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CNN Larry King Live
Interview with Joy Behar
Aired September 21, 2007 - 21:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOY BEHAR: We don't care what men have to say.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Joy Behar, always outspoken, with an inside view of "The View".
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BEHAR: That's shocking to me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: She'll give us the lowdown on the showdown that led to Rosie's abrupt, "I'm out of here."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BEHAR: She's Rosie O'Donnell, you know? She's got a lot of money. She can do whatever she wants.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: The scoop on Star Jones.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BEHAR: I was shocked that she left that day.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Plus, the almost naked truth about her new co-star, Whoopi Goldberg.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BEHAR: It's become a very bosomy group. And Whoopi just is learning to wear a brassiere now, so it's all coming together in a beautiful way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: All that and more.
Plus, Joy on her own near death experience. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BEHAR: I bled internally ruptured and all. It was just hideous.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Joy Behar for the hour.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BEHAR: Who's better than me?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Next on LARRY KING LIVE.
What a great pleasure to welcome to LARRY KING LIVE an old friend, a terrific talent, Joy Behar, the co-host of ABC's long running daytime talk show, "The View". She's been on that show since it began.
BEHAR: That's right.
KING: She's the author and editor of a new book that I am honored to be in. It's titled "When You Need A Lift: But Don't Want To Eat Chocolate, Pay A Shrink Or Drink A Bottle Of Gin."
There you see its cover.
Joy, it's a delight to have you.
It's written by Joy Behar and friends.
BEHAR: Very nice to be here, Larry.
KING: And we'll talk about the book and things later.
BEHAR: Sure.
KING: But a lot of things to discuss up front.
BEHAR: OK.
KING: First, how's Sherri Shepherd doing?
BEHAR: Sherri Shepherd is actually doing very well. I mean she's only been on the show a couple days or a week or so by now, and she's funny. I think she's doing very well. She -- it's become a very bosomy group. You know, we're all so like well...
KING: Well, you all have bosoms.
BEHAR: ...we're all like -- but really, a big bosomed group. And Whoopi just is learning to wear a brassiere now, so it's all coming together in a beautiful way.
KING: (LAUGHTER)
Did you have anything to do at all with the selection process?
BEHAR: Well, I stuck my two cents in.
KING: Did they ask your opinion?
BEHAR: Kind of, yes. I mean I -- I thought Whoopi would have been an -- was a great choice, and I think I was right.
KING: All right.
Now, what makes her special?
BEHAR: Well, you know, the thing about her is...
KING: Because she's a major comedienne.
BEHAR: Yes, she is.
KING: ...and actress.
BEHAR: Right. And -- but this is something new for her. It's something that, you know -- acting, I guess, is something she'll always be able to do. But this kind of thing comes along once in a while, to be in a show where you can just blab it out and say whatever is on your mind, you know?
KING: When is four people -- is there a way of knowing comfort level?
BEHAR: A way of knowing it?
KING: Yes, like that she'll work with her and that will work with him?
BEHAR: No, there really isn't. I mean it really is catch as catch can over there. And you hope that the spontaneity and the chemistry will work for you. But it doesn't always. Some days are just not as good as others.
But so what?
This is not...
KING: And so what if it doesn't?
Yes.
BEHAR: Well, because I feel like, you know, when you go to a party, every conversation is not interesting and every party is not interesting. Some are great, better than others.
KING: How have you lasted?
BEHAR: I don't know. I've been there from the beginning. I was only on when Barbara wasn't going to be on, Barbara Walters.
KING: That was the original lineup.
BEHAR: The original...
KING: I remember that.
I was on the show once, in fact.
BEHAR: Yes, you were in the beginning, I think.
KING: Yes.
BEHAR: You were one of the pioneers.
KING: One of the early guests.
BEHAR: And she was going to be on two days a week, and then I would come on three days. And then people started to check me out and they put me on five days a week.
KING: During the past couple of years, the show -- obviously, it goes without saying, has gone through some lumps.
BEHAR: Oh, yes.
KING: How has that affected you?
BEHAR: Well, I feel like -- again, I feel like I'm just at this revolving cocktail party where people are coming and going. So now this one says what she says and, you know, this one's controversial. This one's not as controversial. I just stay myself. I just stay the way I am and I think, you know, it's like when you're driving, if you stay at your speed, they can go all around you. The same idea.
KING: Why do you think the show has the impact it has?
BEHAR: Because...
KING: Why is it news?
BEHAR: Why is it news?
KING: Yes, it is news.
BEHAR: Right now it -- well, this past year was a lot of news.
KING: Right.
Why?
BEHAR: Well, because I don't think you see that kind of thing on television on a regular basis. People are more controlled in most television shows. Also, you don't see women having conversations like that anywhere.
If you want to see men -- they always say why don't you put a man there?
Well, try -- just tune into CNN. Put NBC on, CBS, MSNBC. You'll see men talking. This is the one place where you see women talking about politics and their hairdos.
It's like a whole, you know, conglo -- potar (ph) -- what's the word?
KING: Potpourri.
BEHAR: Potpourri.
KING: In fact, people...
BEHAR: That's it.
KING: ...they tried some man talk shows that didn't work.
BEHAR: Oh, yes, "The Better Half" or "The Other Half."
KING: Yes. Dick Clark did one, I think.
BEHAR: No. The women were polled and they were, like, we don't care what men have to say.
KING: The Rosie feud with Elizabeth seemed to be a breaking point.
BEHAR: Yes.
KING: Let's take a quick look at that with Joy Behar.
BEHAR: OK.
KING: Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "THE VIEW," COURTESY ABC)
ELISABETH HASSELBECK: Do not call me a coward, Rosie.
I did not hide.
ROSIE O'DONNELL: It was cowardly yesterday.
HASSELBECK: It was not cowardly, it was honest.
O'DONNELL: It was.
HASSELBECK: What is cowardly?
I'll tell you (INAUDIBLE)...
O'DONNELL: Is there no commercial on this show?
(LAUGHTER)
HASSELBECK: I'll tell you what's cowardly.
(LAUGHTER)
O'DONNELL: Me, right?
HASSELBECK: No.
O'DONNELL: What are we, on PBS?
