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Piers Morgan Live

Most Talked about Interviews

Aired December 25, 2012 - 21:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PIERS MORGAN, CNN HOST: Tonight my favorite and most talked about interviews of the year.

ALEX BALDWIN, ACTOR: The most important thing to remember is I did not punch the guy.

MORGAN: Superstars.

MARK WAHLBERG, ACTOR: You have this amazing job. Show up and be prepared.

MORGAN: Scandals.

HULK HOGAN, WRESTLING STAR/ACTOR: Any excuse I make, whether it was a rough time in my life or the people that were there are my friends and they kind of, like, baited me to it, none of that matters.

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER, ACTOR/FORMER CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR: I love Maria. She has been truly the only love that I've ever had.

MORGAN: The laughs.

CHELSEA HANDLER, COMEDIAN/TV HOST: You're not pronouncing it correctly.

MORGAN: I am.

HANDLER: It's 50 Shades of Chartreuse.

RICKY GERVAIS, ACTOR: People come to me, you look fantastic. It just means I looked terrible before.

MORGAN: There are the stories that shocked us.

WHITNEY HOUSTON, SINGER: You just want to get out. If you want to get out, you will get out.

MORGAN: Heavyweights.

MIKE TYSON, BOXER: I'm (INAUDIBLE). And I don't want to beat them up.

MORGAN: The fastest human alive. USAIN BOLT, ATHLETE: The fans are one of the biggest things to me.

MORGAN: And without a doubt the most explosive and dangerous interview of my entire life.

ROBERT BLAKE, ACTOR: Where are you going?

MORGAN: I'm interested in what happened.

BLAKE: No, you're not interested. The guy -- what are you doing? What the hell are you doing?

MORGAN: It's an interview people are still talking about. Tonight you'll see why.

PIERS MORGAN TONIGHT: THE ENTERTAINERS starts now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MORGAN: Good evening, this year I've talked to some of the top entertainers in the world. The people who make us laugh, who make us cry, I discovered when I sat down with them, they also make us think. Every one of them has fascinating and sometimes surprising things to say about the wider world outside the glittering confines of Hollywood. Every one of them is also a lot of fun.

Tonight you'll hear some of my favorites. We begin with a man who is almost as famous for his outbursts as for his acting and now embodies the thinking man's CEO on NBC's "30 Rock." He is, of course, Alec Baldwin.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So cleverly alluded to moments ago.

MORGAN: Well, your relationship with media is fascinating because you've always been very good copy for them, and you sort of played the game. On occasion you just blow up and now you seem to be almost in a permanent rage with hem. Why do you have such conflict with them?

BALDWIN: I don't think I really do have any conflict with them in the sense that -- that that guy you're talking about, that photographer, I mean, I think the most important thing to remember is I did not punch the guy. And the guy was overheard by witnesses going down the street going through his camera with his finger going yes, there's one. There's a good one. Oh, I like that one.

And he's going through the whole roll of the film on his digital camera. Then they go down to the police station, then he presses charges and the charges are dismissed. I don't think I'm somebody who I had the New York City DA office or the police department in my pocket. They didn't believe the guy had been struck and they dismissed the charges. There was no case there. MORGAN: But is there a way not to deal with them, Alec? And I say this with great respect because I know you get much more attention than I would.

BALDWIN: Right.

MORGAN: But whenever I come across these guys, especially TMZ. They always try, these (INAUDIBLE), they follow you around with a video. Do you stop them --

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: You have a very low threshold for entertainment.

MORGAN: Well, I just find it, like, a necessary part of the business. I mean, it's like --

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: That's a difference of opinion we have.

MORGAN: I would call them a tax, it's a tax on show business, isn't it?

BALDWIN: You have a very different opinion than I do. My attitude is the business would be infinitely better if all of them were gone.

MORGAN: Really?

BALDWIN: If I could press a button tomorrow and flush them all down some swirling sewer vortex, I would do it. Where's the button? Hand it to me now.

MORGAN: But what if they said to you, OK, here's the deal, we'll leave you alone --

BALDWIN: Somebody in your crew is laughing.

MORGAN: But you can never have any more publicity in any newspaper or magazine for anything you do?

BALDWIN: Well, that's not really practical. You and I both know that people -- you will have publicity and so -- listen, I'm not opposed to, even though I'm not completely ecstatic about all the entertainment journalism that's out there because I think it cheapens show business and it demystifies show business, but the ones which -- you know, you can typically call you know, this kind of gotcha journalism, that's one I think we can all do without.

MORGAN: Last time you were on the show I got great feedback to the backstory that you bring. Before you even get to making movies. But the one thing I came away from was that you had, in changing a life around, the work ethic that you brought to everything that you now do. It's incredibly impressive. And nothing tells it by the (INAUDIBLE), Seth McFarlane has said about what you did, that particular scene, he's the single most prepared human being. It's astonishing.

There's not much he can't do. He's extraordinary versatile. He's always surprising such a humble guy. And you're not, you're not like oh, look at me, I can do this. But it's an amazing thing that you can do that kind of scene in one hit. It shows proper dedication.

