Piers Morgan Uncensored - "Why Are You GAY?" Piers Morgan of Uganda + Pope's Brother Makes SHOCKING Confession | 2025 Review
Episode Date: December 19, 2025In what could be described as a fever dream of an episode, Piers Morgan Uncensored sums up 2025 with a wild assortment of topics and guests. There’s a lot to argue about over Christmas dinner this y...ear - we got a new American Pope and a new US President, who began the year with a ‘Revolution of Common Sense’ - and ended it in a MAGA civil war. Snow White sacked the Seven Dwarves and became the most hated movie of all time - and somehow that wasn’t even this year’s biggest big screen disaster, as the Coldplay couple showed. The UK went mad about flags, the US went even madder over Elon’s apparently fascist salute and the JFK Files were released in a triumph for transparency - but the Epstein Files were not. Piers Morgan welcomes his 2025 review panel; Gary Buechler AKA Nerdrotic, The Verdict with Ted Cruz co-host Ben Ferguson, author of The Case For Cancel Culture Ernest Owens and Uncensored studio contributors Esther Krakue and James Barr. Internet meme sensation Ugandan broadcaster Simon Kaggwa Njala also drops by to ask his most famous probing question, plus Piers speaks to Louis Provost, the brother of Pope Leo - who gives a big confession. Piers also speaks to This Is Spinal Tap and The Simpsons star Harry Shearer about the loss of his friend, director Rob Reiner. Piers Morgan Uncensored is proudly independent and supported by: Oxford Natural: To watch their full stories, scan the QR code on your screen or visit https://oxfordnatural.com/piers/ to get 70% off your first order when you use code PIERS. Shen Yun: Visit https://ShenYun.com/PIERS to buy tickets and waive fees. PDS Debt: Get started with your free debt analysis in just 30 seconds at https://PDSDebt.com/PIERS Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcript
Discussion (0)
Thank you for coming in.
Thank you for you.
Good morning.
Why are you gay?
It's still the funniest thing that's ever been on the internet.
Welcome to Unsensit.
Simon Kagwa, Angler.
Tell me, Piers, why are you gay?
The biggest winner of 2025 and the biggest loser.
The biggest loser is the Coldplay CEO.
That whole thing just blew up spectacularly.
So my biggest loser is poor fishermen off the coast of Venezuela.
They're just trying to catch some fish with some fish.
some cocaine and heroin and crack.
My biggest loser was Rachel Zeglox.
I mean, that in the of itself is a record.
But she is a talented, she's very talented.
She can't be talented at wiring her jawshed.
Your brother is obviously the most powerful, important, influential Catholic in the world.
I asked him to hear my confession, and I spilled all the beans to him.
How spicy were the beans?
Mm-hmm.
That's what I wanted to know.
Everything short of murder and incest.
Ha ha ha ha ha ha.
It's a special time of year again when we gather in front of the TV
to eat, drink and have a jolly big argument about the year gone by.
So before you all get there, we're once more gathering on the TV
for a jolly big argument about the year gone by.
And there's been quite a lot to argue about.
We've got a new American Pope, the first ever,
and a new US president, not the first time we'd had him,
who began the year with a revolution of common sense.
He slashed the endless spectrum of infinite genders
to simply man and woman,
which was all a bit much for state person Justin Trudeau,
who resigned as the wokenest world leader
in the history of people kind.
Snow White sacked the seven dwarves
and became the most hated movie of all time.
Somehow that wasn't even the year's biggest screen disaster
as the legendary coal-play cutlers will surely agree.
Vladimir Putin got the red carpet, Zelensky,
got a red face after an almighty dressing down for not dressing up.
The famous fibber George Santos was sent to jail,
as was the famous fiddler P. Diddy.
Only one of them got a pardon, and George tells me that's because he's had more number one hits on the Billboard Hot 100.
The UK went mad about apparently fascist flags.
The US went mad about an apparently fascist salute.
The JFK files were released in a triumph for transparency.
The Epstein files were not.
A man called Big Bulls emerged as the unlikely influence behind massive government cost cutting.
A man called Big John emerged as the unlikely voice of reason in a divided Britain.
There was a mega civil war over just about everything, including briefly an actual war with Iran.
Gremlin, who was arrested in Britain for mean tweets.
A British mother was arrested for saying, well, as he well know, I'm not allowed to say it.
The Oxford English Dictionary made rage bait its word of the year, which fittingly he enraged me because it's clearly the two words.
And the whole year was, of course, dominated and overshadowed by the brutal murder of Charlie Kirk.
As we know, he loved the debate.
And with so much to look back on and so much to afford to in 2026, that's exactly what we're going to do.
do now. Joining me on the panel, his uncensored
contributors, James Byron, Esther Cracko,
Gary Bucler, better known as Nordrotic,
author of the case for Council
Culture, Ernest Owens, and Ben Ferguson,
the co-host of the verdict with Tech Cruz.
Well, I couldn't wish for better people, really,
for this particular
gathering of festive merry-makers.
So the questions for the panel,
and I'll start with you, if I may,
Ben Ferguson. Your big prediction
for 2026.
Donald Trump's approval rating will go up.
I think he's going to actually make sure that the NARC terrorists are taken out.
And my big, big prediction with him, that is he's probably going to start hitting targets on land,
taking out the terrorists, which I think the majority of Americans are going to be in favor of.
Okay. James Bard, do you agree?
Wow.
I was just here to give you my sassy opinions, my sassy gay opinions.
I would love to hear those.
I mean, his approval rating is up and down.
Mainly down at the moment.
I mean, he's doing a lot, isn't he?
It's America first, but there's a lot going on.
And I'm not sure I can really...
I don't really want to comment on.
Piers, I'd love to say congrats to you, actually,
for coming for him the other day.
I thought that your post about him was brilliant and brave.
Well, actually, I don't think he was either of those things.
I criticise him over what he said about the brutal murder of Rob Reiner.
But then I've often criticised Trump over the years.
We're in a weird place now where anyone who can be friendly with someone,
but criticise them
is seen to be a little bit odd
or very brave and bold.
Why? I've done that my entire life
with you guys.
Never mind anything else, right?
We're all friends, but I've had run-ins with all of you.
I don't think it's either brave or bold
or any of those things.
I'm a friend of Donald Trump's.
I have been for 20 years,
but I've regularly attacked him
and I've regularly praised him
when perhaps others didn't want me to.
To me, there's nothing courageous about it.
The only thing I would say to everybody
is it's just better to be intellectually honest.
not least to yourself.
Just call things as you see them.
Don't let the tribe dictate to you
what you should be thinking.
And if facts change on your side,
if you have a side,
then go with the facts.
It's a lot healthier.
But I think that is great.
Translation, peers,
what you're really saying
is if you haven't yelled at any of us
then we're not really your friend.
So I'm in for that.
I totally get that.
That's what it means.
