The Lost Episodes: Don Lemon

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Hey guys, welcome back to the Adam Friedle show.

For the next four weeks, we will commence our last episode series.

This week we have Don Lemon.

I think we did it last year.

Is that right Thomas?

Probably around last year.

I don't know why this was never posted.

I think he got arrested afterwards and it was no longer relevant.

I don't know.

Guys, we have four big lost episodes coming up the next four weeks followed by the season

three premiere of the Adam Friedle show.

Real quick, I'll be on the road.

Denver Comedy works October 22nd and 24th and New York, New York, New York Comedy Festival

November 13th.

A big ass motherfuckers show.

Guys, make sure you get tickets.

Adam Friedle and Don Show.

Ladies and gentlemen, media, icon Don Lemon, everybody from Louisiana.

How are you?

How are you?

How are you?

How are you?

How are you?

How are you?

Nice hat.

Thank you.

You gave me your hat.

Where'd you get that?

From you.

I don't think you guys got to go out here and get that.

Do you know what the website is?

For what?

Lamb in Party.

Oh, no, it's for Don Lemon.com.

What do you know?

Have you heard of the website?

Have I heard of what?

There's a website called Lamb in Party.

They talk about Lamb in Party.

I've never heard of Lamb in Party.

Have you heard of Larry Showdown?

No.

I mean, it's a loose show.

I mean, we're all in the show.

Is this somewhere like sexual stuff?

This was like a legendary website that like in high school you would like put into your

friends like family computer.

I mean, it's a really, it's like.

Oh my God.

You've never heard of...

I assumed your family was...

You never heard of it.

You know, big lemon party.

Lemon party isn't the most...

What is...

Guys, I'm very upset.

Zachary, I need help with the iPad.

Can you help?

Should I buy that website now?

Don, the fact that you don't know that...

Sorry, I'm going to look it up to see if I can find it.

But you should look it up.

I mean, can someone back me up here?

You guys are like not...

Dude, it doesn't show.

Do you even have...

You...

Wifi in the studio?

Yes, we do.

And the password is s***.

I found it out of the...

Well, yeah, Zach, this is...

It was a website that just...

Yeah, can I see it?

Yeah.

A microphone?

Yeah, yeah.

Your phone...

This is Dawn Lemon.

It's a big deal.

You can tell your mom.

Are you Big Head?

Which one of these is you?

So, it's a website that just showed this image.

And it was a big prank growing up.

And it was...

What is that?

What is that?

It's Lemon Pussy.

You're family started this website.

Is that three old dudes?

Yeah, yeah, it's really beautiful.

I didn't know that thing.

You've got download like that.

Is that what you're into?

No, it's up to...

Guys, since f***ing sixth grade,

I'm part of he's like, it's the big joke.

You text someone...

One time I had Chet Hanks on, and he was getting mad at me.

That was my favorite interview with you.

Well, I did the second one where he got actually mad at me.

And I mean, he's a...

He's the best guy ever.

Well, actually, you shouted it out, I saw.

You showed a little bit.

That was my favorite interview with you.

When I was starting my show, I looked at...

You copied.

Well, I looked to you for inspiration.

Honestly, yeah, because I didn't know what to do.

I was doing it.

And like, this is my aesthetic.

I was like, this is...

Do you know what this is?

This is a serenade.

Serenade, too.

Knock off.

It's a knock off.

These are...

We tried to match the Dick Cavachow

and he used cheap knockoffs.

So we unnecessarily spent $16,000 on four of these chairs.

Did you know that I said that when I walked in?

Who was your inspiration? Dick Cavach?

It looks like the Dick Cavachow.

I don't even know that.

But I like these are...

These are like...

These are like...

We all know this.

These look like...

Like, it could be no.

Like...

These were no...

Yeah, these are Eames...

Eames lobby chairs from the Noel Corporation

that we unnecessarily spent $4,000 on Eish.

And they came from a courthouse in Pennsylvania.

People probably went to the death penalty.

You could have gotten these a knockoff at design within reach, probably.

No, but he's designed within reach, not exactly within reach.

You've been 1% for too long, my friend.

So tell us about St. Bartz.

How's your Thanksgiving?

You got...

I don't have no idea what you're talking about.

Who do you have?

You have Katzenberg.

You have Geffen.

You have Sydney Sweeney.

You had the guy that made Spider-Man.

Lauren Michaels.

You got Lauren Michaels?

Yeah, you got every...

You got...

Is you have an ambition to host a SNL?

Jared Kushner.

What's he like as a guy?

Jared Kushner.

I've never met Jared Kushner.

I feel like there's just...

I can typically sense what a guy is like.

He feels so just like what?

He's like from a video game, you walk past him, and he's just on the street, and he's like...

He's like in...

You know...

He's just...

They call it an NPC.

What are you...

You're like 65 years old, but you look 23?

I'm 85.

No, I'm 50.

I'm in my 50s.

You're in your 50s.

But you're looking incredible for 50s.

Thank you.

I looked a lot younger before Trump came to office.

To my knowledge, I've never met Jared Kushner.

I've met Abonka and all the other kids.

She must be lovely.

Yeah.

But Jared's brother Josh is amazing.

He's a really good dude.

He's a real estate guy.

He's a good dude.

Yeah, yeah.

He's married to the Carly What's Her Face?

Clouse.

Clouse.

Clouse.

Kind of a little bit...

She's gorgeous.

Yeah, but clouse.

It just sounds like someone that's sending you to the...

Clouse.

We don't have to get...

I get into Holocaust too early every episode.

Anyway.

I want to get into you because I didn't know your backstory

prior to researching for this episode.

But I think you have a really interesting backstory.

You're from the south.

And you did an anchor man bouncing around between affiliate stations.

It's a situation.

And then you found yourself at the top.

The parallel that I thought of, like analyzing your career,

was Oprah Winfrey.

Because she was like from the south.

She worked in affiliate news stations.

And she kind of worked her way to the top of kind of media.

I think it's one of the...

Who was it?

Was she an inspiration for you?

Yeah.

Well, of course.

She's the goat.

She, you know, then she went the talk show group,

but sort of traditional news.

Yes.

I think I was one of the last...

Do you know Ben Smith is?

Who's...

Yeah, from Sunsphere.

From Semicol.

Yeah.

And then we met one of the last traditional sort of news careers

where people had to go to different markets and work their way up.

Does the path not exist anymore?

It does, but not to the same extent.

Because you could actually go learn the craft before the internet,

make your mistakes, and then by the time you got to a big market

or a network, then you were honed and you could write.

You know how to do.

Kids don't know how to write now.

You know, you can start with this.

You don't have to go around and learn.

Everyone thinks that they should be like a network correspondent

or anchor immediately, like within a year or so.

