Dumb Blonde - Dumb Blonde Podcast: Maury Povich

Episode Date: April 9, 2026

Throwback Thursday (Originally aired: 11/2/25)Step into the world of daytime TV royalty as Bunnie is joined by the legendary Maury Povich. In this candid conversation, Maury takes us through his unforgettable journey from the newsroom to becoming a cultural phenomenon, thanks to outrageous teen drama and those iconic “You are NOT the father!” moments. He shares standout memories — including a powerful interview with Muhammad Ali — and opens up about the meaningful adoption journey he and Connie Chung experienced together. Maury also weighs in on social media’s impact, the value of local journalism, and what his well-earned retirement looks like now (spoiler: golf is definitely involved). Plus, he gives a peek behind the scenes of the thriving Montana newspaper he and Connie run. A legendary career, a timeless storyteller — this one’s special.Maury Povich- YouTube | Instagram | TikTokWatch Full Episodes & More: YouTubeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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CementMobile for details. Is this thing on? Hi guys. Welcome back to another episode of Dunflon. Today we welcome a man whose name doesn't just live in pop culture. It defines it. From the newsroom to daytime. TV from serious journalism to unforgettable, you are not the father moments. Mori Povich has been making

America laugh, cry, and sometimes sprint off the stage for decades. Wow. Was that a good intro? Very good, Bunny. Terrific. Mr. Mori Povich is on dumb blonde. No, it's my honor to be with you. You don't understand. Like, you are the godfather. You're like, you have no idea. Like, you know, everybody says something like that. And I just, I mean, I'm amazed at how penetrating it's been over all these years. Six decades. I know, a long time. But I mean, especially the talk show, you know, everybody, it's like, it's part of the culture.

And I never expected it. And still I'm amazed. And that's why you're a freaking legend. I'm telling you because you're so humble about it and because you didn't seek it out. It kind of found you in a way, which we'll talk about. Sure. And you literally made history for... Well, you're very kind.

Decades. It's just been insane. Can we bring daytime TV back? You know, it's interesting. I'm doing, believe it or not, I'm doing a documentary on the golden age of daytime talk, which was the 1990s. So that's when 12 of us were on the air.

You had 12 daytime talk shows. Yes. I mean, we're talking Oprah, Phil Donahue, Geraldo, me, Jenny Jones, Ricky Lake, I mean, Montel Williams, I could go on and on. Yes. And it was this decade. An unforgettable decade. Yeah.

I feel like the world, especially right now, and this isn't to get, like, too, into that subject. But, like, we need something to give us an escape. Like, yes, we have reality TV and stuff like that, but it was nothing like what daytime TV did for us. And it was like, you know, if you were ever having a bad day, you just turn the TV on and guess what, you're going to watch more, you're going to, I love Jenny Jones, you know, there was Ricky Lake, there was everybody that was an outlet. And because right now, everybody's just so focused on religion and politics, it's like I truly feel like if we brought daytime TV back, it would help heal America. You know, you said something that, that one of the big things I said to my staff

about my show. No politics, no religion. Yes. We don't want to do that. Be glad to do, you know, individual stories that have a lot of emotion, a lot of drama, because that's why people want to watch, but I want to stay away from religion and I want to stay away from politics. You can't win. Absolutely. And I do the same thing on my podcast. What is it like having a podcast now? Because you're coming from like real journalism that you went to school for, that you actually graduated and got to agree in and now everybody has a podcast. Right. I would love to hear your opinion on this.

It's interesting. I think because most people, for the last 31 years, I was doing this talk show, and they know about that part of my life and the fact that I've done that, but not many people knew that, you know, I had 25 years in the business before that as a journalist and worked in, I grew up and raised in Washington, D.C. I worked there. I worked in Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Philadelphia. In fact, one guy, a friend of mine, was writing for Esquire Magazine. He said, my friend, the anchorman, Mari Povich, I have seen him anchor newscasts in four different cities on four successive St. Patty's days.

He's trying to go nationwide, city by city, because that was kind of like my, you know, my Odyssey years. I was just out there trying to make it, make it and make it. And I had to move around and I had disagreements with management and all this kind of stuff. And then I finally went back to my hometown of Washington. And then this wild Australian Rupert Murdoch buys the station and brings me to New York to start this crazy show called A Current Affair. And the rest is history. Do you feel like you defined pop culture or do you feel like pop culture defined you? You know, I think it's a chicken and the egg.

I really do. I believe that we came up with this idea, these ideas of three huge themes that made it. The out-of-control teenagers who would come on the show because they wanted to run the streets because they hated being home, and they wanted unconditional love, and they wanted to get pregnant at 14.

