432: Gene Simmons—The Sun Never Sets on Planet Cool

The multilingual, bass-thumping, capitalist dives into what made him fall in love with America, his unforgettable first job involving prosthetic testes, and the etymology of the word a**hole. It's a free-wheeling discussion from Moses to Superman and everything in between.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:03Mike Rowe?

  Hey, it's me, Mike Rowe, and I'm always delighted when people stop by who are far, far, far, far more famous than I.

• 0:13Speaker 01

  That is fair to say, very fair to say.

• 0:16Mike Rowe?

  One of the founding members of a little rock band called Kiss was in the neighborhood, and he braved the LA traffic, which was no easy thing to do. But he came in, and he sat down, and we began to chat. And the pearls of wisdom just bounced across the table as they tumbled out of his mouth.

• 0:36Speaker 01

  That guy knows a lot, and he's not afraid to tell you about it, right? A lot of fun facts in there. And one thing that he's very keen about is how many Jews there are in the world.

• 0:46Mike Rowe?

  We definitely, we did talk a lot about the diaspora and the Jewish population. Of course, Gene Simmons is very, very Jewish and Israelite in every sense of the word, and eager to talk about it. And he does, because he's Gene Simmons. He's 75 years old. He's worth close to half a billion dollars. You want to talk about crypto? You want to talk about fine art? You want to talk about the joy of music? You want to talk about the Holocaust? Whatever you want to talk about.

• 1:14Speaker 01

  He sure can.

• 1:15Mike Rowe?

  He's been there, and he's done it. And he's a guy that I've wanted to meet for a long, long time. And he didn't disappoint. You know, I mean, if you're not old enough to remember, without overstating it, Kiss changed rock and roll, changed fashion, changed music. It changed everything.

• 1:33Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:34Mike Rowe?

  I remember, let's see, this would have been 1975. They had formed, the band had, and they were playing, but no one knew of them yet. There was no Kiss Army yet, right? But you know what there was? There were billboards in Manhattan and up and down the East Coast, black billboards with those big white letters that said Kiss.

• 1:56Speaker 01

  That very distinctive font with the, you know, straight S's.

• 2:00Mike Rowe?

  Yeah, something very German about it. But no one knew what it meant. No one knew they were a band. It was just, why am I seeing the word Kiss? What am I supposed to do? Is this a command? Is it a suggestion? What is it?

• 2:14Speaker 01

  Keep it simple, stupid.

• 2:16Mike Rowe?

  It's that too. Now, others have said knights in the service of Satan, which is not true. No. But it does come up in the conversation because frankly, everything else does. What's the title of this episode? I love the quote he gave me. It's called "The Sun Never Sets on Planet Cool." Which was his response when I said, "Dude, why don't you take off those sunglasses?" Which he never does. He's Gene Simmons. He can say whatever he wants. Yeah. And believe me, we're about to prove it. Right after this.

• 2:50Mike Rowe?

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• 3:34Mike Rowe?

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• 4:18Mike Rowe?

  An hour forty minutes from Malibu, seriously?

• 4:20Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah. One forty-five, yeah.

• 4:22Mike Rowe?

  What?

• 4:23Speaker 02

  Well, PCH is closed. If I took PCH, forty minutes. You got all the way around Ventura Highway to Oxnard, then Comer-Oar, Canaan Dune.

• 4:36Mike Rowe?

  Yeah.

• 4:36Speaker 02

  And then I've got another half, because I live at the very end.

• 4:40Mike Rowe?

  Well, I'm so glad you came. But we were, you're forty-five minutes late.

• 4:45Speaker 02

  Right.

• 4:46Mike Rowe?

  And I know how I feel. This, it doesn't happen to me a lot.

• 4:50Speaker 02

  Doesn't happen to me.

• 4:51Mike Rowe?

  What, what happens in your brain chemically and to your person? You drove yourself too, right?

• 4:59Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah. I haven't, I've never had an assistant or anything. I wipe my own ass.

• 5:03Mike Rowe?

  I love that. I love that. Do you alternate hands when?

• 5:07Speaker 02

  Wiping?

• 5:08Mike Rowe?

  Yeah. Like, do you ever mix it up a little bit?

• 5:10Speaker 02

  It depends how much there is. If it's a big scoop, I'll use both. Like an earth mover.

• 5:15Mike Rowe?

  Friends, look, I apologize in advance. I don't know where we're headed with this. The question I'm trying to get at, though, is for a man who values promptness. Just like, for me, it's the five stages of grief. When I'm running that late for an appointment, it, it literally makes me crazy.

• 5:32Speaker 02

  Well, you have, you have to care because you have to imagine you on the other side. You don't want to be treated that way, and why would you treat somebody else that way?

• 5:41Mike Rowe?

  Right.

• 5:42Speaker 02

  It's an, it's an old Jewish idea. Do unto others as, yeah, sorry, that's, we came up with that first.

• 5:50Mike Rowe?

  Yeah.

• 5:51Speaker 02

  And it's, it's respect. And it, when you're poor, you're afraid of repercussions. If I'm late, I'm gonna get fired.

• 6:00Mike Rowe?

  Right.

• 6:00Speaker 02

  Ergo, E-R-G-O, I won't make any money. And what follows is I won't be able to have a roof over my head, feed my family, and eat. So there are repercussions. The question is, are you a mensch, are you a man? And when you don't depend on the money, when you've got enough, because there's no such thing. Will you ethically, morally show up on time because you care? That's the way I feel about it.

• 6:29Mike Rowe?

  What's the etymology of mensch? Is it abbreviated for something?

• 6:34Speaker 02

  It's German.

• 6:34Mike Rowe?

  It's a German word.

• 6:35Speaker 02

  Ich kann sprechen ein bisschen Deutsch. I can speak well enough Hochdeutsch, which is proper, high German. And mensch is a real German word. It means gentleman, but for Jews, the added idea is you're a man. In those days, everything was about man. A man, if he says something, you gotta take him for his word. Anybody that doesn't is not a mensch.

• 7:02Mike Rowe?

  Right, right. So back in a time when a handshake meant a thing?

• 7:08Speaker 02

  Similar, yeah.

• 7:09Mike Rowe?

  Right?

• 7:11Speaker 02

  By the way, sometimes they'd spit.

• 7:14Mike Rowe?

  Where'd that come from?

• 7:15Speaker 02

  Western, in America. It came from the West, not in Europe. In fact, in Europe, good luck is you spit on the head of your child. Hey.

• 7:28Mike Rowe?

  Come on, really?

• 7:30Speaker 02

  I'm a hand to God.

• 7:31Mike Rowe?

  Well, what about cutting and the blood, the Indian thing?

• 7:33Speaker 02

  That, yeah, we are of one blood. And as a matter of fact, if you're curious where Indian names came from, it's really a fascinating, American Indians, fascinating idea. There's an old chief, you know, howling wolf who's dying. And the young buck, you know, who's gonna become the Indian chief, gets in front of the, "Oh, howling wolf, before you pass on with the great spirits, I know what to do and I'm going to, I promise I'm gonna protect," you know, the thing. "I just wanna know one thing. How do we name our children of what? Because they don't have mom and dad. How did you get howling wolf?" He goes, "Well, when we are born, what we see around,

• 8:18Speaker 02

  they saw a howling wolf when I was born and therefore I'm howling wolf. Does that answer your question? Two dogs fighting."

• 8:28Mike Rowe?

  Chuck, did you see it?

• 8:29Speaker 02

  Yeah, I did. I saw it.

• 8:31Mike Rowe?

  I mean, did you see where he was going?

• 8:33Speaker 02

  Oh, I saw it very clearly.

• 8:34Mike Rowe?

  I didn't. I didn't. He got halfway through it and I realized, oh, man, it's gonna be a joke. It's gonna be...

• 8:41Mike Rowe?

  To circle back, you're a man of wealth and taste. You've done pretty well for yourself.

• 8:46Speaker 02

  Wealth is relative.

• 8:48Mike Rowe?

  Not really. Well, I suppose it is. I suppose everything's relative in that way.

• 8:52Speaker 02

  If you're around Bezos or Elon, you're a speck of dandruff.

• 8:59Mike Rowe?

  You're measly 400 million next to Elon's 400 billion.

• 9:03Speaker 02

  I never said I'm worth 400 million.

• 9:05Mike Rowe?

  No, but Wikipedia does, and they can't be wrong.

• 9:07Speaker 02

  Oh, of course not.

• 9:10Mike Rowe?

  But here's my question.

• 9:11Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 9:11Mike Rowe?

  You get up, you're 75 years old.

• 9:14Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 9:14Mike Rowe?

  You suffer through an hour, 45 minutes of traffic to come here. You don't know me. I mean, maybe you know of me.

• 9:22Speaker 02

  Sure, I do.

• 9:23Mike Rowe?

  Maybe you followed my entire... I have no idea. But I know that a lot of people, if they imagine themselves in your position, with your life.

• 9:32Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 9:34Mike Rowe?

  What are you doing, man? Why are you out in the world? Why are you on podcasts? Why are you still... Why are you still out there?

