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Joy Behar Page
Interview With Denis Leary; Interview With Dr. Oz
Aired October 11, 2010 - 21:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOY BEHAR, HOST: Denis Leary began his comedy career in Boston then he moved to New York where I first met him. And now he lives in Connecticut. Why he lives in the woods like Ted Kaczynski, I have no idea. But whatever -- funny is funny.
He is the creator and star of hit FX series "Rescue Me", which just finished taping its final season. Hey Denis.
DENIS LEARY, COMEDIAN: Hi.
BEHAR: Thanks for doing this.
LEARY: So you referenced the Unabomber during my intro.
BEHAR: Yes.
LEARY: That`s great, I love that. It`s the first time that has ever happened but I like it. I like it.
BEHAR: But I mean are you living in the woods in Connecticut? No.
LEARY: I do, yes, I live in the woods which is -- you know, it`s all about my -- you know, my wife. So --
BEHAR: Why? She`s a --
LEARY: She is a horse person and when the kids were like, I guess 5 and 7, she wanted the kids to live outside the city.
BEHAR: Oh yes.
LEARY: And have that experience with the access to New York so we did that.
BEHAR: Uh-huh.
LEARY: So my father left Ireland because he did not want to muck horse manure for the rest of his life and he wanted to come to New York.
BEHAR: Good idea.
LEARY: So he did. He left Ireland then came to the big city. And I have ended up mucking horse manure. So I`m sure wherever he is, he is laughing his Irish ass off.
BEHAR: We both come from, you know, very simple backgrounds, I think, simple people.
LEARY: Especially in my case.
BEHAR: No. All of us.
LEARY: And you know simple doesn`t just mean the financial background, yes.
BEHAR: One time I heard these two waspy girls talking while I was working at "GOOD MORNING AMERICA" and one of them said did you -- are you going back to South Hampton? And she said, well, no, mommy closed the house. I said the last time my family closed up the house they left Italy.
LEARY: Yes, actually, my parent`s houses -- are you telling me to push back because I look bad leaning in like that? Someone said to push back. It`s like broadcast news. Do I sit on my jacket? No. I know. Mommy. By the way --
BEHAR: Mommy, who says mommy?
LEARY: Who the hell is mummy? Mummy --
BEHAR: That`s very waspy.
LEARY: Mummy is Abbott and Costello movie.
BEHAR: Exactly.
LEARY: At my house it was Ma. You know, it`s still that. So --
BEHAR: Right.
LEARY: I lived in a basement -- I started in an attic. My parents lived in a three-decker apartment and my brother --
BEHAR: In a what?
LEARY: In an attic, a three-decker.
BEHAR: A three-decker, three stories?
LEARY: A three-decker is -- they`re like wooden buildings and -- well, they have them in Queens but we used to have them in Boston where I`m from so they`re like apartment buildings that are next door to each other. They are built out of wood.
BEHAR: I see.
LEARY: So we lived on the third floor. And my brother and I lived in the attic which was great because --
BEHAR: So you can smoke pot up there.
LEARY: We could do anything because they didn`t want to come up the stairs. They literally -- they would scream up the stairs, stop that noise. And they would never come up, right.
And then they moved to the house my mother still lives in. And my brother and I were in the basement like rats next to the water heater and literally a room the size of this desk. And we had access to the alley and our own refrigerator. So you can imagine how much -- well, you know, not very good stuff went on there.
There were kids that would literally escape their parents and stay at our house for like a month. And my parents didn`t even know they were in the basement. I`m sorry. I`m sitting the wrong way.
BEHAR: You`re doing great. Now you know, let`s talk about a couple of things going on in the news.
LEARY: OK.
BEHAR: I mean I want to talk to you about your show because I watched the finale this weekend, which was very, very good.
LEARY: You did? What did you think?
BEHAR: I thought it was very compelling, very compelling. And your character is great. Everybody`s fantastic. Very profound, the show.
LEARY: Wow, thanks.
BEHAR: It`s good.
LEARY: Thanks. Profound.
BEHAR: Yes. But I want to ask you. There`s a crazy story coming out of Florida. This pastor has just --
LEARY: Oh, yes I saw this guy.
BEHAR: He`s decided to mark 9/11 by burning these various Korans, copies of the original Koran. Let`s listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PASTOR TERRY JONES, DOVE OUTREACH WORLD CENTER: We first declared September the 11th international burn a Koran day, actually, for two reasons. Number one, we wanted to remember those who were brutally murdered on September the 11th and actually wanted to send a very clear message to the radical element of Islam, we wanted to send a very clear message to them that we are not interested in their Sharia law.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BEHAR: The Sharia Law is the -- you know, the beheadings and the --
LEARY: Oh, OK.
BEHAR: That part of Islam --
LEARY: Right. First of all, the guy -- I`m a -- I was raised catholic.
BEHAR: Yes, as was I.
LEARY: I`m a lapsed Catholic now.
BEHAR: We all are.
LEARY: Yes. I hate organized religion. I`m sure you have touched on this subject during the course of the last two weeks. But so, anyways, I think I`m tweeted about this guy like a week and a half ago. He looks like the pastor on "Sons of Anarchy".
That show -- you know, the motorcycle show.
BEHAR: Really.
LEARY: Doesn`t he? Doesn`t he look like he runs like a motorcycle gang church? But this is the kind of stuff where you start to get into -- I don`t know. It`s such a nebulous area. Like I believe in freedom, I believe in separation of church and brain, first of all.
BEHAR: Right.
LEARY: And that`s due to Sarah Palin primarily.
BEHAR: Oh, yes.
LEARY: But I really believe that the reason that our founding fathers separated the church and the state was so that we would have this argument, you know, sort of separated by law. And people have the right, of course, to say whatever they want and to believe in whatever they want.
BEHAR: Right.
LEARY: There`s that and then there`s the -- you know, as the president said the wisdom or I like to call the common sense of, yes, you have the right to do something but does it make sense? So in the case of the 9/11 situation with the mosque, I look at it like --
BEHAR: Oh the mosque and burning the Koran. Those are two separate topics.
LEARY: He has the right to do whatever he wants.
BEHAR: Right.
