Latest / Curtis Sliwa & Larry Mendte In The Morning / WOR weeknight host Jimmy Failla interview

Transcript

WOR weeknight host Jimmy Failla interview · Curtis Sliwa & Larry Mendte In The Morning

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Well, we've been joined by Jimmy Fallon. You go to
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: sleep with him at 9, 9 to 12, 7, 10 W.O.R.
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: The number one talk station in the nation. And you
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: wake up with Larry and Curtis in the morning.
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: Yes, sir.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: Well, first off, we have to give salutations and greetings
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: to you and your other family at the Fox News channel,
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: because apparently it's their 30th birthday.
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: Think about that. Fox News is 30. 50 years from now,
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: we'll be old enough to run for Congress. You look
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: at the milestones, you know, where does the time go?
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: So were you even birthed with the birth of Fox News?
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: I was. I was in, nobody likes a show off,
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: but you know this. I was going to Nassau Community College.
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: I was a freshman in college and I was getting
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: ready to watch the Yankees win the World Series. So
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: there's a lot of parallels between then and now, except
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: this whole Yankees winning the World Series thing. Aside from that,
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: a lot of it feels the same. Are there any
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: plans what's going to happen at Fox for the 30th? Well,
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: tomorrow is a massive building-wide party. So they're having a
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: town hall where they will address the entire company will
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: be there. And they'll kind of walk us through the years.
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: We added this. We did that. This show came. All
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: that jazz. And they feed you all day. So the
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: one thing about Fox that I wish everybody could spend
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: five minutes experiencing this just once in their life, in
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: that way, it really is like a big Italian family.
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: Like they always feed you. They're like, it's election night.
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: Catering's on the second floor. Snacks are on the fifth floor.
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: They're always feeding you. And because of that social component,
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: it feels like a well-dressed high school. I always explain
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: this to my friends. Okay, everybody thinks we're just there,
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: you know, throwing darts at Obama posters, you know, but
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: you're actually, it's like a high school high school. You know,
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: in high school, you run into your best friends in
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: the hall for two minutes. The bell rings. You run
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: the class. That's Fox. But instead of running the class,
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: you run to a TV studio and then you throw
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: the darts at Obama right at him. You know, whatever. No,
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: but the point is, it has a very communal vibe
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: and it spills onto the air. And that's why people
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: watch it all day, because they feel like they're with
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: their family. And they are whenever somebody meets me and like,
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: I feel like I know you. I'm like, well, you do.
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: You know, you can't you wouldn't script this level of ridiculousness.
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying? And for that reason, the
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: vibe around the building is actually really good right now.
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: And people are excited for tomorrow. Do they share the
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: ratings with you?
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: Yes. Do you see time spent watching? Because you're right.
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: People sit down to watch Fox and they watch it
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: for hours.
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: Days, weeks.
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: Is it really?
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: You want to know my favorite? It's my favorite Fox thing. Okay.
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: People will come up to me and they'll go, yo, man,
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: when do you sleep? I saw you on Fox and
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: Friends first five in the morning. Then I saw you
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: on Hannity at 10 at night. And I'm like, yo, man,
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: when do you sleep? Out of curiosity. Exactly. I'm like,
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: this is my job. I come and go. I bounce
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: back on and off the air. Now, let me explain
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: to you. You haven't quite figured it out.
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: Why to make sure that they have so much food
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: and so many snacks at the ready? Because they don't
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: want these guys sneaking out to the gin mill across
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: the street, knocking back a few and coming back.
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: Half in a bag. Well, that's not working.
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: Maybe they're trying to sober us up.
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  Speaker 3: That is a corporate way of getting people to stay
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: in the building and to stay at work. You go
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: out to Palo Alto, you can get food all day.
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: They have places to sleep. You can get your laundry done.
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: It's amazing.
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: A massage, too. Yeah, a massage. They haven't provided that,
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: have they? A little Chinese massage. Whoa, curse. Good morning.