We had that kind of theme. We had the lie detector theme where significant others would bring, they would bring on their spouse or a significant other and accuse them of cheating. And so we had the lie detector test. And then, of course, the DNA, which was the most popular. But the reason it was successful is because we had an answer. We had a result and we did it within 15 minutes, not like daytime soap operas,

which would take six months to get through these themes. Right. Absolutely. Doing those shows, because you, Mori ran for 31 seasons, so that's 5,545 episodes. That's a lot of episodes, one of the longest running talk show hosts. How did you keep your empathy alive when you saw like so many stories that could have just made you jaded? Well, I think more than anything else, it goes back to my beginnings as a journalist. We're storytellers.

And I always found it didn't matter if the theme, was the same, I believe that every story had a unique quality about it. And so if you can buy into that, that every story has a unique quality, then your curiosity is there. Once you're curious, that means that you're doing your job the best. And so therefore, I just found out that if I could just find a unique aspect in every single story, it was new to me. I love that outlet. I love that because, you know, I was just telling them before you came. It's like, how do you interview people that have had thousands of interviews? And to me, it's like, I just always want to learn something new.

I want to find out something new about them. So you're saying that is complete confirmation. No, absolutely. I mean, to me, you know, the best interviewers are those who are curious, those who are able to listen and be able to bounce off what the interviewee is saying. Not necessarily, you know, be every, let's go to the next questions. Let's go to the next question. You just go with the flow.

Yeah, you may get a conversation. Yeah. I love that. And that's the best internet. And I've found that whether it be in news or whether it be in talk, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter what the platform is. The object is the same. Is there an interview that you've done in your life that has stuck with you, like, that you think about often?

Well, like any particular one. There are some interviews. Well, I'll give you an example. Years and years. My father was the sports editor, a sports writer for the Washington Post for 75 years. Yes. So I kind of grew up in sports. I used to do a local talk show in Washington.

And I was lucky enough to have Muhammad Ali on the show. Oh, my goodness. And so, and he was great. And so because of Ali being on the show and my father, covered Ali in a lot of his fights, I had the two of them on my show. And I'll never forget, it was one of the great faux pas that I've ever had in my life. So I'm there, and I'm looking at Ali as bright and smart as he is. I mean, he was the quickest. He was the, not only was the articulate, but he was quick and just so fast to be able to get his thought out. So I said to him,

because he was still fighting at the time. I said, champ, I said, you know, I know stories about other fighters. And I was referencing an old fighter named BoJack, who was a middleweight champion. I said, Bo Jack, you're not going to end up like Bo Jack because, you know, he ended up shining shoes on the streets of Miami. It's Way Day at Wayfair. From April 25th through the 27th, you can score the best deals in home, like up to 80% off with first.

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He says, you're not as smart as your daddy. Your daddy would never say anything like that. And I went, oh my gosh, you're right. I just stereotyped the champion of the world. I can't believe it. So there are things you want to take back, but at the same time, okay, live TV. It happened. And, you know, I was able to say I was sorry.

But at the same time, I went, wow, Maury, you really made a big, bad one there. But you learned a lesson. Sure. So, I mean, like, he taught you. I mean, I was like 31, 32 years old. Yeah. He taught you literally probably one of the greatest lessons where you think the question out before you speak. I don't think I've ever stereotyped anybody since.

Absolutely. That'll definitely set you straight. So let's go back to your dad because you did just touch base on your dad. And you are one of three parents, I'm sorry, you are one of three children. And you guys all have like a, you guys grew up in a journalism family. Yeah. Yeah, it's really crazy. My brother, my late brother, he died at 87, but he was my dear older brother.

He was the lawyer for the law firm that represented the Washington Post. Wow. You know, and all of its stuff with the, you remember when the Pentagon Papers went to the Supreme Court and everything else, he represented the Post in many issues. So my sister became the first women's senior, first senior, women's senior editor at Newsweek magazine. And her husband was the editor-in-chief of Businessweek magazine. And my father was the sports writer at the Post for 75 years,

and I am who I am. So it was kind of a delicate house of cards media family. You never know what was going to happen. But, you know, we just ended up. loving this business so much. What an awesome legacy. Yeah, I mean, and it was great. And, you know, I, you know, it's very interesting.

You, on the other hand, you've done it all by yourself. Oh. Right? Yes, sir. You're going to run away at the age of 14. Aw. You've done your research, Mr. Moore. No, I know about you, buddy.

