The Daily Beast Podcast - What James Patterson Remembers from Dinner With the Clintons

Episode Date: June 12, 2022

Author James Patterson joins this bonus episode of The New Abnormal to tell co-host Molly Jong-Fast about his new biography titled James Patterson by James Patterson: The Story of My Life. He also tells stories about some old friends, including the Clintons and Dolly Parton. Also in this episode: Molly and co-host Andy Levy listen to some funny clips of Republicans saying “dumb” things, including Jesse Watters, who Molly dubs the “stupidest anchor on Fox News.” Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hi, I'm Molly Zhang Fast, no relationship to Kim Jong-un. I'm a left-wing pundant and a writer at the Atlantic Invo. And I'm Andy Levy, former Fox News and CNN-HLN guy, and current cable news conscientious objector. And I'm producer Jesse Cannon, and I'm here to make sure things don't go too far off the rails. We're here to have fun, smart, conversations with the wisest and funniest and funniest people in science and media and politics that help make what's happening today clearer. Our world has been turned upside down, and on the new abnormal, we'll talk about the people who got us into this mess and how we'll hopefully get ourselves out of it. Hello, and welcome to another Sunday bonus episode of the new abnormal, and we thank you so much for being here. Today we have an extra special episode, and we're going to talk to one of the most prolific authors of our era, James Patterson, about his new biography called James Patterson by James Patterson, The Stories of My Life. But first, let's have some fun. All right, are you all ready to listen to some clips?

Yeah, we all are. We are. So up first, Jesse Waters has decided he's figured out why President Joe Biden's Presidents, he's not doing all the things that should be doing. He was off Friday, Saturday, Sunday. He's off today, no events, and he's not even playing golf like other presidents. He can play at any course he wants to, and he doesn't even play golf. It's like he's given up, and the American people see it.

Because he's not playing golf. Yes. And then the complaint, though, is that he... I think it's important just to take a moment to realize that Jesse Waters is probably the stupidest anchor at Fox, disgust. That's not even a question. People cannot be reminded enough that he is, I will go further, he is the dumbest person in cable news. Yeah, I think that's right. And if you know me at all, you know that that statement means a lot.

But he dumb. Like, I just don't, there's no other way to say that. But it's just amazing to me that anybody who was a fan of President Trump could even for a minute bring up the fact that a president had no plans on a, had no public events on a weekend as a negative. I don't know. I just, I don't know how you go through life like that. Like, I really don't. And it boggles my mind. The hypocrisy just continues to boggle my mind.

And I don't understand how you look in the mirror. and sleep at night and do anything, just knowing what a raging fucking hypocrite you are. I just, I don't get it. Discuss. I mean, you know, I'm always, I'm always shocked. I'm always surprised just how stupid he is. It's a miracle.

It's like he's a maid in a lab for Fox. Well, I have some news. He also hosts some people who are absolute morons. And one is Senator Kennedy from Louisiana. who we've clipped before. You know, gas prices are high, but you know it's cheaper? He's got an idea on how to make this country run. Oh, this is amazing.

Meanwhile, I don't know about where you live, Jesse, but in my state, the price of gas is so high that it would be cheaper to buy cocaine and just run everywhere. You know when the kids say that you're telling on yourself, I think we know how he got through his colleagues. college years now. Jesse Waters and Senator John Kennedy, I mean, that is, you could not,

I mean, if brain power was used to light up a room, you could not, like, you couldn't even light a flashlight with what was there. But I do love, God help me, I do love that accent. I'm going to tell you something that's going to blow your mind right now. So Senator John Kennedy from the great state of Louisiana has a BA from Vanderbilt, a JD from the University of Virginia

and a BCL from Oxford Cambridge So he is actually I'm going to tell you This is a scam He's just pretending to be stupid

And in 2007 He switched parties to become a Republican He had been A relatively liberal Democrat And So, I mean, I don't even know what to fucking tell you. 2004, Kennedy endorsed Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry.

