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Nov. 12, 2021 - The Megyn Kelly Show
02:03:31
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The Legal Predicament 00:14:37
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Welcome to The Megyn Kelly Show, your home for open, honest, and provocative conversations.
Hey everyone, I'm Megyn Kelly.
Welcome to The Megyn Kelly Show and happy Friday.
Coming up later this show, we are going to end this week with some much needed laughs and a heartfelt conversation with stand up comedian Jim Brewer, former Saturday Night Live alum.
He is such a thoughtful guy.
It's been a pleasure preparing for this interview with him.
I think you're going to love him.
Not only is he very funny, he's not afraid of a little controversy.
My kind of guy.
This is a guy who refused to do stand up routines in venues that wouldn't allow you in if you were unvaccinated because he didn't think it was fair.
He's not afraid to take a stand, and he will be here in just a little bit.
But first, we're going to start today with the latest developments in the Kyle Rittenhouse trial.
Late yesterday, the prosecution submitted into evidence a new photo of Kyle Rittenhouse.
This is what they believe is, pardon the term.
Their smoking gun from the night of the shootings.
They actually just got their hands on this evidence and are trying to make a big deal out of it.
Lawyer Andrew Branca, who's been really such a smart commentator on this case, I read him over at Legal Insurrection.
He specializes in self defense.
He's been following every single development in this thing from the beginning.
He called the photo the prosecution's last desperate lunge for evidence of guilt.
And speaking of desperate lunges, we're going to get into the media's latest smearing of Rittenhouse.
My God, they've been terrible.
I mean, especially terrible on this case.
Plus, Kyle Rittenhouse's mom has a new message for President Biden about a tweet he sent out last year about her son.
Talk about rushing to judgment.
The now president of the United States, then a candidate, labeled her son a white supremacist.
This is where we are, right?
Like, no need for a trial.
I'll just tell you who he is.
What does he know?
He doesn't know anything.
Joining me now to discuss all of it, former prosecutor, current criminal defense attorney, and longtime friend and guest of Kelly's court.
Mark Iglarsh.
Mark, good to see you.
So, this.
The trial appears to be.
I mean, they've both rested.
The defense rested.
It's over.
And now they're instructing, they're coming up with the jury instructions, which are going to be super important given all the self defense issues going on here.
Let's just start with that because Kyle Rittenhouse's whole defense is not that he didn't do it, it's that he did it in self defense.
And I wonder how, like, what goes into those jury instructions is going to make or break this case because it's the prosecution's burden to prove that.
He didn't do it in self defense.
It's not his burden to prove that he did.
Right.
All right.
So I've tried over 150 jury trials, and I always look at the jurors when the instructions are being read.
They barely are listening.
It's legal mumbo jumbo.
It's not written for them.
They code back to basics.
Was he justified in shooting?
Are we going to convict this teenager by finding that it wasn't reasonable for him to shoot?
And the answer is no.
I think this case ended, quite frankly, once the state said, Judge, we rest our case.
I didn't think the defense needed to call the defendant, but when they did and they took that extraordinary risk, they crushed the prosecutor.
Right, exactly.
The prosecution, it was already floundering.
He hadn't won.
I think he knows he's losing.
So he rests his case, and the defense decided to put Kyle on the stand.
And you tell me, but I feel like the case only got better for the defense at that point forward.
It did.
Look, I've been at that situation so many times.
Like, we're ahead, but you would be so good on the stand, but you don't know what's going to happen.
And it's so difficult.
And I err on the side of not having my clients take the witness stand because dopey things can come out of their mouth innocently enough.
Like, owning an AR 15 is cool.
Like, you just don't want that stuff to come out.
And that was probably the worst thing that came out of his mouth.
But the truth of the matter is, he did wonderfully.
I thought he absolutely was well prepared.
He seemed intelligent.
And by the way, I'm no fan of what he did.
If this is my kid, I sit him down and I say, What were you thinking?
I mean, obviously, I wouldn't let him have a gun like this and I wouldn't let him go to the scene.
I'm not a fan of him going there.
I think that at a minimum, had he not brought this serious weapon with him and been in that predicament, he wouldn't be in the current predicament that he's in.
So I'm not a fan of what he did.
But legally, I will not only defend him, but say, Hey, prosecutor, don't you know this case?
If you know this case, why are you bringing it?
You wrote a column in the Daily Mail that was particularly strong worded, I thought, for you, because now you've been a prosecutor, but you said this prosecution reeks of desperation and bad faith.
Why do you think it's bad faith?
Okay, so first, I will say the following, and I really do say this with love.
I think this prosecutor's ego is not his amigo.
I strongly believe that if he prepared his case properly and spoke to all of the witnesses, He would have known that he does not have a likelihood of prevailing, meaning that he cannot show that the defendant's actions were not justified under the law.
Therefore, putting politics aside, which is so hard to do in these high profile cases, you then take a bullet.
You announced, pardon the pun, you announced to the world, I do not have a provable case, I will lose.
Instead, he went forward, driven, I think, by ego and politics.
And now you can see his acts are.
Are filled with desperation.
Because can you explain to the audience?
We were talking about this a little yesterday.
The job of the prosecutor is very different from the job of the defense attorney.
And by that, I don't just mean one's job is to put somebody in jail and one's job is not.
That's not the prosecution's job.
He has a higher calling.
And people need to remember that while watching him.