WAHLBERG: Well, that's your job, you know? I've worked with many actors who have been paid a lot of money and they show up and they don't know their lines.

MORGAN: Any names?

WAHLBERG: Yes. I'll tell you after the show.

(LAUGHTER)

It's frustrating to me because, you know, you're getting paid a lot of money. We have this amazing job. Just show up and be prepared. You know? Just worked with Russell Crowe and the guy is such a pro. I mean, we had pages and pages of monologues, and the guy just every single time.

MORGAN: I mean, who is the best prepared? I wouldn't expect you to dish the dirt on the underprepared. But who are the ones you look at and go, that's where I want to be?

WAHLBERG: Well, Russell Crowe is extremely prepared. You know, Robert Duvall is, you know, the consummate professional.

MORGAN: When you wanted to get into show business, was part of the allure of it being famous, if you're honest, when you look back to that time?

CONAN O'BRIEN, HOST, "CONAN": I'd have to say -- and this is true of a lot of comedians, and I've talked to other comedians and heard them say the same thing. And I defy anyone to deny this. For most of us, it's getting girls to notice us. It really is. And it's still probably on some level. I'm very happily married, two kids. But there is something initially, especially in those early days, you notice, you go through the checklist in your mind of what do I have that might interest a girl. And I didn't have much.

I would go through the list. I'm not a good athlete, da, da, da, my skin's not so -- go down the list, the hair's a little silly. The name's weird. And then I got to -- they laugh. When I start joking around, they laugh and they hang around a little bit. So probably that's the initial -- if I'm going to be brutally honest, it was just to get --

MORGAN: Just to get girls.

O'BRIEN: Just to get -- not even -- I don't -- not to get them. To get them to look in my direction, Piers. I'm taking it down to a much more basic level. You know?

(LAUGHTER) MORGAN: Aaron, you said, I feel like a lot of news outlets have abdicated their responsibility. I've met people who want to carry that torch of Edward R. Murrow. I suppose critics would say look, you've got to live in the real world here a little bit in the sense that if you go too highfalutin with your news coverage, if you try and do it in the purest sense, what your character does in this show, he does it great. Especially if it's not big breaking news.

And I can tell you, for a hard unpalatable fact that that is true.

No, I know that's true. But the good news is --

MORGAN: It's hard. So how do you tackle that? Now you've had your toes dipped in our waters for a while. If you were running a news network, what would you do?

AARON SORKIN, CREATOR, "THE NEWSROOM": Well, first let me just back up a little bit and say, I don't have to live in the real world, I'm a fiction writer. So I get to write a -- you know, a Democratic administration that can get things done. And I get to write about a very idealistic newsroom where these guys reach unrealistically high so they fall down a lot, but we're still rooting for them anyway. But there's no question that the antagonist in this show is -- doesn't come so much in the form of a person, although that's the role Jane Fonda plays and that's the role that Chris Messina plays.

It's ratings, that if we have a problem in this country with the news, it's at least as much the consumer's fault as it is the provider's fault. But this show doesn't live in the real world. It seems like it does because it's set against the backdrop of real news events. We never do fictional news on the show. It's all real.

The characters are all fictional and not based on anybody. I know you're going to get to that question. But it's -- they're constantly referencing Don Quixote and Brigadoon and Camelot, and the name of the cable station is Atlantis, and its parent company is Atlantis and these are all imaginary lost cities.

JEFF DANIELS, ACTOR: Unabashedly romantic and idealistic.

SORKIN: Yes.

DANIELS: That the Emmy -- he excels in that. And that's -- it's the happy ending, it's the swashbuckling, he said. You know, that's -- and Aaron told me when we started this, he goes, by the way, if you're in here to be likable all the time and -- you know, it ain't going to work that way because you're going to fail.

Will is going to fail miserably. And we do. Over the first season, it is a struggle, just like the struggle a lot of these TV journalists say they're going through.

(CROSSTALK)

MORGAN: It was really a quite spectacular (EXPLETIVE DELETED) as well.

DANIELS: Thank you very much.

MORGAN: It's why I like you so much.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MORGAN: Behind the music, there's something for everyone. Some of my favorite singers tell their stories.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MORGAN: I was about to ask you how many times you've been properly in love in your life.

BALDWIN: The past is just a blur to me now, Piers. It's almost a blur. Now is the time. Now is all that matters.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MORGAN: Aside from a bruising encounter with One Direction on Twitter I genuinely enjoy talking with musicians. New artists and those whose songs define a generation. And then there are those rare occasions when I can ask a singer which of his songs or her songs means the most to them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MORGAN: I'm -- that was terrible. That was terrible.

LIONEL RICHIE, SINGER: Oh, god.

MORGAN: I should stick to "Penny Lover." I got a great tweet here. Watching Lionel Richie on (INAUDIBLE). What charisma, a fascinating dude, love his funky stuff, not into the ballads.

(LAUGHTER)

RICHIE: Well, you know the answer to that, don't you?

