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Joy Behar Page
Tsunami Survival Stories; Petra`s Survival Story; Comedy in Tragedy; Interview With Alice Cooper
Aired March 15, 2011 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANNOUNCER: Coming up on THE JOY BEHAR SHOW, as Japanese authorities deal with the tsunami`s devastation, more remarkable survivor stories emerge. One man is rescued after 96 hours under rubble while an infant is found alive. Joy will talk to supermodel Petra Nemcova about how she survived the Indonesian tsunami of 2004.
Then comedian Gilbert Gottfried is fired as the voice of the AFLAC duck after tweeting jokes about the tsunami in Japan. So where is the line between tragedy and comedy?
Plus, original shock rocker, Alice Cooper, tells Joy about being inducted into the Rock Hall of Fame, his battle with alcohol and his work with other troubled stars.
That and more starting right now.
JOY BEHAR, HOST: It`s been four days since the earthquake and tsunami hit Japan. But miraculously, rescuers are still finding survivors. Just today, a 70-year-old woman was found alive in her toppled home which was washed away on Friday.
With me now is model Petra Nemcova. She survived the 2004 tsunami in Thailand. But first, I want to go to Gary Tuchman, CNN correspondent on the ground in Japan. Hey, how are you and where are you?
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Joy, I`m doing good. Good to talking to you. Right now, I`m in the town of Hachinohe, Japan which is on the northeastern coast about 200 miles north of Sendai, where we -- Sendai where we spent most of our time since we`ve been here.
BEHAR: Do you feel safe? That you`re out of the range of the reactors? The radioactive -- yes.
TUCHMAN: There are no guarantees, Joy. There`s no question about that. But there`s tens of millions of Japanese here who are with us and we feel like we want to tell their story.
BEHAR: Yes. I salute you for that because I think it`s a dangerous place to be right now.
TUCHMAN: I mean there`s no question about that, Joy. That`s the most amazing thing. It`s only been four days. I mean five days ago, life was normal in Japan.
Now, you`re dealing with the deadly earthquake, tsunami and this nuclear threat. It`s like science fiction, terrible.
BEHAR: What can you tell me about this miraculous story that we just talked about? This 70-year-old woman -- tell me about it.
TUCHMAN: It`s a great story. Her name is Sai Abe. She lives in the town of Otsuchi. And they evacuated their home after the earthquake fearing a tsunami. Her son did. But she just couldn`t get out quickly enough and her husband couldn`t either. So the son thought that both his parents had died.
Yesterday here, Japan time, authorities went into the house, they heard some screaming and they found Sai Abe in the town of Otsuchi. She wasn`t pinned to the ground so she didn`t suffer any serious injuries, just hypothermia. But she was trapped; she could not get out of the house.
And that`s the case we`re dealing with a lot here. Her legs were in bad shape, that`s why she couldn`t get out of the house quickly enough, but she is ok. She`s not -- she was not seriously hurt. Unfortunately though, her husband is still missing.
BEHAR: He`s still missing.
There`s another story about a 4-month-old girl who was saved and another man after spending 96 hours under the rubble. Are rescuers hopeful they`ll still find more people in the days or are they giving up at this point?
TUCHMAN: I mean every rescuer who is out there, that`s their main hope, to find people alive. We saw in Haiti Joy that people were found two, three weeks later in Haiti.
BEHAR: Yes. That`s true.
TUCHMAN: It`s amazing. In this case though, what`s different about this, most of the damage is not from the earthquake. It`s from the tsunami. So people who have survived would likely not be crushed. They just might be trapped or might be marooned.
We know just yesterday, we went out in boats with members of the army, rescued hundreds of people who were just marooned. They weren`t hurt, they just couldn`t get out of their houses because they were surrounded by water in every direction they looked.
BEHAR: That`s interesting. So they might still find a lot of people.
Now, you spent a lot of time with the rescuers. Emotionally, how are they handling everything? This is a tough thing to even deal with. I`m sure they`re seeing many disturbing things that we can`t even imagine.
TUCHMAN: This is unbelievably difficult. What`s happening now, unfortunately, and the reason the death toll is -- the official death toll went higher is because a lot of the people who perished were swept out to sea. But now the sea is bringing them back in and they`re bodies are just coming back to the beaches and the sand.
BEHAR: Oh, boy.
TUCHMAN: So that`s traumatizing. And Joy, you know, when I look at the people here, particularly the older people, people old enough to remember World War II and the horrors of what happened here in Japan, then we throw in the combination of this nuclear threat and knowing what happened here in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it`s just incredible emotionally what these people are going through.
And add to the fact that it got colder. It`s snowing where we are right now, it`s snowing hard as a matter of fact. And a lot of people just don`t have heat. They don`t have food, they don`t have enough water. And it`s a real trying time.
BEHAR: It seems like everything is stacked against these people.
Well, you know what; Gary, thanks for checking in with us. I mean stay safe and away from ground zero there. That`s not a good place to be. Ok.
TUCHMAN: I agree with you Joy. But thanks for having me on.
BEHAR: Ok.
Supermodel Petra Nemcova survived the 2004 tsunami in Thailand that killed over 100,000 people, including her fiance, Simon Atlee. Joining me now is Petra Nemcova, founder of the Happy Hearts Fund, which helps children affected by natural disasters. Welcome to the show Petra.
PETRA NEMCOVA, FOUNDER, HAPPY HEARTS FUND: Thank you very much.
BEHAR: It`s lovely to see you.
Now, from what I understand, you survived the tsunami in Thailand by clinging to a tree under water, I presume. Right? The water was gushing in?
NEMCOVA: First, I was under water and I was drowning and then I was lucky to get fresh air again and then when the wave was going back to the sea, I knew I had to catch a branch of the tree. And first tree, I couldn`t catch the branch. There was a last tree and I was able to catch a branch of that tree and then I cling on to it. The level of the water level was right up to the branches of the tree and then that`s when I was hanging on to it for eight hours.
