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Piers Morgan Live
Big Money Politics; Bissinger's Father's Day; Late Night King Jimmy Fallon
Aired June 13, 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, big money politics. Is the president caught in the middle between Wall Street and main street? I'll throw that red meat to a top Democrat and top Republican.
Plus explosive Jerry Sandusky charges from the Pulitzer Prize- winning authors who says Penn State coaches are culpable.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUZZ BISSINGER, AUTHOR, "FATHER'S DAY": I believe the coaches knew what was going on and they didn't care. This is all about winning.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MORGAN: And Jimmy Fallon, king of late night and the man of a million voices.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIMMY FALLON: Who buys these beach pants? No guy wants to wear to the beach.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MORGAN: Including, rather worryingly, my own.
Tonight Jimmy Fallon goes completely bonkers doing Jim Morrison.
And "Only in America," homeless behind bars but $70,000 richer.
This is PIERS MORGAN TONIGHT.
Good evening. Our big story tonight, "America's Choice 2012," the race for the White House may well come down to the economy and nothing but the economy. And if it does, many Democrats think that could spell big trouble for their boss, President Obama. Listen to what top Democrat James Carville said on "Good Morning America" today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMES CARVILLE, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: I'm worried that -- when the White House and the campaign talk about the progress being made, people will take that as a signal that they think that things are fine and people don't feel it, I don't believe that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MORGAN: So, is the president in trouble on the economy? Joining me now, CNN political contributor and Democratic strategist, Hilary Rosen, and Nicolle Wallace, former campaign adviser to the McCain- Palin campaign and the author of a new book, "It's Classified," paperback version. Splendid tone with that light in the White House. Fictional but it does -- I think if you don't mind me saying, Nicolle, ring a lot of true bells.
(LAUGHTER)
Let's cut to the quick here. This election is going to be about the economy.
Nicolle, there's a lot of argument raging on both sides at the moment. Is anybody winning that argument?
NICOLLE WALLACE, FORMER COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR FOR GEORGE W. BUSH: I don't think it's an argument that either one of these men can win because it's so dependent, almost entirely dependent on events beyond their control. It's dependent on the pace of the recovery and the psychology and mood of the country come election day. And I think that both men would be well served to elevate the debate a little bit. Because it matters so much more than usual in this, I think, cycle that they focus on the big -- we always say that.
Campaign strategies -- people like Hillary and I always say it's about big things. Usually it isn't. Usually it's about rapid response and who can squash the little guy and catch a gotcha moment and someone makes a gaffe, and they embarrass them, the back and forth -- it really -- that stuff really doesn't matter.
MORGAN: Let's play a clip from President Obama which sort of summed the whole thing up to me. It was amusing and yet very telling. Let's watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This notion that somehow we caused the deficits is just wrong. It's just not true. It's like somebody goes to a restaurant, orders a big steak dinner, Martini, all that stuff, and then just as you're sitting down, they leave.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MORGAN: Hilary, I mean, this -- it was a good line, it got a good chuckle. But it -- another way of looking at that which is the reality of the situation is someone invites you to dinner, they ordered a big steak and a bottle of wine, and you're supposed to be going halves because it's kind of both your fault, the situation that we got ourselves into, and then, you know, nobody pays.
And the victim is the poor old waiter waiting for a tip that never comes, who represents the American public. I mean isn't that the reality, a stain on all your houses?
HILLARY ROSEN, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: You know, the -- the problem is that everybody is a little bit right. The country actually knows, if you survey the American people, they know that President Obama inherited a really bad economy. It's not a bad idea for him to remind people of that.
MORGAN: Yes, but, Hilary, Hilary, hang on a second.
(CROSSTALK)
ROSEN: But I do think that while people want -- no, wait, I'm going --
MORGAN: No, I'm not going to wait because this is the problem. I don't think you can be a president heading towards your apparent possible re-election four years later and still start banging on as your main campaign theme, I'm not as bad as those guys were. Because four years have nearly elapsed.
ROSEN: No, I don't think that -- I don't think he should say that. I don't think he said that. I think -- I think what they have said, and maybe a little too often, is we're finally in a place where we can start fresh. And because we've just now recovered from the mess, now we have to move forward. And I think that everybody is right. What people want from both President Obama and Mitt Romney is what are you going to do over the next four years?
I think President Obama has laid that out to a large degree. He's talked about needing Congress's cooperation which he has not gotten. He's talked about some of the incentives and --
MORGAN: And a lot of that --
ROSEN: -- and investments --
(CROSSTALK)
MORGAN: A lot of that, Hilary -- I'm going to turn to Nicolle now, but a lot of that is probably President Obama's fault. I mean, he hasn't been very strong, I don't think, in negotiating with the Republicans. And certainly with John Boehner. I think that's been part of the problem with the paralysis in Washington.
WALLACE: I think he's got three big problems. One, elections have never been about the past. They are always about the future. Two, you can blame Congress but only about 8 percent of the public actually likes them. So I don't know who -- who you're convincing. They already have a terrible reputation. And three, the country is starving for presidential leadership.
So to stand there and say I -- it's everybody else's fault is an admission that he was too weak to do anything about it in four years. And that may work in rallying his base. Your base is usually loyal. They almost always come home to you, but it will not reassemble the coalition that delivered his historic victory four years ago. MORGAN: Having said that, I don't see a lot in Mitt Romney's rhetoric about the economy which says to me the Republican Party collectively has really got to grips with what they did so badly wrong before and what they need to do differently now.
