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Interview With Jamie Foxx; `Idol` Winner Recovering After Aspirin Overdose

Aired August 11, 2010 - 21:00   ET

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

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tonight on THE JOY BEHAR SHOW, former "American Idol" winner Fantasia recovers after overdosing on Aspirin and sleeping pills on the heels of claims that she broke up a marriage and made a sex tape. Was this a suicide bid or was it just the result of exhaustion from promoting her upcoming album?

Then working class hero Steven Slater speaks. The fed-up flight attendant was released from jail and talked about his new-found fame. We`ll tell you what he said and why his story resonates with countless Americans.

Plus, mega-successful, multi-hyphenate (ph) Jamie Foxx stops by to discuss how he juggles being an actor, singer, radio host and comedian.

That and more starting right now.

SHAUN ROBINSON, GUEST HOST: Hi everybody. I`m Shaun Robinson from "Access Hollywood", in for the fabulous Joy Behar.

You know, I cover Hollywood and because of that, people always ask me about my favorite celebrities and what they are really like. I am very, very excited because one of them is here with me today. Let`s take a look at him in action in one of his films "Dream Girls".

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You don`t need an amateur contest because there`s nothing amateur about you. What you need is a break. And I`m here to give it to you.

Thirty bucks each to sing behind Mr. Jimmy Earl tonight.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jim Earl?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And a guaranteed ten-week engagement on the road, starting tomorrow morning at $400 a week.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: $400?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You swear?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If I`m lying, I`m dying.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBINSON: Oscar winner, Grammy winner, singer, actor, comedian, producer, host, writer, businessman, father and my friend, Mr. Jamie Foxx. Hey, sweetheart. How are you?

JAMIE FOXX, ACTOR: I am doing fabulous. Let me just give claps for the lavender.

ROBINSON: Thank you.

FOXX: That you`re working right now. The hair is freshly bumped. You look great.

ROBINSON: Thank you.

FOXX: Freshly bumped. Black women know what I mean when you say bumped. You just mean that you got this part done.

(CROSS TALKING)

FOXX: When I first met Prince, it was like 4:00 in the morning at his place. He came out and his hair was freshly bumped; he had a one-piece on with the boots sewn into the boot with the chain where he tied it and it went down with the hair right here.

ROBINSON: Just great. You know, Jamie, I have to tell you, people always ask me --

FOXX: He`s going to be mad at me again, I`m sorry.

ROBINSON: People always ask me who my favorite celebrity is. The reason that I love you so much is because you are one of the most down-to- earth people that I know. I mean, you have not let your fame affect you in any way. I mean does that come -- where does that actually come from? Because, you know, sometimes you can --

FOXX: People float off.

ROBINSON: They float off. They float away.

FOXX: People float of and they get that sort of glazy stare and you have to talk through somebody. Talk to my publicist. I can`t talk verbally to you.

ROBINSON: Right. Where does that come from?

FOXX: Or they get English.

ROBINSON: The next thing you know, they have the English accent. When I started, I started on def comedy jam.

You know where it comes from -- I`ll be honest with you -- I have a great upbringing from Texas -- Terrell, Texas right outside of Dallas. I was born in Dallas.

There`s something about a Texas gentleman, that no matter where you go, my grandmother and grandfather are in the back of my mind saying, listen, stay humble. You didn`t do this on your own. Remember that there were people way before your time and there will be people way after you.

ROBINSON: Right.

FOXX: Always remember to stay humble. At the same time, I`ve had my moments to where I thought that I was, like, you know, I thought maybe my thing was the thing, you know.

ROBINSON: Really? What period was that?

FOXX: I mean, I think it was, like, right after "In Living Color".

ROBINSON: Hot show.

FOXX: You know, I`m thinking I was hot. It was hot for L.A. I think maybe two years after I wasn`t on the show --

ROBINSON: Ooh.

FOXX: I`m, like, somewhere. And I did my jokes on stage and I really wasn`t that funny. But in my mind I was funny. I was telling like rich jokes. Anybody got the Range Rovers? Range Rovers are just crazy? What`s the square footage in your house?

And people will look at me like, you`re crazy. I remember a young Chris Tucker, thin, walks up and just started doing jokes and it was incredible. And I remember that woke me up, like, yo, don`t forget. Go back to your basics. My sister, who never calls me Jamie, my sister calls me Eric.

ROBINSON: Does she? She calls you by your given name, Eric?

FOXX: She calls me by my given -- she has never called me Jamie. And by having her live with me, you know, she`ll come in and embarrass me in front of all my people, you know. Eric. Your name is still Eric Bishop with your big hair and your breath stank. She`ll do something like that.

You were killing me. But I think what happens is if you remain humble, if you stay like who you are, I love being funny. I love seeing you out. I think there is a connection between us, because I think at one point you did want to go out. And maybe make babies.