If I haven't screamed at you,
yell at you,
and cinnamon tweet at you,
then we're not actually going to ever be friends.
Do you know,
I would probably shout in more at you,
Ben Ferguson,
the last 15 years and anyone else on this panel.
I was chatting at you.
I was shouting you back in my CNN days.
We were both younger and your hair wasn't as gray.
That's true. That is true.
But at least it's my own hair color, which is another question.
Let me come to Esther Cracken.
Lovely to see you.
Because you're spending a lot of time in America now.
You're back here for a bit.
Great to see you in London.
What do you think?
What's your big prediction for 2026?
I think that England will win the World Cup.
Do you?
I really like the World Cup years.
I tell you what?
I always look forward to that.
Well, it's interesting you mention the World Cup,
because I'm going to be watching this very, very closely.
Let's take a look at the predictions market with Polly Market.
Spain is predicted to have a 15% chance of winning the World Cup.
They're the favourites.
France is at 13%.
England on 12%.
So they're all pretty close.
Argentina, the current World Cup.
Cup champions, 11%, then Brazil, Portugal and Germany, all in a single digits.
I mean, it's going to be an amazing tournament.
England have a great team.
There's no question.
There won't be climate issues, so that won't be an excuse.
What we are going to see is you're going to see the last World Cup for Lionel Messi and
Cristiano Ronaldo, the two greatest in my view to ever play the game.
I have Ronaldo ahead of Messi, others have different.
But it's going to be an amazing tournament to watch these two great Titans bow out.
I think we can all agree, and sorry about this, Ben,
that America, I have two hopes of winning the World Cup,
no hope and ball hope.
But I did like Donald Trump recently.
I have a very American question.
Can there be a tie in the World Cup?
Because I don't like going to sports where there's no winner,
and that's the problem with y'all's football.
Yeah, you can.
In fact, in the early stages, in regular time,
there'll be, we call it a draw.
Yeah.
But I did like the fact that Donald Trump recently said
this time that we called what you offensively called soccer football,
because it came along a long time before your football,
and you get a new name for your sport,
because your sport is basically rugby with padding and helmets.
Because you're all a bunch of girls' blouses.
I'm willing to listen to this as soon as you guys stop having ties in a damn game.
Like, no one wakes up in the morning America is like,
let's go watch a game where no one's going to win.
Like, that's insane.
I'll tell you this.
Let me tell you the best one of all.
For Americans, it's the cricket, right?
So we've got the Ashes series at the moment.
Now, there have been two victories for Australia.
But in an Ashes series, there are five matches.
Each one lasts up to five days.
Each day is seven to eight hours of play.
So you can end up with 200 hours of play,
and the score can be zero-zero at the end of it.
And that is why Americans will never play cricket or be interested.
Never.
Because they cannot get their heads around a sport
that could end up with nil-nil.
Let me go to nodding, waiting patiently.
Your predictions, I mean, particularly in the movie world,
because there were some shocking moments in 2025
of wokeism trying to wreck everyone's fun,
but also some outbreaks of, you know, good stuff as well.
What do you think is going to happen next year?
I think it's going to be more the same
as basically Hollywood kicked the can down the road
for way too long, staying with woke way too long.
staying with Woke way too long,
and now they are trying to adjust
midstream, and they're finding it
really difficult because
once we get past the Woke, we have
a much larger problem,
aside from AI, we have
creative
bankruptcy. We have
all the major releases, the TEMPOL
releases that drive the theaters are all
some sort of
requel, midquil,
remake, a
live action remake of an animated
a film that's actually just animated
and they aren't really pushing the envelope.
They're not being innovative anymore.
And you know what?
No, Johnny.
You know what?
I was reminded of this by the death of,
or the murder of Rob Reiner,
an awful thing to happen, obviously.
But I was reminded of his extraordinary body of work
when he had a run of smash hit movies,
one after another, but they were all different
genres, right? A few good men.
When Harry met Sally,
Stad by me, right? All these amazing
films, which have become absolute classic.
one after another.
And I remember thinking,
where are any of those kind of movies now?
Where is the great, brilliantly written sitcom,
rom-com?
Where is the great drama like a few good men?
Where is the poignant film like Stand By Me?
And the truth is,
they are in very small supply now.
They are.
And that shows the health of the ecosystem
of Hollywood and the entertainment capital of the world
is we don't have comedies anymore.
Like, what was the last great comedy?
and all of those are being pretty much shoved off on streaming now
and your middle-of-the-road film is just made into a streaming series
that's purely for content.
Where are the great directors?
I'll even say this as well.
Where are the coming-of-age films?
I mean, no one wants to tell a story of what actually growing up looks like anymore
because everyone thinks growing up, you're questioning whether you should be taking
puberty-growing up or like wearing makeup as a boy at the age of 10.
Like, everyone is trying to tell a different story about coming of age.
Here's my prediction.
Here's my prediction.
You mean wokeism killed films, peers?
Is that what we're saying?
Everybody's afraid to make good movies because they're afraid of jokes.
Well, I tell you, here's the cavalry is coming in this way, I think.
My favorite thing on TV at the moment is Lamb Man, right, which is absolutely brilliant.
It's brilliant.
It's written by the genius that gave us Yellowstone.
And the beauty of them is they don't preach about woke bullshit.
They're proper, old-fashioned, you know, the men have sex with women.
They're all drinking.
They're all taking drugs.
They're all having fun.
Things are being blown up.
And they rip on the view.
Don't forget, because they rip on the view.
It is gloriously inappropriate, right, in every possible way.
And it's Middle America and it's real people having real lies, right?
And I think you're going to see a lot more of this.
I think people are going to look at the massive success of landmine, Yellowstone.
What's the one about the hunting wives on Netflix?
Fantastically inappropriate.
They're all lesbians, but they're having a great time.
So you only want to see men drinking, eating lamb and lesbians.
We'll do another one.
We'll do a long-reconstructed broke Batman's sequel, just for you.
I would love a re-roof-reviewed.
Just for you, James.
Ernest.
You can be this better.
Oh, please.
Let me bring Ernest in.
Ernest, how are you?
I'm good.
I was just going to say, I was surprised no one said anything about any Sydney
Sweetie films.
Well, she's a good example.
Well, some of them are shit.
Some of them are good.
I think I only watch Sydney Sweetney Court.
Ernest, what's your big prediction, Ernest, for next year?
I think Mega is going to implode.
It's already happening, but it's going to really implode next year in a big way.
It's very obvious.
As we speak right now, Republicans are breaking from the House
and disagreement over health care that's happening
as Republicans try to take the last subsidies that we have of health care in America
for everyone, whether they're Democrats or Republicans.
And I think this anger that's,
people are having with Trump and even within mega itself is going to implode at the midterms
next year.
You know what?
I find myself in a very unusual position of thinking you might be right.
I can tell by Ben Ferguson's Fixed Green that a little part of him thinking, you know what,
Ernest might be onto something here because it definitely.