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: Free flu shots, maybe. Good morning. Oh, you kids today.
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: Now, let me give you a little side story because
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: I am somewhat responsible for Fox News.
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  Speaker 2: I love this.
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: So I get fired at the old WABC with Lisa
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: Angels in the morning.
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  Speaker 2: She goes her way.
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  Speaker 1: I go mine. Rudy calls me up. He's just been
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: elected mayor of the city of New York. I want
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: you to come over to WNYC, the public radio station. Curtis,
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: we own a radio station and a TV station. We
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: own the sticks. I want to be able to sell
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: it and showcase it. Bringing you over, I may get
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: people to be able to listen that are interested in buying.
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: So I did seven months. It was pure hell.
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: They hated me there.
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: The one benefit is they ended up selling the TV stick.
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: WNYC TV to who? Roger Ailes, who negotiated it for
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: Rupert Murdoch. And that's the stick that became the Fox
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: News channel.
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: It's because of me.
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: Wow.
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: He finds a way to take credit for everything.
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: Well, literally.
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: It's pretty amazing. But you are the Wally Pip of television.
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: You know, the Yankees had a first baseman. He took
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: a night off. And then Lou Gehrig played for 30
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: straight years. Curtis, Wally, Pips, Lewa.
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: Is there anyone at Fox News that has been there
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: for the entire 30 years?
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: Steve Doocy. Lauren Green is there. Hannity. They're all 30.
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: Well, Lauren Green. I used to work with Lauren Green.
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: And I do believe more, but off the top of
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: my head, those are the first three that come to
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  Speaker 2: mind because I saw Steve and Lauren in the lobby.
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: And Hannity because I sell counterfeit. Hannity autographed footballs to
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: my friends around the holidays. The rent don't pay itself, guys.
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: What are we doing here?
• 5:19
  Speaker 3: How does that go? Listen, you know, if you can't
• 5:23
  Speaker 3: answer this question, please don't answer it. But what is
• 5:27
  Speaker 3: the relationship now between Fox News and Donald Trump? It
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: sounds like he's a little upset with you.
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: I wish. This is what I wish. I wish everybody
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: in the media ecosystem would acknowledge these moments. Because they
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: always say, Fox is just running a human shield for Trump.
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: I'm like, dude, we wake up to one of these
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: anti-Fox tweet barrages like two, three times a year. Somebody
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: gets up to pee in the middle of the night,
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: he's in a bad mood, and he's like, screw Tarloff,
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: cover the rally. What are you guys doing? And I
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: wish people would see this and understand that that is
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: the truth. We are calling balls and strikes, and there's
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: this misconception that our party is the Republican Party. I mean,
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: the truth is our party is America. And that's where
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: so many people relate to us is the things we
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: prioritize are human. They're not political. They're human. Crime and
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: safety is very human. The border is human. You know, affordability,
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: stuff like that. Human. Defund the police.
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: Human.
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: So what happens is at times, if we're not in
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: sync with what he might decide would be, you know,
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: his preferred way of us tackling a particular news cycle.
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: he lets us hear about it. But if you notice,
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: I think what, what he was screaming about was like,
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: we weren't covering his rallies or something like that. We
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: didn't break into nonstop rally coverage after that. And here's
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: the thing you need to understand. And this is the,
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: maybe the distinction for him. Okay. Of course we covered
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: his rallies when he was the candidate. You know what
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  Speaker 2: I mean? In the general election, you cover the Republican,
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: you cover the Democrat, you're on the campaign trail nonstop.
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: Same with the primary season in the general election. Okay.
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: Now you're stumping for a congressional seat somewhere. And you're
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: doing 16 rallies a day. That's great. These seats matter.
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: But we're not rally TV. You know what I'm saying?
• 7:08
  Speaker 3: And we should clarify what you're saying. When you say cover,
• 7:10
  Speaker 3: you cover them.