It's like, no, it doesn't.

It shouldn't work that way.

How bad were your mistakes?

You got someone in the electric chair or something?

No, I mean...

You know, you pronounce shit wrong, you get stuff wrong.

Have you been on a news blooper before?

I'm sure I have.

It's one of the funniest stuff.

It's the best.

I mean, what was their name?

The officer that got killed?

Shit.

Well, the famous one.

The lady, the mega-doodoo.

Oh, I think that's the same name.

You know that one?

No.

Was her name?

D-D.

D-D.

And officer dead in the line of duty.

D-D.

Mega-doodoo.

Newsproopers are the absolute funniest thing on earth.

Yeah, I haven't been a news blooper,

but I have some pretty funny news moments.

Well, yeah, once, once, it wasn't me.

I was doing an interview.

And the person was satellite in their chair.

The air started going out of their chair.

So the chair just started going down.

Well, she was on.

That was funny.

And then I had funny moments, because I didn't give a shit.

And so I had funny moments.

There was a funny cheese cake moment.

What did you call this?

A cheesecake factory moment.

And then there was a like a...

And then there was a mega-hat funny moment.

I had a bunch of fun moments.

What does that mean?

Cheesecake mega-hat?

There was just a thing where we were talking about this, you know,

a mega-hat, this guy wearing a mega-hat,

and the cheesecake factory, someone brought it up,

and then everybody just sort of cracked up.

That was all they knew.

That was all they knew.

Yeah, it was all the news.

So this guy was just wearing a hat in a restaurant?

Yeah.

Sorry, I'm just...

It wasn't the guy in the restaurant.

You have to watch it.

Do you ever go to an affiliate station in a city

you've never lived in before?

You're like, these people are disgusting.

No.

Like, when you were in Philly, you were like,

oh, I have to cover these monsters.

No, but I...

You're like, I hate all this.

So after a while, it got old, like, standing in front of, you know,

a place where there was something was breaking like at nine in the morning

and it's 11 o'clock at night, and it's like, why are we here?

It's like, you know, that it got old,

or just like random shootings and stabings.

I just like...

What was your like first kind of major lesson

that you got along the way?

Did you have a mentor?

Like, some of that, like, saw some potential in you growing up?

I never really had a mentor.

I mean, folks saw potential.

My first news director saw potential,

because I was working here at Channel 5.

That was my first news job.

Fox 5.

You know where it is?

W and I W?

I don't know where the building is.

Do you remember Metro Media?

You're not old enough to remember Metro Media.

It's in the old Metro Media Building.

Yeah.

Is it like this?

It's kind of like...

Yeah, it sounds like a...

Metro...

But it's where a current affair started, do you remember that?

It's where it, like...

Oh, like a...

Tabloid TV started in that building.

Yeah.

And so I worked for the 10 o'clock news.

And so my first news director, one of my first news

directors, I was behind this...

I was a...

I feel a producer in the Southern Matter.

Yeah.

And said like the coordinator and all that shit.

And writer.

And then I wanted to be on air.

And I put my tape together and she said,

you're really good.

I'll put you on to start putting me in the air.

Yeah.

And that's how I built my tape.

How did you know that you'd be good at that?

I knew when I was...

You're a hot...

A new when I was a kid.

You're a kid looking at you.

Would you say...

If you're a uglier, probably would have been scared.

Don't come on to me.

It's embarrassing.

I'm not coming on to you.

I'm just saying...

We're like on CNN where there were like women that were like fuck you.

No.

You had to have had like ladies that were like...

No, they were like I don't care.

He's still where they were like disill�ing it.

You just didn't notice them.

Yeah.

You definitely had gals that were like,

Oh my god, he's the perfect man.

Yeah.

And then they're like motherfucker.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Maybe...

Why all the good ones, they always do that.

Yeah, you guys?

Yeah, like in shape and stuff.

Yeah.

We're disgusting slopes, me and my friend.

That's what you do.

How long would you compare that into?

How long would you consider that you've been in your field?

Oh, since 1991, 1992.

So that is a dramatic shift in what media is in our house.

Yeah, I've seen everything.

Do you conceive of it as you've been in the belly of it

like a decay or at least a decay of trust?

Yes, a decay of trust because it's become more

corporatized over time and that tends to peel away the trust.

People don't trust because they think it's too much corporate influence.

You were talking about CNN or network news.

What?

Network news, but just corporate media in general,

just mainstream media.

It's all owned by companies who have their business to protect.

And so you've got to be careful what you say on the air.

Has that ever conflicted with you?

You've had to self-sensor or you had to?

Self-sensored all the time.

You've had to self-sembolship trap?

Or if you see.

Me, me, so.

Like, you know, the affiliate or the network wants you to say,

like, oh, yeah, we don't give you cancer.

We were like, no, never have been told.

I will say when I was at CNN, I was never told what to say.

I was never told that you must do something.

Except toward the last year I was there, which was not very pleasant.

Your boss was Zucker when you were there?

Yeah, Jeff is awesome.

Does he regret not giving Trump a better contract offer

for the oppressors?

No, I don't think so.

Because he kind of ruined, it's kind of a little bit his fault.

If Trump wasn't like renegotiating for the new season,

he wouldn't have done the escalator and the run for president.

I think that was over.

I think you're a timeline as well.

I think he was a little bit renegotiated.

He was like, Zucker, I'm going to be the president.

I don't need you.

And then accidentally, he became the president twice.

It's kind of a doing it twice as a little bit like shame on him.

Yeah, I would say it's hard to say.

It's one person's fault because it took so many people in the country.

Zucker and Weiner, I think the two Anthony Weiner.

Well, he had not been for the laptop.

A week, 10 days out from the election,

Komi wouldn't have ridden the letter.

It's the most damage done by any one penis of all time.

We wouldn't have had literally the end of democracy.

I'm thinking about that.

Think about it.

You might be right.

It's butterfly.

You might be right.

I never thought about that.

Or if they let Trump buy the bills, he would have just been the team owner of the Buffalo

bills with John Bonjoby.

There's a lot of tin foil hat moments we've had over the last couple of years.

But you met your husband on election day.

But it's kind of, how do you know this shit?

Well, I just thought that was like bizarre that you got so horny from Donald Trump winning

in the 60s.

I was sad.

I was mourning when you were like, I'm hornyed up.

It's really the best story ever, honestly.

Tell us the story is romantic.

We talk about it.

I don't know if he mentioned it in his vows, but we did.

He said that God, Donald Trump, who's the president, God is so horny.

I think we mentioned it in our reception speech that there was one thing good that came out

of that.

No, it's actually a really good story.

Do you want to hear it?

Yeah, I'd love it.

It was election night.