HASSELBECK: No. No. Asking a rhetorical question that you never answer yourself. That is cowardly.
O'DONNELL: Who is directing this show?
Let's go to commercial.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: OK.
Was that unfair to Rosie?
BEHAR: To do what?
To do the split screen?
KING: Yes.
BEHAR: Well, it changed -- I don't know if it was unfair or what. But it was -- according to what, my information, it was like two people speaking on both sides of the table. And the camera has to go back and forth, back and forth. This way you could see them both at the same time.
You know, there's a lot of cross talk over there, so you have them both on at the same time. It sort of cuts back on that, I guess.
KING: What did you make of the argument?
BEHAR: Well, just watching it -- I never watched it. I was only in it. So -- but I've seen is it on your show before when Star was here.
KING: Yes.
BEHAR: I watched that show with Star. And it's not pretty. It's not -- I didn't like it. I thought it was nasty, the two of them yelling at each other like that. It made a lot of -- got a lot of publicity and it made the papers. But it really -- I don't think that that's the original concept that Barbara Walters had.
Barbara Walters said we're going to have people -- women sitting there from different backgrounds having interesting conversations from different points of view. It didn't say that we would personally attack each other.
So I don't think that that flies.
KING: Was it kind of embarrassing?
BEHAR: Well, I couldn't understand why they weren't going to commercial. I kept saying, don't we have a commercial coming up here?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "THE VIEW," COURTESY ABC)
BEHAR:
HASSELBECK: No, asking a rhetorical question that you never answer yourself, that is cowardly.
O'DONNELL: Who is directing this show?
Let's go to commercial.
(CROSSTALK)
O'DONNELL: Let's go to commercial.
HASSELBECK: I need a drink of water.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BEHAR: So, it wasn't embarrassing to me.
KING: They didn't, because they were playing to, obviously, what they thought was an audience hanger-onner (ph).
BEHAR: Probably. I don't know. I don't direct the show. So I just -- all I am is a person sitting there watching experiencing this and feeling slightly uncomfortable.
KING: Now, not too long after that spat, Rosie announces she's leaving.
Her on camera good-bye, let's -- let's watch that.
BEHAR: OK.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "THE VIEW," COURTESY ABC)
O'DONNELL: Big news. Breaking news. Breaking news.
Did you hear?
It's on CNN?
It's breaking news.
BARBARA WALTERS: I heard. I know a little bit about it.
O'DONNELL: Breaking news. I've decided that we couldn't come to terms with my deal with ABC, so next year I'm not going to be on "The View". However, I will be coming back and guest hosting. I will be doing one hour specials on autism and depression and stuff that I'm interested in. I'm just not going to do the everyday thing because we couldn't, you know, they wanted me three years. I wanted one year. And then they were like, OK, well, what if we did two?
I was like how, how, how -- and it just didn't work. And that's show biz. But it's not sad, because I've loved it here. And I love you guys. And I'm not going away. I'm just not going to be here every day.
All right?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: What did you make of the good-bye?
BEHAR: She sort of left abruptly, I think. I don't think that she meant to leave that day. But, you know, she's Rosie O'Donnell, you know?
She's got a lot of money. She can do whatever she wants.
Her contract...
KING: How did you get along with her?
BEHAR: I've known -- look, I know her 20 -- over 20 years.
KING: As a fellow comedian?
BEHAR: Comedians. We were both coming up at the same time. Even though I'm a lot older than her, we both were -- we both started in the same time frame.
And I'm friends with her, you know, so -- I still am friends with her as a comedian. It's just, you know, that year went by and we had a lot of excitement, a little stress, I think. I mean I had shingles this summer. So I was obviously stressed out.
Did you ever have shingles?
KING: No.
Painful, huh?
BEHAR: Yes. They -- if you ever had chicken pox as a kid, then you can have shingles as a grown up, they say. And I had chicken pox.
KING: I've never had -- I didn't have -- I never had -- I remember chicken pox.
BEHAR: Well, then you could get it.
KING: Thanks.
Is it catching?
BEHAR: No, it's not catching. But what it is, is it looks like poison ivy and you have a little pain involved. So it's not good.
KING: Rosie has a new book coming that we hear...
BEHAR: I hear, yes.
KING: ...we hear takes no prisoners.
Have you seen any advances?
BEHAR: I have not read the book. I have not -- it's not out yet, until October, I think.
KING: No. October, yes.
BEHAR: But I've seen things in the papers and, you know, like that. I like to really concentrate on the fun that we had last year, because we did have a lot of fun. I mean I remember going out there and saying, hey, this is going to be fun today, because, you know, we would tackle the Bush administration with a vehemence and it was great. I liked it. So let's -- I feel like, you know, that was the best part of the show, when we were really grooving. And then there were moments when, you know, like that, where things just sort of went to hell in a hand basket.
KING: Are people concerned about Rosie's book?
BEHAR: People?
KING: Yes, with the show.
BEHAR: People, like who?
KING: I don't know.
Is Barbara worried?
Is the director worried?
BEHAR: I think that, you know, if the stuff is negative in the book, I mean, I would assume that Barbara's not happy about it.
Why should she be?
KING: Yes.
BEHAR: Right?
KING: Do you expect to be written about?
BEHAR: Me?
Well, I'm sort of -- I don't think I'm on her radar in that way, you know.
KING: When we come back, I'm going to ask Joy what Rosie says about Barbara in the book. We'll talk about that with Joy Behar next on LARRY KING LIVE.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "THE VIEW," COURTESY ABC)
BEHAR: We are going to miss you. This has been an exciting year. It's been interesting.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
BEHAR: You've took all the hits, and so have you.
HASSELBECK: You're such a catalyst for this (INAUDIBLE)...
BEHAR: We just enjoyed it, you know?
(LAUGHTER)
O'DONNELL: I kicked it up a notch, you know?
But that was -- I tried that -- I was at home. I never thought of coming back to daytime. And Barbara asked me and I thought a year with Barbara Walters, who can resist that, honestly?
You're a legend whether you want me to say it or not. You're a living legend.
(LAUGHTER)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "THE VIEW," COURTESY ABC)
BEHAR: Talking about politics, too, is gender related.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is.