MORGAN: Go on.

RICHIE: Yes, I will tell you right now. He's not in love yet.

(LAUGHTER)

OK. As soon as --

MORGAN: That is true.

RICHIE: No, and listen. I can tell you --

MORGAN: It's "Dancing on the Ceiling" until you meet the right girl.

RICHIE: I can tell you the reviews. There was a reviewer for years, the reviews were sappy, syrupy, sticky, gummy, here's Lionel again with another one of those songs. And then all of a sudden he reviewed me 20 years later. And he came back and said, Lionel, do you have another one of those amazing ballads? And I said, you're married now. He said yes, two kids, Lionel, and my wife and I were married on "Truly," I mean, in other words, until you fall in love you know nothing about what I'm talking about.

MORGAN: Have you ever made love to your own music?

RICHIE: You have asked me -- who is this guy? You mean my --

MORGAN: I've always wanted to know that.

RICHIE: You mean my first love was not enough? I mean --

MORGAN: I need more from you.

RICHIE: But the answer is absolutely not.

MORGAN: Never?

RICHIE: No. Are you kidding me?

MORGAN: A bit awkward?

RICHIE: No. I love it when someone says, you know, do you whisper? Of course I do. Are you kidding me? How tacky.

MORGAN: Who is the biggest most romantic sexual singer you've ever deployed?

RICHIE: Holy cow. That's pretty interesting. Well, Marvin Gaye.

MORGAN: Has to be, right?

RICHIE: Has to be. I mean, Marvin did it for me.

MORGAN: I want to talk about a girl straight off the top. Let's talk about the elephant in the room here because you're one of the most famous country singers ever. And you're married to one of the most famous country singers ever. I have to start at the top.

Your husband and I have never met but I feel like I know him really well. And the reason is for the last six years on "America's Got Talent" I have seen more acts murdering your husband's songs than probably any other musician or singer alive. If I had to hear one more version of -- if tomorrow never comes, it was like -- it gave me severe earaches. I'd like to apologize to him via you for the massacring of his music.

TRISHA YEARWOOD, SINGER: Well, at least you feel like you got a connection with him now. That's a good thing. And you sort of just massacred that yourself there.

MORGAN: That was pretty awful.

YEARWOOD: It was pretty bad.

MORGAN: It wasn't as bad trying to sing "Hello" to Lionel Richie recently. That was a total train wreck. This was slightly better, I thought.

YEARWOOD: Were you really trying?

MORGAN: You know what, I always like to make the guest feel like they're the star.

YEARWOOD: Yes?

MORGAN: You know, contrary to public perception. So I think with you and Lionel, you know, make you think you're better singers. Just to give you more confidence.

YEARWOOD: It's an ego boost.

MORGAN: I think -- you know what I mean.

YEARWOOD: That's nice of you.

MORGAN: Perk you up a bit.

YEARWOOD: Really.

MORGAN: You've already sold, what, 10 million albums?

YEARWOOD: Something like that.

MORGAN: What's the worst song you've ever written?

BRUNO MARS, SINGER: I don't even want to say it.

MORGAN: It's the one that makes you shiver.

MARS: This is CNN. Come on.

MORGAN: Come on. For CNN worldwide audience, your worst Bruno Mars song you have ever written, the one that even now makes you come out in a weird sweat.

MARS: Me and my partner Phil wrote a song called "Bedroom Bandit."

(LAUGHTER)

That's all I have to say. That's all I have to say.

MORGAN: I can't even imagine. How bad those lyrics are.

MARS: But I promise you, Piers, had you had been in the studio, we -- we thought we were going to win 18 Grammys off this song.

(LAUGHTER)

We thought it was a cool -- and then the next day we call each other up, like, what were we thinking?

(LAUGHTER)

MORGAN: I mean, you've been involved with songs about desperately wanting to be a billionaire.

MARS: And that's the beauty about "Billionaire." If you listen to the lyrics of it, it's really not about -- I mean, it is, and we touch on it a little bit. But why I wrote "Billionaire," I wrote "Billionaire" when I was flat broke. I just helped write a song for Flo Rida, that was the number one song in the world, biggest download ever. It was the number one song for I don't know how many weeks. It broke records. And I was flat broke.

MORGAN: How?

MARS: And I -- because -- well, I can explain all that. It was just -- it works differently for songwriters. Songwriters, you have to work -- you have to wait for residuals, you have pray that the song is going to be a hit and then a year later you might get a check.

MORGAN: So you're seeing this song go around the world.

MARS: Yes.

MORGAN: Massive, huge, international hit and you -- you're making nothing.

MARS: And I can't buy a sandwich.

MORGAN: Literally?

MARS: Literally.

MORGAN: What is the song of all the songs that you've ever been involved with -- what is the one, if I said, right, Glen, you've got five minute to live, you can play one song to be remembered by, the defining song?

GLENN FREY, SINGER: Well, you know, I have my favorite records. You know and --

MORGAN: What's your -- what's your number one?

FREY: I loved "One of These Nights."

