Life Choices and Personal Legacies

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This summer, Prime Vide takes you back before legally blonde, before law school and into the world of Elle Woods in high school. Set in nineteen ninety five, this Gemini vegetarian knows exactly who she is. until her family moves from Belair to Seattle. Packed with iconic fashion, nineties nostalgia, and a throwback soundtrack, Elle proves one thing Law school was hard. High school was harder. From the world of legally blonde, watch L, a new original series only on Prime videoide. Watch now. Well, folks, if you're gonna spend money on something it might as well be something you actually like. That's what I always say. That's where the club random merch store comes in. That's right, G yourself a cozy hoodie. Look at this. this is really well designed That's right, get yourself a cozy hoodie to snuggle Away your sorrows or some new club random shirts. Look at all this shit I have. to attract a partner with similar interests and live happily ever after. I've seen crazyer arom coms, so head over to club raandom. com and bring home some random Oh, that's right, they don't get media. We. Well, you just don't trust. Don't trust. I've never trusted. What you talking about Oh my gosh. It's Brad Pitt's brother. How you doing man? That's a funny sory. Youan to see you That's a funny thoughtg, by the way. It' a true story other than Brad Pittzs Bother. Sounds like it was many story days in your life. Wh, that was actually about Me and my friend Bret James wrote that song we Um Be when you're single You know, Christmas is a weird time You know, so I was I called my buddy Bt James, who's a great songwriter I said, what are you doing the day after Christmas ' he had a family and everything. So I went down to my house in the Virgin Islands and stayed out all night And literally I woke up around two thirty in the afternoon And Brent was out there playing guitar and he had this riff You know started and it was that riff. And basically that song was written about our night before out all night? We were out all the.. That was yeah back in the day. It's funny you say that because this very room I used to have a party Christmas night Christmas day, but night. It was very popular. It everybody's doing something in the day They don't really want to do Nope. relelatives family, kids around, it's evenven as a kid, I sort of had enough by the end of it. You know It wasn't like Halloween do stuff with candy until you were bouncing off the walls from the sugar rush. You were just kind of like Well you guys were into Christmas or not? Totally, of course. Yeah, ourur family really was too. Yeah, we're Americans. Yes. to Christmas. Yeah, no And of course kids you're getting presents of we're fucking into Christmas. But like when you're an adult, you know, this is I used to go when my father was alive, I used to go back to New Jersey and see my family at Christmas. Then, you know, years later and then my mother was gone. So there was no you know, I would see my sister, but not at Christmas time because neither of us really cared when we were older. We were both atheists at this point So but we had great memories of it, but I would have a party Christmas night. This was the party house, always has been boy did people love it. They were so ready for I bet they came early too. R early, stayed late. But they were ready for something adult. And it was only the same very day. That's how much it annoys people that I can't even wait for the next You say your party was the next day. The next day. It's Christmas night. So So is this still going on No, no. No, but I could revive it. It's a really good idea. There was a moment that that the p work the other way. Why did it years For years. I mean, what made it stop? What made it stop was I had a girlfriend in Canada And I there for three Christmas. I mean, I was there Yeah. I mean, what I did for love I don't like to travel to cold weather places in the cold. You know, I just quit touring after like forty two years at, but even when all the years I was doing it, my agent knew. came in Minneapolis which I be I mean, I'd fire them if they even tried it, you know. But my manager Clint did that one time So if you back before I could decide when I was going to tour I didn't mean interrupt you, but no, But back when I could decide when, you know, when we were out there all the time. Like I would pack to come home for years So we were out there all the time. Well we were in this we were in this place in Upper Michigan called Saoux Staint Marie And it was so cold that the inside of the bus windows were frosted. I think I played there. It casino up there say Yeah it's a casino, right. So back in the day I played there And my uh manager and agent's name is Clint, Clint Hyam. And I took my finger. The frost was inside the window and I took my finger and I went You clint. And Snd him a picture of But I mean, like you're old school, I think, like me, when it comes to show business, I mean, there's that story about you like having a foot crushed or some shit and you still did the show. I always think about it when like not to like always be shitting on the younger generation, but you know, where shit is due, I will shit. And the way they cancel shows because it doesns't meant to be something physical 's just I'm not feeling it. So all you people who like came out here and rearranged your life and your dates and your weeks and your babysitter to come see me, I'm sorry. I just I I got that sinus headache. I know people that Um, canceled shows before they went on The people were already there And they just I'm not going on and then and then and now the now the thing is now the thing is is they're not mentally fit Orr they orr they show up three hours late. Yeah Um There's a certain thing like I think that And how I came up and all the clubs and the casinos and whatever it is I played and then getting to the next level U there's a certain um know, there's a certain gratitude and I think it' the way I was brought up also, but you just didn't cancel. I mean, it's show business. There's no business like show show business. Yeah. They smile when they are low. Yeah. They smile when they are low. They don't cancel the show when they are low. No, and we can redo the song. redo the song be for the Ron fans Have you ever canceled N never canceled. alsoso never missed a show In over forty years, about forty years on the road U except for two times and both times it was because the plane couldn't get there. The plane physically couldn't. onnce it broke and once it was weather. Never missed one episode of politically incorrect, which was like two thousand episodes or something, probably eight hundred real times. neverever missed any of those shows except for the two they made me when I had COVD, wink, wink. So I could have I felt way worse other times when I did the show free CVID, you know, if I had just the flu or something. But back then, You know, he was just like, That's the heroic thing to go on there. Don't get anybody sick, but you know, you can do I'm not kissing them You know, we're not making euphoria here. I'm just talking to them across a table. But it is interesting to see done. There like there is a difference And and everybody's different, whatever, but I know where that you How hard you worked Coming up and doing what you did. and you've had a dream and you were meeting people and you were like it was the work was a part of the process R as you. So same as me, but it is a little different. Today, I'm not saying that people don't work hard because they do.. But when people ask me for advice and they say this is what they say And there's this internal voice telling me as soon as they say this They'll say, well, how do how do you Do you have any advice on how to make it And There's look, I wanted to make it too, right? but still you don't There's this internal voice inside of me thinking that person's never going to make it telling myself. I wouldn't tell them that But well maybe it's the kind thing to do. Maybe it is, but no you never They't to meet at Dl. Yeah ye, you never know. You don't do it to make it. You don't you do it because it's what you do. You got up every night and did your thing because it's what you do And a lot of times You I'm I can't speak for other comedians, but I'm pretty sure this is how they felt too at that stage You have to really psych yourself up to keep going and to do it because the last experience you had with it sucked so bad. Yeah. Really. Way worse I bet than I mean, when I've seen it in smaller venues, even in larger ones, sometimes when the audience isn't listening to the band and the band knows it Right? That's right. Okay, but you're in the middle of a song You know, you have each other to like, okay, you know what? fuck you people, we're going to just enjoy playing this for each other. And it's still a great song. and whatever, comedians don't have that latitude. you You know, you're so exposed. You're so exposed. Eact. You're more exposed than we are. Like I have this I have this mentality of gl Okay. The worse the audience, the more we're going to give them They're going to like it where they like it or not That is the attitude you should also have as a commedian. I did not. That's the bad thing when I was young and stupid is that is exactly the attitude that would have served me well. and it was the precise attitude Id lacked. Yeah, but there had to have been a moment where, I mean, I remember me and the band were It was in sum arena Maybe it was Rppera in Lexington, Kentucky somewhere or something like that where we knew that it just changed Something was changing. It was not like it was Yesterday. It's not something your popularity. Yes, but in the connection with the audience. Yeah. so there had to been a moment for you like that. Oh yes, it' Perhaps even more obvious with me because laughter is very measurable.. You know, you either hear it or you don't, you know, And they're either laughing all the way through your set or maybe sporadically, but I remember literally the date, the first time I did twenty minutes and it was like from beginning to end, it was solid. Like there was There was no genius. But for twenty minutes, I could actually make strangers laugh continually. And that to me was like. One of the watershed moments. It's it's such an incredible talent. And I do I think you are born to