← The Sage Steele Show
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- [00:01]
Sage Steele
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- [00:17]
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- [01:16]
Sage Steele
How many presidents have you interviewed?
- [01:18]
Brian Kilmeade
H.W. i've interviewed Bill Clinton. I interviewed W. I interviewed Obama once and Trump a lot. My name is Brian Kilmeade. Been with the channel since 1996. You have to have a thick skin to be on Fox News, but it's also the biggest privilege you will ever have in your life to be in there. We come here to the Sage Steel Show.
- [01:39]
Sage Steele
Watch. You are to me, like a storyteller when you're giving the news.
- [01:44]
Brian Kilmeade
Former military people hired as reporters to use that same military instinct to go hunt down stories. Less worried about the journalism school, more worried about get the story. I don't think you could do our job to be famous. And if you're playing and you lose two one, that kid walks off the field crying. Well, you're not having fun. You actually are. You've learned to compete. You care that you lost. So this is a positive experience. I was making $21,000 a year and the most I made was like 28,000 and then 31,000. I remember never making my age. Two weeks before the wedding, flames raised uncharted, raging fires hit California and I lose everything. We're in the best country, the most consequential country at a consequential time.
- [02:29]
Sage Steele
What do you think Trump's legacy will be?
- [02:33]
Brian Kilmeade
Listen, we've never seen Anything like this.
- [02:43]
Sage Steele
You guys work so much and do do so many different shows and have so many such versatility and you do it with a smile like, I know you love your job.
- [02:52]
Brian Kilmeade
There's no question. I think that, you know, you could tell coaches. So there was a philosophy. Let's create rivalries and make you better. Like the 8 o' clock show is beating your 9 o' clock show. You guys got to do it. Hey, I notice, you know, the 10 o' clock show, they jump when you guys get off the air in the morning. I notice they jump a lot at night. Like they, it was Bill Parcells ish, you know, just trying to dig at it. You're on the team, you're on the roster, but just let you know you got to stay on your toes. And that created friction, but it made the network number one by 2000. And I think the philosophy here now no one's discussed it with me, but just by observing it is when you're done, if you want to ask another anchor to help you out. They just asked me on America's Newsroom every Thursday, Brian, could you come on at 2:30? And I get to promote my Sunday show. But I'll come on and they'll just give me topics in the morning and they want to put me in the run deck. All right. Gutfeld says I need you here. Don't need you here. Help him out once or twice a month. Outnumbered says we need a new guy. We're usually on that once a month. Jesse's out. Can you fill in? So seven o', clock, Laura Ingraham's out. I was in D.C. went and did that a few hours notice. So it gives the sense of you're on the team rather than being on like you're on the team rather than being on one portion of a league instead of like just being on the Giants, you're in the NFL. So I really feel like I want the network to be successful as much as I want shows I host and co host to be successful. And that's the design, I think, because you get to know the producers on the 10 o' clock show, the 11 o' clock show, the 7 o' clock show, you get to know them, they move on, you move on, you get. It's an integration rather than you're my guest, don't touch Sage Steele. She's coming on Friday. They can't do it the same day, you can't do it the same hours. We know the rules. But hey, you really need Sage. Okay. You could have her next time, let me grab right. And we're rotation. Why? Well, I don't really hate you. You asked me to host the show you used to produce on this show. So there's more of a team attitude at Fox than ever. Because the philosophy on our second floor with management is see what you could do to help. And that's what they created. So everybody helps everybody. I really don't know anybody that doesn't get along.
- [05:09]
Sage Steele
Really.
- [05:10]
Brian Kilmeade
Really, I don't. That's so rare, you know that I, I, I can't. If you just, I, if you pin me down, I mean, I don't know anybody that resents anybody or, I mean, because you could do as well as you want. If you start doing well and you get more shows and they want to give you your own podcast, that's up to you. Like, people are happy. Why? You got radio, you got the podcast network, you got the Weather Channel, if that's your thing. You got Outkick, if that's your thing. If you got, you know, then you have the business channel. Then, then you got Fox Nation. They ask you to do specials all the time, which you're more than happy to do. So you come in, it's a big gym. It's a very interesting environment because when they sold Disney, people were telling me, wow, next is going to be Fox. I'm going to sell it off.
- [05:50]
Sage Steele
I don't know.
- [05:51]
Brian Kilmeade
I haven't heard that. Just kind of do my thing. And then they decided no more movies. Smart. Look it. And now they just decided to do what I just went over and it's worked. And then you take people successful on the TV side and next thing you know, they are running digital. And digital, which previous management was like, I don't really worry about digital or TV network. Digital is now the number one digital network because they took the TV guys. Yeah. And they put them on digital. So you have so many stories. Fox News Digital has learned because they have former military people hired as reporters to use that same military instinct and to go hunt down stories.
- [06:33]
Sage Steele
So smart.
- [06:34]
Brian Kilmeade
I think so. I think it is less worried about the journalism school, more worried about get the story,
- [06:41]
Sage Steele
tell the story, make it so that we at home understand and comprehend it. You know, being conversational and especially at a time like this where you need that and there's a lot of different nuances and language that we don't really understand with what's happening with Iran right now. But you have people, men and women who've been there and in these combat zones.
- [07:03]
Brian Kilmeade
Yeah, I Mean, it's so interesting because when people come out of combat, it's almost like when people retire from sports, when they were playing the game, it's hard to get to them. They don't really want to talk. When they're done, they're a little bit more accessible and more open, especially when they start trying to do your job, like you. So, like, when the military comes out and then all of a sudden a war starts and they become the expert, you're able to talk to them, create relationships. And then you say, and by the way, do you know anyone over in Qatar? Oh, yeah. Can you let me know what's going on? And then when I hop on the show in the morning and we talk about how the Gulf nations are responding to being attacked, instead of me seeing what the Washington Post or Washington Times said, I could actually say, according to Fox News Digital, some of the people I talked to, they're not worried in Qatar, or it was shocking to see a beautiful hotel get hit with a rocket. You know, so the whole thing to be able to use your contacts to get inside the locker room of the news instead of the locker room of sports. I think we learn that in sports. Yeah. If you could sit by the microphone and tell me the Giants suck. But I'm much more interested if you say that. If you've been in that locker room four days and you went to their practice.
- [08:13]
Sage Steele
Exactly. You have credibility.
- [08:15]
Brian Kilmeade
That's the whole thing. I mean, you don't just sit behind a microphone and tell me what you think, tell me why you think it, and who told you that. Because no one knows everything. You need experts to let you know what people. People on the scene to relay what happened. I believe.
- [08:30]
Sage Steele
I do think sometimes, and maybe it depends on the level, if it's local or regional, TV versus national. We're mostly. I mean, we're of the generation where you literally had to start small, local, and build and build and build and build, and you're making a tv.
- [08:44]
Brian Kilmeade
There was a game plan. There was a game plan. Yeah.
- [08:45]
Sage Steele
And I love that, actually. I have kids today who ask me, what do I do? What do I do? I'm like, I have no idea. This is the only way I know, is to go be an intern and have, you know, you're on TV during the day and you're waiting tables at night, you're making no money. But it didn't matter because it's the love of the game.
- [09:00]
Brian Kilmeade
You're on a journey.
- [09:01]
Sage Steele
Yeah, it's a total journey. And now it is different. I do think sometimes we forget the why behind it. We meaning the industry, not Fox in particular, whatever. But I had a news director, my very first job in South Bend, Indiana. And every day for our morning meeting he had this acronym and it was 2W Pata on the whiteboard. That's what people are talking about. Twpata. And it's, it's so true. And I'm like, okay, so this is what I'm interested in. But what. And now we have X and the Internet to tell us what people are talking about.
- [09:32]
Brian Kilmeade
Yeah.
- [09:33]
Sage Steele
And so sometimes we got to get out of our own way and say, well, what do they want to know?
- [09:37]
Brian Kilmeade
Yeah.
- [09:37]
Sage Steele
And then how do we tell it in the best possible way. That includes us knowing our staying in our lane.
- [09:45]
Brian Kilmeade
Yeah.
- [09:45]
Sage Steele
And sometimes we don't. Our opinion doesn't matter most times. What kind of question am I going to ask to make sure people at home are better informed? I don't know that that art of asking the right questions is appreciated.
- [09:59]
Brian Kilmeade
Yes. Especially if you don't do the steps that I would have been one unorthodox that traditionally do. For example, maybe you come out and you're 22 and you're not asking the right questions, so you have a news director pulley in and go, what could you have done better here? But if I'm an influencer at 23, already giving my opinion, grabbing my cell phone and being a so called journalist, I'm going to do some things on raw ability, but I'm not going to have the fundamentals like how do you really tell a story? I don't think you could do our job to be famous.
- [10:33]
Sage Steele
Oh, you cannot. No.
- [10:34]
Brian Kilmeade
You just got to do your job well and then see. And if you do it and people go, oh, I like watching, that's great. I think if you're an actor, I mean, you kind of want to do it to be famous. If you're on Broadway, you want to be famous, you want to be known. Yeah. You want to be good at your craft. But if you want to be good at your craft, you probably stay in community theater. But if you want to be successful, you could do both. But I don't think our job to be effective at our job. If you want to be famous, I don't think it works because then it's all about you, all your questions about you. How can I interview Sage Steele in order to get more attention for me, in order to get charged more ad time for my show or whatever it is? I don't think that can Be your approach this spring.