MORGAN: Yes.

FREY: I thought that was a really interesting song, I thought it was kind of cowboy R&B, you know, fuzz tones instead of saxophones. You know, great -- you know, great soul singer Don Henley. You know, cool chord progression. Mine.

(LAUGHTER)

You know, that -- I -- that was one of my absolute favorite Eagles records.

MORGAN: And who of all the acts out there now, who's the one that excites you, the modern crowd?

FREY: Well, you know, I love Adele.

MORGAN: Yes.

FREY: You know. And I think I watched the Grammys this year and the Grammys there was a lot of glamour, there was a lot of dancers, there was a lot of flash, there was a lot of that. And then Adele came on. And everybody was dressed in black. And they only had white light on her. And she just stood there and burned.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MORGAN: When we come back, my favorite sports interviews of the year. The men and women who inspire us with their quest to be the best.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MORGAN: Yes. Yes. Yes.

SERENA WILLIAMS, TENNIS PLAYER: Oh, come on.

MORGAN: Yes.

WILLIAMS: That was nice. You did good. You beat me. Good job.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MORGAN: Anyone who knows me knows I'm a football fanatic. The round ball football. Also attended the summer Olympics in London and even made a bet with former President Bill Clinton on the Ryder Cup which he paid up for, by the way.

This year I talked to the biggest names in sport about what it takes to be the very best and what it feels like to be a world champion.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MORGAN: What a moment. For you, eh? The green jacket. Can I touch it?

BUBBA WATSON, GOLF CHAMPION: Yes, go ahead.

MORGAN: How does it feel? WATSON: It feels nice.

MORGAN: How does it really feel to be Bubba Watson right now?

WATSON: It's overwhelming. People like yourself wanting to talk to me. For me to come to New York and do these interviews and meet you for the first time. It's a special time.

MORGAN: Why have you given me the big exclusive interview. Because somebody has told me a rather unnerving reason why.

WATSON: Because when you were on this other show "America's Got Talent" you were a (EXPLETIVE DELETED). And so I wanted to come here and make fun of you just like you make fun of everybody else.

(LAUGHTER)

MORGAN: I heard that was the reason.

WATSON: Yes.

MORGAN: That is genuinely why, isn't it?

WATSON: Yes. For sure.

MORGAN: You just (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

WATSON: Yes, exactly.

MORGAN: I don't care how we got you here, I'll take it.

How hard it is, Mike, for people who have been at the top of boxing with all the adrenaline and the buildup to these fights for months that you get in there, the adrenaline rush, the public going crazy and then the actual fight, and then suddenly it's all over. You don't have it in your life any more.

TYSON: Yes, you go to drugs, too. You try to get that high again. But then you realize tall drugs, all the meth, all the cocaine, all the liquor, you can't produce that high no more. You can't produce that high. And then you realize that high comes from within. You know. And for many of us, entertainers, just people with a lot of money in general, we all have failed in that and we tried to succeed and get happiness through substance.

MORGAN: Do you still -- last time I interviewed you you gave me the feeling that you're not completely confident that you won't blow up again. How do you feel now?

TYSON: Well, I don't put myself in those situations. I never look at myself, this could never bother me again. Once I think that way, I'm looking for my next hit. Once I feel like this is how I think, I feel I'm the man again. I can never get high. Any moment now I'm ready for the next line.

That's just who I am. That's how much of an animal I am when it comes to drugs and addiction. I'm really a nasty animal. And that's why I come on so happy that it's changed my life. I'm with my family. I'm learning how to be a functional human being in society. It is just so awesome.

MORGAN: When was the last time you hit a man?

TYSON: I don't know. Maybe three years ago at the airport. Remember that ordeal in the --

MORGAN: With the photographer, yes. Good shot?

TYSON: Yes.

(LAUGHTER)

No. I'm so happy because I was getting ready to hit him with the camera. I'm so happy I didn't hit him with the camera. I wouldn't be here. I'm so happy I didn't do that.

MORGAN: I presume that the paparazzi give you a pretty easy ride now, right? Now they know there's a good chance you may punch them.

TYSON: I know how to handle them now.

(LAUGHTER)

I don't want to beat them up. Just love them. Just love them.

MORGAN: Last time I saw you play for real was at Wimbledon. It was about three years ago. You were playing a quarterfinal game against a tiny eastern European waif. It was the single most brutal thing I've ever seen on my sports arena ever. Biggest number one call.

WILLIAMS: Now you're making me feel bad.

MORGAN: You didn't feel bad at the time. But I was like, inwardly, like, I wanted to get on the court and rescue this poor girl.

WILLIAMS: Oh, no.

MORGAN: It was the -- it was a high form of brutality that was going on.

WILLIAMS: Yes.

MORGAN: You just obliterated her. But what I was struck by was the longer it went on, just the more ruthless you became. The more in the zone, the louder, the more physically empowering. It was the most impressive thing I've seen in sport for years. What do you feel when you're going through that kind of process.

WILLIAMS: Yes.

MORGAN: You're in the zone and you're winning, what do you experience?

