The Commercial Break - She's A Bon Vivant!

Episode Date: January 24, 2025

Episode #685: A bon vivant to you, and a bon vivant to you! Lifestyles of the Bon Vivants are so on fleek after diatribes on the perils of the present day. The weather, by Bryan The following scanda...l Bryan’s “on fleek” algorithm Bryan pops his lid for a minute Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous Good for Robin! Debbie loves service Blimey Limey? Beaver Dam Farms Wheel of Fortune Merv the jolly Perv Everybody SING! Billionaire grandpa Bon Vivant! We will not be right back. Trump called out by Merv Griffin Text us or leave us a voicemail: +1 (212) 433-3TCB Follow Us: IG: @thecommercialbreak TikTok: @tcbpodcast YT: youtube.com/thecommercialbreak www.tcbpodcast.com Executive Producer: Bryan Green Hosts: Bryan Green & Krissy Hoadley Producer: Astrid B. Green Producer & Audio Editor: Christina Archer Christina’s Podcast: Apple Podcasts & Spotify To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey Spotify, this is Javi. My biggest passion is music and it's not just sounds and instruments, it's more than that to me. It's a world full of harmonies with chillers. From streaming to shopping, it's on Prime. Hey bestie, I'm a snow angel and I'm here to tell you you are more beautiful than the snow bestie. Let it snow, let it snow. On this episode of The Commercial Break. I want to be a bon vivant. How do I get to be a bon vivant?
Starting point is 00:00:43 Brian Green and his long time co-host and Bon-Vivon, Kersi Hobson, sit around and stare at penises as they're slowly revealed behind a curtain. Look, that Bon-Vivon is uncircumcised. He's a true Bon-Vivon. The next episode of the commercial break starts now. Yeah, boy. Yeah, cats and kittens, welcome back to the commercial break. I'm Brian Green.
Starting point is 00:01:11 This is the Teresa De My Frankie. Kristin Joy Hoadley. Best to you, Kristin. Best to you, Brian. Best to you out there in the podcast universe. Thanks for joining us. We're all back in studio after a fart of snow here in Atlanta took the entire hound down for three solid days. We did not get a fart of snow. We got a huge the entire hound down for three solid days.
Starting point is 00:01:25 We did not get a fart of snow. We got a huge covering, Christina and I, down where we live. Yeah, but what would you say, like a total of two inches? Yeah, but it was a big blanket. Yeah? Yeah. It was beautiful. It's amazing. I sent you the picture.
Starting point is 00:01:38 Yeah, I saw the pictures. Lots of traffic jams yet again, happened yet again. The city still can't get it right. But I mean, you know, these meteorologists, they tell you it's going to happen late in the afternoon or in the evening. So everyone figures, okay, let's go to work. Let's go to school. Let's do the things. The truckers are driving through Atlanta. Everyone's having a good time. And then of course, these fucking noodniks can't get it right. I mean, I love the weather guys. I know that they have a hard job and I understand that weather is really hard to predict, but they got it wrong again by like four hours So of course it starts snowing at 10 a.m. Not 5 p.m. And everybody gets stuck out there and the fucking roads
Starting point is 00:02:13 They're killing each other out there trying to drive in ice and snow in a town That's ill prepared for any event whatsoever. And so there you go. So now what about Florida Florida? Well, that's true. That's a different animal altogether. They didn't even have snowplows. They don't even snowplows. They don't even have long sleeve shirts. I know. Let alone snowplows. What? Yeah, Florida, New Orleans, all that golf area, Houston. I just saw that Amelia Island, one of my favorite places, got a good,
Starting point is 00:02:43 more than a dusting of snow. And that's like the first time in 30 years that that's happened. I mean, it has to be really fucking, it has to be a really weird event for snow to happen in Florida, which is usually, you know, it's usually never below freezing there. I mean, I can't think of a time
Starting point is 00:03:01 when I've been down on Florida and I've spent a lot of time there when it's actually been below 32 degrees, Maybe one night during the winter, maybe. But then they got snow. That's crazy. And the crazier part is I am literally four miles from three inches of snow. Do you know what I'm saying? I am four miles from three inches of snow. But I guess that's how the weather works. Why are we talking about the weather again on this show? I feel like we're one step away from the weather.com. Well, it was a big event. It was a big event.
Starting point is 00:03:31 It was a big event. It took us all down. And the reason why it's a big event is because then I have to deal with my children three days in a row, fucking stir crazy and absolutely nothing to show for it. Like we say, it's a snow day and they fully expect they're going to be out there a snow day and they fully expect they're
Starting point is 00:03:45 going to be out there making snowballs and there's nothing. And it was just too cold to go outside. I know, it was really cold. Too lazy to bundle them up. So I said, hey, make the best of it. Drive yourselves, drive yourselves. You and Astrid got in the studio together? We did. We got in the studio together. We managed to have some, and thank you so much to Astrid. I mean, I literally, I'm just like, okay, you're on. Like, what are you talking about? And she hates the microphone.
Starting point is 00:04:11 I know she does, but she does a great job. She does. And so, yeah. It was a back to back, it was Gustavo on Saturday. Gustavo on Saturday? Yep. Astrid on Thursday? Wednesday, or Thursday?
Starting point is 00:04:22 Yes. Well, Thursday. What day is it? I don't know. Well, the episode, yes, the episode is a Thursday episode. So, there you go. And another reel about Venezuela going viral out there on the internet. Beth Dombkowski Go ahead. Jared Ranere Yeah, I think we're just going to start speaking Spanish on this. Beth Dombkowski I think we might. Jared Ranere I think we're going to put a Venezuelan thing.
Starting point is 00:04:42 Beth Dombkowski I need to take some classes. Jared Ranere It's going to be called the Madurin break. That's what we're going to call it from now on. Those Venezuelans, they're just lovely and they're so loyal. Like, once you show affection to them, they will show affection back to you, unlike our American listeners can't be bothered to click, follow on Instagram. I know. I feel like we've become part of the family. We're in the fold, there's no doubt. Now there's, we have our naysayers, we have some people who call me and kind of like the
Starting point is 00:05:13 Spanish or in Spanish, they would, it would be an idiot and a dunce, a slow person if you will. Yes, I'm a dunce. I'm an idiot. I you know, you got to take the heat when it comes your way, you know, when you're riding the waves, chance it's going to crash. You can't make everybody happy. That's right. So we've had two, we've had a number of reels go viral and most of them are because I say something about Venezuela. But eventually we're going to get backlash. So I figure we stop while we're ahead,
Starting point is 00:05:45 but stop all the Venezuelan. So let's just stop while we're ahead. Let's just leave it at that we love the people and it's a beautiful country. That's it. And then we'll slowly watch as our Instagram following goes back down again. Perfect.
