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[gentle music]

-[film reel whirring]
-[light ethereal music]

-[footsteps]
-[rattling]

[Kevin]
If you would've told me
30 years ago

that I'd be carrying around
a broken statue

of the Virgin Mary
talking about God,

I'd say, "Are you high?"

[upbeat music]

-[inaudible chatter]
-[indistinct shouting]

Will there be
another Kevin Matthews?

-No.
-[crowd cheering]

-Let's party!
-[inaudible chatter]

Well, everybody knows
who Kevin is.

-Kevin is a genius.
-There's, there's just
no one like him.

I thought he was insane.
Like, a lot of people
thought he was insane.

-[cheering continues]
-[Charlie] It was amazing.
It was like a religion.

Turn on the radio
in the morning,
listen to Kevin Matthews.

-[static]
-This is Ben Stiller.

You're listening
to Kevin Matthews.

Hi, I'm Chris Farley!
You're listening

toThe Kevin Matthews Show.

There was once upon a time
this thing called radio.

And in Chicago,
it was th-- it was the,

it was the, the pinnacle.

It was the, the place.
Not New York, not LA.

We were superstars.

-I-- I'm not kidding you.
-[Larry] 99% of people

-tune in to radio
at some point during the week.
-Hi, this is Mike Ditka,

and you're listening
toThe Kevin Matthews Show.

This is Peter Frampton.
You're listening

-to Kevin Matthews.
-[Mitch] Radio was

a companion. Radio was a friend

you were listening to
in your car,

you were listening to
in your office.

And Kevin was with you.
You know, you could take
Kevin with you

and his cast of characters
anywhere you went.

[Larry]
The Loop formerly was WLUP-FM

and WLUP-AM.

[Tom]
So, when you got your first car,

you kinda dialed in
the radio station,

you pulled out the button,
you set it back in,

and then that station was set.

This was the station
that you set
on your radio first,

number one, and it rarely left
that part of the dial.

[Mitch]
The Loop was high school
with money.

In Chicago radio history,

there will be nothing like it.
There was nothing like it.

When Kevin
or Jonathon Brandmeier

or Steven Gary
or Danny Bonaduce
would walk down the street,

people would be in awe.

And Kevin was one of them.
He was on the Mount Rushmore

of The Loop and Chicago Radio
and it will ever be that way.

[Tom]
The quality of talent
of radio at that time,

uh, with Kevin,
you'll never see it again.

[Kevin]
We had ten million people
listening to us a week.

We were
The Rolling Stones of radio.

We owned Chicago.

[static]

[light ethereal music]

I am Kevin Matthews
and I'm from Jupiter.

Um, where am I from?

[exhales] I'm from,
uh, Pontiac, Michigan.

We lived in a really
tough area of Pontiac.

I didn't know how little
we had until I got older.

I had problems reading
or writing,

and I learned as an adult.

I have dyslexia, you know,
really bad dyslexia.

So, I was the kind of a kid
they just, you know...

[stutters] "We don't know
what's wrong with him, just...

[grunting] whatever.
He's a mutt," you know.

I needed to make people laugh,

so I wouldn't get beat up.

I had to make my dad laugh,

and he'd have neighbors over,

and they'd have cocktails.

And then, "Kevin, come out,
you little circus monkey,

do your funny voice,"
you know, and I did.

I used to-- u--
be barefoot, walk on my toes,

and I could im--
uh, impersonate,
uh, President Kennedy.

So, if I made him laugh,
he wasn't hitting me.

[music continues]

[clicks]

I just always
used laughter as, um,

a way to escape death.

[inhales, scoffs]

Think of that, you know,
um, that's pretty sad.

[static]

It was growing up at a time,

you know,
I saw people die on TV.

Oswald, Kennedy, Jack Ruby.
You know, I'm a little kid.

People were crying
and they were dying

over in this place
called Vietnam.

My mom said that I always used
to talk to myself, you know,

and I didn't have
a lot of friends, really,

so I didn't h--
I would make up friends.

You know, I had--
I, I used my imagination.

I'd make up friends
or I would talk to people.

You know, I would talk to God.

And, you know,
there'd be so many times,

if I'm really little
and there's fighting downstairs,

you know, I'm third grade
and I'm crying.

I'd just ask God to kill me,
you know, I--

uh, I'm a new little Catholic.

I hear about this God...

...who's in heaven. Well,
I don't wanna be here,
so kill me.

[light melancholic music]

You know, my brother and I,
you know, we'd break windows,

set fires, M-80s, steal
out of this grocery store.

T-- and then, you know,
I get kicked out of fifth grade.

Fifth grade.
How many people get kicked out

of fifth grade? I did.

And my dad came from GM s--

and he had to take the day off.
He took me home

and beat me with a breadboard.

I was a junkyard dog.

You had to survive
and you had to be,

you had to be mean,
you had to be...

Otherwise, you, you, you,
you weren't gonna make it.

[clicks]

And then, eventually,
what happened is
I just got bigger

and I could defend myself.
And I made it real clear

to my dad, you know,
"You're done with me,

and you're never
gonna hurt mom again."

When I graduated
from high school,

I was
in the Marine Corps fitness.

I was gonna leave
high school and go

and become a drill sergeant.

But I blew my knee out
and I couldn't go.

So, I took a year off...
and we partied.

And then, you know,
I went to college.

[gentle music]

In college, same thing.
I could get people to laugh.

I'd get a crowd. Comedy,
to me, was my shield.

And I had no breaks.
I had no breaks.

When I was a freshman,
my roommates got pot plants
and these long hair.

But he did a radio show
at the student station.

So I started hanging out.

And one time,
the program director,

he had-- was hospitalized.

So somebody called and said,
"Hey, um, can you do his show?"

"Sure, I'll do it."
So I went down there

and he was doing a jazz show.

I didn't know anything
about jazz,

but there's a section, "Jazz,"

I pull out. "Hmm. Miles Davis.

Okay." I put Miles Davis on.

I don't know how to run
the equipment, I'm winging it.