WILLIAMS: Well, when you're out there, you have to take the winning -- winner's attitude, as I do, and I can't go out there thinking I'm feeling sorry because they're trying to win, too. And this is my job. My job is to go out there and do the best that I can at that moment in time because you never know what happens tomorrow.

MORGAN: What does it take to be a champion? Not just any old champion, to be a great champion?

BOLT: Well, it's just hard work. For me, it was just hard work and dedication. And as I said, you just need a team because for me, I remember this year I was going on (INAUDIBLE) and doing well, doing well. And then all of a sudden I got to the trials, I lost. And I was like -- and then I refocused and I really talked to my coach, talked to my friends, talked to my agent, they came together and they explained to me, there's no need to worry.

Potential my coach. We have three, four week to go, one month. Let's just put the work in, sacrifice a few things then we get it done. So I did just that.

MORGAN: What is it that motivates you the most now? Is it the winning, is it being the champ, is it money, is it fame, is it the women? Is it all of it, Usain?

BOLT: It's everything. It's all a package. It's all a package. Everything comes there. I think -- but for me the fans are one of the biggest things for me. I really enjoy just going out and performing for the fans. The energy that they give me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MORGAN: When we return, so many scandals on one interview that went right off the rails. Yes, I'm looking at you, Robert Blake.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: It's not about me, is it.

BLAKE: Yes, it is. Because you open that door, Charlie potatoes. I'm not going to let -- I'm not going to sit here and let you or anybody else kick (EXPLETIVE DELETED) out of me without defending myself. And you can take that to the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) bank, Charlie.

MORGAN: Why?

BLAKE: If you want to show me the door, that's fine, too.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MORGAN: Three big names not stranger to scandal and tabloid headlines. Each of them told me their sordid stories, only one had me actually fearing for my safety.

Here's a moment from an interview that I've never done before and I hope I don't have to again -- my conversation with Robert Blake.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MORGAN: Do you remember the night that she died well, or is it now something you've blocked out of your head?

ROBERT BLAKE, ACTOR: No, I remember it quite well.

MORGAN: You went and had dinner at this restaurant.

BLAKE: Where are you going?

MORGAN: I'm interested in what happened.

BLAKE: No, you're not interested. The guy -- what are you doing? What the hell are you doing?

MORGAN: Let me help you. Let me take this out of my ear. There's no one talking to me, OK? You haven't got a worry. There is nobody talking to me. These are my questions for you, which are based, in my view carefully --

BLAKE: Now you want to know what happened that night?

MORGAN: -- on your story. I'm curious, yes.

BLAKE: No, you're not curious.

MORGAN: I am, because you were acquitted and then --

BLAKE: I thought you said you researched all this. So you know what happened that night.

MORGAN: I know -- I know the facts of the night.

BLAKE: What?

MORGAN: I'm curious about --

BLAKE: Tell me about the facts of the night.

MORGAN: You take your wife for dinner to a restaurant.

BLAKE: Go ahead.

MORGAN: Your wife goes to the car. You go back to retrieve, as you say, your gun, which is in the restaurant. And when you return, your wife has been shot dead. When they test the gun that you go and retrieve, that is not the same gun that killed her.

Am I right so far?

BLAKE: So far. MORGAN: Right. So I'm factually correct.\

BLAKE: Yes.

MORGAN: I have no agenda here at all. You clearly think I do, but I don't.

BLAKE: Well, it sounds boring as hell, but go ahead.

MORGAN: I don't think it's boring. Your wife got murdered.

BLAKE: No, but your questions are boring, because -- I mean, even what you just said, are you sure the people at Tibet give a (EXPLETIVE DELETED) about any of this?

MORGAN: I think you're here because you've written a book about your life.

BLAKE: Yes.

MORGAN: And I would argue --

BLAKE: There's a lot more to my life -

MORGAN: I'm sure there is.

BLAKE: -- than that night.

MORGAN: But there's probably nothing more significant in your life than --

BLAKE: (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

MORGAN: Really? Than the murder of your wife?

BLAKE: I didn't murder my wife. It may be significant to you.

MORGAN: I didn't say you did it.

BLAKE: But it isn't to me.

MORGAN: I said -- I said --

BLAKE: You said there's nothing more significant.

MORGAN: Than the murder of your wife.

BLAKE: Personally, it's not the most significant thing in my life.

MORGAN: What is the -

BLAKE: The most significant thing in my life -- is when I was 2 years old and I found an audience.

The next most significant thing is when I went to MGM as an extra and three years later, I starred in my first film. You know, the -- America just was going to war. It was the worst time in the world for America. But there's nothing more significant than a little boy with no parents, no friends, nothing, walking into MGM and three years later, starring in his first film.

You know how significant that is? No, because you've never lived my life.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER, FORMER GOVERNOR OF CALIFORNIA: It's my fault. There's no one else to blame for it.

