In Memory of THE GREAT LOU DOBBS!
Episode Stats
Words per Minute
190.3647
Summary
A year ago today, a few hours ago, I got the worst phone call you can possibly get in your life. The Great Lou Dobbs had passed away. He was a friend, a mentor, a father, a husband, a brother, and a husband. He left behind a wonderful family and a wonderful audience. I dedicate this show to him.
Transcript
00:00:00.000
Hello, everybody. Welcome to The Great America Show. It's great to have you with us. Happy
00:00:06.340
Friday. Today's show is going to be a little bit different than what we usually do here
00:00:10.380
on The Great America Show. It's going to be more of a somber show. No news today. So
00:00:16.100
if you're tuned in and you want the latest news, we're not covering any news today. I
00:00:21.120
want to dedicate today's show to a special man, a man who made me who I am today, a man
00:00:25.300
who gave me everything, a man who gave me the show, left behind a wonderful show and
00:00:29.100
a wonderful audience for me. A year ago today, just a few hours ago, I got the worst phone
00:00:35.300
call you can possibly get in your life. The great Lou Dobbs had passed away. As I said,
00:00:41.960
and as you guys know here, each and every day who joined me, he was a mentor to me. He
00:00:47.200
was a business partner. He was a best friend. He was a man who taught me everything I knew
00:00:50.820
about this business. I came into this business as a pilot. I didn't know a darn thing about
00:00:56.500
broadcast journalism. I didn't know a thing about journalism. I knew a little bit about
00:01:00.660
politics, and I think that's probably why he liked me. On my job interview, we sat down,
00:01:06.340
we spoke for an hour, just about nonsense. And I started at the bottom at Fox as a production
00:01:11.560
assistant, partially lose assistant, and worked my way up the ladder and through the ranks and
00:01:18.700
grew to meet this man and have a friend that would be my friend until the day he died and a
00:01:25.040
brother to me. And I say brother, it was a little bit of an age difference between us,
00:01:28.800
but he looked at me as a peer, as a brother, not as someone who was older than me, just trying to
00:01:33.860
tell me everything to do. It was tough love. There was no doubt about it. And I wouldn't trade it for
00:01:40.720
the world. The last few years under his wing have been some of the greatest years of my life.
00:01:46.380
And it's a debt that I can never repay. It's a debt that I can never repay to his family.
00:01:50.980
Just a few hours ago, I spent some time with his family on the farm as we remembered him to be the
00:01:58.280
great human being that he was and the pioneer. For those of you who are joining us who have watched
00:02:04.120
him your entire life, as most of you write and tell me, you know that he was ahead of the curve on just
00:02:10.860
about everything. Back in 2006, 2004, five, his books, War on the Middle Class, Exporting America.
00:02:18.360
He wrote about everything that has now come true today. You don't believe me? Go on Amazon.
00:02:24.600
You can probably get the books for four or five bucks, Exporting America and War on the Middle Class.
00:02:29.760
He wrote those two books in the early 2000s about what was going to happen to this country
00:02:34.220
under democratic rule, what they were going to do to us, what they were going to do to the American job.
00:02:40.860
What they were going to do to the middle class and everything he wrote. Immigration has come true.
00:02:47.440
And I would often argue with him. We'd argue a lot like brothers do that he was wrong.
00:02:53.140
And I've got to be honest. I've never told him this. I can't wait to see him one day again where I can tell him
00:02:59.500
that about 99 percent of the time what we'd argued, I'd never admit that he was right, even though he was right.
00:03:04.700
But that was the relationship we had. But as I said, some of the things he was right on.
00:03:11.080
One of them cost him his job at Fox News because of complicity, because of corruption.
00:03:16.860
And it was voting machines. It was something that Lou spoke about as early as 2006. Take a listen.
00:03:23.360
Tonight, new evidence that the federal government has ignored a threat to the integrity of our elections.
00:03:29.840
A group of Venezuelan businessmen have bought an American company that supplies electronic voting machines and counts the votes.
00:03:36.980
But your government didn't even review the sale.
00:03:39.600
The voting machine company, critical to this country's election count, and they can't tell you whether or not the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States reviewed it or not?
00:03:52.900
These are the most arrogant, incompetent, bureaucratic idiots.
00:03:58.020
Smartmatic, based in Boca Raton, provides voting machines in local elections in the United States, like this election in Chicago in March.
00:04:05.480
But Smartmatic has only five to seven people working in Boca Raton, Florida.
00:04:10.280
Smartmatic is a labyrinth of international holding companies owned by Venezuelan businessmen.
00:04:15.260
The Smartmatic and other voting machine companies are private companies.
