Speaker 1: Brad Meltzer birthday boy, Hey, how are you? I love
Speaker 1: happy birthday. I love celebrating with you.
Speaker 2: Oh well, thank you. That's very kind. How are you doing.
Speaker 1: I'm good. I am good. My my son's birthday was yesterday,
Speaker 1: and so I guess have two people I love too
Speaker 1: close together, which is great.
Speaker 3: Very nice, and I'm sure he understands the second, the
Speaker 3: more important one to you, is on you.
Speaker 1: That's all. That's what it said. He was like, why
Speaker 1: is my birthday cakes? A happy birthday Elliott on.
Speaker 3: Hey, so Brad, real quick, before we get to before
Speaker 3: we get to Princess Diana, right, I want.
Speaker 2: To go back. The last time we saw you, you
Speaker 2: were in town.
Speaker 3: You were doing your book tour for the for the Viper,
Speaker 3: the novel that came out, dude, that went number one.
Speaker 2: Congratulations.
Speaker 1: It was you know, this was one of those books
Speaker 1: where you put it out there, you know, and I
Speaker 1: haven't had a thriller out in four years. You didn't
Speaker 1: know what was going to happen, and it was really
Speaker 1: nice to see the Obviously it was you know, in
Speaker 1: the category of where we were. We were the number
Speaker 1: one book, and you know, I said, my family bought
Speaker 1: a lot of copies that week, clearly but obviously so
Speaker 1: thrilled to see people. And I have to say this
Speaker 1: is important is right after I left you, we had
Speaker 1: our first events in Virginia, the one we gave out
Speaker 1: like Viper tattoos. So if you if you ordered early
Speaker 1: and you got them, and I said, the only thing
Speaker 1: we haven't had is a Viper tramp stamp so far,
Speaker 1: and needless to say, at the Virginia event two Elliott
Speaker 1: in the Morning listeners broke that record and we quickly
Speaker 1: had our first Viper tramp stamps. I think you're more
Speaker 1: excited than I was in that moment.
Speaker 2: Oh I was. I was very excited, but.
Speaker 1: I was pretty excited and you were even more excited.
Speaker 1: But it was I trust me. I took pictures with
Speaker 1: the butt crack.
Speaker 2: It was spectacular, Hey, Bret, So let me ask you this.
Speaker 3: Obviously, obviously the book, the book comes out, it sells,
Speaker 3: it goes number one.
Speaker 2: That's great. Has the has the feed beIN? I mean,
Speaker 2: because I mean, what's the right way to say.
Speaker 3: I could I could buy it, read it and not
Speaker 3: like it, but it still counts that I bought it.
Speaker 2: Have you been pleased with the like you said, it's.
Speaker 3: Been four years. Have you been pleased with all of
Speaker 3: the feedback from the book?
Speaker 1: Yeah? I mean, listen, my you know, there are like
Speaker 1: people who will say, hey, you know, why why do
Speaker 1: you list you know, a Corvette doesn't have a backseat, Like,
Speaker 1: they'll find little things that we got wrong in it.
Speaker 1: So that's always a thrill to get from people. But
Speaker 1: you know, I got one yesterday from a police officer
Speaker 1: that came that said, I've never read a mystery thriller
Speaker 1: that left me in tears and like in a happy
Speaker 1: like he was just like this this book moved me.
Speaker 1: And I was just like, that's from like a New
Speaker 1: York ah, right, not the easy you know. And so
Speaker 1: those are the reviews that I care about most. Like
Speaker 1: by the time the book comes out the truth, says Elliott,
Speaker 1: like I know what I've got, Like I trust my gut.
Speaker 1: I was so proud of this book. The Viper to
Speaker 1: me was like one of the best things I've written.
Speaker 1: And whatever.
Speaker 2: As in all.
Speaker 1: Cases, some people will say it's the best and that
Speaker 1: doesn't mean it's right, and some people say it's the
Speaker 1: worst and that doesn't mean it's right. But like, I
Speaker 1: know who I care about in terms of like what
Speaker 1: I've got, and when I get something like from a
Speaker 1: from a brutal cop who walked the beats, like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I'll take that any day. That's the one that counts, right.