But we`ll get to that. I`m a good catch.

ROBINSON: You are a very good catch.

FOXX: But you don`t need a man. You don`t need a man.

ROBINSON: No, no, no. Jamie, I know you always tease me about that. We`ll get to that later. We`ll get to that later.

FOXX: There`s been a couple of guys who have really been trying to get at you.

ROBINSON: Jamie.

FOXX: But I won`t get at you.

ROBINSON: What happens in Vegas --

FOXX: What happens in Vegas might get you arrested.

ROBINSON: So how have you been spending your summer, Mr. Foxx?

FOXX: I`ll tell you what we`ve been doing. I`m so excited. I just formed a new company called No-brainer. It`s a film, movie, comedy, action. We`re doing it all ourselves with Dion Taylor who`s also from Sacramento.

We`ve already started shooting things. We will be shooting this Sunday, as a matter of fact. And I know we`re going into it but this summer we`re shooting a comedy show, comedy all-stars in Sacramento at the Masonic Temple.

ROBINSON: Oh, that`s great.

FOXX: It`s our first comedy DVD. We`ve got great comedians from Speedy, Johnny Mack, FoxxHole radio will be there.

ROBINSON: I`ve been on the FoxxHole. Oh, Lord.

(CROSS TALKING)

FOXX: I had to send out a whole lot of gift baskets because of FoxxHole Radio.

ROBINSON: Yes, sir, you do.

FOXX: Well, we have to keep it real. But FoxxHole Radio will be in the building.

ROBINSON: Will you be doing standup yourself?

FOXX: I`ll be hosting. I`ll have the mike. I`ll do some songs. I have great comedians with Speedy and Johnny Mack and the FoxxHole whole crew. I`ve got Mr. Oceana (ph). And I have to say thank you to Kevin Hart, who`s really doing us a solid. He`s going to anchor the show, Cedric the Entertainer, Claudia Jordan.

ROBINSON: You`ve got a ton of great people.

FOXX: The whole FoxxHole thing will be there.

Yes. And here`s the thing. It`s a Bobby Jackson weekend, and he does this for cancer, for breast cancer. So we decided to come in with Bobby Jackson who`s a former Sacramento King basketball player. So (INAUDIBLE) will be there and Sacramento is a great place to do this.

We`re going to have two shows, one at 5:00 and one at 8:00. And so we want everybody to come out. This is -- like I said -- this is one of our first things that we`ve shot. Well, maybe the second thing that we shot under our new company, No-brainer. And we also shot some things with Paul Sorvino, Tony Serico (ph), Selma Blair; we have our fingers crossed with that. Some great innovative ideas, my first time, I`m behind the camera actually.

ROBINSON: You`re behind the camera. What kind of director are you? Are you one who`s going to let the actor, the comedian how to breathe and do their own thing or are you really hands on and you say, no, do it this way?

FOXX: Well, you know what? I`m both. I`m hands on. I let the actors do what they know how to do. But from being taught by Michael Mann, Oliver Stone, Taylor Hack or Antoine Fuqua, all of these great directors, Peter Berg, I now know how to allow an actor to maximize what they do, to really maximize.

I mean, working with Paul Sorvino was amazing. Paul will come in and say, you know Jamie, I`m really not a gangster because we were doing this sort of mob thing. He started singing. So I took all of the things that he did and we placed him within the character into the -- this project we were doing.

Also you Selma Blair, I was able to sit in with the actors while my other film director, Dion, would be back at the camera. So we were like tandem. I will work with the actors and we would get shots and things like that. But we made it fun. I think I found something; I really found something.

ROBINSON: Well, I want to -- when we come back, I want to talk about how you`re not only an artist, but you are becoming kind of this mogul. I want to ask you about the best business advice you have ever been given in your career and what you tell other artists. Because this won`t -- this part won`t always last. And you have to have something to fall back on.

FOXX: That`s true.

ROBINSON: We`ll come back and talk about that; also about your new movie, "Horrible Bosses". I want you to tell me about a horrible boss you`ve had in your past.

We`ll be right back --

FOXX: I sure will.

ROBINSON: -- with my friend, Jamie Foxx right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(EXCERPT FROM "RAY")

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBINSON: Man. You think you`re looking at Ray Charles there. That was a look at a clip from "Ray", the role that won Jamie Foxx and academy award making him only the third African-American to win an Oscar for Best Actor.

The very talented Jamie Foxx is back with me. And Jamie, where is the Oscar?

FOXX: And look how beautiful you are. Where is the Oscar?

ROBINSON: Yes. Where is the Oscar?

FOXX: I don`t keep the Oscar at my house. I keep it at my manager`s place.

ROBINSON: You have some of your friends come over and say hey man, where`s the Oscar?