Then, after a while, I'm like,
"Uh, okay, skip that.

I'm gonna play Jimi Hendrix."

You know, and it's like,
think of the jazz people,

like, "What's going on?"
But I did it.

[light cheerful music]

Then, I noticed I could do--

It was theater of the mind.

This is-- I'm Orson Welles.

I can do whatever I want.

And that-- and then,
I got very involved.

-[thunder rumbling]
-One night,
I came into the station,

and it was
a real bad storm happening.

Anyway, I just started my shift,
and so, I just,

"Nah, I'm gonna play
Jim Morrison and The Doors,

'Riders on the Storm'."

And you don't have
to say anything, yo--
you just play it.

[rain spattering]

I loved that song
because you could literally hear

the rain hit the studio window
that looked outside

over a dark campus.

And at that time,
there were no cell phones.

People were listening
to the radio and they would go,

"Wow, this is perfect.
This is perfect."

-[light whimsical music]
-So, now it's my second year,

third year,
I'm doing the morning show.

So, every student
had a clock radio.

And if I'm on at six o'clock,
and-- but I'm late,

the whole campus is late, right?

And, wh-- and if this
was happening, where--
"Oh, my-- I'm late."

Silence. So I,
I thought, "Cover your butt."

Remember Pontiac. Junkyard duck.

One time, I was so late,
I just got on the air,

and I said, "Listen,
the reason I'm late

is because the whole campus
is a crime scene.

President Lubbers
got murdered last night,

and there's no class."

[laughs]

Awesome. Well, the s--
campus closed us down,

the FCC took the license away.

I still got a letter
in my office from Arend--
from Lubbers,

President Lubbers,
'cause I needed
three credits to graduate

and he just said,
"This letter will do.

You're never allowed
on campus again."

It-- and he was, he was mocking.

He had a great sense of humor,
but not at the time

when I said you were dead.

And then, I eventually--
I got hired in Grand Rapids

for my first commercial station.

-[static]
-[light jazz music]

I went to college.
I didn't graduate,

I needed three credits.
I got a letter saying,

"You got 'em, stay off campus."

Got married. My son was born
in Grand Rapids.

Went down to St. Louis
for nine months.

I was wanting to go back
to Grand Rapids,

but they were calling
at The Loop

because I used
to send Steve Dahl--

I could impersonate Ron Reagan,
who was president at the time.

So I was sending
all this stuff up as Reagan.

It was really good too.

-[Kevin as Ronald]
-[woman] Yes, sir?

-[laughter]
-[Kevin continues]

-[woman] Yes, sir.
-[Kevin] Uh-huh...[continues]

Uh-huh...

-Huh?
-[woman] Who is this?

[Kevin continues]

[woman speaking]

[Kevin speaking]

[woman speaks]

[Kevin speaks]

[woman speaks]

[Kevin speaks]

And they sent
two first airfare tickets,

limo'd in.

The studio's
in the Hancock Building
on 36th floor.

"Let's go out to lunch.
We want you here.

Let's go over to The Palm."

So, we're day drinking,
you know. It's 11:00.

I signed my contract
on a napkin,

a cocktail napkin.
The rest is history.

-[static]
-[man 1] From Chicago,

it'sThe Kevin Matthews Show.

[man 2]
Kevin Matthews is AM 1000.

Our number 591-WLUP.

Welcome to Chicago's Loop,
AM 1000.

-[light inspirational music]
-Chicago at that time
was the perfect storm.

-[crowd cheering]
-Michael Jordan
is a Chicago Bull.

The '85 Bears
just won the Super Bowl.

You have this new lady,
Oprah, she's in town.

And so, the country was watching
what was going on in Chicago.

Kevin's different than
all the other guys
anywhere, period.

-[man] He is the voice
of Chicago morning radio.
-[indistinct chatter]

Kevin Matthews, who got
his start jockeying
at Grand Valley State

years ago, is now on top
of the heap in Chicago,

-between 5:30 and 10:00.
-[announcer] It's
Kevin Matthews!

[Tom]
And we didn't know much
about him.

as a personality in the most
popular radio station

in the history of Chicago.

And then... [exhales sharply]
Kevin just blew up, man.

People loved him
because he would turn on
the mic one day

-and be a different personality.
-[woman] Kevin Matthews
in the radio booth

creating his vision
of the world every day.

If I needed an excuse,
I could c-- create a character,

but I didn't wanna
get in trouble.

Again, cover your butt.

Always, from day one.
Cover your butt.

If I wanted to do
something questionable,

I just made up this character,

Jim Shorts, Richard Baggs.

[music continues]

Richard Baggs. Hmm.
"You a driver, Rich."

Oh, yeah, I get it.
I'd call him Jim Shorts.

You know, just--
But his real name's
Richard Baggs, aka Jim Shorts.

[woman]
Kev-Heads know the characters
Jimmy Shorts and Devon.

-[man 1] That's another story.
-[as Jim] That's a whole
another story, baby.

You wanna talk to Kev?
He's on line four.

-Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
-And Jim was vile.

Jim, Jim was vile.

Hi, sports fans.
I'm back with Kevin Butler.

Kevin, during a game,
did you ever have to ****?

You know, the Bears
basically beat the crap

out of the Dolphins.
That's how I look at it.

If I was riding
the edge, the line,

I would just do Jim Shorts
and Jim would get yelled at.

So Jim is, uh, my dark side.

-[Harry speaks]
-[Kevin as Jim speaks]

[Harry speaks]

[Kevin as Jim speaking]

[Mitch]
There were so many people,
I think, even to this day,

they think that Jim Shorts
was a separate person,

that didn't know that Kevin
was the voice of Jim Shorts.

[Tom]
My mom heard one time
that Jim Shorts fell off

the washing machine
and got hurt,
and she thought Jim Shorts,

at the time, was a real person.
Kevin, man, you didn't see that.

He was behind the scenes
on the radio.

He was like
the great Wizard of Oz.

