Willie Robertson: The Unlikely Origin of Duck Dynasty, Willie’s New Show, & Why Trump Won

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Speaker 2 Yeah, I was on the five. I remember.

Speaker 2 No, I was on over, what do they call it?

Speaker 2 I was the one with the women and

Speaker 2 outnumbered. And I was up there.
They used to bring me up there all the time because Duck Division was so popular. With our viewers, it was popular.
popular. Yeah.

Speaker 2 And the girls, the girls on that show, they were laughing. They said, oh, this guy, Donald Trump, you know, says he's running for president and all that.

Speaker 2 And they're laughing and they're kind of, you know, making like it's a joke. And they came to me and they said, what say you, Willie?

Speaker 2 And I said, tell you what, I think he's resonated with a lot of people. And you could just see them like set like, oh.

Speaker 2 Like they thought I was going to laugh and be joking.

Speaker 2 I said, don't underestimate the power of celebrity because I was like, I'm just new to it. But man, when everybody knows who you are,

Speaker 2 it's a big advantage because

Speaker 2 the thing about Kamala Harris, she was the vice president for three and a half years. No one knew how to say her name, including her.
And she was the vice president.

Speaker 3 Welcome to the Tucker Carlson Show. We bring you stories that have not been showcased anywhere else.
And they're not censored, of course, because we're not gatekeepers.

Speaker 3 We are honest brokers here to tell you what we think you need to know and do it honestly. Check out all of our content at tuckercarlson.com.
Here's the episode.

Speaker 3 When they got elected or whatever it was in 2020, I

Speaker 3 totally by accident, I pronounced her, I called her Kamala,

Speaker 3 which is what I thought her name was.

Speaker 3 The White House press secretary attacked me as racist,

Speaker 3 which, okay, fine, but but it really was, I would admit it, was totally accidental.

Speaker 2 Right.

Speaker 3 And so this kid on our staff found tape of her calling herself Kamala

Speaker 3 and then Kamala.

Speaker 2 And I just thought, like, who can't pronounce her own first name?

Speaker 3 Yeah, that's if you were like, I'm Willie Robertson or I'm Will A.

Speaker 2 Robertson,

Speaker 2 you know what I mean? It'd be like kind of weird, right?

Speaker 2 Hello, I'm Wiley Robertson.

Speaker 3 You know, I mean, I think it's fair to like settle on a pronunciation of your own first name.

Speaker 2 So one of the things

Speaker 3 I was, I've never hunted with you before.

Speaker 3 You've become famous for bird hunting. You're an excellent shot.
I just want to confirm that for people watching.

Speaker 3 It's not fake.

Speaker 2 I've got to make my dad and brothers watch this. It's true.

Speaker 3 They know that. No, it's true.
You are.

Speaker 3 But you're not.

Speaker 3 You become famous from television.

Speaker 3 I just want to get right to it. You've written this book, Gospeller,

Speaker 3 which is not about hunting.

Speaker 2 It's

Speaker 2 kind of. What's it about? Hunting for people.

Speaker 2 Hunting for people. Fishing for people, perhaps.

Speaker 3 Turning darkness into light, one conversation at a time.

Speaker 2 Yeah, that's

Speaker 2 came up with this book this year. And

Speaker 2 this was kind of the one I wanted to write. You know, it was like, before I die, I want to write this book.
And it's really about my faith,

Speaker 2 the faith that was passed down, the first chapters,

Speaker 2 my mom and dad's story about how they got their faith. We put out a movie last year called The Blind,

Speaker 2 which was their journey in faith

Speaker 2 shot in the late 60s, 70s. And that was a bad, he was a bad guy.

Speaker 3 In what way?

Speaker 2 Oh, he's just,

Speaker 2 well, he called himself a heathen. He was just a bad dude, you know, just into

Speaker 2 everything he shouldn't have been into. He's married.
He's got this young family.

Speaker 2 He's drunk all the time. He loses his job.
He ends up running a bar. And

Speaker 3 all hope literally was over.

Speaker 2 He had kicked us out of the home. He's a bad dad.
He's a bad husband.

Speaker 3 He kicked you out of the home.

Speaker 2 He kicked mom and us out of the house. He's out of the trailer.
Really? Yeah.

Speaker 2 And

Speaker 2 yeah. And so, and the one person who didn't give up on him was my aunt, Jan, his younger sister.
And she... She'd go up to this bar he was running.
Dad has like a master's degree. He was a

Speaker 2 could have went professional quarterback. He played ahead of Bradshaw and in college at Louisiana Tech.
Gifted athlete, had everything

Speaker 2 ahead of him and just pretty much throws it all away. And so

Speaker 2 my aunt would go up there and pass out a little Bible track. She was a very charismatic Christian.
And he hated it.

Speaker 2 He was like, stay out of here. And she begged this preacher to go.
preach the gospel to her brother. And I'll write in the book, I can just imagine this conversation.

Speaker 2 Like, cause, because the preacher's in Louisiana, the bar's in Arkansas. And

Speaker 2 I'm sure it was like, can you share the gospel with my brother? He's wayward. And, and he probably was like, yeah, tell him to come to church.
We'll meet after.

Speaker 2 He's not coming to church. And you have to go see him.
Where does he do? He runs a bar. In Arkansas.
Yeah, which one in town? It's not even in, it's not even in the state, you know.

Speaker 2 And this guy gets in his car and drives to a bar, walks in.

Speaker 3 Where was the bar?

Speaker 2 With his Bible. It was in Junction City, Arkansas.

Speaker 2 And it was rough. You know, it was a rough.

Speaker 2 That's sad. And it was adversarial.
Like the guy goes in. Phil does not want to hear.

Speaker 2 He's not even invited in there. And I knew the preacher up until he passed away.
And

Speaker 2 he says,

Speaker 2 your dad's sitting there. He says, he's got a pistol in his belt and a giant Budweiser.

Speaker 2 He's about half-lit. And the dad looks at him and says, what you selling, preacher man?

Speaker 2 And so the guy sits down and nothing happens. Phil doesn't.

Speaker 2 There's no conversion. There's no just as I am

Speaker 2 bar baptism. Phil just said, I'll keep that in mind.
And so he leaves. And then, and Phil's life even goes more in the tank.
He ends up,

Speaker 2 the state police showed up to arrest him. He goes and lives in the woods for six months, I think.
Like he was that guy. What were they arresting him for?

Speaker 2 He had put two people in ICU, beat them up over a bar dispute he just takes off lives in the woods says i'm home on and out there is when he he um he got really sick and nobody you know everybody was trying to figure out where he was and but he was

Speaker 2 waifing kids at this point too well then they let mom ended up moving to

Speaker 2 they moved to louisiana and we're pretty much like

Speaker 2 hope he doesn't die you know but it's over you know he's already kicked us out and um

Speaker 2 and then he comes dragging back up into that town and and he pulls up to where my mom was working. She has a new job and trying to move on with her life.
And

Speaker 2 she's like, call the police. Like, oh, no, he's, you know, he's all bearded.
He's living in the woods. And he pulls up and he's crying.
He said, where's that preacher? I need to talk to him.

Speaker 2 And that's when Phil became a believer right there. So that's the first chapter in the book.

Speaker 3 So how long did it take your mom to take him back?

Speaker 2 She took him right back. It was amazing.

Speaker 2 You know, I always said if it weren't for dad changing his life but also if it wasn't for mom forgiving him and yeah it's easier to change your life than to forgive someone who's abandoned especially when you're just saying it yeah

Speaker 2 and who knows you know i'm sure there

Speaker 2 probably wasn't the counseling that we had you know they just yeah no yeah she but she needed help i mean she's got three young boys and at the time three and um i was the youngest at the time So in the movie, I'm portrayed.

Speaker 2 I was very particular on who played me in the movie at two years old. I mean, you got to get that part right.
Oh, yeah. That's a handsome toddler, wasn't it? So it was my grandson played me.

Speaker 2 My grandson played me about his great-grandfather. It was awesome.
That's fine. It's fun to watch that movie.

Speaker 2 It's a hard movie to watch.

Speaker 2 And dad didn't even want to do it.

Speaker 2 It was tough for him to go back, you know, and relive that, you know, just pull all those.

Speaker 2 But we said, dad, And mom too, both. We just said, I think this can help a lot of people, you know, a lot of people who were in similar situations and um

Speaker 2 so yeah they stayed together and so the first chapter of the book is that and and so if you think about like this like 50 years ago that happened uh if that doesn't happen this family does not stay together if the family doesn't stay together there's no duck commander there's no duck commander there's no duck dynasty there's no podcast

Speaker 2 I don't know where I would be. My whole life would look completely different.

Speaker 2 And so part of the reason for us being still so excited about our faith is because we feel like we owe everything we have to our faith. Had it not been for faith, it would have been over.

Speaker 2 You know, marriage was over. You know, who knows?

Speaker 3 So do you, I mean, do you remember a time before your father was a Christian? Do your brothers?

Speaker 2 They do. They do.
I don't really.

Speaker 2 Everything I remember was

Speaker 2 great. And he went from,

Speaker 2 you know,

Speaker 2 darkness to light. I mean, he literally, it's kind of like Saul and Paul in the Bible.
You know, it was like this old person, then he just turned and just went, I mean, just full blaze.

Speaker 2 And he just wanted to share the gospel with everybody he knew, you know, because I guess he had lived and he said, I live so bad now. I got to go help these people.
And so he became known.

Speaker 2 He became a known gospeler

Speaker 2 of just known for preaching the gospel to everybody.

Speaker 3 A gospeler is someone who preaches the gospel.

Speaker 2 It is. It's a real word.

Speaker 2 It's an old word. Had you ever heard of it? No, never.
I've never heard of it either. So I'm writing this book.
It's 2020, you know, COVID. I was like, I want to write this book.

Speaker 2 And so it was about sharing your faith. And my wife, who's way smarter than I am, she comes in because I couldn't figure out what to call it.
And she goes, Willie, I found this word.

Speaker 2 It's called gospeler.

Speaker 2 And it used to be very commonplace. And it was not necessarily pastoral.
It was just like common folk who were just known for sharing the gospel.

Speaker 2 And it simply means somebody who shares the gospel with people, either publicly or personally.

Speaker 2 And it didn't fall short on me that the word is literally a dinosaur. No one's ever heard of it.
Right. But at one point in America, in Europe, this was a common word.

Speaker 2 And they were called known gospelers. I found a law.

Speaker 2 I want to say it was up in, it was up in the northeast, where it was like, nobody can stop a priest or a known gospeler from preaching on the town square. It was actually in a law.

Speaker 2 Like that word was in a law. Amazing.
Like, cool. Yeah.
So she found the word.

Speaker 3 So how did you grow up? Like, did you grew up in a world where Christianity was at the center of everything? Oh, yeah.

Speaker 2 For sure. Number one.
Number one.

Speaker 2 No doubt about it. So

Speaker 2 it wasn't like, oh, we should try to go to church. It wasn't.
It was, you know,

Speaker 2 every, and we had so many Bible studies that it just really went all week. Like, because what happened,

Speaker 2 we would, once you're kind of known for that, so people would bring people. down to the house for Phil to talk to.

Speaker 2 And they were the most wayward people you ever, it was like murderers on

Speaker 2 the the craziest people ever.

Speaker 2 And I would just want, and dad would just go, no matter who they were, he would just sit there on the couch and he'd feed them supper and then he would jump into the Bible and just, I mean, it was Fridays, Tuesdays.

Speaker 2 Really? All the time. Yeah, all the time.
And then dad started teaching Bible classes. So he would teach his Bible class on Sunday mornings.

Speaker 2 But he would just study like crazy, like just crazy person. This is, you know, and my father's never owned a computer.
He's never owned a cell phone.

Speaker 3 He He doesn't have a cell phone?

Speaker 3 How do you text him?

Speaker 2 You don't.

Speaker 2 Just like saying. You go find him.
So I call and I'm like,

Speaker 2 there's a dude. There's a dude down there near.
So you call him, but you got to go find him. He's like in the woods, you know.

Speaker 2 And you've got to, if you want to track him down, you've got to go find him. Does he still hunt?

Speaker 2 Oh, yeah.

