WEBVTT - Why Willie Geist is the anti-Anchorman 0:00:04.080 --> 0:00:06.120 What do you do when life doesn't go according to 0:00:06.200 --> 0:00:09.760 plan that moment you lose a job, or a loved one, 0:00:10.280 --> 0:00:14.080 or even a piece of yourself. I'm Brookshields and this 0:00:14.560 --> 0:00:18.759 is now What a podcast about pivotal moments as told 0:00:18.760 --> 0:00:21.600 by people who lived them. Each week, I sit down 0:00:21.600 --> 0:00:23.840 with a guest to talk about the times they were 0:00:23.920 --> 0:00:26.880 knocked off course and what they did to move forward. 0:00:27.880 --> 0:00:33.080 Some stories are funny, others are cut wrenching, but all 0:00:33.360 --> 0:00:38.320 are unapologetically human and remind us that every success and 0:00:38.479 --> 0:00:42.800 every setback is accompanied by a choice, and that choice 0:00:43.000 --> 0:00:44.080 answers one question. 0:00:45.360 --> 0:00:45.800 Now, what. 0:00:49.280 --> 0:00:50.440 Would I steal an emmy? 0:00:50.520 --> 0:00:50.800 Yes? 0:00:51.120 --> 0:00:51.920 I stole an emmy? 0:00:52.000 --> 0:00:54.920 Yep. Yeah, my dad's apartment in New York City at 0:00:54.920 --> 0:00:58.080 a Christmas party every year, and we had just kind 0:00:58.080 --> 0:01:00.360 of gotten to know each other, so invited you. I 0:01:00.360 --> 0:01:02.920 will take a shot. Maybe Brooke will come, Maybe she wan. 0:01:03.000 --> 0:01:05.880 I'm sure she's busy. One fighter to the family and 0:01:06.000 --> 0:01:08.560 friends Christmas party. That was way too many people in 0:01:08.600 --> 0:01:12.280 a way too small apartment. And that was the first year. 0:01:12.400 --> 0:01:14.480 So that was when you showed up with Dan. I 0:01:14.560 --> 0:01:16.400 believe he was the tree. Is that right? 0:01:16.640 --> 0:01:18.840 We were a Christmas tree? I was on his shoulders, 0:01:18.840 --> 0:01:22.520 and we brought you a bucket of Kentucky Fried chickt yes, and. 0:01:22.560 --> 0:01:24.360 Just for a visual for people at one of those 0:01:24.400 --> 0:01:27.560 small elevators in a pre war New York City building, 0:01:28.000 --> 0:01:31.920 and here comes the front door opening. Someone ducking underneath 0:01:32.680 --> 0:01:35.400 up on the shoulders of another person who's wearing gifts 0:01:35.400 --> 0:01:37.839 on his feet because he's the tree. And I guess 0:01:37.840 --> 0:01:39.480 you were the angel on the top of the tree. 0:01:40.160 --> 0:01:40.399 Star. 0:01:40.880 --> 0:01:43.640 You were the star. You were the star. And I 0:01:43.640 --> 0:01:46.959 remember looking over and so I was like, who is 0:01:47.000 --> 0:01:50.080 that And someone was like, I think that's brook Shields. 0:01:50.720 --> 0:01:53.440 I'm like, oh my god. So you went over an 0:01:53.600 --> 0:01:56.680 entire room until you did. There was some shoplifting that 0:01:56.760 --> 0:01:59.080 happened of Emmy's and other things that belonged to my dad, 0:01:59.120 --> 0:02:01.440 but all three were I's so charming. He was all forgiven. 0:02:05.200 --> 0:02:08.799 My guest today is one heck of an interviewer. He's 0:02:08.840 --> 0:02:12.720 also a good friend, a doting husband and father, and 0:02:12.800 --> 0:02:17.400 a fixture on NBC and MSNBC. Willie Geist is a 0:02:17.400 --> 0:02:21.800 co host of Morning Joe, a host of NBC's Sunday Today, 0:02:22.160 --> 0:02:27.160 where he recently celebrated three hundred Sunday sit down interviews. 0:02:27.840 --> 0:02:30.880 He and I met professionally years ago, and from day 0:02:30.919 --> 0:02:33.440 one it felt like I was meeting an old friend. 0:02:33.880 --> 0:02:37.920 Willy is kind quick on his feed, so funny and 0:02:38.000 --> 0:02:40.880 lucky for me, loves a holiday prank as much as 0:02:40.919 --> 0:02:43.560 I do. I'm so happy I had the opportunity to 0:02:43.600 --> 0:02:46.160 turn the tables on him this time and learn a 0:02:46.200 --> 0:02:49.800 little in the process. So, without further ado, here is 0:02:50.240 --> 0:02:54.440 Willy Geist. Hi. 0:02:54.880 --> 0:02:55.680 How are you, Brooker? 