The Three Questions with Andy Richter - Al Roker

Episode Date: July 28, 2020

Weather forecaster and TV personality Al Roker talks with Andy Richter about his new book You Look So Much Better in Person, breaking world records with the Rokerthon, and making positive lifestyle changes.

Hi, Al. Well, hello, Andy. It's been a long time. It's been quite a few minutes. By the way, we've started. For you at home, this is the three questions. I'm talking to Al Roker. No explanation.

Everyone knows who you are. Well, I don't know about that. Can you go anywhere without people saying... People who watch Good Morning America and CBS This Morning, they don't all know me. Oh, come on.

No, seriously. Yes, come on. Oh, Rochester. No, and you're sitting in the beautiful comfy place do you normally is this your normal zoom spot now uh it is it is my zoom spot every now and then i'll go out on the back deck but this is kind of this is our family room and kind of where we hang out anyway so yeah it's i like it it's cozy daddy gets daddy gets to monopolize it when he's when he's got or or or mommy because you know deb deborah's on oh right abc and so yeah we've had times where we've both been on the air live in the morning so it's wow it's who gets here first yeah yeah have you have you left the house much in the last few months i mean no not really

i was home once to go to the doctor uh in in four and a half months oh really oh so you're like at a vacation place or yeah we have a place in upstate new york so i see uh we're about two hours north of the city so it's yeah because i like to call it, the anti-Hamptons. The other direction. Yeah, yeah. No, I know. I know. A friend of mine had parents that lived in the Hamptons for a little bit and they bought a house in the Hamptons and they lived on the Upper East Side and they said every morning they'd see the same people jogging in front of their house on the Hamptons that they did on, you know, whatever, you know, 72nd Street. And they just sold it because they're like, why do we want to get away from these people? Exactly.

You know, the rest of the weekend with them. Yeah. And then you go to the whatever the little delis are out there. And I think it's reasonable to pay $80 for a half a pound of lobster salad you know it's like but the good news is the traffic is so easy getting out there oh it's beautiful it's really nice it's yeah it's not at all a bottleneck so is are you like in a woodsy place yeah we are we are very woodsy uh uh it's it's uh very in fact uh we had uh a bear come down the road two days ago. Oh, wow.

Yeah. And you saw him or did you just hear about him? No, saw him with a couple of cubs. Wow. So you keep your distance, you know. Yeah, yeah, of course. And we've got a small dog, so we don't let her out by herself too much. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Well, it's nice that you got kind of a place to get away to. Yeah. It'd be rough to be in the city. No, we've been up here about 23 years now. Oh, nice. Yeah, so it's been this kind of nice getaway. And so, look, my heart goes out to all the folks who A. couldn't work from home, you know, had to go

out, had to, you know, either drive the buses or, you know, the folks who, the healthcare workers, the delivery people, the grocery store workers, all those folks, you know, who kept saying, oh, the economy shut down. Well, not for those

folks. They were going away. Yeah, yeah. They didn't have that luxury. So we are so blessed to be able to do this from home. Yeah. And it's funny. We've never spent more than six, seven days here. And now we've been here for four and a half months. And all of a sudden, for my birthday, I asked for a toolkit.

Or for father's day i should say and i've been you know i've really been in full dad mode now you know yeah yeah yeah caulking putting grout in uh you know just do you know i put in a garden a vegetable garden it's been fantastic nice nice so you i mean i imagine your work in the morning is Nice, nice. So, I mean, I imagine your work in the morning is pretty, I mean, how do you even, do they send you what, you know, what the forecasts are? You don't have weather computers in your house, do you? I actually do.

Oh, really? The one, what I'm talking to you on right now is one of them. But I have a full setup in my garage with, I have this software on my iPad that turns it into a live camera. I've got lights. I've got a 60-inch touchscreen monitor to do the weather. I've got two computers driving that. So it's like my own little studio. When I wrote in my book, when I talked about high school, I was one of the kids on the AV squad. So I fell into this quite naturally. Right, right. MacGyvering a studio. It's fantastic.

Yeah. So when we told you to quick time this interview, you knew exactly what we were talking about. Well, you know, it's funny. I thought he wanted, because I didn't know whether you guys were doing video and audio, I wasn't sure whether he wanted the video recording or the audio. Yeah, no. Because at the Today Show, we've been doing all of our interviews on Zoom, but recording on Zoom. So using the Zoom, that's why I thought he might have wanted to record.

That's what we, I mean, that's what the Conan Show has been. You know, we've been, everything's on Zoom. That's why I thought he might have wanted to record. That's what we, I mean, that's what the Conan show has been. You know, we've been, everything's on Zoom and I mean, we just, you know, we've used it, you know, we've probably gotten all the comedic opportunities we can out of the Zoom. But yeah, that's how it's all being done. And actually Conan just this week started broadcasting from a theater in Los Angeles, a little theater

that like everyone's friends with and you can't have the guess. He's just in a theater doing Zoom interviews with people and but he just, I think he just wanted to get out of the house. See, I'm very happy. I'm, you know, Conan's got, well, his kids

are a little older now, but a little older, I'm, you know, Conan's got, well, his kids are a little older now. Yeah, a little older, yeah. But, you know, two of the three of mine are out of the house, and my youngest is just about to be 18. So, you know, I don't have to worry about, I like being here. Yeah, yeah. I don't need to get away. All the folks I work with on the Denae Show have little kids,

and they want to get back to the studio. Yeah, yeah. Now, you're from New York City, right? You're from Queens? Is that right? Queens, New York. Queens, New York. Born and raised.

So when I was able to come back to New York, WNBC, that was one of the greatest things. I mean, I told the story when I was in Syracuse, when I got my first job in television, when I was in college, and you look so much better in person. I called my mother all excited that I got a job on TV. And she said, oh, what channel are you on?

I said, well, mom, you can't see me because you're in New York and I'm here in Syracuse. Well, what channel is it? She says, channel five. Oh, well, we have channel five here in New York. So I can see you. I said, no, mom, it doesn't reach that far. Oh, yes, it does. I'm going to go to the TV right now. You listen. And she puts the phone down, turns the TV on. And I you know, I can hear Fox 5, or at the time it was Metro Media. And I said,

Mom, I'm not on Metro Media. And it went back. It was like a bad happening Costello routine. We went back and forth. Finally, I just said, I'm on Saturday at 6 o'clock. You watch.

I'll send you tapes. Yeah. Yeah. What did your folks do? Had they been in Queens for years? Yeah. You know, my dad was a bus driver when I was a kid. My mom was a nurse's aide and then a homemaker.

And we lived in Queens. We've we started off in my grandmother's house in Queens. And then we moved to Brooklyn for a little while, lived in the projects. And then we, you know, the American dream, bought a house just almost at the county line in Nassau County. And moved, you know, split or a semi-attached home, three bedrooms, one bathroom, six kids. Yeah, yeah. Wow, wow. Yeah. And did you know? Go ahead.

Did you know right away that you were going to, I mean, when you were little, were you a TV kid? Like, were you one of those? Yes. Because I definitely was. TV was my best friend. Yes. Sadly enough. My only friend, really.

Yeah, yeah. Well, here's the thing. I wanted to work in television. I didn't want to be on TV. I was fascinated by behind the scenes. I remember Dick Cavett doing a show when he was on ABC on the talk show, doing a show about chroma key and laugh tracks. And I just, I thought this was the greatest thing going.