Starting point is 00:06:00 So much fun. Speaking of Instagram following, I don't know if you had a chance to stop by JD Vance's page and follow him recently, but I noticed you were just throwing that out there. Yeah, that was not me. Yeah. Wow. Unbelievable. Seems like Metta made some changes. Metta made some changes.
Starting point is 00:06:18 The old Zuck Zuck. Yeah, the old Zuck, the old fucker-berg. He's up to no good again. The old Zuck, the old Zuck Berg, he's up to no good again. The old Zuck, the old Zuck cuck is what I'm going to call him because he's currently cuck holding the administration that just got, listen, vote for Trump. Cool. That's your right. I, I, I will fight for your right to vote and I don't care who you vote for.
Starting point is 00:06:41 That's the way it works. Sometimes the cookie crumbles your way. Sometimes it does not. I'm not here to cry over spilled milk, but I will say that the amazing amount of dick sucking that is going on, on behalf of the big technology companies, uh, into Trump's directly into Trump's zipper is unbelievable. It really is very blatant. It's blatant. It's unbelievable.
Starting point is 00:07:03 This used to happen behind the scenes when we couldn't know about it, therefore we weren't so stressed about it. But the fact that Zuckerberg or somebody made an actual decision that anyone who's not following JD Vance or Donald Trump should be, so we're going to go ahead and do that for them, is insanity at the highest levels in a company that is run by insane people. Metta is for insane people, truly people who want to run the world. They want to control you and own you and everything about you.
Starting point is 00:07:34 And it's just insane to me that I wake up in the morning to all this kerfuffle that everybody's following JD Vance and no one followed JD Vance. And I thought to myself, come on guys, let's stop crying, right? Let's stop being big babies about this. And then I go and I'm following JD Vance and no one followed JD Vance. And I thought to myself, come on guys, let's stop crying, right? Let's stop being big babies about this. And then I go and I'm following JD Vance. It's unfucking believable. I was like, holy shit, it's true. Oh my God, it happened to me. It was and it is. Now, I wasn't following DJT. I wasn't following him, but I was following JD Vance, JD V, not JD, DJT, but JD V. I was following him.
Starting point is 00:08:07 And then I noticed that a lot of my friends were following, you know, it says also followed by, and there's just some people who I know would never make that. Like no one, I know their finger would never press that button. Yeah. And as a rule on our particular, like our, our company account, the commercial break, the podcast account, we don't follow people who don't come on the show. And that's just one of those things. Like, it's no offense to anybody. It's just like, if you come on the show, we follow you, otherwise we don't. And that's for our personal accounts. That's who we follow. We follow
Starting point is 00:08:35 all you plebes on our personal accounts. We can't be seen messing around with the people who have less than 3000 subscribers because we have more than 3,000 subscribers According to social media by a tiny bit So anyway, I say this not to like make anybody not to sound elitist I say this because I know for a fact that we would not have followed one of those accounts and we were and it was Just unbelievable to me. Now. Here's what I've also noticed. I've also noticed that we have Thousand or so people following us on threads. Oh yeah, I like threads. The Twitter knockoff that, yeah, I like threads too.
Starting point is 00:09:09 But I guess it's part of meta too. Yes, I also know for a fact that those thousand people did not follow us on threads because we haven't posted anything on fucking threads. So how did we get a thousand followers? It took us four years to get a thousand followers on the commercial break. How do we magically appear with a thousand? They are auto-subscribing people, auto-following people that follow us on the commercial break account. How they make the decision about who that is, I really have no idea. Maybe someone that has a threads account, then it
Starting point is 00:09:39 automatically follows them. But that's just a shitty business practice, I think. You, like, I don't want to be auto-following people. I just want to, like, follow the, I have made my algorithm into a national treasure. Yes, you've been working on that. Toil and trouble, through blood, sweat and tears, many long nights of anxiety. I have made my algorithm something to behold. Many, yes, many nipples later, I have my algorithm right in the sweet spot, or as Christina loves me to say, on fleek. Now, I don't want it to be fooled around with by Zuck Zuck, Zuck Cuck, and his friends over there at Metta. And I don't give a shit if he hears this. He doesn't, because he lives
Starting point is 00:10:23 in a plastic bubble. People roll him around on his private yachts or jets or whatever. I just, that just seems like a really boner move to me. Don't do that, dude. Don't do that. Keep your fingers out of the pie. How's that? Don't seem so oblivious. I know. That's been in the pie. I know.
Starting point is 00:10:42 It was always a part of the pie. What's that new one, Blue Sky or something? Blue Sky. I'm going to get on that. Blue Sky's good. Blue Sky's good and there's only like six people over there right now, so you can probably get a following. That's only like six people.
Starting point is 00:10:53 I have a Blue Sky account. I got a Blue Sky account. Jeff created one too. I think I got one for the commercial break. Yeah, it's like, it's Twitter basically is what it is. But it's, you know, supposedly the better Twitter, like not as ruckus as Twitter has become. Because Twitter's, I mean, Twitter's always been kind of like a rough place to be. If you're going to get in those waters, you really got to know what you're doing.
Starting point is 00:11:13 You got to have a very thick skin. And it's been that way long before Elon Musk took over, just to be clear about that. But there was some semblance of like reciprocity or, you know, it seemed like there was an even hand somewhere over there at Twitter when before Elon owned it. Now, now it's just like it's literally the Wild West. So hey, I don't want to bash on everything that you know, Trump does or Elon does or JD does or whatever that I don't care about that part. I'm not going to talk about that part. but I do not care for these billionaires getting so close to the seat of power.
Starting point is 00:11:49 And apparently it feels like they're buying the seat of power, feels like they're buying into a clear path to do whatever the fuck they want, whenever the fuck they wanted. And I do believe that there needs to be some checks in place. I believe in your right to be a billionaire. I really do. I'd love to be one. I'd like to be a billionaire. It'll take another 6020 episodes of the commercial break before we even get to 100,000 there. But just know this, I will also fight for your right to be a billionaire. But there needs to be some, there needs to be some like, just like guardrails. You know what I'm saying?
Starting point is 00:12:26 Like, don't be so obviously bending over with your, ready to have your bell rung by, you know, everybody in power. It's just so fucking fucked up. I didn't watch the inauguration, but apparently they were all, I guess, right there up front, like even closer than some other people. Oh, Chrissy, they had box seats. And I'm sure that those box seats were sold to them by somebody. But don't worry, you can use Melania coin to buy Melania coin. I was talking to
Starting point is 00:12:56 Asher about this, or the preacher who was up there giving the whole sermon, you know, the kind of the sermon that was much ballyhooed online. He went right off stage into the backstage area and then announced his own altcoin too, because, you know, we should all prosper under the Lord or some shit like that. I mean, it's unbelievable. I know. The grift is unbelievable. It's really crazy. The grift is on. Everyone's got their hands in the piggy bank.