BEHAR: Eight hours, you hung on to that; and you had a broken pelvis at that point.
NEMCOVA: Yes.
BEHAR: What an incredible story that you were able to survive something like that.
NEMCOVA: I had angels looking after me.
BEHAR: You had angels.
I was listening to somebody who was talking about the Japanese tsunami and he said he was a survivor. And he said what went through his mind when he was in a situation like that was well, this is how I will die. Did you think that?
NEMCOVA: There was at first, I was -- I was thinking of my partner and all the people on the beach because I knew it`s not just happening there. I knew that it`s massive and I was sending love and energy to everyone and trying to stay calm because if you get confused, you may lose the opportunity of saving yourself or others.
At one point, when I was drowning, I was trying to come up and the debris was stopping me from being able to catch a fresh air. There was a point where, ok, I guess -- I have to go and I let go.
BEHAR: You let go of what you were holding on to or emotionally?
NEMCOVA: I let go fighting. But that was a point when I actually was able to come up and catch a fresh air. And yes, you think of that maybe the last moment in your life. And it`s -- when you`re lucky enough to survive and to be blessed with that gift, you really, you appreciate things in a very different way and every moment in life is a gift.
And every gift which I have in my life, I try to make something very good with it for others. I`m sure there will be many great stories coming from Japan of survival, changing lives of other people.
BEHAR: I`m sure. Their situation there is bad. The tsunami that you were in, many, many, many, many people died.
NEMCOVA: Yes.
BEHAR: This one is a little different because you have this radioactive nuclear reactor issue.
NEMCOVA: Yes.
BEHAR: It`s going to have repercussions down the line. I think, that people can`t even foresee yet.
NEMCOVA: Definitely. Not just on that level, but also because the axis has been changed of the earth and there may be ripple effect of that as well.
And I think one of the really important things is to which Japan is showing us that -- Japan is very prepared for natural disasters and especially earthquake and look at what`s happening there and how affected there are.
What about other parts of the world? What about in the U.S.? There are 39 states where earthquakes could occur and 75 million people could be affected.
And we don`t know anything about signs of signs, signs how to recognize natural disaster, what to do; safety, having emergency kit, emergency plan for the family. There`s nothing like that implemented and I think it should be at every school. Every child should be learning that.
We have fire drills. We should have a natural disaster preparedness courses because not just -- if you travel, we all love to travel. And it may not happen where we live but it may travel -- it may happen when we travel and we cannot stop natural disasters but we can protect ourselves --
BEHAR: That`s right.
NEMCOVA: -- with knowledge.
BEHAR: Tell me about your foundation, the Happy Hearts Fund, and also about these pictures that you brought.
NEMCOVA: So after -- after being blessed from surviving the tsunami, I felt very frustrated I couldn`t help right away because I had -- my pelvis was shattered and I had -- I had to be in the hospital to recover. I couldn`t move.
And after coming back to Thailand for the first time with my friend -- my friends and my sister, I`ve seen the gap -- which was happening after first responders were leaving. There was not help coming for children, so I established Happy Hearts Fund which helps children to rebuild their lives for rebuilding schools and we -- since 2006, we have rebuilt 50 schools and kindergartens. We build about 10 to 13 schools a year. And we are in nine countries around the world.
And one of the important things is -- why is it important to -- to rebuild school? Especially for children, the fastest way for them to heal from the trauma is to give them sense of normalcy.
And if they can go back to safe school, the scars of trauma are -- are smaller and -- and as soon as they go back to school. And not just that as soon as they`re back to school, their parents, they can go to work, so they can earn a living --
(CROSS TALK)
BEHAR: Yes.
NEMCOVA: -- and feed the children. And the whole community is uplifted. So the -- rebuilding school helps not just children but the whole community to get them back on their feet and this -- these drawings from -- from children --
(CROSS TALK)
BEHAR: These are children who survived the --
NEMCOVA: The 2004 tsunami. They are -- they were drawing -- those are disaster preparedness drawing where they are showing about -- about tsunami and they`re teaching that when the first wave comes, it`s not necessarily one -- one wave, but it`s a train of waves and sometimes, the third or the fourth wave could be the strongest.
So through them drawing it, they`re learning and in the same time, they`re teaching other children.
BEHAR: I see.
NEMCOVA: And something like this should be taught at every school around the world because I think it`s a crime if children -- they are not protected through knowledge.
BEHAR: Yes. Ok, thank you so much for sharing the story with us.
NEMCOVA: Thank you. You`re very welcome.
BEHAR: We`ll be back in a minute.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BEHAR: The AFLAC duck has stopped quacking because Gilbert Gottfried started tweeting. The comedian tweeted offensive jokes about the tragedy in Japan, so AFLAC fired him. Here to discuss this further are Rob Shuter, AOL`s PopEater the columnist; Don Jamieson, comedian and co-host of "That Meddle Show" on VH1 classic; and comedienne extraordinaire Miss Judy Gold.
Ok, so you guys listen, we have two comedians here. And I have a --
(CROSS TALK)
ROB SHUTER, COLUMNIST, POPEATER.COM: It`s three.
BEHAR: Well, three of course, yes me too, I forgot.
SHUTER: Yes.
BEHAR: I always forget. But you are a columnist for Pop Eater.
SHUTER: Yes.
BEHAR: So you weigh in on this. I would like to hear your point of view on the business end of it. But the -- the -- have you seen the tweets that that Gilbert did?
SHUTER: Yes.
BEHAR: Ok, you`ve seen them.
SHUTER: Yes.
BEHAR: But I don`t really want to say them, because -- they`re offensive to people to hear. So when I talk to you out there, suffice it to say, they are offensive, ok?
Now, you could say they`re funny and they`re offensive. That happens, too, right? Do you think they were by the way?
SHUTER: I think it went too far. I thought they were offensive.
BEHAR: You did? You did?
SHUTER: I did.
BEHAR: And Judy?
