WTF with Marc Maron Podcast - Larry King from 2013

Episode Date: January 23, 2021

From 2013, Marc talks with talk show icon Larry King about his start in the business, how he got over being nervous on the mic, and the interview subjects who left the biggest impression on him. Larry died on January 23, 2021 at age 87. Sign up here for WTF+ to get the full show archives and weekly bonus material! https://plus.acast.com/s/wtf-with-marc-maron-podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

So Larry King, I get an opportunity to interview Larry King. Larry King is Larry King. Larry King is like a basic element. He's a basic media element. It's like he's one of the things that seems to have always existed as he is. He's pure. He's Larry King. I got the opportunity. I figured, okay, I'll do it. Is he coming over? No, he's not. I got to go to his house. Okay, I'll go to his house. It didn't really turn out the way I to uh for for reasons that will become clear i don't think he knew who i was and that's fine look i'm humble i get it a lot of people don't know who i am but i was going to his house and there was an issue when i got to his house and uh this is what happened uh at the door.

Hi, Lo. How are you? How are you, Mr. King? You're late. What do you mean? It's supposed to be 10 o'clock. I had 10.15. How long are you going to be? All right, let's go.

I was going to do an hour, but you don't... Maybe 40 o'clock. All right. Sorry. Whatever you want. We're going to do it in there. Sorry. Whatever you want. Okay. If you're not into it, I don't have to do it. Five minutes. So that's what I was dealing with.

That was the tone of the situation. Yeah, I wasn't late. I got the information. But like right away, I was like, oh, man, you know, we can do this another time or not at all if that's what you want you know i i just want to have a conversation so that's what i dealt with at the door and now and then i was sitting in his living room i was just sitting there and uh just waiting for him i set up took me the few minutes that i told him would take him and i'm'm just sitting there. And, uh, here, here was, and some of, you know, I I'll, I'll, I'll talk to myself if I'm in the car and I got the mic on, or I'm in someone's living room waiting to talk to

them. So here's, here's me, uh, talking to me apparently, uh, while I was waiting for Larry. For Larry. Fuck. So I'm sitting here in Larry King's house. He thought I was supposed to be here at 10. I came at 10.15 because that's what I had. And he was mad. So.

Told him it would take me five minutes to set up. That was five minutes ago. So I don't know what's going to happen here. But I guess we'll see. I'm just waiting. I told him we didn't have to do it. But that's where I'm at right now. I don't know if he's making me wait as punishment,

but I don't know that this is going to work out, If this is going to work out. Because I'm, you know. I can get angry too. Hello, sir. I apologize for the miscommunication. It is Mark. Sure. Okay. It's nice to meet you. Same here. And I apologize

for being late. It's all right. It's all right. We're gonna, we're gonna be all right. Yeah. So as a, as a guy who interviews people, I'm a guy who interviews people and, uh, you know, I don't, I don't have a particular style, but for you, what is it that you're looking for immediately? Information. Yeah. I think the purpose of an interview is to draw the guest out. Yeah. Listen to answers.

I think listening is as important as what the question you ask. I think you have to be intensely curious. I can't give someone curiosity. I couldn't teach interviewing. Sure. You have to be intensely curious to begin with. I'm insatiably curious. I've been that way all my life.

When I was a kid, I'd get on a bus and ask the bus driver why he wanted to drive a bus. You don't want to sit next to me on an airplane. I'm asking questions all the time. to sit next to me on an airplane. I'm asking questions all the time. So basically, my 56 years in the business, they're paying me for what I would be doing anyway. So you were the kind of kid that you walked down the street, you'd see a guy just working, or you walk into a diner and you want to know what- Why they do what they do. I was a why kind of person. Who, what, where, when, why. I listened to answers. I left my ego at the door.

I think if my whole career, if I used the word I five times, it would be a lot. I never felt I was important except as a transmitter. I was a conduit to the audience. I try to ask the kind of questions that people I thought would be interested in. When did you realize that, though? When did you understand that about yourself, that you were going to let your ego get out of the way? I don't know when it happened. I thought I'd be a sports announcer.

I was always an avid sports fan. I wanted to be a broadcaster all my life. I never wanted anything else. When did you first realize that? I think when I was six years old. I would listen to the radio and imitate radio announcers. Who was your favorite radio announcer? Oh, I liked Red Barber doing the Dodgers.