LEARLY: Then there`s the common sense aspect of which is the week of, you know, the ninth anniversary of this thing, you know, he`s turning it into his own issue.
BEHAR: Well Petraeus is saying, you know, General Petraeus --
LEARY: Yes, well that`s true --
BEHAR: That it puts the troops in harm`s way type of thing.
LEARY: True.
BEHAR: That he was saying that those Wiki leaks put the troops in harm`s way and now this too.
LEARY: I agree with that as well.
BEHAR: I sort of too.
LEARY: But I`m more interested and appalled by the xenophobic aspect of it, which is a big word -- big word.
BEHAR: But you are sitting correctly. So it`s not --
LEARY: I`m sitting correctly and I`m saying xenophobia which by the way I know the meaning of. But my parents were immigrants, Irish immigrants. And they were illegal aliens for a while --
BEHAR: Sure.
LEARY: -- before they became actual citizens so the whole idea about the immigrants and this all sort of relates into the same sort of, you know, crazy patriotic ball that they have going of, you know, nobody else should come to this country. No other religions besides the one I believe in and --
BEHAR: But when someone says something like that, why do they not have to pay taxes? These kinds of people should not be tax exempt because they`re not a religion.
LEARY: Oh this guy in particular you mean?
BEHAR: Yes. I mean he has been getting partial tax exemption because of some the things he`s been saying only partial, but even partial, I don`t get it.
LEARY: I think he should be taxed simply because of the mustache. I mean that`s a lot of upkeep.
BEHAR: Exactly.
LEARY: You know, listen, the Catholic Church actually stepped in to this mosque argument about two weeks ago.
BEHAR: They should really stay out of it.
LEARY: But when the Catholic Church is coming in to help you decide on something --
BEHAR: Yes.
LEARY: You know you`re in trouble. I don`t care which side of the argument you are on. Get the hell away.
BEHAR: I know.
LEARY: The Catholic Church is coming in and they`re actually trying to make sense out of it. You`re in trouble, you know.
BEHAR: I mean really, with their track record these past few years, forget about it.
LEARY: Yes, I, just -- you know.
BEHAR: But you know, last time I spoke to you -- you were really obsessed with Obama and now the polls are showing that he`s getting -- people don`t want him to be president as much as they used to.
LEARY: You know what he needs to do, he needs to turn white. That`s what he really needs to do. Yes.
BEHAR: Why? Do you really think it`s about race?
LEARY: White and Republican.
BEHAR: Do you think it`s about race?
LEARY: I think part of it is about race.
BEHAR: Really?
LEARY: Really. The real problem is this.
BEHAR: I don`t know.
LEARY: This country has a -- well, I guess the world has a gigantic case of ADD going on.
BEHAR: Right and amnesia.
LEARY: I mean it`s amazing, how long he`s been in office?
BEHAR: Uh, 18 months, 19 months, something like that. Almost two years.
LEARY: Not even two years. And this economic situation, the official falling apart was like during the election which was October of 2008. Right?
BEHAR: Yes, yes.
LEARY: So this -- who else was going to fix it? Was John McCain going to actually come in and fix it?
BEHAR: That`s the thing. When you say that to people, what if it were McCain and Palin now? What kind of deep doodie (ph) would we be in then?
LEARY: Oh my god, can you imagine, Sarah Palin?
BEHAR: But nobody cares about what could have been. They only care with what is and they don`t care with what happened either.
LEARY: Listen -- I know -- there`s a lot of people financially hurting. And I understand that aspect of it like -- in terms of getting a job or fixing their financial situation.
BEHAR: Right.
LEARY: Whatever it might be. Getting -- paying for the kids in college but you have to have a little bit of patience. Nobody`s going to fix this thing. Remember the whole Ronald Reagan trickle-down economics.
BEHAR: Yes, trickle this.
LEARY: Yes, once he started. It didn`t trickle down to me until like `94.
BEHAR: No, me either.
LEARY: The guy was doddering at a park bench --
BEHAR: Exactly.
LEARY: He had Alzheimer`s. And I just got my first credit card. I was like 34 years old. So, you know, I mean --
BEHAR: It is true.
LEARY: So I mean, you really have to give it sometime. It took 14 years for Reagan to reach me.
BEHAR: Yes, what about the canonization of Reagan now? Whenever a Republican speaks it is Saint Ronald Reagan, I mean, come on.
LEARY: I know, I know, listen I`m so happy to have a president who can actually, still, no matter what you say express himself and be funny and be smart.
BEHAR: And articulate.
LEARY: And articulate OK?
BEHAR: Yes.
LEARY: George Bush, whatever you think of George Bush, last week he did a charity golf event which is for a great cause for vets and their children.
BEHAR: Yes.
LEARY: And it`s the first time he`s really been on television in a while.
BEHAR: Yes.
LEARY: And they showed him --
BEHAR: Did you miss him?
LEARY: Yes I miss him a lot, comedy wise I really miss him.
BEHAR: I do.
LEARY: I really miss him.
BEHAR: Oh my God.
LEARY: I really miss him. I really miss him.
BEHAR: You know I stopped doing stand-up when he got out of office.
LEARY: Did you really.
BEHAR: Because it wasn`t as much fun anymore. All you had to do is quote him. I`m happy to shake the hand of a soldier whose hand was cut off by Saddam Hussein? I mean come on, you can`t write it.
LEARY: It`s pretty unbelievable.
BEHAR: Yes.
LEARY: It`s pretty unbelievable. It`s pretty endless, too. How about the time he went to open the door? That was one of my favorites of all time. The guy was great -- as a comedy president.
BEHAR: Oh I know.
LEARY: He was fantastic.
BEHAR: All right Denis. We are just getting started here.
LEARY: Don`t get fooled again. That was one of my favorite moments - -
BEHAR: How does it go?
LEARY: It goes, fool me once, shame on you. I can`t say it.
BEHAR: Well, he couldn`t -- he couldn`t either.
LEARY: Yes.
BEHAR: We`ll be right back more -- with more -- from Denis Leary.
LEARY: What happened? Commercial?
BEHAR: Don`t go anywhere, commercial.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Every time I try to call you to talk about booze or an urge to drink or something about recovery that you desperately need to know, you not only don`t pick you don`t call me back or text me.
