Brian Tyler Cohen | Club Random

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And you attribute this to Judaism.

This must be like a.

We can't arm.

those.

I have no gastrointestinal system.

I'm allergic to.

You with your show and getting out of bed at three in the morning, stoned out of your mind.

Doesn't have thoughts.

Hi.

Good to meet you.

Excuse my left.

No problem.

Broke my fuck you finger.

It's been one of those months.

You ever have one of those months where you just like all these nagging little injuries?

You know,

Not the just the things that make your life annoying because you're like.

I've gotten to the point where I have to be careful when I'm like shampooing that I don't do it too hard or I'll like

tweak my neck, you know?

I wrestled like 20 years ago at this point.

Oh, really?

All throughout middle school, high school, a little bit in college.

Just because you like guys?

Just because I like guys, yeah.

Apparently it's a sport, too.

No.

And like, man, it seemed fine at the time, but does it wreak havoc on your body after that?

Man, when I was in high school, I remember we had to do wrestling.

It was like one of the, there was like winter sports in like one again.

And that was one of the winter ones, you know, like one week basketball, next week wrestling.

And God, did I dread those weeks?

I mean, I know it's a sport.

I'm always kidding about the guy thing, although the Greeks would have something to say about that.

But

like the idea of like getting on the ground with another sweaty man

and just wrestling with him.

And that's what it's wrestling.

Yeah, I mean, like, look, if it was like a gym class activity, it would have been a lot less fulfilling.

You know,

we,

I was lucky enough to be on some pretty good teams in school.

And so we traveled across the country.

And

so it was great.

And you learn a lot of discipline.

And like, you know, I mean, it's the hardest, it's the hardest sport in the world.

Sitting there eating lettuce for like 10 months out of the year so that you can keep your weight down.

Yeah.

And taking X Lax.

I remember the wrestlers in our, the the kids would, they would take X-Lax to make weight.

We would have guys that would hold bottles and just spit in bottles all day because you like might get a tenth or two-tenths of a pound of like water weight after the full day.

Or you'd go and, you know, go and run, put Jim, put a garbage bag on you.

I'm surprised they didn't give blood.

Yeah, I mean, you know, it got like...

I gave blood the other day.

A pint of blood maybe weighs.

Hey, any way to get down in weight, granted, you generally want to keep as much blood as you could because you're going to be on the mat 10 minutes later.

But,

you know.

Wow.

But it just seemed boring besides being gross and sweaty and another man.

It just seemed boring because,

I mean, maybe I'm wrong, but there was like four moves, like a sit-out and a this and a that.

And like, you knew they were either you got to do it to them or they do it to you.

And it was just, it's just grunting and it was like taking a shit with another person.

That's what it reminded reminded me of.

Yeah, I mean, you know,

if you're like deep in it and it's your sport, then it becomes just like anything else, right?

But, but you didn't keep up with it.

No.

You're not wrestling guys now.

There's not a whole lot of like post-college opportunities for wrestling.

Good to have you here.

Thank you for coming.

Thanks for having me.

Yeah, right.

It's not something

like pickleball.

Uh-uh.

Like you could just say to a bunch, hey guys, why don't we get on the mat with each other this whole week?

Yeah.

So, you know, bailed on that and

actually moved out here to work in the entertainment industry.

Oh, after wrestling.

Well, yeah, after college.

Right.

Of which wrestling was a very small part.

Right.

Well, if you want to be on the floor with guys, there's a couple of directors I could recommend hanging out with where I'm pretty sure that would happen.

Smooth transition right from wrestling to West Hollywood Living.

To Brian Singer's Party.

Did I add that name right?

No, you got it right.

Is that the guy?

I mean,

his reputation proceeds him.

Say again?

They're not going to sue it.

I mean, that was in the paper.

No, I don't think you can sue over the fact that Brian Singer had parties.

And those are the kind of parties.

It did seem like they were.

Now, look, I also think it's as politically incorrect

as it is to say it.

I just, and it doesn't excuse, you know, really bad behavior, but to pretend that the gay world and the straight world are the same is naive.

They're not.

They're just not.

Yeah, I mean, look, like, you know, my, my, my best friend is gay.

I officiated his his wedding with his husband.

And,

you know,

yeah, that, that's, now I've got my, now I've got my cred.

I've established myself

as an ally.

I did too, by the way.

I also was at a gay wedding.

You know, it's interesting because in the entertainment industry, I think there's so much focus on

there has been so much of a focus for so long on like, on exploiting the differences.

And now I think there's a major focus on like, okay, you can have a gay couple, but that's not going to be, like, you can still have a gay couple in the same storyline that you would have for a straight couple.

And that's, you know, a new thing

in TV and film now, because usually the whole, like the fact that those characters were gay would be the whole storyline, as opposed to now, it's just like they're gay, but that's not relevant to the story.

That's the kind of progress we make that I'm always complaining the left doesn't acknowledge.

They don't want to acknowledge progress because it somehow makes you purer and a better person if you constantly insist that things are worse than ever.

No, I'm not worried.

And they're not.

They're better than ever.

And things like that prove it.

Yeah, I think there's not a whole lot of incentive to continue fighting for progress if you don't get a few moments to celebrate the wins that you've already notched.

You know what I mean?

Big ones.

Yeah.

But But you know, it's, I mean, I've been around longer than you have.

And trust me,

the country is somewhat unrecognizable from the one, certainly the one I grew up in.

Yeah.

You know, I grew up in New Jersey.

Me too.

All white town.

You know, that was just the way it was.

Where in Jersey?

Bergen County.

Okay.

You know, and of course, this is where the liberals live.

Yeah.

But that's where the liberals were in the 60s.

You know,

yeah,

that's, it was wrong, and that's where we were.

And it's just, I mean, it's just, you couldn't even like imagine a show like Friends Now.

Yeah.

If you pitched a show, okay, there's six white,

stop,

stop, come in again, come in again, and pitch this again.

What'd you say?

There's an Asian man in a wheelchair.

Good.

I'm there.

Of course, they always go too far, so there's this way too much box checking before they even write the script.

They have to check the boxes.

Well, you saw, did you see The Studio?

Yes.

Yeah, where they kind of made fun of that one episode where they were trying to figure out who should be, who should, I think the movie was about Kool-Aid, right?

It was the Kool-Aid movie.

And so you don't want too many, well, if there's no black representation in the Kool-Aid movie, and then there's too much representation, and then you have a Kool-Aid movie where it's only black people.

The way that was a genius episode, I'm remembering it now.

Yeah.

Because they worked their way to a place that was completely opposite of where they were intending to go, which was a, I don't know if Seth Rogan, I'm sure he does it.

My thought of him, I may be wrong, is that he's super woke.

But that was not a super woke thing to do.

That was a sly, brilliant sort of commentary on when that shit goes too far.

That they worked themselves all the way back to, what was it, that now it's everybody's black.

And so it looks like a lot of people.

So now you have a a Kool-Aid movie with an entirely blast black care black cast and it's like who are the executives that green lit a Kool-Aid the Kool-Aid movement the way they got there with certain steps along the way like first it was just gonna be like the I think it was like ice cream the sidekick was black yeah so then oh no that's not good because what are you saying that blacks have to just be sidekick can't be the leading man right and then so they just kept working there yeah like they're caught in their own head yeah just spiraling spiraling yeah I mean it's interesting to see like, you know, the entertainment industry, when I first moved out here, which was, man,

15 years ago at this point,

yeah, it was a totally different industry.

No Jews?

No Jews.

Yeah, yeah.

If Hollywood needed one thing, it was like, where are all the Jews around here?

Even if we were going to be able to break in the Jews.

It was funny because, you know, obviously I experienced all of like, you know, filtering and figuring out which roles I can audition for.

And I was a new actor, so it's like what smaller roles are going to, back then, it was still, there were still a lot of, pretty much all of the leading cast members were white.

And so they would fill the minorities with the co-stars and

guest star roles.

And so if you're a young white kid who wanted to move out here, you're probably not going to get those roles.

So it's tough to break in, you know, because they still wanted Brad Pitt to be the leading man and George Clooney and all that stuff.

Now the whole industry

is definitely changed.

But I mean, I haven't been in the industry in 10 years.

It very often works in reverse.

And I'm not even complaining about that.

I mean, turned about is fair play.

For the longest time, it didn't work the other way.

Now, as always with racial matters.

I mean,

I have a really good friend who

is Indian, like a dear friend of mine who's Indian.

And the roles that he would get were like all the terrorists in the in the post-9-11 movie.

That's all he could book.

And he's like, he's a brilliant guy, he's a great actor.

And it would just be like just the terrorists in those movies.

And so

there's

a great silver lining.

But that's not now.

No, it's not.

And that's what I was going to say.

There's a great silver lining where now we live in the year we're living in.

Yeah.

Like now you get to see that talent that was relegated to like, you know, the terrorists, terrorist one, terrorist two on the plane.

Right.

So, you know, there's a.

But that is something that, again, is infuriating about

the far left, I would say, call them whatever they wanted,

not the woke, the stupid woke, like Whoopi Goldberg lover, but when she said a couple of weeks ago that

being black was like the same as being a woman in Iran, it's like, yeah, in 1920,

but not today.

Yeah.

By the way, I was just watching this series.

I guess it's a couple of years old, Tehran.

Have you seen it?

It's on Apple.

No.

It'd be a good way to get a little education on the subject.

You know, it's interesting.

Like, I mean, look, we're in Los Angeles.

There's

a military force deployed in this city.

And granted, you know, you.

Not on the same level.

Not on the same level, of course.