Arthur Godfrey was a hero. I got to work with both of them later in life. And where'd you grow up? Brooklyn, New York. And I would go around to radio stations. I would go on and watch radio shows. I used to pretend I was an announcer. Honestly, I would go into elevators in buildings

where there were radio stations and i would say to the elevator operator you know third floor please and i just wanted to be an announcer i had a bunch of odd jobs until about age 22 when a friend recommended i go to miami i thought it'd be a sports announcer i was a disc jockey newsman started on a small station you grew up and then one day one day, I was hired to do a show at a restaurant, Pumperdick's Restaurant. I did my own disc jockey show, and then I'd go to the restaurant and do an hour show from the restaurant. And one day, Bobby Darin walked in,

and Mack the Knife was the number one song in America. I had no idea he would be coming. Yeah. And so I couldn't plan for him. And I got to like that. I liked the impromptu-ness of it. I liked off the top of the head. I liked being, to start the cold. I would like to do interviews where someone walked into the room. I didn't know who they were.

And then famous people started to come in. Jimmy Hoffa. Jimmy Hoffa. Ed Sullivan. Yeah. Oh, Danny Thomas. room i didn't know who they were sure and then famous people started to come in jimmy hoffa jimmy hoffa ed sullivan yeah oh school danny thomas a slew of famous people and the miami herald started right about it so i fell into interviewing i never really thought about my style much i never i never said to myself i'm gonna leave my ego at the door i just felt that i was so curious about what the guest was that the guest counted to me uh i wasn't irrelevant but i'd be there tomorrow sure my name was on the show sure so the guest counted did you ever get uh intimidated or frightened at times during interviews where where you didn't know if it was going your way or where you felt like you were.

The only time I was ever intimidated was the first time I did Frank Sinatra because I'd been such a fan of his and Jackie Gleason arranged for the interview. And I was nervous. But I got over that in a minute. In a minute. First time in the White House. A little kind of in awe of the White House. But that goes away because I learned a long time. In fact, I learned my first day on the air that the person whose show it is is in control.

So whether I'm at the White House, whether it's the president or the mayor or the carpenter or Frank Sinatra, I'm in control. You're in control of this interview, not me. Right. So once you know that, once you know you're in control, there's nothing to be nervous about. Right. Right?

Yeah. Okay, because you're in control. And also, don't you find that when you talk to people that they become people very quickly, despite what you may think of them or their public personality? Oh, sure. The mic disappears. The camera disappears. I never thought about how am I doing. I never thought about yesterday's show or tomorrow's show. Today, I was always in the moment a beautiful morning. And I couldn't think of anything to say.

And I thought my whole career was over. And the general manager kicked open the door and he said, this is a communications business. Yeah. You better communicate. And what I did was, I swear to God, I turned on the microphone. Right. And said, this is my first day on the air. I've wanted this all my life.

I've been sitting here for three, four minutes, scared to death. Yeah. So I just want to let you know that I'm nervous. So what I did then, this is in retrospect. Right. I brought the audience into my dilemma. Sure. Okay.

Then nothing could go wrong after that, because if I miscued a record, goofed up a commercial, it's my first day. Right. And they knew it. So once they know that, what am I going to be nervous about? Right. Because I've taken them into my situation. Right. And that was like the last time you used I.

That was it. Yeah, that was one of the last. And also, I've never, after that, I got to say I was never nervous again. My first day on television, I wasn't nervous. I do a lot of speaking. I do comedy tours. I saw some comedy, yeah. I tell funny stories.

I like all of it, and I've never gone on a stage frightened because I know from that first day, it ain't brain surgery. If the story's funny, they're going to laugh. If they're not going to laugh, it ain't the end of the world. That's a hard one to learn. No? I don't know that you learned it. You were able to frame it that way earlier on. I don't have the confidence in life that I have in broadcasting or on stage

because I think it's a control issue. I have two young boys here, 14 and 13. One just started high school. One's still in junior high school. I had to get up this morning and take one to work, and one didn't want to have breakfast, and I had to drop them off. And now I don't know what my wife's going to say today. And then I got a lunch to go to.

But I can't control that. However, if I were broadcasting today right i can control that so the best part of my day is when i'm working the easiest part of my day is by far when i'm working yeah because i can't control life but i can control the situations of radio television speaking i'm in control sure how is it for you now bringing up young kids? Well, I have three grown. Yeah. I have a stepson. Yeah.

And then I have two children. I'm the age of a grandfather. Right. But I'm a father. Yeah. So I go to go to baseball games. I got to take kids to school. Grandfathers don't do that.

Right. Someone said the best part about being a grandfather is you get to go home. You don't get it. I don't get to go home. Is this the most hands-on you've ever been with oh yeah absolutely oh yeah because i have more time with them yeah is it rewarding i'm not running around making it well there's a good and bad with the great part is to watch them grow and to see they're both very athletes and uh both kind of bright very different uh night and, except for being good athletes,

is not one thing they have in common. Definitely. Not one. Yeah. And so watching that develop, and then you think of your age, you know, and we go to all the Dodger games, and sitting the other night with my son,

and I had a vision that he'd be playing with the Dodgers, and he's 14. And then I was thinking to myself oh wait a second logically if he went in after high school and he played a couple of years in the minors maybe he'd come up to the majors when he 24 yeah I would be then going to be 90 so my fear was would I be around right and so you had the problem of aging is you want to be around to see him grow up yeah I hope you're going to be around. Yeah. Was it your choice to have kids at this age?