Speaker 3: Because we talked about that where it is. It's an
Speaker 3: unbelievable novel. But I think I even said to you,
Speaker 3: you tear up during the book where it's like, whoa,
Speaker 3: why why are my eyes all wet right now?
Speaker 2: Right right right?
Speaker 1: And I think my joke was that's that's an orgasm
Speaker 1: from your eyes. Yeah, But you know, the thing is
Speaker 1: is like I put you know, it's important and I
Speaker 1: don't know you know me a long time. Yeah, we
Speaker 1: know each other two decades now more. And and the
Speaker 1: truth is is like I think I'm just getting more honest,
Speaker 1: Like as I get older, I'm like less afraid to
Speaker 1: put myself in the book, so to speak, and I
Speaker 1: pour myself in there, and I pour like you know
Speaker 1: this moment in the book where like, you know, Zig
Speaker 1: finally calls his mother in law mom, and he's like
Speaker 1: he realized it was you know, he thought it was
Speaker 1: a gift for her, but it was a gift for him.
Speaker 1: And that's not just me being a writer when I
Speaker 1: turned you know, recently, like, I finally my mom has
Speaker 1: been dead, you know, almost eighteen years now, And it
Speaker 1: took me seventeen years before I called my mother in
Speaker 1: law mom again, even though I used to call her
Speaker 1: that when my mom died. I just couldn't do it anymore.
Speaker 1: Oh really, And I finally and I finally was, like,
Speaker 1: you know, I was. We had a birthday dinner for
Speaker 1: me a couple of years ago. I was writing the Viper,
Speaker 1: and I was like, and I called her mom again.
Speaker 1: It was the first time in whatever, all those years,
Speaker 1: and I that I was just bawling, and Corey's like, what,
Speaker 1: I'm like, I thought I was doing it. I held
Speaker 1: back all these years because I thought it was a
Speaker 1: favor to her. I didn't want to upset my mom.
Speaker 1: And I realized it was it was a gift for me.
Speaker 1: And my son says to me, My youngest says to me,
Speaker 1: I I think he calls my mom now, and I
Speaker 1: think your mom would be so proud of what you
Speaker 1: did tonight. She'd love it. And lost it. I lost
Speaker 1: my crow there, right, And so then you're seeing me
Speaker 1: put in the novel those moments that zig has are
Speaker 1: not just made up moments. There. There are moments for
Speaker 1: my life and that's why they hit you, because they're real.
Speaker 3: All right, last two things about the Viper, and then
Speaker 3: I want to get to Princess Diana. Number one. I
Speaker 3: saw you posted a picture of Linda Carter with with
Speaker 3: the Viper. I'm assuming that you know I listen, I
Speaker 3: know you know her and you know the books and everything.
Speaker 3: Does she text you while she's reading the book like
Speaker 3: I do?
Speaker 1: No, you are the only one. No, you are not
Speaker 1: like Linda Carter is I guess the easiest way to
Speaker 1: answer that, but I may and I wish she did,
Speaker 1: like I would love for that. Like, no, you're you're
Speaker 1: a text of the best of because you're reading The
Speaker 1: Viper and you're just like, oh my gosh. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: text in real time and I can see how factory
Speaker 1: and I know when you text when you're like I
Speaker 1: can't believe you did this, and then like whatever, twelve
Speaker 1: minutes later, I'll get out of the text like dude,
Speaker 1: dance and I'm like, and I know, oh, you're not
Speaker 1: gonna believe who the killer is in this one. And
Speaker 1: then I'm just waiting for that call, and so I
Speaker 1: love your text because they you know, a novel you
Speaker 1: never get to. The only person it happens with is
Speaker 1: my wife because she's sitting here and I usually I'm
Speaker 1: reading while she's reading. You know, I'm sitting there while
Speaker 1: she's reading because I want to see her reaction.
Speaker 2: Right, But if you and my.
Speaker 1: Wife would give me that like that feedback in real time,
Speaker 1: I wish I could like sit in everyone's house and
Speaker 1: watch them read, because it like it would just be
Speaker 1: it's so much fun to watch people react to your stuff.
