Harvey Levin | Club Random with Harvey Levin

love random I just loved your show last week oh I loved your show last week so many people say to me you know I'm your biggest fan but you really are I really am I really am it's impossible to I mean I would love you anyway but but like of course you know especially someone like me who's been denied so much of my deserved appropriate uh you know uh whatever recognition in this industry by the mainstream establishment so when the I'm kind of small potatoes when the smoke but yeah but when the smarter people appreciate what you do it makes it you know and I do I pray so appreciate that you appreciate it oh my God it's just I it was so good and you do know that um I'm constantly saying to people when they said did you see this like on you know some cable news and I'm always like no I get all my news from TMZ wait a second and they think I'm kidding and I'm not kidding because I I gave up cable news pretty much I still like Jake Tapper but very few uh I I like that was a good interview too that was a great one that was a great interview yeah no he's a real newsman but I loved seeing you on the other side of it that was I used to do it all the time with Larry King you know I used to like when Larry King was I don't remember you doing that oh I did it a million times did you still you must not have watched Larry King I hosted for I was the guest host for a long time you couldn't have watched it every night I must I didn't watch it every night I must have done it it became like what the Tonight Show was for me in the 80s like something I would do four or five times a year it was a real presence and he would always give me the full hour uh he took he told me they always doubled it always doubled their rating so that was good they went from like a million to two million or something yeah but that was like a big uh I love that you were so it was so it was so good but you know but it is so funny that I feel like I I saw Sam Harris say that he recently gave up Twitter you know right and he was like I needed it for my psyche you know and I totally understood that even though I'm not someone who's ever been on Twitter really a little bit I used to tweet until it became like oh my God anything fun you would say they'd cancel you so what the [ __ ] am I using this but the fact that he was like I gave up Twitter and my psyche is so much better I'm I'm kind of that way with cable news I am so much happier getting it from you and I feel like you and your crew I get it I have a way of course it's not the only news I get because you don't cover the kind of things I have to cover in depth but as far as TV yes I read different things but I I feel like I'm getting what the the broad audience of the country because you do hit on topics that are not just celebrity stuff oh yeah oh yeah yeah we're no I mean we're like a pop culture yeah I mean it's mostly this the Vander pump whoever the thought they are did this or this one did this but you know along the way and then there are opinions I mean like we did the Alec Baldwin case today right but that's celebrity I mean that's not Ukraine Got a drone shot but you know what's interesting it is celebrity but it's there are issues that make people care about things they otherwise wouldn't care about that if it's Joe schmoe but like the Alec Baldwin case is [ __ ] it is [ __ ] ridiculous prosecution where they're just grabbing headlines yes it is outrageous I know we almost always agree which is great outrageous well yes I mean like I I would just put it this way do you think Alec Baldwin purposely shot the cinematographer if no then what are we talking no no that's not true you can have a manslaughter case which this is you know with the armorer where somebody engages in Reckless conduct and they don't intend to kill but they are they can be convicted of manslaughter so you don't have to prove that I think that's ridiculous too no it's not either it's a either it's a what if you get in the car drunk and you drive in drunk is different no it's not it's it's still manslaughter but that should be okay you're the lawyer it's manslaughter I know but it okay that should be different than what Alec Baldwin did because Alec Baldwin is not the same thing as getting drunk where you have culpability but he didn't do anything they charged the armorer with manslaughter right she's the expert she's the one so so if you're charging if you're saying the expert had the duty why does an actor have to double check their work I it doesn't make any sense we're agreeing on that part of it well I'm talking about the legal part of it and by the way what I thing happened was they were so concerned about [ __ ] covet masks that's my theory I'm just pulling this out of my ass but it could be true what do you mean I think I think everyone it's so typical of how America reacts to everything wrong you know always scared of the wrong things and they could have been so uh apoplectic about everything coveted and this germs on this said that they uh therefore forgot about the bullets and the gun oh my God uh I mean if I was rewriting in this as a play that's what I would do to make to make that point about where I what I think America um does when it has confronted with the crisis but on the legal point come on don't you think getting drunk means you have some you that's an action you took and then got in your car right versus just an honest mistake that that should not be manslaughter well no but we agree on Alec Baldwin but if somebody gets in a car drunk right yeah and and they're that's reckless and they kill somebody right that's the precisely what manslaughter is right I guess that I would call that like fourth degree murder is there such a thing no well that would be because it would be like yes it's murder but you in no way directly intended to do it but you knew you could maybe Murder by doing this stupid thing so can we can we talk about law today because I feel like I need the upper hand on something that's just no upper end I mean you have that background in law which I think is also great on your show because not that you need an extra Dimension to be smarter than those kids you work with stop it what I want they're great okay see this is where you and I disagree on something we don't disagree as much as you think I think we do okay you have a lot of contempt uh that what I have contempt for is that they don't know when they don't know something and you do their attitude is oh Dad what an [ __ ] you know things like You're the [ __ ] because you know something and they don't whereas a a more um I feel like a humble generation would be I feel like this is the way we were it's like oh if I don't know something I'm the idiot you know that all that generation does is uh I wasn't born for that you know even if you mentioned a movie I wasn't born yeah that's why we put it on celluloid I disagree with you man well I'm watching it every night so I'm a little bit older than you but you probably know this during the Vietnam war there was a mantra in my generation and you know what that was we are the same generation well what was the mantra Make Love Not War well that was one don't trust anyone over 30. okay sure okay well what's the difference I mean you know that's the rite of passage with young people that they have contempt for look it's not like we did a great job with this world