JUDY GOLD, COMEDIAN: You know, I think that he`s a comic and this is how comics think. And I think among us, if a bunch of us were sitting around the table, and he told these jokes, we might say, that`s awful, but it`s funny.
BEHAR: Right.
GOLD: But you don`t tweet them. You know --
(CROSS TALK)
BEHAR: But the -- the fact that it`s in writing I think is one of the issues.
GOLD: Right.
BEHAR: Right.
DON JAMIESON, COMEDIAN: Yes, well, I mean, my bigger issue is -- is first of all, they know who they were dealing with. This is a guy who told the filthiest version of the aristocrats in history in a feature film.
BEHAR: Right.
GOLD: Right.
JAMIESON: He talked about masturbating on the Emmys. He`s been on the "Stern" show doing racially insensitive material for the last 15 years. This is (INAUDIBLE) then that they hire to do this.
BEHAR: Yes.
JAMIESON: So he is a comic he has the right to do this.
BEHAR: He`s like -- he`s like carrot top.
(CROSS TALK)
JAMIESON: Yes. He is Hebrew for too soon, I think.
GOLD: Right, good one. I like that.
BEHAR: So --
SHUTER: Good thing I left my notes out.
GOLD: Yes.
BEHAR: But you know, it reminded me -- it reminds me of you know, whenever there`s a tragedy like a plane crash or something, there`s always these inappropriate jokes that go on the Internet out of Wall Street.
GOLD: Right.
BEHAR: Where does that come from? Do you think it`s from nerves and anxiety?
GOLD: Well, I think that -- it does relieve the tension, when you -- you want to make people -- and you do think this -- all right, everyone has these awful thoughts and no one admits it and comics are the ones that say it. And then we get in trouble.
BEHAR: That`s true.
GOLD: You know we do.
BEHAR: I`ve gotten into trouble for --
GOLD: I`ve gotten into trouble.
BEHAR: Have you?
GOLD: I`ve got into trouble. Yes, yes.
BEHAR: I`ve had to apologize "The View" a couple of times.
SHUTER: I -- I -- I`ve got an editor that really, you know, the column, is called Naughty but Nice but it`s more naughty than nice before it`s edited.
JAMIESON: Right.
SHUTER: So I have to have somebody that pulls me back.
But this is what`s fascinating about what happened. Twitter is the instant medium for celebrities and folks and we can just hit it and type it and hit send and it`s gone.
BEHAR: Yes.
SHUTER: And there`s no filter. There`s nobody there pulling you back. There`s no publicist --
(CROSS TALK)
BEHAR: That`s true.
SHUTER: -- there`s no managers. You can literally just have a dangerous thought. It`s almost like drunk dialing. Like you can just have a silly thought --
(CROSS TALK)
GOLD: Right.
SHUTER: -- and send it. And then suddenly it`s there and it`s never going away.
(CROSS TALK)
JAMIESON: Right, yes.
GOLD: And you can`t take it back. You can`t say, no, I didn`t say that.
BEHAR: Well, you can -- well at least you can do -- go ahead.
JAMIESON: No I just want to say, you can`t get an STD from tweeting something else.
(CROSS TALK)
GOLD: You can`t? I thought you could.
JAMIESON: You can from dialing though.
GOLD: But where did I get mine from then.
SHUTER: But what`s interesting though, about this -- is that the stars in Hollywood have done some terrible things. Mel Gibson has you know, admitted to hitting a woman and yet his career might survive. It`s interesting that --
(CROSS TALK)
BEHAR: Yes.
SHUTER: -- Gilbert`s career will not survive this.
(CROSS TALK)
BEHAR: Ok let me -- let me read you -- let me read you Gilbert`s tweet, what he said now --
SHUTER: He apologized.
BEHAR: -- he apologized. "I sincerely apologize to anyone who -- who -- excuse me, who was offended by my attempted humor regarding the tragedy in Japan. I meant no disrespect and my thoughts are with the victims and their families."
So, he feels bad about it, I guess. He did tweet ten times though. At -- at some point, you know, you need to stop the tweeting.
SHUTER: Right. But anybody that follows Twitter, you know, people just don`t shut up. Piers Morgan just tweets constantly. You know there`s nothing --
(CROSS TALK)
BEHAR: He does?
SHUTER: -- oh my God, every 30 seconds.
GOLD: What does he tweet about?
SHUTER: Every random thought he has, he tweets.
GOLD: Right.
SHUTER: Thank goodness his random thoughts aren`t that deep.
GOLD: Right. Right.
SHUTER: His thought are pretty quick.
BEHAR: It`s kind of masturbatory after a while.
SHUTER: It is. It is.
(CROSS TALK)
GOLD: It`s so narcissistic isn`t it?
SHUTER: Yes.
GOLD: It`s like everyone wants to hear what I had.
JAMIESON: Right every single thought.
GOLD: No one has a thought, you know, I remember taking walks and you know and before I had a cell phone and I`d walk for 45 minutes. You know, I go from here to there and I couldn`t call anyone and I had these thoughts in my head and they were there and then they left and that was it.
(CROSS TALK)
SHUTER: Right.
JAMIESON: Right.
GOLD: And my kids will never have that experience.
JAMIESON: They won`t.
GOLD: Yes.
JAMIESON: But on Twitter, people get mad if you don`t tweet every so often.
GOLD: Oh I know. Yes that`s true.
JAMIESON: It`s a crazy -- like you know, I get yelled at on Twitter. You`re promoting too much, you`re not promoting enough. You`re not telling us what you`re doing enough. It`s -- it`s the etiquette on there is harder than dating.
SHUTER: Right.
BEHAR: It`s addiction on both sides, the giver and the receiver. Now what about -- first of all, let me just point out that 75 percent of AFLAC`s business is in Japan. So, that really was one of the problems, I think. Do you think that if he -- if they didn`t have 75 percent of Japanese business, that they would have fired him?