Not wrong, I agree.

But like, you know, I mean, I've seen them.

I've seen them in this city.

And

it's weird.

It's weird to like see.

I mean, first of all, to see any type of police force in Los Angeles is bad.

I mean, it's just a bad idea to get the people used to seeing tanks and military vehicles on the street.

That is one thing that's always made this country great, is that no tanks on the street.

As bad as it got, no tanks.

We don't want to see the tanks.

That's not for Main Street.

And now, you know, it's just

one of the many things I said when Trump got elected, I said, I'm not going to pre-hate anything, but, you know, I keep a list of what I hate and what I don't hate.

And there's some things on the don't hate list, although the execution is never the right.

But you know, ideas like, you know, should Europe pay for their defense?

Yeah, not wrong.

Should the border be organized instead of just open?

Of course, certain things.

But on the hate list, which is still quite an extensive list,

you know, that's just one of the big ones.

Like, I do not want military parades.

I do not want the army playing cops you know

i just i it's just it's just a bad

like

even on the even on the don't hate list when you have when you have okay having europe pay their fair share it's like this would be a good opportunity to celebrate some some wins but he's so ham-handed with the way that he does all of his international affairs that like you get into office and the first thing you do is start is start threatening to annex or invade Canada and Greenland and Panama.

And it's it's like,

and then you try, and then you think that you created some charm offensive where you have 90 countries in 90 days, and that amounts to like Vietnam.

You've inked a trade deal with Vietnam and can't figure out why nobody else is running to the negotiating table.

But have you noticed that the Greenland thing, this kind of just got forgotten?

Yeah.

You know, and Canada, it was like,

he's a different kind of cat.

I mean, I got to tell you, he just is a different kind of cat, and he's not going anywhere for at at least another three and a half years.

And

the other party has no power.

You know, just to go Gretchen Whitmer and pretend they can't see you there, not the right strategy.

And,

you know, as far as like

the don't hate lists,

like one of my big ones was always, or the hate list was, you know, standing there with Putin and taking his side.

My point about like he's not going anywhere for three and a half years, the unpredictability factor,

you're just going to have to accept that and make the best of it as opposed to just writing the millionth editorial

about,

you know, I'm just so not interested in this, I hate Trump more than you do contest.

It's not productive, it's not helping, it's not getting anywhere, it's not doing anything for the country.

I'm for like, you know, actually

making this country work better.

And that does not include just ignoring.

Yeah,

I think in large part, once we recognize the extent to which so much of what he does is a deliberate strategy, exactly to your point, I mean, is he going to annex Greenland?

It is or isn't.

It is a deliberate strategy to distract you from, I mean, Steve Bannon's whole schtick is that he's flooding the zone with shit, right?

And so once you can figure out, okay,

what is there to distract you so that you're not talking about the main thing versus

what is the main thing?

I disagree with that because I think you're giving him in a way too much credit.

I don't think there's that kind of thought that goes into it.

I think he's just a cat who, like, you know, he lives on his phone like teenagers.

Like, I've seen it.

And just Aaron synapses fire.

Just like

he's an idea guy.

Like, somebody is, he's a people person.

He talks to a lot of people.

That's not the worst thing in the world.

It would be the worst thing if it was only the ass kissers, and it's probably mostly them.

But I think he just likes a wide array.

You know, it's a lot of not what I read, it's a lot of what I heard and people are saying.

And he just, you know, he's an idea guy.

Like, let's take Creenland.

Let's reopen Alcatraz.

Let's

open Alcatraz on Greenland.

Talk about ideas.

I mean, maybe, okay, so maybe it's not a deliberate.

Maybe these things are not deliberate, but I think it still lends itself to this idea.

It does.

it's not that Steve Bannon made him into a guy who floods the zone machine.

Steve Bannon, Bannon founded a guy who naturally floods the zone machine.

That's how it happens.

And so I think the onus, I mean,

for folks like me who are on the left, the onus then becomes how can we most effectively filter through that stuff and keep our eye on the main things.

And that becomes difficult at times when there's 10 different things going on at once.

Just be honest.

Don't just be partisan.

Just don't be like, don't be pretty.

I mean, you do what you want.

You're very successful.

It's not my way, exactly.

I mean, I will always call it as I see it, no matter what it is, and I don't care who likes it or doesn't.

That's my bond with the audience.

It's worked for me pretty well.

But it is, you know, in a way, harder to do.

But just to take an example, tariffs.

Now, I remember I, along with probably most people, was saying at the beginning, oh, you know, by the 4th of July, somebody had to think how the country was, the economy was going to be tanked by then.

And I was kind of like, well, that seems right to me,

but that didn't happen.

Now, it could happen tomorrow.

I'm just saying that's reality.

So let's work first from the reality of that, not from I just hate Donald Trump.

Because that's boring and doesn't get us anywhere and leads you to dishonesty.

Because the truth is, I don't know what his strategy is i but look the stock market is at record highs i know not everybody lives by the stock market but i also drive around i don't see a country in a depression at all i see people out there just living their lives and uh i would have thought and i got to own it that the cut that these tariffs were going to fucking sink this economy by this time and they didn't so

you know what how do we deal with that fact?

Because that's the fact.

Yeah, I think first is, and I've learned this the hard way,

not to make predictions about what's going to happen because it's really fucking difficult to predict anything.

And if I was good at predicting things, Hillary would have been the president in 2016 and I wouldn't have sold my Netflix stock back in 2010.

But here we are.

I think the way that that's kind of

exposing itself right now is with the Epstein stuff.

I mean, you had all these Republicans that were clamoring because they thought that Trump and I'm on vacation a little bit so I just heard the the list little bits of this fill me in what's going on with Epstein so he's really alive like

he's he's alive sitting in a cell no so so Epstein they had promised all of these Trump administration officials Pam Bondi

Dan Bongino Cash Battelle all had promised to release these Epstein files and when they got in I remember that when they got in they would finally uncover these files that would be hidden by the deep state and these communist Marxist Democrats and they would expose this whole list.

So these guys come in.

I mean, you've got like literally Cash Patel and Dan Monginho made their entire careers in talking about this stuff over and over and over again.

They get, you know, put into the top spots in the FBI and Pam Bondi at the DOJ.

And suddenly it's time for them to put up or shut up.

And Pam Bondi and the DOJ release a report saying that there's no Epstein client list.

So apparently nobody was benefiting from all of the depraved things that Epstein and Ghelane Maxwell were doing.

And man, did that piss the fuck off the entire audience that followed Dan Bongino, Cash Patel, Pam Bondi, Alina Haba, and Donald Trump, all of whom thought that they were going to hold true to their word to actually get some accountability for like these depraved crimes.

And

like, of course they're not going to release this stuff because first of all, you've got Trump himself who's been in God knows how many photos with the guy.

Epstein called Donald Trump his closest friend for 10 years.

That was like Epstein's direct quote.

And so, of course, these files were never going to get released.

And they didn't.

But now you have a whole sense of...

But wait, wait.

We are assuming that Ivan Epstein, who was,

I said this on my show recently, if there's a guy who's like really rich

and you're not quite sure how he got that rich, he doesn't seem to have any talents, he's a pimp.

He's a pimp.

Okay.

There are guys like that.

Who are you referring to?

Epstein.

Okay.

That's well, I mean, he's a pimp.

A pimp

for kids.

Dude, I've known guys like this, pussy whisperers.

That's what a pimp is, a pussy whisperer.

Someone who can like just, they just have this.

I don't know what it is.

I don't have it.

I'm glad I don't have it.

But they have an ability to talk women into anything.

Like, even when it's not, the woman doesn't benefit that much.

It's just an amazing skill that some guys have.

That's who he was.

He was a pimp.

We are assuming that this pimp kept a physical record.

And I'm not,

no, maybe that, maybe I missed this in the...

Who knows?

So they don't know.

I mean,

we don't know what...

We don't know what...

We don't know any information.

It's a black hole.

Right.

Because they keep refusing to release anything.

Okay, we actually.

I'm just saying, if my business, as it was Mr.

Epstein's business, was being a pimp, that's what he was.

He was great at that.

I've got girls.

You say that to a nerd like Bill Gates.

Hey, I've got girls.

Alan Dershowitz, you're an ugly looking motherfucker.

Would you like to be friends with me?

I know a lot of girls.

Oh, I mean, yeah, look, I think there's no doubt about why it works for a lot of these.

No, but what I'm saying is, if I'm that guy, do I need to keep a physical record?

I know Bill Gates and Bill Glitton and Donald Trump want to come on the plane.

It would be like me keeping a list of just my friends.

You know, like, I know who my friends are.

Like, I don't know.

You don't necessarily need to be like signed here on the dotted line.

Yeah, like, who do I have dinner with?

Let me check the files.

Shayla, you keep records on who I like, don't you?

I think the broader issue, though, is that...

is that all of these people were so steeped in this idea that if they could just get into a position of power, then they would be able to finally do something and expose it.

And it was so anticlimactic and so similar to everything else that's been said from the left.

I think it's really disillusioning for a lot of these folks on the right who

kind of viewed the left as the impediment to getting that justice.

And now you're seeing the exact same talking points being trotted out on the right.

And like, you know, there's a lot of things that Trump has done, to your exact point, that fall into the category of, okay, this is going to piss some people off.

But it usually feels like it has very little staying power.

Trump bombs Iran.

And like, even you have a few people that came out and said, okay, this guy promised to be the peace, the pro-peace president.

But like for a lot of people, is that really gonna, is that gonna, are they gonna like change, you know,

switch sides, abandon the guy?

But like this, I loved it.

