Interviewing the king of interviews | Larry King | Unstoppable #74

very good question : I will use that question okay if you were interviewed Osama bin Laden what would you ask how important is family to you in your life well I'm not good at marriage I was going to stay away from that one hello and welcome to unstoppable I'm your host Kerwin ray and today I got schooled oh my god I am super pumped to bring you this episode with Larry King Larry King by name King by nature he has conducted over 60,000 interviews including seven US presidents and has over 62 years in the broadcast business Larry King is considered to be broad cast royalty and in this episode I feel incredibly privileged to be the very first person who had the opportunity to speak to him since having a stroke which by the way age of 74 even after having a stroke this man was sharp as a tack it was a sharp as a razor blade and quick as a whip we discussed why he doesn't prepare for the interviews that he does which I tell you right now it was a great insight for me his most memorable interviews and how he actually got into broadcasting in the first place his proudest achievements which will be one that most people probably won't expect and his toolbox for interviewing and I have to tell you I'm pretty stoked I actually had the opportunity to ask him a question that Larry had never been asked before my goal whenever I interview anyone is to ask questions that no one's ever asked we talked about how he navigates the process of the interview and also what questions he would ask if he ever got the opportunity to interview check out this one Osama bin Laden or Hitler who he most admires in broadcasting and what he wants his legacy to be ladies and gentlemen it is an absolute honor and a real pleasure I have to tell you I was completely blown away by this man's humility but his brain is so sharp his wit is so on point and this has probably been one of the proudest moments of my very short broadcasting career listen up Larry King for you [Music] this episode is brought to you by naylet and scaler the world's leading fast growth program for businesses if you or I've ever wanted to grow your business faster than what you can right now if you need to make more revenue if you need more leads if you need more clients if you need to know how to plan your business in a strategic way in order to hit big goals if you need to learn how to scale your business and grow your team and your business so that you have more freedom then this program is for you imagine three days immersed with me where we cover all aspects of business but we do it from an immersive but and also an execution standpoint we execute every step of the way and we are looking at five key areas we're looking at your psychology we're looking at your marketing your sales your leadership and we're looking at your planning and how we integrate these five key areas to grow your business and your brand quickly so if you'd like to find out more information go and raid calm so ladies and gentlemen it is a real honor and a massive pleasure to welcome to the stage Larry King King by name King by Nature thank you so much for coming on you've so flipped over this Arjun I can tell just the way you're so excited and there are moments in a person's life when they really feel and Ikes I know Cohen you feel at this moment oh I do as a safety when I when we just arrived I hadn't planned to come back to LA I've just spent time in LA even Hawaii but the moment I found out that that you were available I was just like I've moved everything my country it's an honor and look for someone who's lived such an incredible life and you know there are so many things that I want to ask you and as I was saying earlier I don't normally prepare for an interview and so this is actually the first interview I've ever done a little bit of preparation for but the irony was I found out that you don't prepare for any of yours for the same reasons but when I think about your life Larry I think about someone who's not only lived an incredible life full of the most amazing experiences but those experiences have really been made even richer by the opportunity to I guess in many ways get inside some of the most incredible minds that we've had in our time well I think of all yeah I guess of all the famous people interesting people I've had a chance to sit with I chose well 60 to 63 years of doing this and so I've stepped in the shadow of great people and it's a it is a great I not kiddin it's a great life I got no complaints about my 62 years in the broadcasting business and Anna Anna of the Nelson Mandela's to the Frank Sinatra's to the but I discovered along the way they all put their pants on one leg at a time is that one thing that you really identified that threw everyone that you interviewed that everyone is awesome everyone is human I try to get to the human side I don't prepare like you said you don't prepare if I found early on that if I read a book and the author was coming on I had no interest in the book anymore because I read it so what if I didn't read it and therefore I don't have to ask what were you saying on page 84 because I didn't read page 1 and that fascinated me that worked to my advantage the less I know Mike Wallace was a dear friend of mine a great broadcaster and he worked the more he knew and he would get volumes on a person volumes so we had a lot of discussion once and he said well you know you know getting anything else I said no now we don't have all day to interview so no one's gonna do the greatest interview ever done right you were the secret is work to your best what works best for you and what works best for me is the least I know the less I know I'll give you a perfectly say I'm in Miami and they arranged for me to interview the founder of the hydrogen bomb dr. Edwards but he founded the hydrogen bomb and he was doing a visiting professorship at the University of Miami and he invited him to come and speak and a friend there my father was a professor urge him to do