On How He Became the Interview King (Pt. 1) | Larry King | MEDIA | Rubin Report

joining me today is the original king of interviewing a friend a mentor a living legend and a man who loves a good Brooklyn water bagel Larry King welcome to the Reuben report know whenever I hear legend I think one thing old well every time we've sat down I oh I feel that I have to say living legend at the beginning because well are you are one of the best compliments I ever thought was Derek Jeter great Yankee now all over the Marlins came over to me at the all-star game some years ago and said you he said there are a lot of phony legends you're a true legend wow that's pretty good yeah that warms my heart and that's coming from a legend because that guy knocked out guys the true baseball attitude did you ever think that after all your years in radio in cable news now doing the digital thing that you'd be sitting in a garage being interviewed like this going out to hundreds of thousands and millions of people let me tell you the truth whooping this is the pinnacle of my career if you'da told me 61 years ago when I started sixty-one years from today you'll be known around the world you'll be called an icon a living legend and at the height of your career you'll be in a garage with David Rubin it's come full circle it's killing me Larry David but what is that what does that say about just how everything has changed I mean whoa the only thing sure has change the only thing constant is change when I started in radio we had landlines went through a phone line I did a starting rear did local television one year after I started already always did both always regarded both equally I always thought of television as radio with pictures yeah it could be on a radio now yeah well we released this as an audio I know but they don't have to see it we could imagine any radio stater of the mind but I always took that it as just communicating so I started radio then did local television then the national radio and satellites I was there when satellites were introduced I never forgot it I'm in Washington the guest is in LA and it feels like he's right there Yeah right there was amazing settle and I said satellites that's the end that completes and then Ted Turner hired me for CNN and I'm seen around the world we go up 23,000 miles to go next door and to Moscow try to explain that to Jefferson doing that and now after 20 songs 26 years at CNN 61 years in the business I thought I could retire follow Slim came along so we gotta do something so the internet or a TV Hulu who knew from this yes and when you tell me about the internet what bugs me is where the hell is it where is the internet people talk about the Internet and I even though just have to accept it correct I'm a product of all these things but basically David yeah I am doing exactly what I did sixty-one years ago what this what we're doing right now is no different yeah we're being delivered differently but what we're doing is no different what does that say about this the ability to sit across from somebody look them in the eye and actually try to understand the human experience because I was saying you in the green room right before there is a massive renaissance right now because of podcasts about long-form conversation the thing that you've been doing for 60-some idea that's where it's happening in podcast yeah it's not happening on television not even on cable tow they used to call you know MSNBC CNN and fox news channels they're not news channels they have Trump channels ones pro-trump ones anti-trump ones sometimes hate from and as pundits yeah it's 24 hours a day of pundit they do not cover the news when the hurricane was hit in Carolina it was in a box on the corner of the screen while I were talking about Trump he saw where the hurricane was that's not news do you remember seeing a change on that because you were at CNN do you remember what year you started it started pushing will 1985 and left in 2010 yeah do you remember seeing something changing in the wake of news reported in the way I saw it when the other side started you know we owned it for a while CNN yeah and then it was MSNBC and then Fox and we thought they were little invaders Ted Turner was a genius and off this pants genius of the steel defense he was driving in a car one day and the guy said all news all the time he said why could not work on toes then he puts it up on the big bird look what he he is the revolutionary leader of the second half of the 20th century changes the world and look what's come to LA the Internet they are everywhere you know the different side there's good and bad to it if something happened in the world right now David everyone knows that in a minute in a minute yeah the world knows it Wow what do we do with this stand with technology is always ahead of the human advance so when technologies ahead it's how do we grasp using this it's a great pie did Steve Jobs when he started Apple mm-hmm and I'm wondering if he were here today if he would know what an impact that's had in the world because I've had experts tell me that your iPhone will control your life it basically is controlling our lives right now this is now it's a perfect segue my friend can you bust out your phone I do not have an iPhone because I don't want