← The Adam Friedland Show
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- [00:00]
A
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It's.
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A
Sa.
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B
Sa.
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A
Sam.
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B
Well, I don't know, it was kind of smooth and slow. What do you think. Of a bluesy day in New York, Sam?
- [08:34]
A
Hello and welcome back to the Adam Friedland Show. It's Adam Friedland's second to last episode of the year. Merry Christmas, everyone. I hope you guys are having great holiday season. I'm going back on the road, of course. Emerald City Comedy Club, Seattle, Washington. January 22nd and 24th. I'm doing five shows. Get tickets@emeraldcitycomedy.com and also there's a link in the description. Caleb will be there as well. And as always, guys, a sincere thank you to our members here on YouTube.com you guys have made this show possible this year. If you'd like to sign up, members get access to all of our episodes early. And if you join at a second or third tier and you get your name in the credits of this fine program. If you'd like to join the Friedland Family foundation, you can do so by clicking the join button here on YouTube.com or by clicking the link in the description of this video. Also, there's a link for a Patreon if you prefer to support the show through Patreon. Hey, guys, Merch is available. Christmas is what, two days, three days away? You can get it for maybe, probably after Christmas. I don't. Yeah, you get it for after Christmas. I'm not going to make any clip. You can get it tomorrow. You can get it for a New Year's gift. My guest this week is legendary rock musician Kevin Mr. Wonderful O'.
- [09:44]
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Leary.
- [09:46]
A
His nickname is Mr. Wonderful because he's known primarily for being wonderful at playing guitar and dressing wonderful as well. Caleb. We've all heard the tracks, but Kevin is making the Musician Goes actor turn official with the release of Marty Supreme. Music and movies. Music and movies. Alexander wept for there were no more lands to conquer. Smart. It's the end of the year, guys. I'm wearing the same clothes as last week. Guess why? Because we. Because I'm recording. We're dropping. I'm not saying it. Have a nice Christmas. Enjoy this one. Go see Marty supreme in theaters everywhere. Support the movies, okay? Because pretty soon. Pretty soon. Pretty soon there's gonna be one fucking studio. And that is. What is it? What is our. What's the. That is Joe Max Productions. I forgot the name of it. So, guys, Kevin o'. Leary, Enjoy it. Bye. Give it up. Go see the movies. Thank you to Ro for sponsoring this episode. I'm not a rosesparks user, but I'm excited to tell you what. What it's all about. Women can sense confidence in the bedroom. They think it's sexy. And I've heard that rose sparks is the easiest way to not worry about your erection and how it can affect your swag in the bedroom. Rose Barks is a 2 in 1 prescription treatment for guys who. What's up, dude? Who want harder and I can't. Can you make the words larger?
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B
This is a 2 in 1 treatment.
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A
For guys who want to be better in the bedroom.
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B
It's a.
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A
All right, guys. After rose barks dissolve, they work in 15 minutes on average. Plus, Rosesparks dual action formula stays active in the system for up to 36 hours. No, you don't stay hard for that whole time, but when you get aroused, you're able to get it and maintain an erection. With rosesparks, guys can get harder, have more control, embed and boost to last longer so everyone gets more pleasure. Ro connects guys with a medical provider 100% online and if approved, treatment ships directly to your door. If prescribed, new sexual health patients get $15 off the first order of Sparks. On a recurring plan, connect with a provider at RO co tafs to find out if prescription roast sparks are right for you. That's ro co tafs for $15 off your first order. Sparks is a compounded drug product. Compounded drugs are permitted to be prescribed under federal law but are not FDA approved and do not undergo FDA safety effectiveness or manufacturing review. For full safety information go to RO Co safetyinfo. Ladies and gentlemen, entrepreneur, business legend, entertainment legend now. And now actor. He's in the movie Marty supreme coming out Christmas. Everyone, please put your hands together for Kevin o'.
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B
Leary. More noise. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. I really appreciate it.
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A
So Kevin's a massive fan. He's been emailing us non stop. I said you can finally do the show.
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B
Before I came in here, I checked you out. You're okay.
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A
I'm okay.
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B
I'm gonna give you 7.2 out of 10. I think that's reasonable. You may be able to increase your score depending on how today goes.
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A
Oh, I think. I think I'm gonna be 9.9 after this.
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B
Really?
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A
I have a feeling we're gonna be best friends.
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B
I don't know why that's good.
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A
And I need a lot of advice from you, so I think I'm ready to give it. Oh. First of all, I want to congratulate you on the film on Marty. I was at the premiere at Lincoln Center. Were you there or no?
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B
No. I have only seen the Sequences that I did the voiceovers on. I intentionally waited and I talked to Josh every day almost. I'm going to do the SAG screening for the first time on Sunday and then do the LA premiere on Monday of next week, then come to New York. We're on a full promotional swing on this movie. Yeah, obviously A24 is excited about it. There's a good Oscar buzz for Timmy. I want to see him win it. Obviously. That would be great.
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A
What about you?
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B
I don't think they push as hard on the supporting actor role somehow, but, you know, we'll see.
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A
I. I was seeing that, honestly, at least a nomination.
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B
I love it. I mean, I've never acted before. I had no idea what I was getting into. And I have a theory that you may want to consider, and here's what it is. I'm really primarily an investor. That's what I do. I invest in a lot of businesses and people. And so over the years, you know, you invest in a startup or a nascent company, half of them fail. But five years later, maybe seven years later, the winning companies, when you're exiting and you're getting 10,000x on your money, the men and women that run those, do they have any common attributes? I started to ask myself, what do they have that's common? Even though they don't know each other, even though the businesses are in different sectors, they're all different. And what is common? Well, there is one thing, and this is kind of unique. If you look and talk to them, because you get to know them after five years and they say, you know, you ask them, how do you spend your time? I mean, I know you're working like hell, but what else do you do? In every case, they spend 20, 30% of their day doing something completely out of their comfort zone. Crazy shit like paragliding, going to Switzerland and jumping off a cliff and learning how to do that, which is, I think, nuts. But they do it or they go to space, they buy one of those things up in, you know, Virgin or whatever it is, or they learn how to play the cello or.
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A
What's yours?
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B
Well, I like to think that the things that really keep me passionate are my black and white photography that I still do with Leica cameras and Hasselblads. I've been doing that my whole life. I remain an editor. I cut at least one of our social media posts every week on Premiere because I used to cut film. I practice my guitar as much as I can. I collect watches. Those are all different than what I do. As an investor. But my point is, when you get an opportunity. Here's what happened. Ronnie Supreme. I got a call from Josh and Ronnie, and it actually came through my agent and he said, listen, Kevin, great guy. Jay Searris, I've known him forever, been all the way up through television for years with him. He said, you know, look, I want you to think about this seriously. You've built a big franchise here, but you don't know how to act. And you never done this. You could go out there and shit the bed and totally destroy our franchise that we've built together. And I said, jay, fuck him. I said, how do you know I'm going to shit the bed? How do I know I'm going to shit the bed? How do I know until I try it? My whole point is you got to go do something that you, even though you may think, shit, it may not work, why not give it a shot? Because 50% of the time you have a great outcome, which I think hopefully will let the audience decide. In the case of the reviews look pretty good, but I didn't know how to act. And they told me after we read the lines and they came up to my lake house, they said, look, we're looking for a real asshole. And you do that naturally. Yes.