WALLACE: Fair enough, but listen, this is going to be very much the same way for us on our side and '08 was in some respects for the Democrats. Where they were so angry at the past eight years, they -- it was a vote against the eight years of George W. Bush as much as it was a vote of heartfelt enthusiasm for Obama.
We are, as a party so, I think, disconcerted by the four years of Obama's leadership on the massive stimulus, the massive explosion of our deficit, the government takeover of health care, how a lot of conservatives see it, you can debate whether that's really what happened. So I think for our party, we are as animated as any party is in our opposition to Obama's policies as we are in our enthusiasm for Mitt Romney.
MORGAN: Hilary, have the last word, and please don't agree with anything -- that's been said by Nicolle.
ROSEN: I don't agree with anything she said.
MORGAN: Because I don't want you to -- be ripping each other's throat.
ROSEN: But I love her book. I think that the -- look, there is a lot of work to do and I think this election is going to be about what the big things are to come, but it's also going to be about who do you trust to be on your side? Which person is really going to be for what you care about, going to care about your pocketbook, not the pocketbook of -- kind of their rich friends.
MORGAN: But how -- Hilary, how --
ROSEN: That's what I think --
MORGAN: How unhelpful is it that talking of being on the right side, the top Democratic voices like President Clinton, James Carville and others are appearing to be diametrically opposed to President Obama's position on his main attack weapon, as he sees it with Mitt Romney, which is his record at Bain and his record with the economy.
ROSEN: No, no, no. Carville simply said that President Obama should be talking about the future. And I think that's right. And I think the president probably agrees with him, too. What he's saying is, what are we going to do? How are we getting out of this, you know, deep hole? Give us hope, give us inspiration and tell us what you're going to do over the next four years.
That's something that the president has been trying to do. Hasn't broken through well enough and I think he's going to do some more of coming up.
MORGAN: Well, one thing is for sure, the whole debate seems to be very negative. And that's a very unusual position --
ROSEN: Yes.
MORGAN: -- for America to find itself and going to an election with nobody really exuding any air of positivity whatsoever. But you two have. And I appreciate it. So thank you both for joining me.
ROSEN: Take care. Thanks.
WALLACE: Thank you.
ROSEN: Good luck, Nicolle, with the book.
WALLACE: Thanks.
MORGAN: That's enough book plugs.
(LAUGHTER)
ROSEN: Thank you.
MORGAN: Now to the other big story, the Jerry Sandusky trial. The former Penn State assistant football coach is charged with 52 counts of sexual abuse all weeklong. The jury has been hearing shocking testimony.
Buzz Bissinger is following the case from the beginning, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of "Friday Night Lights" has a lot to say about it. He's also out with his new book, "Father's Day," his memoir and a tribute about his savant son Zach, and Buzz Bissinger joins me now.
Buzz, get to your fantastic book after the break, but I want to talk about Jerry Sandusky trial. You said it was the biggest scandal, I think, in sporting history in America. I concur with that, but tell me why you feel that.
BISSINGER: Well, we're not talking about -- generally it's recruiting violations, it's payoffs to kids. This is about, in my -- I feel, Penn State allowing a culture to exist in which you had a sexual predatory animal who thrived within the culture of football at that school. It's not just that he was sexually abusing children, which was awful. I believe the coaches knew what was going on and they didn't care, this is all about winning.
I mean, when a coach is bringing a kid to a bowl game, coaches don't see it? They don't ask themselves, what's going on? Why is he doing it? I think they knew all along and I think, you know, Paterno, I don't know what he knew. I think he was --
MORGAN: You see --
BISSINGER: -- out to lunch at that point.
MORGAN: This is where it gets difficult, I think, for an American audience. Because I feel quite strongly about Joe Paterno. That I mean, God rest his soul. He sadly died recently and he was a fantastic coach for decades and decades. But I think he knew what was going on. I think he covered it up and I think it's pretty clear that's what happened.
And to me that is just an unforgivable crime by a man of his position, authority, responsibility. That he just allowed these kids to carry on being abused.
he was a fantastic coach. But to me it's an unforgivable crime by a man of his position, authority, responsibility. He carried on allowing these kids to be abused.
BISSINGER: Well, I -- you know, I agree with you. I agree with you. I mean, you know, the first incident was apparently in 1998. Apparently they did nothing. But as I say, I mean, he's -- you know, he's -- he's taking showers with these kids in Penn State facilities. He's taking them to bowl games. I mean, you have to put two and two together. And I know coaches. Coaches will never turn in their own. I saw it on "Friday Night Lights." I dealt with coaches a lot.
They won't turn in their own. I want to describe it as kind of worse than the mafia, which I think it is. It's this Code of Omerta. You never, ever turn in anyone else and they allowed this problem to fester into something hideous. Hideous.
MORGAN: Because these details from the trial already are horrific because there's a pattern of -- look, the guy is innocent until proven guilty, but there's a pattern from the victims, a very coherent and apparently credible pattern of just serious grooming by a pedophile to abuse them. Most of it going on with everyone aware that he was jumping into showers with them or stuff like that. How many men of that age shower with boys of 13, 14?