to be I was addicted to tobacco from age 17 to age 53 when I had a heart attack I know what addiction is I would wake up in the morning and grab the cigarette before I put my glasses on anything I see people my wife friends with their cell phones I have dinner with a friend I'd ever talked to we sit at then and I mean and he's yeah I think they get fun cancer so I have old-school a flip phone see this phone yeah it's a phone put it to your ear you hear the other side I don't text I hear people they call me I call them normal you're the only person that I actually call you do realize that I don't call anybody I just take that why are you why you is see this and hurts me yeah you as a broadcaster as a communicator yeah why do you text well I can see an emergency I'm stuck I'll be late yeah but come on sometimes speaking people eat well look you know this is what I love to do but sometimes just for the sake of ease of just you know I'm gonna be here then or I'll see you there you know a lot of that I try not to have long-form discussions about political news or but yeah people are fighting over personal things on there and all of that but wait I want I want to back up this thing you said before because so when the satellite started and then you suddenly were doing interviews with people where you weren't in the same room do you remember that affecting the interviewee because I always like this I don't know if nothing like other nothing beats this yeah nothing however I always tried to treat it as this they just weren't there so I try to make eye contact via the satellite I try to treat it as if they were there and what I got used to handling well and enjoyed was when I'd have five different guests in five different places yeah and controlling that yeah and then I did diplomacy I had a night where we had Arafat Rob Dean and king - the king of Jordan yeah now I better his father okay all three Kissinger told me you're doing diplomacy I had arafat king of Jordan and the Prime Minister of Israel together me a little Jewish kid from Brooklyn sitting there by satellite but I felt I was with them yeah I I didn't treat it as them being there I treat it as like this yeah did you in in some of the bigger interviews that you did over the years I mean you've interviewed you've truly interviewed everybody is there anyone that you felt like you didn't you didn't get to yeah Castro I went down to Cuba in nineteen in 2009 200 nine I was treated regally they all wonderful to me but I couldn't nail it I couldn't get him to I was fascinated by him because he led his country longer than any leader in memory hmm somebody had a local right even if it was only one person and then when I went to Havana I never saw a happier country I was amazed the people smiling musical hotels mobbed you know from the Canadians and Germans and beautiful weather a beautiful city water Havana ought to be open to everybody it's beautiful the waters are gorgeous it's a great city how where were you when you're interviewing Big Tymers the real movers and shakers that the ravines and Arafat's that you mentioned that something that you asked them could actually turn the course of history you know I'm not a well I know a lot of it did I know the Pearl Gore debate changed after we Clinton called me up the next day and said you pass and after yeah that was way behind until the gold or Pearl debate you try not to realize it but once once the light goes on that's just the moment on in noise I if I'm sitting with Jimmy Carter or a ballet dancer once the light goes on I'm in that moment I don't think about yesterday can't do anything about it don't think about tomorrow that's tomorrow so I'm in the now so I'm right in this now you should be in this now so if you've got Trump coming tomorrow and you're thinking about that then you're losing this moment I'm here I always treat and I'm here I focused do you think that your curiosity do you think you sort of made that for yourself or was it built into you because I've been out with you to lunch or dinner breakfast whatever it is and I can see you're as curious about the waiter busboy or sometimes when we were at aura together and you'd be chatting with you know the guy doing the lights or whatever that you were actually as interested in them as if they was that and always have that David IgE I remember as a kid getting on a bus kid and asking the bus driver why do you want to drive a bus I remember we'd go to ball games hidden Brooklyn and go to Dodger games go with my friends we'd wait outside for the players they wanted autographs I never want them to autograph one that asked questions I would run along with a player going to his car why did why did you bunt why did you do that I was always a wide person yeah I'm the kind of person you don't want to sit next to on an airplane I I'm in sand I don't know where that came from but it's the best gift I got was curia the gift of curiosity Anthony Quinn told me that you have the greatest gift ever curiosity my friend I'd be calling a roll you can negotiate anything says to me the secret of my success is being stupid you doesn't mean that demeaning basically what you're doing is saying help me help me with this why did you do that someone asked me if you were interviewed Osama bin Laden who were your