Okay, so he had a brain event. A brain event. He had a brain event in 2006. After being courted by the Republican Party for months, Kerry announced in a letter to his constituents. He was leaving the Democratic Party in 2007. I'm telling you, man, like, this is a total fucking scam. Well, how about I pivot us to three people in a row who are not plagued up, but are just absolute fucking morons?

First up, we have Molly's favorite congressperson who I have on my calendar to start doing wellness checks after he leaves Congress in a few months to make sure Molly's okay. My favorite Texas judge, young Looert, Gomert. Yes, Mr. Gomerd has an idea of how we stop these shootings. in debate last week and even today to be told that we have no courage, that Democrats, we were told in debate last week, don't want to hear any more about social media, violent video games, Hollywood, mental illness, and they sure don't want to hear any more about prayers. They're disgusted hearing about prayers. Don't want to hear any more about fatherlessness, drug use. look, maybe if we heard more prayers from leaders of this country instead of taking God's name in vain,

we wouldn't have the mass killings like we didn't have before prayer was eliminated from school. I do have to say that he's wrong about leaders not praying because I think a lot of his fellow congresspeople prayed that he would be gone. And it worked. I mean, the Supreme Court never outlawed prayer in school. Students are free to pray alone or in groups, as long as such prayers are not disruptive and do not infringe upon the right others. I mean, I don't know.

They still could pray in school. I mean, I'm sure they prayed when they were getting mowed down by that AR-15. I mean, right, when they were alone with that shooter, for 78 minutes. I assume they prayed. So I have, uh, you know, fuck that guy. Oh, that's a different segment, but I suppose it fits. But it fits. Yeah. Do you guys remember who this fellow Carl Palladino is? Oh, don't I ever? So Carl Palladino is a man who, if you're from New York, uh, likes to run and lose for different seats around New York State. So it's really like a career of his? He ran for governor in 2010.

Always be running and losing. Yeah. One of the reasons he loses, well, I think we can just listen. Everyone will understand who wasn't familiar with him before. We've been talking a lot about politics here today this morning, Carl, and I know that that's obviously near and dear to your heart, and you've taken real action. And a lot, like you were saying earlier,

many people don't voice their opinion or just become, see it as utter futility. How do you rouse the population? How do you get people thinking about the possibility of change here in New York State and what that might mean for everyone here? I was thinking the other day about somebody had mentioned on the radio Adolf Hitler and how he aroused the crowd. And we get up there screaming these epitats and these people were just, they were hypnotized by them. I guess that's the kind of leader we need today. We need somebody inspirational.

We need somebody that is a doer, has been there and done it, so that it's not a strange new world to him. He's a doer. Hitler was a doer. Inspirational. Hitler. If you're a political candidate, and it occurs to you to bring up Hitler, going to go with don't. Don't say Hitler. You don't ever have to say Hitler.

If you're not a World War II historian. If you're a Republican, do it. But if you're not, don't do it. Oh, my God. Hitler was an influencer. I was going to say, waiting for him to do his like entrepreneurial handbook with Hitler was a doer. Five lessons learned from a consequential figure.

Oh, my God. I can't understand why he keeps losing. At least he doesn't have the backing of, you know, the third ranking. Elise DeFonik. House Republican. Known for her incredible judgment. Hell of a job there, Elise DeFonick.

Brought in because she was a woman who wasn't Liz Cheney. Up next in our trifecta of Stupid, we have Mo Brooks, who's still on his tour of going on cable news and pleading with President Trump to please endorse him. And his stop last night was Chris Hayes, oddly enough. You've seen from my previous block that I'm a straight shooter and sometimes I'll say when I agree with someone, even if I don't agree with him on everything, I agree with Liz Cheney on some things. I agree with you, Mo Brooks on the fact the Constitution does not allow you to rescind an election. Do you, are you worried that the president is, the former president is like not all there or mentally fit? Because that seems like a delusional thing to ask you. If I had been the victim of voter fraud and election theft activity, I would have wanted the same thing. Right. Whether you can do it is a different matter. That's for the law to decide. But I would have wanted the same thing. I would have wanted to be reinstated. I would have wanted to rescind the election. I'd have wanted to do everything. But as you and I know, under the Constitution, United States Code, the deadline is January the 6th. I wish it was longer. But it's not. But I would have wanted the same thing that President Trump wanted if I had had an election stolen from me. That's what he believes. That's what I believe. Yes. That belief is wrong, unfortunately, to great, great, great negative effect in our country. But Congress, Congress, But if you want to spend a lot of time debating that subject, I'll take you on toe to toe.