Speaker 2 But it was, but yeah, the dad would just read and study. And, you know, he was just

Speaker 2 thirsting for knowledge.

Speaker 2 He loved the knowledge but then he loved trying to to share that and that's kind of the point of the book is is turning darkness into light one conversation at a time and that that the tagline comes from it's it's funny how my business mixed with my faith so we have some new products uh for deer

Speaker 2 and it's this this feature where you can you click a button so right at that time where it's real dark you know it's getting a little dim still legal shooting hours and it just boom it just goes turns it into it's daylight it's crazy how what is it it's pulling light whatever ambient light is it's pulling in right it's amazing so we had this new product so i'm looking at all the marketing material and they had on there uh turn turn dark into light and when i saw that i went that's the tagline for my book turning darkness into light one conversation at a time so through a conversation Meaning, had the guy not gone and shared with that, you know, he was the one that actually planted the seed or shared with dad and boom, that's where it started, just that conversation.

Speaker 2 And then I watched, you know, hundreds and hundreds of other people just through a conversation lead to a life change. And so, and so what I wanted to do was go through the book and go through

Speaker 2 kind of how to do that because a lot of people, they're so intimidated. They don't know what to say.
And they like the idea of it.

Speaker 2 And they're like, well, I hope somebody tells somebody about their faith or about Jesus, but it ain't me. And I don't know how to do that.
I don't, it's like, I don't know where to start.

Speaker 2 I don't know the Bible enough. And And so we kind of disqualify ourselves from a lot of those for a lot of those reasons.
And

Speaker 2 so I just tried to go through and tell stories. Now pull stories from the New Testament, just conversations, like especially conversations, like especially in the book of Acts.

Speaker 2 Like that's where you're really seeing kind of the church meet with the world and just pull the conversations like this is what they said. And this is how you could share with others.

Speaker 3 So you, your family, despite living in a very rural area, you've got a duck call business and you're seriously Christian, you wind up in television,

Speaker 3 which is like the opposite of all of that.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 3 So how do you have the, so the crew comes in for wherever you're meeting with the studio executives from wherever, but not from West Monroe, Louisiana.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 3 How do you begin a conversation about your faith with someone like that?

Speaker 2 Well, it was obvious. I mean, I think the faith just comes through in every, it was going to be hard to separate that, separate the faith.

Speaker 2 And so, but I understood television enough to know that, you know, it can't just be a sermon, you know, it's got to, you know, right. And we

Speaker 3 learn the people who run television, I have noticed from spending a lifetime there, not super receptive to the message.

Speaker 2 They weren't as, you know, a lot of people asked me that. Like, we ended every show with a prayer.
And, um,

Speaker 2 and I get that, I almost get this like weekly. It's like, I bet they didn't want that prayer.
But that wasn't the case. They, they were like, oh, that's cool.
You know, like, good for them.

Speaker 2 Yeah, it wasn't a,

Speaker 2 battle at all. It was just a good way to end the show.
They knew faith was important to us. And

Speaker 2 that's how they, well, that's how we ended every show was with that prayer. But there wasn't a lot of resistance

Speaker 2 at all from that. So you're literally.
I know, I think people thought that was the case or wanted to. No, I love it.
Maybe it's not. And it really wasn't.

Speaker 2 It was like, and then once it works, and once it's

Speaker 3 commercially

Speaker 2 the biggest show

Speaker 2 ever in reality TV, there's like, oh, we love that prayer. That was our idea.

Speaker 2 No,

Speaker 2 it worked. And so once we talked about how to do it, and my father was, he was so funny with the show.

Speaker 2 So when I went down to tell him, I said, Dad, we, you know, you got this idea of doing this television show. And he hated it.
He's like, I don't want to do it.

Speaker 3 Where did the idea come from?

Speaker 2 I said, it's a way to get the gospel out to more people. And literally, that's what I told him.
And he sits in the share and goes, hmm, I've never thought about that. He goes, you think it can?

Speaker 2 I said, I don't see why not.

Speaker 2 He gives a thumbs up and he's like, all right, we'll do the TV show. If it can get the gospel out to more people, so you do a show like that.

Speaker 3 What are the mechanics of it? Because it seems like it would take over your life completely.

Speaker 2 It does. So, like, how does it work? It's a lot of,

Speaker 2 well, we didn't know when we started. Like, we had no idea.

Speaker 2 I get a, I get an email.

Speaker 2 This is, so we had done another television show on the outdoor channel. And

Speaker 2 in the same way, like,

Speaker 2 it was my wife's idea. Corey said, Corey watched reality television.

Speaker 3 Is she from West Monroe?

Speaker 2 She's from West Monroe as well. She's from the city.
I'm from the states.

Speaker 2 So she says, she's watching all this reality television. And she said,

Speaker 2 Willie,

Speaker 2 I think your family needs to have a reality TV show.

Speaker 3 And I'm like, that's not a compliment. Well, when your wife says your family needs a reality TV show, that's what I said.

Speaker 2 I said, usually an attack. That's why I didn't realize it.
And I said, Corey, we're just normal people. And she goes, Willie, y'all ain't normal.

Speaker 2 And then, so it was. She was like, you guys are like, she goes, I've been with you for a long time.

Speaker 3 Where'd you meet her, by the way?

Speaker 2 A summer camp, fifth grade.

Speaker 2 Camp Chioka.

Speaker 2 Camp Chioka. Yeah, her.

Speaker 2 Yeah, I saw her sitting on the swing. So her grandfather.
and father were business guys, very successful business guys. And part of their charity work, they'd built this summer camp.

Speaker 2 And so now that we're new believers uh my parents are that was a new thing like now we're going to church summer camp you know and we'd never been to church you know it was like and we couldn't even afford it so when we would pull up to the camp my mother had no money and she would be and so we would have our bags packed like we're ready and she's like all right here's the deal y'all stay here let me go see if i can trade working in the kitchen for you guys to come if they say yes you're in if they say no we're going back the house and we're just like please say yes which What's funny is

Speaker 2 it was my wife's parents who were making the decision.

Speaker 2 As it turns out in life, I later married their daughter who ran the camp. It was the same camp I was hoping to get into.

Speaker 3 That's amazing.

Speaker 2 So every time they said yes, and so they would let, and so we would go, and I see this girl. She's on a swing.
So I can see her to this day. And

Speaker 2 she's got this big giant, you know, 1980s. I'm like, who is that girl?

Speaker 2 And

Speaker 2 they said, ah, it's Corey Howard, you know, her dad and them.

Speaker 2 they they're the ones who run the camp and so I went over and talked to her I invited her on the moonlight hike and she said yes and we went on the moonlight hike in fifth grade and we didn't keep dating we didn't and we didn't get married uh that year but um we waited

Speaker 3 when you got married

Speaker 2 19 18.

Speaker 2 you were 19 she was 18 correct i proposed to her when she was 17 i was 18.

Speaker 3 What'd her dad say?

Speaker 2 He didn't like it. I bet he didn't.

Speaker 2 He didn't like the idea of that.

Speaker 2 he wasn't a fan

Speaker 2 they were very well off they were um

Speaker 2 yeah they they lived in the neighborhoods

Speaker 2 and i pull up in this neighborhood

Speaker 2 i'm like looking around

Speaker 2 it's like mowed grass you know like you know they mowed their grass on sprinkler systems you know i'm just like whoa man this is crazy

Speaker 2 i'm looking around and there's not one visible burn pile anywhere and i'm

Speaker 2 i'm going like what are these people doing their garbage you know

Speaker 2 I didn't know there was another planning

Speaker 2 so we're gonna have the talk right so he's like we got and I know then like we went to church guys so I knew her family and uh but he just was like oh y'all need to wait and you're too young and

Speaker 2 and we're just dead set we're like no we're getting married so he gets so when we have a meeting and he's such a he's a smart business guy and um he's got all these papers he's got statistics and papers and files, you know.

Speaker 2 I'm just sitting there,

Speaker 2 white t-shirt, like he's blowing me away. He's making me so mad, you know, because I'm like giving him, I'm pitching vision, man, you know.

Speaker 2 What was your vision?

Speaker 2 Christianity, like we're brothers. Like, come on, man, it's going to be great.
And he's like, you haven't thought about all these things in life. And finally, he just goes.
He's getting so mad.

Speaker 2 And he's like, I thought he was going to hit me. He's like, leaning up on me.

Speaker 2 He said, Um,

Speaker 2 where exactly do you plan on living with my daughter? You know,

Speaker 2 and I right. I mean, I said, Well, I reckon I'll pull a trailer up in the back of Phil's house and we'll just live there for free.

Speaker 2 That was your vision, not the

Speaker 2 answer the dude wanted to hear,

Speaker 2 and we'll burn our garbage in the yard like normal people do,

Speaker 2 but it worked out.

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Speaker 5 Totally joking, of course. Not serious.
Not a doctor. Never even think about making medical claims.
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It's what we call a joke in the business.

Speaker 5 It's a a joke. It's not serious.
So I get home and there is a letter from the general counsel of Zinn written in the most supercilious, nasty to whom it may concern.

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I'm like, what is this?

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Speaker 4 It was the product of HR lawyer culture.

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Speaker 2 Wait, so long did you? 32 years later, we're still married. It's amazing.
And we're great.

Speaker 2 I mean,

Speaker 2 so her parents' house and my house literally,

Speaker 2 it's like a pitch. I know you don't play golf.
It's a pitch and wedge away from me. And we were just right beside each other.
Now.

Speaker 2 yeah, I see him every day. Yeah, and I learned most of what I learned in business, I learned from him.

Speaker 3 How many grandkids did you give him? Eight.

Speaker 2 Eight so far.

Speaker 3 You have eight.

Speaker 2 I have eight. So he is.

Speaker 3 Oh, how many? Eight great-grandchildren. How many kids did you have with his daughter?

Speaker 2 How many kids did you have? Oh, how many kids did I have? Six. Six.

Speaker 2 He's got to be pretty sick. Just the way you ask him.
Sorry. I asked him backwards.
I mean, it's starting to get. I have six children and eight grandchildren.
So, yeah.

Speaker 2 Amazing. But yeah, they're great.
And so we live.

Speaker 2 And we all live right there. We're just all connected and live beside each other.

Speaker 3 So how long did it take you to win a yes from your father-in-law?

Speaker 2 I mean, it was after that night.

Speaker 2 He wanted me to come over to their house. And so Corey was, she was in college.
So she wasn't even there when all this happened. She was in college.
I wasn't going to college.

Speaker 2 I was going to seminary. I was going to be a preacher.
And

Speaker 2 so

Speaker 2 Corey calls and says,

Speaker 2 dad wants you to come over. And he's going to come peek you up and take you over to their house.
I said, no.

Speaker 2 She said, why not? And I said, I'll have to walk home. She goes, what do you mean? I said, oh, it's going to go bad.
And I don't have a ride. I'm going to have to walk all the way back to my house.

Speaker 2 It's like seven miles. I said, no, I'm not.
Time to come over here. So he comes over to where I was staying.
And I was living with my brother at the time. And it was he and his mom and me.

Speaker 2 We were on the couch together. And my mother-in-law, she was in between us.
But I did. I thought, man, I think he may punch me.
And I was ready. I mean, I have three brothers.

Speaker 2 And so I was like, we just got to fight. Let's just fight.
I was like,

Speaker 2 let's go, you know.

Speaker 2 But then it was after that night, they said, okay.

Speaker 2 And then I think just six months later, we got married and we were driving to the wedding. And he said, you know what? I said what I said.
And

Speaker 2 that's the way I felt. But now we're good.
And I literally never heard another word about it. Like, really? Yeah, he was great.

Speaker 3 So it was your wife that came up with the idea for Duck Dynasty.

Speaker 2 Yep.

Speaker 2 Then I had to go tell Phil.

Speaker 2 And then, because originally it was on the outdoor channel. Yeah.

Speaker 2 And I was approached by Benelli Shotguns at SHOT Show. Have you been to SHOT SHOW? Yeah.
Yeah. So I was approached by them right after she said that.

Speaker 2 And they were like, hey, are you guys interested in doing a, like a reality TV show with the shotguns? And I was like, Corey just said we should do a reality TV show. And he goes, well,

Speaker 2 let's have a meeting. And so

Speaker 2 we sat down and they said, hey,

Speaker 2 we'll pay for production. You guys will be on the show.

