WEBVTT - Chris Rock and Herb Alpert 0:00:02.680 --> 0:00:05.480 This is Alec Baldwin and you're listening to Here's the thing, 0:00:06.240 --> 0:00:10.320 My chance to talk with artists and writers, policymakers and performers, 0:00:10.520 --> 0:00:14.640 to hear their stories, what inspired their creations, what decisions 0:00:14.760 --> 0:00:20.560 changed their careers, and what relationships influenced their work. Here's 0:00:20.600 --> 0:00:24.480 the thing. Both of my guests today were successful early 0:00:24.760 --> 0:00:28.480 in their careers. Herb Albert and the Tijuana Brass sold 0:00:28.520 --> 0:00:32.559 over thirteen million albums in nineteen sixty six, out selling 0:00:32.640 --> 0:00:36.640 even the Beatles. After leaving Saturday Night Live, Chris Rock 0:00:36.880 --> 0:00:40.680 created two comedy specials, the second of which one too Emmys. 0:00:40.960 --> 0:00:44.160 Who's more racist? Black people? Of white people? Black people? 0:00:44.200 --> 0:00:53.080 You know what? We hate black people too. Now. Usually 0:00:53.120 --> 0:00:56.880 when an entertainer finds success at something, it guarantees you'll 0:00:56.920 --> 0:01:00.000 see them do that same thing over and over again. 0:01:00.840 --> 0:01:04.200 But both Curb Albert and Chris Rock have taken their 0:01:04.240 --> 0:01:08.679 careers well beyond they expected. Albert started what became the 0:01:08.760 --> 0:01:12.840 largest independent music label of its time, and recently, Chris 0:01:12.920 --> 0:01:16.760 Rock starred in his first play ever on Broadway. You 0:01:16.760 --> 0:01:19.679 want to press if this is something beautiful, come and 0:01:19.760 --> 0:01:22.240 stay with me and Vicky Man get on a nutritional 0:01:22.280 --> 0:01:27.039 beverage program man, come out to rock away man. I 0:01:27.080 --> 0:01:30.559 wanted my acting to grow, So I'm actually figuring out 0:01:30.600 --> 0:01:35.480 how to add lib every night without saying words, how 0:01:35.480 --> 0:01:39.119 to work eat, seeing a little different in each line, 0:01:39.640 --> 0:01:42.880 and try to find laughs and places that I didn't find. 0:01:42.959 --> 0:01:46.119 One a night before something, the play was The Mothercker 0:01:46.200 --> 0:01:48.640 with the Hat. I met up with Chris in his 0:01:48.720 --> 0:01:52.040 attic a dressing room at the Schonefeld Theater after a 0:01:52.080 --> 0:01:57.680 Wednesday matinee. Broadway is not where you'd expect to find 0:01:57.800 --> 0:02:01.440 Chris Rock. He sells out stay mediums. His stand up 0:02:01.520 --> 0:02:05.360 routines are merciless. He leaves no time for recovery. Your 0:02:05.440 --> 0:02:09.639 sides ache with laughter from both shock and recognition. Married 0:02:09.680 --> 0:02:13.520 and bad are single and lonely. That's right, that's right. 0:02:13.680 --> 0:02:17.800 Marriages are boring because once you get married, you gotta 0:02:17.840 --> 0:02:23.079 hang around other married people, and that's just disgusting. You 0:02:23.160 --> 0:02:27.760 have a gone to dinner with six newtered adults, a 0:02:27.800 --> 0:02:32.280 bunch of women talking about diaper genies and hair coloring. 0:02:32.600 --> 0:02:34.320 You know, if you're leaving in too long, it's staying 0:02:34.440 --> 0:02:39.840 Shut up. God. You have obviously a huge following black 0:02:39.880 --> 0:02:42.480 and white in your concerts, and yet when you go 0:02:42.480 --> 0:02:44.640 out in this audience. How black is the audience? Well, 0:02:44.680 --> 0:02:47.080 I mean put this way. In the old days, they 0:02:47.160 --> 0:02:51.280 used to have signs up whites only, whites only. Now 0:02:51.360 --> 0:02:53.680 they have a new thing. It's called prices. You know, 0:02:54.240 --> 0:02:57.760 some nights is darker than other nights. I buy tickets 0:02:57.840 --> 0:03:00.880 every night when this play is a were would spend 0:03:02.720 --> 0:03:07.160 spent almost a whole weekly paycheck on tickets as gifts 0:03:07.200 --> 0:03:10.040 for friends otherwise couldn't come see the show, otherwise, could 