-[inaudible chatter]
-[Kevin] One time,

I got on the air and I said,

"We'll take the 10th caller

and you get to win
our General Manager's
office furniture."

Now that's-- ap--
that's a contest,

so you have to give
his office furniture away

according to the FCC.
So they literally had to give...

[chuckling]
the office furniture away.

And eventually,
he later found out.

"Wait, that's Kevin
doing that voice? Da-da-da."

They had a checkbook.
If I got fined by the FCC.

"No problem, Kev. J--
bam, bam, bam, bam.

Right, right. Yeah. Yep.

That's $5000. That's 5000."

It was all the time.

He developed
a cult audience, Kev-Heads.

-[phone ringing]
-[man 1] Hello?

-[Kevin] Chris. Hi, Mark.
-[man 2] Hey, Kev. What's up?

-Hey, what's going on, Kevin?
-[Kevin] Steve,
you've been on hold

-for a long time. Hiya, Mary.
-Hi, buddy.

[Mary]
Oh. Hi, Kev! How are
you doing? I hate your job.

-[man 3] ...how are you?
-[man 4] Hey, Kev.

It was talented crew
24 hours a day.

You know,
the reason I got into radio
is because of those guys.

We noticed the ratings...
ticking up,

which, you know, really caught
everyone's attention,
it was, like, "Wow!"

And, and middays
was a harder place

to have available audience,
so it was even more amazing.

A lot of the blue collar, um,
people that were in their car,

you know, truckers and,
and salesmen and--

just people who would,
would find him
during the midday.

We had ten million people
listening to us a week,

Ten million people
listening to us a week.

[Larry]
And I think
that's when the Kev-Heads,

um, became their own
kind of cult, if you will.

[Mitch]
It was a club
that anybody was invited to.

[Tom]
There was a character
on his show for everybody.

Yeah, you wanted to be close
to him and follow his path,

and that's the way it was
for us back in the day.

[indistinct chatter]

-[speaks indistinctly]
-Kevin rules, man.

-[woman laughs]
-Definitely.
Radio has picked up.

-[all] Free bird!
-Free bird!

[clicks]

[Kevin]
My audience,
we did everything together.

We grew up together,
we got married together,

we had kids together,
we partied together.

If I needed a swimming pool,
the listener,
"Come on over, do it."

We partied,
we did everything together.

[indistinct chatter]

[light inspirational music]

[Mitch]
Kevin, one day, on the air said,

"How many people
didn't go to their prom?"

And people call, "I didn't go,
I didn't have a girlfriend,

I didn't--" So we came up with--

we used to do
the Kevin Matthews Prom.

We had, like, 2000 Kev-Heads
at Willowbrook Ballroom.

[man]
It's Kev-Head
High Prom this Friday night.

[announcer]
Help out tonight and show us
some Kev-Head support.

But I would like
to introduce to you

your class president for 1995.

Let's hear it
for Mr. Kevin Matthews.

[crowd cheering and clapping]

All right. Thanks.

It's really good to be here.

[Kevin]
We partied hard. Everybody.

W-- we were psychopaths.
And as they say,

we were high school with money.

[clicks]

Adam Sandler, David Spade,
me, and Tina Turner.

This is me when I was
on Baywatchwith Pam Anderson.

[Mitch]
He became friends
with Bears players.

Kevin Butler Buttheads,
one of his best friends

because they listened
and they'd be--

and they liked him,
and they thought he was funny.

Kevin was kinda talking
some trash on--
about the Bears on the radio.

We basically kick in the door,

we hold him down,
and we duct tape him
to the chair.

We wheel him
down onto Michigan Avenue.

Everybody knows who Kevin is.

And so, there's a guy
walking down the street,

and he's got this big case of,
like, 100 markers.

And so, I took money
out of my pocket, I go,

"Here, I wanna buy these
from you."

So I give him money,
he gives me the markers,

and now,
people know who Kevin is,
start gathering around.

We start handing
out the markers.

We go, "Hey!
Go sign him. [chuckling]
Wherever you want to."

And Kevin's going, "I gotta go.
This is my anniversary.

I gotta be home
after this show."
And I go, "I don't think so."

-[clicks]
-[Kevin] We used to do stuff

that I look back at it now,
could've killed a lot of people.

For example,
I launched a blow-up doll,

inflate her with helium,
and then I would put
weather balloons on her.

But I would put,
"If you find this,

call this number,
you've won a valuable prize."

We never told the FAA.

We have--
O'Hare is flying, and Midway.

And here I'm launching
a hot air balloon.

Can you imagine
being in a United flight

and right next
to the cockpit window

here's...
[chuckling] an inflatable
blow-up doll going at you.

One time, somebody called
from southern Kentucky.

[low-pitch] "Hey, I found a,
a, a blow-up doll, and it says

if I call, I win something."

[static]

And we'll go for the cheap laugh
if we have to. We wanna
make people happy.

-[cross talk]
-Come on down
and hang out with us,

Mancow's Morning Madhouse,
as we broadcast live

from the south side. I am...

I'm Mancow. The Mancow.

And that's a stupid radio name,
but that's, that's it, it stuck.

I didn't grow up in Chicago.
I didn't know Chicago.

I am competing
against the company

that is running
The Kevin Matthews Show.

And you'll never be
Kevin Matthews.
Kevin Matthews is the greatest.

-Yeah!
-[cheering and clapping]

Come on over! Oh,
this is glo-- this is glorious.

This is glorious! This is--

This is Kevin Matthews'
BuSpar? Hmm.

Your franchise is dying
over there, and they know it.

That dinosaur radio
is not working.

He's an a******. He's like
a little gnat, you know?

Uh... [scoffs]

...hey, man, life's too short.
You know what I'm saying?
Life's too short.

[young Mancow]
Your million dollar ****
treating people like this?

-Well, the prodigal son...
-[Mancow] I mean, look,

Kevin and I
were put in a very
uncomfortable position.

You know, this guy is--
it's 1994.

This guy's the king of the hill,
and this is business.