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A
So, okay, the answer is you did know how to act because you've been in show business, you've been on television.
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B
Yeah, but I wouldn't say that reality TV is the same as the cadence between scripted lines, which is what I learned the first day of show. Yeah, it's different.
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A
I will say, and I'm just some guy. But in my opinion, as a first time actor, and it's a sizable performance, I mean, it is natural. I mean, you do not communicate as like, oh, this is a gimmick casting. You communicate as a great actor and I like, I commend you on it.
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B
Well, I'm very, I'm really flattered. I like, I'm glad you feel that way. But when you're, you know, what I learned and what I saw and when I saw the rushes and I saw the cuts.
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A
Yeah, what?
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B
Those guys, the way those two work. And I hope I'm not giving any industry secrets away here is they wrote the script together, so they, they've been living this thing for seven years. So here's what actually happens when you're shooting. Ronnie goes into the production tent downstairs, wherever the hell it is. Different sets in Tokyo or in New York or whatever, but he's in Josh's ear with an ifb and he's the editor, well, they cut it together, but he's kind of the lead editor guy. And, you know, I'm not used to being told what to do. So obviously I learned right away that a film set is not a democracy, because I'd say to Josh, what the fuck? I got it. We're done. We've shot it 10 times. I nailed it already. He said, you haven't nailed it till I say you've nailed it. Do it again. And then after multiple takes of the script, he'd say, okay, let's improvise. We've got a cadence going here with Timmy or with Bret, you know, whoever. And let's pick up on what you said on that last one or what he said on that last one. But when you see the final edit, what they did is they took some of the script and some of the improvisation and they cut it together into what I think is masterful.
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A
They captured a moment.
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B
And sometimes those two dudes don't agree and they take it outside because you don't want to be fighting in front of the cast. But, you know, they just don't agree. And it's three in the morning and they're going at each other and they come back with a solution.
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A
It's an intense.
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B
Like, it's a fucked up creative process that I think you. You can't emulate any other way than just doing it, you know, shooting it.
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A
In some ways, Josh was your first boss since Nabisco. Is that right? You hadn't had a boss since then.
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B
That's a great analogy.
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A
I've listened.
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B
No, I've never had a boss except back then. I've only been fired once and I've never worked for anybody. But I did work for Josh Safdie. I actually was in Employee. That's how I felt. And he's a reasonable guy. But the hours we worked, the hours, the immense hours, like 18, 20 hours.
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A
You might get them in trouble with the union. I don't know.
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B
Well, I don't. You know, it's.
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A
They worked regular hours.
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B
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Regular hours. But when we were shooting the Jimmy.
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A
Hoffa might break your knees when we.
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B
Were shooting the spanking scene, that happened at about 4am and it was intense. And it was really intense. And we didn't get it at the beginning. The cadence wasn't right, the vibe wasn't right, the room wasn't right. Whatever the hell it was, we just kept going. And we had a stand in ass.
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A
But a stunt ass.
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B
A stunt ass.
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A
Yeah, yeah.
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B
But Timmy wouldn't, didn't want the stunt ass. He wanted to immortalize his ass.
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A
It's incredible.
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B
And I said, look, I gotta hit your ass with this because the fake ping pong paddle broke. So now we're dealing with a real paddle, stiff wood. And Josh is saying, look, I want to hear that smackatino. I want to hear an explosion of ass here. Yeah.
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A
I mean, there are women all over the country. I'm telling you, I wound up like.
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B
A basement baseball bat and hit him. And you.
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A
His ass up.
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B
His ass had imprints of the paddle.
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A
Timothy's ass. That's a, that's a hot ass.
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B
It's a hot ass, but it was very hot.
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A
You're doing a little bit of a.
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B
Brag right now, but I'm telling you.
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A
All 12 ladies watching this are gonna.
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B
Are gonna be very proud of that scene. But when I got back, did he.
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A
Say anything about me the whole time you're working with him?
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B
I don't recall.
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A
Okay?
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B
No, I don't recall. But when I got back to Casatua, I was staying there down on south street in New York. It was 7am and I was fried. I mean, I was just wired, you know. And I said to the maitre d, look, I want some scrambled eggs and some smoked salmon and a bottle of 2022 Boulogne Montrachet. He said, it's breakfast. What are you nuts? I said, well, it's not breakfast for me. I've been awake for two days. So I want the bottle. And I drank the whole. I put a straw in it. And I called my wife up and said, you want some Montrachet? She said, It's 7:30 in the morning, so it's a guilty pleasure. But that's how I unwound that day. And I'll never forget it. It was a great experience, the whole thing.
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A
So you just played music for us. You're a guitarist, you're a photographer, you're now an actor, you are a documentarian. You've made a documentary film before in your early years. You are a entrepreneur. You are kind of an elder statesman of business in North America. I'd say, would you consider yourself a modern day Renaissance man or like a da Vinci of sorts?
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B
You know, the journey of entrepreneurship is not a destination, it's a journey. And the reason you would want to do that now. And I tell everybody this because I teach entrepreneurship at places like MIT and Harvard. Now, it's not about the greed of money because you just listed off a bunch of things I couldn't do if I wasn't free to do them.
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A
And so that's what money buys you time.
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B
It's not about the greed of money. I don't need more money. I need more time to pursue the things that really interest me. And so what you find out is that if you're motivated by money as an entrepreneur, you will never get it. You have to be so insanely passionate about what you're doing, and all the competitors are pursuing you, and then one day you wake up and you're filthy rich. That's how it happens. Every guy I've ever talked to that's had a huge exit has said, I never saw it coming because I was just myopically focused on my business. It was the same for me. And then one day we were acquired for 4.2 billion. And then what I found was amazing. For all of us, the people, the nine core people, we didn't know what to do. The next day. We just went back to work. I mean, that's all we know. And so we just kept doing other things. And I've done many other successes and failures in that period, but, you know, it's allowed me to do some really interesting things. Things. And that's what keeps me going and, you know, pursuing stuff. It's very interesting.
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A
Yeah, yeah. But you have to be able to afford the time. Right?
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B
The time is the problem. You can't buy any. I mean, that's the one thing. No matter how rich you get, you can't buy. You can't buy health. And you can't buy, you know, you can't be guaranteed health. You got to be very careful. And I certainly think about that a lot. And I do try and use my time very carefully because I don't have to do anything. So I've kind of. I'm here because I want to be here. And so I blocked this. Because you're a big fan. Yeah. Well, also, you guys do interesting work. I've seen some of it, and it's interesting. I thought this could be good. So, you know, that's why. And then I'm going to do some other crazy shit tonight.
- [25:11]
A
What's that?
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B
I'm going to have a dinner with the auctioneer of the FP Journe, Francis Ford Coppola watch, which I put on television about an hour ago.
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A
Oh, wow.
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B
Yeah, it's probably the most coveted watch on Earth. It's probably going to sell on Saturday for between three and five million dollars. I wanted to hold it in my hand before it went into a private collection for a generation. So I suggested, did we bring it to television?