- [11:14]
Sage Steele
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- [13:54]
Brian Kilmeade
Wow.
- [13:55]
Sage Steele
And this is in 1997 or 98. It's not like it was 1960. And I'm like, absolutely. I didn't care because I was doing what I wanted.
- [14:04]
Brian Kilmeade
Exactly.
- [14:06]
Sage Steele
What do you hear? I know you're reached out to by tons of young people who are interested in being journalists and the why behind why they want to do it today versus maybe when we were doing it.
- [14:17]
Brian Kilmeade
Yeah, I guess why is everything? So, for example, why do you want to be successful? And if your why is, I want to prove to everyone that thought I wouldn't be or that I wasn't popular in high school, and I want to show everyone, when you get there, you're going to go, this is such a letdown. But if you understand the why and the journey just to get there and you go through it, I think you get an appreciation for it. But again, if you're doing it to prove to people or prove to your family or doubting parents or friends, when you get to the end, in my humble opinion, I'm not at the end. Hopefully, it's not going to be satisfying. So I think to be satisfied, I think you have to appreciate the journey you went through. Also, along the way, if you don't not get the job you want, if you don't get the raise you want, if you didn't get the attention you thought you deserved in a story you did, when you finally do get those things, you have a true appreciation for them.
- [15:13]
Sage Steele
Oh, my gosh.
- [15:14]
Brian Kilmeade
And then when you don't, you're like, okay, that happened. Same thing when I was 23, you know, so at 33, I did a great story. Nobody really cared. Or I had this scary interview. Didn't really. All right, went through it, and all of a sudden you do something, and then people start noticing and maybe you get overcompensated at the end. Don't say anything. But. But in the beginning, we're totally undercompensated. I have a better story for you. Ready?
- [15:34]
Sage Steele
Yes.
- [15:35]
Brian Kilmeade
My first job, I got out of college with an extremely bad New York accent, and me and this guy Steve Tory, who is the News director at Mad Dog Radio now. And he had his own show there, too. We were the only sports. This is like you go to a big Syracuse or Ithaca. Hundreds. Hundreds of kids. Yeah. So I went to CW Post, now Long Island University, and Steve and I did everything. We did the basketball, we did the football, the lacrosse. He was fantastic and he still is. But I was able to do everything because I had a big school that didn't have big communication. So I had a great opportunity there and also did a talk show on top of that. But we would have a chance just to run. But by the time we were done, we had a tape, but it wasn't really turning many heads. I had a tape, wasn't turning many heads. But the first job I got was sportsphone. Do you remember sportsphone? It predated all sports radio. It was so normally people would have to wait till the 6:00 clock news, the 11:00 clock news, right before ESPN really got traction. So Sportsphone was people. Probably betters. 976-1313. You had to do a new sportscast every seven minutes, 40 hours a week, eight hours a day in three separate markets. Chicago, Detroit, New York.
- [16:45]
Sage Steele
Oh, my gosh.
- [16:46]
Brian Kilmeade
No. I believe Mike Breen came from there. Al Tratwick came from there. Howie Rose came from there. Play with play. And it is boot camp for sportscasters because you got to get everything right. The Cubs didn't win four three. They lost three two. Go fix it. Got to go back there, people. And then you just go. But what you learn to do is, without a script, you are looking at box scores.
- [17:09]
Sage Steele
Right.
- [17:09]
Brian Kilmeade
So it's great training, but it's impossible to slow down. I'm used to bom, bom, bom. We're going as fast as I can to get all the scores in. And I still have to tell myself to slow down to this day.
- [17:22]
Sage Steele
Do you know we have this in common? Like, I hate it and sometimes I feel myself and I get going, but I'm.
- [17:29]
Brian Kilmeade
Yeah.
- [17:29]
Sage Steele
I would tell my bosses who would yell at me, I'm like, I am genuinely so excited to share this highlight.
- [17:34]
Brian Kilmeade
Yeah.
- [17:35]
Sage Steele
Like, this is what you missed last night. Don't ever miss this Rangers game again. So it comes organically because of the enthusiasm for the job that you love. But it's true. If you don't get that in, your listeners and viewers are going to crush you for leaving out their team score.
- [17:52]
Brian Kilmeade
Absolutely.
- [17:52]
Sage Steele
You have to get it online.
- [17:53]
Brian Kilmeade
Yeah, but that came out. That's why you were at espn. I saw your enthusiasm for every single night, every single day, you're doing a sportscast. You what, you're there, you're excited about these games. You understand all the sports. I think that was huge. I did that. I never really. I'm amazed what you guys were doing at what you do for SportsCenter. I mean, you're writing your own stuff, you'll get your own headlines, everything.
- [18:17]
Sage Steele
There was a good research stuff. But, you know, I think it's all your words, right? And yeah, and I also. I mean, this is the beauty of it. I actually think being a sport, Sportscaster first, right? Like, that's why you're the goat. Like, not many people understand the ad libbing necessary and just total multitask in order to be a good sportscaster. And then you come to do news. And news is difficult as well. But it's a different skill set that. I love the fact that you started in sports and you get that. I never wanted anybody to write anything for me because it has to be in my voice or else people can tell that you're reading. People see through it with sports in particular. But then you become, to your point, comfortable with it so that then you
- [18:57]
Brian Kilmeade
can ad lib, especially if your writer knows you. It's like, I look at Jesse's show. Jesse says, the way I want to do it. One of his best writers, who just went with Sean Duffy now.
- [19:08]
Sage Steele
Oh, really?
- [19:09]
Brian Kilmeade
So I got him an intern. I coached him when he was 10. And then he's interning here at 22, killed. It was on Fox and Friends. And then Jesse hired him. But he would listen to Jesse, to his credit, he would listen to him all day. And he goes, I think I know it. To the point where I think he was one of Jesse's lead writers, and he knew exactly Jesse's voice. And that's what these good writers do. And you probably got that at the end where you could look at somebody and go, okay, tell me what happened in the spurs game. You know, write a lead to Popovich is sick or something. You would do it. You wouldn't trust anyone.
- [19:41]
Sage Steele
But they didn't have the people, they didn't have the manpower. And that was okay because I wanted to. For me, the only way did you
- [19:47]
Brian Kilmeade
feel like you were crashing. And every day before SportsCenter was there,
- [19:50]
Sage Steele
because there's always breaking news, right? There's always breaking news.
- [19:52]
Brian Kilmeade
Because you never like, okay, I got 20 minutes.
- [19:54]
Sage Steele
Or you would. And then all of a sudden something blows up and you're like, oh, my gosh. And then you spent 45 minutes really getting deep on this highlight and the interview and it's all gone. Which, you know, that's what happens with breaking news. But no, we didn't have, we didn't, we didn't have real writers. I mean, and I think that here's something funny that you'll understand. And then I don't want to get too much in the weeds because you and I could go deep on this for like sportscasting, X knows. And they give you a shot sheet, which is a piece of paper that breaks down the play for a game. Like it goes play by play and it has the setup and then the description of the play and then the result. And did they score a touchdown or was it a fumble? Whatever.
- [20:31]
Brian Kilmeade
Score in, score out. What was a score in was a score at the end.
- [20:33]
Sage Steele
Exactly. And it could be 24 seconds long or it could be a 7 minute long highlight coming off of Monday Night Football. It's the next morning. And it, you know, people who are watching you in sportscenter am probably didn't stay up to watch the game. You gotta give it all to em. And what there's the editors. The younger kids right out of college would be told put specific words to transition. And so they'd put ensuing play. Wow. And I'm like, who the hell says ensuing play?
- [21:04]
Brian Kilmeade
Did you say that?
- [21:06]
Sage Steele
Like Jackson Dart did this? And then on the ensuing play. That's not what you say when you're at a bar talking about what happened in the Giants game. And so I, whenever I hear now. So if you're listening to SportsCenter or watching and if someone says ensuing play, judge them hard because they're reading instead of like telling the story. But what is it about you that you believe has made you, you are to me like a storyteller when you're giving the news, no matter what show it's on. Obviously Fox and Friends, which you've been on for almost 30 years. Not quite right. I shouldn't round up there because getting close.
- [21:42]
Brian Kilmeade
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [21:43]
Sage Steele
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- [23:43]
Brian Kilmeade
I mean, that's, that's the hope. I would say there's. I, I been lucky because this is the only thing I give myself credit for is after 12, 13 years working out in California at a radio station, out there doing all sports radio and then working at a TV station. I saw that was good, but it wasn't getting paid a lot, but it was a lot of travel. Oh, everything was different. We were at the beginning show you how much older I am than you. We would load the prompter with pages on a conveyor belt. Okay, good.
- [24:13]
Sage Steele
And sometimes you keep them together.
- [24:15]
Brian Kilmeade
Yes. And sometimes upside down when people in the mirror. So you had to tape. So we used to. I used to write it out, type it out, then you tape it together and then load it up and then control it with your hands.