FOXX: My place is real slick. I`ve got all kinds of people coming through my house. I threw a party for Drake like 3,000 people. So I put a fake Oscar out there. He was like this though, he had his fist up. Is that an Oscar? That`s Oscar Robinson. That`s Oscar X.

ROBINSON: Right, you don`t want anybody lifting that Oscar and walking out with it.

Let`s talk about you as the businessman. We`ll talk about some of your other projects, because you have new movie coming out. But I was just on -- I`ve been on the FoxxHole I`ve also -- was on another radio show, B. Scott. You have -- I thought you just had a radio show. You have a radio channel. That is incredible.

FOXX: Yes.

ROBINSON: How did you broker that deal?

We went to Sirius and we said could we get our own comedy channel. And so once we got our comedy channel, we decided to broaden it.

Dick Gregory actually was very helpful. Years ago, he said, young man, if you ever get a chance to get your own radio show, please do it because you`ll have a voice. The FoxxHole on Friday, we`re all out and do everything under the sun.

But the thing is that I wanted to really expand it. We had the Claudia Jordan show. We have Zoe Show. We have Speedy`s Comedy Corner. We have and Cheryl Underwood`s show.

And then I saw this guy, B. Scott -- hi, muffin. He was a guy but he looked like a cross between Lenny Kravitz, Prince and Rosario Dawson -- very pretty dude. You know what I`m saying?

ROBINSON: Yes. Very beautiful. Yes.

(CROSS TALKING)

ROBINSON: Go ahead. I`m just interested in how you -- you think big. A lot of people would have gone on and said, can I have a radio show. But you said, no, I want a channel.

FOXX: Yes. We wanted a channel. They were so gracious over there at Sirius to give us a channel because, you know, it`s on satellite. We`re really sort of just working off our own steam. And now it`s gathering a lot of steam. And we cover everything.

I remember when Barack Obama -- if there is any indication that America is not the most incredible country in the world -- I remember when Barack Obama was bidding for the presidency and they came to us.

I remember Oprah Winfrey saying there`s this guy. He`s going to be great. He was 30 points down at the time. I remember going on our show and saying, I`m voting for this guy, Barack Obama, because he`s black. And I remember all of our phone lines erupting with mostly black people saying, we`re not going to vote for Barack Obama just because he`s black. I said, give us an opportunity to tell you who he is.

And on our show, we had Karen Best, we had Maxine Waters, we had Roland Martin. We had all of these different correspondents and it turned into something really incredible.

And at first it was just like, you know, it was just a very blue comedy station. And the next thing you know, we were able to turn it into something fantastic. And now we`ve got on to help Kassim Reid (ph), mayor of Atlanta, Camela Harris (ph) who`s now bidding for district attorney of California.

At the same time, we even had our own -- I hate to use the word from some other network -- the fair and balanced thing -- we had our liberal way -- our show was liberal. And then we had Cheryl Underwood who represented the conservative side. It was really fun to be able to take something that started out as a comedy show and then turn into something fantastic.

ROBINSON: Well, tell me, Jamie, somewhere along the way you said I am not going to be just an artist. I am not going to be able to do just one thing. I am going to expand and have a brand. What is the best business advice anybody has given you?

FOXX: I will say this. I`ve gotten great advice -- this is going to blow your mind -- from Ice Cube.

ROBINSON: Really, Ice Cube?

FOXX: I talked to Ice Cube years ago. We were talking about movies and television. I said something, man, I`m trying to get this movie done. So, why don`t you do it yourself? He said, if you`re an artist and there`s a certain exploitation to all of us, why not you exploit your own talents and your own comedy, your own ideas, which I`m now doing. I took that and never forgot that.

I ran into Ice Cube just a few days ago. If you look at his career, I mean, look at this guy. He started out as NWA, now he has a show called, "Are we there yet" and all of these great movies. He`s just a great businessman.

Also from Tyler Perry. Tyler Perry said, hey man, do your own thing. Take your characters, own your own characters. And in this business, that was wonderful advice, from him and from Oprah Winfrey.

The other advice was from Sidney Poitier. Oprah Winfrey took me to meet Sidney Poitier. And I walked up to Sidney Poitier in this party and there was -- it was at Quincy Jones house and you know Quincy was -- hey man, come on in man. It`s great. The party`s incredible. It`s wonderful man.

You`ve got to meet Sidney, man.

(CROSS TALKING)

FOXX: Oprah takes me over to Sidney Poitier. And he goes, "I saw you one time. You were at a party." And I am just blown away. Yes, I remember. "Yes, I remember that." And do you know what he said?

ROBINSON: What?

FOXX: He said, I`m going to give you something. He gave me something. He said, "I give you responsibility."

ROBINSON: Wow.

FOXX: What that meant was is that you are now responsible for your legacy. You are now responsible for doing your own thing, becoming that new prototype of entertainer.