(CROSSTALK)
JAMIESON: Yes. I think they felt that yes --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They`re a huge corporation.
BEHAR: Anybody would have done.
SHUTER: I think I agree. I think this was just not where the business was. These comments and so many of them was too much too soon and he was gone. And I`m not sure how he`s going to make a comeback. The fact he`s apologized tells you what deep water he`s in.
BEHAR: Ok. All right. Now, stay right here because when we come back, I have two topics we could go to. One of them is Sarah Palin and the other is Glenn Beck. Take your pick.
Ok. We`ll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BEHAR: Ok. I`m back with my panel. Glenn Beck also has thoughts on the disaster in Japan, which he shared on his radio show. Listen.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
GLENN BECK, FOX NEWS HOST: I`m not saying God is, you know, causing earthquakes. Well, I`m not, not saying that either. What God does is God`s business. I have no idea. But I`ll tell you this, whether you call it Gaia or whether you call it Jesus, there`s a message being sent and that is, hey you know that stuff we`re doing? Not really working out real well. Maybe we should stop doing some of it.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
BEHAR: You know, compared with him, Sarah Palin makes sense.
JAMIESON: Did he end that speech by going, "Duh winning?"
Charlie sheen makes more sense than this guy.
BEHAR: I mean I hate these people who blame everything on, they give everything over to God. God`s responsible. Remember Pat Robertson who said that Katrina was because of homosexuality?
GOLD: Well, it kind of was.
(CROSSTALK)
SUTER: At least Pat stood up for his opinion. This guy walks the line. I`m not saying that. Maybe I am saying that. If he thinks it, say it. He`s so clever how he says things.
BEHAR: Maybe he`s a warning from God. Maybe --
(CROSSTALK)
SHUTER: Maybe.
BEHAR: All right, now, what about Sarah Palin? Apparently, she heard that Julianne Moore is going to be playing her on a new movie on HBO called "Game Change" which is a phenomenal book, by the way, balanced the whole thing. And she doesn`t like it.
You want to see this -- can we show it or is it not worth it? Let`s show it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SARAH PALIN, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: I am all about job creation and I guess I could provide some of these gals who pretend like they`re me, some job security. I would ask though if they`re of the mind of spreading the wealth around that perhaps they want to spring for one of my kid`s sets of braces or something and say as they capitalize on pretending to be me.
I`ll just grit my teeth and bear whatever comes -- what may with that movie.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BEHAR: She`s got a Snooki hairdo.
(CROSSTALK)
BEHAR: You know, I don`t know about you guys, I wouldn`t mind being portrayed by Julianne Moore.
GOLD: I mean Julianne Moore. And you know who`s playing Todd? Annette Bening.
BEHAR: And she`ll get an Oscar for it.
JAMIESON: Who wouldn`t want Julianne Moore playing them in a movie? Even Aretha Franklin wants her playing her in a movie.
BEHAR: I mean really, even Rob Shuter would like --
SHUTER: I would love to have her play me. She could do a British accent. But she`s not only beautiful, she`s talented.
I think she doesn`t want anybody playing her in this movie.
BEHAR: Why? Why not?
SHUTER: I don`t think she wants this movie out there because it`s not flattering. This book tells stuff about Sarah Palin that Sarah would rather us not know and once it`s made into a film people will see it that don`t read books. It will be a too much bigger --
GOLD: Wait, everyone reads books in the United States.
BEHAR: Yes.
SHUTER: I did -- I just get off the phone with Kathy Griffin who`s a little bit at war with her. And Kathy told me if she expects such a stop, think again. Kathy said that this woman has just sold out an extra two nights on Broadway for Kathy after going after her.
BEHAR: Going after Palin.
SHUTER: What Kathy did say in her defense was that Bristol used the F word on her --
BEHAR: That`s true.
GOLD: And she did make anti-gay comments.
SHUTER: She said if you can (INAUDIBLE)
(CROSSTALK)
GOLD: Sarah Palin never said anything like, I want to apologize on behalf of my kids.
SHUTER: Who do you think she would like to pay her in a movie?
BEHAR: Kathy Bates. The way she landed in "Misery". She`ll be great.
Ok. Thank you, guys, very much. We`ll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BEHAR: Before Lady Gaga wore a meat dress, Alice Cooper bit the head of a live chicken on stage. Now, that`s entertainment! Alice Cooper is the newest member of the Rock `n` Roll Hall of Fame, and he joins me now. Welcome to the show, Alice.
ALICE COOPER, MUSICIAN: Thank you, thank you, thank you.
BEHAR: First of all, I have to say, that Alice is not your real name.
COOPER: No.
BEHAR: It`s going to be hard for me to talk to you as Alice.
COOPER: OK. My real name is Brenda.
BEHAR: Brenda?
(LAUGHTER)
BEHAR: Why Alice?
COOPER: Well, you know, you had to come up with something at that time that was going to annoy every parent in America. And that was pretty much it. I figured if we called ourselves Alice Cooper and we`re wearing sort of our girlfriend`s slips, but they`re kind of torn and there`s a little blood on the arm and everything like this, you know, it was pretty artistic at the time to do that, 1968, `67, `68, but it definitely got the shock value across.
BEHAR: It sure did. It sure did. But why not Hortensia Shirley? Why Alice?
COOPER: Alice was the first name that came up. It`s funny, because we were trying to think of names, and the very first name that came up was Alice Cooper. And then I started thinking, Alice Cooper, Lizzie Borden, Baby Jane. It had a ring to it. It had kind of a dark ring to it. It`s kind of good.
BEHAR: That`s funny. But you know, what`s her name, Lady Gaga is nothing compared to -- I mean, she goes out with crazy outfits, but you guys, you had guillotines on the air, you had blood, snakes, baby dolls.
COOPER: Still do.
BEHAR: Are you still walking around with a snake, right?
COOPER: Absolutely. I had the snake last night at the induction, you know, because it`s sort of so synonymous with Alice, the snake is, and it was voted the No. 1 prop of all time.