And if I don't get ratings,
I'm fired, and I wanna feed,

I wanna feed myfamily! It was--

it was a bloodbath, man.

It was-- e--
every second we had to fight.

We're fighting
for the same advertisers,

the same celebrities,
the s-- everything.

So, they really put us
in a pressure cooker situation,

and they goosed the hatred.

And we, we developed
a real hatred for each other.

[engines rumbling]

[Kevin]
We were animal house,

but at the same time,
I also had Catholic faith.

I'm a weekend warrior.
I'm a zombie Catholic.

And why can't zombies--
why do-- I--

One thing I've wanted
to work on.

Why do zombies always have
to dress so poorly?

That's a side note.

When I was on The Loop,
there was a nun,

her name was Sister Honora,

and she knew
how popular The Loop was,

and she asked me once,
"Can you help me get diapers?"

Because she would take in

mothers who were addicted
to crack, cocaine.

And I said, "Yeah,
of course, I will."

And I said, on the air,
I said, "Hey, Sister needs us.

She wants us to get diapers,
but I don't want you

to just drop off
one... package of d--

I-- who-- I want people
to buy pallets of diapers."

For the years, years,
and years, we--

hundreds of thousands
of diapers went to her.

Just the outpouring
from the audience.

You know,
the charity involvement,

we used to do a big food drive,

and Kevin
would get behind it too.

The audience was so charitable
and they were charitable

because of the personalities
like Kevin.

If Kevin said,
"This is important to me,"

it was im--
then it was important to us,
the audience.

You know, tur-- he's very,
uh, philanthropic.

He always has been,
he's very charity-centric.

You know,
we had so much fun golfing.

Kev said, uh, "Why don't
we have a golf outing?"

And we had the first ever
Jim Shorts golf outing.

[light inspirational music]

It was memorable, the first one,
wi-- without a question.

He got all the celebrities
to agree to come out and play.

We had some Kev-Heads.

Well, we broadcast
from the outing.

All right, well, Jim,
as you can see here,
we're here at the, uh,

beginning of your golf outing.
Looks like it's shaping up
to be a great day.

We've got a lot of celebrities,
uh, who've come out today.

[Kevin]
In ten years,
I got kicked out of ten courses.

So, think of what
you've gotta do

to get kicked out of a course.

We did it ten years in a row.

-[crowd cheering and laughing]
-[indistinct chatter]

[Kevin]
You've got a gallery
of 4000 people.

There's a woman who parachutes
out of a plane in a bikini,

lands on the tee box,
hands me my ball.

I tee it up and start.

And then, we had the banquet
and a food fight starts.

Steve McMichael, of the Bears,
takes his prime rib

and throws it at Jerry Taft,
the weather guy.

Broke windows.
Uh, chip-- it was, uh--

The course is ruined. And,
and you'd get these letters.

"We're never having you guys.
You're sophomoric."

It was just... chaos.

-[inaudible chatter]
-We earned $310,000

"for the kids."
But by the time the bar bill

and the damages,
we gave "the kids,"

guess how much. We made 310,000.

We gave the kids
a check for $3000.

[laughs]

And I'll never forget that.

[laughing continues] Talk about
a disappointment, you know.

You, y-- you bring out
a big cardboard check

and it's 3000?

We tried... [laughing] you know,
we tried, for the kids.

-[light cheerful music]
-[airplane engine whirring]

I broke Pearl Jam.
We were the first
to play U2 and The Clash,

Amy Winehouse and Boy George.

I worked with Tim Allen,
Jerry Seinfeld,

this is before Seinfeld.

-[cheering and clapping]
-I'm doing stand-up comedy.

-[clicking]
-One time, we did 65,000 people.

It was a Kevin Matthews
comedy jam.

I had Dana Carvey,
Mike Myers on the bill.

-Uh, Ellen DeGeneres.
This is before her show.
-[crowd cheering]

♪ You're just
Too good to be true ♪

♪ Can't keep my eye... ♪

[crowd laughing and clapping]

♪ ...off of you ♪

The audience
and everybody on the air,

we ran hot. Really hot.

And it was just nonstop.
Brandmeier in the morning,

me mid-day,
Steve Gary in the afternoon.

Nobody could touch us.

[Jim]
...WLUP. And now,

here is Kevin Matthews!

[Kevin]
Thank you, Jim Shorts.
Eight o'clock here in Chicago...

[gentle music]

Now, and when I'm on The Loop,
yeah, I'm Catholic,

but I'm like, "Yeah, right."

I was a Sunday weekend
"look at me" Catholic.

[serene music]

Growing up,
I always had a fear of God.

The Catholic faith back then,
I didn't understand that.

It was scary. The nuns,
you know, they were brutal.

I soon got a big fear of God.

And so, now, I've got to...

...con him, you know.

Uh, "He's not gonna see me
do this," you know.

"I," you know,
"that golf outing,
that stripper.

Nah, he," you know,
"it was for the kids."

-[light melancholic music]
-[scoffs]

I literally had a priest
at one of the golf outings.

Turn around, he's looking,

he's seeing what's happening
up on... the green.

And... he just shook his head.

He kind-- "Well,
it's for the kids."

He just-- y--
it was a disappointment.

Again, that's a con.
"Look at what I--

hey, I can have
strippers at a golf,

but it's the good strippers
because we're helping kids,

okay?"

And-- so that's
the con, you know.

And then, it's--
started to crack.

Satellite radio.

Uh, Steve and Gary broke up,
Johnny went to LA.

Larry Wert went to television.

I went to ABC, CBS,

then lot of turbulence.

[clicks]

I compare it to the Titanic.

We hit a giant iceberg.

I'm on deck.
I'm starting to lean,
I see all these deck chairs.

"Hey, something's going on."
People are jumping in lifeboats.

You know,
I can't jump, you know.

Uh, I'm a fat guy,
and I'll take up too much room.

It's women and children,
and, I-- uh, we all sank.

Simple as that. Advertisers,

"We're not getting
the ratings we can."