- [24:24]
Sage Steele
Right.
- [24:25]
Brian Kilmeade
So you do that and do all sports Radio with no research. When there was no Internet, I'd go to the library and I would sit there, because in California, nobody cares about the California teams. The Raiders had left, the Rams had left. So I'm getting calls about the Marlins in California. So I'd be going to read Baseball Weekly and going into the library and just reading everything. And so you do. I'm never complaining. I loved it. And then you go and you do your show and you do this. And I did stand up out there, too. And I did stand up when I was here just to help me. To help me memorize and be good on stage. But I was doing it literally. And the money was so tight, but not complaining, just thinking, if I do this, if I spend $75 here, gas was here. So then all of a sudden, I got this job at Newsport, which was really good job. Got a chance to do everything, be on the field, host shows. It was great. But when they opened up Fox News and MSNBC at the same time, sent my tape out myself. And out of all the times you sent a tape, they called and they said, we'd like to see you tomorrow. And I go, okay. So I took a day off from Newsport and I went in and they said, yeah, we really like your tape. And we need someone at a sports show on Sundays for three hours because the guy here right now doesn't want to work on weekends. And then we need you to fill in. Could you do it? And I go, yeah, but I have a job because, well, no one watches our channel and no one watches your channel, so don't worry about it. Because at this time, FOX had just started, wasn't even on in New York. So I started filling in. And because I went through all those years of not, you know, working hard, not getting paid much, I go, I cannot believe the support staff. I cannot believe how great this attitude is. And the person who had the job ahead of me was just the opposite. He was extremely demanding. Wanted to know this was nonstop complaining. And I was just. I go, wow, this guy has not been through because he had a different career prior. I'll tell you afterwards. So after a while, I just said, this is the best job, even if I'm filling in three days a week, this will be fine. Well, after a while, they just made the switch. And then after 9 11, I was able to do the news, but there is no job like this. They get people who they think have talent, who don't have a name, and they allow you to grow, and then you have Loyalty to the people that believed in you, because so many didn't. And then Fox gets huge. So I didn't join the Yankees when they were the Yankees. I joined the Yankees when they were the Highlanders. So they made the transition to the Yankees. And I was smart enough not to say, okay, I don't know where this team's going. All of a sudden I see the new stadium and then I see the legacy. But I was smart enough and had been experienced enough to know that this place was amazing and the people were fantastic. For example, everyone would write negative things about Fox and they would pin it on the cork board and they would open up meetings and they would say, okay, first off, USA Today says fox News. A joke of a news. When are we going to learn something? And they would all laugh, and then we'd read another negative headline and people were loving the hate.
- [27:31]
Sage Steele
Interesting.
- [27:32]
Brian Kilmeade
Like, we were not winning. We're taking on two huge organizations, CNN and msnbc. But this is what we're doing. This is how we're gonna handle it. And you let these people laugh. You don't worry about it. And I go, this is like being on a sports team. This is exactly. And I go, there's no other place like this. And I knew it was gonna be big. And by, you know, all of a sudden they start winning at night, you know, with a great lightning lineup. Then we start winning in the morning. And then the war start and things get serious. And after the war starts, people go to cnn. And then they started coming to us and then trusting us. And the fact that we're not rooting against the country, I think was attractive to people. It's not conservative. It is more pro American, but not propaganda America, but pro American. Like how you can look at this war in Iran and go, america's being pluralistic. Are you crazy? We got this terroristic nation that we've been tolerating for 47 years and we take action and you're mad at us. So I think that's our perspective on it and it's not the other network's perspective on it. So the only thing I give myself credit for is realizing how good this job was going to be and trying to hold onto it. I don't know if I would have had this trajectory anywhere else. I don't know. Because this job allows your personality to come out.
- [28:46]
Sage Steele
It does. Do you think you were rewarded for what? Loyalty as well as talent?
- [28:51]
Brian Kilmeade
Absolutely. I mean, I think they're very loyal. I mean, I wouldn't still have the job. So I'M on minimum six hours a day. And most of the stuff, the scripts are the leads to the interviews. Right. So I make mistakes. All of those things are taken out of context. If you Google My name, 95% of it's negative. But then they're like, oh, Brian said this, and it's a big deal. They're like, okay, here's your crisis management through this one. Here's the problem here. Fix this. This is how we fix it. So I think it is. I mean, they just. They don't have to. I mean, you keep your job. They go to bat fear on a daily basis. If you do five things and you do four things right, one thing. If you do five things and you do one of those five things right, they will point out the one thing you did right. It's a very interesting organization. If they know you hustle, you're doing things the right way. If you don't execute, they look for you to execute. And you get there, you know, especially now.
- [29:42]
Sage Steele
That's not normal. It isn't like that is. That's actually shocking.
- [29:45]
Brian Kilmeade
But if I got it at 22, I wouldn't have appreciated. I would think everything's like that.
- [29:49]
Sage Steele
That's true. But maybe that is why the faces have remained consistent for all these years.
- [29:56]
Brian Kilmeade
Yeah.
- [29:57]
Sage Steele
I mean, sure, there's here and there, but overall, it's been a couple decades with some of the same people and I. And that is so unique. It also seems like you guys like each other.
- [30:08]
Brian Kilmeade
Yeah.
- [30:08]
Sage Steele
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- [31:37]
Brian Kilmeade
Yeah. But you know, why is because we're all so interchangeable. You know, I just think, you know, I don't see Sean that much because he's in Florida now. But when I see him, we get along great. You know, Jesse, I've known now 15 years to get along great. Believe it or not, I even get along with Gutfeld, you know, so. And Dana's unbelievable. From the White House to today. Smart, as insightful and interesting as anyone you're ever going to meet. So I guess maybe in other organizations they might go, these people are a threat. I go, I just don't see it.
- [32:07]
Sage Steele
Yeah. Many others, and I think a lot of people at ESPN would say this, that they intentionally pit you against each other, especially women. And I don't know, it's up to the person, right. To go in on that or not to accept it or not. And then I do think the overall humanity takes over. You know, are you a good person? Are you kind? Because at the end of the day, everybody has a contract, right?
- [32:32]
Brian Kilmeade
Yeah.
- [32:33]
Sage Steele
We're all here, so you can be competitive all you want and. But, but like, if you lead with that, I do believe it will come back to bite you. But it does seem unique. And no matter what show you go on, obviously on Fox and Friends, but, you know, the Five, whatever it is, I mean, you guys are going at it at times.
- [32:51]
Brian Kilmeade
Oh, yeah.
- [32:51]
Sage Steele
Like big time. And what happens when the lights turn off? What happens when the show goes off the air?
- [33:00]
Brian Kilmeade
I think our breaks, and I think you find this too, our breaks are the most interesting at the end of the show. Like at the end of the five. I'm just trying to get the 6:17 train right. I'm 47 trainees. But it's interesting when I fill in at night, it's kind of isolating you just with that crew. But during the day, it is like, it is like, it reminds me a little high school because you got people going in and out of rooms, in and out of shows, in and out of meetings. So it really is that hustle and bustle. But you have no idea. I think the thing that happened in retrospect, Is it used to be just Fox News. See, we got a bunch of booths here. Used to be able to walk down the middle of Fox News and see every single show. There's like eight shows. So there's Special Report and there's the America's Newsroom and whatever they called it. And you'd see every single show. And now with all the different networks and then everyone asked to help out on all these networks. Like, you just see a bunch of people just like trying to fill these slots. So I think it's exciting. Like, Tomi Lahren's got her podcast, but Tomi Lahren's also filling in on my show, helping me out on a Sunday show every single week. So when you talk to them, they're telling you about their shows and I'm telling you about this show. And I think it's just, it's a really interesting place to work. Also you got Stuart Varney, who? And Larry Kudlow. Right? Probably middle 70s. Wow. Every show is the most important show. The enthusiasm that they have. Larry Kudlow, like, if he, if I ask him to come on the Sunday show, he will give me five minutes and I'll go, listen, how was that? I go, you're Larry Kudlow. You were just running Treasury. You were on CNBC for 25, 30 years. And he really wanted to nail my four minute tape segment for the Sunday show. And I think that that is the type of people that Fox had, like, look, Stuart Varney, number one, show him where Larry on the Fox Business beat cnbc. Every single day. The guy competes every day. If you have a chance to meet him, he's pumped up for every show. It's like a guy going in for a game. I think that that is motivating to me.
- [35:10]
Sage Steele
Six hours a day. Six hours a day is what you're on.
- [35:13]
Brian Kilmeade
Yep. Six to nine and then nine to noon.
- [35:16]
Sage Steele
That's so much TV and radio. Yeah, and radio. You're glutton. I don't know that people fully appreciate what it takes to be on for that long. Like, it is taxing even when you love it physically, mentally. What do you do when you're not here at work? When I'm not here to escape, recharge.
- [35:41]
Brian Kilmeade
Wow. I mean, for the longest time, I coached all my kids in basketball until they got too good and then in soccer all the way through. So that was like the minute I left here, that's what I was doing. Bringing the people to practice or coaching them. And now that they're through college, all of them through college. In fact, one of them is working at Fox.
