"Lionel Richie"

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So this is me flying solo.

on a cold open.

I don't know if I've done this before.

I think maybe I've done this before.

It's not great.

This is what you're going to find in the next few seconds is

why this show works with three and not with one.

It might work with just Will or just Sean, but not just me.

It's just not enough.

It's like one hand trying to clap.

It's just, it's not possible.

It sounds like this.

You want to know what it sounds like?

One hand clapping?

It's terrible, right?

It's not entertaining at all.

So let me bring in the other two hands and

let's light this candle.

Here we come.

Smart.

Let us.

Smart.

Let us.

Smart.

Let us.

Wait, how's everybody doing today?

It's morning where you are, Jay.

So good, JJ.

It is.

It's morning and I'm still a little foggy from last night.

I had a little too much sugar last night.

Oh, no.

I have a sensitive system.

Did you go to Sunday Fun Day?

Yeah.

We had a little peach cobbler for dessert.

And

it was great.

I was saying as I was driving home with Amanda, I was saying,

you know,

love the groups there, but you just can't replace Sean or Will

in a party dynamic.

You can try.

Dinner party dynamic.

You can try.

Yeah, you can try.

We've got your headshots there on a couple of C-stands, but it's just

C-stands.

still, by the way, still, by the way, you could put cake on the seas on the picture in the headshot, and I'd still probably enjoy it.

Somehow, your picture would come to life and eat it up.

Like voodoo, Sean, you'd all of a sudden you'd like feel a warmth in your stomach.

Speaking of voodoo, I watched Weapons for the third time in

last night.

Yeah, I can't wait to see it.

Man, big fan of that movie.

That's Zach Regarder.

You keep saying how good it's doing.

And you watched with Franny?

Franny soaked it up, loved it.

It's a real director's

accomplishment.

Well, Franny's going away to start directly.

She's going away to college.

She's going away to college.

I know.

I'm moving

tomorrow.

Tomorrow?

No way.

Yeah, but at least she's going locally here to university here in Los Angeles.

And so

there might not be tears.

I think if I was to fly her somewhere and then fly away, it would be really

you don't think that you're going to have tears?

I don't think I'm going to have tears.

No, because look, you know, as any parent.

I

at an earlier age

yeah but you know 17 year olds 18 year olds they they end up doing a lot of sleep outs anyway so you know she's sort of like living here three days a week anyway okay sleep outside sleep outside sleep outside

sleep out sleepover overs yeah

sleep out hey can you come over for a sleepout what are you gonna sleep out on the lawn sean were you was it teary when you left uh did your mom um shed tears out of her one eye when you left for god

i think the other one still cried.

It just didn't see.

In the box.

It was in the box.

I opened the box later.

It was so cooling.

It was cooling in the box.

No,

I remember my move-in day for college, though.

It was like 100 degrees out.

Everybody just couldn't wait to be done with everybody.

Get out.

It's going to be 100 tomorrow when we're shipping furniture up two flights of stairs.

Is that what it was with you?

Just like carrying crap.

Who'd you pay to do it?

Yeah, exactly.

No, it's going to be me me and Amanda and Maple.

Exactly.

Yeah, three cars worth of stuff.

Can I just say that were I there, and this is not a hollow offer because I would help.

I would totally, by the way,

very safe offer.

I know it is

true.

But it is true.

I would love thousands of miles away.

I know, but it is true.

It was.

College was the best time of life.

I loved it.

You know, I remember before you peaked in college.

I did.

I remember my brother Mike was so impatient that

before computers and everything and

you had to sign up for classes, he drove the car.

There was a line from the building, whatever it is, the administrative building where you signed up for classes, all the way down the entire street.

It was like a thousand people waiting in line to sign up for classes.

He drove the car right up on the lawn, got me out, walked right up to the front.

and said, hey, I need to sign my brother up for classes.

And like, well, there's a line.

She's like, yeah, I know, but we were registered to come in.

We had an appointment.

And he just lied his way.

And she

did it right away.

That sounds like me trying to get an iPhone no what do you mean Jason don't bring it up don't let people google Jason Bateman's jumping line for iPhone in 2007

wait

wait well was it really 2007 yeah it was amazing yeah so get it wait what month was it uh that's a good question i that i don't know i'm gonna say the fall

give a good yeah because they usually release in the fall

but jab you got the year down is that right yeah i'm like well that's a year after they came out right yeah that's the year they came out uh Shawnee, so you know the story is JB and I, you know, the people, the, the nice people at Apple had sort of said, hey, we'll set you up with the phone.

And Jason said, you know what?

I'm going to go to the grove and I'm going to be a regular guy and I'm going to wait in line and get my

romanticizing the whole queuing up, you know, like Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back, you know, and everyone like lying.

So I was like, okay.

And I was like, I'm going to get mine delivered to my house a week early.

Anyways, which I did.

JB goes down.

God bless him.

God bless this little boy.

He goes down to the grove and he's waiting in line, all excited and diligently, right?

He's there.

And the employees at the Apple store there go, hey, look, that's Jason Bateman line.

So they go out to him and they go, hey, man, don't wait here.

Come, come with us.

So he kind of like obliges out of being polite.

And he goes with them.

They bring him into the store and he gets a phone early.

Well, wouldn't you know the daily and Daily Mail or whoever, paparazzi are taking photos of people lining up.

And the story comes out.

Jason Bateman skips line.

He jumped the line.

I love that.

The story is out before I get back to the office, right, Willie?

I got to the office and it was already online.

Hey, man.

I was getting jumped.

But wait, here's the best part of the story: that you didn't want the free phone sent to your house because you wanted to be a real person.

Then you went in the line and you got out of the line anyway.

All these nice people were like, hey, and there was a photographer in the bushes that was taking pictures of me anyway, like in line.

And so I probably should have put two and two together.

It was one of the the best.

Honestly,

it felt like such a victory to me.

And then the next year that they issued a phone, our nice person at Apple called us and said, hey, so we want to send you a new phone.

And we had a staff meeting with, I think it was Tim Cook at the time.

And he said, hey, everybody, let's not pull another Bateman.

Let's make sure we get VIP phones out.

No way.

I became a verb at the fucking.

I loved it.

PR fuck up so at Apple are now called Bateman.

No, but they did everything right.

It was me that

said, no, thanks.

Again, donate.

Okay.

Well, and now on our, now we have the best cell phones.

We can listen to our podcast on our cell phone and use Smartless Mobile.

Well, you can use Smartless Mobile.

Why wouldn't you?

Because you're going to get less.

Wait, what's Smartless Mobile?

What do you mean?

I don't understand.

Well, that's a cell phone.

You have a provider.

