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Joy Behar Page
Gingrich Announces White House Run; Interview with Susan Lucci
Aired May 12, 2011 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOY BEHAR, HOST: A company called Hero Builders is honoring President Obama by putting out an action figure of him. Here it is. Look at that.
But President Obama is not the only politician with an action figure. John McCain has one. There`s a Sarah Palin action figure. And finally, my favorite, the Newt Gingrich action figure. That is so life-like.
I think I`ll put out a Joy Behar action figure. It doesn`t do anything. It just sits on the couch and says snarky things about Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich.
(LAUGHTER)
ANNOUNCER: Coming up on THE JOY BEHAR SHOW --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NEWT GINGRICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I`m Newt Gingrich and I`m announcing my candidacy for president of the United States.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: It`s official. Newt is throwing his hat into the 2012 ring. But Joy wants to know -- can someone with all that marital baggage ever make it to the White House?
Then, legendary soap star Susan Lucci dishes about the end of "All My Children."
Plus, why did Hugh Grant turn down $1 million an episode to replace Charlie Sheen on "Two and a Half Men"?
That and more starting right now.
(MUSIC)
BEHAR: Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich announced yesterday that he`s throwing his hat in the ring and running for president of the United States. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GINGRICH: Let`s get together, look reality in the face, tell the truth, make the tough choices, get the job done.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BEHAR: Tell the truth. Really? Did he tell his first wife the truth -- that he was going to have a second wife? Did he tell the second wife that he was having an affair with a woman who would become his third wife?
Just asking the question. That`s all I do here. I think the question is: can Newt Gingrich actually become president with this kind of marital baggage and will we have some assurance that he won`t leave the first lady -- sorry, I mean the third lady?
Here now to discuss this are: Roy Sekoff, founding editor of "The Huffington Post," and E.D. Hill, my favorite conservative next to Elisabeth Hasselbeck, a CNN contributor.
E.D. HILL, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: I`ll tell you, wicked.
(LAUGHTER)
BEHAR: It`s wicked. You know, there`s a lot of baggage, though. The guy has a lot -- the divorce, the cheating, the hypocrisy. Let`s start with the divorces.
HILL: OK.
BEHAR: OK? You start, E.D.
HILL: Well, I think -- I mean, look. It`s America. Divorce happens here a lot.
BEHAR: Yes.
HILL: I actually think that I can get over it. I think a lot of Americans can get over that. Cheating on your wife -- you know, that`s a hard one to take.
BEHAR: Yes.
HILL: That does bother me, and I think Newt`s a very bright man. But the part that really does bother me is the hypocrisy that you can be talking about President Clinton and his issues and at the same time you`re clearly no saint.
BEHAR: Well, that`s true. It isn`t just divorce. I mean, he has that hypocrisy card.
Right, Roy? Go ahead, elaborate.
ROY SEKOFF, HUFFINGTON POST: Well, exactly right, Joy. You know, it`s the old saying, it`s not the cheat, it`s the hypocrisy, right? I mean, that`s the thing.
It`s the entirety of what he did. It`s not just that, oh, that he had an affair, it`s that he cheated on the first wife when she had cancer and he left her and told her he wanted a divorce when she was in the hospital after one of his surgeries. And he broke up with the second wife on Mother`s Day --
HILL: Hold on -- according to their daughter, that`s not accurate. And I know that`s a story that goes out there, that he goes to the hospital, he hands her the divorce papers.
SEKOFF: Right.
BEHAR: Yes?
HILL: But according to their daughter, that didn`t happen. The daughter says --
SEKOFF: Well, according to the wife, though --
(CROSSTALK)
HILL: The daughter says the mom wanted the divorce and that he went there with the kids to bring them over there and that that did come up in the conversation. But who knows what happened?
(CROSSTALK)
BEHAR: It came up in the conversation?
SEKOFF: Yes, I think you`re splitting hairs. I think you`re splitting hairs. I never --
HILL: That`s a big hair to split.
SEKOFF: He brought up that he wanted the divorce. And I think as you say, though, it`s the entirety. You go on to say even now, even all these years later, when they asked him about it and he finally figured that he had to come clean, you know what he blamed it on? He said it was partially the blame was his patriotism.
BEHAR: Oh, let`s watch that clip. Wait a minute, don`t get ahead of me. Watch the clip first. When he tried to explain his cheating --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GINGRICH: There`s no question that at times of my life, partially driven by how passionately I felt about this country, that I worked far too hard and that things happened in my life that were not appropriate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BEHAR: He`s very patriotic. God bless America.
SEKOFF: Well, you know, that`s what happens, Joy. You know, you love America so much you that just can`t help cheat. I mean, in his defense -- I mean, did you see what America was wearing? Very sexy.
BEHAR: So I guess --
HILL: Miss America, maybe.
BEHAR: It sounds like he loved America more than he loved his wife.
HILL: I don`t know how the love of America gets in there with the whole cheating on your wife thing. However, you know, I can get over that.
It is -- to me it is the hypocrisy. Look, I`m a person who is very flawed, most of us. I mean, you may be perfect. But I`m very flawed. And I think that as Americans, we take those flaws even when you`re going through one, two, three marriages and we get past that.
It is for a president. If you`re looking for somebody who`s a presidential figure, it is the hypocrisy -- that they can be, you know, beyond chastising, hypercritical of someone when they`re doing the exact same thing at the exact same moment. And that`s tough to get past.