Starting point is 00:13:24 These meme coins do nothing but just make other people rich. It's just unbelievable. And there's a sucker born every minute, I suppose. I told Astrid, I think we should have a TCB coin. We should have a TCB coin so that we can get in on the action. What are we doing? What are we doing?
Starting point is 00:13:40 We're sitting around here like idiots working for a living. I know. Do you know what I'm saying? Yeah. Why are we doing that? I don't know, Chrissy. I don't know. Well, I did see that some of the cryptocurrency pioneers or people that are high up in it were mad because the Trump and Melania coins, because it just does not lend legitimacy.
Starting point is 00:14:00 It bastardizes the whole thing. And meme coin has very little, if any, utility whatsoever. You cannot walk into Kroger and spend your Melania coin on milk, okay? It does not take in anywhere. It's simply a vehicle. It's a pump and dump scheme. That's it. Let's call it like we see it. And all meme coins really are at the end of the day. Some of them have some utility, but really, no, they don't have any utility. And so, people who get in at the beginning, who make these, who hold on to a large portion of it, they control the price, and when the coin gets released or it gets really high or they pump it, then they dump it, and everybody else is left
Starting point is 00:14:38 holding the bag, hoping that one more idiot behind them is going to come in willing to buy it at a higher price than they bought it. But people always get left holding the bag, always. And when the people who make the laws who make sure that people don't get left holding the bag aren't in fact holding the bag, what do you do? Nothing. I don't know. I don't know. It's sad to me.
Starting point is 00:15:00 It's just sad to me. And there are millions. I was looking the other day like like that Melania coin had 53 billion dollars worth of transactions happen in a 24-hour period. 53 billion dollars. And who's money is that? People buying? Buying and selling, buying and selling, buying and selling. If I was smart, I would have bought, you know what I'm saying? If I was smart, I would have bought some. You know what I'm saying? If I was smart, I would have bought some. Maybe I'm just mad because I didn't buy any. Maybe I'm just mad because I didn't make any money on Melania Coin. I'm just jealous. Yeah. Where's the Biden Coin?
Starting point is 00:15:33 I'm waiting for it. I'm waiting for it. I'm waiting for the Joe Coin. That's Joe Coin. I'm waiting for Joe Coin to drop. I don't know. There's got to be a, you know, I'm waiting for Joe Coin to drop. I don't know. There's got to be a, you know, Kamala, Kamala Coin. Buy the Kamala Coin. It's all coming. They're all going to go the same way. It's all happening. I'm telling you, I see this coming down the tracks. The liberals protest right now, but they're soon going to be willing to get into bed also with the billionaires and the oligarchs to make themselves personally enriched. And none of us are going to have representation anywhere. Be careful what you ask for, it will appear. They're all doing that already with stocks.
Starting point is 00:16:08 Well, they've been doing that for thousands of years, right? It'll be Nancy Pelosi, she'll be the first one. Listen, absolutely, absolutely. It's been shenanigans going on for years and the Democrats are just as guilty as anybody. They're all in cahoots. They're all doing it. You think they go sit up there and work together because they really enjoy doing the work of the people? Sure. I'm sure a few of them do. True servants of this country. Yes, the John McCains of the world and stuff like that. The people who give a fucking shit. But there's this whole other
Starting point is 00:16:39 side of life where you can be fabulously rich if we could just pull a few strings here and push a few buttons there and insider trading 101, here, let me give you that class. I'm sure they get that the second they become a senator or whatever. And then we all are here voting them in term after term after term after term after term, and they're making the laws that push the buttons and make the power and make themselves more rich. And now it's out in the open. There's no more hiding anymore. It's out in the open. And all of them are guilty of it, or most of them are guilty of it. And we are all going to suffer because already we have, you know, whatever. I know, I know. No, I honestly, honestly, I just had to say something.
Starting point is 00:17:28 I just like my top just popped. I haven't watched news in forever. I know. But when I started reading about Melania coin, and then I got follow, and then I'm following people I never followed, I just, it just made me incensed. It really did. It made me incensed. And so next week, we're going to have a very
Starting point is 00:17:45 special guest come on the show. And for one day, you guys are going to have to suffer through talk about politics. Do you hear me? The break is over. The break is over. The commercial break has broken. You've done broke the commercial break. How do you feel about that, Mark Zuckerberg? Fuck you, we'll be back. If you were wondering, obviously you were. Yes, we did finally surpass 5,000 followers, but now here we are, thirsty for more.
Starting point is 00:18:15 So follow us. We are at The Commercial Break on Instagram and at TCB Podcast on TikTok. And we'd love you the most if you liked our videos and subscribe to our channel on YouTube at youtube.com slash the commercial break. And if social media isn't for you, just go to our website, tcbpodcast.com
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Starting point is 00:22:23 Everything's gonna be all right. Look at my children, say, everything's going to be all right, Brian. Everything's going to be all right. You know, back in the day, now I think because of the internet and media and the way that we have to get involved in everybody's... Back in the day. Back in the day, we used to have to run to the corner grocery store and talk to grandma about who is fucking who. Now you just look at that TMT.
Starting point is 00:22:53 Back in the day... Did you mean TMZ? No, I meant TMT. Oh, okay. What's TMT? I don't know, but I just made it up. But I mean, I don't know who grandma is or who the corner grocery store is either. I was going somewhere in my mind.
Starting point is 00:23:04 Okay, I'm following you who grandma is or who the corner grocery store is either. I was going somewhere in my mind. I don't, yeah, okay. Okay, I'm following you. It just didn't, I had to stop. I guess I didn't want to completely derail the show as I'm doing right now. So Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous was probably our first rich porn. I think this- Right. I remember growing up with it.
Starting point is 00:23:23 Yes. The 80s were kind of like it is today. Money and greed above all else. Yes. Everyone's screwing everybody else. As long as I got mine, greed is good. And that was literally the vibe for some period of the 80s. And people were doing very well. There was a lot of money flowing around. Ball Street was really taking off as a place where you could make your money. And there were a lot of people, that money, that kind of that hedge fund money, savings and loan money, it filtered down and everyone felt good. They had an attitude and they too could be rich someday if they just got this real estate
Starting point is 00:23:57 course from the late night TV, like Brian did. Like Brian's got his dad to pay for. But I would say that Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, the show that aired from about 84 to 95, starring Robin Leach, produced by Robin Leach, was our first rich porn, where we were really gawking at people who had fabulous amounts of money
Starting point is 00:24:18 and hoping that's beyond hope. You were getting an inside look. You were getting an inside look at what it was like to fly a private plane or be inside of a mansion. Have a yacht. Yeah. Instagram wasn't showing this to us every other reel as some dip shit, you know, some 13-year-old in Colorado paid $100 to a pilot of a private plane to make it pretend and
Starting point is 00:24:37 seem like he had a Lear jet. Do you know what I'm saying? Yes. We didn't have all of this, that's all the way you could say it, money porn that goes around today. But that show was fascinating. didn't have all of this, that's all the way you can say it, money porn that goes around today. And so that, but that show was fascinating. It got me just like it got everybody else. And I was very young when this first came on, but I remember it for a good chunk of my adolescence.