- [35:59]
Sage Steele
Really?
- [35:59]
Brian Kilmeade
Yeah.
- [36:00]
Sage Steele
Doing what?
- [36:01]
Brian Kilmeade
We're working at Fox Nation doing live stuff.
- [36:03]
Sage Steele
Great.
- [36:04]
Brian Kilmeade
Yeah. Right now she does not want to be on air, but she is hysterical. And I wish she would, but if she doesn't really want it, it's not.
- [36:10]
Sage Steele
Don't do it. Don't force it.
- [36:12]
Brian Kilmeade
Yeah. Unless you really want to do it. But I'm hoping she comes around on that. But she's doing great. But I think that for the most part, I get home when I can and as soon as I can, it's just a workout every single day. And I also will just spend time with the family doing everything a normal person will do. I don't golf. I don't really. I golf once in a while, tennis once in a while. We play pickleball once in a while. But I haven't. Ever since I stopped playing soccer in college, I have trouble with recreational sports because if either I want to be great at something, I'm not saying I was, because I wasn't, but just going out and playing, I don't. I have not felt a need to play intramural sports. Do a scrimmage or do like that. But I like to be active, run, have a gym in the house. So that's really kind of boring.
- [37:02]
Sage Steele
Like soccer at what is now liu.
- [37:04]
Brian Kilmeade
Yes.
- [37:04]
Sage Steele
Right.
- [37:05]
Brian Kilmeade
Division two.
- [37:06]
Sage Steele
And then all your kids all played. All played. So you coach them all the way through high school.
- [37:13]
Brian Kilmeade
Yep.
- [37:15]
Sage Steele
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- [38:46]
Brian Kilmeade
I, I think so. I just, like, I, I don't. I only want to play when I'm. When it matters. Like, I always wanted to be great in soccer and I wasn't. But I played to be great. I really wanted to. But the minute it was done, I took my cleats off. I'm like, well, that's done. You know, I better do better on the next thing. But for them, I think the one thing about coaching, I approached it like I never played. So I took a D license, a C license, a B license, an A license, a national and advanced national course. Because think about it, you can read. But if you told me, go take that four year old and teach them how to read, where do you start? So I'm like, I don't know why I pass the way I do. I don't know what direction my plan foot is. I just pass, I just kick. I just, you know, what drill could I do to teach people how to make space? So that's just it. I said, let me approach it like I don't know anything so I can teach it. Because just because, as you see every day, just because you're a player doesn't mean you can coach. And just because, yeah, you a great player doesn't mean you're going to be a great coach. I think you got to be able to relate to people. So I try to approach the coaching just as much. I care just as much as my job. I don't know, I could not. I really was into it. And then we had trainers come with us because after a while they don't want parents coaching, they rather pay. So we make sure the parents, the kids finish playing and they have no money left. So like we would bring trainers on. You know, I do the subs and other times I do the practices, which is kind of good because as kids get older, some of them fall off and then you like these kids so much, but they're not keeping up. Do you want to be the one to cut a kid you've coached since he was 11 and now he's 16, and this team has out, you know, outpaced him. So I was kind of like, looking to step back. But I care a lot. But I care a lot about the coaching. I think it's. I really respect for a lot of people that do it. I mean, it's like the military, because one minute you're there, the next minute you're gone. You got to have connections. You pick up, you move. You got to be willing to move for a new opportunity, but not that. Any coach that goes to do this at any level and makes it your life, it's tough.
- [40:53]
Sage Steele
Oh, big time. Especially now you have two girls and a boy.
- [40:57]
Brian Kilmeade
Yep.
- [40:57]
Sage Steele
So you coach the girls as well?
- [40:59]
Brian Kilmeade
Yeah.
- [40:59]
Sage Steele
Tell me what that was like for the evolution of your relationship as a girl. Dad times two while coaching them.
- [41:11]
Brian Kilmeade
I think Caitlin, my younger one, much more open to it. My other daughter didn't love my input. Did not at all. I never even talked to her about it. Like, every time I would say something, it would be not taken well. But she was really good, played great, never missed it. I mean, she played college soccer and started every single game. My other one was a midfielder, dynamic player, played with passion. Totally different players. My youngest one would be an unbelievable coach. My other one's a teacher, fifth grade teacher.
- [41:41]
Sage Steele
Oh, wow.
- [41:42]
Brian Kilmeade
And she's an unbelievable communicator. They're totally different. One is kind of rugged. The other one is. You never see her rattle. She's always calm on the ball. No matter what's going on, someone's being. She never rattled the other one. You could see her emotion in everything she did.
- [42:00]
Sage Steele
So that's the key with coaching, is. So you're coaching a whole team quite often, but then every player is an individual and needs different types of coaching, and you're gauging how they're receiving it. And they're your daughters.
- [42:13]
Brian Kilmeade
Yeah.
- [42:14]
Sage Steele
That's hard.
- [42:15]
Brian Kilmeade
Yeah, I think so. I mean, after they were 12 or 13, they were with other guys. But, like, we would play and there'd be other games that you fill in, you coach for. But then when. I never missed a game in college, but I also know, I think with my middle one, I would point out the things she knows exactly the things she did well and didn't do well. So I just felt like just to be supportive. And also they had in perspective, they're like, I'M playing through college and then I'm done.
- [42:43]
Sage Steele
They knew, but.
- [42:44]
Brian Kilmeade
Yeah, so they knew. But it's interesting because I just think there's no downside. I'm doing a book called the Games Do Count. I'm doing a follow up called the Games Still Count. And it's for why do we play? Why do we care? So you're watching us right now and you're a lacrosse player playing Division 2 or Division 3 lacrosse. You're hoping to make the second midfield line. You play like hell. You travel and do all the teams, all the things you do. And, and let's say you went to college and had a mediocre career. Did you waste your time? Like, why do you care? You have people who are non athletes say, why do you care? And I think that's most important because the stuff you learn to try to break the lineup, the way you train in order to be better, the dedication you have telling your friends, you go to the bar, I'm going to go to the gym, all that stuff builds discipline, let alone the connections for life. Learn how to play in the team, learn how to take a loud coach, a quiet coach, one that doesn't appreciate you, the other one that does. Then when you get into real world and if they turn around at you and they're getting mad at you at 22 years old and because they told you to do something and it didn't come out that well, even though you know you were right, you're like, okay, I'm gonna shake it off. I think that's why sports gives you regardless of your parents, right? That's the lottery when you go into sports. It just takes a slice of life quickly. And that's why I just did. I'm going to do 50 profiles of people. What they did in sports and they were successful later in life, like I did. GERALD Ford, George H.W. bush, George W. Bush, John Kerry, Jon Stewart, believe it or not, all these people, what they did in sports, they were all athletes that got to a certain level, whether it's Harvard, Yale or William and Mary. And they were done. But they all say without that foundation of sports, they wouldn't have been the grinders that they were and had all the success.
- [44:30]
Sage Steele
There's so many lessons that are learned that you apply throughout your entire life to the day you die, that core values are taught in sports. That's why my kids were required all year long in school. I don't care what it is you will do a sport. And I wanted it to be a high School sport, because it's a team thing. It isn't just about you. You have to be part of this team. What advice would you give to parents of younger kids, boys or girls? Because you see all the stories these days about just overzealous parents and they're living vicariously through their kids and it's a disaster. And parents make it about them. But if they want to be hands on and help and use their expertise and coach, you've done boys and girls, daughters and sons. What would you say?
- [45:12]
Brian Kilmeade
Well, a couple of things that are happening now in youth sports, which is disturbing. Like, I know there's problems with parents and coaches. Like you're either too easy or too hard on your kid. It's very rare that people just say it's a perfect mix. You could say you could pull it off, but we've overcompensated. Now you have to have so much money in order to play travel sports. Because now you got think about it, go to Penn. Like, if you're in New York, you always go into Pennsylvania, you're always going to New Jersey, you always go to upstate New York. So that's your weekends, that's your time, and you're spending a couple of thousand dollars. So I think that I would love for the calculus to come down a little bit and get back to, you know, I could play that same team on Long Island. I don't really have to go to Syracuse to play them. I hope it comes back down to earth. But I would just say to parents, let the kids play, but let them compete. But the word fun is, I think, misused because people say the kids should have fun. Wait, Fun. People think about laughing. So if I'm a coach and I'm talking and you're having fun, you're talking to your friend. That's not fun. The fun, I think, is misinterpreted. I think you should learn to compete. You got to learn when to listen, you got to learn when to react, learn how to act a team, learn how to take instruction, feel as though you're competing or getting better and being on a mission and having a plan. And if you're playing and you lose two, one, that kid walks off the field crying. Well, you're not having fun. You actually are. You've learned to compete. You care that you lost. So this is a positive experience. Well, you're mad you didn't start. Okay, well, it's not fun anymore. All right? Not fun. So do you want to just play at a level where you just do Wear pennies and go recreational sports. I think there's a fine line between taking a kid and putting them on an academy team or an AAU team where they can barely get off and play as opposed to letting them play. If you can get kids playtime and they compete and they're upset that they lost and happy that they won, I think that's part of the process. And then when you ask at the end of the season, did you have fun? I'll take that question. But every practice, every game, some of it's not fun. But life is not fun every day. So why should you demand that from sports? It's kind of a journey. Got better. I grew 3 inches over the summer. Now I'm able to compete. Now I get some rebounds. Is it fun? Well, my coach is a little hyperactive. You know, I didn't play as much as I wanted, but I had a good time with my friends after and the next game I started. So I just think sometimes the word fun is misused and could be a
- [47:55]
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- [48:17]
Sage Steele
You've been married for how long now?