0:03:10.080 --> 0:03:14.000 not afford to see this show. I tour and I'm 0:03:14.040 --> 0:03:17.919 normally you know, at the garden or whatever, like sixty 0:03:18.040 --> 0:03:21.639 thousand seats to give away what I'm normally on tour, 0:03:21.720 --> 0:03:24.519 and people have gotten used to this. My man takes 0:03:24.600 --> 0:03:27.840 care of us, and you know I don't. I can't 0:03:27.840 --> 0:03:32.079 take that away from friends and family. You haven't done 0:03:32.080 --> 0:03:33.799 a lot of theater. Correct, This is the first play 0:03:33.840 --> 0:03:36.280 I've ever done. This is the first play you've ever done. 0:03:36.360 --> 0:03:38.240 I didn't do a play in high school. I didn't 0:03:38.240 --> 0:03:42.200 go to high school. So so not only your Broadway debut, 0:03:43.360 --> 0:03:46.360 but your first play period. You're with a pretty cool 0:03:46.400 --> 0:03:50.280 group of people, a lot of experience, you know what, 0:03:50.360 --> 0:03:53.680 and they have held me up. No one ever got 0:03:54.080 --> 0:03:58.720 frustrated at what I didn't know. You know, this is 0:03:58.720 --> 0:04:01.360 a bunch of little thing that people take for gret 0:04:01.440 --> 0:04:05.160 I have no idea. You're never supposed to walk straight 0:04:05.200 --> 0:04:08.520 at somebody, supposed to loop. Just all these weird little things. 0:04:08.560 --> 0:04:10.840 And my favorite is that you don't give information to 0:04:10.920 --> 0:04:13.480 the person. So if you're standing here telling them something, 0:04:13.800 --> 0:04:15.920 you tell it out. You sit there and go open, 0:04:15.960 --> 0:04:19.039 open to the audience as much as all that open, open, open, 0:04:19.080 --> 0:04:21.600 open open stuff. Yes, even today, I'm working on it. 0:04:21.839 --> 0:04:23.839 The Chris Rock that I know from your live shows, 0:04:23.839 --> 0:04:26.239 I don't see much of him in this show because 0:04:26.279 --> 0:04:31.800 that Chris Rock is like marauding the stage and as 0:04:31.880 --> 0:04:35.360 complete control over the audience. This is a different Chris 0:04:35.400 --> 0:04:37.839 I see in the play. I'm really trying to act here, 0:04:39.240 --> 0:04:42.279 you know. Have you enjoyed it? I'm enjoying it a lot, 0:04:42.800 --> 0:04:47.880 A lot. A lot. Is the hardest thing I've ever 0:04:47.960 --> 0:04:50.040 gone through in my life. I always tell people it's 0:04:50.040 --> 0:04:53.400 like having the Empire State Building shoved up your one 0:04:53.480 --> 0:04:56.560 brick at a time. And to learn the play. Can't 0:04:56.839 --> 0:04:59.520 believe there's ever gonna be a day when you know 0:05:01.360 --> 0:05:04.719 what's been the surprise about doing this for you. Honestly, 0:05:04.760 --> 0:05:08.200 I'm surprised I'm doing it. I mean, I'm surprised that 0:05:08.240 --> 0:05:10.880 I'm not bored with it already. Are you afraid of that? 0:05:11.200 --> 0:05:14.640 I'm really that that's the that's the biggest fear, to 0:05:14.800 --> 0:05:20.520 actually be stuck doing anything. Well, what I love about 0:05:20.560 --> 0:05:25.679 this plant by the way, everybody has loved someone, and 0:05:26.360 --> 0:05:29.880 not too far into the relationship, you say to yourself, 0:05:30.240 --> 0:05:34.719 not only is this probably wrong, this is definitely wrong, 0:05:34.839 --> 0:05:37.880 but you can't get out of it. How does this 0:05:37.920 --> 0:05:40.800 play resonate with you in your personal life? I've been 0:05:40.960 --> 0:05:49.400 every person in this place, everything, everything, and it's the 0:05:49.440 --> 0:05:51.920 one who the other person in response to the betrayal, 0:05:52.800 --> 0:05:57.720 the revenge, every person, every person. It's the kind of 0:05:57.760 --> 0:06:01.000 play you can't watch without putting yourself in it. When 0:06:01.040 --> 0:06:03.160 you write your material for stand up, how do the 0:06:03.240 --> 0:06:07.400 people in your life react to how you fill at 0:06:07.480 --> 0:06:09.479 them on stage? If you you know what, I'm like 0:06:09.520 --> 0:06:12.560 a lawyer in a sense. I mean, it's it's almost 0:06:12.560 --> 0:06:15.960 like a legal document. It's a word. It like it's 0:06:16.000 --> 0:06:18.280 all our wives and all our you know what I mean. 0:06:18.320 --> 0:06:20.600 It's like like if you if I gave you the transcript. 