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: Yeah, of course. It's just you don't take them live. Yeah,
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  Speaker 2: you don't take them live for two hours. Or three
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: or four or more. And I'm sure there are times
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: where they will because there's news being made. You know
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: what I'm saying? But if it's just him calling CNN
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: fake news and doing the YMCA, I mean, we don't
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: necessarily need the full two hours. You know what I mean?
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: It's like the end of an NBA game. You know,
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: it doesn't get good until they start fouling each other.
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  Speaker 2: So when we see the village people walk up, we're like,
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: all right, we should break into coverage now. It's funny.
• 7:37
  Speaker 3: You've had an off and on. Fox News has had
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: an off and on relationship with Trump because he does
• 7:42
  Speaker 3: get upset with you every once in a while. Because
• 7:44
  Speaker 3: you started this, though, I will say that.
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: Give it to me.
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  Speaker 3: Because you used to have him on for hours. You'd
• 7:50
  Speaker 3: do interviews, and I'd keep going back, and I'm thinking,
• 7:53
  Speaker 3: my God, is he still on? Remember that when he
• 7:55
  Speaker 3: first ran?
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: When he, in 2016, it was really funny because it was,
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: I remember watching this through the lens of Morning Joe.
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: It was like he'd be doing a Fox, he'd be
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: calling the Fox and friends and just air it out.
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: And it was good entertainment, too. You know what I mean?
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: Because it's getting personal. Here's a guy's phone number. Call
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: him up if you don't like him. It was good.
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: And then on the other side, it was funny because
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: he was doing like the same thing on Morning Joe.
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: They were having him on constantly. And then I saw
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: that strategic pivot, you know, because I didn't work at
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: Fox when this happened. I came on in 2017. But
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: I saw the immediate pivot after the election where Trump
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: had spent a summer on MSNBC. And the minute he won,
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: they were like, Hitler! Hitler's in the Oval Office! I'm like, well,
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: can you give Hitler his royalty check? Because Hitler had
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: a show on your network for 15 years.
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: Now, on that note, the last time we spoke to
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: you about some of the internal intrigue within the Fox
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: News Channel family.
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: Happy birthday. Happy 30th birthday. Maria Bartiromo. What's she doing now?
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: I know nothing. What do you mean you know nothing?
• 8:59
  Speaker 3: She's down on her luck.
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: She's going to be fine. Wouldn't you love to be
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: that down on your luck? I mean, come on, man.
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: Remember, we thought, oh, my God, she's going to become
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: the next press spokesperson for the Trump administration. And we
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: see now that somebody's gotten a new job at the
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: Fox News Channel.
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: I love that. I happen to love Caroline Leavitt. You
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: know what the funniest thing about her announcing this new job?
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: She obviously left the White House press gig to say
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: she has another newborn kid. She wants to spend more
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: time with her kid. So, so many people, you know,
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: there's people that just read the news cycle for an angle,
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: an angle to be mad about. Let me show you
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: why you're, you know, you're an idiot, you know? You're right.
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: She said she was leaving because, you know, she wanted
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: to spend some more time with the kids. Now she's
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: going to work at Fox. Like, listen, I don't want
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: to let you stand completely behind the magician, but being
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: a Fox contributor who does TV for eight minutes a night,
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: is a little bit less demanding than running the White
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: House press shop. You know what I mean? Did you
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: hear her hours?
• 9:53
  Speaker 3: She complained about it afterwards. She was on the phone
• 9:57
  Speaker 3: at like 2 in the morning.
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: And this isn't a normal White House. This is a
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: guy who's firing off a statement at 3.13 in the
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: morning because he's watching the replay of the Jets game,
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: thinks it's live. They missed the field goal. Fire the coach.
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: Now she's got to get out of bed. The baby's crying.
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: Good for her. She said the biggest mistake I made
• 10:18
  Speaker 3: was giving my personal cell phone number to the reporters.
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: Oh, yeah.
• 10:22
  Speaker 3: They call all night long.
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: All night long. Like a Lionel Richie song. All night long.
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: And there's no time at all for dancing on the
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: ceiling with that job.
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: No.