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A
Did you consider stealing it?
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B
Yeah. The problem with that is I know Jor and I'm wearing one of his watches. He's. The thing about watchmaking, which I really learned as time passed, is collectors now covet. The independent watchmaker Journe is now considered a living Picasso. He is making only 900 watches a year. There are thousands of of collectors around the world that want to Journe, but he personally decides who gets each piece. Really? Yeah. And so.
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A
So. And they cost what, over a thousand dollars? Probably.
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B
What's funny about that? Yeah. The secondary market would be in the millions. Primary, you can get one as inexpensive as 18,000. But you can't. I mean, that's the problem. The elegant, which is the entry level watch, sells for 18 secondary markets, 158,000. And that's beautiful piece. Very simple.
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A
I want to try something because this is like kind of a free education for me because I'm a new entre. I'm an entrepreneur of sort. I don't think of myself as one. I'm kind of a. I'm a bum.
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B
Supporting yourself with what you do.
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A
I have a staff now and I have a responsibility. Yeah. And they look up to me and, you know, they see me as a friend more than a.
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B
But I bet some of them think you're an asshole. That's probably true.
- [26:57]
A
No, I think that they think, well, okay, one thing that I've struggled with and I'm. And maybe you can, as an educational thing for the audience, you could kind of impart some wisdom on me is firing. Like, I don't. Like there is one individual who's not here today.
- [27:15]
B
Because you whacked them.
- [27:17]
A
No, because I. And I've. It's probably been a matter of three months that he should have been fired. But every time I get close, I just don't have it in me. So perhaps if we could like, act it out, you could. We could like kind of. You could kind of show me. You could be me. I'll be him. And then you could kind of like. Because I really. I don't know how to do this. I called my girlfriend's dad and said, how do you fire.
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B
What's. What's his name?
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A
Paul.
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B
Okay, so you're Paul.
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A
No, no, the guy.
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B
Yeah.
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A
Oh, yeah. So. Hey. Hey, Skip.
- [27:52]
B
Okay, so listen, he's not here right now also. No, I get it. But I'm going to give you. Here's how it goes down. You know, I want you to be happy. I really want to be. I want you to be happy. And I have a feeling you're not happy. And the reason feel that way is you're not with the team anymore. You're not on the same agenda, and that must be that you're not happy.
- [28:19]
A
Now, I'm happy. I'm fine. I like it.
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B
Well, the team isn't happy with you because they feel you're not happy. And I'm gonna make it very simple for you. We're gonna end our relationship today. But the good news is I'm gonna give you a fantastic exit package because I want you to be fairly treated. That's number one, how much? And number two is, you know how much exit package. I'm going to pay you three months of your salary.
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A
Okay.
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B
I don't have to. I could pay you six weeks to.
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A
Be a good guy.
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B
Because I'm a Listen. That's why they call me Mr. Wonderful.
- [28:54]
A
Yeah.
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B
So I'm going to give you something.
- [28:55]
A
I call myself Mr.
- [28:56]
B
Wonderful. But what's important is that we go our own ways. Now, I don't want you sitting around. In fact, I've cleaned out your whole place. There's a box outside on the street. It's waiting for you. Yeah, okay, And. But I've got you a limo. The box is in the limo. And it's going to take you wherever you want.
- [29:12]
A
Okay? Can I just do that right now? I swear to God.
- [29:16]
B
Yeah.
- [29:16]
A
Yeah. I mean, you did.
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B
Well, that's how you do a fair.
- [29:20]
A
A fair.
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B
Yeah.
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A
Oh, shit. Can. Okay. I mean, I'll be nice about it, but. Okay. I mean, just give me a minute. I know we're pressed for time, but I'll just. I'll just get him out of here because it's been driving me nuts because.
- [29:33]
B
Well, I think you got it. You got to make a decision. That's my whole point.
- [29:37]
A
Hey, hey, hey. Where are you? What you want? Yeah, well, why aren't you here right now?
- [29:52]
B
I had a family emergency. He's a fucking.
- [29:56]
A
Hold on one sec. He bullshits. The worst. It's the worst bullshit I've ever heard.
- [30:01]
B
Well, wait, give me your thing.
- [30:03]
A
Yeah, okay. Well, you know, I gotta say, I'm starting not to listen. It doesn't matter, but I. I don't. It's. My son is in the. He is.
- [30:22]
B
Yeah, he relapsed. You know, I know that, you know, issues, but he.
- [30:29]
A
Is he okay?
- [30:30]
B
He overdo. He overdosed. He's gonna be. He's not dead or anything. He's he's okay, but he is. It was pretty bad.
- [30:41]
A
I'm sorry, dude. And since you're. Since your wife. Yeah, I know.
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B
Yeah.
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A
He's got the same. Because it's a disease. Yeah, I know.
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B
It's just like. It's happening again and I just. I can't lose them both. And it's just. I'm sorry I didn't text you. I thought I did.
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A
Well, here's what I'm gonna do. I can tell that you're not happy and the team isn't happy with you. Yeah. And what I'm gonna do is offer you a very generous package. What I'm gonna do is I want you to be happy. So I'm gonna offer you three months of your pay. And then. And then your bot. I packed up a box and your stuff is outside right now.
- [31:34]
B
My son is in the hospital right now and you're telling me I'm gonna lose my health insurance?
- [31:39]
A
Well, listen, this is. This is. It's business. Are you filming this right now? No, I'm not filming this. No, I wouldn't. No, come on. No, no. I'm just saying I gotta. But no, no, I gotta go. It just. Good luck with everything in three months and. Okay. Anyway.
- [32:03]
B
Well. Oh, man, that's a horrible story. If it's true, if he made that.
- [32:08]
A
Up, he's a bad person, right?
- [32:10]
B
I don't know.
- [32:12]
A
But, you know, I feel like an asshole right now.
- [32:15]
B
Well, I think, you know, there could be asshole factor six in you. I don't know.
- [32:18]
A
Was it not the right time? Should I not have done it then?
- [32:21]
B
Unfortunately, these two things are horrific. They're both bad. But, you know, there has to be some. There has to be an outcome. That's the whole point. Because I don't think it's going to get better for him. I mean, that's a. This is. Listen, my heart goes out to him if that story's true.
- [32:38]
A
Yeah, I didn't know that at all.
- [32:39]
B
Well, do you know that?
- [32:41]
A
Well, I know that there have been problems in the family and he is dealing with a lot.
- [32:45]
B
Well, that's a very, very tough situation. I mean, I don't wish that on anybody.
- [32:49]
A
But should I say sorry? Should I hire him back? I feel like I should.
- [32:54]
B
Why? Do you think it'll be better? No, but the whole point is, why is the original problem still. It's still going to be there, whatever it was. I mean, I don't know the details, but listen, you know, business.
- [33:07]
A
You're right. You know what you're Talking about it's.
- [33:10]
B
Kind of like you have to take care of the remaining employees. That's what matters. You could be more generous if that story is really true.