LEARY: I can`t text. My fingers are too big. You know I tried typing in what`s going on, and it sent out a text saying (EXPLETIVE DELETED) -- I can`t do it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BEHAR: That`s a clip from Denis Leary`s hit FX show "Rescue Me". The finale of last week and the next season will be its last.
LEARY: The finale which was called "profound and compelling" by Joy Behar.
BEHAR: It is. And if you want to start catching up with the series, it`s on DVD. Isn`t it? Season five is available now.
LEARY: Yes, it is. Can I say one thing though, there`s a show that was on after us this year which is also done by another comedian friend of ours, Louis C.K.
BEHAR: Oh yes.
LEARY: Oh my god, what a great show.
BEHAR: It`s funny.
LEARY: It`s a hilarious show.
BEHAR: That one with -- what`s his face -- the Brit? What is his name?
LEARY: Ricky Gervais.
BEHAR: Gervais. What`s happening on the floor?
LEARY: Yes, it`s a great show.
BEHAR: Very funny.
LEARY: It`s a great show. So I`m pushing another guy`s show now.
BEHAR: That`s all right.
LEARY: OK. I`m calling George Bush an idiot. I`m here instead of pushing my show, I`m pushing Louis C.K. show.
BEHAR: Oh well let`s talk about your show. OK?
LEARY: Yes.
BEHAR: Louie was on talking about his show.
LEARY: He was?
BEHAR: What`s in store for the final season? How come you aren`t going to just go past the next year?
LEARY: Well, because -- you know, I don`t know. This is the first time I`ve done a successful television series. The first one I did lasted 19 --
BEHAR: What was it?
LEARY: "The Job".
But it was my same creative partner, which is Peter Tolan. Peter did "Larry Sanders Show," and he also worked on "Murphy Brown". So Peter`s whole thing was, listen, I feel like five to seven years is the amount of time that you should have a television show and then get out. Always leave the audience wanting more and which goes back to our comedy days and Peter was an ex-stand-up comic.
BEHAR: Right.
LEARY: And once he said that about four years ago I thought, you know what, I think it`s true. I think we`ll get out when we feel like we`re ready and also before the audience hopefully feels like we`re ready and it`s also the tenth anniversary of 9/11. The show`s connected to that.
BEHAR: And your season finale next year is going to be shown on 9/11?
LEARY: No it`s like the week before.
BEHAR: No, the week before.
LEARY: So it just kind of felt right, and creatively, we are still editing that last season now which will air next summer so I feel like it`s the right thing --
BEHAR: You mean it is in the can already?
LEARY: So we`ve shot it already, yes.
BEHAR: So what are you going to do with your time then?
LEARY: Well I`m doing --
BEHAR: Stand-up?
LEARY: I start "Ice Age 4" tomorrow.
BEHAR: I`m in that.
LEARY: Are you really?
BEHAR: I`m playing John Leguizamo`s mother.
LEARY: Are you really?
BEHAR: I`m serious.
LEARY: Welcome to the cast.
BEHAR: Thank you.
LEARY: And we`re in 3D.
BEHAR: OK. I don`t know what kind of animal I am. I`m not sure yet.
LEARY: Oh really.
BEHAR: Yes, I have to see the script. Anyway, that`s another story.
Do you want to hear from actual firefighters?
LEARY: Yes. They work on the show.
BEHAR: And what do they say about the show?
LEARY: Well there`s a lot of firefighters in New York, especially some of the older guys who don`t -- who feel like we`ve released some secrets into the world. And --
BEHAR: Like what?
LEARY: Well, you know, we do a very complicated show. If you watch it --
BEHAR: I do watch.
LEARY: -- I`m sure you`re aware of it, you know, it`s a story about men and the thing that we wanted to write about was about what -- how difficult it is to be a supposed hero in what you do and deal with life and death every second of every day that you are on the job.
BEHAR: That`s right.
LEARY: And then try to deal with real life. So, we`re not interested in the third watch or, you know, that all show emergency -- like just pure hero worship.
BEHAR: Right.
LEARY: We were interested in --
BEHAR: The real.
LEARY: Yes.
BEHAR: The real.
LEARY: The dark side of it. You know? And what goes on. Most fire houses I know that are very busy in urban fire houses, in any city, it`s what they do for a living and very black humor which is how they deal with their emotions and what they see on the job.
BEHAR: Yes.
LEARY: So, there`s a lot of firefighters who don`t necessarily like us showing that but you know what? We were -- we were true and most of our stories by the way came from actual firefighters who are the technical advisers on the show.
BEHAR: Nobody ever likes it when you show -- I mean "Nurse Jackie" gets flack from nurses.
LEARY: I know --
BEHAR: It`s a satire.
LEARY: And I did that cop show. You know what I find, it is really funny. The only -- I did a couple of gangster films in my movie career and one in particular called "Monument Ave." it was about Irish gangster stuff that I did with Ted Demme. Gangsters are the only guys who are really happy if you show it, you know, show them in a bad light, then they come up to you like --
BEHAR: Yes, yes, that`s true.
LEARY: Hey that was pretty good when you showed me shooting that guy. Not me but you know what I`m talking about. Like they`re the only ones who are proud, everybody else is like what are you showing that for? You know -- so, and my mother.
My mother who just that can`t believe I`m doing any of this or saying what I say. I love my mother`s approach to my whole career.
BEHAR: Why what is it?
LEARY: It`s "Ice Age" and nothing else. That`s like --
BEHAR: You only did that.
LEARY: She doesn`t watch anything I do. And she constantly -- whenever -- I just did another comedy tour and whenever I do a comedy tour I can`t win. I don`t know where you learned that language. Yes, I wonder where. My father could swear in Gaelic and English, by the way, ladies and gentlemen.
BEHAR: Now let me start something for you, OK.
LEARY: Yes.
BEHAR: The Leary Firefighters Foundation --
LEARY: Yes.
BEHAR: No there`s a Comedy Central benefit coming up?
LEARY: Yes. We went on tour. The last few years, I think I`ll do it next year. I took Lenny Clark and Adam Ferraro (ph) who are in the cast of "Rescue Me".
BEHAR: Yes, I saw that.
