‘Last Man Standing’: Read Mike Baxter’s First Outdoor Man Message Since Cancellation

With the highly-anticipated return of Last Man Standing comes a brand new Outdoor Man goodbye message from Tim Allen’s Mike Baxter.

For Friday’s season 7 premiere, Mike’s goodbye message as part of his Vlog for his outdoors sporting good shop took on the subject of better communication among American families.

“Hey, Make Baxter for Outdoor Man, here to talk about, well, talking,” Mike starts his monologue. “It’s one of my favorite hobbies.”

“A wise man once said ‘if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all… then it was said an even wiser man said to that guy, ‘look jackass, listen up you might learn something.’”

“Alright you got me, I’m the second wise man in the story… Let’s be honest, if nobody is talking then nobody is listening. If nobody is listening then nobody is learning, and if nobody is learning then good TV shows get canceled,” Mike added, referencing the ABC cancellation of the show back in 2017 one more time, receiving a massive wave of applause and cheers from the live studio audience.

“But even in our country, and in our families, not communicating seems to be the weapon of choice right now. We unfriend, unlike and unfollow in tad of trying to understand each other. Now, it doesn’t matter what side you’re on…. although one side has the word “right” right in it… if we just honker down in our own separate corners, nobody wins… except location services on your phone.”

He continued: “In America we’ve always been able to have conversations, civil rights, Vietnams, the human baked potato, Kanye West… he’s yours, he’s ours, he’s yours — literally we don’t want him…”

“So to families of America and to the American family, keep talking. Unless you know a smarter guy with better ideas than talking… you can just listen to him.”

He ended the note with his signature, “Baxter out!” as the episode ended.

The message was likely inspired by the episode’s central plot line involving the Baxter family being unable to discuss politics as they once used to without getting into heated arguments.

Last Man Standing made its triumphant return Friday more than a year since ABC canceled the series back in May 2017. The series addressed the cancellation multiple times during the premiere episode, even having Mike call them “a bunch of idiots” in the opening scene.

The new season of Last Man Standing airs Fridays at 8 p.m. ET on Fox.