- [33:17]
A
Maybe six months or maybe a year or maybe a raise. Maybe. Well, okay, let's move on because we have this episode is brought to you by Squarespace. Try code tafs for 10% off your domain or website. The following ad spot is best experienced as a video which you could watch at the Adam friedland show on YouTube.
- [36:47]
C
Hey, listen, I know I'm not who you're looking for. I know I'm not the usual type of girl that gets the guy at the end of the movie. I know I'm definitely not Matcha Girl. But when I saw the words on your website that you made using squarespace.com, it made me want to be wanted the way that you wanted Matcha Girl to be wanting you. Look, I know I'm a loser. I'm a freak. And I can't imagine why someone like you who could make such an amazing website on Squarespace using their built in tools like AI assisted blueprint and search engine optimization and their. Oh, scheduling. Could ever want me. But just so you know, if you ever did, I'd love you. I'd love you until the day.
- [37:43]
A
Yeah, yeah, yeah, sure. Or whatever you want to go. Oh, all right. Okay.
- [37:47]
C
Yeah, yeah.
- [37:48]
A
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- [40:19]
B
Toyota Thon. Toyota Thon.
- [40:22]
A
Toyota Thon is on. Oh, what fun it is to drive a new Toyota today.
- [40:28]
C
Hey, Jan from Toyota here reminding you Toyotathon is on. Make your holiday wishes come true with a new Camry RAV4 Tacoma and more. All right, let's sing it together this time.
- [40:38]
B
Toyota Thon.
- [40:39]
A
Toyota Thon Toyota Thon Dealer inventory may vary.
- [40:42]
B
Toyota Thon ends January 5th. See your participating dealer for details. Toyota let's go places.
- [40:50]
A
As I'm saying, I'm a nascent entrepreneur, but like I happen like I have business partners that kind of engage in the business side. I get to focus on the creative. And I fancied myself a businessman for far too long and I realized I got my shit handed to me too much. And then what's important is that I'm good at this part and I have business folks that do the other part. So how would you to an idiot, real dumb dumb, explain what is economics like in your like and you're talking to a guy.
- [41:26]
B
Well, you know the thing about entrepreneurship, it's very binary. You either make money or you lose money. There's no gray. It's one or the other. And so you should put time into the equation. You say to Yourself. I'm starting a business, and if I can't make money in 36 months, I'm going to take it behind the barn and shoot it. Because at that point, you've run out of an idea. That idea is not working. You weren't able to prove that you could acquire customers economically. The business is unprofitable, and you're burning cash and you're bankrupting yourself if you're borrowing money against your house or whatever it is.
- [42:04]
A
We're doing good. We're doing good.
- [42:05]
B
Okay. So the idea is that entrepreneurs fail sometimes, but they shouldn't spend all their time wallowing in failure. And entrepreneurs that are unsuccessful don't have the guts to think. Take it behind the barn and shoot it. That's what you have to do. Bad businesses are like a cancer. They kill your time. So you got to shoot it. That's it. And I've done that. I've had good ideas, bad ideas, but I never, never let them spend. These days, if I can't figure it out in 18 months, I shoot it.
- [42:36]
A
This thing is good. I mean, it's a good product. People like the product.
- [42:40]
B
Once you know it works, you got to spend 110% of your time on it.
- [42:43]
A
Oh, I'm married to this.
- [42:44]
B
Yeah, of course.
- [42:45]
A
What do you do when you get in trouble from the lady for working too much?
- [42:49]
B
Well, that's a big challenge for everybody. You know, you should basically set aside some quality time for me. I try and make it weekends, and I'm very fortunate. I can say, look, where does the family want to go this weekend? You want to go to Geneva? You want to go to Thailand? You want to go to Paris? Let's go the tickets on me. Spend the weekend together, and then after that, we all disperse again because I'm traveling all week. So, you know, it's quite. And lately, particularly on this Marty supreme promotional tour, we're going everywhere. My wife Linda said, I want to go with you to see what it's like. And after the first week, she went, whoa, I don't want to get in another airplane. I said, well, we're just starting. Because you spend most of your time hopping cities, sometimes three cities in a day.
- [43:33]
A
You seem like the concept of a businessman, like, successful person. I guess maybe it comes from movies. Is that because they're making big bets and there's a rush coming from it that they also have other vices. But you seem relatively well adjusted in your life.
- [43:52]
B
Well, what I try and do, and everybody has vices, but my routine is I get up at 5. I live in Miami, I live on the beach and we have two mile boardwalk.
- [44:03]
A
Fabulous.
- [44:04]
B
So when the sun rises at about. So at 5 to 6, I'm kind of listening to all the news feeds because I do a lot of live TV during the day. There's usually five news stories worldwide. I listen to them. The outlets I listen to, I try and get balanced. BBC in London is very good. Al Jazeera, Fox, cnbc, BBC in Canada. There's a lot of stuff going on.
- [44:29]
A
You guys have a BBC too?
- [44:30]
B
No, BBC is England, but CBC is cbc.
- [44:34]
A
Yes, cbc.
- [44:35]
B
But the point is they all have the same five stories with a different tilt on it. So by the time I'm finished, like 40 minutes of that stuff, I've got a pretty good idea of what's on the plate for the day. Then I get on the bike and I ride for about an hour and 20 minutes with thousands of other bikers. As the sun is coming up, there's only bikes and dog walkers. That's it. Then I go to the gym for 20 minutes. I don't eat breakfast, so I fast for 16 hours a day. And then I eat at 2 o'. Clock. My only, I don't take drugs, I don't smoke. My only vice is wine. I like wine, so I have to limit myself. You know, I don't drink till 6 o'. Clock. I have a glass of Montroche. The thing about wine, the problem with wine is if you drink it before you go to bed, you don't sleep well. Yeah. If you can get seven hours of sleep a night, you feel amazing. Yeah. You know, don't eat shit food, get some exercise and don't drink too much. So that's the problem. And that's where I, you know, that's my advice. Yeah. You know, the thing is, the key is are you a happy person? Yeah, I'm pretty happy. I should be drinking at breakfast. That way I'd have plenty of time before I went to bed.
- [45:44]
A
Yeah, yeah.
- [45:45]
B
Trying to convince my wife of that. Let's do some more Montrache in the morning with eggs.
- [45:48]
A
I could talk to her. At your level of elite entrepreneurial, like business people, you must have met some real freakazoids that outside of the boardroom.
- [46:01]
B
Well, where I see the guys from other planets is in the technology deals. I invest in the programmers, the coders, the firmware developers.
- [46:11]
A
And what are they doing?
- [46:12]
B
Like they're just eclectic dudes. The really good ones are really great. Engineers are not normal people. They're just Unusual people. And they have the ability to be extremely focused on the signal of the work they're doing, and they don't let noise get in the way. They're very eclectic. And I've been working with guys like that and women like that for 20 years. So the guys that wrote Missed, It's a title from way back that became very famous. Five guys in a house. They all had Ferraris using Unusual. They were unusual, but they wrote this software.
- [46:50]
A
Unusual how?
- [46:51]
B
Well, you know, I don't want to say, but they were on the edge. They're on the edge. But they wrote amazing code, and I'd have to go out there and get them to finish it on time. So we'd ship 12 million copies to.