do that Partly, yes. you abolly you have to have the gift to gab, but you are born to do that. Well, what you know what you really need for it Ting That's exactly. You are either born with timing or you're not. It's innate, I guess. And there's something to be said. like my friend John McGinley was telling me, I forgot who he was talking about. Yeah. Yeah, the actor friends. Oh yeah. So Patoon. He was talking about When you're on stage either as a comedian or an actor or what the gift of Pausing There's something that brains'.'s timing. And then you, it's timing. And you have to feel it You can't teach it, you cannot You really can't, I mean, you also need material. You could get writers to do material, but I feel like material is always best done by the person who writes it because they hear it exactly the way it's supposed to be Yeah. the pacing and everything of it. ye Thatro it's always painful. when they portray comedians in movies about comedians and they're doing It's just it's one level removed from reality. And to a comedian, it's just nails on a chalkboard Yeah It just is. You know, it's, I mean, you must see people Sometimes in movies portraying musicians and Oh yeah, all the time. Yeah. I mean, sometimes it sometometimes it seems authentic Yeah ines they do way better than they used to. I mean, in old days, you know, a guy would go to play the piano. they would just cut to his face, you know, and they wouldn't even attempt. And now they they seem to be able to do it. I they have tricks that I don't get it, but where you just see the person sit down and start to play and pan up. so you never cut away. and yet it's definitely not person playing the piano at that level somehow they You know U that show business. Yeah, I went in I went to the bathroom before I came in here and it reminded me of something. that there's a poster on the wall and I had no idea I was going to talk about this today and U It reminded me of this film you did that just blew my mind The one on religion. Oh, religious Yeah, those posters are gang posters. don't I mean, that was my career in the eighties doing things like B movies like that. One of my writers makes those, they're hysterical But religlious, yes, I can't tell you how many times I've seen it. Like and I forgot about it. That means a lot to me. Because here's why is because I grew up a lot of that movie spoke to me It really did because I do believe You know, I grew up very southern Baptist Right? And after I saw all After I saw that film The girl I was dating at the time, she and I drove around just about a ten mile radius of where we lived and we counted thirty two churches Yeah, I've been to places like that. Memphis is like ye I remember driving through wow. and Well, that means a lot to me because, you know, that movie, I'm sure did not play in the theater there because I remember when we probablyrobably not when we released it. and it was financially one of the biggest documentaries ever now the numbers are way lower for documentaries, but for I think when it came out, it was the seventh biggest one ever And it didn't play in most of the country because in most of the country the Bible built, they were not gonna to show. I can tell you it really spoke to me because I grew up Southern Baptist. You I hear this all the time. And I went people like that to church with my grandmother and my mother and then she was a very godly woman. and I was taught that this is the way or if you don't do it this way, it's wrong or you're going to, you know, they literally scare the hell out of you as a Catholic who went through the system, you know. And my mother was culturally Jewish I don't think she ever went to church, but we'll say she's Jewish. yes. People always say, Ohh, Beill, if your mothers Jewish, you're Jewish, I'm like Okay, first of all, religion is an opinion. Okay, It's not an ethnicity. It's an opinion It's just an opinion that I think Muhammad is God or Jesus is God I don't have an opinion. I was forced into ha an opinion that was Catholic when I was young. Now my opinion is neither one of them. So don't tell me what I am What I am is a Catholic raised atheist. Yeah. Okay, That's what I am Put in time with the Catholic church and I want credit. I want the credit because it was painful. I think for me, like I've been on stage so much and I've seen music like change people I think there's gott to be something in there. I' something that we don't understand. Of course. Like I think there's something much bigger than all of us.f course full of love, light and positive energy and connectivity that we don't understand. Well I can only go halfway there with you. Once you start ascribing what it likes about the world or us love and light and I don't know about that. I mean because there's a lot of stuff that's dark and not no and not lovely. I understand that. Yeah. So my thing is people think there's some big difference between atheists and agnostics. It's the same thing Even atheists don't say, we are sure of what it is and it's not God. No, we just we don't know and we don't care. Yeah. We're never going to know. So we don't put a lot of energy into it. But we definitely don't think with all the fucked up shit on earth, I could start a list, but lists Lets Yeah But you know what I'm talking about with all that shit. either God is incompetent or cruel or I mean, there's just no reason for a lot of the suffering. And so like I'd rather not if I think about it in terms too much of like he did this, I'll start not to like him And I want to like him if if he it exists. know. And it's just and maybe it's my messed up sense of humor, but I probably wasn't supposed to laugh at this moment. I'tgain, I didn't think we were going to be talking about this, but it's my messed up sense of humor. You were talking to this guy in in this this religious bookstore And he said ye, he said that know No matter what if it's, you know,, I' be in a better place, whatever. And you said, well, you kill yourself to hang yourself tomorrow, man I know I'll be in a better I like spit my water out on my bus. I was laughing so hard So anyway, I saw that poster in there and I decided to bring it up. Oh, thank you. Yeah. Now that was in Boston. You know, the ones I were really, I mean, I loved all the ones but I especially liked the ones in the south There was the truck stop. The truck stop in Raleigh. Yeah was And, you know, I do have an affection. notot just for part of the country because I played it my whole life. And those are my you know those are your people and I love your people. And I hate it that America. And the kind of snobby people that I rub shoulders with a lot out here, I'm sorry, but that is a lot of what Los Angeles is very uber woke snobby types who just And I think I used to be more of them. I'm glad I'm not. And I think traveling the country and being in those places just gave me a very different perspective than people who just stay here. You know, uh I always have more fun there I like the audience better usually because They were generally liberal, but not stick up their ass. Yeah like anti it pololitically you can't say anything to. Yeah, that's great. Yeah. you know. So I would always have a better time in Huntsville, Alabama. Yeah. or where NASA is, you know, you ever played Knxville? I'm from Koxville Tennessee Did ever go there? Of course. I played them all. Yeah. Yeah No, I mean Right and I've done this editorial on my show a couple of times about country music, which you know, I feel like Country music and me, we truly met in the middle. I mean, when I was a kid, and I grew up with the late sixties, seventies radio. That's my formative years. I was twelve in nineteen sixty eight The charge was the Beetles somewhat they were a little on they had Heiju that year. so they had the biggest one, but U But you know, Tommy James and the Chandeles and the rascals and we're still in In that era, the Rolling Stones, I mean great bands and Aretha Franklin and You know Um, And u So Iot what I was going to say., you were talking about you meant country in the middle. Oh, yes. So back then country was picking in grin. You know, it was just to sobody in the New York I was in New Jersey, the New York media market. It was a total hick. It was He haaw it was on in. They presented it that way in a lot of ways. D. excuse me. I love you Bl, but I don't think they were misrepresented. No they were I'm just say they were not like there. Oh look, he's play's crazy though. if you go back and watch some of that. I mean as hoky as it is If you go back and watch some those old Um versions of He Hall that was out. It is it is some of that stuff is like Yes. It's pretty funny. I is funny. They they they the writers on that show, I mean, they knew who they were and they wrote to those people it was great. You know what it was, reallyally it was It was hick laughing Yeah, there was a show laugh. Yeah. no laugh in. Right. Okaykay. And it was kind of let's do that, but for, you know, like the three fifths of the country sound like you. not the people who sound like me, which is perfect English. Oh o my God. if you went if you went to Like my mom has a twin. And I grew up in a family of women and Wow, you would have a hard time listening to them at a family function.oy. it was just because they of the accent. what you're talking. I know, I like the accent. Oh no. I talk the way I talk, but I mean, like I would take Girls home with me for, you know, Easter or Christmas or whatever And they would have it they'd almost need a Like a Rosetta stonebook You know, or whatever to can take to followir el also who didn't have a soun acc. That's I imagine you took a lot of girls for a lot of holidays. Well, I took one girl home. like my family L I mean I don't know how many siblings did you have? One One. Okay, so I had a sister, but I also had an aunt Missy that was my same age. My mother's sister, my mom and my grandmother were in the hospital at the same time having us. Swear to God. this is be sin asy sh. I don't tell. You see. What were we talking about? I don't even remember. No no, let's go back to. What was it what was was something important? So I took a girl home And that's a family full of women and they dissect everyverybody that you bring there. Every girlfriend ever brought there, they were just talking behind her back or whatever and took this girl home one time because they thought she weren't good enough for