BEHAR: OK. Now, let`s talk about the new wife. The one he`s been trotting around. Do you think it`s a good idea to have her go everywhere with him, or is this woman reminding everybody of the previous two wives?
HILL: She`s smart. Keep him real close.
BEHAR: Keep him close, yes. Roy?
SEKOFF: You know what you I think? Actually, Joy, I think it`s actually kind of a brilliant strategy because everything gets focused on this one issue. OK. He was a bad husband. And as you just said, maybe he`s flawed.
But what this does is it takes the focus off all the other sleazy and problematic things that he`s done before. You know, we`re just focusing on the affairs. So we don`t remember the bank scandal, the house banking scandal where he bounced 22 checks. We don`t remember all the ethical --
BEHAR: That`s interesting.
SEKOFF: -- issues with GOPAC.
HILL: They don`t remember Charlie Rangel`s issues either and they keep on re-electing him.
SEKOFF: He`s not running for president, is he?
HILL: That`s true. But we have --
SEKOFF: I don`t think Charlie Rangel is running for president.
BEHAR: His constituency is very loyal, Charlie Rangel.
HILL: However, we`re talking about politics and politicians, and I don`t care what side of the fence you`re sitting on, there is enough baggage to go around. And I think that that in the bigger picture is kind of what`s problematic for the country at large.
BEHAR: All right. Let`s talk about Mitch Daniels` wife.
HILL: Now, isn`t this one interesting?
BEHAR: Yes, this is interesting. You want to tell it?
HILL: I want to know what`s going on. She leaves --
BEHAR: OK. So, the wife left him for another man and now she`s back with him.
HILL: She leaves and marries another man, leaves. He gets custody of the kids, which I think is pretty amazing. Men don`t get custody usually. And if they -- you know, usually they don`t --
SEKOFF: He didn`t get custody. She left the kids. She moved to California to be with the surgeon and start a new life.
HILL: And she married him.
SEKOFF: He got custody. Yes.
BEHAR: It`s so Mark Sanford, isn`t it? What she did?
HILL: It`s so weird.
SEKOFF: Joy, here`s the thing about Mitch Daniels. I think this goes the other way. For him, this is the most interesting thing you can say about Mitch Daniels. You know?
(LAUGHTER)
SEKOFF: This is good for him.
BEHAR: Well, good. You know what? She doesn`t want him to run anyway. She doesn`t want him to run. She doesn`t like the --
(CROSSTALK)
SEKOFF: Otherwise, he`d be talking about his days at the OMB. You know, anything other than that. I once killed a man. Great. Tell us about that. Please. Anything.
BEHAR: OK, now --
HILL: Well, now, that actually points out I think another issue, that as America -- we go after al the things people have done wrong in their life, but then when they are, you know, pretty normal people we kind of -- we`re bored by them.
BEHAR: Well, speaking of boring, Santorum, Pawlenty, and Romney all have one wife and no major scandals.
HILL: Right.
BEHAR: So, in that corner, they`re cleaner than Newt Gingrich. Do they have a better shot?
HILL: And Romney, people get on because he`s religious, because he`s had one wife, because he`s got a family that`s very close. You know, and you`re saying, OK, well, isn`t that good?
BEHAR: Yes.
HILL: Isn`t that a good thing? This is sort of changing, you know, politics. From Kennedy on, I think we`ve had this sort of progression toward anything goes and we do continue forgiving. It`s shocking when you get this field of people who, you know, are normal.
BEHAR: Tell the truth, E.D. It must be killing your party that Obama is squeaky clean, that he loves his wife.
HILL: No.
BEHAR: He`s never been married before. He never cheated on Michelle.
HILL: I couldn`t --
BEHAR: That must drive you guys nuts on the right.
HILL: I can`t cover for the party. But I think it is fantastic for the nation.
BEHAR: It is.
HILL: I think that they are a first family, like other first families. But I think they`re a first family that is a family that you can hold up and be proud of.
BEHAR: Do you have the impression they actually talk to each other?
HILL: Right. You see they are normal, and those kids are nice.
BEHAR: You know, when I first met Michelle and President Obama, the first thing I thought was, they are sane. They are not crazy, these people. And, you know, that`s refreshing.
HILL: It is.
BEHAR: OK.
SEKOFF: It`s interesting that --
HILL: The Bushes were very nice and normal. The girls got in some trouble, but you know.
BEHAR: I don`t know --
(CROSSTALK)
SEKOFF: But the desperate husbands of the GOP, Joy. It`s the new reality show.
BEHAR: I like it. Thank you guys very much. We`ll be back after a quick break.
ANNOUNCER: Up next, TV icon Susan Lucci tells Joy about life after "All My Children."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BEHAR: Susan Lucci has been coming into America`s homes for over 40 years as Erica Kane, and she`s been a skinny bitch the entire time.
(LAUGHTER)
BEHAR: Here she is on ABC`s "All My Children." watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, FROM "ALL MY LIFE")
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Erica, stop.
SUSAN LUCCI, ACTRESS: You say your prayers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, wait, wait, wait, wait. Erica. Erica, stop. Just stop!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BEHAR: OK. Now, I know what to do when someone crosses me -- get on a forklift and fight.
Susan writes about her life in her new memoir "All My Life." Please welcome to the show, the beautiful, the lovely, the talented Susan Lucci.
LUCCI: I like the way you said that.
BEHAR: Doesn`t Regis call you La Looch?
LUCCI: He does. He does. It tickles me.
BEHAR: It tickles you.