and so they're looking at what was left to them and I did that when during the Vietnam war thinking how could they lead us down this path and we and that Mantra was real that was not just a thing it was it was real I don't think that's a [ __ ] thing it won't ever know that every generation they left us you know every generation does what they can they're living their lives they're probably doing the best that they can given whatever the circumstances are do you think we're better off today than we were uh say 30 years ago well let me tell you something President Carter we're better yeah we're better off when you lose your job no I just I mean better it's it's first of all whatever the answer to that is it doesn't matter because there were so many other factors that came along that were not uh something that any generation can control most of History I think is first of all dictated by the technology it's not even in our control you know they were going to get rid of slavery and then Along Came the cotton gin somebody invented the cotton gin and it made slavery incredibly profitable okay so humans reacted the way humans usually react but there are human judgments that people make and choices that people make and I could understand why somebody 30 years old who is looking at a pipe dream of buying a house or or worrying about whether the world will even last and who are they going to blame they're not going to blame their contemporaries because they weren't the ones in charge there are people in charge of things even you know despite technology people are in charge of things and they're older people so the way they look at us honestly it's kind of the way I look at people who got us into the Vietnam War okay well that was that art that really wasn't origin that was my generation because that was the World War II generation they were the ones in charge Kennedy Nixon Johnson those are people who were World War II people Kennedy served in World War II so did Nixon who prosecuted all the same well you're you're you're blaming a former generation but it is not our generation you're a baby boomer I'm a baby boomer that's the greatest Generation they're different but so they're different they're not necessarily different in the eyes of like my staff that is looking but again then they don't know things they you know then they're ignorant because generation if we're talking about Generations we should not lump them all together then why don't we lump us with the Millennials different Generations we said don't trust anyone over 30. that is a sweeping state it was as stupid then as it is now it was stupid yes because everyone it didn't feel stupid then because you we're under 30. okay well my staff is a lot of them I'm saying and when you're in your 20s you're basically an idiot I look at back back at what I was thinking and doing in my 20s and I go what a [ __ ] idiot I've said this before here if even at this age of 67 if you asked me would you in us if you Genie said you could go back and be 25 again would you do it I would say no if I still had to have that brain in my head because I know all the pain that's going to come from being that dumb if I could go back knowing what I do now yes that would be a fantastic deal say you say dumb and maybe they don't have the historical knowledge that we have just because of the fact that we've lived a lot longer but I will tell you and I I mean this there is no way TMZ would be successful if this were all in my head we're talking about two different things we're not really we they have a skills you're you're expanding this one area that I'm uh focusing in on with that generation with the people who you work with who are very like oh I don't dislike these people I watch them every night if I didn't like them I wouldn't like I wouldn't watch every show every night um but you're trying to expand this in a way that is I don't think valid yes they have that generation has a tough time economically I get it they also have uh the future there for them to take the one good thing that's still left about America is that you can make your own way and you can reinvent yourself that's true tomorrow that's true you did it I did it it's still available for them and they do seem um I I feel for them when they talk about lives that don't seem happy but you know my life wasn't Terribly Happy in my 20s either because that's the decade you're spending where you're trying to establish yourself of course it's a harder grind you're in the infancy of your adulthood that was my favorite decade what my 20s I it really was really yeah your favorite it was my favorite because I mean you know I not me I got out of law school and I went down to Miami and I taught law school and I I just felt like the and I made 11 500 bucks and I felt rich and I was experiencing all these new things as an adult it was magical for me I loved my 20s loved my 20s it's so interesting I always thought we agreed on everything we don't agree on anything I think we do we do I think we and I so appreciate it you're like my patroni really I mean I feel like I don't understand it because I I because when because TMZ will like put my [ __ ] up there in you know whoever edits that does a fine job uh I do that one personally oh see uh there you go not trusting the Millennials are oh no no I just get up earlier I know oh yes you do it's past your bedtime now it's only quarter right um but uh no but it you know it really has a lot of people who would never be aware of my show some people don't even get HBO kids don't watch TV they don't watch TV that's not their thing you know well okay you know there are there's going to be a huge sea change because all these cord cutters you know now that it's getting bigger and bigger and bigger you know what's cable is in some trouble over this it really is and I I think you know social media is so dominant I was stunned during the Johnny Depp trial that that was that opened my eyes and I realized people were getting their news from Tick Tock and yes it was biased and it was skewed but that's where it came from now that I get my news from TMZ it feels like a Wall Street Journal now right that's exactly what I'm saying to getting it on Tick Tock oh you're right you're [ __ ] Walter we're okay not to go back to this thing but I do want to go back to this thing I guess I do about your crew I don't dislike them but like if if I said Walter Cronkite or you said it they had no idea like who's that and you tell them and they'd roll their eyes like oh knowing things and that's so old it's like that bugs me you know can I tell you something funny that they did well I heard one one of them said one day uh why would you ever read a book okay that he's an outlier it was her okay she's an outfit well I guess there's two of them sometimes though I sometimes I deserve it today it was so funny in the morning meeting um we were talking about a documentary on red on Cheetos unflaming Cheetos it's it actually sounds kind of interesting you know there's a big documentary on it and so I started you know I I pulled a Tuesday With Maury on him and I um and I started telling him a story because I worked in my dad's liquor store um when I was growing up and I said you know when I when I was um when I was working in the store there were you know they introduced a bunch of new Cheetos and I remember they that the I this guy came in