And I just took all of those things that I heard from people, put it all together. I just sort of put it together for my own thing.

ROBINSON: Wow. I love that about you. That is such good advice for many of the younger artists who think that one thing that they`re doing is going to last forever. But we know in these times that it doesn`t.

So we`re going to take a short break. When we come back, we`re going to talk about the new movie and what advice the adult Jamie Foxx would give to the teenage Jamie Foxx just starting out.

We`ll be right back.

FOXX: Put the cameras down. That`s what I would say.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MUSIC)

ROBINSON: I love it. Jamie, I love it. You`re the best. I`m telling you.

You`ve got a new movie that`s coming out, right? "Horrible Bosses" you`ve been filming this past summer? Right?

FOXX: Yes, we just finished the film with Justin Bateman and Jennifer Aniston. Just really, really funny stuff about these three people that want to -- their bosses are so on their nerves that they want to kill them.

ROBINSON: That you want to kill them. Now, you also have an album coming out. You are so busy.

FOXX: Album is coming out. The album will be out this Christmas. The album is called "Yep, That`s Me". Basically what I say to people like yourself, Shaun Robinson. I`ll say if you`re independent, you got your own thing, you don`t need a man for nothing, I want you to say, "Yep, That`s Me". "Yep, that`s me".

The verse was something like "see my baby, hating from June to January. Mad because I`m kissing on Halle Berry".

So anyway we`ve got some fun stuff that`s coming out. And don`t forget too. Sunday, comedy for cancer, comedy all-stars in Sacramento in the Masonic Temple; it`s going to be nice.

ROBINSON: It`s going to be really nice. And I mentioned in the beginning that you are a dad. How is your daughter, Corinne, doing? Has she started dating yet? She`s 16, right?

FOXX: She`s going to date around the time she gets married.

ROBINSON: Beautiful girl.

FOXX: We`ll probably get into that. I found out she has some crush on some -- I saw her computer screen with some half-naked boy on there. I said, what in the world is this? There was some dude -- he didn`t even have a name, it was like legacy, from the new boys. But he`s a cool dude.

ROBINSON: A tweet that we got wanted to know, is your daughter`s father dating anyone?

FOXX: Am I dating anybody?

ROBINSON: Uh-huh.

FOXX: Well, you know, I just love the world.

ROBINSON: You just love the world.

FOXX: I just love the world.

ROBINSON: You just love the world

FOXX: Shaun, it`s time for us to get together. That beautiful lavender is really speaking to me.

ROBINSON: This is speaking to you. Well, Jamie, I am just ecstatic that you took the time out to stop by today. Like I said, you are just one of my favorite people. I so appreciate you stopping by and talking to us.

You, sir, are the master. We --

FOXX: Thank you so much.

ROBINSON: We really appreciate the time.

FOXX: Thank you, and great job.

ROBINSON: You want to play us out. You want to continue that love song?

FOXX: Whoo-wee.

(MUSIC)

ROBINSON: Very nice. Jamie Foxx, everybody. Thank you so much.

FOXX: Thank you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Coming up later on the JOY BEHAR SHOW, working class hero Steven Slater speaks. The fed-up flight attendant is now out of jail and talking about his new-found fame. And from the classic sketch comedy show "KIDS IN THE HALL" Dave Foley and Kevin McDonald drop by to talk about their upcoming reunion. Now back to the show.

ROBINSON: Welcome back everyone. Session three, "AMERICAN IDOL," champ Fantasia Barrino is recovering from an overdose of aspirin and sleeping pills and what police are claiming of a suicide attempt. She reportedly overdosed after learning details that she destroyed a marriage. Here is a portion of that 911 call of what happen that night. Listen in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OPERATOR: OK, tell me exactly what happened.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: An individual took a bottle of aspirin and she`s slowly losing consciousness.

OPERATOR: OK and are you with the patient now?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m outside. Someone else is with her inside.

OPERATOR: OK. Is she awake?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Slowly losing consciousness.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBINSON: Now with me to discuss what happened are Jawn Murray, AOL Black Voices columnist, and Tom Joyner, psychologist Debbie Magids and Trenyce "AMERICAN IDOL" finalist on season two. And thank you all for joining me. John, how is fantasia doing now is? What do we know about her condition?

JAWN MURRAY, AOL BLACK VOICES COLUMINST: What I know is she`s still hospitalized in stable condition. They haven`t released her yet. But her management is adamant her injuries are nonlife-threatening. That you know she`s in good condition and she`ll be all right. You know, they`re saying that just keep her in your prayers.

ROBINSON: The police are calling this a suicide attempt, but other people don`t think it was actually that. Are her management saying whether it was actually a suicide attempt?