Can you explain?
That's correct.
When I was a prosecutor, my job was to seek the truth.
I could not go forward on cases, even though I'd have victims, families yelling at me, you know, the pressure is there, the media is there.
Sorry, I do not have proof beyond a reasonable doubt.
That's the prosecutor's role.
Defense lawyer's role is quite different.
We work within the rules.
You can't go outside the rules, although sometimes I stick my toes outside the rule for the benefit of my clients.
But your job is to acquit the defendant.
It's not a seeking of truth, it's not about that.
OJ is still.
You know, not innocent.
He just wasn't found guilty.
So, trials are not about the truth, and our roles are very different.
That prosecutor has an obligation to seek justice.
And if justice is letting this charge go because it's not, you don't have the proof, or the proof presented at trial didn't go your way, and you realize now this is not a just trial, then you're supposed to dismiss the charges.
You're not supposed to just take your chances with the jury.
You're supposed to recognize as you have this higher duty.
Admit evidence that you know should not be admitted, commenting on his right to remain silent.
And worse, when there is a pretrial order after extensive litigation on a motion to keep certain evidence out, and the judge says that will not come into evidence, how dare this prosecutor in the middle of trial, because I take this stuff very seriously, then on his own introduce evidence that the judge previously dismissed, and his argument is.
Well, they opened up the door.
No, you go sidebar and you tell the judge, I think they opened up the door.
I now would like to get this evidence in, even though I know the court's ruling was it should not commit.
And Mark, you and I have both practiced before judges for many years.
Before I did this job, I did it for 10 years.
I was a lawyer and tried cases and was before appellate courts and so on.
If you ever crossed a judge like that, you would expect to get your ass handed to you.
So this judge was angry.
And now you have people on the internet saying, That he's some sort of a racist, that he's unfair, that he's putting his thumb on the scale against the prosecution.
It's like, do you understand how disrespectful and what a violation the prosecution committed the other day?
It's huge.
Let me tell you why it's huge.
I've been there, okay?
Prosecutor knows the ship is sinking.
He didn't prove this case.
Maybe he counted on certain things.
I'll give him the benefit of the doubt.
Maybe he thought things would go a certain way and he was caught off guard.
I don't think that's the case.
I think he knew that this case couldn't be won and that he had a huge problem.
For him, then, after you invested all this time and energy and money and emotion, you get all the way into the trial.
The defense has to move for a mistrial because then this issue is not preserved on appeal.
So they have to move for a mistrial.
But they don't really want the trial to end.
They know they're ahead.
So he's put them in that predicament.
He doesn't care if this trial ends because he knows that's the best outcome for him.
He knows he's not winning it.
How dare he violate the court's order?
I take it so personally because I've been there.
How dare you put me in a position now I have to move for a mistrial?
The only thing that's going to make me happy is if it's with prejudice, and it should be because your actions were deliberate and you know what you did.
And the judge, I guess he's holding off ruling.
I think he probably wants to see what the jury's going to do.
If they acquit him, then there's no issue.
He doesn't have to grant it with prejudice because they're done.
So if the jury comes back with a verdict finding Kyle Rittenhouse guilty, can the judge at that point say, no, I'm overruling you?
I'm ruling, I'm throwing this case out with prejudice?
Yes.
So he's still got that tool in his arsenal.
Of course, we're going to see riots in this case if Kyle Rittenhouse is acquitted.
And certainly if he's found guilty and the judge overrules the guilty verdict.
I mean, I just don't even think that even this judge, who's been very strong, has the guts for that.
I am totally okay with people voicing their opinion.
I'm totally okay with people who feel, because I'm telling you, I feel this way, that he didn't do everything right.
And the decisions that he made were not smart ones.
I don't love what he did leading up to the moment that he pulled the trigger.
I zealously defend his right to pull the trigger when he was in that predicament, when he reasonably feared death or great bodily harm.
So it's okay to say, I'm not a full fan of what he did, but legally, what he did was justified.
That's right.
That's right.
That's exactly right.
So today, the so called, I said, smoking gun evidence is apparently there's drone footage of the night in question.
The prosecution just got its hands on it last Friday.
This is the first time yesterday that we've seen the image, sort of.
You can barely make out what they are trying to show us as their sort of Perry Mason moment.
I mean, I think it's a Hail Mary by this desperate prosecutor.
But basically, he put on a guy who enhances pictures for a living.
And we're showing this now.
For folks who want to see it later, go to youtube.comslash Megan Kelly.
You can see this part of the discussion.
And The small image is the one that they started with.
The big image is their blown up version of it.
They claim it shows Kyle Rittenhouse.
The first shooting was of a guy named Rosenbaum.
The reason Kyle shot him is, among others, he was being chased by Rosenbaum.
And then another party shot a gun into the air.
So Kyle turned around to see who was shooting at him.
He sees Rosenbaum lunging for his gun and yelling, F you.
And we know that from Richie McGinnis, a third party witness, as well as from Kyle.
And now the prosecution's trying to show us these pictures to say, They claim, I can't see anything, but what they claim is it shows Kyle with this AR 15 up against his shoulder, pointing at the man who was firing the gun, whose name escapes me at the moment.
And apparently, because people who have looked at this much closer than I have say that the butt of the gun, of the rifle, is in Kyle's left shoulder, Kyle's right handed.