Speaker 3: And now you pointed out that at the at the
Speaker 3: at the signing at Barnes and Noble and Tyson's, you
Speaker 3: got the tram stamp. Where was the signing where there
Speaker 3: are a woman who you went to a third forty
Speaker 3: eight years ago. You went to a third grade dance
Speaker 3: with her, and she showed up at one of your signings.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so she was my dance partner in fourth grade,
Speaker 1: Randy Boxer, and she showed like I'll see her a lot,
Speaker 1: but she showed up at my New York signing and
Speaker 1: we recreated. If you look on my Instagram and seasy
Speaker 1: to find because you just looked for the kid with
Speaker 1: the little bowl haircut, the nineteen seventy whatever it is
Speaker 1: bull haircut. And she showed up and we recreated the
Speaker 1: pose from our dance recital in fourth grade. And then
Speaker 1: the best part was three days later. I was in
Speaker 1: Vero Beach, Florida, and my buddy who I used to
Speaker 1: work at Hogendaws with, who came to my very first
Speaker 1: signing ever. Nobody was there. It was like my wife
Speaker 1: and him, and he walked in Karen a pit of Hogendaws,
Speaker 1: and he surprised me, and as I said in the post,
Speaker 1: he did not bring me any ice cream. Net bastard
Speaker 1: is very upset by it.
Speaker 3: Isn't that hoggin DAWs? If I remember an old story,
Speaker 3: isn't that Hoggen DAWs? Where there was some woman who
Speaker 3: was a real bitch to you.
Speaker 1: This woman snapped her fingers at me and she said,
Speaker 1: you're going to serve me. You need to serve me.
Speaker 1: I said, mam, I'll be right with you. She said, no,
Speaker 1: you need to serve me now. And I said, ma'am,
Speaker 1: you know you're being rude. I'm not serving you. Take
Speaker 1: your business elsewhere, and I'll never forget. She screamed in
Speaker 1: my face, you're going to be working at this miserable
Speaker 1: ice cream store for the rest of your miserable life.
Speaker 1: And I calmly looked at her and said, ma'am, if
Speaker 1: I am working here for the rest of my miserable life,
Speaker 1: you're still never getting any ice. And I told that
Speaker 1: story in the commencement address. I gave it the University
Speaker 1: of Michigan a couple of years back. And what's crazy
Speaker 1: is how many people we put it in our book
Speaker 1: make magic on it, but how many people that worked
Speaker 1: in like coffee places, restaurants, you know, named anywhere in
Speaker 1: the mall reached out to me after her and was like,
Speaker 1: I know the version of that woman, like thank you
Speaker 1: for And I don't look back at that woman. I
Speaker 1: was never mad at her, like to like laugh it
Speaker 1: off and be like, you know, that didn't bother me,
Speaker 1: but it totally bothered me. But today, if I can
Speaker 1: meet her, I'd thank her because that woman drove me.
Speaker 1: She pissed me off so much.
Speaker 2: She just she drove me.
Speaker 1: Like any success I have is like from that woman.
Speaker 1: So I would thank her today. So to me, like,
Speaker 1: you got to use your use your fear, use that
Speaker 1: anger and harness it and you know, don't don't you know?
Speaker 1: You got what you got to do with your enemies
Speaker 1: is prove them wrong.
Speaker 2: All right, So let's switch gears. I Am Princess Diana.
Speaker 3: It's out and available today, part of the Ordinary People
Speaker 3: Change the World series.
Speaker 2: Are you Are you a Royal Watcher?
Speaker 3: Like?
Speaker 2: Are you are you a Royals guy?