I was, I've never asked you to let me come back on your show publicly.
Please, one year from now, can I do this show?
Yes.
And I'm going to look at both of you.
No, no.
And I'm going to be like, you had no idea what you were talking about.
Sign me.
But I do think, I do think MAGA is having an identity crisis.
And I think the catalyst for it was the-
The Epstein Files was a catalyst for it.
But you're now seeing it.
A lot of it, yeah.
I agree.
The earnest, unusually, your political antennae seemed to be a bit on the money here,
which is very unusual for all of us.
They're fighting.
They're fighting, even within their own cabinet.
Like, they're back-sabbing each other.
They are not fighting at a cabinet, sir.
They are really backstabbing each other.
They don't have, they're supposed to be in a season of winning.
Let's not over.
It's not over.
And they're not doing anything down.
All right.
We're trying to do a Christmas special.
Let's not overdo the politics.
But we'll definitely bring Ben Ferguson back after the midterms because I suspect we're going to see a bit of a blood.
See a bit of a blood bath.
Now, one of the most surprising controversies of this year involving the F word was inspired in no small part by a 2012 interview on Uganda morning television, which has become one of the most popular internet memes.
of all time. Here's a reminder.
We bring in the studio this morning one of the gay rights activists.
Mr. Should I call you Mr.
Pepe Julian Onzima.
Thank you for coming in.
Good morning.
Morning to you.
Why are you gay?
Yes, Simon Kagwa and Galla's interview on the Morning Bree show
went viral again this year, thanks to a bit of promotion from Tucker Carlson.
It's still the funniest thing that's ever.
been on the internet. But why is it funny? And why does almost everyone find it funny?
Laughed, right, straight, gay? Well, because it's kind of the key question. And it's kind of the
question that no one in the United States is allowed to ask, why are you gay? Well, Tucker even brought
it up in my interview with him last month. You talked to a Pakistani cab driver and you're like,
why are you gay? And then we'll start laughing because they've watched the video.
and they're like, I'm not gay.
I'm a man.
What's what I do with Massachusetts?
Ask a single Britain.
Why are you gay?
Well, I'm not gay, but it would be okay if I was.
Well, I'm delighted to say that joining me now
is the Ugandan broadcaster and interrogate Simon Kagwa.
Angler.
Welcome to Uncensored.
Oh, pleasure, pleasure to be with you.
How are you?
You've been described, Simon, as the Piers Morgan of Uganda.
Do you take that as a compliment or not?
Oh, that's quite humbling, though ridiculous.
Your life has changed dramatically since that clip went viral.
You now have your own YouTube channel.
You're hugely famous.
You're probably Uganda's most famous person.
Were you expecting the reaction that you had?
To be quite honest, to me, it passed off as one of those ordinary interviews
on a good day at the peak of a very controversial subject
when Uganda wanted to introduce the Anti-Homosexuality Act.
So I was only curious to weigh in the conversation,
and that's why I invited a lady, a gentleman.
Pardon me.
That's when I invited Pepe, Julian Ozil. Z.
Right.
And you listen, I like your direct style of interviewing.
We actually have James Bar with us,
who is probably one of the most famous gay people in the country here.
Have you got a question for him, silent?
Why is he straight?
Hi, mate.
Do you have a question for me?
Simon.
Well, it's nice connecting with you.
Welcome to Uganda.
Thank you.
It's a pleasure to be here.
Simon, what question do you have for James?
Should I call you Mr. or Mrs?
My name is, I guess my preference.
My name is he, so you can call me Mr.
He guesses.
He guesses.
Why are you gay?
I really love sucking dick.
Why are you straight?
Oh my God.
Why are you straight?
That's a good question.
Why are you straight?
Why are you straight, son?
I would love to know.
Why am I straight?
Yeah.
Why did you choose?
Sorry, is there a delay on the light.
There is a delay.
There is a delay.
There is a delay.
There is a delay. So Simon, it's a very good question.
Why are you straight?
I mean, when did you make that decision?
That's a good question.
I was born straight and I've enjoyed being straight.
I have no other option.
Right.
Two members of my panel were born gay.
Yes.
And have no option.
And over here, we think that's completely normal.
I think Pastor Martin Semple would disagree, but...
Oh, wow.
What do you think of that?
Is there another delay?
Simon, have you been stunned into silence?
I think.
Might be a delay.
I think Simon's delay is due to the fact that he's literally living in the 1950s.
Simon, I'd love to know, do you perform the straight obligations with your partner?
I think he does.
Yes, and there is evidence to that.
I got four kids and a very beautiful wife, the most gorgeous, actually.
And I have a crush on pretty ladies.
Really?
Really?
Does your wife mind?
Do you have a crush on pretty lady?
Apologetically, yes.
Well, you wanted to call me Mrs.
Do you have a crush on me?
Am I a pretty lady to you?
Oh, done.
You can't be a mrs.
Can you ask Piers if he's day?
Because I've been wondering for a while.
Please ask Piers Morgan.
I need a queen.
I need this to go viral.
Can you please ask Pyr Morgan the exact same question?
Please ask Piers.
And I want it to go viral.
We've been going to be quiet.
I'm directing right now.
No one talk.
Okay, go.
Come on, Simon.
Come on.
Ask me the question.
Tell me, Pierce, why are you gay?
Do you know what?
I like to remain ambiguous about my sexuality
because there's a lot of money in the pink pound, Simon.
I really recommend you explore your sexuality in public.
I find it quite inevitable that I have to identify as a man.
While at the same time, of course, we are in this era where you've got to be tolerant,
you've got to be social and interact with people of different orientation.
It remains a very contentious issue, though.
Well, it does in Uganda.
It's not contentious in the UK, and it's not contentious in the United States, actually.
We don't really have a problem with being.
But having grown up in a very conservative environment, we're still grappling with that.
acceptance to the new norm, what you call the new norm.
Out of interest, Simon, what would you do if one of your kids said they were gay?
I would collapse.
No, you would say, why are you gay, surely?
Where are you gay?
You say, why are you gay?
No, you made those kids.
It's written.
It's written over me.
They would be cautious.
I got to say, I would love to be.
You know that's great people make gay kids.
I would love to be there for that conversation.
He would say, son, son, why are you getting?
Oh, no.
Right.
Simon, we've got to leave it there.
It's been great having you on our censored.
And I appreciate you entering to the Christmas spirit with our debate.
Nice to meet you, Simon.
Oh, fantastic.
Fantastic.
If your children need any advice coming out, please to be with you and have a lovely time.
It's all going back in.
All right. Take care, Simon.
And have a merry Christmas tea.
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James, I know you've got to leave us in a few minutes.
So let me come to you with the next part of this.
And you can answer first.
The biggest winner of 2025 and the biggest loser.
I mean, for me, I think the biggest loser
is the Coldplay CEO, the Coldplay cuddling,
and also just Coldplay in general,
because I think they felt incredibly awkward about that,
and then Chris Martin felt terrible.