O'DONNELL: I think that's why we make so much news. Women doing it is a big scandal in America.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This show is very unique in that way, if you think about it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There are no -- there is no other show like this.
O'DONNELL: It's true. And I've been really proud to be a part of it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: We're back with Joy Behar. Her new book, "When You Need A Lift: But Don't Want To Eat Chocolate, Pay A Shrink Or Drink A Bottle Of Gin."
I love that title.
Joy Behar and friends, the "New York Times" best-selling author of "Sheetzucacapoopoo."
BEHAR: No. "Sheetzucacapoopoo: My Kind of Dog." It's a children's book. And...
KING: And "Joy Schtick".
BEHAR: That's my...
KING: They both have sold well.
BEHAR: They did do very well, yes. I'm going to -- I have a couple other things in the hopper. I will be back with that.
KING: So, you're an author?
BEHAR: Well, you know, I'm a stand up comedian all these years. I write all my own material, so...
KING: There are reports that Rosie -- back to the book -- sent a copy of the book to Barbara.
Do you know if Barbara has...
BEHAR: Her book or my book?
KING: Her book.
BEHAR: Oh, we're back on her book?
KING: Yes.
(LAUGHTER)
KING: I'll get to your -- your book, don't worry.
BEHAR: Oh.
Yes, when?
Shavois (ph)?
KING: (LAUGHTER).
BEHAR: All right. Go ahead.
(LAUGHTER)
BEHAR: It's my book and Shavois (ph).
KING: Do you know...
BEHAR: What's the question?
KING: I forgot.
Do you know if Barbara read the book?
BEHAR: No, I don't know if -- I don't live with Barbara.
How would I know what she does?
KING: She calls Barbara, though, apparently, tired and that she should retire.
What do you think...
BEHAR: That's so not true. Barbara is not tired. Barbara comes in like -- like she's raring to go.
Are you kidding?
I don't think that's true. Not -- in my observations, the women is never tired. In fact, for 10 years on that show, about two years ago, if I would come in and say, oh, I'm so tired, she'd be like, "What do you have to be tired about?"
You know, I mean the woman does not even tolerate anyone else's being tired.
KING: She's just taken on a radio show.
BEHAR: Yes. She's doing serious right now...
KING: A live nightly radio show.
BEHAR: Yes.
KING: And she also claims that Barbara supported Donald Trump in that battle of wits.
BEHAR: Oh, that I don't know for sure.
How would I know this?
How do I know this, Larry?
You don't know it. I don't know it.
KING: What did you make of that whole thing?
BEHAR: With Donald and Rosie?
KING: Yes.
BEHAR: Oh, I don't know. You know, I'm from the school of if someone attacks me, I ignore it because I don't go back in public and retaliate because I just think that that gives it life. So I don't agree with retaliation in celebrity feuds. I think it's stupid. In fact, the other day I was talking to a friend of mine who said that once you do that in your career, where you have a fight and you make people say oh, da-da-da, what happens is your career sort of takes a slide because -- and you don't have as much longevity, he was telling me, because everybody expects you to always keep it at that level. So I don't like to do that. I like to -- I have a -- I'm an artist. I'm a comedienne. I am a writer. I want to keep my career going. And so I don't want to have, you know...
KING: That's a good point...
BEHAR: Yes.
KING: ...because then the fight becomes the thing people talk about.
BEHAR: The fight -- that's right. And they don't talk about your work anymore. And they only come to see you because you're going to have another fight. So I don't subscribe to that school. That doesn't mean that I'm being -- I don't want to judge people. That's what they want to do.
KING: Now, Donald has a book coming.
BEHAR: Donald who?
KING: (LAUGHTER)
Duck.
Donald Duck.
BEHAR: Donald Duck. Oh, I love him.
KING: It's a cartoon book.
BEHAR: He's a looker.
KING: It's meant to compete with your book.
(LAUGHTER)
It's how do ducks deal with getting their mood level up?
BEHAR: With depression. Yes.
What's Donald's book about?
KING: Oh, by the way, were you bugged that he took a shot at you?
BEHAR: Oh, he says I have no talent.
KING: Yes. Well, now how would you react to something like that?
BEHAR: Well, see, here again, I've had like 20 years of psychotherapy, so when someone says something that's not true, I just dismiss it. Oh and I -- I am a Libra.
KING: You're able to -- yes, that's right, Libra. BEHAR: Yes.
KING: (INAUDIBLE) balance (INAUDIBLE).
BEHAR: But I mean it's like I know I have talent. I've been working on a show for 10 years. My focus groups are good. I've been making a living. I sell out theaters all over the country.
How come -- well, I'm not going to say that I have no talent.
KING: That's (INAUDIBLE)...
BEHAR: And by the way, what talent exactly -- look, I don't want to start with him, you see?
What talent does he have exactly?
(LAUGHTER)
KING: Now, since your book is "When You Need A Lift"...
BEHAR: Yes.
KING: ...when something like that happens, do you resort to things that are -- like in this book?
BEHAR: When somebody says something...
KING: Do you need a lift?
BEHAR: ...mean to me?
KING: Yes. You can't say it doesn't bother you.
KING: You cannot say it doesn't.
BEHAR: Well, it bothers me for a second. You know, in the old days, maybe something like that would wound me and I would be oh, maybe I don't have talent because I was insecure and, you know, I didn't know who I was yet and I hadn't really made my bones, as we say.
But now that I've made my bones, hey, how's he going to prove that I have no talent?
So it's -- it's a non-issue for me.
KING: So you didn't have to resort to anything (INAUDIBLE)?
BEHAR: No. And I believe in the talking cures, anyway. I get on the phone with my friends and I talk to a shrink if I need one, all that stuff to work stuff out.
KING: Prior to all the Rosie/Donald/Elisabeth fights, Star Jones left the show.
BEHAR: Yes.
KING: Let's watch as she exits.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "THE VIEW," COURTESY ABC)
BEHAR: Star and I have had good-natured fights on the air many times.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And we will continue to.
BEHAR: We fought about religion, about the way you raise children.
STAR JONES: Yes.
BEHAR: And it was in the press that we were made at each other. We -- we fought on the air, not off the air.
JONES: That's because you embarrassed my woman, Joy. And sitting next to you (INAUDIBLE)...
