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Piers Morgan Live
Interview with Tony Robbins; Interview with Julia Louis- Dreyfus
Aired May 05, 2012 - 21:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PIERS MORGAN, CNN HOST: Tonight, top motivator Tony Robbins is very bullish on this country.
TONY ROBBINS, LIFE AND BUSINESS STRATEGIST: There's lots of people out there that are creating the future for us. We're known for that. We just need to empower more of them.
MORGAN: Our revealing interview with the man who's advised everybody from CEOs, Oprah, and President Clinton.
And from Seinfeld to the second in command.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JULIA LOUIS-DREYFUS, ACTRESS: Hey, Sue. Did the president call?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MORGAN: Julia Louis-Dreyfus having a ball as the vice president. But is she mocking Sarah Palin? I'll ask her.
This is PIERS MORGAN TONIGHT.
Good evening. Two great interviews tonight with two fascinating people.
First, Tony Robbins, who inspires millions. He's helped superstar celebrities and heads of state, and yonight, he's talking aobut keeping America great with words of wisdom that could literally change your life.
Also, the hilarious Julia Louis-Dreyfus. We watched her for nine seasons as Elaine on Seinfeld; now she's playing the vice president in HBO's smash hit comedy "Veep," a role that's changed her view on something rather important.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LOUIS-DREYFUS: I have more sympathy for all women in government. I think that being a woman in a position of power is tricky, and -- but important and crucial actually. I think the more women we have in power, the better off our country will be.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MORGAN: Tonight keeping America great, an inspirational superstar, Tony Robbins, author, entrepreneurial, humanitarian, the list goes on and on. He's helped CEOs and citizens from around the world. On TV you cam see in "Breakthrough with Tony Robbins" and "Life Class: both on Oprah Winfrey's OWN network. And Tony Robbins joins me now.
Tony, Welcome.
ROBBINS: Thank you. Good to be here.
MORGAN: I've been looking at the list of people that you have helped. Never mind all the multinational corporations. Bill Clinton, Princess Diana, Mikhail Gorbachev, Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela, Quincy Jones. I mean these are like the icons of my lifetime. All touched by the inspirational hand of Tony Robbins.
ROBBINS: I don't know about that. I've been -- I've had a ticket to history. I've had a chance to be around some really magnificent people and learn from them along the way, in some ways be able to assist them as well.
MORGAN: What is the common theme of anybody in their kind of positions where you get to be hugely famous with all the pressures that brings. What do they need from somebody like you?
ROBBINS: Well, they all have something different. I mean I get the phone call when the athlete is melting down on, you know, the middle of a sporting event, you've got to do something right now to turn him around or --
(CROSSTALK)
MORGAN: And what do you say? When that specific thing is happening, what do you say?
ROBBINS: It's not a say, it's putting him back in state. You know you look at somebody like Tiger Woods. He has the same skills he always have. What he's lost is the state, he's lost that certainty. I'm sure you've seen a sporting event, any sporting event and you watch the person walking out on the field, go for a free throw, kick, and you know before they're going to do it they're going to miss. You can see that certainty is missing.
So it's getting them back in that psychological emotional state where their best comes naturally in that case. But then I get a phone call where a child is suicidal or the president of United States calls and says they're going to impeach me in the morning, what shall I do?
MORGAN: Did that actually happen? Bill Clinton called you the night before.
ROBBINS: Yes.
MORGAN: 1998, and said, Tony, they may be impeaching me in the morning. What should I do? What an extraordinary position of responsibility you had.
ROBBINS: Well, I'm sure I'm not the only person he called.
MORGAN: Certainly you're one of the people he called.
ROBBINS: But by any stretch yes.
(CROSSTALK)
MORGAN: I don't know -- just think back for a moment. That moment, how did you feel? I mean despite all these incredible things that you've experienced, to have the president of your country call you in his great hour of need?
ROBBINS: Well, you know, if you're thinking about yourself in a moment like that, you can't really serve, so then it would be all about you. What I felt was a sense of responsibility and also felt I need to tell him straight what I really believed. And you know I knew he was going to get different opinions.
But I don't really talk about what I do with someone unless they speak about it. But I did speak at that point and said, frankly, you know, you're not going to be impeached in the morning. Easy for me to say. I'm not in your position. Just politically it's not going to happen. But what you have to decide is what your legacy is going to be, what's your outcome. Because you have to decide what you're going to be able to say that people at home can tell their children about you, you have to look at what you can do legally.