When I was 10, my dad had, like I said, he was a bus driver, and guys would show up at the depot with boxes of things that had fallen off the back of trucks. And so one day- Wink, wink. Yeah. So one day he brings home this Wollensack 3M reel-to-reel tape recorder, and I'm just in heaven. I think this is good. And I figure out if I take the back of the TV off and run coaxial cable from the speaker leads into the line in of the recorder, I can record the audio off the TV. And so I was recording the adventures of Superman and Batman and then splicing the tapes

together and I I know my mother thought oh this poor child he's he's he's never gonna leave our basement mom listen I put together Superman theme and the Batman theme it's really cool and she's like yeah oh god oh boy, boy. And it was just for fun. I mean, did you sit and listen to them for a while? Oh, yeah. Did you listen to the audio from Wow? I would. Just because you could.

You're probably so satisfied that you figured it out. Yeah. And, you know, it was like a precursor to a VCR. I could, like, record my shows and then listen back to them, you know? Right. You know, I'd already seen it, so I knew what it looked like, and now I can hear them, you know, and, you know, you had already seen it. So I knew what it looked like and now I can hear it. You know? So it was, it was, it was a lot of fun. And, and my parents indulged me. That's I will be, they really, you know,

here I am this chubby black kid, you know, staying in the basement making stop action movies like Gumby cartoons and stuff like that. And they just kind of like, that's nice to hear, you know. Yeah. But were you the only kid that was, you know, so in love with technology? Yeah, yeah. My siblings, you know, were all normal.

The only odd one who, you know, were all normal. The only odd one who, you know, seemed, I mean, everything that I did was basically would guarantee that I would never get a date. I mean, I had a Jerry Mahoney ventriloquist dummy. I had a ventriloquist act. Yeah. Girls really think that's cool. me yeah yeah i had a ventriloquist act yeah girls really think that's cool the only thing would have been worse is if i played the the accordion while i did the right right right or i had a neck brace or you know yeah yeah that you know some kind of neck brace yeah or you know yeah something like that yeah very well i mean does it when you're in school i mean does it kind of just continue to your kind i mean do you do you care about being called a nerd like you because this is all nerd culture yeah i mean nerds been a completely reclaimed word oh yeah no no i i was on the av squad in high school like oh it's a squad it was a squad like it implies there might be an emergency yeah it's

like we're deployed yeah we're like aoc you know no we would you yeah a of the aoc the squad no the deal was you know back in the day before you know uh whatever you have now uh you had to everything now it's all magic magic uh whiteboards whiteboards that are computerized with projections yeah no now and you hit a button on the computer and it should no back then you had to wheel in a cart with a 16 millimeter projector yeah and make sure you keep the loop and so and you got out of class because you were on call as part of the av squad wow uh and we even had our own gang sign av you know it was he just made an a and then a b with his fingers for those of you for those of you who have recorded this on your holland beck

reel-to-reel that's right recorder um so what where do you go to college i mean do you think are you leaving there going like all right i'm gonna no i wanted to i so i just i wanted to actually kind of get into movies cinematography stuff like that i couldn't afford like you know nyu or Syracuse University. So I looked, I figured, let me go to a state college. And I found SUNY Oswego, which is right on Lake Ontario. And they had a radio TV department. And I thought, well, they show movies on TV. That's close enough.

Yeah, yeah. And it's radio. And I kind of like radio. So they accepted me. They met my stringent requirements. And so I went. This was before. You know, nowadays, you know, it's the college tour.

The kids go attend. You can see, visit 10 colleges. We didn't have the money for that. I've talked about this before in here where, like, my son just started college last year and he applied to maybe 10 of them. Yeah. And people would ask, you know, other parents as you're talking to them,

how many did you apply to? And I was like, one? Yeah. The one I went to? Yeah. Because I just, yeah, you know. I didn't have a backup. Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I went to SUNY Oswego. Yeah, yeah, yeah. by the name of uh jerry seinfeld oh wow and uh he left after sophomore year i don't know what happened to him was he funny then he was you know but not but not you know like stand-up he just was yeah he was a fun but but he would walk around with that yellow pad he was always working on you know bits and then driving to syracuse and doing stand-up um uh yeah but then he left went to queen's college and we all know how it turned out yeah yeah yeah it's a shame that you're not a success like he is i know i know yeah but i will tell you you know you feel like yeah i'm doing okay and then but you're one of your classmates is jerry seinfeld yeah yeah

there's you can there's always i don't care if you're i'm sure that there are times when jeff bezos feels bad about himself like when he thinks like i didn't do that right or i could do it i could have done that better you can always feel bad about yourself that's one of the wonderful things about humanity yes is you can always find a reason to feel inadequate and even if you don't somebody else will somebody will help you yeah yeah so did you i mean at what point do you get kind of because it is sort of a performing bug to want to you know to to be a broadcaster it's you know it's yeah i mean basically have the same urge as getting up on stage to act or do stand-up. Yeah.

You know, it's funny because I didn't, I saw radio because I figured you couldn't see me. I didn't think I was that good looking. And so on radio, you can be whoever you want to be. Yeah. So, you know, I did a disc jockey, you know, shift. I, you know, did all the top 40 type stuff. And it was my sophomore year. And my college professor,

this guy, Lou O'Donnell, put me up for a weekend weather job in Syracuse. And two other guys did audition tapes and he took it down for us. He worked at the station. I write about in the book about how he was the, he was the Mr. Trolley on the Magic Toy Shop,

which was a kid show. I've heard of it. Yeah, yeah. It was in the Guinness Book of Records as the longest running local kid show. The news director decides, look, I can only afford to hire

a college student or a drunk. I was making $10 a newscast. There were four newscasts on the weekend. But, you know, it was 1974. And, again, I thought, you know what, I'll just do this until I can get a job as a director or a producer. Yeah, yeah. It or a producer. Yeah. Yeah. And it was just temporary.

Yeah. I had no plans of continuing to do it, but there you go. Did you just, so you just kept doing it throughout school. They didn't, they didn't, you know,

they're like, yeah, sure. He works cheap. Let him, let him keep. Oh, well,

in fact, I, I, I, for my junior year, I did it all junior year doing weekends. The weekend, the weekday weatherman left at the, for my junior year, I did it all junior year doing weekends. The weekday weatherman left at the end of my junior year, and so I got the Monday through Friday job.

Wow. And I was driving back and forth. You're not even out of school yet. I'm not out of school. I'm a senior. I'm making $12,500 a year as a college student. But again, it's 1975. That's pretty good.

It's 1975. I'm thinking, I'm doing all right. I had an apartment of my own. And after a point, I thought, well, maybe I'll do this for a living. Yeah. I guess. It seems to me, yeah. Yeah.

So I graduated from school six months after I graduate, I get a job offer from Washington, DC, WTTG in Washington. And, and that's, I moved there. I was kind of naive.

The news director says, look, we can't pay a lot, but you will be on the number one newscast at 10 o'clock. I got there. And then I realized it's the only newscast on a 10 o'clock. Dang you! That's a lesson in promotion.

Yeah. It could possibly be bullshit what they're saying. But, you know, it worked for me. And I doubled my salary to like, you know, $24,000. I was probably the lowest paid person in Washington. But on the upside, I got to meet

Willard Scott, who has been my mentor and dearest friend since then. And the fact of the matter is, I was not ready to do the weather in a, in a major market. So, but it was, it was a horrible station. And so I got to kind of clean up my act in Washington, DC. So I could say I was in the top 10 market.

Yeah. Was it, it wasn't a network affiliate or was it? No, it was, it was an, it was an independent state. Like a V a UHF channel.

No, no channel. It was channel five, but it's kind of channel? No, no, it was Channel 5. But it's kind of like, you know, this was before there was Fox television. Yes. But all of those stations, Metro Media stations, became Fox.

But, you know, we were, they had a newscast at noon and one at 10 o'clock and the rest of it was all reruns of television. Yeah, yeah. But it was a great television. Yeah, yeah. But it was a great experience. Yeah, yeah. I really enjoyed it.