- [48:19]
Brian Kilmeade
Since 93. You're better at math than me.
- [48:22]
Sage Steele
I know. I am, actually. So we're 30 plus years. We're hitting almost 33 years.
- [48:27]
Brian Kilmeade
Yeah.
- [48:28]
Sage Steele
Wow.
- [48:29]
Brian Kilmeade
I know.
- [48:30]
Sage Steele
The key to longevity in marriage.
- [48:35]
Brian Kilmeade
I don't know. I mean, I'm just. I got one relationship. I'm not going to give anyone else advice, but I remember I met my wife. The first time I met her was 10th grade.
- [48:44]
Sage Steele
No way.
- [48:45]
Brian Kilmeade
Yeah. And we have mutual. Mutual friends. Dated a little in high school. And then after college, she went to Hofstra. I went to post. And we have the same friends in high school who I still hang out with. Most of them today. A lot of them. The nucleus of my friends are from high school in college, so it's.
- [49:01]
Sage Steele
They live.
- [49:02]
Brian Kilmeade
Yeah. I try to make other friends, but no one will have me.
- [49:04]
Sage Steele
I think that for a second.
- [49:06]
Brian Kilmeade
But yeah, so. And then we have mutual friends who. It just worked. She's. You know, I always said to myself when I first saw her, I'm like, there's a really attractive girl who doesn't have an attitude like, she's attractive. And we just, we just seem to have hit it off and did you
- [49:23]
Sage Steele
know when you met her, when you were a sophomore.
- [49:26]
Brian Kilmeade
I mean, in high school.
- [49:27]
Sage Steele
In high school. But he thought she was cute.
- [49:29]
Brian Kilmeade
Oh, yeah. Did I know my thing is, Sage, you can appreciate this. Is that in a great relationship. But I was so focused on trying to be successful, I wasn't even thinking about marriage. It wasn't possible. I was making $21,000 a year, and the most I made was, like, 28,000 and then 31,000. I remember never making my age. I'm like, I would love to make my age. So I'm just saying to get married and settle down and do something. It just never occurred to me. I'm like, how do I break it in this business? And maybe. And after 10 years of dating, got married.
- [50:08]
Sage Steele
10 years of dating.
- [50:09]
Brian Kilmeade
Do you believe that?
- [50:09]
Sage Steele
What the heck took you so long?
- [50:11]
Brian Kilmeade
Like what I just told you?
- [50:12]
Sage Steele
Because the financial. Take care of her.
- [50:14]
Brian Kilmeade
Yeah. There's no way. And then I got engaged. And so 92, 93. And I was living in California, she was living in New York, so she was all set to move out. And two weeks before the wedding, raging fires hit California. And I lose everything. All my clothes, all my stuff, everything. So I literally have. I only had to edit that day so I didn't have to dress like an anchor. So I had loafers without socks, jeans, and a shirt. And I go. I'm watching. They go, brian, do you live on Las Flores Canyon Drive? Is there a split rail fence at the end of your block? Yeah. I go, I think it's on fire. You should go home.
- [50:54]
Sage Steele
What?
- [50:55]
Brian Kilmeade
Yeah. I was in Ontario, which is halfway to Palm Springs, and then I went home. By the time I got there, it was a war zone. And by the time I got to my house, everything was burned to the ground except for the soap I had and the shower stall and the chimney.
- [51:13]
Sage Steele
Are you serious?
- [51:14]
Brian Kilmeade
See, I just. I just rented a room in a beautiful house.
- [51:17]
Sage Steele
Yeah.
- [51:17]
Brian Kilmeade
Because I had no job when I first went out there. So they go, yeah, you can just move in, pay $500 a month. And that guy got sick. I ended up staying in the house most of the time. And he never had fire insurance. Never had anything.
- [51:28]
Sage Steele
And it was.
- [51:28]
Brian Kilmeade
That was two weeks before I got married.
- [51:30]
Sage Steele
It was. It was like a neighborhood thing. Was it a county fire?
- [51:33]
Brian Kilmeade
No, the whole. Oh, it burned everything. It's like. It was like these fires. Remember the Pacific Palisade fires that just happened?
- [51:38]
Sage Steele
Yeah.
- [51:38]
Brian Kilmeade
These were just as bad, only further down. Yeah.
- [51:41]
Sage Steele
Oh, my goodness. So two weeks before your wedding, you lose everything? Everything she stayed with you anyway.
- [51:45]
Brian Kilmeade
Yeah. And then. And then I had to move to a Marina del Rey. Got an apartment, all set.
- [51:51]
Sage Steele
She was nothing.
- [51:52]
Brian Kilmeade
What? I had zero except for credit card debt. And a Celica. Yeah, and a Celica.
- [51:59]
Sage Steele
So a Toyota Celica.
- [52:00]
Brian Kilmeade
I was so excited. Supra. Yes, it was. I couldn't believe how lucky it was. It was like, you're overstating your car. I'm like, no, I think it's. But what was I going to say? Yeah. So I got married, and after Christmas, she was going to move out. And then out of nowhere. I always apply every job. I'm always sending out tapes out of nowhere. A station on Long island called WLIG calls back and goes, we need this. I got a call and this guy's like, listen, from this, I'm going to redo the way we do news. There's not going to be seats. There's going to be, like, squares. And you're going to be delivering the sports in a conversation way. We want you to come back and do sports for us. I was like, wait, you want me to be a sports guest for you guys? So come back to Long island and give up all sports radio to my Ontario station, as well as doing standup, where I felt like I was on a roll. And I knew dawn wasn't thrilled about moving out, and I lost all my stuff. So I decided to go back and take that job doing sports at WLAG.
- [53:04]
Sage Steele
Wow. And what were they paying you?
- [53:05]
Brian Kilmeade
More than 21,000, 35,000.
- [53:07]
Sage Steele
Oh, wow.
- [53:08]
Brian Kilmeade
So it was attractive. Yeah. But. Yeah, so I went back there, I did it, and it was. And I don't know if the audience can appreciate this, but there was no time code. They would give me tapes. I'd watch the St. John's game. Three games, you know, they'd give me tapes, and I'd have to use the code, so there's no time code on it. So you have to go to 17 minutes. St. John's went up, and I'd be editing while the show was on, and then get on there. And then I have guys taping together my copy that I wrote. It was an abomination. They fire the news director, and then two weeks later, they say, brian, this is never easy. We're going to make the new. The new news director is going to be the anchor. The anchor is going to be the sports director year out. So here I am at home, fired from that job that people at home were watching. And my stuff hadn't even. All my stuff hadn't even arrived yet. They were shipping it back. Think about that, man. Yeah, it was. It was an absolute train wreck.
- [54:08]
Sage Steele
And then, by the way, like, what do I do? How do I pay bills?
- [54:11]
Brian Kilmeade
Oh, my God. They fired the guy. And then they went to a traditional news desk. I was like, okay, so I'm just doing three minutes of sports from whatever, you know, no suit, open neck, collar. We're making it more conversational. So then, yeah, I mean, that was still. Then I started doing. I was doing ufc. I did the first four.
- [54:29]
Sage Steele
That's crazy.
- [54:30]
Brian Kilmeade
Because of my guys I knew in stand up, said that we're promoters. He goes, I work for as a promotion company, and we got this chance to do this mixed martial arts tournament in an octagon. They go, you're the only one I know who knows sports. Can you check it out? So I watched it, and then I watched the whole thing, and I go. They go, we're going to sell it as someone can die tonight. I go, that's the craziest thing ever. I can't do that. He goes, so, yep.
- [54:53]
Sage Steele
See?
- [54:53]
Brian Kilmeade
And do you want to do play by play? I go, I can't do play by play. I don't know nothing about it. I go, I'll be the reporter at the. So I did that. So right after I got fired, I went out to Denver, did a couple of them. John McCain is, like, trying to shut it down. Human cockfighting and all this stuff. I'm like, they go, whatever you do, don't put that on your resume. So I did like three or four of them. And then this new sport pops up and they go, yeah, we're going to hire you. I said, okay. And then I got hired there. And then I had that. And next thing you know, I'm at fox. But in my head, I still know how. Like, I know getting fired from that job in front of your hometown of all places. Of all places.
- [55:31]
Sage Steele
Yeah.
- [55:32]
Brian Kilmeade
That was crazy.
- [55:33]
Sage Steele
What I love is that you and your wife and I won't get too personal or bother you with that, but I think sometimes in today's day and age, like, we need to hear more about that and couples who, like, she loved you when you were making nothing.
- [55:49]
Brian Kilmeade
Yeah.
- [55:50]
Sage Steele
And when nobody knew your name versus now being, you know, an icon at this global network, you know, you've been through. You've been through that.
