The Ben Shapiro Show - Steven Crowder | The Ben Shapiro Show Sunday Special Ep. 19

00:00:00.000 Before we began this interview, Steven Crowder was in fact wearing pants.

00:00:03.000 He walked into the room not wearing pants to make me specifically uncomfortable.

00:00:06.000 Since you haven't plugged my stuff, you've been plugging psychologists at alottacreditmerchstore.com.

00:00:20.000 So here we are on the Sunday special with Steven Crowder, who lacks pants.

00:00:24.000 And we will get to all of the questions for Steven Crowder. 0.96

00:00:26.000 We will ask him why, indeed, he feels that it is necessary and appropriate for him not to wear pants and thus to show his junk to the entire world.

00:00:32.000 But first, let's talk a little bit about Talkspace, the online therapy company that lets you message a licensed therapist

00:00:38.000 From anywhere at any time.

00:00:40.000 Look, Steven Crowder could use a therapist and you might need to as well.

00:00:43.000 All you need is a computer with internet connection or the Talkspace mobile app.

00:00:46.000 That means you can improve your mental health even if you had trouble making time for it in the past.

00:00:50.000 There's no stigma attached.

00:00:51.000 You know, I am a big advocate of if you got something on your chest and you need to get it off your chest, you should talk to somebody who knows what they are talking about.

00:00:57.000 And that's why you should be talking about everyday challenges at work or at home.

00:01:00.000 You can chat about life.

00:01:01.000 There are no extra commutes, no leaving the office.

00:01:03.000 No judgment.

00:01:03.000 Remember, therapy isn't just about venting those thoughts or digging into childhood memories.

00:01:07.000 It's about practical, everyday strategies for stress management and living a happier life.

00:01:11.000 Having a therapist simply provides you a designated person for you to talk to who's trained to listen and help you make positive changes.

00:01:17.000 The Talkspace platform has over 2,000 licensed therapists who are experienced in addressing life challenges we all face.

00:01:22.000 To match with the perfect therapist for a fraction the price of traditional therapy, go to Talkspace.com slash Shapiro.

00:01:28.000 Use that promo code Shapiro.

00:01:29.000 At $45 off your first month, show your support for the show.

00:01:33.000 That's Shapiro.

00:01:34.000 Talkspace.com slash Shapiro.

00:01:36.000 And again, $45 off your first month.

00:01:38.000 I'm a big advocate, as I say, of if you need help, talk to somebody and Talkspace can make it happen for you at a fraction of the price to going to a therapist.

00:01:44.000 It's totally worth it.

00:01:45.000 Go check it out right now.

00:01:46.000 Talkspace.com slash Shapiro.

00:01:48.000 All right, Steven Crowder.

00:01:49.000 This is going to be hard for me.

00:01:50.000 How many of those are we going to have to do?

00:01:52.000 There are four of those.

00:01:52.000 Because I'm so tempted to screw all of them up for you.

00:01:54.000 I know, and you already did one, so congratulations.

00:01:57.000 Close!

00:01:58.000 You did stumble a little bit.

00:01:59.000 I know, well, you actually ducking into my camera line and then pouring water into your own mug is always definitely a wonderful thing.

00:02:04.000 You know, I just don't trust you.

00:02:06.000 Back at you, dude.

00:02:07.000 I mean, I'm the one wearing pants, so all I can say is that before we began this interview, Steven Crowder was, in fact, wearing pants.

00:02:12.000 He walked into the room not wearing pants to make me specifically uncomfortable because, as most people know, I am deeply uncomfortable with the male body.

00:02:18.000 Well, I think you're deeply uncomfortable with the men and women of our armed services because this is what they wear.

00:02:22.000 They wear ranger panties, or as they're known, softies. 0.98

00:02:26.000 If I were more of a patriot, I'd be staring at your junk with more enthusiasm, but apparently I am not. 0.97

00:02:41.000 Let's jump into what you do for a living, which is supposedly comedy, allegedly. 0.96

00:02:46.000 Yes.

00:02:47.000 So, Stephen Crowder, for those who don't know... For a guy who's so smart, that was redundant right off the... Supposedly, allegedly.

00:02:52.000 Let's try and curb back the flattery.

00:02:54.000 Supposedly is not a legal term.

00:02:55.000 Allegedly is.

00:02:56.000 But, let's talk a little bit about how you got to where you are.

00:02:59.000 So, he runs a show... Do I need a lawyer present?

00:03:00.000 Do I need a half-Asian Bill Richman? 0.60

00:03:02.000 Always, I'm Jewish.

00:03:03.000 You know, but Crowder is sitting here, and people should know, the way that I got to know Stephen Crowder was, in fact, as his lawyer.

00:03:10.000 So many, many years ago, we got to know each other because I was recommended to Stephen for some odd reason as somebody who might be able to negotiate a contract.

00:03:18.000 I think it was Andrew Breitbart.

00:03:19.000 It was probably Andrew.

00:03:20.000 It's always Andrew, right?

00:03:21.000 Which made no sense because it wasn't the kind of law that you did.

00:03:24.000 Right.

00:03:24.000 But I could read a contract.

00:03:25.000 And you were Jewish.

00:03:26.000 This is correct.

00:03:27.000 And he trusted you.

00:03:28.000 And I remember that.

00:03:29.000 You went in and we kind of... Very bad qualities right off the bat.

00:03:31.000 Lawyer who's Jewish.

00:03:32.000 No, no.

00:03:33.000 I said, listen, I don't know someone who could do this.

00:03:36.000 And I remember he said, this guy, you know, I trust this guy.

00:03:38.000 He's younger, but he'll know how to take care of you.

00:03:41.000 Remember, we went in kind of like the Donald Trump.

00:03:43.000 We tried to negotiate going in high and we'd expect them to come back, but they didn't.

00:03:47.000 Right, they were just like, no.

00:03:48.000 And I remember I thought you were probably, you probably held some animosity toward me because you were like, 0.99

00:03:52.000 Crap! 0.98

00:03:53.000 I should have come in lower because, you know, I was making so much more than you. 1.00

00:03:56.000 It's true.

00:03:57.000 You were really earning at that point.

00:03:59.000 At that age!

00:03:59.000 And then the first time that we met in person, Steven Crowder came to my condo.

00:04:05.000 I can't remember why you were there at all.

00:04:07.000 I mean, you just sort of appeared, this giant Canadian.

00:04:09.000 And we're upstairs and I'm about to do a radio show or something.

00:04:13.000 And you decided to demonstrate your Brazilian jiu-jitsu skills by putting me in a headlock and then

00:04:18.000 The guillotine choke, but you said you had a hernia only after I put you in the choke.

00:04:22.000 That's true.

00:04:22.000 I was like, why didn't you tell me before this?

00:04:24.000 And then I felt bad, but only a little bit.

00:04:27.000 Right, but I didn't launch a lawsuit against you, and that was the beginning of our friendship.

00:04:30.000 This was the beginning of our friendship.

00:04:31.000 Same thing you did with my Fox News contract early on because, you know, listen, at that point I wasn't really, obviously I wasn't looking for anything special, but I remember I just said, I know some people don't own the rights to their own names.

00:04:40.000 And I want to be protected.

00:04:42.000 I want to make sure that I maintain my autonomy.

00:04:44.000 And you did.

00:04:44.000 You helped me with that at that point.

00:04:46.000 I didn't have a lot of negotiating power.

00:04:48.000 Yeah.

00:04:48.000 But it was very helpful.

00:04:50.000 It's always good that my legal skill is talked up at the beginning of a show, so I appreciate that.

00:04:54.000 Well, Steven is indeed the creator and the host of Louder with Crowder, which is the most successful comedy show on the right, I think, pretty clearly and obviously.

00:05:02.000 And he has a second-rate mug, which we've allowed him to actually bring in here, pour his water into.

00:05:06.000 Obviously, this right here, the Leftist Tears Hot or Cold tumbler, is far superior

00:05:10.000 It's taller, it has more bulk, sort of the reverse of our bodies.

00:05:13.000 It employs a lot of Chinese children.

00:05:14.000 This is short and fat like me, and this one's tall and skinny like you.

00:05:17.000 But in any case, the show takes a lot of work. 0.70

00:05:21.000 It's really worth watching.

00:05:22.000 So I wanted to ask, let's get deep into the weeds with Stephen Crowder from the very beginning.

00:05:26.000 How did you go from a misanthropic Canadian child to a giant Texan comedian?

00:05:34.000 In one short life.

00:05:35.000 You know, it's the only thing I ever wanted to do.

00:05:38.000 Did you ever want to do anything else as a kid?

00:05:40.000 Did you ever want to be a fireman or a policeman?

00:05:41.000 I mean, I know you were playing Carnegie Hall at nine months.

00:05:43.000 At one point I was interested in genetic science.

00:05:45.000 I was also a violinist, so I thought about doing that.

00:05:47.000 But I was always very into politics.

00:05:48.000 And then you saw all the Asians doing the violin. 0.99

00:05:50.000 You were like...

00:05:50.000 I was a pretty good violinist.

00:05:51.000 I know you were a very good violinist, but, you know, the difference is... To be honest with you, it wasn't really about the race.

00:05:55.000 I don't think your parents were jamming piano keys into your neck if you missed a note.

00:06:00.000 My half-Asian lawyer, actually, his mom used to slam the piano on his fingers. 0.74

00:06:05.000 He talks about it.

00:06:06.000 Tiger mom.

00:06:07.000 And he's brilliant.

00:06:07.000 So he's an SMU law grad.

00:06:11.000 That's actually, you know, that's a funny story.

00:06:12.000 Speaking of Texas, so my half-Asian lawyer, Bill Richmond, SMU law grad, when we did the show at SMU,

00:06:17.000 He was in there, he was a part of the show.

00:06:18.000 He was in the crowd and we did a parody of Say Anything where he was holding up the boombox and In Your Eyes with Peter Gabriel was playing.

00:06:23.000 But he's walking in and there are these protesters on the other side of the street.

00:06:27.000 There was a paltry like 40 people.

00:06:29.000 But one of them was his law professor.

00:06:31.000 He goes, Bill, what are you doing?

00:06:32.000 He's like, I'm in the show.

00:06:33.000 He's like, I'm protesting the show!

00:06:35.000 So I kind of assumed that in law you would have more conservative professors.

00:06:39.000 Turns out I guess that's not the case, certainly not anymore.

00:06:41.000 Yeah, major law firms are very, very much to the left.

00:06:44.000 And at one point I'll have to do a show where I talk about all my experiences in my interviews for being a lawyer.

00:06:51.000 Like, I was at Harvard Law School and I was interviewed by 32 firms.

00:06:54.000 The way it works at Harvard is that everybody shows up to recruit you because you're at Harvard Law School, which means you're smart.

00:06:58.000 And so they then come to the Charles Hotel.

00:07:01.000 That was a self-pat.

00:07:02.000 For sponsors who don't see how creative he is with the compliments, that was a self-pat.

00:07:06.000 Harvard means you're smart.

00:07:07.000 It's smooth, smooth.

00:07:07.000 I tell you what's not smart is these generic chairs.

00:07:09.000 My back's going to be sore.

00:07:10.000 I'm going to have to get up and stretch right in front of you.

00:07:12.000 Well, please do not.

00:07:13.000 And in any case, 32 different firms came and recruited me.

00:07:17.000 And I went one for 32 on my interviews, specifically because I was right wing and they saw on my resume the names of my books.

00:07:23.000 But in any case, let's get back to you.

00:07:25.000 I want to compliment you there, because this is one thing I know that bothers you and bothers me.

00:07:29.000 A lot of people say, oh, it was because I was right-wing.

00:07:31.000 No, in this case, it's true.

00:07:32.000 Because anyone out there who knows your background in law, and listen, I despise you, of course, all that, but you are supremely qualified, and it's clear that there was a bias against your political worldview.