you Well, posossibly, but I took her home for some holiday, the next day I called my sister. I said, okay, what everybody think And she goes, Well, she was fine and all, but she had the wrong bra with that shirt It was that detailed. See, we never do that. I know people do I know men no, I talk about men and women Yeah, Oh, no, we don't do that. We don't we don't we don't. We never say, Oh, oh, Kenny, he was wearing the wrong bra. Yeah, or' yeah, it's just like we don't even think it. Yeah We're plainly better. So yeah they mean You know Let me broaden this out bro the subject. but like I feel like the biggest chain, like big overarching change in music as far as lyrically, when most music is love song music of one kind or another. And of course there's protests, songs about everything. And they're songs we don't even know what they're about. Res it in clover over and over. Yeah. Okay If you say so, Tommy. But okay, okay. so but like loveove songs. Here's the problem in the old days when people were very So we say prudish about You know, the Beatles, I want to hold your hand. I mean, that's good. It was just about love. It just no nothing was sexually explicit Oh no. no. Okay. I feel like Like somebody like you are so much is so much more elegant about the way you You are communicating this, but it's just, I don't know, maybe it's my age, but to me it's so classy. you know, like I love guilty pleasure. Yeah because I feel like there was quite a few years when I felt that way. mean You go the line live in the middle. you know. You know, like Don't tell your mama about us. Yeah, I feel like it's better if we kept it that way That is something I've said. I mean, if I had a nickel for every time, That's right. I'd probably have at least two dollars. And that is a very authentic song for me, right? I mean, it's very authentic. But it's when I was a kid growing up and like looking up to men and, you know, you know, I was Red blooded American heterosexual boy. I like the guys who were like attractive to women, whether it was Joan Namh or, you know, somebody like that You ever have one of those problems that follows you around all day? You leave work, go to dinner, try to relax, and it's still there. in your head moarking you. If that happens to you constantly, maybe it's time To check out Claud for help. Clawud is the AI for minds that don't stop at good enough. It's the collaborator that actually understands your entire workflow and thinks with you Whether you're debugging code at midnight or strategizing your next business move Claude extends your thinking to tackle the problems that matter. What's helpful is that Claude doesn't rush you It actually helps you think Not here's a quick fix, good luck pushes deeper. It pulls together research from dozens of sources sururfaced connections that you'd miss And Miracle of Miracles shows the work Club random, we connected Claude to our internal tools, emails, docs, calendar, and suddenly Claude had context, which is what makes it useful. It's not another app begging for your attention It's a second brain and with cow workk You can hand off tasks and walk away real tasks, reports, spreadsheets, presentations finished and sitting there when you get back. Drafts finished products If you write code Claude Code handles the tedious stuff Refactors, bug fixes, all the work that somehow eats your entire afternoon. There's a reason companies like Stripe, Shopify, and Pfizer Tustanthropic for problems worth solving Get started with Claude at cllaude. Ai slash cllub Rnt Today's episode is brought to you by Quo to You? Oh. The business communication system built So you can never miss a call You know what's amazing? 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And that was a very attractive thing to me that like somebody would be able to like attract women on the level of Look. I'm going to be your guilty pleasure, okay You know, you can have poointextra over there, but when you just want to fuck somebody like I'm your boy. you don't have to feel guilty about it Like to that's what it is Highest pinnacle to get in life to be that guy. to be that gu. Okay. I certainly was the other guy. I think when I was younger I was like somebody who was like I don't know, Maybe we've all been that guy and didn't know it The gu the guy now. Yeah. I don' think the The guy who was getting shafted or the Yes, the guy is getting shafted. Yes. But we've all been that guy Robert. I definitely know I was that guy. I was that guy I like being the other guy better. Yeah, I mean, like I'm sure you know the great Classic Eagle song Lion Eyes. That's kind of in that area because, you know, in the song You know, she's given to a man with hand as cold as ice. Yeah. Right. R. I mean So being I'm going to assume that Um, Be from Jersey I mean, were you a big Bruce guy? Bruce Sringstin. Yeah. I am a Bruce guy. I I mean me tell I mean, I don't know how giant I, you know, I don't know. it's now that starts to get to be a it's so funny. Everything has to be political now See, I just I just refused to do it like I was very thankful and When I came on your show in November, that you knew I didn't want to talk about that because I've never ever I didn't want to talk about it. Yeah, you didn't want to Yeah your show. I't want I mean, I don't want to talk about all the time. I want to talk about in the places I do want to talk about, but like like I'm multiimensional. Hello. you know, so like yes, in the on the show have the governor of California, Gavvin Newsam could be our next president Am I gonna just shoot the shit with him? No. Th we're gonna talk about real shit. I just never felt like it was my place. It's not always everybody's place. You're right There's a certain ego, I think that that lives in there. a certain box inside your head and your soul that you have to check for some reason to think that you can make a difference And I Well, you can make a difference by speaking out. and it doesn't. It just you're just, I mean, I think they've actually studied this. When celebrities talk, I think it has the opposite effect. I agree. They were all waiting, by the way, for Taylor Swift and twenty twenty four do. Kamala just had Taillors it didn't help and they think it hurt You know, people, the real regular people, you know, like us. Yeah The bad, you know, like us when we were behind the hay. rememember the hay Yeah where we have o. And we're just being real and drinking moonshine. Yeah I've never had that once, but anyway. Oh, you've never had moonshine? Once I've had it You know who gave it to me I still have two jars of it if you want something. I don't want any Larry Flint Yeahah, that's great. I don't know if it's great. I think it's great. It is kind of great. It's right. Why am I denying it? No, it's great. Yeahah, take it. It's great. It Came over in' gold wheelchair Every time he came into a party at my house when I used to have parties in my house And in his gold wh wheelchair And Woody did such a great job in that film Woody Harrelson as and P peopleople versus Larry Flint. Oh ye By the way, I thought saw a thing with you and him and it was just a gas. I It was the funniest thing. I know that way We did that on four hundred twenty. I look Yes, I look I like whaty's in his pajamas. Yeah That's what I was very insulted because you know, Lauren told me he spent a long time in the day picking out what he thought was a great outfit. Yeah. which is so so absolutely how different we think But anyway, did you see how we got off politics? Yeah Yeah, and I just want to say, I love Larry Flyint. I don't for anybody to hear this and think, Oh, I'm slaggging on know. I loved Larry. and I would he was a fan like way before I was famous. He just had seen me like on the tonight show right now. And I mean, he always wanted I could never have a conversation for three minutes without him saying Ball Why don't you have me on your earars go, or whyy don't Because you sound like that, Larry. I love you, but I'm not trying to scare the horses in the street if you know what I'm saying. I know you do. Well but like anyway, like I've never saw it to be my place to use my stage or platform no matter where I'm playing tell people how to think or how to vote. they hear that, they get that everywhere else, everywhere on every device Exactly. every network. and they're there as an escape from all that stuff. see, I don't see I mean, in my world, like I don't watch a lot of comedies. I comedy comedy standups because it was like, well, that's what I do. I don't want to see something and think, o You know That's kind of like a joke I do I want to, I don't want to know You know what I mean? I want I can be more I will tell you though used to when I first got started, I was so competitive and wanted to get to the next level. I would be that person going You know, why why them and not me and then I just I don't know, was it was I would have to Okay, you're playing this fear now. Yes. So you won Right, becausecause that you know, to be the first country I mean, early on I would I would be that competitive now. I'm just No, whatever happens happens. One of the great things about aging is you become so much more mellow because you did it. You dont A lot of my anxiety when I was younger was always about, am I going to make it I might, you know, I might Yeah And once you do It's like the biggest off your sh, especially for guys like guys who are single, you know, we're lone wolves. We don't have that like You're a chaser. So like you are. Oh, I don't know what you're talking about. Oh kd, all my energy goes to healing America. I don't have time I would love to, but I can't. the country needs me and that gets all my attention. and, you know Uh, and you you don't uh, You ever did I' not even in your fucking' island paradise. I used to Yeah, Yeah, of course. But I have learned That I do to help me sleep, I do like a wee gummy every now and then Tell me sleep Yeah But then I had to learn my dosing Be I when I first did that a couple of times, I didn't know my dosing and all of a sudden I lost my motor skills. And I was like, you was never. You never perform. N that would be crazy. notot be crazy. You don't drink. But I mean like like last year we did twelve shows at the Sair last year. We're going to do another eleven or twelve this year And that's like to see what's going on up there and behind us. I mean I can only think about the people that are high out