Let's say you have a provider.

You have whoever.

You have a KTT version of it.

One of these big, I guess, if you had to.

Yeah.

Yeah.

But why not save money?

But why not?

Yeah.

So why not save money?

Cheaper, it's less than half.

What if I want to keep my number?

No problem.

Why are you so tired and beleaguered?

I just feel like

on the outside chance, people haven't heard our pitch.

I guess I'm trying to not be annoying.

We keep our number.

You can keep your number on Smartless Mobile.

You can cut your cell phone bill in half.

More than a sign up.

A quick sign-up?

Is that what it is?

Yes, but it's really quick.

You can get the app, Jason.

You like apps?

I love it.

Smartless Mobile is the best.

Go sign sign up, everybody.

Okay, let's get to our guest.

Okay, our guest, by the way,

speaking of the best,

I have brought today an absolute heavyweight.

I'm so excited about this.

This guy is a just bona fide, decades-long international superstar.

Okay, he is unbelievable.

He has won an Academy Award,

a Golden Globe, multiple Grammys, Academy American Music Award things.

He's written so so many hit songs.

He was in a band, then he had an incredible solo career.

Everyone, and then he wrote songs for all the biggest stars, and he wrote songs for himself.

And he had the hugest.

He's one of the biggest record-selling artists of all time.

And I'm going to start to list some of his starting with his old band all the way through his other

guy.

Easy salon, three times the lady.

Still, he wrote Lady for Lino Richie.

You are.

Yes, endless love.

Oh, my love.

It's Lionel Richie.

Oh, my God.

Good morning, sir.

Wow, good morning, guys.

That was

the hamming up of the opening was just amazing.

Jason, the story about the cell phone is so embarrassing.

I know.

Listen, Lionel, we'd love to welcome you to the show, but more importantly, we'd love to get you signed up with Smartless Mobile.

What do you pay him out of money?

Oh, my God.

That's a beautiful studio you've got there.

Is that the recording studio?

This is the recording studio.

Oh, my God.

This is the hideout down here when I want to get totally away from everybody.

The doors close and don't.

You are the the man.

You've been the man for so many years.

So cool.

It is such an honor to have you, Mr.

Lydal Ritchie here.

Well, let me just say, Jays and Sean

and Will.

You know, having the three of you in front of me right now is, and listening is just probably

the trip of my life because, you know, I really admire the fact that you're talent and you can kind of improv so seamlessly.

Well, but it's just dribble.

You know, it's just talking.

You know,

you're about to get 50 minutes of it.

Tuck in.

Well, it's such an honor to have you.

Such a pleasure to have you.

Oh, cool.

You're here in Los Angeles, yes?

I'm in Los Angeles, yes.

Yeah.

And you've lived here how long?

I feel like I know where your house is, too.

I know exactly where you're at.

I've been here.

I've been here since 1981.

In the same house.

Not in the same house.

No, no, no, no, no, no.

I'm doing the, I did the start off in the guest house, then you go from there to the

main house, and then from there, okay i'm out of here so you know a couple of rentals here and there and then finally ended up here beautiful where did you where did you start where you where where where were you where did you born where were you born where'd you get raised tuskegee alabama right on the campus really yeah so that's right so i grew up on the campus in tussy right on the campus it was it was well i shouldn't say right on it was across the street from the gates of the campus and since then the campus has surrounded my place my house so

and why your house is not you you your parents, are they still around?

Are they still with us?

No, no, no, no, no.

Mom, dad, and grandma, but

the memories are right there, still in the house.

I still own the house.

Do you, really?

The house is still on the campus, and people pass by and go, there's Lionel Ritchie's house.

Have they offered to buy the house?

Do they want to absorb it and like build a new building right there for the school?

You know exactly why I want to hang on to it because you know every time they say Lionel, that's a wonderful spot.

And I go, mm-hmm, tear the house down and put another building up.

We're not going to do that.

But actually, I grew up right across the street from the president of the university's house.

Oh, my God.

And then as time went on, they moved to the big mansion at the other end of the campus.

But I mean, for the longest time, I was there with the.

What campus?

What is it?

The University of Alabama?

No, no, no, Tuskegee University.

Tuskegee University.

And what was your connection?

Did you have a connection to Tuskegee University?

Did I have a connection?

Oh, my God, guys.

It was Tuskegee Airmen.

This is my...

the moms and dads of my whole little group.

Number two,

believe it or or not, on the deed of the house.

You've got the Washington family who had the house before my grandmother had it

and grandfather.

So it was one of those things where it kind of started right there on the campus with everything else.

And of course, in 1923 is when they received the house.

And I didn't show up at that time.

I must assure you that I keep telling my kids I don't know Abraham Lincoln, but

it was pretty late after that that I showed up, but it was wonderful, man, just to have that history in the house.

And

you went to college there, right?

You went to Tuskegee.

Oh yeah, oh, yeah.

Yeah.

And you went to Tuskegee, and that's where you kind of got your, that's where you got your start.

I remember reading this thing.

You were saying,

I want to mention that your book is coming out.

I want to say September 30th, your book, Truly.

You named it.

Yeah.

Oh, that.

And

your first book?

My first book.

Listen, I'm telling you, if it takes me the rest of my life, have you ever done a book before?

No.

No, he's never read a book.

No, he's never.

it's left to right, top to bottom, right?

I'm going to read him a book later on tonight.

It's going to be awesome.

So

let me just tell you that it is painful because they keep asking you, and then what happened?

And then you want to kind of go, okay, I don't want to talk about that anymore.

How is your recall?

Because I figure my recall is going to be so bad.

I'm going to have to be in some sort of hypnosis to pull it all out.

You know, it all kind of worked out where, you know,

the stories kind of fell into place.

You know, once you,

between the band, between growing up in Tuskegee, between

various episodes of that, and then, of course, meeting and greeting around the world,

it kind of fell into place, man.

You start calling off names, and then the next name shows up, and it takes a minute.

Every once in a while, you have to make a phone call and go,

hey, who was that guy?

What was that lady's name?

You have to call somebody that remembers.

Who was the most helpful?

Jason does that at home when his kids walk by.

He says to his wife, who's that?

Yeah, which was that?

Was there one person that was the most helpful for you

in recalling some of these things?

Yeah, I have a couple of homeboys still in Tuskegee that calls off the names of everybody in life.

Milton Carver Davis was one of them and Harold Boone is another one.

And they just kind of said, oh, no, that's the guy's name.

And then, believe it or not, Ronald Lepred from the Commodores helped me out tremendously because he kept saying, no, that's not what happened.

And then he starts calling it.

Because, you know, as time goes on, it becomes, yeah, and I did this.