BEHAR: All right, this is not about me. This is about you today.
JONES: No, it is about -- no, honestly...
(CROSSTALK)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BEHAR: Well, that's true. We never really had fights off the air. It was on the air that we had arguments. You know, she and I had very different ways of seeing the world. For example, the way you raise children. She believed -- I don't know if she still does -- in corporal punishment. I'm absolutely appalled by corporal punishment in children. I mean I am appalled that anybody would raise a hand to a child.
KING: How did you...
BEHAR: And yet people believe that that's the way you discipline children.
KING: How did you react to the way she left and then the subsequent appearance on this program the next night?
BEHAR: Yes. I thought she tried to take the high road on your show and I watched it. And I thought she did pretty well. She did pretty well.
KING: Were you shocked that she left?
BEHAR: Well, I kind of knew something was going to happen. But I was shocked that she left that day.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JONES: The show is moving in another direction for its tenth season and I will not be returning as co-host next year.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, shocking.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BEHAR: There was some rumblings that she was going to be gone. But that was going to be another day the announcement came. And then she decided to say it that day, which took us all by surprise.
KING: Have you been in touch with her since?
BEHAR: Not really. No. No. I mean we're not -- we were not friends off the air and, you know, I mean it's not like we hobnob with each other constantly, all of us, you know?
KING: Do you -- have you seen her new show?
BEHAR: Yes, I saw it once.
KING: You like it?
BEHAR: It's hard to find.
Where is it?
KING: Court TV in the afternoon.
BEHAR: And I don't even know what channel that is yet.
I have to find -- aren't they changing the name or something?
I don't know. I saw it one day. I thought, you know, good for her. Let her come back and do what she can do. I wish her well. I don't have any animosity toward her.
KING: Does the group socialize?
BEHAR: Well, I used to -- Rosie and I were friends. She came to my house for dinner a couple of times, before we were on the air, actually. Barbara has invited me to her house.
Have you ever been to dinner at Barbara's house?
KING: No.
BEHAR: See?
KING: I've been to dinner with her and I've been to breakfast with her.
BEHAR: But not at her house.
KING: Not at her house. BEHAR: That's shocking to me. I have been...
KING: Maybe it's because I'm Jewish.
BEHAR: It could be. She's...
(LAUGHTER)
BEHAR: But, anyway, I've been out with Barbara. I've socialized quite a bit with Meredith Vieira and I'm getting very, very friendly with when Whoopi now. I love Whoopi.
KING: She's easy to be friendly with.
BEHAR: She's so great. Yes, she's just warm and lovely.
KING: Women on "The View" disagree and it's called a catfight. Males disagree, it's a spirited discussion.
BEHAR: Exactly. Well, that's sexism...
KING: Why are we out of whack in that?
BEHAR: Because men make the rules, I think. And, also, let's face it, when women fight, it's more fun to watch. It just is. It's not violent, it's more specific. It's stuff that, you know, that's about the way you look and, you know, stuff like that. And (INAUDIBLE)...
KING: So you're saying it is a catfight?
(LAUGHTER)
BEHAR: Well, it's just more fun. It's more fun.
When men fight they, you know, throw bombs at each other. They're crazy.
KING: The book is "When You Need A Lift: But Don't Want To Eat Chocolate, Pay A Shrink Or Drink A Bottle Of Gin," Joy Behar and friends.
Still to come, we'll do a hot topic.
What does Joy think about Britney Spears' performance on the VMAs?
That's next on LARRY KING LIVE.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "THE VIEW," COURTESY ABC)
BEHAR: I've always -- always been fond of you. But since you became a skinny bitch...
(LAUGHTER)
O'DONNELL: Alec Baldwin is going to come to this show. I adore him.
BEHAR: He was going to do a phone, but we said no.
(LAUGHTER)
O'DONNELL: Oh, Behar, I just lob them in and she hits them out.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "THE VIEW," COURTESY ABC)
WHOOPI GOLDBERG: Anybody watch the Republican debate?
HASSELBECK: Of course I did.
GOLDBERG: Of course.
HASSELBECK: The whole time I sat there with my chips and watched the (INAUDIBLE).
GOLDBERG: It's like porn to her, you know?
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: We're back with Joy Behar.
The book is "When You Need A Lift"
Joy and friends.
Do you ever see a male guest as a guest host?
BEHAR: No, they -- I said before, they don't really like that. We had Mario Cantone and the intern from Jay Leno sit in with us -- two gay boys. That sort of worked a little bit. But basically women want to hear what other women have to say. It doesn't work with men.
KING: Men don't get included?
BEHAR: No.
KING: What's your role on that show, as you see it?
Are you the liberal?
BEHAR: I'm definitely liberal. I mean if you want -- I call myself more progressive. I mean I'm not -- I'm conservative on, I guess, a few points. You know, I mean I don't want people, you know, no crime. I don't want crime anywhere. I do believe in a strict mayor, because I want the cities to be very, very, you know, crime-free.
KING: Is Meredith Vieira missed?
BEHAR: I miss her tremendously. I love Meredith. Meredith is one of those people who just is a good girl, you know?
She's a good, good person. She does...
KING: Solid?
BEHAR: She's a solid citizen. We got along great. And she also...
KING: You liked her?
BEHAR: ...has a great sense of humor.
KING: You like her on "The Today Show" ?
BEHAR: Very much. I think she's -- don't you think she's doing a great job over there?
KING: Beautiful.
BEHAR: She's fabulous.
KING: By the way, what do you make of the Katie Couric thing at CBS?
BEHAR: Someone was telling me something interesting the other day about it, that men do not hear women's voices -- older guys. I mean let's face it, everybody over 65 watches network news, right?
KING: Right.
BEHAR: And they're getting maybe a little deaf at this point.
KING: (LAUGHTER).
BEHAR: Although, you know, they have this new digital hearing aid I heard about that's fabulous, just FYI.
(LAUGHTER)
BEHAR: ...baby boomers out there who are going deaf. So I think that maybe they don't hear her voice as easily. They have to hear the bombastic, you know, on CNN, they used to have James Earl Jones -- this is CNN. It's like oh, OK. All right.
KING: Maybe we're used to a male behind that desk on primetime.