Speaker 2 Thankfully, they had two guys that came in that they just hired

Speaker 2 who they came out out of reality television. So he'd hired them for like their in-house, you know, all their commercials and stuff that they do.
And we love Benali. I mean, we love the shotguns.

Speaker 2 So we was like, yeah. And so we're going through the deals.
And

Speaker 2 so right at the end, Corey says,

Speaker 2 she's such a smart business person. And I'm excited.
I'm like, hey, this is our business is going to go up. So I go to Phil.
I'm like, Phil, he's like, oh, it's a terrible idea.

Speaker 2 And I'm like, dad, we'll sell more duck calls. Like, we'll be on the outdoor channel.

Speaker 3 Plus free shotguns.

Speaker 2 Plus free shotguns. I I was like, plus free other stuff.
I was like, this is the smoking deal, you know. And so Corey says, so we're going to go up to Maryland.
I think that's where they're Maryland.

Speaker 2 And we're going to have this meeting. And Corey's, she'd been reading these books and she goes, well,

Speaker 2 I think they should pay y'all

Speaker 2 a talent fee. I'd never heard that word.

Speaker 2 I said, what is talent fee? She goes, like, they should pay y'all to be on this show. I said, Corey, Corey, Corey.
Don't get greedy.

Speaker 2 Like,

Speaker 2 this is a gift that they're paying for production. And

Speaker 2 shotguns, yeah. Yeah.
And she's like,

Speaker 2 well, it won't hurt to ask. And I said,

Speaker 2 what?

Speaker 2 Okay. But I said, here's the deal.
When you ask, if you get any weird sense, abort the mission, get out of it. Do not screw this.

Speaker 2 I was like, because I was like, this is our big chance. You're going to ruin it by asking for too much.
So we go in the meeting. Guys going through.

Speaker 2 He said, okay, we'll start production here and we'll do this and that. And

Speaker 2 he goes, I think we're about ready to go. And Corey's like, I have one more thing, you know, and I'm like, oh, God, you know, like,

Speaker 2 and she's like,

Speaker 2 we're thinking you should pay the guys a talent fee. He was like, oh,

Speaker 2 what were you thinking? And she said, we were thinking $30,000 a piece was me for the whole season. And

Speaker 2 I'm making $28,000 a year. That's my salary.
What were you doing? That was my job. I made $28,000.
But what was your job? Oh, at the duck. That was my whole yearly job.
I made 28,000.

Speaker 2 She just asked for 30

Speaker 2 to do this thing, which would essentially double my pay.

Speaker 2 And when she said 30, I'm like, oh my gosh, like that's way too much. And the guy literally just goes, yeah, okay, no problem.
And I'm like, crap, we should have said 50. We should have said 50.
Like,

Speaker 2 she said 30.

Speaker 2 So then, and here's what kind of CEO I am. So we were excited.
So we go back to the house. I go back down to dad's house.
Jason's there.

Speaker 2 We're all in the house and they're waiting to hear what happened with the TV show. And I walk in, I'm like, well, boys, we were fixing to do us a television show on the outdoor channel.

Speaker 2 And guess what else I got us? $30,000 a piece. I acted like it was my idea.

Speaker 2 And I just like, we were like, we did it.

Speaker 2 It's over. We finally figured it out.
We got free shotguns. We doubled our pay.
We have to do a TV show. We have no idea what we're doing.
And we launched into that show. What year was that?

Speaker 2 This would have been

Speaker 2 probably

Speaker 2 08.

Speaker 2 Yeah. Somewhere in 08.

Speaker 2 So we launched into the show. We were able to cut our teeth.
So we'd been making DVDs and hunting videos. Now we go on this TV with these boys from Reality TV were there.

Speaker 2 So we really learned how to do television, you know, how to do, you know,

Speaker 2 what was going to become ultimately Doug Donnesty.

Speaker 2 It was a different show. Like half of it was just like hardcore guns, you know, and all that.
They were showing their products.

Speaker 2 And, but the other half was just like silly reality stuff that we just came up. And I kind of focused on that.
My brother and dad, then they did the hardcore hunting.

Speaker 2 And then I was over there doing the, hey, we can show this. And we can just wild, crazy stuff we were doing.
And

Speaker 2 the show was super popular. Like in that world, everybody loved it.
And we won awards and

Speaker 2 our sales went up. More people were buying duck hauls and our t-shirts.
So it was like, hey, we did it, man. And I had to sell.
Part of the deal was I had to sell half the advertisers.

Speaker 2 So, because then that, like, that when you get your commercial, then you have to go sell them. So Benelli would sell half and I sold half of them.
And it was so funny.

Speaker 2 Like, it was hard selling, but ultimately it was going to be Duck Dozy. It was hard selling an ad for this thing.
I ended up selling all mine.

Speaker 2 I would sell my ads and that was part of the deal I had to do.

Speaker 2 So then we get an email. I get a generic email,

Speaker 2 information at Duck Commander.

Speaker 2 And there's no time how many of these just never even get looked at. Of course.

Speaker 2 It's a dude. He said, I'm a producer in Los Angeles.
I've watched the show and Outdoor Channel. He saw that show.

Speaker 2 I think you guys have a really big show. Give me a call.
Left his number. Secretary comes in and says, I got this email.
Somebody's in there from Los Angeles. And

Speaker 2 she said, do you want me to throw it away? Or do you want me to respond? And I looked at it and I said, I'll respond. So I respond.
So, hey, this is Willie. What are you thinking?

Speaker 2 And I get on the call with him. And man, he's a fast talker.
You know, he's L.A. He's like,

Speaker 2 Willie MJ, this is going to be the biggest show. Man, I'm telling you, I've got something this big.

Speaker 2 Like,

Speaker 2 you have a really big show. Like, you got to.
We got to take this thing bigger. You know, this is on cable.
This is on.

Speaker 2 And I'm thinking, this guy's full of crap. I'm like, I said, you think so?

Speaker 2 And he's like, he said, Willie, you will not be able to walk down the street without people, everybody recognizing who you are. And I thought, God, this guy, like he's laying it on pick, you know.

Speaker 2 And so I said, well, so what do we need to do if we were to do that?

Speaker 2 He said, we'll make a scissor reel. And unfortunately, we had, we had just done like three seasons of this show.
So we took three minutes and then he started pitching around to networks.

Speaker 2 And there was a lot of interest. You got to remember, this is the time Louisiana, the tax credits were big, like before Georgia had it.
Louisiana was kind of the hotbed, and there was tons of shows.

Speaker 2 I mean, our state is like, there's so much culture and just

Speaker 2 fun people in our state anyway. And so, you had Billy the Exterminator, swamp,

Speaker 2 swamp people,

Speaker 2 sons of guns. All these are Louisiana shows.
Buy you billionaires. There's tons of shows being shot there.

Speaker 2 So, if you had anything in Louisiana, because they knew they could go say 40%, you know, in this state. And he saw it.
And we were on the outdoor channel. He saw it.

Speaker 2 And then I know where it comes A ⁇ E. A ⁇ E, I didn't really know anything about A ⁇ E.
I didn't watch,

Speaker 2 even know what it was. And

Speaker 2 he said, A ⁇ E is interested in two pilots. And I'm like, what does that mean? And he says, well,

Speaker 2 if they pick it up, that's where we want to be. It's a good mixed audience.
Like men and women watch A ⁇ E,

Speaker 2 big company, you know, it's, you know, combined with History Channel, ABC, Disney, all this, and

Speaker 2 ESPN. And so he said, the problem is if they pass on his dad, like, because then everybody just say, oh, they passed on.

Speaker 2 And so we shot two pilots for A and they had no idea what we were doing. And then the film crew got giant.
You know, they sent down this huge crew and we had no idea.

Speaker 2 And we just kind of went into it and I really know what we were doing. So what's it?

Speaker 2 And didn't know if it was good or I didn't know, you know, and, and so what was interesting was they they didn't know, they didn't know what exactly they were getting.

Speaker 2 So, if you, if you kind of just looked at a picture of us, you'd be like, I think they thought we like grunted and like, I don't know,

Speaker 2 you know, and

Speaker 2 couldn't speak English. So, they didn't, I think, they thought they thought it was gonna be like danger, like alligators are coming out of the water, you know.
So, they come down and so

Speaker 2 we shot the bino and we sent it off. And so, they come, we're like, well, we have good news and bad news.
The bad news is this is not the show we were ordering at all.

Speaker 2 We were all shocked. And we're like, uh-oh.
They said, the good news is it's way better than what we thought we were getting.

Speaker 2 And they were like, this is a family show. Because nobody had put us in any category of family show, even though we were a family.
But it was like, they just didn't.

Speaker 2 I think they thought kind of like, we're going to laugh at these, but you know, these are totally.

Speaker 3 It was a honey boo-boo thing.

Speaker 2 They said, right. They didn't realize, right, that,

Speaker 2 because some of their ideas

Speaker 2 initially, some of the, it was like, the women folk are out, you know, getting opossums, you know, and skinning them out.

Speaker 2 And my wife's like,

Speaker 2 these women folk do not, we don't even go in the woods, you know? So, so,

Speaker 2 but they saw, and then there was this comedy, this real, because the first show we didn't have to do our channel wasn't really funny.

Speaker 2 And once we saw this kind of comedic thing come out, that's what, I mean, that was what really, I think, set it apart. Was it's funny.
It's a fun, you know, something you can laugh.

Speaker 2 You know, it's a funny show.

Speaker 3 What's the, I mean, what's the process of filming it?

Speaker 2 Well,

Speaker 3 you said your house got descended on by a swarm of producers.

Speaker 2 It was, yeah. So we shot in

Speaker 2 all our houses, especially mine.

Speaker 2 Especially my miles was kind of the

Speaker 2 because the show was kind of, we didn't know any of this going in because we didn't know what we were doing, but it was kind of shot through my eyes.

Speaker 2 And so you would have like Willie's dad, Willie's wife. So you're watching, as a viewer, you're watching it through my eyes.
So I was supposed to be the normal guy. I'm the normal person.

Speaker 2 And then everybody else is crazy. You know, chaos is happening.
And to some extent, they are crazy. And so, so you had some people that are just kind of like themselves.

Speaker 2 Like, like my father just, he, dad never understood. what exactly we were doing.
Like he, he, he never understood the show. He never liked it.
He never understood it.

Speaker 2 He told me early on, he was like, well, tell him we need more preaching on this show.

Speaker 2 I said, Dad, there's another Robertson family with a show like that. It's the 700

Speaker 2 we're not that show. Like, this is this is not that.
Are you related to them, by the way? And he was like,

Speaker 2 I'm not. No, I'm not.
Not that they haven't asked me for money. So I guess I'm not.

Speaker 2 Everybody related to me has asked me for money.

Speaker 2 You're like an NBA player.

Speaker 2 So yeah, he never quite understood the show.

Speaker 2 So my dad got to tell you this one. So my dad got so mad one time.

Speaker 2 He was saying that he just didn't understand. He thought it was so goofy and we were just being stupid.
And

Speaker 2 so we sit down. This is my favorite thing that ever happened, Doug Nosti, that never got shown.
So we had this dinner scene every time, you know. Yeah.
And so we're on like episode 80, you know.

Speaker 2 And, you know, the part of TV is, you know, you got these kids. They come in from L.A., they're 25 years old.
And they're telling you what to do.

Speaker 2 You don't look right.

Speaker 2 It's kind of weird when you become a CEO of your company and you're doing all this. Now

Speaker 2 you're listening to people you don't know and they're telling you what to do. And so I think my dad had gotten a little past the point of that at this point.

Speaker 2 Pretty quickly. So we're setting all the table up, and we're just sitting there.
We've done this a thousand times, you know, and

Speaker 2 jibs on the table. And it's like, okay, everybody ready? And so little young producers like, okay,

Speaker 2 and Mr. Phil, you'll pray action.

Speaker 2 So we bow our heads. And Phil said, Father, I pray for these bunch of heathens from Los Angeles, California, with their latte coffees and their filthy language.

Speaker 2 I pray you don't burn them all in hell for their sinfulness. Amen.