And again, you get to go to lunch or dinner with the biggest personality in Washington, D.C., in Willard. And it's just, you're like, wow. What was he doing? He wasn't doing weather then, was he? Yes, he was doing weather. Oh, he was. But how did you? He wasn't doing weather then, was he? Yes, he was doing weather. Oh, he was. But how did you fit in with him doing weather at the same time? Well, he was at WRC, the NBC station.

Oh, he was at a different station. He was at a different station. And they just were, you know, I mean, he was the biggest thing in Washington. Yeah. And he just kind of took me under his wing. He said he kind of reminded me of him as a young guy and this was before he left to go to the Today Show

he left Washington in 1980 and then went on to obviously become this huge star, news personality a landmark literally now you're young when all this is happening you know, news personality. A landmark. Yeah. Literally. Yeah.

Was it, now, you're young when all this is happening. Yeah. Are you handling it okay? Like when you go away to college, are you handling that and, you know, and all this stuff? I mean. It was great. You know, I mean, first of all, I was, you know, I had five brothers and sisters.

There were three boys in a room. I get to college. Now I'm down to one guy. There were three boys in a room. I get to college. Now I'm down to one guy. It's fantastic. When you've got, my father at the time, bus driver, mom was home at the time.

So money was tight. So you didn't get limitless portions of food. You get to college and it's like, wait, I can have all the ice cream I want? That's problematic. All the sugar cereal I want? Yeah, yeah. You know, so I loved it.

I had a great time. You know, and the idea is that you could, you know, you had this freedom was intoxicating, you know, as opposed to sharing a house with seven other people. Yeah, yeah. It's great. Where are you in birth order? I mean, you kind of- I'm the oldest.

You're the oldest. Oh, so yeah. So you went out and you set a high bar for the rest of them, didn't you? Well, you know, they've all done pretty well. I mean, you know, I've got a sister who's a nurse i've got a another sister uh who works in a legal profession i've got my my brother runs uh uh one of the hospitals here in new york city uh uh you know i've got another sister they They're doing fine. Yeah, doing okay. They're doing fine. Yeah, yeah. You set a nice bar for them.

Yeah, because I was going to say, like, you know, is it pressure on the other siblings when your folks can say, well, look at your brother Al, you know. He was on TV in school, you know. But, you know, it's funny. That's what I loved about my parents was that, you know, their children were all equal as far. Oh, did you see what your brother did? Yeah. Now at the time, my brother was like living in the

basement, you know, after graduating from school, but he was the best. He was the best at living in the basement that ever lived. You know, I mean, he's look, look how creative he is. Yeah. Yeah. So, so I was like, God, i love you people yeah yeah that is they sound pretty amazing they sound they were they really were you know they they were a beautiful couple and yeah my wife deborah says okay uh uh are you are you buying a new pedestal to put them on this year you know i mean they've since passed but uh, but they're a good memory. Now, so you're in Washington. And is that from Washington to New York?

No, from Washington, I got a job in Cleveland, Ohio, at the NBC-owned station there. And I spent five years in Cleveland. And one of my favorite stories in You Look So Much Better in Person is this anchorman that I worked with. And it's kind of relates to what's going on today. He was married to his co-anchor. And in our downtown area, and downtown Cleveland at that point was a little dicey, but that's where the station was. There was an older homeless gentleman who happened to be black. And one night, Doug after the 11 o'clock news, this guy's name was

Doug Adair. He was going to his car in his parking lot. And this older guy comes with the homeless guy, comes up behind him with a rolled up newspaper, kind of bops him in the back of the head and then runs off. Very rare. Next day, Doug is telling everybody this story.

Now, mind you, all of us wanted to hit Doug in the back of the head with maybe something more than a rolled up newspaper. He was kind of our Ron Burgundy, you know? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Anyway, we're on the air now. It's at six o'clock. And his wife, Mona, is about to introduce me. And she goes, and now here's, oh, Mona, Mona, I have to interrupt you.

Before you introduce Al. Al, I don't know if you know this, but last night, one of your people attacked me. Oh, my God. Attacked me. Oh, my God. Attacked me. So, you know, it's one of those moments where time stands still. So I'm going through the catalog, the Rolodex. Okay, what are my reactions here? Do I just erupt in rage?

Do I yell at him? Do I just erupt in rage? Do I yell at him? Do I ignore it? So I look at him and I go, Doug, why would a weatherman attack you? And then just launch into the weather. Switchboard lights up. People are outraged. He ends up getting suspended. And then he's demoted from anchor to reporter.

And like six or eight months later he leaves and he his wife has to leave and in solidarity and they oh they were like co-anchors yeah they were co-anchors oh wow and and they ended up in columbus ohio and had a very successful run there yeah but but you know was like, it's those little things that, and I'm sure if I had said to Doug, Doug, that's incredibly racist. Yeah. He would not have seen it. Right.

But, you know, it's those little microaggressions that, you know, you put up with. No, it's, yeah, it is a cluelessness. It is just an absolute cluelessness that, you know, because he probably, you were probably like the, you know, the black person he talked to the most in his entire life, you know what I mean? Well, and it was one of those you know at the station everybody was very friendly we had been to everybody everybody had been to everybody's homes it was yeah it was never you know an exclusion sort of thing and i think in his mind you know it just it wouldn't it wouldn't have occurred to him that that was an issue no you know there was you know there was a very

well and you know and it's there's just this very old-fashioned, old-person way of clumping people into groups. Yeah. You know, it's like, I mean, it's, you know, old people sit around and they talk about, you know, ah, the Greeks. Yeah. You know, like, why does everybody have to be part of, you know, like they're all of a plot in a flock, you know. Were there many people of color on TV at that time? I mean, I would think in local news. In local news, you know, there were several, you know.

I mean, it wasn't, you know, chock-a-block like it is today. But I was their first African-American weatherman in Cleveland. Did they have other African-American personalities? Yeah, they had other African-American weatherman in Cleveland. Did they have other African-American personalities? Yeah, they had other African-American reporters. There was an anchor guy, Leon Bibb, who had been there for a long time. Yeah. I mean, absolutely. Yeah.

But, you know, it was, and it's far more diverse now than it was back then, gosh. Yeah. I was there from 1978 to 1982. Oh, wow. And did you like living in Cleveland? Was Cleveland all right? I did. I lived on the east side in Shaker Heights, Ohio.

Yeah. It was one of the first, interestingly enough, it was one of the first communities in the 70s that strove to integrate and they really worked at having a diverse community. Yeah. And so it was these great old homes. Yeah. And it was what they called the Rapid. It was like a trolley that ran from downtown to Shaker. I loved living there.

I had a great time in Cleveland. How does, I mean, just because I'm curious, how do you find new jobs as an anchorman or as a weatherman? Do you, are there trade magazines? Oh, it is agents in there. Yeah. There used to be a magazine called Broadcasting.

First it was called Broadcasting. Then it was Broadcasting and Cable. And in the back, there were all these classified ads for different jobs. Camera people, on-air people, directors, people like that. I don't even think the magazine exists anymore. But toward the end of my tenure in Washington, a guy you might have heard of, Maury Povich, had an agent. And he recommended me to his agent, a guy you might've heard of, Maury Povich had an agent and he recommended me to his agent, a guy named Al Geller. And was Maury an anchor at that time?

Maury was an anchor at WTTG. And his wife, Connie, Connie Chung, was working at WTOP, the CBS station. Wow. Yeah. It sounds like there wasn't really a lot of competition. It sounds very collegial. was working at WTOP, the CBS station. Wow. Yeah. It sounds like there wasn't really a lot of competition. It sounds very collegial, like you were all supporting each other. It's nice. It generally is.