MURRAY: Well they`re not calling it a suicide attempt either. They`ve been very careful with the verbiage that they`ve used in the statements they`ve released. They call it nonlife-threatening injuries. Now my personal believe is Fantasia would not commit suicide. She has a 9- year-old daughter and she was reared in church. And being in church your whole life, you are taught that if you commit suicide, you go to hell. And that`s the hell out of you. So I don`t think she would have committed suicide. I think she was a bit overwhelmed. It was a lot of attention. It was a lot of bad news in one day. But she hasn`t, you know, been a person who hasn`t been able to deal with obstacles, you know, before. She`s faced a lot of hurdles in her life. And so I think she wanted to take some pills and rest and she got carried away.

ROBINSON: And Debbie, I see you nodding there, agreeing with Jawn. According to her manager, Fantasia was totally overwhelmed by the lawsuit and the media scrutiny. Do you think she was looking for a way to check out temporarily?

DEBBIE MAGIDS, PSYCHOLOGIST: I agree that she`s a survivor. And I think this incident brought up a lot of pain her. If you know anything about her history, she was someone who was raped, she had an abusive boyfriend, she had a bad relationship with her father. And having yet another man betray her and have this scrutinized in the public I think just pushed her over the edge. It doesn`t seem to me she wanted to die.

ROBINSON: Trenice, you`ve met Fantasia, you are not friends with her but you`ve definitely met her in connection with some "AMERICAN IDOL," functions. Now her reported affair with this guy, Antoine Cook, who is reportedly married, had been going on for a year. Do you know anything about this?

TRENYCE, "AMERICAN IDOL" FINALIST, SEASON 2: Well, first, let me start by saying, Shaun, that I loved Fantasia yesterday, I love her today, and I`ll love her tomorrow. I am in full support of Fantasia and her recover. I didn`t hear anything about this. I saw the pictures on the internet and on the news just like everybody else. But of course, when you`ve been on the public eye before, you know to kind of downplay those things until you can figure out exactly what`s going on.

ROBINSON: Right, right, in this lawsuit, his wife claims, this guy Antoine Cook, this guy claims that Fantasia was the cause of the breakup of the marriage. Tell us what was actually in that lawsuit that would have upset fantasia so much.

MURRAY: Well it was quite vivid. I mean she detailed phone conversations she had had with Fantasia where Fantasia said things to her like, you know, if he don`t want you and want to be with me, I can`t do anything about that. And maybe the next time you get a husband, you`ll know how you to keep him. She detailed incidences where the family had planned vacations and Antoine skipped them to go be with Fantasia. But more so I think someone detailed to Fantasia the law in North Carolina, the law that is only in seven states that said, when you break up a marriage, you as the other woman can be sued. You know there was the case with the woman Shackleford with $9 million settlement. And it became such a big story that it became a lifetime movie. So I think her putting all that into perspective with so many variables, I think it was overwhelming.

ROBINSON: And Trenyce talk about being in the media spotlight after "AMERICAN IDOL." and one of the things we haven`t talked about is that many of Fantasia`s fans are from a faith-based audience. Now talk about the pressures that she would be under, you know, being that type of role model for so many people and having that media spotlight because of her win on "AMERICAN IDOL."

TRENYCE: Right, Shaun. Well actually, the thing is we`re going on this show to become artists. I mean we want to sing. And that is our main focus. Once you get on the show, you are faced with so much scrutiny, that you`re not prepared for. And it`s unfortunate, but let`s just talk about people in general. I mean a lot of us have done things that we`re not exactly happy that we`ve done. Fortunately for a lot of people that are even watching this program and in the world in general, don`t have to deal with Youtube or video recordings of it and things like that. They`re able to deal with it in the privacy of their own home. Being an "AMERICAN IDOL" winner, which is a television show that looks at us as predominantly children. I mean we`re pretty much the answer to the "MICKEY MOUSE CLUB." we`re not viewed as adults. Being in an adult situation such as this one is pretty overwhelming for anyone, let alone someone like Fantasia.

ROBINSON: Right, definitely, absolutely, and Debbie, you know, in light of this, whatever happened with fantasia, do you think she would be seen in a more sympathetic light after this?

MAGIDS: Absolutely. I don`t think she`ll be vilified like other mistresses we have heard. It really seems to me as if she was somewhat duped into thinking this man was really leaving the wife and fell in love. And she is somewhat a victim just like the wife was. That`s what it appears to me so far. I mean she is not someone who seems to be a home wrecker.

ROBINSON: Jawn, Fantasia`s new album is coming out August 24th. It`s called "Back To Me." you know could her career take a serious hit because of this?

MURRAY: Shaun, definitely. Fantasia is not the only singer in the music business caught up in a situation like this. Alicia Keys is in a situation like this. The difference is Alicia Keys has a high-powered publicist that`s cleaning up this mess. Fantasia does not have a team in place. If you call her record company right now, and ask them about this scenario, they`ll tell you we don`t comment on her personal business but the album is out August 24th. So and you`ve mentioned the faith-based business. Fantasia subsidizes a significant amount of income by singing at churches and major gospel conferences. If there is really a sex tape, like the custody complaint indicates, you know if these things are really true, it could cut off a significant amount of income and hurt her overall career.