I didn't think I'd have. I just married a younger woman, and she's much younger than I, and children came. But it's a gift. It is a gift, and I watched both born. I didn't watch my other children born. They didn't allow you in. Well, wasn't there, didn't you have a son that you didn't really meet for a long time? Yeah.

Oh, that was a great story. Yeah? What happened? Yeah, well, I was married to this woman for a short period of time. And we broke up. She said she was pregnant. I didn't know if it was mine. Mm-hmm.

And then years later, I learned I had a child. And he was in his early 30s. And we got to meet. And he's as if I raised him all my life. Really? Yeah. So there was no contention initially? No, it was amazing.

And he met his brother and sister. And he grew up with my name, Larry King Jr. He grew up in Miami. He watched me broadcast Dolphin Games. Before he knew you were his father? Oh, he knew I was my father, but he had a stepfather. Right. Why did he wait so long to meet you, do you think?

I don't know. Yeah. It just happened. Then his mother was dying, and she called and said, you know, you have a son. You ought to meet him, and he's about to get married. And I went down to Florida. I then was living in Washington. I sent a lawyer down first, and he called me up,

and he said, you can take a DNA, but you're going to be throwing away money because this is your kid. And I went down. Obviously, he was my kid, and now he's, you know, it's like nothing. I feel like I raised him. Yeah.

So it's a great story. Yeah. And it's one, I don't know if I'm proud of it, but I, you know, did I shirk responsibility? I wasn't sure I even had a kid. Yeah. But she said I had a kid. But you didn't know. I knew, not knew.

Right, right, right. And does he have kids now? Oh, yeah. I have three grandchildren. He has twins. That's a good one. And then my son has those. My daughter's not married.

How'd you grow up? My father died when I was nine and a half. I grew up with a bunch of friends, three of whom are still my best friends. I grew up in Brooklyn, went to Dodger games. Jewish neighborhood at the time? Yeah, Jewish and Italian. Yeah. We didn't know what a protestant

was yeah um were you religious the family i was bar mitzvahed my mother kept a kosher home oh yeah but i lost that a long time ago i uh my father's death changed my life i was very close to him and then i lost interest in school i never went college. My younger brother went through law school. Is he still around? Oh, yeah. He's 76. The guy's got good genes. Surprisingly, because my father died at 46 of a sudden heart attack, and my mother lived to 76. I always thought that I would die at 46, because he died at 46. He smoked, I smoked. Isn't that interesting when you're young? I had a lucky heart attack i was uh 53 i was smoking three packs a day you miss them the cigarettes uh no no uh but if i had an hour to live i'd smoke yeah because it was a great habit however i got scared to death and never smoked again. I had a heart attack in February of 1987.

And through this driving home, my daughter drove me home from the hospital. And the cigarettes that I'd gone to the hospital with that were in my pocket, I threw into the Potomac River and never smoked again and never reached for a cigarette. Nor wanted one. Now, a psychiatrist friend of mine told me that what happened to me, fortunately, was I got scared to death. So much so that if I had, I never chewed gum or held toothpicks. And that if I had a desire, the fright in me was so great that it went away. So I didn't reach for cigarettes in my pocket.

That's spectacular. It was unbelievable. I don't even take credit for it. It was my osmosis. The heart attack. I mean, you had the bypass and everything else? Five months. I had the heart attack in February and the bypass in December.

What was the feeling after you get a bypass? It seems like, I don't know anyone that's had one, but there's a vulnerability that you feel, a fragility. Well, you feel, first, the amazing thing is you have the weeps. Yeah. Because a stranger moved your heart. That's a real thing. Yeah, they move your heart because they put you on a heart-lung machine. Sure.

The whole process of it, now a lot of it's much simpler. Yeah. This was in 1987. But I'm still close with my surgeon. Yeah. I started the Larry King Cardiac Foundation. We help people who can't afford to to get heart help. Uh-huh.

And he's the same surgeon. He did a Letterman, Cronkite. He did Regis. But you get choked up about things? No, what happened is after a couple weeks, I went down to Florida. And this was funny. I was on the plane with Alexander Haig. Yeah.

And we're in the first class. And he had had heart surgery. And I started to cry. I didn't know why I was crying. And the stewardess came over. And he just said, don't pay any attention. It's the weeps. And it must be the vulnerability.