BISSINGER: Exactly. You know --
MORGAN: I have never heard of that.
BISSINGER: I have never heard of that either. And it doesn't happen. I mean coach -- you know, coaches don't shower with players, much less shower with 9-, 10-year-old, 11 or 12-year, whatever -- however old. They don't do that. They don't do that. And he's using Penn State facilities to do it.
This goes to the culture of sports, it goes to the culture of college sports. And, you know, do I want this -- I want Penn State, I want this tragedy to burn in the soul of Penn State forever. And I think a lot of what we've heard from Penn State is -- excuse my language, still bull (EXPLETIVE DELETED).
MORGAN: Tonight the state of America, certainly the economy, is likely to be the big battleground come November 3 election, we can see that. But what is your feeling about what has gone wrong with America incorporated?
BISSINGER: Well, you know, I don't think we're really facing up to our problems. I mean it's happened a long time ago. We've lost our manufacturing base. We have become a country of haves and havenots. I mean the problem is, I think Obama thinks the way to win is to accentuate that. You know, he said the private sector is doing just fine, which, of course, is not just true. Actually public sector employees make more.
I don't know if that was a gaffe. I think he's playing upon this. You know, middle class, working class, you're getting screwed, you have to vote for me. But the problem with Obama is I don't see really any leadership at all. I get -- I just got an e-mail from him today, saying wish Barack a Happy Father's Day. Well, wait a second.
I'm a father, you're a father. Why do I want to wish him a happy birthday? All this e-mails, you know, come to the fundraiser of Sarah Jessica Parker. Come to the fundraiser of George Clooney. I think it's inappropriate with an unemployment rate over 8 percent with kids who graduate from college including -- I have a son who's going to graduate -- who can't get a job.
(CROSSTALK)
MORGAN: And also it seems to me it's a very un-American battleground that developing in the elections where it's almost like you were terrible, I haven't been quite as terrible.
BISSINGER: Right.
MORGAN: You know, whereas America was founded on this great positive can-do mentality. And Obama played up to that with the whole "yes, we can" campaign. This is not a "yes, we can message of positivity is. I wasn't quite as bad as the last lot.
BISSINGER: Right. As --
MORGAN: Which is surprisingly negative for an American --
BISSINGER: Right.
MORGAN: -- presidential race, I think.
BISSINGER: Well, as we call it, the evil of two lessers, basically. I mean I think Romney's campaign is anyone but Obama and Obama's campaign is basically, you know, anyone but Romney. And it is depressing. And I think it's going to be a low turnout election. I -- you know, the excitement level that Obama had four years ago he definitely no longer has.
MORGAN: Would you vote for him?
BISSINGER: You know, I would -- I still lean towards him, because I know nothing about -- I still don't feel I know anything about Romney. He seems very, very amorphous to me. But I have to be honest. I'm thinking about Romney. I mean I --
MORGAN: Really?
BISSINGER: And I never, ever thought that I would. I just feel --
MORGAN: And the main reason for that would be what?
BISSINGER: I just feel -- you know, he had a good first two years. He didn't sell it very well. You know health care reform was good but no one really knew what it was about. I believe in the economic stimulus, but I feel the last two years, he's not a leader.
MORGAN: Let's take a short break, come back and talk about your book. It's profoundly moving. It's about a road trip you took with your savant son Zach. And we'll talk about it in more detail after the break.
And later, my extraordinary interview with the king of late-night TV, Jimmy "Rock Star" Fallon.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MORGAN: I'm back with Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Buzz Bissinger, a man who's brutally honest and that's certainly true with his new memoir, "Father's Day."
Buzz, it's a remarkable book, as I said, because you have this son. He's how old now?
BISSINGER: Zach is now 28.
MORGAN: Twenty-eight. He's a savant, he's an IQ of 70. But he has extraordinary gifts.
BISSINGER: Right.
MORGAN: Like so many other savants. When did you first realize this?
BISSINGER: You know, I would say around the ages -- you know, I don't really remember, maybe 10 to 12, he has a phenomenal memory. And it's called calendaring. But if you gave him -- Piers, if you gave him a date within 25 years and you said, Zach, what date did it occur on, he can tell you.
MORGAN: Amazing.
BISSINGER: If you -- he will ask you, when's your birthday once, he'll remember it for the rest of his life.
MORGAN: Is it like the character of Dustin Hoffman?
BISSINGER: Yes, I mean it is a little bit like that. Unfortunately he doesn't card count because we tried that in Las Vegas.
(LAUGHTER)
BISSINGER: And it didn't really work. But it is. I mean -- and where it comes from, you know, scientists really don't know. I mean they have some theories but they said it's really the greatest unsolved mystery, you know, of the brain because the examples are incredible.
MORGAN: You decide -- it's Father's Day on Sunday.
BISSINGER: Right.
MORGAN: It's very timely the book, but you decide to take Zach on this road trip around America.
BISSINGER: Yes.
MORGAN: What was the intention of this?
BISSINGER: The intention was not to rediscover my son. I knew from the very beginning that Zach was going to be very, very different than anything I ever imagined. He was born 13 1/2 weeks premature. He weighed one pound, 11 ounces. We knew there was going to be some type of trace brain damage which there was.