very germanic sit down he says what do you know about physics how do you know I said nothing if you're unhappy you can leave this is OK on that bargain I'll do this and my first question to him was why dr. teller Edward Teller why when we were in school did we hate physics why want to come to taking physics we dreaded it and he goes because they teach it wrong it shouldn't be called physics it should be called life physik not now that and I finish a half hour with him and he says to me why didn't you tell me you know about physics and that was a great honor too because hand rested about so I loved interviewing people who are so removed from me that like what you're doing now you're interviewing someone who is in your ballpark I like people out of my ballpark I like the physicists and and the entrepreneurs and the people who have done things in a field I know nothing about and I get more curious about that curiosity is down Trump said make America great again I would have said make America curious again curiosity is the founding of all I do I'm and the trouble with being curious I don't know if this happens to you can you begin to be curious about everything yeah you know why did they do this why did they do that why did they put this there why is he over there why are we here why are we here and drives kids crazy your children and I guess that kind of provokes a lot of other questions and your most well-known for being you know one of the greatest interviewers that ever lived and as I read about you I am covered more than I even knew up until this point but I there was no one individual that I could drill down on to go OK what was it like to interview this person that person so in what I'm curious to know is out of all of the interviews that you've done I was 60,000 interviews is that right that's what they figure yeah yeah who has been the most memorable and why that is so hard was certainly Sinatra cause he was hard to get if you got someone hard to get that doesn't do interviews and then you got him that was you but I you know I knew so--but you have to break it down show business the Jackie Gleason's the Frank Sinatra's politics seven American presidents philosophy it's hard to I'll tell you one eye they tell me that our guest tonight is a policeman who was shot in Central Park and he is paralyzed from the neck down he can't hold his three-year-old son he's still with the police force as a public relations she comes in the studio this is a local studio in Washington and I naturally what happened he said MacDonald was his name I was driving in my squad car through Central Park and there were reports of a series of stolen bicycles so they you know had the police watch outfit and he said I was driving is his black kid with a brand-new Schwinn a brand-new shiny Schwinn bike so I got out walked up to him and said how'd you get that one and he shot me and I'm lying in the ambulance and get the last rice and everything that I managed to live paralyzed for life so I asked when I was in my wheelchair getting and feeling myself again I'd like to go see the kid I think you talk to so they bring him down the kid is not in a life sentence because he officer wasn't killed and he said to the kid why did you shoot me they looked up the regular kid was an A student and the kid said well my brother is having some tough times and he had this gun and he said this gun was stolen I gotta leave town hold the gun for me and he just gave it to me that morning so I was holding it that morning and I had no intention of Sheila give but I just did because you were the 10th cop to stop me day and asked how did you get this bike I mean so I put yourself in a position understanding that kid mmm how could you have a new Schwinn you're a black pin now that conclusion story is the top adopted the kid and the kid is now a cop so when you say memorable individual that's a memorable interview but I've had I can't pick out one I can't pick out one look I'd love to know the origins of your story but in the time that we've got I guess the question is how did you get into doing what you do you never want anything else throwing when I was 5 years old I wanted to be on the radio I used to imitate radio announcers there'd be programs in the shadow knows and I would actually go in to another room and do a shuttle those I wanted it so bad and when I was a kid I would visit radio shows that had studio audiences and some I even they let me come when there was no one it was a strictly studio no audience and I was fascinated by microphones and how people sound I didn't know I'd be an interview I thought I'd be a baseball now so I love baseball and I thought I would read Baba was it Dodger announcer and he was like a hero to me but I got into it in the way I was working at a station in Miami was a disc jockey playing music and a restaurant wanted someone to do a show in the mid morning's in the restaurant when restaurants aren't busy 10:00 to 11:00 in the morning I went and did that job and I the first time I started interview people god that's all I wanted to do you just knew Bobby Darin came on and just Sullivan and a whole bunch of famous people started coming to the show and again they weren't booked I didn't know who would walk in the door and that became to me I said this is a lifetime this is unlearning was this when you were doing that in a restaurant yes and so the way that your schedule worked is whoever walked into the restaurant no you need to be interview waiters I have you visiting people from conventions Jimmy Hoffa came in I was stuck soup it was just it was a wonderful wasn't it all the money in the world but it was a great way to learn and I was learning on the job were there any times in your life where challenges kind of stepped in to the point where you thought you weren't gonna be able to do this the only time was recently when I I had this weird I wasn't an actual I had a spoke and I was driving in my car so as to I remember and next I remember I was in intensive care wow I know what I was out