0:02:55.880 --> 0:02:56.959 I'm so good. 0:02:57.080 --> 0:02:59.080 How are you good? The last time I saw you 0:02:59.120 --> 0:03:01.639 was at your premiere and you were going to Thailand 0:03:02.040 --> 0:03:02.639 for a long time. 0:03:02.720 --> 0:03:03.680 I went to Thailand. 0:03:03.840 --> 0:03:04.440 How was that? 0:03:04.639 --> 0:03:07.760 It was amazing? Okay, first things, first, asked Christina. 0:03:08.200 --> 0:03:10.240 She's good. She misses you, and I know we say 0:03:10.240 --> 0:03:12.960 it every time, but we're just so overdue. It's embarrassing, 0:03:13.000 --> 0:03:13.519 isn't it. 0:03:13.520 --> 0:03:16.359 It's embarrassing in life keeps getting crazier and crazier. 0:03:16.480 --> 0:03:18.640 I feel it too, And then I see you and 0:03:18.639 --> 0:03:20.360 then we go our separate ways, and then it's like 0:03:20.400 --> 0:03:22.919 another four months and I'm like, ah, well. 0:03:22.760 --> 0:03:24.320 You defected out of the city. 0:03:24.440 --> 0:03:25.600 So that's really what it comes to. 0:03:25.680 --> 0:03:28.880 That is on you, that's on me. The dog, The 0:03:28.919 --> 0:03:31.160 dog that looks a lot like my dead dog. I 0:03:31.840 --> 0:03:35.480 know that was a wonderful text. You were like, it's 0:03:35.520 --> 0:03:37.880 like my dog just died, and you're like, oh my god. 0:03:38.400 --> 0:03:40.560 They look like they could be siblings. I'm like, yeah, 0:03:40.560 --> 0:03:41.720 except yours is alive. 0:03:42.320 --> 0:03:44.480 I always know the right thing to say. 0:03:44.960 --> 0:03:48.000 Yeah, you do, you do. I'll tell you what you do. 0:03:48.160 --> 0:03:50.440 Know the right thing to say when you're interviewing people, 0:03:50.880 --> 0:03:55.000 you're coming upon an anniversary. You have what three hundred interviews? 0:03:55.080 --> 0:03:58.640 Yeah, three hundred sundays. Sit down. Yeah, oh god. 0:03:58.720 --> 0:04:01.800 I actually got a little not nervous, but because I 0:04:01.880 --> 0:04:05.000 love you so much and I really feel the day 0:04:05.040 --> 0:04:07.760 I met you that I was like, oh, this is 0:04:07.760 --> 0:04:10.880 where my little brother went. They've been keeping him from 0:04:10.920 --> 0:04:15.680 me forever. And when we first met, everybody thought we 0:04:15.920 --> 0:04:17.440 had known each other forever. 0:04:17.560 --> 0:04:19.800 I remember, I will never forget that. It must have 0:04:19.839 --> 0:04:23.680 been ten years ago. And you came to fill in 0:04:23.720 --> 0:04:25.840 on the Today Show where I was doing the third 0:04:25.880 --> 0:04:28.839 hour of the Today Show, and I felt the same thing. 0:04:29.400 --> 0:04:32.599 And so people know. Usually when somebody comes and hosts 0:04:32.600 --> 0:04:35.200 with us, it's a lot of like for us, like 0:04:35.480 --> 0:04:37.960 you want to manage the person, usually a very well 0:04:38.000 --> 0:04:40.480 known person. It's not what they do, and this is 0:04:40.520 --> 0:04:43.560 a whole different muscle, and I never felt a moment 0:04:43.640 --> 0:04:45.800 of management. I was like, Oh, this is just fun. 0:04:46.320 --> 0:04:49.320 She's a natural, she's funny, she's cool, she's smart. Like 0:04:49.440 --> 0:04:50.080 we're good. 0:04:50.680 --> 0:04:53.040 It was a huge gift. And then I got to 0:04:53.160 --> 0:04:56.680 know you more socially. And the first time I met 0:04:56.680 --> 0:04:59.080 your father, I stole his Emmy. 0:04:58.920 --> 0:05:02.400 Gre shoplifting that happened of Emmys and other things that 0:05:02.440 --> 0:05:04.680 belonged to my dad, but all for you were so charming, 0:05:04.720 --> 0:05:05.520 it was all forgiven. 