Speaker 2 We were laughing so hard because none of us knew knew that was coming. None of us realized.
And so we all look up and we're just like, look around and go, what was that?

Speaker 2 And this young producer, he never missed a beat. He was like, thank you, Mr.
Phil. Now can we do another prayer that we could actually put on television?

Speaker 3 That never aired.

Speaker 2 Never aired. Never aired.

Speaker 2 It was so funny. So, yeah, dad didn't quite understand

Speaker 2 the.

Speaker 3 But I mean, these cameras are in your house for what, months?

Speaker 2 They are, but you know, you know.

Speaker 2 well it was like walking into here yeah

Speaker 2 we're we're filming in here yeah it's like

Speaker 2 obviously you know and we're in a pheasant camp in south dakota somebody yeah we are in a pheasant camp i was a little worried too about that i thought we did a bad idea so we stayed up too late last night that's true we were telling the story it was so fun true and it was i'm glad we did so we get up this morning we go shoot tons of birds quite a few walked around

Speaker 2 and then we go i i think i ate two pounds of meatloaf at least yeah you're saying at least i ate that

Speaker 2 okay you did as well

Speaker 2 i didn't look at your plate a lot and i thought that's not a good recipe for

Speaker 2 doing a long podcast that was like not at four in the afternoon after hunting in a big man

Speaker 2 but that was that was part of my demands though because i've heard recently about people and their podcasts and demands and what contract writers yeah And I said, I demand we have to fly to another state, shoot birds that morning.

Speaker 2 morning yes this should be every this should be every podcast and it was literally in the contract that you signed with us where you demanded lemon squares after and i thought that's a bit that's a little much yeah no i said don't cisco we have to go find somewhere to actually this was your idea and so thank you

Speaker 2 i was gonna go to maine

Speaker 3 yeah but we don't have any pheasants in maine no this was a better group

Speaker 3 this was a way better idea if you could i don't know how many birds we shot this morning but if you could shoot two grouse a day in Maine, you're the best grouse hunter in Maine.

Speaker 2 Really? You're a good shot, too.

Speaker 2 I'm telling your audience. I would hope so.
I'm telling your audience you're a good shot. I'm not half as good.
I wasn't surprised. I mean, I knew you hunted a lot.

Speaker 2 I'm not half as good as I should be after all the practice I've had. I'll tell you that.

Speaker 3 But no, it's actually, I missed a bird. The bird got too aggressive with me and it intimidated me.
And I always think, you know, when you're bird hunting, you're the pursuer. You're the aggressor.

Speaker 3 You're the predator. And when the bird turns it around and tries to fly fly up your nose, I just, I freeze and miss the bird every time.

Speaker 2 And you had the gun, you know, because it's unnatural. I was here a month ago doing this pheasant hunting.
I didn't grow up pheasant hunting, so we were poor. Um,

Speaker 2 so

Speaker 2 I have a pheasant come, he literally is coming at my face. Yeah.

Speaker 2 And I didn't know what to do.

Speaker 2 And I, I took the shotgun and I went back like I was going to hit it like a baseball bat.

Speaker 2 And I, oh, and I, uh,

Speaker 2 if I had a little more cajones, I would have, because the god said, you should have done it. You know, it was that close.
It was that close. He had, I think he'd been hit.
So he was, he's coming down.

Speaker 2 And he's like, I'm like, he was just so close. And I, there's a picture, and you see me go like this, but, and you just go,

Speaker 2 right. And then I thought, why didn't I,

Speaker 2 can you imagine

Speaker 2 that presence of mine? That's what separates the.

Speaker 2 most of that one that just grabbed that sucker out of the air. Oh, what have been?

Speaker 3 That's an Aaron Rodgers movie.

Speaker 2 And I blew it. And one day I'm going to, now I'm going to schedule

Speaker 2 months of pheasant hunting to I can get that same scenario to happen.

Speaker 3 I watched my father get hit right in the chest on a driven peg chute for pheasant when I was a kid and it knocked him right down.

Speaker 3 He was turning talking to someone and the pheasant just came out and hit him right. It's just bam.
And he's a big man.

Speaker 2 Did you grow up pheasant hunting? Yeah. Oh, you did? Oh, yeah.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

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Speaker 2 We weren't poor.

Speaker 3 We were poor too. Yeah, we were.

Speaker 2 Oh, yeah, we were super poor. We were middle class, man.

Speaker 2 Oh, yeah.

Speaker 2 How did you get off of McDonald's to go work?

Speaker 2 I've come a long way. Just bootstrapping it.

Speaker 3 So, did you like what was it like to go from being maybe locally famous to nationally famous?

Speaker 2 Yeah, night and day.

Speaker 2 But it was, man, I'm so appreciative. So

Speaker 2 we, we, it was like we did just enough to get comfortable enough to figure out what it is that you're doing. And I love the, you know, the progression.

Speaker 2 You know, I think zero to, you know, just like nothing to something.

Speaker 2 But it was just enough. Like we knew just enough TV.
And then we had done some, you know, stuff to where if we went in Bass Pro Shop or what, you know, he was like, ah, there's Duck Commander guys.

Speaker 2 And,

Speaker 2 but just enough. But then once we hit

Speaker 2 the really national spotlight, especially to the level our show was, it was crazy. It was just crazy.

Speaker 3 Not good for you.

Speaker 2 No.

Speaker 2 It wasn't good. No, and many ways.
Business, it's not because business went crazy. And

Speaker 2 trying to do everything, you know, because you're still trying to, you have a business. You're trying to run your business.
And

Speaker 2 then

Speaker 2 ours was really unique because the nature of the show looked like we were goofing off or everybody in the, well, then I'm getting, you know, 50,000 orders well we can't fill them and then I got people emailing me I just saw y'all are goofing off I just watched the show it was like like that's really what we are go build some more duck so then yeah I had to go like do a video going hey guys look at Willie from Duck Nostio we really are working

Speaker 2 it's not everything you see on the TV show is what exactly happened that day you know exactly that day uh

Speaker 2 so it was it was crazy it was we the first holidays we crashed our computer i think three times.

Speaker 2 It was so bad because

Speaker 2 they ordered their product. So we got their money and then it crashed, but we didn't know what they ordered.
So we have your money. We don't know what you what'd you do?

Speaker 2 Just try to put out saying, hey, call, call us. And so they call and be like, I didn't get my order.
I'd be like, why don't you tell us what you ordered?

Speaker 2 Well, just

Speaker 2 generalize, whatever you think, you know, spitball it. You know, we'll get as close as we can.
We're just trying to ship stuff out.

Speaker 2 People are like, those are good problems to have. And I'm like, no, they're not.
They're terrible problems. They're terrible problems to have.
Just really overwhelmed. Just wasn't, wasn't ready.

Speaker 2 And to think that when we did this show, we have this meeting, and my wife, Corey, says, Do you think we should order more duck calls? And I said, No, no, nobody's going to order a duck call.

Speaker 2 You know, even if you like the show, why would you need a duck call?

Speaker 2 I mean, if you're, if you're not a duck hunter, what do you, oh, was I wrong?

Speaker 2 Really?

Speaker 3 People were buying decorative duck calls?

Speaker 2 People were just buying any duck call. Like, they just wanted that.

Speaker 3 I mean, unless you want to. Put it on a shelf.

Speaker 2 Well, it was just, they wanted a piece of the show, and that was the piece they wanted.

Speaker 3 How many duck calls did you sell?

Speaker 2 Oh, man, like

Speaker 2 a million and a half or something crazy. Duck calls? Yeah.
And the year before, we'd done 50,000. So 50,000 to

Speaker 2 1.5 million. That's crazy.
It's insane. It's insane.
We were working 24 hours a day. I had crews.
I had

Speaker 2 everybody who could possibly.

Speaker 3 How much child labor?

Speaker 2 Not much child labor, except for ours. We've made ours work.

Speaker 3 What did your kids think of the whole thing?

Speaker 2 That's what I was. I mean, I think that's your big fear.
I mean, your fear

Speaker 2 is how's it going to, how's it play with them? Yeah.

Speaker 2 I always say this, you know, in life, I've been able to do a lot of things.

Speaker 2 And most of the things my kids are going to do or have done, I've already done, you know, going to college have children get married you know move what i mean uh

Speaker 2 the only thing i had zero experience with was being famous at a young age yeah understood it at 40 because i was 40 when when the show came out um but being 16 you know i had no idea and also

Speaker 2 you've got the beginning of social media too and so that's new as well and so uh

Speaker 2 yeah i think they probably struggled, you know, with some of it and struggled.

Speaker 2 Certainly, some aspects of it understood the good of it and, you know, figure out a way how to use it, you know, use what it was for the good and then ditch the stuff that was there.

Speaker 3 So they're not mad about it now.

Speaker 3 No, they're not. How many are married?

Speaker 2 Four,

Speaker 2 five, five.

Speaker 3 How do you get your kids to get married so young? Yeah.

Speaker 2 I don't know. I didn't encourage it.
You didn't? Uh, well, that was the day I told you about Corey's parents. You know, her dad's mad.
All right, you're too young. This is what made him mad.

Speaker 2 I said, How old were y'all?

Speaker 2 19, 18, the same age. I was like, you're the same age we were when we got married.
So it was interesting that, because he couldn't say, oh, we waited.

Speaker 2 But no, they wanted to get, you know, they got around the same age and they got married as well. But it's not like I said, here's how we do it around these parts.
You know, not at all. They just,

Speaker 2 I don't know, you find the right one and then make a commitment and go.

Speaker 3 It's pretty great.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 2 It really is great. Well, it's great because then you're young.

Speaker 2 I'm, I got eight grandkids. I'm a young,

Speaker 2 young grandparent. I mean, it's fine when you're younger, you know.
You're not

Speaker 3 so. How long did the show go

Speaker 2 five years, years, 130 episodes. Wow.
Why'd they end it?

Speaker 2 There were a lot of reasons. I think,

Speaker 2 one, it gets more expensive. It just keeps getting more expensive.
Yeah. You know, everything goes up.
You know, it's like.

Speaker 3 Your fees go up. Everything goes up.

Speaker 2 Well, not just ours, everybody, you know, production. Everybody's going, hey, if this keeps, you know, generating income.
And

Speaker 2 so I think, you know, it's

Speaker 2 I'm assuming. I mean, I think it's probably like a baseball player.
Like you're paying a guy $10 million at first base. He hits 25 home runs.
We could pay a guy 500,000.

Speaker 2 Maybe he'll hit, maybe we'll hit 12 home runs. Good enough.
We'll save the money. You know, and so I'm sure they're like, we could make other shows.

Speaker 2 And some of it just played out. I mean, it like

Speaker 2 you just kind of run out of, like, what's, what are we doing now? You know, it's like you have, you just have more kids and stuff. It's like you've done so many.

Speaker 2 I mean, 130 episodes with two storylines is

Speaker 2 260 stories. That's a lot of stories, you know.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 We were certainly ready. I mean, we were ready for a break.
It was a lot of work, man. I mean, the first year, man, we filmed,

Speaker 2 we filmed 10 months that year.

Speaker 2 Yeah, this is not some couple of month deal. You know, and this is not like.

Speaker 3 How many days a week?

Speaker 2 The first year, we did six days a week, and we did even some Sundays, Sunday afternoons.

Speaker 2 Just getting it, man. We were just

Speaker 5 ten months, six days a week.

Speaker 2 It was hard. It was hard.
It was a lot. But we were just, you know, at that point, we're like, figured out.
And then they were just, it became so popular. They must have gotten close.

Speaker 2 Because they wanted more. Evidence.
They were like, we need more, we need more. We need more.
And so it's like, keep making them, keep making them.

Speaker 2 And so finally we're like, time out, you know, renegotiate. And so part of that, we went to

Speaker 2 Monday through Thursday schedules, gives us a day off, at least a day to go to the hospital. hospital, I mean, to go to the doctor, to go to, you know, just stuff, you know, stuff you need to do.

Speaker 2 Because it's not like you worked every day, but you're on the schedule for that long.

Speaker 2 So some days you may not be, you know, you may not be on that afternoon, but you won't know until it comes out, you know, on the schedule, kind of where you're at.

Speaker 3 Did you ever feel misrepresented by the show?