Look, yeah, we work at different stations. I mean, heck, my wife works at ABC. Yeah. But, you know. You say that with disgust. I know. ABC. She's owned by Disney. I mean, let's face it.

How much imagination when you go with ABC? You know, come on. But, you know, everybody's, I think everybody's pretty collegial. Yeah. I mean, you even get along with some of the folks at Fox, you know? Yeah. Not all of them. That's really nice.

I mean, it's nice because, I mean, in every other kind of show business, I mean, yeah, there's support and there's all that stuff, but there's also like real sort of enmity and jealousy and competitiveness oh we've got plenty of that oh we got plenty of that but you know uh but you know there's also a camaraderie camaraderie that that yeah that exists across across the networks and and the local stations you know yeah i mean you know some of my best friends you friends work at CBS, a couple of work at ABC. But, you know, I'm a firm believer of live and let live. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

No, and I always, the thing that I always want to tell people, you know, from a different area, but in comedy and, you know, whether you're a writer or performer or stuff i always want to tell people there's plenty to go around yeah like you know you have this reductive kind of zero-sum idea in your head that oh that and especially early on when i was starting out somebody would get a big job and i'd be like god now there's no jobs for me you know and it's like no there's there's plenty there'll always be there'll always be something for somebody to act a fool i mean if you've got if you've got the talent uh you know i i remember i was still i was still in cleveland and uh uh you know we we divided uh the book up into altruisms and uh little chapters and and one of them, I talked about that you never know.

You've got to set your sights. I remember getting a New York, you remember the magazine, New York Magazine. And it was like 1982. And I'd gone out to get the mail. And I pulled out of my mailbox, New York Magazine. I subscribe because, you know, I'm a New Yorker. Yeah, sure. There on the cover

is the cast of Live at Five. It's Jack Cafferty, Sue Simmons, Chauncey Howell, Frank Field, Liz Smith, all these people, and Pia Lindstrom. And I'm looking at it and I said, I will never be part of anything this big.

Wow. But it's okay. Yeah, yeah. And then, you know, two years, a year later, I'm working at WNBC. Yeah, yeah. And I'm just doing weekends, but thrilled, you know, because my mother can actually

turn on the TV and see me. I was going to say, when you come back to New York, that's got to be a thrill. I mean, especially if you want to come back, you know, if you didn't have your sights set on L.A. or something like that. No, this is, I mean, it's where I grew up. I mean, I had the misfortune, if you will, of growing up in the biggest market in the country. of growing up in the biggest market in the country.

Yeah. So if I had grown up in Cleveland, I probably would have been happy in Cleveland. Yeah. Staying in Cleveland. But, and so there was something, and it's still to this day, you know what it's like to walk into 30 Rockefeller Plaza. Yeah.

There is no other building in broadcasting in the world like 30 Rockefeller Plaza. It is history unto itself. It sounds corny, but I still get a thrill walking in there, looking at those murals up on the wall and the art

deco tiling. It's unbelievable unbelievable and to think yeah look you worked you know you worked in in 6a you know yeah and and i mean that's a legendary studio all the shows that went on there you know i got to work work in 6b where where they did the tonight show originally from new york you know it it it boggles the mind. Yeah. Yeah, no, it's, it, it is absolutely true. And that's one of the things that I, uh, always will feel privileged to have gotten to work in that place, to have my own office in that building for seven years and to get that experience and just, just how, and I mean, and I appreciated it at the time,

but I don't think I appreciated it like I do now. Like I didn't realize how like kind of special and magical and especially to like what our show ended up. One of the things I'm proudest of is the fact that I was on a show that meant something to young up and coming comedy people. Yep. The way that the important shows when I was young and up and coming and thinking like,

maybe I can do this for a living. And those formative shows for me, I will always feel like, you know, there was sort of, you know, absent mentors of me. And there's people that talk to me as if I've been something like that to

them. It's amazing. It's really, it is wonderful. And I'm the same way when i go on you know we work on the warner brothers lot and there's times i walk to the commissary and i feel so giddy with excitement because i'll see like a horse and somebody in a cowboy outfit and then you know like and then whatever you know whatever like uh you know the

batmobile like you you know you walk to like, you know, the Batmobile. Like, you know, you walk to work sometimes, you walk to the commissary and, oh, shit, there's the Batmobile. Oh, cool. You know? Yeah. Yeah. And that was the other thing. I mean, we're doing news, but literally across the hall, there's this comedy show going on that, you know, all these people.

And it's like, I know them. I've been on their show. Yeah. It was the wildest, you know, period these people, and it's like, I know them. I've been on their show. It was the wildest, you know, period of time. Yeah, yeah. And, you know, and it's changed now, obviously. I mean, you've got, obviously now, Jimmy's in the studio we were in, you know, but it's all, you know, everything changes. It's all changed, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, the lobby's changed, too. I like the. It's all changed. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, the lobbies changed too. I liked the old-fashioned lobby when I moved in there with that big old coffee shop that was downstairs. And now it's all kind of touristy, gifty shops. But it was a functioning workplace. You know, like it had, you know, in the basement there was a drugstore and places to get your shoe shined. And, you know, like you can get all your stuff done. That's still there. Is that still there?

Yeah. Eddie's shoe shine is still there. Best shine in New York. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So how does, and does it just evolve when you come back to New York and you're on the affiliate? Does it just kind of slowly evolve?

You're in the building and people get used to it. Yeah. It was one of those weird whirlwinds. I mean, I'd been doing the weekend weather. And like two nights a week, Saturday, Sunday, I'm doing weekends. And then three nights a week, I'm doing, or days, I'm doing feature reporting for, you know, live at five and the six o'clock news. And six months in, Frank Field, who was the preeminent weatherman in New York, probably in the country. I remember him. Yeah, I remember his name.

Got into a contract dispute and left to go to Channel 2, CBS. And all of a sudden, I'm thrust into doing the weekday show and the weekend show. I worked for eight weeks with two days off. Wow. And then they made me the weekday show and the weekend show. I worked for eight weeks with two days off. Wow. But, but, and then they made me the weekday weatherman and it was like this really surreal,

like, wait, no, I, I'm not supposed to be doing this now. I've only been here six months, you know? And,

and like, you know, in anything, like whether it's comedy or whatever, you never want to follow a legend, you know? Yeah. Yeah. Cause that's just tough, you know, in anything, whether it's comedy or whatever, you never want to follow a legend, you know? Yeah. Because that's just tough, you know, but it was okay. And it was also because I had been filling in for him so much.

I think people were used to me. But it was one of the most terrifying. I wrote in the book, it was one of the most terrifying moments because we were on our way to one of those upfront things for our local station. Yeah, it's a promotion. For people that don't know, it's like you go and you go and sit in front of advertisers and TV writers and sort of get poked at and ask questions. Yeah, and I'm in the car with Jack Cafferty. And they're going to introduce me as the new Monday through Friday weatherman following Frank Field. And Jack Cafferty, just before we get out of the car at the New York Hilton, he says,

Wow, so you're going to be replacing Frank Field. Big shoes. I sure as hell wouldn't want to be you, young man. And then gets out of the car. I literally almost started to be you, young man. And then gets out of the car. I literally almost started to cry. Yeah, yeah. I'm going to die.

Yeah, but it's not, you know, I mean, A, that's a shitty thing. Was he kind of poking you on, like, was it a little bit of a poke for fun? I hope so. I think so, but I don think so. Yeah, yeah. I don't know.

Yeah, yeah. Can't you tell my love's a crow? Well, now, when you say, you said at one point before, like, that you weren't ready to say, like, be on an affiliate and doing that. What's the difference between being ready and not ready in, in doing the weather for, for TV? Is it just a sense of, of owning it?