Starting point is 00:24:57 Me too. And I loved it. I loved it when it came on. The story is that Robin Leach had this idea to do this television show to showcase some of his friends' fabulous wealth, but no one would bite. There was no company that would bite. So Robin paid to have these shows produced at first on his own. And then I think he continued to do that. And he would syndicate it on whatever television show. Yeah, it was all over the place. It was all over the place. You would see it in the mornings, you would see in the afternoons, it would be on late night television. It ran a lot, and there were many episodes, I think.
Starting point is 00:25:26 I think they ended up doing like 180 episodes or something. So I thought, after my little, you know, diatribe on segment number one, that it was only fair to, I think, go back to the beginning when we all started looking at these rich people as status icons, so to speak. Let's look at some rich porn from 1980s kids. We're going all the way back. I was trolling on the internet. As you do.
Starting point is 00:25:50 As I oftentimes do. And guess what I found? Get ready for another incredible restyle. Get ready. Your VIP journey into the lives and loves of today's winners who really know how to enjoy the great things of life. Oh, look at that. Sexy fashion models, large pools, breasts abreast. Helicopters.
Starting point is 00:26:14 Oh, helicopters. I love helicopters. Nothing like a helicopter shot to get your morning wood going. That is the Breaker's Resort in Miami, by the way. I know that because I one time saw a picture of it. Oh, Polo. Polo. We know how I feel about Polo. Okay. Yachting. Sailing. Sailing.
Starting point is 00:26:38 Gaudy gold tables. Oh. Oh, that's like a model T. Yeah, we're watching the intro. And by the way, this is one of the this is like season number one or two or something. So this is one of the older episodes. It is I think it's a model. I think it's a Rolls. But it's a Rolls Royce. Host is Robin Leach, who circles the world to bring home the stories people will never stop talking about. Good for Robin. What a fun job. And I think he was like, kind of like a nobody television producer before that. I don't know. I saw it, one time I saw a documentary about Robin Leach, but they
Starting point is 00:27:13 don't show those anymore because I don't think, you know, he didn't really live on and people of our age know about him. But it's not like Robin Leach went on to be super famous. He did this show and that's what he was known for. And he hosted a couple of other things. I think he did the game show. But so this guy pretty much glommed on to everybody else that was rich. He would just visit their house and take a camera. People love showing off how much money they make. Well, it was like the, what was the MTV? MTV Cribs.
Starting point is 00:27:39 The Cribs. Yeah, it was like Cribs Before Cribs. Cribs Before Cribs, Lifestyles before Lifestyles, Utah trad wife before Utah trad wife. Big Ben chimes to a whole new beat now. Debbie Gibson is a Londoner. America's songbird inspires a retro- Debbie Gibson on Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. Now my ears are perked. Yes. In my old hometown by juggling two careers.
Starting point is 00:28:10 There's a new big wheel on the river of dreams. The captain of the ship is Merv Griffin. Oh, Merv. Oh, Merv Griffin. Wow. Merv Griffin made every game show you ever watched. Yeah. And still today.
Starting point is 00:28:24 That still is around. Yeah, that's still around. That's a Jeopardy, right? Well, we're to real fortune. Yeah Murph Murph, yeah, it's baby Murph. Yeah, what's my name? They're baby Murph the perv That's what they used to call him back in the day This is 1984 and he looks 90 there. I know. And didn't he live to like just a couple years ago?
Starting point is 00:28:49 I think so. I think so. He was like 107 when he died. People, again, they just looked older back then. They did. Mervin is the name. Mervin. M-E-R-V-Y-N. Mervin B. Pervin.
Starting point is 00:29:01 Mervin stays Pervin. Mervin stays. Pervin. Mervyn stays Pervin. Mervyn stays Pervin. A Brazilian bombshell has landed on children's television. Meet Shusha, the 100- Shusha! Ah, good old Shusha. A Brazilian bombshell has landed on children's television. Okay, you don't hear that every day. We've hypersexualized half of Australia!
Starting point is 00:29:22 With these beautiful breasts, you can't go wrong. The kids will be sucking at the TTs of shasha. And all the host who's out to bump up Barney, choke off lamb chop and slaughter Sesame Street. Can Latino Spitfire pull it off? You be the judge. Slaughter Sesame Street. Wow, do you think she sat around in meetings and was like, we're going to slaughter Sesame Street.
Starting point is 00:29:49 The other life of entertainment tonight, John Tash. Get to know the- Wow, first of all, what I have to remember about these television shows from the 80s and 90s is they had extraordinarily long intros. We're already seven minutes into the show and we haven't seen one bit of content. The man behind the mic, a former shy boy who muscled his way into not one, but two
Starting point is 00:30:04 super successful careers. Yeah, by the way, his way into not one but two super successful careers yeah by the way john tesch is one of the most successful musicians that ever lived and that's a fact that befuddles me to this day really he sold like 180 million albums or something he's it's insane oh diggity dog you're not gonna believe the platinum lives of pampered pets creature comfort takes on new meaning for the four-legged friends of the stars. Enter their world of luxury unlimited. Of doting owners who dig deep into their pockets to lavish multi-million dollar... How much stuff can you fit into an hour-long television show?
Starting point is 00:30:36 Jewelry, spas, fashions and parties. A dog life? Don't you believe it? These amazing stories and even more when Lifestyles returns in a moment. Stay with us! Returns in a moment, yeah, because we're just an intro for ever. Guess who we found in London town? He better shape up Because I need a man
Starting point is 00:31:01 And my heart is dead on you America's teen idol, Debbie Gibson, grew up to conquer a whole new continent. She even inspired a retro rock fashion craze from Berman Zeta Bethnal Green by starring in the English production of a classic American musical. Between eight shows of Grease each week she also found time to explore the rockinest little city of Europe she also found time to be a normal person walking into stores with cameras all around her remember going to Covent Garden on a day off from rehearsal and walking around and what amazed me in general about London especially that area is how people are just all out in the street it's kind of like the equivalent of whates me is that there's people on the streets, Debbie.
Starting point is 00:31:48 And now she's juggling. Debbie, that's one of the dumber things I've heard said. There were people on the streets. I know, now she's juggling. Well, she's got talent. Debbie Gibson, by far, was my favorite teen pop star chick, for sure. I bet. Yes. Who was the other one?