Speaker 2 No, because, you know,

Speaker 2 I kind of played a part. Like I had a part that I played on the show, and it was kind of consistent.

Speaker 2 it just kept me, it was authentic. I mean, it was like, I'm the CEO, I'm the head guy.
And so I think in order to make some of it work, you know, you kind of had to have a

Speaker 2 bad guy, you know, somebody that's like, and I mean, it's kind of the, that's where comedy comes from. You know, it's like, you can think about like.

Speaker 2 the stories you think about in school or in church growing up, you know, what are the funniest things? It's when you're going to get in trouble, right? Of course. It's like, oh, it's so funny.

Speaker 2 You don't, like, you can't stop laughing. So some of that was, it was kind of like that, you know, let them do stuff.

Speaker 2 And then I'd be like, this is so stupid, you know, and like, because it was stupid.

Speaker 2 But so I just kind of, you know, so for my role in it, and, and then I was also the guy that narrated you through the show. So I had to keep you, I had to keep you up on what was going on

Speaker 2 because, because people get confused. They get, and if you get confused and if you don't, if you can't figure a show out, you'll just change the channel.
Of course. Because it makes you feel dumb.

Speaker 2 Yeah. And you're like, oh, I can't watch this.
This, you know, because I can't figure it out.

Speaker 3 Did you watch the shows?

Speaker 2 We did. I did.
I don't, I never like watching really myself. And I don't like watching speeches or other stuff.

Speaker 2 But we watched that one together because half of the show, I never knew what happened because it wasn't the parts I was in. Right.
It'd be like, meanwhile, down at the river.

Speaker 2 And so I didn't see that stuff.

Speaker 2 And it was hilarious. I'd watch it going, this is so funny.
Cause I didn't know what that was.

Speaker 2 I was watching it with everybody else in the world, and so it was so funny. I would get so tickled at some of the stuff they would do.
Um,

Speaker 2 so we would watch it together. We, like, my family would all get together, and the kids were younger, so it was cool for them to be able to, you know, kind of see themselves on TV.

Speaker 2 How were they treated at school because of that?

Speaker 2 Um,

Speaker 2 different. I mean, everybody's treated different, you know.
Um, but they were

Speaker 2 it was probably worth, you know, good, probably good and bad. You know,

Speaker 2 they didn't go to school as much as, like, they were out of school a lot. So we had a teacher there on set just because it was a lot of days.
So they weren't,

Speaker 2 they just had to do a lot of the school. Sadie did a ton of school from the house just because that's what she had to do.
But they were in a Christian school and they were pretty lenient.

Speaker 2 I mean, not on the grades, they were so lenient on they let them play sports and they could still participate and stuff like that, you know, even though they were kind of doing school from afar.

Speaker 3 What year did it end, the show?

Speaker 2 12 to 17, maybe.

Speaker 3 It would have to end at seven. I mean, at some point, you're going to run into the

Speaker 3 political problem, right? A show like that.

Speaker 2 Yeah. When you say political problem.
Well, I mean, I don't know.

Speaker 3 You know,

Speaker 3 you live in Louisiana. you run a hunting-related company and you're Christian.
So you're probably going to reach a different political conclusion. You're probably going to be pro-Trump.

Speaker 3 I mean, just judging by all that.

Speaker 2 That is true. Yeah.
There was Trump. Yeah.
Most of the show was President Obama. That was,

Speaker 2 he was the president. And yeah, Trump was right there.

Speaker 2 Did you address it on the show? I don't remember that. Trump.
No.

Speaker 2 No.

Speaker 2 No, we didn't. We didn't.
Because it kind of wasn't that kind of, it wasn't like

Speaker 2 really reality like that. It wasn't like you didn't see stuff from

Speaker 2 the

Speaker 2 like, I remember we would be filming at a grocery store.

Speaker 2 We'd have to turn the magazines around because we would be on the cover of the magazine when we're filming the show around and be like hey it's too fourth wall coming yeah it was a little uh it was a little but yeah trump was uh no that was right when trump yeah i kind of that's i stick my toe in the water a little bit on that one um on the air you did no just in life yeah just with Trump and well yeah I mean it's a different world now though right I mean

Speaker 2 well in my mind I was a little naive I just thought well this is cool you know

Speaker 2 I like Trump I like when I first heard about thought oh that's what we need we need a business guy we need we gotta get away with these politicians we need a bit that's exactly who we need and uh and he had a reality TV show so I was like hey he's like

Speaker 2 so

Speaker 2 yeah and so I meet him

Speaker 2 You probably never heard the story. So first I met him, I was doing,

Speaker 2 I was in Oklahoma City.

Speaker 2 My son was speaking at something. I went to hear him speak.
We had been elk hunting.

Speaker 2 Not my son, but me and a buddy. We're elk hunting, and the dude has a plane.
I said, hey, can we stop in here? My son's giving a speech. Yeah, cool.
So we go in there and see him.

Speaker 2 We're at lunch, and this guy said, hey, guess who's in town? I said, who? He said,

Speaker 2 Trump. He's doing one of his rallies.
This is back 15.

Speaker 2 And, you know, he's doing these rally. He was at the Oklahoma State Fair.
And I was like, oh, we got to go. We got to go.
This is awesome, you know?

Speaker 2 And I had just met Don Jr., who's a hunter. And that's how I certainly is.
That's how we met each other. We just met and talked.
And

Speaker 2 so I emailed him or texted him and just said, hey, your dad's doing this rally.

Speaker 2 I was going to go check it out. And he's like, cool, I'll set it up.
And

Speaker 2 I remember I got a police officer because I was like, there's no way I can go to this Oklahoma State. Like, I'm going to get mobbed at this place, you know.

Speaker 2 And I may be more recognizable than Donald Trump in Oklahoma City at this in 2015. And

Speaker 2 so I show, I have this cop with me.

Speaker 2 I get, there's an RV in the back. So it's like a outdoor, you know, that giant crap, you know, it's an outdoor thing.
There's an RV. So I get on this RV, me and my buddies, and

Speaker 2 my cop friend. And there's these other people in there there's like caterpers

Speaker 2 there's a few people

Speaker 2 and this this is funny story there's a dude on there and he comes up to me he's got an earpiece but he's like got

Speaker 2 beach shorts

Speaker 2 you know oh who is this guy i said what do you he said can i get a picture i said yeah i said what do you do because i didn't know who worked for trump trump's not there yet you know and he goes oh i do all kind of stuff you know he said do you want to see my gun?

Speaker 2 Now, I've been around. You've been around enough.
Has any security person ever asked you, do you want to see my gun? No. No, that's not a.
No, it's not a thing.

Speaker 2 And I'm looking at this cat going, what in the world? So I take a picture and

Speaker 2 Corey Lewandowski gets on the bus. He goes, if you ain't with Willie, get off the bus.

Speaker 2 And so these people start getting off the bus, right?

Speaker 2 And so here comes the whole entourage, you know and trump gets on the first i met him he's like willie

Speaker 2 look at this willie uh you say the crowd is huge

Speaker 2 2000 he goes even for you it's huge random and this is a huge crowd for somebody like you you know and uh and so i'm kind of like my buddies are just like this is the funniest thing ever i look back on the you guys core this story i look back

Speaker 2 That dude who said he had a gun is talking to Trump. He didn't get off the bus.
And he's got like his book or something.

Speaker 2 And I could see, like, Trump does, he just looks. And that's back when he had those like giant security guards.
You know, this is, he wasn't the president.

Speaker 2 You know, he used to have those like six foot nine guys.

Speaker 2 So Trump just gives us look. There's a look here.
They come to me and go, Is that dude with you? I said, No, he's not with me. I said, and he said he had a gun.

Speaker 2 And when I said that,

Speaker 2 oh,

Speaker 2 they grabbed this guy like by the back

Speaker 2 and just threw him off the bus

Speaker 2 and trump said these spies are everywhere

Speaker 2 and so i was like and they're all looking i could tell man and i remember i looked up and i said what kind of operation are y'all running here i'm like then that really made it bad because then i'm making fun of their security uh but it was a true story like this dude uh was he

Speaker 2 Thankfully, I had the cop. It was a detective from Oklahoma City.
So later, a week later, he calls me, says, Willie, he said, I found out about you, about that guy.

Speaker 2 He brought the

Speaker 2 porta potties in to the fair.

Speaker 2 And he tells the fair director, anything else I can help you with, I'll do. Well, they start putting him to work, doing all that.

Speaker 2 He has an earpiece because they're telling him his whole thing was he wanted to get Trump signed his book. He did the whole thing.
He goes, he didn't even know you were going to be there.

Speaker 2 You were a bonus.

Speaker 2 He was excited. He got the picture of me.
Isn't that wild? That's amazing. So, so I'm on the bus.
So

Speaker 2 Trump's fixing to go speak. Well, when I went to this deal, my wife, I said, look, Trump's speaking.
We're going to go over and check it out. She says, Willie, do not, do not get on that stage.

Speaker 2 I said, don't worry. I'm out of this.
I'm not getting involved. Bobby Jindal was running.
He was a friend of mine. I was like, no, no, no, I ain't doing any of that stuff.
And so

Speaker 2 before he gets off the bus, he goes, Willie, did you want to get up and say anything to the crowd? And I said, No, no, no, Mr. Trump.
I'm good, man. I'm good.
I'm, I'm, you go ahead, you know.

Speaker 2 But I thought, uh, you know, I thought these politicians, you know, but I thought, well, he's not a politician, so probably he won't do it. So I go out there, Tucker, I'm like, he gets on the stage.

Speaker 2 Now, I thought if he's going to do it, he's going to do it right off the bat.

Speaker 2 And so there's a stairwell. And so I'm kind of hiding in this because I don't want to, I don't really want to be seen at this point.
You know, I'm like, and somebody be like, there's Willie Robertson.

Speaker 2 I'm like, no, no, I look like him, you know, and I'm kind of like leaning the stairwell. And I'm thinking right off the bat, he's going to go, like,

Speaker 2 hey, I guess who's here? You know, nothing. Trump just goes into a speech.

Speaker 2 He's China. He's there.
He's 30 minutes deep. By this time,

Speaker 2 we're laughing. We're like, this is the funnest thing ever.
You know, I never dreamed he'd be the president. I was like, this is cool to see.

Speaker 2 And Trump, 30 minutes deep, he just stops.

Speaker 2 He looks around and goes, where's Willie?

Speaker 2 And my heart stopped. I went,

Speaker 2 Oh my gosh, please tell me he knows another guy named Willie at the Oklahoma State Fair. And he just starts walking around the stage.
He goes, Where the hell's Willie at? Where's he at?

Speaker 2 And nobody knows who he's talking about. Everybody's going, who's Willie?

Speaker 2 And my buddy's going, Willie, you got to go up there. And I said, I can't, I can't go up there.
Like,

Speaker 2 I'm not prepared to go up on the stage. And he's like, He's calling for you on the stage.
So I pop up on the stage where everybody goes crazy. Like, it was like, oh, my gosh.

Speaker 2 I walk over and I was like, I'm waiting to the crowd. And so I leaned, I shook his hand.
I said, hey, good job, Mr. Trump.
Kill it, man. It's awesome.
And I go to pull away.

Speaker 2 He doesn't let go of my hand.

Speaker 2 He just holds it. And I'm like, you're in the Trump trap.
And I'm going, uh-oh. And he's holding it.
He goes, hey, hey, hey.

Speaker 2 He goes, hey. I got something.
He said, do y'all know who this is?

Speaker 2 And everybody goes, he goes, this is the biggest television star in america and everybody's going crazy you know he says there's a willie robert duck dynasty yeah he said i got one question for willie you know yeah

Speaker 2 and i'm like oh please he goes do you love trump and just hands me the microphone

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Speaker 2 It's the trumpiest question ever.

Speaker 2 Tucker, my brain is going so fast. I'm like, because here's the situation.
We've got 10,000 people here. They're all there to see him.
They're there to see me.

Speaker 2 And now he's asked me this super awkward question.

Speaker 2 I'm like, like, I've already endorsed Bobby Jindal. I'm like, what am I supposed to, you know? And so I lean up to the mic and I go,

Speaker 2 yeah,

Speaker 2 yeah, I do like me some Trump.

Speaker 2 And everybody cheers, you know, and I said, and Trump's behind me with his hands on my shoulder.