out of it so I don't remember anything that happened to me in the ensuing days but there were there was at least 10 days I didn't know any and so when I woke up in intensive care my 20 year old son said to me his what happened he had this and bad new heart I mean they had a stent the Hartnell and the doctors think you think you were gonna die and I said well if all when you're telling me it's true I want to die I don't want to live like that I don't want to do it and he started to cry and I'm seeing prices he was three years old and he said you can't leave you can't leave and I hung by that and every time I see him I tell him you saved my life so that was he going the interruption I've never been you know out of work how important is family to you in your life well I'm not good at marriage I was gonna stay away from that one no he's not my strong suit a good father yeah I sense that care about my kids listen to my kids I have three grown I have a daughter and two sons living in Florida and my two boys live here for 19 and 20 and I get a kick out of watching children develop and how they think and the kids are smart and they are curious and they ask good questions so on a personal level I'm not the best family man I wouldn't say that's my strong suit but I'm a good father and that's my proudest proudest achievement has been a fall you could you have kids yeah I've got a five and a half year old son no nothing tops it right nothing because we have little children that's the only person in your life totally dependent on you you'll desert them and it's unrequited my son could rob a bank I'd be there for that's real I think that's important you I want to be a little bit selfish now you know obviously with podcasting taking off in the level that it is you know interviewing has become quite an important and valuable commodity as a skill and as a talent and you've already given some incredible insights into what makes you the interview you are you know being very curious not preparing give it gives you the sense of intrigue that is genuine with the audience but I'm curious to know apart from curiosity what other traits do you believe it required and will become one of the greats listen that's the first thing it'll listening listening is as important as asking a question because you got to be involved in it to be able to follow up and you therefore must listen you must be involved of the traits are naturally be a good broadcaster a professionalism composure I think every good interview is a control freak take water control the situation yeah yeah it's like a sale and it is the others dollar and the great ones are control freaks I don't know when I do the word great gets bandied around but certainly I know when I go on the air Monday morning I will control that half hour just once the light goes on nothing anybody can do you control this this what you're doing right now and you're gonna edit it so you'll probably decide what you like best what you don't like but you're controlling it I have no control over this situation except I can get up and leave but I have no control and control is a big factor if you're afraid to be to do that if you're seriously concerned that I jeez like like I gotta go interview this guy for a half hour don't go don't do it on the moment and you do that you own this one you know that I'm not telling you anything new you own you you know you own this moment I feel very honored to even put it in it's in my category but I'm gonna assume in every situation you've got like a tool box things that you pull out when you do your work and when it comes to the questioning process like is there a range of tools that you that you always go to or is it very much like your your preparation where you're like okay I'm really gonna think about what I'm gonna ask or do you just do ask me and so I never thought about it do I have a range of tools I'm a terrible jack I couldn't hang up pictures on the wall yeah what are my tools very good question : I will use that question because we also are thieves yeah I can't say many respects I don't know what tools I have I know I have a good voice yeah I know I can ask good questions I'd but tools I have to think about it good and a good interview cause you to think Peter Ustinov said to me was a good interview makes you think about things you aren't thinking about yeah now I was not I have not used the word tools I don't ever remember using the word tools so you have spurted me a new question it's a good question I asked because I have to think about it and I would guess that the first tool is is curiosity if you're not curious forget it the second tool is composure the third tool is controlling the situation the fourth tool is understanding when has a guest hit the plateau that you're right sometimes you have to interrupt don't be afraid interrupt so you're thinking a tough for the audience your audience and watching or listening you're thinking for that when you interrupt it's because you perceive that they're bored or they've heard enough so that's one of my tools but you've given me a very good code one thank you completely yeah I'd love to say it was planned to the daytime but it's not you do ask a lot of great questions but one of the things that I've also observed is how you get to the heart of things and you bring you know a level of emotion out in some respects from individual that's I can't explain it yeah is is it and what is their level of empathy behind that yeah I guess I grew up with it I was always good with it I was I teachers like me and I asked questions I cared they knew that I had tuned out the whole world and they're there by the way I do do that I - not everything it doesn't matter if I'm doing you today and tomorrow I'm doing the president that the fact of who I'm doing Marv in effect today I'm into you they know I'm into you and that's very important to me so I've always been able people just respond to me I don't they were spotted me when I was a kid what's that is that you have this innate ability to