with this big box and it was the first time I had ever seen Lay's potato chips they had just come out and Devin in my office kind of looked at me stunned and said you're older than chips that's a scream oh you know some of them are witty oh they're really funny yeah I mean there's a few of the guys there are there you know like these guys they're really funny comedy writers you know they are good I guess and the other thing is that they I guess I take umbrage because of course you know I've sold users before the genius of your show is that it's really a family show you're the pattern familias you're the what's that you're you're the father and then you have these kids and you know these darn kids they're always making fun of you but you love them so you put up with it but I've but of course I relate to you duh so like they make when they make fun of you or or like really I feel like cruel jokes I feel like you know my thing I'm always saying ageism the last Prejudice you can have is ageism they have this terrible attitude about older people like if there's a problem like well that'll be solved when they die great Solutions just wishing for people to die [ __ ] you even if I agree with the cause you're talking about but there's a way there's just a bad attitude there's a total way of defusing it because I tell them all the time I want to be cremated I go through the whole thing and no but what it does is it it disarms them that if you because what they're looking for is a reaction and if you lean into it and if you say yeah and and and I'm older than dirt and I'm over than chips but you're not you see that's the other thing that bugs me they talk about you like you get one foot in the grave meanwhile I feel like you have a much better life than first of all you look great no none of us can look like we did when we were 35 but you I would never guess you're the age you are you're in better shape than they are okay come on you are I always used to look at that and they're like what is this guy this is not a competition because you no but it's it's not a competition but it's relevant to people who are always making jokes about your age which don't ring true about you they don't that's the thing I'm a comedian I know when a joke Rings true so it's like yes Izzy technically this many years older but what life is a leader is he leading a young life does he have a young energy what about him is betraying this ancient uh age that he wears nothing I get it but we also we collaborate a lot we are together all the time I understand and and I really appreciate I really appreciate how they bring things to the table that I just don't know yeah and and it helps shape what I do in a big big big way I learned from them also yeah I do I mean because I believe you it's a great way to see what that generation which look I have lots of millennial friends so I do hear about it but yeah it's it's I tell you it's a great show because again you're the father and then you have the kids and it's that Mary Tyler Moore Dynamic where they're not really family but Mr Grant was really the father and Mary was the daughter Murray was the brother I love that show right God I love that show What's that show and then you tell oh once again he knows something I don't know about what an [ __ ] someone who would know something okay so let me ask you this I watched your 911 thing awesome oh thank you of course you have to thank me no honestly I'm so close to it because it took six months I love the way it was done first of all because it's not long you don't have to watch everything these days is too long right like you can say it in an hour and you do we did right and the premise I don't know how anybody didn't wasn't all over this for the last 20 years but crazy that what is it called 911 the fifth plane I mean that says it all there was a fifth plane there's no doubt in my mind after watching this that that absolutely was the fifth Lane there's no law that says no we could only have four planes no there was probably there could have been six there could have been six but there definitely was this one because as you show I don't want to give too much of it away but you know there's four guys and of course these are politically correct times so we have to say of course not all Arabs or Muslims are terrorists yes we never said differently but it is just for Arabs Sitting In First Class one of them is a man in a burqa that's what the flight attendant said which also would have been a good title the man and the bird um that's what the flight attendant said there were three flight attendants we interviewed we interviewed the pilot and this was a plain uh United flight That was supposed to take off from JFK at nine in the morning and it was going to Los Angeles same time as the other four same time it would have aligned perfectly and um there were a lot of things that happened but ultimately I think the reason this is so stunning that it never came never really came out is these flight attendants were all interviewed by the FBI immediately they were the FBI was alarmed um they locked that plane up um after everybody got evacuated and all of a sudden people in the ground saw two people running in the plane the plane had been fully empty and the authorities came and opened the door and the hatch that leads from the cabin down to the bottom of the plane and the tarmac it was open somebody opened this hatch what the pilot thinks and what he told me he they found box cutters in the plane right next to his and it was one number of first class in first class in the seat Pockets right I mean they did everything but leave a business card that said Muhammad kablue well look here's the thing there was somebody on the ground that at least the pilot thinks that came up into that plane thinking the box cutters were put in that plane which is what the intention was and they were trying to look for weapons to get rid of them before anybody searched the plane no plainly that's I mean there's no other Expo the FBI took the FBI took the flight attendants to a lineup to see if they could identify these passengers and and it was never mentioned in the 911 Commission report never that was the most disturbing part of it to me um I mean what other reason would there be box cutters planted in the in the sea pockets and of course that's what it is um and well I have two questions one any idea where the plane what the target was because my guess is the White House well because if I was planning the big attack with five planes now you have to think of it in terms five okay the one that was that crashed in Pennsylvania that was headed for the capital so you got the capital the Pentagon The Two Towers what else are you going to take out Mount Rushmore no well some people think that well I don't know I mean I don't think anybody really knows where the flight in Pennsylvania was headed it could have been the capital but it could have been the White House I mean what is as opposed to what the Smithsonian the the department of fisheries and hatcheries no you're going to take out the way yeah so This Plane by the way it never took off it got to the runway and they called it back because at that point it would have taken off but there was a long line it was the pilot said it was the only day usually it's one or two planes ahead of him there were ten planes and word not for that the plane would