• 9:42Speaker 02

  I'm busier and work now more than ever. I have a Gene Simmons Band, a labor of love. We're doing an American tour starting April.

• 9:54Mike Rowe?

  Really?

• 9:55Speaker 02

  Yeah, the Gene Simmons Band starts all across America. We show up with guitar picks, and that's it. Everything is just bare bones, the way we started, the old-fashioned way.

• 10:06Mike Rowe?

  No guitars? Just the picks?

• 10:07Speaker 02

  No, I'm sorry. Somebody carries the guitar.

• 10:10Mike Rowe?

  Four dudes walk on stage with nothing but picks. I'm gonna demand a refund.

• 10:15Speaker 02

  The idea being that the amplifiers... Yes, I have that too. The amplifiers and the drums and everything are provided for us. They fly us in, or we drive, and then we play. You should go to genesimmons.com to find all the dates.

• 10:29Mike Rowe?

  We're there right now, I think. Look at this.

• 10:31Speaker 02

  And you can go to shopgenesimmons.com. He's scrolling too fast for me, but what am I gonna do? Keep going down, keep going down. No, that's up the other way. There you go. So you go to shopjeansimmons.com. I own the Moneybag logo. I own the Bitcoin. See all those logos? I own all the trademark to all of them, including the Euro, the pound sign. Yes, I do.

• 10:55Mike Rowe?

  You're not answering my question, man.

• 10:57Speaker 02

  I never touched her.

• 10:58Mike Rowe?

  Why?

• 11:01Mike Rowe?

  Muscle memory, reflex.

• 11:06Mike Rowe?

  Why? Yes, why are you still?

• 11:08Speaker 02

  We have restaurant chains, Rockin' Brews, two of them at LAX across America, a film company, Simmons, Abramson, I'm sorry, Simmons, Hamilton. The first one is Deepwater with Sir Ben Kingsley. And, oh yeah, big stuff.

• 11:25Mike Rowe?

  You've been business with Ben Kingsley? That Ben Kingsley?

• 11:29Speaker 02

  Yes, Sir Ben Kingsley.

• 11:30Mike Rowe?

  Oh, I'm sorry.

• 11:31Speaker 02

  Renee Harland directing. And the second one's with Bella Thorne and Mel Gibson. They come one right after the other. But while you're a lot, look, you're running a race because life in essence is a race. And you know, we're young, we don't care, we don't know what it's about. You just cruise. Aren't you like I am? As you see the finish line, don't you speed up?

• 11:54Mike Rowe?

  Sure.

• 11:56Speaker 02

  I'm 75. How many years more do I have left? I don't know, a year, 10 years, 20, 30, whatever it is. I get up every day earlier. This morning I was up at So Help Me God on my children. I was up 5:00 AM.

• 12:11Mike Rowe?

  On purpose?

• 12:12Speaker 02

  No, just my eyes. I can't wait to get started. Read, you know, be a sponge.

• 12:18Mike Rowe?

  So the notion, like the notion of retirement, does it even mean anything?

• 12:25Speaker 02

  No, it's a, somebody made up 64 is retirement age. In Greece, it used to be 54. And then when the government tried to move it up to 60 because it doesn't make financial sense, they started burning tires on the streets. I don't, I want, well, what do you want to do with your life? Do nothing. I want to retire. And do what? You get up after you poop and wipe. Not everybody wipes.

• 12:48Mike Rowe?

  Not everybody gets up before they do that either.

• 12:50Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 12:52Speaker 02

  What are you gonna do the rest of the day? There's eating, yeah, and what? Smelling the

• 12:59Speaker 02

  the grass on the lawn and everything? No, you gotta do something. I wanna be able to, see, the pharaohs were not good guys. They enslaved people, they tortured people, but they had the same will to live that winners do.

• 13:14Mike Rowe?

  But is the will to live, I mean, I think that's instinctual.

• 13:19Speaker 02

  Achievement, not just living.

• 13:20Mike Rowe?

  That's different. That's different.

• 13:22Speaker 02

  That's right.

• 13:23Mike Rowe?

  Work ethic is different.

• 13:24Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 13:24Mike Rowe?

  Right, than the will to live.

• 13:26Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 13:27Mike Rowe?

  The, the will to work, the desire to work.

• 13:30Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 13:31Mike Rowe?

  The, the, the compunction to drag your 75-year-old bag of bones into your car and drive yourself.

• 13:38Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 13:38Mike Rowe?

  Over here to talk about whatever it is we're gonna talk about. Is it, is it curiosity? Like, are you still, like, are you a curious person?

• 13:48Speaker 02

  About everything. I admire all kinds of people that do things that I can't do. And I wanna find out why I'm not doing it or not doing it as well.

• 13:58Mike Rowe?

  For example, who do you admire who you've never met?

• 14:01Speaker 02

  Oh, anybody. Elon, Bezos, you know, these guys started with nothing. Elon especially came from South Africa. Not a happy home. Had a brother and so on, and they moved to Canada. And somewhere along the line, scientists like to call a singularity or something. Something, some flicker went off and then nothing was gonna stop the guy. But I mean, nothing. Bezos also was, started off with nothing and just had this kind of notion about this idea, this Amazon thing, go to someplace. And I mean, it's really a simple idea when you think about it. And all, all the big movements in technology and inventions and so on

• 14:45Speaker 02

  were started by individuals, not corporate entities, not, not governments. Alexander Graham Bell, Mr. So-and-so coming here, and Edison with his team inventing things. Just individuals who have this scratch that they can't.

• 15:01Speaker 02

  This itch that they can't scratch, this thing, and they're never, they're never satisfied.

• 15:06Mike Rowe?

  But don't you, I mean, look, I don't want to put words in your mouth, but I, I saw a biography on Kiss years ago, and I, I think you and, and Paul both were trying to explain the singularity in, in terms of the moment where somebody said, okay, we're gonna call ourselves Kiss, we're going to wear makeup.

• 15:24Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 15:25Mike Rowe?

  Right? And, and like, that wasn't, I mean, that came from some other place.

• 15:29Speaker 02

  Some other place, because there was nothing, uh, we didn't have a resume, no experience, no nothing. We knew. Somehow you know, you may not know what it is, but you know it when you see it and feel it. And it's difficult to teach that kind of thing. I used to be a sixth grade teacher, and the thing that I tried to teach most is about trusting your gut, this thing. And so if you see a kid in school doodling, put away your pens, I'm going, no. As long as you can do your work and you're doodling, I'm gonna give you paperwork. Don't stop the mind from wandering. It's this kind of like, you know, we're, we're born

• 16:10Speaker 02

  and we're like the ping pongs in a ping pong machine. No, no, let them play, don't do this kind of straight line thing. Because when you take a look at the most successful people, it was not a linear line. You know, one of the popes was in Hitler Youth, and from there, you know, advanced and so on, became a pope. And Schwarzenegger came from Austria, where his parents were Nazis, and couldn't speak a word of English, and had this thought about, I'm gonna build up my body, and that's gonna be my way out of this small world, because I have bigger ideas about life. And he became the world's most, whatever it is, muscle guy, Mr. Olympic many times over, and then became the governor of California.

• 16:55Mike Rowe?

  And he's not done.

• 16:56Speaker 02

  The fifth largest economy on planet Earth, ahead of Italy and England.

• 17:01Mike Rowe?

  Well, maybe not right now, at this particular second, but it's up there, for sure.

• 17:05Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 17:06Mike Rowe?

  This seems a stupid question, probably, because obviously, music was...

• 17:10Speaker 02

  I don't think there is such a thing, when you think about it.

• 17:12Mike Rowe?

  Oh, see how you feel, maybe a half hour from now.

• 17:15Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 17:18Mike Rowe?

  Music seems to be your way out in the way that working out was Arnold's way out. But, but it could have been magic. It could have been painting.

• 17:30Speaker 02

  I would have succeeded in anything I wanted to do.

• 17:32Mike Rowe?

  You believe that?

• 17:33Speaker 02

  Oh, there's no question about it.

• 17:34Mike Rowe?

  Tell me why.

• 17:36Speaker 02

  Well.

• 17:37Mike Rowe?

  Where's that certainty come from?

• 17:41Speaker 02

  I think it's worth noting that the tightrope walker and all champions do this. They work, I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna win. You know, you gotta hype yourself up. You can't wait for somebody to hype you up. You gotta, I'm gonna do this. You know, in football, sometimes you get the gipper. Okay, let's get out there and show them. And you're depending on somebody else. If you, if you are your own gipper, as they say, and can hype yourself up, you're actually contributing greatly to your success. So if you're gonna walk a tightrope and your mindset is everything, including the will to live. Doctors haven't figured that one out yet. If you don't have the will to live, you're gonna die fast. You live, you gotta live.

• 18:24Speaker 02

  You, it, it releases the right endorphins, whatever that's called. But you're about to walk a tightrope and you start thinking thoughts like, ah, there's a pretty good chance, makes no sense, I'm probably gonna fall off in the middle. You just contributed to your downfall. The chances are, mindset is everything before. And if you have the mind, I can do this. I'm gonna get to the other side because I've got stuff to do and I got this and I got, there's no, and you go out there like a champion, more than likely, you're gonna win.