I'm not political, not a political reporter.

So everything went to DC and all the folks in DC.

So you were off.

So at the night often, then I couldn't.

Then I would come in the next day and do the fun shit and analysis.

And so I got invited to this party at Chipprianne and Soho downtown.

And so it was an election night watch party given by Harvey Weinstein.

Really?

Yeah.

Really?

So you were getting a horned up with the white...

No.

This is a really beautiful story.

So he invited a bunch of people.

I was there.

I think Martha Stewart was there.

Andrew Cuomo was there.

That had to be the best.

Miles Teller was there.

Oh, of course.

Yeah, the drummer.

Yeah.

No, we're watching you.

Yeah, we're watching.

A bunch of folks.

And so we met Tim and I met downtown's our first date.

And we walked in and he sat at a table like this and you know, they make the table bigger

so people around it.

And when he sat, he kicked the thing and everything fell off of the table.

Oh, it's like a romantic comedy.

Yeah, it was like a romantic comedy.

It was a mean and cute.

And then when that settled down, we started seeing the numbers come in and they were like,

oh, yeah, she's still got Pennsylvania.

She's still got Florida.

And I was looking at my CNN email going, oh, and then we like, let's get out of here.

And then we went to the Polo Bar to meet my agent and we watched the results from there

and then everyone's like, oh, holy shit.

Everyone's cheering probably at the Polo Bar.

No.

Really?

And then we said, I don't want to sleep alone tonight because this is pretty fucking scary.

Really?

And he ended up staying.

And I lived in Harlem then.

Really?

Yeah.

And then he said, I'm going to sleep in the morning.

Yeah.

He had to ride home on a subway with a bunch of black people.

And he's like, he wanted to just go, I didn't do it.

So he's a racist, your husband.

So you met this racist guy.

No, he's a nice guy.

And he got people with that he voted for him.

He voted for Trump.

But he said, you know, because it was just a little uncomfortable looking.

My parents met in a gay bar, actually.

Did they?

No, they didn't meet.

But my dad sealed the deal in a gay bar.

He had sex with her in a gay bar?

No.

Well, I think that night, I don't know if it was at the gay bar.

But they kept getting set up on blind dates.

And she kept being like, this fucking guy.

And she was like, this guy sucks.

And it was like three blind dates or four.

So what were they doing in a gay bar?

My dad was at a party.

She shows up with her girls.

And he's like, oh my god, it's the girl from the blind date.

She's like, maybe I'll try and chat her up again.

Your dad was at a party at a gay bar?

No, this is prior to the gay bar.

Oh, OK.

So they just go to a party.

And it's the girl that hates them from three blind dates.

And she's like, send to her girls.

She's like, let's get out of here.

I want to go dancing.

And him and his friend followed them, I guess.

And they went to a gay bar, like a club.

And my dad was like, oh my god, this place is gay.

So him and his friend held hands on the way in,

because they thought that they'd get caught.

That's the only way they could get caught.

They get caught for not being gay.

And I guess that was the bold.

What is the test for that?

You got to.

It's cuter than your racist husband.

I think that's the cute thing.

It's interesting, because we're in this place in time right

now where I'm kind of afforded access to the mayor.

It's a little nuts, isn't it?

And it's just like, I have absolutely no right.

I'm just wearing glasses.

This grift is about to be up.

But what's interesting is you talked about how,

you don't have to wait in line.

You did prior, going station to station.

That whole pathway is gone.

Is it a product of the democratization of media?

Is it a product of everything is the media?

Everyone's a freaking journal now?

Well, I don't think everything's a journal.

Everyone's a journal.

But I think there are different ways to get information.

I don't know if you would consider,

I don't have to look at Larry King's resume,

but a journalist, but he certainly gave information.

He was an interview.

I don't think Johnny Carson was a journalist,

but you certainly get information from him.

Shows like that.

Some of the morning show folks are not journalists.

There are people who are on now who

didn't go to school for journalism,

but yet they're, maybe they took a path

and for their career.

But I think it's good and bad.

Yeah, it's the democratization of media.

Sure.

Yeah.

But it's good and bad.

It's bad in that there are no standards.

Would you benefit from a standardized definition?

They would, right?

They would.

Why isn't there one?

Because it's hard to control.

Everything in the internet has made it

so hard to control.

Before you just had to get information,

you didn't have access to information like that.

You didn't have access to be able,

I mean, this is basically a network in your pocket.

We can go live right now and people will start watching.

You want to do it?

I don't, I don't, I'm scared of it.

I'm exact touch the buttons.

But you weren't able to do that.

And you know, even, yeah, you could have a bell down

about wearing a mask and a wall green

is then being congress like two years later.

Yeah.

Like seriously, it's, uh, it feels a little bit like,

like the class, it used to be classier.

What the media, you know, just the country.

Oh, the country used to be classier.

Yeah, I agree with that.

Yeah.

I mean, look how we're dressed now.

I mean, we're, we have to do this.

We'd have to wear like a suit or something.

Because the better minute is so hot right now,

we have to, we're trying to do the thing.

We're trying to like, and you know,

it's just like, why can't we just be ourselves?

Yeah, but it's good and bad.

It's bad and again, there are no editorial rigors

for the most part.

And then it's good because you can actually,

you know, you're not influenced by someone else's

how they want you to tell the story.

I think a lot about like when there's like,

like the Boston bombing, I think was one example of this

when there's like citizen, like people on Reddit,

trying to like, so there's like really catastrophic events

a lot of the time.

Like people like innocent people are like, kind of,

uh, like, uh, their lives are fucked with during like moments

of crisis like that.

And it just feels like sometimes there should be more of a,

kind of a system in place to like prohibit people

from like thinking that they're Batman of the media.

Thinking that the dark night of the media,

what do you mean?

What are you talking about?

You know, like, to me, what would make sense?

Because I'm like a freaking pinko, you know, whatever,

is like, there should be just, there should be public media

that doesn't have a profit incentive.

Media that doesn't make people crazy.

Well, media that's like not trying to make money for GE

or something.

Well, that's what I mean by the corporate media.

And that's influencing.

You can't fuck up a GE contract.

I'm just, I'm just, I'm just, I'm trying to make money

for boner pills right now.

Is that, is this a better alternative?

Like, well, yeah, are people watching you?

I think that if you have like a public broadcasting system

with like, you know, safeguards that are kind of enumerated

by, you know, legislation, like it's the only way

to kind of protect people at the end of the day.

Well, look, I look at it differently as long as you're not

pretending, so you're not pretending to be a journalist.

You're just being adam.

No, I was, I was going to ask you,

because I have some headlines I want to practice with.

Then that's fine.

But there are people out there who pretend to be journalists

and they're not, and they don't, you know,

they don't have the range.

