resource stewardship, killing, gutting, skinning, barbecuing and digesting the perfect flesh of our sacred renewable resources.  Hallelujah!

CARLSON:  And also, you're tormenting people in the process. 

NUGENT:  I don't torment.

CARLSON:  Here are some of the contests in “Wanted Ted or Alive.” It's pretty good.  Naked offer.  Ted offers a grand to anyone willing to forsake their clothing for a 24-hour period and dress only in garments they must construct from the skin of a buffalo Ted hunted. 

NUGENT:  You know, what does recreation mean other than—we should start a new offing in our life, take a deep breath and let nature heal us.  And I think we should start like our birth, naked.  Especially our contestants, who are oh so handsome and firm.  Some of them make for great ratings.  Well, you know, I don't give a darn, I've got the world's most beautiful mate on the planet, so I'm not in any need of that, but nonetheless, eye candy is eye candy.  And there's a certain mental rebirth necessary to function as a proper outdoorsman.  You need to understand the primal scream. 

CARLSON:  What's a primal scream? 

NUGENT:  The primal scream is our origins to be rugged and individual.  I mean, you stop and think, surviving Nugent now, or “Wanted Ted or Alive,” is about reminding modern people that there's a warrior inside of us.  Remember the citified people in New York on September 11th, 2001?  Those were city people, but were they not the warriors of all time?  The people who went and saved their fellow man and sacrificed their lives to help their neighbor?  Those were city people, but they were tougher than Davey Crocket that day, weren't they?

That's in all of us, and I try to inspire that so we're more responsible in our earthly consumerism.  Resource stewardship doesn't just mean using petroleum, it doesn't mean just using wood products, it means planting more and using it more wisely.  And as a hunter, I truly understand that, because I kill my own food.  And I'm not going to be part of an assembly line.  I'm just going to take my arrow and kill the one I need.  I think it's more responsible. 

CARLSON:  How does the human scarecrow fit into that?  Human scarecrow is the ultimate endurance test.  Contestants are transformed into human scarecrows to scare off varmints in the field. 

NUGENT:  Didn't you mention I torment these people?  I guess you're right.

CARLSON:  I mentioned it, yes. 

NUGENT:  Well, again, I'm a bow hunter, and I'm also the Motor City Madman.   I love rock'n'roll and the sonic bombast of rhythm and blues dreams, and I've got the world's greatest musicians.  And we did 120 concerts last year—I'm about to do my 6,000th concert this year—because I crave that stuff. 

However, did you notice how much I need to shut up and relax once in a while?  I get my bow and arrow, and return to that primal scream, and I get into the swamps, way beyond the road less traveled, and I calm down and prod my level of awareness, my omniscient capability that God has blessed us with, if we use it properly—and I suppose you could say I torture myself, because I sit in a tree stand for 12 hours without moving, because I want to understand the bird life, the flora, the fauna, and ultimately maybe that big buck that will provide food for my family. 

Well, if I can do it, anybody can do it.  So I wanted to see these people get into a stealthy, statuesque, silent, Zen-like behavior, which is good for us on occasion. 

CARLSON:  And the crows pick at them?

NUGENT:  Well, I wish, but no crows showed up.  I think I'd already killed them.  But they did have to become like scarecrows, and the one who could stay motionless and stay in this uncomfortable position the longest got the biggest cash. 

And it was quite telling, because it brought out the good, the bad and the ugly in spades.  And it's quite entertaining, and quite telling about our fellow humans. 

CARLSON:  That, in my view, that's the whole reason TiVo was invented.  “Wanted Ted or Alive.”  It's going to be on my favorites list.  Ted Nugent, thank you.