Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley are the very definition of crowd-pullers. Not only the audience but even the panelists alongside them are fascinated by them. One of the major reasons for that is their humor. The way they speak and the way their jokes land makes them at par with some professional comedians! The facial expressions are always engrossing and there is no holding back either.

Charles Barkley is an expert at coupling humor with weighty opinions. That’s why he generates widespread praise and business-like interest from people across all sports and from non-sports personalities too. Something similar happened recently.

Charles Barkley gets huge praise from a legend

The Chuckster appeared on TNT’s show Face Off which is styled after NBA on TNT. Charles Barkley and the Inside the NBA show is the heartbeat of TNT’s NBA coverage, which has made for an endless stream of popular stories. The popularity of the show among NBA fans is off-the-charts continually. Therefore, it is not surprising that NHL legend Wayne Gretzky made a recruiting pitch to Charles Barkley.

He acknowledged Barkley’s contributions to selling the NHL by appearing on the show. He stated, “What you do for our game and how you sell our sports, you are such a great ambassador for all the kids out there. You don’t need to go take that news job, you can come on our show, you know more about hockey than we do.” 

To this Barkley hilariously responded, “Apparently with this new talk show, I am jumping on a Titanic.” The news show here refers to Barkley’s joint venture with veteran TV broadcaster Gayle King. The show is titled King Charles, and it aims to cover both political and pop culture issues. 

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This show is going to launch this fall, so we are still a couple of months away from the release. Perhaps the reference to ‘Titanic’ is the declining popularity of cable news. Will this project help CNN salvage its falling viewership? With a sports-loving allrounder like Chuck – no doubt!

Chuckster loves many sports

Sir Charles’ favorite sport isn’t the one that gave him household recognition. The Inside the NBA commentator recently sat down with the Chiefs’ tight end Travis Kelce and labeled football as his favorite sport. The Former Philadelphia 76ers All-Star also consistently ventures into golfing adventures.

There have been some humorous clips of Chuck playing golf but Gretzky during the Face Off show lauded the improvement in his game. Barkley also came out in support of golfers Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson when they signed a massive deal with the Saudi Arabia-backed LIV Golf tour. 

Chuck also constantly comments on the political situations in the USA and has had his fair share of controversial remarks. The TV personality has earned his laurels after his playing career got over and his post-playing career is arguably as successful as his playing days. 

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What venture will the fun-loving Chuck take up next? Share your thoughts in the comments!