Yeah.

But I don't think you have to do that.

I just think, there's a difference between being

an influencer, a streamer, and a journalist.

I'm not that influencer streamer.

This is a long form Jewish style YouTube talk show.

It is very important, according to the newspaper.

I think it's because I'm wearing glasses.

Would you feel like I'm copying you if I went into the middle

of a hurricane and just stood there with a microphone?

There are a lot of people who do that.

But you're like, that's what a journalist is supposed

to do to get rained on.

Well, that's part of it.

That's what a reporter does.

That was your, you were into that though, I could tell.

It was, it was interesting.

I liked it.

Were you the most extreme one?

You're like, I'm going to go to the hardest wind.

Anderson Cooper doesn't have shit on me.

No.

I'm going to go to the craziest competition like that.

But it was, why do we need a guy getting rained on?

Well, you don't.

Yeah, yeah.

But people love it.

It's so funny.

It is.

It must be so fun.

It is fun until, unless it's freezing,

and then you're soaking wet, then you end up

with pneumonia or something.

But yeah, yeah.

It is fun.

It is fun because everybody watches,

and you're blowing around, and that's kind of fun.

They have to see a guy.

And they just, until the worst of the past is you're just

standing there, and you have to come up with shit to say,

because they're not going to leave you.

If you're aware of the bad weather, hurricane,

or whatever it is, then they're on you the entire time.

So you just have to talk and show shit.

So coming from your background, like you're

from a religious family from the South,

you kind of like made it to New York City,

your family backstories could pretty interesting.

Is it true that there was a second family

or something like that that you discovered later on in life?

No, it wasn't a second family.

Or there was a divorce?

Yeah, my mom had divorced her first husband,

which is my sister's dad.

My mom was like a teen pregnant bride or whatever.

Yeah.

And, but then years later, my mom went to work,

as she was walking to college.

She passed this law office that said,

they needed a legal secretary needed, and she applied,

and she got it.

She went in and got the job, and then my dad

was an attorney, and then they ended up having a relationship.

Well, my dad was married, but back then,

divorces were not quite as easy, and he didn't divorce her.

The rumor was that she was a lesbian.

And so they just stayed together.

The other wife.

The other wife.

And so it was like your mom was a little bit being a bitch, maybe.

No, she's like, I heard, she's less.

No, my mom never said that.

It was actually the other way around.

No, really, she was probably a spook.

Yeah.

No, she never spoke ill, and she was actually very kind

to the woman.

And I remember the woman never knew.

I mean, I think she probably suspected that I was a dad.

She, yeah, for sure she didn't know, but she didn't pry.

So they just don't ask, don't tell.

They let separate lives.

So he's a lawyer, but he couldn't figure out

how to get a divorce?

No, it doesn't.

He couldn't figure it out.

Somebody just said, you just didn't do it.

I think he was just being kind.

Napoleonic code.

I know what you're saying.

So he was older.

Is he your stepfather?

Older than my dad, my mom.

Your mom.

Is he Mr. Lemon?

No.

No.

My stepdad was your biological father.

My biological father.

He was my biological father, but my sister is Lemon.

Yeah.

That's her dad.

My mom was married, and then got a divorce,

and then I just took the last name.

And so it's my second son married.

Was your stepdad, your father figure growing up?

He was my everything, but he died when I was seven.

Really?

So there was a lot of girls.

Yeah, I was nine.

Would you say there's a lot of what?

Girls.

You know, sister and mom's grandma.

And then a step sister, my mom remarried.

Yeah.

Grandma was a lot of women.

They drove you nuts.

They did.

Oh my god.

If you learn a lot, when it's all women and women.

When they're yelling at you, what do you do?

You learn to, you have to deal with it.

How do you deal with it?

They'll yell at you, but I mean, my sisters did,

but they were also my biggest protectors.

What are your biggest guesses, DL Healy?

One of my biggest guests.

Well, he's all friends.

He's a friend.

He's a lot.

We do shows together.

And you're also DL.

You're Don Lemon.

I'm DL, Don Lemon.

And at one point, I was DL.

You were DL.

Is David Letterman active in the DL community?

Yes.

Initially.

Well, is he?

He's an inspiration.

Did you guys get that?

They didn't get it initially.

Initially.

Well, next question.

When you moved to New York as like a young gay guy,

it must have been incredible.

Coming out of the South.

In the 90s?

In the 90s?

It was really fun.

Gays was over?

No.

No.

It was like, ending, right?

It was on a down slope.

Well, I mean, you didn't know it then.

I mean, there was no cure.

It was actually wasn't on the down slope.

It was pretty much like, it was a height almost.

What did you learn about your community?

Because those guys that came for the decade before

literally went through the Holocaust.

I mean, like, you were like the next generation up?

Yeah, the next generation up, but still,

it was still part of it.

I mean, within the 90s, it was still age.

The AIDS was ravaging the community.

Yeah.

And it was scary.

Yeah.

But like, people's sexual habits changed.

Did it make intimacy, like, scary for you?

Yeah.

I think a lot of people who grew up who

are came out around the time, I think they

have intimacy issues now.

I just think about those old timers.

They just like, all of their friends died.

Yeah.

I don't think that we respect them enough.

You think they're OGs?

They've been through hell.

Yeah.

And they also like just like, beaten up and stuff

prior to that.

Like, they were like, they weren't like on Will and Grace.

No, but they were like, they were like,

thought of as like the fringes of society.

They really took the ship.

But it was fun then.

I kind of liked it when the thing must dash, guys.

No, I kind of liked it when being gay was like, sort of,

special and counterculture.

Yeah, yeah.

Now it's just, you know, all of my friends, like, everyone

I know is just heteronormative.

It's gay, and being be straight.

I feel like.

It's what?

I feel gay to be straight.

You know what I mean?

I feel like I don't have tattoos and I'm straight.

I'm like, I'm punk rock, basically, at this point.

Yeah, do you want to go to a gay wedding or a straight wedding?

A gay wedding or a straight wedding?

Why would a gay guy get married?

Exactly.

What a waste of gants.

What I'm talking about.

What?

What?

I know.

I mean, my husband is younger, so he wanted to get married.

But I didn't, I mean, I-

Really like this is ridiculous.

But you can't say that.

You can't say that to a generation who's now

used to having the same sort of rights and accessibility

as everybody else before.

They all went to Goldman Sachs.

Yeah, yeah.

Really?

Yeah.

So they all, you know, the younger folks

are they want to get married.

They want to be heteronormative.

And for someone like me, it's all well and good.

I can do it, but I did not necessarily

need to have a wedding or get married.

I would like the rights to same rights as everybody else.

But I didn't have to do that.

Do you hold head them?