And I mean, you're meant to feel safe
at a Coldplay concert,
and that whole thing just blew up spectacularly.
And my biggest winner, well, I guess Taylor Swift
is a big winner.
I think also...
Did you watch that clip of Taylor Swift
giving all her crew the bonuses?
Just beautiful.
I mean, she gave them literally...
Very cool.
And I don't even like her music, but she's awesome.
She gave them 175.
$5 million worth of bonuses.
Even the truck driver's got $50 grand each, right?
It's really interesting because you don't do that to your panelist, peers.
No, it would be lovely.
Don't worry, I'm waiting for my check.
Yeah, we're waiting for our big bag of cash.
My bonus to you is I'll have you back on next year.
What could be a greater gift?
Thank you.
Who's your biggest?
You said Megan Markle's one of the biggest winners?
I think Megan Markle is going to run for president in 2026.
So we're moving on from MAGA to mega.
That's the plan.
from Maga to Megas.
The running man is going to be the guy who says,
why are you gay?
Well, listen, James, I appreciate you coming on.
I know you've got to go.
So thank you very much indeed.
We'll let you go.
Let me come to Najrily.
Your biggest winners and losers of this year.
Wow, I have given this no thought.
But I will say the biggest loser in, well, in my sphere anyway,
is for Hollywood would be Hollywood.
They had a horrible year.
They had an October that was the worst box office for them in 30 years without adjusting
for inflation.
AI is coming.
They're feeling all the consequences of the ill-timed and stupid strikes that they went on
at the same time with the WGA and the Screen Actors Guild.
And they're facing the consequences of also pissing off half the country for about five
years straight consistently.
Yeah.
I agree.
And who would your winner be of the year?
Oh, man.
Taylor Sheridan.
He keeps cranking out hit after hit.
Paramount, somehow let him go.
And he just made a huge deal.
And I don't know what that does for the future
of some of my favorite shows right now,
including Landman, but he is the biggest winner by far.
I think he's a genius, that guy.
And I think the stuff he does just resonates so well.
By ever country gets it.
Yeah, that's 100% and it's less than ever everyone.
Don't sneer at half your audience.
Why would you?
Well, Ben, Ben, let me come to you.
Your winners and losers of 2025.
So my biggest loser is those poor fishermen
off the coast of Venezuela.
They're just trying to catch some fish
with some cocaine and heroin and crack and fentanyl
and they're just getting blown up.
So that's probably my biggest loser of the year
is those poor fishermen down there
that somehow look like they're just running drugs
with seven engines on the back.
What is some of them actually are fishermen?
They're not.
Like, they're not.
How do you know?
I've been fishing a lot.
You don't fish with cocaine and fentanyl.
Like, you don't need seven engines on the back of your boat to get to the fish.
I know the people that do exactly that.
That's how they get to the long nights.
Yeah, no, like this is, you're going into conspiracy theory land.
They're hitting narco terrorists.
I'm so glad it's happening to them.
And I'm glad that the drugs are getting blown up.
300 Americans, and it's just in America, die every day from overdoses coming from those boats.
It's also going to Europe and it's killing people.
We would never allow a plane crash today to be acceptable by terrorism.
Why are we allowing it with narco-terrorism in America alone?
Okay.
And who's your big winner of the year?
My big winner is liberal cities in America that have crime rates that are dropping to all-time lows in my lifetime.
Washington, D.C., Memphis, Tennessee, New Orleans, Chicago, what they're seeing with law and order coming back to these cities because the president is truly saving lives.
And I think that's actually the biggest winner,
even though some of the people there
don't even realize it yet.
Out of interest,
I'm going to come to,
so I'll come back to you, Ben,
because I want, Ernest,
I think you've got a loser
is actually a political figure.
Who is it?
My loser is J.D. Vance.
See, that's interesting.
Because Polly Market
have J.D. Vance as the lead contender
to win the 2028 presidential election
with 32%,
followed by Gavin Newsom on 18%.
Alexander Ocasio-Cortezo
on 8% and Donald Trump on 4% because he keeps suggesting he may run again.
I don't think you will.
But on that point, Ben, before I come back to honest for his winner, is J.D. Vance a shoeing,
do you think, to replace Trump on the Republican ticket or not?
No, I don't. I don't think so.
I think, I've said this for a while.
Careful what you wish for.
When you get too close to sun, sometimes you get burned.
And J.D. Vance has got to, he's going to have to figure out how to become his own,
man, his own candidate, while also not making Donald Trump and the base of Trump angry and not
being overshadowed. But I think you're going to see a robust, wide open Republican field. I do
not believe it's going to be a coordination at all. Do you know who I think the most impressive
operator is in that cabinet? I think it's Marco Rubio. He's a silent sleeper. There's no doubt
about it. Yeah. I mean, Peter, you remember this when you said Rubio for a second. This is a guy that
grabbed water and was like shaking. Remember that? Yeah. And the pause there like this,
talk about like the guy who just completely reinvented himself. They should do a Harvard study and
teach the 2.0 Marco Rubio. He went from almost not even running for re-election as a senator
to now look at what he's doing at Secretary of State. It truly is a political case study and
how to reinvent yourself. And I got to give him credit in his team. They've done an amazing job.
I agree. Okay. Who's your big winner then, Ernest?
Not that I personally agree with all the tactics,
but I would say the Democratic Socialists,
they got Maandani in there.
He is the mayor of...
I think him alone, actually, it's indisputable
that he is one of the big political winners of the year.
Yes. I would say that their coalition, though,
because it's not even just him.
It's getting to stretch on a conversation nationally
based on the economic state we're in.
Like, he's opened that door for a larger conversation,
and there's starting to be people in other cities
across the country that are also picking that up.
So I would say, I think there's a real peril.
I mean, apart for the fact he's a massive asshole fan,
which I do like that about Mamdarnie.
He's a genuine asshole fan.
He knows all the players, all the history.
I love that.
But it's going to be, in a way,
what he does in New York may end up being the referendum
for the Democrats going into 2028.
if he turns things around in New York
and he turns out not to be the devil incarnate
that he's been painted by the right,
then that's going to be...
Let me finish.
Let me finish.
I'm just going to say,
if he turns out to be successful,
that could be a real green light
for them to choose a progressive candidate.
But conversely,
if it all goes to hell on the handcart in New York
under Mamm Darnet,
it could have the opposite effect.
You know, I still think the Democrats
have to find somebody,
obviously he can't run
because he's not an American citizen.
But I think they've got to find somebody just a bit more to the center.
They've got to find a new Clinton.
The crime across those cities were going down before Trump came in there.
You certainly couldn't feel it.
You couldn't feel it.
New York is a health game.
I'm sorry.
You couldn't feel it.
And I say this as someone who's been to New York many times.
It feels extremely unsafe as a woman.
It's been going on in other cities.