Aw. Can't handle your stepmother. Oh, yeah. Your mother dies when you're, what, an infant. and almost. She left the house, yes. She left me at three months, but yes. Yes. But here's the thing. So let's talk about your dad again just for a split second because, you know, he was a legend at the Washington Post. So did that inspire you or did you always, did you feel like you always had to, like, live in his shadow? Well, it's interesting about living in the shadow. I wanted to be a print

journalist like him. Yeah. But there were only two papers in town. the post where he worked had a nepotism policy. You couldn't, if you were of the same family, you couldn't work at the paper. Why is that? I've never heard of that. Well, I think maybe because the Graham family owned the paper and they didn't want more of this relative stuff on the paper, I guess. And then the only other paper, the Washington Star at the time,

they wouldn't hire me because my name was Povich, and my father was the big star of the competing paper. So I kind of gravitated to TV because at the age of like 16, I got this job as the assistant to the baseball broadcaster for the Washington Senator's baseball team. And as soon as I started hanging around TV,

I mean, I was addicted. I just knew. I mean, I didn't want to do anything else. But I think what was cool about you getting into TV is most people want to be the story, but you were interested in the stories. Yeah, I wanted to find the stories. You wanted to tell other people's stories. I wanted to be there.

I wanted to observe the stories. And I was very fortunate because growing up in Washington, the nation's capital, my first job, once I got out of school, was being a radio reporter. So if you're a radio reporter in Washington, you might cover bank robbery one hour and you might be in the United States Senate covering a story the next hour. You might be at the White House or you might be at a fatal car accident. In other words, local and national, it was the same thing if you were working in Washington, D.C. So therefore, I was exposed to so much at such an early age. Yeah.

I mean, one of the first big stories I ever did in 1963 was go to Andrew's then Andrews Air Force Base and watch Jacqueline Kennedy come off that plane in that bloodied pink suit. Oh gosh, okay. With her husband's body in the back of the plane. Oh, my goodness. I mean. How did that make you feel in that moment? I still, I can just, I mean, talking about it right now, I can, I can remember the night.

I can remember the plane, Air Force One, I can remember everything about it. And that was 37, that was almost 60 years ago. Wow. That moment and time is just to have, you have been there is. And, you know, and then to be in Washington for the aftermath of the Martin Luther King assassination, and the riots, to be there for the anti-Vietnam War demonstrations throughout the town for many, many years, to be there for Watergate, the biggest political event that I've ever covered. And, you know, you grew up real fast.

Wow. Do you ever take a moment to reflect on all of these experiences that you've had and just kind of tell yourself, like pat yourself on the back like I lived that I was there for all of that yeah I mean yeah I mean I mean it's it's interesting so if for the last 30 years I've been doing a talk show okay and people ask me all the time oh do you regret not covering I only regret not being at really big events really big stories what is considered a really big story for you though because you've been at a ton of big stories I know for instance well uh I would have, I think I would have liked to have been around the presidential election stories. I certainly would like to have been around January 6th.

I would love to have been there to see that for myself instead of witnessing it on television. Right. I would like to have done that. But for the most part, I can tell you this, Bunny. I wouldn't want to be in that end of the business today. No. I wouldn't want to be in the news business. No. Too tough.

No. You can't. You can't practice it the way I used to practice it the way my wife, Connie Chung, practiced it. You just can't do it anymore. And quite frankly, those days have passed us by. Do you think that we'll ever have a chance of bringing it back? I hope so. I have a feeling there's a, I do have a feeling. as to where we have a chance.

And that is the viewers haven't given up on local news. So local television stations, local newspapers, wherever you get your local news, most people think it's honest, it's fair, it's true, it's what happened. And so therefore, if we can start to expand that feeling out again to a national effort, because it exists locally. I mean, you turn on your local news.

You believe what you're hearing. Right. I also believe that the difference between the way that the news was back then and how it is now is we didn't have the internet. Of course not. I feel like the internet has ruined so much. It's blessed us with so much,

but then again, it's also ruined so much. You and I wouldn't be around without the internet. Right, exactly. I definitely wouldn't you would. You were around long before then. I mean, I see your numbers on Instagram and YouTube and TikTok and the Mari show still has huge numbers on those platforms. But at the same time, a lot of bad things happen on the Internet. Yeah.

And, you know, I walk through the park. I walk through Central Park all the time. And I walk in my dog. I'm walking my dog. And everybody in the park is on their phone. And I'm telling you, if I don't bump into them, they're going to bump into me. They don't even look, they don't even look around. They don't even smell the roses.

A lot of people don't look up from their phones anymore. And I, you know, I just feel like the world, if we just came together and we're able to sort of try to heal together instead of being at each other's throats like everybody is, I think it would just make life so much better. And I just feel like the internet creates that divide, though, because everybody can have a freaking opinion, you know. So how are you and your husband getting along? Oh, we're getting along great. You're sure? Yeah. If I had to show, you wouldn't be on it.

No. Heck no. I mean, listen, there were a couple times where we had to do a... Oh, really? There was a couple times at the beginning we had to do DNA tests because, you know, my husband liked to spread his seat around before we got together. So we didn't know. So we might have in the beginning, but not now.