You name the time, you name the place, give us enough time to discuss it. You go down your list of things. I'll go down my list of things. There are 150 congressmen and senators who are especially disagree with your viewpoint. Truly nothing in this world. I want less. Thank you very much, Congressman Rob Brooks. I appreciate it.

Okay, that was amazing. Yeah, good for him. Absolutely. I mean. Jesus fucking Christ. Like it's not bad enough he did that absolutely craven and pathetic plea for Trump's re-endorsement. And now he's just, oh my God, he is just running back to the arms of Maga as fast as he can. By the way, my new favorite is that now Carl Paladino says that those comments were taken out of context.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's amazing. The context was Hitler. He says I should have used Churchill. Yeah, because Churchill and Hitler are basically the same. I feel like there's just like a will fortune with three answers every time you say something this stupid and that's just with the one that it landed on. Yeah. Taken out of context.

The other two are pills. I'm going to rehab. Oh, yes, yes, yes, yes. James Patterson is a best-selling author and his latest book is James Patterson by James Patterson, the stories of my life. Welcome to the new abnormal James Patterson. Yeah, I am James Patterson. That's true.

It's all happening. Like you said it, yeah. So the book is James Patterson by James Patterson. Yeah, that's the title. Yeah. Tell me how you got here and why you decided to write those. You know, it was during COVID. I think, one, I was sort of trapped in the house for a few months.

I was a piece of it. I think like a lot of people, you sort of examine your life a little bit. And I started writing these stories. I don't think it's like the usual kind of autobiography or memoir, because it's just story after story after story. I started writing these stories down and I was enjoying the process. I was paying attention to the writing and really focused on it. I just like doing it.

So I just continued and there it is. It's a book. And you know what's surprising and gratifying is I've now heard over and over and over again. It's the best book you've done. and it's better than Alice Cross, the Women's Murder Club. And it's certainly closer to where I thought I would be when I started writing. I didn't read thrillers and, you know, when I was a kid and, you know, a kid beating, you know, in my 20s. I thought I would write stuff that was a little more like this book.

So, and this trace is, you know, from my hometown, right through working at McLean Hospital and where I kind of got turned on to writing and then, at Vanderbilt, where I went to graduate school, et cetera, et cetera. It's so interesting when you do something that's so different than what you're known for. Did you have anxiety about this? I mean, you're so successful. No. There are a couple of kinds of books that I wouldn't feel comfortable doing because I don't really understand them. I understand love stories.

I don't understand romance. I'm not trying to knock it. I don't understand these books about generals. I don't know how they talk. I don't know how they think. And once again, this isn't like most autobiographies. It is just story after story. And I thought I could do that.

No, I wasn't sure necessarily that it would, that it could hold together, but it has. So will you go back to thrillers after this? Yeah, I have already. I find that I'm more focused and I'm paying more attention to the sentences. And I think, you know, obviously I've done some thrillers already and since then, and I think they're better. I think I'm doing, you know, some of the best stuff I've done now. So I could be delusional, but that's my. I am delusional.