- [47:03]
A
Walmart and they keep trying to pull you into a cuddle puddle. Yeah.
- [47:07]
B
But, you know, the thing is about coders, they never want to stop. They just want to make it better and better. But at some point you have to cut the version and ship it. But I did that my whole life, and so I've got a pretty good respect for what they do. And that was one of our competitive advantages. Developers like to work for me because I gave them a lot of slack on the creativity, but was able to manage their time and say, look, we got to ship it next month. Yeah, it's got a ship.
- [47:30]
A
Yeah.
- [47:31]
B
And because you're trying to fill shelves for Holiday and whatever else, but. And I still do that to a certain extent, but I'm not an operator anymore. I'm just an investor.
- [47:39]
A
When you see, like in New York City, when you see someone on the street, like a homeless person, like, what do you make of the. What's your. What's your whole take on that?
- [47:48]
B
It's sad, but usually it's mental illness.
- [47:50]
A
Yeah.
- [47:50]
B
That's what it is. And our society has a very arch.
- [47:52]
A
You shouldn't tell them to take it outside. It's kind of inhumane.
- [47:56]
B
You look at other societies, like Asian societies, for example, or even in Europe and Switzerland, they covet the elderly. They want to bring them into their homes and they keep their grandparents around because that's how the family values work. We don't have that in North America.
- [48:17]
A
I feel like the future. Have you seen the show Mad Men?
- [48:21]
B
Yeah, of course there's.
- [48:23]
A
You remember they're going for a picnic.
- [48:24]
B
Yeah.
- [48:25]
A
And then they shake out all their garbage into a field and you're like, oh, they didn't know what littering was. I feel like in the future they'll look back at us and they'll be like, you just walked past a guy just suffering and dying on the street.
- [48:36]
B
Yeah, there's homeless in every society, but usually if it's mental illness, it's being supported by a family somewhere. So there's less of it. Certainly the Asian countries are the same.
- [48:48]
A
Can we do a thought experiment?
- [48:50]
B
Okay.
- [48:51]
A
You go to bed. Miami, beautiful life, beautiful house. You're Mr. Wonderful. You open your eyes, you are. You have zero dollars, and you go around, you're like, I'm Mr.
- [49:04]
B
Wonderful.
- [49:04]
A
People are like, I've never heard of Mr. Wonderful. Okay, what do you do? Seriously?
- [49:08]
B
Maybe that'll happen to me in a dream. You never know.
- [49:10]
A
But I'm saying, let's thought experiment. You wake up, you're on the street, and you have zero dollars. What do you do your first day to get back on your feet? Make money.
- [49:19]
B
Yeah, I would probably go be a laborer, as I did when I was young. I was a bricklayer, and then I washed dishes.
- [49:26]
A
You can't really go. You can't really go up that way, right?
- [49:28]
B
No, no, but you have to get some cash. I mean, you got to be pragmatic, you know, you've got to get some clothes, get some cash. I would probably go and use my skill. Skills in photography and, you know, find a job and doing social media or something, because that's a growth area. But you got to start at the bottom again. And, you know, basically there's a lot of work for people that want to work. Maybe it's in the field or maybe it's, you know, in service industries. They don't want to do that, though.
- [50:00]
A
How long would it take you to get a million dollars from zero. If just a thought experiment from that circumstance. No one knows who you are. You're not a star of screen and.
- [50:10]
B
Yeah.
- [50:10]
A
And small.
- [50:12]
B
I think I could do it again.
- [50:14]
A
Do you think three months, you get a million?
- [50:16]
B
I don't think if I. I'm not sure I could do it in. In three months, but I would assume three weeks. You know, the way, the way you. You make a million dollars is you don't buy shit. Like you actually have money to invest.
- [50:29]
A
Really.
- [50:29]
B
That's how I figured it out. It took me a while to figure it out. You know, I was able to make a million when I was pretty young by. By just. I had. You know, when you go into someone, go into your own closet and look at all the shit you bought over the years, you don't wear. I mean, that's such an easy one to see, but you're You're a day.
- [50:48]
A
You're a Daniel.
- [50:50]
B
I can afford to.
- [50:50]
A
But you can afford it.
- [50:51]
B
I can afford to get great clothes now and I have a lot of fun, you know, between the different brands. Right now I'm working with Dolce. They're doing.
- [50:58]
A
Really?
- [50:58]
B
That's because of Marty Supreme. Dolce is doing. Thank you. Thank you. What?
- [51:04]
A
I like the weakest applause ever.
- [51:06]
B
Well, you know, what the hell is that? But they are working with material and designs from the 30s and 40s which kind of fit the whole Marty vibe. Yeah. So for the. I've got some very crazy shit coming for the premieres in New York and la.
- [51:24]
A
No, like Lady Gaga level.
- [51:27]
B
I think I might beat her on these.
- [51:28]
A
You're gonna wear meat?
- [51:30]
B
I should wear meat. But I've got an amazing jacket from sort of Louis XIV kind of vibe. Whoa.
- [51:37]
A
I love that for you. That's actually pretty cool.
- [51:39]
B
It's definitely me.
- [51:40]
A
Yeah, that's you. That is wonderful.
- [51:43]
B
Yes, it's a wonderful kind of, you know, Anyways, it's fun and I bring it home and my daughter and wife just go out of their minds when they see this stuff.
- [51:52]
A
Your wife. Your wife gets turned on a little.
- [51:54]
B
Well, I remember when I bought my first Porsche. I collect Porsches and, you know, I drove it home. It was 911. Yeah, it was a 911 turbo convertible cabriolet stick shift. And all she said to me was, oh, great, another bald asshole in a Porsche.
- [52:10]
A
They don't understand how cool, cool, cool stuff is.
- [52:13]
B
I love that car. And I like the new Porsches. I got the 50th anniversary. These cars are amazing. They're, you know, German precision, all that stuff.
- [52:21]
A
It's like a watch.
- [52:22]
B
I might put a thousand miles on it a year. I don't drive it very often, but I like to just look at it.
- [52:29]
A
Come on, dude.
- [52:30]
B
Yeah. Why don't you just think about a car?
- [52:32]
A
I'm a young you.
- [52:34]
B
Watches are easy to collect because you can actually store them in a bank for faults. But cars, you got to get a garage, climate control facility, tricklers and all. It's complicated.
- [52:43]
A
Yeah, it's a lot of headaches.
- [52:44]
B
Insurance. Crazy.
- [52:45]
A
And the maintenance.
- [52:46]
B
Yeah, nuts. Nuts.
- [52:47]
A
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- [56:57]
B
Montreal. Moved to Champaign Urbana, outside of Chicago, in Illinois. Went to school there. Boughten Field. I'll never forget it. I lived Boughtenfield School. I don't even know if it's still there.
- [57:14]
A
But you lived in Cambodia as well? Before the Kama Rouge.
- [57:18]
B
After that, when my stepd. My original dad died. My stepdad was graduating from the University of Illinois and he became a PhD in management and he got a job with the ILO of the United nations and we traveled every two years. He worked on infrastructure projects like water and highways.
- [57:36]
A
He was a spook. Sounds like a spook to me.