Do you owe G them?

Yeah.

Listen, young buck.

Fuck yeah.

Pull up your damn pants.

I do.

You're a pull up your damn pants guy?

Kind of.

Yeah, yeah.

I saw you talking about that.

What you hate most about sagging, well,

I don't want to see the crack of someone's ass

with a dirty underwear.

It's gross.

But you like, because it's your community,

so you want to like, you want to be like, we, let's hold her.

It's like that.

That's not, that's not what's the two-day.

No, it's like how I'm like, let's not like,

cause a famine and have a baby storm.

You mean the black community?

Yeah.

That's how I'm critical of my community.

It's my sagging is, let's just not bombard

a civilian population with the...

I just don't think it's, I mean, necessary.

And it also comes from prison culture,

like when you couldn't wear a belt.

And so...

Yeah, but so does the word punk, right?

Yeah, but still.

But yeah, but you're not a jail house.

And to use that word punk.

Yeah.

Like punk rock?

Yeah.

It used to mean a guy that was getting,

having people were having sex within jail,

but then it became...

Yeah, but that was a different thing.

That was a punk.

It was cool.

It was punk is different than the way you say it would be

PONK.

Punk, punk.

I think in the 50s it was PUNK.

Well, that's that one.

There were prison punk.

There were prison punk.

A punk's word, right?

We gotta look this up on the foot.

Yeah, let me get up.

Let me get up.

Yeah, but I am that guy.

Yeah, you really are.

Is it like...

But is that, I mean, is that the same thing

as trying to get married and stuff?

Like a kind of normativity, like kind of like a...

Yeah, I mean, there's a...

There's on dockers?

There's kind of...

No, I don't think you have to wear dockers.

I don't think...

I'm not saying you have to dress a certain kind of way.

Because I grew up with a lot of Jewish guys

that were dressing that way,

and we thought it was the coolest.

What?

What they're...

Sagaing, and like...

Yeah, of course.

Oh, I mean, you're a generation.

My generation of Jewish guys, like, grew up on hip hop.

Yeah, but it's okay.

You can get away with it.

Why?

What are you saying?

Because white guys can get away with it.

Because they control the weather.

Black kids can be...

Yeah, I mean, white kids.

They control them.

You're the one that's in the media.

It's different than black kids who are...

It's a different standard.

So you're saying I should be allowed to sag, but not black kids?

No, I'm not saying you should be allowed to sag.

That doesn't sound fair to black kids.

I'm just saying it's okay for you, and it's easier for you.

The sagging thing just doesn't...

And it's not gonna...

People aren't gonna look on you as some sort of thug or punk

because you're doing it.

I don't think sagging has been a thing for like 15 years.

I still see people doing it.

But, yes.

It doesn't mean a thing for 15 years.

You're right.

And so that's when I...

I said that was 15 years ago, but...

You go up on the subway to a kid,

you're like, you know this is from prison culture.

No, I don't.

And this means that you would...

I see people sagging.

You don't see people sagging still?

I don't look for it.

I don't know.

It's normal.

It's kind of who cares.

It's one of the worst things.

I don't care, but if you ask me about it,

I'm gonna give you my...

You're the one that's saying Jewish people

should be allowed to do it in my black people.

I did not say that.

Maybe your husband said that in an election, right, to you.

I did.

Going back to the Oprah point,

like I was in an elevator with her once, right?

Yeah.

And I used to always have this like kind of like,

well, I had to do people care so much about this lady,

like telling you to read books and so...

And I was in an elevator and I was like,

it is...

She's exciting.

There's something so incredible about her, right?

Yeah.

And like...

Like coming from the South,

going through news and then kind of getting to the top of media.

Like, who were like your inspirations independent of that?

Like, like when you were like,

this is what I want in my career.

When I started, those, this is pre-Oprah.

It would be like Brian Cumble or Max Robinson

or Peter Jennings, like those were the books that I like.

And then there was a woman who was an inspiration in my town

and they saw on television.

And that kind of sealed the deal.

And her name was Gene West.

She was a local news lady.

Yeah.

And then I saw her and I was like,

oh, well, that's like my family.

It's not like, you done all mine.

Yeah.

And so I was like, oh, I could do that.

She was like, Jimmy J.J. Walker on the news?

Yeah, nothing wrong with that.

But that was the only representation we had.

I can't imagine anyone doing that on the news.

No, but I mean, you did not have...

Yeah, I know you.

You know, people who looked like me for a lot of people

who looked like me on the news.

And she's, I saw her and I was like,

oh, wow, she's amazing.

When were Black people like,

was that a later thing in the 70s?

Yeah.

And yeah, it really came to prominence more so in the 80s.

On the news.

On the news.

Yeah.

What are the ridiculous places we live?

I know.

That's like not long ago.

It wasn't that long ago.

I know.

And you were like the first...

No, I'm old-heading you.

You were the first gay, anchored, cable news?

No, I think the first one...

The first person who was really out was Rachel Maddow.

But she wasn't Rachel Maddow like she is now.

Sure.

I mean, she was a big deal and she was on MSNBC.

And I don't know if Rachel calls herself a journalist or a writer or whatever,

but anyways, she was definitely a television host and she was out,

which was admirable.

First, she sent me flowers.

She did.

She was like, one of the first people you had to reach out and say,

congratulations.

And you're going to be great.

So, yeah, and then me.

And there was another guy...

It seemed insane to me that like that's not...

I feel like everyone's gay.

I feel like the entire Republican party...

It was a big deal, but I mean, it was a big deal back then.

It's not a big deal now.

Nobody cares.

If you were covering like a figure that's like working a past legislation

that like would damage your community or take rights away from you

and you understood that they were gay.

Yeah.

What is...

You would out them.

Yeah.

Is there like, what is the line that you towed journalistically?

Like...

For what outing someone?

Yeah, I mean, like it's just like...

I mean, my imagination, like it's like a lot of these fellas or like...

I don't think you need to out someone if they're not a hypocrite.

Right.

Right, so there's no...

But it's like the entire...

But it's like the entire...

All of the Republicans...

Yeah.

It's nobody's business, but if you are, you know...

Proposing legislation or enacting legislation that is...

You know, the intent this is of what you're doing...

Yeah.

Then of course it should be called out.

Did you ever find yourself weighing that?

What do you mean?

As a journalist where you saw like someone doing anti-gay kind of legislation or something like...

No, but I've had to report on it.

I mean, there are lots of figures who are in the news, but I didn't know.

Look, again, I'm not a DC reporter.

I did not just report on politics, so it wasn't that into it.

But there certainly were rumors about people and then you'd hear about them hitting on...

You know, their interns or staffers and that kind of thing.

And then advocating for taking rights away from your community?