there watching it You know, because it's it's a completely different's it's Let's just say for people that have lived with and experienced my music for a long time They come to that space and it's almost like they experience it in a completely different state of consciousness and So I I, um, Yeah, I don't get high doing you know, I I just, um, I used to drink on stage, but I don't do that I do too. I always thought it gave me some sort of edge or something or I was having more fun. But then I realized that was just that was was that was a falsehood. Yeah I don't know. I don't think it's always a falsehood. I think liquor really is a good time. You know, Oh, you know, so for me to get up there and do, the older that I've gotten, the more I realize that there was a moment of my life where I wanted to be one of them. They were getting drunk. I was getting drunk and there was this common synergy on stage And then the older that I've gotten and the more I've reallyally, u and I don't know, Re very particular about what I put into my body. Me too. You have to be when you're older. So I can do that. I continue to do it. So So no, I don't get high on stage. I don't really dre Let's not kid ourselves, liquor and drugs have improved my record collection. No, nobody do. Of course. I mean, drugs do I mean, you know, the group, The Doors. Yes. They're named after the Aldous Huuckley book, The Doors of Perception, which is what he referred ye, which what he referred to drugs as So the you know, it does open doors. It can make you better at what you're doing artistically. The The problem is that At at some point it make you then do way worse. And you have to know where that is and it's always moving like a cllitaurus. You just can't quite keep licking the same spot. A reallyally Well metaphoric. I realized though that there was a um, After a while of being out there and acting like that, I realized there was a fine line between a groove and a rud So. And that's perfect. You see what I'm saying? Yeah. You should put this tat in this. Aree. and it's really bad when you think you're in a grove, but you're really in a rub. Yeah And so I just kind of have had to have more clarity up there. Yeah, me too. Look, I don't I don't I don't regret regret many things in life, but I don't regret the things that Apparently were're necessary as a passageway to where you get to That's right. It's still it's stillly to beat yourself up Now that you're a butterfly for when you were a worm, you had to be a worm before you were a butterfly.. I mean, you in particular. Yeah. No, it's true And no there was a lot of ride of passages to do what we did. It's paying you had to it's called paying your dues. And for me, it's painful to look back. I had occasion because G getting this award and so I have to put a clip package together of you had to go in career stuff. So I was looking at like some early stand upp on TV. and it's like all I could think of is make it stop. Please make it stop. I'm doing this set on the Tonight showhow. And it' it's not horrible. I'm sure the people are laughing, Johnny's laughing I'm not laughing. I mean, I'm just because were you nervous? Well no, I actually wasn't. I was very confident. I was not high. Okay did look like I belong. I just the material just embarrasses me now. Some of it. Is this the first time you did the? Well, there's the one, the first one, yes And then there's I was watching of one of the early ones, you know, we're talking about the mid nineteen eighties and the jokes. Oh and by the way, a lot of it, you couldn't but do today because you could so politically. someomebody would be triggered or ended. Very much so. I mean, few routine Trump talking about primitive people Pimitive people could chop my head off that I primitive people. And the audience and everybody, you know, and I always say, if everyone was in on it, how can you blame? You know, if everyone was in on it, nobody seemed to be objecting and Well, you know how you can get lost? I mean, I like when you're on a bus a lot or in a hotel room a lot, you can kind of get lost on on YouTube and whatever But some of the stuff that Rodney Dangerfield said of all these people and everybody was laughing It was great. Dohn Rickles. Oh, rememember Doon Rickles Yeah I mean, he he also could be corny I saw him open for Sinatra. near the end of Sinatra's career in ninety five. took my mother to see of a radio City musical hall He was still doing the ethnic jokes and it was a little cringey. Then thenen nineteen ninety five, the black guys in the band behind him, you could see him going like Don't trip on it. You know, it is what it is. He'll be dead soon. Okay. what look, so when you were growing up Who did who did you see And however you saw them, however they came into your life That made you want to be you that made you want to doy carton ohn C Yeah. So doing his show the first time must have been a huge deal. Yeah, it was. And even if there hadn't been that personal element, it just was a huge deal because back then, if you did good on your first time, you were like officially in show business, even at the very bottom of the ar But officially in and you they'd invite you back and then it looked like, oh well, Johnny liked him. that was a huge thing. And then you all of a sudden had twenty days. you could go out and Yeah, then you could well, I wouldn't I did get hired by Diana Ross to open for her in Las Vegas. Yes Which was a big thing, But you know, how did that go? Because I hired a comedian I hired a comedian once to open a New Year's Eve show I don't know if you know but speaking of really country comedians, there was a guy named James Gregory that I became friends with and he was really great and I loved him And he did the circuit in the south and everything, you know, sold his t shirts after the show and everything all that kind stuff. Yeah Well, I hired him to open for us on New Year's Eve one night. and he said he would never do that again I don't blame him First of all, New Year's Eve is the worst night of the year for the comedian because it's a music crowd listening to a time when they're very drunk. Yes. It's like it is a perfect storm of everything a comedian. You did that with Dian Ross It wasn't New Year's Eve. But still though, it was Oh yeah, yes, absolutely. And it was it was really painful. First of all, this was nineteen eighty two which I call the deead Ball era in Las Vegas post Rat pack. So it wasn't Sinatra or maybe the last years of him or something, but it wasn't that crowd. And it wasn't they finally found a way after like wandering in the wilderness for I think the whole eighties, maybe the nineties. Yeah, in the nineties, they tried to go family. they were like, oh, fuck, this is stupid. It's Las Vegas. Then they finally found a way. and they did. they attracted the young crowd back to Las Vegas. likeike it's a whole new thing and it's fun. and we can go to clubs and do ecasy Yeah. and, you know h And when I opened for her, it was just like The whole town was very U, old You know, just everything was was It was twenty six and they weren't. Oh yeah, it was a much bigger gap at the time, right? It just was a twenty six in Vegas guysu. Yeah. that's great. And, you know, it was just a painful The audience was it was a tough audience anyway, Vegas. Terrible rooms for comedy because it was plush whereereas comic you want this kind of shit so the laughs bounce. You think they were jaded at all? not by me. No they didn't know who I fucking was. No, they were definitely not. I think you and I would have fit in and good with a rat pack though I would I would like to think we would. Kenny, you I'm telling you a lot of your songs make me think you know, that actually at seventy I should be even more depressed than I am about not being able to live the way all your songs remind me I used to live. I used to be the guy who was the guilty conscious guy. I used to say out, you know what we did last night. Yeah. You know, I used to tell girls, donon't tell your mother all these things that made life wonderful. You know wonderful. I was living on fast forward, all this kind of shit. like me My friend R, what do you call yourself? Hill Billy Rckstary Rockstar out of control friends are worried about. You should have been out there then when it was awesome And you go ahe O where? When we were Hill Billy Rock stars out of control. Oh, I'm sure. Before social media it's like comedian in Hollywood out of control. Yes, great I mean, I always say But you made it through. There's an old saying Somebody said it, When you get to be a star, celebrity, whatever, you get a year to act like an asshole And I may have taken to Yeah, you know And you may have taken Well look, you know when you get a record deal, I feel like, you know, the business gives you one big lemon to squeeze. And we squeezed every bit of thaton and that lemon is fun You know, and we squeezed every single drop We had a lot of fun. What year did the last drop ooze? I dont know, we're still squeezing it, but But it's it's a much different fun now. I mean, it it's it's almost the kind of fun we had. From nineteen ninety four Until around twenty ten Do you think you we had a lot ofes, a lot of then I was like, Oh, yees, tired of it I woke up one day and I went, M think I'm I think I'm tired of this I want to do what I do because I woke up on the bus one day and I went you take a bath Well, when back in that ye, I still have a bus. I fly to the first show And then I'll kind of ride the bus here and there and then I'll fly home How long's the bus ride usually? Six hours or? Oh yeah, six hours, six hours. Is that done, brother Not now I sleep better on the bus than most not do anywhere in my world. Sleep on the bus. Yeah. I went on a bus once. I rode with the band when I was opening with somebody else. to Wolf trarap, you must have played Wolf Trap outside DC. Oh yeah, yeah. Outside venue. Very big in the summer A g ammitheater Yeah, yeah, but like people on the lawn on the lawn. yeah. Yeah. I mean, lawn people I call them if they can't even get to we their seats. Okay. But it's lovely, beautiful starry night But like that night ' hard on you to going from Charleston, West Virginia. I'm sure you've played there. Oh yeah But look the interstates in this it's worse now because the We haven't fixed the infrastructure, so the buses just do this right more than theyighbor used to Right? So it's harder now. But