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Joy Behar Page
Celebs Behaving Badly; Angry with Incumbents; Newt`s "Nazi" Reference; Alexander The Great
Aired May 17, 2010 - 21:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOY BEHAR, HLN HOST: Tonight on THE JOY BEHAR SHOW, rumor has it that Lindsay Lohan threw her drink at somebody in New York City -- that`s unbelievable. I never would have thought Lindsay would throw away a perfectly good cocktail, would you?
Then to show her support for Arizona governor, Jan Brewer, Sarah Palin said, "We`re all Arizonans." Really? Listen, I don`t sit around retirement communities complaining about my kids. Ok? I sit around New York complaining about Sarah Palin.
And Jason Alexander and I have something in common and, no, it is not just that we`ve both done comedy. It is that we`ve both Jenny Craig; not the woman, the diet. He`ll join me live.
That and more in just a bit.
Once again, Russell Crowe is throwing hissy fits and Lindsay Lohan is throwing cocktails. What happened to the good old days when the rumors were about Frank Sinatra throwing someone off a roof? Why are some celebrities behaving so badly and why are we letting them get away with it?
With me to discuss this and more are E! Network`s Ben Lyons; psychologist Debbie Magids; and celebrity publicist Howard Bragman.
Ok. Russell Crowe got offended and walked out during a BBC Radio interview promoting his new movie "Robin Hood". Listen to this.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The accent you`ve given him, there are hints of Irish but what were you thinking of in those terms?
RUSSELL CROWE, ACTOR: You`ve got dead ears, mate. You`ve seriously got dead ears if you think that`s an Irish accent.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hints of, I thought.
CROWE: Bullocks. I`m a little dumbfounded that you could possibly find any Irish in that character. That`s kind of ridiculous but it`s your show.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So you`re going for, well, no - I`m just saying, you`re going for northern English?
CROWE: No, I was going for an Italian. Yes. Missed it?
(END AUDIO CLIP)
BEHAR: Little touchy, isn`t he, about the accent?
BEN LYONS, E! NETWORK: Good for him, though. I appreciate the candidness. Russell Crowe is one of those actors who, when you interview him, he tells it like it is. And as someone who interviews folks, you can relate that there`s a way to ask a question and there a way to ask a question to kind of take a stab at somebody.
I think that`s what that journalist might have been doing there.
BEHAR: But he`s gotten into trouble. He was arrested in 2005 for throwing a cell phone at a hotel employee. I mean they get away with being rude and obnoxious, I think, a lot of celebrities. Don`t you think so?
DEBBIE MAGIDS, PSYCHOLOGIST: Yes. And I disagree with what you said. I think that interviewer was just trying to do his job and I think Russell Crowe acted pretty obnoxiously.
BEHAR: Yes.
MAGIDS: I think there`s a celebrity culture that they get away with what they want. But I also think each celebrity brings something to the culture. Russell Crowe has a pattern of not being nice to people. And I think he brings that to the party. That is his personality. I don`t think it`s every celebrity but I think the culture allows it to happen.
BEHAR: but they have a sense of entitlement, I think. Right, Howard? You have worked with celebrities.
HOWARD BRAGMAN, CELEBRITY PUBLICIST: I don`t necessarily believe that. I believe because you`re a celebrity you are held, in many cases, to a higher standard and we live in this obnoxiously transparent world.
I can go to Costco and I can get in an argument with an idiot sales clerk and it`s just some schmuck getting in an argument with an idiot sales clerk. If you do it, all of a sudden somebody`s got a camera phone, it`s on there. It`s on YouTube and there`s a different standard that celebrities have.
BEHAR: Do you think he was just stirring up interest in the movie?
LYONS: No. I think he was maybe hitting a breaking point in promoting the movie. They guy`s been on the road fro the last month.
(CROSSTALK)
LYONS: He`s at Cannes Film Festival. He`s in L.A. He`s tired. One question rubs him the wrong way and he`s not going to compromise himself and be Hollywood. He gives a straight answer.
BEHAR: Does it hurt his image at all?
LYONS: No, not at all.
BEHAR: I mean Sean Penn is in anger management now. Do people like it better when they`re like that?
MAGIDS: I disagree. I think it does hurt his image.
LYONS: Really?
MAGIDS: I think for the public at large, I think there are some celebrities that we really feel for. Robert Downey Jr., the people that are in trouble, the people who have a disease. People who are just obnoxious, eventually you get sick and tired of them and you don`t want to deal with them anymore.
BEHAR: Ok, so Lindsay Lohan. Is she diseased or just a pain in the butt? She threw a drink in a model`s face when she didn`t get the table she wanted. As I said before, I can`t believe she wasted a drink but really, she was pissed.
MAGIDS: I think Lindsay Lohan`s in a little bit of trouble because she`s also going through her adolescent into adult years in the public eye. I mean she`s not doing that much different than most people her age. They`re in the clubs, they`re drinking, they`re partying. And then she is being scrutinized.
BEHAR: She is not --
BRAGMAN: She has a big problem. She doesn`t have a career right now.
BEHAR: That`s what I was going to say.
BRAGMAN: She`s uninsurable right now by a lot of measures and if she does get insured you know they will test her blood, her urine and every other bodily fluid they can test every day and she has trouble.
Russell Crowe has a career. You know, let`s understand the difference between a real problem and some snarkiness or somebody who`s just a little tired. I think that`s what we get confused.
BEHAR: So he was a little snarky in that interview?
BRAGMAN: Yes, I think a little.
BEHAR: And testy.