BEHAR: Yes. Yes. But they -- in Israel, they had Golda Meir. They liked it.
KING: Yes.
BEHAR: They had the, you know, the Indira Gandhi. Everybody was fine with all that.
KING: You think -- and it's unfair to Katie, in a sense.
BEHAR: I think it's a little unfair to her, yes. KING: Do you ever consider yourself -- do you ever censor yourself?
Do you ever think well, I want to say that but I didn't say that.
BEHAR: Sure. I have to be honest. Of course. I mean I'm not going to say on camera what I say in my theater or my comedy routines. That's why -- I like that, though, about me because that means that when they pay the money to see me, they're going to get a little something-something.
KING: Anything you don't like talking about?
I'll give you an example.
BEHAR: Yes?
KING: The Paris Hilton DUI or Lindsay Lohan is in Utah in rehab.
BEHAR: It's kind of tired, isn't it, that whole story?
I mean it's on every show.
KING: Does it ever go away?
BEHAR: It doesn't goes away. I mean, I don't know. I think it's sexual. I think that, you know, men like it. They like to watch them with their little bubbies (ph) and no underwear and all that stuff. And they keep promoting it to get off on it.
KING: All right, is there a discussion before the air appearance of this is will be discussed today?
BEHAR: Yes. We get a -- people ask us this all the time. So we're in the makeup room in the morning and we're getting, you know, a makeover every morning. And while we're doing hair and makeup, we're discussing -- from a list of research topics -- what we want to talk about that day. And then we could add personal stuff that happened last night, you know?
And then the moderator, in this case Whoopi Goldberg, she'll make a list of -- and we'll sort of try to follow. But that's it. We don't say what we're going to say and we don't -- we can't figure out, you know, you can't sort of script.
KING: Who is the decider?
BEHAR: Well, we all are the -- we all pretty much decide. It sort of is a group decision that goes on. The order is the moderator's decision, though.
KING: What did you say...
BEHAR: I stick my two cents in plenty, believe me.
KING: Has "The View" discussed Britney Spears' appearance at the VMA Awards?
BEHAR: Yes. Yes. We were talking about the fact that she got vilified because the girl is not in tip top shape.
That was what they were looking at?
She looked like she was either drunk or on medication or something. That's more to the point than the fact that her waistline is -- she just had two babies. But everybody went after her about how she looks, so we went -- we went after that.
KING: Feel sorry for her?
BEHAR: A little bit, yes. Poor kid.
KING: You feel sorry for all of them, the collective group?
BEHAR: I do. I don't feel sorry for Paris Hilton.
KING: No?
BEHAR: Oh, no. No. She's been pontooning (ph) it up on those videos for all those years. Her mother never stopped her. Please. I don't feel sorry for her.
KING: You feel sorry for Lindsay Lohan?
BEHAR: Yes, a little bit.
KING: She's a genuine talent.
BEHAR: A talent. I feel sorry for girls whose mothers are not watching out for them and whose fathers are not available for comment either. These kids are out there somewhere, you know, with nobody helping them. Even Britney.
Why didn't someone say to her, you don't want to go on stage like that?
You look like you're in a rehearsal.
KING: Do you invite them on the show?
BEHAR: We do. Paris has been on many times. She's all right. I have -- look, she's a kid.
Who cares?
(LAUGHTER)
KING: By the way, I'm going to veer off to the book a second and then come back.
BEHAR: But you know what?
She made that video, that sex video. It's like in my day, you would be run out of town for something like that. Now she's a big star because of the sex video.
KING: Now you're a hero.
How did you come to write this book?
BEHAR: Oh, somebody asked me, I guess, because I'm a comedian, what do you think about investigating this idea of how movie stars and writers and people get themselves out of a bad mood and, you know, see what comes up?
So you find out that Tony Danza likes to strum on a ukulele. Good for him. David Brenner is happy in this book that he's not dead. That's what gives him a lift.
(LAUGHTER)
KING: I love laughs.
BEHAR: You -- you always love comedians and laughs.
KING: Come here.
Come here.
BEHAR: Yes.
KING: You can't feel bad -- write that.
BEHAR: Yes.
KING: When you laugh, nothing bad happens.
BEHAR: I know. That's true.
KING: Nothing bad happens to you when you laugh.
BEHAR: Right.
KING: Only good.
BEHAR: So when we're on the last I.V. We'll be like, ha-ha.
(LAUGHTER)
KING: We'll be right back with more of Joy Behar.
The book is "When You Need A Lift".
And after this, you may need one.
Don't go away.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "THE VIEW," COURTESY ABC)
GOLDBERG: Britney Spears.
BEHAR: A good girl.
GOLDBERG: It was so sad.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. Sad.
BEHAR: She's a good role model because she comes out and shows that she's not skinny anymore.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right.
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's so unfair. It's compared to...
BEHAR: She's running around like something out of "The Sopranos," so it's like a yin and a yang going on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROSIE O'DONNELL, TV SHOW HOST: He flipped out. There's no doubt about it. But being kept from your child, I think, causes irrational rage.
JOY BEHAR, AUTHOR: It's anger. He's really mad at Kim, so put a message on her machine, not the kid's machine.
LARRY KING, CNN ANCHOR: We're back with Joy Behar. The book is "When You Need a Lift, Joy and Friends." I'm honored to be included as one of those friends.
BEHAR: You are included.
KING: The tabloid press and all that reveals private matters of public people. We learned about Alec Baldwin on a phone message. Is that uncomfortable for you, in general?
BEHAR: I hated that. TMZ did that, right? And somebody -- who let that out in the first place? I mean, look ...
KING: Somebody they think maybe one of the parties involved. It certainly wouldn't have been Alec.
BEHAR: Yes, somebody who's mad at Alec, right? But you know I know him, and I'm still friendly with him. I like him. He's a nice guy.
KING: He is.
BEHAR: He sort of blew his top at the kid and it wasn't pretty to listen to. He knows that. He knows that. He seems like -- the way he explained it, he was in a corner, you know? He wants to see his kid. And he's being stopped from seeing his kid. You're a father. I'm a mother.
KING: It would drive me nuts.
BEHAR: It would make me so angry and crazy that I don't know who I would be yelling at, so we forgive him.