Starting point is 00:32:03 Tiffany. Tiffany. There was Tiffany and Debbie, and the argument between the two, I would go Debbie all day weeks. For sure. I bet. Yes. Who was the other one? Tiffany. Tiffany. There was Tiffany and Debbie, and the argument between the two, I would go Debbie all day a week. Debbie, Debbie, Debbie. A gentleman in New York, only more central. Debbie's first surprise.
Starting point is 00:32:17 Penises in Italy. Language and cultural parallels, it is most definitely Europe. She also discovered that like Rome, London wasn't built in a day either. There seems to be a lot of culture here. I mean this is probably what every American says and it's going to sound really redundant right now but there's so much history around. Not every building is shiny and new. You can drive through in a cab and there there's history about everything, to be told. It's nice. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, Summer was like last Wednesday and that was it you're right And that's why I moved to America taking a rain check on tourist hotels Debbie checked into an elegant address
Starting point is 00:33:09 That's a favorite for discerning visitors who stay for a while the place I'm staying at was an old house apparently so it doesn't have that impersonal hotel feel instead I feel like I'm in a house That happens to have room service and maid service and being Instead the water's cold and it smells like rat shit I can't cook and I'm a slob that is very helpful Hehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehe double time for a new generation of British fans With a spacious suite doubling as an office, the Dynamo and her manager mom worked double time for a new generation of British fans. Look at that laptop computer back there.
Starting point is 00:33:52 That is highfalutin for 1984. Yeah, it was. You do not find a laptop. I promise you that had the memory, the same kind of memory as Christina's computer. It's like 1.2K. Between shows, she composed new music for an album. I'm getting her a new one. Stop texting me. I hear you already. I can hear you pounding away on that keyboard. To be released when she returns,
Starting point is 00:34:14 stateside. Her core Blimey Limey fans were amazed to learn that Debbie's written more than a thousand songs. Whoa, she wrote a thousand songs? And what's Blimey Limey? I don't know. I don't know either. Yeah, Blimey Limey. I think I was post-Blimey Limey.
Starting point is 00:34:30 Yeah. You have to be a real Debbie Gibson fan to know what Blimey Limey is. I don't think I could really choose a favorite as far as recording and doing concerts and doing theater goes, because they're both very different. Theater is a very different thing from let's say recording in the sense that the producers... Alright. In the sense that there's people out front... I wanted to see the yachts. Show me the actual yachts! Yeah. Shit I don't want to hear about your recording I don't care. The director everyone has to be confident that you can get out there eight times a week.
Starting point is 00:35:01 Though immortalized on film, Debbie had no hesitation about reprising her character on stage. Reprising. Reprising? Reprising? Get it together, Robin. Sandy, since I was eight years old and saw the film, I was just dying to do a West End show.
Starting point is 00:35:17 So I remember this being a show that showed you all the glitz and glamour. What this really is, is one big promotional tool to her tool for her off Broadway show, Grease. What's that? No, we'll keep on rolling with it. Why not?
Starting point is 00:35:31 Hey, listen, this episode couldn't get any worse than my grandstanding in segment one, so. To be a part of that is just, it's like being a part of history. It's unbelievable. I think people will always love the 50s era. The upbeat kind of feel that Grease has, I think, is timeless. People do love Greece. People do love that Greece. Do you like Greece?
Starting point is 00:35:50 I like Greece. Do you like Greece? Oh yeah. Geez. What's wrong with you people? Rocks in your socks or something. Triumphant return to her mega million dollar mansion in one of the big apples. Here we go. The mega million. in one of the big apples. Ritzy Ritro. There it is. Incredibly, Debbie was just 18 years of age when she parlayed royalty revenues into this 20 room.
Starting point is 00:36:09 10,000. 20 bedroom. At 18. She was 18 years old. Did he say 20,000 square foot house? 20,000 square foot house? I think so. That's 32 of these houses.
Starting point is 00:36:23 Square foot home. The house that hits belt is sweet sanctuary for the girl who was destined for stardom. Picking out songs at age two, she quickly learned to play five instruments and was performing publicly by age 13. Wow. The meteoric rise was so swift that only as an American songbird in London was she truly able to take stock of her accomplishments. Over there, Debbie looked around at a new triumph in a new land, and she liked what she saw. No temper on stage when I look up the water. Okay.
Starting point is 00:36:56 This is one big fluffies. Speaking of PR. I'm Jane Greaves in London. This is how Robin got himself invited to all these places is because everybody knew he was just gonna do one big Can Jack me off session? Yeah, exactly I'm enjoying my personal life my professional life. Yeah, and I do kind of go Is this really happening, you know, cuz it's just It's one of those times in my life where I feel like I'm exactly where I want to be Doing exactly what I want to be doing'm exactly where I want to be,
Starting point is 00:37:25 doing exactly what I want to be doing around the people I want to be around, which doesn't come together that often in life. So when it does, it's like really... Oh, I don't know. Look at any Instagram of any influencer and it seems like everything is going swimmingly for them also. Oh yeah, it comes right together. I'm going to appreciate it and enjoy it.
Starting point is 00:37:41 Debbie Gibson's three spots. All right, good for you. Next. Yeah, okay, move on to the next one. You showed one shot of her house. That's not the lifestyle for the rich and famous. That's Debbie Gibson, buy tickets here. London.
Starting point is 00:37:52 Shame on you, Robin. I remember this show being much better. If relocating's on your mind, look no further than the foothills of Northern Georgia. Oh. I remember this. Beaver Dam Farms. Beaver Dam Farms. I think that went out of business. Yeah. I don't know what Beaver Dam Farms is. But I- In North Georgia? Do you see it? Is it still there, Christina?
Starting point is 00:38:15 I mean, clearly there's like a multi-million dollar house sitting there. Hold up, hold up, hold up. This is a real estate agency. So Beaver Dam Farms, oh no, 900 plus acres of pure resort perfection. Let's see about that. Just outside of Athens, up for auction in 2016. Oh no. Okay, all right, well. I don't know.
Starting point is 00:38:37 Didn't all work out. Beaver took its arm. It'll go for auction on the 16th of, sorry, 2016. Estimated replacement cost between 30 and 40 million to be sold to the highest bidder at or above 3.5 million now that's drama Wow that is 3.5 million dollars for how many acres man I wish I was only would have known as a six-year-old boy watching this episode it does look beautiful golf courses are famously hard to maintain.
Starting point is 00:39:05 They're money pits. And a blight on the environment. Is this like a private... This is somebody's private abode? It's like a resort. Oh no. You can go and stay there. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:39:13 And there's a number of people here in Georgia, and I knew one. Guy's name was Harrison. He was a lovely real estate developer, and he had this dream, one last hurrah. He helped develop Sun City West out in Phoenix, okay? So he's like a true real estate developer who knows what the fuck he's doing. Master plan communities. And he bought a bunch of land down south of the airport to do this huge resort with houses and restaurants and hotels and blah, blah, blah, blah, you know, 17 square miles or whatever.