So, now, OK, now, let`s get to the really annoying thing, that "All My Children" was canceled. Are you pissed?
LUCCI: Yes. Absolutely, in a word, yes. And so do the fans seem to be, really. I mean, they`re on fire. And that`s good. That makes us feel good.
BEHAR: I heard that the calls are coming in, the letters, the e- mails. The twittering is going berserk over this.
LUCCI: It is. And some sponsors have left the network, actually.
BEHAR: Really?
LUCCI: Yes.
BEHAR: Wow.
LUCCI: I should say one sponsor left for sure and others are having conversations. But I don`t want to get into that so much. Just that the fans have been so passionate, so -- I`m so glad that I wrote the book before there was ever even a rumor about the show being canceled. I wrote this book, poured my heart and soul into it, not in response to anything other than just a real memoir, you know, really taking the audience with me on a ride.
BEHAR: Good.
LUCCI: And I`m glad of that. And I also started a book tour before this announcement was made. So, I got to see in all the cities I went to all over the country, this amazing passion everywhere that we`re seeing now because people are mad.
BEHAR: Yes.
LUCCI: But there it was just the sheer excitement and investment. Somebody came up to me, did a book signing last night, and a man came by me and said to me, you know, they tell us that cotton is the fabric of our lives. But no, "All My Children" is the fabric of our lives.
BEHAR: Wow. They`re very poetic out there.
LUCCI: They are. They are.
BEHAR: I thought was rayon. But what do I know?
(LAUGHTER)
BEHAR: So who do you blame? Who do you blame for this? Or what do you blame for the demise of soaps? Because it`s not just your show. It`s also, what is it, all my --
LUCCI: "One Life to Live" as well.
BEHAR: "One Life to Live" -- and there`s rumors about other ones going down. What happened?
LUCCI: You know, don`t want to say demise of soaps. I really -- I really don`t. I mean, what I don`t understand is that both shows that were put off ABC are Agnes Nixon`s shows. And I find that very hard to come to terms with.
BEHAR: What, you think it was personal?
LUCCI: Oh, I don`t know. I will never know. I bet we -- I don`t think we`ll ever know the answer.
The question I asked when I was told that our show was being canceled, I was told by the head of ABC daytime, and I asked him, because we were just in a room, I was told five minutes before the company, before it was announced. And --
BEHAR: Wow. Really?
LUCCI: Yes. And I felt, well, I`m sitting here now, I would be remiss if I didn`t ask -- may I ask what you`re going to replace us with? And I was told with a reality show that costs 40 percent less to produce.
So, since that`s the answer that I was given, I have to think that we are being put off the air because something else is less expensive. It`s a bottom line decision.
BEHAR: Economics always is -- it`s always money. Follow the money.
LUCCI: That`s what I think.
BEHAR: But to be honest, reality shows are taking the place of the soap operas, possibly because the reality stars are even nutsier than the characters in soaps. And these are real people.
LUCCI: Yes.
BEHAR: You know what I mean?
LUCCI: Yes. I don`t know what to think about that. I don`t -- I would think, first of all, there would be a place for both.
BEHAR: Yes.
LUCCI: One is scripted. One is not scripted but it is certainly directed. It is certainly edited.
BEHAR: Oh, yes.
LUCCI: And I don`t personally think, even under the best circumstances with best intentions when something is called a reality show, the minute you put a camera on somebody and you tell them to be themselves, I don`t think so.
BEHAR: Right. And then they go into character.
LUCCI: Something. Yes. And I think a lot of times they`re given direction. And I know that there`s editing, even the first one, the "Survivor." I used to think to myself, really?
If these guys are starving on a boat, don`t you think the crew`s going to throw them a can of tuna?
BEHAR: Exactly.
LUCCI: Don`t you think so?
BEHAR: Exactly, because there`s the cameraman eating a sandwich. It`s not right.
LUCCI: No.
BEHAR: I know. There`s got to be a pizza on one of those islands.
LUCCI: Somewhere.
(LAUGHTER)
BEHAR: You know what might change it -- when these reality so-called stars start demanding big money, and then it doesn`t cost a little bit.
LUCCI: Maybe so. Maybe so. The other thing about some of -- and I know what you`re talking about. They`re fighting and they`re crazy and they`re drunk and they`re falling down.
BEHAR: Yes.
LUCCI: But it`s just like cut to the chase. There`s no --
BEHAR: There`s no foreplay.
LUCCI: There`s no foreplay. Foreplay`s good.
BEHAR: Exactly. It`s true. There`s a warm-up in these soap operas.
LUCCI: In storytelling.
BEHAR: In storytelling, there`s an arc.
LUCCI: In plays, on Broadway, there`s an arc.
BEHAR: But you know, your character -- we were going over this before about how "All My Children" and your character really broke a lot of molds. I mean, in the `70s you had a character who had an abortion. I wonder if they would even try to do that now. That was pretty ballsy.
LUCCI: Agnes was the first. I mean, that was a hallmark of "All My Children." That -- and "One Life to Live," which came before "All My Children," actually. And I`ve heard Agnes say this, that with so many successful hours of television on network she felt first mandate to entertain, which she always did, and secondly, to inform where she could. And, boy, did she? Again, at this book signing last night there was a professor in the audience who teaches at the university here in New York and she came to me and said, you know, Agnes Nixon`s shows became a forum, we could ask questions about really hot topics, like abortion --
BEHAR: Right.
LUCCI: -- like date rape, like homosexual kid coming out to their parents.