LYONS: And that adds to the mystique of Russell Crowe. And it`s part of the persona and it`s part of the reason why people maybe go out and shell 15 bucks at the box office. He`s kind of created this bad boy persona for him that he seems to thrive on
Lindsay has got to get back to work. And it`s unfortunate no one will insure her. And I think she`s somebody who is probably in a better place when she`s on set and has a job and working as opposed to being out in the --
MAGIDS: But that`s why Lindsay is in a lot of trouble because she is going through a big failure publicly and she needs to lick her wounds a little more privately.
BEHAR: Ok. What about Jonathan Rhys Myers? I know him. He comes on my other show. He is an adorable guy and a wonderful actor. He is in that -- the Tudor series on Showtime. It`s great.
And yet he has been banned from flying United Airlines for drunken behavior. There he is. He`s such a cutie. I just like him.
He has substance abuse problems, I think. Does that make him more sympathetic?
MAGIDS: Yes. Absolutely.
LYONS: Absolutely. Especially anybody going through that type of issue in the public eye can be difficult and he`s someone who`s battled that for I think a while now and again someone who when they`re working, they`re in a much better state than when they`re off.
BEHAR: Right.
LYONS: And that`s when they fall into traps.
BRAGMAN: Joy, I just --
BEHAR: But that is a hard part. Have you been watching it? It is a lot of work and he must have stayed sober for that.
BRAGMAN: I just read some research this weekend about young people and their attitudes on celebrities and stuff. If somebody is just a positive success and keeps going, that`s not as interesting to them as somebody who`s overcome something and then had to come back to it --
BEHAR: They like that better? Why -- because they identify with it?
BRAGMAN: Yes. And it makes people more human.
LYONS: It makes them more real. It makes them more accessible. These stars nowadays are more accessible than they`ve ever been because of Twitter and camera phones and like you say --
BRAGMAN: And haven`t you ever screamed at the airlines? Come on. I`ve been flying a lot lately.
MAGIDS: It also makes us out there feel better about ourselves. When someone`s too perfect in the public eye and everything goes too perfectly --
BEHAR: We hate that.
MAGIDS: -- we don`t feel better about ourselves. And this way we can like ourselves better if they`re in trouble too.
BEHAR: Isn`t that the Tiger Woods story? That he was up here and then --
MAGIDS: Yes.
BEHAR: What about this story? I`m not sure about this one. Gabby Sidibe, the girl from precious. Now she was reportedly rude to fans and reporters at the Washington correspondents` dinner. I`m not sure if that was a one shot thing because she`s a sweet girl.
MAGIDS: I`m going to give her that she`s probably having a bad day and something happened. I`m going to give her a one-shot deal there. She seems sweet. She came out of nowhere. I bet she is pretty appreciative of what`s going on.
BRAGMAN: Do we know what happened? Are we 100 percent sure it really happened?
BEHAR: She dissed a reporter. Let`s put it that way.
BRAGMAN: You know what? Some of them deserve it. I`ve been there.
BEHAR: You know what, Howard? I don`t think so. I think that when you are in the public eye and reporters talk to you or fans talk to you, you`re always gracious, always.
BRAGMAN: I think there are certain reporters who ask certain questions in certain times and they`re not deserving of the kind of respect --
BEHAR: Yes, but you know what? The reporter will turn on you, then. The reporter will then write something bad about you, so you better be smart about it.
BRAGMAN: Well, she has enough goodwill that if that`s her only transgression she will overcome that.
(CROSSTALK)
LYONS: I think she`s handled this whole run rather gracefully. It`s been over a year and a half now talking about the same performance. And I think she`s done a nice job of making it seem exciting and fresh.
BRAGMAN: Look what she`s had to overcome in one year. I mean, when you say overcome, this is a girl who, you know, can`t go to subway anymore without somebody coming up to you and you know what it is like. Being a celebrity, there`s a lot of good things. But it is a pain in the butt a lot of times, too.
BEHAR: I love it.
MAGIDS: I was going to say -- your point if everyone can handle --
BRAGMAN: Do you never want to be anonymous?
BEHAR: Never. Never. Never, never I tell you, Howard. I`m a star.
BRAGMAN: Look at you. Look at you.
BEHAR: What about Woody Allen? I did a movie with Woody Allen. I know him a little bit. It was right in the middle of the Soon Yi thing. Now he`s supporting Roman Polanski -- duh.
He`s saying he has suffered and paid his dues. Is that good for Roman Polanski?
MAGIDS: Probably --
LYONS: I mean look. It`s directors sticking together and it`s authors (ph) sticking together and there`s the sacred fraternity of filmmakers at that level of the business. I don`t know if Roman`s ecstatic about the endorsement but --
(CROSSTALK)
BEHAR: Not Michael Douglas. I was reading Michael Douglas says, no. Not going to support him.
BRAGMAN: Nobody is condoning what Roman Polanski did but what they`re saying is let`s look at the justice system and why are we investing so much time and money in this guy when there are murders and rapists and real criminals running free?
BEHAR: Because the guy won`t come here and take his medicine. That`s why.
BRAGMAN: He`s going to be dead before we get him to trial.
BEHAR: Well, if that happens, it happens.
MAGIDS: You know what, Joy? Woody Allen also identified with him and he wants to be forgiven for his transgressions and he wants this guy to be forgiven for his transgressions.
BEHAR: Well, yes. Roman`s also got another girl that just came out. She said he attacked her when she was 16 and she`s in her 40s now.
BRAGMAN: Not admissible in court, 30 years later. I mean, again, you have to say, is this credible? Is it somebody looking for their own 15 minutes? Because we have seen that.
BEHAR: Well, should be no statute of limitations on sexual attack. The priesthood and Hollywood, I don`t care where it is. A child doesn`t remember sometimes and -- it takes 30 years to get to it. You`re a shrink.
MAGIDS: Yes.
BEHAR: You know that.
MAGIDS: Yes, I do. I`m agreeing with you. Absolutely you can`t know everything right off the bat and if Roman Polanski wasn`t Roman Polanski, he would be gone.