It was an opportunity for me to focus on him in an enclosed space for two weeks. And nothing is more enclosed than a rented minivan going about 42 miles an hour. But I wanted to be with him alone. Like I had been with my other children. Zach is over here because he has mental deficiencies. And then Jerry and Caleb were over here. I want to do the same thing.
MORGAN: You said this about him. "There's no rose colored ending to any of this. There's no pretty package with a tidy boy. He'll never drive a car, he'll never marry, he'll never have children. He's not the child that I wanted."
No parent would ever want a child that has to go without all of those things, clearly.
BISSINGER: Right. Right.
MORGAN: But what are the positives of being Zach that you've maybe unraveled on your travels.
BISSINGER: Well, I think the positives of being Zach, and I did see this on the trip, is that he's much more complex than I ever thought. He's got a soul. He's got an interior. I saw empathy that I've never seen before. I saw powers of observation. Half the time I thought he was just staring out the car window seeing nothing. And not just yearning for independence, but he wants to be as independent as we can. We all want the same thing in life. We want identity. We want to feel self-worth. And frankly he's steady in the story and I was volatile and dropping the f-bomb and Zach is a human GPS. So --
MORGAN: What did you learn about fatherhood that maybe surprised you when you went on this trip?
BISSINGER: Well, I think it's about acceptance. It took me a long time. "Father's Day" is a very honest book. Coming to grips with a son who's very, very different. And there were moments where it was really hard for me to accept. I came from a high-powered family. I have dreams of ambition for my kids, as we all do. But once you get acceptance, then you get appreciation and then you get joy.
MORGAN: Does he know or care about your professional work? Or does he just judge you purely on your personal qualities as a father?
BISSINGER: He has -- he has some concept. But I remember for the first time ever on the trip he said dad, did you win a Pulitzer or something? And I was kind of proud and said yes, I did. And then he changed the subject to, how many times did you go to the health club in Chicago? You know, he could care less.
(CROSSTALK)
MORGAN: This is quite healthy in a funny way.
BISSINGER: (INAUDIBLE) healthy.
MORGAN: To not be judged by anything professional.
BISSINGER: It is. It's --
MORGAN: You know, I can a benefit to that where actually you have to stand on your qualities as a man of --
BISSINGER: Yes, it's wonderfully healthy that look, he's not jealous, he's happy for the success of others. There's no sense of competition or sodden for it. He's -- it's a total opposite of me.
MORGAN: You said this about him, "He's the man, most fearless I've ever known. Friendly, funny, freaky, unfathomable, forgiving, fantastic, restoring the faith of a father in all that can be." That's a pretty great tribute to your son.
BISSINGER: Well, it is. I mean I've seen him struggle. He's now 28. He's struggled all his life to do things that we all take for granted, whether it's writing your name, you know, whether it's the holding a pencil. Occupational therapy, physical therapy. And he continues to mature and continues -- he wants to be part of the world.
MORGAN: Buzz Bissinger, it's a terrific book, "Father's Day: Journey into the Mind and Heart of My Extraordinary Son."
Buzz, thank you very much.
BISSINGER: OK.
MORGAN: Coming up next, the incomparable Jimmy Fallon is well, incomparable. It's going to be crazy. Brace yourselves.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MORGAN: There's only one man in America who could bring together Bruce Springsteen, Eddie Vedder, Paul McCartney, Justin Timberlake, not to mention Carly Rae Jepsen. That man is, of course, the United States' reigning king of comedy, Jimmy Fallon.
Think about that himself, that's why I know his true. He's the host of NBC's "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon."With his new album, he apparently wants to blow your pants off.
JIMMY FALLON, HOST, "LATE NIGHT WITH JIMMY FALLON": Yes.
MORGAN: Jimmy Fallon.
FALLON: Piers, thank you for having me back.
MORGAN: How are you?
FALLON: Yes, since the last time I saw you, I thought you would never invite me back.
(LAUGHTER)
(CROSSTALK)
FALLON: It got really ugly.
MORGAN: Intriguing cover of your album here.
FALLON: Yes, I was --
MORGAN: It appears to a naked butt.
FALLON: It's a gentleman enjoying a red wine -- what's a red wine do you love?
MORGAN: Chateau le Tour?
FALLON: Yes, it's a Chateau le Tour. MORGAN: Yes.
FALLON: And he's just sitting down in (INAUDIBLE) Road, because -- (INAUDIBLE) murder. And he's laying on his rug and he's about to listen to "Blow Your Pants Off" and his pants just get blown off right when the photographer takes the photo and that's -- so it's --
MORGAN: It's sort of Madmenesque until here.
FALLON: They're not going --
MORGAN: And then it becomes more like Ron Jeremy.
FALLON: Yes. Every community at some way or another there's a (INAUDIBLE) somehow.
MORGAN: The last you were here, you wore smart suit, you were very much the persona of a television star. What is worrying me slightly about all this is you've arrived today, looking, for all intense and purposes, like Mick Jagger, and you've also arrived with one of biggest entourages, I think, I've ever seen.
FALLON: Well, I thought even now to this today, I -- at the St. Thomas Lane. I don't know even.
MORGAN: There are the Fallonettes, as I'm now going to cal them.
FALLON: Yes, there's a lot of --
MORGAN: This is the second biggest entourage I've seen after Beyonce, which she had one. Tony Jackson was bigger although maybe not as (INAUDIBLE).