BEHAR: Yes.
LUCCI: All of these subjects, domestic abuse, were touched on really first by Agnes in daytime.
BEHAR: Right. And this is really before even Oprah, isn`t it?
LUCCI: Yes. Yes. Yes.
BEHAR: I mean, I was watching soaps in the `60s, I remember, when I was trapped in Rhode Island once. But I -- you get hooked on them when you have the time to watch.
LUCCI: Absolutely.
BEHAR: You get hooked. And then I was watching "Another World," I think, and I just watched it and watched it and watched it. I was totally immersed in it.
What are all these people who are so addicted to soaps going to do? They`re going to have nervous breakdowns.
LUCCI: Somebody said -- this afternoon, someone said to me, you know, they`re like reading a good book for an hour in the middle of the day.
BEHAR: Yes.
LUCCI: And people become invested in the characters. And I saw this whether I was just recently either at Mall of America in Minneapolis --
BEHAR: Right.
LUCCI: -- or I was at the Union League Club in Chicago, across the board generations of people, from 9-year-old kids to their mothers and their grandmothers.
BEHAR: Absolutely.
LUCCI: Across the board become invested in the character, and when the stories are character-driven and good storytelling.
BEHAR: Right.
LUCCI: And great casting, blah, blah, blah. The whole package is there.
BEHAR: And they couldn`t do it without Susan Lucci. They wouldn`t have been able to do it in those 40 years. You were the big star.
LUCCI: I`m very grateful for you even saying that. Thank you very much.
BEHAR: I think it`s true. Who has a track record like that?
We`re going to have more with Susan Lucci in just a moment. Nobody has a track record like that.
LUCCI: Well --
BEHAR: Forty years of --
ANNOUNCER: Coming up, it`s a right-wing battle royale as Cindy McCain feuds with Glenn Beck.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BEHAR: I`m back with Susan Lucci.
OK. Now, your former co-star, Elizabeth Rodriguez, she says that you`re going to do "Desperate Housewives." Is it true?
LUCCI: The truth is I don`t know.
BEHAR: You really don`t know?
LUCCI: I really don`t know. I am so flattered that so many people want me to do "Desperate Housewives." And Marc Cherry --
BEHAR: Oh, you`d be great.
LUCCI: Thank you. Great cast.
BEHAR: You`d fit right in.
LUCCI: Well, thank you very much. Wonderful cast, wonderful writing, could be wonderful. I just don`t know what I`m going to do yet.
BEHAR: Yes. Right. OK.
Well, you`ll continue to be an actress. But you also have a cabaret sort of act, right? Isn`t it cabaret --
LUCCI: A nightclub act with Regis.
BEHAR: With Regis.
LUCCI: With Regis al over the country. And I`ve had a wonderful time doing that, in big theaters, which I love. And also some smaller venues, but mostly big theaters, concert stages, concert halls. So, yes. Love that. Had a wonderful time on Broadway, had a great time on "Hot in Cleveland" this past season doing comedy.
BEHAR: Maybe a sitcom.
LUCCI: Love that. Love doing comedy, romantic comedy, comedy, comedy. Love it.
BEHAR: Well, there certainly is something for you to do that will be great, I`m sure.
LUCCI: Thank you.
BEHAR: So these are a couple of Facebook questions from the audience.
LUCCI: Oh. OK.
BEHAR: Tell us something about the night you won the Emmy that we don`t know. Is there anything we don`t know?
LUCCI: Well, that`s one of the things that I do really go into in the book, because I`ve spent -- I`ve been very private myself, but I`ve spent my whole adult life in front of the camera. So, some of the things I write about in the book. And the first chapter actually is about the Emmys. And then I go back to it, because people saw that.
They went through a lot of things with me. The Emmys, "Dancing with the Stars."
BEHAR: Right.
LUCCI: Broadway. They`ve seen me. But they only know what they saw. And so, I really have taken them backstage and taken them with me.
Just off the top of my head, one of the things they probably don`t know about the Emmys is that after the ninth time that I didn`t win, I would just go numb. I don`t know if it was a self-protective thing. So after nine times, I never heard the name.
BEHAR: Right.
LUCCI: I would just look around and see that nobody was looking at me, weren`t playing my theme music. So, OK, then.
(LAUGHTER)
BEHAR: I guess it`s a way to protect yourself.
LUCCI: Probably. Yes.
BEHAR: Yes. I remember that night. It was like the streak is over. It was great.
LUCCI: That part I heard.
BEHAR: Let me ask you something. I just thought of it. You`re on television -- you said you lived your life on television.
LUCCI: My whole adult life.
BEHAR: For 40 years. Is there an addiction to television at this point, to being on television?
LUCCI: I don`t think so. I wondered about that, too. A lot of things went through my mind after the announcement was made we were being canceled. You know, would there be an addiction to television, would I feel I had nowhere to go?
You know, because it`s looked so focused. I have a very big schedule. And so on.
And somehow, no, I don`t feel that. I know that I am a performer down to my toes. It`s who I have been since I was a baby. And that`s all there in the book.
BEHAR: Yes.
LUCCI: It`s just who I am. So, I hope somebody gives me a place to do it because --
BEHAR: Yes, but you`ll have to carve it out yourself maybe and structure your own day now. That`s hard to do.
LUCCI: Yes. I can understand that.
BEHAR: You`re going to have maybe a transitional period where it will be rough and then you`ll like it. I think. I`ve been there many times back and forth.