BEHAR: Gone.
MAGIDS: Exactly.
BEHAR: Gone. Thanks, everybody. We`ll be back in a minute.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Coming up a little later on THE JOY BEHAR SHOW, from "Seinfeld", actor Jason Alexander drops by to talk about shrinkage of his waistline. Thanks to his newest role as a Jenny Craig`s spokesman.
Now back to Joy.
BEHAR: Tomorrow sees key primaries in three states, Arkansas, Kentucky and Pennsylvania. Will the Tea Partiers` vitriol and venom translate into votes? We have to wait and see.
Here with me now are Hilary Rosen, CNN political contributor and Susan Molinari, former GOP Congresswoman, and Chair of Strategic Communications for Bracewell & Giuliani LLP. It`s quite a mouthful Susan.
SUSAN MOLINARI, FORMER REPUBLICAN CONGRESSWOMAN: So does Italian names on this --
BEHAR: Come on. Ok. Hilary, why is there so much anger out there from these Tea partiers and also, from the left, somewhat --
HILARY ROSEN, CNN POLITICAL CONTRIBUTOR: Yes.
BEHAR: -- toward -- toward incumbents. What`s going on?
ROSEN: Well, the Tea Party anger I can only speculate. The good news about all that Tea Party anger is that it seems to be splitting the Republicans more than it`s -- it`s hurting the Democrats. But there -- there is what we call the enthusiasm gap in the Democratic Party right now, which is that Republicans are more enthusiastic and probably will have a higher turnout at the polls tomorrow.
And I think that`s due to just a -- sort of a natural come-down after an election that raised so much hope. But, you know, we have our work cut out for us. We`ll see what happens tomorrow but, you know, this administration and this Democratic Congress has accomplished a lot. We still have a long story to tell and a big story to tell before November. So I`m not so discouraged.
BEHAR: Susan, do we really want to go back to when the Republicans were in charge, not for nothing. I know you are a Republican but it wasn`t that great during the Bush years and you know it.
MOLINARI: Well, you know what? The Republican Party has learned their lessons in terms of balancing budgets, reducing deficits. By listening to the American people who have said you know, we really want to concentrate on jobs and spending within our means.
I mean, let`s -- you want to talk about where the party stands right now and the mood in the country. We are now at a time when if the election were held today, the president senate seat, the Vice President, Senate seat and the Majority Leader of the United States Senate would go to Republican candidates.
That is an amazing shift from where we were two years ago. I have never seen a political party fall -- and Hilary talked very well about the enthusiasm gap. That`s where the Republicans are leading right now. As well as with regard to where the registered independents are going.
So I think there are people who are having some buyer`s remorse and said when they voted for change they want more change. And that`s what we`re going to see tomorrow and I think what you`re going to see in November.
BEHAR: Really? Hilary, what do you say to all that?
ROSEN: Well, I just don`t -- think there`s more a throw the bums out mentality that there is buyer`s remorse. I don`t think this is about Democrats or Republicans frankly. I think this is about frustration on unemployment, frustration that jobs are still being lost.
But, you know, if we keep going like this in November, Barack Obama will have created more jobs in his first year than George Bush created in his entire administration. The economy is picking up.
So, I think we look at what happened last week to Republican Senator Bob Bennett in Utah. People are just unhappy with incumbents. I don`t actually think this is going to attach to one party or the other.
BEHAR: But Susan it seems --
MOLINARI: Well, I do think --
BEHAR: Ok, go ahead.
MOLINARI: I do think people are unhappy with incumbents and what that`s going to mean when we get to November,-- we`re going to win the seat in Utah and we`re going to win the seat in Kentucky no matter who wins but when you have Congressional approval rating at 21 percent, when the Democrats control the House, the Senate and the President, it`s hard to blame that dissatisfaction on Republicans right now.
BEHAR: I mean --
MOLINARI: Yes, go ahead --
BEHAR: I mean, Susan, you`re a moderate Republican, aren`t you a little disappointed in your party the way they`re behaving? How conservative do they have to get? Do we have to lock up all Mexicans at this point?
MOLINARI: Well, I mean when you talk about my party and now listen. You know, I`m a big fan of legal immigration and have seen -- it created the greatest city in the world, in New York.
But when you talk about the Republican Party, it`s also Republican Party that elected Bob McDonald running as a centrist in Virginia, Chris Christie in New Jersey, Scott Brown in Massachusetts. You know, we`re probably going to win seats in Delaware and Ohio and Illinois with moderates so I think what you`re starting to see is an expansion and excitement in the Republican Party that`s bringing in some very conservatives and some very moderate Republicans.
ROSEN: I don`t see that.
BEHAR: But do you see any in your party speaking out against these extremists in the party? I don`t see anybody really speaking out.
MOLINARI: When you talk -- when you talk about extremists, look. I have heard people in this party say they do not agree with the Arizona law, if that`s what you`re referring to. But they also say, "Hey, everybody agrees", 75 percent of the American people agree with the Arizona law, by the way, so I guess they`re not extremists. They`re in the mainstream and they`re also very frustrated.
BEHAR: A lot of it`s coming out of fear, Susan. A lot of it is out of fear.
MOLINARI: Well, that`s right, sure.
BEHAR: People are frightened and so they move to the right. There`s -- not rational necessarily.
(CROSSTALK)
MOLINARI: Well, that`s right and their afraid that federal government --
ROSEN: There`s a lot of fear mongering.
MOLINARI: -- is not -- they`re afraid that the federal is not going to fix the problems.
BEHAR: Yes.
MOLINORI: I mean, that`s where the fear is coming from, an unresponsive government.
ROSEN: And -- and --
BEHAR: Go ahead Hilary.