00:07:42.000 Well, I mean, they pretty much said it right off the bat.

00:07:44.000 Yes, but I know you get bothered when people say, well, I didn't get accepted because I was at Schenectady Community College and I bombed out.

00:07:50.000 It's like, well, no, it's not because you were conservative.

00:07:51.000 It's the same thing with a lot of sort of conservative

00:07:54.000 Self-professed comedians sometimes.

00:07:56.000 Like, I know every single conservative in the comedy, in the entertainment industry, certainly comedy.

00:08:01.000 And a lot of people just say, well, it's because I was right-wing.

00:08:04.000 It's like, well, hold on a second, it's because you're not there yet.

00:08:06.000 I don't mean to say they're not good, but they're not there yet.

00:08:08.000 So in that case, I want people to know that it is entirely legitimate that it was because of your worldview, and probably because you couldn't keep your mouth shut about it.

00:08:14.000 Well, so on my resume, the name of my second book was Porn Generation, How Social Liberalism is Corrupting Our Future.

00:08:20.000 In one particular interview with Gibson, Dunn, and Crutcher, the partner who was interviewing people, I walked in, before I even sat down or said my name, he said, I walked in the door, I remember this clear as day, and he says, it has always been my contention that conservatives and religious people in general have a Freudian fear of sex.

00:08:33.000 He hadn't even shook my hand yet.

00:08:35.000 And at that point, I was like, I'm not getting this job, so go F this guy.

00:08:38.000 And that was pretty much how the interview went.

00:08:39.000 Wouldn't that also be improper verbiage?

00:08:40.000 Because wasn't Freud the guy who wanted to sleep with his mom?

00:08:43.000 He didn't have a fear of sex.

00:08:44.000 He thought that other people, so I guess you're saying a Freudian complex?

00:08:47.000 Yes.

00:08:47.000 Because Freud himself wasn't afraid of sex.

00:08:49.000 That's what he was going for.

00:08:50.000 In any case, let's get back to the question that you completely avoided here, which was, how did you go from being a giant Canadian to a giant Texan and also, did you always want to do political comedy or did you want to do pure comedy?

00:09:01.000 No, I always just wanted to, if you'd have asked me when I was 12 or 13, I would have said, I want to be an Academy Award winning actor.

00:09:06.000 Really, that truly would have been my dream.

00:09:08.000 I just wanted to act, but I also always loved comedy.

00:09:10.000 I started writing stand-up when I was 14.

00:09:12.000 To do, actually, the school talent show, which ended up being cancelled, so I just continued writing.

00:09:17.000 So the first time I did stand-up, I think I was 17, but I had to cut down from about an hour of material to five minutes.

00:09:23.000 Most people bomb their first time.

00:09:24.000 The only reason I didn't bomb was because I had so much material to edit back.

00:09:28.000 But then when I found out how corrupt, obviously, the Academy is, and that the awards didn't mean a whole lot, I said, OK, what do I want to do?

00:09:33.000 I was just talking about this with Dennis Prager not long ago.

00:09:36.000 I said, OK, if I can't be an Academy Award winning actor, late night host.

00:09:39.000 So it's like, you know, my safety's Harvard.

00:09:42.000 And at that point, you know, I don't know, who's your favorite late night host of all time?

00:09:46.000 Aside from yours truly, obviously.

00:09:48.000 All time?

00:09:48.000 I was a Leno fan.

00:09:50.000 Really?

00:09:50.000 Yes.

00:09:51.000 I know.

00:09:54.000 Breaking my heart.

00:09:54.000 See, I was all about Letterman until later on when he became a grumpy man, but early Letterman, like the Larry Bud Nelman, Rupert's Deli, that was really- You were more sophisticated.

00:10:01.000 Yes.

00:10:02.000 That's the sophisticated New York taste right there.

00:10:04.000 In comedy, yes, absolutely.

00:10:05.000 I know.

00:10:05.000 Okay, that's fair.

00:10:06.000 The comedians wanted to do Leno because of the numbers and it was an easy interview, but the comedians all respected Dave.

00:10:10.000 That was kind of the rule.

00:10:11.000 Until, again, later on he's totally changed.

00:10:13.000 So early Letterman.

00:10:15.000 And I used to watch it every day.

00:10:17.000 My dad would tape it and put it on VHS and of course fast forward the parts that we couldn't watch.

00:10:21.000 And I always just thought, wow, this is something really cool that I'd love to be a part of.

00:10:25.000 And I did stand-up for a long time.

00:10:28.000 I always knew I wanted to entertain people.

00:10:30.000 And when I saw people like Nick DiPaolo do stand-up, I'd feel bad about myself because I would say, I'm never going to be as good as Nick DiPaolo.

00:10:37.000 I'm a good stand-up comedian, but a lot of the things I wanted to do, like impressions, sketches, didn't work on stage.

00:10:43.000 And of course, acting, I couldn't incorporate a lot of comedy.

00:10:46.000 Writers don't typically like you.

00:10:47.000 Add living.

00:10:48.000 You have a bit of a harder job than I do.

00:11:03.000 Yeah, I do.

00:11:03.000 And I feel a lot of pressure not because it's like, oh, I better be funny or it'll hurt my ego.

00:11:20.000 You know this, when you do these live shows, I had a guy come up and give me his Navy Cross.

00:11:24.000 Yep.

00:11:24.000 And he said, I had such bad PTSD and I was suicidal.

00:11:27.000 He said, watching your show is what kept me sane because I was able to sort of consume the news.

00:11:32.000 I was able to digest it, but I didn't want to kill myself.

00:11:35.000 You know, we don't want to be the only show people watch.

00:11:38.000 We do more sourcing, I think, than anyone.

00:11:39.000 Honestly, we have a rule.

00:11:42.000 We have to have two completely unbiased sources for every claim that we make.

00:11:44.000 We put them on air, or a leftist source.

00:11:47.000 So as a matter of fact, sometimes we'll actually have a source from Daily Wire and I'll be like, we can't use Daily Wire because people will say, Daily Wire is bullcrap.

00:11:53.000 So we go to the PubMed study, which you guys just sort of, you know, obviously were summarizing.

00:11:57.000 But unfortunately, people will say it's not legitimate because, you know, you're shekels and all that. 1.00

00:12:00.000 So, yeah, so I feel a tremendous responsibility if people are choosing Louder With Crowder to be their last show before their head hits the pillow.

00:12:09.000 I've always said this to people who work for me.

00:12:10.000 I go, listen.

00:12:12.000 They don't know the last show.

00:12:13.000 Assume that everyone walking in is walking in for the first time, and they've never seen your prior performances, and earn it.

00:12:18.000 Earn their dollar, earn their laugh, every single time.

00:12:21.000 That's how I've tried to approach it, and it really comes, the pressure comes from more of a sense of responsibility in realizing how much this means to other people, which, that's something I wasn't ready for.

00:12:31.000 Honestly, when I was just doing stand-up in smoker clubs where drunks were mad at you or doing open mics, you didn't expect someone would come up and say, hey, I didn't kill myself because of your show.

00:12:40.000 This is something I know you've touched on.

00:12:41.000 I think we've sort of struck a chord in culture right now.

00:12:45.000 People are othered all the time.

00:12:46.000 There is no group out there right now who have been othered more than anyone under the age of 35 who's right-leaning for a long time.

00:12:52.000 They feel really isolated.

00:12:53.000 They feel really alone.

00:12:54.000 And so, obviously, our show is a comedy show, and yours is more, like you said, sort of political punditry?

00:12:58.000 Is that the word?

00:12:58.000 Yeah, I think that'd be fair, yeah.

00:12:59.000 Commentary.

00:13:01.000 Brilliant commentary.

00:13:02.000 It really does make people feel less alone, and it means a lot to them.

00:13:06.000 So that's where the pressure comes from.

00:13:07.000 Well, let's talk a little bit about what your routine is.

00:13:08.000 I'm going to move these books because my mug is too girthy and so it's running into them.

00:13:12.000 But yeah, let's continue.

00:13:13.000 Let's talk a little bit about your sort of routine getting ready for the show because I have my routine.

00:13:16.000 I get ready for it for, you know, because I'm in the news cycle all day long.

00:13:20.000 It doesn't take me that long to actually prep for the show because I'm in the news cycle.

00:13:23.000 I know what all the news stories are.

00:13:24.000 I know what all the clips are going to be.

00:13:26.000 But for you, you do the once a week three hour show, which is the big extravaganza.

00:13:31.000 It's one hour and 15 minutes.

00:13:32.000 Yeah.

00:13:33.000 Three hours when it used to be on radio, but it's a little longer than the daily show.

00:13:35.000 Okay, so how often is it?

00:13:36.000 The Daily Show is behind the paywall over at CRTV.

00:13:39.000 It's about a 44-minute clock, like traditional shows, and then on Thursday we do one extra guest.

00:13:44.000 Right, but the amount of time that you put into these shows is just extraordinary.

00:13:47.000 So what is the organization like for these shows?

00:13:50.000 So, well, to give you an idea, I'm up 4.30 or 5, and I'm working by 5.30, writing the jokes, writing the pitches.

00:13:56.000 Because if I write 20 jokes, maybe two will work.

00:13:59.000 And we have a couple other people now who help with some jokes.

00:14:01.000 Owen Benjamin comes in hourly and is really helpful, but really for the first, well, three years we did it on radio, and then The Daily Show was just me.

00:14:09.000 And now Brodigan helps a lot.

00:14:10.000 He's a brilliant joke writer who writes for the website.

00:14:12.000 And then we go and we do the pitch meeting.

00:14:14.000 So I'll put in a bunch of material before the actual pitch meeting occurs, which will occur at around 8.30 in the morning.

00:14:19.000 They go in, add some of their ideas, or see how they're going to delegate the tasks, because we'll typically have like

00:14:24.000 Two sketches, three or four photoshops, as far as original comedy bits, and then some punchlines.

00:14:31.000 And then we do a dive-in segment, or meet segment, everyone has a different term for it nowadays, where we're kind of staking out one topic.

00:14:37.000 That's what usually goes to YouTube.

00:14:38.000 That's the clip people see who aren't Mug Club members.

00:14:40.000 And with that, that's where we go, okay, we have a beginning, middle, and end in a self-encapsulated segment that people can digest.

00:14:47.000 And whether it's taking on the top five AR-15 myths, you know, of that day, or it's doing a rebuttal to whoever, Vox or Young Turks, we have to be really, really meticulous about our research.

00:14:57.000 Because we're actually held to a higher standard, funny enough, as comedians.

00:15:01.000 Because I think the Jon Stewart comedian hat on, journalist hat off, you know, actually kind of gave us Leslie way on the right.

00:15:08.000 Even though they give it to everyone on the left.

00:15:09.000 So Michelle Wolf's show got cancelled. 1.00

00:15:11.000 Right.

00:15:11.000 Did you hear about that?

00:15:12.000 I did.

00:15:13.000 Oh my gosh.

00:15:13.000 Who decided that was a good idea?

00:15:15.000 I have no idea.

00:15:16.000 Michelle Wolf's immediate relatives apparently because that thing was just an abomination. 1.00

00:15:20.000 So I want to ask you in a second about the relationship between comedy and madness.

00:15:24.000 But first, let's talk about your impending death.

00:15:26.000 So September is National Life Insurance Awareness Month.

00:15:29.000 If you listen to this show a lot, you've heard me talk about how important life insurance is.

00:15:32.000 Here's the thing, 40% of Americans still do not have life insurance.

00:15:35.000 So, if anything were to happen to you, your family would be left bereft. 1.00

00:15:39.000 They'd have to pay for your coffin, but they're poor because you were too stupid to get life insurance. 0.99

00:15:42.000 These days, there's not an excuse for not having life insurance. 0.97

00:15:44.000 Life insurance rates are at a 20-year low, and it is easier than ever to get life insurance, especially if you use Policy Genius.