00:04:18.800
They have proprietary software they can call a trade secret.
00:04:22.700
Electronic voting experts with extensive experience say it's nearly impossible to verify if a proprietary system is tamper-proof.
00:04:30.320
All of the voting system vendors in the United States are private companies.
00:04:33.420
The problem is the closed-door proprietary nature of the process.
00:04:38.520
The closed system we have right now makes it extremely hard to find out what's going on.
00:04:43.420
And that means that should a thief get in a position of power, we would never know.
00:04:48.280
Some voter watchdog groups and others in Congress are calling for a full review
00:04:52.360
and say the ownership of all electronic voting companies should be reviewed to determine if it poses a risk to U.S. elections.
00:04:58.680
The U.S. Treasury Department today would not confirm or deny if a so-called CFIUS review was underway on Smartmatic.
00:05:06.680
Watchdog groups question why U.S. voting machines would be under the control of citizens of another country,
00:05:12.640
especially a country whose own election process is highly suspect.
00:05:19.740
There is no way that companies belonging to non-U.S. corporations should have access to our election.
00:05:28.000
In the case of Smartmatic, there are a number of unanswered questions.
00:05:31.780
That's why I wrote to the Secretary of the Treasury and asked them to review the ownership.
00:05:36.600
It's offshore, it's murky, no one seems to know who owns it.
00:05:46.800
Now, I don't think Lou Davies gets enough credit for all that he has said and all that he has done and been right about,
00:05:53.040
but I don't think ever in his mind did he imagine that 14 years post that video,
00:05:58.300
post that news clip segment there on CNN, would 2020 happen and all that happened with it.
00:06:09.960
Now, I always ask you, don't take my word for it.
00:06:17.020
Much of the talks surrounding the Senate's illegal immigration bill is centering on low-skill jobs,
00:06:26.580
that legislation could discourage college students from pursuing degrees in both mathematics and science.
00:06:32.520
When it comes to science and math, the president and his administration like to talk a tough game.
00:06:39.860
And we can make sure our children are prepared for the jobs of the future,
00:06:42.880
and our country is more competitive by strengthening math and science skills.
00:06:48.040
But the president's talk doesn't match his walk.
00:06:51.760
He's endorsed a grand immigration compromise in the Senate,
00:06:54.960
a compromise that puts industry first, not students,
00:06:58.200
by exploding the size of the H-1B visa program from 65,000 to 180,000.
00:07:05.300
Worker, activists, and organized labor call the move shameless.
00:07:08.960
There is absolute inconsistency, a complete 180-degree contradiction
00:07:15.840
between the notion that we want to encourage our kids to go into these fields
00:07:20.800
and the notion that we're going to depress wages in these fields
00:07:29.160
Our colleges and universities are graduating more than 300,000 students a year
00:07:34.180
with bachelors, masters, or Ph.D.s in computer or information science, math, and engineering,
00:07:40.780
according to the U.S. Department of Education and the Computing Research Association.
00:07:45.560
300,000 a year, yet the Department of Labor projects the average yearly job creation in those fields
00:07:57.760
There are a string of reports from the GAO and from independent studies
00:08:01.980
showing that H-1B workers are paid less than American workers.
00:08:06.780
And researchers at the Duke University's Pratt School of Engineering
00:08:10.140
surveyed 68 companies and found they weren't going offshore
00:08:14.020
because of any shortages of engineers or deficiencies in American workers.
00:08:21.920
If the higher-paying wage jobs are either leaving the country
00:08:26.700
or being given to workers coming in from another country,
00:08:31.000
how are we going to continue to fund our tax base?
00:08:37.160
Why would our children even consider the fields of math and science or engineering
00:08:41.360
if their government is so committed to giving those jobs away, Lou,
00:08:44.200
or, even worse, suppressing the wages of those jobs that stay here?
00:08:48.280
Yeah, it's frightening that we have provided so few incentives,
00:08:51.940
and I'm talking about really direct incentives, not just the labor market, the job market,
00:08:56.620
but direct incentives to encourage our young people to study mathematics and science,
00:09:06.520
Once again, another example of the great Lou Dobbs predicting exactly what was going to happen to this country
00:09:14.440
or what the Marxist-Democrats were going to do to this country.
00:09:23.880
But these same issues resonate still now today, till this day.
00:09:30.280
We find out this week, and I promised we weren't going to talk about news today,
00:09:35.860
but just to tell you how accurate and spot-on this man was 20-plus years ago,
00:09:42.940
this week we have a Republican congresswoman proposing more visas for illegals.