LEARY: Yes so instead of doing a press tour we toured the country and do live stand-up and we publicize the show`s arrival back on television every year that way. And it benefits, part of the proceeds go to my foundation. So this year, we filmed it at the end here in New York at town hall and I think it is in January on Comedy Central.
BEHAR: That is great.
LEARY: I don`t think I can say the title here.
BEHAR: Why not? Say it, we`ll bleep it.
LEARY: It`s called "Douche Bags and Doughnuts" --
BEHAR: Oh we can -- we are not even going to bleep that, I think.
LEARY: Oh OK, Denis Leary and friends for the Leary Firefighters Foundation --
BEHAR: The language that you get away with on "Rescue Me" is really incredible. Because it is FX, it`s not HBO. The language is out there.
LEARY: No, well the behavior, too. That`s the thing --
BEHAR: Behavior, too. But the language. I mean I was surprised. You don`t have a seven-second delay or anything. It`s in the script.
LEARY: Yes, I love that network. I got to say that --
BEHAR: They treat you good, huh?
LEARY: Those guys are great.
BEHAR: Now your kid, your daughter -- now, in the show -- your daughter is an alcoholic in the show and you are an alcoholic and you`re her sponsor. You don`t show up when you`re supposed to. You are like a bad father in the movie, in the play or the show.
LEARY: Well, he is terrible.
BEHAR: He`s not good.
LEARY: He is complicated. Yes, but he has not been a great dad which is part of -- hopefully what will be exciting for the audience going into the final season is to figure whether or not he can actually regain his standing with his family.
BEHAR: Who did you draw for that? On what?
LEARY: He`s based on two guys who I know; one guy who doesn`t have a drinking problem and another guy who did. And, and all the elements of the marital problems and all those things are sort of drawn from that.
BEHAR: So it is the drinking problem that really makes him kind of a screw-up?
LEARY: Well I don`t know if it`s that. I guess that`s actually the external expression of it but the real problem, of course, was 9/11 and the loss.
BEHAR: The trauma.
LEARY: And the trauma and not dealing with it. You know? So for firefighters, you know, for anybody with soldiers same thing. It`s that thing of if they`re still going into battle, it is difficult to come to terms with --
BEHAR: Right.
LEARY: -- what they have seen, what they may see again and keep doing the job. You know?
BEHAR: OK, stay with me.
LEARY: I`m not going anywhere.
BEHAR: We`ll be right back with more from Denis Leary.
LEARY: I`m not leaving you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BEHAR: I`m back with Denis Leary. You know, Denis, a friend of ours, comedian Robert Schimmel --
LEARY: Yes.
BEHAR: -- died over the weekend from injuries suffered in a car wreck. And he had -- this guy had more (INAUDIBLE) than Job.
LEARY: His life -- unbelievable. You know, his, oh, God. His battles alone with cancer were -- and by the way if you ever saw him doing the stand-up that was based on --
BEHAR: I know but let`s show a clip of him on the show. He was on this show. Let`s show it so we can remember him. He was a great guy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT SCHIMMEL, COMEDIAN: You know, when you are in the hospital and your family and your -- your friends come to see you, they don`t know what to think. And I`ll tell you what they think. They open the door and they`re facing their own mortality. You represent exactly the thing that scares them the most.
BEHAR: That`s right.
SCHIMMEL: And I think if you find humor in it, then you let them off the hook emotionally and they can be themselves around you instead of walking on egg shells.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BEHAR: He found humor -- I mean, this guy, his son died a child.
LEARY: Yes he did, yes.
BEHAR: I mean the worst thing that could happen to you.
LEARY: I remember that.
BEHAR: He had a heart attack. He had cancer. He had Hepatitis C. His parents survived the holocaust. He put all of that aggravation and tragedy into his comedy act which I admire so much. I mean it makes you feel as a comedian you are doing something that`s -- I don`t know. I don`t even know how to explain it.
LEARY: Well I think he was one of those confessional guys like -- he had that Richard Pryor thing. And even that happened to -- he did a show with us we do every year called "Comics Come Home to Boston," which benefits the Cam Neely`s Cancer foundation. Now that`s obviously the cause. He was the first guy that came to that show which like 8,000 people. That had -- that came up, he did a ten-minute set about having cancer.
BEHAR: Yes.
LEARY: And it was -- I`m telling, you fall as I`m sure -- you`re crying the end of it but he`s out there talking about how he almost died and he opens with it and the entire set`s about it and closes with it. So like Richard Pryor he had that ability to sort of take whatever happened to him and bring it right on stage.
BEHAR: But I mean to talk about your dead child I think is unbelievable.
LEARY: Amazing comedian.
BEHAR: Amazing that he was able to do that.
LEARY: I was really kind of -- kind of shocked. I know it sounds strange because of everything he`s been through. I really didn`t think that Robert Schimmel was going to die. I didn`t think anything was going to kill him.
BEHAR: Well he was ill anyway.
LEARY: Well, I know but I mean he had overcome it so much.
BEHAR: He was going to go anyway. Since --
LEARY: Terrible.
BEHAR: OK let`s do some twitter questions of you -- a couple of them. I can`t believe someone wrote this. I didn`t -- I have no control over these. How has being an a-hole made your life better? I swear someone tweeted that.
LEARY: I have to say that the -- that the (EXPLICATIVE DELETED) song -- I mean, we wrote it to be the opening of "No Cure for Cancer". If I don`t play that song in a live appearance, people are very angry.
BEHAR: They want it.
LEARY: I have to play it. Either at the beginning of the set or the end of the set, 20 years later -- when I die it`s going to say writer of the a-hole song.
BEHAR: OK 30 seconds. Does your wife watch your sex scenes on "Rescue Me"? Yes or no?
LEARY: My wife does not watch the show because -- I don`t know why.
BEHAR: OK, did you ever think your career would last this long?
LEARY: No, I didn`t think I would still be alive.
BEHAR: Do you color your hair?
LEARY: Do I color my hair, no, I don`t. This is kind of in the summertime.
BEHAR: He`s a blond. Where do you stand with God? In five seconds.
LEARY: In five seconds, God is a huge fan of the a-hole song. It is my own opinion.
BEHAR: OK thanks, Denis. Thank you Denis.