00:15:50.000 Policy Genius is the easy way to get life insurance online in just two minutes.

00:15:53.000 You can compare quotes from the top insurers to find the best policy for you.

00:15:56.000 And when you compare those quotes, you save money.

00:15:58.000 It is indeed that simple.

00:15:59.000 Policy Genius has helped over 4 million people shop for insurance, placed over $20 billion in coverage.

00:16:04.000 They don't just make life insurance easy.

00:16:05.000 They also compare disability insurance and renter's insurance and health insurance as well.

00:16:09.000 If you care about it, they can cover it.

00:16:11.000 So, if you're looking for a good reason to buy life insurance, there are three.

00:16:14.000 It's Life Insurance Awareness Month.

00:16:16.000 It rates her at a 20-year low, and PolicyGenius makes it really easy for you to get that right policy for you.

00:16:20.000 Go to PolicyGenius.com, get those quotes, apply in minutes.

00:16:24.000 I know that Steven's wife has already taken out a life insurance policy on his life worth at least $25.

00:16:29.000 So that makes his life really, I mean, every minute is just a fragile balance.

00:16:33.000 But you can do the whole thing for yourself right now over at PolicyGenius.

00:16:36.000 It's the easy way to compare and buy life insurance.

00:16:38.000 I've been meaning to do this the whole time you're doing that ad, and I didn't want to screw it up for you, so.

00:16:41.000 Okay.

00:16:41.000 Are these space heaters made to look like lights?

00:16:45.000 I have no idea.

00:16:45.000 It's very bizarre.

00:16:46.000 You think I design my own sets, dude?

00:16:47.000 The decorative choices that we make sometimes.

00:16:48.000 I have tons of people who work for me, dude.

00:16:50.000 Like, you think I do this?

00:16:51.000 But it is, think about this, about the choices, like you've seen like the wooden pallets a lot of the time.

00:16:54.000 They're like, oh it seems really, it just seems very organic.

00:16:57.000 I'm like, who has a space with these?

00:17:01.000 Well, what we really do is if we have a guest we really don't like, then after the show, we strap them down, we shine it really bright in their face, and then we just beat them.

00:17:10.000 Are those incandescents or are they LEDs to look like incandescents?

00:17:13.000 I don't know.

00:17:13.000 I actually like those bulbs.

00:17:14.000 But I do have an insurance question for you after the show, no joke.

00:17:16.000 My wife actually sent me because as celebrities, it's a whole different ballgame.

00:17:21.000 Especially because you get death threats and all the rest of it.

00:17:23.000 Yes, exactly.

00:17:23.000 It's been very difficult.

00:17:24.000 So, let's talk about the death threats and all that.

00:17:27.000 Actually, this is a good transition.

00:17:28.000 So, let's talk about the fact that you do a lot of really controversial comedy.

00:17:32.000 So, where do you draw lines?

00:17:34.000 So, you know, there's a lot of talk these days about where comedians ought to draw lines.

00:17:38.000 You mentioned Owen Benjamin.

00:17:39.000 Owen Benjamin has been taken to task for using the N-word in one of his comedy routines.

00:17:43.000 Where do you think it's appropriate to draw lines as a comedian?

00:17:45.000 Do you think there should be any lines as a comedian?

00:17:48.000 Obviously, there are certain things that you won't do, even though you're the guy who paints Muhammad with menstrual blood as Bob Ross on camera.

00:17:54.000 Where do you decide where those lines are, and when is it appropriate to cross them?

00:17:57.000 Okay, that's a good example.

00:17:59.000 Because context is more important than content.

00:18:01.000 Let me preface this with, I don't know if it was Phyllis Diller who said this, or it might have been Dennis Miller who repeated it.

00:18:07.000 I don't know the original person who said it.

00:18:09.000 I don't know.

00:18:25.000 Uh, and everyone will have their own line.

00:18:26.000 As a society, I'm very uncomfortable with saying, this is, these are the list of appropriate words, these are the list of inappropriate words, like we were just talking about before, uh, on DMX.

00:18:35.000 You know, I was listening to his music, the N-word, MF-er, B-word, talking about killing people, and the, do we have to bleep me?

00:18:42.000 Well, we can bleep it.

00:18:43.000 Okay.

00:18:44.000 Is the word they bleep out.

00:18:45.000 It's the explicit version.

00:18:46.000 That's the one word they eliminate now.

00:18:48.000 I'm going, really?

00:18:48.000 These are the words that we're picking now?

00:18:50.000 And of course N-word would be included if you weren't black. 1.00

00:18:52.000 So it really is a political tool and I never want to play a role in that game. 0.64

00:18:57.000 That being said, you know, I think that's a good example.

00:19:00.000 So you talk about painting Muhammad in menstrual blood.

00:19:02.000 Let's take the context of that.

00:19:04.000 That on its surface sounds bad, granted, right?

00:19:06.000 It sounds pretty bad. 0.81

00:19:07.000 But BuzzFeed's Boldly, the land whale women there, you know, the fat pride feminists, they were painting in menstrual blood. 1.00

00:19:14.000 And they had done a lot of, you know, of course always anti-Christian, anti-sort-of-Judeo-Christian videos for a long time. 0.78

00:19:20.000 So we did a parody, Bob Ross painting Muhammad in menstrual blood.

00:19:23.000 And it got worse when the Bob Ross estate threatened to sue us, and then we drew them eating from a pile of fecal matter next to Muhammad.

00:19:30.000 We never heard from them again.

00:19:31.000 We never heard from them again.

00:19:32.000 What I've always said is,

00:19:33.000 We're not necessarily a shark in the comedy world, but we can be a puffer fish.

00:19:37.000 We'll make them wish they picked somebody else.

00:19:39.000 Even if we get torn off of every platform, we'll make them wish that they picked somebody else.

00:19:43.000 That's kind of our motto.

00:19:44.000 So, contextually, when you look at that, you go, oh, this is satire.

00:19:49.000 This is parody.

00:19:49.000 We didn't just do it out of the blue.

00:19:51.000 It was featured on YouTube.

00:19:53.000 Women painting with menstrual blood. 0.94

00:19:54.000 We didn't start it.

00:19:55.000 We didn't start a trend anew.

00:19:57.000 It was them!

00:19:59.000 They painted first blood, not me.

00:20:02.000 What do you make of the merger of sort of comedy and politics?

00:20:05.000 So you're a comedian.

00:20:06.000 You label yourself a comedian.

00:20:08.000 Everybody knows you as a comedian.

00:20:09.000 But you do see political actors.

00:20:10.000 President Trump's basically a stand-up comic.

00:20:12.000 Most of what he does is

00:20:14.000 Political comedy disguised as politics.

00:20:17.000 And what this means is that he crosses lines that you will cross, but people are not sure what to make of it.

00:20:22.000 Are we supposed to take it like comedy or are we supposed to take it like politics? 0.97

00:20:26.000 Is he being politically incorrect as a comedian or is he just being a jackass? 0.99

00:20:29.000 I think he's thoughtless. 0.98

00:20:31.000 I think it's a big difference.

00:20:31.000 I mean, there's no question that I know where the line is and I know how to walk up to it and dance on the line and pull it back.

00:20:37.000 You know, if I cross the line, it's very deliberate.

00:20:40.000 I don't think that's the case with President Donald Trump.

00:20:42.000 I genuinely don't think he knows.

00:20:44.000 But one thing that I do think is interesting about Donald Trump, because obviously you weren't a big fan of his, and in a lot of ways still aren't, and I was not at all during the primaries, and in a lot of ways I'm still not.

00:20:53.000 I think we're seeing a transition with President Trump that you've seen with a lot of young conservatives who we reach.

00:20:57.000 I think he was a guy who gave to Democrats for most of his life.

00:20:59.000 He was doing business in New York.

00:21:01.000 I don't really think he was a dyed-in-the-wool Democrat either.

00:21:03.000 No.

00:21:04.000 I think he was whatever he needed to get his latest structure with his name emblazoned across it erected.

00:21:09.000 And I think what you're seeing now, though, is he's come in.

00:21:12.000 He thought the left would play ball a little bit.

00:21:14.000 And they've been so vicious, which we've known them to be.

00:21:17.000 They've attacked his family personally. 0.99

00:21:18.000 We're now just, OK, screw you. 0.99

00:21:20.000 And he's becoming more conservative. 0.97

00:21:21.000 I think we're seeing a genuine transition of him becoming more right wing.

00:21:25.000 Kind of like, I hate to say, but Ebeneezer Scrooge later in life.

00:21:28.000 Everyone can kind of be redeemed.

00:21:29.000 I got it wrong all these years.

00:21:31.000 I think we're seeing that with President Trump.

00:21:32.000 I do think there's some of that.

00:21:33.000 But how do we deal with the fact that he's

00:21:36.000 You're not toxic in the same way to young people.

00:21:38.000 So young people watch your show because they know you're a comedy guy.

00:21:41.000 They're willing to give you the benefit of the doubt when you say something that's offensive because, as you say, you know what's offensive, you know what's not.

00:21:47.000 And if you're being offensive, it's generally being deliberately offensive for comedic purposes.

00:21:51.000 President Trump just sort of says things.

00:21:53.000 And he's very toxic for young people.

00:21:56.000 I mean, there's no question.

00:21:56.000 You look at the polls and among young people, he's wildly unpopular.

00:22:00.000 How do we continue to maintain lines or draw lines?

00:22:03.000 What do you think we ought to do there?

00:22:04.000 Well, here's one thing I'll say.

00:22:05.000 He's unpopular in the sense that a lot of your fans and my fans probably aren't huge Trump supporters.

00:22:11.000 That being said, they do like that someone has sort of thrown the gloves off a little bit.

00:22:15.000 So I think it's important to look at how the question is being framed.

00:22:17.000 You know, kind of like when they say, oh, 90% of Americans are pro-abortion.

00:22:20.000 But then when you give them a cutoff or you show them a fetal chart, they got a fetal development chart, that changes, right?

00:22:25.000 So I think with Donald Trump, if you were to ask me, are you a Donald Trump fan?

00:22:28.000 I'd probably answer no.

00:22:30.000 But if you were to ask me, do you think that Donald Trump has done a relatively good job as president?

00:22:34.000 I'd probably say yes.

00:22:35.000 If you would ask me, I think we would both agree on this.

00:22:37.000 Culturally, definitely he's opened the door for conservatives to not be so ashamed of what they are, even though he's not one of them.

00:22:45.000 But I don't think Marco Rubio would have done this.

00:22:47.000 I don't think even Senator Ted Cruz, I don't think Chris Christie, obviously, would have gone after the media in the same way that Donald Trump has.

00:22:55.000 So I think, even though, this thing is squeaking.

00:22:58.000 Is this being caught up on?

00:22:58.000 Is it okay?

00:22:59.000 It's totally fine.

00:22:59.000 All right, all right, fine.

00:23:00.000 I'm just making sure.

00:23:02.000 It's the replication.

00:23:03.000 It's not me.

00:23:03.000 I just want to make sure.

00:23:05.000 You're okay, dude.

00:23:06.000 It's fine.

00:23:06.000 No, no, no.

00:23:06.000 I'm making sure that people know it's not me, is my point, Ben.

00:23:09.000 This is important for me.

00:23:10.000 It's not everything is about you.

00:23:11.000 There you go.

00:23:11.000 You can hear the squeak.

00:23:11.000 It's the chair.

00:23:12.000 Okay.

00:23:12.000 So I think that's what's important about President Donald Trump.

00:23:14.000 I think even though people may not like him, I think a lot of young people are happy to see the burdens, the shackles of political correctness kind of be thrown off, and he has helped pave the way for them.

00:23:23.000 So you live a very high-stress lifestyle, obviously.