Is it, I think it's a comfort. I think it's a, a confidence, you know, that, you know, okay,

I can do this. I, I, you know, I'm, you know, that you, you,

you, you're not, I mean, I'm nervous every time I get ready to go on. But it's like a good nervous energy. Yeah. As opposed to, am I going to screw this up today? Yeah.

Although there is still a little bit of that. Because on any given day, I think it could happen. Sure. But no, I think it's um uh you you want it you want you don't want to screw up you want to do good you're excited about what you're doing but uh you know and and reaching that point of comfort to be able to use that energy uh you know it takes a while yeah um yeah because it's it does seem like you know because the work is the same whether you're in syracuse or whether you're in new york you're you know that you're just filling in a different blank of a different climate of a

different place yeah but you're also and you're also i mean tell me that yeah well you but you're also working with a certain amount more of pressure. Stakes are higher. And I think you're also working with a, not to say that there aren't great people in all levels of this business, but you get to New York and you're working with, hopefully, the best of this business. But, you know, you get to New York and you're working with, you know, hopefully the best of the best. And so now you've got to step your game up. You know, you become aspirational. You want to be as good as these people. You don't want to look bad. And so I think as you progress up the ladder, you know, it's a whole new kind of pressure. And then there's just that comfort level that becomes, you know, with your co-workers, your co-hosts, you know, this unspoken language.

I'm sure, you know, it's like you and Conan, you know. Absolutely, yeah. In the beginning, you know, you're feeling each other out. You're trying to get each other's rhythm. And you go back to Carson and McMahon, you know? Yeah. It's that, you know, you develop this sixth sense with each person. And not to get too zen about it, but, you know,

I know when Hoda or Savannah's going to do something or say something or they have a sense that I'm going to jump in. It just happens. Yeah. And how long are you on the WNBC news before you start doing the Today Show? Is there a transition or does it just go whole? You just go from one to the other? No, it was a real transition.

Yeah. I started at WNBC in 1982, December of 82. And then I started filling in for Willard Scott around 1986, you know, day here, day there, and then started filling in for him a little bit more a little bit more then in 1987 they started the sunday today show and i i got that job so now i'm working six days a week uh uh and filling in for willard more and more to the point where in 1995 he by by 1995 i was basically filling in for willard Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays

and still doing the 5, 6 and the 11 on WNBC and then in 1995 he decided to kind of semi-retire and so I got his job so I was doing the 5 and the 6 and the Today Show, 5 days a week Is this 5am and 6am? No, 5 and the 6 and the Today Show five days a week. Right. Is this 5 a.m. and 6 a.m.? Is that what you're talking about?

No, 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. Yeah, that's what I was going to say because you're at the station all goddamn day then, aren't you? Yeah. Wow. What do you do in between? I mean, you must have hours off in between where you'd, you know. Yeah, you'd go home, take a nap, hang with the kids. Yeah, yeah. And then you'd go home, you know, take a nap, hang with the kids. Yeah, yeah.

And then you'd come back in. And then eventually, after three years, it got a little old. And finally, I transitioned off of WNBC and Janice Huff took over, you know, 5, 6, and 11. So, but, you know, it was, you know, but even though I knew I needed to do it, I was kind of loathe to let it go. Because it's also that you never know. I like having a backup plan. Right, exactly. Yeah, and you know that that's steady and it's there.

At what point does a family enter this? When does your first kid come along? Well, I adopted my first daughter, Courtney. She was born in 1987. And we adopted her a few months after that. And that was with my previous wife. And she was around, she was 11. I had been divorced at that point.

And she was 11 when Debra and I had Lila. Lila came along in 1998. And then we had Nick in 2002. Yeah. So, you know. So they're spread out. They're spread out. Yeah.

They really are. They really are. Although it's funny, obviously different spouses. My baby brother is 17 years younger than me, same parents. He just turned 50, and it's kind of weird. Yeah, yeah. My baby brother is 50 years old. Yeah.

Yeah. Oh, I know. I know. I know my, my baby brother and sister are, well, what are they? 44. And that's like, they shouldn't be in my mind. They're always about 14. Exactly. Now they're 44 and got kids and mortgages and yeah. So does, is it hard? Are you accepted right away? Like mostly by the public, I would think, when you get onto the Today Show. Well, I mean, you sort of eased into having that presence. Yeah, you know, it's funny. I've always had this kind of ease in.

When I got to WNBC, I was filling in for Frank Field constantly so that when he left, people were used to me. Same thing with the Today Show. And by the way, Willard made that so easy. He gave it his blessing so that it wasn't like, oh, here's this young whippersnapper coming in and taking over for Willard. It was kind of a natural transition. and had taken over for Willard. It was kind of a natural transition. And you also, I mean, and he had already sort of set the precedent

of being more than a weatherman on the Today Show, talking to people and kind of also being expected to kind of weigh in on banter and stuff, which most weather people, you watch most affiliates, you get the sense they don't want to talk to the weather you know yeah we're keeping them out of the conversation we're not we're not it's it's it's it really is like the movie anchorman you know yeah it's it's that but i you know that and that's

one of the things that i i loved about writing you look so much better in person and that you, you, I get to give people a little behind the scenes that the fact is that, that you, you really can go for things that you didn't even think you were going to go for. I, people have said to me, oh, the Today Show must be a dream job. No, it never dawned on me to do the Today, to dream about it. I was so thrilled when I got the Monday through Friday job at WNBC that I thought, this is great. I mean, the idea of the Today Show wasn't even a glimmer. And, oh, here we are. Yeah, yeah.

Now, you've really, I mean, I got this, you know, I do a little bit of research or someone does it for me and prints things out. You know, I do a little bit of research, or someone does it for me and prints things out. And there's just so much stuff here that is like, well, the Roker-thon, you did a nonstop 34-hour weather forecast to break the world record. What year was that, in 2014? I think so, yeah, yeah. Yeah. It was some Swedish woman.

We had a kicker in the news. Some Swedish woman. Some Swedish woman. The Greeks. Yeah. kicker in the news. Some Swedish woman. Some Swedish woman. The Greeks. The Swedish woman did a live broadcast for like 24 hours. And when they came out and they tossed the weather, I said, heck,

I could do that standing on my head. And so afterwards, my producer says, that's great. We'll do it. I said, do what? Break the world record. said what and so uh i mean what do you do like it's still sunny yeah yeah and four minutes late it's still sunny and you know it was funny because it was one of the first times i mean you know streaming live streaming all that stuff just was kind of coming into vogue. And so what we decided was I would do a live weather forecast

to all these different affiliates across the country. And in between, we would be on today.com. And so it was this weird hybrid that nobody had ever done before, really. And so, you know, the idea is you've got to be on the air live and you get five-minute breaks every hour. Well, my thing was I'm just going to keep going and just accrue the five minutes. And so I took my first break maybe like five hours in.

Yeah. And I had to go to the bathroom and our audio guy because again it's it's not like real live tv it's it's streaming and anyway he doesn't turn off my mic so and they're just running like weather graphics but you hear me, and my producer bangs on the door and goes, your mic is hot. And I come back out. It's like from Airplane. I mean, Police Story, Police Squad. Anyway, I come back on.

I go, that, ladies and gentlemen, is your first example of live streaming on TV. Here we go. Oh, that's great now i also this is this is you now you reprise that you did roker thon 2 reporting weather from all 50 states and roker 3 which was just colleges and breaking world records at each one yeah we broke this we broke we broke five college records in five days, which nobody had done. Which were? So that was its own record. Longest conga line on ice skates.

Longest crab walk. Longest, I'm trying to, most students forming the school letters. And I can't, there's one more that I cannot remember for the life of me but, oh longest longest it's one of those game, ball games like, not dodgeball

but something like that, but anyway like kickball or something, anyway so we did those five and actually we're about to do another one where we make 50 sandwiches live from all 50 states. I will be in one spot, and we will throw to chefs making sandwiches all over. Wow. That's amazing.