LUCCI: Have you?
BEHAR: Yes. It`s hard to do once you have a structure. But then you find a way and you find your own structure and you actually like it better.
LUCCI: That sounds great. Yes.
BEHAR: Yes. Thanks, Susan, for stopping by.
LUCCI: Thank you so much.
BEHAR: Lovely to see you.
LUCCI: Good to se you always. Thank you.
BEHAR: I hope you do "Desperate Housewives."
LUCCI: Thank you.
BEHAR: Her book is called "All My Life." We`ll be right back. Here it is.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BEHAR: The executives behind "Two and a Half Men" are still scrambling to find a replacement for Charlie Sheen after Hugh Grant turned down a reported $600,000 per episode. That`s $15 million a season to star in the show. Hugh Grant`s last good movie was "Love, Actually." Maybe he should be grateful someone offered him work, actually.
Here to talk about this and other stories in the news are comedian Loni Love. Sarah Bernard, host of The Thread on Yahoo, and actor Josh Gad, currently starring in the hit Broadway show "Book of Mormon." My favorite show. I say it all the time. I love it.
Loni, what do you think about this? Are stars crazy to turn this kind of money down, or what?
LONI LOVE, COMEDIAN: I`m actually proud of Hugh Grant, because it just means that he saved his money and hasn`t spent it on hookers and drugs.
SARAH BERNARD, HOST OF THE THREAD ON YAHOO!: He spent some of it on hookers.
LOVE: Yes, but he still has some. If he can turn down that much money, I mean, all they`d have to give me is an EBT card and I`ll do the show.
(LAUGHTER)
BEHAR: Do you think they picked him because he`s a bad boy?
BERNARD: That`s what I was thinking, and then I realized that maybe he woke up to that and didn`t want this to be brought up again and that`s why he turned it down. But I think it`s fabulous that the guys they are talking about now are John Stamos and Rob Lowe, because they would obviously -- they have TV experience. They`ve got a little bit of the bad boy in both of them.
BEHAR: Yes, that`s right. Rob Lowe did a porn thing.
(CROSSTALK)
BEHAR: Did the other one do something--
BERNARD: No, but John Stamos actually even said on Twitter that he wasn`t that interested, but he also said that Martin Sheen did ask him to play his son. Like in real life.
(LAUGHTER)
GAD: I think they should just fire the boy and Jon Cryer and hire Chaz Bono and Annette Bening`s kid and just call it "Two Men?" Question mark.
(LAUGHTER)
GAD: At this point, I feel like you might as well go for gold because you can`t really top what you`ve got.
BEHAR: What about you?
GAD: You want me to do it?
(CROSSTALK)
GAD: CBS, if you`re listening, I`m available. I feel like I would make a great replacement for Charlie Sheen.
(CROSSTALK)
BEHAR: No. Broadway doesn`t pay. Let`s face it.
(CROSSTALK)
GAD: CBS, I`m begging you.
BERNARD: You know, somebody else suggested Jenny McCarthy. What if you go with a woman? Totally go the other direction.
BEHAR: That could happen. She has a sort of a bad girl image.
BERNARD: She`s got a little playboy--
(CROSSTALK)
BEHAR: Chelsea Handler.
(CROSSTALK)
LOVE: But she would be drunk all the time so that wouldn`t work.
BEHAR: Chelsea. Well, so that goes with Charlie Sheen, doesn`t it? All right. You know, it could be that people have trouble with that Chuck Lorre guy, the executive --
GAD: As you look at me. I personally don`t have a problem with Chuck Lorre. I`m vying for a position on the show.
(CROSSTALK)
GAD: Well, now that you brought it up, yes.
BEHAR: I`ve never met the guy but Roseanne complained about him, Brett Butler, and also Charlie Sheen. Three of the most stable people working in this industry.
(LAUGHTER)
BEHAR: OK. Here`s a clip of John and Cindy McCain`s daughter, Meghan, in a PSA about skin cancer. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Naked.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Naked.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Naked.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My mother would be so ashamed.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Don`t be one of 20 people who will die today from skin cancer. If you leave the house without sunscreen, you might as well be naked.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BEHAR: OK. Now, Glenn Beck has pissed off the McCains by making fun of Meghan on his radio show. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GLENN BECK: I`m watching this Meghan McCain video where she`s naked - - and I just -- oh, boy. Wow. That`s -- yes. It happened multiple times. Are you still looking at the Meghan McCain? Because that`s -- as luscious as you thought that was, I`m surprised that hasn`t calmed your queasiness from the flight.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BEHAR: You know, I have a similar response when listening to Glenn Beck, except I don`t pretend to vomit, I actually do.
Now, how low do you have to go to, A, make fun of a girl -- beautiful girl who have -- I mean, have their clothes off. And also, it`s about skin cancer, you idiot.
BERNARD: I know. He`s making fun of this PSA to support awareness of people not getting melanoma, which is I mean, not funny at all.
By the way, he has three daughters, Glenn Beck. So I mean, in the Daily Beast, I think it was, she was responding to him by saying if your daughters ever have any sort of body issues, just tell them to call me, because obviously you`re not a very understanding person.
BEHAR: But also, wouldn`t you say that a strictly heterosexual man is turned on by those pictures rather than vomiting? Not that I`m accusing him of -- I`m not saying anything.
(CROSSTALK)
BEHAR: But it just dawns on me that most macho guys are interested in watching naked women.