They f-- wanted to cut
my pay in half,

but I still
making them millions,
I'm like, "No, I'm out of here."

And it just collapsed.

And so, I went back to Michigan
where it all started.

[water lapping gently]

[static]

I was doing my morning show,
I was on the air and, um,

it was 7:16 in the morning,
I couldn't move.

I thought I was having a stroke,
and they took an MRI.

You know, I went in
with my wife, they said,

"We think you have a brain tumor
and it's the size of a walnut.

And where it's at,
we can't operate.

So, what we suggest is you go
and g-- get your life in order."

And this is it.
I'm done. I'm dead.

[light melancholic music]

You know, I was an hour away
from getting a brain biopsy

and they said,
"It's, uh, it's MS.
It's a rare form of MS."

And I'm, like,
jumping up and down.

"Great! Cool!
That's good, right?"

And, uh, and then,

you know, that--
then the treatment for that

and everything,
it got real tough, you know.

And, um, it was hard
for me to be on the air.

It was hard-- I, you know, I--
the last thing I wanted to do

is radio, the heat, the stress.

Eventually, it cost me
my job because I wasn't

"the old funny Kev."

New owners come in.
They don't care.

"They wanna see you downstairs.
You're fired."

Two weeks notice, and I'm done.

I've been 35 years in radio
and I get two weeks'
severance pay.

That's it. Good luck.

So, you talk about broken,

you talk about hitting
rock bottom.

Yep. There we go.

[static]

[music continues]

Comedy has always been my way
of-- it's a shield.

It's my baby blanket
that my dad threw away.

When I got MS,
what did I use? Comedy.

They didn't know.
They said it's a brain-- it--

"We think it's a brain tumor.
Where it's located,
you're gonna die.

So prepare yourself.
Have a good h-- Christmas."

And I, I'm thinking, "Wow,
that's a good comedy bit.

You know, my last Christmas.
I hope the gifts are good.

You know, I can't
take 'em back, I'll be dead."

Everything about it,
I wouldn't-- I... saw my MRI

and there's my brain.
I said to my wife,
"Look, I do have a brain."

Or they're gonna drill
a hole in my head.

And I'm thinking of
The Three Stooges,you know,

with the... [mimics whirring]
I, I can't be serious.

I was so broken,

and it was until I said,
"I'm so broken,

I give-- here...

...the pieces,

the garbage, the beatings.

I give it to you,
give it to you. Help me."

Boom! My life changed.

[music continues]

[birds chirping]

[leaves rustling]

It's 2009 now. I'm in Chicago.

I have to go see my attorney
out in the western suburbs.

And as soon as I get
on the Eisenhower,
I hear a voice

that says, "Go to the cemetery."

As soon as I get close
to the exit,

I hear the voice again.
"Go to the cemetery."

I thought,
"Uh, okay." And I went
and I went up on Wolf Road

and there's
this cemetery entrance,
it's huge.

And there's a statue,
there's a big cross.

Huge cross
of Jesus Christ crucified.

And I walked to the cross,
it's so tall.

I put my hand up
on the feet of Christ.

I prayed.

And as soon as I said,
"I'm so afraid, help me,"

water started po--
coming down on my hand,

and it's not raining,
it's, it's coming down,

and I couldn't move my hand
because of the MS.

I couldn't. It was, it was numb.
I couldn't do this.

And suddenly,
I put the water on my head

and I poured the water
on my legs.

And I can do this.

And I just laughed and I got
in my car and I went home.

I didn't--
I wanted to go see my wife,

I didn't wanna see the attorney.

And I said, "Debbie,
look it, I can do this.

I went to the cemetery."
And a day would go by,

two days, and it's,
like, I forgot God.

I was back to my old self.
I can use my hand, you know.

"Maybe I can go online again.
Maybe, you know,
I can smoke cigarettes now.

I can hold a beer. It's awesome.

Thanks, God. Bye-bye."

[gentle music]

And I realized now I wouldn't--

And two years later, I would...

...come face-to-face
with Jesus Christ.

When I actually came back
to Michigan, you know,

I went to church and I knew
Father Mark, this priest.

When I came back,
the last thing I wanted to do

was to look at a statue of Mary.

No.

Mm-mm. So I just, you know.

"Hey," you know.
"Hey, how's it going?"

You know.
You know that, that one.

-[producer speaks]
-Uh, it's just, you know,

again, it was, you know, th--

when you have women parachuting
out of a plane in a bikini,

you know, it's like,
"Enough." You know?

And then, you see purity
like that, and it's, like,

"No, I can't do that.
I'll go to confession."

So, this is my first confession
since fourth grade.

So here we are later.
And I give my confession
to Father Mark.

And it was after that,
I was able to finally look

at the statue of the Virgin Mary
in Saint Anthony's
and say, "I'm sorry."

[music continues]

Wow.

Okay. I've just lost my job.
I've got MS.

Oh, and I just was diagnosed
with type 2 diabetes.

At least my wife
is back in town,
we've got a house.

I'm thinking,
"What am I gonna do?

I've got
a two-week severance pay.

What am I gonna do?"
I'm-- like, Saturday,
I'm driving. I hear a voice.

-[light suspenseful tone]
-"Get your wife some flowers."

I look up, flower shop.
I pull in,

and I look over,
and there's a dumpster.

I see this statue lying
on the ground,

and I know it's a statue
of the Virgin Mary.

And I look, and she is--
her eyes are looking at me.

She's on her back.
She has no hands,

she's broken in half,
she's covered in dirt
and garbage and weeds.

But I'm like, "That's wrong."

[gentle music]

And as soon as I--

I saw that,
I heard... this voice,

it's Christ,

say, "Will you deny Me?
Will you deny My mother?"

I'm, like--
and it all happened so quickly.

And I turn around
and I go into the flower shop.

I'm all by myself.
And the-- "Can I help you?"

And I said,
"I wanna buy that statue

that's-- of the Virgin Mary
that's out by the dumpster."

"Oh, no, no, no, no,
that's not for sale.

That's a family heirloom."