But if I were you I'd be doing what you know is right and nothing less in that process because you want to look yourself in the face. So -- but the point of the matter is people know what's right. I think what happens for us is we get ourselves caught up in an environment where we forget what's right because the environment starts to trigger us. My job is to get them out of the triggers, get them into what's really real and sometimes it's a strategy of helping somebody win, sometimes it's changing their psychological state, sometimes it's really helping them to break through some limiting belief.
MORGAN: Do you personally ever have crushing moments of self-doubt?
ROBBINS: Self-doubt as often as you do.
(LAUGHTER)
MORGAN: That's not often.
ROBBINS: But it's not because I'm so great or brilliant, it's just like, you know, an athlete. When you build a muscle over and over in your life, you do it. That doesn't mean I'm always right either by any stretch of the imagination. It's not crushing self doubt. Have I had failures, challenges? I mean I remember doctors coming to me and saying you've got a tumor in your brain, what are you going to do? You know? You have to make those decisions when you have total uncertainty in your life and it helps if you've trained yourself to be able to make decisions on those moments. MORGAN: Oprah Winfrey called you the Energizer bunny on steroids. Now be honest, when you first heard that, what was your reaction?
ROBBINS: That was pretty horrific.
(LAUGHTER)
ROBBINS: But she -- you know, she came to my event, you know, for years she's known about me, not had me on for whatever reason. She thought these commercials I was -- you know, commercial of some sort, not spiritual. She came and said I'm only coming for two hours, I can't do more than. She stayed for 12. And it changed her life. She said literally on the air it was one of the most powerful experiences of her entire life and then she got my great two shows and now we're doing these specials on these Mondays, these life classes, which are really a lot of fun.
MORGAN: I mean I've watched you do some of your live performing on television. You have 15,000 people going crazy. And you come in like a rock star, you're up and you're pumping, you've got this big grin on your face and you're like, boom, and I thought what is the secret? And now I've met you. It's -- one, you're massive. You're absolutely massive.
(LAUGHTER)
ROBBINS: But I'm not in a crowd of 10,000 people.
(CROSSTALK)
MORGAN: Even then you must look massive. It's like he can't be as big as he seems but you are. You're physically very imposing. How helpful is that to exuding the kinds of inner self-belief that you clearly have?
ROBBINS: Well, clearly it's not just about inner self-belief, it's really about people getting to the truth. I believe people -- I'm not into positive thinking. I'm not only saying go to your garden and chant there's no weeds, there's no weeds, there's no weed. I'm here to say here's the weeds, here's how you're going to pull them out.
I'm much more of a strategist. But to answer your question deliberately, I was 5'1" my sophomore year in high school. I was student body president and I wasn't a popular kid. I had this drive and this hunger to serve and make a difference. I ran like a political campaign. I went to each group and said, what do you need, I'll come back and tell you whether I can really do it or not, my belief. I went and interviewed people and I won not as the popular kid but as the kid that raw and real, believed what I could do, and I really delivered.
I was there every single day of the summer. So it started back in high school when I was Mr. Solution for people, regardless of my size.
MORGAN: Like many people who become very successful, you had a really traumatic upbringing. Your father left when you were very young, your mother brought you up, it was really fairly chaotic from all accounts.
ROBBINS: Yes.
MORGAN: Had a number of substance issues, and so on and so on, and at 17 she throws you out of the home. What did all that do to you as a young man, when you're coming out in your teens? You've gone through this hideous time. You haven't really experienced, I guess, real love from either parent.
ROBBINS: No, I don't think that's right. I had four fathers.
(LAUGHTER)
ROBBINS: I got to know at different levels. My mother, you know, kept changing that area. My mom made me feel loved. She also, you know, was abusive and I never talked about that.
MORGAN: Did she ever tell you she loved you?
ROBBINS: Absolutely. And she was physical loving but she would also go to the other side because she had substance challenges. And what it made me was a practical psychologist. I had to learn how to be able to read her, what was really going on. What could I anticipate what's going to happen and that gave me I think skill sets in life that allowed me to read almost anybody in the future because it was life and death in the case.
MORGAN: And also so unpredictable.
ROBBINS: Exactly right.
MORGAN: So you had to literally roll with the waves.
ROBBINS: And I know what suffering feels like and that gives you a hunger to make sure other people don't suffer.