This, this year, as it relates to SPS.

That was a home run for me, for him.

And I'm a guy who was always saying we should, at least when they had the deal, we should try to see if the Obama plan, that the peace deal that Obama made

can work.

I, you know,

I don't think I'm telling tales out of school, but once had a long conversation with Netanyahu,

who was wanting to talk me into...

And

may I say right now, all these years later, one, maybe I was wrong.

I thought it was worth a try to bring...

The JCP away?

Yes.

Ooh, that's a...

The Iran nuclear deal.

Great.

Yeah, yeah.

I'm all for someone who knows shit I don't.

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Whatever that was, I thought it was worth a try to try to bring the Iranian people, who are not an unsophisticated people, into the family of nations again, as they used to be, peaceably.

And also, you know, the reports were that they were like 15 years away from the bomb.

Yeah.

And now maybe, but again, here we are in a different place.

A, maybe I was wrong.

And Netanyahu was right.

He probably knows a lot more than me.

Like, his contention was that I don't care what it says on the piece of paper or what the inspectors are telling you.

They're cheating.

They're always going to cheat.

They're trying to get a bomb.

They make no secret and never have

about

wanting to wipe us off the face of the earth.

You know?

Okay.

So we should just, we have to just take them out.

And I didn't think that.

But once Trump scuttled it in the first term, fait accompli, now we're into a different era.

So maybe I was wrong.

Doesn't matter.

Because once we got to this place

where they really were getting close, I mean, there was a report a little before he dropped the bomb,

the first one from the inspectors, you know, the UN inspectors, who said, oh no, we don't know and they're cheating.

So it was almost something that had to be done.

And, you know,

look, Iran, I'm sorry, has been asking for it for the longest time.

They have been sponsoring every bad news group in the Middle East who is anti-Western civilization, places where you couldn't survive a day.

So please don't defend them.

No, I mean, look, I'm not saying you would, but.

Like, I swear, what the hell did I say?

What did I say?

Where's the Palestine t-shirt?

Yeah.

Get rid of this.

Look,

what I hope happens in Iran is I think what everybody across the political spectrum hopes happens in Iran, which is that there's some, I hope hope that folks in that country rise up and there's some, you know, some, it can't happen at the hands of the U.S.

I hope that they rise up and we see something, you know, circa pre-revolution.

Here's the key thing about that.

Rising up is so much harder than it ever used to be because of technology.

When we rose up against the British,

They didn't have drones.

Yeah.

They didn't have cameras.

You could hide.

I mean, this, even up into the Soviet Soviet era, this was the case.

Now, for you to rise up and somehow evade the authorities who are looking to catch dissidents, almost impossible.

Yeah.

I mean, it happened, you know, well, I don't really know any recent examples in point two where it happened, proving your point.

Well, the original revolution, not the original, but the Khomeini Revolution, they called that, you know what they call it?

The cassette revolution.

Yeah.

We're like six technologies past that.

They smuggled in the dissidents' point of view on cassettes and they played them on their fucking boom boxes.

And that was only 1978.

That's when the technology was.

The irony is that now if you want that type of information to make it feel like you have like you're part of a community and that you have more people there to rise up with you.

The hard part is that, yeah, it's easier to get that information, but it's that much harder for the reasons that you just mentioned to actually effectuate it.

I mean,

I don't know what's going to happen.

And I mean,

I saw

BB was with Trump the other day, and they were talking about transforming the whole Middle East.

And again, I note Trump.

Look, I put up my 56 in the morning.

I was reading that.

You know, I got him to sign that.

This is my favorite possession.

Yeah, 56 horrible things he said about me, obviously, which were in

obviously I said something about him.

So, like I no one needs to lecture me about Donald Trump but

and well before I did the horrible dinner which changed the world completely I'm curious about that about the dinner do you do you regret any part of it do you regret do you regret doing it do you regret the the the the way

before or after I'm just I'm just curious like the way that all of it played out how do you think about it do you think about it the people who hated me from before the dinner the the 10% or live on blue sky just found another thing to hate me for.

But their hatred looks ever stupider as time goes by because their big fear was that, oh my God, I was going to be seduced.

And of course, I went right back to tearing him a new asshole every week.

If you don't watch my show, that's fine.

You don't have to.

I don't hate anybody or dislike anybody or doesn't watch it.

But then you can't comment because if you have been watching it, you see that I didn't change one bit.

So there was no argument there except your emotions, except, ha, he went to see the bad man.

Like, yes, I'm thrilled.

First of all,

you're invited to the White House for a private dinner with the president.

Really?

You don't go?

Well, then you're a fucking idiot, in my view, matter who the president is.

Two, he has all the power.

So like, maybe you should talk to him.

And then, part two, like, okay, I had to make a report on it once people knew I went.

Should I lie?

No, that was not an option.

Never has been for me.

That's my bond with my own it.

So I told him the truth that, yeah, that guy who lives there is different than the one you see on TV.

And I kept saying over and over in the piece, like, I'm just reporting.

You make your decisions.

You do what you do.

I'm just saying I went down into the mine and I'm telling you what's down there that you don't know, or maybe you do, but like, to just be like, oh no,

it's just emotional.

No, look,

if I had the opportunity to talk to Trump, I'd be happy to.

I try to interview Republican officials, and the farthest right Republican that I've ever gotten on was like Adam Kensinger to give you an idea.

And you don't really have to in this media environment because it's so bifurcated.

And so you have all of these right-wing outlets.

You've spoken to, you know, people have come here and you've spoken to them.

There's no need for...

people on opposite ends of the political spectrum to go on opposing viewpoint shows anymore because there's so many like why why deal with tough questions when you can just get pats on the head but that's what my show is every week.

My real-time show is like, but there's very good.

I mean, in this new media environment, there's very few shows that do that.

I mean, I reach out to Matt Gates and Marjorie Tiller Green.

Their office is great.

They will never respond.

Yeah.

Well, you got to...

Reach out again.

You know what?

I'll call them all for you if you want.

I will tell them to go on your show and they will do it.

Because that's one thing that is very different from the left and the right.

That surprises me because usually the right-wingers will go anywhere.

I just had that guy on,

I loved him, Wesley Hunt, Congressman, African-American congressman from Texas, Trump's biggest supporter.

But it's so sincere.

That's a with Paul Bagala.

Uh-huh.

Okay, that's America.

And by the way, loved it that they bonded.

That's what we got to do.

I mean, look,

I do debates.

Fox LA anchor Alex Michelson, who I think goes.

I love him.

He hosts debates between me and Tommy Laron.

I I think we've been on like five times together already.

Oh, Jesus,

that's like Muhammad Ali fighting a seven-year-old blind girl.

Why don't you fight somebody your own side, Tommy?

I mean, she's awesome.

I was on with

on Piers Morgan's show today, actually.

And we went on with Ted Cruz's co-host, Ben Ferguson.

So, look, anytime I have the opportunity to talk to folks on the other side, but I can also see at the same time why people on the other side of the aisle would say, like, why engage in this when it can just be easier and not?

You know, and in the, in this digital media environment, you really don't know.

First of all, they should be giving me a fucking medal.

All this talk about how Trump's only surrounded by ass kissers.

Okay, but then when you have someone who's decidedly not MAGA go there and speak to his face things he may never hear.

I mean, I said things to hear, they should be carrying me off on their shoulders for saying to him.

In private, yes.

But I mean, I reported it.

He didn't object to it, and he didn't object at the time.

Well, so it's not.

Things like, why are you scaring people?

You're scaring people.

Why do you want to do that to your citizens?

What you did with Obama's birth certificate was low.

You know, 2020 election.

You know you didn't win that.

I mean, I'm not saying this is going to change the world.

I'm saying like your shot doing nothing, not engaging, has zero chance.

Mine, this guy, I'm telling you, I know this cat a lot better than I did before.

He's a people person.

He talks to people.

You You have to keep the lines open.

The stupidest thing the left does,

and this dinner is a perfect example of it, is having this attitude toward the right that we won't even break bread with you.

We are so far above you that we won't even sit down at the same table.

No, I mean, look.

That is their attitude, and that makes me sick too.

I'm glad I break bread.

And

that's what makes them hate the left so much.

They think that they're deplorables.

We're deplorables and you won't even sit down to dinner with us.

Well, good luck.

See how far that gets you.

I mean right now, look, we're in a position where Democrats lost the popular vote.

They lost the electoral vote.

And so we no longer have the luxury of excommunicating people from the party

who are problematic.

And so

that, I think,

look to the other party.

Well, the

power.

Anybody who has any semblance of an ego, myself included, wants to see, like you see Trump engaged in all this bullshit, the Epstein thing, for example, whatever it may be, the pro-peace, and then he bombs Iran, says going to release the Epstein files, doesn't do it.

And you have folks on the left who say, who want to be like, you fucking idiot, I told you so.

Like, how did you not see this was going to come, that this was going to happen?

How did you not see that when he said he's going to lower a cost for people, that he doesn't give a shit about people?

He's promised cheaper health care before, he never delivered it, promised infrastructure before, never delivered it, promised a jobs boom, a manufacturing renaissance.

This guy always plays the same populist shtick and he never delivers.

And so how do you not get it?

But I think the way that I have to check myself often now, because the goal is persuasion, right?

Like if you work in politics, the only way you win, the only way you exercise power is

if you actually get in office so that you can enact your agenda.

That's it.

Otherwise, you're just chirping at people on Twitter.

And like, while that may be fun, not that fun if you're watching the other side enact their agenda and you have ICE agents on the street.

So I had to check myself often.