0:06:20.600 --> 0:06:24.039 You'd be like, he hasn't talked about anybody, that's about you, baby, 0:06:24.080 --> 0:06:28.480 It would all hold up in court, but you do. 0:06:28.720 --> 0:06:31.080 But you never have anybody in your life. No, No, 0:06:31.200 --> 0:06:34.880 everybody's uncomfortable. I remember I read a quote Tarantino said, 0:06:34.960 --> 0:06:37.680 if people in your life aren't uncomfortable, you're not really writing, 0:06:38.480 --> 0:06:42.560 you're not really hitting it. You know, somebody better be uncomfortable. 0:06:42.880 --> 0:06:45.280 Did you grow up in a situation that was remotely 0:06:45.320 --> 0:06:52.040 like this and then emotionally turbulent? My parents place way, 0:06:52.120 --> 0:06:55.200 My mother cursed a lot, screamed a lot. You know 0:06:55.279 --> 0:06:58.080 my father, my mother beat us with a curtain rock. Yeah, 0:06:58.279 --> 0:07:01.240 well we got beatens with curtain row odds and brooms 0:07:01.240 --> 0:07:06.200 and brushes, niers or whatever. But I mean my father, 0:07:06.400 --> 0:07:10.120 it's weird. My father, his temper towards my mother was 0:07:10.240 --> 0:07:14.120 always controlled well else he could lose it. Why do 0:07:14.160 --> 0:07:17.280 you think it was he wanted to protect that? I 0:07:17.280 --> 0:07:19.080 don't know. I mean, first of all, I mean, guys 0:07:19.080 --> 0:07:23.520 from that era did not view women as their equals. 0:07:24.520 --> 0:07:27.600 They did, and they were loving and blah blah blah 0:07:27.640 --> 0:07:32.880 blah blah, but they did not view women as their equals. Therefore, 0:07:33.280 --> 0:07:38.440 they could actually deal with the woman's emotional whatever swings 0:07:39.080 --> 0:07:41.880 way easier than a guy in my age, because I 0:07:42.000 --> 0:07:44.600 view a woman as my equal. So if I'm with 0:07:44.640 --> 0:07:47.440 a woman and she starts crying, I look at her 0:07:47.560 --> 0:07:50.680 like I'm with you when you start crying, don't go 0:07:50.720 --> 0:07:54.200 female on me. I'm like something, I look at her life. 0:07:54.240 --> 0:07:56.600 I would look at a guy that gets emotional. Yeah, 0:07:56.600 --> 0:07:58.120 I thought, if we were equal, then you can't play 0:07:58.160 --> 0:08:01.360 that car. Don't play the female. So I'll just say 0:08:01.440 --> 0:08:04.760 my father and my grandfather's both of them were really 0:08:06.160 --> 0:08:12.080 delicate with their wives. You know, not a child, but 0:08:12.240 --> 0:08:16.600 close to a child. That wasn't different for you. My 0:08:16.640 --> 0:08:21.760 wife's my equal, and you know, you know any budding 0:08:21.800 --> 0:08:28.120 of heads is because I I want I'm dealing with 0:08:28.160 --> 0:08:29.760 you the same way I would deal with myself, where 0:08:29.800 --> 0:08:33.320 I deal with any guy and we're both wrong. What 0:08:33.360 --> 0:08:34.600 are gonna do when this is over? Do you know? 0:08:35.280 --> 0:08:37.520 I'm much sure? I think I'm gonna direct a movie. 0:08:38.200 --> 0:08:40.120 That's what I'm feeling. So this is the time in 0:08:40.120 --> 0:08:42.040 your life when you do all the things you told 0:08:42.080 --> 0:08:46.199 yourself you'd never do. Play on Broadway, direct a movie? 