I'm sorry to say this, but you couldn't leave it.
Yesterday.
But we need to.
stick with some facts because in Baltimore,
crime is going down without that.
In Philadelphia, crime is going to go without that.
The main thing, hold on.
I just want to say that.
The main platform that these democratic socialists
or the main issue that they're campaigning on
is the cost of living, which is basically going to be
the do or die for the Republican Party at this point.
Now, there are some indications that energy prices
are going to come down drastically next year.
We'll have to wait and see on that,
especially with fuel prices and all of that.
But basically, if Donald Trump and the Republicans
don't get a handle on the cost of living
and the cost of housing, which is the number
one issue for Americans, they're toast. It is always the economy, stupid. People can pretend
to other things. But it is always the economy and Trump's got a lot of work to do, particularly in
the run up to the midterms. He's got to get the economy back on track in the way that he promised.
You can launch all the tariff wars and everything else. I saw the merit, the argument,
understood what he was trying to do. But if the impact is on the average American when they go and
buy their weak shopping in a negative way, they ain't going to buy it and they're not going to vote for
it. Very interesting year.
Esther, your winners and losers for the year.
So my biggest loser was Rachel Zegler, who's...
Really?
I mean, her mouth is the opposite of the mind of touch.
She was brilliant in Evita.
I went to see the first night in London.
She was absolutely fantastic.
Come back. Come back to year.
Yeah, but the thing is, it's very rare for a single person
to cost a studio hundreds of millions of dollars.
I mean, that in the world itself is a record.
But she is a talented, she is a talented.
That's what makes her loser, because she knows she's talented.
She just can't be talented at wiring her joy.
Did you see the Hunger Games movie she was in?
She wasn't very good in that.
No, she was great.
I'm going to say, Evita, she was fantastic.
Who is your winner?
The ghost of the world's most famous pedophile, Jeffrey Epstein,
who we could not escape this year.
I mean, he deep-primpsed a prince,
which is, I think, some sort of new record.
And by the way, there is a long way to go with these leaks for the Epstein files.
You know, you think it's already taken down Prince Andrew,
his ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson.
They've been basic sponge in public life.
It took down Lord Mandelson,
the new UK ambassador of Washington,
he had to go,
and that's just some of the early leaks
from these emails.
We haven't seen the half of it.
We haven't seen probably a tenth of it.
There will be more.
A lot of famous people sweating this Christmas,
I can tell you.
And so I totally agree.
They should bloody sweat.
And I want to know exactly who they are
and what they did
and all the lies they've told probably
about their association with him.
Really interesting.
To me, the Epstein thing comes down to this.
Those who disowned him
when he got convicted,
for being a paedophile, that's one thing.
Those who carried on consulting with him
and parting with him and doing visits with him,
that's a very different thing.
You can't claim plausible deniability
if you knew he was a convicted paedophile.
But we'll see, we'll see.
The deadline for these files is, I think, three days, isn't it?
So we'll find out.
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Let's go to the next question with the potlitz.
new guest in here, the Pope Leo the 14th,
will soon deliver his first Christmas message
as the first ever American Pope.
Now, I couldn't get him to do this show, unfortunately,
but I'm very pleased to say we have the second best,
which is the Pope's brother, Louis Prevost.
Welcome back to Unscensis. Love it to see you.
Thank you. Thank you.
Glad to be back. Glad to talk to you again.
What has it been like for you to be the Pope's brother this year,
this momentous year of your family?
To say it's been life-changing is putting it mildly.
It's been a whole new experience, obviously,
not just from things like this,
where people are after us to talk to them
and talk about the Pope or how we are as a family still.
But just all around, everything from my own behavior as a Catholic.
I've gone back to the church more so than I,
I've always been Catholic, but not the best.
But since he's been made Pope, it's awoken me and I've come back to the church.
Really? How interesting?
The popularity.
It's been quite a change, yes, yes.
When you realize maybe I haven't been the best, now my brother's there,
and I see it's unfortunate, but it's a way of life.
It's like when I'm here with you.
People see how I act that reflects on him as the Pope and the, you know, I don't want to certainly shine a bad light on him or have people continue to say, I'm kind of like the black seek of the family going on.
And I get a lot of heat.
I know some of your guests have been talking about it.
You probably are aware.
You know, I'm pretty much a MAGA kind of guy.
Yeah.
And I get a lot of heat from all over the world for.
being that. I get letters in the mail saying I should change my ways. I'm horrible person for
supporting Trump, this and that. And, you know, your Pope, your brother, the Pope would be ashamed of you.
You're going to burn in hell. That stuff never used to happen when he wasn't, when he wasn't who he was.
Right. But so now I have to take that into account and, you know, behave, you know,
not that I'm bad or evil or do horrible things, but it just hit me,
unconsciously that, you know, maybe I'd have to change my ways,
go back to church and start, you know,
being more Catholic, being more observant,
and then being, shall I say, less hostile to some people
that I don't agree with.
You know, I've toned down my tweets and my Facebook posts
because they always catch fire,
end up on the news saying,
And the Pope's brother said and the Pope hears it.
And then I hear it from him and my other brother about,
can you please not be so vocal about things are, you know, so negative.
Every family's got one.
You're the guy.
It's okay.
Yeah.
Here's is that guy.
I'm that guy.
You've got good company here.
Yeah.
I can identify too.
He wants to be more civil.
He wants to be more civil.
But actually, on a series, I think it's really honest of you to say,
that list. But on a serious point, your brother is obviously the most powerful, important,
influential Catholic in the world. He must be delighted that you've come back to the church
so fulsomely. Yeah. I would imagine so. I mean, we haven't talked about that kind of thing.
I know. I'm pretty sure he knew, you know, I wasn't the best Catholic. I left home before my other
two brothers, they're a lot closer together than I am to them.
Because I was off in the Navy, they were still, I think, in high school or just starting college.
So I missed a lot of stuff with them growing up.
The thing they remember most is probably me beating up on them all the time.
That means you're a good big brother.
That drove them.
That's right.
That drove them to be closer together.
So they talk pretty much every day.
I get to talk to my brother, the Pope, about once a week.
They include me in their conversations just to be, you know, civil and keep the family together as best as possible.
Out of interest, Lewis, what do you, out of interest, you have this weekly conversation with your brother, but he's now the Pope.
So what do you talk about, given the context of this extraordinary role he now has?
And don't tell us the weather.
Well, you'd be surprised.
There's very little talk about politics or papal things, duties.
He will tell me, like, before he made his trip to Turkey and Lebanon in the Middle East,
he told us he was planning to do that, so we knew that ahead of time before that came out.
But most of the time, it's just literally family stuff, like, how are you, how are you feeling?
is the job getting you down?
Are you doing all right?
Are you surviving?
I mean, you know, that's a big step
from what he was doing before
as basically a missionary.
He was a bishop in Peru
for one of the dioceses, Chulacanis, I think, or Chichlaya.