Speaker 1: No? I'm not. You know, the people who love Princess
Speaker 1: Diana was my The person who loved more than anyone
Speaker 1: was my mother, right, my mother. And my mom was like,
Speaker 1: you know, never read any newspapers. She thought all real
Speaker 1: news came from the Star in the Inquirer, like that
Speaker 1: was it, Like that was all she'd read. But she
Speaker 1: fringing and she didn't care about the President. She didn't
Speaker 1: care about the Supreme Court. She couldn't tell you what it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: my mom, you know, never went to college nothing, And
Speaker 1: boy does she love Princess Diana. Not just because she
Speaker 1: kind of like said screw you to Prince Charles, which
Speaker 1: was part of it, but she just felt like Princess
Speaker 1: Diana was unapologetically herself. And that's why I dedicated I
Speaker 1: Am Princess Diana to my my daughter and to my mother,
Speaker 1: Like may she rest in peace. My mother was always
Speaker 1: unapologetically herself.
Speaker 2: And I'll tell you this. I'm like, I'm not a
Speaker 2: I'm not a royals person. Diana is. I'm not a
Speaker 2: I'm not a royals person.
Speaker 3: So, like Princess Diana obviously was very public, I couldn't
Speaker 3: have told you anything about her past other than she
Speaker 3: came from a rich family. And that gets pointed out
Speaker 3: in the book, like Prince Charles at that point isn't
Speaker 3: going to marry you know, so you know some rando
Speaker 3: who lived in town, So you knew she had to
Speaker 3: come from a good family. But I had no idea
Speaker 3: that she came from a family that like they never
Speaker 3: hugged her, never told her they loved her, like I
Speaker 3: know that the yeah, like they like she never had
Speaker 3: dinner with them, like her parents, and I know I
Speaker 3: knew nothing about them but her growing up. I mean, yes,
Speaker 3: did she come from privilege, of course, but growing up
Speaker 3: she didn't. She didn't have any love or support or
Speaker 3: anything like that.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's what you know. And again, every time
Speaker 1: I do these books, people are like, oh, do this
Speaker 1: person and I'll I kind of get into their life
Speaker 1: and I'm like, are they really that great, and Princess
Speaker 1: Diana is that great. I mean for Christmas, she would
Speaker 1: get a catalog from the fancy toy store and they'd
Speaker 1: be like, circle what you want and that. Then they'd
Speaker 1: show up and like you're like, okay, well she got
Speaker 1: you know, you're like, oh, she got what she wanted,
Speaker 1: but she didn't get any love. Like I wouldn't trade
Speaker 1: anything in the world, but what she had is this grandmother.
Speaker 1: And the grandmother wasn't just sweet and kind to her,
Speaker 1: but she used to go visit people in her town
Speaker 1: who needed things they could afford, who were sick, and
Speaker 1: she was like, what can I do for you? And
Speaker 1: to me, you know, she would just hold their hands,
Speaker 1: just sit there and hold their hand. And when you're
Speaker 1: a kid like I, my grandfather is the one who
Speaker 1: taught me what kindness was, right. It certainly wasn't my dad.
Speaker 1: My dad was a maniac, right like, my dad was
Speaker 1: fighting with everyone. But my grandfather was the one who
Speaker 1: was like what you know, like would give away things
Speaker 1: to people who had nothing. And we didn't have that much,
Speaker 1: but he could find people who had less and would
Speaker 1: give away stuff. And I remember being like that changed
Speaker 1: my life. So when I saw that story about Princess Diana,
Speaker 1: I'm like, oh, I get this woman now I connect
Speaker 1: and watching you know, this woman who comes from nothing,
Speaker 1: who turns into someone who just gives so much love
Speaker 1: to so many strangers, was stagged. I was like, she
Speaker 1: is worth and I am booked, like she she's amazed me.
Speaker 3: Hey, and so in one of the things you talk about,
Speaker 3: like you talk about how her grandmother steps in after
Speaker 3: her her parents get divorced, and her grandmother was like,
Speaker 3: she just wants to help people, like you said, even
Speaker 3: if it's just to hold their hand or to sit
Speaker 3: with them and just treat them like they're somebody as
Speaker 3: opposed to to a cast off. You talk about how
Speaker 3: every Tuesday and Thursday, when Princess Diana was a young
Speaker 3: was a younger girl, every Tuesday and Thursday, she and
Speaker 3: some of her classmates they would spend time and like
Speaker 3: just go see like sick people, and like while some
Speaker 3: of them were scared, like some of the people were
Speaker 3: scared to like go interact with them, Princess Diana just
Speaker 3: jumped in and ran up there.