0:08:46.360 --> 0:08:48.959 Why do you want to direct a movie? I don't know. 0:08:50.160 --> 0:08:53.320 It's your Warren Batty face that Yeah, I don't know. 0:08:53.360 --> 0:08:55.160 I put this away. If I can get a great 0:08:55.200 --> 0:08:58.640 director to direct me, I'll do it. But once you yeah, 0:08:58.559 --> 0:09:00.360 once you get to the sea list, you I still 0:09:00.400 --> 0:09:03.720 do it yourself. That's what I say. Yeah, how picky 0:09:03.760 --> 0:09:05.600 are you about the films you do? Because you don't 0:09:05.640 --> 0:09:07.920 do a lot of films. Um, I don't know. I 0:09:07.960 --> 0:09:10.840 mean I turned out a lot, but I don't have 0:09:10.880 --> 0:09:13.559 a list of great films I've turned down. You turned down, 0:09:13.840 --> 0:09:16.520 regardless of whether they're great or not. Do you turn 0:09:16.559 --> 0:09:19.120 them down? Because for you, you always have the stand 0:09:19.200 --> 0:09:20.800 up thing in your pocket and the concert thing in 0:09:20.840 --> 0:09:22.679 your pocket. You're not in any hurry to go out 0:09:22.679 --> 0:09:31.560 and make a living. Most movies suck man early suck. See. 0:09:31.600 --> 0:09:34.120 I'm I'm messed up because I like to see something 0:09:34.920 --> 0:09:37.320 I haven't seen or haven't seen with a black person. 0:09:37.920 --> 0:09:40.800 Black people in film is still at its really at 0:09:40.840 --> 0:09:45.720 its infant stage. And why do you think that? I 0:09:45.720 --> 0:09:47.960 don't know? You know what, here's the thing. You know, 0:09:48.000 --> 0:09:51.000 you hand a studio person to script, and sometimes the 0:09:51.040 --> 0:09:55.000 studio people are good at a time when you hand 0:09:55.040 --> 0:09:59.199 somebody as script, they pick a person in the movie 0:09:59.240 --> 0:10:02.160 that they identify I with. So if you hand the 0:10:02.200 --> 0:10:04.360 woman a script, if the woman's got nine lines in 0:10:04.400 --> 0:10:06.920 the movie, the first person who gives you notes about 0:10:07.000 --> 0:10:10.640 is the woman. And if you hand the boss the script, 0:10:11.679 --> 0:10:14.040 he's gonna give you notes about the main character. And 0:10:14.080 --> 0:10:16.080 if you hand his assistant the script is gonna give 0:10:16.080 --> 0:10:19.320 you notes about some other everybody figures out who they 0:10:19.360 --> 0:10:23.080 are in the movie. Now, when you hand somebody a 0:10:23.160 --> 0:10:29.280 black script, they don't relate to anybody in this It's 0:10:29.280 --> 0:10:32.319 a very good point. I'm serious, even when it's you 0:10:32.760 --> 0:10:35.160 secutive who does relate to a black person's script. What 0:10:35.160 --> 0:10:39.160 does that mean to you? You You struck gold happen? They 0:10:39.280 --> 0:10:43.199 just they're making a product all of a sudden, That's 0:10:43.240 --> 0:10:50.199 what I've experienced. And when you do that, because I mean, 0:10:50.240 --> 0:10:53.959 there's no black studios or whatever, so you end up 0:10:54.400 --> 0:10:59.040 you always end up with just a person trying to 0:10:59.120 --> 0:11:02.880 make a piece of product. They might as well, they 0:11:02.920 --> 0:11:08.480 might as well be making an iPad business. But you 0:11:08.559 --> 0:11:10.880 seem to me, because you're so smart and so clever, 0:11:11.200 --> 0:11:12.800 that you have as much of a white audience as 0:11:12.800 --> 0:11:15.360 you do with black ondies, don't you think so? In 0:11:15.480 --> 0:11:18.800 spite of the fact your stand up can be pretty 0:11:18.840 --> 0:11:22.680 tough on white people. Yeah, but I always say my 0:11:22.760 --> 0:11:26.600 stand ups like Chinese food and what's Chinese food? Well, 0:11:26.679 --> 0:11:30.960 Chinese food is one of the most popular foods in 0:11:31.000 --> 0:11:35.439 all of America, and they don't put Americans on their menus. 0:11:36.240 --> 0:11:40.880 People really want Chinese food. They don't put friese grilled 0:11:40.920 --> 0:11:46.199 cheese on the menu of the most popular Chinese food 0:11:46.440 --> 0:11:51.079 of people. I'm just saying when people see people come 0:11:51.120 --> 0:11:53.839 to Christ's restaurant, think Christmas menu. They want Christmas menue. 0:11:54.000 --> 0:11:56.839 It's the guy that tries to cross over that gets 0:11:56.920 --> 0:11:59.840 less white people I find. Do you think the app 0:12:00.120 --> 0:12:02.120 to you with a black audience is how much you 0:12:02.880 --> 0:12:06.880 have fun with white commentary? Do you think your black 0:12:06.920 --> 0:12:09.320 audience expects you to do that when they come see you, 0:12:09.600 --> 0:12:13.240 they expect me to do it? Yeah? What am I 0:12:13.280 --> 0:12:16.600 trying to say? First of all, all the materials run 0:12:16.640 --> 0:12:21.040 by run through black. It's actually it's run through black. 