BEHAR: Really?
COOPER: Yes, the snake was.
BEHAR: Didn`t Britney Spears have a snake at one point, too?
COOPER: Yes. It kind of watered down the idea.
(CROSSTALK)
(LAUGHTER)
BEHAR: When she did it.
Now, congratulations on being inducted into the hall of fame.
COOPER: Thank you.
BEHAR: That`s really lovely. You were passed over for a long time. Were you afraid like Justin Bieber would get in before you?
COOPER: I was Susan Lucci for a while. Yeah. There were 15 years there that we weren`t even nominated. And then we got nominated and as soon as we got nominated, we were voted in. A lot of people thought we were already in. It was one of those things where they actually thought we were already in the hall of fame. But I think everybody`s going to get their chance to be in. I mean, you think of bands like the Moody Blues, Donovan. Deep Purple. I mean, there are so many great acts that have been around for 40 years.
BEHAR: Yes. And the Moody Blues, I mean, they were phenomenal in their day.
COOPER: Yes, and still are. They`re amazing.
BEHAR: They`re still touring?
COOPER: All of those bands are still touring. Yes.
BEHAR: Wow. Bet they sell out handicapped parking.
(LAUGHTER)
BEHAR: So what do you think of Lady Gaga, while I`m on the topic of her?
COOPER: You know, I like Lady Gaga for one really good reason. There`s the fact that she sings. She`s a good singer. She writes a lot of her material.
BEHAR: Yes.
COOPER: She designs her shows. She pretty much -- she does everything. She`s kind of the -- she`s a cross between Mae West and Madonna and Liberace.
BEHAR: Well, Madonna -- yeah, Liberace, why not. I mean, but some people have said that she`s copying Madonna. Do you think so?
COOPER: No, I think she took it further than Madonna. Madonna was more of a sex symbol. I don`t think Lady Gaga is a sex symbol.
BEHAR: That`s a good point, yes.
COOPER: I think Lady Gaga is more of a spectacle, which I really like, and she goes for it.
BEHAR: It`s more like you.
COOPER: Yeah. I mean, if you`re going to do it, do it. If you say welcome to my nightmare, don`t just say it, do it. Give them the nightmare, you know?
BEHAR: Yeah. Did you actually bite the head of a live chicken or is that a --
COOPER: No.
BEHAR: That`s not a real--
COOPER: The story behind it is actually more dastardly than that. It has a different twist to it. Somebody threw a chicken on stage in Toronto. I picked up the chicken, thinking, you know, I`m from Detroit, I`ve never been on a farm in my life. It had feathers. It`s a bird. It should fly.
BEHAR: Yes.
COOPER: I picked it up and I kind of tossed it into the audience, figuring it would just kind of fly away.
BEHAR: A real chicken?
COOPER: Yeah, a real chicken.
BEHAR: A real chicken.
COOPER: And it didn`t fly as much as it plummeted. And the audience tore it to pieces.
BEHAR: Oh my God! How horrible!
COOPER: And threw the parts back up on stage. And next day in the paper it was Alice Cooper kills chicken on stage. And Frank Zappa called me up and he said, "did you really kill a chicken on stage last night?" I went, no. He said, well, don`t tell anybody, they love it. You know?
The kicker to the story is the first two rows at that audience were all in wheelchairs. They were the ones that tore the chicken to pieces.
BEHAR: Oh my God.
COOPER: Which I thought was even more odd than if I would have done it.
BEHAR: It`s like the Donner party on wheels.
COOPER: It was.
(LAUGHTER)
BEHAR: How horrible. That is scary.
COOPER: Well, first of all, who brings a chicken to the concert?
BEHAR: Well, that, I can understand. But tearing the chicken apart--
COOPER: Wait a minute. Yeah, I got my tickets, I got my wallet, I got my--
BEHAR: Got my chicken.
COOPER: -- drugs, I got my chicken.
(LAUGHTER)
BEHAR: That`s funny. Now, you know, what -- how has "Cabaret influence you? The movie "Cabaret?" I think it was Liza Minnelli who said that.
COOPER: Yeah. Well, I think it was the fact that our show had that quality to it. It had this kind of a dark sexual quality to it. And we didn`t mind wearing the makeup that was not really well done. It was kind of smeared on and it was kind of white (ph) and it had that kind of sideshow look to it. And I think that that`s what I meant when I said "Cabaret." It was sort of like you walk in and you see the show, here`s the big show and then here`s the sideshow that you don`t really want to go to, but you really do want to go to.
BEHAR: Yeah.
COOPER: That was us.
BEHAR: Uh-huh.
COOPER: You know.
BEHAR: By the way, what brand of mascara do you use?
COOPER: This is actually whatever I find. It`s grease paint. I go - - very glamorous.
BEHAR: What do you have on -- what do you have on right now? Your eyebrows look a little weird.
COOPER: No.
BEHAR: Oh, no, they -- I`m sorry. Oh my God, a faux pas.
COOPER: No, are they?
BEHAR: Those are really your eyebrows?
COOPER: Yeah.
BEHAR: No, come on.
COOPER: Yeah.
BEHAR: Let me see. Those are not stained at all?
COOPER: No. I don`t get real eyebrows -- oh, what do you mean? Are these my real eyebrows?
BEHAR: Yeah.
COOPER: Yeah.
(LAUGHTER)
COOPER: Well, wait a minute. Nobody 63 years old has dark hair. You know? If you go to one of these, when you go to one of these rock things and you`re giving away things and everybody that comes up at 65 and they have black hair--
BEHAR: Yeah, yeah.
COOPER: The only guy with honest hair is Jimmy Page. He`s got white hair. Probably under this is a lot of gray hair.
BEHAR: Yeah. So, your real color is all white?
COOPER: Yeah, probably. Not white, but gray.
BEHAR: How does it feel to be 63 and still be a rocker? Is it great?