- [56:00]
Brian Kilmeade
Oh, yeah.
- [56:01]
Sage Steele
Together.
- [56:02]
Brian Kilmeade
That's true. I mean, between our place making success stories and between being around people that just know me from 9th and 10th and 11th grade, there's no way My head could possibly get big. It's just not possible. No one would entertain. Yeah, no one would entertain it. So. And I find it, you know, it's fun because I find the people that I'm with the most, they have their own careers and they're doing great. They're, like, the happiest for me. Like, if something happens, they're like, I saw you the other night. I love this. I love that they're so supportive. It's amazing. So, and then.
- [56:37]
Sage Steele
And then, as. I mean, you interview. How many presidents have you interviewed?
- [56:45]
Brian Kilmeade
I've interviewed Hw. I've interviewed Bill Clinton. I interviewed W43. I interviewed Obama once and Trump a lot. No, Biden, I only had when he was a senator. Yeah, when he was a senator, he was great. In fact, he was in my book the Games Do Count. He was a football player. And now I probably know. The stories he told me were totally fictitious. I mean, he makes stuff up.
- [57:07]
Sage Steele
He told ME1 on SportsCenter once in the commercial break before we started taping.
- [57:11]
Brian Kilmeade
And. And you knew it was not. And you knew it was not. Right? Right.
- [57:14]
Sage Steele
Well, it was so awkward and weird and creepy. I was like, ew, this doesn't feel good. Can we change this after.
- [57:22]
Brian Kilmeade
Really? You had to say that. And he was president.
- [57:24]
Sage Steele
Didn't say that he was president. He had just taken office. This is April of 21st, and it was when they were saying that voter ID is racist and they were going to move the All Star Game, mlb, All Star of Atlanta.
- [57:34]
Brian Kilmeade
They did.
- [57:34]
Sage Steele
It was, like, weeks before that. And I was like, would you actually. But this is when I was given very specific questions to ask.
- [57:43]
Brian Kilmeade
Jim Crow 2.0.
- [57:44]
Sage Steele
I can't even. It was crazy. But, okay, it's not about me. Like, that's a lot of sitting presidents that you got to interview.
- [57:51]
Brian Kilmeade
I know.
- [57:51]
Sage Steele
Again, you go home, whatever, dad, your wife. Yeah, whatever. And then most importantly, your friends, who will make sure that you maintain that humility. But I imagine the local boy, their best friend from when you guys were kids, getting to do this and doing it well. Like, there must be a lot of pride as well. Do they tell you that? Do they?
- [58:14]
Brian Kilmeade
Oh, yeah. I mean, they're really happy. I mean, it just shows you how happy they are in their lives. Instead of saying, well, that could be me, they're just saying, oh, what happened here? What happened This. I saw you over here, and, you know, is there anything I can do for you? Like, there's a book signing. There's an. I can't tell you know, we're traveling well, you're going to be in Fort Myers. I'll try to meet you there. We'll try to see the show. So it's just. It's extremely supportive, and I think I give it back to them, you know, what they do and appreciate it. But I laugh now because I'm getting older and some of these people are like, you know, in a few years, I can retire. And I go, I would never. The last thing I'm thinking about doing is ever retiring, ever. Probably not. I mean, I would try to do. I mean, this, to me, is the best format ever, what you're doing, be able to talk, have a conversation. How many times do we go to break today? Three times with you?
- [59:07]
Sage Steele
Yes, we did.
- [59:08]
Brian Kilmeade
And that was long. That was 12 minutes. 12 minutes and 13 minutes. But you go to break, you get on a roll, and then you listen, you get back. But to me, to be able to sit there and do slice of life conversations would be great. See, to me, I'm really into the country. I'm into the history, obviously, but I'm really into the country. And what I'm thrilled about, if I could pick up the phone and talk to Ambassador Waltz, who's at Green Beret, and he can give me an idea what he really is really worried about in this conflict. And I could talk to Marco Rubio, who used to answer my text before he got seven jobs. And to be able to talk to those people, to me is not work, because to me, it's not. I'm not just helping a company. I'm finding out about a country. And what country are we in? We're in the best country, the most consequential country at a consequential time. And if I could talk to the people making those decisions and people like, oh, you should think about retiring, or when I'm like, really, what could be more important? And, you know, do I have a pickleball game coming up? And I guess, what could be more important? And if I was doing what you were doing right now, I'd be thinking about different ways to sit down with those people I just mentioned. And then you get a chance to really delve into their personalities instead of what I got, which is five minutes in the morning and about nine minutes on Sundays and 13 minutes on. And I'm not complaining, but it's the different format because, yeah, you get to know the people during the campaign, and now you get to know the people making the decisions that affect the best country in the world with the Most unique history of the modern world. And you get to say to people and generations, not only was I there, I talk to the people making those decisions and to people before me that didn't get this job. To think that you would have a chance to meet those people making those decisions, let alone maybe having some getting inside that decision making or maybe having some influence, that to me is unbelievable. It's better than any type of recognition
- [61:12]
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- [61:33]
Sage Steele
It is humbling, I think, when people trust you and that's what you have created is trust. And it does not come easily. It is not just given.
- [61:42]
Brian Kilmeade
I just want to get it right.
- [61:44]
Sage Steele
Yeah, but I think people know that. And you're gonna ask the questions.
- [61:47]
Brian Kilmeade
Yeah.
- [61:47]
Sage Steele
And they're genuine questions. Right? I mean, sometimes people think, oh, they wrote this out. Well, maybe. But also I want to know because if I don't know the answer and I'm in it, the viewer might not either. Probably doesn't. That is our job. What was your toughest interview?
- [62:07]
Brian Kilmeade
I think the most hostile interview is Jesse Ventura. He's just a moron. He's just a clown, you know, total idiot. But, you know, he's just hostile. I think he was tough. The other guy from Everyone Loves Raymond, the big guy and Everyone Loves Raymond. I remember he came on angry. He doesn't want to be on Fox. So why are you here? I know Jerry Springer, of all people, comes on and starts putting down Fox. I think that I was like, why are you here?
- [62:31]
Sage Steele
Why come? Why say yes?
- [62:32]
Brian Kilmeade
I know, but in terms of the toughest interview, I don't know. I mean, they kind of, a lot of them blend together. When, like, I know Colin Powell at the end really despised Fox. I remember everything I asked him. He just had a problem with it. I'm like, I'm asking questions that I know you know the answer to. And that was a little disappointing. I don't know if it. I don't know if it's tough. It's like, my goal is like, if I'm interviewing Sage Steele, my goal is to. Is to get out your message. So if you're here to do analysis on life or sports or anything, I'm here to get that out of you. And if you're two or three, word Person, I don't consider that tough. I just go, we got to adjust. I got to adjust. You're not being rude. You're just two or three words, you're going to stop on a dime. Okay. And if you're very loquacious and you're going to be talking a long time. Well, my job is to get past that one question. I'm going to run out of time. So I just look at all of them as a puzzle a little bit. And doing interviews with other people is key. And I bring it back to sports, is that if I feel like Ainsley, if I ever take a question at a turn from Ainsley or she wants to do a follow up, or if we did two or three interviews, she's not saying much or Lawrence isn't, or if I'm talking too much to know to dial it back and let them go.
- [63:52]
Sage Steele
Yes, yes, yes. You feel that.
- [63:54]
Brian Kilmeade
You feel like when some people aren't getting off an opportunity to ask questions,
- [63:58]
Sage Steele
is there an interview that you were like, especially afterwards, from a journalistic perspective, like, okay, I crushed that one.
- [64:09]
Brian Kilmeade
I think every week with General Keane is. To me, that's unbelievable because everything he says is cutting edge. He's tapped into our military today and he's got 60 years of experience. He could basically design an Army War College. So I think that's always great. I think I've done some good interviews with 43. I'm a huge fan of Bush 43, that whole war, the Iraq war, being dumb. And I just think I could never do that. Number one, for the people that fought it. And imagine if you're sitting there without an arm or with missing half your skull, and then you have people say, what a dumb war. I go, use your head. You know, number one, you got to put yourself in those circumstances. And one thing about Bush that I really appreciated is he wrote a book called Decision Points. And he tries to say, look, I don't say everything's perfect. What I'm going to do is I'm going to put you in my place. I'm going to tell you exactly what I did, what I knew, and why I made those decisions. Yeah. And this was the decision I made. He also surrounded himself with the most experienced people. Rumsfeld, second term, 70 years old, Cohen, Powell. My goodness. General Secretary of State. And then you have UNESCO Security Advisor B. Condoleezza Rice, who's my hero. Yeah. Come on. So if I'm president, you think I don't have the chops, even though I was with my dad For a long time. And Reagan, I watched this all, but I was only a two term governor. I surrounded myself with great people. So when he made these decisions, he wasn't like Trump, Trump. Trump likes to make his own decisions and then has people support him. Bush is like, what do you need? What do you guys think? You disagree? I'm going to make a decision. Powell and famously Powell and Rumsfeld disagreed on everything. Cheney always would be with Rumsfeld and that's what the President had to navigate. I really think that he will be looked at differently. But I always think I'm like, a few times I interviewed him, I felt like I did a good job and he's the coolest guy. When my mom passed away, he wrote a personal letter because he met her one time. I mean, think about this.