ROBINSON: Yes, especially if this sex tape makes its way to the internet. Trenyce, go ahead.

TRENYCE: Well I just wanted to say, I mean, look at all the -- there are plenty of people that have been in this position and doing worse than what Fantasia has done. And they are movie producers, record producers, artists, actresses, actors. I mean it hasn`t affected them in any way. I hope that the public sees this as -- it`s just something that happened to her. We can get past it because she`s still a wonderful artist, you know. And that`s pretty much the first thing we need to think about, I think.

ROBINSON: And Debbie, all of us here, I know Fantasia and I know her to be a warm, generous, wonderful gal. And I just hope that -- I hope this all works out for everybody. She`s had such a tough life. Just a few minutes, do you think this is something she can recover from?

MAGRIDS: I absolutely think she can recover. I think shame got ignited for her, especially since she`s so faith based. You know there is something in her that feels a lot of shame about doing this.

ROBINSON: Right.

MAGRIDS: But this is a woman who`s proven over and over again she`s overcome a lot of adversity. And I absolutely think she can recover from this.

ROBINSON: Thank you very much and thank you to all of you for joining me today. And we hope that Fantasia makes a full recovery. We`ll be right back after a split sec.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBINSON: He`s free. JetBlue flight attendant Steven Slater left jail last night. He walked out as opposed to exiting on an emergency slide. A reporter caught up with the famous flight attendant earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What do you have to say to all the people who are saying that you`re a hero?

STEVEN SLATER, SUSPENDED JETBLUE FLIGHT ATTENDANT: Oh it`s so encouraging and so special. There`s some really great people out there and I`m getting a glimpse of that. It`s a surprise because obviously I`ve been away for a little while.

ROBINSON: OK with me now to talk about this story is Rene Foss, she`s a flight attendant and author of "Around The World In A Bad Mood." I love the title of the book Rene. Now as a flight attendant, are you proud of Steven or a little bit embarrassed?

RENE FOSS, FLIGHT ATTENDANT: Thank you. Well, I -- my feeling is there by the grace of god go I. I understand how it can happen. And I think in the eyes of many flight attendants, he`s Mr. Slater`s a bit of a hero.

ROBINSON: Yes he is being called a hero. Now have you ever dreamed to doing anything similar to what he did. Just kind of saying, take this job and shove it, I`m out of here?

FOSS: I wrote the book on it. Yes, I guess I can`t say I`ve dreamed of it. You know, it`s not something I think anyone aspires to necessarily. But certainly I`ve experienced that frustration and sort of getting to that point of almost a point of no return. And I think the difference is that you know he just went for it. In the past you up until now, I`ve been able to restrain myself. But god knows what lies ahead.

ROBINSON: OK, you know what`s interesting, he was described as a very proud JetBlue employee. He was nominated for the in-flight values committee by his peers. I just want to know, what makes a guy like this just want to snap at any particular time? Is it strictly the passengers? Or how would you rate it percentage wise? Is it 50 percent passengers and 50 percent maybe work hours and any kind of stresses, other stresses from the job? As a flight attendant, how would you describe that?

FOSS: Well I would say 95 percent of the passengers are terrific. There are probably the 5 percent that are problematic. And sometimes these problems can get out of hand. I ask, have you flown lately because there`s such a hassle nowadays. Our air travel system is kind of broken. And I think it affects the flight attendants as well as the passengers. You have to stand in long lines and you have to pay to check your bags. So everyone is trying to bring big bags on and shove them in the overhead bins. It`s not a pleasant experience.

ROBINSON: Right, you understand the frustrations that the passengers have. But still you`re like, don`t take it out on me, right?

FOSS: Right. Mr. Slater was simply doing his job. Unfortunately he probably ran into that 5 percentile that I spoke of where it got out of hand. Where somebody in the line of his work, you know, used profanity to him, then he got hit in the head with this bag or with the overhead bin door.

ROBINSON: Right.

FOSS: Whatever it was. So can you imagine being at the end of your trip, you are ready to go home, and then you get into this skuffle with somebody and then you`re injured and you are sort of verbally abused? You know he might have just hit the point of no return.

ROBINSON: First of all, have you ever seen a passenger be that aggressive at all? Have you ever been hit or pushed? Have you?

FOSS: Oh yes. Well I haven`t been hit or pushed. But I did have a passenger throw a bag at me, a garment.

ROBINSON: Uh huh, are you serious?

FOSS: Yes.

ROBINSON: What made that man chuck that bag? Oh my god.

