Overtime – Episode #655: William Shatner, Piers Morgan, Gillian Tett

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Welcome to an HBO podcast from the HBO Late Night Series, Real Time with Bill Ma.

Okay, here we are with New York Close columnist and host of Piers Morgan Uncensored on YouTube.

Piers Morgan, provost of King's College, Cambridge, and columnist for the Financial Times, Jillian Tett.

And he's the iconic actor who is the subject of the new documentary, You Can Call Me Bill Hutton Theaters Now, William Shatner is over here again.

Black by popular demand.

These are all going to be for William Shatner.

I don't know what we're all doing here.

We can't compete with space.

No, you can.

What are your feelings, Bill, about AI?

Oh, good question.

Are you optimistic about how it will change our lives?

It's all artificial.

It's going to change everything.

It's changed everything.

It's changing everything.

It has changed.

It will change.

And will it come alive

and destroy us?

Hopefully.

Okay.

Jillene, what are your thoughts on Harvard and other elite institutions reinstituting the SAT as an admissions requirement?

Oh, this is right up your alley.

Yeah, absolutely.

I think it's a great idea because actually all the evidence shows that you get a much fairer system with SATs compared to the alternatives.

It was crazy to get rid of them to begin with, was it not?

Absolutely.

Why did they?

Because they were trying to use other ways to get more diversity.

I've got two grandchildren trying to get into college.

It's ridiculous.

No, it was.

It's ridiculous.

The whole system of college administration is ridiculous.

The short answer is after 2020 and the George Floyd murder, America never reacts.

It only overreacts.

And that was one of the overreactions was, as you said, in the name of diversity, let's get rid of testing.

If blacks don't do as well as whites on this, we get rid of the...

And it's not helping anybody.

Well, it just

promotes a mediocrity rather than saluting and embracing excellence.

And the moment you're going to be able to do that.

That's a really good good point you're thinking as a country if you if you go down that road that way ruin lies you know the countries that you're competing with do not do that you think in china they do this but let's

but let's get real the other issue the huge issue perhaps the worst issue of all is legacy and that's what really skews the system and so it's an overreaction against legacy and these are my legacy admissions yes legacy of course that should go too absolutely i think that they're starting to do that finally yes if you're some rich asshole whose father bought a and your father's name is on a building,

I mean, you got into that school.

And probably a lot less than that got you into school's legacy.

I think for a long time, they didn't even try to hide it.

I mean,

and of course, that's just as wrong.

Okay.

Bill, do you think the government is hiding evidence of alien life?

They seem to think of you as somebody who's an expert on space.

That's because I am.

I know.

Why would they, how could they hide?

They can't hide a budget

aberration.

Why would they hide

this little yellow guy comes out of a ship?

Put them away.

It's ridiculous.

They're not yellow.

They're green.

You should know.

I'm not wearing glasses.

You are.

You should know because you kissed one of those two.

I gotta say.

They do taste differently.

Yeah, you got a lot of tail on that show, I gotta say.

Well, I disagree with you.

I think I'm not saying there's aliens among us.

I'm not saying there's not.

What are you saying?

I'm saying I don't know.

And you don't either.

I do know.

You don't know?

Well,

it's impossible.

They can't hide the...

There's nothing unscientific about it.

Don't you think an alien invasion would be the only thing that could actually unite Democrats and Republicans?

No.

They could come together and

in fact, I did a whole piece about that.

It's in the book.

I did.

And the point of it was, like, in the past, always I would have said that.

And now, absolutely not.

Are we sure Marjorie Taylor Greene is not an alien?

The first thing, if Martians landed, the first thing the Republicans would say would be, Biden.

This never happened under Trump.

Really, I don't even think that could unite us.

Okay, so how will persistent inflation affect Biden's prospects this fall?

Badly.

Does it counteract all the other positive economic news?

Well, you know, every time I point out the positive economic news, somebody yells at me in some sort of

something like, oh, sure, it's fine for you, Bill Maher, with your private jets.

Yeah, but

what is inflation?

I mean,

how high does inflation have to be before it's inflation?

It's when eggs cost more.

It's what?

It's when eggs cost more.

That's what people are upset about.

I know, but

salaries are going up, too.