COOPER: You know, I`ll tell you what. I think you`re about as young as your heart is. I quit drinking 30 years ago. When I was 30, I was 63, because I was really hitting it hard.
BEHAR: Oh, it`s like the Dylan song, I was so much older then, but I`m younger than that now.
COOPER: Oh, I`m 63 now, I get up and do 90 minutes on stage. I`ve never felt better. I can go all night.
BEHAR: Because you`re not drinking or taking drugs.
COOPER: Yeah, and I`m just in good shape. I mean, I was a distance runner. I was a miler and a two-miler competitively. Play golf every day. You know, I mean, I`ve been married for 35 years to the same girl.
BEHAR: My god.
COOPER: And -- yeah.
BEHAR: Look at you.
COOPER: Never cheated on her.
BEHAR: Wow, you`re like Jerry Falwell.
(LAUGHTER)
COOPER: Yeah. Kind of.
BEHAR: With mascara. But I want to get to all of that in a little while. I still want to talk about being an older rocker, because I went to see the Stones at the Meadowlands or one of those big halls. They had like fire and brimstone.
COOPER: Oh, yeah.
BEHAR: It was the most fabulous show.
COOPER: It`s spec -- we opened for them in that show. We opened in about three for four cities for them.
BEHAR: Did you?
COOPER: Yeah. But Mick Jagger does a half an hour on a treadmill, and then does three hours on stage. He`s 66. 67?
BEHAR: Oh, yeah, sure, if he`s a day.
COOPER: Unbelievable. He`s a phenomenon. I mean, nobody`s in that good a shape.
BEHAR: Do you think he and Keith Richards actually like each other or not?
COOPER: Yeah, I think they do.
BEHAR: Do you think they do?
COOPER: Yes.
BEHAR: And I was surprised to see that Keith Richards actually writes all the music.
COOPER: Keith Richards--
BEHAR: He`s brilliant.
COOPER: -- is a modern-day medical miracle.
(LAUGHTER)
COOPER: If you got a transfusion of his blood, all of us would be dead in about an hour. But somehow, what would kill us is keeping him alive.
BEHAR: Yes, I think so. So they do get along, those two?
COOPER: Yes, they do.
BEHAR: He used to say he wrote songs so that Mick would look good on stage.
COOPER: Well, I mean, back and forth, those two guys back and forth, I thought the book might have sunk the Rolling Stones.
BEHAR: But they don`t care.
COOPER: I don`t think they care at all.
BEHAR: I think they`re just happy making gazillions of dollars.
COOPER: They`re rehearsing right now for a new tour.
BEHAR: They`re a still phenomenal, you know, tour group. Just like you are.
COOPER: They`re the Stones. And we look up to the Stones, because they were -- I was in high school when the Stones came out. And we just went -- this is -- my parents hate these guys so much, I love them.
BEHAR: And your parents hated them.
COOPER: Oh, yeah.
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: They liked the Beatles.
BEHAR: They liked -- well, the Beatles had that cute haircut and they were, you know, can`t find me love, it was all very nice.
COOPER: Yes, it was.
BEHAR: And the Stones were dangerous.
COOPER: The Stones were dangerous. We looked at the Stones and said, we`re going to make them look like choir boys.
BEHAR: And you did -- but I mean, in retrospect, do you think you were more dangerous than the Stones?
COOPER: I think that we were more dangerous. See, we weren`t druggies. We weren`t getting busted for drugs and things like that. I think that our terror was more cerebral. I think that when people saw us, saw the name Alice Cooper and a snake and the makeup, and they looked at their kids -- and the kids were going, yes! Because the parents were going --
BEHAR: Well, they see those, and they see the snake, and they see, you know, first of all, they see a phallic symbol. They see the makeup and they think you`re just whacked out on drugs, I guess, that`s--
COOPER: But if you have hit records, it changes the world. A hit record changes you. You go from this kind of, you know, odd little band to an important band, and then if you look like that, and you have the records to hang it on, then you`re dangerous.
BEHAR: Then you`re dangerous, right. OK. When we come back, I want to talk to you about this golf obsession. And you`re a born-again Christian? That is really interesting stuff, when we come back. Stay there.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC)
BEHAR: That was shock rocker Alice Cooper meeting his match on the Muppet Show. And he`s back in now. OK, first of all, is Kermit a diva?
COOPER: Kermit was fine, it was Miss Piggy.
BEHAR: Miss Piggy is a diva.
COOPER: Yes. She was all over -- I mean she had -- there were little paw marks all over me. You know, and I had to keep -- I had to keep telling, Kermit, it`s not me, it`s her.
BEHAR: OK, now, you`re born-again Christian. Which means that -- when did that happen?
COOPER: Well, my dad was a pastor.
BEHAR: Oh, yes.
COOPER: My granddad was an evangelist. My wife`s father is a pastor. And I was the prodigal son. I mean, I grew up in a church ...
BEHAR: Yes.
COOPER: And then I went as far away as you could and then came back.
BEHAR: When did you come back?
COOPER: About 20 years ago.
BEHAR: Really?
COOPER: You know, well, I quit drinking, and that, you know, that clears you up a little bit, and it starts putting things in the perspective of what`s important, you know. I mean, how many cars do you need. How many houses do you need, how ...
BEHAR: Exactly.
COOPER: That lifestyle only goes so far, and then you start thinking about what`s important.
BEHAR: That`s right. That`s right.
COOPER: Yes.
BEHAR: But in those days, you know, Gene Simmons was on the show. I`ve heard this before from him anyway -- he claims that he had sex with 5,000 women. Do you believe that?
COOPER: At the same time?
(LAUGHTER)
BEHAR: No.
COOPER: No.
BEHAR: If that`s true, wouldn`t he be in traction at this point?
COOPER: Yes, first of all ...
BEHAR: I mean, do you think it`s true?
COOPER: No, I don`t think that`s possible.
BEHAR: Well ...
COOPER: After a show, I don`t think so.