LEARY: It`s my own opinion.
BEHAR: Always a pleasure to see you.
LEARY: Is that it?
BEHAR: Make sure to get season five of "Rescue Me" out now on DVD and catch Denis in the upcoming Comedy Central special "Douche Bags and doughnuts" benefiting the Leary Firefighters Foundation.
Up next he`s a doctor and he plays one on TV, Dr. Oz joins us
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BEHAR: Dr. Mcdreamy has nothing on my next guest. He`s TV`s favorite doctor, the host of the "DR. OZ SHOW" which just began its second season. Hello, Dr. Oz.
DR. MEHMET OZ, HOST, "THE DR. OZ SHOW": I`m so happy to be here.
BEHAR: I`m happy to have you. I love - I love talking to you about different stuff.
DR. OZ: Now I`m going to interrupt you for one second. I went apple picking this weekend. I do it every fall. And I took the liberty of picking an apple for you. It is a perfectly rounded green apple. Has all the nutrients you want. The pectin, I know you want the fiber to keep your poop regular. The vitamin C you want to keep your skin looking young. So here, to my teacher Joy Behar.
BEHAR: Thank you.
DR. OZ: I love you.
BEHAR: You know when I was a teacher but no one ever brought me an apple.
DR. OZ: Well now you got one.
BEHAR: Guns and other weaponry.
(LAUGHTER)
BEHAR: OK so I want to talk to you about sex today. There`s a lot of sex in your thing this week, so I want to talk about it -- on your show. But I want to first start with Michael Douglas because it`s in the news and he started treatment for throat cancer. And he says he`s getting this incredible support from cancer survivors, from strangers. I know that it`s important when you`re ill to have your people, your significant others around you, but how important is it to get help from strangers?
DR. OZ: It`s essential. You know what allows humans to survive, it always has, allowed us to survive, is the fabric of people around us. So perfectly unknown individual can come into your life and create that cobweb of support that you need when you`re falling. Let me give you a statistic -- if you have a major crisis in your life, especially financial, divorce, bankruptcy, you get sued.
BEHAR: Right.
DR. OZ: The average loss of life from that stress is about seven years. Think about that. Now if you have a social --
BEHAR: You mean, will only survive seven years with that?
DR. OZ: No, you will live seven years shorter than you would have.
BEHAR: Oh, I see.
DR. OZ: Now if you have a social network and you, even perfect strangers, that reduction is less than a year. So there`s a huge benefit -
BEHAR: Wow.
DR. OZ: For someone like Michael Douglas being pushed up, propped up, made to feel that he`s just a drop falling into the ocean of humanity. What hurts us a lot as we get older - especially and throughout our lives - - we feel separate from everybody else approximately that`s the friendships we rely on so much. And again, what allows humans to survive in our darkest times. It will work today.
BEHAR: It`s what the Germans call a mine shaft. It`s about the community, very important stuff. But I think that what`s really important also is that he gets super good health care because he`s rich.
DR. OZ: It works both ways. I`ve taken care of my share of VIPs. What you don`t want is VIP care. Because all of a sudden people don`t do what they normally do. The chairman of the department --
BEHAR: Because they`re scared.
DR. OZ: They`re scared. And they start doing things they haven`t done in years -
BEHAR: Right.
DR. OZ: Because they want to show off. And slowly you spiral down this abyss of poor care. The smartest thing I ever heard from a patient of mine was a doctor, orthopedic surgeon. He came to me for aneuritic (ph) value operation. And as he`s lying on the table, Dr. Smith, you`ll be going to sleep now. He said, no, it`s Mr. Smith. I don`t want to be Dr. Smith until I leave the hospital. Treat me like a regular patient because the regular guys get OK. Now what Michael Douglas did wisely and so did his wife, because they asked questions. They got the first opinion, and second opinion, then a third opinion. Why is that important? If you get a second opinion, which only 10 percent of us by the way because we`re worried about messing up that precious covenant with our doctor, we don`t want to create awkwardness. Forget that. You get a second opinion. It will change your diagnosis or your therapy one-third of the time. Think about that. A third of the time you get a different therapy than if you hadn`t asked the question.
BEHAR: Really.
DR. OZ: And so the question is why are you shy? So think about this. You`re like a butterfly. You are populating different flowers within the medical profession. And if you get a second doctor and the diagnosis is different, the first doctor learns from that. And ever other patient that they will ever see for the rest of their career benefits because you taught that doctor about a new diagnosis. Because you got a second opinion.
BEHAR: Well you`re assuming that the first doctor isn`t an overblown narcissist.
DR. OZ: If he is, you shouldn`t be seeing him.
BEHAR: Yes but you don`t know that maybe until you get the second opinion, and then you test it.
DR. OZ: But sometimes the second opinions are wrong ones.
BEHAR: And maybe the third is yet another opinion though. Three different opinions on the same illness.
DR. OZ: It`s not rare. We did a campaign for New York Presbyterian hospital where I practice.
BEHAR: Right.
DR. OZ: We talk about all these high tech devices we had and these cool machines. Then we sat back and said wait a minute, the first thing a patient asks me is not what`s the newest robot you have. It`s doc, do I really need the operation?
BEHAR: Yes.
DR. OZ: And the most valuable thing you can tell a patient is you`re not ready for surgery yet. You can wait for a while. That`s a second opinion that I know we get as you move up the chain to better physicians. Most docs actually hold back without being too aggressive.
BEHAR: Oh let me talk sex now. Because in your show this week you`re discussing women`s vaginas.
DR. OZ: oh, is that right?
BEHAR: OK, let`s watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. OZ: This is a new vaginal wall in your 20s and 30s.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK.
DR. OZ: Now what I want you to do is take this hammer.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK.
DR. OZ: All right, I want you to try to put a hole in the vaginal wall in your 30s. Go ahead, hit it again. Go ahead. Now, let`s look at the vaginal wall in your 50s and beyond.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don`t want to know this because I`m 57.
DR. OZ: You are?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
DR. OZ: All right then well hit it gently.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, oh.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BEHAR: Well, that sucks.
DR. OZ: That`s going to be bad, that`s painful. Feels painful, doesn`t it?
BEHAR: Well the thinning of the vaginal walls. It ruins your sex life really because it hurts.