And remember, we did that.

And I go, Rich, Rich, you weren't there.

Right, right, right.

You're making up memories.

You're like creating memories.

You know, I'm creating my, and remember, I came on the stage and I told the crowd, Rich, you weren't there.

Is that what people?

Yeah, is that what people closest to you call you, Rich?

No, they call me actually Skeet is my nickname.

Really?

Skeet.

Where'd that come from?

Believe it or not.

Okay, this is part of that painful book.

Okay, so what happens is that, you know, your father walks in the room, looks at the baby, and he goes, Go on.

Sorry, hang on one second, Sean.

Father is a guy who is.

So he walks in.

There's the baby.

You know, and most guys would say, okay, yo, Killer or Bruce or, you know, come here, give me a rough name.

My dad goes, my Skiboo.

My Skiboo.

And I said, you know, I even questioned him.

I said,

dude, of all the names, why skiboo?

He said, it just came out that way.

Well, anyway, I'm now in high school.

I carry skee-boo all the way through elementary school, which is painful.

Painful, I tell you.

And then I get to high school, and the guy said, you're going to get killed in high school with skiboo.

Yeah.

So we're going to change your name to skeet.

And that was it.

And then it was skeet.

It was never Lionel or.

No, no.

Yeah.

Formality.

Skeet.

I was kind of called skeets.

Well, let me give you the other name so you'll know.

Anytime you have a guy named Fungus, another guy named Cookie Man,

you're following me.

So skeet, I got away cleaning with skeet, okay?

Those are your two other best friends?

Oh, no, we had P-head.

We got some days, P-Head and Sonny Boy.

We got some names.

What a crew.

But believe it or not, can I tell you, can I tell you, these guys went on to become great lawyers.

One guy is a biomedical nuclear engineer for NASH.

I mean, come on, you know, funky.

He's funky.

He's, obviously.

Yeah, so he was the smartest guy in the stupid group.

The rest of the guys.

Wait, so getting back to recall, how good were you at keeping all your memorabilia?

News clippings and pictures and things like that?

Good?

Got them all.

You do?

Really?

I do.

Yeah.

What did you know to do that?

Was that a mom or a dad thing that was like, son, keep your stuff?

It was mom, dad, grandma, cousins, aunts, uncles.

They kept every clipping.

And as they kind of said, I'm wrapping up the house here.

So scrapbook after scrapbook after scrapbook.

We've got volumes of the first time I did American Bandstand, the first time of this, and the first time I played it.

They got it all.

And you got it in the book there, too?

You got pictures of all that stuff?

You know what?

That's in the, believe it or not, that's the second book.

That's coming.

Wow.

Smart.

Wow.

Let me ask, Will and Jay, do you guys do it or do you have family members that archive your stuff?

No.

My mom was pretty good about it, and I I think I know where some of that stuff is.

I've got some of it, but I think

I've kind of gotten

every single thing I do.

Oh, that's so great.

Yeah, that's cool.

Believe it or not, you want to lose.

It's like living with a single white male.

Yeah.

Do you have candles under it?

I sleep with one eye open.

Wait, wait.

Lynn,

I want to get into Skeet, if I may.

No, I'm kidding.

I want to get into.

So you started.

That scared me, by the way.

Okay.

Yeah, I'm sure.

I love that you started.

So I read some excerpts from your book, and you were talking about

you owned a saxophone

and you didn't describe yourself as a player.

You described yourself as a blower.

And these guys were like, hey, man, we don't.

No, no, I hope I didn't write blower in the book.

No, no, I'm.

That's the title of the book.

Am I right?

No, I said saxophone holder.

Holder, holder.

Yeah, because it's a big difference.

It weighs a big difference.

Mind blow.

It's still a tricky title.

Holder, blower.

But you just kind of had it.

You didn't really know how to play.

you kind of were able to you had a musical sensibility to you and you were able to mimic from stuff that you heard is that true by ear and and that not only saxophone but by piano as well i cannot read or write music to that point wow wow amazing to me so what makes it all kind of weird is that when you can pick up a horn and

once you figure out you can now play along with Sonny Stit or you play along with Cold Train or you play along with...

You go, okay.

And then when you sit down to the piano, you know, it's,

you know, once you find out that some of the greatest artists in the world cannot read or write music, you know, there's Smokey, there's Paul McCartney.

Once you start going down that list of folks,

you know, it's a pretty rare fraternity sorority, you know.

Now, so do you did you ever learn or want to learn the names, of course, like the 575 or the 164 or the sharp seventh or whatever that?

Well, you know,

I can say it, I can,

you know, I can talk about it.

But the point point is, my problem was ADD or ADHD, which we didn't know back then.

Okay, that's great.

Now, try to read that on a page with dots.

So, tracking was the worst thing in the world for me.

It wasn't that I couldn't read it.

It's just I couldn't read it fast enough to play it.

That's interesting.

So, when you get in a room, I just forgot all that.

Can you read a chord chart?

Yeah, forget about it.

Forget it.

You can't read a chord chart, which just says this chord, then that chord.

I can get it done faster by standing in a room with a group of musicians, hum it to them.

Wow.

That's amazing.

That's amazing.

And they are so gifted that what you do is by the time I finish the hum, they've already played it six times over.

Well, that's what I'm blown away by.

All of the hit songs that we all know through all of these years that came out of your head.

Like, it's just fascinating to think about how did those melodies and those things come into your head?

It's just

amazing.

That's the weirdness of

the God gift.

You know what I'm saying?

I look at actors, I look at comedians,

and I go, you know, how did you put that together in your head?

And sometimes they say that was improv, you know, half of that was this.

But how do you explain it, though?

Do you just hum whatever you're feeling?

For me, for me, if I told you there's a radio station playing right now and all I have to do is tap over into it.

Now, it's only 12 notes.

Here's the magic of this.

It's not like I can go cheat on a lot of words and stuff.

There's only 12 notes here, guys.

And so, what happens is you have to know all you need is four chords.

And that's a whole album, you know, believe it or not.

So, what happens is just knowing what notes to put together.

And believe it or not, I can hear that.

Now, that's

amazing.

You know what I'm saying?

And we will be right back.

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And now back to the show.

Have you enjoyed how it's changed over the years in your own head?

Because any natural gift

does morph sometimes to the better, sometimes to the worse, as your taste evolves and as you allow yourself to be influenced by things that you like and as we get older and tempo and all that stuff.

Have you enjoyed that process, how your music has changed a bit?

In love with it.

You know, what happens is, you know, remember, it's all texture.

It's all, you know, sounds.

It's, you know, it's all about sonics.

So when you can, I started off probably about the first five years, six years on a grand piano.