We can show you another picture of Kyle earlier, just in a calm moment, posing with his AR 15, in which indeed the gun.
It shows that it's to a right handed man.
He's got the butt of the gun against his right shoulder there.
And so it doesn't even make sense that in the moment he would be shooting, he would put the butt of the rifle up against his left shoulder.
But that's what the prosecution wants to show in an effort to try to prove he somehow fired against Rosenbaum or his buddy moments before they fired on him.
What do you make of it?
Okay.
Comedians end their set with their best stuff.
They want to leave the best impression.
Similarly, that's what I did as a prosecutor, and that's what prosecutors should do.
Ego Runs the Show 00:14:22
This is your best stuff.
Really?
This is what you're ending with?
Versus the defense, who had Drew Hernandez calmly and intelligently explain that Rittenhouse defused the situation.
He was being attacked.
This was the perfect ending.
It was exactly what this case was about.
And he was very articulate and very clear and very credible.
And I think that this is, again, the act of a desperate prosecutor who I don't blame for putting that in.
If your goal is to do everything you possibly can to get your outcome, Then sure, throw it in, but it's weak.
And they had a big argument about whether enlarging a small picture that much, because what happens is like the computer fills in the pixelation around when you try to take, everybody knows when you've got, you're looking at a picture on your phone and you're like, what is that on my face?
And you zoom in and then everything gets sort of blurry.
And so the defense objected to this.
The judge in the end said, you can argue that to the jury, it's coming in.
But to your point about Drew Hernandez, who works for a conservative news site, who was there and an eyewitness, listen to Soundbite 4 of him.
Your contact with Kyle that evening was just in terms of what you observed.
I'm asking.
Did you observe him acting in an aggressive manner to anyone that you observed?
In no way, shape, or form.
The first time I saw Kyle, he actually de escalated a situation.
Did you observe him at any time that evening pointing his firearm at anybody or threatening anybody with that firearm?
No.
Yeah, so and they basically try to discredit him, Mark, by saying he works for a conservative news site and this is like political for him.
Well, that's reasonable.
I took his testimony and I kind of reduced it a little bit because of that.
I mean, there's no question he's not an unbiased witness.
That does matter.
But his testimony looked strong, right on all fours on the issue that they're trying to decide.
And he was an unbelievably powerful witness for the defense.
And there's no evidence he's making that up.
I mean, it's like, okay, maybe he's rooting for Kyle Rittenhouse, but he saw where's the evidence that he's making that up?
Let's talk for a minute about the media, the disgusting coverage of this.
So, Before I get to them, I want to start with the coverage of this by our president.
When he was running for president, he did something really egregious and he tweeted out a video that talked about white supremacy in America.
He showed a picture of Kyle Rittenhouse.
Here it is, if you can see it.
That's his tweet.
And he's showing this kid who was 17 years old at the time of this photo.
I'm telling you, this is deeply irresponsible of Joe Biden, candidate or president.
And Kyle Rittenhouse's mom gave her first interview on cam last night to Sean Hannity.
And spoke to that very photo.
Here she is.
This is Soundbite 2.
When I saw that, I was shocked.
I was angry.
President Biden doesn't know my son whatsoever.
And he's not a white supremacist, he's not a racist.
And he did that for the votes.
And I was so angry for a while at him.
And what he did to my son, he defamed him.
You know, Mark, there was a time when we didn't have politicians at that level do that kind of thing because they realized don't mess with the criminal justice system and somebody who's on trial for his life.
And the prosecution tried to put this kid away for life.
I miss those days.
Yeah, I'm going to say something that's kind of controversial and it relates to a case of mine.
I've got to get this off my chest.
Same thing kind of happened when one of my clients, Scott Peterson, who's what they call here the alleged coward of Broward.
Who during the Marjorie Soman Douglas shooting was the only armed guard, and they claimed that he cowered in the corner and didn't go in to kill the killer.
In the interest of time, we could talk about it another time, all the details.
I'm telling you, he's Snow White innocent.
And just to clarify, just to clear, we're talking about the school shooting down in Florida, not Scott Peterson of the Lacey Peterson case out in California.
We're talking about that, the high school shooting that happened, and he's the guard who got killed, forgive me that wrong term, but just pilloried by the press for not running in.
Correct.
He's got one T and Scott, the other one has two.
Okay.
Again, we'll have another discussion at some point if you'd like about that case.
But I'm telling you, not just because I'm his lawyer, I thought he was guilty too before I ever met with him.
I thought that the press made it very clear that he was a coward and did nothing.
It's just the opposite.
Okay.
So my client's innocent.
What killed me was that it went all the way up to Trump, who then, hearing from the media all this stuff, then said things about my client that he's a coward, he doesn't care about kids.
I see a direct Corollary in this case.
Not only did Biden say those things, but everybody was saying things about Rittenhouse.
Because everybody's just passing around information that may or may not be true.
And that's what we live with today.
So, does it affect Rittenhouse?
Of course it does.
Does it affect his mother?
Of course it does.
Does it affect me and my client?
Yes, it's fundamentally gross and unfair.
The lesson is, folks, don't listen and believe, don't listen to everything and don't believe everything you hear.
And even now, in the face of a trial that, I mean, there's a left wing commentator who's made news on Twitter today.
He said, I was against Rittenhouse.
I followed the coverage.
I didn't like what he did one bit, but I've watched this case.