00:23:25.000 You do your show.

00:23:26.000 You're out in public a lot.

00:23:28.000 A lot of people don't like you.

00:23:29.000 You said that somebody spit in your drink on a plane.

00:23:31.000 It's true.

00:23:31.000 So it's been a party for you.

00:23:33.000 How do you deal with the stress of that?

00:23:34.000 I mean, I have my own ways of dealing with stress.

00:23:37.000 I go out and I kill a puppy.

00:23:38.000 But what do you do?

00:23:39.000 What do you do when you're really stressed?

00:23:40.000 I'm going to call your sponsor really quickly.

00:23:41.000 What was that?

00:23:42.000 The life insurance?

00:23:43.000 No, no, no, the health, the psychiatric.

00:23:44.000 Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:23:45.000 No, I do go see a psychologist.

00:23:47.000 That's a real thing, and I actually had some good friends who are former UFC champions, and I used to go see a psychologist, and I didn't get a lot out of it.

00:23:55.000 And the psychologist I go and see is actually a sports psychologist, an executive psychologist.

00:23:59.000 It's really more about time management.

00:24:01.000 It's really more about, okay, how are you being disciplined about your rest?

00:24:04.000 You know, I was talking with Dennis Prager about this.

00:24:06.000 You kind of have to fight against your nature.

00:24:09.000 There is, a lot of comedians are lazy.

00:24:12.000 I'm not one of those people.

00:24:13.000 I would border on paranoid as far as, we actually just printed out just the jokes that we wrote last, that I wrote last year and not including the research, the auxiliary, it was thousands upon thousands upon thousands of pages just in jokes for the show.

00:24:26.000 That's including the ones that made it.

00:24:27.000 So it genuinely has helped me a lot seeing the right kind of psychologist who's talked about how to schedule your life and taught me to be more disciplined about rest.

00:24:35.000 That's not always feasible.

00:24:38.000 Um, but I realized I was running on, you know, four or five hours of sleep every single night.

00:24:41.000 And they're like, okay, you don't need to shoot for eight or nine, just shoot for seven consistently.

00:24:45.000 Uh, shoot for a few five-minute breaks where you can do something that's not work-related because, you know, with what we do...

00:24:51.000 And I'm incredibly grateful.

00:24:52.000 I'm not complaining at all.

00:24:53.000 But with what we do, you're never finished.

00:24:56.000 You just choose to stop.

00:24:58.000 Right.

00:24:58.000 And there's always one more thing.

00:24:59.000 That's right.

00:25:00.000 And that is what's kind of difficult about it.

00:25:01.000 Like last night, I was getting back to the hotel.

00:25:04.000 I was taping a PragerU video.

00:25:05.000 I don't think I'm letting the cat out of the bag.

00:25:06.000 It'll be out on Columbus Day.

00:25:08.000 And some things went late.

00:25:10.000 And I was just going, there's 50 things I have to do, but I'm just going to choose to stop.

00:25:15.000 That has been a big revelation for me.

00:25:17.000 It's okay to choose to stop at this point.

00:25:19.000 How does your wife deal with all that? 1.00

00:25:20.000 So you're married.

00:25:20.000 How long have you been married now?

00:25:22.000 Six years.

00:25:22.000 Okay, so are kids in the foreseeable future here?

00:25:25.000 You know, it's funny that you say that.

00:25:26.000 I would love to be at a point in my life where I could have kids.

00:25:29.000 And the thing is, I've always had to work so much recently.

00:25:33.000 So that's one thing we're definitely working on, is finding more balance.

00:25:35.000 So we don't have the daily wire budget.

00:25:38.000 We're not exactly running the Jim Henson budget that you have here in your heat lamps.

00:25:42.000 How does your wife deal with all this? 1.00

00:25:59.000 It's hard.

00:25:59.000 Yeah, it is hard on my wife.

00:26:02.000 She's very supportive.

00:26:03.000 You know, she did, she worked, she was a vice president of a contract furniture company. 0.99

00:26:08.000 She probably gave you some chairs that don't squeak. 0.89

00:26:10.000 And she left the job and she just kind of, she doesn't work for me or the company full time, but she's really good interpersonally.

00:26:16.000 People love her.

00:26:17.000 So for showing a guest around or if we need to help kind of book some travel, she's been very helpful.

00:26:21.000 And for her, that's been really relieving.

00:26:23.000 I think this is with a lot of women. 1.00

00:26:26.000 You know, they think they have to work their way up.

00:26:28.000 And she did.

00:26:29.000 She worked her way up in a company, but realized that's not really what she wanted to do.

00:26:31.000 It is hard on her.

00:26:33.000 It's just like, probably, well, your wife is a doctor, obviously.

00:26:36.000 Indeed.

00:26:37.000 Yeah, so that's the rumor.

00:26:38.000 And a very attractive lady, your wife, you've done very well for yourself.

00:26:42.000 And with us, with what we do, because like you said, it's disrespectful, my show is substantially more of a workload to put a daily show, like a late night show.

00:26:50.000 Yeah, comedy shows have to be written.

00:26:51.000 Yes, and we do the sketches and the production, you know, it's really difficult.

00:26:55.000 So it's kind of like, we had Brian Shaw, world's strongest man on the show recently.

00:26:59.000 We had Daniel Cormier, current UFC heavyweight, light heavyweight champion.

00:27:03.000 And it really is a partnership where their wives have to support them in a way that's not typical.

00:27:08.000 And I know some women are going to be furious when they hear this, but it is a volunteer role.

00:27:13.000 But my wife has kind of accepted that, okay, Stephen's going to need a little more support because if I don't help him with lunch, he's not going to take 20 minutes to eat.

00:27:22.000 And that comes down to, you know, when I'm done working, listening to her, making sure that her needs are met.

00:27:26.000 That's a really important thing. 0.64

00:27:27.000 If we're going to bitch about feminism, then we need to talk about being real men.

00:27:31.000 And that means, yes, I know it sounds namby-pamby, but meeting your wife's needs, making sure that, and that's just, that's not just physically and financially we're talking about, spiritually, emotionally, making sure that they feel heard, that they feel safe.

00:27:41.000 So it really has been a learning process.

00:27:45.000 And I will say that contrary to some people who we know, my wife's a very strong,

00:27:49.000 Have you ever met my wife?

00:27:49.000 Sure, yeah.

00:27:50.000 Oh yeah, that's right, you've met my wife.

00:27:51.000 She's a very strong personality.

00:27:53.000 So for us, there was a lot of clashing early on, as opposed to some friends who were both type B personalities, where they never argued.

00:27:59.000 But some of these people just got divorced. 0.90

00:28:00.000 I'm like, well, what happened?

00:28:01.000 They'd never gone to marital counseling.

00:28:03.000 They'd never had a fight.

00:28:04.000 And the first fight was the blowout.

00:28:06.000 Whereas my wife and I, the arc is, it was a lot tougher early on, and it got easier.

00:28:11.000 Do you think you've both gotten better at marriage?

00:28:12.000 Yes.

00:28:14.000 Rounded off each other's edges a little bit.

00:28:16.000 I think we both, we've both, both.

00:28:18.000 I've been listening to too much DMX.

00:28:19.000 Both! 0.92

00:28:21.000 We've both gotten better at marriage and communication for sure.

00:28:24.000 And I think a big part of it is really learning that people inherently are selfish.

00:28:29.000 You know, men struggle with pornography.

00:28:31.000 Men always have. 0.86

00:28:32.000 For women, the pornography is a romantic comedy in The Bachelor, right? 1.00

00:28:34.000 He loves, he'll love me just the way I am.

00:28:37.000 No man loves you just the way you are.

00:28:38.000 He loves you, just, he loves you as you are, but there are things he doesn't like about you.

00:28:43.000 Just like, you know, a woman won't try to change me. 1.00

00:28:45.000 A woman's always gonna try to change you. 1.00

00:28:47.000 I don't have a problem with it.

00:28:47.000 It means they're trying to better you.

00:28:49.000 Now, if you become the only one that you're working on, if I'm working on me, and she's working on me, then that's a problem.

00:28:54.000 When we started our marriage, there was a lot of that.

00:28:56.000 I was the project.

00:28:57.000 You know, I needed a lot of work.

00:28:58.000 And now we've both worked on ourselves and learned how to communicate more effectively.

00:29:02.000 And I do think that is something that's really important, you know, in high-pressure positions or high-profile positions.

00:29:08.000 People mocked Mike Pence.

00:29:09.000 You know, that's a good example.

00:29:10.000 A lot of people don't understand.

00:29:11.000 For example, if you're alone in a car with a woman who's not your wife, someone can snap a picture

00:29:16.000 And it's a big deal.

00:29:18.000 Even if nothing happened.

00:29:19.000 This is correct.

00:29:20.000 There are certain pressures that come with your position, my position, that a lot of people don't... This isn't the celebrity... Insulating yourself from the possibility of sin is a definite must in any position where you are prominent at all.

00:29:30.000 You've got to take the proper precautions.

00:29:31.000 You've got to determine what is a worthy risk and what isn't.

00:29:36.000 What's a worthwhile risk for a guy who painted Muhammad in menstrual blood?

00:29:39.000 The irony is not lost on me.

00:29:40.000 But no, I wouldn't have been able to accomplish what we have, you know, what moderate success we have and I'm grateful for without my wife.

00:29:48.000 I have no doubt about that.

00:29:49.000 Okay, so I want to talk to you a little bit about sort of your mental state and then we'll get into some politics and social media and all the rest of this stuff.

00:29:55.000 But first, a sponsor.

00:29:55.000 Correct, dude.

00:29:56.000 I mean, you're really catching on.

00:29:57.000 He's a quick learner over here.

00:29:58.000 Whether you're in a cafe or a hotel, we often rely on public Wi-Fi to use the internet on the go.

00:30:02.000 But something as simple as paying your bills online from a Starbucks could leave your data exposed.

00:30:06.000 A hacker could easily intercept your information, stealing passwords, credit card numbers, or the pornography that Steven was browsing just before the show.

00:30:13.000 It's not just hackers, either.

00:30:14.000 Government agencies like the NSA, they're monitoring the entire internet.

00:30:17.000 They could be scooping up your activity.

00:30:18.000 So what can you do to defend yourself?

00:30:20.000 The software I use to protect my online activity from spies and data thieves is ExpressVPN.

00:30:24.000 ExpressVPN.

00:30:25.000 Let's go!

00:30:48.000 Three months for free.

00:30:49.000 Go to ExpressVPN.com slash Ben.

00:30:51.000 That's E-X-P-R-E-S-S-V-P-N.com slash Ben. 0.99

00:30:55.000 For three months free with a one-year package.

00:30:57.000 Again, ExpressVPN.com slash Ben to learn more.

00:31:00.000 The hell are you doing on your iPad, man?

00:31:02.000 Well, I mean, I'm decrypting all sorts of national security secrets.

00:31:08.000 I don't know.

00:31:08.000 I'm watching quarantine.

00:31:09.000 I think now you're really worried that you're like... You caught me.

00:31:11.000 You got me.

00:31:12.000 I was not watching Transporn.

00:31:13.000 I was certainly not watching Transporn like Alex Jones.

00:31:15.000 I was certainly not doing that.

00:31:16.000 No, you were watching Interdimensional Vampire Point.

00:31:18.000 That's correct. 1.00

00:31:19.000 In any case, let's talk about the fact that you're a crazy person. 1.00

00:31:22.000 So, as everyone can see, you're a wild man. 0.99

00:31:24.000 And this is not a rip on you, this is just the nature, partly, of being in comedy.

00:31:28.000 That most people who are in comedy, I've never met anybody who is a full-time comedian who doesn't have edges, right?

00:31:34.000 Who doesn't have to be a wild man, has to be on all the time.