Starting point is 00:39:40 He's going to make his own city, his own Disney world, have rides and all this other- Here? Yes, here. It was going to be, he's going to make his own city, his own Disney world, his app rides and all this other. Here? Yes, here. And this guy couldn't, he couldn't get two nickels to rub together to make this happen because everyone's like, you're dumb. Who the fuck is going to come out here to go to your resort when there's nothing to do here?
Starting point is 00:39:57 Like there's nothing to do. Who's going to be the first one to come down here? And essentially he was, he built his own house there and he was lonely because he was the only guy that lived down there. But now I remember why there's a commercial inside of this. Go ahead. Sorry, I'm just reading, it formerly was the estate of Kenny Rogers. Oh, Kenny Rogers.
Starting point is 00:40:15 And then it sold to a buyer in Texas and then they used it as a private family retreat and home for a few years, which is called RISE. And then it was later sold to a land corporation. A land corporation. Yeah. Land co-op. Meaning the hedge fund who then bought this for $3.5 million. The reason why there's a commercial inside of this is because he was funding this all himself. So he would embed commercials into the show. Smart. Smart thinking, Lincoln. Beaver Dam Farm is an old sweet song of Kenny Rogers. A 350-acre spread he designed and lovingly
Starting point is 00:40:45 built with his country music millions. Like no other working farm, it's a masterful balance of practical luxury, of shadows and light beneath soaring ceilings. There's a 3,000 square foot mast... This must have been one of the very first season. All in gender stream, that is where we are. Lots of cocaine and I'm at the bar. Sweet professional kitchen and movie star pool. Openers. The property also contains the world's largest privately owned horse barn. Can it customize all 70,000 horses blue ribbon design from marble entrance to brass rail. It's quite impressive.
Starting point is 00:41:27 It is huge. Now this is Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. This was owned by Kenny Rogers, owned and built by Kenny, and just a few short steps away, Chrissy. We didn't even know. Celebrity visitors, a five-bedroom guest house with every imaginable luxury, elegant salon. Geez, if someone gave me that guest room in their house. Five bedroom.
Starting point is 00:41:47 Unbelievable. Guest house. Guest house. Gymnasium and bar. Look at that. There is a, like a Cheers sized bar in that guest house. In the guest house, yeah. At the par 72 18 hole golf course.
Starting point is 00:42:02 Oh, there's Kenny. Oh, there's Kenny. He's doing some golfing. Grand enough to draw headliner pals to the Peach State, 18 hole golf course. Oh, there's Kenny. Oh, there's Kenny. He's doing some golfing. Branding up to draw headliner pals to the Peach State, just to play a few holes in Kenny's backyard. That pained Stuart. A hard drive from the green, you'll find a regulation-sized tennis court where visiting Hollywood chums came to work on their backhand.
Starting point is 00:42:20 Was that Woody Harrelson? Is that Woody Harrelson? It was. Wow. Okay, this is Lifestyles to the rich and famous. The guys got an infinity pool and 18 hole golf course, the world's largest horse barn, all right there in the luxury of his own backyard. That's what I'm talking about. Kenny Rogers is rich. Debbie Gibson is fey in the mortgage. Kenny's favorite spot, A gazebo by the lake where he and his son spent lazy
Starting point is 00:42:45 afternoons playing hooky. Playing hooky and a helicopter landing on your backyard. ...is moving on and Beaver Dam Farm is on the market. Yours for $13 million. $13 million bucks. That was a deal back then. Right. In 1984, that's probably the equivalent of a deal back then. In 1984, that's probably the equivalent of one million Melania coin. Okay, we're going to check out Merv Griffin's river boat, steamboat, gambling boat. Merv Griffin was into a lot of shit. He's probably into S&M too, but that's just my interpretation. No offense to the Griffin family. Oh, with a name like Merv. If you want me to host one of your,
Starting point is 00:43:27 Ryan Seacrest should keel over at any point. You need me to do that Wheel of Fortune gig? I think I could do that. I was telling my son who loves the Wheel of Fortune, I said, son, I could be the host of the Wheel of Fortune. And he said, I think I like Ryan better. That's what he said. Well, that's just the first in a long line of disappointing
Starting point is 00:43:45 things you'll say to me, son. And this is one of them. We'll be back. One of my New Year's resolutions is to hear more of other people's drama. So help a girl out and tell us your drama at 212-433-3822. You can text it or if it's extra juicy, leave us a voicemail with the full story. And don't forget to follow us on Instagram at The Commercial Break and on TikTok at TCBpodcast. And watch our video episodes at youtube.com slash the commercial break. But also you can find everything I just mentioned and more on our website, tcbpodcast.com. Okay, let's listen to our sponsors and send us your drama.
Starting point is 00:44:34 All right, and we're back with the lifestyles of the rich and famous. We just saw Kenny Rogers trying to unload his amazing resort. That thing was amazing. I mean, $13 million. That's, it was huge. It was huge. What'd they say? They said it was like 900 acres or something million over 900 acres 900 acres in between Atlanta and Athens that but that has got to be worth some money now some hedge fund made a killing on that All right. Let's see what Merv Griffin is up to. He's the guy who started all the game shows you love I'm a million dollar gamble mighty mogul Merv Griffin goes for broke with a little help from a com- He does look like a jolly old man, doesn't he? He does! He's filthy rich. Ah, he's filthy rich. Hook Superhero, stay with us!
Starting point is 00:45:16 Call Merv Griffin Mr. Entertainment with the Midas Touch. The super showman turned Mighty Mogul, says his secret of big business success is all down to an attitude. Well, I still have that wonderful optimism about life. I live by the philosophy that there were two stone cutters. I live by the philosophy that there's two young men, two young chiseled stone cutters. And they said to them, what do you do? And one of them says, well, I cut stones and I made blocks.
Starting point is 00:45:47 And the other one said, I'm on a team that's building a beautiful cathedral. I like the second one. Everybody sing! Everybody sing! Give a hug! He's getting down on that piano. Everybody gather round Grandpa for one last
Starting point is 00:46:05 hurrah! Your billionaire grandpa, he's seen Vanna White's titties. All right, listen to him play Hootie Dootie at the Howdy Daddy. An innate savvy that built Merv Griffin Enterprises, an empire captained by someone who's never been afraid of going against the stream. Yeah, I would say of all the things your financial advisor would tell you to get involved in riverboat gambling Probably not one of them It's worse than a restaurant a joke that he sold himself down the river on his newest gamble Well river boats are gonna be a thing of the 90s
Starting point is 00:46:42 All the states oh, yeah, no question about it. All the states are... Oh yeah, no question about it. They took off. They're in the nineties. All I can remember about the nineties is river boat gambling. Gaming and most of them are naming the fact that they have to be river boats with the paddle wheel and all.