What happened was, and then I got real healthy. I lost weight. Most people, when they stop smoking, gain weight. I lost weight. I took care of myself. I watched what I ate. Still? Yeah.

I don't exercise as much as I used to, but I walk a lot. Any chance I get to walk, I walk. And the food, you're careful with food? I'm not super careful, but I'm 5'11". I weigh 160. That's good. I was 190. Yeah.

That's the most I weighed was 190. I think when I had the heart attack, I weighed 160. Did you stop going to the deli? I have my own. We have our own bagel store now it's called brooklyn water bagel it's a franchise well i got the beverly hills franchise i'm their spokesperson so in return i got the beverly hills franchise so you don't need to go to nate now's anymore no i go there what once a month for some matzo rye because matzo rye was one of my favorite foods did your mother make it sure yeah my mother made it it was nothing like jewish cooking uh i'm in fact a chef was here the other

day we did a tv show for my internet show which chef uh stone uh-huh chris stone uh-huh and um uh he was here and he was you know going over all the delicacies that he cooks and everything. And I said to him, are you going to cook a meat? Yeah. I said, I like it. Well done. And he goes, I can't cook that. I said, well, just keep cooking it.

I can't. I will not cook that. Right. I said, why won't you cook that? Because he said, that's not food. Right. That's like a container you're eating. Right.

I said, no, it's my food. Uh-huh. I like, I hate red meat. Yeah. I was raised, I just raised, I can't stand to see meat that's red. Yeah. So I'm kosher cooking. I like, I have no religion at all.

My wife's a devout Mormon. Devout? Devout. She goes to church every Sunday. The children, we had an agreement when we got married since I have no religion that she could raise the children. I think it's good ethics. Is she raising them Mormon? Yeah.

My boy goes to Catholic school, Notre Dame High School. And I'm glad to get grounded in a good faith. I have no, I lost my faith in God a long time ago. Why? The more I interviewed religious people. Yeah, but was there a moment? I never got answers. No, I know.

They couldn't tell you for sure? Well, I'm a person, I have to know-know. And if you're a messenger of God, I would ask them, all right, you know the old story, God gave man free will, so he couldn't stop Hitler. Okay, all right, I'll buy that, he couldn't stop Hitler. How about Katrina? That wasn't man's wish, was it. He couldn't stop Hitler. How about Katrina? That wasn't man's wish.

Man didn't start Katrina. And they don't answer it. So they always say the same. We question not the ways of the Lord. Come on. Right. I question the ways of the Lord. Then I remember when I was a kid, while I'm a social Jew,

I like being Jewish Jew I like being Jewish I like Jewish food, Jewish humor I gravitate toward Jewish people I like Israel but the God of the Old Testament I didn't like him slay my enemies

I thought he was barbaric and I didn't like him and he wanted me to fear him. Yeah. And you're teaching me love and fear at the same time. And the Christian faith, I could never bar. But what about faith without God? Is it possible?

Faith in what? In just a human's goodness? Oh, I guess I wouldn't call it faith. Yeah. I think it probably came from the Bible. Do unto others is the only law you need. In fact, you don't need any law in the books but do unto others. Do unto others covers cheating, income tax, red light, murder.

Yeah, that's a good one. Don't lie, I think, is what... Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Don't pass the red light. Don't cheat on your income tax yeah don't screw around with people i think carlin did a big bit on that yeah i know yeah yeah yeah george was a friend of mine and uh we went over that a lot well you know there's that great joke about the rabbi you know in terms because i i was brought up jewish as well and uh i don't i don't really believe in god but you know the joke about the rabbi walking down the street and it starts raining, and then the water's raising up about two feet, and some guys

come by in a car. And they're like, get in the car, we'll take you to safety. The rabbi's like, no, no, God will save me. Then the water's up to his neck, and he's treading water a little bit. And some guys come by in a boat and say, rabbi, get in the boat. He goes, don't worry, God will save me. And then now he can't tread water anymore. It's so high, the buildings are covered with water. Helicopter comes down. They tore a ladder out. He said, Rabbi, get on the ladder.

And the rabbi goes, no, God will save me. And he drowns. And he gets to heaven. He says to God, why didn't you save me? And God says, I sent a car, I sent a boat. It's a tricky thing how you interpret that stuff. I know, but I always say when your time is up, your time is up. Well, if you're on an airplane, what if the pilot's time is up?

You know, I didn't have anything to do with that. Jesus Christ. You can't say Jesus Christ. Which, by the way, you know how he got his name. How? It was in the manger. Uh-huh. And they were trying to figure out a name.

Yeah. And Joseph stood up and hit his head on the top. And he said, Jesus Christ. That stuck. That stick. I like that. That rhythm. Yeah, it does.