00:31:36.000 So what do you think is the relationship between comedy and mental health, between comedy and being a wild person and having a normal life and still having to be on all the time trying to make people laugh?

00:31:45.000 Gosh, I don't want this to become a Barbara Walters where it becomes this introspective self-importance.

00:31:49.000 I'll ask your favorite tweet later.

00:31:50.000 Yeah, with a lisp and a speech impediment.

00:31:51.000 Favorite tweet.

00:31:52.000 Favorite tweet.

00:31:52.000 How does she get that work?

00:31:53.000 Does anyone else?

00:31:54.000 I mean, who does she sleep with? 1.00

00:31:56.000 Barbara Walters.

00:31:56.000 I mean, apparently when she was young, she was quite the dish, so it's not that gross.

00:32:00.000 You're thinking of old Barbara Walters.

00:32:01.000 Young Barbara Walters.

00:32:02.000 She had an affair with a sitting U.S.

00:32:03.000 Senator from Massachusetts.

00:32:04.000 That's right, yeah.

00:32:05.000 But that's not how she got the job.

00:32:07.000 So I do wonder how she got the job.

00:32:09.000 You know, I can't speak for all communities, but I can speak for myself.

00:32:12.000 I was probably the kind of kid you hated in school.

00:32:15.000 You were probably very serious.

00:32:16.000 You were throwing people in lockers.

00:32:17.000 No, no, I actually had no athletic ability whatsoever.

00:32:19.000 I was a very late bloomer.

00:32:21.000 Yeah, well that, I didn't actually, on my driver's license, I listed myself at six foot and you know what?

00:32:27.000 No, my senior year of high school, I was six foot one and I remember competing in judo at 144 pounds.

00:32:32.000 Whoa.

00:32:33.000 And I didn't shave until I was like 20, 21.

00:32:36.000 I just had peach fuzz and I didn't get chest hair until I was 24.

00:32:38.000 The Crowders are very late bloomers and the potential for being an angry late bloomer is scary because I'm a relative, there's a lot of velocity now.

00:32:47.000 But I didn't pay attention at all.

00:32:49.000 I hated school.

00:32:49.000 You were just like, there's nothing there.

00:32:50.000 And then all of a sudden... All of a sudden, yeah, it happened very, very late.

00:32:54.000 Think about when people, this is one thing that really bothers when we talk about mental health.

00:32:57.000 And I've tried to be forthcoming with a lot of people out there because it seems the only time people talk about it is when it's virtue signaling, you know, and Heath Ledger passes away.

00:33:03.000 And it's like, everyone's like, ah, I mean, I've struggled with this.

00:33:06.000 But where were you when this didn't happen?

00:33:07.000 Right.

00:33:08.000 You were embarrassed to talk about it.

00:33:09.000 And so I've talked with parents with their kids and they say, you know, what's the advice you would give to my kids?

00:33:14.000 And I've seen them just react horrified where I've said, don't go to college if you don't know what you want to do.

00:33:18.000 Take some time, figure it out.

00:33:20.000 When people say, were you ever suicidal?

00:33:22.000 Picture this.

00:33:23.000 Someone like myself, sun up at school, staring at a board in a way that I couldn't possibly learn in a socialist province for nine hours.

00:33:32.000 You try to want to wake up the next day.

00:33:35.000 And it wasn't like I was, I wasn't going to David Carradine myself.

00:33:37.000 It was nothing like that.

00:33:37.000 I just remember there were times in my life in high school where I just thought like, man, I just, I just wish I didn't have to wake up tomorrow in the sense that I just, I hated my life so much.

00:33:47.000 It'd be like me saying, you have to coach swimming starting tomorrow morning for the rest of your life.

00:33:51.000 You know, because at that point in your life, high school is everything.

00:33:53.000 You know, grade school and high school, that's all you know.

00:33:54.000 As you know, I'm not big on men and speedos, so.

00:33:56.000 Yes, these are ranger panties.

00:33:58.000 Get it right.

00:33:58.000 Our men in the armed services, they deserve our respect.

00:34:01.000 They deserve our respect, Ben.

00:34:02.000 That's the difference between you and I. You don't have any respect for anybody.

00:34:05.000 The other difference is that I would know that it was me at the end of that sentence, not you and I. What did I say?

00:34:09.000 I said you and I. You can say it's you and me.

00:34:11.000 Go ahead.

00:34:11.000 You and I, I have respect for our men and women in armed services.

00:34:14.000 No, you can go back and replay.

00:34:18.000 Don't tell him.

00:34:19.000 Grammar is my space.

00:34:20.000 Brains, your panties are yours. 1.00

00:34:21.000 Irregardless and allegedly. 0.93

00:34:22.000 There's no such word as irregardless.

00:34:24.000 Go ahead.

00:34:25.000 No, you said supposedly and allegedly.

00:34:27.000 Oh, someone else who we know, we use the word irregardless.

00:34:29.000 We both think is very smart.

00:34:30.000 That's where it was.

00:34:31.000 You said supposedly, allegedly, which I'll still argue is redundant because I don't think we're getting legal.

00:34:35.000 But give me that one.

00:34:36.000 But there's someone we both know who we both really respect as smart.

00:34:39.000 And he said like irregardless four times.

00:34:42.000 It's not an accident.

00:34:43.000 When you're sticking the landing like the fourth time irregardless, you're going, okay man, you think that's a word.

00:34:48.000 So I really did, I think a lot of the time what we see as mental illness or mental affliction is just people process things differently.

00:34:57.000 Because once I went to college, my first semester before I bombed out doing stand-up, I was an A student all of a sudden.

00:35:02.000 Because I was studying film, I was studying creative arts.

00:35:04.000 And I was in my element.

00:35:06.000 And I did pretty well pretty quickly in the areas where I was interested in.

00:35:11.000 In the areas where I was interested.

00:35:12.000 See, I was just redundant there.

00:35:14.000 Because I'm trying to tread lightly here on the issue of mental health.

00:35:17.000 So with myself, I think I've just had to learn how I process information.

00:35:22.000 And I had to get very organized.

00:35:25.000 When people use this term ADHD, and by the way, I'm totally against obviously drugging up kids and putting them on Ritalin.

00:35:29.000 That being said, I've actually done, you know, not just a questionnaire.

00:35:33.000 But EEG testing, genetic testing, we've done a lot.

00:35:36.000 You're in the top percent.

00:35:38.000 It's not even close.

00:35:39.000 Like super, super severe.

00:35:41.000 And you know Andrew Breitbart obviously was a prime example of that.

00:35:43.000 There are people, Winston Churchill would have been an example of that.

00:35:46.000 A lot of people are.

00:35:47.000 And you find just as many people, by the way, with ADHD or in the gutter as you do, great world leaders.

00:35:52.000 Almost every great world leader, to some degree or another, was

00:35:56.000 Mentally afflicted, whether it was bipolar or ADD.

00:35:59.000 And I don't know what you have.

00:36:00.000 I don't know what it is.

00:36:01.000 A computer war tennis shoe syndrome?

00:36:02.000 I have no idea.

00:36:05.000 So I think it's important to talk about with people because I think there are a lot of kids out there who think there's something wrong with them and there's really not.

00:36:12.000 There's a lot wrong with our public education system today.

00:36:15.000 There's a lot wrong with the way we raise young men.

00:36:18.000 There's a lot wrong with the way we discuss mental health of the society.

00:36:22.000 But a lot of the time there's nothing wrong with these people.

00:36:25.000 I totally agree with a lot of that, and mental illness runs in my family as well, so I totally get where you're coming from.

00:36:32.000 We actually didn't get the full chronology of how you got from a socialist province in Canada where you wanted to kill yourself in a classroom to you living in Texas and making comedy.

00:36:40.000 I didn't want to kill myself.

00:36:41.000 I was hoping I would get hit by a car.

00:36:43.000 But I was actually hit by a car once, and I was like,

00:36:46.000 No, I gotta go back to school the next day.

00:36:47.000 I didn't get a week off.

00:36:48.000 It wasn't as good as you thought it would be.

00:36:49.000 It wasn't as good as I thought it would be.

00:36:50.000 It was a real letdown. 0.58

00:36:51.000 It was a letdown by a rude French-Canadian. 1.00

00:36:53.000 They're mean drivers.

00:36:54.000 Have you ever been to Montreal?

00:36:55.000 Yes, actually.

00:36:56.000 They will speed up to hit you.

00:36:58.000 They're very rude.

00:36:58.000 They're very skilled drivers, like in Europe, but they're very mean drivers.

00:37:01.000 So, yeah, I was born in Detroit, which, like I've always said, you can just annex and give to Canada, really.

00:37:06.000 And then raised in Montreal, my mom was a French-Canadian, was born and raised in Quebec.

00:37:10.000 I lived there from 3 to 18, and as soon as I was able to get to the States, I was doing some films and stand-up and touring.

00:37:17.000 I did it immediately.

00:37:18.000 So how was stand-up for you?

00:37:19.000 Because you still do some stand-up, but not nearly as much as you used to.

00:37:22.000 I just don't have the time as much.

00:37:24.000 If we do a live show, it's a full show.

00:37:26.000 You have to bring in the whole team.

00:37:27.000 I just did it recently at a YAF.

00:37:28.000 Actually, we both did that weekend.

00:37:30.000 You kind of spoke, and then I kind of do like 25 minutes of stand-up, and then do... It's like a hybrid between that and Keynote.

00:37:35.000 I'm still feeling my way around with it.

00:37:37.000 But stand-up starting off was...

00:37:40.000 You know, I was just talking about this yesterday with Dennis Prager.

00:37:43.000 You know, Stephen Harper was Canada's Ronald Reagan.

00:37:45.000 Yep.

00:37:45.000 And I remember being at an open mic— The first time I met Stephen Harper, I asked him if he—Barack Obama was president—I asked him if it was possible he would invade.

00:37:51.000 But that's—in any case, go ahead.

00:37:53.000 It wouldn't be a very long invasion.

00:37:55.000 Right.

00:37:55.000 He said—he asked me if—he said, he said, doesn't that make you a traitor?

00:37:58.000 I said, not if you win.

00:38:00.000 Yeah. 0.94

00:38:00.000 Well, so that makes you a traitor. 0.94

00:38:01.000 Correct.

00:38:02.000 If you're rolling the dice on that, if you're going to look at the statistical likelihood, you know, it's just a guy in a diesel plane with a shotgun.

00:38:07.000 I think so.

00:38:23.000 Are now being put before human rights tribunals for speech, for unpopular jokes.

00:38:27.000 Have you had him on your show at all?

00:38:28.000 No, not yet, no.

00:38:29.000 Do you know what his joke was?

00:38:31.000 His joke was, in French, something might be lost in translation, like a kid who had a make-a-wish in Canada, was their equivalent, and his make-a-wish was to be on Canadian Idol.

00:38:40.000 So here's the thing, I guess it turned out the kid wasn't as terminally ill as we thought, because he's still alive.

00:38:44.000 And he was really bad.

00:38:45.000 He was a really bad singer.

00:38:46.000 And so this guy's bit, Mike Ward was saying, you know, everyone was behind him and this was great.

00:38:49.000 He said, but now he just won't die.

00:38:52.000 That was his joke.

00:38:53.000 It's a joke, obviously.

00:38:55.000 And he was put before a human rights tribunal for $50,000 and lost, and now he's in an appeal.

00:39:00.000 So a lot of these comedians, I remember back then thinking, 1.00

00:39:03.000 You idiots! 1.00

00:39:04.000 Do you understand that there's only one political party in this country? 1.00

00:39:06.000 Well, two, technically, because it's a parliamentary system, but the NDP is just super far left liberal.

00:39:10.000 There's liberal and NDP.

00:39:11.000 Sorry, we're getting into the minutiae of Canada nobody cares about.

00:39:14.000 The judges still wear funny wigs sometimes.

00:39:16.000 But the point is, I remember they couldn't realize it all.