And I don't think you can convict this guy.
I think this was self defense.
And he posted today about how members of the media are calling him saying, Was your account hacked?
Did somebody hack you?
They can't understand how somebody, especially somebody left leaning, would come to an opposite conclusion of the one the media has in their heads.
That was reflected somewhat.
I mean, just here's one example this is The View yesterday.
And Joy Behar, who knows absolutely nothing about the law, giving her two cents on it, among others.
Listen.
You say I'm trying to get to the police.
Why were you trying to get to the police?
So I didn't do anything wrong.
I defended myself.
Oh, baloney.
From what I'm gleaning from this case, the guy goes across state lines with an AR 15 with his mother and some other idiot in the car to defend himself against what?
Having a protest in another state, and he takes it upon himself to go there, you know?
And then he says it's self defense.
No.
And that acting job of the crying, I can't even look at it.
And obviously, they put him on the stand to emote and to do this.
Kyle Rittenhouse.
Shot three people.
Two were murdered.
One was injured.
So I wonder if he is convicted of this, he now becomes a right wing martyr.
If he is freed, it's a message to others like him that prison won't be in their futures.
Well, those crocodile tears are going to get him off, I bet.
Crocodile tears.
Keith Olbermann yesterday tweeting out that this is a crisis actor.
Even Merriam Webster.
Do you see this?
Merriam Webster sent out a tweet with the definition of crocodile tears, which, you know, okay, that, that, Sorry, definition of, yeah, crocodile tears.
Well, you might think, okay, maybe they're just trying to help people because that term's all over Twitter.
But Merriam Webster has constantly been weighing in on sort of the liberal side of these public disputes.
It's insane.
How are you fighting Merriam Webster now as the defense attorney?
I'm totally fine with all these people giving their opinions.
I really do believe that's what makes our country great.
It makes me feel like, wait a second, I'm alone in my thoughts sometime because, wow, all those people feel very differently.
I like that they're saying those things.
The problem is, it's so obvious to me, but not everyone who's watching, that they're not really watching the case very closely, that they don't really, really know what the facts are and apply it to the law.
And that is fairly dangerous.
It is because it influences the jury and it influences public opinion, which could cause rioting and everything.
That's irresponsible.
So here's a question for you.
Speaking of the terrible, awful Olbermann, and by the way, I mean, it's pretty egregious when you have CBS tweeting out that he admitted, Kyle Riddenhaus admitted to two murders.
That's not okay.
They had to take it down.
That's factually inaccurate.
And it's the kind of thing that gets in people's heads who aren't paying close attention.
And then they find out wait, why did he get acquitted?
CBS, who I trust, told me that he admitted to committing two murders.
He did nothing of the sort.
That's not true.
That's a term of art, a legal term of art.
And they had to take it down after the mistake was made.
Anyway, Olbermann, among others now, already switching to Mark, the federal DOJ needs to step in.
Here's just an example from this horrible man.
He writes, After the prearranged acquittal, you're such a moron.
Go back to sports.
The Justice Department needs to pursue federal charges against the vigilante murderer Kyle Rittenhouse and this utterly compromised, quote, judge Bruce Schrader.
Hashtag prosecute Judge Schrader.
There's so much nonsense in there.
I don't know where to begin, but that's what people are going to go to if and when this jury acquits that we now need the DOJ to step in.
That is so problematic on so many levels.
The evidence doesn't change whether it goes from state court to federal court.
Okay.
And even if you bring in a judge who leans on the defense as much as he's leaned on the prosecutor, if that's really your perspective, the evidence doesn't change.
The facts are the same.
The feds will never pick this up for many reasons, but the number one reason is because they see what the evidence is and they cannot convict them.
And it's not like the prosecution lost some crucial pretrial motion that would have completely changed the course of this trial.
Okay, they weren't allowed to get in the fact that a couple weeks earlier, Kyle Rittenhouse sat at a CVS saying he wished he could have gone after people who were committing crimes with his gun that he didn't even have.
Right, like that's pretty much what they lost.
The judge followed his long standing policy of not allowing the prosecution to refer to the people who were killed as victims.
He thinks that's a term of art for the jury to decide.
That's it.
That's it.
Those are not big game changers.
The feds could turn the case around.
I'll add in one thing, having been the victim of this many, many times in court, I don't like when judges are leaning on me too hard and then the jurors can see that the only one they trust in the courtroom is that elevated person wearing the polyester black robe.
Right.
So, when the judge is showing some type of lack of favor towards me, and I don't like when jurors see that.
I think, however, it's earned in this case.
The prosecutor earned it.
That guy's ego is running his life.
And when he defies court orders, I don't mind the judge getting pissed off in front of the jury to some extent.
He tells them to go away, but before they are removed, they see the disdain in his eyes for that prosecutor.
I don't love that, but I think the prosecutor brought it on himself.
You've got to stay one foot away from that happening.
And so, you don't comment on things that have been ruled inadmissible or on the defendant's right to remain silent.
You just don't do that for that reason, because I don't want the judge, you know, showing any ire towards me.
I don't like that.
That's right.
That's right.
A lot of it has been outside the presence of the jury, but some has been in front of the jury.
And I will say this, you know, the natural dynamic of the trial and a criminal trial, and you can speak to this better than I can, having played both roles, prosecutor and defense attorney, is the state too comes in there with an air of authority that after the judge.