I wouldn't even begin to start pointing the finger at anybody because the reality of it is that I created it, I created my career, and all those kind of things and the relationship in all of this, but I also screwed up badly and I take the full blame for it. And the key thing now is to kind of like, you know, figure out how do I build all this back and how do I gain the trust of the children again and have a good relationship with the kids, which is so important to me.

I love my kids dearly and I love Maria. I mean, I love Maria. She has been truly the only love that I've ever had. And that's what is so pitiful about it. It's one thing if you have a situation like that and you said, I was ready to get out of this situation anyway, out of this marriage, but that's not the case. She was the most perfect wife and she was extraordinary.

MORGAN: You've hinted in some of the interviews you've given that you hope to get back with Maria. And in fact, you've gone a bit further and said, you believe from her side this may also be something that she may wish.

Do you think there is a good chance you can get back together?

SCHWARZENEGGER: I cannot speak for Maria. She has to speak for herself. But I can only tell you that I hope that eventually we can rebuild the relationship and that we will be together as one family.

MORGAN: What people find most incomprehensible is that somebody as successful as you, somebody as rich as you, as politically motivated as you were at the time, would take such an extraordinary risk, but was it actually more complex? Was it that the risk you were taking seemed one of the safest risks you could take, that it was with somebody in your home who you could trust, who wouldn't tell anybody? Was it more that?

SCHWARZENEGGER: I would say that it makes no difference. You know, I mean, it makes no difference what was going through my mind at that time. It doesn't clean up the mess. It doesn't soften the blow to my family. I mean, what I have done is just about the stupidest thing that any human being can do.

(END VIDEOTAPE) (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MORGAN: Before we get into politics and life and the universe, a certain story has bubbled up this week about you involving a certain videotape.

HULK HOGAN, WRESTLER/TV PERSONALITY: Yes, sir.

MORGAN: How are you handling it?

HULK HOGAN: The big white elephant in the room we can't avoid. You take a deep breath. You have to make sure that you're honest because you have to be accountable. And you know, you address it and at the end of the day, you know, pray to God that those that love you and the people close to you, like your friends -- sometimes you don't even know if they're your friends, but your children and your wife, that's who you are.

And you get on situations like your show and when he asks, you know, at the end of the day, you realize it was a horrible choice. I am accountable. And any excuse I make whether it was a rough time in my life or the people that were there were my friends and they kind of like baited me to, none of that matters, it's just that, you know, you're accountable and honest.

MORGAN: It must be very humiliating. Have you ever been through anything quite like this where you actually have yourself having sex on a video that people are watching, especially in the Internet age? How do you feel about that?

HULK HOGAN: Never. And I've been through a lot of stuff. I've been through a lot of stuff with the federal government back in the '80s, the whole steroid controversy.

I mean, you know, the divorce, the car wrecks, I've been through so much stuff, but never have I ever been this embarrassed and never has my world been turned upside down in such a fashion, and without knowledge that someone would set a camera up. Poor choice. Admit it, it's me, hey, I did that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MORGAN: Coming up, the biggest names in music, Whitney Houston and Dick Clark.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MORGAN: This is the beaver that bit your hand.

JACK HANNA, ZOOKEEPER: This isn't the same beaver, but this is like the one that did it. Exactly like this.

Did you ever touch a beaver?

MORGAN: No.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MORGAN: The world lost some beloved entertainers this year, from TV stars Larry Hagman and Andy Griffith, to musicians Davy Jones of the Monkees and Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys. Dick Clark, the eternal teenager, and the tragic loss of Whitney Houston.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MORGAN: I can tell you're angry about what's happened here. The blame game has begun.

CHAKA KHAN, SINGER: Yes.

MORGAN: A lot of people want to blame Bobby Brown. A lot of people want to blame the music business. Some people want to blame everyone.

What do you think?

KHAN: Well, it's all of the above and a whole lot more. But it boils down to you. You know, I was introduced to certain people and to certain opportunities to use recreational drugs, and it boils down to whether I want to do it or not. And she was a strong-willed, strong-minded girl. And I can't say that it's anybody's fault. But --

MORGAN: Would she have ever gone down that route, do you think, without Bobby Brown in her life?

KHAN: Well, if not him, somebody else. If she wants to get high, if you want to get high, you're going to get high.

MORGAN: Do you think she had that tendency anyway?

KHAN: I think that we all as artists, because we're highly sensitive people. And this machine around us, this so-called music industry, is such a demonic thing. It sacrifices people's lives and their essences at the drop of a dime.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MORGAN: We touched earlier on Whitney Houston --

TYLER PERRY, ACTOR: Yes.

MORGAN: -- who was a friend of yours.

You've been quite candid about trying to help her. You rang her or felt compelled to ring her on the night that Michael Jackson died --

PERRY: Yes. MORGAN: -- because they were similar age, similar kind of problems. You realized she may be going through turmoil over that news.

PERRY: Yes.

MORGAN: Tell me about that.

PERRY: It was -- and I haven't talked about it publicly, actually. I'm surprised that you know that. How do you know that?

MORGAN: I know everything, Tyler.