ROSEN: From a pure political standpoint, you know, 70 percent of the Hispanics just because of things like the Arizona law say they favor Democrats. It`s the fastest growing population in the country. I think it doesn`t serve the Republicans well to let those loud voices dominate their party.
But you know, I -- there will be a couple of bell weather races tomorrow that people should look for, Joy. So obviously, the first one is what happens in the -- Arkansas primary and the Pennsylvania primaries for senate.
But also, there`s a Congressional district in Pennsylvania that was a seat formerly held by Congressman John Murtha, a Democrat, who passed away. It`s a very tightly contested seat. Those are kind of the conservative Democrats.
If a Republican takes that seat, it`s going to make a lot of people in Washington, a lot of Democrats in Washington extra nervous. If a Democrat holds that seat, it might be not quite as bad as we feared.
BEHAR: Ok. Let me look at this. Sarah Palin has been a very businesswoman. She went to Arizona and said that President Obama should, quote, "Do his job and protect our borders." Gee, Sarah, wouldn`t that be socialized immigration? But she wasn`t finished. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SARAH PALIN, FORMER GOVERNOR OF ALASKA: Washington, let me tell you, you no doubt don`t want to mess with moms who are rising up. They`re in Alaska. I always think of the mama grizzly bears rising up on their hind legs when somebody is coming to attack their cubs.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BEHAR: Susan, is she a little paranoid? Who`s attacking her cubs?
MOLINARI: Well, you know, coming from New York, the mama grizzly thing, I`m a little lost on because we don`t have a lot of the mountains in Staten Island, Joy.
BEHAR: We`ve got mama cockroaches there yes.
MOLINARI: We do, we do. But look. Let me -- let me try and answer the question this way. I think that what the context of what she was talking about we`re more and more Republican women running for Office. And this is going to be the year of the Republican woman. We have two out of three candidates running for Majority Leader Harry Reid`s seat that are Republican. We have suburban women are now voting for the Republican Party.
So it was in the context of the fact that a voting bloc that we haven`t had for a very long time based on their frustration with this administration and this Democrat Congress, coming to the Republican Party.
ROSEN: Ok, you know, Sarah Palin is a great theater she is just not very good at politics.
BEHAR: She has too much power right now in my opinion.
Guys, sit right there. We`ll continue this discussion right after the break. We have more.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
Newt Gingrich was challenged on "Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace" about some of his fiery rhetoric. Take a look as Wallace reads a quote from Gingrich`s book.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRIS WALLACE, FOX NEWS HOST: "The secular-socialist machine represents as great a threat to America as Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union once did." Mr. Speaker, respectfully, isn`t that wildly over the top?
NEWT GINGRICH, FORMER SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: No. The secular- socialist left represents a fundamental replacement of America, a very different world view, a very different outcome. I think it`s a very serious threat to our way of life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BEHAR: I`m back with Hilary Rosen and Susan Molinari. Susan, when Bush was called a Nazi, the right wing went berserk on him. And yet, Gingrich just throws the word around as if it`s nothing. What is up with him? What is he, losing his marbles?
MOLINARI: This has always been -- let me distance myself from that remark first of all in all seriousness. To compare anything that is going on in this country to the atrocities of Nazi Germany in any way, shape or form is just crazy. And you know that Newt was so smart. He got the Republican majority back in a generation, contract with America. And then, you know, moved quickly into a government shutdown and complained about his seat on President Clinton`s plane.
This is Newt. He can be really smart sometimes and sometimes he can just say some absolutely outrageous things. I would be like to be in that corner of saying that is outrageous.
BEHAR: Good. I`m glad you did that.
ROSEN: He is like a hyperbolic nut case and the problem is --
(CROSSTALK)
BEHAR: You don`t mean that in a bad way.
ROSEN: He is not -- but -- but, you know, in all farce, of course, he`s -- the problem with Newt Gingrich is that he actually says what most of the folks in the leadership of the Republican party are actually promoting. So, you know, they may not be calling --
MOLINARI: That is not true. No, no, no.
ROSEN: Wait, wait. Let me finish. They may not be saying that the President is presiding over Nazi Germany but they are out there fomenting a level of discourse and anger and --
BEHAR: Why?
ROSEN: Craziness.
BEHAR: Why are they doing that?
XTALK: He and -- go ahead, Susan. But he and John McCain were the moderates and now they`re really swinging to the right. What is the problem?
(CROSSTALK)
ROSEN: They`ve completely denounced all moderation.
MOLINARI: If this was just -- first of all, the Republican leadership has -- I have not heard any comment saying that Newt Gingrich was right or close to being right or this was an smart, appropriate thing to say. But if this was just about the Republican Party moving to the right in terms of fomenting, a lot of -- let`s just take Newt off the table because that`s just not even worth talking about.
BEHAR: Let`s put him under the table.
MOLINARI: Right. Exactly. Thank you.
BEHAR: Ok.
MOLINARI: A lot of what is happening right now in this country is a level of dissatisfaction with the direction of this government. At a time when we have a deficit that is now -- something like $84 billion, $83.7 billion, when last April it was $20 billion. When people have said to this government, record deficits are a major concern of ours and yet they have not been addressed. There is this level of dissatisfaction gnat government is not responding to the concerns of the people.
BEHAR: Hilary?
ROSEN: Every time, every time one of the leaders of the Republican Party, whether it`s Sarah Palin or whether it`s Newt Gingrich or whether it`s a media guy like Rush Limbaugh says something outrageous, the leadership of the Republican Party is silent.
BEHAR: That is true.
ROSEN: It`s because they want these guys out there saying what they`re saying.
BEHAR: Right. They need to open their mouths.
MOLINARI: I don`t think that they think that that is the smart thing and helps our party in any way, shape or form.