MORGAN: Let's take a short break, Tony. And when we come back, I want you to put your hat on and fix America in about six minutes.
ROBBINS: OK, perfect.
MORGAN: OK?
ROBBINS: Sounds like perfect.
MORGAN: I can't think of anybody else who could actually do this, but you might be able to.
ROBBINS: OK.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBBINS: As hard and strong as you can. Benefit. Benefit. You got it. Go. OPRAH WINFREY, TV HOST: Yes, yes, yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MORGAN: Back with Tony Robbins. That was Oprah demonstrating the famous fire walk during the multi-day seminar. "Unleashed the Power Within." I mean you could have nearly killed Oprah Winfrey.
(LAUGHTER)
MORGAN: She's fallen into your fire, what would you have --
ROBBINS: I know. I mean that's what --
MORGAN: What if she was lying there in flames and you're watching $3 billion worth of talent going up all down to you. Boy, that takes confidence. Shoving Oprah Winfrey unto your fire.
ROBBINS: No, what takes confidence is our breakthrough show. I took a man, I wanted to do a show where we have the opportunity to get people who were facing the worst environments. You know, today you look around, Piers, and you see people, 63 percent of the country now says their best days are behind us.
That the future for their kids in the south will be far less than what they've experienced. So I thought, what's the best way to do it. You can tell people all day long it's going to be better and that's not going to do anything. We have to make it better. So I thought if I do a show where I could take people who had extreme problems, extreme stress, and show them turn around in 30 days, so I'll tell you what the (INAUDIBLE) courage was, I said give me some examples.
We found a woman and his wife who were literally getting married down in Mexico. They jumped into a swimming pool and he becomes a quadriplegic instantly. Literally blood in the water. He's now here in L.A. in a little room, he can't move. His wife is never going to be able to have a child with him, she's his caretaker. And what do you do to turn this guy around 30 days, who says his life was over. And I thought I can do this. I can figure a strategy to do this. And not just be uplifting but be real and have it last. And really in essence what I've been able to do was figure out how to shift his story about what's possible in his life. Because you and I both know people have a great life.
MORGAN: Let's take a clip from that very moment. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You OK?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I'm great. This is amazing. Amazing.
ROBBINS: The man is a quadriplegic. Physically jumping out of an airplane seems a little insane to most people but so much of our lives is on automatic pilot that we don't even see it anymore. He was able to not only do this but really, really enjoy it. (END VIDEO CLIP)
MORGAN: You see, that is -- obviously it's great television, but it's also a profoundly moving thing to watch.
ROBBINS: It was unbelievable to experience.
MORGAN: To see that man's face feeling like he was alive again.
ROBBINS: He couldn't -- he said he couldn't leave the house. And I took him to Fiji, which was a trip by itself. I won't waste your time but they dropped him, if you can imagine. I got him skydiving in a few days. I separated him from his wife who said it couldn't happen and for 10 days, (INAUDIBLE) murder ball which you've never seen it looks like Mad Max.
MORGAN: Yes.
ROBBINS: Rugby for quadriplegics. Transformed his identity. I had him build a truck that he couldn't build when he's able bodied, and went with him 100 miles an hour. He drove it with his elbows. With all this and then rewiring his life today, and he calls me, he's out camping. His wife got cancer, after the show, had brain cancer. Everybody said to me, Don, she took charge and made it happen.
The man changed his life because I always say that talking is wonderful, but an experience is much more powerful than a belief. So I give people experiences that help them to change.
MORGAN: You do. You also give people advice. There are businessmen in this country who are rumored to pay you a million dollars a year to give them advice.
ROBBINS: I have one client who's one of the top 10 financial traders in the world. He's been my client for 20 years that way.
MORGAN: Why are you worth that kind of money to somebody like --
ROBBINS: I'm not coming to inspire him. He doesn't need any inspiration.
MORGAN: What does he need?
ROBBINS: I'm a strategist. What I'm best at is modeling. I came in when he made a lot of money and then lost money. He hasn't lost money any year for the 20 years I've worked with him. So he gives me that seven figures, plus a kind of a piece of the upside, if you will.
When I come in, every single time, three or four times a year, I will come in and figure out how to improve his strategy, figure out -- because the markets are always changing. What do we need to do? What do we need to do in the system to get the result.
So most people think of me as the positive thinking guy, because I do believe in passion and energy, and I believe in an inspired life. The other choice is a dead life. So I bring energy. But the strategy is what makes it work.