FALLON: A lot of pretty girls here with me in my entourage,.
MORGAN: Are they called the Fallonettes?
FALLON: They are not. Yes, they are now but they have a name for them. They -- it's a big entourage of people and it's even bigger. There's a gang of kids outside --
MORGAN: How do you jump this rock star shot?
FALLON: Thanks, god. No.
MORGAN: Is it also --
(CROSSTALK)
FALLON: I haven't changed at all.
MORGAN: The album cover? The entourage? The new look?
FALLON: The new look -- I'm just losing --
MORGAN: Are you not taken so seriously as a rock star?
FALLON: I just have this compilation of all this music and maybe it is going in my ahead a little bit.
(LAUGHTER)
But I'm very proud of the record. I think it's a good, fun comedy album.
MORGAN: No, it's fantastic. I actually loved it. And the whole idea that you managed to persuade these people to do this is equally unfathomable to me.
Paul McCartney and you sing scrambled eggs we just saw obviously on the show. But the fact you've got it on to an album. You're singing the original title of "Yesterday" with Paul McCartney.
FALLON: I mean, a lot of people don't even -- I got -- I tell the story to my friends.
MORGAN: Yesterday it was double scrambled eggs, because I bet she's seeing the original manuscript they did him and John Lennon.
FALLON: You wrote scrambled eggs -- my lady how I love your legs.
MORGAN: Yes.
FALLON: And then he went to sleep because they didn't have tape recorders back in the day so I go in the kitchen for this. I interview him. He's the nicest human. And he's doing a "Saturday Night Live," and so I go into this restaurant, hey, Paul, hey, Jimmy, we'll just have a little chat, you know --
(LAUGHTER)
FALLON: It's going to be a fun chat. And I go we're going to have fun, and I go yes, we'll have fun. And I go, I'm just wondering if you want -- we were at a sketch he goes, you know, I just rather just do a chat. You know, just a chat that fun. It's fun, you know, to just do that, which is like a veggie burger. You know, and I go, thank you, and I'm like, of course, how do you say so I'm having a veggie burglar, I'm talking to Paul McCartney, he's one of my idols. And I go -- it's just -- it's called scrambled eggs. It's based on remember when you wrote yesterday, you wrote scrambled eggs. He goes, of course I remembered I wrote it.
(LAUGHTER)
FALLON: And I go, I know, but this is the thing. I go one of our writers finished the song as if you wrote the whole song about scrambled eggs.
And he goes, oh, let's just -- let's just hear it, sort of just being polite.
And so I sang the whole song, you know --
Scrambled eggs, oh my lady, I love your legs, you know, but not as much as I love scrambled eggs. Oh, have you tried, scrambled eggs?
And then his head is over my shoulder reading the words like, "waffle fries, oh, my lady how I love your thighs," you know.
And -- and then I go, oh my gosh, you know, are you going to do it?
He's laughing and he goes, I'll do it, but only if you do it with me. And I was like -- because I -- I -- I didn't go in for a duet. I went in to have him just do this bit by himself. And I did -- I really didn't go in --
MORGAN: I mean it's a completely surreal moment, isn't it?
I mean it's Paul McCartney.
FALLON: Yes. It's -- it's --
MORGAN: Sir Paul McCartney.
FALLON: Sir Paul McCartney and he's my idol. I've been growing up -- I mean I have every one of his albums. I know every B side to Paul McCartney. I have a fan letter I wrote on "Give My Regards to Broad Street," album, where you can see, if you hold it up to the light, you can see my -- my penmanship through the -- the cardboard on the album. And it's a sad fan letter --
(LAUGHTER)
FALLON: -- to Paul McCartney. And I think I got like this, you know, something back.
When I do a bit with, you know, Paul McCartney or Bruce Springsteen that might --
MORGAN: Bruce Springsteen, I mean incredibly, you got him to cover Willis Smith's hit, right?
FALLON: "Whip My Hair."
MORGAN: "Whip My Hair."
FALLON: Yes.
MORGAN: Now, I just can't -- I mean looking at the image of the two of you, I just don't know how this ever happened.
MORGAN: How did you persuade --
FALLON: I --
MORGAN: -- Bruce Springsteen --
FALLON: -- we --
MORGAN: -- The Boss?
FALLON: The Boss. I'm talking to him on the phone and I -- and I -- he's seen, on the show I do -- I've done an impression of Neil Young. I've done it on your show. I just -- I just do an impression of Neil Young singing versions of topical songs. I did Neil Young singing "Fresh Prince of Bel Aire." I did Neil Young singing "Pants on the Ground."
But I did a beautiful Neil Young version, like "pants on the ground." And it's sad, almost. And you go, you know, "looking like a fool with your pants on the ground.
And it's really a heartwarming song. And so Bruce saw those things and so I said I have an idea, right. I'll do Neil and you do you and we'll just do Willis' "Whip My Hair."
And he goes, I have to say, I'm not familiar with that track.
(LAUGHTER)
FALLON: And I go, I -- I go, well, it's -- it's a really big hit song. It's Will Smith's daughter, Willow Smith. It goes "I whip my hair back and forth. I whip my hair back and forth."