have been in the air and God knows what would have happened so do the same people who work on TMZ Vanderpump Rules do the do the show like that isn't that something yeah yeah all of them not everybody no I mean we have we're doing a lot of documentaries now and um we just have a great team and it's a small team but we're doing a lot of documentaries and I I personally I love doing these I love it's my passion Club random is brought to you by the audio marketing gurus at radioactive media if you're responsible for marketing your company nationally how are you growing your business don't just Google and social media when you can harness the power 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the theater at MGM National Harbor Oxon Hill Maryland Sunday April 23rd at the Durham Performing Arts Center I did a special day once I love it Durham North Carolina you have to see me do stand up one time you have to come yeah we got to go to Vegas together I want to go to Hawaii I've stopped doing it oh no it was the last year oh you told me I could come to the next one and you quit so I wouldn't go [Laughter] did you know Food Network had podcasts be my guest with Ina Garten is a podcast from Food Network where Aina invites her friends into her East Hampton home for good food and great conversations this season features Stanley Tucci Misty Copeland and Laura Linney and Nora Jones get to know Aina and her friends as they share life stories over dinner and drinks in every episode stream be my guest with Ina Garten on Discovery plus and check out be my guest with Ina Garten wherever you get your podcasts and apropos we were saying before about where Tick Tock is now TMZ moves you know everything is always in flux in media right and and TMZ is I could say that absolutely morphing to a much more mainstream where it wasn't you know now it's associated with gossip but associated with things like this more of a you know because those two areas lap we've seen that going back as far as Gary Hart with the Inquirer that the the gossip investigators are sometimes better than the mainstream media investigators often yeah I mean we've I gotta say I mean at least the goal whether we've accomplished it or not but the goal for many years now has really been to not really just do a celebrity website it's really more of a pop culture website and we take on you know like you know we mentioned Alec Baldwin but there are other examples of you know the Jesse smallett case and there are like a lot of cases that may have celebrities but the issues are really really important and I don't think there's this wall between important and pop culture I think the two really merge a lot a lot Well you certainly get more people paying attention to an issue right if it has a celebrity attached to it well you know I mean you know it's really funny but you can't attach a celebrity to every issue that's important at some point people are going to have to if the country is going to last you know sort of get on the page that if you're a citizen you have to have some sort of awareness of what the [ __ ] is going on yeah I mean whether or not Madonna is involved it but whose fault is it if they're not because I'll tell you one of the things the thing that bothers me so much is just that depending on what you read and watch now your world view is so skewed and [ __ ] up that you cannot do anything but hate people who you disagree with because the way they present it on both sides is so like tribal that I think that's one of the biggest dangers in this country that you know people are getting skewed views of the world and they have such contempt for the other side you you talk about this a lot I'm talking about it Friday night right before you came here I was working on what we're doing Friday night at the end of the show and it's St Patrick's Day so it's you know it takes off on the idea that for 30 years political hatred got so bad in Northern Ireland that it became violent hatred and people had to live with bombings and they had to live with snipers and I'm not saying that's exactly what's going to happen here but they called the troubles and certainly the the ingredients are exactly the same because of what you're just saying when people get to this point where the hatred is this serious where you have Marjorie Taylor green saying we need a national divorce in other words we can't even talk to you yeah um a heated conversation is so much healthier than no conversation at all you know yelling and screaming on each other at least you're talking right I mean and obviously we're making some hay about the fact that you know she's comparing it to divorce but it's there's a serious point there that people in relationships get to that same place where you know well succession is divorce it is divorce right and it's it right she actually used the term irreconcilable differences and you know I don't know I I I'm constantly trying to appeal to that American who's not like that and I know there's lots of them out there but it is discouraging when I see the ones who were so indoctrinated and I see some of this among your crew that I don't think I could I don't think logic cannot get to them and that's of course true the other side absolutely yeah that you can't reach them because they believe in this religion of the woke or the religion of trump and you can't argue with religion so I mean I I don't know and then are you hopeful not really I'm not either I'm not either but it's so funny the the the cognitive dissonance between how the world is to me you know which is not hopeful and yet my own life I mean you said you liked your 20s the best I like this the best more in control more comfortable with who I am more successful no that's all true I mean why isn't there isn't don't you didn't you get a charge out of the first time you did yes in the first time there's nothing like yeah that happened twice that's when I when I got late and when I smoked pot that I'm serious those are the two that I know exactly what you're talking you got your first car you weren't well let me add a third one and the first time I got up on stage and did 20 minutes and got laughs all the way through okay I remember the exact date it was June 20th 1980 like 20 minutes and was I the greatest comic ever no but I was a real comic I I got up into the 20-minute set and people actually laughed at everything as they were supposed to and that was one uh the first first time I uh like was on stage in high school that was like I could not sleep that night I did a show like the pop show you know the the whatever the talent show we had and I came out of my shell senior year see now I'm starting there's more than just getting laid and welcome hot okay give me two or three things but smoking pot was one getting laid was one yeah the first time a girl liked me and the first date was one yeah there was first times that were great but they're few and far between over a whole we're talking about 15 years from like 15 to 30. uh let me ask let me ask you something um when did you get your first house when it first what house house tattoo remember when we were gonna get this matching tattoos and someone I heard someone on your show she's sweet like blonde girl Courtney I no the one is getting married or oh Charlie Charlie yeah she was like did you hear they're getting matching tattoos she really blew right right right but