Got a little catch to it. Five letters in the first word, six in the second. So the bagel joint, was this a reaction to the lack of ability to find a good bagel in this town? They came to me and they had this idea. They started in Florida, a very good company. They're franchising all over the country. And they said, we make the water. New York City is the best water in America.

And they make the water in a lab. You see it in the restaurant. They show you the machines. Oh, really? To match the New York water? To match the New York water. So they can boil the bagel a lab. You see it in the restaurant. They show you the machines. Oh, really? To match the New York water? To match the New York water. So they can boil the bagel in there. Which is the equivalent. And the water is the difference. That's right. The theme

is the difference is in the water. So the bagel, everyone who comes in says they're back in Brooklyn. Really? Yeah, it's great bagels. Great bagels. It's nice to know that. Do you think, and now this is the question, do you think that because your father passed away at such a young age that part of your your interest and need to connect with people and know about them with some sort of search that might be

true i i never questioned that psychologically i i uh i know i lost something in not having a father because all my friends had fathers and i was like the boy having a father, because all my friends had fathers. And I was like the boy without a father. So maybe that led to the need for, I don't know where it came from. The love to broadcast did not, because I wanted to be a broadcaster before he died. And your first job was just on a radio. Was it a music show? I was a disc jockey. It was an all kind of station, small station.

We had news, sports. I did everything. But I did a disc jockey show in the morning, and then I did in the afternoon, I did sports and news. You know, you learn the business from the ground up. Yeah. And then I got this interview show at a restaurant about two years later, and that's when I started to.

Were you one of those guys that had to go all over the country at times to chase the work? No, no, no. It was all in Miami. My whole career was 20 years in Miami. Then I got the national radio show. We were the first network talk show. And then I always did local television.

I did television much as I did radio. Probably two years of radio and then television started and I always did both. And then Ted Turner came along and I interviewed him a few times and he liked my work and he had CNN

when they were five years old I started on their fifth anniversary and he liked me and hired me and I didn't know what CNN was I didn't have it in my home but it sure took off and that was it that was the game changer huh

for you oh sure well the radio was a kickoff because I got a lot of good write-ups But it sure took off. And that was the game changer, huh, for you? Oh, sure. Well, the radio was a kickoff because I got a lot of good write-ups and a lot of stories about that radio show. Why did you get so much attention? Because it was the first national network talk show, and I was the beginning of talk radio. I get a lot of credit as the beginning of talk radio in America.

Do you like what it evolved into? No, because it became a soapbox screaming yelling idiots and a lot of what i hear is pop nonsense yeah political no real yeah no real discussion political crazies you know npr is good radio but you know the limbaugh's yeah guys are just playing with a loose deck. And a lot of it's an act. Oh, I know. Yeah. They're hot stars.

There's some good broadcasters. I came to respect Howard Stern. Yeah, sure. I used to, when I was earlier on, I didn't buy a lot of that act. But now I understand his maturity and he's matured. Yeah, I think so. I think that's true. He's a very good broadcaster.

But I was raised by the Godfrees. Whenever someone curses on the radio, it still drives me nuts. Does it? Yeah. Just doesn't fit right, right? It's like a violation. Can we pause a second if I had to go to the men's room? Go ahead. Okay.

When you're older. I'm looking forward to it. No, don't. older. I'm looking forward to it. Okay, good. I think what I want to talk about a little bit is your relationship with Jackie Gleason. How did he change your life? When Jackie moved down to Miami to broadcast, I went up to New York and came down on the train with him

and did interviews with him on the train. And then we had a big welcome Jackie to Miami dinner and I am seated so I sat up on the dais with him and uh we got to be friendly and he'd call him to my radio show and then he came on my television show and he saw he didn't mentor me but he he liked me and I made a big switch I went from a channel 10 to Channel 4. Went from the ABC affiliate to the CBS affiliate. And he did all my promos. I mean, he was just terrific to me.

He got Sinatra for me. Sinatra owed him a favor, and that was the return of the favor. He was a pretty, like, huge personality, right. He was larger than life. Everybody was pal. Yeah. Hey, pal. He was at his house. Yeah.