00:09:52.500
And from time to time, Lou Dobbs, and by the way,
00:09:54.720
for those of you who didn't watch Lou your entire life or started watching towards the end,
00:10:00.900
I mean, he brought plenty of people under his wing who are still now at Fox News,
00:10:12.160
There's a long list of people who Lou Dobbs trained, including myself.
00:10:17.020
So years later, Lou Dobbs decided CNN and him weren't for each other.
00:10:25.140
And Lou Dobbs started moving towards common sense, more towards common sense.
00:10:31.620
So Lou departed CNN, took a year off, and went to Fox Business.
00:10:38.640
trashing the network that he once built with his good friend Stuart Varney.
00:10:44.680
Just what has happened over there at CNN, the formerly known Clinton News Network.
00:10:51.160
Who better to ask than the man who put CNN on the map in the first place?
00:10:56.180
His name is Lou Dobbs, and he's on the screen right now.
00:10:58.240
He is the host of Lou Dobbs tonight on the Fox Business Network, thank God.
00:11:01.940
We did build quite a network over there, didn't we?
00:11:05.000
You started the first ever nightly business program on network television, and it was an outstanding success.
00:11:13.600
You provided most of the money for the first 10 years.
00:11:19.060
And by the way, to watch these folks who are playing with the outfit that you and I helped build, along with hundreds of others,
00:11:28.880
it is sad to think that that creepy atmosphere is the legacy of Ted Turner.
00:11:39.940
And AT&T bought that thing, and they're not doing anything to fix it.
00:11:44.700
When we started out, we were pretty much, let's get it on the air, we were the news, we were pretty straight down the middle.
00:11:51.760
We decided what was news, and away we went, and it was a success.
00:12:01.840
And it's gotten worse with Trump and the Oval Office.
00:12:06.360
With Trump and the Oval Office, these people are beside themselves.
00:12:09.780
They can't even create a rational sentence, let alone thought.
00:12:13.020
And watching Chris Cuomo try to be a good guy, a bad guy, he wants to be, they're so conflicted,
00:12:19.940
and they're now so conscious of the fact that they are lying SOBs, and the entire country knows it.
00:12:30.580
AT&T should pick up the phone and call the president and say we're sorry.
00:12:38.960
Not under our ownership ever again will CNN become anything other than a news network.
00:12:52.240
But you know perfectly well that AT&T, whomsoever is in charge, will never do that, will they?
00:13:01.020
He couldn't find his way to the closet, let alone, you know, down the hallway.
00:13:05.060
Anyway, the boss of the place, AT&T, needs to tell them, this is the way you're going to do business.
00:13:18.720
That's the Lou Dobbs that you got on camera, and that's the Lou Dobbs you got off camera.
00:13:23.940
As you can tell, it's probably the reason why Fox Business couldn't handle it.
00:13:29.520
They couldn't handle a firebrand who told the truth.
00:13:32.140
And they couldn't handle subscribing to a man who told nothing but the truth.
00:13:41.180
And it's why Lou Dobbs ultimately parted ways with the network, and we started the Great America Show,
00:13:46.500
because he had a platform where he had nobody telling him what to do.
00:13:52.260
In just a few moments, we're going to be joined by a man who spent a decent amount of time with Lou, almost as much as me.
00:13:59.780
Started out a big TV career with the great Lou Dobbs.
00:14:07.260
And we're just going to reminisce about some of the great times and some of the great things that you don't know about Lou Dobbs.
00:14:14.780
Behind the scenes, what he was like, what he did, and some really, really, really good stories.
00:14:20.300
So, folks, we're going to take a quick break here.
00:14:22.220
When we return, we're going to be joined by a former Lou Dobbs producer, a good friend of mine.
00:14:29.160
He's going to be on the other side of this quick break.
00:14:37.220
Thanks for staying with us, folks, for that short break.
00:14:42.380
It's a show dedicated to the man who taught me everything I know.
00:14:44.980
A man who's a patriot, a great American, and a warrior, a fighter, until the very end.
00:14:52.080
Much like President Trump, President Trump found out about the news of the great Lou Dobbs passing.
00:14:59.540
And just days before, he had almost been assassinated in Butler, Pennsylvania.
00:15:03.280
And he had some really kind words to say about the great Lou Dobbs.
00:15:10.480
Lou Dobbs was one of the greatest ever in an industry that had a lot of great people.
00:15:17.480
He was my friend, and he was a real talent, and he was a tough cookie.
00:15:22.900
But he was tough on bad people, not on good people.
00:15:26.180
He is somebody that's really going to be missed.
00:15:28.940
Lou was a really big voice, a very powerful voice.