my first house I bought uh in uh moved in in April of 1986. okay uh on Orange Grove it was small house the smallest I I not as not as small as mine not as small as mine I had a converted trailer that they put it on a lot um actually not that far from there were you I was more excited with that little house that little converted trailer sitting on the porch saying this is you're right all of those things you're right you're right about that you're right you know that house yes there's something about pissing on your own land it's the best and it's like I was 29 I think when I bought it and my I remember my rent was like 450 a little 450 dollars back then 1985 and then my mortgage went up to like 14.50 and I was [ __ ] in my pants because like whoa I just added a grand a month that I have to come up with for rent and I did you know I mean it was like okay and yes that I remember going up on the roof myself to clean the gutters like it's like just every three months those first things that you experienced as an adult are just magic and first and like the way yeah love is I mean you know you're probably uh when it's new like that it's it's yeah all right okay you're a little more right than that you see like but but in but it but but again those things are not like every day whereas like my life was not good every day there were a lot of days I didn't like but my life now there's very rarely a day I don't like I mean I got up today and I went to the office we go once a week now and I had my writers meeting and I write how come how could I have more fun than sitting around with those brilliant people who I love and kicking around the ideas that are fresh and we're gonna do this amazing show Friday and you know and then I come home and I get to write a thing about it and then I get to talk to you it's like there's more sometimes good stuff crammed in one week in now than there was in a year and you made me like blindly jealous just with I went to the off I go to the office once a week where are you every day sure well of course I mean we're doing this right of course yeah that's that's all the office so you're in the same places when you're off camera yeah with it's that's a working office we just pull chairs up I mean we just pull chairs up right yeah wow so like every time I watch you it's now I I'm I must say my image back in the day was that TMZ was meaner am I wrong did you not get nicer I was afraid of you at one point well I think yeah I I look I mean I I was actually talking to one of your producers about this yeah I mean I I think we have changed and you know I sometimes look back and think oh my God yeah I mean I don't know that it's meaner as much as uh you know there were lines that were I guess were acceptable but but when I look back I I I think my God why didn't we Corral ourselves more yeah I just feel like you're fans now you're fans of all these people you generally you like them yeah because I like them too but we're also honest about it I mean what I really what I love is there's not this like singular view of anything and I think that's really important it's kind of what you were talking about earlier that you know you can tolerate disagreement we disagree all the time about things but we have taught we talk about it all the time and I love that I love that I love that that's that's what makes it real and the fact that they don't edit when they make fun of you it's great because then you do your Jack Benny take yeah Harvey what was Jesus like yeah I don't get a jack Betty no but yeah they would think that's original but you do your version of it I mean it's it's a it's a take it's it's Jim from the office okay I mean that's why the camera goes there okay that's what they're doing what's the comedy gold but like of all these people recover who is your favorite celebrity or do you even have one or two share and not for the reason you think that I'm gay what reason do it oh that's right I forgot she's a very big icon yeah but that's not why no I I you know I have never I love Cher I've never talked about this um but I'm gonna um this is not like a really this is not a happy story but it has a meaningful ending um back in the 80s life in the gay community was a nightmare it was just a nightmare um because because of AIDS and it I I you know it's I can't explain this I've tried to explain this a little bit to the staff and it's just hard for people to understand this but like half my friends died in their 20s and 30s at least half I was going to almost a funeral a week and you know you you would spend um weekends at the Sherman Oaks uh AIDS Ward um at the hospital there which was just filled with people and there was no cure it was a death sentence then and um yeah so I had a partner um his name was Kevin and we were together for almost nine years and he we didn't get tested for a long time because there was nothing you could do and you just didn't want to live with that hanging over your head but when they came out with a drug that didn't cure anything but at least it was something um we both got tested and he was positive and um a couple of years later he got really sick he developed full-blown AIDS and it was so ghastly um I just can't even it was there was just nothing to comfort him medically it was horrible and he was a the best realtor that has ever worked in Los Angeles and everybody loved him and he was so successful and so good at it and honest about it and he had a lot of celebrity clients so um one night he was near death um I was at home alone and there was a knock at the door and I opened the door up and it was share and I and she said I came to see Kevin how did she know she was a client of his but you know people talk and she I guess she knew he was sick right and she said can I see him and I said of course and I said you know I could come upstairs with you because it's kind of rough and she said no she said I want to go alone and so she walked up the stairs and she um closed the door and I could hear her talking to him he was in a coma at that point and but I think he could process and understand and I thought okay should she be there for like five or ten minutes she was there for 45 minutes and she was just talking to him and she came downstairs afterward and she said I'm really sorry and she left and the reason I'm that I'm telling you this and why I'm I'm so taken by her she never talked about it she never had a publicist call and said I visited somebody with AIDS she never talked about it I've never really publicly talked about this and I'm glad you are and and people should know that about her absolutely and I am I I think so much of her and it was so genuine and and meaningful and you know I went upstairs after and I could just tell it meant something I mean he couldn't talk but I could see this kind of it was peaceful and he died a couple days later but um I will never forget that from her I will never forget that so the reason you like her really is kind of because it's kind of thing it's kind of gay but no just to break that's what they call a treacle cutter on a sitcom you know okay you got no no but you know what it comes the the eight-year-old who comes in and says boner commercial but but no let me go back because I am and you can I just think there's so many celebrities now who will you know use publicists and whatnot to you know show good deeds and it's great that they have