And I'm thinking to myself,
"I'll come back and steal it."

Right? I'm a junkyard dog.
But then, I hear
that voice again,

"Will you deny Me?
Will you deny My mother?"

And in that second,

I close my eyes and I say,
"God, help me."

And I said, "I'll give
to the nuns that live out here."

W-- I have no idea
what I just said.

I have no idea
about nuns living out here.

But the woman goes,
"I know your voice.

You're Kevin Matthews.

You, you were on the radio,
you got fired."

I go, "Yeah." "What happened?"

I'm, like, "You know,
it's a long story." But--

She goes,
"Sure, sure." You know.
So I go out and I pick it up

and she's heavy awf--
and say, you know,

I don't wanna talk
about a woman's weight,

but man! And it took me
like an hour 'cause I got MS,

and I wrap her up,
and I didn't buy
my wife flowers.

And I got on in my car.

The radio comes on,
I turn that off.

I hate radio now.
I'm never gonna listen to that.

Turn up the heat.
And I said, "Mary,
I'll take care of you."

[gentle music]

I called up Father Mark.
I said, "Listen,
I found this statue.

Where can I get her fixed?"
And he told me
about a monument maker.

He looks at her. "Oh, yeah,
we can put her together

and I can put new hands on her

and I can paint her,
she won't even look broken."

And that's,
that's when I start crying.

I said, "No,
I don't want her fixed."

I said, "She reminds me of me.
I was garbage."

I've got MS,
I'm busted, I'm broken,
I'm garbage... [stutters]

...I could really relate.
I said, "No, I want it.

Just put it together,
keep her hands broken,

keep chips, everything."

[music continues]

[clinking]

[clanks]

[soft rustling]

If you saw the movie Cast Away,
she was my Wilson.

I'm still smoking back then,
got a mullet, kinda,
you know, smoking--

I'd have coffee.
I'd see Mary. "Hey, Mary.

[inhaling] How you doing, Mary?

Mary, how are you doing?
How you doing, Mary?

Yeah, Mary. Da, da, da, da, da."

And eventually,
a year went by. Two years go by.

I've got a Mary
in my dining room.

And for Lent,
I wanted to recite the Rosary.

And I didn't know
how to say the Rosary,
I didn't even know what it was.

And I had to google
how to say the Rosary.

An Irish guy comes up
and I'm listening to him
and I'm doing the Rosary.

Father Mark reminds me,

"Hey, you--
don't you owe nuns money?"

I'm like, "Wh-- [stutters] what?
Yeah. Wait, what are you--

are there nuns out here?"
"Yeah. They're Franciscans.

And bring the statue
and tell everybody, um,

just-- the story." I said,
"I kept her broken because,"

I said, "we're all broken
and we're loved by God."

[light ethereal music]

And I kept thinking
about what he said that night

and kept thinking
about that statue.

And I said, "You know, you need
to share this story in church.

You need to talk about this.
You need to bring Bo--
Broken Mary to church."

And I'm thinking,
"Sure." I can't say no.

And I've done comedy.

I've opened for Seinfeld
and Bill Hicks.

How hard is church?

You talk about dying.
I'm getting no laughs, right?

I'm like, "Oh, man." Flop sweat.

Uh, but I say it,
"We're all broken."

Now I gotta do it again
at the ten o'clock.

I get done with the ten o'clock,
I get done and I say,

"Father Mark, I don't wanna do
the 11:30. I am dying up here."

And he said, "Kevin,
why don't you turn around?

There were people kneeling
in front of this statue."

[music continues]

And it was as though
Jesus was saying,

"I'm gonna leave you
with My mother,

and she's gonna clean you up."

That's what it was.
"I'm gonna leave you
with My mother,

and she's gonna clean you up."

And it was unbelievable.

And from that point on,

he knew and I knew there was
something special about this.

[inaudible chatter]

I think Kevin is actually
my best friend.

Um, I'm really surprised
by that.

[inaudible chatter]

Here's a man who's had
a true conversion.

Here's a man
who loves God so much.

Um, I didn't know
Kevin Matthews,

I think somebody
mentioned him to me.

Somebody brought him
into the church,

and Kevin walked in,

and I was up on a ladder
changing a light bulb.

And I was called down
and he said,

"This is Kevin Matthews."
And I gave no reaction
'cause I'd never heard of him.

I grew up in Canada,
in northern Canada,

I didn't know who Kevin was.

But he, he told me
this story of this statue
that he had in the car,

the statue that was broken
and was restored.

When he first brought out
the statue,

it was on the steps
of the, of the church.

And he opened the box.
Remember, she had her own box.

And it was just so simple,
you know. She had no hands,

uh, a crack right through
the center of the statue,

but her face was beautiful
and charming.

[gentle music]

I had this inspiration.

"It's time for Kevin
to come home to Chicago

and let's show Chicago
this broken statue."

I knew that showing
the city a statue of Mary

found in a dumpster
with an icon like Kevin
that they once adored

would make huge impact. And I,
I had that image 'cause, like,

who doesn't know the name
Kevin Matthews in the city?

But the events that led
to this procession
were miraculous.

And when I think
about it now, it amazes me.

We had to go through two
major police districts.

I'm asking to close down
Chicago Avenue.

I was asking for Friday,
May 31st, a Friday night in May.

Chicago Avenue is four lanes,
it's one of the biggest streets
in Chicago.

I'm asking for the street
to be closed down.

I went down to City Hall
and I asked the lady,

and she said, "Father, I,
I don't know if we,
we can do this."

And she said,
"What's the name again?"

I said, "It's called
'Hope for the Broken'."

This was the name
of the event. I put it.

She wrote it in and she said,
"Isn't that true, Father?

We need hope for the broken."
She started to cry a little bit

about the violence in our city.

She started to weep
a bit about-- just--

there was a heartache
in her heart.

I went home
and three days later,

their permit was,
was, was approved.

No fees, nothing.

"Let's show Chicago this,
this broken statue

-of the Virgin Mary
because it has a message."
-[music continues]

The big day came,
May 31st, and we thought,
"What have we done?