00:15:33.740
I thought that he was going to, frankly, be around forever.
00:15:41.120
I'd see him together all the time, and they really had a great relationship.
00:15:45.300
I thought Lou was going to be here for a long time.
00:15:47.280
Then I got a little bad news two or three days ago, and they were saying he wasn't feeling so hot.
00:15:54.700
And I guess I wasn't feeling so hot either a few days ago, come to think of it.
00:15:58.000
But Lou was just a very, very special guy to me.
00:16:02.520
He was somebody very instrumental in the success of MAGA.
00:16:10.880
He was truly a great man, great at what he did, and a great person.
00:16:15.400
So it's an honor to do this little tribute for him.
00:16:24.380
President Trump with those very kind words, and we appreciate it.
00:16:29.500
And as I said, that was just days after he was nearly assassinated in Butler, Pennsylvania,
00:16:34.000
by that sick, sick Matthew Thomas Crook, who we still know nothing about, by the way.
00:16:39.940
He had said he thought Lou was going to be around forever.
00:16:43.260
And that's why the day I got the call, it was very surreal to me.
00:16:47.840
And still a year later now to the day, it still doesn't feel like he's gone.
00:16:54.380
And every word I say, every morning I wake up, I think about him.
00:16:57.200
Every night before I go to sleep, I think about him.
00:17:02.520
And sometimes he sends signs that he's watching, and he knows everything I'm doing.
00:17:07.400
And I think he's proud of me for the show that we've been able to put on.
00:17:12.580
And as I said, I miss him dearly more than anything in this world
00:17:18.680
So, as I promised, folks, we're going to be joined now by my good friend,
00:17:23.200
a former producer of the great Lou Dobbs tonight.
00:17:28.720
Now, I came into the TV industry, as I told you.
00:17:32.280
And Michael took me under his wing the first day there and told me everything I needed to know.
00:17:38.100
What Michael didn't tell me was how hard it was to work for the great Lou Dobbs
00:17:42.940
and how difficult of a boss he was and how rewarding it was.
00:17:47.620
Mike, first of all, thank you for everything you've done for me throughout my career.
00:17:55.440
The great Lou Dobbs, you worked for him for 2014 through 2020.
00:18:08.880
And Lou is and always will be a legend and a pioneer.
00:18:12.300
I remember the first time I met him, I went to his office for the interview.
00:18:17.280
The first thing he told me, he's like, Michael, everything you learn in this industry
00:18:26.220
I got a little nervous on the spot, but hey, it's not like a challenge to me.
00:18:31.120
So, right from the very beginning of working with Lou Dobbs, he – straight shooter.
00:18:36.160
He let me know what was going to happen the next few years working with him.
00:18:39.140
And to be honest with you, I didn't know what to expect at that point.
00:18:42.500
But it turned out to be a real blessing and an honor to work with him all those years,
00:18:48.940
And I mean, great people like you and the rest of the staff there.
00:18:53.560
And it was a big highlight of my career without a doubt.
00:19:09.320
And this is us, I think, in – it's got to be like 2019, 2018, 2019.
00:19:17.380
We came to work, and it was Halloween in our defense, dressed as Costco samplers.
00:19:23.320
And you could just see the look on his face that somehow anything I did never ceases
00:19:29.100
to surprise him because he just expected it, Mike.
00:19:34.080
I mean, I can't remember the exact words he had for us for our costume choice that day.
00:19:39.300
But I think we impressed him, to say the least.
00:19:53.340
Nobody warned me that, you know, this guy's an OG.
00:19:58.180
And, you know, you hear from all around the industry, Michael, you know, how hard it is
00:20:05.500
And you hear stories from people who just couldn't do it.
00:20:08.720
And what I got from it, it was about two weeks in, and I came to you and I was like,
00:20:15.840
And, you know, you gave me some good words of wisdom.
00:20:18.280
And what I realized was, after two weeks, was it was like an initiation process.
00:20:24.440
It was a hazing process, and he wanted to see where you were at and, you know, if you
00:20:29.680
were worthwhile putting – because he put time and energy into every single person who
00:20:46.740
So after two weeks, Michael, I said, I'm either going to go or I've got to figure something
00:20:52.040
And I looked at Lou one day, and I said to him, you know, you can say anything you
00:20:57.440
want to say to me, but you can't – number one, you can't hurt my feelings, number one.
00:21:03.700
And he looked at me like I was crazy as hell, like this 25-year-old kid's in here talking
00:21:10.380
I'm the oldest and longest-serving news anchor in television.
00:21:13.640
And I think we gained a mutual respect for each other that day, and we grew.
