Is Bert Kreischer a Barbarian or a Comedian? Bert Explains Himself

Bert Kreischer goes topless within the first minute of his new Netflix special, Secret Time.

But don’t let that scare or mislead you. Kreischer is just telling jokes up there. So why is he baring his hairy chest and big ol’ belly for all to see?

“I wish I had a more clear answer,” he joked on the phone with Decider last week about his no-shirt onstage policy. “At the beginning (of shows), I’d rip it off, kill a beer, and then put it back on. Then one time in Columbus, this woman started giggling. I stoped to ask her why, and she said, ‘You kept your shirt off.’ I didn’t realize I’d forgotten to put it back on.”

For his first Showtime comedy special in 2016, Bert Kreischer: The Machine, he’d planned to tour the road with his shirt on, but then perform the special topless. “Showtime was like, ‘You should wear a shirt.’ I’ve never been so uncomfortable with a shirt! Then The Machine went viral. Now, when I go onstage, Joe Rogan said, ‘Holy s—, they f—ing lose their minds!'”

This story from his Showtime special alone has 8.4 million views and counting on YouTube:

“Last night, working out with Bill Burr in the Belly Room (upstairs in The Comedy Store) and the Main Room. In the work-out room, I had my shirt on,” Kreischer said. When they both performed later down in the main room, he lost the top. Burr cracked afterward, “I guess we take the shirt off when it matters.”

Netflix definitely matters to Kreischer. He hopes The Machine will be available on the streaming giant for viewers to watch after taking in Secret Time.

Kreischer may be familiar or very familiar to TV viewers, having hosted multiple series for The Travel Channel (Bert The Conquerer, Trip Flip) as well as several different series and specials for Comedy Central. Even if you cannot find some or most of it online.

No worries. “Since what’s changing in the world is people wanting to own their content, anything fun I’ve done on Travel Channel, I’ve ripped myself and put it on YouTube or someone else has,” he said.

Kreischer has 208,000 YouTube subscribers, and also posts video editions of his Bertcast podcast there for streaming convenience. “I think everyone should be doing video, as well (as audio). It’s just another way to find you,” he said. “Rogan said, ‘No no no, shoot video, and audio, let people rip, don’t worry about losing money. You’re gaining fans.”

“So I started consistently shooting video, probably a couple of years now, consistently every episode,” he said. “If I’m looking for something on a podcast, I go to YouTube. I think it’s integral to do both.”

Fans of Bert already know that he has a longstanding rivalry with fellow comedian Tom Segura, who has become more famous thanks to his own Netflix specials.

DECIDER: What’s the latest chapter in your frenemyship?

BERT: (Laughs.) “I think we’re all revving up for Sober October again. I think we’re all doing that. There’s a bet in the works that we’re all kicking around. No one’s signed off yet because it’s a big bet.”

“Honestly he just had a second baby with his wife, comedian Christina P. He’s just blown away that I ran a triathlon. ‘You’re fat as shit! How did you do that?'”

So how did you do that?

“I Micky Mantled that shit. Just focused on finishing. I trained for the swimming…and even so, I almost died out there. And then biking is biking, and for the run, you jog. I jogged.”

So what’s really keeping you and Segura from committing to your next public challenge?

“It’s me. I’m the one holding off (on the bet). If i told you why you’d end up knowing what the bet is.”

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Let’s hope we find out soon.

Bert Kreischer: Secret Time debuts Friday, August 24 on Netflix, but don’t let that stop you from adding it to your “My List” now.

Sean L. McCarthy works the comedy beat for his own digital newspaper, The Comic’s Comic; before that, for actual newspapers. Based in NYC but will travel anywhere for the scoop: Ice cream or news. He also tweets @thecomicscomic and podcasts half-hour episodes with comedians revealing origin stories: The Comic’s Comic Presents Last Things First.

Watch Bert Kreischer: Secret Time on Netflix starting on 8/24/18