(CROSSTALK)
GAD: Well, to be fair, he could have had the stomach flu that day. We don`t know the specifics of what happened.
(CROSSTALK)
GAD: Glenn Beck, if you`re listening, talk to CBS to arrange the details, but yes.
LOVE: But I give it up to Cindy McCain for sticking up for her daughter. You know, because she went on Twitter, and she only has 6,000 followers, and it was good because she did retweet, because she upped her followers. So that was a good thing.
BEHAR: She said -- Cindy McCain tweeted, "I`m so glad Glenn Beck is leaving Fox. Enough vitriol and hate. Glenn, you are no rodeo clown. They are decent and nice and you aren`t."
Look, I dated a rodeo clown once. They`re not that nice.
(LAUGHTER)
BEHAR: Does Beck owe Mrs. McCain and her daughter an apology?
GAD: He owes the human race an apology, I think.
(LAUGHTER)
GAD: No, no, please.
BERNARD: I was going to say, I think he does. But Meghan also pointed out that basically, by doing this, he has actually gotten more people to pay attention to her PSA. So she actually said thank you for that.
BEHAR: She did?
BERNARD: Yes.
BEHAR: Well, she`s getting to be a very -- I like her now. I didn`t used to like her when he was running, but now I like her. Don`t you? And Meghan is a good kid. She`s a good kid.
All right. Let`s move on to Levi Johnston. Remember him? OK. He has an upcoming tell-all about the Palin family, and it`s been released. Drum roll, please. Where is it? Here it is. Show a picture. There it is. Look at that cover.
(LAUGHTER)
LOVE: Everybody, let`s do it.
BEHAR: This is where I say, (EXPLETIVE DELETED) Stephen King. I can`t wait to read this.
(LAUGHTER)
BEHAR: I can`t wait. Could this cover be any more perfect for this guy?
BERNARD: It looks like "Mad" magazine. I couldn`t believe that was actually being published by a reputable house.
(LAUGHTER)
BERNARD: Go ahead.
LOVE: You`ve got to have something to make people want to read this book. I mean, actually, I thought he should have did a sex tape instead of a book. But who am I to say?
BERNARD: Maybe that`s what`s coming next week.
LOVE: Probably.
BERNARD: You know, I think what`s funny about him is the timing. Every time something happens to Bristol, like when she was on "Dancing With the Stars" and people were falling in love with her, that`s when he did that cheesy music video with that other girl, Brittany (ph). Now just as she has her new face, right, she`s come out with her new look, he comes out with this.
BEHAR: So he`s competitive with her.
BERNARD: It is. It does. It seems like he`s got -- he`s trying to one-up her.
BEHAR: You know, in -- look at the two of them. I mean, she has had a lot of work done. She says that it`s for medical reasons that she had her chin done, or something, because it`s about her bite. Well, what about the cheek implants or the filler you put there? And what else did she do?
BERNARD: Her lips. There was something in her lips.
LOVE: And actually the new face transplant recipient.
(LAUGHTER)
BEHAR: She had this sucked out, the old flab around the thing.
LOVE: All of this is gone.
BERNARD: I should (ph) say, I think -- is she 20 years old? I mean, it`s pretty scary, right? To do all of that to yourself at 20.
GAD: I think when you`re the daughter of somebody like Sarah Palin and you have such expectations to live up to, because your mom is so wonderful in every way, then you need that image.
(LAUGHTER)
GAD: And so I applaud you. And if you have a show, I`d love to get on it.
(LAUGHTER)
BEHAR: He`s auditioning for every show now. Anyway, maybe Sarah should have had surgery on both her faces. That would have been good.
(LAUGHTER)
GAD: Oh, too soon.
BEHAR: I kid the Sarah.
The other thing I wanted to point out about Levi is that, you know, he gave this interview to "Vanity Fair" where he said a bunch of things about the Palins. And then now he`s saying that a lot of it wasn`t true. Why should we believe this next book, then?
BERNARD: Exactly.
BEHAR: You know?
BERNARD: Well, because he got back together with Bristol, so he had to say he was not telling the truth before. And then when they broke up, he said actually, when I said I was lying, I was not.
LOVE: He`s broke. That`s what it is. So he`s going to say whatever he can to make some money.
GAD: And cost of living in Alaska, as we all know, it`s very difficult.
BEHAR: They get a lot of welfare from the government, Alaska. One of the top states that gets money from the federal government.
GAD: Do they?
BEHAR: Yes. OK. And finally --
(CROSSTALK)
BERNARD: No sympathy here. No sympathy.
BEHAR: A company called Hero Builders released a new doll called the Obama SEAL Team 6 action figure, aka Rambama, complete with muscles, fatigues, and an assault rifle. OK. Is this funny? What do you think?
(LAUGHTER)
GAD: I can`t wait for the little Osama bin Laden pull string doll, that goes, "oh, what a stinker!"
(LAUGHTER)
GAD: That`s so, so disgusting.
(CROSSTALK)
BEHAR: Since the capture of bin Laden it`s a whole new Obama. He used to be professorial. Now he`s like Schwarzenegger.
GAD: Well, there`s something fascinating to me about the fact that, you know, they were doing a bunch of stories about how parents were telling their kids that it`s OK to celebrate this particular murder. I mean, that`s what it is. They went into this home, and they murdered this man. Even though he was a killer, they still murdered him. Which is great. Beneficial to all of us.
But at the same time, do you keep celebrating it through things like that? And at what point are we becoming kind of what we don`t want to be?