00:21:23.440
And you were a Dobbs loyalist, too, sticking with him for four years.
00:21:31.140
I mean, I kind of started the same boat as you.
00:21:34.920
You know, I started as a production assistant with Fox and with Lou Dobbs tonight.
00:21:38.400
So I kind of understood your pain at the beginning, so to speak.
00:21:41.820
But just from putting in the hard work and the loyalty, as you mentioned, he really
00:21:46.460
does reward you for putting in that extra time and effort and going above and beyond.
00:21:50.240
And he raised the bar to a super high standard, but it made you a better professional and better
00:21:56.960
You know, your outlook on life and just the world, he had a deeper appreciation and perspective
00:22:02.100
of it just from working with him day in and day out.
00:22:04.120
But the work ethic I got from him, Michael, it was just, you know, there's so many people
00:22:09.440
who have jobs out there who just go to work nine to five, and they hate their job.
00:22:15.720
Working with him, I felt like, Michael, when you did something right, first of all, if you
00:22:31.300
We just put on an episode and he was battling and he came to work and he can barely put on
00:22:40.020
He called me up and he said, thank you so much for putting that together.
00:22:45.540
He goes, we got an interview with the president.
00:22:52.860
I booked it with another person who was working for him.
00:22:55.360
We booked up a great show and I'll never forget.
00:23:02.720
But you don't get that, Michael, from your typical boss.
00:23:08.600
You were a human being and he cared and he invested in you.
00:23:14.120
And you can do something as small as, you know, just getting him the right order at work,
00:23:23.000
And as you see in that photo there, being able to be side by side with the great Lou
00:23:27.400
Dobbs and, you know, sharing your thoughts and your opinion, it actually meant something
00:23:31.760
You know, he wasn't someone that just turned you away.
00:23:33.460
And he really did appreciate having that deeper connection with people he was able to
00:23:38.280
And to your point, you don't get that at any job nowadays.
00:23:41.900
You don't have that personal connection or that personal aspiration to go above and beyond
00:23:50.020
So I have nobody yell at me, tell me what I'm doing wrong.
00:23:52.900
I mean, looking at the show numbers, I like to think I'm not doing anything wrong, but
00:23:56.460
I got nobody there to smack me in the back of the head.
00:24:01.140
And, you know, it's hard not having someone there constantly down my back telling me, you
00:24:08.100
But, Tim, it was a certain kind of connection, as you see here.
00:24:12.240
I think you were giving him a tweet or something.
00:24:18.600
So you cut a segment during the show while Lou was live.
00:24:21.960
During a commercial break, you got to run from the control room up a flight of stairs
00:24:25.280
into Lou's studio, which every time you ran up the stairs in this rinky-dinky studio
00:24:29.760
in Fox Business, you got to worry about falling through the floor and breaking your neck.
00:24:34.180
You'd give Lou the tweet to read that you just typed up and printed, and he'd either
00:24:43.720
Sometimes he'd rip them up, and people in the control room could hear, you know, the
00:24:47.860
10 or 12 people sitting in the control room would sit there and listen, and they'd be
00:24:51.860
cracking up, listening to whatever, whoever just went upstairs and gave him a horrible
00:25:03.200
He wanted to know everything that was going on, and he wanted to say in a word and everything.
00:25:07.880
I mean, we weren't tweeting on his behalf, but he had to approve it.
00:25:12.100
And sometimes we get a retweet from the president, and it was like we hit pay dirt.
00:25:19.240
Yeah, it was one like I've never had a boss like him before.
00:25:26.920
Every Friday, Lou would buy us, the team, lunch.
00:25:30.720
And before I got there, it was the same order every time.
00:25:38.980
But everyone was so scared to ask Lou to change the order.
00:25:42.500
So they told me, they said, can you just ask me if we could order something different?
00:25:46.520
So I said, Lou, you mind if we order something different?
00:25:48.460
He goes, man, I don't care what you guys order.
00:25:51.240
So I come back, and that was up to me to what we ordered.
00:25:53.580
So some days it was pizza, some days it was all unhealthy stuff.
00:25:57.500
Right there, as you can see, I think we ordered a taco sale.
00:26:02.160
And we left the case for Lou on his desk, and he wasn't going to finish it.
00:26:06.300
So the scavenger bodybuilder, Michael, went in to eat the rest of the frigging tacos.
00:26:12.320
And he probably ate them throughout the show and on his bus ride home from work.
00:26:19.940
I mean, what boss can you bring in a box of tacos from Taco Bell in New York City at Fox, right?