That's the song. It's really fun. It's poppy. I go, but I'm going to do it as Neil going like, "whip my hair back and forth." And it's really haunting and sad. And then you come in and you go, "you got to whip your hair." --
(SINGING)
FALLON: You know, so I'm doing this on the phone --
MORGAN: You have got to have the most persuasive skills of anybody in America.
FALLON: No, no, no.
MORGAN: Bruce Springsteen is listening to this and goes, yes, that's a good idea.
FALLON: No, but he loved it. He was like -- and so he's laughing and he goes -- he goes, I like it. He goes, in fact, what I'm thinking is maybe I'll be the -- I'll dress like '70s Bruce.
MORGAN: Which he does.
FALLON: He says to me, so cut two, we're putting a beard and -- and -- and a floppy hat and sunglasses on Bruce Springsteen so he can come out. No one in the audience knew that it was really Bruce Springsteen. They were like, this is like an impersonator or somebody.
MORGAN: Unbelievable.
FALLON: I don't quite get this. And then they're like, wait a second, that's Bruce doing this. And you -- the -- the -- the amazing part is, first of all, you know, he's such a -- he's just a rock star. So you stand next to him and you just feel that -- that -- that magnetism or something that those rock stars have, you know. And it's like I'm -- we put the beard on him and the glasses and the hat and he looks like he's from, you know, a "Born To Run" album cover.
And so he walks across -- out of the -- out of the hair makeup to the green room, you know. And he just, you know, he just walks -- he walks over, you know, and he's like this -- he's got that stride. He's got his jean -- tight jeans on. And he's just cool.
And he walks and he goes -- he walks over to his manager, Jon Landau. And John Landau starts throwing up a little bit. And he's like, Bruce, you -- you look like when we -- when we first started working together.
MORGAN: No?
FALLON: Yes.
MORGAN: Is he serious?
FALLON: Yes. And it's like, if you think about it, when would he -- when would he ever see Bruce dressed like he was 30 years ago?
MORGAN: Listen, it's a brilliant album.
We're going to come back after the break and talk about your other extraordinary achievement, persuading the president of the United States to slow jam the news. I don't know how you do this.
FALLON: It's a crazy year.
MORGAN: I want to learn the art.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The reason it's so important to keep down costs is so we keep college affordable.
FALLON: And the president knows his stuff, you all. That's why they call him the POTUS, which means person on top -- what is it.
OBAMA: Jimmy, Potus stands for president of the United States.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's the POTUS with the mostest.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FALLON: POTUS with the mostest.
MORGAN: That was, of course, the president of the United States, the commander-in-chief slow jamming news on "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon."
How did you persuade him to do that?
FALLON: It was one of these weird things. The -- we -- we had done a -- a sketch for a -- for the White House for the Get Fit initiative with the First Lady.
MORGAN: We're going to come to that.
FALLON: Where -- yes. So that's -- so we already --
MORGAN: You basically got humiliated by the first lady on almost every physical test she put you to.
FALLON: Well, she's very fit.
MORGAN: And you're clearly not.
FALLON: Well, it wasn't humiliation. It's just the joy of competition, you know?
MORGAN: Or did you deliberately lose to her to try and get the --
FALLON: No, she had a home --
(CROSS TALK)
MORGAN: -- with the president?
FALLON: No, because we did everything inside the White House. And I don't know the White House. She knows where she's going. I mean we went -- we were -- I -- I -- first of all, I put on my best outfit so that I can work out.
MORGAN: We're -- we're looking at it now.
FALLON: Well, it's the -- even Bo didn't even dig this. You know, Bo -- and she made me change. The First Lady made me change.
And so then we played -- we -- we started a race up the stairs in the White House. We played -- we had a potato sack race in the East Room. And so it was like, we played dodge ball in -- in the East Room, which is a -- there's a -- there's a portrait of George Washington from -- that's like the oldest artifact in the White House in the room where I'm playing dodge ball.
MORGAN: Do you think you're enhancing the reputation of your nation and its great leader by doing a sack race the East Room, a potato race?
FALLON: Well, the goal of this is to get children to get fit and workout and do --
MORGAN: Was that your goal, Jimmy, or was it just to get some of the most hilarious comedic scenes ever seen in the history of the White House --
FALLON: The White House.
MORGAN: Don't lie to me. Tell me the truth.
FALLON: I -- I want to say Gerald --
MORGAN: What's your first thought --
FALLON: -- Gerald Ford has played dodge ball before in the White House, hasn't he?
(LAUGHTER)
FALLON: No, I don't think -- I -- well, here's the -- the thing. I -- I -- I -- I love the president and I love -- I love anyone who's the president. I'm very patriotic.
So -- and if they want me to do a thing, if I can help them out in any way, I'll try to do it so that we both win, of course. But I -- I want do it --
MORGAN: And you had a private meeting with the president before this -- the slow jam?
FALLON: Yes.
MORGAN: How does that go?
FALLON: Well, the -- it's -- by protocol, they want you to meet the president alone, because you invited him, so you -- so I'm -- I have to be there in -- no -- no stage manager, no assistants, no Fallonettes, no one is allowed to --
MORGAN: No Fallonettes?
Blimey.
FALLON: No. Yes, yes, yes. No. So --
MORGAN: This could be painful for you.
FALLON: So no one knows -- so no -- no wife. My wife was -- had to stand like in -- in the room right next door, not even the room, like maybe just 40 feet away. But he just wants to see you first so he can go say hi to you. And it's just protocol.