Speaker 2: Was she was she doing that?
Speaker 1: Like?
Speaker 3: Was she the leader who brought those other kids or
Speaker 3: was that like her grandmother bringing Diana and her friends,
Speaker 3: or she already picked.
Speaker 2: Up on it at that point, I want to go
Speaker 2: help people.
Speaker 1: No, I think it was something through her seat. There
Speaker 1: were a bunch of stories, but I think it was
Speaker 1: just through her school, so it wasn't like they brought
Speaker 1: her there. But when when you you know, if you
Speaker 1: ever worked in when when you're when your class goes
Speaker 1: to like the old age home, You're like, oh, here
Speaker 1: we go, we got to do the service hours. Everyone
Speaker 1: else is like, these kids are coming in looks like
Speaker 1: you know, old people are swarming and they feel like
Speaker 1: zombies attacking right, And the classmates would get scared because
Speaker 1: they'd be like, these are old people who are trying
Speaker 1: to spend time with it. Even though we came for this,
Speaker 1: it's still look creepy and weird and you're a little kid.
Speaker 1: And Diana is like, I was never scared, and she
Speaker 1: would meet people like at the time. One things she
Speaker 1: would do is what her grandmother did. She would go
Speaker 1: and to hold their hands, and you know, I remember that.
Speaker 1: There's this one moment that just really stuck out to
Speaker 1: me is the hospital puts on music and all the
Speaker 1: kids go to the back of the old people's wheelchairs,
Speaker 1: and they're kind of like dancing with them, pushing them
Speaker 1: from behind, and she instead goes and faces them from
Speaker 1: fa face forward. Right, It's like, so she can see them.
Speaker 1: And what she's really doing when you dance together and
Speaker 1: look in someone's eyes, is you're showing someone empathy. Right,
Speaker 1: it's and that is what I am, Princess Diana. The
Speaker 1: entire book is about empathy and compassion, and my god,
Speaker 1: right now, as a culture, do we ever need to
Speaker 1: teach our kids empathy and compassion? We are a culture
Speaker 1: right now completely divided, and to me, there's always policies
Speaker 1: we're going to argue about, but what we're seeing now
Speaker 1: feels like an attack on American values right these and
Speaker 1: there are shared beliefs by both sides. You can't legislate decency,
Speaker 1: you can't legislate empathy. But man, we got to teach
Speaker 1: our kids that. I want my daughter to know, what
Speaker 1: I want my sons to know, what I want everyone
Speaker 1: to know. What Diana was taught by her grandmother, which
Speaker 1: is be freaking decent to people, show them some compassion.
Speaker 1: And if we don't teach our kids that, we're in
Speaker 1: bigger trouble than anybody thinks.
Speaker 3: Hey, there's a page in the book, and I'm assuming
Speaker 3: it's a true story or else you put wouldn't have
Speaker 3: put it in there. So she moves to London and
Speaker 3: she's literally on the floor scrubbing the floor.
Speaker 2: Is that true?
Speaker 3: That's when she got invited to the barbecue where she
Speaker 3: ends up meeting Prince Charles.
Speaker 1: Can I tell you that? The editor there was like,
Speaker 1: you don't have to show her on the floor scrubbing.
Speaker 1: It's like cliche. It seems like it's Cinderella, right, Sorella
Speaker 1: is like scrubbing, it's real, dude. I was like, this
Speaker 1: is the crazy She is scrubbing the floor. When she
Speaker 1: gets invited to the royal party and her friend jokes
Speaker 1: with her, I didn't even make up the joke that
Speaker 1: I put in the book. She says, maybe you'll be
Speaker 1: the next Queen of England and I'm like, while she's
Speaker 1: I'm like, where are the mice who make her dress?
Speaker 3: Like?
Speaker 1: What is missing from this moment? And that's where she
Speaker 1: meets Prince Charles. Like that in that you know at
Speaker 1: that weekend, at this it's a separate event, but like
Speaker 1: and I'm like this store. You can't make it up.