BEHAR: 5,000. What about you? How many have you had?
COOPER: I think -- when I was young, I was a rock star.
BEHAR: Do you even remember?
COOPER: No.
BEHAR: No. That`s ...
COOPER: I don`t remember -- I don`t remember 18 to probably 26.
BEHAR: See, that`s the beauty of the whole thing.
COOPER: Yes.
BEHAR: You`re an alcoholic, you`re a druggie ...
COOPER: Yes.
BEHAR: You`re acting out, you`re having sex ...
COOPER: You are rock stars!
BEHAR: You`re just -- you`re just being a bad boy all around...
COOPER: Yeah.
BEHAR: Then you wake up, and you become a born-again Christian and you don`t even remember what you did.
COOPER: No, it`s great. You just forget about it.
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: Yeah. It`s -- well, the good thing about it is the fact that you honestly don`t remember. There`s three albums I did that I don`t remember doing. I don`t remember writing them, I don`t remember recording them, I don`t remember performing them, and they end up being my fans` favorite albums. What? I go -- really? I kind of like these other ones that were the big hits. And they go, no, no, no, these were the ones we liked. Wow.
BEHAR: Are your fans like the Deadheads? Like the Grateful Dead had the Deadheads following them everywhere?
COOPER: Well, my fans are like -- I always appeal to the outcast. I --you know, my fans were not Eagles fans. My fans were the ...
BEHAR: I love the Eagles too.
COOPER: Eagles are great.
BEHAR: I love the Eagles.
COOPER: But my fans were those guys that didn`t relate with those fans. But there are a lot of the outcasts. There`s tons of them out there.
BEHAR: Yes.
COOPER: And I was their guy.
BEHAR: Yes, yes.
COOPER: Right. So, yes, and my fans were getting militant about this -- about this Rock and Roll Hall of Fame thing. I mean, I`m glad I got in so they calmed down a little bit.
BEHAR: Calm the masses.
COOPER: Yes.
BEHAR: And what`s this I read that you used to go out with Raquel Welch?
COOPER: Well, my manager used to manage Raquel Welch. Now, this was right when I met my wife.
BEHAR: Ah!
COOPER: And she was 18 years old.
BEHAR: Your wife was 18.
COOPER: She was 18 years old, and she was in the show, "Walk Into My Nightmare" show. I just met her and I was in love. Just about the time that I met Raquel Welch.
BEHAR: Oh!
COOPER: And if it was any other woman, I would have, of course, gone that way, but I was in love with this little 90-pound ballerina.
BEHAR: So you never shtupped Raquel?
COOPER: No. I -- honestly, when you`re in love, you can`t even see anybody else.
BEHAR: That`s a beautiful story.
COOPER: Right? It`s true. And so, I mean it was like -- I`m still with her. And I respect Raquel Welch and I think she`s the greatest thing in the world.
BEHAR: But you never did Raquel.
COOPER: No.
BEHAR: I wonder if she regrets that?
COOPER: I don`t know. We`ll never know. Won`t we? My wife -- I say, you know, my wife always says the smartest thing you ever did.
(LAUGHTER)
BEHAR: OK. Now, a bit -- This other thing I read about you. You have these demons, you`re talking about. Your drinking was legendary, and everything ...
COOPER: Yes.
BEHAR: They said here that you were in rehab in a mental asylum.
COOPER: It was ...
BEHAR: Why were you in a mental asylum?
COOPER: You know, I don`t know. I woke up there and I realized I was the only one in there for any kind of alcoholic drug or anything. Everybody else was in there for like chopping up their uncle and putting him in a trunk, and, you know. And -- I started going, why am I in here? You know.
BEHAR: Yes.
COOPER: I ended up writing an album about it called "From the Inside." And it was -- with Bernie Taupin, Bernie was my best friend. So I said, when I get out of here, I got so much stuff. This is so good. You know. But honestly, I started talking to people and they started giving me their stories, and I was going, really OK? You know.
BEHAR: Yes.
COOPER: I was the only one who was in there for alcohol.
BEHAR: So did it kill you? Did it help you? It helped you.
COOPER: Yes.
BEHAR: What do you think about Charlie Sheen then? Having been where, you know ...
COOPER: Charlie`s an interesting case. And I can relate to him on one level. I was the most functional alcoholic around. I never missed a line, I never missed a show. I was totally functional on every level. And I kind of see that with him.
BEHAR: Yes.
COOPER: He shows up, he knows his lines, makes people laugh, and then he goes crazy in his personal life.
BEHAR: Well, that`s the thing, you`re functioning in one area, but you`re not functioning in the other, I think is what`s happening ...
COOPER: Yeah, well, I can see what he`s talking about. He says look, I`m doing my job, what do you want from me? Why are you even in my personal life?
BEHAR: Yeah.
COOPER: And I kind of go, you know, I mean he may be clinically insane, but he does his job.
BEHAR: There was that discussion going on.
COOPER: Yes.
BEHAR: Is he on drugs or is he in post drugs stoop (ph) craziness, or is he really bipolar? What is it? We don`t know.
COOPER: I think he`s found some -- a wave that he`s riding ...
BEHAR: Yes.
COOPER: ... that`s kind of working for him somehow, you know, and I don`t know if he even thinks it`s a bad thing.
BEHAR: No. So, you`re on a tour and you also have a radio show?
COOPER: Yes. I do the radio show from the road.
BEHAR: And what do you do on the radio show?
COOPER: Well, I said I`ll take this show if I can play what I want to play. First of all, I`m so tired of this top 40. We only hear the same songs over and over and over and over. I said if you let me play songs, deeper cuts, I`ll take the show. I`ve been on eight years now. And -- you did radio. You did radio.
BEHAR: I did radio. But I was talking. You`re a disc jockey?
COOPER: Yeah, I do that. Well, I mean I tape my show. And I end up ...
BEHAR: And you find music you want?
COOPER: Oh yeah, I want to play ...