So what I did was I had a piece of paper printed out that said President Obama, like a limousine driver would have at an airport. And I waited for the limo to pull out. I'm like, you know, I'm squinting, like, is that you?
You know, then he came out. And he goes hi, I'm -- I'm Marcus. I'm your escort. And if you want a water or anything, let me know. And he started laughing at that. And he was like -- he was like, oh, this will be fun. This will be fun. We're going to slow jam. We're going to slow jam.
(LAUGHTER)
FALLON: And I go, yes, we're going to slow jam. It's great.
And he's like, all right, where's your -- where's your wife, Nancy, because he knows everybody. The security has already came in and swept everything, the Secret Service. He knows he's going to meet my wife, then he's going to meet the writers of Slow Jam the News and we're going to do the -- we're going to rehearse it.
So we go into -- he meets my wife. He's very presidential and very charming. He's -- and then we go into a -- a room with the writers and I show my rehearsal.
And I go this is a bit we do on the show.
He goes, oh, I've -- I've seen slow jam. All right, here we go.
So we show it to him. And he -- and he looks at it and he goes, I -- I'm ready. Let's go.
So we run to the card. And he's fantastic. He has great timing, very comedic timing..
MORGAN: I saw him at the White House Correspondents Dinner. It was a fantastic speech.
FALLON: You don't want to follow him.
MORGAN: The guy could -- he could go to Vegas.
FALLON: No, I would never want to be on the -- the White House correspondents thing, because I -- I couldn't follow President Obama. He's too -- he's too good.
MORGAN: He's naturally -- he's got great comic timing.
FALLON: He's funny, great timing and he just --
MORGAN: Yes.
FALLON: -- the guy has got great writers, too.
MORGAN: Yes, he has good -- good writers.
FALLON: Yes. Yes. Serious. Anyone who is looking for a job, come over and want to come to New York.
But he -- so he goes over the thing. And at the end, normally I do it with Brian Williams.
MORGAN: Yes.
FALLON: And Brian Williams, at the end of my Slow Jam -- which I should tell people what it is. It's basically just reading the news and just, you know, in like an R&B sexy style, very breathy.
And so I -- at the end, Brian Williams usually goes, oh, yes.
And President Obama turned it in and he goes, oh, yes. Yes, come on.
(LAUGHTER)
FALLON: You've got to give me more. And he goes -- and I go, can you give it a little?
And -- and he just cut me off and he was like, I'm not -- I'm not going to. I'm not going to -- like he knew I was going to try to ask him to do it. Like, oh, he's like, no, I'm going to. I can't do that.
I mean there are certain things, you know, like the -- the White House, we -- I know from my years at "Saturday Night Live" how to not go too far over the edge so it's insulting anyone.
And so -- but so there wasn't much of a change, you know, to the script.
MORGAN: Your jokes are never terrible.
FALLON: No, no, thank you so much.
MORGAN: They're not funny, they're just not terrible.
FALLON: Then --
(LAUGHTER)
MORGAN: Talking "Saturday Night Live" Taran Killam, we -- I have an issue with this guy, because he does this impression of me, which he --
FALLON: My favorite thing --
MORGAN: -- you loved it last time you were here.
FALLON: He did it and he's fantastic. He does --
MORGAN: I don't speak like that.
FALLON: Yes, you do.
MORGAN: No, I don't.
FALLON: Piers, you do that.
MORGAN: No, I don't.
FALLON: You go -- now, now, tell me what -- what -- president, how do you persuade -- and then glass --
MORGAN: You're making me sound --
FALLON: -- glass --
MORGAN: -- like a jibbering idiot.
FALLON: -- glass shatters somewhere.
(LAUGHTER)
FALLON: No, Taran Killam is this guy on "Saturday Night Live" that does the best impression of you. And I told you last night, I go you've got -- I think we were in a commercial break when I said you've got to see this guy, because he did a sketch it was cut. And it's going to be on next time. All year long, it's going to be -- you're going to be --
MORGAN: He's even mastered my, you know, coming after the break --
FALLON: It's a very high --
(CROSSTALK)
FALLON: He's phenomenally good.
MORGAN: Can I -- what it does, it makes you paranoid.
FALLON: Sure.
MORGAN: I now watch it and then I start to perform like he does, as me. I'm morphing into Taran Killam's version of myself.
FALLON: You know who did that for me, in -- in a good way, but Jerry Seinfeld was on "Saturday Night Live." And I do an impression of Jerry Seinfeld and it's OK. It's not -- it's not great, by any means. But he is a nice enough guy. He raised his impression to match my voice.
So we did a bit about The Gap or something. They were selling these pants. They were like culottes for men, like these -- these so- called beach pants.
And I was going like, who buys these beach pants? No guy wants to wear them to the beach. It's ridiculous.
I'm yelling. And he's looking at me like this is not what I sound like at all. But he's going like, I know, I love the Gap. You take the shirt off. What? You refold it? This place is great. I love this store. You know and you -- and it was just that type of thing that like I'll never forget that. He's a good guy.
MORGAN: What is -- before we go to the break --
FALLON: Before we go to the break.
Yes.
MORGAN: Before we do that --
FALLON: Yes.