I'm not sure, I don't remember.
And now all of a sudden he's the head of the whole church.
He's got a lot of duties.
the only time we get that when we do talk is late at night for him,
10, 30, 11 o'clock at night right before he goes to bed
because he's done working.
I've got to say, Lewis, he's, I've got to say about your brother.
I've never met him.
I hope that changes.
I'd love to me.
You'd love to interview him.
But I've been, as a Catholic myself, I've been so impressed by him as a Pope.
I mean, to be the first American pope brings with enormous pressures, right?
Just never mind anything else.
To be the head of the Catholic church brings enormous pressures.
He just has a serenity about him and a confidence and a sort of calmness
and a wisdom and intelligence way beyond his experience of doing this job.
And I've just found him really impressive as the Pope, I have to say.
It is.
I kind of knew when he did get elected,
you know, to us, to me, knowing his background,
where he'd been, the previous positions he's held
in the Augustinian order, and just in the church in general,
even up through when Pope Francis elevated into Cardinal,
that he's, he had a background with people on all levels,
all political sides, different countries around the world.
He's been pretty much every,
I thought I was to a lot of places, but he's been all over the place.
He just had the background for it.
He has the personality for it.
He's got the patience of a saint.
He's got the ability to listen and to actually hear and understand what people are saying.
And then to talk back to them so that in a way that they can understand.
And it's just, again, something about him that we saw.
way back when he was a little kid, there was just something special about the way he talked,
walked, interfaced with people.
Yeah.
Just incredible from almost day one.
Amazing.
And you knew, you know, we didn't know, but when you have multiple people and your brothers in like
third grade, second grade, third grade, and the nuns are saying, you're going to be Pope one day.
and people in the neighborhood, same thing, knowing his proclivity to be holy and play priest and whatnot.
It was just written all over the place that he was something special and was definitely had a calling.
And this is where it ended, where it brought him to, and he dragged us with him, kicking and screaming.
Sometimes we don't like the fact.
I love to say, Lewis, and he doesn't know yet that you've come.
come back to the church so wholeheartedly.
I think we'll have to send him this conversation.
Because if you're the Pope and your own brother,
your older brother, has come back to the church,
I think that's a powerful thing.
That's a big thing for a brother to hear.
Lewis is, by the way, in a club, a very, very, very small club.
Lewis, I just need you one day to change your profile description
is I've whooped the
Pope's ass. I just need
that one day up there.
Because not many people can say that they beat
the Pope's ass. You did.
You should just stick that in your LinkedIn
profile for a day.
Given we all have a request to me,
I would like to say that I'm a fan
of Arsenal Football Club in the UK
Lewis and we're currently
top of the Premier League
and top of the European Champions League.
And if you did in your next
conversation with your brother, have an
opportunity to suggest there could be some kind of papal blessing to ensure we win one or both
of those titles. I would be personally very grateful. Who else is in the competition?
I don't want to put any other names in your head. I don't want any other names in your head.
Okay. I hear you. Lewis, I want to aim by asking you. We don't want a time. Lewis, I know you've taken
time out to be here. I really appreciate it. It's lovely to talk to you. I feel like you're a friend
of the show now. It's great to see you. Your brother will obviously
give his first Christmas message and we'll wait eagerly to hear what he has to say.
But I want to give you the chance to end our chat today by giving you, let's have an alternative
Christmas message from you, the Pope's brother. What would you like to say to people at this Christmas?
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Oh boy.
I'm not very popely, so.
What would you like to see with the world in 2026, Lewis?
Well, you know, obviously we all want to see
all these wars all over the place and the nonsense in Gaza.
And it just, again,
You know, it's cliche to say whatever.
World peace, right?
We're striving for that.
Trump is striving for that.
I also just with my newfound,
I shouldn't say newfound,
with my return to being full-fledged Catholic,
you know, I gotta say,
we need to remember what Christmas is all about,
which I've kind of started to do this year.
It's not all about me and what I'm gonna get.
It's what can I give to others, you know, what can I give to the poor here in Florida, in Port Charlotte?
What can I give to, you know, to the church, to the homeless?
It's just remember what Christmas is for, keep the faith.
Whether you're Christian or not Christian, the spirit of the season is to be loving and friendly and warm to people.
So that's what I would say, remember the spirit of Christmas,
have a happy and joyous Christmas with friends and family,
and at the same time, with the start of the new year,
make the new year your best year yet.
What a great message.
That's about what I can say.
Lewis, that's a wonderful message of hope and optimism.
Thank you.
And a reminder of what Christmas is actually about.
And you're so right to say that.
Please send my very best to your brother.
You're the only person that can.
And say that for Miss Catholic across the pond in London, I think he's doing a great job.
I'll just add one more thing with your comment about telling my brother about and letting him see this that I've returned to the church.
He's well aware that when we were there in October, this is going to go out over public broadcast.
But I asked him to hear my confession.
And I spilled all the beans to him about my past 50 years.
Wow.
So he is well aware.
That kind of confirmed what he thought, I'm sure,
and now he's aware that I'm back and wholeheartedly back.
That's amazing.
That's cool.
When I went to school, you know, in Catholic school years ago,
the thought was if you've done this or this.
that, a normal priest can't hear your confession. You have to go higher up the ladder.
So when the stuff started sinking in, I thought, well, I'm not going to bother my parish priest
as he can send me the bishop. The bishop's going to send me somebody else. Since my brother's
now the head guy, I'm just going to go to the head guy. And get it all out there.
Yeah. Maybe I, maybe I have some family influence.
I don't know, but I said, hey, would you hear my confession?
And he said, no.
And I was dejected and heartbroken.
But eventually we worked it out, and he did.
And I'm back.
You know, confession, people that don't go to confession don't know what it's all about.
I can tell you, this is off the topic topic.
But it was like a thousand pound weight lifted off.
me when I did that and got back in the good graces of the church. It was incredible. It had been
obviously a really long time since I'd been to confession. But yeah, it was very spiritual mind-lifting,
eye-opening and just brought me right back center square in the church. And I just feel a thousand
percent better. I love that. Even with my health. That's cool. Louis, I love that. And just, I mean,
don't want to pry, but you said you spilled the beans. How, how spicy were the beans?
Mm-hmm. That's what I wanted to know. Well, I'm not going to do a, I'm not going to do a confession on the, on the, we don't know. We're a wise man. We're on time. Let's just say, there may be a lake behind you right now, but he ain't fishing, my friends. Yeah, no, it's, if you can, if you can imagine it,
Everything short of murder and incest.
I've probably been there, done that.
I love this.
I just love the idea of you doing confession with your brother of the Pope,
and it's everything but murder.
I just think that is.
As someone who has two brothers, the idea of doing that,
or listening to one of them do it,
it would be absolutely riveting.
Lewis, what an amazing story.
I'm so happy for you that you did this.
that your brother facilitated that for you and you're back with the church.