DR. OZ: We hear this complaint all the time. So we actually got together, three world class gynecologists and we had a little symposium. Gynecologists guide to sex after 40. And the place they wanted to start, and they all agreed on this, was anatomy. I said, why? Said because women spend too much time looking for their g-spot. They don`t understand that there`s clitoral atrophy that occurs as they get older.
BEHAR: Clitoral atrophy?
DR. OZ: Yes, believe it or not.
BEHAR: I was having a bad day as it is.
(LAUGHTER)
DR. OZ: It is harder to hit harder to find. It`s tough.
BEHAR: What age does the clitoral atrophy set in.
DR. OZ: As soon as your estrogen levels starts to drop. You know by the time you are in your 40s. You start to experience it and it gets worst as you get older.
BEHAR: So what does it mean, it`s harder to have an orgasm.
DR. OZ: Harder to find the clitoris so it is hard to have an orgasm.
BEHAR: It`s hard to find it.
DR. OZ: It starts to get folded in. You know you can still find it. And obviously, women who, you know, who are well past menopause can have meaningful sex. By the way, one of the little tips we gave everybody is get a mirror and examine yourself. Because there`s a couple things that can happen. You could have that very fragile wall that we showed in the little demonstration from the show. If you that, then you actually want to massage the inner wall a little bit. To relax it, you can use olive oil for that, by the way.
BEHAR: What?
DR. OZ: Yes, I love olive oil, it is a Mediterranean diet but in a different way.
BEHAR: Who will massage the vaginal walls?
DR. OZ: That was a tip from one of those experts. And she`s absolutely right. People call in and say, yes, that`s a good idea.
BEHAR: She`s massaging her own vaginal wall -
DR. OZ: Yes and she shared it with her patients.
BEHAR: Can you have a girl come in and do that?
DR. OZ: You can probably have somebody do that. Because it is foreplay. But the thing is that people get very anxious about all this stuff. And you know the other thing you got to do is, you got to be able to look inside that wall and see what color it is. We had little palettes. This might actually be helpful for your audience.
BEHAR: Yes.
DR. OZ: You have to look in there and see what color are you. So you see that the healthy is the salmon pink color. And if you have thinning vaginal wall, eggshell or beige. You don`t want that color. And by the way the outside skin color doesn`t matter. The inner color needs to be the color that I`m showing there.
BEHAR: How do you see that? You have to put a flashlight up there?
DR. OZ: A flashlight and a mirror and look. You can examine each other, I guess.
BEHAR: Who am I, Cirque du Soleil here?
(LAUGHTER)
DR. OZ: Yes but if you got that, you need to deal with that.
BEHAR: But let`s say, dr. Oz, that you`re older so you probably can assume that your vagina is thinning and it`s a pink color, it is not a good pink. So why do you have to look at it?
DR. OZ: No first of all, as you`re going through perimenopause, you`re not sure where you are on that path. And that`s where women get turned off from sex because they enter the that period of time where it`s uncomfortable. It`s not as rewarding as it used to be. It can be distressing when you don`t reach orgasm. So you want to know what your estrogen levels are because that`s a very easy thing to fix.
BEHAR: How, how do you fix your estrogen levels.
DR. OZ: You can estrogen cream, there are little suppositories you can put in there. There`s all kinds of ways.
BEHAR: They`re saying that`s dangerous all that hormone replacement. I stopped taking it a long time ago.
DR. OZ: Well hormone replacement therapy when taking it 20 years after menopause and you have risk factors for heart disease, that worries me a lot. But if you are taking it during peri-menopause - and you are having problems, I wouldn`t just take it to prevent problems that don`t exist yet. But if you are having an issue, like inability to sleep, hot flashes, you`re miserable because you don`t have sex. Well you want to be in a sexual famine in life, you want to be able to have intimate relations. So go to check it. And you know these -- they have all kinds now of local ways of administering estrogen. But the other thing, it`s not always estrogen, there are other things that can cause the problem. Sometimes you just begin to get tight in there. You have to use dilators to relax the area. In order to be able to --
BEHAR: Oy.
DR. OZ: And I brought you a matching set.
BEHAR: But you know, the menopause, women do report that they have a lower sex drive. And that`s probably normal. What are you supposed to do about that?
DR. OZ: Again --
BEHAR: Besides the pain and the thinness of the walls, what about the need and the desire? It sort of diminishes.
DR. OZ: It doesn`t diminish in everybody. At least a quarter of women and men --
BEHAR: Those are the ones who are finding new boyfriends.
DR. OZ: Exactly. They`re actually hunting them down.
BEHAR: It doesn`t diminish in those.
DR. OZ: It doesn`t diminish but they have something going on, probably related to their diet, probably related to the amount of activity they have and the prophylactic techniques they`ve used to maintain physical prowess. If you don`t use it, you lose it. So they stay active. However, at the end of the day, if you have no libido, one of the first things I do is check your testosterone. I wouldn`t just give this stuff out, but for men and women, that`s one of the least used medications in the lay public and one of the most used by the medical profession.
BEHAR: OK now what are the side effects of taking testosterone besides a mustache.
DR. OZ: Mustache is one of them. But for women who have already low levels there are very few side effects.
BEHAR: Really.
DR. OZ: From a little bit of testosterone.
BEHAR: So it doesn`t harm your health to take testosterone low levels.
DR. OZ: As long as you`re levels in your blood are already low and you are just making your levels back to normal, there`s no major risk factor.
BEHAR: That`s interesting.
DR. OZ: And by the way, for any of these hormones, I recognize, you know, there`s a big eco-system in there, lots of stuff, lots of moving parts. I don`t want to willy-nilly throw them out. But inability to have sex, Joy, is an independent, in my opinion, risk for not living as long. And we know that women who don`t have meaningful sex, playful sex -
BEHAR: Yes.
DR. OZ: Have a shorter life expectancy. And we know that men --
BEHAR: That`s right, that`s true.
DR. OZ: They go from having once a week which is the average to twice a week, they live three years longer. Not a bad trade-off.