Well, we're all delusional. That's how you end up being a writer, right? Because if you were clear-eyed, you never go into this business in the first place. It's funny because my grandfather was a writer, too, and he would do book after book after book. I think it's interesting that you're talking about how it, like, it's sort of changed the way you write a little bit, doing this different genre. Can you explain that a little more? I would say it changed the way I write, but maybe I was getting a little sloppy. And this really, I really focused. And I think it's been helpful. Was along came as Spider your first book? No, it was my first big book. The first book was the Thomas Barerman number. I was 26. Got turned down by 31 publishers. I then wanted Edgar as Best First

Mystery. So go figure that one out. Yeah. I wrote it and I was working at Jay Walter Thompson. It was in advertising, but I've been cleaned for over 30 years now. So I don't do advertising. And I get this phone call, and it's a woman from the Mystery Writers of America, and she says, we've been looking all over for you. I go, okay, I haven't been lost, but okay, here I am. And she said, you've been nominated for an Edgar.

And then she told me the date, and I said, I can't go. I don't remember what was in the way, but I said, I can't go to the Edgars that night. And she said, we have to go. You've been nominated. I said, I know, you told me that, but I can't go. She said, you have to go. You won. I said, okay, I'm going to figure out a way to go. So I go. I'm at the

Edgers. Then I'm nervous. I brought my mom and dad, and I'm like 26 years old, whatever. And all I can, I'm thinking there, like, maybe she lied just to get me here. You know what I mean? But then I did win. And when I got up, all I said was, I guess I'm a writer now. What I meant by that was in those days, now it's a little different. But in those days, if you met somebody in a bar, whatever, and you go, what do you do? I'm a writer. And then they would say, well, you know, have I read anything that you've written or, you know, do you write under a pseudonym? You say, well, I haven't been published. And they would look at you like you're a mad person. You couldn't be a writer if you haven't been published, you know? Right, right. And so that was the deal. I never, I hadn't published any short

stories or whatever. I mean, you know, certainly not significant short stories. So I just said, I guess I'm a writer. That was a, that was the start, modest beginnings. You also write books sometimes with very, very, very famous people. Can you talk to me about this? Like Mike Lubica, the famous sports writer. I love Mike Lupica. I love him. You know, he's like my Twitter bestie. Oh, really? Yeah, I love Mike and I talk every day. Well, tell him I say hi. We're in the middle of our third collaboration. What are you writing? Doing two next year. Well, we did horsewomen this year. Oh, that's right. I remember that. And that did really well, too, right? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, we really turned out well. And we just get along really

well. We're funny and messed up and we get a kick out of it. We enjoy each other's dark humor. And then we did two thrillers, which are coming out next year. One is House of Wolves, sort of likened better than succession. To family in San Francisco, they own the local football team and they own the newspaper. And he loves it also. I did an interview recently and they said, you write with famous people like President Clinton and Dolly Parton and Mike Lupac. I immediately called them up. And I said, yeah, you're in the same sentence with Clinton and Dolly Parton.

And he said, well, why wouldn't I be? So I've done with Clinton and, you know, the president. And the great thing about it, like with Dolly, I mean, we really have become very close, you know, from my birthday when I first started, she sang happy birthday to me over the phone. And I wanted to say, Dolly, can you call me again? Because I want to record it, you know, but I didn't have the nerve. And then when the book came out, we went out to Austin. We did that, where we how that event is out there, South by Southwest. And so we're playing in this theater.

and Connie Britton was interviewing us. And one of us talked about her singing happy birthday to me. And Dolly said, let's all sing happy birthday to the gym tonight. So 6,000 people sang happy birthday to me. For my birthday this year, she sent me a poem. And she had it framed. And it's like 12 lines. And the title is New Old Friends.

In the middle of it, she said she wrote a song with Kenny Rogers. And she said, in the song, they both agreed there's no such thing as New Old Friends. And she said she believed that until I walked in her. door and she said, and you are a new old friend. Happy birthday. I will always love you, Dolly. And that's our relationship. And we really have become really, really nice friends. And we're looking forward to doing a movie now. We have Hello Sunshine that's going to produce for us with Reese Witherspoon. And we picked them, Dolly and I, because our whole thing about the movie is that we want to watch the damn movie and say, we're so glad we made that movie. We're so happy.