He was gregarious. He called himself a roaming Catholic. He thought a lot about death. The night before he died, I got a call from his pr guy yeah and he made a list of people to call and say goodbye which is very touching he had uh jackie understood uh human behavior he liked my curiosity and he he he was a compelling person to be around because he understood poor he understood being down understood being broke and he lived life larger than life and he uh i he did i i loved the moment i loved being live in the moment and he

appreciated that. He worked live most of his life in television. I worked live most of my life in broadcast. Anyway, they were doing a Honeymooners once, a live musical for an hour at the Miami Beach Convention Center, and it was Saturday night, and I was in the wings watching this show. And he comes off stage for a minute, and he says to me, call Raimondos and tell him I want the spaghetti,

but I want the La Dolce Spaghetti. And the guy yells, 10 seconds. He says, I want that wine. Five seconds, Jackie. And they were doing this, and then suddenly he goes, what, Norton? He went from me, knew right where his line was right into the scene yeah and i went wow yeah he was just so he never rehearsed he had this big fat guy that was a friend of his that did all the scenes in rehearsals and he'd watch that and so he knew all the movements so he had a guy stand in for him correct and so when you

appeared with him the first time you saw him like Bing Crosby said where is he yeah and they do a skit and then suddenly the night is live yeah Jackie would appear and do you think he did that to keep it fresh for everybody keep it fresh but he knew where the yeah yeah the layout right yeah couldn't speak couldn't understand a note of music, yet conducted orchestras for those Capitol albums. Had an instinct. And he understood the broadcast instinct. Well, he sort of was a pioneer in television, I think, right? Oh, yeah.

The Honeymooners and those early shows that Jackie did, the characters he did, the various ones, Reggie Van Gleeson, the bartender, and the poor soul. And he just was a tremendous guy to be around, and it was very sad when we lost him. And the problem with this, as youth goes on, my kids don't know him. And you mention these names to people, and anybody under 30, they don't know Jackie Gleason. Isn't that sad and amazing? Now, I knew people that was before my time.

I knew the greats. Yeah, like who are you thinking? You know, I knew Lowell Thomas, H.V. Caltonmore, and Edward R. Murrow. But these kids today, they don't know Vietnam. They don't know what I'm talking about. There's no real historical context anymore for things. No, because of 24-hour news and eat it up, spit it out. And also the internet.

Nothing has any context. I mean, it's just pictures. It's just bits and pieces. It's in and out. Everybody's a journalist. Everybody blogs. Right. The Twitter.

Now, there's a plus to that yeah and Twitter could start a revolution sure there's no privacy that's terrible however the plus in that is they would have never caught the guys who started those blow-ups in Boston if it hadn't been for cameras everywhere. Invading privacy. Uh-huh. Yeah, but it's a weird, slippery slope, right? Yeah, and that's what Obama faces.

Yeah. In that, where do you draw the line between, when can I know what you're doing if I, it's a different world, right? We know that somebody's going to come up with a nuclear weapon that's in your one hand and you could bring it into the country man so what do you do about that fear while you want to uphold the constitution and i'm a constitutionalist so i don't want you invading my privacy but on the other hand see there's always on the other hand, see there's always on the other hand, however, Hitler made a famous

speech in 1937 in which he said Germany was doing away with warrants. When we come to your home, if the police come to your home, if you have nothing to hide, what do you worry about? But we're in great danger from enemy within in this country. And so why not let us look in your home if you have not? And the German people bought that. Yeah. I would bet that if you made that same speech in America today, 30 percent might say, yeah, I got nothing to hide. Right. I bet you're right.

You're not me. Yeah. You're not coming into my house. Well, the one thing the Constitution protects is that no matter who's in charge, you have those rights. behind right i bet you're right you're not me yeah you're not coming into my house well the one thing the constitution protects is that no matter who's in charge you have those rights see that's it that becomes the tricky thing it's like right now you got a good guy in charge but when they come looking for jews again when you give up your rights right that famous guy who said first hitler said he was only the communists right then he said it was only the jews yeah

and then he said it was only the jews yeah and then he said it was only the catholics yeah and then he said it was me yeah right yep so when you but the weird thing is is i went to you know google the the directions for here and you know because you sold the house that you bought the house that's on record as your house you know and i you know you have that same problem it's weird bus every five minutes right there bus goes by nothing you can do about it. Nothing. People take pictures.

Does it piss you off? Ellen DeGeneres lives two blocks up the road. She had no idea about the tour bus. Yeah. She used to live way up on top of a hill. They never got up that high. Uh-huh. Now she lives on a street sort of near the flats. Yeah.

And she's going nuts. Is she? She's furious? Yeah, she's mad. But you could do it. It's a public street. Right. And they go by and they take pictures. And you could do it. It's a public street. Right. And they go by and they take pictures.

I waved at them. I'm nice. They're nice. What am I going to do? Be mad at people? What are they going to do? Bomb the house? One night, my little boy, when he was 10, went out front and said, yeah, he's in the

bathroom. Do you want to wait a minute? Did they? They waited? They waited. Oh, they sometimes see my car come back and they make U-turns. It's funny to watch this. But that's, you know, Truman said if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.

So I chose a business in which if you do well, you get well known and you pay a price. So I think you owe something back for that price. In other words, the ball player owes the kid the autograph. There's no law that says he has to give it to him, but he was a kid. And you were a ball player because somebody gave you that talent, whether it was God or whatever. You had this talent. I was given this gift of this voice or this curiosity.