And instead of those moments where I can just, where I want to say, like, you fucking idiot, how did you not know this was going to happen?

To say,

like,

we're here with open arms.

And if you want lower prices, that's something that we can offer.

If you want somebody who's going to expand your access to health care, that's something that we can do.

If you think that workers should have dignity, if you think that unions should be stronger, if you see the effects of climate change and think that maybe we shouldn't be digging for more fossil fuels when you have insurance companies that are no longer offering insurance in Florida or California, then like there's room in the coalition.

And I think that's, that has to be my North Star.

And again, I have to check myself often because it's not easy.

You're doing the right thing.

Checking yourself often is exactly how you do it.

But to make this full circle to your question originally,

that thing right there reminds me, see, I have standing to talk to the Republicans because like

One reason I'm bored with the, I just hate Trump more than you do people.

How could you go to a dinner?

It shows I hate Trump more than you.

Boring.

And also, I earned all these epithets.

Not a smart guy, better than Somanex, fired like a dog, dumbass, not an intellectual, terrible show, moron, stupid guy, bad readings, failing community.

I earned these because I did all these editorials about Trump before anybody.

I did the one where he's,

to your point, where he's a con man, where he promises things.

And I did the one of, he's a mafia boss.

I did these a long time ago well okay so like you Johnny come lately he's like I've been there I'm on to something else you should get on that page I think the hard part is like look I think that everybody should take the opportunity to go talk to anybody if you have if hell if I had the opportunity to go sit in front of Trump I would I would relish that opportunity to to interview him

seven days out of seven I would say this wasn't an interview no I understand I understand it was more like this but like this is not an interview but the point Plainly.

Plainly, this is not an interview.

But the point that I'm trying to make is like,

I do think that the idea that, okay, he's a different person behind closed doors, it feels almost worse because he should know better then.

Like, it's almost, it's bad enough if he was like this guy.

But you know what?

But you said it yourself.

It feels.

And that's the point.

It's just about your feelings.

I'm not on that page.

Yeah.

It actually, logically, I think it's better.

I find myself more comforted knowing that, oh,

and here's the line I said, got it met.

I said, a crazy person doesn't live in the White House.

A person who plays a crazy person on TV lives in the White House.

Isn't that a good thing?

It's not the ideal.

I agree.

But we're not living in a world of ideas.

But what's way, logically, what's better

to think that the crazy person you see who's going to go invade invade Greenland and do this crazy things is is like that's the only guy or to know that oh wow there's somebody who's so much more self-aware sorry but he is somebody who actually can laugh I made this point I'd never seen him laugh in public and I don't trust people who don't laugh yeah

but I saw it in private but not a big belly laugh but like okay there's somebody there who's better than the person I've been seeing.

To me, that's better.

Not ideal.

Does this question?

I get it, not ideal.

Does this question resonate with you?

Shouldn't he know better then?

Of course, but if shoulds and buts were beer and nuts, we'd have a hell of a party.

But I'm living in reality.

What world are you living in?

I agree, but my contention with this is like, okay, if this guy is self-aware, then what's the excuse for sending the military into Los Angeles?

What's the excuse for

pretending that he won the 2020 election?

Tweeter.

I have my hate list.

Give you my hate list.

It's a long list.

But that's the part that I think is like,

I don't disagree that he's more self-aware than he's letting on, but that makes it almost worse for me because seeing somebody

who

knows better and yet makes the conscious decision to engage in this bullshit.

People are complicated.

Here's my theory on the whole thing.

And I don't think it's actually something that hasn't been sort of said before by other people in different ways.

But

I think partly partly because of the way he was raised by his father.

Just partly New York.

Which is to say, not hearing the words, I love you.

That kind of stuff.

Yeah.

It's in that great movie.

I heard you.

I was an executive producer.

My friend Nor was a producer on that.

Awesome movie, by the way.

If you haven't seen it, The Apprentice, Sebastian Stan,

and Jeremy Strong,

as Roy Cohen.

It's a genius movie that did not get its due because we're so partisan.

Half the people were like, oh,

it's terrible to Trump.

And then half people were like, it's too nice to him.

Because you see him becoming Donald Trump.

And you do feel, because he is a human.

People say, oh, you went to the White House, you humanized him.

He's a human.

Yeah.

Okay, could we just get past that?

He's not Hitler and he's not inhuman.

He's a human, a flawed one.

I'll give you that.

but he is a human.

And

it's,

I forget what we're talking about.

Well, look, it's low bar.

Like, he is a human.

I will grant him that.

Okay, but some people don't.

And he's also not Hitler.

Look, I think...

That doesn't help.

I think

I have not and won't you know, throw that around, especially, you know, as a Jew with my entire family.

But I would also say, too, I mean,

we would be fools to ignore, to ignore, by virtue of not wanting to seem alarmist, some pretty telling warning signs that are right under our noses right now.

I think if somebody is, I think we,

the problem that we face is we become immune to a lot of this stuff.

The fact that it's like a slow moving, all of this stuff is slow moving.

Slow moving coup.

I wonder who coined that phrase in 2016.

Well, look,

you got your sign.

You got a slow-moving coup.

I was saying that before he was elected the first time.

I'm not taking it away from you.

But I'm saying

we

inure ourselves to this stuff.

It becomes normalized by virtue of the fact that it's happening over time.

But I think if you asked anybody in 2016, hey, how would you feel if

a president who defied a 9-0 Supreme Court order decided to send the military into American cities with no end date so that he can enact some rebulous plan,

you would not hesitate for a second to say that sounds fashy to me.

It does.

It is.

And just because we've been here and we've seen it happen slowly over the course of a decade should not and does not negate the things that are happening.

And music about a third term.

Correct.

All these extra-legal things he does.

I mean, yeah, of course.

I mean,

we have no argument about that.

As I always say to the woke, We voted for the same person.

You're just why she lost.

Do you think that there would have been?

I'm curious.

Do you think any Democrat,

I have an opinion on this, do you think any Democrat would have been able to beat Trump?

I am all in on Mom Donnie.

Okay, wait,

let's stop fucking with me.

In 24, do you think anybody

on the left could have defeated Trump?

I have an answer for this, but I want to hear what you have to say.

Okay, I mean, I'm a Californian, Californian.

And,

you know, I'm friendly with our governor, who I also get on his case and have for being far too left.

And I'm all, I mean, it's becoming like we're friends, so it's kind of a kidding thing.

But, you know, like I will talk to him about the first thing when I see him.

I won't even say his name.

I'll just start on the potholes.

Or I couldn't get my solar hooked up.

Or all the crazy of California that he has to wear as baggage.

I mean,

you know, it's a state where it's hard to buck that, but yeah, I think you could.

and he's starting to.

He has moved to the right, or let's say the center, on three big issues that I could name.

I won't bore the crowd, or maybe we will.

And this is what I've been hoping he could do.

It's a lot of baggage, but I always thought this guy has what it takes to be a presidential winner because he's just really smart.

He's a great fighter, like he's mean, which is great.

He knows how to be mean where you should.

And he looks great.

That doesn't hurt to be the tall, good-looking guy in the race.

The Democrats, I think, have maybe learned their lesson and gone through their phase where they couldn't stand the sight of a white heterotectoral man.

And maybe they're over that now.

I wonder if there will be electoral.

Like Democrats love to worry about electability.

So we'll often get meta with it and say, like, okay, I want X person, but I have to choose Y person because I don't think X person can win instead of just choosing X person because you want them, because you like them.

But I think to that point, because I don't think that we've shed our interminable fear of not winning elections and focusing on electability, I do think that after

Hillary, after Kamala, I don't know that Democrats are going to be able to stomach

putting forward a woman as the nominee just because of those two reasons.

I think that Democrats are, there's a world in which Democrats are going to say, last, you know, two of the last three nominees were women.

Both of those women lost.

The man won.

And so for fear of losing again to whoever, of whether it's some iteration of, you know, the Steve Bannon, let's put Trump in for a term, or J.D.

Vance or whoever it is,

I think there will be a reversion if I had to guess.

But then again, I told you I can't do it.

I couldn't agree more.

I would, again, and I have made a lot of predictions, and all of them were right except Kamala.

And that's okay.

I mean, I kind of did that as wishful thinking.

But

this is where it circles back to the Seth Rogan show.

Because

them casting the president and vice president slot is exactly that episode.

They're going to start out.

Totally.

They're going to go, okay, we can't have a woman

because we just had two and they lost.

But we can't have a white man.

Or

we have to have some

non-white man presence on the ticket.

So it's going to be, okay, so it's going to be, say it's Gavin, and then it's going to be like, okay, and then,

and, okay, Pete Buddha judges, because he's also gay.

Okay, but then what are you saying?

That gays can only get the second, and they're going to do the exact episode.

Probably.

I mean, that's what, that's, that's what it, that, that's, I know, you know, I mean, look, the reality of the situation is that Democrats are the Big Ten Party, and there are a lot of coalitions that are represented.

It would be a hell of a lot easier to be a Republican.

You're just a bunch of old Christian white guys, you know?

And so.

Well, I would hardly call Trump a Christian.

Well, I mean, but that's who he panders to.

He's certainly not pandering to the atheists out there.

No.

So,

I mean, that's their problem to deal with, the fact that

they have accepted as their deity a guy who, you know, I mean,

not exactly embracing the ideals of Christianity on a racial basis.

Question to me is like a perfect example of how people want something in the middle.

I'm hoping to give them that.

And on either side, they're ridiculous.

I mean, the Republicans are definitely too white male, and the Democrats are definitely too, we got to check the box first.