00:39:20.000 Back then, they wouldn't even be able to comprehend a Jordan Peterson, this compulsion of language.

00:39:25.000 And I remember at that open mic night going, wow, these people have no idea what's coming.

00:39:30.000 They have no idea that even if they're pro-abortion, even if they want to smoke weed, the flip side of the coin of Stephen Harper, who also, by the way, helped prevent the housing crisis in Canada.

00:39:41.000 Who actually helped the middle class do pretty well, whereas here they ended up footing the bill under Barack Obama for years.

00:39:47.000 Canada actually, for the first time, I think, was higher on the economic freedom index.

00:39:50.000 But the freedom of speech, it's not a constitutionally enshrined right.

00:39:54.000 And for me, doing stand-up early on, I just, I wasn't really super political.

00:39:59.000 But I felt as though I had to speak.

00:40:02.000 I felt as though I had to argue with every single comedian. 1.00

00:40:04.000 George Bush sucks. 0.99

00:40:05.000 And at that point I was like, what? 1.00

00:40:07.000 John Kerry?

00:40:08.000 John Edwards?

00:40:08.000 Do you have any idea the alternative in places like Canada?

00:40:11.000 These people do want, they want to jail you for speech.

00:40:14.000 And I felt like Chicken Little.

00:40:16.000 And no one was listening.

00:40:17.000 But now people are, unfortunately.

00:40:19.000 And I think unfortunately because this Trudeau guy, who's a national embarrassment, if they legalize- Handsome Bernie.

00:40:25.000 Yes.

00:40:25.000 Handsome Bernie Sanders.

00:40:27.000 Handsome?

00:40:28.000 I mean, you know, pretty would be the word I would use.

00:40:30.000 I mean, I bet you if you looked at Batman's free testosterone count, it would be non-existent.

00:40:34.000 And have you ever seen his wife singing at the podium?

00:40:37.000 No.

00:40:38.000 I'll need to show it to you afterwards.

00:40:39.000 It's a national embarrassment.

00:40:40.000 Like, it's so viral in Canada.

00:40:41.000 My French-Canadian family, who don't speak English, played this for me when they were visiting.

00:40:45.000 But I do think that if he legalizes weed, unfortunately, he'll win again.

00:40:49.000 Because they'll be like, yeah, he got his weed!

00:40:50.000 While people are getting jailed for saying, you know, offensive jokes.

00:40:53.000 And that scares me.

00:40:54.000 So you went to college in the United States or in Canada?

00:40:56.000 Canada.

00:40:56.000 Okay, and then you started doing stand-up.

00:40:58.000 How'd you end up in the United States?

00:41:00.000 Why'd we let you in?

00:41:01.000 Well, I was born in Detroit.

00:41:02.000 Right, okay.

00:41:02.000 So you're an American citizen.

00:41:03.000 So dual citizen, yeah.

00:41:04.000 And I've talked about this too, a big part of- So you're eligible for the presidency, unlike Ted Cruz.

00:41:08.000 Right, yes, exactly, exactly, exactly.

00:41:10.000 People always get that wrong, where they're like, ah, he's ineligible.

00:41:13.000 But you're not, right?

00:41:14.000 Is that something you plan on doing ever, running for president?

00:41:16.000 Running for president?

00:41:17.000 It sounds like a terrible job.

00:41:18.000 Really?

00:41:19.000 Watching these people.

00:41:20.000 First of all, the quarters in the West Wing are... When Trump whined about the state of the West Wing, have you ever been in there?

00:41:25.000 No.

00:41:25.000 It's really... They offered us a tour when we did the Change My Mind and we didn't have time.

00:41:29.000 Yeah, it's shockingly small.

00:41:31.000 Really? 1.00

00:41:31.000 The first time I heard Trump complain about the West Wing, I was like, what a jackass. 1.00

00:41:35.000 Complaining about the West Wing, it's the people's house. 0.99

00:41:37.000 Then I went there and I'm like, wow, this was originally inhabited by munchkins. 0.90

00:41:40.000 By actual tiny people.

00:41:42.000 I'm not a big human being and I was ducking to get through doorways and stuff.

00:41:45.000 It's like going through one of the rooms that's not been remodeled at the Waldorf.

00:41:49.000 You're like, oh, this is just terrible.

00:41:50.000 That's exactly right.

00:41:51.000 It's like that scene from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, where they start off at one end of the room, and by the time you get to the other end of the room, everybody's sort of crouching down.

00:41:58.000 And then Trump's a big dude, so I imagine he actually has to Crisco himself up and just wedge himself through the doorways to get around there.

00:42:03.000 At that point, the Crisco is incidental.

00:42:04.000 It's not to wedge himself through the doorway.

00:42:06.000 There's a multitude of uses.

00:42:09.000 So, sorry, to get back to your story, you come to the United States, you're from Detroit.

00:42:12.000 How did you get back in?

00:42:14.000 So I was just doing stand-up, and funny enough, that you bring this up, my first manager was a guy named Tony Camacho, who was black, in New York.

00:42:21.000 And the reason he brought me on as a client was because I ended my whole stand-up set on the N-word. 0.94

00:42:26.000 I ended it as N-word.

00:42:27.000 Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen.

00:42:28.000 And it was actually a bit, it wouldn't work now to English, but it was about French Canadians who would rap.

00:42:31.000 And you would actually hear French rap songs with English cuss words, including the N-word.

00:42:35.000 And you would hear it on the radio.

00:42:36.000 So it'd be a bunch of friend and then just N-bomb. 0.85

00:42:38.000 And so it killed in Canada. 0.98

00:42:40.000 And he said, man, it takes a lot of guts for a very white guy like yourself to do that. 0.79

00:42:44.000 And I really enjoyed the bit.

00:42:46.000 And he would not be a conservative at all.

00:42:49.000 He was a Christian guy, family values guy, he was a conservative who didn't realize it.

00:42:53.000 So he brought me to the States and I just started doing stand-up, some really crappy clubs, but got some pilots with MTV and then got some films and commercials and that took me full circle.

00:43:01.000 So I was in LA and back in New York and LA and New York again.

00:43:04.000 Yeah, it was always just stand-up and acting.

00:43:06.000 And then how'd you get on, like, Fox News?

00:43:08.000 I mean, how do you go from stand-up and acting to being on Fox News?

00:43:10.000 Well, you know that story, because you negotiate— I do, but my audience doesn't.

00:43:13.000 Yeah.

00:43:14.000 How did that start?

00:43:16.000 You know, I started doing YouTube videos.

00:43:17.000 You know what?

00:43:17.000 Okay, so this is a part that a lot of people don't know.

00:43:20.000 So, there were no conservatives on YouTube.

00:43:22.000 My brother and I had done some YouTube videos that had gone viral early on, like, 2006.

00:43:25.000 There was a really bad— I don't know if you remember, there was a rash of bad impression videos on YouTube early on.

00:43:30.000 Like, 101 impressions in three minutes.

00:43:31.000 And it's just some guy doing the Family Guy cast and Kermit the Frog.

00:43:34.000 And I was like, this is terrible.

00:43:35.000 So we did a YouTube video where it was called BEST IMPRESSIONS EVER, all caps.

00:43:39.000 And it was me doing really bad impressions.

00:43:41.000 My brother was my Ed McMahon laughing. 1.00

00:43:43.000 And the reason it went viral was because in the comment section you had people who were like, these are the worst impressions ever, you suck, you know, go kill yourself. 1.00

00:43:50.000 Then you had people saying, this is satire, you don't get it, go kill yourselves. 0.99

00:43:53.000 Then you had some people saying, no, actually, these are really good impressions, you guys are wrong.

00:43:57.000 And then you had some people who just thought, got the joke, but didn't think it was funny.

00:44:00.000 So everyone just started fighting.

00:44:02.000 And we learned, wow, this is how you make something go viral, is you get something that strikes a chord.

00:44:05.000 But I didn't do anything politically until, I would say, 2008, 2009.

00:44:09.000 And at that point, I had just finished filming.

00:44:13.000 Doing a Christian film in San Diego and I had done some episodes actually on an ABC Family show where that was an experience where I was actually talking with a guy on set about South Park and he was talking about how much he liked it and he said some things that made me think he was conservative like in on the gag but then I just realized he didn't get the satire and he told on me to the director.

00:44:32.000 Where I was like, yeah, I know, I love the way they lampoon the left, liberals.

00:44:34.000 And he was like, what are you talking about, bro?

00:44:36.000 You don't get it.

00:44:37.000 I'm like, no, no.

00:44:38.000 Like, Trey and Matt, they were speaking at you, like, they can't stand liberals.

00:44:41.000 And he was like, no, man.

00:44:42.000 I don't think you know what you're talking about.

00:44:43.000 And I was supposed to have a multi-series arc.

00:44:46.000 The character, I think, was supposed to be named Jace.

00:44:48.000 And instead, it was just like drunken frat guy number two.

00:44:51.000 We're good to go.

00:45:07.000 Six months, treat YouTube like a full-time job.

00:45:09.000 I'm going to upload a video every week, just put up a blue bed sheet on the wall, and I actually messaged people every single day for six hours a day saying, hey, you might want to check out my channel and responding.

00:45:18.000 And that's how I got the first 10,000 subscribers, the first semi-viral video was Crazy Pete's Abortion Barn.

00:45:23.000 I actually read from the Planned Parenthood website because they sounded like a used car salesman.

00:45:27.000 And that was when I learned early on, if I just actually read Planned Parenthood's transcript effectively, it doesn't matter how offensive I am as a used car salesman selling abortions at half price.

00:45:36.000 And then the Quran challenge, and things sort of became viral, and then I had heard Andrew Breitbart on the Dennis Miller show, and just called him.

00:45:43.000 And you know, Andrew spoke with me for like 30 minutes, so he put up some of my old stand-up, and people liked it, so I started writing articles.

00:45:48.000 PJTV came along, and I started working with them, and then Fox News, when I was working here at PJTV in Los Angeles, they said, hey, do you want to come appear on our network?

00:45:58.000 And I said, sure, and I didn't know, by the way, we can talk about it now, but I didn't know about the rivalry between O'Reilly and Hannity.

00:46:04.000 So Hannity called, and I said yes, and then the O'Reilly people called right afterward, and I said yes, and then they called back and said, well, hold on a second, we didn't know you were doing Hannity, you have to pick one, we're the bigger show.

00:46:13.000 I said, well, I gave them my word, and then I was persona non grata.

00:46:17.000 Yeah.

00:46:18.000 Those of us who work in the industry at this time remember... It was the world's biggest high school.

00:46:21.000 It was so terrible.

00:46:22.000 So what happened was I think they brought me in to lose because I was on a debate when they first brought me in and I think it surprised a lot of people that I did relatively well.

00:46:30.000 I think they weren't used to someone who was a little bit quicker as a comedian.

00:46:33.000 It's kind of just like fighting someone who's unorthodox.

00:46:35.000 And then they brought me back and brought me back.

00:46:38.000 And then when I started appearing on other news networks,

00:46:41.000 They didn't really know what they wanted to do with me.

00:46:43.000 They just knew they didn't want anyone else to have me.

00:46:45.000 So that's what they were paying for back then was exclusivity.

00:46:47.000 And it was four and a half years of my life.

00:46:49.000 I'm very grateful for the experience, but I'm very grateful now to be doing what I want to be doing and to not have the muzzle on.

00:46:55.000 Well, I'm definitely going to ask you about sort of where your political perspective was formed and also

00:47:00.000 You know, the areas of your career where you've gone serious, mainly the change my mind stuff.

00:47:04.000 So I'm going to ask you about all that in just one second.

00:47:05.000 First, let's talk about jeans, because this dude right here doesn't have any pants.

00:47:08.000 But he could use some pants, because come the hell on, it's just terrible in every possible way.