good deeds hers was just private she just wanted to do it so well first of all I always thought she was great a fan of her music fan of her acting and just fan of her as a person you you could tell she was a ballsy real chick I mean like I would I'm not going to get to in this lifetime be friends with her but I bet you we would have been friends if we had been in the same and and did you ever become friends with her after that no I had actually you know I mean it was just out of the blue and um our paths only crossed once really um when Kevin was showing her house to um this religious sect that was looking at the house to buy it and I'm just thinking where are these guys getting the money now I understand um but um she um she was introducing herself to all of the fathers or whatever they were called from this sect that were looking at this 20 million dollar house or whatever it was and she came down to me and I said I'm father Levin it's nice to meet you and she hit me but that was pretty much the only interaction well you know she got into trouble about two years ago maybe you remember this she tweeted something I think it was about the George Floyd murder I think she but it was some instance like that I'm pretty sure that was and she said she was just you know so typical of our cancel culture or there are What's called the apology culture making people apologize when they're only trying to say something good and you get it slightly wrong or wrong in some person's eyes and she said something like I wish I could have been there because I think I could have helped oh I remember that I'm not saying that's a word for word I I remember very close yeah that was certainly the sentiment yeah and just I for people who don't understand what it's like to be a celebrity I'm saying that not as one myself as because there's there are levels of it that are so in the stratosphere Beyond where I am and I'm fine with that I don't want to be in that Stratosphere but the power that celebrity has in our culture I'm not so sure a celebrity in that situation couldn't have changed something people are just moved by celebrity I don't know if she could have got that sick cop to stop doing what he was doing but it's not completely Unthinkable but let's say it is okay she made a PO she made a point you may not like it she didn't come from a green place in good faith yeah and it's a great place that's what when when I rail about woke that's the kind of [ __ ] that I'm talking about that annoys so many people I know it's not just me I just hear it all the time like Bill please and this is from liberals you know I hear it too everybody hates that [ __ ] it's just mean girls high school [ __ ] but you know what you know you know the problem the problem is Corporate the problem is big companies that if this were just a couple thousand people on Twitter you know going after everybody sitting you know sitting at a computer I don't know that it would matter that much but the fact is it has caught the attention of big companies that will immediately fire people that will um you know that will you know put you in a corner um because they're so scared of you know of of people on both extremes so the extremes are running this country not because the public wants it but all of the the infrastructure and all the people that hire and fire and will rent you an apartment or do whatever they listen to this and they're scared of it and they react to it and I think that's why things have gotten out of control I don't think it's the public because I agree with you I don't think the public believes this [ __ ] I think that what what's going on is is that these companies are so skittish that they're going to get canceled that they'll just cut anybody off if they misstep at all I really do all right I have to go back to one thing about your story about well I mean about AIDS I mean first of all I'm sure you saw the thing I did last week on sasheen Little Feather I'm sure your your crew does not know who that is I have no idea I don't they don't know Marlon Brando to that point that is right that was hysterical that was hysterical but like okay we won't go back to that but tell them tell them how big a moment that was because that was a big moment it was just cultural it was okay well I mean and you say you know how it's TMZ changed I mean like you said they were doing Tomahawk chops and the Liberals right yes this was liberal Hollywood I by the way I told Quentin Tarantino he's not going to do it of course but I told him Quentin you love to remake things remake Real History why don't you remake that because what I left out of that story by the way that the obituary in the New York Times said was not only did they boo her jeer her threatened to arrest her she went over time did the tomahawk chop John Wayne having to be restrained right rushing this day well that's that I understand that I believe listen to this she takes the award this is in the obituary brings it to Brando's house after the ceremony on the doorstep she is shot at I did not know really that's what they said holy smokes so that's that's why I said to Quentin you should remake this incident except you love women characters who go on a tear and kill have her shoot at her and then she she kills like all those Hollywood liberals which were booing her kill Jill Jack Lemons with Roger Moore I love that I love that but anyway but the point I was getting to that in that thing was that everyone's late on everything and I meant the first one I mentioned was Reagan right he said Reagan was late on AIDS Obama was late on gay marriage JFK was laid on civil rights Lincoln said ugly things about black people before he gave his life to emancipate them everybody's late but that one the Reagan one I purposely put that first because it was such an unnecessary one what do you mean that he didn't do anything about it until Rock Hudson got it yeah partly because it was just like well gay people and they shouldn't be poking in the wrong home yeah but Bill I got to tell you this was not when I remember I mean people were getting fired from jobs they were getting thrown out of Apartments their families were disowning them there was that's one of the reasons I I love Cher so much for what she did right because she didn't buy into that fear right and it was horrible and so I remember I you know when I hear that about Reagan and everything else that you know it had to be a Rock Hudson before he did anything I mean there were a lot of people who were liberal people and and part of it is honestly part of it is they were just scared um but there was a lot of meanness that that connected I remember having Ron Reagan Jr on Politically Incorrect in the 90s yeah right under that sign there and uh Harvey fierstein was on with him and he said at one point [ __ ] you and [ __ ] your father and what did he say I don't we'll be right back no no the reason I didn't remember the reason I say that is I don't think Ron Reagan was at all aligned with him on this I I'm not sure that Reagan Jr he's a cool guy yeah that I'm just my point was that the the venom for Ronald Reagan the President right was so great that Harvey could not help himself from saying [ __ ] you and [ __ ] you if it's pretty funny I mean it's pretty funny but okay so here's my serious question I hope it's not too personal but how did you avoid this bullet I don't know and I