PERRY: I called her that night and I had been trying to get her all day. She had Donny Hathaway's "A Song for You" blasting in the background. I'm surprised she could hear me. And we talk for a while.

She was really broken up about his death. I didn't know if she was thinking about herself, but I was trying desperately to let her get me to come over to the house and sit with her to make sure she was OK. And Whitney, in true fashion, after me trying 10 different times, she said, listen, I'm a mother and I'm a woman and I'm single, and you're not coming over to my house in the middle of the night -- you know, in a way that only she could.

But it's beyond tragic. And I was so disgusted. I must tell you I was so disgusted at the media and the way that they handled her death.

It was -- it was so blatantly disrespectful. The paparazzi -- see, this is what I mean about fame and even in death -- trying to get her, just her body from the morgue to the plane.

MORGAN: Because you supplied the plane, didn't you?

PERRY: I did. I did. And there was -- this was -- it was beyond awful. I tell you, we tried to send a hearse as a decoy. They found out we had the body in a van. And there are paparazzi 50 deep following the van. We -- I had them move the plane into the hangar and close the door, bring the van in.

One person, one of the hired drivers is trying to take pictures of them putting her body on the plane. It was just beyond disrespectful for her family and everyone else. And I understand she was a superstar, but she didn't deserve to be treated that way in the media toward the end, you know?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MORGAN: You knew Dick Clark for 40, 50 years, an absolute legend of the business. Put him in context, historical context. How important was Dick Clark, do you think? LARRY KING, TV HOST: He was a pioneer. You know, in the early days of television with "American Bandstand," he revolutionized music on television, as we pointed out earlier talking even before we went on. He had blacks and whites dance together --

MORGAN: Yes.

KING: -- unheard of. A lot of young people watching would say, what? That's crazy.

That was crazy then to put that on.

MORGAN: Yes.

KING: Risk taking.

Then he was involved in so many programs that the public didn't even know he --

MORGAN: Here's the thing. I knew that you were responsible for this show alone before I came along for 7,000 shows. Now, Dick Clark apparently was responsible in all his guises for 75,000 hours of television.

(CROSSTALK)

MORGAN: Isn't that amazing?

KING: Amazing.

MORGAN: The only guy that beat you.

KING: His longevity was amazing. And the many -- there's so many thing he touched as a producer, as a businessman, he owned a radio network, quiz shows, radio talk shows, television talk shows. He produced "Donnie and Marie." You're going to have Donnie on. He produced their television show.

MORGAN: If you could --

KING: He produced everything.

MORGAN: If you could bottle the Dick Clark magic, what would you call it? What was the secret ingredient that he had?

KING: He was a great generalist. He could do anything. He was very, very good. There's no -- you wouldn't go around quoting Dick Clark.

You know, there's no memorable great moments, but he was kind of every man. He was there. He entered the room well. The camera liked him. He was gentle, he was kind, he was smart, he was revolutionary in music.

For example, even as he aged, most people get older, you and I -- I'm not saying you're old. (LAUGHTER)

KING: We could not name the Billboard Top 10.

MORGAN: Yes, but he could.

KING: Right. He could name it.

MORGAN: Yes.

KING: I'm sure he could have named it yesterday.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MORGAN: Next, some happier moments, as big stars playing it for laughs. Three of my funniest guests of the year.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MORGAN: I want you to kiss my chubby fingers in the way you just did in that clip. Oh, my God, this is the most erotic thing that's ever happened to me.

BETTY WHITE, ACTRESS: You poor Brit.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MORGAN: In my career I've gone head to head with world leaders, CEOs, tech geniuses and Hollywood superstars. But you never know what you're going to get when you sit down with a comedian.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MORGAN: What I like about you is you're a shameless plagiarist. You have taken "Fifty Shades of Grey" and you've got a book coming out called "Fifty Shades of Chartreuse, This Time it's Personal."

CHELSEA HANDLER, COMEDIAN: First of all, you're not pronouncing it correctly.

MORGAN: I am, chartreuse.

CHELSEA: It's "50 Shades of Chartreuse." OK? So, you better -- you're on this side of the pond right now.

MORGAN: I'm married to a woman who was born and raised in France.

HANDLER: OK. So --

MORGAN: I know how to speak French. HANDLER: It's "Fifty Shades of Chartreuse," I'm speaking to put hashtag, "This Time it's Personal." I'm deciding for the subtitle. It's not a take-off on "Fifty Shades of Grey." I just wanted to rip off the title because it was such a stupid book.

MORGAN: Have you read "Fifty Shades of Grey"?

HANDLER: I read the first seven chapters. And after that I was --

MORGAN: Was there anything in there you hadn't already done yourself?

HANDLER: No. Believe it or not, I'm actually fairly conservative when it comes to sexual escapades.

MORGAN: Really?

HANDLER: I know you probably imagined differently and have several nights during the week when you go to bed. But I am not interested in S&M at all.

MORGAN: Seriously?

HANDLER: Are you?

MORGAN: You surprise me.