• 18:55Mike Rowe?

  Permission to complicate the metaphor just a little.

• 18:58Speaker 02

  Meta five, inflation.

• 19:02Mike Rowe?

  Okay, I like the tightrope. But is there a safety net?

• 19:06Speaker 02

  No.

• 19:06Mike Rowe?

  Or no?

• 19:07Speaker 02

  No. The safety net is you're gonna fail at that and you're gonna fail miserably. But you don't die. And what doesn't kill you makes you strong. So you can fail at something, try something else.

• 19:18Mike Rowe?

  But that's what the safety net is. If you fail and fall and there's a safety net, the consequence of falling is...

• 19:24Speaker 02

  Failing means nothing.

• 19:26Mike Rowe?

  That's right. There's no... So in a world where there's no consequence to failure, does failure even have a definition?

• 19:32Speaker 02

  Well, the reason you have a huge advantage in America is because you cannot fail. If you don't have any money, if you're homeless, God forbid, and all that, there are places that'll take you in and provide bed, clothing, food, food and shelter. Churches, Salvation Army, you can get by. And you can wash dishes and slowly work your way up in capitalism. And if you succeed and you get the rug pulled out from under you and there's no money left and all that stuff, you can declare legally Chapter 7 and Chapter 11 and start all over again.

• 20:08Mike Rowe?

  Have you ever done that?

• 20:09Speaker 02

  Never, no.

• 20:10Mike Rowe?

  You never?

• 20:10Speaker 02

  I would never do that because you're shortchanging the people who gave you their money to invest. I would, I couldn't do that.

• 20:18Mike Rowe?

  You came over here with your mom when you were, what, six, seven years old?

• 20:21Speaker 02

  And I was 56. No, I was, I was eight. Actually, I was eight before I was nine.

• 20:28Mike Rowe?

  And here I was thinking you were something different, something special. Eight leads to nine. You're with your mom. Your old man had left. So it's just the two of you.

• 20:37Speaker 02

  He, he got up and walked out. One day, you know. Sadly, it is more common than not. In one of the books I wrote called Me, Inc., the statistics are horrific and shaming men in the Hispanic, but especially in the African-American community. Seventy-five percent of African-American women who have children, whether they're married or not, have no father figure at home. And then you wonder why the kids turn out badly. In the Caucasian something, it's like 55%. It's, of course, you got lost children.

• 21:17Mike Rowe?

  How should we think about men who walk out on their families?

• 21:27Mike Rowe?

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• 22:09Mike Rowe?

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• 22:49Speaker 02

  Well, the law should hold them accountable. Whether it's an accident of birth or not, you've got an innocent child. And whether it's an absent dad or not, you've got to at least financially provide.

• 23:03Mike Rowe?

  When did you fall in love with America?

• 23:07Speaker 02

  When I saw Superman. We came on Elal Airlines, propellers in those days, 1958, maybe it was 1858, I'm not sure.

• 23:20Mike Rowe?

  Don't they go buy it a blank?

• 23:21Speaker 02

  And all I remember is my mother saying, "We're just going one stop." I had no idea I'd be... I was throwing up the whole time. I remember this. Throwing up, eating a cracker or something and then falling asleep, then getting up, throwing up. And we landed, and I remember seeing a billboard. Now, you gotta remember, when you come from Israel, you have no idea about Christianity or anything else. You never heard of that as an eight-year-old kid. All we saw were the Israelis, the Jews, and some Arabs who walked down the street. That's all you knew. There was no television. I never heard of television. We didn't have a radio.

• 24:03Mike Rowe?

  This is in Haifa?

• 24:04Speaker 02

  In Haifa. We are in T'irata Carmel, which is the village of Carmel, the biblical Carmel, same one. I lived right at the foot with my mother. Yeah. And I was introduced at about eight and a half, a little more, to television. And I remember thinking, I promise you this is true. I thought there was, we were at our Uncle George's house, and he was successful. Of course, he's Jewish. And we went. Statistics bear it out. If you have a problem with that, just check the statistics. It doesn't lie.

• 24:43Mike Rowe?

  I mean, the proper pronunciation of your given name is?

• 24:47Speaker 02

  Chaim. Which, you know, when you hear Jews or other people say, "Lechaim," which means "to life," you're actually saying "to life." That's the toast. That is the only toast Jews do, which is ultimately invariably, and other big words like gymnasium, that's all there is. Everything else is just smoke and mirrors. If you're alive, you have the gift of everything, and that is what you do with it. So I went to my Uncle George's house with my mother. It's her brother. And I remember walking in, and there was a man on television, black and white. And you can see a close-up of his head. And I thought there was a guy in the box.

• 25:31Speaker 02

  Like, in those days, a television set was a long piece of furniture. On one side was booze, on the other side. So it was like six feet long. And I thought there was a guy inside the box. You know, talk, I didn't know what he was saying. I didn't speak English.

• 25:44Mike Rowe?

  Right.

• 25:46Speaker 02

  And then, we went to my Uncle Larry's house. My Uncle George, her brother, was a prosthetic, prosthetologist. He made bridges, teeth, and balls. For those that had problems, yes, he made prosthetic balls.

• 26:05Mike Rowe?

  Prosthetic testicles?

• 26:06Speaker 02

  Yes, and my first job was carrying around paper bags with-

• 26:10Mike Rowe?

  Full of artificial testicles?

• 26:12Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 26:13Mike Rowe?

  That's fantastic. What a job that is.

• 26:15Speaker 02

  I made twenty dollars a week and I couldn't believe, yes.

• 26:18Mike Rowe?

  I swear, I thought you were gonna say you worked for tips. But that's another joke. Seriously, what is the name of that job? What was that, the ball carrying job called?

• 26:28Speaker 02

  A delivery boy. I don't know.

• 26:30Mike Rowe?

  I mean, that's-

• 26:31Speaker 02

  I learned-

• 26:32Mike Rowe?

  A bagman?

• 26:33Speaker 02

  Very good. And he, I had to learn how to subways and how to, I didn't know anything. I couldn't speak English. But I wanted to say that-

• 26:42Mike Rowe?

  I'm sorry, man. I, I just, I'm just so taken.

• 26:45Speaker 02

  By balls?

• 26:47Mike Rowe?

  I don't know. I mean, have you told that story before? Is this a thing that you talk about in your many, many interviews? Cause I just don't-

• 26:53Speaker 02

  I might have, might have once said it.

• 26:56Mike Rowe?

  Like, there's a time in Gene Simmons' life where he's getting paid to transport prosthetic testicles?

• 27:02Speaker 02

  Testicles, yeah.

• 27:05Mike Rowe?

  I mean, with the sirens in the background, the testicles in the foreground?

• 27:09Speaker 02

  There's no extra charge for the programming.

• 27:10Mike Rowe?

  I just think this is-

• 27:11Speaker 02

  The effects guys were doing.

• 27:12Mike Rowe?

  This is extraordinary, Chuck. We have to make sure this is cut into the open somehow or another.

• 27:16Speaker 02

  So-

• 27:17Mike Rowe?

  I'm with you. All right.

• 27:18Speaker 02

  So I go to my, uh- Uncle Larry's house, her other brother, who's a huge, successful baker.

• 27:24Mike Rowe?

  No, he has his testicles.

• 27:26Speaker 02

  No, that's Uncle George, who's the dental prosthetologist.

• 27:30Mike Rowe?

  Okay.

• 27:31Speaker 02

  This guy had a huge bakery business, so I gained a lot of weight. Because when the Gladbacks came out, the plastic garbage things, which I'd never seen before, he used to come every weekend. It would be filled with Danish and, of course, I gorged everything. But I remember walking in and the first thing I saw on the way in, it was the kitchen. I don't know why it was there. And my Aunt Magda opened the kitchen door and there was a refrigerator. We never had a refrigerator. It was like a closet and there was a piece of ice in it. And you couldn't keep milk or anything because the Iceman would come and give you a piece of ice. There was nothing to plug in.

• 28:14Mike Rowe?

  Sure.

• 28:14Speaker 02

  In Israel. The outhouse literally was a hole outside. I know this all sounds like you're making it up.

• 28:19Mike Rowe?

  No, no, no. I just got to rein you in a little bit because we were just in the States looking at a piece of furniture with a TV in the middle and there was a Superman in there. And then we got sidetracked with the testicular delivery system. And now I'm back in Haifa with a piece of ice in the freezer. It's difficult.

• 28:36Speaker 02

  It's, my problem is I love the sound of my own voice, really. So she opens the refrigerator door and I see more food than I've ever seen. And I'm attracted to the color red and it's Schmuckers. Yes, it was back then.

• 28:52Mike Rowe?

  With a name like Schmuckers, it has to be good. That was Mason Adams, by the way, who did that voiceover.

• 28:57Speaker 02

  And I was with, God, what was the bald guy on NBC every morning? Fred.

• 29:05Mike Rowe?

  Willard? No.