first question have been well it would not have been why did you bomb the World Trade Center it would have been you grew up in one of the richest families in Saudi Arabia why'd you leave hmm now he probably hadn't bottled out since he left but it forces you to think and then I'm gonna learn more about him before I learn about the bombing and also you have to understand that nobody nobody thinks they're evil Hitler did not comb his hair in the morning and say I am a bad person they may be crazy but they believed nobody thinks for I'm really terrible and everyone has an excuse for what they do the bank robber that Bank boy my father they charged his checking account to screw them yeah and the public funny enough admires the renegade Dillinger was very popular in America very popular he robbed from banks who likes banks right so how do you then interview a bad dude someone that's got you here you're curious about a bad dude yeah I not - it's hard sometimes racists especially yeah I had a tough time doing the early George Wallace the later George Wallace was terrific the early George was had a tough time because I don't understand racism I've never understood it yeah I don't have no understanding of why someone with a different pigment that's all it is should be treated differently you think that comes from just growing up in Brooklyn in there it is when it was such a mess can you just talk about that a little bit like what that was like rhoda oh I grew up in a neighborhood of mixed you know we Jews Protestants Catholics that's a good some blocks not a lot but blacks went to school with us when I went down to Miami to break into radio that's 23 and I got off the train and the first thing I saw with two water thumbs solid white I drank out of the colored yeah I never seen anything like that you wrote in Brooklyn that was beyond me then I got on a bus to go over a Miami Beach to stay with my uncle and the bus driver stops the bus and asked me to move forward because the back is for blacks and I said to him my father's black I'll stay in the back so I know I never understood it I've asked this a racist I have never understood why a white feels superior to a black Lenny Bruce was a great friend of mine used to tell me that the human being has to have something they hate that drives him because they have an inferiority complex so they have to feel superior with something and he told me four years ago someday blacks will get equal rights and we'll have to hate something I'll tell you what will hate Eskimos there's always another right in other words you know you used to check in a hotel and underneath the chair would be a sign we'll move under penalty of law you know who removes them Eskimos you know any Eskimo war heroes yeah you don't know name one I'm gonna Google that an Eskimo dr. right they were just trying to find some and racism always befuddle I interviewed Dean Rusk Secretary of State Kennedy years and he was a very progressive southerner from Georgia his daughter married a black man he has he said I have no prejudice Dimas they taught me a little about pressures so did not the next Dean Rusk said to me my daughter married a black man I have black grandchildren I have no practice I got on a commercial plane the pilot was black and for a minute I was nervous that shows you how inbred it can be yeah can he fly the plane but I've never it boggles me when over the years when you've talked to some of these people you know a white supremacist or just some of these people that come from that truly racist place did you ever hear them say anything was it almost like therapy in a way that you felt if you talked to them long enough maybe they could get out of it did you ever sense the time sure you try try the best you can now there's some books out by former white supremacist yeah come full circle yeah of course they raise a lot to do with raising is their major inferiority complex you got a deal with that although someone says it's not a complex they're inferior who are some of the people that you interviewed that that you think either it went the wrong way or any regrets and never sitting down with someone to go oh man I missed that mall I could tell you one it's the one try remembers name no it's the guy who succeeded Steve Jobs they want immediate well Tim Cook now but it's no no this is yeah Steve Jobs hired him know what was his name bright guy came from Pepsi Cola oh I think I'll have my guys google it well then he ran he ran and I had him on for two hours yeah great guest now and why was it wisely act what was known why is the egg was his partner okay well this guy will play joined the corporation Steve left out and came back later okay well granite so I spend two hours interviewing this guy who's great all about it previous jobs and then I finish and now I go to calls I used to do this on my old lady you are interviewing our calls and then open phone America I go to close the first call Larry Steve Jobs fired him he will place Steve Jobs and then Steve Jobs fired him you didn't even ask about that she don't know yeah it's tough when one gets by you right and it haunts you look at out those years ago is still haunting you try to know everything you can't there's no perfect interview you can't know everything you do the best she can I had a