But he did admit to you that when you first were seeing each other that he had a woman who was pregnant at the time, right? Oh, yes. So when we first got together, he was in and out of a relationship, and that is his son, our beautiful little Noah buddy, was, she was pregnant with him, but they were already broken up. And I think that's where a lot of people get the confusion

that, you know, he had cheated on me or something like that, but no, they were together for 10 years before him and I were together. And then that's where Noah, his son came from. And I love the mother of his child. and I think she's a great mom. Yeah, and not only that, I mean, you've taken in his daughter. I have. Mori, is this your interview or my interview?

No, I'm more interested in you than me. You see? Well, then I need to come on your podcast. Please. I would love to. Could you do that? Yes, can we talk about your podcast? Yeah, my podcast.

So this podcast, it came about because, you know, some people came to me, Holly Mirabella, my producer, had come to me and some others and said, you know, if you're interviewing, people know of you interviewing these people, you can spread your seed. I mean, come on. Yeah. I mean, you had all these years interviewing people in the news and people who made news. I mean, so it's kind of an eclectic podcast where, I mean, I interview rappers. That's amazing. I interview writers. I love that. I mean, I interviewed a great rapper named Dave East recently, okay?

Haley loves him. You're kidding, really? So I interviewed Dave East, and all of a sudden, you know, the comments on Instagram when we put out the clips of, Hey, Maher's still alive? I thought he died. I thought he died with Jerry Springer. I mean, all this kind of stuff is going on.

That is terrible. I mean, you know, and then all these great compliments. about, you know, Mari, Mari is one of us, and, you know, secretly, Mari is really one of us. The younger generation, they're just always. But you know, I mean, I've, and rapper, and I'd love to have your husband.

Oh, Jay will come on anytime he loves you, yes, absolutely. Do you know, when I first started doing talk, and this is like 1991 when I first started, we went to Nashville for a week. And let me tell you, we had this, we used to have these young, young artists on, guess who was the young artist we had on, Alan Jackson? Wow. And he was just like, this is 35 years ago.

Wow. We had a group called Diamond Rio, which was a big deal then. Yes, I love Diamond Rio. And so all of the, and so I got very attached to country early on. And yet at the same time, I'm trying to get Jay-Z on the talk show. not going to do all this other stuff. I love that. Yeah.

That's amazing. I love that you have always just, you've never been judgmental and you have always accepted all walks of life. Absolutely. I took a page from your book with my podcast, where I do exactly that too. I have rappers on.

I have writers, journalists on. I have, you know, just an eclectic group of humans because I really feel like in order to be good at being a talk show host, you have to have an open mind.

And do you think that that's what's gotten you so far in this industry? Absolutely. I don't understand judgmental people. I really don't. I don't get it. Why do you judge people like that? I mean, I want to think that there's good, there's some good in everybody and things like that. But, you know, I, there's so much negativity.

And I just, I just can't go there. I'll tell you a story. In my career, there were some station managers and executives that did me wrong. I thought did me wrong. And I had a list of about five of them. And I said, boy, if the time ever comes, I'm going to get revenge. One by one over the years, they all got fired. And instead of applauding, I felt sorry for him.

And I mean, you know, that's just me, I guess. You have a sweet soul. You think so? I do. I can tell. I'm going to tell my wife that. Please, I love Connie. Let's talk about Connie, can we?

I love... By the way, and we went through the same stuff that you and Jellyroll have gone through. Really? And we tried to get pregnant. Oh. And this is, I'm telling you, this is over 30 years ago. And so Connie had to take time off from CBS, and it became a big story that we were trying to get pregnant.

And late show guys, you know, Jay Leno and everybody was kind of making fun of, I wonder if Maury and Connie are doing it tonight, you know, doing all this kind of stuff. To the point where Fox had this great show called In Little, color. Amazing show. Okay? Mm-hmm. They did a skit on Connie and I in bed trying to get pregnant, and Jim Carrey played me.

Oh, my gosh. I have to see that. I mean, it was the only part. So we had, you know, and there was all kinds of press and all kinds of stuff. And so we finally adopted because we couldn't do it. But still adopting is just, it's amazing. it back now. Yeah. Wouldn't take it back. That's amazing. And so anyhow, I know what you and Jellyroll have gone through. Thank you. I appreciate that. And it's tough. It is tough. But at the

same time, it's like you just put it in God's hands. And if it's meant to be, it's meant to be. And if not, we can always adopt. So I'm totally open to adoption too. I'm a big, I'm a big fan of adoption. Are you? Yeah. Can you take me on that adoption journey a little bit? Sure. I mean, it's, you know, it's interesting. We have this son. He's now 30 years old. Connie is Chinese. First of all, Connie says when we're starting to adopt,

Connie says to the lawyer that we were hired. So we want a child who is half Chinese and half Jewish. And the lawyer says, you won't live long enough. Nobody comes up like that. Right, right. It's not going to happen. So we have this guy, and he's just spectacular. And he's now 30.