• 29:06Speaker 02

  Fred Willard, who was the first Ronald McDonald.

• 29:10Mike Rowe?

  No kidding.

• 29:11Speaker 02

  This is what I'm here for.

• 29:13Mike Rowe?

  Wow.

• 29:14Speaker 02

  All kinds of stuff. I'm an only child, so I have a lot of time. I actually read the Encyclopedia Britannica from cover to cover.

• 29:21Mike Rowe?

  In what language?

• 29:23Speaker 02

  English.

• 29:23Mike Rowe?

  Okay.

• 29:24Speaker 02

  Teaching myself how to read and write.

• 29:26Mike Rowe?

  That's how you learned English, reading?

• 29:27Speaker 02

  No, it's by reading comic books.

• 29:30Mike Rowe?

  Now we're getting back to Superman and it's all gonna come together. Keep going.

• 29:33Speaker 02

  So I happened to walk by, there was another TV, but, you know, like a double take.

• 29:41Speaker 02

  And there's a guy flying in the sky with like a towel, a red cape or something on his back. And I'd never, not only had I never seen or heard anything like that, I never imagined a human being being able to fly through the air without propellers or anything, just by himself. I, what kind of a place is this? And right outside my Aunt Magda's house, they lived on a suburban street. Well, there were paved roads, we didn't have paved roads, and there were cars going both ways.

• 30:23Speaker 02

  There were hardly, there were just donkeys doing, it was like another planet.

• 30:27Mike Rowe?

  It's just magical. So there's unlimited food, there's a whole new...

• 30:31Speaker 02

  Not only unlimited food, I went to the first supermarket within a week. Somebody had to walk me across the street because I was afraid to death, you know, all these cars. I didn't know about green light, red light. And you walk into like a city of food. The food went higher, like avenues and boulevards of food. More food than you can ever imagine, with colors and pictures of what was inside of it. It was insane. And once I saw Superman, I go, yeah. It's, I come from the promised land, but there's something going on here. This, this is the place.

• 31:07Mike Rowe?

  So the notion of being able to appreciate this country, and you've said this to me before, but it's worth repeating, so much of it is made easier if you come from a place where the roads are dirt.

• 31:19Speaker 02

  Your perspective.

• 31:20Mike Rowe?

  Yeah.

• 31:21Speaker 02

  Your perspective. If, you know, if you're, if you're born in America over a few generations...

• 31:31Speaker 02

  I think of it as, everybody's got a mirror. And perspective means, the closer you are to the mirror, the less you actually see of your face. All you, eventually, all you see are your two eyes. Pull back a little bit more, you can see your nose. Perspective is, if you've been poor and had that empty belly feeling, and people are trying to kill you or hate you, the perspective is very clear. Because you've got a, this is what the rest of the world is. This country, no matter what, if you're black, white, you know, no matter what, the rest of the world hates each other. There's still racism and hatred in this country, but there's a,

• 32:12Speaker 02

  the, I didn't know it at the time, the Constitution and Bill of Rights and all that. Despite man's tendency for evil, this wonderful idea of the Constitution and the amendments and so on, keep pulling us back to a more civilized area. I've always been, you know, you had Nixon and everything, then you had Barack Obama. Barack Obama went out there, now we have Mr., you know, Mr. Trump.

• 32:39Mike Rowe?

  You can say it, yeah.

• 32:40Speaker 02

  Who I knew before he became a political animal.

• 32:43Mike Rowe?

  I bet.

• 32:44Speaker 02

  And he's neither, he's neither a Democrat. His closest friends were Bill and Hillary. They came to his wedding, so don't kid yourself about that.

• 32:52Mike Rowe?

  Well, I've heard you say this before. In full disclosure, I said it myself. We had a movie out last July, and I, I made a point of saying, it was called Something to Stand For, and it was unapologetically patriotic. But I made a point of saying, look, this is not, I didn't write it for my friends on the right or the left. I, I wrote it for Americans.

• 33:11Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 33:11Mike Rowe?

  And it, and so, it seems an increasingly skinnier cohort these days to find people who first and foremost identify as the A-word, right? Instead of the R-word or the D-word. But it, that seems to be a thing that might be worth getting back to.

• 33:28Speaker 02

  When you, if you study history...

• 33:33Speaker 02

  Whatever the political divide is in this country, it's nothing. Go back to when Lincoln became the president, and you will see the hatred of brother against brother that resulted in the Civil War.

• 33:45Mike Rowe?

  Now, that was a situation at the border, for real. That was a real border problem, but you're right.

• 33:52Speaker 02

  But if you go back, there are all kinds of shenanigans. If you study the founding fathers, the blackmail and the stuff that went on between them, there were a lot of problems.

• 34:03Mike Rowe?

  Oh, and the media, I mean, the muckraking in the press.

• 34:06Speaker 02

  Muckraking, that's an old word.

• 34:07Mike Rowe?

  Yeah.

• 34:08Speaker 02

  That's right, and they used to do that before there were rules about slander and all this stuff.

• 34:14Mike Rowe?

  Libel.

• 34:14Speaker 02

  Now, we're doing great, trust me. The unemployment's going down. You may not agree with the politics of something. Where else are you gonna go? If there's a strike in France, you cannot fire anybody. If there's a strike in France, they will stop traffic in Paris and burn tires and shut the city down.

• 34:39Speaker 02

  Now, there's no place like, with the scars and the problems. The problem with America is not the Constitution or the Bill of Rights. The problem is people. There are some people that tend to veer towards darkness and some not. That's always gonna be part of it, and we have to keep fighting to, despite the fact. Look, take a look at currency. A quarter, a 25-cent piece, it is widely recognized. Or a dollar is widely recognized around the world. But those two sides have nothing to do with each other. They don't look alike if you try to put one image next to the other. They don't look alike at all, but they both lay claim to,

• 35:23Speaker 02

  in other words, the person you completely disagree with on politics, economy and everything.

• 35:30Speaker 02

  It's their America too.

• 35:31Mike Rowe?

  And that's the beauty of a coin. It has two sides.

• 35:34Speaker 02

  Sure.

• 35:35Mike Rowe?

  There's an obverse and a reverse. And how boring would it be? I'm gonna flip a coin. And their heads on both sides? Well, no, nobody would ever flip the coin. I want to go back to Superman for a minute. Because as you were telling me about that.

• 35:50Speaker 02

  By the way.

• 35:51Mike Rowe?

  Yeah.

• 35:51Speaker 02

  Created by Jews. All superheroes, all of them. Superman, Batman, Fantastic Four that were created by Jews. The Superman mythos, mythology, is the Moses mythology. Created by two Jews from Cleveland, as it happened. The Menchon der Obermensch. The idea being that your home planet, Krypton. And they have Hebrew names. Jorl, Kalal, Elal. Those are Hebrew names.

• 36:23Mike Rowe?

  Yeah.

• 36:24Speaker 02

  They're, of course, they're foreigners. And so their planet is in danger, so they have to escape. Just like the pogroms of Europe and the Jews were always running. Because there was danger in the home planet, so they sent the child in a manger. You can see him leaning back like a biblical thing. Why would you go through space covered in a little blanket and everything? Just like Moses going down the thing. And so when Kalal is given name, is Kryptonian, lands in Earth. What happens? Two Gentiles, mother and father, adopt him. Dress British, think Yiddish. That's exactly what happened with Moses. So the story goes, and by the way.

• 37:07Speaker 02

  Historians are beginning to feel more and more like it happened.

• 37:11Mike Rowe?

  Are we talking about Moses? Bull rushes, Aaron, that whole?

• 37:16Speaker 02

  And his stuttering brother.

• 37:18Mike Rowe?

  Yeah.

• 37:18Speaker 02

  Let my people go. That wasn't Moses. That was his brother, because Moses spoke with a stutter and a lisp. Let my people go. That was Aaron who said all those things.

• 37:28Mike Rowe?

  It doesn't have the same snap to it.

• 37:30Speaker 02

  But that's what happened. Moses goes down the river and he gets a foster mother.

• 37:39Speaker 02

  Yeah, it's dress British, think Yiddish.

• 37:42Mike Rowe?

  Well, what I'm thinking is that there you are, you know, eight and a half years old. You see this Superman and he's in costume and

• 37:51Speaker 02

  But he has a secret identity.

• 37:53Mike Rowe?

  Yes.

• 37:53Speaker 02

  Just like Jews, we change our names. You think I'm Greek? Sure, it's fine with me. Think I'm Italian, from the, of course I am, it's fine. I have no problem with any of that. Gene Simmons, that's not my given name.

• 38:06Mike Rowe?

  It's Chaim.

• 38:07Speaker 02

  Yeah, but that doesn't work. Chaim, Chaim.

• 38:10Mike Rowe?

  Yeah, yeah, it's hard to chant.

• 38:11Speaker 02

  Yeah, so you have to recognize the shortcomings financially speaking because everybody

• 38:17Mike Rowe?

  Was it Gene Simmons, the music guy or Gene Simmons, the famous actress?

• 38:22Speaker 02

  It just came. There was no stream of conscience.