Is this gonna be okay?
Are people gonna come?"

Minutes before
the actual event started,

there was almost no one
in the church.

And then,
Kevin and I just prayed
and surrendered and said,

"Mary, whatever you want."
And... that's when

the people just started coming.

[light inspirational music]

[reporter]
We are about ready
to have a procession

with thousands of people.

What is the procession for?
It's for Our Lady of the Broken.

[Joshua]
I couldn't believe it.
Walking on Chicago Avenue,

policemen and women
from every district.

So, she went from a dumpster
to a bed of roses

being carried
by police and firemen.

[stutters] It was unbelievable.

And on a Friday night in Chicago
down Chicago Avenue.

[Joshua]
There were people
in restaurants and cafés,

and there were even people
who were doing drugs

and homeless people
on the streets.

And I remember,
as the procession
with Broken Mary move--

moved along,
people joined the procession.

I wanted it to be
for the healing of our city,

and just before this procession,
a high-ranking police officer,

Commander Bauer, was shot.

And he left behind a wife
and a daughter.

Unbeknownst to me,
in that procession that night,

when we got to the water tower,
the wife of Commander Bauer

came up to me and said,
"Thank you. This did more

to really assuage my heart
than anything,

than anything that, that h--
that the city has, has done."

And she was just so moved
by this p-- procession.

If that was what this was for,
it was worth it.

[music continues]

And we said a prayer to Mary,
asking her to heal our,
our city.

It was beautiful.

[indistinct chatter]

[clicks]

The statue... [exhales]
of Broken Mary has been

at the cathedral here
in Chicago.

It's been in the most
beautiful churches.

Kevin takes the statue
everywhere, you know.

He's probably taken it
to churches in every single part
of the United States.

And, um,
he calls himself Mary's roadie.

So I've seen the statue
in some of the most
beautiful cathedrals.

I've seen it on city squares.

So I'm very honored
to introduce tonight's speaker,

the famed, the only,
Kevin Matthews.

-[crowd clapping]
-[Kevin] Thank you,
thank you, thank you,

thank you, thank you, thank you.

Oh. Thank you, Father,
thank you so much.

Thank you. For the next
five-and-a-half hours,

-you're gonna know everything
there is to know about me, okay?
-[laughter]

Tonight is a celebration.
It's not about me.

It's about us. We're all broken.

It's a journey of hope.

[music continues]

[Mark]
He always said,
from the very beginning,

"Broken Mary isn't mine.

She's not the church's.

Um, she's everybody's."

In his former life,
when Kevin was speaking

to an audience
of ten million people weekly,

he was so funny
and he connected to people,

and now, he connects
with people even more.

God sent me to a dumpster...

...to meet His son,
who would leave me with His mom.

Our blessed mother
was there to clean me up.

And I was filthy.

I say she doesn't belong to me.
She belongs to the broken.

If you know anybody
who's sick, take her.

People started
to take the statue.

Hospice, emergency rooms.
People were dying with her.

Men walked miles home
to the sick

and they would leave notes.

[Joshua]
You can never measure
success by numbers,

but I believe there's something
very deep and real

in the people
that Kevin is touching.

He is touching so many lives
of people who have been hurting

or broken,
and I think those people

are going
to affect people as well.

[Tammie]
Four years ago, in March,

March 28th to be exact, is--
um, our life changed.

I came home from work
that day and found that, uh,

my son had died by suicide.

That completely shattered me.

Um, our family, everything
was kind of a blur for a while.

Our real good friends
of our family asked me to come

to, uh, hear Broken Mary,
the Rosary.

Um, and that kind of turned
everything around for me.

And people will say to you,
in times like this,

"I understand
what you're feeling."

Um, I don't really think
that that is true,

unless they have walked
in my shoes.

And it dawned on me
there is somebody
that has walked in my shoes.

In the stations of the cross,
there's one station

where Mary is kneeling
at the base of the,
the crucified Christ.

And... it dawned on me,

"She knows the depths
of my hurt, my brokenness.

She was a mom,
first and foremost,
just like me.

I don't have to tell her
how shattered I am inside.

She knows there's a heart
that is shattered
and it's exploded."

But what's left in the middle
is a shattered heart

that is even more beautiful
than what I had before.

[light melancholic music]

[inhales deeply]

And that's what
the Broken Mary is.

She's beautiful,
even with her cracks.

I--

[music continues]

[inaudible chatter]

[Kevin]
There's one woman here
by the name of Cor,

and I was speaking
on the south side
a few years ago

and I was out getting ready
to come out and speak

and I hear our blessed mother
say, "Go to her

and tell her
that she will be fine."

Now, I go up to Cor,

and then I said to her,
"You're gonna be all right."

And we met afterwards,

and I found out that she's
been battling breast cancer.

I was diagnosed
with breast cancer
in June of 2018,

and I just basically came up
to him and said to him, I said,

"How can Broken Mary help
guide me through,

you know,
my breast cancer journey?"

I was, uh,

desperate.
I think a lot of times,

so many people are lost
they don't know
who to turn to anymore.

Showing them that it's okay
to be broken,

it is okay to ask for help,

and it is okay
to have faith also.

You're not alone.

And actually, I just had a visit

with my oncologist yesterday

and I haven't told Kevin yet.

-And it's all clear.
-[hopeful music]

The cancer has not spread.

[chuckling]
I gotta just take that
and relish in it, you know?

[inaudible chatter]

Started listening to,
to Kevin back in 1996

and I was a Kev-Head instantly.
And I said, "You know, I--

I'd lo-- I, I would like
to be on the radio.

[chuckling] Why don't I try
this? What about broadcasting?"

So I, you know, I followed him
as, as my life kinda,

you know, I went to Chicago
and then I read about,

you know, MS, and,

you know,
it really-- it-- it hit me

hearing all of his interviews
and everything

that he was going through
while I was going through

something pretty big
at the time, uh,

you know, I was, uh,
out of control with my alcohol.