No one else equals them with, right?
Like you have the state of Wisconsin behind you, and you sort of start with the jury ahead of where the defense counsel starts.
Like they know, like the guy got arrested, the cops think he did it, this DA thinks he did it.
Like, okay.
And, you know, this is like a big, important prosecutor.
That other guy's just getting paid, you know, to get a guy off.
So it's almost a little uneven to start with.
So that's another reason why I don't really mind the prosecutor getting beaten up a little.
I'll give you the last word.
Okay.
The only thing that I don't agree with was little.
It's more than a little uneven.
It's a lot uneven.
When I ask jurors in jury selection, have you ever driven by the scene of a crime and seen someone in handcuffs?
Let me guess.
You think, why did they arrest that innocent person?
Well, I mean, give me a break.
And then I say, how then can you really presume or believe that my client is innocent when the judge hasn't waved his magic gavel and set my client free?
And I watch their eyes, and their eyes tell me so much.
The ones who could respond right away and say, Well, we don't know that he did it and we don't know that they can prove it.
They're my jurors.
The rest are gone.
So, yes, prosecutors start off with a very unfair advantage.
That's good.
That's a really good question.
I'll tell you something funny.
Back in the day, this is when I was doing my first morning show with Hemmer at 9 a.m.
I took a two week period off because I got selected to be on a jury and we tried a case to verdict.
And I was sitting there, I'm like, there's no way that they're going to allow me in.
It was a criminal case, it was a drug case.
I'm like, there is no way the defense lawyer is going to allow me on, right?
I was with Jones Day for all these years.
I was openly more prosecution minded.
I'd been on the air talking about that for a long time, much more law and order type.
And I admitted that.
You know, when he was doing vaudier of the prospective jurors.
And the prosecution was like, she's good.
Right.
And the defense lawyer gets up, starts asking me a question.
I'm like, okay, he's definitely going to bounce me.
And you know what he said, Mark?
He goes, Miss Kelly, I have a question for you.
If I put you on this jury, will you put me on TV?
Oh, no.
No.
Swear to God.
No.
No.
Really?
And I was like, doubtful.
And he still chose me.
Oh, my goodness.
And we did wind up convicting his client.
So there you have it.
Dope, dope.
Yeah, okay.
All right, Mark, to be continued in another day, I'd love to do the Scott Peterson case, Scott with one T or Scott with two T's because he's back in the news too.
Always love talking to you.
Same here.
Madonna Vibes and Juries 00:02:49
Thank you.
All right.
Up next, comedian Jim Brewer is here.
So looking forward to this discussion.
I've always thought he was hilarious.
I didn't know what a deep, thoughtful, kind, well-perspective guy he is.
I mean, I learned reading the prior things he said, and I'm excited to bring him to you.
It has been a jam packed week, and we feel like everyone could use a chuckle and maybe just a heartfelt conversation about something not incredibly divisive.
Joining me now is comedian Jim Brewer.
He's just the man for this.
Jim has been making us laugh out loud since his time on Saturday Night Live back in the 90s, and we will revisit his time at SNL how comedy heals, if you allow it to, his powerful stance against the vaccine mandates, and so much more.
Welcome, Jim.
How are you doing, Megan?
It's a pleasure to meet you.
Oh, my God, the pleasure's all mine.
Thanks for being here.
I, of course, was your fan back in the 90s.
I feel like we both grew up in the 80s.
I could totally relate to your love of that time frame and your feeling of luckiness, but that's when you came of age, right?
I think about that all the time, by the way.
It was definitely a different time.
You either dressed like you were in Duran Duran, or you dressed like you were in the band Police, or you dressed like you were an ACDC guy.
Yeah, Madonna.
There's a lot of Madonna going on.
Why does that chick got a sock?
In her hair, she's into Madonna.
Why is she wearing stockings on her arms?
She looks like the Madonna.
So, yeah, it was.
Um, I had a denim jacket, I was that guy, had a denim jacket painted with the band Judas Priest, which probably scared you to death and a lot of people.
Um, which the reason why I got into that band, I remember being in English class, and my English teacher said, What are you doing?
I said, I'm drawing Judas Priest.
And he goes, What?
We're reading the book 1984.
And I went, If you listen to the first song called Electric Guy, it's all about 1984.
I just learned differently than you do.
And it really was.
It was about cameras everywhere.
Is that right?
Yes, it's brilliant.
So I would say back then, I was not doing Judas Priest type dressing.
I did do a little Madonna.
I did forensic v neck sweater, tree torns, the palmetto jeans that were like striped on the front and striped on the back and solid on the front.
Right?
Yes.
That was hot.
The forensic v neck sweater, it was all about that.
You could get them in every place.
I was intimidated by you.
I was intimidated.
I was like, oh, no, she's way out of my league.
She's got pants.
She's got the pants.
Eight Year Olds and Guns 00:13:30
I can't.
They're never going to settle for me.
And the hair, I have to tell you, Jim.
So now, my hair is straight today.
My hair is naturally straight.
This is how God made it.
But back in the 80s, that was not acceptable, right?
It had to be permed and it had to be big.
It had to be really big.
It had to be permed.
I had a dangling cross earring, which was already a major threat.
Dangling cross in the left ear, just to let everyone know how cool I was.
And, uh, I also had, I must admit, a little bit of a mullet.
Hot.
That's back.