Oh, and they said there's no ideas left. Uh-uh. We're churning them out. It's going to be live streaming on Peacock, baby. Yes. Now, here, these are some of the, this is, you made your Broadway debut when you played Joe in the musical Waitress, and you also co-authored a murder mystery series. Yes.

Featuring a celebrity chef turned amateur detective. What? Leave something for the rest of us al when will it be enough when will it be enough i in i i and i've written 13 books i know and this is my 13th you had all your own show you know do you still do food network shows or no no we don't do that they don't do yeah but you would i mean you were doing those for so long and i was like how does he do his children know his face at this point he's so he does everything they call me uncle daddy but you know i i in fact in in and you look so much better in person i talk about how i you know, in fact, in You Look So Much Better in Person, I talk about how I interviewed William Shatner once. And I said, you know, Bill, you're going to be 86 years old at the time.

I said, and you're busier than ever. How do you stay so relevant? He goes, Al, I never say no. I always say yes. I mean, what's the worst thing that can happen? You've heard my albums. And I thought, you know, and my agent called and he said, the producers at Waitress are wondering if you'd be interested

in coming into the show. And I said, I suppose they want me to play hunky Dr. Palmitter, right? He said, no, they want you to play old Joe. Old Joe. Yeah. Yeah. Guys like 70 plus, like 80, like the guy who was in the play before me was 80 years old. Anyway, I said, I don't, and I'm telling the family this at dinner. And my daughter, Lilo,

who at the time was at LaGuardia School of Performing Arts, doing musical theater. She said, dad, how do you say no to Broadway? I mean, come on, dad, you've got to do this. I said, sweetie. She's got a point. Yeah, exactly. It was kind of like, and I said, but on, dad, you've got to do this. I said, sweetie, she's got a point. Yeah, exactly. I see.

It was kind of like, and I said, but, but I got to sing. She goes, dad, I've seen the play. You only have one song and it's two minutes. You can talk on pitch. And so I, I got a, I got a voice coach and, and, and you know what, Andy, I'm going to tell you, it's, it's been one of the greatest, it was one of the greatest professional experiences of my life. I bet. I never, look, you guys, you know, when you do a show in front of a live audience and

so, you know, you get that instant gratification, you get that feedback. You know, we do a live show but you know every day but you know there's no audience really i mean yeah yeah you got people outside yeah you get people outside but it's not the same yeah this i know now why actors have the egos they have you know it it is it it is intoxicating yeah you know to that first you walk out and you get that applause and it's like oh my god this is fantastic i mean yeah it was and i yeah and i was doing the today show and you know eight shows a week and i did that for for 12 weeks yeah but it was i was great that was yeah that does sound great uh it's a lot of fun.

Now, can I, can we talk about the gastric bypass? Is that okay? Yeah, sure. Yeah, sure. Because I mean, because you were, and I'm, and as somebody, you know, as, as somebody that for me, you know, somebody that's struggled with my weight, my entire life, and in many ways, you know, shaped my identity and shaped my neuroses and shaped a lot of you know a lot of thought patterns that i've had to undo in therapy over the years you know absolutely like learn to not hate myself and all that kind of thing i mean i i know that you

struggled for years and years and years with your weight. And, I mean, what made you decide, like, I got to go ahead and do this surgery? Well, here's the deal. My dad, in 2001, in July, was here. I'm looking at our pool. My dad and my mom, they asked me to put Sinatra on. So I'm playing Sinatra. And they're dancing in the pool together. Hey, get a room!

I mean, they just... Anyway, he had been complaining a little back issue. Long story short, turns out he had stopped smoking 35 years earlier. But he had lung cancer. And it was pretty well advanced. And so one day, my routine was I would go to, I would go to visit him before I'd go to the Today Show each morning at Sloan Kettering. And then I'd stop by on the way back and,

and stop by and see him. And this one morning, you know, I just lost it. I don't know. It was, it was tough. And, and, and he said, listen, come on, come on. It's, I'm not crazy about the fact I'm not going to make 70. He was 69 years old. He goes, I'm not going to make 50 years with your mom. He missed it by like five months, six months. He said, but yeah, I've had a great life. I'm proud of you kids. I've got, you know, I got nothing to kick about, really. Because the only thing I'm worried about is you.

They said, we both know I'm not going to be here to help raise my grandchildren. And we've been going round and round about your weight for as long as I can remember. You've got to promise me you're going to do something about this. Because I just, it's the only thing that I'm worried about. It's like. Wow. And I said, I promise. You know, I want you to swear to God thing that I'm worried about. It's like. Wow.

And I said, I said, I promise. You know, I want you to swear to God you're going to do that. He said, I swear to God, yeah. And that afternoon I got home. I got, I came back to the hotel room. I mean, the hospital room. And he had lost the ability to talk. The cancer had kind of hit his brain.

And he was gone two weeks later. He had lost the ability to talk. The cancer had kind of hit his brain. And he was gone two weeks later. And New Year came. And ironically, my wife had done a story for 2020 about gastric bypass, this family that had had gastric bypass. And to be honest with you, Andy, I'd looked at it maybe a year and a half earlier. But back then, they were doing it where they literally cut you open from here down to your abdomen and split you open. Well, by this time, the technology had gotten to the point where they could do it arthroscopically.

They make five incisions and they do it. And so in March, I decided to do it. And so in March, I decided to do it. And it was a month before I was scheduled that I finally brought Deborah in to tell her and meet with the doctor and that my mind was made up, I'm going to do this. And I didn't tell anybody at work. I took vacation and had it done. Had it done. And, you know, I had no side effects, really. I was losing weight. The problem was I hadn't thought through the part that, oh, you're going to lose a lot of weight. You're going to lose it fast.

So people start calling in, is Al Roker sick? Is Al Roker? You know, their tabloid stuff, Al Roker has cancer and stuff like that. And so we finally had to come clean about it. Yeah. I mean, I didn't tell anybody I worked with. I was embarrassed about that. But when was it? What year was this?

It was 2001. Okay. And to your point, I was ashamed. I was ashamed of the fact that I had to resort to this extreme surgery to lose weight. And it took me going to therapy and finding that, look, it's just the ends to the means. It's not the be all and end all. You still have to do work to maintain the weight loss.

I've kind of gone up and down. My mom got sick a few years after I had the bypass, and I was driving every day out to North Shore, Long Island, Jewish, and spending literally two and a half hours in the car each day and spending time at her for three months. And I gained 40 pounds back eating poorly. And then kind of got it back together after she passed, and my dad wouldn't want this.

But it's still a struggle. Every day is a struggle. Every day. kind of got it back together after she passed and you know my dad wouldn't want this and but you know it's it's still a struggle every day is a struggle every you've done well you've done amazing for that long you know i mean it's now going on 20 years and and you pretty much have kept it off and that's really you know it's amazing it's something that you don't you don't you know i just recently but i mean i had a huge life change. My wife and I split up and I lost 40 pounds. Oh, thank you. I lost 40 pounds just that started out because I couldn't eat.

You know, I just was, it was just awful and I couldn't eat. And then, you know, after a few months, I was like was like well i'll just keep up this momentum um and i did pretty good for a while and then this goddamn covid hit and you know but i also too i started to slowly like get comfortable again yeah and i started to you know put weight back on and it is just like i try to look at it so that I don't beat myself up. It's like, everybody's got something, you know, everybody's got something that adds an extra, just, you know, adds an extra sort of like F you to their day. Like, you know, you go through your day and you're doing whatever, but like, like me, I got to worry about past eight o'clock shoving food in my face, you know, or, or just like, I did, I did this podcast live in San Francisco with Rachel Dratch.