Uh, I was, I was an alcoholic
and I didn't know it

and I just
didn't wanna admit it.

And I was really struggling
in my late twenties,

throughout my thirties,
uh, feeling broken.

When he comes out and talks
about all these experiences

and these miracles
and his transformation,
his conversion.

And he talked about, you know,
how, you know, we're all broken,

but we're loved by God,
and, and I, I--

You, you felt-- I felt that way.

Through that inspiration
of Broken Mary

and Kev putting himself
out there,

Kev being so brave,
asking, "I'm all in."

Like, wh--
"Let me do your work."

And I went into
this adoration chapel
one day after work

in September of 2018, and...

...I just said, "I'm done.
I want to be closer with you.

God, I wanna live.
I wanna do your will."

And I just said,
"Help me to just stop.

Give me the grace and,
and strength to stop."

And I walked out of that,
you know, chapel

and here we are, just about
six years later, sober.

No urges, no setbacks.
Thank God it's one day
at a time,

but... having
that experience of,

of knowing
what Kevin went through,

and here's somebody that I've...

...revered and, and held--

you know, it's just
such a high standard

from everything he did
in radio and, and it--

for it to come
kinda full circle that way...

...it is a miracle.

[inaudible chatter]

You cannot understand
how we were played like puppets.

And, and we were, you know,
we were put against each other.

And, and it-- it's just,
it's a God thing
that we're friends now.

We have more power together
than we had

being big radio superstars
fighting each other.

He's taught me forgiveness.
And, and we have love
and brotherhood.

[inaudible chatter]

And you and I are like,
like pit bulls or,

-or, you know--
-[Kevin] Yeah, right. It is.

It's like dog fighting.

And, and, uh, and-- so--

-But we're friends now.
-We're friends. But I just,

I-- you know, and I--
you know, I've cried about this.

I've cried about it a lot
with you and without you

being around. I mean, I, I--

-you're a lovely guy and,
and I...
-[Kevin] Than--

...I-- it's, it's horrible.

-You know,
I wish I could go back.
-I-- I-- But--

-yeah, but-- oh, hey, buddy--
-I'm sorry.

-[crying] You know-- I know.
-I love you.

-But it's at the same time.
-I know.

-I know.
-I mean, I, I love
my friendship with you.

-That's what I care about.
-Yeah.

[gentle music]

When my dad was dying,

he'd ask for forgiveness.
What he did was horrendous.

But what I've done
or what anybody watching--
can be horrendous.

And if you ask God
for forgiveness,

you are forgiven.

And he, he closes his eyes,

and I, I whispered to him,
I said, "Dad, it's okay to go.

It's okay to forgo--
I, I forgive you.

You-- go. Go."

And he did. He went.

You know, and it's just-- wow!

A big piece of baggage...

...went with him.

It touched me and it touches
everybody that sees that statue.

Nobody's perfect.

And what a better way
to represent that

than through a statue
of the blessed mother

who is... broken.

People can relate
to that brokenness.

[music continues]

[Kevin]
What I love most about me
at this point in my life

is that I'm so broken.

I'm a sinner. I've done
so many things I'm ashamed of.

I'm broken. But I know,
without a doubt,

I'm loved by God.

We're all broken,
but we're loved by God,

and thank you so much
and to my crew

and to my friends here
and to Father.

God bless you all.

[crowd clapping]

Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you.

[inaudible chatter]

Let me say this carefully.

There are very few people
in life that I think
are saints on, on Earth.

But Kevin is one of the few
that I actually think
might be a saint on Earth.

Often, people who are close
to God suffer a lot,

but it doesn't
take away their joy

because suffering, uh,
can exist even in that joy.

And Kevin has that kind of joy
where it's not happiness,

it's not satisfaction,
it's not relief.

But we don't seek relief.
It's something deeper.

The healing God gives
is always deeper

than the physical infirmities.
There's something deeper
in our hearts.

-[inspirational music]
-[inaudible chatter]

God uses us with the gifts
that we've been given,

and God has given him some gifts

that he can relate to people,

that he could relate
on the radio,

and now can relate
in a whole different way.

I've never been happier
in my life.

[inaudible chatter]

I'm sore.

I feel like Joe Pesci
in the movie,

uh, Casino,in the cornfield.

Baseball bats.
But I've got so much.

I've got beautiful grandkids.
I got a beautiful wife.
I've got so much.

God is continually
bombarding me with gifts.

God, who I was so afraid of...

...for so long. I've never
been happier in my life.

[Mark]
And then...

...we have Kevin,

-who leads our Rosary
on Saturday afternoon.
-[coughing]

[exhales sharply]
People don't understand that.

He doesn't hang out
with strippers anymore.

He hangs out
with nuns and priests.

-[inaudible chatter]
-[music continues]

I used to do comedy as a shield.

Now, when I speak,
there's no cigarette smoke.

It's not a comedy club.
There's no 25-cent beers.

I don't do great. I, yeah--
Do I get standing ovations? No.

Mary does. God does. Jesus does.

I'm just that roadie.

Straps her in and takes her off
for the next gig.

I love what I do now.
I have less money.
I have less things.

It's like throwing out
of a balloon.

All this stuff,
this weight, this garbage,

"I don't need this."
And I'm flying higher.

I've never been happier
in my life.

[rattling]

[Joshua]
People are looking
for a spectacle,

but sometimes,
God doesn't use a spectacle.

He came to us in a manger,
in, in poverty.

And this story of Broken Mary
is not a spectacle.

When you look at her,
you're not gonna see
anything special.

You're gonna see
a broken statue.

And even in the work
that she does,

you have to have the humility
to see what she's doing,

because what God is doing
through the story

of Kevin Matthews
and Broken Mary

is something much more--

it's something
much more ordinary,

but it's something much deeper.

There's a deeper healing,
a healing of the heart.

[Kevin]
This is not about me.
The story is about us.

[music increases]

[gentle music]

[upbeat music]

[music continues]

[gentle music]

[music continues]

[music ends]