And today, just about everything that Hello Sunshine has done, they really, do good movies and good TV stuff. So, you know, their track record is fabulous. Crud ads is supposed to be really good and, you know, Gone Girl and Little Fires everywhere and whatever. They're really good at what they do. So we're very excited about that. Yeah, let's hear about President Clinton. I mean, I like Dolly Parton as much as the next person, but she's never been president. She probably should have been. Yeah, that's true. Yeah, we would have been much better off. It wouldn't have been better than some. We're not going to get, we're not going to go there. President Clinton and we also have a very nice, I'll tell you one story that it's interesting in terms of how people perceive people in the news, famous people, whatever.

And I've spent time with both of the bushes and I've spent time with Trump and I've spent a lot of time with President Clinton and Hillary. The first time Sue and I, my wife and I went out with President Clinton and Hillary went to dinner. And we're very close together in Westchester. It was like three hours. And it was really great because we don't want anything from them. We're not going to talk politics. And it was just sort of fun and talking about the families and growing up and all that stuff. But three or four times during the dinner, Hillary and Bill were holding hands under the table.

And people don't think of them that way. And it's true. I mean, Sue and I went out to Houston and we spent time with Bush Sr. and Barbara. And they were delightful. And we were out there with, oh, so bare with names. Did he paint you? No, no, no, no, this is a senior, senior. Okay.

And Haviston was there and who had written the best and the brightest. And it was just, it was really terrific, very down to earth and fun. And so we see a side of these people that a lot of people don't see. I mean, one of the things Clinton and, well, and 43 and both of the bushes are because we're good friends of President Clinton. And Clinton thinks that 43 is hilarious. Yeah. I mean, he'll just walk in a room and Clinton will start laughing. He is pretty funny.

And people don't, you know, we do all this caricature. Here's a phrase I want to own because I've invented it. I can't get anybody. I just can't get ownership of it. Caricature assassination. What does that mean? Because that's what we do. Caricature assassination.

You know, Trump, how many people did he assassinate with the caricature assassination? Right. You know, what was this, Jeb Bush? He did the little caricature and that assassinated him. Everybody who was running against, he would do this, you know, like three words and it would assassinate them. Right. Anytime people, that's all you could think of.

You know, slow, slow, I don't forget what it was with, with, with, with, with, Jeff Bush, but it was basically that boring, blah, blah, blah, he assassinated them. It's like that. And that's how we do. That's, it happens on the news, caricatures. So just tell me one last thing that you sort of learned writing this book about yourself or about whatever. Well, I don't think I learned anything about myself.

I remembered some things. You know, I mean, one of the interesting things about memory. and the past is my friends will tell certain stories and they'll swear to God I was there but I don't remember being there. Yeah. You know what I mean? So you have that kind of thing. There's one story in there and I'm 99.9% sure that it happened, the stealing the car. Right. It was a joyride. But there's one one thousandth of a percent. I'm going like, am I sure that I didn't dream that like a hundred times and you know, whatever? Right, right. So, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So that's a little piece. I don't know. Yeah, you know, remembrance of things passed.

Yeah, no, totally fascinating. Well, thank you so much, James Patterson. The book is James Patterson by James Patterson. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, it's great. Thank you. Thank you, Molly. On that note, we'll wrap this episode of the new abnormal from The Daily Beast. In future episodes, we'll be talking to smart folks from the Daily Beast and beyond from media, culture, politics, and science. who will help us understand what's happening to our country and the world. We hope you'll subscribe to us on your favorite podcast app and share the show on social media. Thanks so much for listening and we'll see you again on the next episode. Want more great listens? Check out our comedy podcast, The Last Laugh, and our star-studied the Daily Beast podcast at

the Daily Beast.com slash podcasts. If you enjoyed this episode, consider becoming a Daily Beast subscriber. Subscribing is the best way to feed the beast and support all of your podcasts as we cover what might become the darkest timeline. Head to the DailyBeast.com slash membership slash podcast and sign up today.