And we took questions from the audience at the end. It was really fun. And at the end, we took questions and somebody asked us both, like, what would you tell your younger self? Like as advice. And I said, seriously, the only thing I would say is learn to love cardio. asked us both like what would you tell your younger self like as advice and i said seriously the only thing i would say is learn to love cardio just try to learn to love cardio because i still fucking hate it so please i've got it i've been doing this thing and you know one of the things i learned from my wife deborah as i is that you know i was one of these people that if I'm going to do anything, I have

to be a hundred percent. So if I'm working a food plan, if I stray, it's a failure. Well, to hell with it. And I'm just going to go now. Or if working out, if I can't work out for an hour, well, then to heck with it. And instead, it's like, you know what? I found that I'm most effective working out for 30 minutes. Yeah. And so during this COVID, I've been working out with my trainer, the Zoom thing, you know, five days a week, but for 30 minutes. And, you know, cumulatively, it's still work, but it's like, I can deal with that. I can do that, you know cumulatively it still worked but it's like i can deal with that i can do that you know uh yeah but but it's you know it it is still you know i still have a different i'll say

to deborah is this tight does this this looks tight and she's like it looked great but i'm so used to wanting stuff loose because you know you feel like well it camouflages your body yeah yeah you know you want to hide yeah you want to hide this stuff well what uh what is there anything you haven't done that you that you know is there anything that's kind of that you wish you know you'd accomplished or is there anything in the future that you think, like, I'm going to open my own muffin bakery or something like that? You know, I would love to open up a barbecue place. But, you know, restaurants are such a crapshoot.

That is like, boy. I mean, that would be a vanity thing. And it probably would not succeed. But you never know. And also, do you really want to spend all that time you know it's either either you're a dilettante and you hire someone else to do it right or you go spend your life at a gd restaurant you know it's like it's rough yeah yeah so so i you know i've i don't know i i guess and that's been part of it yeah i it's something i i kind of allude to, and you look so much better in person.

I never know what's coming down the pike. You know, if 20 years ago or 30 years ago you would have told me, you know, I'd have worked at WNBC. I would have been on the Today Show. I would have known Willard Scott. I would have done a Broadway show. I've written 13 books. You know, I'd laugh at you.

You know, you're crazy. But I didn't plan any of those things. None of them. Not one of them. So, you know, I don't know what's the next act. Yeah. I'm still trying to hold on to this one. You know, it's a...

It seems like you seem to have a pretty fun life, to be honest with you. And you always have. And I do. And listen, everybody's got something, like you said, but I'm not going to complain. I'm just not because I've been really blessed. And when I say that, that's not to say that people who don't have this kind of life

aren't blessed, but I've just, I've been very fortunate. And I know that, uh, I, I've got friends who are more talented than I am and haven't achieved the level of success that I have. And I think it's so much of it is, you know, happenstance being at the right place at the right time. Uh, you know, we can all look at if, if I didn't do this, then this wouldn't have happened. Yeah. And I pretty much, you know, even from high school, you know, but, you know, I've led if not to be maudlin, but if something were to happen tomorrow, I'd be okay.

Because this has been a really good life. I've got three wonderful children, I mean, that are doing things that I would have never imagined, you know, which is what, how old are your kids? 14 and 19. Okay, so I think what we want for our kids is to live up to their potential to be healthy and to be happy. And my oldest girl is a chef. She wasn't, you know, she wasn't cut out for four years of college, but she took the bull by the horns and

went to culinary school and she's doing really well. I've got a daughter who took a different path to college. She's in her third year, just finishing her third year in college in Paris and is this student with a worldview and she's writing for magazines and stuff and uh as a contributor for today.com uh uh totally unbeknownst to me they they reached out to her and then reached out to me and said we've contacted you because she's she's she's a really good writer and I've got a boy who's got some some special needs but you know at at four years old three years old he wasn't really walking or talking as a kid who's gone on to get a black belt in in taekwondo and wow uh uh you know is a is an accomplished swimmer and is about to turn 18

and and uh uh you know got it just got know, he just finished his junior, his sophomore year, and he got an A minus average, you know. He works like a son of a gun, you know, as a tutor every day, but he does, he puts in the work, and I could not be prouder of these kids, and that's all you want, you know, for them to be finding their own way. No, you said it, happy and healthy, and anything else beyond that, you know, you want to pierce your face, go ahead. If it makes you happy, I'm, I just don't, you know, you want to tattoo your eyebrows on, whatever, you know, look surprised permanently. I don't care. Yeah. Now I've seen, you know, these are extraordinary times that we're in right now. And I can only imagine what it is like to work on a news program, but kind of not supposed to have any opinions about stuff.

And I have seen you actually have some opinions. There's some video of you, and you're not like somebody who goes out on a limb politically but i have seen you kind of say some stuff of like this is crazy and enough is enough and this is you know and i just wonder what's that struggle like for you now i mean it's it's you know is there a lot of pressure from the people above you to kind of like, you know, remain neutral? No. In fact, in fact, it just the opposite. Um, they encouraged it. Uh, my executive producer, Libby least, and my other executive producer on the nine o'clock, uh, Jackie Levin were all in, I, I came to them and I said, I want to talk about this. And then what do you want to do? I want to talk about this.

And then what do you want to do? Yeah. And, and, and I think people need to know that, you know, they think, and listen, I,

like I said, I've got a wonderful life. I really do. But, and, and in some ways insulated from some racism, but on other ways, not,

I mean, my kids, my kids have seen me go into a rage just last year when we got passed up by cab several cabs you know it's still and this is 2000 2001 i mean 2019 2020 and this is still going on i as i mentioned my son goes to high school. He takes the subway. I don't breathe a sigh of relief until he walks in the door every afternoon or at least get his text, hey, I'm home. I'm home. And you have to tell your kid. And look, to a certain extent, yes, everybody should tell their kid this, but especially if you've got a child of color,

that if you're stopped by the police, you have got to make sure that you give them no reason to see that you're mouthing off or causing any problems, because you will be dealt with differently than your white friends. And that's just the way it is, you know? So, you know, and there's a reckoning going on right now. And I'm old enough, Andy, to, I mean, I was in eighth grade in 68 when all hell was breaking loose and people were protesting in the civil rights movement. And I mean, there's an era that gave birth to Al Sharpton. I mean, he, you know, we're two Al's who are both from Queens. And, you know, I mean, you know, he has walked the walk and, you know, really, you know, was immersed in this. But, you know, this today is different.

It's this coalition of young people, of white people, of Asian people, of Hispanics, of all age groups, you know, that are saying, I mean, this George Floyd thing was, it was finally the straw that broke the camel's back. And I think pulled the veil away from people's eyes. That was like, oh my God, the brazenness of it. The disregard for human life was just- And it was for human life was and it was all there to see it was all there to see yeah it wasn't it wasn't at the dead of night you know some grainy distant video this was daytime daylight people surrounded and a a police officer that had no regard for this

man's life i mean could could have been standing on a sack of flour, as far as he was concerned. I mean, really, literally, it was as if he stepped on a bug, in terms of the attachment that he had to this life that he snuffed up. Yeah. And people saw this and were like, and it's like, hey, this goes on all the time. And that's not to say all police officers

are bad they're not obviously most are good it's you know it's a shame that we have to say that we have to say that i know it's but it's like and the reason we have to say that qualifier and this is the thing that i do that like you're right i think it is changing when you say i fear for my son's life when he comes you know i I breathe a sigh of relief when he comes in the door every day. There are people that are committed to keeping that the same. There are people that like, they're okay with that. You know, white people that are okay with that. So, you know, the fact that we have to go through these rhetorical hoops to say that you should not have to feel relief every day that your son comes home, that in order for you to do that,

you also have to apologize for non-racist policemen. And the interesting thing, I think a lot of people see, they say, oh, well, look, we've had a black president. It's had to all be good. In fact, in some ways, it's worse now. Yeah, absolutely. You know, there's this. There were races to sleep at the wheel, and they let a black guy slip through, and then he came back full force.