MORGAN: Let me give you a scenario. I am the patient. And I am America, Incorporated. Now there are clearly fundamental problems in America right now. And yet I like to call this segment Keeping America Great, because it remains a great country.
ROBBINS: I agree.
MORGAN: And I would imagine plays perfectly to your constant air of positivity. What is the solution to the American current malaise, do you think?
ROBBINS: In one minute or two?
MORGAN: Yes.
ROBBINS: I think there's five areas I look at personally. I look at them how I can make a difference in my time, my money and my investments there. I look at energy because right now we continue to pollute the environment and we're sending our money overseas, and we've got wars that are basically funded, to a great extent, to try to protect our oil.
And it's an old technology and it's out. We know that there's other technology available. So when there's guys like Elon Musk that build Tesla, and they build a car that can go zero to 60 in 3.9 seconds, and 250-mile range on the thing, you know something can be done.
T. Boone Pickens is a friend of mine. He's got a plan that can take eight million trucks and wipe out about 60 percent of our use of foreign oil, just by getting us to convert like we did from gasoline to diesel, making that conversion now to natural gas, which we have plenty of.
He lost by six votes in the Senate. He's going to get it done. Energy is one place. Cheap, natural energy and energy that hopefully gets us away from polluting.
Second piece for me really is education. We all know it's antiquated. It's insane. There are lots of great people that are creating breakthroughs, but the institution keeps stopping it.
There are a few people that are doing breakthroughs like the Kahn Institute (ph). But we're -- now teachers are starting to actually do the homework with kids in class, having them watch the class at home, be in class where I can interact with you and actually teach you and see dramatic changes in that area. So there are things that can be done. And I work in that area, obviously.
Third to me, I look at employment. We have to retool. If you look at the last -- since 1960, there have been eight recessions. Every time we expand unemployment. And the most we've ever done on average in the past is 52 weeks. I totally believe in supporting. I personally -- my foundation, we feed two million people. I was fed when I was a kid. I fed 250,000 people in New York last week as a gift that I did at one of my events. So I believe in that. I'm not pumping my horn. I just want you to know I believe in that. But when you give people 99 weeks, and you don't retool them, where they're literally for two years not working, and we operate from a belief that these low skill, low knowledge jobs are ever going to come back, even if Apple, like you talk about, brought it back, it's not -- it's like saying bring farming back from a century ago.
We were 80 percent farmers. Now we're two percent. We have to retool. If we're going to take people and do that, I say give them the money they need, but they have got to do something for it and they've got to be retooled for it, to match where the economy is going in reality.
MORGAN: What's the last one of your five points?
ROBBINS: It's the health side. It's human energy. The look at five Es. It's that human energy side. Because if you look at the diseases that eat up all our time and energy and money and our health bills that we're looking at, the trillions of dollars we're looking at, they're really mostly lifestyle diseases.
There's a man named David Feinberg who runs UCLA here. He has the hospitals there. And he turned the hospitals around from a place that 33 percent of the people said it was a good place to go, and now it's 99 percent. It's better than the Four Seasons.
And what he did was change the culture there, but he saves lives. He's taught people -- for example, four people out of 1,000 who have got an intravenous form of transfusion would get ill, and one of the four would die. Now none do. Sounds impossible. He just changed the system.
So we can make behavioral changes culturally that would allow us to reduce those bills, provide more energy that could be implemented in your family and your life.
MORGAN: Tony, it's been a real pleasure.
ROBBINS: Thank you for having me.
MORGAN: Thanks for coming in.
Tony Robbins. "Breakthrough With Tony Robbins" airs on Mondays, and does "Life Class," both on the OWN Network. Monday night is Tony Robbins night on the OWN Network with Oprah. Thank so much for joining me.
ROBBINS: Thanks for having me.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LOUIS-DREYFUS: Want to get it started? I'll get it started.
(MUSIC)
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MORGAN: You can't have "Seinfeld" without Elaine. You can't have Elaine without Julia Louis-Dreyfus. And after nine seasons, an Emmy for "Seinfeld," she went to star on "Watching Ellie" and "The New Adventures of Old Christine". Now she's on the role that maybe something she's been born to play, the vice president in HBO's new political drama comedy. I don't know what you call it. We'll come to that in a moment. It's called "Veep". It looks terrific. And you join me now.
LOUIS-DREYFUS: I do. I'm joining you. How are you?