- [57:39]
B
Well, he did a hell of a job for the uae. He was there when the founder was there and that's how I got my residency there. He helped get the water system going for those guys.
- [57:48]
A
Now look at them.
- [57:48]
B
Yeah, they're doing.
- [57:50]
A
They're doing all right.
- [57:52]
B
Wait, yeah, they. They actually were pretty smart about how they made that country.
- [57:55]
A
You met Haile Selassie?
- [57:57]
B
I did.
- [57:58]
A
And is it true? Is he. Is he Jah.
- [58:01]
B
He was.
- [58:03]
A
Are you Rastafari kind of guy?
- [58:05]
B
Yeah, well, he is the leader of the Rastafarians.
- [58:08]
A
Yeah, I know.
- [58:09]
B
He also. I met his lion cubs. I met Paul Pot who went nuts and killed everybody in Cambodia.
- [58:15]
A
What are you, James Bond?
- [58:16]
B
It was just random. I mean, you know, the expats would always get together at these cocktail parties, and they would throw them at the palace, and, you know, the ILO would bring their kids, and that's how I met him. I just.
- [58:28]
A
And you play poker against a guy with an eye patch?
- [58:30]
B
Well, I met Sihanouk, too. I mean, that was when the Vietnam War was spreading into Cambodia.
- [58:37]
A
Why? Everywhere you go, war follows.
- [58:39]
B
It was tough. I mean, that was tough.
- [58:41]
A
You're the angel of Death, Kevin. Wait.
- [58:45]
B
But I've been to some interesting places.
- [58:47]
A
So you were raised by your stepfather?
- [58:48]
B
Primarily, yeah. He was very pragmatic with me.
- [58:51]
A
And your parents split up after you'd moved?
- [58:54]
B
No, my parents. My original father, they got divorced, and then he died, actually, when he was 37.
- [59:02]
A
When did he die? When you moved or.
- [59:05]
B
No, we. He had. They were divorced already. My mother was now, you know, starting dating, I guess, my stepfather. But then he passed away. My original father. And then they moved to finish off George's PhD. That's what happened.
- [59:24]
A
And did you. You didn't get a chance to say goodbye or.
- [59:26]
B
I did. I knew. I. You know, I spent weekends with him, but one day he was just gone. It was. Was tough. My brother's two years old. It was really hard on him. That was difficult. But, you know, when I started moving every two years, I thought everybody lived that way, but it's not true. But it ended up being a huge advantage for me because I've been to every culture in the world, so, you know, Iceland and Norway and France and Switzerland and Germany and Japan and Ethiopia. All of those places.
- [59:53]
A
Yeah. And another thing is. Well, a funny thing. Thing. Correct me if this is wrong, but your stepfather at the end of high school asked you what you wanted to do, and you said, I want to take photographs of hot chicks.
- [60:07]
B
He said, you're not good enough.
- [60:09]
A
That's so us, by the way. That's awesome. That is the most awesome answer I've ever heard.
- [60:15]
B
He said, look, you're not good enough. You'll starve to death. Why don't you just take a couple years off and go get a business degree? Then you can figure out what to do. He. He was right. But I went right back into photography. I founded a company called Special Event Television. We did all the hockey programming on Saturday nights for the original six teams.
- [60:30]
A
And you developed the technology for, like, digital graphics?
- [60:35]
B
Yeah, we did that. That turned in the Learning Company. There was a bunch of things that happened in that journey, and you just don't know what's going to happen when you start a company. But we did Don Cherry's Grapevine, the original 6 was another format we owned. I didn't know what a television format was, but I owned it. And so somebody came along and said, I want to buy it. That was the first exit we had. We took that money, started the learning company, and the rest is history.
- [61:00]
A
Yeah. Another surprising thing about you is that you old pinko glasses, New York Jew over here, I would assume, like I would never have assumed that you'd be an environmentalist, that you studied environmentalists studies. You made a documentary.
- [61:18]
B
Yeah.
- [61:19]
A
You happen to be one to this day.
- [61:21]
B
I was one of the first cohorts with Sally Lerner and Greg Michalachky were the two of them. They founded it in the architecture department. But what Sally's told me, which I'll never forget, she said, you know, Kevin, you should pursue entrepreneurship. You should go start a business, because you know this. You don't look to me like a guy who's ever going to keep a job. You know, you just don't know how to work for anybody. And it could be bad, it could be good. But she was one of the ones that really edged me on. And I'll never forget that because she was right. I mean, in the end, I never was able to hold down a job for anybody. I never will.
- [62:04]
A
Tell us about the cat food.
- [62:06]
B
Yeah. That was a summer. I have to have a summer job. And I worked for a guy, but that ended up being a very important lesson because he took me to show how cat food was made. And it's just two engines. It's Sea of the pan of Japan tuna, the belly, that's for the fish protein. And the other is chicken faces and beef faces and all the parts that we don't eat of a cow. And they get sort of melted into a mush with papaya juice and then squeezed out. And that paste is the protein that.
- [62:36]
A
Is Chicken McNuggets at McDonald's.
- [62:38]
B
Well, these are for cats. But think about the idea. It's either Sea of Japan tuna on this side or the chicken faces on.
- [62:48]
A
The right sounds nicer. The tuna, yeah.
- [62:51]
B
Fifteen years later, I'm sitting with my partner at the Learning Company. We're buying all these software companies with their developers making educational software. And the only two things we're doing is math and reading. So scores. We're doing hundreds of millions of dollars of sales advancing math and reading scores. I said to Mike, let me tell you this story about cat food. And I said, why don't we fire all the developers that we don't need and just have one Chicken Face team and one Steve Japan Tuna team. The Steve Japan Tuna does the reading software. The other guys do the math. And then all we do is take the. The titles. Because when you make cat food, you add bacon bits, a little egg bits, or, you know, and you call it, you know, souffle or whatever, but it's just the same paste. We did the same thing. We took. We licensed, you know, characters from Disney and characters from Mattel. Right? Yeah, Big Bird. We had all these titles and we pay a royalty on it. And our cost of development dropped by 30.
- [63:53]
A
But didn't you try to rebrand the cat food and then they said, would you eat it? Yeah, that's what I was.
- [64:00]
B
I did have to eat it in front of the salesforce, but apparently that's sort of like a hazing thing they did at that company. Really? They made the young guy eat the food. And I knew how it was made, so it really made me sick.
- [64:11]
A
And then you were like, I'm not gonna have a boss ever again. Yeah, it's kind of for good reason.
- [64:16]
B
Well, it was an important lesson, I think. You learn these things in life and they come back and they. And they're very good for you later. That's the whole idea. But that was an important lesson. The two engines of protein. Because that changed the outcome of the learning company a big way.
- [64:31]
A
I want to talk about your turn into entertainment. I mean, like, I'm a comedian. I've gone on the road. I've watched thousands of hours of Shark Tank. It's just the best show. And, like, you are just a fucking hit. You know that?
- [64:48]
B
Well, it's been on for 17 years. We're shooting our 18th season. I actually have a theory about why that happens. The real stars and the reason people keep watching it is every time someone walks through those doors, they've never seen that product or service before. They can't believe someone else thought of it instead of them. It's. Why didn't I think of that? Because half of these things turn into huge successes. The other half go to zero. But every once in a while, you get some crazy idea that ends up being fucking huge.