Yeah, so, yeah, it's, you know, I, it was one of those things that that while it's not something we do regularly, I had no hesitation to say it and to do it. And what was heartening, Andy, is a lot of times, like, it's funny. Over the last five years, I've seen this evolution. Like when I first started talking about climate change, you know, I get this vitriol on Twitter. Yeah, yeah. And that's really kind of come way, way down. And I was expecting maybe something on Twitter about this. And I got literally no pushback from people.

I mean, you got a few people who go, well, isn't it like all lives matter? I said, yes, but all lives can't matter if black lives don't matter. Right, right, right. So, you know, you can have two things that are true at the same time, you know. Yeah. So one doesn't exclude the other. So let's not do that. Let's not do the what about.

I hate when we, yeah, but what about, no, stop it, stop it. As if, again, it's a zero-sum game as if yeah like there's only one kind of like and you know the thing the blue lives matter kills me because nobody's born blue yeah you know you're born black you choose to be blue and then you choose how you behave within that within your blue uniform you know and so yeah no it's uh and that you know especially when you put this up against the fact that the world is on fire literally that you know that the that the seas are beginning to boil that you know the the temperatures in siberia yeah are just in the 90s. It's terrifying. And that we're still quibbling and we're still having to say,

well, there are some good cops. Like, well, the seas are rising. Let's just get past this. We're all humans and we're all going to drown. We're all going to die of famine. Let's put this shit aside and fix the planet. Yeah. Yeah. So I think, and I think that people are far ahead of the politicians where this is.

I think, you know, you look at the surveys, you know, 75 to 78% of Americans feel that, realize that, you know, that there is police brutality now, that there is racism. All these things that, you know, people, you know, 75% of the people, at least, you know, do believe that there is climate change going on. It's all, I mean, in a sense, and I don't mean this to be flip, you know, this pandemic, the only good side to it was that it locked us down. And so that when George Floyd happened, when economic disparity happened, when this pandemic, all this stuff, we couldn't look away. We had no distractions. Yeah.

We were forced to look at this. And so, you know, it's a heartbreak that 130,000 or more Americans are dead and God knows how many more around the world. But if there is any silver lining to this is that I think we are going to come out of this far differently than we went in. Yeah, I talked to W. Kamau Bell about this subject, and he said definitely, he said that George Floyd might not have been the breaking point had it not been for the coronavirus. He said, we're all home. We're all antsy. We're all, you know all antsy we're all you know a lot of people you know are out of work so they can they have they can go out in the street and yell about this because they don't have to go to a job you know yeah and he said yeah it's coronavirus and i and

you're right it is like this has been this has been a really interesting time because in addition to making us force forcing us to to view all of these kind of issues and kind of deal with them and talk about them in a more open, productive way than I think we ever have. It's also like, I don't think it's so bad that we all had to stop for a second. That we all had to stop and that we got to spend a lot more time. I know so many people who silently say to me, I'm kind of loving it. You know, I'm home with my family and it's really great.

Yeah. Yeah. I'm doing this. I'm doing this Instagram cooking show with my son. Oh, we're cooking. You know, it's like two,

three minutes, four minutes. I got to see that. That sounds like, that sounds great. I love that stuff. Yeah. And,

and, you know, we're doing stuff that we just, I mean, we've been playing, we've been doing family game night. Yeah. I mean, playing Trouble and Scrabble. That's great. July 4th, we watched, I got one of these LED projectors.

I put a big sheet up and we watched Jaws in the backyard. Had some friends over. We all socially distanced, had popcorn. Like a drive-in. Exactly. I took my kids to a socially distanced drive-in on Father's Day. That's what we did. We did the same thing.

Yeah, yeah. So, you know, I'm hoping. I feel hopeful. Yeah. Well, I've kept you enough here, so we've got to kind of wrap it up. And, you know, the final question of these three, which, you know, you've answered. I didn't ask them explicitly. But, you know, the final one is kind of like, what's the point of the Al Roker story? Like what should somebody looking at your life and your personality and who you've met

and who you are, what do you want people to take away from that? You know, it's funny because that's kind of toward the end of You Look So Much Better in Person. I kind of distill it that I want, I want people to reach, reach beyond where they think they're going to be. Yeah. I,

you know, I, I, like you said, you know, I had a certain image of myself, overweight, bald,

black. I didn't, I just didn't think that, you know, I was going to do that much. Maybe that's why the idea of being on TV never entered my mind. Radio was something. But I still went ahead for it.

And I didn't say no. I tried to always say yes. And realize that you can't do this all by yourself. Yeah. That you need to have a team. One of my favorite television shows is the A-Team. Yeah. With Mr. T and George Pappard and Dirk Benedict and Dwight Schultz. And there's a scene in one of the pivotal episodes where this anti-A team tries to take them down, a group of mercenaries.

And of course, in the end, they are triumphant. And Hannibal Smith looks at the guy who he's vanquished and said, next time you try to take us out, don't get yourself a squad. Make sure you have a team. And then there's an explosion right behind him you know yeah as he as he lights his cigar but you need to have your team well or you know uh you know the people that you that support you that you support that you can't do this all by yourself nobody gets here by themselves nobody gets to this point i don't care what you do by yourself. You may think you did, but somebody, and usually more than one person helped you get to where you are today.

And that's your team. And that puts the responsibility on you to think about how you treat people. To think you know to like to to you know to be as supportive as you are supported and and to not just you know cut a swath through life not giving a shit about the people around you those people they end up gone they end up like where you don't hear from them anymore yeah and it's you know the decent ones that stick around because it's a collaborative, especially in this, it's a collaborative business, you know? Oh, yeah. I mean, I don't know about being a painter, you know, or a poet, you know,

that I don't know how many painters and poets are hanging around each other. But, yeah, no, in this business, it's collaborative. You got to rely on those people and you got to treat them well. No one has time for dicks, you know? Nope. Nope. Yeah. That's a title of a book right there yeah but there's gonna be plenty or like i know i have plenty of time for dicks don't worry about that well al i'm so i'm so happy that you that you said yes to this and i want it and i mean

because it's been a long time and you used to be it was always such a thrill you know we somebody would you were our go-to because you were in the building and i mean not that wasn't just the only reason but that was the first reason is you were in the building somebody would drop out you would come on and be with us and i almost i can't think of a time when i wasn't happy to have you instead of whoever else it was well i appreciate well and that's just because you are just there is a there is just a goodness in you that just you can't hide and and you're funny and you're friendly and you're great but but what makes you so great is your goodness i mean if you weren't a weatherman i you know i don't you'd be

doing something else whether it's a teacher or you know even if if you weren't a weatherman, you'd be doing something else, whether it's a teacher or, you know, even if you were directing, you would still be sharing that. And I'm so happy you shared it with me today. Thank you. Well, all the best. It's so good to see you. Good to see you, too. When they said Andy Richter's podcast, I said, when? Please.

Okay, good. I love that. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. All right. Take care, my friend. Well, bye, Al, and bye to you out there. We will get back at you next time on The Three Questions.

I've got a big, big love for you. The Three Questions with Andy Richter is a Team Coco and Earwolf production. It's produced by me, Kevin Bartelt, executive produced by Adam Sachs and Jeff Ross at Team Coco, and Chris Bannon and Colin Anderson at Earwolf. Thank you. Richter on Apple Podcasts. This has been a Team Coco production in association with Earwolf.