I remember waking up on the bus one day. I was forty something. No went okay You act in the way you're acting out here iss not why you wanted to do this So that's when I kind of started to change a little bit And now I'm so focused on what I do. I love being up there and I love feeling good up there And so, but not to say we don't have any fun But Yeah I'm not really getting that. I think you'd the songs. I'm getting a guy who really does like to be arouousing. No, no, he does. not say being very popular. I don't believe that's ever gonna leave. That's is. I don't think it's ever gonna leave us. Just as a fan. No, I'm just saying it's never gonna to leave me or us, but I can tell you. No, no, It's our bodies. You know, it's look, you know what And we didn't invent it, it was given to us bodies are two individuals geography is to countries. Your geography ultimately is much of your destiny. We do have oceans on either side to protect us. Poland is between Germany and Russia. You know When your body allows you to act crazy you do. And when it doesn't, you don't because the, you know Of course you can wake up with a hangover when you're twenty five, but you get over it. When that tips when the pain is wor is so much worse than the pleasure it gave you. Now there are some people who can't help themselves And they just they just keep going until they die because it does kill you. Yes, you, they're on a slippery slope and it will never come back. But that's kind of the epiphany that I had on the bus that morning. I went, kind of felt like shit. and I was like,, this is not why I wanted to do this. And if I keep doing this Yeah was that sudden? I mean you used thed It was kind of that sudden. Epipany. I know.. It was like an epiphany. As a Southern Baptist, I'm sure you know what That's what the original epiphany was Burning bush. That's where we get the word. I did not know that I think. No, that is my memory. But again, that's what you were told me you college was fifty years ago. I smoked pot. But no, the burning bush, I think that is I did not know that. Yeah, because it was an epiphany. You know, it was like something that, but that's why I asked the question because like an epiphany connotes something that's very sudden, like a moment like the aha moment or whatever, but that it sort of sneaks upon you or you're not really thinking that way and then suddenly you have an epiphany and you go, o whoa. the cloud looks like Jesus, now I know what to do with my life. You know, that's an epiphany. Well, it was I think it was more of a gradual time for me of realizing that, okay If I want to continue to do what I'm doing for a long time and if I want to do it the way that I do it on stage, I'm going to have I can't act like all this anymore. I can do it some of the time, but not all the time. We were having fun out there. There was a lot of fun for a long time. And in a crazy way, it fed the creativity The Eagles used to call the A partarty the Third Encore. Oh, I love that Because Yeah you And now it's different though because it's I think you're Silar to me, probably a lot of ers would say the same thing. Like what if you really dig down, what does it do for you? Well, certainly when you start, you need the money. Okay, so let's not say money isn't important. Money is very important At a certain point you have enough where you're not really it's not the prime way. You're not turning it down. I like money, but you know,re' I don't need it. so okay What is it really I think it's like I like to be a hero Uh and There's an audience that likes what I do like very particularly. like I can do something that They I think or they wouldn't buy tickets or be such loyal fans. I do something they think Nobody else quite does and to get to scratch that it, they need me to do it. And I so to them. And I so want to give them that gift then. you know, like I really want to be their hero at that moment. We want you to like analyze the news this week in this funny way and say the right thing, the thing o I want it And I feel like you're probably doing the same thing. You' I just I just love that I can be their hero for two hours. This is what they wanted me to do and I did it. You know, I didn't fuck it up. I didn't not show up. I didn't half ass it. didn't you know, I didn't play the de for the motions that, you know Yeah. I've never done that by the way. Like have you ever been to shows where someone Like you go see one of your favorite acts and they play like four or five deep cuts Like I didn't I I've never done that ever because It took me years to get them here. and I don't want that. I don't want to let them off the hook. Right and they vote they've already voted I mean, what is a hit record It means they voted. They voted. We voted. The people voted. Y. This is what we it. And you know, no matter how much, I'm sure every musician has ones, they go. Can't believe this one didn't catch on. I mean, Spector They say I mean, we know we went crazy. Yeah. Okay. what Put them over the edge. A lot of people say uh, it was He made this record Rriver deep mountain high I continina Turner did it He thought it was like his greatest openus and he had done some real great opuses, you know, like just that wall of sound shit that was going on in the early sixties would, you know, you've lost that love and feeling. you know, he just had his I mean, really some great stuff This episode is brought to you by State Farm. Listening to this podcast instead of Doom scrolling? Smart Mve. Another smart move? Getting help from one of State Farm's nineteen thousand local agents when you choose to bundle home and auto. Bundling. Just another way to save with the personal price plan. Prices are based on rating plans that vary by state. Coverage options are selected by the customer Availability, amount of discounts and savings, and eligibility vary by state. Tomorrow morning is knocking. Stock your fridge now. How about a creamy moocha raappuccino drink? or a sweet vanilla? smmooth caramel, maybe, orr white chocolate mocha. Whichever you choose, delicious coffee awaits. Find Starbucks Rrappucino drinks wherever you buy your groceries. And then this one just didn't click. But I think making music though, I mean for me What makes a hit record is spontaneity And so if you think that okay if you go into it and you're done, you're listening to it and this is the best thing I've ever done kind of thing, I think you're setting yourself up because youre its it's it may feed you, but who knows if it's feeding anyone else. and we all have our own reasons for lacking what we do in the studio, but I think some of the best records that we that you have in your life and stuff that I have in my life are things that that were just magic that happened. and not planned. And I think that's where the best records are made. sly I know some wrriters have said The hits come fast I know Sting has said that a few other people I feel like I've heard that before. like just seem to come. And I've always said that simplicity is one of the hardest is one of the hardest things to do. But it's entirely unquantifiable Why Someone likes a song I'll just speak for myself why I like a song. Like I can try to describe it to you But at the end of the day I either like it or I don't. and it has a lot to do with the melody because Um, or the way the chge come after each other whatever it is. someome of it, it just delights me to no end. See I don't like minor chores. like done done, done, d. I don't like that. I don't record that Well, I mean, you can have a few tend to shy away from Like especially a song with a lot of minor chords Ah, well, I don't know. I mean, like There's a bunch of him, but those that are they're pitched to me, and I'd never write. Like what's one I would know, a famous song that has a lot of minor chords I mean, doesn't see There's' an Helujah? Isn't it? It's full ofanor chords. What's on? Helujah? Helujah. Heluah Oh, isn't that Leonard Coen d d d Yeah, but Jeff Buckley. Oh recorded it and one of the more famous rec. I hate that song. You do? Yeah. Yeah, of course you do. I feel like first of all, I feel like it was forced upon me. That' probably was. It was. Well, that's why like and it's like, I don't know, it's like one of those songs that is just like Oh You know what You have to be just as mad about this as we are. I don't even know what you're talking about sometimes. And there's just there's something about it that Yeah, I just think people like I was saying a million years ago before I forgot what we were saying. Yeah. like I feel me and country music. met in the middle When I was a kid and it was all about Hhw, That's what God dged. Heo when I was a kid finally back to theight We're back to was all it was just it was just way too corny and it was like you didn't identify with it at all. And it didn't sound anything like rock music. Occasionally there would be a song, you know, it broke through in the late sixties, I think sixty eight, sixty nine that I still love, still play to this day. that was absolutely a country song Rose Garden. I beg your pardon.' saying that? That was on promise you rose garden. That didn that rose pretty unsot. It broke through the chart. And to me. Wow. But it didn't make me want to like, Oh great. now I'm gonna like really get into comry music Tunder music became It's just is your music country music? Yeah because it's. It's rock. it's It's what happened to me. Pop music. So pop music at its best. That's me. I grew up obviously in East Tennessee in the country. and I had country music in my grandmother's house because I live with my grand I live with my grandmother For three, four years while my stepfather was in Vietnam Okay. and then And your mother? And my mom, me and my mom and we live with my my grandparents So saw our country music there And I heard I heard country music on the way to school, but and on the way toall on the ballpark. But when I was in school and at practice and everything, I heard rock music. And then my road manager still to this day, we grew up together, David Farmer, and in his garage, I heard Van Halen I heard Sami Hagar. I heard ACDC and I still I love that music so much. I think that And this is the best way I can explain me and the music. that I've made I think When you become an adult and you get to make a record and you go on the road The music that you make as an adult is a direct reflection of everything you