Yeah.

Got it?

And then after probably

Penny Lover,

probably after that,

never played that that again, grand piano, because technology came in and you can get sounds on the keyboard.

Yeah.

So from that point on, I never played the same keyboard twice.

Do you remember moments, like Sean was saying, like where the songs come from?

So do you have, you must have memories of like when you first started to write or hum or come up with, you know, endless love, let's say, or

all night long.

Or do you remember like were you standing in the kitchen and you were like, you know, getting a glass of milk or you know what I mean?

Yeah, no, it's so many stories about, I'll use, I'll use

probably all night long.

I'll use Hello as the perfect example.

Yeah, crazy.

You know, I wrote, again, my co-producer James Carmichael was late for

the little writing session we were having.

And he walks in the door and I'm just playing on the piano and I said, Hello, is it me you're looking for?

And I played the chords.

No way.

I was waiting for him to say uh yeah i'm here okay let's get started he said finish that song wow so you already had so you already had the melody and the lyrics just came as kind of a joke to all i had was hello is it me you're looking for which is the corniest thing i could ever think about in life oh my god it's so okay so if you really want to know the back story of this which i will tell you the back story to this is

I didn't like it.

I hated it.

Wow.

And he kept saying, finish it, finish it.

And I said, said, James,

I'll be the laughing stock of the business.

Who's going to write a song called Hello?

Is it me you're looking for?

And so enough, I finished the song, and then

I fell in love with it, and he hated it.

Because he was going, okay, because he put the strings on it.

It was very heavy, heavy, heavy.

So are you ready for this?

We threw it off the album and I wrote a song called Truly

to replace it.

Of course, yeah.

No way.

And then, of course, the next album, album, we said, well, let's go back and put that hello thing on.

And that became the national anthem of As I Walk Around the World.

Hello, Lionel.

Yeah, it's amazing.

Of course.

Although, Trulie was the number one single, too.

Truly was the first, believe it or not, Grammy.

Wow.

Oh, wow.

After all these songs, everyone said, well, you won the Grammy.

No, no, no, no.

You go to the Grammys and you just kind of sign up for your seat, but they don't give me anything for the first 10 years of your life.

And then finally, you walk up one day and they call off Truly.

truly and I said, whoa, that's pretty cool.

And that was the beginning of the ride.

Is that often the way that it has worked for you, where you come up with, you write a bunch of melodies and then you write a bunch of lyrics and you sort of find what lyrics go with what melodies?

Are they that separate?

My mother was an English teacher.

So I caught hell just trying to go to school every day and using the proper English.

So, mom, can I go somewhere?

I don't know.

Can you?

That kind of situation.

So, you know, my problem with trying to write lyrics was, or should I say, write a song, is what's the subject?

So, whatever the subject is, that's the most important thing.

It's called the hook.

So, if you write, you know, all night long, right, or you write hello, or whatever the case may be, then if you have the hook, you'll write now the verses.

It's only four lines per verse, but you have to go back and put that together.

My problem was I would never write the verses until the Commodore said, we like it.

Because there's nothing worse than finishing a song.

And you get halfway through it.

Now, you spent your whole life on this thing.

And all of a sudden, you say, we hate it.

Next.

Yeah, right.

So I would just go, here's the hook.

I'm not going to put any more work in it.

I'm not putting any more work.

But then the actual music for said lyrics just comes much later.

You just figure out what melody might match this story.

It's dadas.

It's all dadas.

And occasionally you go,

perfect example is

lady, you know, I'm your knight in shining armor and I love you.

Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da.

Da da da.

That's that.

Uh-huh.

You just don't know the words.

You follow me?

Yeah.

You know, penny lover.

It's almost like a call and answer.

Yeah, you just kind of throw it out there.

Now there's some, what we call God's words, which is while you're writing the song, some mumbles come out in real words.

Yeah.

Well, you want to hold those as much as possible.

Yeah.

Because that's the true essence of where the other side was trying to direct you, really.

But what about the great luck that your ear

has such

incredible taste in what a melody sounds like?

And you also have a voice that is incredible as well.

Like you've got both of these enormous talents.

It's just, it's, it's.

It's a perfect storm.

There are a few others, but not many.

My God.

You have just

done my gratitude mantra.

First thing I get up in the morning, the last thing I say at night.

You know, how did it ever happen to me?

Holy crap.

I mean, you know,

I mean, you think about very serious things in life, and you don't really think about it.

It was a, someone said years ago, when you're 19, 20, 25, and you win Wimbledon and you go, wow, you know, where are we going to eat tonight?

Yeah.

And then you turn 50 and you go,

I want Wimbledon.

You know what I'm saying?

You know, well, it's only looking back that you realize, holy crap, what's right?

What was that for you?

I'm so glad that you, you know, we ask people that sometimes on the show.

You know, do you allow yourself to

pat yourself on the back and appreciate where you are, where you've been, where you're going, all that stuff?

It sounds like you've got such a healthy relationship with and perspective on your life and your gifts.

And I was going to, that was going to be my next question.

You know, you You seem like such a lovely man.

How...

Would you tell that to my kids, please?

I would suspect, JB, if I can jump onto your question before you finish it and just say, what I noticed is you mentioned early on that you got all your old buddies back and where you grew up and that you're really still in touch with.

I forget it was.

Tusky.

Fungus.

No, no.

Oh, yeah.

Fungus.

Fungus is among us.

Fungus and fungus and all these guys.

And I think the idea that you stay so in tune and in touch with them probably has a lot to do with getting their perspective

that you have.

Yeah.

The beautiful part about this, when I tell you how long we've known each other, then you're really going to know how strange it is and wonderful at the same time.

I've known these guys since preschool, elementary school, high school, college.

No way.

Wow.

That's really cool.

I mean, honestly, and by the way, every month.

We have a Zoom call

together.

Really?

And we talk about, just like you're sitting here talking now, yeah we've got zoom calls and we're sitting there talking about what you're doing and what's happening and and who's doing what and what hurt it through

sorry shawn but my my the my my question was was going to be really more about like with the

how many times did you

was it ever tempting because we live in such a permissive culture and business, you know, like you're allowed to be your worst part often.

And

were you conscious of making the choice to stay

as, sorry to use the word again, lovely as you, as you are?

You know, like it could be because it's easier to be lazy and to be nasty and to allow people to sort of

clean up after you and care for it.

Like, do you know what I mean?

Like,

there's just,

it's a choice to stay kind.

And I wonder if that was, were there struggles with that?