Speaker 2 He's ready to like, if I say the wrong things, throw me away. And I said, here's the deal.

Speaker 2 Me and Mr. Trump have three things in common.

Speaker 2 We both had successful television shows. We both were successful at business.
And we both married people that look way better than we do. Thank you, Oklahoma City.

Speaker 2 And so I walk on to the deal and I'm still just like literally kind of shaking from the whole experience. And

Speaker 2 I get in the stairway and my buddy's going, oh my gosh, I can't believe that just happened. And my phone just immediately starts going crazy, just buzzing, buzzing.

Speaker 2 And so I'm looking at it and I'm like, oh, no, you know,

Speaker 2 what if I started now? It's all my buddies going, oh, my gosh, we just saw you on T, oh, I got you on T.

Speaker 2 And when I'm sending a screenshot, Trump's behind me with a sign, you know, and he's behind me like this. And then there's my wife's.
And I went, oh, no.

Speaker 2 And she said, did you just endorse Donald Trump for president? And so I just screenshot the picture with Trump. I sent it to her and I said, no, why would you say that?

Speaker 2 And she was like, do not get on stage. And there I am on the stage.

Speaker 2 And the next day, I got in an Uber car in Oklahoma City to go to the airport. I'm sitting right beside this driver, little old guy.

Speaker 2 He looks at me, he goes, what did you fellas do last night? And I said, we went to the Oklahoma State Fair. He goes, so did I.

Speaker 2 He goes, I went to see Donald Trump. I said, did you? He goes, he's going to be the next president of the United States.
I said, you think so? He said, oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
We believe in him.

Speaker 2 He's going to be the president. I said, do you see that dude that got up in the middle of the speech? I'm this part of this speech.
He goes, you know who that was? Willie Robertson from Duck Dynasty.

Speaker 2 He flew in just to endorse Donald Trump for president.

Speaker 2 And I said, really? He goes, oh, yeah. He's a huge fan of Mr.
Trump. Yeah, he's a big television guy.

Speaker 2 And I said, Sir, do you know who I am? He looks at me, goes, no idea.

Speaker 2 I said, I'm that dude. I'm Will.
I was on the stage and I thought he was going to freak out. He goes, you had a different bandana on.

Speaker 2 I said, I did have a different bandana going. He goes, yeah, yeah.
I didn't recognize you with that other bandana on.

Speaker 2 That's how I met Trump.

Speaker 3 Have you ever met him again?

Speaker 2 I have, yeah. I saw him a couple of more times.
He did.

Speaker 2 Well, Don Jr. came to the house and hunted.

Speaker 2 That one we set up.

Speaker 2 We set up Phil.

Speaker 2 Well, Phil, maybe so, Matt, my dad.

Speaker 2 So, dad, I go. So, Don Jr.
is going to come duck out with us. He goes, I'm coming down.
The Steel Count's perfect. We set it up.
Well, I'm going to Mexico for my anniversary. Four days.

Speaker 2 Four days I'm in Mexico. So I go to Mexico.
Yeah, and your phones are all jacked up down there. You know, it's like numbers come in.
So I'm leaving the Mexico airport, coming to America.

Speaker 2 I get this call. I don't, but it doesn't say who it is.
I answer it. This dude is talking so fast.
I'm like, he is nowhere within a thousand miles of where I live in the south.

Speaker 2 It was a northern accent. He is, and I'm like, now I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa,

Speaker 2 who is this? He goes, it's Don Jr. I said, all right, what's up? I said, how are we on, huh? Don? He goes, I don't know if I can come.
I don't know. I don't know.
We're still, we've got to figure out.

Speaker 2 I said, oh, what happened? He was like, because of what your dad did. I'm like, oh, I've been gone for four days.
I'm like, four days.

Speaker 2 Who has he offended? What has he done? And I can't understand this about my dad. He lives on the end of a dead end street, does not have a cell phone, does not have a computer.

Speaker 2 But somehow he can get messages out all over the world, like instant. It's amazing how

Speaker 2 he can do this. I'm like, what did he do? He said,

Speaker 2 he endorsed Ted Cruz. I said, no.

Speaker 2 I was like, where did that come from? He goes, there's commercials. I said, there's commercials.
In four days, he has met Ted Cruz and he has endorsed Ted Cruz. And there's commercials.

Speaker 2 He goes, yes, they're playing right now. So I pull up the commercial.

Speaker 2 Phil's in the dunk blind. So, and it's Ted, and they've all got face men on.
Ted Cruz has got this faceman. He doesn't look like he's in play.

Speaker 2 He's like, he looks scared to death.

Speaker 2 It's like, everybody's like shoes in their back, you know, spits coming out of their mouth. And then there's Ted Cruz.

Speaker 2 I can tune in

Speaker 2 a face paint. And so Phil, where she goes, we're voting for Ted Cruz.
He's a brother in Christ. We're all voting for him.
And it insinuates, like, we're all like the whole

Speaker 2 duck dynasty crew is voting for him. I'm not there, obviously.
I'm in Mexico.

Speaker 2 I went, oh my gosh. So I call the house.
Mom answers the phone. I said, mom, where's Phil? He's in the woods.

Speaker 2 I said,

Speaker 2 well, crap, I got to talk to him. She goes, all right, you can go try to find him.
I said, she goes, what's wrong with you? I said,

Speaker 2 he just made a commercial with Ted Cruz. Nobody, these are things you have to tell me.
Like, you know what I'm saying? You have to let me in on.

Speaker 2 And she goes, oh, no, he knew he was going to be mad over that. He knew you liked Trump.

Speaker 2 But, you know, Ted Cruz showed up with a bunch of TV cameras. And I don't know.
The next thing I know.

Speaker 2 And I I said well mom he said we're all voting for him we're not all voting and she goes no no no he didn't mean all you boys he meant all the Christians I said mom I'm a Christian well you know what I mean

Speaker 2 so okay so we so we set up so we set up so Don Jr

Speaker 2 Finally kind he's like all right I'm because he was like I'm not coming down there if you're endorsing you know it was it was awkward

Speaker 2 so I said oh we're going to set up dad good. So we're going to burn him on this one.
Don Juju comes down, Doug Hunts. And, you know, he's lights out.

Speaker 2 Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. And I knew it.
So, you know, his own now. So dad's blown away.
That's good. So

Speaker 3 what a good shot Don is.

Speaker 2 Yeah. Oh, yeah.
And so

Speaker 2 I reached out to Hannity. I said, Handy, I said,

Speaker 2 put me and Phil on the show.

Speaker 2 I'm backing Trump. He's backing Cruz, apparently.

Speaker 2 And I said, I'm going to set that sucker up. So we get on the show.
Dad and I are going after it.

Speaker 2 And I said, hang on. I said, I got one question to ask Phil

Speaker 2 since we're on this show. I said, Phil recently went duck hunting with Ted Cruz, and he also went hunting with Trump.
I just said Trump. I didn't say Donnie.
I just said Trump.

Speaker 2 I said, Dad, who exactly is the better hunter? Phil said, ain't a doubt about it. That cat from New York can shoot, son.

Speaker 2 So I got him saying saying that Cruz wasn't a Kentucky. Because I asked Dad, he said, oh, yeah, he couldn't hit the broadside of a bar.

Speaker 2 And finally,

Speaker 2 Cruz dropped out, thank goodness. And so then

Speaker 2 Phil came on board. He did.

Speaker 3 Has he been on board ever since?

Speaker 2 He has been.

Speaker 2 He has been.

Speaker 3 I mean, is there anyone in the world that, I mean, I think things have changed since then, of course. But like the world that you live in is probably pretty much 100% Trump at this point.

Speaker 2 Yeah, I mean, down there. Yeah, for sure.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 Yeah. I mean, I think it's,

Speaker 2 well, now it is for sure.

Speaker 3 Like, did you have a lot of friends voting Kamala Harris?

Speaker 2 Yeah. Well, I mean, well, just because I know a lot of people outside of Louisiana, so

Speaker 3 production.

Speaker 2 Yeah, all my TV friends. I mean, yeah, I've done tons of TV.
I mean, so, yeah, I've got friends all over who were, and we had great debates, but it's the way it should be. Like, we debate.

Speaker 2 We love each other. We're friends.
We're, you know, and um, and I can certainly look at Trump and call them like

Speaker 2 that doesn't make sense, or that's not how I feel, or that's not what I would say, or that's ugly, or that's unkind, or whatever it is. And so, um,

Speaker 2 and this year I was staying out of it. I, I, I really was because of the book.

Speaker 2 Cause I, when I wrote this book and I said, I don't want to get pulled in, I want this message to come out, you know, I want the mess of the gospel and I don't want it to get gummed up with, and I understand, you know, because I was involved, I mean, I was the first speaker in the 2016 convention i was the first you were you don't remember no that powerful message that i came golly tucker where were you i think i was just in a cloud of euphoria

Speaker 2 i was the first speaker and you and now you got to remember 16.

Speaker 2 when i went out there they were like all right look we don't know how this is going to go remember because they were fighting they were they didn't know whether they were going to walk off or oh yeah so they were like good luck willie because i was the first guy out like i was the first guy on the stage.

Speaker 2 And Don Jr. called me out.
He said, hey, my father wants you to speak at the convention. I was like, and I was gathering my breath to say no.

Speaker 2 Cause I was just going to be like,

Speaker 2 because in my mind, I thought it was like 45 minutes. I was like, I don't have 45 minutes in me on politics, you know? And I'm going, and I said,

Speaker 2 I said, let me check my schedule. That's what I said.
Let me check my schedule. And he goes, okay, well, check your schedule and they'll get back with you.

Speaker 2 So like the next day, someone calls, some lady calls and says hey uh so we've got you scheduled you're the first speaker and i'm fixing to tell her like whoa whoa whoa whoa i i didn't i i didn't say yes you know and she goes you're the first one up you go for three minutes and i went three minutes that's a commercial break yeah of course i'll do three minutes you know and so i was yeah i was the first speaker in the 16th what'd you say

Speaker 2 i can't even remember I mean, it was nothing. It was like, I really don't.

Speaker 3 Did you think he was going to win that year?

Speaker 2 I did.

Speaker 3 Did you think he was going to win this year?

Speaker 2 I did.

Speaker 2 Why?

Speaker 2 Well, I thought he had a really good... I mean, I was a little.

Speaker 2 I called it at 8.33 Central Time that night. When I saw Virginia, North Carolina, I said, it's over.

Speaker 2 Virginia was close. I was like, it's over.
Yeah. I mean, I just, I wasn't sure about North Carolina.
That was the only state that confuses me sometimes. But Virginia, I mean, I think he was winning.

Speaker 2 Like, you know, like early on, I was like, oh, it's, and I told my family, I texted my friends, I said, Trump wins. It's over.

Speaker 2 But yeah,

Speaker 2 I had a good sense about it.

Speaker 2 It just, it felt like it did in 16. It felt like I was just kind of looking at the culture and looking at what people were saying.
I was like, he's got a lot of people that are, you know, because

Speaker 2 it wasn't as weird as it was before.

Speaker 2 That was kind of cool. It was like, you weren't ostracized as much.
I mean, 16,

Speaker 2 I mean, there was, it was, people did not like him in 20. Oh, my gosh.
But you had that COVID. I mean, the whole COVID.
And I said that year, probably

Speaker 2 earlier that year, somebody asked me who I thought was going to be. I said, oh, Trump.
I said, Trump's got this. There's no way he can lose.
The economy's strong. We're safe.
We're not in a war.

Speaker 2 I said, that's it. That's the game over.
I said, unless something really weird happens. I said that.

Speaker 3 Like did they manufacture a virus in China?

Speaker 2 And then the weird thing happened. And there you go.

Speaker 2 And,

Speaker 2 but I went to bed last time thinking it. I went to bed in 20 thinking it.
Yeah. I was like, oh, it's over.

Speaker 3 Well, so you fell asleep before they showed you.

Speaker 2 I woke up and I was like, uh-oh.

Speaker 3 The polling places.

Speaker 2 And I was like, uh-oh.

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Speaker 3 Did anyone that you know in Louisiana have questions about that election

Speaker 3 2020?

Speaker 2 All of them.