develop really quick rapport yeah I that comes with eye contact but I will do a lot of satellite interviews where you can't have a rapport comes that I think they sense that one I like them this is the guest - I have no agenda I'm not there to embarrass about their to preys on better learn that's what I want to make this our more learning and if it's in the entertainment realm on doing comedians I want it to be funny I walk but I want the moment and there is a moment when you know you've got that person and you're hoping with me it occurs quickly with a guest it occurs quickly I could draw a guest out fast by all or how I do it I guess I have the tools but they're inborn tools yeah I didn't take any lessons in the interviewing it's almost like you have this ability to create a very safe bubble very quickly that drops the defences and allows people to be vulnerable I don't know what it is yeah I know it's true I know it yeah like Sinatra sent me a letter which I prized and framed and which he said the camera disappeared and then he said you my friend had an extraordinary talent don't blow it with that and that flip Manning I never went to college I came right out of high school did a bunch of odd jobs before I got into broadcasting which is my number one thrill I was a disc jockey as I said but then and now I've gotten to another world world of stand-up and do a lot of comedy I tour I speak at conventions I never speak seriously a lot of times they expect you to be serious because I've done so many serious programs so I love standing on a stage and mixing it up with the audience and getting them to respond this laughter is a lot like love if you can make someone laugh does an extra I love comedians of all the professions comedians are a favorite they stand alone on a stage and make people laugh you get no help though band no you know artist rendering no written a performer for example improv this is it standeth make me laugh and most audiences that's what they said their make me laugh I love making them laugh and you're very good at it I'm gonna also see we've had situations before where people haven't to step it up to you you know you've had tough characters who perhaps have been maybe either burnt by the media or just by their situation in life how have you found it best in those situations to create a level of vulnerability and again I'm asking this with a level of naivete having not necessarily watched all of your interviews having watched a lot of your interviews but do you ever use vulnerability perhaps as one of your tools I'm sure I do I don't see I don't think about yeah I just do it you just do it and that's why I never have I don't go around thinking what do I do professionally one of my tools what is this I just wanna hear another way if if let's say right now a light just appeared and we're on live all right my guest is Kerwin Kerwin thrilled to have you here now for one do you ever think of leaving Australia try to get you to think about things you haven't thought about but I I could do it I could work here I could broadcast traffic but because I've been doing it so long yeah and when you've done something so long I don't want to say it's a piece of cake but it's a piece of cake and so I I work in the people who are vulnerable and I can make that vulnerability go away and especially if they've had bad news or being bad rapped they know I trust them I don't know what I'm saying that makes them trust me but they know I know did you ever have like a tough cookie so top that you're like goof yeah Robert Mitchum the wonderful actor drove me nuts ptomaine nuts because he get everything was one word oh well you know any interviewer knows what one word you can't follow up there's no sense listening and Mitchum was on CNN and I would ask him what do you think would you think about working with the great Joseph pukar the great director yeah can't remember what do you think of Humphrey Bogart bizarre I like this that's what I was getting so when when the end of you ended it was 15 minutes it felt like an hour and I said to him thank you very much and he said how did I do the answer report card you but those are they're few and far between I've been very fortunate they haven't run into the Mitchum's see what I still love as an actor and that did not affect my liking of him as an actor I pushed it aside do you find yourself as someone in your because one of the things I believe that gives you the ability to penetrate so deeply is your ability to come across so unbiased you know very accepting you know non-judgmental non-judgmental generalization if you Osama bin Laden man killed 3,000 people in one day with bombs in him what would you ask summer bin luck and that was just thrown at me in an interview so I said my first our first question would not have been why did you kill 3,000 people in one day why did you send all those planes my first question would be you you were born into one of the richest families in Saudi Arabia why do you leave to live in caves and that then brings to me an understanding of how as a friend of mine her v-phone likes to say bad people don't think they're bad Hitler didn't comb his hair in the morning and say I am a terrible person I'm a horrible person I don't love my he didn't do that so if I can find out what made us solve bin Laden Osama bin Laden what made Hitler Hitler that's that's what I'm there for not to yell at them not to screen that the scream of them that's not mine that's not my role you want someone like that hire somebody else I want to learn what do you all go to questions or angles I know from what I'm sensing your toolbar toolbox is incredibly diverse there's a lot and mostly unite but do you ever have your either go to questions that you just know are going to give you the result or I could result every time or an angle or a direction that you typically will use or is it different every single time it's different every Cohen I don't know the answer to that I don't know what I do Ohio State University years ago asked me to do