00:47:13.000 If you are looking for quality jeans that look great, fit great, feel great, and used to cost you hundreds of bucks, Mott & Bow has permanently changed the game with $200 designer jeans for half the price.

00:47:22.000 Introducing MottAndBow.com, where you can get the most comfortable premium jeans

00:47:26.000 You will ever wear for half of what you would pay elsewhere for AG or 7 Jeans.

00:47:30.000 I mean, these are luxury jeans for $100.

00:47:32.000 You can only get them at Mott & Bow.com.

00:47:34.000 I wear jeans every day.

00:47:35.000 Mott & Bow is fantastic.

00:47:36.000 Most comfortable because they use the best in-comfort technology.

00:47:39.000 They've got Dynamic Stretch Premium because they only source their denim from two of the most well-respected denim mills on planet Earth.

00:47:45.000 To make sure that your jeans fit you perfectly, they have an at-home try-on program as well.

00:47:49.000 You request a second pair with your order, you try on both,

00:47:51.000 You keep one, you send back the other one in the same box with the prepaid label.

00:47:54.000 These are $200 designer jeans for half the price.

00:47:57.000 Plus, their September savings event means that you save 20% on everything at mottandbow.com slash ben.

00:48:03.000 That's M-O-T-T and B-O-W dot com slash ben for 20% off everything.

00:48:08.000 This is their best deal anywhere.

00:48:10.000 It is only available for the month of September, so now's the time to do it.

00:48:12.000 Save 20% during Mott & Bow's September savings event at MottAndBow.com.

00:48:17.000 Again, that's MottAndBow.com.

00:48:19.000 Don't get caught without pants like this gentleman who's sitting right here in front of me.

00:48:22.000 Ranger panties. 0.99

00:48:23.000 Horrifying everyone with his manly legs. 0.99

00:48:25.000 Instead, go check out MottAndBow.com.

00:48:28.000 Save 20% during their September savings event.

00:48:31.000 That actually sounds like a good deal, actually. 0.99

00:48:33.000 It's very hard for me to get jeans because I have a pretty small waist, but a huge ass. 0.98

00:48:37.000 I was going to mention it, but now that you've been there. 0.97

00:48:40.000 My waist is 33, but I have to buy 36 or 38 pants because they're made for men without legs.

00:48:44.000 Which as you can clearly see is not a problem.

00:48:46.000 Wow.

00:48:48.000 If I like it, I should have put a ring on it.

00:48:49.000 I suppose, yeah.

00:48:51.000 Who says I'm not wearing a second ring?

00:48:55.000 Continue with your question about my worldview.

00:48:57.000 Good family values show.

00:48:58.000 Wow.

00:48:59.000 Wow.

00:48:59.000 So let's talk about where your values came from.

00:49:02.000 Those solid family values that we've been discussing right here.

00:49:04.000 So you grew up in Canada, which is socialist America.

00:49:07.000 Quebec, specifically.

00:49:09.000 Quebec.

00:49:09.000 So where did your conservative values come from?

00:49:12.000 So I was always...

00:49:14.000 You know, as a Christian family.

00:49:16.000 But you're never just born a Christian.

00:49:17.000 You have to decide at some point.

00:49:18.000 I would assume it's probably the same.

00:49:19.000 I mean, you're culturally Jewish, or you're ethnically Jewish.

00:49:21.000 But you gotta buy in at a certain point, or you gotta buy out.

00:49:23.000 Yeah, exactly.

00:49:23.000 At some point, you either say, this is what I believe or not.

00:49:26.000 And the same thing with being a Christian.

00:49:28.000 So, I was raised in a Christian household, though, and then I started working really young, and so my dad taught me about taxes.

00:49:33.000 It was really that simple.

00:49:35.000 And I found that almost everyone I really liked or enjoyed

00:49:38.000 Later on in life, I found I was a conservative, like John Stossel.

00:49:41.000 I used to wait for his Give Me a Break segments after TGIF in 2020, where he would just take a steaming one, he'd just drop it all over something, like New York liberals, and I didn't even know what a liberal or a conservative was as a kid, but he'd, give me a break.

00:49:56.000 He'd talk to this head of Navajo Nation, the white man forced me to live this way, and he said, but you're wearing jeans.

00:50:02.000 And as a kid, I was like, I wanna be this guy, if I can merge him and David Letterman.

00:50:07.000 Inherently, I was always kind of an individualist.

00:50:12.000 And I had, just like Woody Allen, I had a general problem with authority.

00:50:16.000 So I think that just sort of culminated in what you see before you, what you ogle before you.

00:50:22.000 How did you decide to, your show is really split in an interesting way.

00:50:25.000 So mine is based on serious material, and then I'll stray every so often and make a joke or do a weird impression that's usually pretty bad.

00:50:32.000 But for you, because- I appreciate that.

00:50:35.000 First part of getting help is admitting you have a problem.

00:50:37.000 Well, they're not all that bad, Steve.

00:50:39.000 They're not all that bad.

00:50:40.000 They're not all that bad. 0.99

00:50:41.000 My Trump sucks, my Obama is okay. 0.99

00:50:42.000 They're not all that bad, Steve. 1.00

00:50:44.000 Okay.

00:50:45.000 Okay.

00:50:46.000 Being imitated to your face is so, so terrible.

00:50:48.000 The thing is, it's actually, the imitations of you are really actually not very insulting.

00:50:52.000 No, they're not.

00:50:52.000 It's not like Cenk Uygur, which you saw when I actually invaded Cenk's panel as Cenk.

00:50:56.000 I did.

00:50:57.000 It's like, you're like, I don't, I don't know which one to shoot.

00:51:00.000 It's like Spider-Man meme.

00:51:01.000 Yes, we're both the same.

00:51:02.000 There was a point in there where I actually sat down and he was going, okay, and I'll go, okay.

00:51:07.000 And his own audience started laughing at him.

00:51:09.000 But the stuff with you is you look young, you have a bit of a Midwestern sound, and you speak quickly.

00:51:12.000 Yeah.

00:51:13.000 So, sorry, your question.

00:51:14.000 So the question was, when do you decide to stray into serious territory?

00:51:18.000 So the change your mind stuff has become extraordinarily meme-able.

00:51:21.000 So we've all seen the memes.

00:51:23.000 Our own company has taken me, put me behind that desk.

00:51:27.000 That picture of you behind the desk with your feet up with the change my mind about some weird thing.

00:51:32.000 PewDiePie has made fun of it.

00:51:33.000 Legitimately everybody has made fun of it.

00:51:36.000 Where did you come up with that idea, number one?

00:51:37.000 And number two, that's a pretty serious segment.

00:51:39.000 There's not a ton of humor in that.

00:51:41.000 When did you decide that you were going to do more serious material along those lines?

00:51:45.000 Well, you know, the show is always... Imitated by others, imitated by others, but never duplicated.

00:51:49.000 Yes, yes, I know, I know exactly what you're talking about.

00:51:52.000 It's always been a mix.

00:51:53.000 You know, and that was one thing I hate, you know, a lot of people, I don't want to be put in a box, because the truth is, people come to the show to laugh, to be entertained, but people also really enjoy... I mean, our rule on our show, as I tell people, if we are creating content, or if I create content that does not meet this criteria,

00:52:07.000 Cut it. 0.63

00:52:08.000 Tell me to cut it.

00:52:09.000 It either has to be, well, first off, it always has to be entertaining, and it either has to be informative or enlightening.

00:52:14.000 And informative means, you know, we're breaking news, like the people who wanted to stab supporters at the University of Utah.

00:52:20.000 Remember that call when I told them, like, hey, listen, they handed out a knife to us and they're handing out, you were like, they're handing out ice picks?

00:52:26.000 Yes, Ben.

00:52:28.000 I actually think our show has led to more arrests or charges than any other conservative program accidentally.

00:52:46.000 Because of the research that we've done, we've just kind of fallen into because we stay in character.

00:52:50.000 So change my mind, though.

00:52:51.000 You know what's funny?

00:52:52.000 That's basically, I was turned down by every major conservative publisher.

00:52:56.000 I think.

00:52:57.000 There might be one or two out there who didn't.

00:52:59.000 When I pitched a book, and back then it wasn't called Change My Mind, but it's what has become Change My Mind.

00:53:04.000 And I remember the words actually being spoken.

00:53:07.000 Conservatives don't buy comedy, they don't buy funny books, they buy Obama doomsday books at this point.

00:53:12.000 I think at that point the Obama blueprint was really big.

00:53:15.000 So that's what people really wanted to do.

00:53:16.000 And it just wasn't what I wanted to do.

00:53:18.000 I don't know if there's anything wrong with the book.

00:53:19.000 I'm not insulting the book, it just wasn't Change My Mind.

00:53:23.000 You're very sharp, obviously.

00:53:25.000 You're very smart.

00:53:26.000 And it's formidable for people to watch you in a debate.

00:53:30.000 But I know that a lot of people can watch you, or even sometimes myself, I've had people say, well, I can't do that.

00:53:34.000 And I go, hold on a second.

00:53:36.000 Actually, yeah, you can.

00:53:37.000 Particularly when it comes to a conversation with somebody whose mind can be changed.

00:53:41.000 Most people who are left don't

00:53:43.000 They haven't yet rationalized their positions.

00:53:46.000 Now, it is also very different when you have a microphone and a stage, and I do, or we're on cable news.

00:53:50.000 It's a different dynamic.

00:53:51.000 And I remember always saying, man, I just wish that we could sort of capture these conversations that we have with people, you know, whether I'm getting my hair cut or I'm in an Uber.

00:54:00.000 I'll have these conversations with people.

00:54:01.000 And it be completely unedited so that people could see it's not that hard to do.

00:54:06.000 That almost anyone can do it.

00:54:07.000 You don't have to win an argument.

00:54:09.000 You just have to know how to rationalize your position.

00:54:11.000 That's really what it stemmed from, and it just happened to strike a chord.

00:54:14.000 It's the exact opposite of everything we've been taught in media.

00:54:17.000 And I know in podcasting, though, there's this pride in, like, we don't have any kind of prep or show map or anything.

00:54:22.000 But then they go on four-hour rabbit trails, you know, about duck genitalia or whatever the hell it is.

00:54:26.000 We pick a topic, and we stick to the topic, and we make sure that people rationalize their positions.

00:54:29.000 So there is a direction with it.

00:54:31.000 It's not completely random and haphazard, but it's very genuine.

00:54:35.000 And I think that a lot of people just appreciated how it was antithetical to what we've known.

00:54:41.000 I couldn't tell you exactly why it's worked as well as it has, honestly.

00:54:44.000 That's my hypothesis.

00:54:46.000 So, you know, I think both you and I have been in a space where we've both been very irritated by the sort of stodginess of conservative media, by the fact that so much of conservative media seems stuck in a rut, unwilling to kind of move out of that rut.

00:54:56.000 What do you think that rut is?

00:54:57.000 How do we define it?

00:54:58.000 How do you break out of it?

00:54:59.000 How do you think that the conservative movement can move past its image of stodgy?

00:55:03.000 Because, I mean, you know me, I'm about as stodgy a human being as it's possible to be.

00:55:06.000 I listen to classical music.

00:55:07.000 I go to synagogue on a regular basis.

00:55:10.000 I go home to my wife and my two kids.

00:55:11.000 Wait, is that stodgy synagogue?

00:55:12.000 Apparently.

00:55:13.000 I mean, when we're not planning world domination, it's pretty stodgy.

00:55:16.000 If your last name weren't Shapiro, that would sound incredibly anti-Semitic.

00:55:20.000 I would just say, synagogue is so stodgy. 1.00

00:55:23.000 I hate those synagogue attendees.

00:55:25.000 Well, I mean, I don't think you go there for parties. 0.78

00:55:26.000 I mean, it's not like there are raves going on at the synagogue.