BEHAR: That`s pretty good information. And we`re just getting started with Dr. Oz. So we`ll be back in just a bit, so stay there.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. OZ: It`s a strawberry with some pesticide on it. You eat that food and those chemicals get in your body. And they muck up who the liver functions. And that takes the fat cells and obese-ogens, for example, grows those fat cells. You see how they get nice and big and porky and fill the whole area. And all of a sudden, your whole body starts to feel the penalty because of this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BEHAR: OK. We`re back with the host of the "DR. OZ SHOW," Dr. Oz. So tell me what an obese-ogen is because you were just talking about that.
DR. OZ: Obese-ogen are chemicals that are found in the environment that block the ability of hormones in your body to do what they are suppose to do. Most of the time --
BEHAR: Where do they come from?
DR. OZ: They come from your drinking water, pesticides, they come from plastics, you know those vinyl curtains you have in your shower. You know those carbonless filter receipts you get at gas stations they have bisphenol-a. Which is a chemical that can block your hormones. And remember Joy, your hormones are there to keep and they are designed to keep you at peace with the world around you. So if your hormones are functioning normally, they will naturally take you to your playing weight, which is your weight when you`re 18, 20 years of age.
BEHAR: So how do you avoid the obese-ogens?
DR. OZ: They don`t have to be in your life. I`ll give you an example, 9f you microwave food with saran wrap on top of it, or in the Tupperware container, then you are actually pushing the plastic, the felix (ph), the plastin (ph) materials into the food when you eat the food, it ends up in your blood stream.
BEHAR: OK so most of the people who are watch, they use a microwavable thing. Let`s say one of those lean cuisiney things right.
DR. OZ: Right.
BEHAR: So it has the cellophane on the top. You`re suppose to punch holes in it, that`s no good? So take it off?
DR. OZ: Yes, I would take it off. I would not microwave within those packages at all.
BEHAR: You take the thing out of the package.
DR. OZ: No I would take it out of the plastic, take the top part off.
BEHAR: The top part.
DR. OZ: The top plastic off.
BEHAR: What about the bottom? That`s OK?
DR. OZ: Yes, they vary from company to company. And by the way, the Tupperware containers themselves. You know where we store last night`s containers.
BEHAR: Right.
DR. OZ: You know if they`re plastic, I would not microwave in those either. Put it on to a plate and microwave on a plate.
BEHAR: A regular ceramic plate is better than plastic.
DR. OZ: That`s right, that`s perfect. You know those nonstick pans that we cook with -
BEHAR: Yes, Teflon.
DR. OZ: Yes those chemicals also leach into the food, especially if they`re broken or cracked or scraped.
BEHAR: OK, that`s interesting.
DR. OZ: So I like the anodized aluminum. You can get ceramic coating inside of there so again, you avoid those chemicals leaching into the food. You should have the carbon filter on the water at home. Very simple thing to do, it costs, you know, 25 to $30 put a carbon filter on your faucet about that way you don`t have the pesticides which without question affect the hormones. You know Joy, there are no female fish any more around reservoirs.
BEHAR: Really?
DR. OZ: Yes. Because the chemicals get into the water and they affect the gender of the fish. Because fish don`t determine the gender when they`re made, they determine the gender depending to what chemicals they are exposed to.
BEHAR: This is around reservoirs because they put chemicals in the water.
DR. OZ: The runoff from fertilizers.
BEHAR: I see so stay away from those type of things and you won`t have these obese-ogens and that will help you to be thin.
DR. OZ: Yes if you`re frustrated because you`re unable to lose weight. The key things that point to, make sure your thyroid hormones functioning normally, make sure you have the right mixture of sex hormones and make sure you are not getting chemicals that block them, which are these obese-ogens.
BEHAR: I see.
DR. OZ: It`s a very, very big area of resource right now.
BEHAR: OK, you`re doing a special for Oprah`s new network, I understand?
DR. OZ: Yes. How did you find that out?
BEHAR: We have spies.
DR. OZ: You are very connected. That`s good.
BEHAR: We have Oprah spies, so how do you feel about her leaving the network like that?
DR. OZ: Oh I`m very proud of Oprah. She spent a long time thinking about what she`s going to do in her life. And you know, you`re a creative person. When you reach the pinnacle of your creativity in a field, and you think, you know what, I can be creative in a better way, in a different way, somewhere else -
BEHAR: Right.
DR. OZ: You make the move, unless you`re scared which most of us are about making a jump like that. I mean, who leaves when they`re number one by a long shot in daytime and decides to go off and make their own network, someone who is really confident in themselves.
BEHAR: Well she also has tons and tons of money.
DR. OZ: Yes but money doesn`t motivate people like Oprah. Oprah`s motivated by being able to built -
BEHAR: No, I`m not saying that -
DR. OZ: Creative juices --
BEHAR: No what I`m saying is that she feels completely secured financially. Beyond secure.
DR. OZ: She was secure five years ago, she was secure ten years ago. The reason she`s doing it now is she realizes there`s an opportunity to make a channel that offers an alternative to what`s currently out there. And you know she has to go prove it.
BEHAR: It`s risky.
DR. OZ: Very risky.
BEHAR: Very risk.
DR. OZ: Very risky.
BEHAR: What happens if it doesn`t work for her? And what will she do, do you think?
DR. OZ: It`s hard to guess.
BEHAR: She`ll come up with something else.
DR. OZ: But failure`s not an option. I mean there`s going to be, a way to make it work. It`s too good of an idea. Too many talented people out there to help. It is going to be challenging.
BEHAR: Yes.
DR. OZ: It`s not easy to put this many hours of programs -
BEHAR: Yes, very difficult.
DR. OZ: It takes a long time to get the best people there, but she`s pulling together some pretty top notch folks.
BEHAR: But I agree with you. I think reinventing, you have to do that after all or you get stale and you get bored and it doesn`t work anymore. You know a new poll says 50 percent of women would give up sex than gain ten pounds. Are you surprised to hear that?
DR. OZ: No.
BEHAR: That is how much women hate to be fat.
DR. OZ: They`re not proud of themselves when they`re heavy.
BEHAR: It`s just ten pounds, though.
DR. OZ: It`s nothing. That`s how women feel about it. It is also measured in monetary terms. Women are much more willing to take a little extra cash than have sex because it makes them feel prouder of themselves. But sex is important. Being intimate with people you love is what connection is all about.