0:12:22.320 --> 0:12:25.800 Actually first is run through Jews. I always work out 0:12:25.800 --> 0:12:28.920 the material in West Palm Beach, get out of here, 0:12:29.040 --> 0:12:32.719 I go to West Palm Bease and guess what they 0:12:32.760 --> 0:12:35.440 show up. I play a little club so I figured, 0:12:36.240 --> 0:12:38.720 I'm in front of these people, they're a little older. 0:12:39.080 --> 0:12:40.640 If I can get them to laugh at this one. 0:12:40.640 --> 0:12:42.120 I get in front of the black people, they're gonna 0:12:42.160 --> 0:12:44.920 go zirk. And then I get in front of the 0:12:44.960 --> 0:12:49.120 black people, make some adjustments here and there. And this 0:12:49.160 --> 0:12:51.000 is all before I put like the garden or something 0:12:51.080 --> 0:12:54.480 on sales. So it's these two very different groups. So 0:12:54.600 --> 0:13:00.880 work it out in front of how I'm sixty six man, 0:13:01.440 --> 0:13:06.320 which means and you started, and you started. I started 0:13:06.520 --> 0:13:09.679 probably five seven years before I got on. But I 0:13:09.679 --> 0:13:11.800 always I haven't been you know, I haven't been poor 0:13:12.000 --> 0:13:15.079 day since I met Laura Michaels, and I never been broke. 0:13:17.480 --> 0:13:19.679 A lot of his stuff sticks with me. What thing 0:13:19.720 --> 0:13:23.000 he said to me is like everybody loses their first money. Yeah, 0:13:23.160 --> 0:13:26.880 now if you're talented, you'll make some. You're sure he's 0:13:26.840 --> 0:13:29.640 start right. He knows more about Let's take a moment 0:13:29.679 --> 0:13:32.760 to talk about the wisdom of Laurd Michaels. He's always 0:13:32.760 --> 0:13:36.079 there to remind you how you can lose perspective about 0:13:36.120 --> 0:13:39.160 this business, at least in my case. He's very good. 0:13:38.960 --> 0:13:42.320 But how much of things changed in your mind? And 0:13:42.400 --> 0:13:44.760 not just for you, but for you specifically. But in 0:13:44.800 --> 0:13:47.199 the business, I don't know about you. I find a 0:13:47.240 --> 0:13:55.640 business a lot smaller, less movies, less, I mean less 0:13:55.640 --> 0:13:58.240 stuff that relates to me, you know what, less stuff 0:13:58.280 --> 0:14:00.920 that relates to me. I'll say that for the young people. 0:14:01.000 --> 0:14:04.640 You know, this whole reality thing, I'm not gonna dismiss it. 0:14:05.400 --> 0:14:07.360 You know, sound like I'm some old person talking about 0:14:07.440 --> 0:14:09.880 rap Music's not gonna last, you know what I mean? 0:14:09.920 --> 0:14:13.040 But do you the same time? I don't get it. 0:14:13.320 --> 0:14:15.240 Do you think you'd make it today if you came 0:14:15.280 --> 0:14:17.840 in today. Yeah, me and Sana, Well that's our little 0:14:17.880 --> 0:14:20.440 tests with each other, we kinda we assessed. The stand 0:14:20.520 --> 0:14:25.520 ups were, Yeah, you still got it. I still got it. Yeah, 0:14:25.520 --> 0:14:27.280 I keep the weight off a little bit. You know. 0:14:27.480 --> 0:14:32.000 That's what I'm trying to do. Dude, bon Jovi, doing it, 0:14:32.360 --> 0:14:35.160 still doing it, still doing it. Man. Just look hot. 0:14:35.440 --> 0:14:38.200 Just try to look hot to somebody. How many kids 0:14:38.240 --> 0:14:40.600 you have done? I got to what are you worried 0:14:40.600 --> 0:14:43.680 about raising your kids in this world? I care that 0:14:43.720 --> 0:14:47.800 they're good with money. I don't even care for When 0:14:47.800 --> 0:14:50.440 I say good with money, I just mean you've got 0:14:50.480 --> 0:14:54.080 two dollars and you spend one and you put a dollar. 0:14:54.160 --> 0:14:57.280 But I don't mean that they run Microsoft or they 0:14:57.440 --> 0:14:59.600 flip money and buy a house. I just mean, does 0:14:59.640 --> 0:15:02.080 that come from your childhood? Yes, it comes from my childhood. 