I think that's just a good. That alone is an amazing message this Christmas.
So thank you very much indeed for being so candid and for rejoining the uncensored.
I appreciate it.
You're welcome. Very happy to do it.
Great to talk to you. All the very best.
Let's come back to the panel. I mean, wow, that was amazing.
I mean, Ben Ferguson, that's quite something, isn't it, to hear that?
I think it's cool. I also think it's a really,
neat message for people that maybe have, you know, broken apart from their faith or even their
family because of things that past. I really genuinely love the message that you can overcome
and there are second chances in life. I think all of us know people that have made mistakes.
I made mistakes. Everyone on this panel, I'm assuming, is not a crazy narcissist and knows they've made
mistakes in life. And sometimes it takes years to repair those relationships or to come back to your
faith. But I really hope that story, somebody watching right now sees it. And so,
says, maybe it's time for me to go back.
Maybe it's time for me to go back to my family and make amends.
And to know that they're talking every week and they're so different.
They're clearly very different.
That's what families are.
Families are very different.
My sister and I are extremely different.
But we come together on a lot of cool things.
And I just got to say, there's a lot of hope,
and I hope that brings hope to a lot of people right now watching.
Yeah, no, Joddy.
What did you make of that?
I mean, it's not often you get the Pope's brother
revealing something of that enormity for him and his family.
I didn't think it was good timing,
but I would have loved to have asked him to like slip in on that weekly conversation.
Like ask your brother what the Vatican knows about UFOs.
That would be great.
No, I love the confession aspect.
I'm a grateful recovering addict.
So we do our own form through the 12-step program.
And him talking about that weightlifting,
I think lifting off your shoulders and doing some horrible things in the past,
which I have done.
I really can identify with that.
I think it's a good thing, particularly with Rob Ryan.
situation that we just saw and and the importance of family.
And I think it's great that there's a conversation,
what the good thing out of that tragedy is we're seeing a conversation about
recognizing addiction, recognizing flaws in our family.
And I see people directing people to Al-Anon,
which they should definitely go if they have an addict in their family.
That's been on my mind, obviously, the last week.
And the horrible tragedy of that.
But it, you know, there is,
sometimes it's not too late.
There is a second chance.
There was for me in my life.
You know, I was homeless.
I went to prison and I was able to pull myself out of it
and so many people can.
So to hear them say that was brilliant.
Yeah.
And you know, Esther.
I didn't know that's where you and Pierce met, by the way.
Homeless and on the streets.
That's pretty cool.
Yeah.
He had a bunch of birds.
We actually met him prison.
I wonder.
But Esty, if you think about some of the warring families
like Harry and Megiam with the
royal family with the beckhams with one of the kids now gone rogue with his American wife and so on.
There's a lot of it out there.
And then when you talk to families, I mean, I'm always struck by.
I have a massive family.
And we always have a big Christmas.
And we all get around.
And we all get on pretty brilliantly, actually.
But the number of people I know who have a lot of issues with their families is huge.
Either they have really small Christmases because they don't really want to see them or it's always fiery or they've fallen out with them or there's a feud's going on for decades.
And when he's only when you talk about it, you realize how prevalent that is.
So to hear Lewis there, you know, the older brother of the Pope, that moment, would you hear my confession?
And then spilling out 50 years of stuff that he'd obviously felt bad about to his brother, who's now the head of the Catholic Church.
That's quite an amazing thing to hear, actually.
And I think it just shows, despite all the differences, he holds his brother in quite high estimation.
Because I think most people would not do a confessional in the first place and certainly not,
to a family member, loaning 50 years worth of sin,
which I'm sure adds up to quite a lot to him.
So, you know, relationships always have their strifes,
but I think there's always that one person in the family
that aims to bring people together.
And it looks like, in this case, it's his brother
who really kind of put his ego aside
and anything that he might personally be feeling,
especially from an older brother who admitted he'd beat him up as a kid
to let him unburden himself.
Yeah, Ernest, let's end with you.
What did you make of that?
It's an amazing interview, wasn't it?
Yes.
I have a lot of questions.
Your face possible.
I just couldn't.
Several things.
I mean, for one, I'm just curious what were those sins, but he'll never confess that to us.
I'm just like, seem like he had a lot going on, but I'm not going to judge.
But I think for me it's just I wonder how the church is going to shape his own politic, you know, because it's really hard.
Like, he's talking about love and peace, but then saying that that's the same agenda of a man who,
isn't as peaceful.
And so I find that to be interesting.
Have you got MAGA members of your family, Ernest?
I doubt.
Oh, absolutely.
No, no.
And if you do, I can't predict it that.
Every single member of your family is left.
Hold on, hold on, hold on.
Let me answer this.
You asked me a question.
They're not mega.
I have some folks that are conservative,
but they're not mega though, right?
And so you would say-
What would you do if they were?
What would you do if they said I'm MAGA?
Listen, you know, we will learn how to deal with those problems internally.
What would you do if you had a woke member of your family like myself that you're claiming,
I'm what, what would you do?
I have a woman that you think.
You know what?
I've got members of my family who are very woke.
I think we've got that.
I've got those.
We all got those.
We all right wing members of my family.
Well, we all come together.
We have a great old tear up and nobody really cares.
It's like, it's fine.
Right.
So let me say this.
They're not mega.
That's a whole other extreme.
and I think...
I've got some relatives who are
who would make MAGA look like a bunch of choir boys.
Trust me.
Right.
So I would say we have people who have different spectrums, right?
And anyone knows the community.
They're spectrums, right?
You got the pragmatic progressives.
You got the moderates.
You got those who are conservative,
but they're like pre-Trump.
So they're like Bush adjacent,
Connolly's a Rice adjacent type of conservatives.
But not mega, though.
At this point,
The plot is so they just, so they...
They could just be lying to you, by the way.
They could just be lying to you.
Yeah.
Also, it's interesting you pointed out the ones
who dragged the world into an illegal war in Iraq, for example,
but you have a problem with the MAGA lot
who don't believe in foreign wars.
The conservative law, even if they're not MAGA,
probably did vote for Donald Trump
because the option with Kamala Harris
didn't seem appealing either.
So I don't know if that's much better.
They may not be MAGA, but they voted for Trump.
One day, Ernest, we'll have Christmas together.
All of us, we'll have a little uncensing Christmas party.
What a great panel. Thank you all very much.
I wish you all a very merry Christmas and a very happy and prosperous 2026.
And look forward to you all being back on Unsensored in the New Year.
Thank you very much.
Merry Christmas.
This week we learned of the shocking deaths of Hollywood director Rob Reiner and his wife, Michelle.
Their son, Nick, has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder
and could face a death penalty if found guilty.
Well, joining me now is actor and comedian Harry Shearer,
who was a longtime friend and collaborator with Rob Reiner.
Harry, thank you so much for joining me.
I'm so sorry for your loss.