FOSS: Well they didn`t want to check that bag. And you know how it goes, there`s not room for it, folks. We have to check it unfortunately. That`s just the rules. The thing is, the flight attendants, we are charged that making sure for the public`s safety, and the travelling public safety and security. We have to have people adhere to the rules. So we`re not trying to be a bully or bad guy, we`re just doing the job we`re there to do.

ROBINSON: OK and just before I let you go, do you think anybody should rehire him as a flight attendant?

FOSS: Well I think that if Mr. Slater was an exceptional employee at JetBlue, as it sounds like he was, I think perhaps he should, if he`s interested, be given -- it should be investigated and he should perhaps be given a second chance. Maybe there`s something -- he can apologize or work something out. Secondly, where is the passenger in this? They were kind of the person that started it. And what happened to them? They were in violation of a federal aviation rule.

ROBINSON: All right, Rene, thank you very much for joining us.

FOSS: Thank you.

ROBINSON: And once again, the book is called "Around The World In A Bad Mood." Love that title, I`m going to turn now to our guests, Dave Foley and Kevin McDonald, two actor-comedians from the classic sketch comedy troop "THE KIDS IN THE HALL." All right, are you guys on team flight attendant or team passenger?

DAVE FOLEY, "THE KIDS IN THE HALL": Well first of all, I don`t know if this is hyperbolic --

KEVIN MCDONALD, :THE KIDS IN THE HALL": Good word.

ROBINSON: Hyperbolic, nice word -

FOLEY: Are we looking at perhaps, the Rosa Parks of flight attendants?

ROBINSON: Oh come on.

FOLEY: I think they should start a movement.

ROBINSON: You think so, OK.

FOLEY: If we don`t crush it now. Let`s not make the mistake we made with Rosa.

ROBINSON: SO are you on -

MCDONALD: I think he`s a working-class hero.

ROBINSON: You do.

MCDONALD: I hear Bruce Springsteen is writing a song about him. Only he`ll be on a motor cycle going down the slide.

ROBINSON: Do you feel he`s a hero because why? You`ve seen many passengers be jerks or --

FOLEY: Here`s the truth that hasn`t hit the press, that flight was actually a convention of the 5 percent of asses. So everyone on that plane was actually an abusive passenger. A bad gig.

MCDONALD: Poor attendant.

ROBINSON: You guys have fly a lot.

FOLEY: We do.

ROBINSON: You have been miserable passengers at one time or another, right?

FOLEY: Yes, we have.

ROBINSON: Why do you empathize more with the flight attendant than the passenger?

FOLEY: I think we`ve both worked in the service trades. We`ve both been movie ushers.

MCDONALD: We were movie ushers.

FOLEY: We ushered Gandhi.

MCDONALD: Yes.

FOLEY: So I think we know a little about peace.

MCDONALD: We know a little bit about -

FOLEY: We know a little bit about peace -

MCDONALD: And the passive resistance.

ROBINSON: Right.

MCDONALD: But -- what was the question part?

FOLEY: What was the question part of your question?

ROBINSON: There are so many people who have been -- every time you go to the airport now, people are complaining about the long lines, about the fees, the check in bags. So a lot of people are very grumpy. But still more people are on the side of the flight attendant than the passenger. I`m wondering why that is.

FOLEY: I think we`ve all been annoyed, not so much by an abusive flight attendant but we`ve all had to sit on planes with idiot passengers who don`t understand any of the rules. And who maybe some don`t fly enough or some of them fly too much.

MCDONALD: I`m an idiot passenger and I sit next to Dave a lot. He gets a lot of idiot passengers. Why do I have to put my bag up there? Can I put my feet on your lap? What do you mean I`m not allowed to vomit in the aisles? I paid my money and I plan to just urinate and defecate wherever I wish.

ROBINSON: Come on, the airlines have to worry about passengers. They have to worry about terrorists. Now they have to worry about rogue flight attendants. More pressure.

FOLEY: I know, you know what I think JetBlue should actually hire him for an ad campaign. I think he should be the face of JetBlue. I think it would be a brilliant marketing.

ROBINSON: Yes and what would you say in that commercial?

MCDONALD: Look how easy it is to get out of the plane. That`d be my ad.

FOLEY: JetBlue have him screaming and being bleeped. And then at the end of the ad it says, he`s not here anymore. That should be the ad. JetBlue. He`s not here anymore.

MCDONALD: Come fly with us.

ROBINSON: JetBlue has to be hating this attention, don`t you think?

FOLEY: Airlines hate publicity.

MCDONALD: Sarcasm.

ROBINSON: People don`t want to fly JetBlue now because they`re afraid the flight attendants will be on edge.

FOLEY: I think everyone`s hoping for a show.

MCDONALD: Annoy him, see what he does.

FOLEY: There`s got to be people like that go to the zoo and try to taunt the gorillas.

ROBINSON: Uh huh.