- [65:23]
A
And we've seen that ring door thing, you guys.
- [65:26]
B
Ring was huge. Cat DNA was huge. Wicked good cupcakes. It was called Bass Paws. It was a monster hit. Cat DNA. Cat DNA. You stick a Q tip up the cat's ass, you send it in and it tells you what to feed it to extend its life by 30%.
- [65:42]
A
That's a dog. That's not a gem. What's your thing? A dog or a gem? No, a dog or a dog or a business. Dog or a business gem.
- [65:52]
B
Well, I say, look, it's a howling dog from hell.
- [65:56]
A
You know, that sounds like the dumbest idea for anything that pisses me off that that's successful.
- [66:01]
B
Yeah. But you know, know you, I've seen so many pitches now, I kind of have an idea what's going to work and what isn't.
- [66:06]
A
But I like when you're mean to kids.
- [66:09]
B
I don't like kids.
- [66:10]
A
Yeah, yeah. When they're like, I'm three years old and I have a business and you're like, you're an idiot. Get off.
- [66:16]
B
The way I get out of that problem is I say the parents, I'll invest in the three year old if you take him out of school for the rest of his life. Yeah. So that he can work for me full time.
- [66:25]
A
Yeah. He shouldn't be.
- [66:26]
B
I don't know why anybody wants would invest in a kid in high school. You got to wait till they graduate.
- [66:31]
A
Yeah.
- [66:31]
B
And I do it. I think it's dumb. But you know, it's TV and so.
- [66:35]
A
It happens, you crush it. On that. How much of Mr. Wonderful is a character? Because I'm meeting you right now. You seem like you're just a. What, like calm, friendly, well adjusted, zenned out dude.
- [66:46]
B
Well, you. I don't think. I don't think you can.
- [66:48]
A
He should. He'll never work again.
- [66:52]
B
You can't. You can't.
- [66:54]
A
You really. You turn it on.
- [66:56]
B
No, no. You can't fake it for 17 years. You can't do that. That's who I am when it comes to investing. I scrutinize deals. I am not acting. I'm not faking it. That's. That's who I am. And you can ask the people I work with, my team. That's how I am.
- [67:09]
A
Yeah.
- [67:09]
B
And so, you know, it's sort of like it's for me, Shark Tank. I don't see any cameras on Shark Tank. Nor does anybody else, really. We've been doing it for so long. I mean, it's just, bring it on, let's have a look at it. But if it's dog shit, I'm saying it's dog shit.
- [67:26]
A
You tell the truth.
- [67:27]
B
I think telling the truth is extremely helpful in the case of business because you don't want them to waste the money. You want them to actually say, maybe it is dog shit if everybody won't invest. I Find it very disingenuous when Barbara or Laurie say, well, that pisses me off too. Oh, you're so nice, and I think you're wonderfully. You should just go do what you do. You don't need any of us. What they're saying is, your product's a piece of shit, and I would never invest in it. I just say, your product's a piece of shit.
- [67:56]
A
They're setting them up. They're gonna lose them money, and I'm gaslighting them.
- [67:59]
B
Barbers on this side, Lori's here. And say, what are you doing? You're lying through your teeth to these people. You're giving them such bad advice to tell them to keep going on this dog shit crap they have. Like, why. Why don't you just call it what it is? Is dog shit crap. Yeah, do them a favor, tell them the truth.
- [68:14]
A
Because in reality, those people are gonna think that it's not dog shit crap. And it's gonna cost them time.
- [68:19]
B
So bad I can smell the odor of dog shit off the product. Yeah, it's just from I'm in the room 10ft away saying, it's horrible.
- [68:26]
A
Shoot it. It's like it's. It's be. They're being kind, but they're not being kind. In fact, you're being kind by telling that kid to kill himself.
- [68:33]
B
Thank you. Finally somebody realized.
- [68:34]
A
Yeah, I mean, I do.
- [68:36]
B
Look at that. Look at the he I take from everybody. Oh, you're the mean shark. You're the bad shark. No, I'm not. I'm just telling you.
- [68:41]
A
You're the star of the show, but you're the star of the show. You sit in the middle.
- [68:46]
B
The point is, it's a piece of crap.
- [68:49]
A
Yeah, it is. And they're gonna waste their. Their lives on it.
- [68:52]
B
And their parents money.
- [68:53]
A
And their parents money.
- [68:54]
B
Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's the real problem. Yeah.
- [68:57]
A
Yeah. Do you respect people that just didn't have to work for it to have a lot of money? Or do you think that they're pussies or. Sorry for saying that word. I don't know.
- [69:06]
B
Well, you mean they've inherited it?
- [69:07]
A
Yeah, like you're a fucking.
- [69:10]
B
But let me tell you what happens.
- [69:11]
A
You've grinded.
- [69:12]
B
Inherited wealth is generally dissipated within two generations.
- [69:16]
A
Yeah, yeah.
- [69:17]
B
So you shouldn't give your money to the idiot cousin. It's not a good idea. You know, if you have a business, nepotism destroys it. What you do is you put the kids at the. At the board level and you hire professional managers.
- [69:31]
A
Yeah.
- [69:31]
B
And that way you can sustain the family for, you know, long after you're gone. As long as they don't try and run it. Most people can't do what their parents did.
- [69:40]
A
Yeah. Sometimes it's like the Bush administration. Right.
- [69:44]
B
It's difficult, but, you know, you don't want to. Sometimes there's exceptions, but not often. And so if you're going to be an entrepreneur, it's better to try and do it in your 20s when you can take a hit. You don't have a lot of responsibility. You don't have a family, you don't have a mortgage. Just go do it, and in 18 months, you'll find out if you can pull it off or not. And if you do, it sets you free.
- [70:03]
A
Yeah.
- [70:03]
B
There's something wonderful about being able to do what you want to do. And the only way in America you get there is you got to be successful in the American dream.
- [70:10]
A
There's a competitive element to business, right? You want to win, of course.
- [70:13]
B
Right.
- [70:14]
A
It's a giant competition, so you have to fucking hate the other guy at some point a lot of the time. Right. Like who. Who's the biggest fucking fraud? Just name, name.
- [70:23]
B
Well, I mean, you're talking about the other Sharks.
- [70:26]
A
Just. No, no, not. I know. Those are our friends. We love them.
- [70:28]
B
Well, no, but let me tell you how funny.
- [70:30]
A
When Mark. Mark quit. You're. You're. You're genuinely emotional.
- [70:34]
B
I think I can get Mark back on the show.
- [70:36]
A
You're trying to get it back. You miss.
- [70:37]
B
I am. I am.
- [70:38]
A
That's your boy.
- [70:39]
B
Because I think we have a great dynamic. I'm teaching him, and he's learning from me, and it's fantastic.
- [70:44]
A
Yeah, yeah. He's like the sensei and the suit.
- [70:47]
B
And Barb, you know, he's my grasshopper. And Barbara, the only reason that she makes it to the set each year is I buy her new broom. That's how kind I am.