00:26:27.500
So, again, that's just Lou, though, you know, being human, you know,
00:26:31.020
not being this corporate monotonous boss that you're afraid to just let your guard down
00:26:39.000
But safe to say we did all enjoy Taco Bell that day.
00:26:42.340
Now, my desk would be positioned right outside.
00:26:45.820
So if you're looking at Lou right there, he could kind of see out the corner.
00:26:49.340
My desk was right there and everyone else's was behind me.
00:26:53.480
What I would usually do is I would get everybody riled up and I'd start someone would be in
00:26:58.080
that office getting yelled at and I'd be sitting out at my desk laughing at them with only they
00:27:03.500
could hear me because lose hearing wasn't the best where only they could hear me.
00:27:07.460
So they'd be sitting in Lou's office trying not to laugh as I'm sitting in my desk laughing,
00:27:12.180
pissing my pants that they're getting chewed out because they did something wrong.
00:27:15.340
And he only yelled at you or he wasn't really yelling.
00:27:17.420
It was learning when you did something wrong or when you were wrong.
00:27:22.400
There was many days where Michael Biondi would be sitting in that office getting a history lesson
00:27:36.480
And only Michael and he couldn't contain his laughter.
00:27:39.220
After about a few weeks of it happening, Lou caught on.
00:27:46.480
I was in that office and it was time for me to get my rear end beat by him.
00:27:57.740
We were outside his office, but really at the end of the day, we were all in that office with him, right?
00:28:01.460
Whether it was like a meeting for the show or just having a powwow, having some Taco Bell or some constructive criticism.
00:28:07.700
He always had an open door to his office, to his world.
00:28:15.040
Here's the man with his one of his favorite meals.
00:28:26.780
I mean, I've witnessed a lot of conversations of yours that I won't tell on the air, but Michael would go to Lou about love life advice because he was always having problems with women.
00:28:40.600
I won't tell the story to embarrass Mike, but what I did hear come out of Lou's mouth was, partner, you better watch yourself because you're going to get your shelf shot one day.
00:29:14.020
And you can literally talk to him about anything.
00:29:17.360
Some of the stories I've heard you talk to him about, I mean, you couldn't talk to your therapist about if you had one, Mike.
00:29:24.660
The open door policy and just being a real human.
00:29:28.120
And it's nice when you can let your guard down with your boss and really just open up about whatever comes to mind and get his cold, hard, honest truth.
00:29:35.840
You know, it's what you need to hear in today's world.
00:29:42.660
I don't know if you came to work that day, but it was back when I first started for him.
00:29:49.600
What I forgot to tell him was the meeting was canceled that day.
00:29:52.460
He'd usually come in around one or two for work because the show was at five or six.
00:29:57.000
It moved around a little bit, five, six or seven.
00:30:01.580
And I forgot to tell him the meeting was canceled.
00:30:09.540
He says, John, did you forget to tell me something?
00:30:15.280
Yeah, that meeting I was supposed to go to at 10 a.m.
00:30:18.540
He showed up to the meeting, and the thing was canceled.
00:30:24.840
I was terrified of what was going to happen to me.
00:30:28.160
But that's him sitting in the morning editorial meeting.
00:30:31.000
And everyone there just nervous because they didn't want to give.
00:30:33.860
This is where we have these morning editorial meetings every morning where you pitch stories.
00:30:40.620
I'd wait for everyone to pitch their stories, and then I would pitch the same stories that they just pitched.
00:30:45.500
You can probably guess that this day I didn't do that maneuver because I was a little nervous
00:30:51.620
because I just made this man come into work for no reason.
00:31:01.540
I'd get selfies like this, Mike, of the great Lou Dobbs.
00:31:09.880
I don't know anything about it, but it's what he told me it's called.
00:31:12.760
I'm not a farm boy, even though I'd tell him I was a farm boy.
00:31:19.840
I'd call him up and say, look, what are you doing?
00:31:33.700
And he never, you know, that was the thing about him.
00:31:38.200
I don't know what the number is, but he never flaunted it like he had money.
00:31:43.180
He never acted like he was better than anybody.
00:31:46.920
Yeah, and I got to tell you, too, like being someone that has a lot of money, right?
00:31:51.180
There's a lot of people in the industry that gets to their head.
00:31:54.340
But with Lou, going back to him just being a real human being and a mentor, I remember it was my first year working with Lou.
00:32:01.380
And every year for your birthday, you get a cake.
00:32:03.400
Someone on the team would go out, get you a cake, and then everyone would sing happy birthday, including Lou, and it was so great.