Yeah.

And it still happens...

People would say the more conservative they are, the more homophobic.

So would you consider pulling the trigger if you had ever...

The more homophobic they are, the game will be.

I imagine.

Because you're thinking about gay all day long.

You're gay.

Which is true because if you just...

It's just the way you're thinking.

If you just allowed yourself to do it, you wouldn't have to think about it.

To be happy and be rich.

Like you...

God forbid.

You think if you were gay, gay makes you rich and successful?

Yeah, you work harder.

I think gay guys work harder.

That's true.

You went into cable 2006 then.

Yep.

And so that was like end of bush.

When I went into cable initially, like...

Broadcast people looked down on cable.

And even some local people who...

It's trashy.

If you worked for a network O&O, which was a network owned and operated station.

Like if you worked for a WABC or a WNBC or KNBC or whatever, these were the stations that the network owned.

Okay, that was considered prestigious.

And then broadcast news was considered prestigious.

And cable was like, you know, not so cool, not so prestigious.

Anybody could work there.

That was a perception.

And they called it the Chicken Noodle Network, right?

CNN.

And then...

And that must have hurt.

But then that flipped.

But it all...

But actually it started to...

It flipped under Trump.

Under Trump.

Because people...

Yeah.

No way.

Yeah.

Because it became more relevant.

People...

Not sure how Obama...

Fox News came up during...

Kind of...

Bush and then into Obama.

I feel like that's what it was all over.

Yes, but I think that the...

The A-Packs or whatever, or the zenith of cable news was...

Maddo telling my dad that Putin is trying to kill him.

No, no.

No, it was...

That was a hot...

George Floyd, COVID, and Trump all at the same time.

Yeah. And you were...

You witnessed all of that as...

I saw the rise of cable news because people...

Yeah.

...on all day.

Yeah.

And so the internet started to come in and people realized,

I don't have to wait until five o'clock or six o'clock or six thirty to get the news.

I don't have to just get the news on the morning show.

And then wait all day to get an evening broadcast.

And so people just started watching more cable news.

It's kind of too much of the news, right?

Too much of the news.

And then that's when cable became...

Vogue in fashion.

And then I just happened to be...

It was just timing for me.

Yeah.

Did you like...

I'd never watched CNN before I went to work there.

I had no idea who the people were.

Did you have like a concept of like...

We're part of an institution that is losing the public.

And we're desperate to like keep their attention somewhat.

Like...

Wait, say again what?

Like...

Did you feel like...

Because the point we're at right now is that like...

Faith and traditional like corporate media is like the lowest it's ever been.

I feel like...

Like people just think it's everything's a lie.

And they think, you know...

People watch YouTube now, right?

And like...

It's a number one network.

Right. And it's like...

Did you feel it while you were in corporate media?

Did you feel that grip loosening?

I did feel it loosening but not as much as it had because I was still in a bubble.

And when you're there because you are so...

You know, amashed in it.

You know...

You think that everyone is paying attention.

And so I would say, oh my gosh, you know...

Did you hear about...

I'd be covering something all day.

And then I'd go hang out with friends or people and I would say blah blah blah blah blah blah.

And they'd go, what's that?

Yeah.

And so I think people, you know, in...

Especially in cable news, I think that everyone is paying attention to everything.

And it's not.

So partially it is...

I think, you know, Fox News kind of started it.

You know, Roger Ailes kind of started the...

The goat.

Yeah.

He kind of started people to...

The distrust in news.

Yeah.

Because he inserted, you know, characters right wing characters into, you know, the prime time ecosystem.

But part of it, it's partially our own fault and I include myself as well.

Do you have a regret or is there something you look like?

Well, I can't criticize corporate media because I was a part of it for such a long time.

It's only been, you know, three years since I've been gone from corporate news.

And people still associate me with it.

But there were things that, you know, I probably could have done that would have helped.

But you're going to say, Mayor, the news?

Well, I think if I could have done honestly.

And I don't...

Probably at the time I can't because I'm looking back now with a 20-25 lens on, you know,

21, 22, 23 when it's there.

I think if I could do in that corporate structure what I do now,

it would be much more beneficial for America, the world, and the corporate structure.

That's what they're missing.

I think that I think the folks in those corporate media should start hiring people like you and like me to come in and do...

Yeah, but they don't have to...

They don't have to promote you as a news show.

You can be a talk show on the network.

Yeah, yeah.

I mean, I think...

Because it's hard to...

You have to untrue...

I probably get in trouble.

No, you would.

You would get in trouble now.

The benefit of like me having the show here is that I have kind of creative autonomy.

But if they allowed you to do that then...

They probably wouldn't.

Yeah, they wouldn't.

They wouldn't.

But if they did, I think it would be much better for them.

Yeah.

They wouldn't lose revenue and viewers.

What do you think that shift is?

When you say they need people that are doing more like what you're doing right now?

What have you changed?

Well, they need people who are authentic.

The thing that I...

That I had to untrain myself.

Untrain and retrain myself.

Because I used to second-guess myself all the time.

Like, second-third of it.

Before anything came out of my mouth, I was like, okay.

But that's good.

It's the news.

You have to be careful.

No, not always.

Because then people at home aren't getting what they should be getting.

And people...

And you're not serving...

It's not relatable.

Because people at home aren't filtering themselves at home.

And I'm just saying that the presentation has to be authentic.

The presentation has to be authentic.

But sometimes when you just let it rip, you need like sourcing.

You need to be...

I'm talking about sourcing a whole different thing.

I'm not saying let it rip and lie.

I'm saying have the conversations that people really have at home.

Yeah.

And...

And you know, that are more productive.

Do you miss the jussie smalllet story?

I just miss it.

The smalllet story?

It was just so nice.

When you think back to it, it's like, whoa, that was a great one.

What was nice about that?

It was nothing nice.

He was just a liar.

He was a liar.

You said you got attached to that somehow, no?

I got attached to that wrongfully.

Because I never believed it.

Who's with smalllet?

That was a lie.

You were with your help.

Yeah, that was a lie.

You were the third who was the African brothers and you.

You were the third accessory.

No.

That's what I understand.

No, stop it.

I thought that out on the...

No, you know what happened is...

I knew him from...

We had mutual friends from Harlem.

From the liar communities.

And I knew it was a lie right away, like immediately.

How do you know that?

He hates me because I called him out.

You texted me.

You said you did.

But that's not out there in the narrative.

Everyone thinks like, oh my god, you...

I was like, no, he's a liar.

No one believed it.

In Chicago, at like 10 degrees outside that someone is looking for...

With a jussie smalllet, with a noose and a mega-hats.

How would they even know what he who he was?

Well, because it was huge.

Power is one of the biggest shows on television.

It's not power.