Well, I'll be honest with you I kind of grew up in a magical family a little bit here because I used to go back and ask my grandmother every day I said grandma how do you have so much wisdom you know you know so much about life but you've not been around the world I've been around the world how are you able to hold on to your your core yeah and she said if you learn how to treat people right

in at home

the rest of the world is easy.

An asshole is an asshole.

You know, and period.

And so, again, we're in this business.

We're called, it's called the entertainment business.

We run across enough assholes every single day.

Yeah.

So we kind of, if you could, the motto that I have, if you can spot one,

you make sure you don't act like him or her.

Yeah.

We came across an asshole recently.

And let me tell you something.

I'm not joking.

And the three of us sort of appreciated getting that contrast of seeing that grade A-hole behave in a way.

Gave us the perspective.

And, you know, it's funny.

I was saying to

one of my sons, my 15-year-old today, I was driving to work and I said, hey, man, I said, we're just talking about

moving through life.

And I said, you know what, dude?

If the only piece of advice I can give you is...

No matter what, if you keep pushing out love, even in moments where you feel like you're not getting what you get, if you push it out, it creates a world where you get it back from the universe a million times.

So love on people.

Be kind to people when you run into them.

Talk to people, not just here at home, we have a loving environment, but also out in the world.

And it will come back

and your experience.

And don't do it with the hope of getting a result.

Just do it.

That's right.

I had the wonderful pleasure of watching.

We have to go.

Sorry.

That was the last.

Kidding.

And no, go on, go on, go on.

I had the pleasure of watching my dad.

You know, he was one of those guys that,

you know, I just couldn't figure him out at the beginning.

He would walk up to people and, you know,

you could tell that he was a lover of people.

And so he would come home some days and

bring a man home to the house.

And he would,

Bert, put on, that's my mother, Alberta.

Bert, put on another plate.

This is Bill, Bill.

Bert, Lionel, Deborah.

And so he said, I'll be back.

I'm going upstairs for a minute.

And so here's the guy at the table, Bill, and it's all okay.

And so my mother starts asking questions.

So did you, were you, do you work with Lionel?

I'm a junior, so my dad's Lionel.

Okay.

So have you worked with, are you working with Lionel?

No, no, ma'am.

Were you in the military with Lionel?

No, ma'am.

Are you all friends from where he grew up?

No, ma'am.

Well, where did you meet

Lionel?

Why are you here?

He said, well, I just met him

at Kroger's.

So now my mother leaves the table to go upstairs to ask my dad.

Yeah, who the hell is this guy?

Who's this guy?

Right.

And of course, Deborah and I, my sister, we go upstairs to hear this conversation because we want to know too.

And so what the conversation was, he's going to do a job interview tomorrow, and he needs a suit.

And my dad is reaching in the closet to get a suit that fits him and a tie and stuff.

That's amazing.

And my mother would say this argument, well,

Lionel, it's one of your favorite suits.

He says, I can get another suit.

The man needs a suit to look the part.

Lionel,

I love that so much.

You've had a great example your whole life.

I was just telling somebody this story.

It reminds me, so forgive me, but it's just, I love that.

And my grandfather, my mom's dad, who I was really close, I was just telling somebody the last couple of days this story.

He was a great guy, and I was really, really close with him.

And he used to bring guys back.

He'd bring, he'd help out.

He wasn't an alcoholic.

He'd bring guys back from halfway house, and

make my grandmother bring them, make him a meal, and he'd let them work.

He'd pay them.

And then he'd talk to them.

He died at 97.

Wow.

Everybody who were his friends, his peers, had died long years before.

And I was just saying, the remarkable thing was that church was packed.

Yeah.

Because he reached, he did stuff for people, young people all the time.

I couldn't believe it.

I was like, this guy's 97.

This church is packed.

Yeah, that's so cool.

You know, and it's just.

That's a testament to his whole life.

Yeah.

Yeah.

In college, I would bring guys home and no questions.

Let's go to a break really.

Sean.

Lionel is a totally different story.

Please don't.

And I thought we come back to, I want to come back to this part.

I want to come back to this.

No suits.

No suits.

I was giving no suits.

No, you were taking off suits hey listen lionel can you can you um ripping them off can we you started your first band was the commodore your first big band was the commodore can you talk a little bit about your experience how that happened and then how you graduate and you know gradually moved away and went on a solo career what would just walk us through that a little bit if you don't mind well yeah i was gonna say that's a whole

session by itself.

Well, okay, I'm back in school and it's my freshman year.

And of course,

I run across this guy on campus and he says, you know, do you play any instruments and I said well yeah I'm a fabulous horn holder you know and I didn't tell him that I brought the horn to school to learn how to play it but he didn't ask that so I didn't tell him

so you know he said well we're starting a band that's going to be a freshman talent show and basically what the freshman talent show was is that all the seniors and upperclassmen would come in and laugh at the at the freshmen.

So, you know, we put this band together.

And believe it or not, at the freshman talent show, we killed it.

Killed it

we just surprised everybody well you guys just had chemistry like you just

vibe yeah that's wild

you know and back then all you had to play was James Brown and you got it you know so you guys covered a few a few songs we did nothing but covers that's you know and so the beautiful part about this was there was a guy in the audience who was in a band called the Jays which is the seniors the greatest band in the world on campus.

And so this guy, these guys were graduating, and it was two guys that are going to stay around because they wanted to put a new band together, Michael Gilbert and Jimmy Johnson.

And the next thing we got, a couple of guys, got phone calls.

Hey, can you guys stop by?

We want to talk to you about putting a band together.

Well, to get a call from them was like it.

Yeah.

And so we put the band together.

Next thing we know, we have a band called the Commodores.

That's nuts.

That's nuts.

We played every sorority house, every frat house, every campus from here to there.

And then

how did the songwriting start it?

So you're doing covers, and all of a sudden you're like, hey, we should write our own tunes.

Yeah.

Well,

that's a whole story.

I mean, it's good, though, because, you know, we could cover everything.

You want Slystone, we got Slystone.

What do you want?

Temptations, we're Temptation.

You want Three Dog Night?

We got Three Dog Night.

Whatever you need, we can play it.

And then it got to the point where we're trying now to figure out, okay, I I think it's time for us to put a record out, right?

It's going to happen.

And so we started doing auditions.

Well, we went to one audition that changed the whole trajectory of what we're going to do.

And that was Philly International Gambling Huff.

And we went in and we played every song.

We killed it.

It's bam.

We nailed it.

And right after that, something happened.

The guy came back and he said, guys, you all killed it.

We said, right, we got a recording contract, right?

He said, no.

He said, what we were thinking the whole time you were playing was, because by the way, you sound just like Sly Stone.

You sound just like the Temps.

You sound just like,

who do you guys,

what do you sound like?

Wow.

And I said, ah.