- [70:58]
A
You're keeping the band together.
- [70:59]
B
You're like Paul McCartney every year, Brand new. The latest broom for the witch.
- [71:03]
A
Mark is like John Lennon. He's up with Yoko doing heroin. You're like, just get to the studio. Let's make Abbey Road.
- [71:09]
B
Get back in the chair and let's get back to her.
- [71:11]
A
I love it. So you're like the capitan a little bit.
- [71:13]
B
I like to think that way.
- [71:14]
A
Yeah, Yeah, I like that.
- [71:16]
B
Call me El Capita.
- [71:17]
A
This is cool for me because I'm a massive fan. This is cool to hear this. Yeah.
- [71:21]
B
Look, I don't think of myself as the star of the show. Because I know with certainty if we didn't have the pitches, there'd be no show. What we've learned is what's really good now about Shark Tank is the hundred plus producers that after 17 years can curate great deals. They go out there just like on American Idol. They listen to pitches. Thousands of pitches, thousands of pitches. And the woman that's done it from the beginning is named Mindy. Casting. I don't know what her real name.
- [71:50]
A
Is, but from the office.
- [71:52]
B
And she has seen every pitch. Can you imagine that?
- [71:55]
A
Holy shit.
- [71:56]
B
And then she says, that one, that one, that one, that one. Then she sends it into the, you know, the editorial team that says it's appropriate. It isn't. But she has done such an incredible job with her team that that's why the show works.
- [72:11]
A
I assume there's due diligence, though, after.
- [72:13]
B
There is afterwards. And what's the diligence before?
- [72:15]
A
What's the craziest thing that's come out in due diligence after making a deal with some.
- [72:19]
B
The guy was in prison.
- [72:21]
A
The guy was.
- [72:22]
B
Wait, one of our deals, they let.
- [72:24]
A
Him out of prison to do Shark Tank.
- [72:26]
B
He didn't tell the truth, obviously. He was a felon. That's not useful. You know, I think it's better to tell the truth.
- [72:35]
A
Yeah.
- [72:35]
B
I'm not against felons. I think they've redeemed themselves. They've served their time.
- [72:39]
A
That's what Miami's all about.
- [72:40]
B
Well, yeah, it was built on larceny, but the point is, you got to disclose that. You have to tell.
- [72:49]
A
You think Timothy would have fun on the show?
- [72:52]
B
I do. I do. And I think his. And his. I've met many of his friends when we were shooting. I think he would have.
- [72:58]
A
I met him before. He's a. He's awesome.
- [73:00]
B
He's a. He's a great guy.
- [73:01]
A
He's really.
- [73:02]
B
He's a Kardashian method actor because he gets into the zone and you shoot the scene and then he checks out and, you know, he's. He's quite. Quite something.
- [73:12]
A
What lessons did the other actors impart on you on set?
- [73:15]
B
Well, they help you, as you saw in the movie. There's a lot of interaction between a lot of people simultaneously in those big scenes in restaurants or kind of like.
- [73:23]
A
Robert Altman kind of.
- [73:24]
B
Yeah, yeah. And so. So it's a roaming camera and you do those sequences multiple times and you get new cadence of what the script is. There were some great people in that thing that really knew what they were doing. And that made it easy for me. I thought probably by the fourth or fifth day, I was into the kind of groove of how Josh and Ronnie worked.
- [73:46]
A
Did Gwyneth ask you for tips for her goop company?
- [73:50]
B
Actually, we met years earlier on Shark Tank. Really? She was a guest Shark. Yeah.
- [73:55]
A
Because she's an entrepreneur.
- [73:56]
B
Yeah, she was. Goop.
- [73:57]
A
Goop. Yeah. The ladies love this stuff. Yeah.
- [74:00]
B
You know, she's. That's a. I don't even know what it is.
- [74:03]
A
Yeah.
- [74:03]
B
And so we knew each other already, so it was very easy to roll into the husband, wife scene. It was very easy.
- [74:09]
A
Yeah. You felt like husband and wife already from Shark.
- [74:11]
B
Yeah. But a loveless marriage. She was a horrible person to me.
- [74:13]
A
Yeah, you felt like she was a bad. She hated you.
- [74:16]
B
But, you know, you felt like you were being.
- [74:18]
A
When you were shooting a scene, like you were the guy. You were the guy.
- [74:21]
B
It was really interesting because it was easy to get into that character. You know, Milton in 1952. That was quite something. I didn't have a hard time becoming Milton. That was good. Good for me.
- [74:35]
A
Yeah. You killed it, dude. I mean, seriously, I genuinely impressed. Can I tell you what happened to me at the premiere?
- [74:41]
B
Sure. Tell me.
- [74:43]
A
We'll end on this. But this guy. I was with this guy there. I'm. Josh is on stage. He said, I finished editing this last night. This is the movie. Enjoy it. The lights are going down. I'm walking down my row, and I have a pair of pants, and they have a snap button on the back. There's a woman in the row. My pants brushed past her hair, and her hair got stuck. And then the lights are going down and she's screaming and she's like, ouch.
- [75:11]
B
And.
- [75:11]
A
And then her friend, she was with her gay friend, and he was like, you're hurting her. And then everyone on the other side of me was like, sit down. The movie's starting. So I'm like going like, sorry, sorry, sorry. And it was. And he's sitting there and he's just laughing in my face at it. And it was. Perhaps that's. So that's how I started. The movie started for me, actually. I was apologizing to a woman for her hair.
- [75:38]
B
Well, I think.
- [75:39]
A
And I couldn't get it out.
- [75:40]
B
I think you deserve the abuse. I mean, you know, what did I.
- [75:43]
A
What? It's not my fault.
- [75:44]
B
I don't know what kind of pants for those. That's crazy.
- [75:46]
A
They were from Double rl.
- [75:47]
B
Oh, no kidding.
- [75:48]
A
Yeah. It's a nice line.
- [75:49]
B
Yeah.
- [75:50]
A
Ralph I wear a lot of, you know, I have it here.
- [75:53]
B
I see that.
- [75:53]
A
Do you know Lift Shitz Ralph?
- [75:55]
B
He's a good guy. I think the thing is, it's a shame that happened, but a little excitement doesn't hurt.
- [76:01]
A
No, it's hilarious.
- [76:02]
B
But you know, I was getting, I think you were at a screening where I had some friends. Friends. And they were texting me during the. That's the first interaction.
- [76:08]
A
We just saw the most Jewish man in the world.
- [76:10]
B
No, I think they said there's some pulled from some woman's hair.
- [76:18]
A
Kevin o', Leary, everybody.
- [76:19]
B
Give it up.
- [76:22]
A
This has been a pleasure.
- [76:32]
B
Sam. Foreign.
- [77:07]
A
Hi, I'm Andy Staples from Andy and Ariane three. And another five star quarterback just entered the transfer portal. That's what college football is now, a non stop adventure. And we cover it every day at Andy and Ariane 3, whether it's the transfer portal, the college football playoff, the coaching carousel, you name it. And guess what? It doesn't stop even when the season ends. So join us every day, Monday through Friday. New episodes drop at 3pm Wherever you get your podcasts.