MORGAN: I love the way you were laughing so uncomfortably at yourself dancing there.
LOUIS-DREYFUS: Well, I mean, could you imagine if you were dancing like that?
MORGAN: No.
(CROSSTALK)
MORGAN: That's how I dance.
LOUIS-DREYFUS: Oh, it is?
MORGAN: Pretty much, yes.
LOUIS-DREYFUS: Well, then, we have to go out dancing.
(LAUGHTER)
MORGAN: When you look back at "Seinfeld," because it is such an iconic show, even we Brits love "Seinfeld." So, the whole world loved that show. When you do something that huge --
LOUIS-DREYFUS: Yes.
MORGAN: -- what is life after "Seinfeld" really like? Do you still look on scenes like that with great affection or does it become this terrible curse you wish you'd ever been involved with?
LOUIS-DREYFUS: Hardly. It was a complete blessing. I grimace because -- you know, it's -- I'm making fun of myself doing that. So, there's an element of being -- there's a feeling of some shame and humiliation watching that. But I just feel very blessed to have had that experience.
Who knew that would have happened, you know?
MORGAN: When you first started?
LOUIS-DREYFUS: "Seinfeld"?
MORGAN: Yes.
LOUIS: I thought we would have been canceled.
MORGAN: At moment when you first start making (INAUDIBLE), at what moment do you start thinking -- actually this could be huge?
LOUIS-DREYFUS: I think I never really caught up to how big -- honestly to how big it was until right before we ended.
MORGAN: Really?
LOUIS-DREYFUS: I swear to you. I think for a couple of reasons. First of all, it did take awhile for the show to become a big, big hit. It took four years. Then all of a sudden we were an overnight sensation.
And in addition to that, I was having my babies during this period of time. I have two boys who are not babies anymore. But still. I was very sort of going back and forth to work and mothering and work and mothering. And I remember when we were shooting the final episode and they had to put up like screeners in front of the stage to keep people from looking in with telephoto lenses, because everybody was dying to know who was going to be on the final episode.
And I was shocked that anybody gave a crap.
MORGAN: Didn't like 100 million people watch that?
LOUIS-DREYFUS: I don't remember. I don't think it was 100 million people.
MORGAN: It wasn't far off it.
LOUIS-DREYFUS: Really?
MORGAN: It was like a Super Bowl, yes. The whole of America just stopped to watch you.
LOUIS-DREYFUS: Wow. Do we have a fact checker here?
MORGAN: If I'm exaggerating, go with me.
LOUIS-DREYFUS: Yes, yes, yes. No, it was about 100 million.
MORGAN: Whatever it was, it was a ridiculous audience. I'm being clarified. It's 76 million.
LOUIS-DREYFUS: Seventy six million, so you've got that. But wait a minute. No, I have 95 million. That's what they're telling me.
MORGAN: We really are splitting hairs here. You sound like you're very affectionate about it. Do you still all hang out? Do you have like little "Seinfeld" reunions in some dingy little bar in Manhattan?
LOUIS-DREYFUS: We get together on a daily basis. What are you talking about?
MORGAN: Do you ever meet? Did you all just go off? Do the ships just pass out of the port and that's it?
LOUIS-DREYFUS: We do see each other on occasion. And in fact, we got together -- I guess it was last year. And we did the -- or the year before. I don't know. Time's off for me. But anyway, we did the whole thing on "Curb Your Enthusiasm." We did the "Seinfeld" reunion there.
And that was pretty wild, because that was like being in a time capsule, going back in time. And we recreated the sets for "Seinfeld" and stuff. It was very strange and nostalgic.
MORGAN: Have you ever worked out in your head why it got so big? Even though you weren't aware of it at the time, now you look back and you realize the phenomenon of "Seinfeld." It always will be. It airs reruns all the time. What is it about that show, do you think?
LOUIS-DREYFUS: Well, I think it's a couple things. First of all, I think it's sort of lightning in a bottle. A lot of good fortune, everything kind of lined up.
Having said that, it was a singular vision. We were left alone to our own devices. People didn't get in our way. People meddling with the sort of, dare I say, artistry of the process. And it was good casting.
And we made ourselves laugh doing it. And I think if you can have a very good time and genuinely enjoy what you're doing and believe in it truly, you're not faking it at all, I think that comes through the material.
MORGAN: Elaine was very opinionated.
LOUIS-DREYFUS: Yes.