He said, I mean, I mean, we're just waiting on what you guys sound like.

That was the mission of the only way we find out who we are is we got to start writing.

Right.

And then did you guys sit down and say, okay, well,

what songs do we really like covering?

Which are the ones we really explode with?

You know, is it more of a sly sound?

Is it more of a, you know?

Well, that's when the individuality came in.

That's when the individual started catching up.

Some guys loved funk.

Some guys love, I'm a James Taylor nut.

I was a

Carol King thing.

You know, I was a, you know, I could name it.

You know, so I was over there.

I realized, okay, I'm a Stevie person.

I'm a Marvin person.

You know, that was my wheelhouse.

And then as time went on, okay, now I'm an Elton person.

Now I'm a, you know, I was in that piano man kind of thing.

Sure.

And so I would kind of bring in those kind of songs.

Now, the joke with all of this

was if you want to get a record on the Commodore album, don't try to do anything up tempo because everybody had 10 up tempo songs.

So I figured my niche, okay, I'll bring the only slow song they have.

Guaranteed I have a a record on that.

Because you got to come down a little bit to go back up again when you're playing together.

You got to have that in the album.

Gotcha.

So the mid-tempo, I got the mid-tempo, kill it.

I got it.

All right.

And as time went on, Brick House, we wrote that together as a group.

But mainly the mid-section of this whole thing was covered by, okay, I got you.

So the only thing happening was when the slow song came out, that was the hit.

Wow.

And then in that time when you were writing those songs, when did you, because you also wrote some songs, like

you wrote for Kenny Rogers, you wrote famously, you wrote Lady.

You did?

Yeah.

God bless.

When did you start writing for other artists outside of your own, you know?

Well, Kenny was an interesting story because of the fact that it was not supposed to be for Kenny.

It was supposed to be for the Commodores.

Yet another

slow song for the Commodores.

He's doing air quotes, by the way, just for listeners.

Thank you.

I forgot.

Nobody can see this.

And so what happens from here,

the guys walk in and announce no more slow songs.

Okay, so that eliminates the brother right here, gone.

And so now

I decided I'm going to put out a religious song called Jesus is Love.

So I went left of that and put out a church song.

Meanwhile, I got a phone call from Kenny Rogers.

Do you have one of those songs, man?

I just need, right?

And I said, Kenny, I have it, but I don't have time.

We're going to go on tour, and I don't really have time to do this, but I'll call you when I get back.

Yeah.

Two weeks later, the drummer falls off of his motorcycle, if you can believe drummers and motorcycles.

And I called Kenny back and said,

I'm back from tour.

I got it, right?

I got it.

And so the song was called Baby.

Instead of lady.

That's all I had.

Baby, I'm your knight in shining armor and I love you.

That's it.

And I walk into the studio with him and I'm used to pitching for Commodores.

So he said, so where's the song you got for me?

I said, Baby.

Scottie.

No, no, no.

Excuse me.

He told me how much he loved his wife.

And at the time, she said, he's a fool.

She's a lady.

I mean, a real lady.

Okay, now, what's the name of your song?

I said, lady.

Working baby.

Come on, you got to break your word.

I love that.

You know, when I was 24 years old, I toured with Kenny Rogers.

I was a Christmas elf in his Christmas tour.

Yeah.

You played a little elf and you'd come out and you'd bring him up.

You'd just sing.

That's right.

The microphone and a little taste.

Sean, just give us a little taste, Sean.

Just give us a little taste.

Well, we'd open the Christmas

session with,

we need a little Christmas right this very minute.

Oh, boy.

Handles in the window.

And then I was always high.

Like every show, I was high in my mind.

But Kenny was really nice.

He was a really good guy.

Yeah.

I have many, many stories, but not from

he's that guy.

You could have stories wherever.

I could talk forever.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You, you guys, you guys were good friends for a long time.

Isn't that right?

Forever.

Oh, really?

Oh, that's great.

Yeah, he's such a nice, nice guy.

He's probably not only my friend, but

one of my biggest mentors, really.

We'll be right back.

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And back to the show.

You wrote a lot of songs like All Night Long and Dancing on the See.

A lot of sort of party.

Were you part of a party vibe?

I was the party animal.

What are you talking about?

Were you?

Yeah, you know what's so funny?

I mean, everyone keeps thinking, oh, you know, Lionel, it's really nice because she's such a street guy.

Listen, man, I hung out with P.

Funk, okay?

It's Parliament Funkadelics.

I mean, you know,

when you're in Rick James, I mean, come on, guys.

That's the class.

I mean,

Where were these years?

So you'd left Alabama.

Are you in Los Angeles now during a lot of this the Commodore stuff?

I would say from

70 to probably 75 was

like everybody's going to die or everybody's going to live through it.

You know what I'm saying?

This was in L.A.

or we in New York.

It's across the country.

L.A., New York.

You know, we were all touring.

The only guys that didn't make it till late was the Commodores.

P-Funk was already in motion three years before we made it.

And so, you know, Bootsy Collins, I mean, think about this.

This is an era where, you know, to get the phone call and say, I'm sorry, this so-and-so died, that was everyday occurrence.

Right.

You know, but at the same time, you know, you ask the question, how did I get through it?

You know, it's just the fear of dying, you know, because that's what's at the other end of everything you want to try there.

But

it was such an amazing period because you got a chance to see either what you want to do or what you shouldn't do, or, you know, because what's the end result?

You're going to die.

So it's not too much to think about.

I wanted to ask you, you know,

I watch a lot of documentaries, and one of the best ones I've ever seen in my whole life was the making of We Are the World.

And I know that people probably come up to you now because it just came out like a year ago or two years ago.

God, time is flying.

Yeah, it was one year ago.

Tracy should know that, Lionel, you wrote that with Michael Jackson.

Jackson, right, right and and and as i'm watching i'm sure i'm so sorry to like bug you about it but i just please bug me

not sorry enough

it's just incredible that you put you with quincy put that group of people together at a time when there were no cell phones no computers no it was literally just phone calls and i hope they call back and then i hope they show up i hope they show up and they did and it's one of the most famous songs in the history of the world.

You know,

what was that like taking that on?

I mean, it's a massive mountain to climb.

There's such a wonderful feeling of naive.

There's such a wonderful feeling of you don't know it's going to be a disaster.

You know, because there's a certain time in your life when you go, this is going to be the greatest thing in the world.

You know, and you just hang on to it.

You know, and by the way, when we finish this song, we're going to save the world.

We're going to wipe out hunger.

I mean, think about this.

We're all there to wipe out hunger, and this is going to happen.

And then we start getting into the process of doing it

after we finally get all these fabulous artists together.