BEHAR: Where can we find it? I want to listen to it.
COOPER: It streams all over the place it`s Alice at Night with Alice Cooper.
BEHAR: Aha.
COOPER: You know. And it`s really a fun show because I know all the backstage stories, too. I can tell stories about -- about everybody.
BEHAR: You know, and you`re living to tell it.
COOPER: Yeah.
BEHAR: You know, you`re here, which is great. You know.
COOPER: Well, I mostly tell stories about people that are dead, so they can`t, you know, deny it. You know.
BEHAR: OK, when we come back, tell me one short story about -- a horrible story about someone who`s dead, all right?
COOPER: OK.
BEHAR: We`ll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BEHAR: I`m back with Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Alice Cooper. What did you say?
COOPER: I said sometimes I see those films, that scares me a little bit.
BEHAR: So, first, before we get to the story about a dead person, I hear you have a restaurant and you name the dishes after famous people.
COOPER: Yes.
BEHAR: If I were a dish, what would you ...
COOPER: Oh, you`d be great.
BEHAR: Would it be tongue?
COOPER: Oh, that would be good because we don`t have a tongue. We have a two-foot hot dog called The Big Unit.
BEHAR: Who`s that named after? Hello?
COOPER: Randy Johnson, the pitcher is called the Big Unit. But every time we serve it, the sirens go off, an alarm goes off. You know, and Big Unit coming through -- and you put it down, and that`s obscene. I mean, it`s like that big. But it`s a really great hot dog.
BEHAR: This is in Phoenix, Arizona.
COOPER: Yes.
BEHAR: Phoenix, Arizona.
COOPER: It`s called Cooperstown.
BEHAR: Well, there was a Cooperstown in New York State ...
COOPER: Well, it`s Alice Cooper`s town.
BEHAR: Oh, Alice Cooper`s town. Right. So -- That`s great.
COOPER: Yeah, but we do change the sandwiches all the time. If you want a sandwich, we`ll ...
(CROSSTALK)
BEHAR: I want (ph) a tongue sandwich.
COOPER: OK.
BEHAR: Although no one -- no one buys tongue.
COOPER: No, they would.
BEHAR: So just say it`s tongue and then give them ham.
COOPER: We`ll give them pastrami.
BEHAR: Exactly. All right. OK. So, who is the dead person?
COOPER: All right. Elvis Presley.
BEHAR: Oh yes!
COOPER: Yes. I went to meet Elvis Presley, I went upstairs, I get in the elevator, it`s Liza Minnelli, Chubby Checker, Linda Lovelace and me. Interesting group. We go upstairs, Elvis comes out, and Elvis looked great. It was 1962 ...
BEHAR: This was not the fat Elvis?
COOPER: Oh, no, this was the good Elvis ...
BEHAR: Yeah, the thin Elvis.
COOPER: And he comes out, he says, hey man, you`re the cat with the snake, aren`t you? I said yes. He said, cool man, he said, come here, I want to show you something. I go in the other room, he opens a drawer in the bath -- in the kitchen, takes out a loaded .38, puts it in my hand. And he says, OK, man, I just want to show you how to take this gun out of somebody`s hand.
I`m standing with a loaded .38 on Elvis. A little guy on my shoulder is going, shoot him. You know? And I go, I can`t shoot him, he`s Elvis Presley. And the other guy says, don`t shoot him, wound him. So I didn`t do either one. He knocks the gun out of my hand, he has my -- boot to my throat, and I`m like that`s great, Elvis. That`s great, you know. But he was an interesting character, because he was so protected that he didn`t have a life.
BEHAR: Yes.
COOPER: And I realized at that point I never wanted to be that big ...
BEHAR: Right.
COOPER: Where you couldn`t go out and go to the movies, you couldn`t go shopping. You couldn`t ...
BEHAR: Oh, it`s awful.
COOPER: No, he was so protected that his big thing in life was he got in a fight with three guys and he had the police reports. And he showed me these police reports like they were gold.
BEHAR: Yes.
COOPER: I kicked this guy right here and broke his arm, and I hit -- you know, and he`s showing -- his eyes are big. And he`s showing them to me like this, and I`m going, that`s your favorite -- that`s your most prized possession?
BEHAR: Right. And not exactly.
COOPER: Shocking. Yes.
BEHAR: And just like no conversation at all.
COOPER: None. I mean, the guy -- he couldn`t do anything.
BEHAR: Yes.
COOPER: Yes.
BEHAR: Interesting guy. I mean, did you know him when he was bloated?
COOPER: Didn`t -- I didn`t -- I saw him after that a little bit when he popped up out of a car one time, "hey, Alice, how are you doing?" And all I saw was this guy pulling him back.
BEHAR: Oh, yes.
COOPER: I mean, he couldn`t do anything.
BEHAR: That was from -- what kind -- what drugs made him so bloated like that?
COOPER: You know ...
BEHAR: ... or was it just a lot of salt?
COOPER: Could be. You know, hillbilly boy, probably everything was deep-fried. You know, but everything in his life, he was allowed to have anything.
BEHAR: Yes.
COOPER: It was a Michael Jackson thing.
BEHAR: Yes, yes, same idea.
COOPER: So, you can have -- when you can have anything, you can kill yourself.
(CROSSTALK)
BEHAR: Alice, I just want to say thank you. What`s your real name?
COOPER: My real name is Vincent.
BEHAR: Vincent.
COOPER: Vincent Damon Furnier.
BEHAR: You`re French.
COOPER: Yes.
BEHAR: Furnier.
COOPER: Furnier.
BEHAR: Furnier. It`s absolutely marvelous to meet you and talk to you.
COOPER: Thank you.
BEHAR: Everyone appreciated you being here today.
COOPER: Oh, thank you.
BEHAR: Everyone, you Alice Cooper`s fans, the "Old School" 1964-1974, box set comes out in May. That`s great.
COOPER: Yes.
BEHAR: Thank you all for watching. Good night, everybody.
END