consumed as a child And so it wasn't just Kyhall which that was there. But it wasn't just these things but it was It was it was the Eagles. It was Tom Petty. it was it was Joe Walsh. It was The Eagles themselves are a mixture of country and. If the Eagles came out today, they would be considered country. Right. Especially with their early stuff. Yeah. becausecause you had Glen Frery from Detroit, Michigan, not country at all, mixed with Don Henley from Texas And you know, People are just like music It usually comes out better when they're mixed Elvis was a mixture That's right. Gospel. country that he certainly grew up with and rhythm and blues, you know, with making race music People ask me all the time, well, you know, you kind of make in ways, I mean, you have a lot of layered loud drums and guitars, layered guitars I talk the way I talk and I sing the way I sing. So I could never make a record How do I say this Like there are some people out there that make country records as a vanity project I couldn't make a rock record or a rap record. I could, I could make one of those records, but it would be a vanity project. That wouldn't be authentic And it'd be a waste of my time, actually. So I I make the records that I make, but it is a complete mixture of the music that I soaked up like a sponge growing up and That's just the way it is. you as a fan, and I think I speak for all fans, not just to you, but to all people in your business We appreciate whenever any of you don't do vanity projects. Yeah This has been a message from Billmare to you, my fellow celebrities and the bullshit that you try to pass on to us any projects. Okay. Yeah. you are privileged to be working in this wonderful industry where we don't really work. I mean, we work But we enjoy our work. That is a differe between a job and a career. I've had jobs. A job is something I don't like to do, but I do because I need money to eat food A career is something that yes, I, you know, put I shoulder to the grindestone, but it's a very A very and you could but you get to make people happy and laugh and you get to Yes have this man cave down here that's their hero. Yeah. We get to be the hero. If you do what you do and stick to what you do Don't do the Vanity project. Yeah, it's just, you know. We see it all the time. and I French, you know If you're an actor and you also want to sing Better sing awesome You know, And the pendulum swings the other way on that. if you're a singer and you want to be an actor You better be pretty good. That's an easy. I feel like that you think that's easier? I do because I've long held a theory that anyone can act. I mean, not anyone, but it's like, please, children do it forormer wrestlers did There are a few for wrestlers. I did it. It's just not that hard. What is reality TV? It's people acting like lives It's just that we're all there's a lot of ways for people to get jobs these days. Here's how to think of it. We're all liars And acting is liy It's just and people are just very good at it. especially Americans in this era. They're just a bunch of fucking phonies So they're acting all the time about every fucking thing. Well morever on these phones and stuff, it's all a bunch of posing It is and and, um I'm trying to think of singers that became good actors Dight Yoam, I think is a good actor. Yes. Oh no, quite a few. Um Frank Sinatra I didn't know he acted. I didn't know he was an actor. What was he in? Prank did fifty four movies. I had no idea Oh, that's right. they don't get media.. Yeah You're out by the hay You know, the Manchurian candidate I had no idea who was in there Not only was the unit, he got it made U I got some dig in the do. Yeah I do, you know I I've got this whole new world opened up to me. Yeah, Frank did a lot of movies. I mean, he, you know, I don't think it was There was The Mancharian kind of probably is the most important one he ever did, but the man with the golden arrm. That was pretty never heard about heroin, the golden arm You know? Yeah, the old White horse, you know what I'm talking about, Kenny, you're a musician, you do hero on You know? So but yeah, who else? whoo else was a singer that really like I think the White was really is a really good actor. Um, Elvis Yeah, It's a shame that what happened to him. I mean, the first movies they put him in were not what he later called the travel los. you know, he did I did twenty nine pictures that way. Yeah, he did twenty nine pictures, like twenty five of them were the exact same script. Yeah. They were fun in Acaapoco and you know, it was all a clam bake clam bake and you know, like twelve forgettable songs, the same script where he's like Deke Rivers. and you know, he's in love with this girl. like mister Rivers only sings at eight o'clock at the Riverboat Theinater. happ you to leave this table, you know You know, gets into fight, just, o, just terrible. O he's running from apartment to apartment because there's one girl in one and one girl in the other. He's switching, he's wearing a mustache. just like bullshit. But the first four that they put, I think the first four, were good. Well, he was good. He had I mean, Elvis, no one had more charisma pouring out of his body just naturally and also great looking So Flaming star, I mean, that had a racial element to it. Oh wow. Yeah, yeah. The one that Pearl Harbor ripped off of what's the name of that one. Love me Tnder Yeah, the movie Pearl Harbor. I loved it. People shit on it. Michael Bay's movie. I loved it, but it's the same plot. He ripped it off from this. Oh would you like the more R The plot is is Elvis and his older brother and they're living in this's in the prairie. You know, you would know. They're on the prairie. Bear with me. Okay. they're in the hay And the civil warar comes and the older brother is engaged to the attractive girl, like it's the prairie, like the only hot chick in town. Okay, so he goes off to the Civil War They think he gets killed in the war. So then the younger brother, Elvis, he gets with the girl And then the guy comes home from the war. it is the same pl It's the exact same but Oh, you thought I was dead. Yeah. and used that as an excuse to fuck my girl. Yeah. Well, bro, I thought you were dead. It's like Homeland. Do you ever see Homeland? Love Homeland. I loved it Homeland but it's kind of the same plot. He comes back from they thought he was dead. He comes back to R You're right I watched a lot of Homeland I did too. Homeland I love shit. Yeah. especi that year the year where they were in Pakistan. Yes. everything about it, I loved. She was brilliant in that. I've never seen any by play a character with such anxiety employes. Yes is unbelievable. And it makes sense for that character. I mean, if you're the type who wants to be in the CIA and do that for a living, Yeah, you're not gonna to be the normal nine to fivever.. You know, you're gonna be the person with the red strings connecting the pictures on the wall And that's just to find the remote That's one of my favorite. that is one of my favorite M on any still this day on any of the streaming. I agree I like I've watchhed it The whole thing, like several times. I wish HBO had had that show. Yeah. It should have been an HBO show. Yeah. and I only get them all. Yeah, wellait anyway I like succession too and loed Succession. Me too. That's another See, we got something in common. We have a lot in common. I'm telling you you know John C. McGinley I knowohn C. McGinley Yeah. I't know him, but I've been a don't.' always been a friend. Oh God, you he's fantastic. Why is he an old friend of yours I met him, u in two thousand seven. I was exhausted after our tour in two thousand seven and I rented a house in Malibu Well, it's called it was called then Tranus markarket or whatever it's called. It'ss a supermarket out there. And I rented a house past that. And, um, Rick Rubin introduced me and Johnny. You produced your record? No No, but u ye, No. we've never worked together. We've been friends for almost twenty years now But that's who introduced me to to John McGinley and John and I've been and we couldn't be any different. There was a lot like me and you growing up. So there's no awkwardness about that. L like no, why didn't you overroduce me Oh, no not at all. M No, because I've worked with the same producers since nineteen ninety seven. I've kind of been in the Oh I'm not saying never one we might one day They're hurry We might I mean, Rig made a lot of really great records on a lot of people and well he goes all. I mean, you know, he there's no like genre And also musical. he's just he's not like a musical savant. He's quite almost the opposite, Doesn't play an instrument or you know, I mean, I saw the piece I did on a on sixty minutes and it's interesting because it's just sort of like what a fan feels. Right sort of his method which is pretty But it it's his energy and everything is just is wonderful and a great energy in the studio But's how that's how I met John McGinley. and John and I were a lot like you and I. L he grew up, he grew up in New York, Jersey, like that. and I go to his house every time that I'm in Uh in LA or Malibu. I go to his house and we s in the sauna and I and all that kind of stuff and work out. 