• 38:26Mike Rowe?

  Wow.

• 38:26Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 38:27Mike Rowe?

  Fascinating, but what I'm getting at, man, is that you've got this giant impact of the man of steel, who changed his name, who flies through the piece of furniture, right? And he's in a costume. And then just a few years later, your name is changed. You're in a costume.

• 38:46Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 38:47Mike Rowe?

  You're elevating on stage, you're like, are you just channeling your version of Superman this whole time?

• 38:54Speaker 02

  I didn't, I didn't think of it initially, but clearly I didn't look or sound or walk like

• 39:01Mike Rowe?

  Clark Kent.

• 39:03Speaker 02

  No, no, like, like, well, when I saw the Beatles, that changed my life. Because all of a sudden you saw people that looked different and I did. Not that I was black or Hispanic or anything, but I didn't look like I came from Sweden as an example. But you saw these little guys, you know, sort of feminine by American standards. Cause Americans are bigger people, had better food. Classic English breakfast is beans on toast. I'm not making it up. Heinz beans on toast. Cause in World War Two, they couldn't afford meat. That's, see, you learn all kinds of things with Mr. Simmons.

• 39:44Mike Rowe?

  What if, say, five years ago, some big oil company offered a promotion that gave you a chance to lock in the price of gasoline at $2.50 a gallon for the rest of your life? Would you have taken that deal? Or what if a nationwide grocery store had given you an opportunity to lock in the price of ground beef at, say, $2 a pound for as long as you live? Would you have taken that deal? Yeah, me too. Unfortunately, those deals were never on the table, but this one is. Today, as in right now, for a very, very limited time, Pure Talk is offering every American the opportunity to purchase unlimited talk, text, and data, along with a 30 gig hotspot,

• 40:28Mike Rowe?

  for just $29.95 a month for life. Not your phone's life, your life. No contracts, no commitments, just a very rare opportunity to lock into a ridiculously low rate for unlimited talk, text, and data for the rest of your life. It's the Unlimited Data Plan from Pure Talk, and it will not be around for long. $29.95 a month for as long as you live. Taxes and fees not included. Some restrictions do apply. See puretalk.com for details. Offer ends 11/15/26. So chop, chop.

• 41:11Mike Rowe?

  That just triggered something, too. When you talk about the Beatles as slight, almost effeminate, there was a rock and roll band in New York around the same time as you guys showed up. And they were doing the glam rock...

• 41:25Speaker 02

  New York Dolls.

• 41:26Mike Rowe?

  The Dolls. Now, those guys were petite.

• 41:31Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 41:32Mike Rowe?

  You guys looked like a bunch of linebackers, but you were doing the same kind of...

• 41:37Speaker 02

  It was called the Glitter Movement. And it was a special time in New York because at night, people would go to work in offices, and at night, they'd all dress up and go to hundreds of bars. There were all kinds of bands. It was the time, the beginning of David Bowie and Lou Reed and that kind of thing.

• 41:55Mike Rowe?

  And a kind of androgyny, right?

• 41:57Speaker 02

  Yeah, it was OK to wear girls' clothes, even though you were straight. And, you know, it was a very exciting period. So we couldn't do the New York Doll thing. Right now, I'm 6'2" and about 250 pounds. I can't do that thing. No. Not, you know, um, I mean, I'm okay with it, but a football player in a tutu is not very convincing. No one wants to see that. I know that. My apologies. My apologies to all you football players who like dressing up in tutus. I support you. It's big country. Go with God. Let your free flag fly. Do whatever you want. Yeah. Uh, but we didn't think we were convincing at it. So you had to create your own persona,

• 42:42Speaker 02

  not costumes. And what I mean by persona is if I would have worn red lipstick and put a star on my eye, I wouldn't be convincing because that's not... So it's not who I am. I don't... Whereas Paul... Paul did that. Much more flamboyant, you know, that way and had better hair and fluffy and all that stuff and moved that way on stage. Not me. I'm like, move more like Godzilla. And so you have to be clear, and both Ace and Peter, the original guys, veered towards what they felt comfortable with.

• 43:22Speaker 02

  I mean, in Halloween, if you go to one of these places that have all kinds of costumes, you, you might tend to pick out a costume. You'll gravitate. You'll gravitate towards something you feel comfortable with. And you were the demon. We didn't think of it that way. When I put it on, I thought about Lon Chaney Senior, who I was always a big fan of, born Creighton Toll Senior, whose parents were deaf-mutes, so he had to learn how to communicate, perfect for silent films. He invented and created the makeup man, not putting on makeup, but, you know, putting in plastic tubing in his nose for Phantom of the Opera. Oh, yeah. Like Phantom of the Opera. He was like that whole unmasking thing.

• 44:06Speaker 02

  Yes. Mary Filbin, who was the... Oh, I'll tell you more than... Todd Browning was the director and all that. So I remember that scene where that happened. There were shadows, and I remember the shadows on the face scared the bejesus out of me. So I did a version of the shadows on my face and, uh...

• 44:28Speaker 02

  I must have seen an image of London After Midnight, a Lon Chaney film that has yet to be found. A print of it is lost. But there was a photo of it where Chaney's got a top hat and he's got like bat wings as a kind of a night vampire before Dracula came out. And in the back of my mind, I went, yeah, that. You know, you take bits and pieces of your DNA, your stuff that you grow up with, and you put it together and what you get, you know, people think is original, but it's not. They're bits and pieces of stuff.

• 45:06Mike Rowe?

  This was, I mean, for the younger cohort listening out there, it really is difficult to describe just how how bananas it was. And like, there was no... The only thing I can think of is the New York Dolls that were kind of out there, but...

• 45:24Speaker 02

  They failed.

• 45:26Mike Rowe?

  You didn't.

• 45:28Speaker 02

  Oh, within a year and a half of forming, before the internet, before voicemail, you still had to go to a phone booth on the street to put in a dime and then a quarter, but first a dime in those days

• 45:43Mike Rowe?

  Yeah.

• 45:43Speaker 02

  to make a phone call. And at a house, you had a rotary call. There were no buttons. It was beep, beep, beep. Digital was not. In fact, when we first started, it was Plymouth, you know, like Plymouth 45,000. It was P L, it were letters, the first two letters. And people say, what are you talking about? Yeah. Greenhouse 45,000. And that was a phone call. Then it became 212 when more and more people... Before then, it was just the five numbers. P L, six numbers. Anyway, one of those, before the area codes. And so, within a year and a half,

• 46:25Speaker 02

  we're headlining Anaheim Stadium in L.A. with bands that had been around 15, 20 years before us opening the show. And we came out January, February of 74.

• 46:40Speaker 02

  Within a few years, we're the gallup poll. Biggest band in the world, three years in a row, seventy-seven, seventy-eight, seventy-nine. The second most popular band was The Beatles. And then they were displaced by The Bee Gees and Led Zeppelin. And before anybody did this, we had questionnaires and fun stuff in our albums. Where are you from? What do you do? And you could order T-shirts, belt buckles, all that by putting these little envelopes, colorful things. You check off what you wanted. You put in either five dollars or ten dollars or five, ten, all in fives. And you look at clothes and you mail it.

• 47:24Speaker 02

  And before there were bad people at post offices who opened your mail, we got millions of bucks through the mail of people wanting. And we had four warehouses in L.A. that worked twenty-four hours a day mailing T-shirts and everything to fans around the world.

• 47:41Mike Rowe?

  I've always wanted to ask you, because I've seen the reality show and, you know, I've obviously was a fan over the years. But, but this, there's always a line between art and commerce. And, uh...

• 47:53Speaker 02

  I don't think there is.

• 47:55Mike Rowe?

  No?

• 47:56Speaker 02

  No.

• 47:57Mike Rowe?

  I mean, the whole starving artist trope, the famous painters who never got paid and never cared.

• 48:04Speaker 02

  Well, you don't know if they never cared. I, I've never heard of anybody who wins the lottery and is sad.

• 48:10Mike Rowe?

  True, but I know a lot of people, whether they mean it or not, who will talk about the filthy lucra and who can't quite square the business of success.

• 48:20Speaker 02

  Yeah, but that's one of the big lies of, of humanity. Money is the root of all evil. It's, it's untrue. That's a lie. Lack of money is the root of all evil. If you don't have any money, you might consider holding up a 7-Eleven for fourteen dollars and ninety-five cents.

• 48:38Mike Rowe?

  Or perhaps the love of money is the root of all evil.

• 48:42Speaker 02

  It is not.

• 48:43Mike Rowe?

  Okay, so money's not the root, not the love of money.

• 48:45Speaker 02

  And I can prove it to you.

• 48:47Mike Rowe?

  All right, hit me.

• 48:48Speaker 02

  If my only motivation in life is making money, and if I never give a penny... To a poor person, or a charity, or anything, I'm still improving life on earth. And I'll tell you why. I want my yachts, I want my mansions and all that stuff. I create jobs. My money seeds the workforce and enables poor people to feed their families and do that. Even if I'm an asshole and never give to charity. A poor person never gave me a job.

• 49:23Mike Rowe?