The mullet is back.
Did you know that?
I did not know that, but I can tell you this I'm not revisiting.
You refuse.
No, I'm too old now.
I'm 50.
I get it.
The grain, the size.
I'm going to go naturally.
I'm not going to take testosterone.
I'm not going to inject myself with steroids.
I'm not going to get liposuction.
Because at the end of the day, when I'm 80 and I don't know where I'm at, I got dementia and maybe I drop a deuce in my pants.
None of that matters.
I just look good and I'm a mess, confused.
I'm going gracefully as I get older.
I like that.
I think that's a good plan.
That's like, you know, my mom, too.
She says, my mom's 80 now.
She says she used to be, I don't know how she put it.
She's like, I used to be a 42C and now I'm a 44 long.
How old is she now?
She's 80, but she's still 17 at heart.
She's just a kid.
Oh, that's awesome.
I'm glad that you had her that long and you still do, and you still have that time with her.
That's a lot of people are not blessed with that.
I was able to get my parents all the way into their 90s, and I just couldn't thank God enough for having that in my life, man.
I know.
Enjoy it while you can.
I've read, I love, love, love this piece of your story, and I'll round back to it as well.
But when I heard that you took in, so your dad, I think, was 92 and died in your arms.
Yeah.
It was, it was, and I encourage everyone, this was, This was part of the thing that kind of drove me nuts during the whole and still does, where it's like, don't go near the elderly.
You may murder them.
You may kill them if they're nursing homes.
I watched both my parents grow old.
And the last thing an elderly person wants, they're already scared to death.
They know they're going, they know they're going, which is something we don't think about and put ourselves in their shoes.
But the last thing they want to do in life is be alone.
Without a hug, without a touch.
That's the human spirit.
That's what we all need.
And I begged, I would go on the road and I'd watch my dad get older and I tried to take him out as much as possible.
And I just, I was like, I don't want this guy to die alone.
He was a World War II vet, never complained, grew up with 10 brothers and sisters during the Depression.
His mom died when he was three years old, never complained.
Ever complained, came out of the war.
You know, he's a garbage man, he's sanitation, he's bartending, whatever he can to support me and my mom.
And he taught me so much in life about the heartaches and hardships to watch another man die, to watch another human die in your arms, to get killed and have to kill.
And then Come home and never ever complained.
And I learned so much about that man.
I said, I don't want him to go down alone.
That's all I begged God my whole life.
Please don't let this man, God, I'll do anything.
Just let me be there for him.
And I have to say, if anyone has that opportunity, and there's a lot of people that fear it, they fear it.
Don't fear it.
It's the most powerful, beautiful human spirit thing you could do.
It gives you closure.
I mean, a lot of us aren't able to have that, but to hold him, and I'll be honest with you, towards the very end, I was playing his music, I was probably driving him nuts.
And I had my youngest daughter there and my nephews and his grandkids.
And I was in there, and everyone said, Jim, you got to go shower.
You haven't showered for three days because I didn't want to miss it.
I knew it was coming to the end.
Like you stink, you smell, you're the reason why you're still alive.
You got to go clean yourself.
You staying alive from your funk.
I went to the shower, right?
And I told my dad, as he's just sitting there, he was unconscious.
I said, Don't you leave.
Don't try to sneak out.
Well, I'm gonna be away for five minutes.
Don't even think about it.
And I went upstairs, and right in the middle of that shower, my daughter came running up.
She's like, Dad, dad, grandpa's waking up.
I went, What?
But I knew someone told me towards the end, you start like your body's, your soul's leaving, or whatever you want to call it.
And I went down.
I said, Oh, you sneak.
You sneak.
You really tried to pull this off.
And I got on top of him and I'm holding him.
And it's funny and not funny, but I'll tell everyone now when you hear that last, it comes from here.
You're like, mouth opens, you face.
But I will warn you and everyone else it's not the last breath.
He's got like four or five more, which is the part that was freaked out.
You know, I'm sitting there going, and he goes, ah!
I'm sorry.
I triggered everyone.
You thought he was gone?
That sounded like the last breath.
And he did that like three or four more times before I was like, I can't take this anymore.
We got to get the pillow aside.
I can't do this.
But it was at least four more breaths, all kidding aside.
But it was the most beautiful, beautiful thing in the world.
And I have a friend right now that's on tour with me.
And we talked last night for about two hours because he knows his dad's 80.
And he's like, Jim, I don't know.
I don't know if I can.
I'm not waiting for that.
It's going to be bad.
It's going to be bad.
I don't know if I can keep going.
I said, listen to me.
The most powerful thing that happens when we lose people is you go through the healing.
You have to go through the morning.
The morning, the triggers, you cry.
But the minute you let it go, which is what I did with my dad, I got a crazy story with a card.
It's, it's, It's some people be like, what?
But it all depends how you think and how you want to see things.
But at the end of the day, I let him go.
And the minute I let him go, which was a good year and a half later, where I said, I'm not going to cry anymore.
From now on, I'm just going to laugh every time because he was funny.
He was really funny.
It changed.
The same thing with my mother.
It is when you can, they become part of your life, the people that pass on.
More almost more powerful when they were here.
The only way I can explain is almost like Star Wars, where you know, where.
Luke is like, How am I going to do this?
And Obi-Wan's like, Use the false, Luke.
Dude, I told you.
And it's just like he's there.