He's engaged. He and his girlfriend have been together for like nine or ten years. And did you guys go public back then with adopting? Did you let everybody know you were adopting? Did you keep it private? You know what happens? The tabloids find out. The National Enquirer found out.

That's such an invasion of privacy. Unbelievable. I couldn't believe it. Everything was closed. It was a closed adoption and everything else. Nobody knew anything. And all of a sudden, the National Enquirer finds out everything. And the only way we could keep it quiet was we had to give the inquire an interview after the fact.

They did that to Roseanne too. They did? Yes. I feel like they bullied people into like, we have this information about you. If you don't give us an interview, we're going to out you. That's so wrong. That's terrible journalism. Yeah.

Well, that was way back, you know, 30 years ago. They could never do that now. No. No, it would never fly. No. But, I mean, it's a blessing. It is a blessing. Adoption is a blessing. Absolutely. It is a blessing. And you have two kids of your own, too.

I have two daughters. They're much older. I have four grandchildren of them. And, you know, they're doing great. My daughter, Susan and Amy, and they're terrific. And so we're... A blended family. Yeah. Yeah. We're a blended family.

I think that says it all. I love that, though. That's so awesome. So take me back to the first time that you met Mrs. My wife, Connie? Yes, Mrs. Connie. Well, here's the thing. She, how can I explain this?

I'm working in Washington. It's my first TV job. And I'm getting to be pretty big. I'm doing sports. I'm doing news. And I'm doing a local talk show. And I'm okay. And so the,

news director hires this person as his assistant. Fine. Her name is Connie Chung. We don't spend much time about it. Copy girl around the office. And then what happens is when we really knew Connie was going to be important was the first job that comes up is a writer's job on the desk to write the newscasts. She wants the job. The news director says, no, you're my secretary. No, I want the job. And then the news director says, if you want the job,

you have to replace yourself. Connie walks out of the newsroom across the street, into the bank, looks at the first woman teller, says, you want to be in TV? Come with me. Walks her down, gets to the news director, gets this tell her the job that she had, and she becomes the first time,

job she had in the business. That's amazing. And within a year or two, she's off to work at CBS News. Let's talk about when you, was that what attracted you to her? Yeah, no, I mean, no, I mean, I was married at the time. I mean, you know, she

went on to a big career at CBS News in Washington and then she went to Los Angeles to become a big star anchor for CBS out there. And then I, in my, as I said, Odyssey years traveling around the country, I end up as her second banana in Los Angeles. It was destiny. And I, and then at one point, six months after I get there, I had a general manager who hired me,

then he was fired, then the new general manager fired me, you know, last hired, first fired. And so I'm fired. the only person I know is Connie. And so a bit later on, I mean, the first, in order, I always say this, in order for her to love me, she had to pity me first. Oh, stop it. So we started to date. We never, we dated for seven and a half years.

That is a long time. Before we got married. And never lived together. Wow. And did not date exclusively. Okay. You know about that, right? Of course, yes.

And so years later, we're dating off and on, and I asked her to marry me. She doesn't want to. She asked me to marry. I don't want to. And then she calls me up one day in 1984 and says, we can get married now. And I said, how come? She says, because I found a dress. Aw, I think you guys are soulmates.

That is amazing. So that was almost 41 years ago. One thing I love about your podcast with her, too, is that you are always, okay, so Connie is like, from what I perceive, she's so like, she's kind of bottled up. She's not going to just, she's very poised. And you, on the other hand, say the craziest stuff and like get her to react while she's on the podcast. And it is the funniest thing to watch. But you guys ended up having a viral moment. Can we talk about, well, you've had a couple.

Oh, yeah. So we did this thing on the podcast. where I was going to ask her a question. She doesn't know she was going to ask me. So she picks up this thing in the pot, these various questions. And what is, I mean, it's like a, you know, it's like a Chinese cookie or something. It pulls it out. And it says, Mari, when are you the most, the sexiest?

And the only thing I said is on Sundays. And she says, what do you mean? I said, what do you mean? you know what I mean I mean it's Sundays with Connie and she goes she goes like this I saw it and so it went viral

you know there was also another clip that went viral where you guys were talking about cheating oh yeah and I mean I understood where you were coming from because I could read between the lines but I think the internet kind of ran with it and they were they just turned it into something it wasn't can we elaborate on that conversation

It was just, you know, I always used to say when we were seeing each other not exclusively, I said, you were dating these Hollywood stars. Does she talk about this in her book? Yeah. Okay. She does. She does. And so you're dating these stars.