It was empire.

Empire.

So, everyone was trying to get an interview with him.

And I had his numbers.

I was trying to get an interview with him.

And I said, justly, come on.

Nobody believes you.

If you want to get your story out, you should come on.

The cops don't believe you.

People don't believe you.

Come on and tell your story.

That's what any journalist should be doing.

But he said, I didn't want to turn my phone over because I had text from Don Lemon there.

I didn't give a fuck if they saw my text.

No, he was protecting you.

No, he's not protecting you.

You should say thank you to jussie a little bit for...

There's nothing in there that would have gotten me in trouble with trying to get an interview.

So you said they have you right to lie.

I think he was just lying.

I think he was just lying.

There's something nice about a liar like that, right?

You like that?

Like a gay liar?

There's something charming.

Like, what's his name?

From the Republican Congress, but Santos.

It's just...

But who's a Santos effect?

There's something kind of just like great.

It's like this guy is going for it with the lies.

I don't know if he has to be gay.

He can't last forever.

I know, but I don't know if he has to be gay.

There are a lot of heterosexual liars.

No, but there's something funny or if it's like...

Because it's more...

Do you think Trump as like a campy figure or a queen?

It's so gay.

Yeah.

That's like that before.

You guys are surprised by that, are you?

He's marketed in terms of like machismo.

But if you like look at like even the interior of the house.

He's like, look, he's taking over a gay anthem.

YMCA.

That's the gay song ever.

The cruising...

I can't even enjoy it anymore.

His song is a cruising for Dick's song.

Yeah.

At the YMCA, in the locker room.

I mean, it just must...

You really should do a right one, Pivot.

It must be so fun.

I should become a right wing.

First of all, the money is good.

Oh, I thought about it.

Your weight.

The money is good.

And like, how much fun?

This batshit old queen is talking about it.

You're about 15 years away.

A goal for his dick size?

Probably a hundred years ago?

You're 15 years too late.

Can you imagine if I had become...

Everyone thought before Trump, people thought I was a black conservative on CNN.

I still think so.

Okay.

I think you're conservative in whatever...

I have some...

I have some federal men's clothing.

I have some conservative leanings.

I do.

But...

What are your main conservatives?

The pulling up the pants?

Well, that's...

Come on.

You got to quit with that.

It's not nice in the kids.

Oh, I'm a rich guy.

I'm a rich guy.

And I'm telling you that you're probably his pants.

Maybe they're just a bit...

Maybe they're...

It was a hand-me-down pants.

And they're growing into it.

You don't...

What?

They're butt cracks.

Are you holding them back in this world?

Tom, it's gonna...

I'm gonna vape.

I'm sorry.

Is there any water around this deal?

Yeah, let's get a water.

I want to get a...

A veil, actually.

A veil?

No, I'll get a water.

I'm sorry.

Oh, shit.

I was really cooking about that.

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Do gay guys like Bob Dylan?

I've always wondered.

I feel like no.

Do gay guys like Bob Dylan?

Yeah.

It's a good question.

Yeah, of course.

No.

What do you mean, like his music?

Yeah.

Yeah.

That's not something you're going to dance to in the club.

He's like Streisand for me.

He's my Streisand.

Right?

Yeah, gay men like Bob Dylan?

No, they like having fun and stuff.

I like...

Oh, this Bob Dylan makes you sad.

No, they want to be all weepy.

No, it's about like, you know, it feels like it's...

I don't know.

What's your Bob Dylan song?

Every single thing.

I mean, like, you can't even...

Brother, you can't even start.

Is there a competition like...

When you're at the top...

No.

Like, there are such few spots, right?

Like, you were like...

You were at...

Like, do you want back in the game?

No.

No.

You don't want back in the game.

No.

But you got the desk and stuff and the suit.

Yeah, but that's all rented.

Who cares?

I mean, it's just...

It's like a...

It's kind of a...

I guess as legacy media fans,

there is still a press...

Why talk shows still exist?

No one's watching fucking late night, right?

But it's kind of this legacy media product that you just have to have.

It's almost like people performing for themselves.

I don't know if...

Fallen's the only one watching Fallen,

but, you know, it's just kind of a thing you're supposed to have.

No, but a lot of the people who are watching are like...

Industry, kind of industry, kind of people who are still attached to that kind of television.

Which is great.

I mean, I love Jimmy Fallon.

I know Jimmy.

I know Kimberl.

He's a colleague here.

And Seth.

Yeah, Seth.

Great shows.

And, you know, even the cable news.

So people still watch it.

Television has a prestige.

It's going to have it for a minute.

But, no, I get the same...

I get the same thing out of doing it the way that I did when I was there,

without a pretense.

It's just...

You could say anything on this crap.

Yeah.

I have to stop myself because like now comedians people think are smart.

Yeah.

I'm one of the dumbest guys at AMP, right?

And I could just say,

COVID transmission, vaccine, red.

And the people would be like, it's on the screen.

Yeah.

There must be something to it, you know?

But I think comedians perform a very important role.

No.

I do.

No, it's too much.

They're making too much of it.

Well, I don't know.

My friend D.L. is very important, I think.

From the community.

From the community.

Yeah.

He also gives information.

And he's very political.

And he's in tune with the news.

And I would watch him for...

Don't get the news from a comedian.

Get it from the news.

Do you think that you're different than me?

You think you're different than someone who's on television?

We're all human beings.

I think that.

We're multi-faceted.

It's not like you're just a one-note person.

No one is.

I think seeing how like...

You remember like when a conspiracy theorist used to be like a guy that smelled like pee at the library?

Or like your uncle?

It used to just be in a smelly-us like...

And he was wearing like a Vietnam jacket.

You're like, good luck with that library guy.

Now it's literally nothing is real anymore.

And I feel like it's...

That's really...

And things are happening so fast.

No, that guy has a very successful podcast that makes millions of dollars.

No, that guy is still in the library smelling like pee.

He's like, I should have...

I could have done this.

That guy just still smells like piss.

Well, I mean, it's...

Do you find yourself like engaging with this as a beat?

Or as like an area of focus?

Do you find that like it affects your like...

No.

I don't engage in conspiracy theories on this.

Well, but you're covering this.

On my show.

And I don't cover that.

I don't cover that.

It was fake.

But it's a lot of it is out there.

And I believe you do have to have some sort of evidence or you become a conspiracy theorist.

Like people think that there are anomalies with the election.

And so, okay, it's okay to think that.

And so, you know, one is pushing it through and asking people to change votes because of it.

Or, you know, some investigation that's going to continue to go on.

And on and on forever when there's actually no evidence to happen.

But people do believe it.

So, that's why I asked.

What was it like being on the news January 6th?

Kind of surreal, because...