think about it actually a lot now maybe it's in that big cup I don't know it's it's so Random you know it's so funny you say that I there it was so traumatic that I mean it really has affected me in like in every way for in life yeah um it would I mean every Kevin was 34. and my friends were in their 20s and 30s and I don't know I don't know how I avoided it but you know what I've been thinking about it so much over the last couple of years and you know one of the things it's funny you talk about getting older I was just thinking just the things that could happen to you from conception to death I mean from birth defects to you know illness to accidents to all these things if you can make it as far as we've made it it is like winning the lottery but it is like winning the lottery and when I see all the people I know who died and it's like why yes why me I mean I really mean it it's like I it's hard to understand I don't have an answer but it works the other way too I remember talking to Matthew Perry last year when he was out doing this book and he did I saw the show yeah and I mean it is harrowing what I mean he did it to himself he'll be the first to admit but the the drugs the operations how close he was to death yeah I mean you know and then once he was I read the book too and when he was close to death he did it again he went back to it yeah and I remember saying to him you know it is so easy to die it's also kind of hard which you prove it is also kind of hard and I wish you would think more of it in those terms yes it is easy to die we are so brittle the flesh um but we're also very kind of resist resistant and Hearty I mean you think about it but I didn't see a lot of resistant people no I mean it was just a time something like that yes yeah and it's like you say that but it's not hard to die and you know when it's not when you experience it's both all these people that you know who are you know in the prime of their life and you know because they had sex with somebody right it's a death sentence and it it's just incomprehensible it is maybe it's my convoluted way of like getting in the idea that we've talked about before when you threaten to quit and I'm like first of all you need to you're there's no reason to quit there is no diminution of your skills so why would you even think about that you know look at yourself as like you know this is threaten to quit what are you talking about you've said that before like maybe I should just no I said a lot well a long retired several years ago um yeah there was when when we moved over to a new company I I have more energy now than I've had right so instead of obsessing on the number whatever you are 71 or something I don't obsessed on that okay and I'm also not afraid of dying but I don't think about it I'm I'm fine with it it's gonna happen it's a that's very brave are you of dying yeah yeah no but of course but dying yeah but the reason I'm not is I mean to have lived as long as I've lived and with all the people that never had that life it's like yeah I'm not gonna live forever and it's kind of gravy now well you know what I really mean that I'm not lying I I I I totally believe you I'm just trying to convince you something else first of all the natural lifespan of the human being is more like a hundred you do realize that how do we know this because there are places in the world called Blue zones where people do live almost everybody lives to around a hundred it's just they don't know why yes they do well no they have theories about exactly but the point is that mostly it's look it's not rocket science mostly it's like the diet you know the lack of toxins the lack of pollutants there are other factors one is a religious community Yorba Linda in California it's like why but you know look that suggests to me very strongly that there is an a mental element to keeping your health I've always believed in a strong connection between the minds I could actually so agree with that I think it's something Western medicine completely overlooks I absolutely agree if they can't read it on a chart it doesn't exist and that is not how health is so why do these strongly religious people well religion does give people if you really believe it uh if you can really throw yourself into it it gives you peace of mind I've heard people say to me all all my life you know I put my head on the pillow at night I know if I die in my sleep I'll go to a better place and I always say that why don't you women are we now are you now becoming religious no no no I'm saying that I'm saying this no but I'm saying having that peace of mind could be a very big key to health how how stressed you are how how piece of how when you put that head on the pillow you go sleep itself is it so important to longevity and to being healthy I'm just saying there are factors that is one that should be considered since it's one of the five blue zones but mostly it's like another one is they all seem to eat a lot of beans I'm not joking so you know farting just farting it just well it could be okay can I want to ask you something because I I love your take on religion I I really do oh good and you know when you you talk about Christianity as a cult and yes but yet what you just said is really interesting if you really believe oh yeah that the peace of mind that comes along with religion lets you live longer why don't you embrace it because I can't fool myself I'm not an idiot hey [Laughter] oh I'm glad you're having a good time oh my God that's the best but it's true you know I always try to be too smart for you right I'm gonna try to explain yeah so he goes I always try to explain to people the difference between religion and not religion and they say well how do you explain I say of course we agree that there are things in this universe that we have no way of knowing I don't know how it all began of course but my answer to that is not to make up stories that I tell myself that's your answer to that if it works for you congratulations you do you I'm saying it could be a key to longevity of sorts you know and I I wonder if the people in the other five places or maybe they're not crazy religious like the Yorba Linda people I think it's Yorba Linda but uh they are possibly you know strong Catholics or just something where you you know you have that peace of mind that you know what's going to happen happen when it all ends I mean that's one reason why you say to me are you afraid of dying of course because I don't know what's going to happen and and I think it's nothing but it could be could be anything I'm not I've never been adamant about I'm a about what I a certain knows how I don't know what happens when you die I just as Richard Dawkins says I'm an atheist you don't believe in all the other gods like Zeus and you know Thor I just take it one more and don't believe in the last one we were we agreed to believe in so but your peeking is the the point I was making is that you should think of yourself as peaking you know don't listen to those kids who say you're old enough but you think this is affecting me you're the one who raised retirement no I raised retirement uh three years ago with you and it had that long ago yeah no it was it had it hasn't been the last couple years oh good I'm I'm so I'll tell you I'm like so energized now with this good because and we're getting I really mean it we're getting resources I've