Speaker 1: And that's why I love the Ordinary People books. Is
Speaker 1: like you almost feel like life got ripped from these
Speaker 1: real life headlines and they're all the details are real.
Speaker 3: Hey, can I tell you something that I was really
Speaker 3: proud of? And I don't know if you fought with
Speaker 3: anybody over this, like because I mean, ultimately, yes.
Speaker 2: These they're they're family books.
Speaker 3: But these books are for kids, right, These books are
Speaker 3: to hopefully teach kids lessons and and like you said,
Speaker 3: to just be a decent human being. Just be a
Speaker 3: decent human being. I was surprised and you talk about
Speaker 3: how so she gets married and she will all and
Speaker 3: charity and all that, you know what. I was surprised
Speaker 3: and you you go through like the land mines where
Speaker 3: she's walking through the land mines that she's got like
Speaker 3: the fatal shield on and the and the the bomb
Speaker 3: suit and all that other stuff. Fine, I was surprised
Speaker 3: that you I shouldn't say surprised. I was happy that
Speaker 3: you addressed everything that she meant to to understanding and
Speaker 3: and and trying to break down the walls that surround aids.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that was the big one for me. I mean,
Speaker 1: you know when we do. You know when we did,
Speaker 1: I'll never forget. It was really when we started with
Speaker 1: I am Harriet Tubman, You're dealing with slavery, right, And
Speaker 1: I remember the the editor at the time said to me, well,
Speaker 1: what are we gonna do? How are we gonna deal
Speaker 1: with slavery? I'm like, what do you mean? We're gonna
Speaker 1: show it because that's what history is, right, Because bad
Speaker 1: things happen doesn't mean we're a bad culture or a
Speaker 1: bad place. What is beautiful is that we learned from
Speaker 1: these things and we move forward. And her great to me,
Speaker 1: greatest moment is the fact that AIDS is, you know,
Speaker 1: sweeping through cultures. At that time, no one knew. And
Speaker 1: I remember at the time, my buddy was on the
Speaker 1: Real World Okay, and I remember it was the first,
Speaker 1: you know, I went San Francisco. Real World was my
Speaker 1: college roommate was on it. Pedro who had AIDS, was
Speaker 1: on the show. I went to visit the house and
Speaker 1: I remember at the time being like, am I going
Speaker 1: to get AIDS? Like nobody knew what was going to
Speaker 1: happen if you touch someone with age, if you it
Speaker 1: was just too new. And Diana is the one who
Speaker 1: like he's a man crying who has AIDS and she
Speaker 1: goes and holds his hand and she wants to and
Speaker 1: she doesn't know if she should hug them. She's like, no,
Speaker 1: one knows at that point, and she tells herself that
Speaker 1: you should do it, you should do it, And she
Speaker 1: talks about this in her memoir, like she reaches out
Speaker 1: and squeezes this dying AIDS patient and he squeezes his
Speaker 1: back and laughing with joy. And she realizes in a
Speaker 1: moment the power that a hug has and it changes
Speaker 1: her life. It helps her take care of other people,
Speaker 1: but it helps her take care of herself. And then
Speaker 1: she starts telling the whole world like, no, like you
Speaker 1: need to, we need to hug these people, Love these people,
Speaker 1: not treat them like they're, you know, disease lepers who
Speaker 1: are gonna.
Speaker 2: Kill us, all right. And then she does it with.
Speaker 1: Lepers right, like she does it with everybody like And
Speaker 1: and that to me is I know I can sit
Speaker 1: here and talk in an interview and say, yes, we
Speaker 1: should all be compassionate, and yes we should all be
Speaker 1: nice to each other, but it's completely empty if you
Speaker 1: don't do it. And what I love about Diana is
Speaker 1: she does is it over and over again, and that's
Speaker 1: where she's like at the time, and Diane knows this
Speaker 1: because she's a Royal watcher, but at the time, you didn't.