Yes, they are.

It's a

peculiar situation.

It isn't that bad, and they're just making it sound bad.

Don't say that.

They'll yell at you.

I tell you,

you don't want to say that.

No, no.

What you mean to say is...

they only yell at you when you define who they are.

No.

No, what you really want to say is like, everybody should be a millionaire and everybody should.

No, I agree.

I mean, it's, look, I've been rich and I've been poor.

Being rich is better.

All right.

So

should Democrats demand that Justice Sonia Sotomayor retire while Biden still has time to find a replacement?

Well, I don't know if you can demand.

Definitely.

Also, he has to live long enough to do that.

Right?

Well, sorry, but we're going to play the age game, right?

Don't play the age game when I'm around.

Hey, Catris.

Hey,

we've got to go on the road together.

I'm telling you.

There's been a lot of leaders recently who haven't left in time, whether it's RBG, whether it's a Queen, and they've basically created problems that were terrible later on.

I mean,

well the royal family was infantilized by the fact that the queen was basically the female William Shapp, where the older she got, the older

I will explain, I will explain, the older she got, the more popular she became and the wiser she grew.

And so the question, if she had actually

and the better she looked in a dress.

As you had done earlier, do you not think that Prince Charles and the Russian Royal family would have had to grow up quicker?

No, I think Charles is doing a great job.

He just, unfortunately, he's been stricken with a serious illness.

But actually, no, I actually believe in experience.

He's doing a great job.

What does he do?

What's the job?

But what's you said he's doing a great job?

What, I don't know.

What your leaders are any better than that.

No, no, no.

Well, first of all, they're not your leaders.

You said what.

I want to know what constitutes doing a great job.

I think the biggest mistake your country ever made was getting rid of the monarchy.

Because if you kept it, you could have had King Peers by now.

Thank you.

Thank you.

He likes that idea.

I don't.

They provide a comfort blanket to the nation, which I think is underrated.

And I think the way that you see the political divide in this country, and there's no one above the political fray to just bring everyone together at the right moment, as as the Queen did in the COVID war.

Well, they're pretty much the same.

Oh, there's Taylor Swift.

Taylor Swift.

I mean,

they are precisely above everybody else.

That's why there's another one in here about the royal family.

I swear to God.

And that was my point.

I will never say to somebody, Your Highness.

I had a royal person on the show, not from your country, and I refuse to say it.

Your Highness, are you kidding?

What could be more illiberal than that?

When saying to another human being.

Well, actually, I did notice you didn't give Gillian her full title, which is OBE, audited

about that.

Awarded by the Royal Vampire.

But that's not the same thing.

I don't call her Your Highness.

I don't.

You can try.

Your Highness.

Will Biden agree to debate Trump, should he?

Let's turn to you first,

oh, wise one.

Yes.

Will Biden agree to debate Trump and should he?

That is a good question.

Yes.

You think he will?

I just said yes.

That is.

He did answer the question.

There is, believe me, I'm old enough to know there are some bad things about aging, but one of the great things is you just get to be cranky.

You just do.

It is just, it's so wonderful.

And then you just get that pass.

Well, I think he will.

I think it's going to be bad on Biden if he goes into the debate.

I mean, I've said it before.

They're almost the same age, but for some reason, Trump just doesn't present as old and feeble, and

he kind of looks the same.

Trump would destroy him in a live debate.

He would destroy Biden in a live debate.

I've got no...

I mean, how many live press conferences has Joe Biden done?

Well, that's just a good idea.

I mean, there's a reason they don't put him in front of a large gathering of the media for a sustained period of time taking questions.

There's a reason.

Okay.

Yeah, it's true.

Well, he doesn't have to answer in a debate, which he hasn't in the other debates.

He just doesn't answer the question or the subject.

That's true.

Is it Biden or Trump?

He's one of them.

I mean, that's the truth.

They're not really debates ever.

I mean, we haven't really had debates.

They're both on the stage.

They ask a question.

They say whatever they want.

They talk over each other.

Or, in his case, talk behind each other.

Right, Trump does that.

But, and

we got to go on the road together.

First to see that.

First off, Antarctica.

Yes.

All right.

Thank you, everybody.

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