MORGAN: Are you? I get the sense you're quite a little political activist. You like to have pretty stronger views and opinions about your country, its politics.
LOUIS-DREYFUS: Well, I mean, you know. I'm -- yes. The answer is yes. I mean, I'm opinionated. I'm not running for office myself. I mean, I'm -- Norman Lear once said -- he said that having -- celebrity is something you spend. You can spend it down. And so I have, on occasion, sort of used my celebrity to share -- to put a shining light on certain issues that I think need looking at.
And a lot of them for me have been environmental.
MORGAN: Let's look at one of these. Have a watch of this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LOUIS-DREYFUS: President Obama said let us be the generation that ends the tyranny of oil. Man, that was great. Except I just checked and right now big oil is still pretty much running the show. But Mr. President, you've got a fabulous chance to turn that around and make good on your word.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LOUIS-DREYFUS: Yeah, that was me.
MORGAN: Strong words for the president.
LOUIS-DREYFUS: No, not so strong. Very supportive, in fact. And fortunately for us, the president and the White House did the right thing on the Keystone Pipeline and didn't allow it to go forward.
All of that aside, I'm not an authority. I'm not an expert. I'm not a scientist. So -- and I don't pretend to be. But like I say, I sort of use my celebrity to help. And also frankly, as a citizen, I like to be vocal and I vote and support certain candidates.
MORGAN: Will you be backing Obama in November?
LOUIS-DREYFUS: Are you kidding? A hundred percent man, 100 percent.
MORGAN: Didn't have you down as a Mitt Romney kind of girl.
LOUIS-DREYFUS: No. That's not my guy.
MORGAN: Let's come back after the break and talk about your new show, "Veep," because you play a vice president, and although at first look there's a Palinesque feel, actually you couldn't be more different to her.
LOUIS-DREYFUS: Correct.
MORGAN: Let's discuss why after the break.
LOUIS-DREYFUS: OK.
MORGAN: And you're relieved I did that the right way.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You need me to sponsor this bill.
LOUIS-DREYFUS: Yes I do. I do need you to do that. And I want to know what you need from me. What do you need? You need some non- earmark earmarks? You need support during your re-election campaign? I just won't be photographed eating a hot dog or any other phallic food.
Oops. That was a mistake.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MORGAN: Julia Louis-Dreyfus playing the vice president on HBO's "Veep." She's back with me now. It's very funny, this. I was watching it earlier today. There's another scene later on when you're the vice president and you get told the president's having heart murmurs, and you can barely contain your glee, because you're thinking I've it. Then you realize how awful this looks.
It's dark but funny.
LOUIS-DREYFUS: Thank you very much.
MORGAN: It's a nonpartisan show, in the sense that you never declare your political allegiances.
LOUIS-DREYFUS: That's right. We never identify the party that she is in. You never see the president, as a matter of fact. The show is -- it's -- the way that the politics and White House and Capitol have been portrayed I think in the past, very well, is either sort of very nobly, like "The West Wing," which was a wonderful show, of course, or sinister.
And this is between the two. It's a show about political behavior. And it's just sort of to -- our show shows sort of the raw grittiness of life in politics.
MORGAN: Do you like the freedom that HBO gives you? Because you're able to use profanity. There's some racy sex scenes.
LOUIS-DREYFUS: Yeah.
MORGAN: It's pretty full on, isn't it.
LOUIS-DREYFUS: It's (EXPLETIVE DELETED) fantastic.
(LAUGHTER)
MORGAN: You can't say that on CNN.
LOUIS-DREYFUS: Don't you have a bleeper here?
MORGAN: Yes, we're going to have to now. That whole dream dies. I always had you down as this vestal virgin figure.
LOUIS-DREYFUS: Oh, please. You don't know who you're talking to. You have no idea.
MORGAN: It's HBO though. It clearly is very liberating in that sense.
LOUIS-DREYFUS: Absolutely liberating. It has been -- but not just because of the language, I have to say. There are very -- Armando Innuci (ph), who's a Brit, and he's the genius creator behind this show and the director, he has a very specific way of working.
This is HBO being supportive of the process. So there's a -- there's a respect there for the artist and what you're creating.
MORGAN: Inevitably because you're playing a female vice president, there will be comparisons to Sarah Palin. She's been the only one who was even remotely near that role. Did you have more or less sympathy for her by the end of your process, just on what it takes to be a vice president?