Speaker 1: Royalty didn't do that, no way, and they would they
Speaker 1: would wave, right, you go to a charity, you waved everybody,
Speaker 1: and she was like, hug someone and they're like, what's
Speaker 1: she doing. They're like, oh, she's hugging it, sir. They're
Speaker 1: like that baby, Yeah, she's hugging it, like you know,
Speaker 1: like they know what to make of her. And I
Speaker 1: love the fact that, Like, if you want to teach
Speaker 1: your kids the power of compassion, it's not by saying
Speaker 1: go be compassionate. It's you got to tell them a
Speaker 1: story and show them how someone's life is affected by it.
Speaker 1: That's how I learned compassion. It's how Diana learns compassion.
Speaker 1: And I hope with your kids, your grandkids, your nieces,
Speaker 1: your nephews. It's like that's what I am. Princess Anna.
Speaker 1: As a book is designed to do, is is arm
Speaker 1: you with those stories. And I love is then she
Speaker 1: did it with her own kids, right, like she drags
Speaker 1: her kids for the homeless shelter and it's a tiny detail,
Speaker 1: it's almost easy to miss. But she doesn't bring the cameras.
Speaker 1: She could easily bring cameras to all the stuff she
Speaker 1: does with her boys and be like, look what we did.
Speaker 1: Where the best We did the service day and we
Speaker 1: fed the turkeys, and like we do right now, We've
Speaker 1: posted on Instagram and everyone knows what a great family
Speaker 1: you are, and everyone else feels bad about their lives.
Speaker 1: And instead, what she does is she she doesn't always
Speaker 1: bring to cameras, and she teaches them that the best
Speaker 1: good deeds are never seen by anyone. And I was like,
Speaker 1: that's that, baby, that's the message.
Speaker 3: Hey, can I can I ask you this the the
Speaker 3: the curiosity question, like whatever could you you go back
Speaker 3: in all of that that she accomplished and being as
Speaker 3: compassionate and empathetic and in health and in helping people.
Speaker 3: I mean, how there's a statement in there where it
Speaker 3: says her effect on charity is more significant than any
Speaker 3: other person in the twentieth century.
Speaker 2: Damn, that's not bad. That's not bad.
Speaker 3: But whatever, whatever, whatever became of her parents, whatever became
Speaker 3: a Princess Diana's parents.
Speaker 1: It's a good question. I mean, obviously they're dead. I
Speaker 1: know that, but like I don't, you know, I don't like,
Speaker 1: let's put it this way. There is no part in
Speaker 1: the in the in the biography where she's like and
Speaker 1: then we all they love me again, and everything was great.
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, she her parents get divorced. It's
Speaker 1: a disaster because it's a time when divorces. They don't
Speaker 1: even know what to do with it.
Speaker 3: Right, very taboo, especially in that Achalon of the world.
Speaker 1: Of course, Like you know, like and one of the
Speaker 1: things we did in the book is try to you know,
Speaker 1: there they are kids, they're going to read I am
Speaker 1: Princess Diana who is struggling with divorce, right, and I
Speaker 1: was like, I need to make sure they understand. And
Speaker 1: she says it like your parents still love you, but
Speaker 1: back then no one explained that to her, right, And
Speaker 1: so you know her her mom moves out her she's
Speaker 1: living in the Giant castle with her dad. Again. It's
Speaker 1: like this, it's out of a Disney movie, right. It's
Speaker 1: like it's like you're one step away from Tangled and
Speaker 1: Long Hair at that point, you know, where you're just
Speaker 1: like locked in the thing and you've got everything, but
Speaker 1: you got nothing, but it's a good question.
Speaker 2: Hey.
Speaker 3: Also one other thing in the past, Like I think
Speaker 3: back to I am Lucille Ball right when you did
Speaker 3: that book and when he came out, or when you
Speaker 3: did I Am mister Rogers, and that book came out,
Speaker 3: and you would dress up and post pictures of yourself
Speaker 3: on Instagram dressed as mister.
Speaker 2: Rogers or as Lucille Ball.
Speaker 3: Why not dressed up as Princess Diana on Instagram?
Speaker 1: First of all, I'm wearing a crown. That is my
Speaker 1: dress up. And I have to tell you this is
Speaker 1: this is why I love you. There was an entire
Speaker 1: debate in my house of what I should wear to
Speaker 1: dress up as per Diana. And my wife is like,
Speaker 1: you're not wearing my wedding dress.