- [66:13]
Sage Steele
Wow.
- [66:13]
Brian Kilmeade
Yeah. So, yeah, I think that whole family is pretty special. I think they're getting a raw deal. I talked to President Trump the other day and he out of nowhere says, do you still talk to President Bush? I go, I haven't in a while. I said, but you know who really likes you, Mr. President? I go, george P. And he goes, I know. I want to find a way to endorse him. You know what, I was pretty tough on his dad. It's pretty cool that he, we have a good relationship. I wonder if it bothers his dad. And I go, it doesn't. Because I talked to George P. About it and his dad says, I have my thing, you have your thing. And he likes Trump. So I just think it'll be great for those families to get together a little because fundamentally they're not being critical. They're not really critical. Bush has not been critical of Trump. Once in a while he'll say a couple of things. I don't think so. I think there were a couple of times when he said stuff, but for the most part he's been quiet. Unlike President Obama.
- [67:13]
Sage Steele
Obama has been quite different.
- [67:15]
Brian Kilmeade
Yeah. Obama killed Bush.
- [67:16]
Sage Steele
Yeah. No, he did. And continues to kill Trump.
- [67:21]
Brian Kilmeade
Oh, yeah. It's unbelievable.
- [67:23]
Sage Steele
What do you think Trump's legacy will be?
- [67:27]
Brian Kilmeade
Listen, we've never seen anything like this. Ever, Ever in your life have you ever seen anything like it? I was able to. And by the way, out of everyone at Fox, I'm not saying I'm down on the list of people that get a chance to talk to him, but after I did the State of the Union, I wanted to see if I get an interview. He goes, no, I don't think so. But I want you to come by I go, okay. So I came by just for. I stand by the White House, and I just sat there for 90 minutes. So he's reading in the Oval Office. Yeah. In the back of the Oval Office.
- [68:02]
Sage Steele
Yeah. Couch back near the fireplace, like.
- [68:04]
Brian Kilmeade
Yeah, yeah. And he has nothing but paperwork around him with clips on it, all in categories. He goes, you know, brian, I don't read. Right. Look at this. You know, so he's being sarcastic. You can say what you want. I don't read. He goes, this way. I don't need a briefing. I got this. Whatever. But he was hysterical, calling people while he's there. CEOs of big companies call while I'm there. He goes, watch this, watch this. And now he's not bragging, but he's like, how did my speech. What do you think of my speech? We've never seen anything like this. Then, you know, he's calling people, doing things, signing things for people, taking care of interns that are coming in. He's like, you know what? This is a hard job. I go, but you wanted it. He goes, you're right, I did forgot that. You know, he's just. We've never seen anything like it, and he's just enjoying it. And he has very motivated people around him that want. That are accomplished, that want to see him successful. But he wants to take on every problem. Now think about it. Is Venezuela a problem? Yes. 25 years. What have you done about it? I put sanctions, lifted sanctions, dealt with them, didn't deal with them. Okay. He's taking care of it. Cuba's next, Iran. He said to me, I don't want to leave anything for the next guy.
- [69:20]
Sage Steele
Exactly. And fear of who the next guy is, you've got to take care of this. Not knowing what's going to happen in 2028.
- [69:28]
Brian Kilmeade
Well, did you. What Gavin Newsom said?
- [69:30]
Sage Steele
When? Which time?
- [69:31]
Brian Kilmeade
Yesterday. He came out and said, doing his book tour, basically, he thinks it's time to reevaluate if we're going to give Israel arms.
- [69:39]
Sage Steele
Oh, I did see that. Yeah. Yeah.
- [69:41]
Brian Kilmeade
But you know why he said that? Because he thinks to get elected, he needs to say it and he needs to do it. That's where this country's heading. Which is insane, because we don't have a better ally in the world than Israel.
- [69:53]
Sage Steele
What cracks me up about Gavin Newsom is how he just changes like the wind. Remember, like, last year, he started to tweet all in capital letters to replicate Trump because he sees the attention that it draws. And I'm like, what is what, what is the immediate future you believe of the Democratic Party when you look at who we have lined up? I mean, I don't know what's happening with Jasmine Crockett now that she got
- [70:19]
Brian Kilmeade
nice order for president. Yeah, nice.
- [70:21]
Sage Steele
But. Yeah, but.
- [70:22]
Brian Kilmeade
But by the way, blame Republicans. You see that?
- [70:24]
Sage Steele
And it's. It's racist and everything's.
- [70:26]
Brian Kilmeade
Of course, of course it's on.
- [70:28]
Sage Steele
But when you look at who is out there and you can't discount her. I mean, it's going to be a crazy two years.
- [70:34]
Brian Kilmeade
Yeah. The only thing.
- [70:35]
Sage Steele
What do you expect to emerge?
- [70:37]
Brian Kilmeade
So, I mean, it's going to be easy. It's going to be Shapiro, it's going to be Bashir, it's going to be Pritzker, it's going to be Newsom. It is going to be. Who am I forgetting that is absolutely going to run? Oh, Kamala Harris, obviously.
- [70:52]
Sage Steele
No. What do you mean, obviously?
- [70:54]
Brian Kilmeade
I think she's going to run because she's oblivious. She's oblivious to her ineptness. So she does not know how ridiculous she is as a careerist in this job.
- [71:06]
Sage Steele
Did the results not give enough?
- [71:09]
Brian Kilmeade
No.
- [71:09]
Sage Steele
Clarity.
- [71:10]
Brian Kilmeade
Didn't have enough time. Saddled with Joe Biden's record. I was loyal to him and I paid the price by losing. Right. I mean, 100 days. I know you haven't watched it, but the book did sell, so. I know, I know it's crazy. The only person on the left that
- [71:27]
Sage Steele
this is when I want to run. Like, if that happens, would you think about it? What? No, I mean, run away.
- [71:33]
Brian Kilmeade
Oh, oh, oh, oh.
- [71:36]
Sage Steele
See, that's my fault. I left that way, too.
- [71:38]
Brian Kilmeade
But you could do it.
- [71:39]
Sage Steele
I have been asked that several times.
- [71:41]
Brian Kilmeade
Right.
- [71:42]
Sage Steele
I think my husband might leave me if that.
- [71:44]
Brian Kilmeade
No, he wouldn't. Are you kidding?
- [71:46]
Sage Steele
Yeah. No, I. It's too dirty, dark and dirty for me, and I think it is all consuming. Part of me would love to, because I feel like now that I'm no longer afraid of being disliked, of being discounted, of being doubted, of failing, of cancellation. There's a part of me that is intrigued by it, but I do think that it's limiting, actually. And then you get caught up and there's packs and super PACs and.
- [72:20]
Brian Kilmeade
And you're always running for reelection.
- [72:22]
Sage Steele
Yeah. And having conversations and trying to at least share stories and get something more human and deeper is where my heart is instead of that. But I. I will say there, some of the conversations I've had,
- [72:38]
Brian Kilmeade
it's intriguing that it's flattering.
- [72:42]
Sage Steele
It's flattering. And then I'm like, shoot me. That sounds.
- [72:47]
Brian Kilmeade
I mean, to go out the thing that would be, you have the hard part down. Understand the issues and be willing to debate them. When people come up to you and say, all you conservatives think X, Y and Z, you'll be a listener. Be able to take that and run with it as opposed to, oh my God, what's going on here?
- [73:02]
Sage Steele
And then spewing hatred because you have nothing else. The one thing I will say, and I'm super, super open about this, but, like, we got to know our strengths and our weaknesses. Yeah, a couple strengths. Several weaknesses. I'm not a debater. I don't like it. I don't. I. It makes me feel gross. And I am not going to try to convince you to change your mind.
- [73:26]
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- [73:45]
Sage Steele
It's not my goal. So I don't know that I have that in me, you know, to be like, no, and here's why. Because I actually want to understand your why. I want to understand why you. I can't use the language I want to use right now. I'll use it when we turn this off. But why you think that way and vote that way and always make everything about race like I want to. I want to understand that. Because our opinions. I always say this. People will get annoyed. Our opinions are based on our experiences.
- [74:11]
Brian Kilmeade
Yeah.
- [74:11]
Sage Steele
And so I might totally disagree with you, but I got to understand why and then go. And so for a politician, it's just about, here's why my way is right and vote for me. And that's just not where my heart
- [74:24]
Brian Kilmeade
is, you know, True. Like the code pinks of the world. You're never going to convince them.
- [74:28]
Sage Steele
Yeah, right, sure.
- [74:29]
Brian Kilmeade
But the people that put their hand up and just say, I never voted for, I'm an independent. What do you do? What would you bring? Those are the type of conversations you'd like to have. What would you do if you got the job? You know, if I got elected, those are the conversations you'd welcome. But if people are going to come in, just challenge you. And I get that. You know it right away. I think I was. I don't go out for lunch, especially with the Sunday show. We meet like every day at like around one So I don't go out to lunch that much. So the one time I went to go meet Charlamagne, the God, so. And because Kennedy's friends with him, she sets up to meet him. Great guy. And as I'm sitting there, someone just walks up and just starts yelling at me because I'm on Fox.