LOUIS-DREYFUS: I have more sympathy for all women in government. I think that being a woman in a position of power is tricky, and -- but important and crucial actually. I think the more women we have in power, the better off our country will be.
MORGAN: More Sarah Palins?
LOUIS-DREYFUS: No, not more Sarah Palins in my opinion.
MORGAN: Just clarifying exactly what you mean.
LOUIS-DREYFUS: Yes, thank you. I'm glad you did that. Otherwise, we could have had a problem.
MORGAN: I was thinking of the headline, you know, Julia calls for a hundred more Sarah Palins.
LOUIS-DREYFUS: No, I would like 100 more female Democrats. That's what I'd really like. But it is -- it's hard to be a political person, Male or female, by the way.
MORGAN: You're in a profession where women have become increasingly dominant, in many ways. Do you sense there's proper equality in America now or anything near it?
LOUIS-DREYFUS: You mean in politics?
MORGAN: No, I mean just generally for women in America right now?
LOUIS-DREYFUS: Well, it's interesting because all of these issues are -- trans-vaginal probes and --
MORGAN: How did we get to trans-vaginal probes?.
LOUIS-DREYFUS: We're talking about women and power.
MORGAN: Wow. That's the most alarming segues I've ever had.
(CROSS TALK)
MORGAN: I was talking about female equality in America.
LOUIS-DREYFUS: I answered. I answered. I answered.
MORGAN: Clarify yourself. I know where you're going with that. Tell me.
LOUIS-DREYFUS: What I mean is that I'm hoping that -- here's what I mean.
MORGAN: You mean as long as we have states in this country and governors that approve that kind of thing for woman, there is no real equality.
LOUIS-DREYFUS: Yes, absolutely.
MORGAN: Because men would never have to be ordered by a state to do that purely for reasons connected to birth control.
LOUIS-DREYFUS: Exactly.
MORGAN: That's the sort of politer way of putting it.
LOUIS-DREYFUS: You did that -- you handled that very well.
MORGAN: What did you feel about the whole Republican debate about all these social issues? It seems to me it was a very strange way to win a female vote.
LOUIS-DREYFUS: They didn't win.
MORGAN: You can see Romney's numbers going down with women, because they're like hang on. This is our lives you're talking about.
LOUIS-DREYFUS: Yeah. Well, it didn't work for them. It hasn't worked. So it'll be interesting to see how they try and shift it back around, because they will.
MORGAN: Are you expecting some sharp flip-flopping?
LOUIS-DREYFUS: I know. I've seen it. I'm seeing it. And I will see it.
MORGAN: What do you make of your country right now generally?
LOUIS-DREYFUS: I love it. I don't know. I don't know what that question means.
MORGAN: I suppose what I mean is, we run a regular segment here called Keeping America Great. The reason I chose that particular phrase is it's more positive than saying everything's going to hell in a hand cart. You're perspective as a successful businesswoman, actress and so on. You've had your finger in many pies in this country.
But what do you think is the problem? What is the solution for America?
LOUIS-DREYFUS: I have no idea.
MORGAN: Yes, you do.
LOUIS-DREYFUS: No, I don't.
MORGAN: You must have thought about this. What about for your kids? What America do you want for them? How are we going to get there?
LOUIS-DREYFUS: For my children, I want my children to be active. I want them to be -- you know, this -- I want them to vote. I want them to be active. I want them to give back. I want them to be kind and compassionate. What else?
MORGAN: That's good.
LOUIS-DREYFUS: Yeah.
MORGAN: Are enough Americans pursuing that line of ambition, do you think? Good old fashioned American values?
LOUIS-DREYFUS: How about the whole world? How about the idea of compassion and kindness across the board. This is why I'm not running for office.
MORGAN: I love this.
LOUIS-DREYFUS: You do?
MORGAN: Yes, it's why you should be running for office.
LOUIS-DREYFUS: All right, I'm going to run. I'm announcing my run for --
MORGAN: This is fantastic.
LOUIS-DREYFUS: It's happening now. Spur of the moment and I'm running for office. What office do you think I should run for?
MORGAN: I would go on the anti-transvaginal probe brigade. And on that bombshell, let's have a break.
LOUIS-DREYFUS: Oh (EXPLETIVE DELETED) me.