0:05:05.720 --> 0:05:08.520 Well, thank you. I was so happy to meet your dad. 0:05:08.640 --> 0:05:13.040 Your dad is such an extraordinary person, and I was 0:05:13.120 --> 0:05:16.080 looking at so much of his sort of older stuff. 0:05:17.040 --> 0:05:19.120 He has such an amazing sense of humor. 0:05:19.600 --> 0:05:23.360 Yeah, he's He started as a newspaper columnist he came 0:05:23.360 --> 0:05:26.000 home from Vietnam, and then he had a couple of jobs, 0:05:26.000 --> 0:05:28.680 and then he started writing for the Chicago Tribune, but 0:05:28.760 --> 0:05:31.040 not the big paper. He worked the suburban trip and 0:05:31.080 --> 0:05:33.240 he was covering like school board meetings and all the 0:05:33.240 --> 0:05:36.200 stuff you do. But he started writing sort of funny 0:05:36.200 --> 0:05:39.160 columns about living in the suburbs with caught people's eye. 0:05:39.200 --> 0:05:40.599 And then he got a job at the New York 0:05:40.640 --> 0:05:43.039 Times off that. So when I was five, we moved 0:05:43.080 --> 0:05:46.479 from Chicago to New Jersey. And he's always had a 0:05:46.520 --> 0:05:49.160 sense of humor. That's always been his things. Really smart, 0:05:49.200 --> 0:05:52.040 really engaging, but he's always been funny. And I think 0:05:52.080 --> 0:05:55.480 that was the biggest thing I've taken from him, is 0:05:55.680 --> 0:05:58.200 sense of humor. Is sort of lead with that, like 0:05:58.240 --> 0:06:01.719 that's where you start get you places, and he's yeah. 0:06:01.720 --> 0:06:03.320 And then went on from the New York Times and 0:06:03.360 --> 0:06:06.840 did the CBS Sunday Morning for more than thirty years. 0:06:06.800 --> 0:06:10.479 And there's some teenage relige geist on some of those there. 0:06:10.400 --> 0:06:13.520 Is he he was. He did a piece about my 0:06:13.680 --> 0:06:16.560 sister's little league baseball team. I guess her soft was 0:06:16.560 --> 0:06:19.760 baseball softball team, and I was one of the base 0:06:19.839 --> 0:06:21.840 coaches on her team. So I was at first base 0:06:21.880 --> 0:06:23.560 and I was like yelling at a kid to run. 0:06:23.760 --> 0:06:26.880 I think that was my TV debut and a piece 0:06:26.960 --> 0:06:29.000 or two later. But he was always shooting stuff at 0:06:29.040 --> 0:06:31.280 our house. I think that's part. People are like, did 0:06:31.320 --> 0:06:33.760 you get into journalism because of your dad? And they say, well, 0:06:33.800 --> 0:06:37.039 not consciously. He and I never sat down and talked 0:06:37.080 --> 0:06:39.440 about like you should get into this sun. It was 0:06:39.560 --> 0:06:42.000 just it was in our house, it was in our lives. 0:06:42.000 --> 0:06:44.120 He shot pieces at home and in our town, and 0:06:44.160 --> 0:06:46.960 he would go out and travel and meet interesting people 0:06:47.040 --> 0:06:49.599 and have great stories. And I think just watching him 0:06:49.760 --> 0:06:52.760 genuinely enjoy his job in a way that I didn't 0:06:52.760 --> 0:06:54.279 always see the other dads. 0:06:54.400 --> 0:06:57.760 Is there something about his, like his style that you 0:06:57.800 --> 0:06:58.880 think you got? 0:06:59.240 --> 0:07:02.680 I think so, yeah, I think having I think he 0:07:02.760 --> 0:07:05.919 has big curiosity for what we do. You have to Actually, 0:07:05.960 --> 0:07:08.240 you can't sit across from someone who you're like not 0:07:08.440 --> 0:07:11.360 super interested in or haven't gotten yourself to be interested in. 0:07:11.400 --> 0:07:13.760 So I think being curious. And I'm always that way. 0:07:13.840 --> 0:07:17.160 I mean, we were just on vacation and I come home, 0:07:17.240 --> 0:07:18.840 I wake up too early, and I come home and 0:07:18.880 --> 0:07:20.960 I'm like showing Christine, all