I mean, that one night was a mountain and a half to climb.

Yeah,

and I didn't get one night.

What time did you finish?

Like five, six, seven in the morning?

It was seven o'clock, eight o'clock in the morning.

From

we didn't start until two

because I was hosting the American Music Awards.

american music awards yeah

so i from seven that morning to go into rehearsal the following morning i i had rehearsal all the way up until five o'clock for when we went on the air we go on the air i do the american music awards when it's over excuse me by the way in the middle of all this won six of these crazy awards and then at one o'clock in the morning drive over to a m studios and we've got showtime I mean, from that point on, I'm walking in the door and are they there or not?

And you have to explain the song probably cold to all of them, right?

And this is going to be your part and this is going to be your part.

All they had was if they got a cassette.

Think about that.

If you got the cassette, you're doing good.

Right.

Most of them showed up just saying, okay, it's Quincy, Michael, Lionel.

Okay, I'll be there.

Most of them didn't hear the song until they got

the show.

So that just shows you blind faith.

And you just stayed up all night.

This is the mid-80s.

I wonder how you guys stayed up all night.

It's crazy to think.

And the great words, in the great words of my dear friend, okay, now where are the drugs?

Okay,

we were talking about Roscoe's chicken and waffles.

He said, yes, that sounds good.

Where were the drugs?

So then you were up for 24 hours, maybe 25, 26.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And that was called the birthday.

But we didn't fall apart.

until about 10 or 11 o'clock the next day.

Yeah.

Because now it's over.

It's out.

The baby's born.

You know, we have it.

You know, now we, of course, we got to put it together later.

But the fact is, the hardest part was getting it on tape.

That was the hardest part.

And then how was the,

its reach and its effect, the desired effect was accomplished?

Yes.

The money that it earned and the hunger that it alleviated.

Still a plug.

It was beyond, beyond.

I remember calling Quincy on the phone and I said, okay, they were saying, you know, we raised 10 million.

Wow, okay.

10 million.

We did 20 million.

20 million.

Wow, wow.

We did 30 million, 30 million, 30 million in 1980.

Wow, that's like forever, you know.

So I remember calling Quincy after we got to a crazy number and I said, Quincy, did we say we're going to give half the money away or all the money?

And Quincy said, don't try it.

Don't try it, skeeje.

Don't try it.

They'll run us out of town.

Hey, Sean, Sean, out of curiosity these days, what are you using using to mop up hunger?

Is it just a...

I'm just using my shirt or whatever kind of I'm wearing at the moment.

Like a sloppy joe?

Yeah.

You know,

it was an impossible time.

You have to understand, everything was,

and I will tell you the next thing that made it work.

No one saw it coming.

Yeah.

Back then, we didn't have cell phones.

Right.

We didn't have live streaming.

So no one saw this coming.

So we can sneak up on the world.

And so they didn't, it wasn't.

I remember being a kid.

I remember watching those, watching you guys and watching Bandaid and all that stuff and thinking like seeing all these superstars together

because we didn't have social media, because we didn't have any of that.

You're like, oh my God,

there's Lionel Richie and there's Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen and Cindy Lopper.

And you just go down all these people and they're all in the same room.

It was a mind blow.

All in the same room with no managers, no lawyers, no glam squad, no nothing.

It was like, and I refer to it as your first day of elementary school.

Right.

And your mother drops you off, you know, and you got to go in and kind of deal with the rest of the kids on your own.

I mean, Dylan was about to have a heart attack.

I mean, but Bob showed up.

Yes.

Make that very clear.

You know, Springsteen, we're all there.

Stevies, we're all there.

Ray Charles, we're all there.

And we had to kind of walk in and get used to each other.

Did you see a few of them at the AMA's earlier and then say, hey, I'm expecting you in a few hours.

Take it easy at the party.

I saw a few.

Yeah.

And the ones that were coming off tour made it difficult.

In other words, Stevie, okay, I got it.

Michael, okay.

But is Dylan going to show up?

Yeah.

I mean, he's not known for like, is he, he might, he might not.

You know, Springsteen's coming from his last concert in Madison Square Gardens.

Wow.

Wow.

But what am I saying?

Stevie was in Philadelphia.

Yeah.

There's a snowstorm in Philadelphia.

He might not get out.

Wow.

Follow me?

Yeah.

And by the way, we have no cell phone to know exactly where he is.

Right.

But you've got contingencies as far as like, well, then

Cindy Lauper will sing this verse.

I mean, it could have been the train wreck of life.

Yeah.

It was wild to see Wayland Jennings walk out.

By the way, it wasn't wild at all.

Wayling was true to his.

Wayling was, he was walking on ice just a little bit because he was there because of Willie.

Willie said, it's going to be great.

And everything was fine.

You know, good old boy, he's ready to go.

And then we decided we're going to put some Swahili in there.

Stevie walks in, and the point we said was, don't veer off course.

Yeah.

Well, Stevie didn't get that memo.

And so what happened was Stevie comes in and says, we need a little

some African phrasing.

Tutu wai no no Willie Moingu.

Right, I remember that.

Tutu wai no no Willie Moingu.

And we said that about three times and Willie said, ain't no good old boy ever sang no Swahili.

I'm out.

I'm out of here.

And he left.

No way.

No way.

And the joke was, it wasn't Swahili, but it didn't matter.

It didn't sound like good old boys, so I'm out.

But we all,

when Willie said, well,

there goes Wayland.

I said, okay.

Wait, wait, wait.

I want to know what the, I want to know what the, speaking of like, like the sort of like, just like nonsense or words, there was only,

I think it's an all-night long where they go, there's that part that goes, and

it's it's a wonderful phrase that has gone around the world that means absolutely nothing.

Yeah.

So say it again, say it again.

No way.

No way it said.

Tambolite said de molla.

Yeah, jambo jambo.

Vuitopate o we go in.

Oh,

jambolite.

Tambolite said de moya.

Right?

Now, here's the joke.

The joke was I am now trying to find some African stuff, right?

And so I go in and I go,

let me call the UN.

I figured out, call out and I said, I need how stupid I was.

I need some phrasing, some African dialect that says infectious partying.

And the guy said,

Lionel, there's 101 African dialects.

I said, okay, so let me get this straight.

So one part of Africa, he said, one tribe doesn't know what another tribe is saying.

Okay.

Thank you very much.

I hang up the phone, call my friend from Jamaica.

I said, when Bob Marley says, yeah, boy,

what is he saying?

He says, absolutely nothing.

Yeah.

So that's like chatting.

You follow me?

Okay, so wabu, yeah,

well, yeah, wow, what?

Okay, nobody knows what the hell that is.