FOLEY: Those are going to be the passengers on JetBlue from now on.

MCDONALD: Until the flight attendant rips the passenger`s arm off.

FOLEY: Yes.

ROBINSON: Right. Nobody is going want to you guys on their flight. I can just tell this right now.

FOLEY: No one ever does.

ROBINSON: OK more with "THE KIDS IN THE HALL" in just a minute.

NANCY GRACE, HLN ANCHOR: Hello, hello. Stay with us, friends. We are speaking justice.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You`re like a broken record. A drunk, broken record.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, yes, yes. I can`t do anything right for you. I move too slow. I age too fast. Give me a break, no wonder we didn`t get -

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Give me a break.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I had a baby.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was adopted!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBINSON: OK that was a clip from "THE KIDS IN THE HALL`S" newest show called "DEATH COMES TO TOWN." your new show is coming to U.S. television for the first time. OK congratulations. Are Canadians or Americans harder to make laugh?

MCDONALD: Ooh. Do you want to say your theory or is that too long?

FOLEY: My theory?

ROBINSON: What`s your theory.

MCDONALD: That`s a different theory. I think Canadians are easier to make laugh.

ROBINSON: Why?

MCDONALD: Because -- first of all, it`s cheating because I`m from Canada because they like me better. And they`re politer and they would laugh even if they didn`t think I was funny. We tried so hard.

ROBINSON: They wouldn`t exit the theater if a chute.

MCDONALD: We`re good fake laughers. I don`t want to hurt his feelings so I`m pretending to laugh even though I don`t think he`s funny at all.

ROBINSON: You got, we have what, Loren Michaels, Mike Myers, Jim Carrey, Dan Aykroyd. You got a lot of folks that made it really big in the states.

FOLEY: Yes.

ROBINSON: I don`t know, do you guys see things a little bit differently than Americans? What do you think?

FOLEY: I`d be a socialized medicine. We`re less afraid of being funny because we know if we --

MCDONALD: We are high out of our minds.

FOLEY: If we go across the line, we get beat up. We know we can go in get taken care of.

MCDONALD: Yes, exactly.

FOLEY: In the United States, you go out on a limb with a joke, and you get injured, you could lose your house.

ROBINSON: Right, right, it`s not good.

FOLEY: In Canada, we have the security to be funny that you don`t have in the United States.

ROBINSON: Right.

MCDONALD: And the hecklers are a little stronger in the United States. You guys work out more.

(CROSSTALK)

FOLEY: And you`re armed.

ROBINSON: Oh my god, OK, you guys dress in drag a lot.

FOLEY: We do.

MCDONALD: We do.

ROBINSON: Do you enjoy that part of your feminine side?

FOLEY: We`re going to leave the studio in dresses.

MCDONALD: Yes.

FOLEY: It is nice to learn a little bit about your feminine side by dressing up as a woman.

ROBINSON: Who is the best-looking woman?

MCDONALD: Dave Foley.

FOLEY: In the old days.

MCDONALD: Even in the new days.

FOLEY: I used to be pretty hot.

ROBINSON: Really.

FOLEY: I used to be quite the hot young lady. Now I`m a handsome older lady.

MCDONALD: That`s valid.

ROBINSON: That`s valid.

FOLEY: Yes, in the old days - look at me there on your monitors

MCDONALD: At home, you`re probably looking at your television sets.

ROBINSON: Look at that. Uh-huh. You were. You were a hot young thing.

FOLEY: There, see. In real life now, not so good.

ROBINSON: OK, tell me about the new show.

FOLEY: But now I look more like a man than I did in those days. In the old days, it was hard for makeup to make me look like a man.

(CROSSTALK)

ROBINSON: Very quickly, before I let you go, tell me about the new show. We have 55 seconds. Tell me about the new show.

FOLEY: Well it`s a miniseries on IFC. It starts august 20th.

MCDONALD: It`s called "DEATH COMES TO TOWN."

FOLEY: And it`s not sketch, it`s actually an ongoing story with eight episodes.

MCDONALD: It`s a question of death but it`s funny.

ROBINSON: OK.

FOLEY: And it`s got eight episodes.

MCDONALD: A death comes to a small town in Ontario, how many seconds, 33 seconds and the people are dying.

FOLEY: And it`s only partially offensive.

MCDONALD: Yes.

ROBINSON: It`s a murder mystery/comedy. You promise we`ll laugh at death, right?

MCDONALD: Yes.

FOLEY: You will.

MCDONALD: Well that`s what we are aiming for.

ROBINSON: OK, all right, guys. Thank you so much for joining me. Very funny - very funny take on things. All right catch Dave, Kevin and the rest of "THE KIDS IN THE HALL" in "DEATH COMES TO TOWN" and eight part series premiering on IFC as they said, August 20th at 10:00 p.m. goodnight, everybody.

END