tough time with on the Disney job other ran because he would I remember he was talking me on Scully I think is because it John Sculley see we've got a crack team oh yeah you got he's still around by the way when I interviewed Ahmadinejad and we're talking about various things and we're talking about the Holocaust and he says to me that's why I always have to listen when you're doing an interview he said if there was a Holocaust why isn't Israel in Poland that's where the crime occurred why is the State of Israel 2,000 miles away there was no crime in Palestine the crime was in Poland to Germany why didn't they take that area and give it to Israel right it made some sense you could argue with logically yeah I said to him did you say if there was a Holocaust and we went right yes right there are you saying if you know where we got contentious you did know it was there those are interesting but look I've had so many years doing this Dave and I can't explain how I still love it I love the interplay yeah you should love what you do yeah not you know why you'll learn something every day every day you learn so I can't be closed-minded like I'm a liberal politically certainly in social issues but I'm not close-minded enough to think that you can't have an opposing view I like the argument I like the discussion but in interviewing I never I leave my ego at the door I try not to use the word I it's irrelevant and I tried to get in to walk any other you know every Bennett Williams the great lawyer told me once I said what is the role of the criminal defense lawyer he said to get one person on the jury to walk in your clients shoes if you can get one person for walking in clients Jews got a hung jury all he has to do is say I would have done that yeah when you were doing five nights and on any gear I use this example a lot because people will say Oh Dave you had this you know this bad person on or this that the other thing I'll say you know in Larry King's heyday let's go 1990 to CNN you'd have the cast of friends on Monday you'd have a no Jay Simpson lawyer on Tuesday you'd have you know an animal guy on Wednesday you'd have you know a doctor on on Thursday and then you know former Secretary of State on Friday was that crazy for you know you just love the bounce or thought about curiosity most of the times most of the times driving in I didn't know I had on that night really I still don't know Laura I Drive in I don't know who's on unless it were really someone famous yeah like we might have the animal guy I didn't know it well until I walk in to see all the animals and because my curiosity comes from pure curiosity so were your guys handing you notes right no I get a blue car like I got a little I had a blue card we have facts yeah he was Secretary of State from this year to that year he was responsible for the Marshall Plan right that's all and then I would do the things that how the Marshall Plan come about yeah how what part of it did you play with George Marshall misses plan were you in on the thinking you know it's all when when we had the Gulf War I would see other shows in which the guests would come on be a general awesome and the host would say today in the Gulf War 1000 people were killed and the thing and now the terrain is here and all I would say is what happened what happened today because he has the perspective if you have an interview where you turn the TV on and the host is on more than a guest something's wrong if you if it takes you three sentences to ask a question something's wrong because a lot of them are show-offs I'll give you the show off interviewer regular my yesterday is Dave Rubin he's written a new book called Chicago my hometown been great to have you here Dave you know I visited Chicago many times what was love going there did you do you write about the the stockyard you know start the other fascinating you have a go there folks you know in other words you are a prop for me and that's gone now there are and even though shows anymore yeah what do you make of so when you left CNN I've said this to you before you left me 2010 it seems to me you can do a pretty clean line between you leaving CNN and obviously the Piers Morgan thing didn't work out if you want to comment on that you can but that you were one of the people that people trusted there's almost no one in news or on television anymore that people go oh like no one was walking around even the people that maybe didn't like you that much they were going Larry King's a bad dude Larry King is a liar you know I mean nobody was doing that no and then by having one of the main faces who had been there for so long I really think it broke something in the continuity of CNN that kind of led us to where we are now related to all of capably maybe maybe it did there were signs you know Fox News was beating us we had one at all those years and Fox News was beating his beating CNN the day beating us at night that was a sign this was a network that's not news but am I making this up when you left CNN you still the highest rated show on the second highest we just we started to fall not precipitously but we started a fall we sought we see answered come on Chrissy sorry you know CNN always made a ton of money because they were the first and everybody in America at CNN paid 50 