And America just wants something where we just, okay, we acknowledge our terrible racial past.

I think most Americans think it's apropos to not just acknowledge it, but make certain remedial steps.

But it's a different world than it was back in, you know, when we were as bad as Iran.

And

it's also

not

correct to completely throw merit over the side of the chip.

Aaron Powell, Jr.: Well,

I actually think that the defining factor in this upcoming election, again, to predict something that I have no idea if it's going to pan out or not,

is not going to be political ideology.

It's actually just going to be

a willingness to fight.

And I think that far and away is going to be the number one thing.

Democrats for so long have felt like the party of strongly worded letters.

And

for somebody like me who has grown up in the Trump era, like I've come of age in the Trump era and I've watched as these motherfuckers don't care about anything.

Like we're out here saying like process, norms, institutions.

And they're like, we don't give a fuck about any of those things.

Democrats are like, oh, the parliamentarian says no.

Republicans are like, fire the fucking parliamentarian.

And this has been my whole life in politics watching this play out where

Democrats will play by the rules in hopes, in hope of some elusive reciprocation that never arrives.

And we'll say, okay,

Mitch McConnell says he's going to put forward these new rules about the Supreme Court.

Democrats get fucked.

The parliamentarian says we can't include something.

Democrats get fucked.

Like every single instance is Lucy pulling the football away from Charlie Brown.

They have no shame.

And they have no shame.

You have to start with that.

When Mitch McConnell did that and said, well,

we've always done it where when a guy dies on the Supreme Court, whoever's president gets the pick.

I know it's sort of weird because like...

you know, five guys could die during one guy's term and no guys could die during another guy's term.

So it's kind of a fuck system to begin with, but that's our system and we've always done it.

And he just went nope yeah not with this guy and yeah you know but

you know like the law became make me yeah so trump did not exactly invent that mitch mcconnell kind of invented that correct and trump ran with it it was perfect he was a symptom of the larger disease but he was

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But I think that going back to that point,

whether you are willing to come in there and actually fight back, and look, you can fight for virtuous things.

Like you can fight for expanded access to healthcare.

You can fight for women's reproductive rights, climate change, stricter gun laws, whatever it may be on the left.

But, like, the key word is that you're actually willing to fight.

And, and we just don't.

I mean, Democrats are older.

They are of a different generation.

They don't have leadership that is going for whom fighting and winning is going to be their is going to be their MO, it's going to be their North Star.

And they need it.

But you also have to fight against your own party's or own faction's fringe.

I feel like this is a good thing.

it will dis I think a big part of the pro the reason that so many warring factions on the left are so unsettled right now is because

we're not in power anywhere.

And so now comes the point where everybody wants to come out of the woodwork and say, it's because of this.

It's because you didn't do all of this like me, like my positions, because you didn't put forward these positions that I espouse.

So there is no winning formula.

And so as a result of that, everybody thinks their formula is the winning formula.

And I think that once we win, all of a sudden it'll be like, oh, you're right, that's how you did it.

Oh, Barack Obama won by doing X, Y, Z.

That's how to win.

Yeah.

And it quells some of that turmoil that I think is brewing.

I don't disagree with that at all.

I'm just saying, apropos to your question you asked a half hour ago or whenever it was about do I regret going to that dinner?

Yeah.

Not in the least, because I now have standing.

with the Republicans in a way you don't, which is why they don't do your show and they do mine.

Because, and I've said it a couple of times on my show already, I said, you know what, I went to the White House, a lot of people on the left said you shouldn't even do that, and then I told the truth and they really came after me.

Remember I had dinner with Hitler, according to Larry David?

Come on, man.

Once you play the Hitler card, you lost.

But okay.

So what I can say to Republicans and have said to them is, you know what?

I told the truth.

I didn't shrink from that, and I took the heat from the left.

Now I want you to do the same thing.

You do it.

You take the heat from the right because I want you to be honest.

Do you really think it's cool to talk about running for a third term?

Because I know you don't.

And I have standing to say that to them because I already got my beating from the left about me telling the truth.

That's a really important weapon to have in your pocket.

I agree up to the point where an important weapon to have, but like you said it yourself, this is a shameless Republican Party.

And so when you come out.

It's shameless, but at least they hear it.

I mean, I mean,

I wrote a book whose title was shameless.

Like that is the title of my book.

And that came out last year.

And so like, I get it.

And I think that that's actually their greatest weapon.

And

in a way, yes.

Because

how do you shame the shameless?

What tool do you have?

What public pressure can you impose on somebody for whom shame doesn't exist anymore?

To get back to what we were saying a little while ago, and I never finished it.

I guess we go.

One of us just don't.

But like I was saying, why Trump is different in public, and I was saying his father, you know, the way he was raised.

He just has it in his head.

And, you know, as a political animal, it's not completely wrong.

that if you ever give an inch, if you ever show any weakness.

That's the Roy Cohn School of Management.

Right.

If you ever apologize, say you were wrong about anything,

it is interpreted by a certain percentage of the lizard brain as weakness.

And that's why in public, he never goes there.

It's just always, you're an asshole, and I'm right, and I was never wrong, and it was a perfect call.

And there's just, I don't give an inch, but that's not who he actually is.

That's what I found out.

So the fact that I have more information than you, the fact that you would think that's bad, that I mean more information than you have.

No, I don't think it's bad that you have more information.

I just think it doesn't count for anything

if that's what he is in private because nobody get, like, you don't, you don't get points.

I feel like

you don't get points for saying something.

You don't get points for being self-aware in private.

You get points for what you actually do.

I'm not looking on the world.

Yeah, I'm not looking to score points.

Not you.

I'm saying

I'm looking to make the country better.

And by the way,

what happens in private is what always

motivates him, I think, in public.

Again, he doesn't do a lot of reading.

It's a lot of, I was talking to people.

People are saying, well, who are these people?

I would much rather there be people like me in his ear.

I think there should be more people like me.

And the thing is, I'm telling you, he will listen.

That's also the thing.

I would rather have moderating forces there, too.

But I think that world is gone.

He does think that world is gone.

I mean, he reinvented the entire Republican Party.

Correct.

I mean, right?

I mean, all the things, it doesn't matter.

It's a cult of personality.

It's also his superpower.

It means that he can turn on a dime or go against the promise he just made, just like the most amazing used car salesman.

Yeah.

And the people will go along with it.

Correct.

It does not matter.

I don't know if that's if that's a plus for him or an indictment on the rest of the party.

Well, it's a plus for you as a politician or a leader.

I mean, and and an indictment

was the greatest guy and now he's the worst yeah and putin like okay this apparently was his negotiating strategy one surrender

give putin everything and then when he disappoints me and doesn't like take yes for an answer then i turn on him and i you know like i just cannot predict this guy or what will happen And I'll tell you this, though, he is lucky.

He's a lucky motherfucker.

I'm an atheist.

I'm not a person who believes in that crazy shit or weird.

But I mean, there is, I don't know, if he sold his soul to the devil, that is certainly possible.

But he has a luck.

I mean, winning the first election, you had to pull an inside straight, like you can't believe in politics.

I didn't watch the returns until late at night in 2016.

or late 2015 because I was like, Hillary's going to win.

I was working that night.

And I was like,

I'm fine.

Like, it's all good.

No, I was, well, I was, nobody, nobody works as an actor.

Like, I was, I had my other job, which was I was personal training at the time.

Personal training?

Yeah.

Well, no, it was just like weight training with like clients.

Another way to get near guys who are statistics.

That's right.

That's right.

I'm not saying anything.

They were especially confused when I was like, you have to show up in a singlet.

But let's be honest.

And you did find a way to put your hands on men again.

Yeah, I'm not.

You know what?

I had learned.

Are you a married man?

I don't know.

I'm not.

What is your personal life like?

Let's get off politics.

This is club random.

It's weird being in LA because everything feels very delayed in LA.

Like, I'm from Jersey, like you, and everybody was married, had their families right away, like

23, 24 years old with all my friends.

I went to Lehigh University, so all my friends that I graduated with, Lehigh, all my friends that I went to college with.

Pennsylvania.

Lehigh.

All got married right away.

Out here, it's like there's a there's there's definitely a a

Neverland

feel to like the fact, yeah, there feels there's there's you know, there's like a there's like a major delay.

I mean, all of my.

I don't know what you mean by that delay.

Like, people put, I think, I think with the entertainment, all of my whole social circle is, is, uh, is, is folks in the entertainment industry.

And I think that there is such a

I feel like you can, when you're, when your career is in order, it allows you to get into

restaurant.

Say again?

Restaurant.

Run restaurant, first of all, restaurants.

When your career is in order, I feel like the rest of your life can kind of fall into place.

But nobody's career is ever in order out here because you're just hustling the whole time if you're in the entertainment industry.

And so there's this unrest.

There's this like

there's this like sense that you're not settled in anything.

And so and so I don't know if it's like the hustle.

And I'm sure other industries are the same, but I've seen it to a degree that I've not seen it anywhere else.

And I don't know any other industry.

That's exactly probably how I felt when I was your age.

That's not how you feel now.

When did you you know you're not you're not going to feel that way.

I mean, I'm almost 70.

You're not going to feel that way because you have established yourself.

You're right.

When you're in your

mid-30s, you're still striving.

And by the way, I'll tell you something about your future.

It's like this is a lot better mentally because, at least for me,

well, because one of the greatest anxieties I ever had

was, am I going to be a failure?

You know, how's this going to end up?

Yeah.

You know, once you've sort of like gotten past that, we're like, oh, even if it ended tomorrow, I mean, I've been on TV 32 years straight.