00:55:29.000 It's just a bunch of glow sticks on a rabbi. 0.70

00:55:31.000 But by the same token, obviously, the conservative movement has, it feels either stodgy or

00:55:36.000 Provocateurish.

00:55:37.000 Those are the only two medium in which people tend to work.

00:55:42.000 You've got the Milo Yiannopoulos, I'm just gonna say stuff to say stuff and piss people off.

00:55:46.000 And then you've got the Paul Ryan, let me wonk you to death. 0.96

00:55:50.000 How does conservatism find a middle ground that actually appeals to a broader swath of people?

00:55:53.000 Well, first off, I know that you really hate the, sort of, the provocateurship, if that's the word, just for the sake of it, and I appreciate that you've delineated between what we do and people who just go out there and say something, you know, racist.

00:56:03.000 I appreciate that, because I know, listen, we could get in hot water, and I know that you know our heart and where we come from, and our goal is never to actually just...

00:56:10.000 We see people all the time say, won't somebody do something?

00:56:27.000 I mean, how many rooms did we sit in with these underground organizations?

00:56:31.000 I think the cat's out of the bag with that one.

00:56:33.000 We were like, where's the conservative late night?

00:56:35.000 You know, where's the answer to the daily show?

00:56:37.000 And I was at Fox pitching the show that I'm doing for day in and day out for four and a half years and I'm just saying, no, it's not going to work.

00:56:41.000 They paired me up with a guy who was like, he was like 90 years old with four-year-old kids.

00:56:47.000 Like, that's Old Testament Abraham.

00:56:48.000 I don't even know how that happened.

00:56:50.000 I remember it was so bizarre and he had these ideas for like a monkey on roller skates.

00:56:54.000 And what it is, is just people, and this is true, I know it sounds random, I'm trying to piece things together in my time there.

00:56:59.000 People say, why don't we have this?

00:57:02.000 Isn't someone going to do something?

00:57:04.000 Just be the guy who does something.

00:57:05.000 We're doing the show that we wished had existed.

00:57:08.000 People told me there was no market for it.

00:57:11.000 I'm very grateful for the market that there is for it.

00:57:13.000 And every time we gain a new subscriber or a new Mug Club member, we've raised the ceiling. 0.69

00:57:18.000 And we really are just incredibly grateful.

00:57:20.000 I think there are two ways to handle success.

00:57:22.000 To either exalt yourself or to feel genuinely humbled by the responsibility of how much it means to people.

00:57:28.000 And that's honestly, like, when I got off stage at SMU, I remember walking into the bathroom and, like, crying for a little bit.

00:57:34.000 Because for me as a kid, stand-up, that was kind of a dream come true.

00:57:37.000 To have, you know, 2,700 people roaring and cheering.

00:57:41.000 Like, for someone else, it didn't mean a whole lot.

00:57:43.000 But for me, that was something that I thought about ever since I was a kid.

00:57:45.000 And you go, oh, what do I do from here?

00:57:47.000 How do I hang on to this?

00:57:49.000 And some of these people were crying because they had left Islam, and now they couldn't talk with their parents, or giving me their Navy Cross.

00:57:56.000 So just be the person who does something.

00:57:59.000 We're doing the show that we wanted to do.

00:58:01.000 And I know that you, for a long time, listen, you did a lot of AM radio, and you appeared on a lot of- We both slogged in a lot of trenches.

00:58:07.000 But you finally just, I know that you were going, why doesn't somebody do something?

00:58:10.000 I know, behind closed doors, 1.00

00:58:12.000 Sometimes people who are more high-profile, respectfully, you think they're idiots. 1.00

00:58:17.000 And I know that you're like, man, I'm ten times smarter than that guy. 1.00

00:58:20.000 And I was like, yeah, you are, but this is just the way the system works right now.

00:58:23.000 And now you're doing it.

00:58:24.000 And now we're doing it.

00:58:25.000 So I just think for people, how does it change?

00:58:27.000 It changes with what we're doing and hopefully more people out there are doing it.

00:58:31.000 You know, I don't see many Ben Shapiros on the horizon. 1.00

00:58:33.000 There are a lot of people who are young and smart.

00:58:35.000 There's no one else out there as far as young comedians.

00:58:37.000 That's what kind of worries me.

00:58:39.000 For me to retire, I would love to pass that torch to somebody.

00:58:43.000 It's going to be 10 years before someone's coming up.

00:58:45.000 How old are you now?

00:58:47.000 31, but I can't do this for that long.

00:58:49.000 Oh really?

00:58:49.000 Okay, so how long do you think your timeline is?

00:58:52.000 I would love to be able to train someone up within 10 years and have someone else be doing the work.

00:58:57.000 Retire at 41?

00:58:58.000 Not retire, but be able to help the next young student.

00:59:00.000 What's your dream then?

00:59:01.000 So you just decide not to do this as often, or you do it occasionally, or what?

00:59:04.000 Again, because I was pitching this show to...

00:59:07.000 I'm sure you probably pitched books that got turned down.

00:59:09.000 Many times.

00:59:10.000 You were getting published at what, 7 years old?

00:59:12.000 19, but yeah.

00:59:13.000 Okay, yeah.

00:59:14.000 But you didn't look a day past 14, so that's what really counts.

00:59:17.000 But I would love to be the person who said to a young Steven Crowder, this will never work.

00:59:23.000 Change my mind is not a book that people want.

00:59:25.000 Late night comedy is not something that conservatives want.

00:59:27.000 I would love to be the guy that goes, okay kid, you're talented, let's see how hard you work at it, and let me be a wind in your sails here.

00:59:37.000 I'd love to be able to do that eventually.

00:59:39.000 It's really not about myself, because if it dies with me, then it's all for nothing.

00:59:44.000 Unfortunately, there aren't many conservative, I don't even say comedians, but entertainers out there.

00:59:49.000 Because the system, kind of like you said, it breeds sort of young,

00:59:53.000 CNN Crossfire era Tucker Carlson lookalikes, when you go to a lot of these conventions.

00:59:57.000 And that's changing now.

00:59:58.000 That's changing a lot.

00:59:58.000 You're seeing a much more diverse group of people, like when I went to speak at YAF.

01:00:04.000 You're seeing a lot of alternative people.

01:00:06.000 You know, people there with tattoos and mohawks.

01:00:08.000 You're seeing a lot of people who are not afraid to at least explore their options.

01:00:12.000 So, that's what's important.

01:00:14.000 I mean, I would really love to see some more people coming up.

01:00:17.000 They've got to earn it.

01:00:18.000 They've got to earn it though.

01:00:19.000 I think this is right.

01:00:19.000 I mean, there's a cultivated skill set.

01:00:22.000 And I've seen it even with you, because I've known you long enough.

01:00:24.000 I mean, I've known you for a decade.

01:00:25.000 So I've seen how, even in the time we've known each other, your comedy has really progressed to the point where, I mean, you were always good, but now you're just terrific in a way that you weren't a long time ago.

01:00:34.000 And that is through cultivation of skill and effort.

01:00:36.000 And I feel the same way about my own career.

01:00:38.000 You know, I've been doing this since I was 17, which means I've been doing this for 17 years now.

01:00:41.000 And I feel like I've gotten better at it because you put in the time and you get better.

01:00:45.000 You've gotten so many reps in.

01:00:46.000 Yeah, exactly, exactly.

01:00:47.000 Like at a certain point, you really have to cultivate a skill.

01:00:50.000 It feels like the movement spends an awful lot of time promoting people who have not actually spent the time cultivating the skill, if you either mouth the platitudes, or alternatively, if you troll.

01:01:01.000 And these are the two paths to fame and glory in the conservative movement, which is you say a bumper sticker, or you say something really troll-y just to get attention, and then you are celebrated by the people who are glad that somebody said something offensive.

01:01:12.000 That's not, I think, where the future of the movement lies.

01:01:14.000 That's where I'm inspired to see you do so well.

01:01:17.000 Because there was a period, like you and I both know, there was a period not that long ago where we thought our careers were in doubt because it was just the whole kind of troll-y or bumper sticker slogan.

01:01:25.000 We both, I remember talking on the phone.

01:01:27.000 We had many of these conversations.

01:01:28.000 We were like, man, I don't know if this is the end of this where it's a bumper sticker or just saying something outlandish, but that's not what we do and we're not going to change who we are.

01:01:35.000 I always sort of vicariously live through your success.

01:01:38.000 I'm glad to see that someone can do what Ben does because he's doing what he wanted to do for a long time.

01:01:44.000 It is more substantive.

01:01:45.000 It is not what media used to be.

01:01:47.000 And guess what?

01:01:48.000 People have been craving it.

01:01:49.000 That means a lot to me.

01:01:51.000 One of my favorite films, like we talk about

01:01:54.000 We're talking sort of about Passing the Torch.

01:01:56.000 Did you ever see The Shootist?

01:01:57.000 Was John Wayne's last film?

01:01:59.000 Okay, so for people who don't know, it's about this guy who wants to live out his last day.

01:02:01.000 I think he has cancer, pancreatic cancer.

01:02:04.000 It's a young Ron Howard and is it Gregory Peck?

01:02:09.000 Or is it Jimmy Stewart?

01:02:10.000 No, it's Jimmy Stewart.

01:02:11.000 And who's the woman? 0.98

01:02:12.000 Is it Annette?

01:02:13.000 I can't remember.

01:02:13.000 I don't know.

01:02:14.000 Anyway, but the point is he goes to this town.

01:02:16.000 He's this famous shootist, you know, he's a shootout artist, and he wants to die.

01:02:20.000 So he wants to live quietly, but unfortunately a young Ron Howard lets the word out that this guy is in town and everyone wants to take their crack at him.

01:02:28.000 And at this point John Wayne has a death wish. 0.87

01:02:30.000 He wants to die.

01:02:31.000 So at that point he goes out publicly to the saloon. 0.95

01:02:33.000 We're good to go.

01:02:51.000 Because he knows he could let this happen and he wants to die but instead he turns around and shoots the guy and finishes his drink and it's kind of melancholic.

01:02:59.000 And it's because he wanted to be taken out but he wasn't going to give it to him.

01:03:03.000 And that's kind of how I want there to be someone else eventually but it's got to be someone who

01:03:10.000 Same thing, I'm sure, with you as you get older and when you retire.

01:03:12.000 It's got to be someone who you can entrust with what we've built.

01:03:14.000 And I think also it's a big space, and I hope that there are a lot of voices in it.

01:03:17.000 So I hope that you're wrong and that you're continuing to do this after, you know, after the age of 41, because come on.

01:03:22.000 I just don't want to have to, but go back to your sponsors.

01:03:24.000 Okay, so I do have one more question for you.

01:03:26.000 I want to hear your greatest fear for the country and your greatest hope for the country, but for our listeners, if you actually want to hear Stephen's answer, you have to be a Daily Wire subscriber.

01:03:34.000 To subscribe, go to dailywire.com, click subscribe, and you can hear the end of our conversation.

01:03:38.000 Thank you, sir.

01:03:38.000 Hand on the leg.

01:03:39.000 Hand on the leg.

01:03:39.000 No, I'm kidding.

01:03:39.000 I won't put that.

01:03:53.000 The Ben Shapiro Show Sunday Special is produced by Jonathan Hay, Executive Producer Jeremy Boring, Associate Producers Mathis Glover and Austin Stevens, edited by Alex Zingaro, audio is mixed by Mike Karamina, hair and makeup is by Jeswa Alvera, and title graphics by Cynthia Angulo.

01:04:07.000 The Ben Shapiro Show Sunday Special is a Daily Wire Forward Publishing production.

01:04:11.000 Copyright Forward Publishing 2018.

The Ben Shapiro Show - September 16, 2018

Steven Crowder | The Ben Shapiro Show Sunday Special Ep. 19

Episode Stats

Summary

Transcript