right, there's a house for 0:07:21.000 --> 0:07:22.800 sale over here, and I got the bagels, I got 0:07:22.840 --> 0:07:25.320 the like She's like, you're just around every corner and 0:07:25.320 --> 0:07:27.720 in every nook and cranny, just like what's around Oh, 0:07:27.800 --> 0:07:29.360 let's go up here, let's see what's up here. And 0:07:29.400 --> 0:07:32.720 I think my dad definitely had that. Professionally, his big 0:07:32.760 --> 0:07:35.600 stories were not he wasn't a war correspondent, but he 0:07:35.680 --> 0:07:37.760 was going to like the Iowa State Fair. What are 0:07:37.800 --> 0:07:39.480 you going to do there? Just show up and find 0:07:39.520 --> 0:07:42.480 something interesting and funny there. And so I think I 0:07:42.520 --> 0:07:45.400 took the curiosity and again the sense of humor hopefully. 0:07:45.440 --> 0:07:48.280 I mean the job I do is different from his, 0:07:48.440 --> 0:07:50.680 and that he wasn't an anchor of a news show 0:07:50.760 --> 0:07:54.080 and he wasn't covering politics and international affairs every day. 0:07:54.120 --> 0:07:56.880 But I think on Morning Joe, the show I do 0:07:56.920 --> 0:08:00.280 on MSNBC for four hours every day, you're allowed to 0:08:00.320 --> 0:08:02.360 be your full self, which is such a gift in 0:08:02.400 --> 0:08:05.560 its own and through that you can be funny. You know, 0:08:05.800 --> 0:08:08.520 at a certain point in the show, there's room for 0:08:08.800 --> 0:08:11.280 humor and music and sports and all the things that 0:08:11.320 --> 0:08:13.840 I've sort of accumulated over my life and get to 0:08:13.880 --> 0:08:15.800 show up. So I think my dad comes through me 0:08:16.520 --> 0:08:18.520 probably the most in those moments. And then I would 0:08:18.560 --> 0:08:21.680 say writing. He's such a great writer. He started with writing, 0:08:21.720 --> 0:08:23.960 as I said, and that's the foundation for everything. 0:08:24.160 --> 0:08:26.200 And so you've always written, like when you were a 0:08:26.240 --> 0:08:29.400 little kid. Your kids are now fourteen and sixteen, right, 0:08:29.520 --> 0:08:32.040 so when you see your when you think about yourself 0:08:32.040 --> 0:08:36.319 at their age, were you the same person you are now? 0:08:37.240 --> 0:08:40.240 In a way, Yeah, I think writing was always there. 0:08:40.840 --> 0:08:44.040 You know, I took journalism classes in high school. I 0:08:44.080 --> 0:08:47.000 think there was a premium and a value placed on 0:08:47.640 --> 0:08:50.600 being a reader and a writer in our house. You know, 0:08:50.679 --> 0:08:53.680 my dad didn't know and he couldn't balance a checking account. 0:08:53.760 --> 0:08:56.800 He wasn't in finance. That wasn't that wasn't our house. 0:08:56.880 --> 0:08:59.439 We were My mom's a social worker, so we were 0:08:59.559 --> 0:09:03.520 very creative and open hearted and all those things. But yeah, 0:09:03.559 --> 0:09:06.720 I think the professional seeds probably were there beginning in 0:09:06.760 --> 0:09:09.240 elementary school. And so I guess, yeah, you make me 0:09:09.280 --> 0:09:11.320 think about it, it probably was always there. 0:09:11.840 --> 0:09:14.559 So you say, you write your own stuff, So today, Sunday, 0:09:14.559 --> 0:09:17.600 today you write all that. Do you write your own 0:09:17.840 --> 0:09:20.400 Morning Joe stuff in the same way? 0:09:20.800 --> 0:09:23.360 Morning Joe is more difficult because it is a daily 0:09:23.600 --> 0:09:28.080 churn of hard news of this person got indicted, and 0:09:28.120 --> 0:09:30.760 this thing's happening today, and here's the latest from Ukraine. 