BEHAR: But they need to say it, Susan. It`s not enough to think it. They have to say it.
ROSEN: They don`t say it.
BEHAR: Ok. Thanks very much.
MOLINARI: Maybe they haven`t read Newt`s book.
BEHAR: Who`s going to read that?
Up next -- thank you so much, ladies -- the newly-svelte Jason Alexander joins me next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JOY BEHAR, HLN HOST: George Castanza will always be remembered as a funny, neurotic, chubby guy from SEINFELD. Jason Alexander who played George may be funny and neurotic but he`s definitely not chubby anymore after losing 30 pounds on Jenny Craig. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JENNY CRAIG: You look great.
JASON ALEXANDER, ACTOR: Thirty pounds in 18 weeks. Jenny totally worked.
CRAIG: Bikini?
ALEXANDER: Better. Take a look, drink it in I was fat now I`m thin a bikini was an ultimate call who needs a bikini I`m baring it all.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BEHAR: OK. Here with me is Mr. Six-pack abs himself, Mr. Alexander.
Wow that is funny.
ALEXANDER: It`s fun.
BEHAR: It is funny.
ALEXANDER: Yes.
BEHAR: It is like the "Little Shop Of Horrors" sort of sound.
ALEXANDER: Yes. Yes.
BEHAR: Right?
ALEXANDER: So, I wonder if I`ll be sued by Allen Minkin now.
BEHAR: No, you won`t.
ALEXANDER: OK.
BEHAR: But you look great. You lost 30 pounds.
ALEXANDER: I did, it`s not lost, I know where it is. I could find it. Like that.
BEHAR: Where is it? Hey, hey --
ALEXANDER: Like that -
BEHAR: Where is it -
ALEXANDER: But yes, I did. Thirty pounds in about 18 weeks, something like that.
BEHAR: Eighteen weeks?
ALEXANDER: Yes.
BEHAR: I did the same thing and put a little bit back.
ALEXANDER: Well --
BEHAR: Half.
ALEXANDER: That can happen.
BEHAR: I put half back.
ALEXANDER: I`m hoping to not do that. I`m married to a woman that has weapons and would not look good. If I start gaining it back.
BEHAR: You`re the first man that they have had, spokesman for the Jenny Craig. Right?
ALEXANDER: Thank you for that -- noticing.
BEHAR: Yes. I mean, what`s the idea of jumping to a male representative?
ALEXANDER: Well, it is an odd thing. You know, I guess Jenny Craig has the -- gives the impression of being a feminine product -
BEHAR: Yes.
ALEXANDER: Which is silly because what`s a gender food? You know? But -- and I think they active said, you know, this works for guys. Why don`t we get a guy? And we -- I had made a connection with them because of a character that I was doing. We were looking for a branding partner.
BEHAR: Yes.
ALEXANDER: They said, you know, we are not branding right now but we would be happy to talk to Jason and I told them my sad tale of woe of weight and struggling. And they explained the program. Said, what do you think? I went, yes.
BEHAR: It works.
ALEXANDER: It really does work. It really does work.
BEHAR: So your whole life you`re battling weight?
ALEXANDER: Yes. I was heavy as a kid. I got it for a while there in my 20s and early 30s.
BEHAR: Sure needed to get a little action.
ALEXANDER: Yes well I was doing Broadway. I was a dancer an singer and kind of kept it under control but then I got to SEINFELD with the rather lavish Kraft service budget and I -- I gained 15 pounds with each kid. You know? My wife had the baby but I kept going. I held on. And so, over about 20 years I gained 40, 45 pounds.
BEHAR: Yes. You know, I was reading a study that said that people who lose a little at a time, you know, like over long stretch of two pounds a month, let`s say, they don`t do well. It is the ones that do fast drop that basically stay on it more.
ALEXANDER: Well, I have heard that, like, a really -- like a crash diet seems to not be useful.
BEHAR: No.
ALEXANDER: What everybody seems to say, not just Jenny Craig but all the programs say a pound to two a week is a good, steady, safe -- tends to reset your metabolism and then you can kind of hold it there.
BEHAR: Yes, but even that -- two pounds. You know? You want more. You want it off.
ALEXANDER: Listen. Two pounds, good. Two pounds a week is good.
BEHAR: I know.
ALEXANDER: Very happy.
BEHAR: Slow and steady wins the race. Do you have a goal weight?
ALEXANDER: Yes, very happy, 30.
BEHAR: You set it at 30?
ALEXANDER: Yes. I see a little round thing here and a little thing. Maybe another ten. I`m still about --
BEHAR: You`d like to lose more?
ALEXANDER: Well, I`m five or six pounds above where I started SEINFELD" at. I`m about 165. One hundred fifty-nine was a good, good- looking thing for me. I may push another --
BEHAR: Push it.
ALEXANDER: Six to ten. We`ll see.
BEHAR: Tell me the story about your son when you hit 50.
ALEXANDER: Oh, yes.
BEHAR: That might have been your tipping point.
ALEXANDER: It was a big moment, yes. Didn`t seem that way at the time but in retrospect. I had gone to the doctor. You`re healthy as a horse. You have two health problems because of your weight. Please do something.
BEHAR: What was it --
ALEXANDER: I have very high cholesterol.
BEHAR: High cholesterol, yes, ok and the other one?
ALEXANDER: And I have fatty deposits in the liver.
BEHAR: Hate that.
ALEXANDER: Yes, not fun.
BEHAR: No.
ALEXANDER: And so then we had the 50th birthday. And my younger son is 14, Noah, is 14. And he - I tucking him in that night. And he goes, dad, how old would you be at my 50th birthday. And I said, well, I`ll be --
BEHAR: And he is 14?
ALEXANDER: I said, I`ll be 86.
BEHAR: Uh-huh.