00:32:08.400
And I remember the first year, it was a little tough working for him for the first year, but he really did appreciate the hustle and the effort I was putting in.
00:32:17.540
He gave me his money, and he said, hey, go out and get this.
00:32:32.700
So, again, just showing how, like, a generous and humble guy he was, you know?
00:32:38.020
He was larger than life, but he also, when he had that intimate side to him, he was just another friend, someone you could confide in and just enjoy, you know, his company and presence.
00:32:48.140
That's what nobody got to see that side of him on television, because you usually saw it.
00:32:52.400
I was talking with Jim Jordan a few weeks ago, and he's like, Lou was everyone's favorite angry uncle.
00:32:57.720
But at the same time, this is a man who had a heart bigger than anybody.
00:33:02.000
And he went out and he did his show, and he was a tough guy.
00:33:05.280
I mean, there's times where I was with Lou, and he'd say, I'm going to beat that guy's ass.
00:33:49.600
But somehow, there was a way that he had this, like, as you said, just a big, caring, loving side to him.
00:33:59.440
And it was nice to do that for every single person on the staff.
00:34:03.000
No matter how angry he might have been the day before, if it's your birthday, we're getting a cake,
00:34:07.000
and we're celebrating together as a team and as a family.
00:34:09.400
And to be honest, I haven't had a family like that since my time working with Lou and the rest of the staff.
00:34:17.680
And, you know, it was – the thing with him was it was like he held no grudge, right?
00:34:23.020
So, like, you can have a really bad day with him, and you go home, and you're angry.
00:34:26.540
And then you come into work the next day, and you're still angry.
00:34:31.760
You'd hear him coming because he'd say hello to every single person from the elevator.
00:34:35.980
He'd see Jimmy Fallon back when Jimmy Fallon was just like a peon.
00:34:40.620
He'd say hello to everybody from the elevator all the way down to the hallway.
00:34:45.200
So, you knew he was coming and everyone, you know, pretended like you were doing work.
00:34:48.260
A lot of times I'd be away from my desk, you know, socializing, and he couldn't find me, and he would be very mad.
00:34:55.380
After a little while, he understood that I was – he called me a butterfly, right?
00:35:00.940
But he'd get into work, and you'd still hold that grudge.
00:35:05.100
And then you'd look at him, and you'd say hello like nothing happened.
00:35:07.180
You're like, dude, don't you remember what happened yesterday?
00:35:19.040
And even here, as you can see, like, you know, just the way you would treat everybody, like family.
00:35:23.840
Ordered this nice bouquet of food and desserts.
00:35:26.640
We brought some snacks in, and we got to enjoy it together.
00:35:29.360
And, again, what job do you have where your boss goes above and beyond like that to give back to the people who, you know, pour in a lot of their time and effort every day?
00:35:42.340
That was a sign of him, Mike, that nobody got to see that.
00:35:48.540
I wish people really got to see because he was just as you, like you said, man, he was larger than life in everything he did.
00:35:55.700
Just a good person through and through with everything.
00:36:02.420
You weren't here for it, but that was Lou's former executive producer, me, Lou, and him at the White House.
00:36:10.820
Just the amount of time, you know, you'd spend with him.
00:36:15.960
That's very typical of what a normal day looked like for my time at Fox.
00:36:24.780
Just the look on his face, like, what the hell did he just say?
00:36:30.900
He'd always tell you what's on his mind, you know?
00:36:33.360
I mean, you've seen me how many times get just absolutely obliterated.
00:36:38.320
And, you know, the best part about it was I'd be getting yelled at and then they'd all be outside doing the same thing to me, laughing at me as I would be the pinball man that day.
00:36:52.720
It was, man, the times we had there, Michael, I think are just, I don't think I'll ever have that much fun again at a job.
00:37:06.760
And working for a guy like Lou Dobbs, you get really, really tough, thick skin, and it really just helps you with everything in life.
00:37:14.880
You know, if I can go back to any part of my career, I'd go back there in a heartbeat.
00:37:18.700
Yeah, I'd say you leaving the show to go work for another morning show was the worst mistake you've ever made in your life because it was just so much fun.
00:37:28.060
And when they canceled his show, man, I was, I'd never been so livid in my life with what they did to him.
00:37:34.260
We've got a video to show people what it was like.
00:37:43.800
Now, they always wanted Lou to do these skits on, you know, various different shows because he was like so serious.
00:37:53.220
So to get a laugh out of him was like very hard to do.
00:37:58.900
And now Adam Schiff meets his favorite celebrity.
00:38:34.540
You know, I think it's time for you to stop being so awesome.
00:38:43.200
And I don't know what that was, but that was Lou during the week.