Speaker 2 It's kind of what I thought. All of them.

Speaker 2 We've all got questions. But I don't understand what it is.
Like,

Speaker 2 I was like, I've listened to people over time. There's tons of people who question that stuff.
Always. They quit, you know, like, ah,

Speaker 2 you know, they question, like, was it done right? Was it, you know, I mean,

Speaker 2 I didn't realize it was a crime to question

Speaker 2 just to make sure that, hey, did everything, did y'all do that right?

Speaker 2 Because it seems strange, you know.

Speaker 2 Maybe it wasn't, but it was strange. yeah.
Yeah,

Speaker 2 I think the people in Louisiana are all like,

Speaker 2 hmm, you know, yeah, it was pretty awful. And a few cities were waiting, though.
Well, we'll let you know tomorrow. How much are we behind?

Speaker 3 Yeah, they had to tally the number of votes they needed. So, what's the new show?

Speaker 2 Yeah, we have a we are getting back into production. Um, it's kind of like the next generation of Duck Dynasty.
So, my kids are older. Well, so since 2017, 2024,

Speaker 2 yeah, a lot's happened.

Speaker 2 The cast has grown up.

Speaker 2 And then everybody else is still around. And so, yeah, so

Speaker 2 back with A and E, we met and they said, hey, you guys interested in, you know, kind of redoing the show. And

Speaker 2 felt like the time was right, met with the family, prayed about it. Was like, I think so.
The kids were excited and said, yeah, let's show, you know, realize, Tucker, what,

Speaker 2 you know, we talk about it's a long show and it's like it's hard work whatever you know

Speaker 2 I mean it's a lot but man when you talk to people and they tell you like how much that meant to them and how much I can't tell you how many people just

Speaker 2 like it was what my dad and I watched together and when my mom passed away it was like the last you know it was the only thing that we could laugh at together and we watched as a family now I have like 25 year olds even here i mean these kids are like you know when i was eight day i watched every show y'all had and was just you know watching the prayer at the end and just watching a family be positive with our,

Speaker 2 you know, the roles were correct. And it wasn't a lot of,

Speaker 2 you know, just darkness and stuff that people watched. And it wasn't just a train wreck.
And so it's really inspiring. You're like, oh, man, you know, it's good to make something,

Speaker 2 especially when it came out originally. You know, it was a...
It's pretty much a little bright light amongst a lot of, you know,

Speaker 2 some dark stuff out there, some dark TV. So

Speaker 2 I think when you can do that and you can provide that for people, uh, there's no pressure at all from

Speaker 3 your corporate masters to change anything or make it different.

Speaker 2 No, I mean, I actually, I mean, to be honest with you, I feel stronger now than I would then because they know who we are, you know? Yeah, I mean, they know what we're all about.

Speaker 2 It's not like, I mean, back then they didn't know. They were like, I think they're religious.

Speaker 2 I think, you know, like, but now, obviously, over the past, well, crap, since 2000, you know, the last 12 years, you know, where we stand, you know what we're, what our morals are, you know, what's important to us.

Speaker 2 And,

Speaker 2 and we have a lot of followers, you know, I'm saying, like, we have social media for Sadie has millions of people. You know, my kids have followers.

Speaker 2 They, you know, so a lot of people are interested in that. And it's, it's, they're interested in,

Speaker 2 I think they want to be entertained, but they also,

Speaker 2 you know, I think they learn stuff. I think they can watch and learn.
You know, a lot of people that watched our show are like,

Speaker 2 we never prayed. Like, we never prayed before a meal.
We didn't even know, you know, and we started trying that. You know, probably more often than not, even the praying,

Speaker 2 they rarely ever sat down and even ate together anymore. That's a gone.
That's the saddest thing. They were like, we never even, we never even have dinner.

Speaker 2 Everybody's just grabbing it and going, you know, meet you there, meet you at the deal, go to the ballpark.

Speaker 2 And so this whole idea of just sitting down and just spending time with each other at dinner was

Speaker 2 becoming a foreign concept. And so I think people can learn and they they can be like, oh, that's, you know, maybe they can't, they don't have the family we do.

Speaker 2 Maybe they don't have, maybe everybody doesn't live there like that, but they can kind of live through that and kind of, you know, start their own, you know, traditions or doing something more as a family and realizing, you know, the importance of it.

Speaker 2 And

Speaker 2 then also just taking a break and not, you know, I think what I love about Doug Nosi was we didn't take ourselves too seriously. We had fun.
We laughed. And, oh, God, I mean, do we need that?

Speaker 3 I mean, we need, we need some, you know, everybody's so I think if you had written this book 10 years ago, it would have seemed pretty weird. You know, why is the reality

Speaker 3 TV show writing a book about spreading the gospel? Right. It does not seem weird now.
Do you think the country's changed?

Speaker 2 I think it's changing. Yeah.
I think it's, I think it's certainly changing. I think people are looking for answers.
That's why I wrote the book. I think,

Speaker 2 because I think we get so lethargic.

Speaker 2 And some of this was even like, even in churches, they get get, they just get lethargic and they get off, you know, you got to know what your goal is and what kind of what you're here for and what's your mission, you know, what's your mission in life.

Speaker 2 Well, and I take my mission from Matthew 28, which is the, it's labeled as the great commission. And Jesus says, go out and make disciples of all nations, baptize people, teach people.

Speaker 2 Three things, three specific ideas. Make disciples, baptize people, teach people.
So those are the last things he said before he left. Like, make sure you do this.
So when that's your mission,

Speaker 2 you just think about what you've got to do to accomplish those three things. You're probably going to have to have conversations with people.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 If you're going to make a disciple out of them, if you're going to baptize them, if you're going to teach them, you're going to have to have some sort of conversation.

Speaker 2 And so what I find is people, if your mission in life is,

Speaker 2 as a Christian, if you're like, well, I try to go to church as often as I can. I try to be a good person.

Speaker 2 Nothing in and of itself wrong with that. That's not a mission.
And what happens is the mission becomes a little self.

Speaker 2 I go to church, so I can listen, so I can learn, so I can try to get through my week, you know, and everything becomes inward. Those three things Jesus said were outward.
It's out, out, out.

Speaker 2 Other people, other people, other people.

Speaker 2 Not just you. It's other people.
And again, back to my father, he was sitting at a bar. The guy drives up there.
Why? Why? He's not going to be a member of his church. He doesn't have any money.

Speaker 2 He's a reprobate, you know, who's got a terrible reputation.

Speaker 2 What drove him to drive up there, that hour drive, walk into that bar? What drove him to do that? It was just for him.

Speaker 2 Just for that guy.

Speaker 2 And I thought, wow.

Speaker 2 I don't know if I would, would I drive? Would I be like,

Speaker 2 you know, but he did that. It literally changed my life.

Speaker 2 It changed my whole family's life.

Speaker 2 And if that would have been it, I'm not a big prosperity guy like and look what god has done you know look at what he gave us it paid off it didn't matter if it just changed our life and kept our family together worth it nobody knows who we are worth it i got to see my dad and grow up with two parents worth it you know and you look over time as then dad took that and then never went about this for money or fame or anything in fact

Speaker 2 really pushed that away more than embraced it, even when I told you the show. And he's like, no, you know.
um

Speaker 2 and and that was that was a little different too with us like we didn't go an email was sent to us a company came to us the network came to us we weren't trying to go become famous right and so you see a lot today you know people are like i'll do whatever it takes to get famous you know and so there's no authenticity there it's like we want you to do this fine i'll do it will i be famous yes then i'll do it you know why would you want to be famous

Speaker 2 why would who anyone oh

Speaker 3 i don't know it seems like a lot of people i mean from some of the people do yeah people want to be famous what do you think of it you are famous what do you think of it uh

Speaker 2 it has its good parts about it what are those

Speaker 2 the people i've been able to meet yeah i wouldn't know you if i wasn't

Speaker 2 yeah

Speaker 2 well you wouldn't have invited me on this podcast had i not had a tv show you know so i don't know i ran into an elevator in nashville that's true but you thought i was a homeless guy i did

Speaker 2 you put money in my coffee

Speaker 2 which was filled with dip

Speaker 2 um

Speaker 2 anyone i did i spit in my cup and you said you looked at me you said did you spin your cup first words you said to me you said did you spin that cup anyone who dips in an elevator is a potential friend of mine that's how i feel about it and you started doing your little maniacal laugh and you started laughing so hard and uh

Speaker 2 it was so funny because of all the people i was expecting them to see it wasn't you Get you, Deal.

Speaker 3 I didn't expect to catch Willie Robertson dipping in an elevator, but that was it.

Speaker 2 I was headed to my room. I had been promoting this book and

Speaker 2 you happened to be there as well, which is how this all ended up. And I think God, you know, I don't know.
I think God works like that. I think he puts people together and, you know.

Speaker 2 Just seems too weird to me not. So I think there's those opportunities that people have and they meet and some you take advantage of, some you don't, some you miss.

Speaker 2 Some you're like, oh, crap, you know? And, but I just, I don't know. I mean, well i i it he did that in the bible you know yeah there was there was things moving around and so um

Speaker 2 so it could be for that person could be for someone else could be for something completely different you know some situation that maybe needs to to get out and so but it was interesting that i had written this book i had decided this year i'm not jumping in this even though it was so tempting everybody tried to get me to you know get involved let's go you know and uh I'd really just said, no, I'm not.

Speaker 2 And I'm just going to promote this book. And then

Speaker 2 I meet you. And then you said, hey, you should come on the podcast.
And it was scheduled for a few months ago. And I went, I'm going to get pulled into the politics.

Speaker 2 I was like, I said, I'm going to get pulled into this thing. And

Speaker 2 then as it turned around and spun around,

Speaker 2 We still did podcasts after the election. And then, you know, and that was kind of the commitment I made.
Just don't get so involved because I didn't want the mess.

Speaker 2 I don't, I don't care what I really don't care. Like,

Speaker 2 if it's the gospel or some political agenda, I'm going with the gospel every time because this is the power. This is, you know, if we can change people's,

Speaker 2 you know, I just saw it.

Speaker 2 I mean, it changed me, but it like somebody like my father can change people's lives and turn them into completely different people.

Speaker 2 And so, that's what I want to get to people.

Speaker 3 You know, politics turns people into completely different people too, but rarely for the better.

Speaker 2 Right.

Speaker 2 I mean, it has its place and it, you know, and I'm not casting aspersions on people who, you know, want our country to be, you know, a great country. And

Speaker 2 but

Speaker 2 we're, you know,

Speaker 2 I'm not even one that says we have, oh, we have to, everything's got to be like you have to have Christians in every position. I mean, I mean,

Speaker 2 no, that's okay. I mean, we can work together and figure that out.
Let the gospel do what it does and let politics do what it does and let government, you know.

Speaker 3 So almost like render under Caesar what is Caesar's and exactly.

Speaker 2 Exactly. Exactly.
Where do you get that?

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 2 Because, and that's the thing. Had back to mission.
So I'm into that mission, make disciples, baptize people, teach people not to, you know.

Speaker 2 I think if Jesus wanted us to just make sure your government is, he would have talked about it, right?

Speaker 2 let's lay out a plan and and all that because it was you know under these governmental things that he was going to end up being crucified anyway so uh and those things are they're they're of the world i mean they're you know they're here and they come and they die and they go away and they change and you know stuff happens and you know i was like if we

Speaker 2 if that's where we end up and i do think there's a lot of darkness for sure but they need the gospel they don't need a a better program from dc you know.

Speaker 2 And that's what will change it. Oh, wow.
Look, now families are staying together. And, you know,

Speaker 2 it's not going to be, it's not going to be that way. And it's going to be

Speaker 2 when the church wakes up and decides to go out and have that kind of mission, you know, is to go after.

Speaker 2 But we can't hate each other. That's the problem.
We can't hate each other. Because that's the deal, man.
I can't.

Speaker 2 And I saw that so much in this one. God, I got roasted.
I mean, people would get in my face. And

Speaker 2 if if i said the wrong like if i said oh i'm not i'm writing this book and i'm not doing as much with and people would just be like what

Speaker 2 this country is or we're we're not gonna have a country tomorrow and but what i don't like about the ducker it's that's like my fault

Speaker 2 it's like like they're telling me it's my fault that i'm not i'm like how's it my fault you know and that's where we got to and then it was just bullying everywhere everybody's just bullying everybody i mean certainly saw that with you know the democrats being bullied on you better vote this way, you know, like, like, we're telling you what to do.