0:09:30.800 --> 0:09:33.320 So we have a staff of people who get here, 0:09:33.440 --> 0:09:36.240 I mean at midnight, one, two in the morning, we 0:09:36.320 --> 0:09:39.839 go on the air at six, and since the last 0:09:39.920 --> 0:09:42.559 night they've been preparing for today's show. So they, I 0:09:42.559 --> 0:09:44.680 would say, in Morning Joe. The truth is there's not 0:09:44.720 --> 0:09:46.839 a ton of writing anyway. On Morning Joe because it's 0:09:46.840 --> 0:09:49.840 such a freeform, ad lib conversational show, but there are 0:09:49.960 --> 0:09:52.400 scripts that set up the story that we talk about, 0:09:52.679 --> 0:09:55.040 so there's not as much writing for Morning Joe. It's 0:09:55.120 --> 0:09:57.280 just preparation and do you have to do prep? 0:09:57.320 --> 0:09:59.600 And then do they give you prep? Like is it 0:09:59.600 --> 0:10:03.079 a common Are you constantly listening to the news and. 0:10:03.200 --> 0:10:05.160 You are as much as you want to turn it 0:10:05.200 --> 0:10:07.640 off and say, okay, my work day is over, as 0:10:07.640 --> 0:10:10.280 you know, that's just doesn't not the way it works anymore. 0:10:10.320 --> 0:10:11.960 It's you've got a phone in your hand and you 0:10:12.000 --> 0:10:15.480 look down and you've got emails or you've got notifications 0:10:15.480 --> 0:10:18.480 from a media outlet or a senator's office or something 0:10:18.520 --> 0:10:21.000 that Okay, I'm going to internalize that. And then at 0:10:21.000 --> 0:10:22.680 the end of the night we get a nice note 0:10:22.679 --> 0:10:24.640 from our producers and that we wake up to has 0:10:24.640 --> 0:10:27.439 been updated, which kind of boils it all down. Here 0:10:27.320 --> 0:10:29.240 are the five or six big things that we're going 0:10:29.320 --> 0:10:31.880 to talk about in some details about them. So the 0:10:31.920 --> 0:10:35.920 preparation comes from our great producers, but it's also at 0:10:35.960 --> 0:10:37.679 the end of the day, it's on you when that 0:10:37.800 --> 0:10:39.640 question is asked of you, or when you have to 0:10:39.679 --> 0:10:42.760 ask a question to be kind of fluent in whatever 0:10:42.800 --> 0:10:44.400 that is. And it's a lot of ground to cover, 0:10:44.480 --> 0:10:47.680 you know, it's a lot of players on the board 0:10:47.760 --> 0:10:49.960 to remember who they are and where they fit into 0:10:49.960 --> 0:10:51.960 the story and remember what they said last time, which 0:10:52.000 --> 0:10:53.760 may be different than what they're saying today. 0:10:54.440 --> 0:10:58.240 It sounds like a twenty four hour a day job. 0:10:58.559 --> 0:11:00.680 I don't know how Johnny Walker fel it's in it. 0:11:02.600 --> 0:11:05.800 I don't know how does he a guest on the show. 0:11:05.840 --> 0:11:07.120 It doesn't seem to make sense to me. 0:11:07.400 --> 0:11:09.120 He'll show up at night once in a while to 0:11:09.160 --> 0:11:11.439 get you to it. Yeah, he shows up at night 0:11:11.480 --> 0:11:14.880 with his friends from Kentucky. But yeah, I mean the 0:11:14.920 --> 0:11:16.600 other side has to be said, as we have such 0:11:16.640 --> 0:11:19.160 an ensemble show that yes, it's a lot of TV 0:11:19.280 --> 0:11:21.040 and a lot to know, but there's always somebody to 0:11:21.160 --> 0:11:25.120 lean on. Sunday is just me, but morning Joe, as 0:11:25.280 --> 0:11:27.400 you can spread the ball around and kind of have 0:11:27.440 --> 0:11:30.319 a good team game every day. 0:11:37.480 --> 0:11:39.640 To me, doing this show is a pivotal moment for 0:11:39.720 --> 0:11:41.600 me because all of a sudden I was on the 0:11:41.640 --> 0:11:46.040 other side of the table, which is I thought it 0:11:46.080 --> 0:11:49.280 would be sort of easier, but it's so much easier 0:11:49.320 --> 0:11:52.440 for me to be sitting in the chair being asked 0:11:52.520 --> 0:11:56.080 questions because I've done it for forty plus years. But 0:11:56.720 --> 0:11:58.920 in a way, the show in and of itself for 0:11:59.040 --> 0:12:01.640 