's one of my he's really one of my best friends friends in the last twenty years of my life. Yeah I didn't need to picture you two guys in this her. Yeah. Quite frankly. I don't know why I needed to know you. Yeah You didn't even like, Okay, it's a friend. We guy got it. useder introduced us. G and suddenly we're sitting there with our dickanger out. I don't know why? Wh Why did it go there? I'm surprised you don't know him Well how would I run into him? I don't know. How do people run into people? Well you know, and people How do we know? How did you run into me? I mean, how do we know each other? Because you had our greatrave That's why I I did the show. That's how we know that. I'm not even I assume that's why you wanted I assume that's why you wanted to come here. Yeah, no question. I'm so by the way, I just I'm so appreciative of that because I know I mean, you are the biggest star. One of the biggest stars in all of music and you know, you need any promotion like a hole in the head. I mean, one guy in this world doesn't need anything to sell tickets, even though I'm going to read ereere you Staint Marie, Michigan? No that's where that's where that liquor went. I was say, didn't I have a shot for it? I did. It's just I poureded it into my crotch. Do you do it? No Well, I do, but it's done Um june nineteenth to july eleventh, That's at the sphere. I mean, this fear is such a big deal It's a lot of fun. I gotta go to the Shere. You should come. You should definitely come there. You don't have to come to the Virgin Islands, but you should come to the Shere. We'll take care. I got a sweet. noobbody' mess with you. You know I used to be home early. You know, I go into I used to play Vegas like six times a year. I just have been to Vegas a lot. I know it's the thing You're surprised so sick of Vegas. Well, it's been a year so I'm ready to go back. Okay. I like Veas. I love Vegas, But I had enough Vegas for a while. We wouldn't have been good in a Rp pack though. We would We would add song We would have been good anywhere where our livers allowed us to keep drinking the difference. It's not really. I mean, yes, would I have loved to have been with Sammy Davis Jr. for any reason and Dean and Frank, Yes, and even Joe Bishop But it really is about our liver mostly.. Like when your liver allows you You can be your own rat pack. Yeah. I mean I'd rather, you know, start my own You you're gonna be Frank. I'll happy being Dean. You'll be Dan I'm perfectly happy. This would be Sam. Dean is actually the cooler one. Yeah. june nineteenth, twentieth, twenty fourth, twenty sixth, twenty seventh. Oh, this is still the fehere. Yeah. July These are the dates, july first Ah tattoo this on yourself, people. So you' july first, eighth, tenth, eleventh M may be listed there All shows are at eight o'clock at the sphere ' be late for this sphere Yeah It's pretty it's pretty incredible to play in that space. So It's been good for me because I, you know, we didn't have to go to city to city.id have A lot to say about what plays behind you Be it before I came here today, How much of your life was that dominating for a while. Were you having to like Because obviously it's this multid dimensional experience, where stuff is on a screen. So you want, I mean, it's your show. You want with stuff on. you don't want to be like, surprise me. and that you' not going like dont It' so hands on sometometimes to a fall It's all Dandel light. So yeah Wait. who's that all Dandelite? That's me. No today before I came here, I was They have a smaller simulator, a sphere simulator And I was where you create the content and you approve it. We've been doing this What What is it? What was your idea for the content? What do we see when we you're unst? Oh every song is different. Every song, every pce content is complete t the song. It's tied to the song. so there's thirty different things you're going to see So And today I was down there all day just approving and saying what I hate, what I love. And there's a lot of my life in that content. Like been we've been creating this since We got done last year So now it's all coming together So it's it's it's It's's amazing how the human mind can really take in in split seconds. You know, it may some of that is probably not good where we're forcing our minds to work quickly are without taking stuff in and social media, blah, blah, blah when you realize How different it is from a few hundred years ago where people would sit by a fire and just read a book You know, I mean, there's I wish people still would do that, but your mind is capable of taking in a lot in a very short amount of time. And once we, you know, sort of crossed the rubicon, of where we knew we could do that to ourselves, it does become hard to go back. I'm always looking at old movies because, oh, I heard this was a classic. and sometimes it's like Yeah, it just sucks. You know what? I'm sure it was great in nineteen fifty. It just is slow and obvious and the acting is terrible. And you know, I'm sure it was groundbreaking and it's just and some of them still hold up. but We're at the sphere level You know, there'll be a there'll be a moment not to far in the future when if you don't have some sort of spher experience, then it's like it's not even happening in this conert. And I will tell you like for people that are in there, like You know, and you know what I'm talking about because you're up there very exposed and by yourself. Part of your makes you good at what you do is the connection you hope with the audience. Yeah. So for me for years I was like, okay, this is me, this is you and we are Right. This is right. This is the way it's gonna to be all night us. Right. Now you're the fear. I'm there. Right. And most of them are going. Yes. in a way, you're purposefully sabotaging your own show. You're purposefully distracting the audience from So it took me a minute to get to get them Like it's almost most audiences, you know, they come across the fence anyway. Like they're horny to be there. They're excited. But some, you know, especially the first couple, like they were just right And they came to see you It's sort of like a hot girl saying, Hey, come on, my tits are down here. Yeah Really, I appreciate you com out. And I assumed it was just because as I did, I wanted to get to know you better. I. It's a great venue for getting to know somebody and's like It's great because when people, you know who are, say post fifty, Yeah, right you're post fifty. Yes. Okay. Ver post fifty. Really? Oh're fifty eight. Oh, you can easily pass for ten years younger. So which is great. But you know, celebrity takes off ten years. Y. the camera adds ten pounds, it just works like that But uh No, I mean, I do appreciate that being. When I did your show, when we when I did your show, I remember being getting ready to leave And I got in the car with everybody and I went, I think it's like what just happened? Like that was like that was a lot of fun. You never know, you never know how those whatever four, five, ten minutes we spent out there, whatever it was will go when you first meet someone and it's on record. Right? It's just there. But I remember telling everybody in the car on the way back to the hotel. I said, I h think me and Billy are will be friends. I hope so. I hope And you know you know what makes it so much easier to be friends, like we really never other than ten minutes, we never sat down together. You never spoke to each other. We were aware of each other through teleen telegenics to electronics, I mean. And not Christ wasas plan teelegenics We were communicating telegenically. Okay, I revealed it. So what raid for this. Yeah. Okay. But you know, it's so interesting because you lived a life for fifty eight years and I lived a life for almost well, seventy years now. I don remember when the interview was but probably I was already seventy So like It's not like we knew each other those years But we both knew life those years. And we knew because we're in the same generation And honestly, we're both white men in America. Life was certainly a lot worse for people who weren't that when we were born. and we acknowledge that But we just had so many similar experiences or so much common in our background that when we do get sit down to talk, it's not like I have to get to know you from like the get Whereas like somebody who's twenty two or something, they just were born on Mars as far as I'm concerned to them and also in reverse And But with us, it's like, well, I kind of have known you all my life, Not you in particular. started this journey had like you talked about earlier You had to work very hard and there were true rites of passage to get to a different a different level. And you know what? there's some commonality in that. and I feel that and I respect it Um, Because look, nothing doing what you do And how you did it, nothing was given to you. Nothing. Oh, nothing. And that's the way it was for me.' not We're not NPO babies. No. That's Well, really. Not that look, I'm not putting down NEepo babies. Everyone's got to make a living. And some of them are extremely talented. And I'm not surprised why It is easier when you have it sort of in your blood and you're around it as a kid, you're not freaked out about it when you get on a set because Daddy took you to the set. Okay, I don'tudge anybody that Just don't ever tell me it was harder for you, which I've heard. It wasn't harder. It was easier. And I just like it better that I wasn't an Eo baby. I like it better that I was, I am the first and by the way, will be the last because I don't have children You don't have children,? Not have children And you about this you would never miss it. No, me neither I mean, that's rare Two guys are rage Both didn't have children and also still say they didn't message. But we are in a small club, my friend That's true, but I but for me Music was always my baby Same with me in my show and comedy. Yes abbsolutely. I never once is still to this day, I don't, but I've never thought, I mean, my mom did. I would go home years ago, mom go, well Because my sister can't have a child and then I'm not having a child. So my mom's now you know, getting up there. I'm getting up there. my s was my mother. but she doesn't have any grandbabies. My sister did not have children either So see, we got a lot in common. I know. which is our line is dying off. Yeah. No question. I never missed it No, I haven't either. And I don't care if my line dies off. So what? Yeah I like what was going to be next And also, by the way, if we had kids, they'd be Nppo babies. Yeah, R Be Nppo babies. You know, I have thought about this though. Only because when you get to a certain place in your life, you do your will. Oh yeah, I've done it. And so o I'm sitting there going, It really hit me that I didn't have a child when I have to figure out world shit's going. Yeah. If if something happened to me and I' Yeah. Okay. And that was a hard thing to do because you accumulate a lot. I've got so much stuff. Life, not just stuff, but friends in the best way. Yeah. But you know, like life is and among other things, it is a an accumulation. Yeah. And when you write the will, It suddly makes you have a U need clarity on The value of it where it, you know, it makes sense think know what who gets what this of whatever, you know, it's And that's when that's the first time honestly that I realized, I've been so busy and so creative and so moving forward But when I sat down to do my will, it was like, ons Wh I don't give this stuff to. And who do I want to make sure I don' tos with it Do do it I don't. Yes. Why do I wna let know