0:15:02.880 --> 0:15:06.320 I just mean can they handle their own That's it. 0:15:06.960 --> 0:15:10.560 Because it's a tough hole to get out of, and 0:15:10.600 --> 0:15:13.120 it's a weird hole for a pretty woman to get 0:15:13.120 --> 0:15:16.560 out of, and they end up in relationships with guys 0:15:16.600 --> 0:15:19.200 they wouldn't have relationship with. There's a great line that 0:15:19.240 --> 0:15:21.880 Anthony Quinn has in Lawrence of Arabia where he says, 0:15:21.920 --> 0:15:24.600 I am a river to my people, and I'm getting 0:15:24.600 --> 0:15:27.960 a lot of that. Now. Well, here's the thing. You 0:15:27.960 --> 0:15:31.520 can only help, Like, I got some family right now, 0:15:32.080 --> 0:15:36.080 guy would ever losing his house whatever, I'm gonna help 0:15:36.160 --> 0:15:40.040 him move in to wherever he's gonna move into. I'm 0:15:40.040 --> 0:15:44.160 not buying his house because he's never gonna be able 0:15:44.160 --> 0:15:49.320 to afford the house. So yeah, I my I'm a river. 0:15:49.480 --> 0:15:54.680 But it's a little river. It's a little river because 0:15:54.680 --> 0:15:58.520 when you turn down somebody and they know you have 0:15:58.840 --> 0:16:02.680 the money, this is one thing to go. These kids 0:16:02.680 --> 0:16:06.200 are kicking or whatever and you don't have the money. 0:16:06.840 --> 0:16:09.440 They know you have the money. So it's almost like 0:16:09.480 --> 0:16:13.120 a woman. It's like, I know you have vagina and 0:16:13.160 --> 0:16:15.840 you have sex, you just don't want to have it 0:16:16.200 --> 0:16:19.920 with me. I remember I used to do a movie 0:16:20.120 --> 0:16:22.240 and they'd say to me in whatever way, what would 0:16:22.280 --> 0:16:25.120 come back was, Uh, we don't have the money for that. 0:16:25.840 --> 0:16:27.560 And what they really were saying was, we don't have 0:16:27.760 --> 0:16:30.760 the money for that for you, For you, we don't 0:16:31.360 --> 0:16:37.200 we have the exactly for Leo, we're gonna sell our houses. Remember, 0:16:37.240 --> 0:16:39.080 for you, we don't have the money. And that's what 0:16:39.080 --> 0:16:40.560 you're saying to people in your life is I don't 0:16:40.560 --> 0:16:42.080 have the money for you. I don't have the money 0:16:42.240 --> 0:16:46.240 for you. You're not going to be the reason I'm 0:16:46.320 --> 0:16:50.240 doing some bad kung fu movie. I got one last 0:16:50.320 --> 0:16:54.360 question for you. When you're home and you really want 0:16:54.400 --> 0:16:57.560 to relax, what do you like to watch? Like? What's 0:16:57.680 --> 0:17:02.720 entertainment to you? You know, it's probably just about any woody? 0:17:03.120 --> 0:17:07.439 What gets me? Like? Yeah, me too, any woody? Just 0:17:07.560 --> 0:17:11.360 about man? I mean, what is this way the average 0:17:11.640 --> 0:17:17.399 great filmmaker great has about four good movies. What he 0:17:17.480 --> 0:17:23.239 has about twelves like great, and then he probably has 0:17:23.280 --> 0:17:28.280 about ten more really good finger. So that's the dream, 0:17:28.320 --> 0:17:31.159 is to be a Woody. That is really really I 0:17:31.240 --> 0:17:34.640 love the guy. It's not too late, and of course 0:17:34.640 --> 0:17:42.359 it's not to us. Woody Allen is now in pre 0:17:42.440 --> 0:17:45.879 production for his next movie. No word yet if Chris 0:17:45.960 --> 0:17:48.400 Rock will be joining the cast. Dude, I just want 0:17:48.400 --> 0:17:50.240 to hang on a set. I just want to like 0:17:50.400 --> 0:17:56.600 what happens coming up. Legendary musician and record producer herb 0:17:56.640 --> 0:18:01.080 Aubert in the sixties the Tijuana Brass We played some 0:18:01.200 --> 0:18:05.960 college affairs in Upper California. Woody Allen opened the show 0:18:06.040 --> 0:18:10.639 for us as a stand up comic. Hey, Chris. Eventually 0:18:10.720 --> 0:18:13.560 everyone ends up working with Woody. So don't give up, Hope. 0:18:14.520 --> 0:18:17.360 This is Alec Baldwin and you're listening to here's the thing. 