Starting point is 00:46:58 A floating palace to lady luck. Players Riverboat Casino boasts three restaurants, entertainment and a 20,000 square foot gaming floor with room for 1,200 passengers. This really is just an advertisement now for him. Yes, now I see just how fragile my young mind was. I always felt like the Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous was a fun show showcasing. It became about that later. I think this had to be a really early episode. This is. This is an early episode. It's season one or season two. I can't remember which one I
Starting point is 00:47:30 pulled, but yeah, this is just one big commercial for Merv Griffin's riverboat and his big gamble on the wave taking the wave of the future. Riverboat gambling. ... the 18 and a half million dollar ship has every reason to toot his own horse. Wait, hold on. It's 18 and a half million dollars to buy that riverboat ship and it was only 13 to buy Kenny Rogers, world's largest horse barn facility. I would have bought Kenny Rogers. That means somebody won a jackpot. Craftsman and a speeding bullet, Merv established the Super Casino's corporate headquarters somewhere rather fittingly. The tiny northern town put on the map by a superhero.
Starting point is 00:48:13 I guess the name Metropolis came first, I guess when they were doing the strip in the papers of Superman, they took the name of Metropolis. The paper here is the planet, it's not daily, it's a weekly planet and they have a statue. Well, I did not know this about Metropolis, Illinois. And I do not care. I really don't. I wonder if they still have that statue there. It's probably a Banksy at this point. One, but the tourists do come to see it right in the town square.
Starting point is 00:48:43 When he's not wheeler dealing, Merv's having fun. Usually with longtime companion, Ava Gabor and his family. A world explorer and Bon Vivon, his favorite travel companion. Hey Bon Vivon! I'm in Bon Vivon! I want to be a Bon Vivon! How do you do? How do I get to be a Bon Vivon?
Starting point is 00:49:03 Brian Green and his longtime co-host and Bon Vivant, Kersi Hoadley, sit around and stare at penises as they're slowly revealed behind a curtain. Look, that Bon Vivant is uncircumcised! He's a true Bon Vivant! Bon Vivant! Fucking elitist! A Bon Vivant! Fuck you, Bon Vivant! This is fucking elitist.
Starting point is 00:49:25 Bon vivant. Fuck you! Bon vivant. Sorry, son and daughter-in-law. They're a dream couple. They're great fun. They're fun to travel with. They're fun to be with. They're fun to be friends with, other than being... And my son-in-law's sucking all my money! He's sucking up all my cash! Close family. It's nice to go traveling. Oh yes, nothing like-
Starting point is 00:49:45 Manity. Someone pointed out on the internet the other day, they said shit started to go wrong in this world when sexy saxophone stopped being played in music. And he actually put a timeline together of how slowly the sexy saxophone went away from music and slowly things got worse around the world. I think he's onto something here actually. He doesn't love a little slow saxophone went away from music and slowly things got worse around the world. I think he's onto something here actually.
Starting point is 00:50:06 He doesn't love a little slow saxophone. Listen, sexy saxophone. I used to play the saxophone. Of course you did. It was one of my first instruments. Alto saxophone. I was second chair because Russell was first chair. He was much more talented than I was.
Starting point is 00:50:19 Oh, so nice to come home to a choice of free dream West Coast addresses. My main headquarters is in Beverly Hills. I love Carmel Valley where I have been for many, many years and I have my vineyard there. My vineyard with my bon vivant. My hoes and pool boys. I swing either. I'm a wild Roman man. I'm a Bon Vivant. All the spots in the world are 1700 feet high on a mesa
Starting point is 00:50:51 with the big surmountains up against me. And I love it. He was living the life. Oh, he was, this guy was a billionaire before. He wasn't, I don't think, he probably would be now a billionaire. His company's gotta be worth a billion dollars at least. He owns all those rights to all those famous television shows, but he's embedding restaurants into the side of a mountain. He's got golf courses everywhere.
Starting point is 00:51:13 He's got vineyards and he's got bon vivant. He's eating olives with toothpicks. This guy's, he's really into something. I live in the wintertime. He's even got a La Quinta hotel. La Quinta. La Quinta. Everything in that ranch. That's what bon vivant say, Chrissy. La Quinta. I say La Quinta.
Starting point is 00:51:38 And I'm really crazy about both of them. When the islands call day-o, Merv follows the trade winds the islands call day-o, Merv follows the trade winds and spl- Day-o! Day-o! Day-o! That's from Beetlejuice, not the islands.
Starting point is 00:51:58 She's down at a balmy hideaway. It's the greatest tonic in the world. To come here and use- I sleep here. I sleep here. I sleep here with many people. I sleep here. He's got an island in the Bahamas? Wow. He's got an island in the Bah... I have an island in the Bahamas. Trouble. Islands in my dreams. I'm very comfortable here.
Starting point is 00:52:21 He's come a long way from a 50s crooner singing for his supper, risking a steady $125 a week gig. Merv went solo and scored a number one hit. What? What? He flirted with movies until a chance fill in as a host spun him into the living rooms of the first television generation. That's right. He was like the guest host on the Jack Parr show. Then he did the Merv Griffin show. That's right. He was like the guest host on the Jack Parr show, then he did the Merv Griffin show. The whole world passed through that talk show in those 23 years. It was a kind of show that... 23 years. 23 years.
Starting point is 00:52:54 He had that show for 23 years. Wow. Wow. He was 107 when he died. He was. Did you spit that out of your mouth? It was part variety, it was part heavy conversation, it was part everything. Just like a commercial break.
Starting point is 00:53:10 Yeah, just like an episode of a commercial break. And I thought you were saying the same thing. It was all improvised and that's what I loved. Don Louise? Or what was his name? Yeah, that is Don Louise. Don... Or Dom Delahuees.
Starting point is 00:53:21 Don Delahuees, that's right. Isn't he like Gallagher? Didn't he have a twin brother that would go around, I don't know, Dom Deleuze. Dom Deleuze. Not Don, Dom with an M. Such flamboyance made his low-key 1986 farewell all the more poignant. We will not be right back after this message. That's all folks. We will not be right back. That's how I am ending the commercial break. Remember this
Starting point is 00:53:52 moment girls, because it might come sooner rather than later, when Brian says, we must say we will say, we won't be right back. Behind the scenes, he created and launched the two most successful game shows in television history. That are still on. Still on to this day, Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy, still extraordinarily popular. No game has ever in the past or ever will do what Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy have done. I mean, they are amazing.
Starting point is 00:54:22 I think he might be right. Yeah, no, he's right about that. They're the two longest running television shows, aren't they? And then The Simpsons or something? Yeah. Those shows have had- Oh, I guess The Tonight Show and 60 Minutes and CBS This Morning and BBC World. They're up there.