got this passion for these documentaries and this is what is going to keep you alive I mean you don't no that's with the mind right I'm also having a purpose to to get up and like new things new experiences new world no I'm totally with you you're right I mean I didn't know you were gonna expose me that way oh I'm sorry it's okay no it's fine it's absolutely true I was I I was getting really frustrated you know over some circumstances corporately but it's changed and I'm I I'm more excited about what we're doing than I've been in 17 years here I'm really really charged I don't know how we didn't become friends before we did I know and I'm going to probably die soon and then all of a sudden it's like God I could have been friends with him for like 20 years I love the way you taunted me with that one I thought you were going to get me go right back into my Spiel no no no I'm not that I may look dumb but but uh but yeah I mean it's it's funny our past never really did Crush but well they did once they did once oh you don't even know it not good there no it was um I don't know if you remember you want to talk about how things have changed I want to test your memory and see if you remember that the night at the ramrod I was very drunk I thought I was going in I thought I was I honestly thought I was going into the IHOP uh and then then things just got out of control I'll tell you what it was I I went inside a guy named I owe him like 20 bucks anyway go ahead there was a t-shirt I saw I was in like Croatian there was a t-shirt that said um I'm not gay but 50 bucks is 50 bucks laughs that's great um so I don't know if you remember this this must have been in the mid 90s maybe um there was some kind of a thing um downtown it was a big event and I think it was honoring lawyers or something well all I can say is in the 90s you I would go do anything you were there with a woman and I remember somebody said oh my God Bill Mars over there and I looked I thought wow Bill Maher's there oh and I don't know if you remember this but this I will I will tell you this because this is this is insane do you remember a judge because you were there there was a judge who got up and spoke and the judge decided he wanted to be a comic and he told a joke about a guy who was dating this girl and uh this woman or whatever and um they were in bed and he said something to her or did something and she said God you are you remind me of a pedophile and he said that's an awfully big word for a 13 year old do you you were there and I remember people old gas really but the judge nothing ever happened I love that no that's just nothing ever happened a great show you were there I don't remember but as I say in the 90s I was that guy who the old line he'd go to the opening of an envelope you know it was just like it was that first again your theory you were right your first flush of getting invited to things was pretty great you know like oh you're now in the celebrity club and you get to what sit on the sidewalk downtown and listen to a judge tell a [ __ ] but but it was some event right it was it was some big event it was a big event no more yeah wow you know Bill Maher when he was in high school didn't get invited to the party so like or college was a total Wipeout the secret to life that you know that charge you get you can't duplicate with a bigger house no or another car no so what you got to do is you got to find new things yeah and that to me is the secret is that you know it's like for me these documentaries I have such a passion for this and we're creating a scripted show and a game show and everything and I love doing these new things and you do this this what we're doing what you're doing right now is only a year old and it's a new thing and it's a great thing and that's what keeps you young yes now you're pretty wait you're reading my lines okay I'm sorry I mean if we're gonna if we're coming to an end yes we're showing that we agree on things we we agree on I I mean the the times when you and I it's just we've only had one big argument it's a [ __ ] hair is different like what no we've had one big argument and that's it yeah the Beatles The Beatles but it's oh that's hysterical that you well yeah I mean yeah well it's I I don't know how you look at that documentary and don't see the love between London and McCartney No I saw the love there but I don't know how you read the book that I told you to read Here There and Everywhere and not understand that there was a bird's eye view this guy had that was very different but he's also a guy who had an ax to grind why because well I asked I asked Martin Lewis the ultimate Beetle expert about that so I can't share everything but let's just say that there is there I mean look he he's selling a book people want to say things that will make other people buy the book let's just leave it at that I mean I don't take the guy's word is Gospel I didn't take it as memory from all those years ago if it's true then somehow they like went through a phase where they didn't love each other so much and then by the time we actually saw it because I'm going to believe My Lying Eyes more than what I read in a book My Lying Eyes saw eight hours or what was it 10 I don't know it was like 40 hours oh they they shot they shot me sorry but we saw right okay of John Lennon and Paul McCartney who it was so obviously that band always was them that was it was Lennon and McCartney I mean they there was that thing that Ringo and George second class Beatles you know I didn't know how true that was it is kind of true when George Harrison threatened to quit Paul and John had lunch we did we didn't see that thing they just had the audio but they don't go oh how can we get our mate back in the band they were immediately throwing him under the bus and talking about getting Eric Clapton in there um there's a reason why George quit and Ringo quit at one point it's they're like talk they're singing to each other They're laughing with each other John completely ignores Yoko it's like she's not even there he's so bad they brought his bed into the studio right because so she could just be there but he ignores her but he he and Paul McCartney you can see it in their eyes they have this incredible connection I would think that you would want to embrace that I want to emote let's watch it together really I haven't seen I saw it once I want to see it again I would watch it let's make a date to watch that like in a year I loved but not that documentary I don't think in one night we can but we could do it like every so we could do it like every let's do it every one night pickup night in a month oh totally like every Friday night we'll watch two hours you're not suggesting I don't like the Beatles no I don't love it no you're kidding we yes that's the rock on which we found our church all right I know this is past your bedtime [Music] all right so appreciate it I'll do your Christmas show if you still want me to oh you're booked okay you're booked and the the kids won't be mean to you oh I can't wait to attack me oh no

Channel: Club Random Podcast

Views: 252,108

Keywords: club random podcast, club random, podcast, bill maher, bill, maher, club random with bill maher, real time, real time with bill maher, Harvey Levin, TMZ, 911, Fifth plan, cher

Id: KzDPvARxd9A

Length: 70min 0sec (4200 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 20 2023