0:18:19.880 --> 0:18:22.680 If you were listening to the radio in nine six, 0:18:22.800 --> 0:18:26.320 it was a true hodgepodge of what was then considered 0:18:26.400 --> 0:18:29.679 popular music. And right up there with the Supremes and 0:18:29.760 --> 0:18:33.320 Simon and Garf Uncle and Frank Sinatra and even the Beatles, 0:18:34.040 --> 0:19:03.160 was this guy. Yes, that's ignature Tijuana Brass sound. Herb 0:19:03.280 --> 0:19:06.720 Albert had no Latin roots, but wanted to recreate the 0:19:06.800 --> 0:19:11.359 sound he'd heard at the bullfights in Tijuana when he 0:19:11.440 --> 0:19:15.320 overdubbed his trumpet on two different tape machines. He captured it, 0:19:17.640 --> 0:19:21.160 and he captured more than that. Whipped Cream and Other 0:19:21.240 --> 0:19:23.959 Delights was the number one album in the country in nineteen, 0:19:25.119 --> 0:19:28.320 remaining on the charts for three years. I started playing 0:19:28.320 --> 0:19:30.640 when I was eight, and I was earning a living 0:19:30.680 --> 0:19:33.720 on weekends playing. I love playing. What happened when you 0:19:33.760 --> 0:19:36.600 were eight? Well, what had you seen or heard that 0:19:36.720 --> 0:19:40.360 made you say I want to pick up a trumpets? Plan? Well? Yeah, 0:19:40.359 --> 0:19:43.199 I was really fortunate. In my elementary school they had 0:19:43.480 --> 0:19:47.440 a band appreciation class and they had this table filled 0:19:47.480 --> 0:19:50.280 with various instruments, and I was able to just pick 0:19:50.359 --> 0:19:52.159 one up. And where were you going to school then? 0:19:52.440 --> 0:19:56.080 Melrose Elementary School in Los Angeles. And what did your 0:19:56.119 --> 0:19:59.480 dad do? Ladies coats and suits? Yeah, yeah, that was 0:19:59.720 --> 0:20:01.760 he's a clothing business. He was in the clothing business. 0:20:01.800 --> 0:20:04.159 He was a schneider. You know. My brother was a 0:20:04.160 --> 0:20:08.639 professional drummer. My sister played the piano, mother violin, and 0:20:08.720 --> 0:20:11.760 my dad played the mandolin by ear. So your parents 0:20:11.760 --> 0:20:14.919 were musical, very musical. It wasn't their professional no, not 0:20:15.000 --> 0:20:17.280 at all. What did your parents think about when you 0:20:17.880 --> 0:20:20.840 were so devoted to music? Were they discouraging you of 0:20:20.960 --> 0:20:23.200 doing that, or they encouraged Your dad wasn't so crazy 0:20:23.240 --> 0:20:24.880 about it. He thought, what do you want to play 0:20:24.920 --> 0:20:26.879 and sawdust pits the rest of your life? That was 0:20:26.960 --> 0:20:39.439 his image of it everybody at the time. He didn't 0:20:39.440 --> 0:20:43.000 know it, but Albert was only just beginning an extraordinary 0:20:43.040 --> 0:20:46.920 career as a musician, eventually earning five number one hits, 0:20:47.040 --> 0:20:52.320 eight Grammys, fourteen platinum albums, and fifteen gold However, those 0:20:52.359 --> 0:20:55.399 achievements might be seen as a prelude to his later 0:20:55.440 --> 0:20:59.479 career as a music producer. We've only just speak up. 0:21:06.640 --> 0:21:10.320 In nineteen sixty two, with his friend Jerry Moss, Albert 0:21:10.359 --> 0:21:14.159 founded what would become the world's largest independent record label, 0:21:14.440 --> 0:21:18.159 A and M Records. They signed such artists as The Carpenters, 0:21:18.359 --> 0:21:25.600 Cheryl Crow, Janet Jackson, and the Police. You don't have 0:21:25.760 --> 0:21:37.640 to night those. Albert and Moss started the whole thing 0:21:37.640 --> 0:21:41.560 with two hundred bucks and a handshake, ultimately selling A 0:21:41.680 --> 0:21:45.119 and M to PolyGram Records in nineteen ninety for half 0:21:45.119 --> 0:21:49.199 a billion dollars. Herb Albert is seventy eight now and 0:21:49.240 --> 0:21:52.439 he's still as handsome as ever. But although he's always 0:21:52.520 --> 0:21:55.560 had Matt May idol looks. He never took up acting. 