cents a month so Ted Turner that in our lead genius think of this right now you and I are paying for CNN we're not watching it you don't pay for CBS you paying for seeing it he knew it so CNN made money if they had no commercials didn't do it just beyond public tune in it's a different world now I can't I don't know maybe it was the cleavage you know Jerry Seinfeld said my old column I used to do in USA Today when I did it's my two cents yeah that was the beginning of Twitter yeah really like quick comments but I you know people call me a pioneer so I know all I see myself is I'm a lucky Jewish kid from Brooklyn who was curious and took that curiosity into a career yeah and as I was able to take the natural curiosity and make the career of it you think we're may be running out of that when you when you talk to young people you have to be very young sons when you talk to young people watch how they get the news you were telling me about kids with the phones and everything and you you love the newspaper right you are my New York Times like I got an iPhone they gave me an iPhone so I use it to get baseball scores yeah that's all I don't know I don't have it with me yeah I don't need it the games at tonight you go right you're mean you're a major still a Dodger fan oh yeah I love the game either I go to basketball I love the game I love competition your gradient at Dodger Stadium right now I tell you why I love sports sports is the one is if you're not a sports fan oh yeah oh yeah okay the best thing about being a sports fan it's it's the one thing in your life when you get up in the morning you know who's gonna lean so you have something velop forward to good or bad you don't know who's gonna win nobody wakes up for that except sports fans another thing what I love about athletes maybe more than any profession their career is over and other career is a beginning they have that day when the cheering stops imagine what that's like yeah you build yourself up in your 37 years old they paid you all this money for doing what you did as a kid and another thing the athlete has that we don't have final score can't argue at that eight to seven you lost you got seven they got eight you can say yeah but they should stop you got seven big I think now if you've got eight you get the applause get them down you get that every day recognition non-recognition walk down the street athletes so I love ila so I love all it brings all my curiosity sports bring into a head because I'm always interested in last night the Dodgers loss he left a left-hander in to pitch to this right-handed bat he's got all those pitches in the dugout why he's even then why did he leave him in did you find there was something unique about the top-of-the-line athletes that you would talk to that they that they genuinely had something different no they had confidence yeah that's it Stan Musial the great Cardinal outfielder Wally Westlake was a teammate of his and he while he told me this story it's they're sitting in a dugout before a game and Westlake goes over the Musial and said Stan I got up this morning breakfast was great the shower was great the drive-in was great and in batting practice I've had five home runs I feel great you ever had that kind of days ma'am and he said the quarterback who throws ten incomplete passes never thinks about the eleventh throw to have the ten incomplete effective confidence they have that ability you take wide receivers in football they roll fast they all have good hands the great one the great ones they believe it's coming Gretzky told me he saw the puck go into the goal before it went into the corner it's a so I have great appreciation I also have appreciation for politicians they do something we don't do they have a first Tuesday in November they don't have that day they don't have a first Tuesday in November they win and lose they stand up before the public and they wouldn't lose they get rejected Jimmy Carter telling me the saddest day of his life was flying home from his last appearance when his advisors told him you know they know in the afternoon yeah you're gonna lose the great story to Barbara Bush told me when George Bush lost to Bill Clinton at 3 o'clock me afternoon they knew he was going to lose and they're all sitting around Samba and Barbara Bush came in and said where do we get a driver's license [Laughter] [Music]

Channel: The Rubin Report

Views: 66,025

Keywords: rubin report, dave rubin, idw, current events, free speech, intellectual dark web, critical thinking, rubin, the rubin report, david rubin, reporting, media literacy, media, independent media, social media, Larry King, Larry King interview

Id: zQO1RyBr78Y

Length: 31min 46sec (1906 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 03 2018

Reddit Comments

[u/spudster999]

Despite Dave claiming he bases his show on Larry King's he does not. Check out the Counter-Arguments video that describes the stark differences between the two and how Dave is a political hack.

[u/am17g10]

Great interview. Probably the best of 2018. So many anecdotes and famous persons. Love how larry jumps from one name-drop to another.

[u/DiabolikDownUnder]

Oh, Dave hasn't masturbated to Larry King enough already?

[u/EddieMorraNZT]

Two great conversationalists having a great conversation.