KING: Is there privacy anymore, really?
BEHAR: Yes, there is privacy.
KING: You can have privacy?
BEHAR: Well, nobody's interested in covering my behind. I could be out there naked in my yard, no one's watching me. So you know, they're watching you?
KING: I don't know. But if you did one thing ...
BEHAR: But I don't. That's my point. Don't do it. Be good.
KING: So then you have to live under a code of fearing ...
BEHAR: No, not fear, discretion. Discretion. I mean, I don't go to certain situations where I'm going to be, you know, attacked. I won't expose myself in that way.
Also, I tell what I want to tell. I know what I'm talking about. I'm sort of confused about what you mean by that. I think that people who are covered all the time want to be covered.
KING: That's what I mean, you think they want to be?
BEHAR: Yes. If they're going to go to the Ivy, someone pulls up and says, hey, Lindsay's coming to the Ivy in L.A. and then the paparazzi show up. It's not that they're there all the time waiting for Lindsay. Somebody's tipping them off, don't you think?
KING: Why do you think these people need that picture taken nightly?
BEHAR: Yes.
KING: Why?
BEHAR: Well, I think that, you know, it's a publicity addiction. You know, there are all sorts of addictions. You know, what are you addicted to? Anything?
KING: I used to be addicted to cigarettes.
BEHAR: Cigarettes, OK. In my family they're addicted to food. We're Italian, you know? You sort of want to eat all -- so I think that publicity is an addiction, too. It's like hey, am I in the paper again today? I need my fix. Am I on page six? You know like that.
KING: And why does the paper want a picture every week?
BEHAR: They have to fill a lot of airtime and a lot of paper these days, don't they? Thanks to CNN, which now has caused this explosion in news and all sorts of things ...
KING: We're the cause?
BEHAR: Yes, you are the cause. I blame this all on John Kline.
KING: Congratulations.
BEHAR: And Ted Turner.
KING: By the way, your daughter got married.
BEHAR: My daughter, yes, to a lovely boy. Really a charmer.
KING: You like him?
BEHAR: I think he's just divine. And you know, he's in the medical field. He can write a prescription. Who's better than me?
KING: And you've had a lifetime boyfriend?
BEHAR: I did, Steve Janowicz, yes, from the Bronx.
KING: Going to get married?
BEHAR: Why? For what? You tell me. How many times have you been married now?
KING: Six.
BEHAR: So exhibit a, why do it again?
KING: I don't know myself.
BEHAR: Why do you keep doing it? It's like a compulsion.
KING: That might be the addiction.
BEHAR: You're addicted to what? Rice?
KING: I don't know. I never lived with anyone. I never lived with anyone. I was raised you got married.
BEHAR: Like Zsa Zsa and Elizabeth Taylor.
KING: If you fell in love, you got married.
BEHAR: We're past that, OK?
KING: That's Jewish.
BEHAR: It's catholic also, believe me.
KING: Why do you worry about needing -- let's put it this way. You're a TV star. You make a lot of money.
BEHAR: I don't make that much. KING: You've become very well known.
BEHAR: Yes.
KING: Why do you need a lift?
BEHAR: Why do I need a lift?
KING: Yes.
BEHAR: Because like my friend Louis says, it's an inside job, feeling bad or feeling good. It's not about -- exhibit A, Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears, all these people we're talking about today, they have everything you ever want in life. They finally achieved their faces on television. Meanwhile, that little voice inside is saying you're not good enough. You're not good enough. It's pretty bad.
And yet there are people who live in poverty who say I am good enough. And they don't have to be on page 6, you know? It's all what you think about yourself.
KING: What's your mood lift?
BEHAR: My mood lift is to talk to my friends, I think, mostly. I'm always talking about things. I like to work things out through talking.
KING: You get on a phone.
BEHAR: And also getting on stage and doing stand-up which happens to be a very difficult thing to do. And for me, in particular. In the early days, I vomited constantly. You know, I was sick and before I to go out there, I was petrified. And then I would get on and I would get a laugh, and then I would feel great, you know? Like this oxygen tank. And so I know now that I have to just keep doing it, which I will be doing it.
KING: There's nothing like making people laugh. There's no bigger high.
BEHAR: It's a great high. See, that's an addiction, too.
KING: Oh, yes.
BEHAR: I was driven to that because before I became a comedienne, I had -- I was a teacher, I worked at "Good Morning America."
KING: What did you do there?
BEHAR: I was answering phones with a master's degree in mind, so I was a very bitter receptionist, very bitter.
KING: Answering phones for "Good Morning America"? BEHAR: "Good morning America. Hold on. Good morning America. Good morning America." And then they'd call up and say, "Where's Joan Lunden? She's not on." I'd say, "What do you care? What's it to you?" I was not a good receptionist.
KING: You weren't a good receptionist.
BEHAR: No, I got fired after three years.
KING: How did you get "The View" job?
BEHAR: "The View" job story is I was asked by a friend of mine to appear at a benefit for Milton Berle's 89th birthday party at the Waldorf Astoria. So I said I don't know what I'm supposed to do at this party. You know there was like all these Arlene Doll was there, you know, people like that, Regis Philbin, Barbara Walters.
And so I was there, and I noticed that Milton had a young wife. She was -- he was 89, she was 55 or something which, to him, was jail bait, let's face it.
So I said, Oh, I know what I'll do, I'll talk about Salomon Rushdie who got married three times while he was in hiding because he's a man because a man can find a woman no matter how old he is. Right?
KING: Right.
BEHAR: They could be on the walker in Boca Raton, they find a 35-year-old girl. Look at you and your wife. She's hot babe.
So anyway, this must have got Barbara.
KING: It tickled Barbara.
BEHAR: It tickled Barbara.
KING: And they called you.
BEHAR: So she said to Regis Philbin, who was that woman? And he said, "Do you know her? She's funny." And so a few months later they called me.
KING: By the way, some mood lifters from the book, "When You Need a Lift." Carol Burnett says, "At the end of the day I write down three did-wells and three gratefuls from the day." Wynona Judd said she used to just use food for comfort, but after she entered treatment for eating disorders, she started reaching for fellowship by leaning on someone you can trust. All from "When You Need A Lift" by Joy Behar.