ALEXANDER: And he kind of looked at me and went, you going to be there? And I went, well, I tell you what, I`ll really try. It just kind of cemented for me I had gotten away -- I have really good genetics and gotten away with a lot of stuff up to 50. But I went, you know, this is not going to get any easier.
BEHAR: Don`t push it.
ALEXANDER: This is really not going to get any easier, so it felt like now or never. And these guys came in and they were really my heroes because the program is solid. It really works. It was mindless. I always say, if it were hard -
BEHAR: Yes.
ALEXANDER: I could not do it.
BEHAR: No. They tell you exactly what to do. Why you are losing.
ALEXANDER: They tell you what to do, I was never hungry.
BEHAR: It`s maintenance that`s hard.
ALEXANDER: And I got with my little consultant. And we figured out all the little issues.
BEHAR: Yes.
ALEXANDER: And it was all good. I don`t think the maintenance, I mean maybe it`s a mind-set. I don`t think the maintenance is going to be very hard for me because I -- because here`s the misnomer everybody has. You have to eat their food all the time. I did not do that because I was traveling -
BEHAR: No.
ALEXANDER: And literally couldn`t do it. So I learned how to eat off the program but eat with their principles and that`s -- I don`t find it difficult.
BEHAR: do you exercise?
ALEXANDER: Yes but I always did.
BEHAR: You always did but you still couldn`t lose weight. It is really about the food?
ALEXANDER: Well you know when you burn 500 calories in a workout and eat 15,000 --
BEHAR: Right, there you go.
ALEXANDER: It just doesn`t --
BEHAR: You know we found this old commercial in the archives that you were in. Take a look.
ALEXANDER: Huh oh.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALEXANDER: I`m talking quarter pounder beef on a hot hot side.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSONS: And the hot stays hot.
ALEXANDER: The new blt.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSONS: Hot, hot.
ALEXANDER: Crisp lettuce and tomato on the cool cool side.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSONS: And the cool stays cool.
ALEXANDER: The new MCBLT.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSONS: Cool crisp
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BEHAR: I`m assuming McDonald`s is not on the diet anymore.
ALEXANDER: It`s not high on the list. And actually, I represented the one McDonald`s product that went in the toilet from the get-go.
BEHAR: Yes, I don`t remember that one.
ALEXANDER: They couldn`t give those things away.
BEHAR: mcdlt.
ALEXANDER: Mcdlt was brilliant, brilliant. Oh my god.
BEHAR: What is the "d"?
ALEXANDER: Here`s what it was. When you get a hamburger that is premade, the hamburger, the heat of the hamburger wilts the lettuce and tomato. Genius, two-container package for one bun with lettuce and tomato over here keeping it cool and the hamburger hot over here keeping it warm. Very good, build it this way, they take it home this way. But they don`t do that because the geniuses at McDonald`s, they do, and put it in everything from the top and fall down from the bottom. It was an mcdlt-mess. It was a horrible product.
BEHAR: Mcdlt-mess -
ALEXANDER: It was horrible, it was a horrible product.
BEHAR: Do you worry that you might not be as funny now that you`re so studly and everything?
ALEXANDER: How -- well, boy. Now, seven different answers and threw me with the studly at the end. Jerry Seinfeld, he goes 20 pounds up or down, you lose your funny.
ALEXANDER: Is that so? Twenty pounds up or down you lose your funny.
BEHAR: Is that so, 20 pounds up or down you lose your funny.
ALEXANDER: That is his theory.
BEHAR: Well there are people who are very thin who are funny.
ALEXANDER: But they were always thin.
BEHAR: Yes.
ALEXANDER: He said if Jackie Gleason lost 100 pounds, not funny.
BEHAR: Yes but 20 off of Jackie Gleason would have been nothing.
ALEXANDER: Oh that`s a drop in the ocean.
BEHAR: What is this Donny Clay experience?
ALEXANDER: My Donny Clay -
BEHAR: Yes, what is that?
ALEXANDER: I could save your whole life. This is -- I have been having so much fun with this. This was a character I developed who`s a very bad motivational speaker. I kept being asked by corporations to do corporate gigs. And I said I don`t have anything. I`m not a stand-up. Sing show tunes for you? I don`t think so. So, I developed a character to go do and do a faux motivation ceremony and talk to them about their problems and their issues and then we just started doing it for audiences and we wound up in Vegas for an extended run this year and I think going back the end of July. And we are talking about it now, really fun.
BEHAR: So, it is a character basically.
ALEXANDER: Yes, it is a character I do. It is stand-up with a twist or stand up with a premise, I guess is what --
BEHAR: You never did stand-up.
ALEXANDER: I never did stand-up.
BEHAR: No.
ALEXANDER: I would not be foolish enough to venture into an arena.
BEHAR: Why, you`d be very good, I think.
ALEXANDER: I am a classic trained actor, I like a eventual hush to come over the audience. Not the two-drink minimum that`s --.
BEHAR: Do we have time for a clip of SEINFELD"? Or should we wait until the next segment. I guess, we`ll wait --
ALEXANDER: That will tease everybody. I don`t think many people know that show.
BEHAR: Yes. My god. You know, today, who was on my show? The kid from -- the other show I do. From "BIG BANG THEORY." that show just went into syndication.
ALEXANDER: BIG BANG, yes. That`s a good show. Really good show.
BEHAR: It`s even bigger in syndication than SEINFELD.
ALEXANDER: Excuse me?
BEHAR: Bigger, meaning having more revenue, I believe.
ALEXANDER: Let me ask you a question.
BEHAR: Yes.
ALEXANDER: If it just sold into syndication, just now, how could it be bigger than my show in syndication for 106 years? How do you make that math form?