And then she says, yeah, and you're dating people. You can't even remember the first names. And so, I mean, I say, oh, we're not going there, Connie. Or we're just not going there. I mean, she comes up with some outlandish stuff. I mean, it's kind of, I mean, I... What do you think Connie has taught you? Being married to Connie for as long as you have, you said 41 years,

what is the biggest lesson that you think Connie has taught you in marriage? Because obviously, something's working. 41 years? I know exactly what it is. I mean, I know exactly how to play it. For the last 41 years, in our life, I am Mr. Chung. Oh. I am not Maury Fovitch.

I am Mr. Chong. The first time when we got married, I was living in Washington. She was living in New York. She was working at NBC. And so she was living in this apartment. And I would come up on the weekends. It's kind of like you two, you know? You don't see each other for a while.

And he's in the same city as me right now. And you're still not seeing each other. Well, we try to, but it's just, you know, when you're working, you know how it is. So I come, and I'm working in Washington, and I come up and there's the doorman at her building. and I said, my name's Maury Povich. I'm Connie Chung's husband. Oh, you are?

And he calls up and said, Miss Chung, Mr. Chung is downstairs. So that's the way it's been for 41 years. And that's the way I wanted to continue. But to be so secure, most men would hate that. You know what I'm saying?

And you are just like so in awe of your wife. I want to tell you, I mean, our paths could cross, in another way, okay? I know what you did for jelly roll. Oh, thank you. And I know what you did in terms of getting him

his daughter, getting him off the street, getting him in an apartment, and setting him up for success. My wife made a lot more money when we got married than I did. Wow. And I was the full support of my girls, and she helped me in that area.

when they were going to college. So, I mean, I can relate a lot to what Jelly Roll went through with you and how much he thanked you for what you did for him. And I do the same thing with my wife. I mean, you know, there are times, everybody thinks because you've been successful so long, it was always that way.

Right. It wasn't. I mean, I was fired. I was this. I mean, I bummed around. I mean, I, I, I, I, I, I had a lot of failures along with the success. But I think that's what made you the band that you are today.

And shout out to Connie Chung for being a real one. We'll give her her props on that story that you just told us. So let's bounce off the fact that you were just talking about how you were broke in certain aspects and that you weren't as big as you had wanted to be. What is the most humbling moment for you in life? before you hit it big. I'll tell you what it was. We were mentioning my father.

My father was probably the most red writer in all of Washington, D.C., whether it be a political writer or a sports writer, everybody read my father. He was a big name. And so in Los Angeles, when I got fired from this station, I was also getting a divorce. And I had to call my parents and tell them because I knew when I was getting fired,

so it was going to end up in the paper. And so they were going to see it. So I called up, calling my father, and I said, Dad, I got some bad news and some bad news, and I told him I was getting fired and that I was getting divorced. And I was scared to death what his reaction would be. And there was this long,

and he said, get all the sharp instruments out of the house and come home and give your mother a hug. Oh, my goodness. I never expected that out of him. I mean, this was a, you know, a dominant guy. I mean, our family was always from the top down. I mean, it was like, you know, you did what your parents said or else. I mean, it was. And I couldn't believe that he had that kind of sensitivity.

in that moment. And that was exactly what you needed. That, like, made me tear up a little bit. That's really a beautiful story. Can we talk about your mom for a second? Because I feel like we're always talking about dad and his accolades. You know, and my mother had a great line about that.

Because with my brother and my sister and me, and we were always attached to my father. And every time it was what we were mentioned, it was always about my father. And my mother used to say, you poor motherless children. That's the how she looked on it. because she was a housewife and she was a mom and a wife.

And she raised us because back then my father, because he was a sports writer, he would travel maybe a third to a half the year following the baseball team or following this event or that sporting event. And so therefore he wasn't around that much. And so my mother, my mother had to be the mother and the father. She kept it grounded. Yeah. What's something about your mom that the world doesn't know that sticks with you every day?

I'll tell you, I still remember, I still remember something when I was, I was kind of a mischievous kid. Among the three, I was kind of the middle child, mischievous. And I'll never forget, I did something wrong at around 10 or 11 years old. And she was so mad at me, she came up with a broomstick to my room. And she said, I'm going to hit the hell out. out of you. And she did. Mori, what did you do? I can't remember what I can't remember.

It could have been anything. I don't know. I mean, you know, I was kind of a pissy kid. But I'll never forget. My mother, my mother, not my father, my mother. I mean, I had my mother. My father used to wash my mouth out with soap because the first time I used the F word at that dinner table. Not the dinner table, Maury.