When we come back, politics. Whose Joy's pick in the 2008 race? Don't go away.
BEHAR: Barbara in the beginning only wanted to come on two days a week. They hired me to come in and be Barbara the other two days. BARBARA WALTERS: Which is fine except the audience said we love her. We want her on five days a week. It worked for these many, many successful years that we have had on "The View." We are in our 11th year.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I like to listen to music. There's a variety of different things out there that you can listen to, and some make you happy. Some make you sad, but some make me feel real good.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The first thing I do is call my mom. She has probably experienced everything in life you probably could. So I trust her opinion on just about everything no matter how personal it is.
KING: I know Bill Maher is one of your favorite people, right?
BEHAR: Yes, I love Bill.
KING: You're going on his show?
BEHAR: I think October 13th I'm going to be on again on "Realtime." I think he's great.
KING: You have to get heavy on politics.
BEHAR: Well yes it's political and social, too.
KING: We know you're not a republican.
BEHAR: No, I'm not a republican.
KING: Do you have a favorite among the democrats?
BEHAR: Well, you know, I feel like in a way it's an embarrassment of riches right now. We have quite a few people that I like. I like Richardson. I like Hillary. I like Obama and I like Edwards. I like them. I think they all have potential to be pretty good presidents especially compared to this administration which to me is the worst I mean I've ever seen in my lifetime and previous to that even. I didn't know Taft or Grover Cleveland, but I'm just saying.
KING: Is there any republican who would appeal to you?
BEHAR: No. I used to like McCain. All the democrats will say this, I loved McCain until he was this gung ho for the Iraq war and now I don't like him anymore. I still like him.
KING: What about Fred Thompson, a fellow television person?
BEHAR: I don't get him exactly. What's his story? He's an actor.
KING: Well, he was a senator. BEHAR: He was on a plane the other day and I was asking him something and he said, I think he's just a symbolism. I said, what, another one of them who can't speak English? He's just a symbolism? What does that mean?
KING: You talk about 1979, 1980 and 1981, as your toughest three years, near-death experience, divorce from a husband, begins a career in stand-up comedy. How did you get through them?
BEHAR: Well, you know, life hands you a lemon, you make milk, a milk shake. I don't know. I got -- what happened -- it was like I got a near death, it was a very serious ectopic pregnancy I had in 1979, and it was -- I bled internally and ruptured. It was just hideous.
KING: Oh.
BEHAR: So that was one thing. And then, you know, you come out of something like that with a different point of view in life. I let my hair go into an afro you know because it's naturally very curly like that. And I just started to move away from the marriage. I could feel it. And then I got divorced. And then on top of all that, I got fired at "Good Morning America." And so I was really on the, you know, the edge. It's like freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose, so I said OK, I'm going to do it.
KING: You do stand-up around New York.
BEHAR: I do it all over the country.
KING: You do stand-up -- you do concerts?
BEHAR: Yes, I do theaters everywhere.
KING: Do you write your own material?
BEHAR: If they want to know where to see me, they should go on "The View" web site, and it's all listed there to where to see me in the country.
KING: Do you write your own act?
BEHAR: Yes. I mean my boyfriend, my spousal equivalent I call him really, Steve and I, he writes a lot of stuff for me. And over the years I've accumulated material from here and there. But mostly it's mine. It's from my life. It's from the way I see the world, yes.
KING: The essence of the actor me as I look at the world?
BEHAR: How I say it. Right. I have something I'm doing called "Bitching with Behar." It's just a workshop I'm going to be doing in New York because I want to get on stage and bitch about everything. There's so many things going on that are so annoying.
KING: How many years are you committed to "The View" for? BEHAR: I think I have two more years on this contract. You know I have a three, four-year contracts.
KING: Have they been good to you?
BEHAR: Yes, they're very good to me, very nice to me. I mean it's a great job. Let's face it. It's like your job. You know you wake up. There's not a lot of homework. You read the paper, you watch CNN, you're informed, you go out and talk. Who's better than me?
KING: You're so right. Joy Behar is our guest.
Here's another quote from the book. This from Ed McMahon, a very precise recipe for beating the blues even though it breaks the no- chocolate rule in the title of the book. "A very large cup willed with ice cream, two spoonfuls of peanut butter and Sanders hot fudge from Detroit." By the way, this is not recommended for anybody dieting.
BEHAR: I was going to say, obesity in America.
KING: "Sure lifts spirits."
Next, what's Joy's view on Oprah? Can she influence an election and will Joy endorse a candidate? All right after this.
How do you give yourself a lift when you're down?
RACHAEL RAY: I hug my dog, and I also do this weird thing. I save messages that I really love. I have 16 of them. And I play them over and over again when I'm really blue. I just push playback. I have some that I've literally had for six years in my phone. It's a good way to give yourself a lift.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Tonight on "360," polygamy on trial. What kind of case did the prosecution make against Warren Jeffs? According to one of our guests tonight, there wasn't even a case to make.
Also, an exclusive interview with the mayor of the town that Warren Jeffs dominates and a woman who escaped the FLDS.
Plus, more racial hatred in Louisiana., nooses again just a day after protesters marched through the town of Jena.
"360" coming up at the top of the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
STAR JONES: She wants it.
BEHAR: Because she's too powerful. She's very, very powerful.
JONES: Absolutely.
BEHAR: People follow her. She would say, you know, vote for Danny DeVito and they would do it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She wants to impeach Cheney.
BEHAR: But if he impeaches Cheney, then Bush would be president. That would be a bad idea.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sister.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE; All right.
KING: We're back with Joy Behar. What's going to be the biggest issue in the race?
BEHAR: Besides the Iraq war? The war.
KING: That would be the biggest.
BEHAR: The war is issue. It's glaring. It's horrible, horrible, horrible. I hate wars, don't you? You know, 10 years later, 20 years after the Vietnam War, people are going on cruises to Hanoi. I mean, you know, Kathie Lee Gifford maybe on a Carnival Cruise to Hanoi. It's ridiculous. We're always friends with them later when we fix them up again.
KING: She was rumored to be a possible addition to "The View."
BEHAR: Was she? I don't know. Maybe. She's nice. She's in the book.