It's the same thing.
As crazy as it sounds, the other night I was crying and laughing listening to Sinatra's New York, New York.
Because every time that song would come on, my mom would go in a full-blown animated act the whole thing out.
If I can make it.
Damn, all four foot eight of her.
And I just started laughing so hard.
It's part of life.
It's part of life.
And I always thought they should teach that in school or in universities.
Well, you pay lots of money to be educated by a professor when you come home dumber than you left to get in there.
Well, in every way, because I've heard you, first of all, that was totally profound.
And I loved it.
And it reminded me just last night I was tucking in, I have three kids 12, 10, and eight.
And I was tucking in my eight year old.
And I don't know what made me think of it, but do you ever read that book, I'll Love You Forever?
I mean, if you haven't, don't, because it's like, it's such a tearjerker.
You can't get through it.
It's like the mom who rocks the baby in the rocking chair and she sings to him.
I have added my own tune, but it's basically, I love you forever.
I like you for always.
As long as you're living, my baby, you'll be.
And then he gets older and then he has a little kid with the baseball cap on, still at night in the rocking chair.
Then he goes to bed.
Teenage years, still at night.
She's got him in the rocking chair.
College, he gets married, she gets old, and then she's very old.
And I can't even get it out.
But at the end, he sneaks over to her house and he holds his mom in his arms.
I know Abby's trying to.
It's just like, this is the most emotional, saddest book ever.
But it's kind of what you're talking about.
It's like, you lived that.
You were the little boy holding your parents.
When he needed you and was older.
I mean, like, oh my God, profound.
It's, it's, you know, I don't know where we turned in society, what year.
I try to study that all the time because I remember growing up in Long Island and it was all about, it was still a village mentality.
Humanity was a, you either lived in the basement, The main floor was, you know, whoever the mom, dad, with kids downstairs was either a grandma or somebody upstairs was an aunt or an uncle.
And then one would pass away and they'd shift, like, okay, you go in the attic and you'll bring this one in.
They're not going to last one.
And everyone looked after each other.
It was a village mentality, it was all for one, one for all.
You may not have liked everyone, but everyone looked after each other.
Hey, watch the way you did that one's trouble.
I'd be careful of that one.
And people would discipline you even though they weren't your parent.
And that somewhere along the line, I'm going to have to say maybe it was the 80s, I don't know, where this new propaganda be all you can be, the smartest, brilliant CEO, millionaire, you're better than your brother, you're better than your neighbor.
And they started separating the family and take your elderly.
We, the government, will take care of them.
We have this new facility where you could stick the elderly.
And I go, and somewhere in our minds, The more that it's been dehumanizing us for a long time, and it continues to dehumanize us, where we take our elderly and we put them in homes.
Now, a lot of us don't want to stop working, and I understand the circumstances, but I always go, go visit nursing homes before you think about doing that.
The sacrifice is huge.
Some of us can't make that sacrifice.
But I, you know, not that it's funny, but if you go to a nursing home, that's a rough visit.
No, that's not good.
The retirement communities are damn nice, though.
Have you?
I'm like, my mom's considering that right now.
She doesn't want to live with us.
She wants to.
I'm like, we went to look at one.
It was like, it was like that movie Cocoon.
You know what I mean?
It was like the people are frolicking.
They're playing bingo.
They're doing karaoke.
They've got happy hours.
I'm like, how soon can I get in?
I agree.
How do I get in this?
Wait, I don't have to mow my lawn.
I don't do nothing.
You bring me here to.
A tram that breaks me away.
I got a golf cart.
I'll take the golf cart.
I can smash into the bushes.
Yeah.
Like the villages, right?
Down in Florida.
My God.
You know, it's a good place when the STDs are running rampant.
That is very true.
And you know what?
I can't wait.
I already got my spot ready for the villages.
I just moved to Florida.
And, you know, technically, my friends are going, Did you move in one of those communities?
I said, Well, I'll tell you this.
I am definitely the youngest one.
So clearly, I'm going to be the king of the block because I can.
That's true.
Florida Villages and STDs 00:03:11
I can take anyone.
That's a good point.
You'll be the funniest, the most robust.
You don't need testosterone.
You got more than anything.
I don't need testosterone.
I'm already there.
But the community is beautiful.
Every time I go out, they're all playing pickleball.
Yeah, pickle's amazing.
Pickleball.
They're over here doing something.
These guys are doing water aerobics.
Yes, they've got water aerobics.
They've got a spa.
I'm like, this place is amazing.
You have to be 55 or up.
So I've got a few more years.
Yeah.
But I agree with you.
At the end, you know, there'll be no nursing home.
And I realize it's very tough for people.
Not everybody has the option, but if you can.
Not everyone has that means.
Yeah.
If you can make that happen, that's, yeah.
My mom always says, she goes, I don't care.
She goes, I don't want to be forced food or forced anything.
She goes, you just drug me up.
I want to be completely, I want to go out high as a kite.
I'm like, I got you, mom.
Now, on that lovely note, because I know she's listening, let me pause you because so we can pay the bills.
We'll do a quick ad and we'll come right back with Jim Brewer, the one and only.
So enjoying this.
And don't forget, folks, you can find the Megan Kelly Show live on SiriusXM Triumph channel 111 every weekday at noon East.
And the full video show and clips by subscribing to our YouTube channel.