Oh no, good luck getting all that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LOUIS-DREYFUS: And I just kind of go like this into his face. Just like that, I go. Then I turn around and I find a steel pot or a crow bar, you know, something really heavy. I just start banging it into his stomach like this. I go ugh--
Then I get into my car or my truck, my tank. And it's really good. And I just kind of roll on over the --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MORGAN: This is fantastic. Let this run.
LOUIS-DREYFUS: Please don't. Cut it. Cut it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LOUIS-DREYFUS: With love in my heart. Praise the lord Jesus.
(END VIDEO CLIP) MORGAN: Fantastic. That was Julia Louis-Dreyfus making her debut on "Saturday Night Live" with your husband Brad Hall.
LOUIS-DREYFUS: Yes, he was my husband then.
MORGAN: So he watched you do that and decided I want to marry that woman.
LOUIS-DREYFUS: A few years later, he came around to it I guess.
MORGAN: What part of that character did he fall in love with?
LOUIS-DREYFUS: I'm not sure any part of it.
MORGAN: You are a little bit crazy aren't you? In a good way.
LOUIS-DREYFUS: Yeah, you think?
MORGAN: Yes, definitely.
Tell me about brad. You have been married 25 years.
LOUIS-DREYFUS: Twenty five years in June, yeah.
MORGAN: Two sons, 14 and 19.
LOUIS-DREYFUS: Yeah.
MORGAN: Charles and Henry.
LOUIS-DREYFUS: Yeah.
MORGAN: I have two boys at this age. A bit of a handful.
LOUIS-DREYFUS: Yeah, but I like my guys. I mean, it's really funny because I come from a family of all girls. And so each time I got pregnant, I was convinced I was going to have a girl and I was utterly shocked that I had a boy each time.
And completely -- it's just a miracle these two children of mine. You know, they're the lights of my life.
MORGAN: And given most actors tend to be neurotic, paranoid, insecure wrecks --
LOUIS-DREYFUS: Right.
MORGAN: How have the pair of you, who are in the same profession, managed to stay happily married for 25 years?
LOUIS-DREYFUS: Well, let's see, first of all, we're separating. No, I'm kidding.
(LAUGHTER)
LOUIS-DREYFUS: I think I got lucky and I chose the right guy for starters. And --
MORGAN: How did you know he was the right guy?
LOUIS-DREYFUS: Here's the deal. I realized it early on. I was so sure of it that I knew that if I told anybody, they'd tell me I was crazy. So I kept it to myself.
MORGAN: I love that.
LOUIS-DREYFUS: There's your answer.
MORGAN: That's fascinating.
LOUIS-DREYFUS: Yeah. I knew -- I was really -- I thought he was so -- yeah. I just knew it. Oh, my God, that's him. OK. Well, I can't tell anyone.
MORGAN: Do you feel lucky?
LOUIS-DREYFUS: I do feel lucky. I am lucky. I don't feel lucky.
MORGAN: Not as lucky as he must be.
LOUIS-DREYFUS: Right, he's much luckier.
MORGAN: I think we're all agreed he's luckier.
LOUIS-DREYFUS: Yes, he's luckier.
MORGAN: Do you make each other laugh?
LOUIS-DREYFUS: Oh, yeah.
MORGAN: Who makes the other one laugh more? Who's funnier? Because there's an "SNL" battle every day?
LOUIS-DREYFUS: No, it's not an "SNL" battle. But who's funnier? I don't know how to answer that. We have a good time together. And we share the same interests and -- and he's a good companion, I think. It's nice to go through life together.
MORGAN: I like this story.
LOUIS-DREYFUS: Seriously unbelievable if three weeks after this airs that -- never mind.
MORGAN: Are you seriously about to split up?
LOUIS-DREYFUS: No, I'm kidding. I'm kidding.
(CROSS TALK)
MORGAN: I'm going to look stupid.
LOUIS-DREYFUS: That's what I mean. You're going to look stupid.
MORGAN: It's been a real pleasure to meet you.
LOUIS-DREYFUS: Thank you so much. So nice to be here.
MORGAN: Good luck with the show. I like "Veep." I think it is going to be a good hit.
LOUIS-DREYFUS: I hope you're right.
MORGAN: I have a feeling, because it's got British writers and you starring. What could go wrong?
LOUIS-DREYFUS: Yes.
MORGAN: Starts on Sundays, HBO, tune in.
LOUIS-DREYFUS: I appreciate it.
MORGAN: Nice to meet you.
LOUIS-DREYFUS: Thank you. So nice to meet you too.