(CROSSTALK)
BEHAR: There always is that, yes.
LOVE: Well, I`d rather see this doll than the Obama dildo. That would be just a killer, yes.
(CROSSTALK)
BERNARD: The Obama what?
BEHAR: The Obama what?
LOVE: Dildo.
BEHAR: Dildo? Why would you ever see that?
LOVE: There was one. There was one during the inauguration, they had an Obama sex toy. Seriously. And it was just totally -- so I`d rather see this than that.
GAD: I bought one as a Christmas ornament.
(LAUGHTER)
BEHAR: How about the Glenn Beck dildo? I`d buy that one.
Thank you guys very much.
BERNARD: Or Levi.
BEHAR: Or Levi, yes.
If you`re in New York, catch Loni at the Gotham Comedy Club tonight and tomorrow. And you can see the Tony-nominated Josh Gad in "Book of Mormon" on Broadway. We`ll be back in a minute.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BEHAR: In case you haven`t heard, May is national masturbation month. And for those of you who`ve spent the last two weeks commemorating that fact, hello, I`m over here! So what better way to mark this special occasion than to sit down with my favorite sex therapist, Ian Kerner. Ian, thank goodness you came today, because --
IAN KERNER, SEX THERAPIST: Yes.
BEHAR: -- everybody wants to know about this month. This special month.
KERNER: It`s a very important month.
BEHAR: I mean, first of all, I have a couple of questions on the issue of self-love.
KERNER: Sure. Sure.
(LAUGHTER)
BEHAR: Because, you know, Woody Allen once said, don`t knock masturbation. It`s sex with someone I love. Which I thought was very funny.
Can it actually spice up a relationship, or does it actually destroy a relationship?
KERNER: Oh, no, I think it can spice up a relationship. I think the big problem with masturbation these days is who has the time? I mean, everybody is so busy. I don`t have five minutes -- at least with national masturbation month, I can take five minutes and say I`m part of a national movement. People are just too busy. Seriously, I was talking to somebody here in the green room, and they were saying that they see people masturbating on the commute home in their cars. I mean, people are making time --
BEHAR: Oh, that is disgusting.
KERNER: Everyone`s trying to find time.
BEHAR: What about when they have to pay the toll? Oh, my God. Most people -- a lot of people don`t really know how to do it. Is there a course? Like at the Learning Annex or something you can take?
KERNER: Well, Donald Trump does -- doesn`t he do a lot with the Learning Annex? Maybe he has a course going.
BEHAR: That`s possible.
KERNER: But no, there are some -- there are actually great websites out there like babeland.com is a great company where you can buy a vibrator and you can get some lessons. I don`t personally give those kinds of lessons but --
BEHAR: You don`t?
KERNER: There is information out there. It`s usually -- you know, it`s not men. Men don`t really have a problem --
BEHAR: Why not?
KERNER: -- learning to masturbate. Because it`s just like you rub something quick enough and long enough and something happens.
BEHAR: Yes, that`s true. That`s right.
KERNER: With women, a lot of women, I do hear from women all the time who have larger orgasmic issues. They have problems reaching orgasm. And I always say, well, do you masturbate, do you own a vibrator, and very frequently the answer is no, or I`ve never been able to have an orgasm that way.
BEHAR: With a vibrator?
KERNER: With a vibrator or through masturbation. So I think for women, being able to relax, let go, disconnect, enjoy their sexuality, I think masturbation, you need like training wheels a little bit.
BEHAR: But I don`t understand -- personally, I don`t know the real truth of this -- but if you are using a vibrator, it`s like breathing in and out, it`s got to work. I mean, come on. Seriously. I`ve never heard of such a thing that it couldn`t work. There`s something wrong with your body.
KERNER: Well, I think it`s the mind -- yes, I think it`s the mind not letting go.
BEHAR: You know, one time a girlfriend of mine gave me one. Do you think that`s obnoxious or is that cute? A girlfriend.
KERNER: Do you know one of the biggest businesses in the country are these adult sex toy tupperware parties, where women sell vibrators to women all the time. So it`s huge business.
BEHAR: It used to be verboten. I mean, people were skinned alive.
KERNER: Vibrators used to be like -- you know, they looked like vacuum cleaners. Today they look like lipstick.
BEHAR: Listen, sometimes you need the vacuum cleaner size.
(LAUGHTER)
KERNER: You know, I heard that you`re -- that you use your -- you like apps a lot.
BEHAR: Apps. Yes. On my iPad.
KERNER: There`s an app you can turn -- well, not the iPad. You can turn -- but the iPhone you can turn into a vibrator.
BEHAR: Really? The phone?
KERNER: The phone.
BEHAR: The iPad`s a little big for that.
KERNER: The problem is the battery life in both.
BEHAR: But you know what`s interesting, Dwayne Reed (ph) now was selling it. They`re right next to the shampoos and the antacids and the mouthwash.
(LAUGHTER)
BEHAR: I mean, they`re available everywhere.
KERNER: They really --
BEHAR: Is that taking the stigma out of the whole idea of vibrators now?
KERNER: Absolutely. You can go into a drugstore. I think that one that you`re talking about, Trojan makes a vibrator. But all these companies are making vibrators. And from drugstores to websites and people are packing vibrators that look like compacts or tubes of lipstick. Because really, you know, they can be very small and they can pack a lot of power.
BEHAR: It`s funny. You know, this is -- even though this country seems liberal and liberated, it`s a very puritanical country.