Okay.

It's like no one's going to say that was a failed career.

So like, you know,

there's a certain equanimity that comes over your mind when you have that that you just don't have at your age.

When did you start real time?

Well, I started real-time in 2002, but I had done politically incorrect for nine years.

And how old were you when you started?

36.

I think real time.

Yeah.

36.

Politically incorrect, yeah.

And until then, I felt like I hadn't gotten my ticket punched.

But you grew up in Jersey, and so you grew up around regular, normal people who were not in the industry.

Oh, not at all.

And I'm sure that those people got their lives started way in advance of you, that

they already had two kids.

And I never wanted to have kids.

That was a victory, not a win.

You're right.

But you saw people getting started with their lives

in a different way than when people come out here.

What I saw that caused great anxiety was people, comics, who I had started with in the clubs in New York, starting to get famous because they got to the sitcom level, for example.

And I was still like in the, and I was like, oh my gosh.

Was there a point where

you didn't know if you would like make it?

Totally.

That's what I'm saying.

That's what causes all the anxiety.

I mean, I came out here and I'd done a few tonight shows and they loved me.

And when you're the new piece of meat in town, you're always going to do well.

And

I got on sitcoms and it was all going uphill.

And then, you know, at a certain point, it plateaus and you're like, oh, fuck.

I don't want to be the third lead on bringing up Chunky, you know?

And

then there's a part where there was like the early 90s.

I was like, oh, shit, am I, I'm home all day writing scripts.

Am I going to never really, and then I got politically incorrect and, you know, never looked back.

But it takes a while to get that sort of

feeling that, oh, I, and

yeah, I'll be okay and I'll be remembered as a success.

Yeah.

Some, maybe it's not important to some people.

No, I mean, look, I think if you're in this industry, if you're in, if you're in, and I say this industry, if you're in entertainment, I think that there is a,

and I don't say this in a bad way because I'm in the same industry too, but there is a degree of like, there is a degree of narcissism, right?

Like I'm sure there's a nicer way to, way to put it, but, but I think anybody in this industry is not, is not an introvert, right?

And so there is that sense of, you know, anybody who wants to get in front of people, wants to entertain people, wants to move people, there is a degree of that.

And if you feel like, you know, you're, you're, doing this job and you can't break through and that there's nothing and you're not going to be remembered or not, you're not going to get a good part you're not going to be able to show people what you can do then like there is that nagging sense of like failure looming

and there is also the possibility although i would say it's fairly slim but it is you know one one of ten chambers in the gun where you are really good and you still don't make it yeah some of it is just i i would give it more more than one chamber in a gun like oh i mean this i i i see the way i mean i've been i've done the whole thing the auditions and this and that.

The easiest jobs I've gotten and the best jobs I've gotten have not been because you walk in an audition room and they pluck you out of 30 people who auditioned.

It's because somebody who's already on a movie tells the executive producer that, hey, I'm going to do this, but

you're going to put my buddy in as guy number two.

And

this is a nepotistic town.

It totally is.

And even if that happens,

the luck part comes in is, is that movie going to be a hit?

If you're going to be in the final cut?

I've gotten

through the whole shitty process of getting an agent, getting called in for an audition,

getting a call back, going for producers, booking the role, shooting the thing, and I don't even make the final cut.

So all you get paid for is your day rate for the actual shoot, and you're not even in the thing.

And so you have to go through all these steps, and at the end of the day, you might not even get anything for it.

Right.

And if the movie isn't a hit, no one will see it.

Yeah.

And if it is, even if you had nothing to do really with making it a hit but you're in it then you then your ticket goes way up yeah you know so yeah there is there's all like kind of a crowd there is some luck i do also think that the really superior talent always wins out yeah just think there's no way to keep down sometimes you have to keep knocking on the door for a while but there's no way to keep down one of those giants talents i mean there's no cream rises to spielberg yes i mean show business has a lot of bullshit in the middle yeah but the cream I mean, there's no way Steven Spielberg wasn't, you know, maybe Jaws.

What if Jaws was not a hit?

What if somebody people, in 1975, people were like, sharks?

The last thing I want to see.

I'm swimming in the ocean for Christ's sake.

But they did.

But like, would he have never risen?

No, I don't think so.

I think it would have taken the next one and the next one.

And that's how real the, you know, the.

the contenders, not the pretenders.

It's a tough industry, though.

I mean, like, you know, I moved out here to act, and

that exact scenario that I played out, which is like getting an agent, getting representation, trying to get in these rooms, which is half the battle.

Then, when you get into the rooms, trying to get a call back, trying to get people to like you, the directors, the producers, whoever's sitting in that room.

And there's a lot of people.

The reason that I started doing digital media, digital political media, first of all,

I'm passionate about politics, and that's been my whole life.

But my whole career in entertainment has been a lot of people,

has been me waiting for people to say yes.

And I can't move forward unless every single person, every step of the way, says yes.

And if there's one person who says no,

I'm done.

And so I started doing videos on...

Way too collaborative.

I mean, I started doing videos on Facebook, and I would shoot them alone.

I would set up my camera, hit record.

I'd write my own scripts, and I continue to.

You made the right choice.

I mean, acting is such a one in a million shot.

I mean, even if you're good at it, you can be like the greatest character actor in the world.

You make middling money.

All the money goes to the above the title stars.

At the end of the day, people know your face and you can't even get a table at a restaurant.

And if you dare to like turn a roll down because they're not paying you enough, they'll go, we'll go to the next character actor who is also very good at his job.

And also people don't know his name, and he'll be fine.

You know what?

The world has more than one Charles Derning.

I don't mean to insult Charles Derning, who was terrific.

But like, you know, the world is changing too, because

when I grew up, like, that was, I mean, TV and film are like the thing, right?

Everybody wants to be a movie star.

And now these, these kids, like Gen Z and Jen Alpha, they watch YouTube.

And so I talked to my niece and nephew.

Oh shit.

And they love YouTubers.

Yes.

And it's weird because, you know, I grew up idolizing like, you know, Tom Hanks and all these guys who I, you know, Russell Crowe and Adam Sandler and all the guys that I grew up watching on TV, watching in their movies.

And it's just

a different world where like now people watch streamers and,

you know, stare at YouTube all day, stare at Twitch all day.

I try not to pander to that, but I do have a new YouTube coming out about how to shave your back.

I'm just saying.

Guys,

huge demand for that among the Gen Alpha contingent.

But isn't that your impression that that's a lot of what goes on is like is like opening presence and i mean like it it is weird because you have you have the we grew up in an era where you have the best 22 minutes of tv that get filtered down so that you're never so that there's never a dull moment right and the streamer and streaming is inherently four five six seven eight as many hours of of a lot of filler and it's even my videos are short like my my YouTube videos average about eight to 12 minutes.

And I make sure that there's

not even a breath.

So it's just

protein, right?

No empty calories.

But streaming is a whole different animal.

And people will just sit there.

I mean, viewing habits have changed and people will sit there and watch

these people who kind of like

inform their whole worldview.

Yeah, I mean, you know.

I mean, when I started this the first year, we were doing like an hour and the biggest complaint was...

It's not long enough.

And I would always say, wow, the American attention span, it's either eight seconds or three hours.

That's been the hard time.

There's no middle ground.

Yeah.

I mean, but yeah, one hour was like, you are cheating us.

And so I was like, yeah, hey, can I get high for two hours?

You bet I can.

Yeah.

Have you ever had...

Do you do you notice like a market change from as you smoke more and more?

Do you, are you, are you different or are you basically steady the whole time i smoke i smoked i wish i could get that high i've been smoking for half a century more than your time you've been alive i wish i could get that high but they just don't have it and i mean i would have to mainline it or something yeah and that's okay i don't need i don't need to get crazy high do you ever do you ever um impose uh

do you ever impose like um you know, week-long or month-long stops so that when you smoke again, it'll be more potent, be more effective?

That has been one of my New Year's resolutions.

For how many years?

Since 1975.

Seriously, I would love to do that.

Yeah, no,

it's like the guy in airplane.

I picked the wrong week to stop, sniff, sniff, and glue.

I mean, there's just never a good week.

And, you know, what I have to say about pot is that it's not something that calls to me to smoke it, which I would call an addiction.

When I was smoking cigarettes, it demanded that I smoke a cigarette.

Pot never, I don't even think about smoking pot unless I have a reason.

Until the joint is in your hand every day.

As you can see.

Figure.

No, until I have to.

Tell me more about how you got it.

Well, because you're seeing me at a moment where I smoke pot.

Right, no, I know.

But like, I really don't, like, I'm not like watching TV at night and going, oh, boy, I wish I was stoned right now.

Or like, I got to get up.

It doesn't even cross my mind.

It kind of does for me like i i you smoke i i smoke everyone well because because oh okay i would i get it i get it yeah that would be uh any any useful conversation

i get it same reason i don't smoke for real time yeah that would be a disaster because it's too much some things you can do stoned i i mean i can i won't talk for everybody and some things you can't yeah but the things that i can

I always want to do stoned.

You know, this fucking, you know, there's certain things.

I'm sorry.

Writing, you know, that are like just easier, better.

See, I can't do anything where I need to be, where I, where I have to make cogent thoughts.

I, I, that's, it's, and which I think is actually a good thing because I reserve it for fun

and, which, which for me is at the end of the day, like, I, I, I usually finish, I'll work like

14, about 14 hours a day.

And I'll start at seven or eight in the morning, and I'll go until about nine o'clock at night.

Wow.

And, which means I only have like a couple hours of downtime.

Your girl must be pissed at you.

I'm a blast to date.