Who gave me? I had this great Indian Swami tell me once, who gave you this gift? Right? Yeah. So it's a good way to live. It's impossible to live this way, but he said,

you don't have to believe in God or anything. When you open your eyes in the morning, did you earn that? It's a gift, right? Give thanks to whatever. What do you believe in? You have the right to open your eyes in the morning? Yeah. So give thanks for that.

And then give thanks for everything that happens to you during the day. So if it's raining, so what yeah you know you woke up yeah life's a gift yeah gratis so if i can have the skill to hit a baseball and someone's paying me five million dollars to hit a baseball and a nine-year-old wants me to sign an autograph i'm too busy for that are you crazy so i'm not gonna smile for a tour bus when I'm living in this freaking house that if my mother and father saw this house, they would faint? Yeah. You never forgotten.

That's what I liked about Jackie. Gleason told me a great story once. The first appearance Elvis Presley ever made was on the Jackie Gleason summer rerun show hosted by Tommy Dorsey. And in order for an act to appear on the show Gleason wanted to see them. So Presley came in like audition

and he called him over and he said listen kid, you're going to be famous. You're going to be real big. I want to give you a bit of advice. Go out. Don't stay in. Go out. Don't stay in. Go out. Talk to people.

Because if you stay in, you're going to be the loneliest guy in the world. Jackie went out. Always socializing. Hello, how are you? Presley hid in the house. And look what happened. Died on the toilet. Yeah.

Alone. Alone. Sad. Jackie went out. Yeah. He had a good time, Jackie. Jackie lived. Jackie had a good time.

Jackie, he knew how to drink. Mm-hmm. And he knew how to, he wasn't a carouser like with women and stuff like that. He was, but he was. You liked to stay up and party. Yeah, he was genuine. He was afraid to fly. But he flew. Yeah. to stay up and party. He was genuine. He was afraid to fly. Yeah.

But he flew. Yeah. To work with Laurence Olivier in London. Uh-huh. They did a two-character show for HBO. I don't know why HBO doesn't show it more often. Great story. I'm trying.

Gleason loved the script. Yeah. Olivia played an Englishman whose wife had just died. Right, right. i kind of remember and the american gleason went over for the funeral and gleason had had a 25 year affair with that man's wife and they're in a bar yeah and the whole hour is just the two of them was it great it was great and that's why he he flew to work with Olivier. Yeah. Out of all the people that you've known in your life and talked to,

outside of Gleeson, who do you find yourself thinking about and missing the most? Oh, I'm not missing. I've interviewed so many. Seven presidents. Sinatra was interesting to be around because he was so complicated. Oh, yeah? Oh, Frank was. Did he not have a good time?

Frank was unhappy. Yeah. Why? Because there was never enough? Nothing satisfied him. When he was in a sad moment, like he said to me once, he said, you know, all my friends are dead. All my friends are dead. It was so sad but he was never

totally happy except when he was on stage you don't think about it his understanding his phrasing if he liked you he could do no wrong if he didn't like you he could do no right there was no grays

life was black or white. And I was lucky enough that he liked me. As Rickles would say, I said to Don, well, what if he didn't like you? And Don would go, you have relatives in New Jersey? He's great. How's he doing? Are you personal friends? Rickles is all right.

Yeah, I talk to him every once in a while. I'll see him every six months or so. We run into each other. He's an old, dear friend. He's still working. He's 86 years old. His son died. That was sad.

Yeah, I heard about that. Larry. Yeah, yeah. But Don and Mel Brooks and all of them. I interviewed Mel. That was great. I was at Sid Caesar's house a couple weeks ago. Mel was there.

Sid's not talking. Right. Oh, yeah. So you're one of the guys that goes was great caesar's house a couple weeks ago no it's not talking right so you're one of the guys that goes up there to sid's house mel goes i don't go no melon and call right and have breakfast every day at the same restaurant yeah westwood and there's still a riot together yeah that's great the 2000 year old man's still the funniest still happens funniest they're living it now yeah they are there is still the funniest. Still happens. Funniest album. They're living it now. Yeah, they are. Mel is the funniest person I've ever known. Yeah. Because he's the classic.

Woody Allen is in that, but not as broad. Mel is the classic Jewish humorist. Oh, absolutely. 2,000-year-old man, if you listen to it carefully, was genius. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I played it with him once. Right. I went up to the New York World's Fair in 1964.

The World's Fair was in New York. In Flushing, right? In Flushing, Brooklyn, Queens. And I interviewed Mel there. That's where I met him. And we played the 2,000-year-old man. And he'd go into it like that. I said, do you want to play 2,000-year-old man. And he'd go into it like that. I said, do you want to play 2,000-year-old man?