me has been a pivotal min But it's also about 0:12:02.280 --> 0:12:06.120 pivotal moments and are first of all, are there any 0:12:06.160 --> 0:12:08.480 in your earlier years just want to back up a 0:12:08.520 --> 0:12:11.760 bit that good or bad would underscore you? 0:12:12.200 --> 0:12:15.800 Well. I have college on my mind right now, as 0:12:15.840 --> 0:12:18.320 we were discussing before we started. My daughters a junior 0:12:18.320 --> 0:12:20.400 in high school, and we're thinking about that and thinking 0:12:20.400 --> 0:12:24.240 about my choice to go to Nashville. I went to Vanderbilt. 0:12:24.920 --> 0:12:28.760 That choice in terms of opening my world, you know. 0:12:28.880 --> 0:12:31.480 And friends of mine who stayed in the Northeast and 0:12:31.520 --> 0:12:33.040 went to all the great schools you can go to 0:12:33.080 --> 0:12:35.880 in the Northeast had a completely different experience and have 0:12:35.960 --> 0:12:38.319 had different lives since because of where they went where 0:12:38.360 --> 0:12:40.800 I went to the South, and all my friends were 0:12:40.840 --> 0:12:45.560 from Atlanta or New Orleans or Peewee Valley, Kentucky or Albany, 0:12:45.600 --> 0:12:48.400 Georgia or places I'd never dreamed i'd go to, hadn't 0:12:48.400 --> 0:12:51.760 even heard of. And then I lived in Atlanta after college, 0:12:51.800 --> 0:12:53.680 so all in I lived in the South for about 0:12:53.760 --> 0:12:56.559 ten years, and I have so much grounding in that, 0:12:56.600 --> 0:12:58.800 and I think, of course I didn't know it then, 0:12:58.880 --> 0:13:02.560 but it changed the way I see different cultures and 0:13:02.600 --> 0:13:06.679 people and places and political parties even and belief systems 0:13:07.240 --> 0:13:10.040 to live alongside and understand. And that served me well 0:13:10.120 --> 0:13:11.439 in this job for sure. 0:13:11.800 --> 0:13:13.880 How do you think it has changed a house? 0:13:14.120 --> 0:13:17.600 Because I think the stereotypes were blown up, you know. 0:13:17.800 --> 0:13:20.400 I mean the sort of cartoon version of the South 0:13:20.480 --> 0:13:22.760 that maybe you have growing up in New York City 0:13:22.840 --> 0:13:25.559 or in New Jersey or wherever, is blown up when 0:13:25.559 --> 0:13:27.600 you get down and they say, oh, they're just me, 0:13:27.800 --> 0:13:31.280 but they live down here, and maybe they believe different 0:13:31.280 --> 0:13:34.640 things in some cases. But I think the commonality of 0:13:34.679 --> 0:13:39.439 our experience and how disconnected the reality is from the stereotype. 0:13:39.559 --> 0:13:42.240 Do you think it's helped specifically with Morning Joe. 0:13:42.480 --> 0:13:45.240 Yes, definitely, definitely. I think that's where it has helped. 0:13:45.320 --> 0:13:48.680 And Joe, you know, my co host Joe of Morning Joe, 0:13:48.720 --> 0:13:52.000 He's from the South and he was Republican congressman and 0:13:52.080 --> 0:13:55.400 he understands that deeply. He grew up with it, and 0:13:55.440 --> 0:13:57.640 I think I have some element of that too. So 0:13:58.160 --> 0:14:00.360 where everyone picks to go to college. If they decide 0:14:00.400 --> 0:14:02.240 to go to college changes their life. But I think 0:14:02.320 --> 0:14:05.120 it's certainly. I mean it steered me to Atlanta, which 0:14:05.160 --> 0:14:07.760 steered me to CNN, which you know that you can 0:14:07.800 --> 0:14:09.520 watch all the dominoes fall from there. 0:14:09.840 --> 0:14:12.439 Are you allowed to have an opinion or are you? 0:14:12.880 --> 0:14:16.400 Do you have to stay neutral? How do you exist 0:14:16.559 --> 0:14:20.920 in an environment in which, politically per se you don't 0:14:20.920 --> 0:14:25.400 necessarily agree with but you need to be neutral enough 0:14:25.640 --> 0:14:27.600 to be able to have sort of both sides. 