Speaker 2: Like she was like, you're not.
Speaker 1: She doesn't want me to break it. And then I
Speaker 1: was like, cause, listen, I dress up as Lucille Ball.
Speaker 1: I'm dressed up as like whatever, like the Beatles. I
Speaker 1: did all four Beatles, I got all the Sergeant Pepper
Speaker 1: cop I bought four costumes for Instagram, and I thought
Speaker 1: about it, and then I thought, to make sure my
Speaker 1: readers don't go blind. I will spare them from me
Speaker 1: in the in the chifon, in the chiffon dress. But
Speaker 1: I did wear a crown. And by the way, for
Speaker 1: the most part, most of the things you see, this
Speaker 1: is the sad truth. Most of the times I dress up,
Speaker 1: I don't have to buy anything. We've got everything in
Speaker 1: my house. Like I had that red sweater, I didn't
Speaker 1: have to buy. I bought the hair. I didn't have
Speaker 1: to buy the sweater. Like I have so much Halloween nonsense.
Speaker 1: I have full kiss costumes if I want to dress
Speaker 1: up as a band kids, like I got purple rain
Speaker 1: from Prince Like I've got it all. And when I
Speaker 1: tell you, it wasn't like, oh, like here you should
Speaker 1: wear a crown, It was what crown you do? You
Speaker 1: want to wear? And it was an entire try on
Speaker 1: crowns in my house because my daughter went through the
Speaker 1: princess face. I have about a thousand crowns here.
Speaker 3: By the way, I will say this, the Chris Eliopolis,
Speaker 3: the illustrator, the drawing guy, the drawing guy.
Speaker 2: That's nice, the I love drawing guy.
Speaker 3: I loved that she like you only know her even before,
Speaker 3: like like in the book of her meeting Prince Charles
Speaker 3: are becoming a princess.
Speaker 2: I loved that from the time she was itty bitty.
Speaker 3: Chris draws her with a crown, but she's always that person.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, and that you know, in the beginning,
Speaker 1: when we first did these books as kids books, people
Speaker 1: were like, we got bat reviews that said, you know,
Speaker 1: Abraham Lincoln and Amelia Ahard has drown as kids, and
Speaker 1: they historically get it inaccurate because they show them flying
Speaker 1: planes and being president as children. And I'm like, we
Speaker 1: weren't fooled by that part. We didn't know that they weren't.
Speaker 1: We know that Abraham Lincoln wasn't eight when he was
Speaker 1: elected president. But like the people that they give a
Speaker 1: historical book to review in like the in the stuffy
Speaker 1: you know, review places like just couldn't get it. And
Speaker 1: now everyone realizes the best I still believe and Chris
Speaker 1: is our secret weapon. You know how many books have
Speaker 1: been written about Princess di or Abraham Lincoln or Rosa
Speaker 1: Parks like. But the reason why people love and kids
Speaker 1: love our books is because of Chris's art. And it's
Speaker 1: not because I'm my right and I have nothing to
Speaker 1: do with it. It's Chris's art is so great. It's
Speaker 1: like this cross between Charlie Brown, Meads, Calvin, and Hobbes.
Speaker 1: And he draws them always as little kids. And why
Speaker 1: because then kids look at these these heroes and say, oh,
Speaker 1: they're just like me, right, And there's someone out there
Speaker 1: who looks at Princess Anna it's like, she's just like me,
Speaker 1: whereas you. And if you show them an adult, then
Speaker 1: it's just an old, boring history book. But you show
Speaker 1: them as a kid. And my own daughter was one
Speaker 1: who helped me crack this. She was like, now I'm interested, Like,
Speaker 1: tell me when she's little again, tell me that story.
Speaker 1: And so Chris by far is the greatest secret weapon
Speaker 1: we have in these books.
Speaker 3: Princess Diana's out and available today. Ordinary People change the world.
Speaker 3: It's part of that series. Obviously, The Viper is still
Speaker 3: out and available and still new.
Speaker 2: Brad, I appreciate the time. As always, my friend, I
Speaker 2: love you,