KERNER: Oh, no. This is -- I mean, the nice thing about national masturbation month is that truly we are a country that is historically anti-masturbation. Do you know Kellogg`s cornflakes --
BEHAR: Tell me this story.
KERNER: Kellogg developed cornflakes. He was a total anti- masturbation fiend. He thought that masturbation was the devil`s work, and he had all these gadgets and inventions and male chastity belts. And one thing he invented, he was also a health nut, was he invented cornflakes because he believed that cornflakes were part of a healthy regime that would reduce masturbation. It`s the total origin of Kellogg`s cornflakes, are to stop masturbation.
BEHAR: That is one of the wackiest stories I have ever heard.
KERNER: Did you see the movie? It was "The Road to Wellville."
BEHAR: Yes.
KERNER: That was all about him. And--
BEHAR: He must have been a pervert. I hate to say it about Kellogg`s. But you know what I mean? What kind of a person is so repressed --
KERNER: Well, it was cornflakes -- it was, yes.
BEHAR: What kind of a person is so repressed and so stupid that he thinks cornflakes can cure masturbation? I`ve never heard of such nonsense.
Now, what about porn? We`re going to interview someone in the next segment about it. But what about pornography? Does that help your sex life?
KERNER: I think if two people want to share porn together, it`s great. They can -- it can absolutely spice up your sex life. You can get ideas. I mean, it can really help stimulate arousal. I mean, sex, the biggest sex organ is really the brain. So if porn helps get your brain going, especially with your partner and you share it --
BEHAR: See, I don`t agree with that part, that you sit there with him and watch it. I`m too shy for that. But I mean, if you would watch it first and he would watch it in another room --
KERNER: Sure.
(LAUGHTER)
BEHAR: -- that works better for me. And then you say, come on in. You know what I mean?
KERNER: I`m the same way. I`m very, very--
BEHAR: I`m a romantic fool.
KERNER: I`m very private, too. I don`t really like it either. But I can tell you that a lot of men, a lot of women, they`re using porn more. There`s a lot more choice out there. And a lot of couples are sharing it together and enjoying it together.
BEHAR: OK. When we come back, we`ll be joined by a woman who used to be addicted to porn. But enough about me. Stay right there.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BEHAR: I`m back with sex therapist Ian Kerner. And joining our conversation by phone is Amber, a former porn addict. So Amber--
AMBER, FORMER PORN ADDICT: Hi.
BEHAR: How are you, dear?
AMBER: I`m good, how are you?
BEHAR: OK, now, tell me, Amber, how does one get addicted to porn? What exactly happens there?
AMBER: It`s very easy. It`s very easy to access that on the Internet, and I got addicted to it when I was very curious as a 12- or 13- year-old. I just -- I was curious and so I went looking. And my addiction actually didn`t start until about two and a half years ago, and that was when I just saw an ad for a porn site on the side of a web page, and I thought, hey, this looks exciting and inviting. So I went to it, and thus began my journey towards the addiction.
BEHAR: So how old are you now, if I may ask?
AMBER: I am 30.
BEHAR: How old?
AMBER: 30.
BEHAR: 30. So you started being interested in porn at 13 but you never got addicted until you were 48? Is that what I heard?
AMBER: Right.
BEHAR: Two years ago -- I mean 28, I`m sorry, 28 years old.
AMBER: Yes.
BEHAR: Right.
AMBER: It was just kind of an off-and-on thing from about 13 to 28. Just every once in a while, maybe two, three times a year I would look at it. But it never was anything that I was drawn to specifically or addicted to.
BEHAR: OK--
(CROSSTALK)
KERNER: I don`t know exactly what she means by addiction, but I think we do live in a culture where we get very alarmist around porn and we tend to treat porn as kind of a gateway drug. And this is, to me this is the exception rather than the norm. Amber for whatever reason became addicted to porn. I still don`t know exactly what that means, how often she was doing it. But in general, I think that porn can be a healthy part of your sex life. I don`t think we should jump to the conclusion that you automatically get addicted to it.
BEHAR: Then why are we saying she is addicted to it? Maybe she just likes it. You`re saying you`re addicted. What makes you think you`re addicted? Why isn`t it just that you like it?
AMBER: Well, first of all, I`ve seen how destructive it is in my own life.
BEHAR: How?
AMBER: I`ve heard other stories.
BEHAR: Tell me how.
AMBER: How destructive it is?
BEHAR: Yes.
AMBER: It is -- and I definitely can say that it is not something that is good or right, by any means, even in a marriage or a healthy relationship.
But how I define my addiction is it basically affects my life. I mean, I would spend all night -- I mean, not sleeping, just look at it, and come straight home from work. That`s all I would do. And I canceled plans, and it was just a daily thing that I--
KERNER: Yes, that`s a problem.
(CROSSTALK)
KERNER: I agree with her that she had a problem with it. I just think to say that porn is automatically destructive and automatically addictive, it`s really just a form of erotic material. And it`s how you use it.
BEHAR: But I guess if you`re doing -- if you are watching porn instead of, let`s say, "The Housewives of New Jersey," you have an issue?
KERNER: I don`t know. The quality of porn might be better than the quality of reality TV.
BEHAR: But if you`re constantly watching, you know, or if you`re watching porn instead of relating to your boyfriend or girlfriend.
KERNER: Right. You need to save some for your relationship.
BEHAR: I appreciate this very much. Thank you, Amber, thank you, Ian. And thank you all for watching. Good night, everybody.
END