BEHAR: And if you do it right and if you do it enough, you lose weight.
DR. OZ: Yes. That`s what I think. You know actually, I tell you, there are four centers - four places in the brain where you have absolute cravings. You crave food, you crave water, you sleep and you crave sex. If you don`t have enough of one, you can take more of the other. People who don`t have sex will crave more of the sleep, if they don`t get more of the sleep, they`ll crave more of the food. Over and over again.
BEAHR: Oh that`s interesting. Those four things equal.
DR. OZ: They travel together. You must satisfy all of them. That`s why we ask people take a drink of water before they eat, because you can`t tell the difference between thirst and hunger. They feel the same to you. And people who are not sleeping well will crave carbohydrates because it satiates them.
BEHAR: It is interesting, I never like to have a glass of wine after I`m done eating. I only like it before. Why is that? Because I`m hungry?
DR. OZ: You like the wine before the meal.
BEHAR: Yes. Or with the meal. Not after. Like if I get through a meal with the dessert, I never want to have a glass of wine. Why?
DR. OZ: I don`t know. I actually like the wine afterwards -
BEHAR: You do.
DR. OZ: Because it replaces the dessert. Listen, no one likes to have a tiramisu with a good chianti. Right, you want to have the wine at the end. So where does sex fit into that? Before or after the meal?
BEHAR: It depends how much I`ve eaten.
(LAUGHTER)
BEHAR: Because if you are feeling bloated, the last thing you want is someone on top of you. OK, sit tight, we`ll be back with Dr. Oz in a minute. Am I right?
DR. OZ: Yes you are. Touche.
NANCY GRACE, HLN ANCHOR: Hello, hello. Stay with us friends, we are speaking justice.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BEHAR: We`re back with Dr. Oz. And I was asking you during the break about how to get yourself to drink more water.
DR. OZ: You know a lot of folks have this misguided belief you have to drink eight glasses of water.
BEHAR: Yes.
DR. OZ: And we`re talking about whether that`s important or not. I actually don`t think you have to drink eight glasses of water. That data was based on World War II studies on G.I.s.
BEHAR: Oh.
DR. OZ: And they were trying to figure out how much water do people consume. And if you know all that research was done well, but the fact is, half of the food content is water. If you get a lot of water from food.
BEHAR: So how many glasses, bottom line?
DR. OZ: If your urine is clear, if you can read through your urine. You got to do that to check it, read through the urine, you drink enough water.
BEHAR: The amount of time spent looking at my bottom is unbelievable with you. What do you think of this new study that says the perfect salary for happiness is $75,000?
DR. OZ: I believe it. You know at $75,000 once you`ve paid your taxes, you don`t have to worry a lot about specific things like food. You know a simple vacation. Making sure the kids have what they need to live life. You always want to have more than that if you can. That`s human nature. But $75,000, you don`t have a lot of pressing financial concerns. You can be happy.
BEHAR: Well in New York City, that`s not really enough.
DR. OZ: No but that was data from across the nation.
BEHAR: Some parts. Seventy five thousand and after that, they say, your happiness level does not really go up?
DR. OZ: Because you`re looking for the next challenge, and if you`re not happy with what`s going on inside of you at $75,000, you won`t be with $75 million either. We see that all the time.
BEHAR: Yes, that`s true.
DR. OZ: You see people do wonderfully well. And the next year I`ll retire when I make the next million. Or the next 100,000 or next 10,000. And that day doesn`t come. If you`re not happy about the moment today, you`re not going to be happy. That stated if you don`t have enough money to put the kids you know, through school, if you can`t get food on the table --
BEHAR: Then that`s a problem.
DR. OZ: Yes, that`s a separate level -- issue.
BEHAR: People need the basics. Feed your family, educate your children, have a house to live in that`s nice.
DR. OZ: Yes be proud that you own a piece of the rock because you`re working for it. We had this free clinic last year, we took care of 2,000 people in Houston, Texas, which had the highest risk of being uninsured in the country. And what I learned at that event was that 90 percent of these people, roughly, had jobs. They were able to work. They weren`t making $75,000 though. And so now they felt like they didn`t belong. They were shamed into having to get free health care. So these are things you want to take off the plate. Once you`ve gotten that basic level of humanity or pride in your life, then you`re good to go.
BEHAR: OK we don`t have too much time left. So let me ask you something, this person I think is funny. What do you say to people who drink, smoke and live into their 90s? The French, for example, they smoke, they drink everything, they eat fatty foods, they eat cheese, they eat duck liver.
DR. OZ: They`re lucky. And that`s OK. Listen, your genes load the gun. The environment pulls the trigger.
BEHAR: Uh huh.
DR. OZ: And so if you`re smoking, you`re pulling the trigger. You may have gotten a blank.
BEHAR: Russian roulette.
DR. OZ: Russian roulette. And you know what a lot of folks live to 90 and most of the people who did those things they`re not living 90, and they don`t look so great when they are 90, usually.
BEHAR: Well, they don`t, that`s true. I mean some of those French actresses, they could use a face-lift. How much time should I spend looking for my g-spot? These are questions for viewers.
DR. OZ: We spend too much time looking for the g-spot. It exists. The male prostate moved to the front of the vagina and became the g-spot.
BEHAR: Stop it.
DR. OZ: Yes.
BEHAR: Who told you that?
DR. OZ: No it is true. Those female orgasms you know when there`s squirt, that seminal fluid it has prostate antigen in it.
BEHAR: Oh wow.
DR. OZ: Men like that part of their body stimulated too, by the way. You knew that right. So you know those are very sensitive places of your body. We spend too much time looking for it. Women have clitoral -
BEHAR: Orgasms.
DR. OZ: Orgasms, yes, they vaginal orgasms, or they can have blended orgasms.
BEHAR: Right.
DR. OZ: So you don`t have to spend your life looking for it. Enjoy life. That`s one of the biggest women make in 20s, 30s, 40s, and 50s.
BEHAR: Oh my god, I was about to form a search party during my 50s. Thanks so much for joining me Dr. Oz. It is always a pleasure to see you. I`m in love with you. Check your local listings to see when THE DR. OZ show airs in your neighborhood. Good night everybody.
END