BEHAR: OK, you are right. Stay there. Get comfortable. We`ll be back in a minute. Who knows what we`ll talk about?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALEXANDER: If I ever get out of here, I`m going to change my life. I`m going to do a whole zen thing. Take up yoga. Meditate. I`ll eat right. Calm down, you know. Lose my anger. Hey, is anybody listening?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BEHAR: Well, that was a clip from SEINFELD with Jason Alexander as the neurotic George Castansa. And Jason is here with me now. That show, really made a dent, you know it is like "I LOVE LUCY," SEINFELD, there is just a few iconic shows like that.
ALEXANDER: Yes.
BEHAR: And I wonder if it could be put on the air now, you know, you never know.
ALEXANDER: We wouldn`t have survived. You know we were not a hit until the third season. We wouldn`t have made it.
BEHAR: So somebody at the top put their stamp on it? And said go ahead.
ALEXANDER: Yes. It was a different time. I mean, you know, I mean, we were able to sell the advertising time but nobody was watching the show. You know, people knew it was a good and different show. We just couldn`t quite find the audience and then in the third season they put us on off "CHEERS" and we kind of held the audience and that`s how we started to grow.
BEHAR: Say it is all about the placement like Jay Leno. Look at what happened to Jay Leno. I mean it is all about positioning in TV. I know. Now, your character, George, is based on Larry David, our pal Larry.
ALEXANDER: Yes, not initially.
BEHAR: Not, really, no?
ALEXANDER: At least, I didn`t know that. He may have been thinking that. It -- that came about, really, in like -- I can`t remember what episode. It was early on. You know, SEINFELD doesn`t seem this way now but it was constructed differently. There was something George had to do and I said, Larry, help me with this. This would happen to nobody and if it nobody would react like this. This is what I did. I went -- I went, uh-huh. So at that point I think we made a sort of tacit agreement we were feeding each other.
BEHAR: Oh a lot of things that he does on "CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM" seem unlikely but they happen to him.
ALEXANDER: He has notebooks filled with -
BEHAR: Yes.
ALEXANDER: Things that happen to him that -- his real gift is that he realizes how funny his own life is and how he overreacts to his own life. He is brilliant. Brilliant guy.
BEHAR: Yes he is brilliant and very, very -- what`s the word? Facund.
ALEXANDER: Yes, nicely said.
BEHAR: You`re welcome. I mean, thank you. Now you`re married 28 years.
ALEXANDER: May 21st.
BEHAR: That`s lovely for somebody in Hollywood and showbiz.
ALEXANDER: Nothing to it.
BEHAR: What`s the secret?
ALEXANDER: Marry the right person.
BEHAR: That helps. Married young. A lot of people don`t last.
ALEXANDER: Very lucky because I was in love with love and dragged Dana. She was more reticent than I was. She is my best pal and, you know, really, it is a little bit of dumb luck because where I`m weak, she`s strong and vice versa and we make each other laugh. A lot has happened and grown in the same way and it`s -- you have to get lucky. But we work, too. You know?
BEHAR: You work at it?
ALEXANDER: We went through some stuff and found a great therapist and worked it out. You have to fight a little bit to make it work.
BEHAR: Therapist? What point did you have to go to therapy?
ALEXANDER: We were about 14 years into the marriage.
BEHAR: Things were rocky?
ALEXANDER: Little bit for a while. You know? But you know, it was like an early mid-life crisis for me. I do things early and guys freak out. I went, oh my god, living this life since I was 20 years old and maybe I was wrong.
BEHAR: See, most people -- I did very similar. Got married young and had a crisis and got divorced. Sometimes, it doesn`t work out.
ALEXANDER: I got to tell you, the third person in the room makes all the difference when you`re going to therapy.
BEHAR: The shrink?
ALEXANDER: Amazing therapist that really guided us beautifully. You have to want it. When I thought --
BEHAR: You wanted to stay married.
ALEXANDER: I knew if I left I would not find anything better. Different but not better.
BEHAR: You had kids at that point.
ALEXANDER: We did, we had little teeny people.
BEHAR: Yes, let me talk a little politics with you now. Obama just nominated Elena Kagan, who is a Jewish woman.
ALEXANDER: Really?
BEHAR: Yes, to the Supreme Court. And if she gets on the court that would make three Jewish justices.
ALEXANDER: Now, now you got a minion I don`t know. Now it`s nine people to make sense. Before this, I never knew what was going on.
BEHAR: Yes, now Pat Buchanan --
ALEXANDER: Not a Jew, by the way.
BEHAR: Not at all. The opposite. He thinks there`s too many Jews on the Supreme Court.
ALEXANDER: Really? Funny Pat Buchanan would think this.
BEHAR: Yes, I know, isn`t it amazing, he recently wrote a blog titled, Are Liberals Anti-Wasps - he wrote "if Kagan is confirmed" quote unquote -
ALEXANDER: Yes.
BEHAR: Jews who represent less than 2 percent of the United States population will have 33 percent of the Supreme Court seats. "Is this the Democrats` idea of diversity?" Unquote.
ALEXANDER: Wow. Look how Pat did math and did everything and had to work out the numbers.
BEHAR: Yes. He`s worried about wasps.
ALEXANDER: Can I say -- I know we run our business. Our people. We`ll admit it. America, we run Hollywood.
BEHAR: The 2 percent of Jews run everything apparently.
ALEXANDER: Apparently. If you look around at the legal profession, it`s not a lot of Irish. It is a lot of Jews.
BEHAR: Yes.
ALEXANDER: So if you put the top legal people into the supreme court, by default, you`re going to get a lot of Jews.
(LAUGHTER)
BEHAR: There`s a lot of -- yes. You know there`s two Italians on the court and probably doesn`t --
ALEXANDER: Jews with the horn and the cross. Italians --
BEHAR: You know what?