I knew Rob a bit.
I interviewed him actually three months ago.
We had a wonderful interview.
I thought it was a great man, an amazing filmmaker.
And it was a terrible shock to me.
So I can't even imagine how close friends of his,
like you must be feeling, and we'll get to that.
For the audience, you may not be aware,
you played the bass guitarist, Derek Smalls,
in This is Spine or Tap.
And you co-wrote that with Rob.
And you're also, Miss Simpson's providing voices for characters,
including Mr. Burns, Smithers, Ned Flanders, Reverend Lovejoy, and Principal Skinner.
So obviously a lot of people do know you, but that's to put in context in particular,
your relationship professionally with Rob.
First of all, can I just ask you, where were you when you heard what had happened?
I was in my house here in New Orleans.
My assistant came in and said she had read this sort of headline on TMZ,
and my first thought was TMC.
So I tried to find other sources of information on the Internet.
And the early versions struck my wife, Judith and I
as if it had possibly been a break-in, a burglary,
which seemed unlikely in that neighborhood.
But we then followed the stories that developed overnight,
and it just got more horrifying by the moment.
when you realized that it was almost certainly their very troubled son, Nick,
who'd spoken very publicly about all the problems, as indeed his parents had,
what did you feel about that?
They'd obviously had a very, very long number of years of problems with this son of theirs,
and it seems to have ended in the most appalling manner imaginable.
Yeah, it's strange because I knew Rob,
Originally, I was involved with another member of his family, and so I was over at the house for several occasions, many occasions, where his late father, Carl, and Mel Brooks, two members of comedy royalty were there.
I saw the environment in which Rob grew up. But despite that, and I knew Michelle, of course, I was not privy to any of the stuff about Nick, so it came.
I knew Romi a little bit and I had not met Jake, but the stuff about Nick just came as a horrible surprise.
Rob had kept it fairly much private, and my collaborations with him were more on a comedy level and on a family discussion level.
As an actor, a director, a producer, we did everything, Rob Reiner.
He was really one of the great Hollywood figures, which, you know, given he was the son of a great Hollywood figure, was extraordinary.
Because that often isn't the case, but he certainly proved to be the exception to that normal rule.
How good was he?
I mean, he had a run of movies, which almost defied belief because not only were they all classics, one after another,
but they were all different genres.
It was like you could do everything.
Mm-hmm.
You know, he was a great storyteller.
He was a great collaborator.
I think he brought a general sense of storytelling
to whatever genre he was working in at the time.
That was one of his chief roles with Spinal Tap
and with the sequel, Spinal Tap 2, was, you know, we would sit in a room, Christopher Guest and Michael McKeon and I,
two other members of the collective, and bat around ideas and trying to make each other laugh,
and Rob would write down the ones that clicked on three by five cards and put them up on a board in the room we were in.
And it was his job to take these funny ideas and to shape them into a movie.
And so storytelling was his art even in that situation where there was no script.
We were improvising these movies based on these ideas that were on three by five cards that Rob wrote down.
So, you know, I saw very quickly that that was one of his, aside from comedy and the fact that he was funny,
one of his great gifts was storytelling and the ability to shape a story.
What was your favorite of all his movies?
Oh, come on, I have to say this is Spinal Tap.
It was his, you know, I mean, the sad irony is that I was involved with his first movie and with his last, but this is Spinal Tap.
Open so many doors for so many people, including Rob, that was his first movie.
And it opened the door to all the ones that followed.
And it also spawned this series of things.
I mean, the office sort of.
was inspired by the improvisational nature of Spinal Tap.
And so much American TV comedy, at least, has been done in mockumentary style since that movie.
Although the difference is those, including the office, are scripted.
And this Spinal Tap really was improvised.
It's a fantastic film.
I mean, he, when I asked him, because actually Robert Redford had died just before I interviewed Rob back in September.
And I'd said that Redford had told me years before when I interviewed him for CNN
that his favourite of all his films was Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid, but he hated the song,
Rain Drops Keep Falling on Your Head.
And he used to Eat Away at him, having to listen to this song.
And we were laughing about it.
And I said, you know, rather poignantly now, and ironically, I guess, but I said to him,
if it was you that suddenly left us Rob, which I hope doesn't happen anytime soon,
I said, but how would you like to be remembered of all your work?
and he said actually stand by me
was the one that he would like to be remembered by.
And I said when Harry met Sally
because I said it's like almost a perfect film I felt.
And he told me a lovely story,
which was that he has so many people come up to him
who would say they time when Harry met Sally on New Year's Eve.
They start watching it at about 10.30.
So they hit the New Year's Eve scene in the movie
exactly at the right moment.
Yeah, exactly at the start of the New Year.
And he loved that.
And then there was a lovely twist to which I hadn't seen before where there was an interview he gave quite recently, I think, where he said that originally it was going to end unhappily when Harry met Sally.
They were going to end up not together because he was single at the time and feeling a bit bitter and twisted about his single life.
And then actually he met somebody, fell in love.
It was his wife, Michelle.
And as a result of his change in mood about this, he ended it happening.
Yeah, which I love that story because that turned out to be the last.
love of his life. Yeah. Rob had been single for about 10 years at that point. I had known him at the time
of his first marriage. And yeah, it's an amazing, amazing story come true. I want to end with a sort of
disagreeable part of the whole outpouring attributes to Rob, which had been extraordinary from
around the world. But one outlier was President Trump, who published.
this, in my view, very offensive post on his truth social platform.
A screed, if you will.
Yeah, and it was just, you know, obviously, look,
I knew that Rob Reiner had said a lot of bad things about Donald Trump.
There was no great trade secret.
But it just struck me that for the President of the United States to,
from his office, to lay into him in the way that he did,
you know, within 24 hours of Rob being murdered by his own son,
own son and a terrible family tragedy.
It was just, it seemed very crass to me.
What was your reaction to that?
My reaction was it was not beneath the dignity of the American presidency.
It was beneath the dignity of a local dog catcher.
And yet, you know, I thought this is who this man is,
takes every development in the world around him or that he's privy to.
and turns it into something about himself.
And the extreme narcissism of that moment
seemed to me very, very fitting with whatever else I understand about the man.
And the irony is a clip from my interview with Rob
that went viral as a result of what Trump did
was when I asked him about the murder of Charlie Kirk
and he said like I didn't agree with him politically.
But violence is never, and he was very like violence has never,
you can never accept it, particularly political violence,
and he condemned it unreservedly,
which was just, and there was a contrast in reactions
to two brutal murders.
And he expressed support for Erica's decision publicly
to forgive the murderer.
It's a jarring and amazing contrast
to what happened out of the typewriter
of the president of the United States.
Yeah.
I think it was a great shame. I wish he'd delete it.
Harry Shearer, what a pleasure to talk to you.
I wish it was under happier circumstances.
But thank you for paying tribute to you, a great friend.
Thank you, Pierce.
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