KING: The power of Oprah. She gives a party for Barack, and he raises all this money.
BEHAR: I know.
KING: And she may do more, may endorse him.
BEHAR: I was surprised that she did that, you know, that she's endorsing a specific candidate.
KING: She announced it on this show. She announced she was endorsing him. She's committed to him.
BEHAR: It's interesting. She seems to be changing to me, Oprah. She's throwing caution to the wind now. It's like I've got enough money, I'm famous, enough, now I want to do what I want to do and endorse this candidate. Normally she would be, well, maybe Hillary, you know go with either -- but she's changing now.
KING: What is her power, in your opinion?
BEHAR: She gets people to read. You know how hard that is? I was a schoolteacher. I couldn't get 30 kids to read. She can get 30 million people to read. That's pretty powerful.
KING: You think she can elect a president? BEHAR: I don't know. I don't know. I'm so worried about this next election. I'm worried that the democrats are going to screw it up in some way. The republicans will be so mean to them in the ads, you know. They'll swift boat them again. They're very, very sneaky on that side, you know?
KING: John Kerry.
BEHAR: It's unbelievable to me.
KING: But it was his fault in not responding tougher.
BEHAR: But that's really beside the point that he didn't respond. The fact is the guy was a hero in Vietnam. George Bush never even went into the army. His daddy got him out of it, and they have the never to vilify a real hero, a real veteran? And people believe this? What is wrong with everybody?
KING: You think they might do something like that again?
BEHAR: Oh, they're quite capable of it.
KING: Larry Craig, the senator from Idaho.
BEHAR: Poor thing, tap, tap, tap. He could do the sequel to "Happy Feet." You know, it would be nice to live in a world, wouldn't it, where there's not a lot of gay bashing and if you're in the closet, you don't have to be in the closet and go in men's toilets to find guys and all that. It's really kind of sad and pathetic.
I saw James Carville on Wolf's show, one of my favorites, "SITUATION ROOM." Am I plugging CNN enough today?
KING: Yes. You also wrapped them a few times.
BEHAR: That's true. But I saw him there talking about how, you know, they didn't come to Larry Craig's -- everybody was so, like, against him. He's a degenerate. Hello? He's one of yours. Protect the guy. You know? The hypocrisy is appalling.
KING: What do you make of policemen hiding in bathrooms?
BEHAR: Well, I think the reason they do that is to protect maybe children, you know young boys may go in there. There's a reason why they're in there. I don't think it's great to, you know -- I think the whole thing -- this -- the whole thing with gay guys and gay people in this country, it's like let's move on. You know? I mean, stonewall, remember that? That was many years ago. They made their points. They're like everybody else. It's not a choice. Nobody would pick that. Nobody chooses to be vilified and attacked.
KING: You think we're still hung up on the gay issues?
BEHAR: Oh, the Republican Party will use it to get their base activated you know instead of concentrating on the fact we have no universal health care in this country. They'll go to gay bashing. It's outrageous.
KING: We'll be back with our remaining moments with Joy Behar. "When You Need a Lift" is the book. The publisher is Crown. Don't go away.
BEHAR: Senator Larry Craig. He can do the sequel to "Happy Feet."
WALTERS: I interviewed her.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did you?
WALTERS: Yes, and I wish I had been nicer.
BEHAR: You need to do roll over more, Barbara. That was your problem.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: We're back with Joy Behar. The book is "When You Need a Lift."
By the way, Whoopi's sort of the head interlocutor, right?
BEHAR: The head interlocutor? Is that a Yiddishism (ph)? The head interlocutor?
KING: I mean that you want that job. You want to sit there.
BEHAR: The moderator?
KING: Yes.
BEHAR: No, I don't think that's a great spot for me because I like to react. You have to sort of run things. I'm like more the position in that show anyway, where you just kind of like he said that? I can just jump in.
KING: Should celebrities endorse candidates?
BEHAR: Should celebrities endorse candidates? I don't see why not. It's a free country. They can do what they want. I don't know that I would want to do that though because I like to take shots at anybody in my act. So if you're going to be nice to one person, I don't like it. But I do hope that a democrat gets in.
KING: Let me test your memory here. Which celebrity you polled for your book said the best way to feel better about when you feel down is laughter?
BEHAR: You, Larry King, Lawrence Kinder. What's your real name?
KING: Ziga. I changed it though.
BEHAR: This is the most Jewish interview and I'm Italian. You know I'm not Jewish. KING: I know, but you don't sound it.
BEHAR: I know.
KING: I said, "You can't prevent being down but you can do something about it when it had happens. The secret ingredient, change a cloudy day to a sunny one is laughter. Laugher when you're sad, laughter is better than sex."
BEHAR: It kicks in the endorphins. Is it better than sex? It depends on who you're doing it with.
KING: When you're down.
BEHAR: It's a toss up. You know. It depends. A good, good laugh is better than a good orgasm? Is that what you're saying? No. No, no, no.
KING: Maybe.
BEHAR: They're equal. They're good. They're both good.
KING: A good sneeze is also good.
BEHAR: Like Dr. Ruth says, a sneeze is an orgasm. I have an aunt who has hay fever. Is she a nymphomaniac?
KING: What's your next book?
BEHAR: My next book? Well, I think a sequel to my Shitzu Cockapoopoo, another book about my -- a kid's book. I like to write for children.
KING: How much time do you get off from "The View"?
BEHAR: Oh, well, last year they added an extra two weeks off. So I was off the whole week of August. I get off for Christmas. I get another week in March. It's great.
KING: They still pay you?
BEHAR: Well, I get paid only when I work there I get paid. I'm an independent worker.
KING: Really?
BEHAR: Yes, I'm not on contract like ABC.
KING: You're off for August, they don't pay you?
BEHAR: No, residuals.
KING: Thank you, darling.
BEHAR: So nice to be with you.
KING: Same here.
BEHAR: This is the longest interview I've had in my life, Larry.
KING: It ain't over yet. We've got another show.
The book "When You Need a Lift But Don't Want to Eat Chocolate, Pay a Shrink or Drink a Bottle of Gin: Joy Behar And Friends," published by Crown.
"ANDERSON COOPER AC 360" is next. Good night.
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