00:38:54.400
You know, it's a tale of two men, but the same, same person, Michael.
00:39:00.060
A workhorse in front of the camera behind the scenes and on the farm, as you can see there.
00:39:15.040
This is when Lou would do Bill Hammer and Gutfeld's little gigs.
00:39:29.620
And if he gives you any trouble, just ignore him.
00:39:46.760
Now, if you see that pin he's wearing right there, it's very pinned right here.
00:40:57.100
You didn't tell me we were going to a costume party.
00:41:12.160
Oh, ever, ever straight to, we got to hang out with Hammer a bunch.
00:41:23.160
Honestly, time machines, that's a time in life.
00:41:29.380
Before we wrap, I want to get your favorite, I guess, I want to put you on the spot,
00:41:33.460
your favorite memory with Lou for the audience.
00:41:42.040
But I want to get your favorite memory of what you'll always remember him by.
00:41:47.680
I'll say, I think the fact that even when I was just an entry-level PA, getting my feet
00:41:57.080
under me at Fox, the fact that after every single show, he would always require that I
00:42:02.700
would come out at the end of the show, meet him at the end of the show, and then I would
00:42:06.140
talk with him and the executive producer, what worked, what could have been better.
00:42:09.280
And the fact that my opinion actually mattered to him, that meant the world to me because
00:42:13.800
I was saying after the show, it was a long day.
00:42:16.280
Maybe it was a hard day in the office, but the fact that he wanted to just get my honest
00:42:19.280
feedback and opinion actually meant something to him, doing that after every show, that
00:42:23.920
says a lot about the person that Lou Dobbs was.
00:42:26.860
Everyone was at his level when it came time to just be a real human being.
00:42:31.240
And yeah, some people would say it's monotonous, but I felt great at the end of every day,
00:42:36.460
especially during the election season, staying with him until like 1 or 2 a.m.
00:42:40.380
The night that President Trump got in the first time, it was like the Super Bowl.
00:42:44.420
And being with him and Debbie that night was, it was magical.
00:42:48.560
I don't want to sound cliche, but it really was.
00:42:51.760
So being able to experience those great moments and the small moments with Lou and the rest
00:42:55.680
of the team are, you know, things always remember my career.
00:42:59.500
And I can't say thank you enough to all the leadership and mentorship he gave me as well
00:43:10.860
One of my last text messages to him before he passed away.
00:43:23.220
And then his reply, very Lou Dobbs-esque, that war started long, long ago.
00:43:34.160
This is a man who, you know, was battling and never lost his sense of humor.
00:43:40.800
And, you know, I was glad I got to spend his final day with him on Earth.
00:43:46.620
You know, I got to spend his last breathing hours on Earth.
00:43:52.440
But, you know, I think the story is, Michael, is we never know when it's our last day, right?
00:44:17.160
And, you know, people are like, oh, you're 30-something years old.
00:44:22.800
I mean, you could be walking to New York City and get hit over the head with a shovel.
00:44:27.740
I mean, anything could happen, especially in the times of today, Michael.
00:44:37.500
And, you know, having moments with someone like Lou, you know, I think gives you that perspective to just appreciate those big moments and the small moments because they all add up.
00:44:45.320
And before you know it, 10 years go by and you wish you can go back.
00:44:50.080
Mike, I really appreciate you spending some time with us here at the audience.
00:44:53.580
I really hope the audience enjoyed it because I enjoyed our talk.
00:44:56.520
You know, Michael and I see each other very often for some drinks, one or two, and some cigars every now and then.
00:45:08.020
He lives in the armpit of America and dirty New Jersey, a neighbor to Lou Dobbs.
00:45:19.040
And I hope, like I said, I hope the audience enjoyed your time here with us today, Mike.
00:45:29.480
And I hope you enjoyed my talk with my good friend, Michael Biondi.
00:45:40.540
And I remember looking at him like, why are you telling me all this?
00:45:45.420
And that's the way things should be these days.
00:45:47.080
Everyone's so nervous about everyone taking each other's jobs or what's going to happen.
00:45:51.420
And I used to say to Lou all the time, I'd say, Lou, the day someone's better at my job than me, I deserve to lose my job.
00:46:02.600
Hopefully, he'll come back and work for the show again one day.
00:46:08.380
Folks, we'll see you back here Monday for the Great America Show.
00:46:11.800
I hope you all have a great weekend, a blessed weekend.
00:46:15.100
Tomorrow, next week, we're going to be doing a show from somewhere very special.
00:46:26.820
May God bless America and may God bless the great, great, great, great, great Lou Dobbs.