0:21:55.800 --> 0:21:57.760 Let me tell you something. When I was in high school, 0:21:57.760 --> 0:22:00.359 I was working at a gym. This agent came up 0:22:00.359 --> 0:22:01.760 to me and said, man, you look like he should 0:22:01.760 --> 0:22:05.280 be in the movies. So I said, well, what can 0:22:05.320 --> 0:22:07.159 you do for me? He set me up with the 0:22:07.160 --> 0:22:10.720 people at Paramount. I auditioned. They said I was a 0:22:10.720 --> 0:22:13.720 little green, so I started taking lessons. I studied with 0:22:13.800 --> 0:22:18.119 Jeff Corey and also Leonard Nimoy, and I realized I 0:22:18.160 --> 0:22:21.080 didn't have it. I'm passionate about playing the horn. What's 0:22:21.119 --> 0:22:23.520 the music scene like in Los Angeles? Then? For a 0:22:23.640 --> 0:22:27.040 young guy who wants to play, well, it was quite different. 0:22:27.040 --> 0:22:29.439 It was Shah Boom, Shah boom, sixty minute Man, and 0:22:29.440 --> 0:22:31.760 those type of songs that were kind of popular at 0:22:31.760 --> 0:22:34.320 the time. I had a great experience, though. I was 0:22:34.359 --> 0:22:37.560 partners with Lou Adler at the time. How did you 0:22:37.600 --> 0:22:42.000 become partners with him? Well, he was dating my ex wife. 0:22:44.000 --> 0:22:46.959 Oh Hollywood, yeah, I forgot. We're talking about l A. 0:22:48.640 --> 0:22:51.080 Lou was writing poetry and I started writing some some 0:22:51.640 --> 0:22:54.639 you know, music to his poetry. And he's kind of 0:22:54.640 --> 0:22:56.920 a knock on every door type of guy and I'm 0:22:57.080 --> 0:22:59.919 on the shy one. So we got this job at 0:23:00.040 --> 0:23:04.240 Keen Records in Los Angeles and started working for Bumps Blackwell, 0:23:04.280 --> 0:23:07.720 who was the producer for Sam Cook and Lou and 0:23:07.800 --> 0:23:10.280 I became really close friends with Sam Cooke. We wrote 0:23:11.400 --> 0:23:15.080 Wonderful World together with him. He was really special. He 0:23:15.160 --> 0:23:20.480 had something very unusual. He's very unpretentious guy, but very elegant. 0:23:21.040 --> 0:23:25.800 What did he teach you? Sam had this number one 0:23:25.840 --> 0:23:29.879 records you sent me and his follow up was I 0:23:29.960 --> 0:23:33.439 love you for sentimental reasons. And so the owner of 0:23:33.480 --> 0:23:36.200 this company that I was working for was like an 0:23:36.200 --> 0:23:40.880 amateur piano player. So Sam was recording, goes into the 0:23:40.920 --> 0:23:43.159 control room and starts listening to a playback. I was 0:23:43.200 --> 0:23:46.000 there with this owner, and the owner walks up to 0:23:46.040 --> 0:23:49.119 Sam and says, Sam, you know, in bar twelve you 0:23:49.119 --> 0:23:51.720 can put in a whoa, whoa, and in bar thirty 0:23:51.720 --> 0:23:53.399 five you can put in another who You know. He 0:23:53.440 --> 0:23:55.240 had the sheet music, and Sam looked at the guy 0:23:55.280 --> 0:23:59.000 and says, it's Jack, just put in a man. You 0:23:59.080 --> 0:24:02.240 gotta feel it. Yeah, he says, man, you're listening to 0:24:02.280 --> 0:24:04.600 a cold piece of wax, and it either makes it 0:24:04.680 --> 0:24:07.040 or it, don't you know? He broke it right down 0:24:07.080 --> 0:24:10.560 to the nab. For me, what's interesting about your career 0:24:10.680 --> 0:24:14.560 is not just virtuosic musicianship, and you go on to 0:24:14.600 --> 0:24:19.520 become a very serious and like incredibly successful producer. Did 0:24:19.600 --> 0:24:21.800 you feel when you met those people did you have 0:24:21.960 --> 0:24:25.000 that skill as well? Oh? No, I didn't have any skills. 0:24:25.040 --> 0:24:29.359 Didn't no in producing wise, I didn't even think about it. 0:24:30.200 --> 0:24:33.439 I had an experience at a place, uh called the 0:24:33.480 --> 0:24:36.480 Annex in Los Angeles, a recording studio, and I was 0:24:36.520 --> 0:24:43.720 watching a reasonably famous producer producer record. So the musicians rehearsing. 0:24:44.960 --> 0:24:48.480 Plas Johnson was a saxophone player. He was a saxophone 0:24:48.480 --> 0:24:52.360