Well, I told you, I was a miss. I love that though. I think I think your mischievousness is what has in your wit also in your interviews like you can that mischievousness still carries with you now. Yeah I think it I think it's yeah I think it's part of me it's your charm it's part of your charm yeah yeah I'm a little bit that way you know I love that so here let's talk about how I discovered you I didn't discover you from the Mori Popovit show really I discovered you on a current affair. You'd I was obsessed. I watched it all the time. A current affair was my jam. It was the reason why I became success. If it wasn't for that show, Murdoch brings me,

I'm anchoring the local news in Washington in 1986 and I get a call to go see Mr. Murdoch in New York. I don't know the guy. He owns the station. He comes up. He introduces me to these Australians, all of these wild, crazy Australian producers that he had brought over from Australia. And he says, I have this idea for a show. I said, yeah. He says, we're going to call it a current affair. And I said, so what is it?

He says, well, you'll figure it out with these guys. And I said, what do you mean? And not only that, knowing that you're commuting with your wife, now you're going to be living with you, find out whether you can stay together or not. And so that's how it all happened. we had these crazy wild stories that we were doing that were so different than everybody else was doing. I mean, the stories we would do, the network news divisions would have those stories in the trash can.

They wouldn't even touch them. But as soon as we got successful, all of a sudden, all the network news shows were doing the same stories we were doing. Jim and Tammy Fay Baker, all the scandals that were going on. This, I mean, it all led to, of course, OJ and the Bronco and everything else. I mean, it was Joey Buttafuoco. It was... What a time to be alive. We have so good...

You like all that stuff. I love it all because I grew up in that era, so that's my childhood, you know? But, I mean, I believe that a current affair walked so TMZ could run. TMZ is literally what a current affair used to be. Oh, no. And by the way, he worked on those shows. Did he? Of course he did.

Wow. That's where he came from. Wow. Okay. It's all an extension. Wow. TMZ would not exist without a current affair. Without you.

Without Mori, the godfather. You know, I still see these clips. You know, Charlie Sheen has a documentary out. I'm excited. I haven't watched it yet. Have you? I watched the first part. Guess what?

There I am, anchoring a current affair on the Charlie Sheen documentary. I love that. About him and Kelly Preston. Have you, have you ran into Charlie? No, I don't know Charlie. Do you know them? No. No.

Well, why not? Why would I? I don't know. You would have more of a reason to run into them. Look, I know. I know your back, but I don't think I've seen it. Bunny, I know your background. Oh, shh, don't tell anybody.

Nobody knows. No, I'm just kidding. I'm kidding. And I know Charlie's rep. Are you stereotyping me? No, I'm not saying anything, Bunny. Are you stereotyping me, Lori? No, I would never say anything like that.

Totally plain. with you. That's amazing. All right. So let's switch gears because you have, you've retired now in 2022. What does a day for Mori look like in retirement? Okay. I don't know if I've read this about you. I'm a morning person. I get up very early. What's very early for you? Six. Wow, that is early. I get up around six. I, uh, I walk, I take the dog out to Central Park or in Montana. I take the dog out. On Montana, you don't take the dog out. You let the dog out.

And then I make my own, I've made my own breakfast for 60 years. What do you eat for breakfast? Eggs every morning. Like, well, how do you like them? Because I'm an egg connoisseur. I like them scrambled. I like them over. I don't like them up.

I like them poached when I can find the right poacher. So you don't like running eggs. Can you teach me how to poach them perfectly? I just get them poached for me. I can't do it. The poaching is an art. It is. It really is an art.

You cannot. Connie can do it. I can't. Connie can do everything. I love her. I know. I love how much you love her, though. Yeah, well, she doesn't poach eggs for me because she's not a morning person.

And she gets up, you know, at a crack a 10, you know, something like that. Girl after my own heart. So then I take the dog out, then I come back, and then I start reading, you know, whether it be on the phone. And we still, old farts that we are, we still have newspapers coming in the print version. Aww. That's a dying art too. Yeah. I mean, you don't read the paper anymore.

You read on your phone. Everybody does. And then I play a lot of golf. Yes. My husband plays golf. Does he like it? He loves it. You guys should play golf together.

I want you to know something. Did he love golf before you got married? No. He found it after his father passed. This is a problem. This is a problem. In my first marriage, I got the golf addiction after I got married.

Really? And because I spent so much time on the course, it could have been one of the reasons why the marriage ended. So if it's okay with you. I love that he loves golf. And I go with him sometimes. Oh, good. I totally.

Just ride in the cart and something like that? No, I'll play with him. Oh, good. We literally are like a lot like how you and Connie are. We just support each other. everything that we do. And I truly feel like that is a testament of longstanding relationships, is you let the other person just be who they need to be. Long leash is important. Yes. Absolutely. If you trust them, long leash is very important. And I think that's how you build trust.

I think so. If you have a short leash, you're controlling everything that person's doing. They're going to, human nature is to rebel. You know what I'm saying? So it's like, I think the longer the leash, the longer the relationship. The only time I really get upset at her is when I go into the bathroom and things aren't where they were yesterday. Oh, no. Are you a perfectionist? No, she is the perfectionist. Me, I just want to know where the things are that were there yesterday in that spot and not somewhere else in another cabinet and all that. And she's moving things around. But do you put the toilet seat down? Of course. Okay, good. Yay, then you're a good one.