after the fact. Oh. so so let's just say How do you like it? I mean, yes. L looking back and saying, okay, if you had, let's just say you had four or five kids. and then you had a will What's worse, not having kids and giving I assume you would give it to something that would make the world a better place. Right. I mean, I feel look I never Would you rather give it to kids that you didn't know that it would take care of it? I never had Because I used this. I was like, you know what? It's gonna hurt, but it's certainly better than having kids You pull that out of your pocket. We're get those. I'm harro more not getting. I have props everywhere. Here's a lit candle I was carrying around under my No, I u no, I forgot what it was something about kids. Anyway, kids. we don't have kids. Well, we don't we don't have anybody to give we're And we don't we don't have h don't. hostility toward people who have kids or to kids themselves. It's just not our preference. I feel like one of the attitudes that I from the earliest days on pololitically incorrect in the nineties was trying to sort of pioneer on TV against the grain was first of all, you're not weird if you're single and never get married. That shouldn't be a weirdness. This should be it with just people's choices. sameame thing with kids. There's no moral dimension to it Having kids doesn't make you a better person. If you have kids and raise them right, you have my full admiration Yeah. But you could have kids and raise assholes and then I think you're a huge asshole who should just shouldn't have had kids. I don't think I would have been a good father I think I would be a good father, but I don't know that I have the skill set at this point You don't. I don't I mean you say is your new friend, rightight? Somet be hon whichich your friend him? Okay, so now I can just like ye. So I mean I don't know anything about a lot about your First of all Well you have made? Your skin, your you're skin Bom Its's too old. It's too. It's Yeah, it's too It's gone. It's just Well, there's less winning around. Yeah. Well, you just don't trust me Don't trust I've never trusted him I had no trust was an issue. I never trusted him Another good song title. That's pretty good. I never trust. I never trusted I never trusted Yeah, sing a whole song about your sperm. Yeah ere I mean, did you ever get married? Not to my knowledge. I was engaged And I saw I was I told you was looking through these old clips. It takes a lot to get me to look at myself. I'm only doing this because this is a big deal. so I have so but it's just torture And there I am on the Tonight showow. and I do my little fucking dog and py show out there, which is making me throw up in my mouth. And then I go and I sit down with Johnny, which was a big honor Yeah And I revealed, which I'd completely forgotten, they're on the panel of the Tonight Show that I just gotten engaged. He so I hear you just got engaged. That's very very exciting And I'm like, yeah, bro. I'm like, what And I don't I remember getting engaged. Yeah. It never became a marriage, but I don't remember doing that on the tonight showow. And there you saw it, but I just watched it. I' this crazy And u You know, how old were you? I was twenty nine Oh, swow. Yeah. yeah. I mean I know marriage works for so many people. and some people are just, you know, you could say it it's just sort of a case of you know, and How dependent You know, it's justt the trees grow together and at some point the roots intermingle so much that And untangling that would be a lot more work Right. And a I get that. But there are some people where it's not about it would be a lot of work or I'll lose all my money. It's really I really love hanging out with her. I really love hanging out with him Even Bill and Hillary, you know, I remember when they asked her after the scandal and everything whether she would leave him and she was like veryer honest, I thought, you know, and said basically You know I kind of thought about it and yes, he's a hard dog to keep on the porch, but at the end of the day There's just no one else as interesting in this whole world or who I really want to talk to as much So like that's a lot. That to me was a very cool thing to say. I'm sure I didn't say it word for word, but that was the gist of it. I love Bill Yeah I've been a ch I've had an opportunity to meet him several times. Yeah. and spepeaking I mean he I don't know if anyone that's as good He is very charismatic and can just and can talk so well. Oh it's he can make you feel like Oh, absolutely. Like you're the only person. Oh absolutely. And that's a talent to that. It's really great. Well, I may have told this story before, but I'm going tell it again.. So like in the nineties I was like invited to a number of places where he was speaking, you know, chummy with the Democratic side and Um I still am with a lot of them, I hope And so I brought and of course, this is the nineties. I was out of my mind. so I brought a date everywhere. So I brought this hot blonde with me And you know, it's like a meeting of maybe the eighty hundred people. and at the end there's a you know, you get online so you can take a picture with the president. It moves along pretty quickly with me I got on one side, she got on the other side, and I said something very offhand about he was about to travel to a trade conference, and he spent the next five minutes like explaining trade to me When I got off the line, I said to my girl, I said It's so awesome She spent five minutes just telling me about the intricacies of this trade deal. And she said, Yeahah the whole time he was rubbing my back So that's what I love. I got invited. He was a player. Oh talking about a dog. Like there's certain people, I could name certain athletes who were like this. Oh no question. One is the greatest basketball player of all time. I'm not gonna mention names, but just like you mean they're like, wow, Warren Baty, another one, like Warren Baty, according to legend Hold chicks over, like on the road And then theyd be like, I. And there's a talent to that, dude It just again,s like I couldn't do it, but I can't deny I Bill Clintonotted me come to the Hollywood Bow to sing. It was me and Bano and a couple of other people to sing for him. it was packed at the Hollywood Bow Sure. Wow. So I was there and I had a song out with Grace Potter called You and Tequila. Yeah. And Grace lived out here at the time and still does some of the time. So I said, Grace, I said, you should come sing you went Tequila with me for Bill Clinton And Bill Bill knew I was coming, but he didn't know that Grace was coming. And so I came out there and I introduced Grace to come on stage. And she had this bedazzled dress and I swear to God, it was right here And you could see, you know, Bill was sitting there. he was you know, in the first row and everybody was So and then there's me that comes out and talks to Bill and it's a pleasure to be here. and ladies and gentlemen, Grace Potter, and she walks out like Marilyn Monroe. and you can see Bill go This says that Is unbelievable. How we get Bill Clintn? I don't know, I love. I love. I love him, you know, you know But he got to know stuff. You got to own who you are. I know, but there's a talent too like he got into all kinds of trouble, but every time come out smelling like a rose. Well, I don't know. I don't know if he's smelling like a rose all the time because they Uh used to have them at the Democratic cononvention, they didn't the last one because there's too much. Well, Monica remembered Monica remembered then forgot, then remembered then forgot. And I think she's back to remembering that she's a victim. Yeah. And that hurt him But even after that, I mean, if we needed somebody to go negotiate, they would either send Jimmy Carter or Bill Clinton. Well, Jimmy's dead, so I wouldn't I know that, but I mean like back in the day. Yeah. All right, I got to go back to my real job. I could do this all night. This is so much fun. and you didn't even drink Oh no Nood for you You know what Honestly, and I know this mostly from cigarettes, but I would say this to a degree would because that's the dumbest drug I ever did smmoking for twenty years. So glad I finally I't he that. I don't smoke I've never I'll go in and finish. No. Well, I'm just gonna say You know, as you strip away the drugs, cigarettes, heavy drinking you know, you do realize They're not as needed as you think they You know, you can actually have a good time as yourself. I'm learning you got in the habit of using a crutch, but it's still you in there You are really what's still interesting and can be interested. and you know, you don't really need a lot. you know a little but not a lot Yeah, I've never had I've never even believe it or not, little fun fact. I'm fifty eight years old and I've never had a cup of coffee I've had a lot of them. I it was it was a negative association was something as a child And I it was so I never I can tell you why. Because as a child You don't need coffee. You're bouncing off the walls to me. Right, But you need a downer. And so the adults are drinking this gross brown Yes. It was offter And there' by smoking in the house. and I'm going, if I ever get out of here, I'm never coming back ever I had to talk with myself as a child. I remember it.. And I've never been right These people sink their breathink of coffee and cigarettes. Is there a worse breath stink than coffee and cigarettes Yes So, but, you know My mother was in World War two Wow, she earned coffee and s your shirt breath Sure did All right, Pal. Man, thanks R right. Thank you. All right. We'll do this Christmas, An I have Christmas plans now. You're in your island paradise in Christmas? I'm guessing. I wasn't this year But it's gotten busy Christas It's in the Virgin Island. I mean, Virgin Island. Yeah in Stain. John. I was been down there for a long time. Then I got really busy during Christmas. So it's like, okay I don't know. I've been here before. It's a US version of. US version. So you're American territory. Yes So because so yeah You know? If you're bored, I might visit you there. I think you you know, haven't reallyally gone overseas. I mean, I'm not a great traveler You know, I had three Yeah, I I poured in twenty fifteen. That's the last time I went to Europe I'm notit and you haven't been to Europe since twenty fifteen? No, I'm not up for that. I'm just not See, I love Italy too much