Do you live together?

We do, yeah.

But it's always...

Do you work out of your house?

I work out of the house.

So I'm around all day long.

It's not like she's urgency.

You could go from working, dude, to Mac Daddy in five minutes.

Yeah.

I mean, if I

wasn't working 15 hours a day, then yeah.

But I mean, I do.

Look, I work out of my house and there's plenty to keep me busy the whole day.

And you attribute this to Judaism.

This must be like a...

We can't have milk.

I have no gastrointestinal system.

I'm allergic to anything with

whey, casein, any

dairy, Sagan.

Are you serious?

I actually am.

I actually am.

Why?

Is that a Jewish thing?

Yeah, it's a Jewish thing.

We're built like we are not a robust people.

Jews?

Jews, we may be like the attorneys and the doctors,

but like give us a cup of fucking milk and we're done.

What is that?

I've heard that.

Why is that?

Because we're 2% of the world's population and there is a certain degree of

not even.

Not 2%.

Is it not even 2%?

Is it 0%?

15 million people out of 8 billion?

Is it 0%?

Is it 0.2%?

That's more likely.

0.2%.

Because we're definitely not 2%.

Because we're 0.2% of the world's population.

Right.

So 2% would be 800 million, right?

Wait, wait.

What's 10% of 8 billion?

Oh, boy.

I'm the stone one.

That would be 800 million.

Yeah.

Okay, so it's not that.

That's 10%.

So it's a fifth of 800 million.

160 million.

That's not what Jews are.

Yeah.

In any case,

it's 0.02 or something.

So anyway,

that's why we're allergic to dairy.

That's why our gastrointestinal systems are failing as a collective whole.

It's interesting that the Bible, especially books like Leviticus,

have a lot of laws about eating.

And they're right next to like slavery, not a problem, just don't beat your slave.

Or if you kill your slave, if you kill another man's slave, he gets to take your slave.

Like lots of rules about slavery.

None of them don't do it.

But

right next to that is like, don't eat lobster.

Like fucking, don't mix meat with milk.

It's like, okay, slavery, lobster.

And it's just so funny that people take, to me, that they take this shit seriously because it was obviously written in an era where people were just, I'm sorry, no insult to the people back then, but you were early on in the human parade.

I mean, you're talking about like bleeding people out via leeches.

Oh, that was much later.

Yeah.

That works.

They still do it.

Do you know that?

No, I didn't know that.

They absolutely still use leeches.

Sometimes it's the best way to bleed someone out.

Can you imagine?

When you say the best way to bleed someone out, is that doing it in the hospital?

And leech is the best way to do it?

Yes.

You mean in some places?

In some instances, not places, instances.

What would, I'm just so curious what an instance would be.

Where they're like,

we have a pick line here, but hear me out.

Right.

Hear me out.

Sometimes the natural way is best.

Yeah.

Let me introduce Dr.

Ho, my Chinese

holistic.

Yeah, no, that was just a bad example, but I get your point.

But anyway,

going back to the weed thing, yeah, that's, that's, I guess, I guess I only, I, I keep it to non-work stuff.

And so for me, it has a good association because it means that I get to watch movies, I get to eat,

and I enjoy food more.

Like, you just enjoy everything a little bit more.

And it's a quick way,

it's a quick way to wind down without a hangover.

And I I have to be on camera every single day and I work seven days a week.

So

you used pot the way most people do, more for relaxation.

See, I'm the opposite.

I use it for work.

Not that sex is work, but it's effort.

You know, it's like you've got to be,

it's good, but like, it's not passive.

I've had watching a movie is passive.

I would never get stoned to watch a movie.

I've had a couple of instances where I've, where I've smoked, and I'm, I'm, like, for all intents and purposes, out of commission.

And then something happens in the news.

And I think like two or three times, and this is over like the last, uh, you know, the last few years, but like two or three times where, I mean, I'll usually wait until it's pretty late at night, but we live in the Trump era, and anything can happen pretty late at night.

And I'm already high, and I'm like, see something break, and I'm like,

okay, I'm going to try.

And I just like, and I have to do it.

And you have to get out that fast.

Oh, yeah.

Your audience wants you to react to something that quickly.

That's the whole, that's the whole game.

That's, that's how it goes on YouTube.

I mean, like, you,

wow i'm like news has a news has a couple you know

the opposite i'm on vacation this is our summer break yeah i mean right after we went off the air trump dropped his big bomb yeah like and i'm not on social media i'm like you know what if you want to know what i think you'll wait for me to come back in august you're you're you're lucky in the sense that you're established i'm sure that's not the right way to do it but i no but i mean look you're established to the point where you can do that i i'm not i'm just saying i shouldn't.

It's not.

It's not really.

But you don't need, you're not, you're not trying to make a name for yourself.

You know what I mean?

You've got your,

this is still part of the rat race and making sure that you can

get your news out of it.

That's why I do it.

It's cooler.

You'll wait for me, bitch.

Yeah, you'll hear what I said about the bomb.

Well, now they know I said it on the podcast.

That's right.

That's right.

But like, you know,

it's all kind of like, you know, I left the entertainment industry because it felt like too much of a a rat race.

I'm in a different kind of rat race, but it's

the same thing.

Also, you're still in the entertainment industry.

You're just, you know.

Writing my own material.

Well, and also for people whose idea of entertainment is something intellectually nutritious and something that has to deal with what's going on in the world.

I mean, when you eliminate like

the percentage of the population that

They don't like you, they don't like me.

It's not because of our, they just are not interested in what we're talking about.

What was the thing that you called the Iran deal before?

The JBBA.

Oh, JCPOA.

Yeah, I mean, like, I didn't know that one.

They don't even know about the Iran deal or care.

Yeah.

Did you see Trump the other day at the White House when he was putting up two giant flagpoles?

Yeah.

And he had like six construction workers behind him.

And of course, he's Trump.

So he goes out there and he just starts riffing.

And the picture.

Even the New York Times couldn't help themselves by showing a realistic picture.

All the construction guys behind him just smiling from ear to ear, laughing.

Because he was just like,

whatever he was talking about.

I mean, and they were like, wow, we're just here at the White House putting in a flagpole and this dude wanders out and just starts

spewing.

And like, that is the connection to the everyday person that most politicians, love him or hate him, they just do not have.

It'll be interesting to see who the Democrats do choose to put forward, because I think.

Who do you want?

Who do I want?

Yeah, who is your idea?

You must have an idea.

I don't know who I want yet.

Come on.

Dead honest truth.

I don't know who I want yet.

I want someone who, like I told you before, is going to be a fighter.

I don't really know.

Well, I'll give you my top two.

My top three.

Gavin, Pete,

Ari,

not Ari.

He's my agent.

His brother.

Rama.

Ram Emmanuel?

Yeah.

Rama Manuel.

I mean, and I get it.

They're all white men.

Thank God.

Thank God Pete

is not interested in vaginas.

So there's something in there.

But those are my two people.

Retain your progressive bona fide.

Oh, my God.

Well, this is what I'm talking about.

These are the democracies.

No, no, I know.

I think some other names.

Those are three, I think, very talented politicians.

They all have

something that recommends them highly.

They're all good.

All those three guys are good.

That is a talented field to make the final choice from, is my estimation.

I think those names are very likely to be there.

I think Wesmore is another name to keep an eye out for.

Yeah, I know.

Yeah, the governor of America.

I just don't know enough about him.

Yeah.

That's the only reason why I'm not.

Which, by the way, in this environment, may play to his favor because Pete has baggage with the Biden administration.

Gavin has baggage because he's the governor of California, big punching bag in the United States.

Wesmore has no bag.

He doesn't have name ID, but he has no baggage right now.

But here's something that some percentage of voters will think, if it's Wesmore.

They'll think, okay, the Democrats put up Kamala, who really wasn't that great, because they're the Democrats and they just had to put up someone, a person of color.

So now you got this guy, Wesmore, and come on.

Isn't he there just because he's a person of color?

I'm not saying that's what the truth is.

I'm saying

that's that's what the Democrats bought themselves with going too far on the DEI train.

That's what they bought themselves.

Suspicion now for any person of color who is at the head of the ticket.

I think he will

him to a degree, and I think that he will

that he'll he'll dispel any of any of those rumors.

And the more the merrier that are qualified.

I really honestly think these days, you know,

it feels less to me like it's going to be about checking any boxes and more about who the person is.

If you look at like,

yeah, I mean, look,

you have to have some optimism in this space.

If you don't, you'll just go crazy.

Like, if you, if you have no sense of hope and you work in Democratic, and you work in Democratic parties, honestly, the fact that New York is considering electing

Mom Doni mayor,

is not a great harbinger for the Democratic Party.

That is not a great look.

It is a testament to the fact that he's a very...

Maybe you like him.

Maybe he's your boy.

It is a testament to the fact that I think.

I think it's a testament to the fact that despite what in the past might have

seemed like disqualifying factors,

I think that people are drawn to

the individual candidates

who can stand out among fields of very rote, boring politicians.

You kind of look like him, you know.

I look like

I don't know how you could like this guy, but okay.

I think he is.

I really don't have a whole lot of opinions on the New York mayoral race because

I really haven't followed that race.

Oh, fuck.

Come on.

What are you fucking talking to here?

You with your show and getting out of bed at three in the morning stoned out of your mind before you reported.

You have thoughts on the New York mayoral race where New New York City is about to nominate, well, he's definitely going to be the Democratic candidate for mayor, someone who has said things like,

the government should take over the means of production.

I'm not going to suggest what political party of the past that is aligned with, but I think we all know it begins with a C.