  Speaking of which, am I just, is this like a, just an artifact? Did I dream it up? Or did you release an album called Asshole?

• 49:31Speaker 02

  Of course. My album was called Asshole.

• 49:34Mike Rowe?

  God, that's one of the greatest words in the lexicon. I mean, have you ever really like broken it down? Like to think about what that is?

• 49:44Speaker 02

  It's supposed to be an insult and all that. I don't have a problem with it. I don't have a problem with anybody calling me anything. I really don't.

• 49:54Speaker 02

  I know that I do good.

• 49:57Speaker 02

  I know that my mom's okay with me. And that's all the validation I need. I remember walking into-

• 50:04Mike Rowe?

  Wait, wait, wait. Why did you call the, why was the album called Asshole?

• 50:08Speaker 02

  There was a song on it called Asshole.

• 50:13Speaker 02

  It goes, "You're an asshole, you're an asshole, maybe I'm an asshole too," is the punchline of the chorus. And I thought, yeah. And I was gonna tell you the story of why I wanted to call it Asshole. When I walked into Interscope Records, I was co-managing a band with Paul called Crown of Thorns. I came up with that name and created a band. So we got them a deal. And Jimmy Iovine walks in and says, "I want you to listen to a thing. It's by a new artist I just signed, his name is Tupac." And I'm saying, "Is he African or something?" "No, no, he's like from LA or New York." "Oh, great." And it's just a black cover. And it says, "For my N-word."

• 50:58Speaker 02

  And I thought it was a joke. I thought he was saying, "Oh, what are you gonna call the album?" He goes, "No, it's gonna be called that." I'm saying, "You're using the N-word?" He goes, "Yeah." And I'm going, "Why are you doing that?" He says, "Well, because he's comfortable with that." So, the most vile thing you could call an African American is the N-word. They take possession of it and use it themselves. So, what's one of the worst things you can say I am? Asshole. Great. Let's call the album Asshole.

• 51:29Mike Rowe?

  How'd it sell?

• 51:31Speaker 02

  It didn't do great, but it was but it was a time when the entire record industry was changing. But I'll tell you what happened with the album.

• 51:41Mike Rowe?

  Okay.

• 51:41Speaker 02

  Bob Dylan and I wrote a song there. Came over, we wrote a few songs. Frank Zappa, last song he wrote, co-wrote with me.

• 51:50Mike Rowe?

  Hell of a guitar player, by the way.

• 51:52Speaker 02

  Unlike anybody out there.

• 51:53Mike Rowe?

  I've never heard the like of it.

• 51:54Speaker 02

  Nobody ever.

• 51:55Mike Rowe?

  Garage tapes, yeah, amazing.

• 51:58Speaker 02

  But by the way, Zappa was a failure, did not succeed. Never had gold records and platinum records.

• 52:03Mike Rowe?

  Why?

• 52:06Speaker 02

  Their music didn't connect with people.

• 52:08Mike Rowe?

  I thought you were gonna say asshole.

• 52:10Speaker 02

  It's eclectic.

• 52:12Mike Rowe?

  That was, I tossed it right to you. All you had to do was say asshole.

• 52:15Speaker 02

  No, he was, he was actually a good, very bright.

• 52:18Mike Rowe?

  Oh, his, his testimony in Congress?

• 52:21Speaker 02

  Oh.

• 52:21Mike Rowe?

  I would really suggest people go watch that. I mean, he took a principled stand.

• 52:26Speaker 02

  Sure.

• 52:27Mike Rowe?

  At a difficult time, and a very articulate way.

• 52:29Speaker 02

  Not a popular time.

• 52:30Mike Rowe?

  Not a popular time.

• 52:31Speaker 02

  The PMRC and censorship and all that.

• 52:33Mike Rowe?

  Yep, that was the Tipper Gore days, right?

• 52:36Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 52:37Mike Rowe?

  Hmm, where were you when all that was happening?

• 52:39Speaker 02

  I was right in front of the TV set. By the way, Mr. Gore's wife is named Tipper. If that's not a stripper name, I don't know what is. Do not cast, "Who among you is without sin?" kind of a thing. Your wife's name's Tipper?

• 52:56Mike Rowe?

  Mm-hmm, yeah.

• 52:57Speaker 02

  Oh, I'm sure, by the way, she's a loving mother and faithful and...

• 53:00Mike Rowe?

  I'm sure she is. It's like, you might be a redneck if, you might be a stripper if.

• 53:05Speaker 02

  I didn't say that.

• 53:07Mike Rowe?

  I'm not, I don't know.

• 53:08Speaker 02

  Yeah, good luck. Hey, laissez faire. Live and let live, whatever you want to do, as long as you don't affect anybody else. But... We survived that. We survived McCarthyism. We survived the blacklist. We survived all of it. And what doesn't kill you, we're not gonna have another blacklist. Nope. People are gonna try to do that. There's always somebody who's gonna push back on it.

• 53:32Mike Rowe?

  What uh?

• 53:33Speaker 02

  You must have a few shows of material on this.

• 53:36Mike Rowe?

  We have literally, uh, I mean, none of this is usable, obviously.

• 53:42Mike Rowe?

  We have so much good stuff, it's embarrassing. You got somewhere to be? When do you have to go?

• 53:47Speaker 02

  I'm trying to make a buck.

• 53:50Mike Rowe?

  You want me to lend you a few? You, I can spot your money.

• 53:53Speaker 02

  Never a lender or borrower be.

• 53:55Mike Rowe?

  Do you believe that?

• 53:57Speaker 02

  No, I, I borrow all the time. Oh, sure.

• 54:00Mike Rowe?

  Do you?

• 54:01Speaker 02

  Debt is great, because you can write it off. Oh, no, no. You've got to have assets, because they want assets against it. But debt is good. Uh, you can, depending on how much, especially depending on where the Fed is. So I borrowed tens of millions when I was being, paying 1.1 interest, 1.1 percent. I'd play that game all day, because do I think I can make more than 1.1 percent on the money I borrow every day? Are you kidding? Even if I put it into a savings account, they'd pay me more. That's, that's pre-tax, because I can write off my 1.1 percent.

• 54:44Mike Rowe?

  So you're, at this point, you just mentioned it in passing, but you're, you're a crypto guy? You're?

• 54:49Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah.

• 54:50Mike Rowe?

  You're in the space?

• 54:50Speaker 02

  I bought millions when Bitcoin was about 10,900. But I had an advantage, because Tyler Winklevoss, one of the two brothers, you know, who started that, they didn't start it, they promoted it very, very early. Satoshi, that guy, who, nobody seems to know who he is.

• 55:12Mike Rowe?

  Who is that guy?

• 55:13Speaker 02

  Uh, so I bought millions at 10,900. Well, we're about nine, we're in the 90s now. It was 105,000 and I firmly believe, my opinion, do your own research. Oh, within 12 months, it'll be at 150 to 200,000. Because there are very few hedge hedges against inflation. Every day, the dollar that you have buys you less and less. And we're printing money left and right. We're sending it to Ukraine, which I support. You do this, you want more money? They just print more because it's no longer based on gold. What's your hedge against inflation? What do you do? Put your cash in a mattress?

• 55:55Speaker 02

  So there's real estate, but you know, real estate goes up and down as well. Look what happened to the Palisades and California and all that.

• 56:05Mike Rowe?

  It's why it took you an hour and 40 to get here. It's still chaos.

• 56:09Speaker 02

  Because Pacifico's highway is closed to get to here. Otherwise, I would have been here in 40 minutes. So you've got a, if you've got money to spare and you are blessed if that happens, what are you going to do with your money? Don't put it into a savings account. Because the bank will give you 2, 3, 4%. You got to pay tax on that and they'll loan it out for more than that. They're making money on your money. Don't put it into a savings account. Mutual funds are good.

• 56:41Mike Rowe?

  Sure. I, I get it, but you said something earlier and you kind of glossed over it. And I just want to make sure I understand that's the business of making a bunch of money is good for the economy irrespective of whether you give any of it away.

• 56:53Speaker 02

  Yeah, you could be an asshole, never give a penny and you're still creating jobs.

• 56:58Mike Rowe?

  But just so people understand.

• 57:00Speaker 02

  Oh.

• 57:01Mike Rowe?

  Tell me, I mean, I don't want you to pat yourself on the back too hard, but your genuine attitudes toward philanthropy. What are you doing with all this excess geld of Freudian?

• 57:17Mike Rowe?

  Here's a crazy idea. What if there was an academy out there that paid students to learn instead of the other way around? Specifically, men and women who want to work in the skilled trades. And what if this academy not only paid for your training, but also covered all the expenses associated with your training, like travel and food and lodging? And finally, what if this academy guaranteed you a job at the end of the training period? Well, that's exactly what's happening at America's Workforce Academy by Meta. This is a five-week, highly immersive pre-apprenticeship program that gets you all the necessary certifications you'll need to start a career in the skilled trades immediately.

• 57:59Mike Rowe?