Starting point is 00:54:37 Okay, there's a lot of other shows. Sorry, Merv, it didn't work out how you anticipated. ... the news now of a couple of billion dollars. In 1986, Coca-Cola made Merv an offer had no idea. But it makes sense. I guess. I didn't know Coca-Cola owned the show. I had no idea. But it makes sense. I guess. I guess.
Starting point is 00:55:10 Merv Spree began with $102 million for a West Coast hotel. Oh, he owns the Beverly Hilton. Wow. Okay. Chrissy and I are really impressed with Merv Griffin. He's the kind of billionaire we can fall in love with. Well, he is dead. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:55:26 Well, yeah. He's like that old school pedo that, you know, just he's kind of bothersome, but he really didn't do anything bad. And, you know, he just stepped over a few people's heads to get there and ruined a couple of thousand acres of land and stuff like that. But you know, they were old, you could give them a break. It was a different time. It was a different time.
Starting point is 00:55:43 Now he owns the Beverly, he owned the Beverly Beverly Hill now his son does and his son's probably never begins for renovations If it's going to be an extension of me, I want to know what's going on in a place and I want input to it I'm not a passive owner. I don't want to own things and then sell them His next purchase spark a bidding war from Atlantic City casino. Did any wet Merv beat out Donald Trump? I don't know if it'll ever be rectified with Donald. I didn't bother at all. Oh my God.
Starting point is 00:56:14 There's a young Donald Trump. Wow. Merv Giff Griffiths unbothered by Donald Trump. While he was running around saying, I won, I won, I won, I won. I was in the back of the house with my sleeves rolled up working on projects and getting things done. Whoa! The shame!
Starting point is 00:56:32 The shame! You're for it! Wow! Trump getting shi- Trump being called out early by Merck Griffin. 40 years ago. That's right. Winning bet of $365 million, one in Resorts International Casino and more. With it came an 80% stake in another moneymaker in the Bahamas.
Starting point is 00:56:52 With a roll of the dice, the showman muscled his way onto the cutting edge of big business. Yet despite his mover and shaker status, Merv remains a maverick. A mogul whose eye isn't totally focused on the bottom line. Now some people do it for money. I don't do it for money. That's not a good thing. That's not a good thing. That's not a good thing. That's not a good thing. That's not a good thing. That's not a good thing. That's not a good thing. That's not a good thing. That's not a good thing. That's not a good thing.
Starting point is 00:57:10 That's not a good thing. That's not a good thing. That's not a good thing. That's not a good thing. That's not a good thing. That's not a good thing. That's not a good thing. That's not a good thing.
Starting point is 00:57:18 That's not a good thing. That's not a good thing. That's not a good thing. That's not a good thing. That's not a good thing. That's not a good thing. That's not a good thing. That's not a good thing. That's not a good thing. That's not up and not wonder what's in my bank account. Do you know what I'm saying? Not wonder how I'm going to pay the bill, not wonder who's going to call me next for
Starting point is 00:57:29 money, not wonder any of this, or not worry who's going to call me next for money, not worry about any of that. I just want to be Merv for one day. I want to wake up and go, I don't know how much I have in my bank account. Well, that's true. I don't know how much I have in my bank account. I do that, but it's only because I don't want to look. Yeah. I do ignore my bank account largely because when there's a minus, when you open
Starting point is 00:57:51 up your app, you just kind of forget about the rest of the numbers. Merv Griffin enjoying the fruits of success by spanning the worlds of showbiz and big business without missing a beat. Wow. Good for Merv. A good eclectic mogul. I do think I like Merv very much. Merv lived well. Merv lived well and the fact that he beat Trump out for a couple of hotels makes me
Starting point is 00:58:12 even more joyous on this day of our Lord, whatever day it is today. Is that important? You have to take that? No. Okay. I think someone is calling you. They are. Is that who I think it is? Yes. You're kidding me. No. How long has it been since you They are. Is that who I think it is? Yes. You're kidding me.
Starting point is 00:58:26 No. How long has it been since you've talked to her? A while. A long time. Really? Yes. She's probably listening to the show going, what are these two fucking morons up to? I won't mention who because she might not want to be on this show.
Starting point is 00:58:37 But hey, listen. Okay. There's the Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. We may not revisit that one, but you know, we did it once. That's all I got to say I think if we go to a later I think so too I think we gotta go later yeah when it's more like rich porn right I can pre-screen for you yeah thank you I appreciate it I and there aren't not every episode is out there on uh you know on the plat on the on the interwebs so yeah see if we can find one closer to like 1992 or 93 and that one in one of those I might remember. Like this I don't remember. I was too young for all of this. But anyway, all right, so about...
Starting point is 00:59:13 Bonveon, do you? Bonveon, veon. Bonveon, veon. A boveeno bonveon. A bovine fool, otherwise known as a bon-veon. Okay, well, that's it. We're back in studio. Thank you to Astrid for jumping in. Thank you, Astrid. Jumping in for joy. There you go.
Starting point is 00:59:35 I do love her dearly. That's good. I do love her dearly, but I do thank God that you're in this seat six hours a week. And, Steph, we kill each other. She probably does, too. Oh, yeah. No, definitely. that you're in this seat six hours a week instead of her. We kill each other. Oh yeah, no, definitely. Why do you think she, part of her hates the podcast, the other part likes that I'm occupied with something
Starting point is 00:59:52 besides talking to her. Also, Esther and I talked about this yesterday about kind of the TikTok and creator economy. Some people will text in and they'll say, love the show, if there's anything I can ever do to help, let me know. There is something you can do to help. love the show if there's anything I can ever do to help let me know there Is something you can do to help share the show share it with a friend share it with a neighbor share it with the boss You don't intend to be employed to with for very long. Just send it to someone you don't care about
Starting point is 01:00:17 Sharing is caring and if you can share the show that's the biggest favor in the world You can do biggest compliment you can pay us also you can follow us on Instagram at the commercial break. We're posting content there now constantly. It seems like, um, at TCB podcast on tick tock. I do try and post there as frequently as possible though. Tick tock's another scene altogether and I just don't get it. Yeah. I think we have less than a hundred followers. I'm sure. That does not surprise me. How impressed Roy Wood Jr. must be when he goes to our TikTok and he sees less than a hundred. Anyway, 212-433-3822-212-4333.
Starting point is 01:00:54 3TCB questions, comments, concerns, content, ideas. We're taking them all right there. And tcbpodcast.com. All the audio, all the video. YouTube.com, all the audio, all the video. Youtube.com slash the commercial break for every episode now available on video. Chrissy, that's all I can do for now. I think so.
Starting point is 01:01:16 I'll say that I love you. And I love you. Best to you. Best to you. And best to you out there in the podcast universe. Until next time, Chrissy and I do say, we will say, and we must say, Goodbye! Thanks for watching!

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