0:14:28.200 --> 0:14:31.520 Yeah, I mean on Morning on Morning Joe. My theory 0:14:31.720 --> 0:14:35.160 is that there's plenty of opinion. There are plenty of 0:14:35.200 --> 0:14:37.720 hot takes, right, I mean, that's what the show is. 0:14:38.080 --> 0:14:40.240 And I think my role and by the way, I'm 0:14:40.240 --> 0:14:42.640 not it's not a cynical play. I should have this role. 0:14:42.680 --> 0:14:45.160 It's really the way I feel is to provide information. 0:14:45.320 --> 0:14:48.520 And I'm always thinking about the viewer. Does the viewer 0:14:48.560 --> 0:14:50.400 get what we're talking about? If I were watching this 0:14:50.480 --> 0:14:52.840 at home, what would be my question? You've talked past 0:14:52.920 --> 0:14:54.760 us a little bit, or you're down so deep in 0:14:54.800 --> 0:14:56.480 the weeds. Can you pull us out of the weeds 0:14:56.480 --> 0:14:58.600 and explain the big picture of what's going on? So 0:14:59.440 --> 0:15:02.480 in terms of giving opinion, I think honestly, within the 0:15:02.560 --> 0:15:06.000 last eight years or so, I think maybe there's been 0:15:06.120 --> 0:15:09.200 more opinion, which is to say, and not for me anyway, 0:15:09.280 --> 0:15:12.120 not strident, bomb throwing and a hot take. But like 0:15:12.800 --> 0:15:15.560 you know, I think it's bad to try to overturn 0:15:15.600 --> 0:15:18.200 the government. I don't think that's a shouldn't be a 0:15:18.280 --> 0:15:20.720 terribly controversial thing to say. I think it's bad to 0:15:20.760 --> 0:15:22.960 beat up police officers at the Capitol. That shouldn't be 0:15:23.040 --> 0:15:26.120 a controversial thing to say. So to me, there are 0:15:26.120 --> 0:15:28.880 some things that are just true that maybe people perceive 0:15:29.000 --> 0:15:31.280 as an opinion or a hot take, which I don't 0:15:31.280 --> 0:15:34.320 necessarily intend for it to be. But otherwise, within the 0:15:34.360 --> 0:15:37.120 context of Morning Joe, everyone who's on there is there 0:15:37.160 --> 0:15:39.520 for their opinion, and I try to be a little 0:15:39.520 --> 0:15:42.600 bit of a rudder to say, Okay, here's some of 0:15:42.640 --> 0:15:44.480 the facts about the case. Let's put a whole bunch 0:15:44.520 --> 0:15:46.760 of context around this, and then to drop into the 0:15:46.800 --> 0:15:51.120 conversation questions on behalf of a viewer who may say, wait, 0:15:51.160 --> 0:15:54.080 who's that person again? Or wait why I don't understand 0:15:54.080 --> 0:15:56.960 why that's bad. I just I literally sit back. Sometimes 0:15:56.960 --> 0:15:59.160 I'm like, I know where we are here, but if 0:15:59.160 --> 0:16:01.280 I'm watching it home, don't so let me let me 0:16:01.320 --> 0:16:03.560 put down a little flag to remind people what we're 0:16:03.560 --> 0:16:04.120 talking about. 0:16:04.720 --> 0:16:08.200 Well, you've been all all across the I mean, okay, 0:16:08.240 --> 0:16:11.160 so I feel like you've been on many many different networks, right, 0:16:11.200 --> 0:16:13.800 I mean, you were at CNN for sports in your twenties, 0:16:14.080 --> 0:16:17.240 you worked at Tucker Carlson, he was at an MSNBC. 0:16:18.240 --> 0:16:19.720 Was that sort of your first on air? 0:16:20.000 --> 0:16:23.040 It was, yeah. So I started out of college. I 0:16:23.400 --> 0:16:26.080 graduated from Vanderbilt, and then I went home to New 0:16:26.160 --> 0:16:28.400 Jersey and I drove the and I don't mean to 0:16:28.400 --> 0:16:32.040 brag here, the liquor delivery truck for Hohokus Wine and 0:16:32.080 --> 0:16:32.760 Spirit World. 0:16:32.880 --> 0:16:35.000 Did it all get delivered where it was supposed to go? 0:16:35.320 --> 0:16:37.800 You know, some of it fell fall off the truck. 0:16:37.840 --> 0:16:40.480 You know what I mean. It happens. It happened, It 0:16:40.560 --> 0:16:41.520 falls off the truck. 