Okay, great.

Thank you very much.

Hung up the phone.

Tambuliti says, boy, yeah.

You had license.

That's amazing.

That is so awesome.

So people stopped me.

I couldn't tell you for the first year, people would say to me, man, this is so great, man.

You tie in the mumbo with mumbo, jumbo, jumbo.

And they're trying to tell me what it means.

And I didn't want to tell them it means nothing.

But I went along with it.

And then finally, I just had to let the cat out of the bag.

That's great.

I love that.

How often are you getting out there enjoying all the love that you deserve from the crowds?

Are you still enjoying getting out there

and performing live?

You do a bunch of dates still?

People ask me, you know, how long does your tour last?

I said, it's been going on since 71.

So how it works is very simple.

We just came off of a European tour,

34 dates

from London to Germany, you name it, Ute O2 O2,

the big arenas and a couple of stadiums.

And the fact is, it's still happening.

I mean, the point is, it's happening.

So when you walk out on stage, there's 100,000 people.

You walk out on stage, there's 40,000 people.

And the beautiful part about where it is now is that when I forget the lyrics, I just go, come on.

And here we go.

And it gets to the point now where it's even getting to the point of the Rocky Horror Show.

They know all the parts.

And the next thing they do, they walk out with

the mustache, the hair, the afro, the whole thing.

And those are the girls.

Those are the ladies.

So it's really like coming to, I did Glastonbury, which is the whole center of the book.

The book starts at Glastonbury and works back.

And there's 200, let me give you that name, 200,000 people dressed up like Lionel Ritchie.

Wow, my God.

And it starts there.

and goes back to the beginning of, that's where the book is, what it's all about.

And so how did I get there?

And when you see the security guards break out dancing,

that becomes, okay, this is a happening.

And so, you know,

it's really the journey.

The book is all about the journey.

Yeah.

The longevity and the level of quality that you've maintained for so long

is just so.

astonishing.

It's just really admirable.

Yeah, it is.

You're just a, you're such a, like I said, you're such a heavyweight.

You're just an incredible talent.

And we just

admire the heck out of you.

And your book truly is on sale September 30th.

Thank you.

And

I urge everybody to get out and read it.

And I read a bunch of parts of it.

I can't wait to read it.

It's so interesting.

Your story is so fantastic, man.

And you bring such positivity.

You've got such a positive vibe.

That's infection.

I love it.

Yeah.

And I'm an MTV baby, so I grew up on you.

This is a little surreal to meet you.

It's really, really cool.

Well, first of all, I want to thank Will for inviting me.

This has been more fun and aha discovery yet again.

You know, but

it's wonderful to be able to kind of stay here at the other end.

First of all, to be alive, clothed in my right mind is probably a phenomenon

in our business.

You know,

normally what you have

at the end of this is, well, when I came out of this clinic or when I came out of this rehab or when I,

the trick is just kind of surviving this business because because it's treacherous as you well know you know and so you know being a positive light I found that there's there's probably one well three simple words I love you is what the whole world wants to hear and so I didn't plan it that's not me planning it's just you know I happen to get that mission to use use those words and it's been it's serving me and and the world well yeah congratulations on keeping your your your light bright all of these years and untarnished and shining it on all of us.

We really appreciate it.

Thank you for the hour you handed us.

Thank you.

You're great, Lionel Richie.

Thank you, sir.

What a pleasure, pleasure, pleasure.

And I hope our paths cross.

I promise.

It's somewhere if you see me out, just come over and tap me on the shoulder and say, hey, it's me, Will, Sean.

That's Jason.

Come on.

Hey, Rich, you know.

We're going to take you up on that.

Thank you, Lionel Ritchie.

Thank you so much.

Continued success.

Great to see you.

This book truly comes out September 30th.

Lionel Ritchie, thanks for joining us, man.

Love you.

Thank you, Lionel.

Love you.

Love you too.

Thanks so much.

Bye, Paul.

Love you.

Bye.

I feel bathed.

Me too.

Right?

Me too.

Isn't it awesome when you meet somebody like that who just brings like positivity and you get like contrast?

Like just, I don't know.

You know, a lot of musicians that we've had on the show.

I don't know what it is.

If they found the thing at such a young age that they love to do, that it feels,

it might sound really cheesy, but it seems like they've they're so connected to their spirit and they're so joyful like remember when alicia keys was on or i was just gonna say she she has been my favorite guest because of her light and her energy and and and he is a

a co those are my two favorite interviews yeah liono ritchie and alicia keys

yeah that's those are those are very good i i i i think that you're right sean i don't think it's cheesy at all i think there is something about uh musicians in that way that makes them special this is something i don't know and they're And then they emit that light.

By the way, you know, I ran into out here, you're going to love this shot.

I forgot to tell you.

I ran into,

I was at this thing, and all of a sudden I felt a tap on their shoulder.

And he goes, hey, Will, it's Dave from DeBesh Mode.

And it was so funny,

the way he said Dave from DeBesh Mode.

Wait, he was there?

He was this week.

Yeah, yeah.

He was like, this is like a couple weeks ago.

And I go, hey, man, we just, we know today.

Yeah, yeah.

Died.

By the way, you know he's coming to the show on Wednesday.

Who?

Good night, Oscar.

Mark Hamill.

No way.

Wow.

Oh, God.

Scotty working on his outfit right now.

Are you going to wear a depends?

Yeah.

Or two.

Or two.

Yeah.

Oh,

shot.

Honestly, I can't get over that line of Richie, though.

I just

amazed.

And that we know, I know, like I said, I grew up.

I was just an MTV guy.

Like, I would see him.

I would see him in all the music videos.

And the hello video, I was going to say, and he became more beautiful because of the video with the blind girl.

I don't know if you guys remember that.

Yeah.

But it was about this blind woman, and it was beautiful.

Anyway, I loved that.

The number of hits that guy has had.

He's got to be up there near the top as far as

150 million records sold worldwide.

And he's that guy.

And he's like, hey, what's going on?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Hey, what's going on?

He's had like, he's had like

10 or 12 number one hits.

Like, it's just, it's insane.

Yeah.

And he's still touring.

And

it seems like he's 35 years old.

No kidding.

He looks amazing.

I mean, he's just, I know.

What an inspiration, man.

I want to come back as Lionel Richie.

I know.

Do you think he'll write a sequel to the song, Hello?

Oh, what would you think it'd be called?

What kind of a name do you think he could give to it?

I mean, if you were going to do a second part,

well, that's weird.

How would you know?

Where would you even start?

I would probably start.

First, I would say, Goodbye.

Is it me you're not looking for?

We would get your nuts out of the vice first.

Goodbye.

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