a course on interviewing a visiting course that once a week and I should know how do I teach it I know I wouldn't know how to I guess a you'd be curious as short questions have no agenda but that's okay now about now what happens in a second what course but also know they have great respect for my business I have great respect for this camera and the whole medium of television and radio I just is such a joy to have worked in this to have given 60 to 63 years to insomnia love how many people have had the pleasure of doing that and then his damn foot came along I'm and walking well until it gets better from the stroke that it owner --vs me you know it drives me crazy depending on other people I'd I have to be driven around in a wheelchair Joe doesn't say well I'm short tempered how Mena be short tempered yeah but I am shortened and I imagine this would amplify I don't like red lights and yellow instead exist lateness I hate lateness don't be late yeah don't keep me sitting on an airplane and give me some lies because I believe the airline's lie hmm don't you think airlines on all the time oh I think they give you a lying test and if you like good they hire mmm pilots and gentlemen as when when a pilot gives you he's thinking of what to say you know a computer problem of him we should have it turned around and 45 minutes Oh baloney I know you are a very natural with what you do but I'm gonna I'm gonna go there one more time and in the hope that there might be something there for the young broadcasters coming through in the course that you ended up running over the weeks that you ran it did you ever surmise one or two or three basic questions that any good broadcaster could use as a staff first of all always remember the five basics who what where when why okay del never heard you down you know who what where when why covers a lot of bases I can't make you curious so if your desire to be an interviewer not curious you you're not gonna make yeah you gotta be sure and think about questions that are short but people can relate to so here's who what where when why why did you do that whatever it is the person did and just explain one why did you do that who was a great influence in your life where do you think you are right now when this whatever this incident was when it happened in your life how did it affect your life those all who what where when why just use them yeah use them they're effective and when of course is when have you changed the one has this developed and I feel like that's a little mini MBI just right there and we can't go wrong with what were one why did it work and too many and I remember Bob and Ray were a great comedy team years ago radio in in America and they would do characters every day and they had one character waling blue they did all the voices and while I blue was the world's worst interviewer but he thought he was the best and voila blue did not listen so they would do it I'm on the street now and here comes a gentleman I'm Wally below sure it's not where I should say yes what do you do for a living I'm a mailman Oh what brings you to New York I'm here to put a bomb in the UN building are you married how many gonna ask you two more questions I forgot to look at the time when we started so I want to respect yours deeply and so I finished with to last final questions the first one is in the industry of broadcasting and interviewing who is it you most admire well as a kid I admire there were armored oh I love Mike Wallace we worked completely different but I loved him there was a local television radio host Barry gray I admired him a lot today go on and I'll tell you why do I because every television show I watch has four panelists and a host don't get into anything except the current news so I don't know the person I can't learn from that person so I wonder if my age of broadcasting our interviews is dead oh not lost waiting to be rediscovered yeah and lastly mine what do you want to be remembered for that and again I don't ask this is a cliche question I've read what you would desire your legacy to be and so I I guess I have a I would say this he entertained and informed and those two great ingredients that he gave to the world of broadcasting he didn't just educate you didn't just inform you that he entertained you he did it in a manner that people didn't turn off the set they leaned forward to hear more and he try to make you try to make worried that he might have tried to make things better if I've made things better for Humanity or for one person I've um well I'm glad I've been around I'm not ready to go now although I'm 85 goddamn using it shop the nice 25 year olds if we're gonna be honest Larry this is gonna get any one of my greatest people thank you to as someone who is an aspiring I'm not a journalist I've never studied general is not aspiring anymore you've aspired I am inspired by what you've done in there yeah the legacy that you've left and the the pathway that you've paved so thank you so much for for coming on the show my pleasure thank you thank you this episode was brought to you by nail it and scale at the world's leading fast growth program for business there you have it guys thanks for tuning into unstoppable with me your host Coen ray and please do not forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel where you get to see all of these interviews in the net flesh share this podcast with your friends and drop me a review on iTunes I would love to hear what you guys think and also let you know your comments help make sure that we keep producing killer content just like this and if you'd like to stay up to date with all of my movements upcoming podcasts events and much more please jump onto the website Kirwan rate.com and also check us out on all social media on the handle at Kirwan ray thanks for joining us

Channel: Kerwin Rae

Views: 4,322

Rating: 4.8974357 out of 5

Keywords: Kerwin Rae, kerwinrae, Kerwin, Rae

Id: 5h1B8SQ8hUc

Length: 39min 24sec (2364 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 05 2020