HANDLER: No. I don't want to get hit in bed. If you're going to hit me, do it out in the open, you know? I mean, if somebody -- first of all, if somebody does deserve to get hit, it is me but I don't want to do it sexually.

MORGAN: No manacles?

HANDLER: No. What is that? Obviously, you know more about this than I do.

MORGAN: Only from the books.

HANDLER: Did you read the entire trilogy?

MORGAN: It's unreadable. Why do women want to read this? I mean, no offense to the author. She's made billions out of it. It is one of the most badly written books I have ever read. I read "Fifty Shades of Grey."

HANDLER: Why would you read that?

MORGAN: Just out of pure curiosity.

HANDLER: OK.

MORGAN: Every woman I knew was reading this. I go I've got to read this.

HANDLER: Yes.

MORGAN: I just didn't get it. Men would never read that stuff in a million years.

HANDLER: Yes, it's a phenomenon. I mean, I don't profess to be any of the most scholarly writers per se. I mean, I know my books are really silly and stupid, but I at least think they're amusing to some degree.

That was just so poorly written. I mean, I couldn't even -- it was insulting to anyone's intelligence to read that. And then my friends who had suggested that I read it, I e-mailed them like you should be ashamed of yourselves for finishing this kind of book. It's a piece of trash.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MORGAN: What I can't believe is the way you look, because we all fell in love back in Britain with fat, chubby Ricky. The guy --

RICKY GERVAIS, COMEDIAN: I wasn't that fat.

MORGAN: You were pretty fat.

(LAUGHTER)

MORGAN: And you drank a lot of beer.

GERVAIS: You didn't tell me then, though, did you?

MORGAN: No, I didn't.

GERVAIS: People come up to me and say, you look fantastic. You just mean I looked terrible before, but you wouldn't -- you should've said then, I'd have worked out faster.

(LAUGHTER)

GERVAIS: I had to find out for myself. I keep throwing these trousers away, another pair of shrunk jeans, right? And then I --

MORGAN: You were the standard-bearer for the beer-swilling, fish n' chip-eating, bigger guy.

GERVAIS: Well, I still do that. But I --

MORGAN: But look at you, you --

GERVAIS: But I discovered working out.

MORGAN: How much weight have you lost?

GERVAIS: Not much at all. I think about 25 pounds. But --

MORGAN: But that's quite a lot.

GERVAIS: -- I've done it by working out. I -- I still eat too much. I still drink too much. But the next day, I punish myself in the gym. I work out like Rocky.

And then I feel great. You know, it makes you feel better, genuinely, you know, that's --

MORGAN: Even you teeth look gleaming.

GERVAIS: I haven't had them done.

MORGAN: Anything to them? Hollywood smiley?

GERVAIS: I got some free -- those things in a luxury lounge once, those -- I thought those made me gag. But I brush them.

MORGAN: What made you --

GERVAIS: I've always been clean.

MORGAN: Hold on.

(LAUGHTER)

GERVAIS: Suddenly, I'm fat and disgusting who didn't clean my teeth. You're re-writing history here. I had a few pounds, yes. And the beard helps. That gives an illusion of -- I wear black, I still do that.

MORGAN: What made you go on this vanity kick?

GERVAIS: It wasn't a vanity kick. It was a health kick. I'll tell you, the truth was it was Christmas. I was 48, a couple of Christmases ago. And I had 11 sausages.

And I sat there feeling ill. The number of times I've said, "Jane, I'm having a heart attack --

(LAUGHTER)

GERVAIS: -- I'm having a heart attack."

And I thought, you know what? Life is good. And I don't want to blow it. I don't want to go, "Hold on. Just -- what?"

MORGAN: And, by the way, it wasn't just me, because the -- this dashing feature in "Men's Health" magazine, the feature we never thought we'd see of you, as this immaculate kickboxing Gervais.

GERVAIS: Yes.

MORGAN: It says, "How Ricky Gervais totally lost it," which is an encouraging headline, until I read on. "He went from barely employed chubby loser to bad-ass comedic auteur. His next act: losing the gut and gaining respect." (LAUGHTER)

GERVAIS: Yes. That's good, isn't it?

(LAUGHTER)

GERVAIS: I'm glad I lived this long to get to "comedic auteur," because otherwise, it would just be --

MORGAN: Where would you be without that?

GERVAIS: -- "The death of a fight-useless chubby loser with -- who never cleans his teeth and stinks. Ricky Gervais died today at the age of 48 through sausages. Death by sausage."

That's a prison term.

MORGAN: What?

GERVAIS: Cut that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MORGAN: One of my favorite bits of this whole album is when you get together with The Doors.

JIMMY FALLON, COMEDIAN: Yes.

MORGAN: You perform "Reading Rainbow" and apparently it gets completely out of hand.

FALLON: Well, it's a --

MORGAN: I'd like you to play out this show playing "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 writer's room. We were just kind of like --

(SINGING)

MORGAN: I genuinely fear for his sanity.

The great Jimmy Fallon.

Jimmy, thank you so much.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MORGAN: That's it for us tonight. It's been an extraordinary year. Thank you for watching.