Speaker 2 And I'm just not good at people telling me what to do. I'm like,

Speaker 2 don't tell me what to do. Don't tell, you know, vote for, I'm going to vote.
But now it's like, no, you've got to do more. We, you know, you've got to go out and, you know, and do all this.

Speaker 2 And I understand their, they're passion and all that, but we've got to let people.

Speaker 2 And some of that's the politics. It's their job.
It's to win the vote. You know what I'm saying?

Speaker 3 So it doesn't answer the deepest questions. Like, what happens when you die?

Speaker 3 Right. It doesn't address that.

Speaker 2 So when you die.

Speaker 3 yeah yeah when you die when you die so my last question is if i i do think a lot of people are all of a sudden wondering like is there something beyond what we can see here feel and taste i mean is there you know is there a spiritual realm is there a god

Speaker 3 and i i people all around me are asking those questions what would you recommend to them like how to pursue that you something stirs in you think wow maybe i should learn more.

Speaker 2 Right.

Speaker 2 I mean, I found those answers in the

Speaker 2 in the Bible and particularly in the New Testament. You know, that's where I found those answers.
It comes down to the faith. Like

Speaker 2 you've got to have this faith and you're going to have to jump

Speaker 2 and believe something that you can't see. It's interesting how people can't do that.
I remember I was talking to a guy one time. I was having one of these conversations.

Speaker 2 I don't know if this story's in the book, but there's a lot in there. We're having this story and he's like, I don't believe in faith i don't

Speaker 2 i don't see it i don't believe it you know

Speaker 2 and he was he just got married and i said and we're at a we're at a hunting camp i said

Speaker 2 where's your wife right now he's like she's at home and she's i said i bet she's with another guy

Speaker 2 and he said

Speaker 2 i i love how you proselytize yeah and he said no she's not

Speaker 2 and he gets i can tell he's mad he's like well yeah he's been married like six months i said oh no for sure she's she's with another guy like no doubt. And he goes, no, she's not.
You know,

Speaker 2 what are you doing? I said, how do you know she's not?

Speaker 2 He goes, because I trust her. And I said,

Speaker 2 so you do have faith in something that you can't see.

Speaker 2 And he went, I've never thought about it that way. He was an atheist.
He said, I'm an atheist. I don't believe in any of this stuff.
And that was, so it was just a small move, though.

Speaker 2 We moved him off of that position.

Speaker 2 Now we have moved him to there are some things that even though I can't see it I have faith and why do more preachers not start with that I bet your wife's sleeping with somebody else

Speaker 2 that works

Speaker 2 maybe they don't go to enough hunting camps yeah

Speaker 2 I mean for me though what what else I mean like he's an atheist what I was supposed to say okay good luck with that let me know how that works for you you know

Speaker 2 I mean

Speaker 2 I'm trying to think of

Speaker 2 Paul says in the New Testament, Paul, who knew the gospel better than anybody, who's a writer, and

Speaker 2 he says, pray for me that the mystery of the gospel can come out of my mouth more clearly. He's praying that it can come out more clearly.
And my question is, why? Why is he, he knows this stuff?

Speaker 2 Like he wrote it. You know, he's writing because some weren't obeying it.
Some weren't getting it.

Speaker 2 He's going, hmm. So you have to keep coming at, like, keep asking more questions.
Maybe I'm not asking the right questions. I did that.

Speaker 2 There's a story in the book, a beautiful story of a guy that I just kept,

Speaker 2 I kept trying to, he had problems with his brain. Like he had lesions on his, I thought he was going to die.
And I was like, he's going to die. And

Speaker 2 I don't think he's a Christian. I don't think he's a believer.
And so I'm just like, hey, man, if you thought about heaven and

Speaker 2 he would say the same thing every time to me. Well,

Speaker 2 he who hath not sinned cast the first stone. That's what he would say.
He was quoting a scripture, and I knew what that meant. That's

Speaker 2 that's redneck for I don't want to hear what you got to say. Yeah.
I'm not interested.

Speaker 2 And I was like,

Speaker 2 so I could have thought, well, I tried, you know, I get to heaven. I tried.

Speaker 2 Remember, I told you four times and every time he would just divert, divert, divert. Wall.

Speaker 2 And so finally we're in a car. We're in New York City working on a business deal.
We're talking about money. He's a super rich guy.
We're talking about money. He's over and he's smoking.

Speaker 2 He's like, we're going to make so much money.

Speaker 2 He was just like, it was just like, he was so excited about you know I look at him and I asked I said how I said how old are you and he said I'm 58 years old and I said I bet you're gonna be dead in 14 years

Speaker 2 he just looks back

Speaker 2 he goes what

Speaker 2 I said I bet you're gonna be dead in 14 years he goes why would you say that I said the way you live I you know I said, but you're, I mean, I'm just guessing, but I said, have you ever thought about that?

Speaker 2 Like, what's going to happen then?

Speaker 2 What happens then?

Speaker 2 I said, we just did an investment. What do you, are you investing anything beyond here? Is it just here?

Speaker 2 He goes, I've never thought about that before. You know what he didn't say?

Speaker 2 He who had not sinned cast the first stone. No, it's we got past that.

Speaker 2 We finally got past that. And I was like, if we get past that.
And so

Speaker 2 we get to the hotel. We're in Manat.
And then he goes,

Speaker 2 can you come up and tell me more about that? I'll say, yeah. So I'll go to my room.
I got my Bible. I go to his room.

Speaker 2 And I sit down. And that's the verse.
I got like seven verses. It's not a lot.

Speaker 2 And I just start reading them to him.

Speaker 2 He just stands up in the hotel room. I don't know.
Forget it.

Speaker 2 And he yells at his wife. She's in the bed.
He goes, I'm getting baptized.

Speaker 2 And I was like, man, it's midnight. We're like, we're in central park.
I'm like, I don't know where. I got to go find some water here, you know, and which I was ready.
I was like, we'll go find some.

Speaker 2 And I said, well, let's go, I guess

Speaker 2 we're in a hotel in New York City. I said, we'll go find some more.
He said, no, no, I got to tell everybody. I got to tell everybody I know that what's fishing to happen.

Speaker 2 This is the same guy I've been working on for years. And he's like, he wouldn't, you know, and now he's saying, I'll go, and he emailed everybody he knows, everybody.

Speaker 2 So finally, like a month later, I show up to his house, a big house. There's people everywhere.
There's people from New York, people from LA, Florida.

Speaker 2 People have shown up because he said, I'm getting baptized. Come watch this.
And so I get there and I walk up. He goes, everybody gathers around.
He goes, Willie,

Speaker 2 tell them what you told me of that hotel room that night. And I said, yeah, no problem.
So I

Speaker 2 go through that.

Speaker 2 So

Speaker 2 his wife gets baptized. Daughter gets baptized.
He gets baptized. Is anybody else? They just start streaming in their blue jeans, taking their boots off.

Speaker 2 Just

Speaker 2 over and over and over. Just like what's happened in the Bible.
You see that in the book of Acts. It's like 25 people that night over

Speaker 2 that conversation. But I didn't stop that conversation.
When you don't hear it, you just, you keep on. And plus, I'm still there.
Sometimes it takes 20 minutes. Sometimes it takes two hours.

Speaker 2 Sometimes it takes 20 years. Because I don't give up on anybody because they didn't give up on dad.

Speaker 2 I would have given up on Phil a long time ago. I'd have said, forget that sucker.
He needs to go to jail, you know.

Speaker 2 But that dude didn't give up. His sister didn't give up on him.
That guy went up there and talked to him. And it changed my whole life.
And so I never give up on anybody. You never know.

Speaker 2 You never know when that time is. And they're like, oh, no.
And they're ready. And they're like.
So we're just really planting the seeds. I'm just planting the seeds because I'm ready.

Speaker 2 I want to, you know, make disciples.

Speaker 2 I i want to baptize people i want to teach people that's what i'm doing so everything i look at in life where does it fall in that category this book does the tv show does the stuff my kids do the family stuff you know all of it can fall through there and that's where i want it's way more than going to church and you know

Speaker 2 having some look and being a christian way more than that that's like an hour a week that's not that's nothing Like I'm like, you take, how about this? You take your hour, don't go to church.

Speaker 2 I want you for the other six days and we'll go change the world, you know? But people got a missing, they got a miss, they got a bad idea on that.

Speaker 2 They're thinking, isn't it just like you show up an hour?

Speaker 2 I mean, try that in your marriage, try that with your kid, try to see them an hour, you know, and see if that gets you enough to get through.

Speaker 2 And so, it's just a bigger idea, and it's a bigger concept.

Speaker 2 And then, when you're in that moment, when I'm when I've, when you're there with people and you watch their lives change, and then you watch the fruit of that come out of it,

Speaker 2 it's a good,

Speaker 2 it's like a high. I mean, you're just like, that's what it's all about.
You know, that's the kind of stuff to where you're then going, there is hope.

Speaker 2 And so I live my life based on there's hope in something beyond. If it's not, it's not.
And I've hopefully lived a great life. I have great friends.

Speaker 2 I've, you know, my, my faith and the principles of the Bible has probably kept me out of a lot of misery and hell and, you know, bad stuff. And,

Speaker 2 but I'm, I'm thinking that there is. And I see evidence everywhere.
I see evidence everywhere, you you know like what

Speaker 2 i mean i just i can see it in people's lives i can you know if jesus lives in us the holy spirit lives in us i can see it in their lives i can i can see this i can see people doing this i'm like why would you do that like why like there's no advantage it's not financial advantage exactly i'm i'm seeing them share and do things and sacrifice and i see that for each other yeah for each other for other people and for you know i can see it i can i can feel it like I can, at times, I feel stuff too.

Speaker 2 I feel, you know, like

Speaker 2 it just seems like I'm like, wow, that's a lot of

Speaker 2 I, yeah, I can't help but think

Speaker 2 something was going on with Trump. Like,

Speaker 2 there was a lot of weird

Speaker 2 turn your head the right way,

Speaker 2 doing this.

Speaker 2 We were shooting birds today. Yeah.
How close is that?

Speaker 3 Too close.

Speaker 2 I mean,

Speaker 2 to

Speaker 2 who knows what would happen. Who knows what today would look like? You know what I'm saying? Like,

Speaker 2 who knows? So it just,

Speaker 2 you know, I'm not, I'm just saying it looked like God

Speaker 2 was

Speaker 2 doing something there. I don't know.
I don't know. I don't know what it is.
I don't know, you know. But that's the faith part.

Speaker 2 I think sometimes, Toka, I think we think our goal is to try to figure it out. Yeah.
Like, we're like, we're like, we have to know. We got to read the signs.

Speaker 2 And we got to, everybody's wanting to know what's going to happen. Even with our country, like, where will we be in 20 years? It's like we want to know, but there's too many factors.

Speaker 2 Like, you haven't seen it.

Speaker 2 It's impossible. You can't figure that out.
You got to live. I can always look back and it makes sense.
I'm like, oh, wow, that made sense. But looking forward, that's the,

Speaker 2 and if, and that's the message that I'm going to, but somebody's been sharing this message for 2,000 years.

Speaker 2 We're halfway around the globe from where it happened

Speaker 2 and still talking about it. True.
They had no money. They had no fame.
They weren't soldiers. They weren't, you know,

Speaker 2 they didn't even speak the same language. We're speaking a different language.
We are sitting here today, halfway across the globe, and we're still talking about it.

Speaker 2 I'm still writing books about it, living our lives on it, and professing it. It just,

Speaker 2 that's a big deal. Like, I haven't seen that with anything else.
Most everything else 2,000 years ago, we don't even know what it is.

Speaker 2 They're gone.

Speaker 2 It's just gone. We don't know their names.
Yeah, that at all.

Speaker 2 Willie Robinson, thank you very much.

Speaker 3 Awesome.

Speaker 3 Thanks for listening to the Tucker Carlson Show. If you enjoyed it, you can go to tuckercarlson.com to see everything that we have made, the complete library, tuckercarlson.com.