You just improvised it? Oh, I just said it. We're here at the World's Fair. What do you think? You're 2,000 years old. He goes, fair? I go, fair? Look at all you see here.

Oh, it's fair. Then he said to me, were you at the first fair? No, the first fair, 183 people came, the whole world. And we held it in a ravine, in a ravine, at the bottom of a ravine. And people rolled into the fair, which was one of the exhibits. And I said, well, what could have been? Look, we have a monorail. You got a monorail?

We had the burning bush. We thought it was a ride. But his best line of all was, what was the big hit of the fair in 003? The big hit was Moses. Moses parted the Red Sea. He did it two times Friday, three times on Saturday, four times every Sunday, six drachmas. And he had a press agent who told him, you keep doing this, Moses, I'll get you 10, 11 pages in the Old Testament. And that mind that can go that quick. Yeah, so quick. And you not know where he's

going to go. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so I'd watch his mind. And he still has that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He still has that. Oh, yeah, he's very quick still. Yeah, I love being around him. So I guess before we wrap up, again, I apologize for the time miscommunication. So marriage, you believe in it?

Well, obviously, I've been in six, seven marriages. I can't even count. Eight, I think, one twice, right? Seven, one twice. Okay. But I never lived with a woman. I never liked spending a night with a woman. I liked to go home.

And if I was in love, I got married because that's where I was raised. And I always felt when i meet people who are married like 60 years yeah all the compromises they had to make yeah all i didn't want to do that yeah so what i loved at 20 is not what i loved at 30 and what i loved at 30 is not what i loved at 40 sometimes i think back to people that i loved. What was I thinking? But I was crazy for them then. And in that time when I grew up, you got married. Now, this marriage has lasted 16 years.

Maybe it's maturity. Maybe the difference in ages. In fact, she was in show business. What'd she do? She was a singer and actress. She appeared in a lot of... She opened forickles oh yeah very good singer and she was so she understood that if i had to go somewhere to do an extra interview uh-huh you know she had her own show on usa network so she's in the business yeah do the business which helped she was a backup singer for the Osmonds.

Her father ran Capitol Records. So even though they're devout Mormons, they're also very showbiz. And they understand the business, which helps. Yeah, helps. Makes life a lot easier. And then having kids, of course. I look up at that picture. Yeah, it's adorable. Yeah, that's when they were

three and two I guess uh huh so you got no regrets no we go to Dodger Stadium and they know that stadium they've been going there since babies

they know it like the back of the hand oh yeah oh yeah and then they run around that's great go to different seats they

sure sit behind the dugout of the visiting team and they yell at the other players it's great great life yeah yeah oh any regrets regrets um if i had one day back in my life the day day I started smoking. Really? Yeah. I'm sorry I smoked.

That's not too horrible. And out of all the powerful people you met? Couldn't name one. But, I mean, were you ever surprised? Like, let's talk presidents real quick, and then we'll finish up. Who surprised you the most as a person, both for better or worse, out of the seven or six? I'll run them down. Nixon, so bright, and yet hung up. Little things bug him.

George Bush I, the best guy in the world. Nicest, sweetest, care about you, concerned guy. George Bush too, great baseball guy. Yeah. He invited me to the White House once. Yeah.

Off the record. Yeah. No interviews, no nothing. We sat down for two hours to talk baseball. Yeah. Let's talk baseball.

That was it. I had just gotten to Washington. So he says, hey, I got to go to California. You want a lift? Mm-hmm. I said, no, I just got here.

He said, oh, jeez, we could have talked baseball for a minute. You love talking baseball, that guy. Reagan for his humor. And the best of all from an interview standpoint was Clinton, was steel trap mind. I like Jimmy Carter for how much he cared about little things in detail. Gerald Ford was a great guy, just a good guy. There's something I like about everyone.

Obama for his mind, I like Obama's mind. And he's so well within himself. By that I mean he's very innered in himself. He's not going to wrap his arms around you. Clinton's going to hug you. So I liked them all for different reasons. The most incredible person probably was Mandela because he was such a single, solitary, incredible figure

and still around. One of the great days of my life was I was in South Africa speaking to her, and I went to his house for lunch, and I had dinner with the clerk, the man who freed him. So here's little Larry, little Jewish kid from Brooklyn. I'm with Mandela and Yeah. On the same day. But I was at Jackie Robinson's first game, and I interviewed him. And so I've lived through history, and I've been on this journey.

I wrote a book called My Remarkable Journey, and I pinch myself every day. I was on relief as a kid. My father died. New York City bought my first pair of glasses. So I sit around and look at me. And yet I'll complain if the plane is late. What am I doing? I got to run.

All right. Thanks, Mr. King. Anytime. Yep. Bye.