They thought they were going to win?

Yeah.

They were running out the building.

They thought they were going to beat the government.

They thought that they had won.

What do you mean, win?

They're like smoked weed in the government.

They had won the election and therefore, that they were going...

Oh, I get that.

You know, if we're just...

It was justified to go on.

They kind of did like a...

Like a...

Pranks when they got into the building.

There's a guy who's like, I'm going to foreign on policies, chair.

No, they didn't bother that.

Another guy took a podium?

No, they shit on stuff.

They pooped.

I mean, that's kind of like...

They pooped and peed on stuff.

It was one of the dumbest things I've ever seen in a withdraw.

Well, isn't that kind of the point?

And it's probably why they were pardoned because he realized I think at some level that he co-opped.

Those poor people and that he manipulated them.

No, he was probably...

They're grown-ass people, but...

I'm going to get this caveman out of Gitmo.

Fuck you, I'm Trump.

Yeah.

Do you think he's ever going to get in trouble for anything?

Um...

No.

It's awesome.

Well, now, I mean, he's president.

Before, if he wasn't president, he might be in an orange jumps.

Yeah, come on.

How many times we said that?

No, if he wasn't president, of course.

Teflon Dawn.

He gets away with...

Well, he's gotten away with all of it pretty well.

He never gets in trouble.

Yeah.

They throw all the cases out of it.

They put them on hold.

He really defeated you guys, I think.

I was never...

And what with him?

Well, what it is was like, um...

The media is there.

But he did...

He actually did damage the media a lot.

Trust in the media, yeah.

Because, uh, the fact check never worked, right?

Because his followers know he's lying, right?

Yeah.

So it's like, if they know he's lying, but they say he's lying for us...

No, I don't think it's followers.

What is the purpose of, like, a check on that?

No, I don't think they know he's lying.

They just think that they don't care.

I think they know he's lying.

They never registers.

I think they know he's lying.

I don't think that some of them understand that he's lying.

Because I actually believe it.

There are true believers out there.

There are people who believe the economy is great and better right now.

Okay, so what did you hear about that?

Was it fun on the island?

How did you think that was?

You said you knew.

Well, what?

The island.

What island?

Was it like steel drums like the girls gone wild commercial?

What island are you talking to?

You know the guy, the main...

You know, the talko...

Did you say it?

Who?

Mr. Epstein.

Was he funny?

Do you know you would have gotten on that plane if someone had...

I would have been so impressed by the wealth.

And then I would have gotten there and be like, Dershwin, what are you doing?

It's a...

I mean, that's another thing where it's like...

It seems like there's been a break, right?

Between the magga kind of...

What is magga at this point?

Like, if Marjorie Taylor agrees, it's like, I'm out.

Like, what is...

I think a lot of people are out.

A lot of people are gonna...

I think a lot of people are gonna fall out.

I think she's kind of leading the way.

That is an example.

And I think she's more, at least for now,

I don't see that she's lost any power.

You fuck with her?

No, not really.

I mean, I see her for who she is,

but I would sit down and talk to her.

Who is she?

What's her vibe?

She's a...

Is she funny?

No.

She's a bigot.

She's a loudmouth.

She's smarter politically than I gave her credit for.

Uh-huh.

But she is all those things that she did before.

She started saying the right thing.

Before the pivot.

How many times have you met the gentleman, Mr. Trump?

Oh, got a lot.

Ten, maybe.

Yeah.

I interviewed him many times.

What do you make of him?

Um, look, he can be charming in person,

but, um, I find him to be very insecure.

I just don't like liars.

That's...

Lying is my thing.

That's the only...

That's one of the only things that...

What's the last lie you've told?

Don't lie to me.

Don't lie.

Come on, bro.

I know.

I don't lie.

That's one of my things.

I will tell you that.

I'd rather tell you the truth.

You were on the Communist news, never.

You definitely lied.

Don't lie.

You've never told...

You just...

I think of the last lie you told me.

The last time I lied, I think I told these guys I was excited to do the show.

Shut up.

I guess like, um, what's your kind of project, like moving forward?

If you see your career is shifted, right?

Like, what is...

What is the ambition, right?

And how does it like, where does it fit in?

Where do you see yourself fitting it?

Well, I'd like to build my network and have some folks who are working for me correspondents

everywhere and have my own little network or big network.

Yeah.

And that's it.

And then...

You use guys?

Yeah.

They're part of it.

Are you ready for on air?

They've been on air.

We've been on air.

What do you guys do?

What are your big hits, Ben?

The clip farmers.

Yeah, we have a podcast that just went on TMZ.

Oh, you got TMZ?

That's big.

TMZ.

What?

You TMZ your own guys?

No, I don't know.

Yes, you have.

What?

Kind of.

Well, I didn't put it on course.

Yeah, we went to the protest that we were interviewing people while he was in the studio.

TMZ?

No, on my...

On his...

On my show.

He put the podcast, but we do like...

We help with the live stream.

We went to the Chicago, we covered the ice rates.

He goes live in the...

Where do we go?

Congress?

Oh, we go to the Capitol and we go live in the Capitol, the office buildings.

Yeah.

Are you gonna send one of these guys to a hurricane?

See what they're made out of?

I think they'd be great.

He's...

He looks stirrer.

He's from Florida.

His dad actually did hurricane coverage for him.

We're Florida.

You have the experience, but you look stirrier as a gentleman.

I think I can withstand those winds.

Does he bring you into a conference room and have a swamp fan?

And he kind of test you out, see if you're ready for the hurricane?

Yeah.

That's actually...

You're not category four material, sir.

Is that your nut?

Yeah.

His dad is a meteorologist.

He's a weatherman.

Really?

So he does hurricane coverage.

He's on this show?

He's on this show.

He's on this show.

Should we get a weatherman?

You should.

I really appreciate your time.

I think it must be like for you to have seen such a shift in your field, I think...

I guess it's like, is there a course correction that's required?

I mean, that's my main kind of thing.

I think so.

I think so.

I think it was left wondering.

Getting pushed out of scene and I think was a blessing in disguise.

Because I got to...

Not many people get to reinvent themselves later and I get to reinvent myself.

What about for how people consume the news, though?

Well, this is where people are consuming the news.

And so I want to be where the audience is.

The audience is on social media and streaming or digital.

It's on YouTube.

It's not no longer...

Well, it's still there at the networks, but less so every day.

How do we avoid the lack of formal editorial process that you can be exposed to?

How do we avoid it?

You could say anything right now.

Adam Friedland is the fucking smartest guy in the world and some guy...

It's on a screen.

He'll believe it.

Adam Friedland is the smartest guy in the world.

Don't love me.

Thanks a lot, man.

Thanks, my brother.

Bye.