- [75:10]
Sage Steele
While you're sitting with Charlemagne.
- [75:11]
Brian Kilmeade
While you're sitting with Charlemagne, Kennedy just goes off on this guy.
- [75:16]
Sage Steele
Really?
- [75:16]
Brian Kilmeade
Oh, yeah. She's. She's an animal.
- [75:18]
Sage Steele
I love it.
- [75:18]
Brian Kilmeade
She'll tell you. Yeah, she would tell you. It goes off on this guy. And then Charlamagne goes, do you get this all the time? I go, I don't get it that much. But there's no talking to that guy. It's either you fight this guy. You fight this guy, like, physically fight him, but you think I'm gonna debate him. I'm not gonna. I mean, that guy's so angry that I'm alive.
- [75:34]
Sage Steele
It's a waste of time.
- [75:35]
Brian Kilmeade
Yes. Yeah.
- [75:36]
Sage Steele
Yes.
- [75:37]
Brian Kilmeade
So that's people. That's what? You shouldn't wanna debate them, Sage. But I'm saying the other people that just say, why should I be vote for you? You love that.
- [75:45]
Sage Steele
I think I would. And I do feel like I do want to make a difference. I've been learning the why behind my complete career shift. And listen.
- [75:57]
Brian Kilmeade
And do you feel like this is a good answer to your why?
- [75:59]
Sage Steele
I love it. I love it. I do think there's more. I don't know what that looks like yet, but I will say there was a real awesome moment that I think you'll appreciate, and then I know you have life and I'll get home to your lovely family. But to be part of the campaign towards the end and to be a surrogate, I didn't even know what that was. I was like, surrogate mom. Like, what's a surrogate? Oh, on a campaign. God, I didn't know. Tried to stay away and got to do those last few months leading up to the election, it was really.
- [76:29]
Brian Kilmeade
What was it like? What were we doing?
- [76:31]
Sage Steele
Well, I was with women for Trump in our pink jackets and Tulsi and Lara Trump and just so many wonderful women who've been through it, been through the ringer, who are like, no, I believe this, and here's why. And to go to food pantries, like the story I told you earlier, to go to food pantries and to pass out food and hug people and single moms and, like, just because we're all human, like, I loved that. And the most Life changing moment for me was to be in Buncombe County, North Carolina, Asheville, after the hurricane, after they'd been abandoned by female. This is the Monday of the election. And we did six different stops throughout Buncombe County, North Carolina, throughout Asheville, which again, was just completely decimated by this event, this hurricane. You can't prepare for something that's never happened before. And that's what happened in North Carolina. And with Tulsian going around and seeing all the volunteers and these people had nothing. And six different stops with her. And then to meet up with the entourage, the president's entourage in Pittsburgh, and to get on Trump Force One and to go from the Pittsburgh rally where I was supposed to speak. But a lot of stuff got messed up and sad about that just because once in a lifetime. And then get on the plane with him and the team and go to Grand Rapids, Michigan, which is always the last stop in his campaign. Right. On the very last day. And then I'm on Trump Force One, sitting across from him like this on the plane to go back to Palm beach. We land at 5:30 in the morning on election Day. And on that plane, I stopped and I just took it all in and I looked around and I was like, oh, my goodness. Like, what a blessing to get to see this and experience it and to get to hug people, victims of this hurricane who just wanted to be seen. So it did change me. That is why I'm still gonna figure out a way to try to genuinely help more like boots on the ground, because of the experience I got, I got to have with the Trump campaign. Something that never would have happened had I stayed silent at espn had I not stood up for girls in sports and basic things. And not forcing me to put a shot in my body. That's an experimental shot. Like, but I did it anyway to keep my job. Right. Like, so I know the why. I know why I'm here now. And it is because I have a big mouth.
- [78:47]
Brian Kilmeade
Yeah.
- [78:47]
Sage Steele
Just use it.
- [78:48]
Brian Kilmeade
Right.
- [78:49]
Sage Steele
I'm still going to try to figure out how to really, really use it. But also it has been nice, Brian, to step back after 30 years of it and to meet the love of my life and to have more time with my aging parents.
- [79:02]
Brian Kilmeade
Yeah.
- [79:03]
Sage Steele
And my kids. That I would never. I would have had to beg to be there with my father and mother during recent health crises.
- [79:10]
Brian Kilmeade
Yeah.
- [79:11]
Sage Steele
And I didn't have to ask permission. Do you know what I mean?
- [79:13]
Brian Kilmeade
Yeah.
- [79:13]
Sage Steele
So there's a lot of blessings to come from cancellation and crap. And I'm just What I did was I gave up control and continued to just pray and, like, be guided. And some amazing things have come by letting go, you know, like, I would never have been allowed to talk to you. I would never have been allowed to come on your show and talk about anything, even sports. They wouldn't have let me. They'll let Stephen A. The Stephen A. Rules. Right. Stephen A. And I talk about that, but that's different. And that's okay. It takes what it takes.
- [79:44]
Brian Kilmeade
Right.
- [79:44]
Sage Steele
And here we are. But, like, being able to watch you for all these years, not only was it always professional and is it always professional and journalistically sound, it's like someone I've always admired you. You did it with a smile. You do it with a smile. And, like, it's obvious you love your job. And I. I don't feel that way with all journalists. You're different. Your team is different.
- [80:06]
Brian Kilmeade
Yeah. So, yeah. Walk into different newsrooms, you get that idea. Also, I think Megan talked about the same thing. So she had so abused at NBC, you know, got, you know, and then she recalibrated and then like, you, you keep killing it.
- [80:20]
Sage Steele
Yeah, but now I'm not on that stratosphere. Like, that's another level. And she and I talked a lot about it for the reasons I told you with our, you know, we have the same attorney that defended us during our respective crap. And I just takes a lot of courage to do what she's done. And with her relationship with Trump, I mean, my goodness, he's about a 180. But then to come back, and I sat next to her when she was on that stage speaking, standing next to him in Pittsburgh the night before the election. Like, you talk about someone who said, okay, I can believe this, and this is what happened in the past, and this is what it is today. And I've made a change. Like, that takes courage. And there's been a lot of people who've done that. Oh, I know you've been consistent.
- [81:01]
Brian Kilmeade
The one thing with Megan, too, is that she'll be critical, and I think he's mad at her now, and they'll get over it and they'll come together on something else. But that's why she's so good, is that that's how she feels. But if she start feeling differently, she will say it. She will.
- [81:20]
Sage Steele
And I respect that. Even if you disagree, you have to respect that.
- [81:23]
Brian Kilmeade
But I always knew she was great.
- [81:25]
Sage Steele
Incredible.
- [81:25]
Brian Kilmeade
She was a reporter in D.C. i'm like, she used to come on our morning show, like, who Is this. She's unbelievable.
- [81:32]
Sage Steele
She's a shark. And she's brilliant and kind and a loving wife and mother. All those things can exist. And that's what I hope young women and men see. You don't have to pick one all career or, okay, well, if I want to have a family, I can't have a career. You can. There's no such thing as balance. To me, balance means it's going to be equal, and it's just not. There's always going to be a little bit of a.
- [81:52]
Brian Kilmeade
There's times when it's got to surge. Right, Right.
- [81:54]
Sage Steele
Absolutely.
- [81:54]
Brian Kilmeade
And who is Jennifer Say. Yeah, she was saying that she goes, you can't really have balance because sometimes you got to work sexy hours one week. Peter will probably not have to do it the next. There's no balance that week. I go, you know what? You're right. Don't apologize for it.
- [82:07]
Sage Steele
So you have your priorities right, and that's the key, because you're going to, like, long after the cameras turn off and the spotlight's gone, be like, oh, yeah, I remember her. I remember. I remember. Yeah. Oh, yeah. It's pretty good. Okay, who are we there with? And that's the key. And that's what's been said.
- [82:21]
Brian Kilmeade
Not your producer.
- [82:23]
Sage Steele
No. As much as we love them. Yes. This is proof, guys, that if you just start as a sportscaster, you end up greatness, which is Brian Kilmeade.
- [82:32]
Brian Kilmeade
Oh, thank you very much, Sage.
- [82:33]
Sage Steele
No, but you've been so kind to me from day one. Even when I was coming out of sports and afraid. I'm like, oh, Bob Iger's gonna come up and wring my neck behind me. You're like, yeah, you're good. Keep talking. So thank you for that, the way you've led.
- [82:47]
Brian Kilmeade
And I just know how hard your job is. You made it look so easy in SportsCenter every single day where you did. And I always said, this girl is. This woman. Sorry. Is a superstar. And now meeting you, you're even a better person.
- [83:00]
Sage Steele
Dang it. You're gonna make me cry.
- [83:01]
Brian Kilmeade
And drink as usual.
- [83:03]
Sage Steele
Thank you.
- [83:04]
Brian Kilmeade
God bless. The.
- [83:20]
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Sage Steele
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Brian Kilmeade
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Brian Kilmeade
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Brian Kilmeade
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