0:16:42.480 --> 0:16:43.560 Does you get any free booth? 0:16:44.440 --> 0:16:46.960 We did have a generous boss who occasionally would allow 0:16:47.040 --> 0:16:49.360 us to take a bottle home. So I did that. 0:16:49.680 --> 0:16:51.400 Sorry I digressed, No, No, that was. 0:16:51.760 --> 0:16:53.840 My dad was mad when I left that job because 0:16:53.880 --> 0:16:56.080 we got like a twenty five percent case discount and 0:16:56.080 --> 0:16:59.200 everything but I took so then I moved to Atlanta. 0:16:59.480 --> 0:17:01.680 I knew I I wanted to work in media in 0:17:01.720 --> 0:17:04.120 some form. I'd done an internship the summer before while 0:17:04.119 --> 0:17:06.520 I was still in college at the CBS Political Unit, 0:17:06.920 --> 0:17:09.480 so it was kind of the nexus of media and politics, 0:17:09.560 --> 0:17:11.479 and it was during a presidential campaign. It was all 0:17:11.560 --> 0:17:14.399 very exciting. So then I moved to Atlanta, but CNN 0:17:14.440 --> 0:17:17.800 didn't have the PA job in news itself, so it 0:17:17.840 --> 0:17:21.679 was actually at CNN Sports Illustrated CNN Sports Network, and 0:17:21.720 --> 0:17:23.719 I was there for about six and a half years, 0:17:24.160 --> 0:17:26.760 learned every job you can learn in TV. I was 0:17:27.119 --> 0:17:30.920 from the bottom of the logging tapes to producing and 0:17:31.119 --> 0:17:33.920 everything you can learn to do. And then I moved 0:17:34.040 --> 0:17:37.480 up to New York, which was a big jump. We 0:17:37.520 --> 0:17:39.320 wanted to get back home. Christina and I had just 0:17:39.400 --> 0:17:41.800 gotten married and took a job at another sports show 0:17:41.880 --> 0:17:45.119 called IMAX and it got canceled after nine months. 0:17:45.720 --> 0:17:46.919 That's a now what moment? 0:17:47.119 --> 0:17:49.560 Well, so that I was, yeah, I mean talk about 0:17:49.600 --> 0:17:51.320 now what moments, and you know what, it was the 0:17:51.440 --> 0:17:54.280 last day of the show canceled after nine months. We've 0:17:54.320 --> 0:17:56.800 made a big move, got an apartment and everything. We're 0:17:56.800 --> 0:17:59.320 like all right, we're New York is now. Was Christina's 0:17:59.359 --> 0:18:02.240 thirtieth first and I remember we went out to dinner 0:18:02.240 --> 0:18:05.040 for her birthday and then we went to like a 0:18:05.119 --> 0:18:09.600 karaoke place after. But I remember being like, let's not 0:18:09.640 --> 0:18:11.560 maybe we don't have drinks tonight. I'll just stick with 0:18:11.600 --> 0:18:14.200 the water and then like the karaoke thing is too 0:18:14.240 --> 0:18:17.160 expensive and all that. And that was truly like when 0:18:17.160 --> 0:18:18.720 you asked me that, I was like, that was a 0:18:18.880 --> 0:18:21.840 real what now moment? Like I don't know if I'm 0:18:22.000 --> 0:18:25.119 am I done in TV? Maybe you know CNNSI the 0:18:25.160 --> 0:18:27.159 network I was on, they had pulled the plug, they 0:18:27.200 --> 0:18:29.680 canceled this show. Maybe it's not for me. I thought 0:18:29.720 --> 0:18:31.399 I wanted to be on the air, but that didn't 0:18:31.400 --> 0:18:35.040 work out. What am I doing? And I honestly everything 0:18:35.160 --> 0:18:38.239 from law school ran through my mind. I was like 0:18:38.320 --> 0:18:41.919 the world was wide open, but also very scary. You know, 0:18:42.000 --> 0:18:44.080 we lived in New York and it wasn't cheap and 0:18:44.119 --> 0:18:47.479 what are we going to do? And so the twist 0:18:47.480 --> 0:18:50.480 of fate was that someone in a couple of guys 0:18:50.520 --> 0:18:52.680 I knew who I'd worked with on this IMAX show, 0:18:52.920 --> 0:18:57.560 knew somebody at MSNBC. We were hired as freelancers as producers, 0:18:57.800 --> 0:19:01.159