ALEXANDER: I like Elena Kagan. I said -- all the rumors, I don`t think so. I think I had her.
BEHAR: That she is a lesbian, did you sleep with her?
ALEXANDER: I think I did. She grew up in Manhattan. And I think in a phone booth at 58th, I might have just bumped into her.
BEHAR: Yes?
ALEXANDER: She seems very familiar to me. I`m actually being somewhat serious. Seems very familiar to me.
BEHAR: You think she is going to sail through or what? Getting in trouble?
ALEXANDER: She seems awfully charming, awfully smart and I have nothing to pin on her. You know? They can`t say, oh, you said one time --
BEHAR: Well they`re after her for the ROTC thing that she did when she was on the --
ALEXANDER: Yes, yes.
BEHAR: The solicitor.
ALEXANDER: Hey, listen she`s no Robert Bork. I don`t know, I really don`t see how you can make a major objection to this woman. She`s very bright, very qualified. I think she is --
BEHAR: Yes, what do you think about Buchan`s remarks, though? Do you think that will be used against her when they -- time comes to confirm the woman?
ALEXANDER: what?
BEHAR: That she is - too many Jews on the --
ALEXANDER: The judicial committee`s going to go, I`m sorry. We love you, sweetheart. Too many -- too many Jews on the -- I don`t think they`ll say it, no. They`ll think I don`t think they`ll say that.
BEHAR: They`ll think it. OK. We`ll be back with Jason Alexander after a quick break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BEHAR: I`m back with actor Jason Alexander. You know, Jason, last we were talking a lot of people were talking about a "Newsweek" article written by the -- I think the guy is gay who wrote it. But he wrote basically that he didn`t think that gay actors can play straight. Once they`re out of the closet his point is. And everybody knows they`re gay, American audiences will not accept that they are love interest, I guess, heterosexual part. What do you think about that?
ALEXANDER: I agree and disagree. I think people can accept it, because the truth is acting is an illusion, it`s a magic trick. Nothing is real. Nothing about it is real.
BEHAR: Right.
ALEXANDER: So if you have skill and you`re good at making the illusion and you`re good at making the illusion then the audience will believe it. However, there`s always a moment. I know it happens with me. If I go to do a dramatic role, the moment I walk on stage or screen the first reaction is, hey, it`s George.
BEHAR: Yes.
ALEXANDER: I have to get beyond that.
BEHAR: Right.
ALEXANDER: There are producers that go, I don`t want the audience to have that moment. I`d rather have a complete unknown than have that moment. By the same token, you know, there can be a moment when an audience goes, huh, he`s playing but I wonder -- you know, where reality is bumping them a little bit.
BEHAR: Yes.
ALEXANDER: But if the actor has the skill we go right around that moment. But I think it would be disingenuous to say that a person might not have a moment where they go, oh, that bumped me a little bit.
BEHAR: Yes.
ALEXANDER: But what`s interesting to me is that -- and I`m an example of it -- I played in a film in "Love Ala Compatriya" (ph)-
BEHAR: Yes, I saw you in that.
ALEXANDER: Flamboyantly, gay character.
BEHAR: Yes, yes.
ALEXANDER: Nobody had any problem with it. I don`t know why -
BEHAR: Well because --
ALEXANDER: It might bump this way but not bump the other way.
BEHAR: Right, his point was you can play -- a straight guy can play gay but a gay guy can`t play straight.
ALEXANDER: And to me I don`t understand that but --
BEHAR: Well it`s a fantasy level of the audience. I mean like you say, it`s unreal.
ALEXANDER: I guess.
BEHAR: Women who watch soap operas believe it all.
ALEXANDER: I know they do.
BEHAR: You know what I mean, you have to suspend disbelief. The Brits seem to get away with it more.
ALEXANDER: Because nobody knows what they are.
BEHAR: Exactly.
ALEXANDER: They have everything.
BEHAR: Exactly. Although Rupert Everett said in his career --
ALEXANDER: You bet it did. I think you have to have a degree of - - you have to be very comfortable in your skin. I think it is a risk for some actors. Certainly it is in this country still.
BEHAR: Here`s a couple twitter questions. They want to know, what do you think happened to George since SEINFELD went off the air?
ALEXANDER: We found out. That`s what the whole thing was. He invented the I-toilet phone app for the Iphone and invested it all with Bernie Madoff and lost everything.
BEHAR: Did he stay friends with Cramer?
ALEXANDER: Yes. I can`t remember what Cramer`s story line was. Yes, they all stayed.
BEHAR: What are some of the parts you turned down? I`m always interested --
ALEXANDER: Parts I turned down?
BEHAR: Yes, they`ll say Russell Crowe got the part, Paul Newman turned it down so Russell Crowe got it. You know one of those things
ALEXANDER: Batman. I turned down Batman. What you think people are throwing me jobs? No, no, I have to raise my children. I don`t turn things down. You want me to work with you, throw me the job, I`ll take it. What the -- turn them down? There have been things I`ve turned down, but they`re trivial because I go, well that`s not ever going to see the light of day and I was right in every case. You know, I`m not turning down work.
BEHAR: Would you go on "DANCING WITH THE STAR," before I go?
ALEXANDER: Would I go on "DANCING WITH THE STARS?" I`d rather do -- here`s what I will do. Celebrity "AMERICAN IDOL."
BEHAR: OK, that`s a good one. You should produce that show.
ALEXANDER: I`ll be right on it.
BEHAR: Thanks very much, Jason. Lovely to see you, now that you`re such a hunk.
ALEXANDER: Thank you Joy.
BEHAR: Especially now that you are such a hunk.
ALEXANDER: We`ll go backstage in a moment.
BEHAR: And thank you all for watching. Good night, everybody.
END