That's pretty crazy stuff.

And the ugly streak of anti-Semitism that is going through the far left of the Democratic Party, that is going to be the downfall.

I mean, I would hope that at least the Jews would get on that page.

I think, well, here's what I do think, as it relates to Jews in New York.

I think that if the Jews wanted a candidate to consolidate behind, if Momdani was not their speed,

that they made a mistake by putting Cuomo out as a

best history.

On my hate list, Trump talking about how he's going to have to

go after New York City like I thought the Republicans were all about states rights and get the federal government they're too powerful out of our lives no they're they're full of shit they'll say whatever they need to say anytime

that these like these flashing bumper stickers go none of these things that Trump does elude me or stop me from criticizing yeah I get it like the idea to as much as I don't want Mom Donnie to be the mayor, the idea that the President of the United States would say, well, the federal government is going to have to straighten out your city.

Again,

guys, Republicans, I have standing to say to you, be honest, that you know this is exactly the opposite of what you've always said you think the federal government should be.

Not someone who says they can come and straighten out your city.

Because that wasn't okay in Alabama, was it?

No.

I mean, what I, I mean, like, you know, for these local races, I truly don't really focus on the local races other than L.A., because this city I know, and I've been focused on the...

Well, you should start.

Because this is

the risk thing in New York is not just

New York.

We're not talking about...

It's the mayor's race.

It's a mayor of New York City.

I understand, but...

New York City is different.

It is our financial capital.

It is our cultural capital in many ways.

It's New York.

I would say L.A.

is the cultural capital.

Our biggest export is culture.

Well,

look, I mean, the entertainment industry, the TV, and film film industry.

Although, I have my early years were all dominated by New York.

I was a suburb of New York.

My father worked in New York, New York TV, New York sports teams, and then I lived there twice in my life.

Yeah, I very much know New York.

I'm not fond of it.

You know, I

respect it, but there are reasons why I never wanted to live there.

And I love here.

That's just, you know, personality thing.

But

New York is New York.

It's definitely the media capital, the financial capital.

It is a bellwether like no other city is in this country.

So don't tell me that who the mayor of New York is doesn't matter.

Let me matters.

Let me play the devil's advocate for a second.

Do you think, let's say, you know, on the seize the means of production, do you think the mayor, that one person, if he is a Democratic socialist, do you think that he would have the power and influence to be able to like usher in socialism?

The Union definitely has the power and influence to elect J.D.

Vance or whoever is the Republican candidate next time.

It is a walking commercial for the Republican Party nationalist.

The Republicans are going to be a very important part of the country.

When you elect the Democrats, socialists, and now they're actually calling themselves socialists, when you let them take over a major American city, this is what you get.

The state-run grocery stores, which work so well in Cuba and the Soviet Union and Venezuela, just bad ideas.

And again, this ugly streak.

Well, you look at the street.

Ugly streak of anti-Semitism.

anti-semitism who's the most popular politician on the left aoc

i don't know one of but who who's you know bernie bernie is uh bernie yeah bernie is i mean he's not he's a he's not a capitalist you know no he's not and he's also not president he's not he's but but he never would be but neither is momdani no no but uh he will trust me he will be featured in the campaign company they're going to feature people they boogeyman everybody yeah but you don't have to boogeyman him he does it to himself but but But they'll do it regardless.

Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton, Gavin Newsome.

Yeah, but they make anybody.

I think it was...

You just have more weight when it's real.

I mean, when you can really show it.

I mean, you know.

Look,

if he becomes mayor, I'll tell you one thing is certain.

I'm rooting for him.

I come from a long line of Brooklynites.

My whole family's from Brooklyn before we eventually moved to New Jersey, and I moved 3,000 miles away.

But

I want to see New York succeed.

I want to see him succeed.

I do too.

You know, I do.

And so I think in instances like this, where A,

you can call yourself a democratic socialist, whether you're going to be able to unilaterally usher.

I mean, I know how LA works.

I know how LA politics work.

And I know that if the mayor wants to do something, they're probably not going to be able to do it because the LA City Council is an impediment to that because all of our local politics are an impediment to just about anything that you want to get done.

Things happen so slowly.

I'm going to let it go.

I'm going to ask you a couple of personal questions, and then we're going to play the game with my

New Yorker.

Never read The New Yorker?

No,

I grew up.

But you're kind of a New Yorker.

Yeah, but I grew up on the New York Times and that slowly devolved into, and I use that word on purpose, devolved, but devolved into getting my news on Twitter.

And so if there's a news.

Still?

Yeah.

Even after Elon?

Do I wish our news sources weren't controlled by megalomaniacal billionaires?

Yeah.

Is that going to stop me from getting accurate news?

No.

I mean, look, you have to also be smart about it.

Like, you can't, I'm not going to go onto Twitter and fall victim to like, you know, any fucking, you know, random account post something.

I'm not just going to blindly believe it.

I know what sources I believe on that are on Twitter, but it's, you know, it's, I, I, I know what journalists I can trust.

I know what news sources I can trust, but I I get them on Twitter.

That's the fastest way to get news, unfortunately.

Wow.

I would not have even guessed that it kept that cachet, but I guess, you know,

I do it through gritted teeth.

I mean, well, you got to give it to Elon then, because like even after people started to hate him and light his Tesla's on fire, they somehow still couldn't get off Twitter because

that's not because of Elon.

That's in spite of Elon.

Well, Twitter is true, too.

Twitter is a commodity.

Right.

But it's also because the alternative, because, and I went after him for this.

Like,

he went back on a big promise he made, which was he wanted to take over Twitter because it had become a left-wing

echo chamber, which he was completely right about.

It had.

But then he just made it a right-wing echo chamber.

He just reversed it.

He didn't do what he said he was going to do, which is like, I just want free speech, and nobody put their thumb on the scale, and it just switched.

That's not cool.

But the reason why it survives, I think, so well is because the alternative was blue sky, which is just that 10%, the ones who absolutely hate me, the ones who just like to live divorced from reality, and that is their right.

But they just want to hear coming back to them what they already believe.

And it's, it's, yeah, and sometimes it's true, and I would agree with quite a bit of it, but I don't want to just be in an echo chamber.

So like all these things, and I could keep listing these things that the left does not condemn enough.

And now you see politicians on the left who are starting to come out of the woodwork and do that.

And until they, and I'm sorry, but people like you, start condemning that stuff, that party is never going to even come close to winning another election.

Yeah, I think that

there is an issue with like some of the groups that are that are, I think, probably think that they mean well by saying, okay even with these edge cases even with these like crazy like transgender reassignment surgeries in prison right like edge case

by by putting politicians on record they're actually doing more harm than good because the American people are not there that's clear

and should they be

Should they be?

Like transgender reassurance, like on the issue of transgender reassignment surgeries in prison, I don't think that that's no, I don't think that that's like something I'm, I'm, I'm, that I'm willing to like,

I don't think that that's.

They even need that many words.

How about just no, that's stupid.

I don't think that's a hill that I'm willing to die on.

And so

a hill should even fight for?

So like, I think the groups that think that they're helping

are in fact hurting themselves and the people they purport to want to protect by getting people on record in a party where I think the expectation is that you have to fight for all people, no matter how

off the beaten path,

like transgender reassignment surgeries in prison, like those people.

But

I think that there is a fundamental misunderstanding of how, A, information can be weaponized, and B,

the number of those people that fall into those categories is like minute, like single-digit numbers of people.

Again, it's not the number of people.

It's the number of people.

I understand what you're saying.

Okay, that's what's important.

And, you know, I know she said during the campaign, I never said that.

And then, you know, like, come on, they have film of you doing it.

Yeah.

Look,

I think there's a sense that like,

and this is, this is a tough, a tough juggling act because there's a sense of like

no one,

like, everyone's okay.

Every, like, whatever you choose to do is okay.

You know what I mean?

And it's this weird, like, I mean, this would normally be like a libertarian stance, but libertarians don't believe in this anymore.

But like, whatever you want to do is fine

and

and I think that's that's the hard part to reconcile because like do you understand what I'm saying

like if you want to whatever be a trans be a trans person like every protected by law correct but like but like I think there's this sense of like among Democrats is whatever you want to do whatever you want to believe in whatever you however you want to dress or love whatever is okay

and and the the part the part that butts up against that is is okay what protections should be made?

In sports,

how should that

reconcile?

It would be hard for you to point to somewhere in the legal system where we don't already have protections for every imaginable minority or

marginalized group.

It would be hard to find that in the law.

I'm not saying everyone obeys the law all the time.

But as far as in the law, systemically, I mean,

you know, you can't really find that.

Including the one that the Supreme Court made recently that included trans people in the, like, was it 1964 Civil Rights Act or something like that?

Okay.

You know, so look, you know, humans are humans.

They're going to believe stupid shit and they're going to be a certain amount of racists and bigots and this and that.

But, you know, you can't legislate humans.

Yeah.

You can, all we can do is, you know, we have,

look, I think we live, you're happy you live in America, aren't you?

As opposed to anywhere else, you're not looking and asking for the check, right?

I'm happy I live in Los Angeles.

I'm happy I'm living in California.

I'm lucky as hell to live

with fires and all those problems.

I would not want to live anywhere else, and I would not live anywhere else.

I feel the same way.

See, okay, well, you promise me one thing:

if anybody gives you any shit, call me right, will you call me and I will make some calls.

You meant that?

You call me if you have any trouble.

All right.

I will call Matt Gates who's here.

I mean, like I met with Charlie Kirk.

Yeah,

watch the Charlie Kirk.

Yeah.

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