  I'm talking about AI-proof, six-figure jobs, helping to build out the new infrastructure that our economy is depending on. Electricians, plumbers, HVAC techs, welders, fiber optic technicians, these jobs, they are all in demand like never before. And again, every graduate of America's Workforce Academy is guaranteed a job on a Meta website. I first announced this program a few months ago, and I have been watching the response ever since. It's extraordinary. This is a nationwide, unprecedented fast track to a long-term career in a skilled trade. If you, or your spouse, or your kid, or your grandkid are looking for a straight path

• 58:42Mike Rowe?

  into a career with no cost at all, check out the opportunities for yourself at meta.com/america'sworkforceacademy. That's meta.com/america'sworkforceacademy.

• 58:56Speaker 02

  Well, I don't tug on people's shirt sleeves or anything, but, and you can go online and find out, mendingkids.org provides children who can't afford, you know, because they're poor, operations that they sorely need.

• 59:14Speaker 02

  So I contribute millions. I've got fourteen hundred kids in Zanzibar, Zimbabwe. And you can look it up.

• 59:25Mike Rowe?

  Yeah.

• 59:26Speaker 02

  And they.

• 59:27Mike Rowe?

  We'll find it.

• 59:28Speaker 02

  Gene Simmons.

• 59:30Mike Rowe?

  Mendingkids.org.

• 59:32Speaker 02

  Mending, well.

• 59:33Mike Rowe?

  There you go.

• 59:34Speaker 02

  Yeah, it's, it breaks your heart. But can you go to Gene Simmons Supports Children in Africa, fourteen hundreds.

• 59:43Mike Rowe?

  Fourteen hundred kids.

• 59:44Speaker 02

  Yeah. The idea is very simple. We'll give you as much food as you can digest and do, and you can take some food home, but you can't have a morsel, nothing unless you come to school. If you come to school, you get food. And in Africa, in the worst areas, where there's no infrastructure and everything. There you go, Zambia.

• 1:00:10Mike Rowe?

  AI loves you.

• 1:00:11Speaker 02

  You should go to the images, go on top. Yeah. There you go.

• 1:00:17Mike Rowe?

  Look at you without sunglasses. What happened there?

• 1:00:20Speaker 02

  Well, I wear it most of the time because the sun never sets on planet cool.

• 1:00:24Mike Rowe?

  Hmm.

• 1:00:28Speaker 02

  So.

• 1:00:29Mike Rowe?

  There's your title.

• 1:00:30Speaker 02

  These children, you're not taught that education is the way out of poverty. It's the only chance you've got, really. Because where there's no infrastructure, you can't speak any other language, you speak an African dialect, you have no job skills, you're gonna starve. So I try to help, including, there was a young child who had aspirations, she must have been fourteen, of wanting to go to university to become a doctor because she wanted to come back to her village and treat the females, to teach them not to have sex with these

• 1:01:10Speaker 02

  males who didn't care, because AIDS is, the numbers are off the charts. These guys would just have sex and then run off. So you have single mothers with children and they have AIDS. I saw a fourteen-year-old mother carrying her child on her back, and they both were AIDS sufferers, yeah. So she wanted to go to university and get a degree and come back and be a teacher and a healer. I said. All you have to do is do well in high school and all that. I'll pay for your entire, I'll fly you to whichever university you want to go to, as long as you come back.

• 1:01:50Speaker 02

  Also, I stopped giving out Christmas gifts for anybody, everybody. I used to give out hundreds and hundreds ties people don't wear and

• 1:02:00Mike Rowe?

  Yeah, sure.

• 1:02:00Speaker 02

  All that stuff. And so in people's names, I contribute to kiefer.org or heifer or heffer.org. And what they are are two micro banks connected to large banks that loan money to single mothers in Africa and other places. Loan the money interest free. So that these single mothers can dig a hole in the ground and get a well or buy a cow that changes the entire economy. You can have milk and, you know, they literally bleed the cow and drink the milk and it's actually a source of protein and all this kind of stuff in Africa. We can't imagine it, but that's what they do.

• 1:02:45Mike Rowe?

  Wait, but they drink the milk, they drink the blood?

• 1:02:47Speaker 02

  With both.

• 1:02:49Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:02:50Mike Rowe?

  Well, I think it's, I mean,

• 1:02:51Speaker 02

  But, once they make enough money, they have to give the money back, no interest. And then the money gets loaned out again.

• 1:02:58Mike Rowe?

  That's my point. You, you're always going to look at the, you're going to look at consequences because that's who you are. And you're going to look at it through a, a lens of a kind of commerce because commerce is consequential as well. So, so your philanthropy comes with certain conditions. And I only make the point because on a much smaller level, my foundation will give away a few million bucks this week in work ethic scholarships.

• 1:03:28Speaker 02

  Right.

• 1:03:29Mike Rowe?

  And, you know, I get a lot of pushback on it because I don't want to help people who don't share my fundamental view of the world. And I'm not sure if that makes me, what that makes me. But I get, because I get to choose, that's what I want to do. And that's what I want to ask you as we start to land the plane here of like, maybe about work ethic.

• 1:03:51Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:03:52Mike Rowe?

  And what that really What's it mean to you? What's it meant to you?

• 1:03:56Speaker 02

  Well, to have a job, we, you know, I've heard people marching, you know, "I have a right to have a job." No, bitch, you don't. If you have a job, it's a blessing. You don't have a right to have, you don't have a right to have healthcare, you don't have the right to have a job, you have the right to have a big fat mouth and freedom of press. There's nothing in the Constitution or anything that says "You have the right to have a job" and healthcare. No. You have to earn money. And the fact that there are, I know the healthcare people are just gonna go nuts. Well, in Norway, they have health-- I know, there are 12 people that live there. We have 330 million.

• 1:04:40Speaker 02

  We're already 36 trillion dollars in debt.

• 1:04:44Mike Rowe?

  Big number.

• 1:04:45Speaker 02

  Not counting the 10, 20, or 25 million illegal immigrants in America that are either a positive or a drain on the economy. It's just everything-- it's like dominoes. Everything affects everything else. And you can always hold up a crying child. I know, I was one of them. And make any point you like. You're an asshole if you don't agree with my point of view. See, there's a baby crying. You can make any point you want. So, I don't believe-- I don't suffer fools lightly. If you don't-- See, there are people, a lot of them, who are looking for jobs. And I'm much more interested in people who are looking to work.

• 1:05:30Speaker 02

  The love of labor itself is what it is. And most people, you have to understand this, most people on the face of the planet, if they're blessed to have a job, have a job they hate. The only reason they're working out the job is it gives them money at the end of the week, which supports their family and so they bring the money back and their children have what to eat. This idea that I have to be inspired, it's such bullshit. That's the Beverly Hills Blues. You know how that goes? My limo is late. I got the Beverly Hills Blues. It's all bullshit. This, I can't do something if I don't believe in it.

• 1:06:15Speaker 02

  No, no. The roads you travel on and the buildings you live in, they're built, worked on by people who hate their jobs. But bless the money that they get at the end of the week so they can survive.

• 1:06:28Mike Rowe?

  How do you think about work ethic in your industry? Like you mentioned Bob Dylan.

• 1:06:33Speaker 02

  Oh, he's out there all the time.

• 1:06:36Mike Rowe?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 1:06:37Speaker 02

  Sorry, I was, I sneezed.

• 1:06:43Mike Rowe?

  What, I mean, I know I gotta let you go soon, but I just have to ask, what's, what's right and wrong with music today?

• 1:06:53Speaker 02

  Well, fame is fleeting. Anybody will tell you that. You can mention big acts that had number one records and the public is fickle. Everybody Wang Chung tonight. That was a number one record.

• 1:07:08Mike Rowe?

  Right, right.

• 1:07:10Speaker 02

  So fame is fleeting and never put all your eggs in one basket. If you go to Las Vegas and you play, what is it where you put the, I never, I never gamble.

• 1:07:23Mike Rowe?

  Roulette.

• 1:07:24Speaker 02

  Yeah, roulette. What are you gonna do, put all the money on one thing or spread the risk?

• 1:07:28Mike Rowe?

  Diversify your portfolio.

• 1:07:29Speaker 02

  Yeah, that's it.

• 1:07:30Mike Rowe?

  Diversify your risk.

• 1:07:32Speaker 02

  Don't put your eggs in one basket. You could win big, but you can get wiped out. I don't know about you, but I don't like losing at all. I prefer to win a little than lose anything.

• 1:07:43Mike Rowe?

  I think that's smart, but I think the genius part of your career is that you still surprise people. I saw you in a movie. Chuck, can you find it? It was Reagan.

• 1:07:56Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah.

• 1:07:57Mike Rowe?

  It's in Reagan. You're, you're singing.

• 1:08:00Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:08:01Mike Rowe?

  In Reagan. What was the song?

• 1:08:04Speaker 02

  Stormy Weather.

• 1:08:07Mike Rowe?

  There's a sun up in the sky.

• 1:08:09Speaker 02

  Stormy weather.

• 1:08:10Mike Rowe?

  Now, how the heck does that happen? Who approaches you?