MORGAN: Yes. What is the --
FALLON: What -- what is --
MORGAN: -- if you had three minutes left in your life and you could only impersonate one person -- in other words, this is going to be your last impression --
FALLON: Why would I --
MORGAN: -- who would it be?
FALLON: -- why would I impersonate someone with three minutes left --
MORGAN: I'll tell you --
FALLON: -- of my life?
I want to show God my act?
MORGAN: Don't be so American literal about this.
FALLON: I don't want to --
MORGAN: Just go with the flow.
FALLON: I'd want to spend time with loved ones.
MORGAN: Oh, you boring little --
FALLON: But I will talk like this the whole time. I love you. We're down to two-and-a-half minutes.
MORGAN: Let's go to a break now.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(SINGING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FALLON: She was great.
MORGAN: Jimmy Fallon and The Roots performing the immortal "Call Me Maybe" with Carly Rae Jepsen on NBC's "Late Night."
And Jimmy is back with me now.
FALLON: What a great song that is.
MORGAN: I can't decide if you're the beginning of the future of the music business or the beginning of the end of the music business.
FALLON: Yes. Well, maybe it's on -- the answer is on one of these cards that you have laid out on this table.
(LAUGHTER)
FALLON: Can you get more index cards laid out?
MORGAN: So this "Call Me Maybe," even my kids back in England, who wouldn't necessarily know who you are, now know you're the guy from the "Call Me Maybe" clip, because two million hits on YouTube.
FALLON: It's -- it's --
MORGAN: You've become famous.
FALLON: It's a -- it's amazing. You're like it's -- it's -- our show is -- that's why I'm happy that we got a chance to put the CD out, because a lot of people don't stay up late enough to watch our show and they don't see the fun stuff that we do on our show and how -- how fun it is and a lot of the musical stuff we do. So I remember the first time we went viral. We don't plan on going viral. We don't know if something is going to hit or not. It's just up to the world.
And so Justin Timberlake and I did the history of rap. And we rapped all these songs from the '80s up until now. And we did it live with The Roots. It was so fun.
And then the next day, it just, whoo, exploded on the Web.
MORGAN: You -- people may not have seen you, because you are late night. But there is a growing little buzz around town that maybe it's time you were on a little earlier on NBC, like 11:30 or something.
FALLON: Not -- it's not -- the buzz is not coming from me. I -- I like being where I am. I don't -- it doesn't matter to me.
MORGAN: Would you turn down the "Tonight Show" if you were offered it?
FALLON: No, I wouldn't turn it down.
MORGAN: Is it -- is it the Holy Grail?
FALLON: No.
MORGAN: Really?
FALLON: I don't think so. I don't think people --
MORGAN: Hasn't it always been the Holy Grail as a -- as a talk show host in America?
FALLON: I think it's the story around it, but it's not. I mean I think someone said it -- they said like the "Tonight Show" with Johnny Carson was Johnny Carson. That was that show. This is the "Tonight Show" with Jay Leno and that's his show.
And then if it ends up being the "Tonight Show" with Jimmy Falcon -- I changed my name. I'm going to change my name, because he's cooler.
And -- no, but I don't know, it's like I -- I -- I -- it does -- it doesn't -- time slots don't matter to me, especially that late at night. Like either you do the show and you work hard and keep your head down and have fun with it --
MORGAN: Now, I want to get you to sing.
FALLON: OK.
MORGAN: Because one of my favorite bits of this whole album is when you get together with The Doors.
FALLON: Yes. MORGAN: You perform "Reading Rainbow" and apparently it gets completely out of hand.
FALLON: Well, it's a --
MORGAN: So I'd like you to play out this show with "Reading Rainbow" with you as Jim Morrison.
FALLON: So this is as if The Doors were to sing the theme song to "Reading Rainbow."
So it just kind of starts out -- we were just goofing off in my writers' room. We were just kind of like --
(SINGING)
MORGAN: I genuinely fear for his sanity.
The great Jimmy Fallon.
Jimmy, thank you so much.
We'll be back.
FALLON: It was a pleasure to be here.
MORGAN: We'll be back after the break with Only In America. That was hysterical.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MORGAN: For tonight's Only in America, for richer or poorer. You have a better chance of being struck by lightning than winning the lottery. But one man in Texas hit the jack pot without playing a single number.
On the face of it, he's a very lucky guy, but he's also homeless. Timothy Yost is a familiar face in the city of Bastrip (ph). The 46 year old sleeps on the sidewalks. But they may all soon change.
Back in January, he found a bag in a park. And inside that bag was 70 100 dollar bills and 40 Krugeran (ph) one ounce gold coins. The total value worth some 77,000 dollars. Nobody claimed the loot. And after a few months waiting, the city counsel voted that Yost gets to keep it all.
His lawyer -- yes, he got himself an attorney -- called it a life-changing discovery.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALETA PEACOCK, ATTORNEY FOR TIMOTHY YOST: It means everything to him. He has a whole future ahead of him. He has the opportunity to make plans and have a real future.
(END VIDEO CLIP) MORGAN: I wanted to talk to Mr. Yost about this incredible stroke of luck, but there's one slight problem. He's currently in jail for public intoxication. So freedom and his fortune await.
When he's released, I hope he uses that money to get a home and get the help that he surely needs. Mr. Yost, you've had a great stroke of luck, make the most of it.
That's all for us tonight. "AC 360" starts right now.