I know all about that. Oh, I love that. That was an early on lesson. How did you guys end up in Montana? Well, I said to Connie one time, this is almost 30 years ago. I said, we ought to go to Montana. And she said, what do you mean? I said, it's the only contiguous state that I'd never been to.

I'd been to Hawaii. I've never been to Alaska. But I've been to 47 states. I hadn't been to Montana. I said, let's go buy a home in Montana. She said, don't you think we ought to go there first? I said, well, okay. So in 1998, we went to Montana.

We found a house to rent. We loved it so much. We looked around, and my friend said, the best house is this house. I went to the guy, I said, I want to buy your house. He says, I didn't want to rent you my house. I didn't even want to rent you my house. And now you want to buy my house and said, not only you want to buy it, I want you to leave all the furniture, I want you to leave the cars, leave the furniture, leave the boat, leave everything.

And he did. Oh, that's amazing. 28 years. Wow. And we found, we created 17 years ago, sometimes you're really nuts. and Connie and I created a weekly newspaper in Montana. I read about that. Called the Flathead Beacon, and it's won every award in the state,

and it's a great local newspaper. You started out as print, now it's online. Everybody loves it. It doesn't matter what the political stripe is in the whole Flathead Valley in Montana. Everybody loves the paper. And even the politicians, it doesn't matter whether you're a Republican or Democrat.

Everybody loves the paper. I love that. Of course, it's not making any money. But it's a passion project. Yes. So I think it makes you guys feel good. It's kind of legacy to my father. And that's what Connie says.

Absolutely. And those things are priceless. You can't put monetary value on something like that, especially, you know, from your background and where you come from. So do you like Nashville? I love Nashville now. I didn't like it at first. You know, being a Vegas girl, moving to Nashville, it was like, this was a culture shock.

You're up all night, an all night town. to... Pretty much. Access to anything 24-7 to, you know, people being a lot more modest. So how did you grow to like it? I fell in love with the slow life, you know? It's kind of like how do you go from Washington, D.C. to Montana. Right, exactly. It's like you have to fall in love with... You have to really get to know yourself in slow places, and I think I had to discover who I was outside of my Vegas persona. And, you know, I just... Did you go there because of... jelly roll because I did I moved there for him which I don't recommend to anybody I feel like if you're

in a relationship and you've been with somebody for a long time then make that move but my husband and I got married a month after meeting and I made that jump and a month and happened to work out we got married a month after meeting and that was what seven eight years ago nine nine nine yeah we've known each other 10 years married nine a month after a month and we made it work mori but that's why I was so amazed when you told me that you and Connie dated for seven years because I was like, whoa, that is amazing. Like, how did you do that, you know? Well, I had come out of a marriage and didn't want to get married and Connie was so involved in her business. I mean, she always says, I forgot to get married and then I forgot to have a child. Oh, she's great. I would love to meet her one day.

You know what? My husband and I are actually thinking about going to Montana for Thanksgiving to bring our family out there. So if we do come and out there. We would love to have you and Connie come over for dinner. That would be amazing. All right. So I'm going to ask you a closing question. Yes, I dear. And thank you so much for your time today. It's been, it's been amazing. You're very easy to talk to. Thank you. I appreciate that. You've interviewed politicians, celebrities, everyday people. Who taught you the most? Who taught me the most? Who taught you the most out of everybody that you've interviewed? That's really, guess what? That's a good question.

Oh, never had it. Never had it. Never had it. I've had, you know, who would you like to interview, stuff like that. Believe it or not, I think all the people on the talk show, wow. It, you know, after doing news for all those years and then getting into this very intimate talk show, I think those guests brought more out of me than I thought I had. And so therefore, I think that whole experience, that 30-year experience, because of the guests, because of the individual stories, because of the fact with DNA testing that it's possible that I could have gotten another parent into the lives of those kids, because we all know that a child has a better shot with two parents than one. and those stories, I think, gave me a great feeling of satisfaction. You're such a special human. I hope you know that.

No, I hope you know that. And I appreciate you being here and making time to come on my podcast. Well, it's beautiful. And now you and your husband come on par with Maury Popovich. We're coming. Anytime you want. Maybe when we're in Montana, we can do it. That would be great.

Thank you, dear. Tell people, we're. where they can find your podcast and listen to it. On par pod, on all of Instagram, whatever, whatever. The podcast is on YouTube, Spotify, Apple, wherever you get your podcasts. All of it. Mori, thank you so much. I can't wait to hug you.

I'm me too. All right. Thank you guys for listening to another podcast. I'll talk to you guys next week. Bye.