• 1:08:13Speaker 02

  The producer called me and he said, are you a fan of Reagan? I said, yes, yes, he was one of the better presidents in America. And really happy to have been asked by the stylistics. Remember the stylistics?

• 1:08:29Mike Rowe?

  Oh, sure.

• 1:08:30Speaker 02

  Tons of hits. I'm on the new record. I sing lead. Yes, I do. You betcha. That's coming out. I think it's just came out. And Shania Twain's on it, Ronnie Wood, Billy Gibbons, lots of cool stuff.

• 1:08:43Mike Rowe?

  That's terrific, man.

• 1:08:44Speaker 02

  Yeah, I'm the luckiest bastard who ever walked upright.

• 1:08:48Mike Rowe?

  Well, look, you worked hard. You diversified. You took chances when it made sense to take them.

• 1:08:55Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:08:56Mike Rowe?

  You've been generous with your time. You're still curious. I, look, I.

• 1:09:00Speaker 02

  And then you die. That's all it is.

• 1:09:01Mike Rowe?

  And then you die.

• 1:09:02Speaker 02

  That's it. But they're gonna have to drag me kicking and screaming because unless and if you really enjoy life.

• 1:09:15Mike Rowe?

  Then.

• 1:09:16Speaker 02

  End it, then get out of the way. There are so many other people, you know, who will fight like hell to stay alive. You either appreciate it or not. I know there's mental illness and all. Okay, I get it. I never understood I was unkind without really meaning to be in the early years. I remember watching TV shows and movies where there's a guy on top of a tall building threatening to jump. Before I understood anything, I'm going, shut the [bleep] up, just jump. What are you waiting for, an audience?

• 1:09:49Mike Rowe?

  Yeah.

• 1:09:50Speaker 02

  Who are you? If you want to die, then jump. And I had to be educated. No, you don't understand. He's got a mental problem and. But I still don't understand, by the way, if you're suicidal.

• 1:10:05Speaker 02

  Why it has to be a public event?

• 1:10:07Mike Rowe?

  Hmm.

• 1:10:09Mike Rowe?

  There is a bit of the narcissistic in that.

• 1:10:12Speaker 02

  I'm not qualified. I don't understand it because I'm suspiciously a happy-go-lucky guy every day. Nothing bothers me, my health, never had an operation, hardly ever get sick. Got a little wheezy kind of thing, but I don't stay in bed.

• 1:10:33Mike Rowe?

  Never smoked, never drank?

• 1:10:34Speaker 02

  Never, no.

• 1:10:35Mike Rowe?

  No drugs?

• 1:10:36Speaker 02

  The other thing, kids, is if you don't smoke, or drink, or get high, then you can get to be seventy-five and hold your hand in front of your face, and it won't do that. Yes, see what happens?

• 1:10:52Mike Rowe?

  But this is my shooting hand.

• 1:10:56Speaker 02

  Shooting hand?

• 1:10:57Mike Rowe?

  Remember from Blazing Saddles?

• 1:10:59Speaker 02

  Oh, yes.

• 1:10:59Mike Rowe?

  The Waco Kid. Yeah.

• 1:11:01Speaker 02

  That was very good.

• 1:11:02Mike Rowe?

  Thank you.

• 1:11:03Speaker 02

  Helmed, written, and directed by Jews.

• 1:11:07Mike Rowe?

  God, they're everywhere.

• 1:11:08Speaker 02

  It is so suspicious that all of American pop culture, except glorious and amazing, the music that we listen to, pop culture, is black music. All the variations thereof. Except parts of country music, which came from Irish jigs and so on and so forth. But predominantly jazz, blues, rock, it's black music.

• 1:11:32Mike Rowe?

  Right. Uniquely American.

• 1:11:35Speaker 02

  Uniquely American by the least qualified people, the least educated former slaves, who could barely play their instruments and just came up with this amazing thing. Now, everything else in pop culture is Jews. All the movie studios.

• 1:11:53Mike Rowe?

  Now you're whispering?

• 1:11:54Speaker 02

  Every single one.

• 1:11:55Mike Rowe?

  An hour in and you're whispering?

• 1:11:56Speaker 02

  Jews because they came from Judea, or the Hebrews because they came from Hebron. All of the movie studios, Warner Brothers, Paramount, Universal, were all created by Jews, who lived within a five-hundred-square-mile area in Europe, Poland, Russia, and all of that stuff, didn't know each other. Came to America, settled in New York. One made Fox for coats. Fox, which became 20th Century Fox. All he did was buy Fox tails and everything from Canada and took pre-existing coats and put one and one together. And Fox coats, one and one equals three. That's how he made his money. The guys that old Nickelodeons and everything in New York.

• 1:12:38Speaker 02

  And they all came and settled within a 15-square-mile area. Didn't know each other. Mayer, all these guys, Goldwyn, who was originally Goldfish, was his original name. He stole his last name, Wynn, from the Selwyn brothers when they had a deal together. And they created MGM, Metro, Goldwyn, Mayer. And Paramount and Universal, all created by Jews. The beauty of the Jewish Hollywood system. Hollywood is Jewish. Created by them is they didn't make Jewish movies. They were clear.

• 1:13:18Speaker 02

  There's only 14 million Jews on the entire planet today. They understood and respected the idea. Let's make King of Kings. Let's make Christian movies and stuff. And don't put lead characters with names like Ira. Hey, Moisha, what are you gonna do? Nope. This is gonna be for the people who actually buy the tickets.

• 1:13:39Mike Rowe?

  Well, since you brought it up. Is that what your music was all about? Was it for the, were you writing to satisfy what you believed the audience wanted?

• 1:13:49Speaker 02

  Absolutely.

• 1:13:51Mike Rowe?

  What did you want, though?

• 1:13:52Speaker 02

  Well, I was also fascinated by, I was an Anglophile. I loved what the English did with American black music. The Beatles covered Motown. They covered, you know, Carl Perkins, Chuck Berry and all that. It's black music. And, but they did it their way. But I liked what the English did with American.

• 1:14:15Speaker 02

  Pop music and all that stuff, including the heavy stuff. Led Zeppelin, Jimmy, who became a friend, Jimmy Page, had to pay off some of the blues guys because he would literally,

• 1:14:27Mike Rowe?

  Yeah.

• 1:14:27Speaker 02

  he admitted ripped off the, you know, all those lyrics. Yeah. Not that one in particular, but something very close. And, but the other thing is that in the music industry, the record labels were Jewish. Sun Records, Sam Phillips, they were Jews. They loved black music. You ain't nothing but a hound dog, written by two Jews from New York, Lieber Stoller. They hated Jewish music, Broadway. They loved black music. So these two Jews from New York, Lieber and Stoller are sitting around having a deli salad, pastrami, give me a little more pickle and everything.

• 1:15:10Speaker 02

  You ain't nothing but a hound dog, crying all the time. Yeah. And that's what happens later.

• 1:15:18Mike Rowe?

  Yeah.

• 1:15:19Speaker 02

  So that's the magic that the Brill Building with all these writers, Neil Sedaka was one of the writers. They were writing songs for the other people and

• 1:15:31Mike Rowe?

  The Goyim.

• 1:15:32Speaker 02

  That's not a negative. It's simply, it's not like the Christian or Islamic heathen, which is, or infidel, which looks down on it. A gentile simply says, they're not Jewish.

• 1:15:44Mike Rowe?

  Yeah. Well, I guess in the end, it's a story of reinvention. Every single thing we've talked about.

• 1:15:51Speaker 02

  We all should be. Otherwise, we're just copies of our mothers and fathers. You know, as we're born, you get a clean slate and you can write whatever you want on it.

• 1:16:03Mike Rowe?

  Well, you have filled up your slate with some pretty interesting stuff, brother.

• 1:16:07Speaker 02

  So far, so good.

• 1:16:09Mike Rowe?

  Final thoughts on asshole?

• 1:16:12Mike Rowe?

  It's such a great insult because fundamentally, I'm a word guy. If you just look at the word, fundamentally, it's a hole. You're calling somebody a hole. And a hole, by definition, is an empty space.

• 1:16:26Speaker 02

  Well, mine's always full.

• 1:16:28Mike Rowe?

  Except for those occasions when it's filled with crap.

• 1:16:31Speaker 02

  By the way, scientific fact, do you know why shit, as it comes out, is tapered at the end?

• 1:16:37Mike Rowe?

  Oh, well, if it weren't, the hole would go.

• 1:16:41Speaker 02

  Your ass would slam shut, yes.

• 1:16:43Mike Rowe?

  Okay, with that, folks, it's the way Gene Simmons heard it. Thank you for slogging through traffic. I think we learned a lot and, well, heck, I'll never forget it.

• 1:16:56Speaker 02

  Heck, that's a word that hasn't been used in 40 years, but...

• 1:17:00Mike Rowe?

  Jew.

• 1:17:01Speaker 02

  No.

• 1:17:03Mike Rowe?

  All right, I'm out. Thank you, man. It's terrific.

• 1:17:10Speaker 03

  If you're done, please subscribe. Leave some stars, ideally five. Five lousy little stars.

• 1:17:35Speaker 04

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