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By the way, if you like our interview with Jim, you can check out episode 60 with Tim Dillon, which is hilarious, or episode 74 with the brilliant Andrew Schultz.
We're joined today by comedian Jim Brewer.
Before I get back to him, I just want to give you this quick clip of what made all of us fall in love with him in the first place.
SNL 1996, watch.
So, Bradley, why don't you tell us about 12 Monkeys?
Come on.
Well, 12 Monkeys that play Lunatic.
Not as well as you could, Joe.
I mean, everyone knows you're the king of the lunatics.
You're the best.
Luna, what?
Did he just say what I think he just said?
I think he did.
Did I offend him?
Did I offend him?
You offend them a little bit, Brad, a little bit.
Go too far.
Let me just get this straight over here.
All right?
You're the leading man, right?
And I'm just some lunatic macaroni munchkin with my gugach in my hand.
Is that it?
No, no.
That's not what I'm saying.
You're the one back in Notre Dame, huh?
I'm quasi meatball, and he's the sexiest man alive.
Is that what's going on here?
Joe, Joe, I was just saying that.
Joe, Joe, Joe, oh, he's handsome and skinny, and I'm the crazy little guy.
I'll show you crazy.
I'll show you crazy.
Hey, hey, hey.
Now, that kid, that's a legend of a four, eh?
Jim Brewer is Joe Pesci, and he's here live.
Joe Pesci Auditions 00:04:13
Stick around.
The SNL clip is just one example of your brilliance.
That Joe Pesci thing, I remember it.
I watched that stuff live and was such a fan of yours.
That was a lot of people think the glory days of SNL were in the 70s, and I. Remember that too.
But I really thought it was that era, the 90s.
It was amazing.
And watching you next to Colin Quinn and the guest stars you had, that was a magical few years, I'm sure, in your life.
100%.
That was, you know, I didn't watch the show growing up.
And when I was aware of it because there were auditions, you know, once I was doing stand up in New York City, they would do auditions.
And when I, When they first came to me and they said, Hey, would you audition for SNL?
I said, No.
What?
Because I, yes, because I knew the cast before me.
They just destroyed them and the media was crushing them.
And I also knew some people on there and they became really miserable human beings.
Like, oh my God, how can you be so miserable on a television show?
And so I didn't want to be in that environment.
Because I had a friend or two that was in there, and I just went here.
All they do is complain and this and that.
So I did not want to be on.
And then they asked me to, I finally got talked into auditioning.
And then when the third time they were coming to see me, it was at a comedy club.
And I remember I met Sherry O'Terry and Will Farrell, and they all came there.
And I met them.
And they were like, man, we hope you get, you know, you were really funny, but they were just so nice.
And I went, oh, shoot, maybe they are.
They got all new writers, all new cast, with the exception of Norm and I think Tim Meadows and Spade was still there.
And I have to say, the minute I was there in the first table read, when you're reading the sketches, and Will Farrell, No matter what he read, you're just going, Oh no, I can't.
This guy just eats a sandwich and he's making.
How does he do that?
How does he.
Sherry O'Terry every week was like, Here's another new character.
Oh no, I can't.
I can't compete with these animals.
You know, Molly, it was such a good, talented cast.
It was just home run after home run after home run.
And I think I knew I was getting fired.
I was getting, I knew I was done.
And the only thing that saved me was I was a big Goodfellas fan and a big Raging Bull fan.
So I was a big pesky and De Niro fan, but mostly pesky.
And I was in a writer's room and I just, I already gave up.
But I said, hey, you know what?
Why don't we just order some sandwiches?
Who wants a sandwich?
Want a sandwich?
Let's get a sandwich for cradle.
I was sitting here like a bunch of animals.
That was the guy goes, Oh my God, you got to do Joe Pesci.
I was like, What do you mean?
He's like, Oh my.
And that led to doing the Joe Pesci show, which then pretty much secured my contract.
But I can honestly say I would watch the first explosion was Molly Shannon.
And she did the schoolgirl that would sniff her arms.
And then sometimes when I get nervous, I put my hands under my arms like this.
Exactly.
And then I smell them.
I've that.
Red Badge of Courage 00:15:24
So stop.
So stop.
I still do that.
And she would, I was in that sketch, the first one, and I was on the side of the stage and I heard the, oh, I just looked and went, oh my God, I've never heard a crowd react.
That's the type of reaction I want.
I don't want laughs.
I want that.
And it seems like every cast member from, you know, Catan, Will, everyone got that.
Everyone had a character.
It was a great.
Cast.
We got along really well.
It was good.
It was, I don't.
So, what happened there?
Because I've read you say before, and I was like, I read it, and I was like, I can relate to this just based on my time in cable.
You were at the top of your game.
You said you were peaking.
You were getting movie deals offered to you.
You were killing it on SNL, but that you felt it was toxic, that it was your time there you felt was toxic.
And looking around, I don't know if it was those people you mentioned, but people in that industry.
Seemed awful and not like people you wanted to be like.
Well, it turned into, again, going back to the way I grew up with strong morals, strong family values, do the right thing, do the right thing.
And we're in an industry where it's like, no, cheat, kill, steal.
Lie to get to the top, to get the highest rating, to be the biggest star, and do that to stay on the mountain.
And it's a very disturbing mentality.
And it exists, it's real.
And it's not just in Hollywood, it's every big money situation, a big star situation.
I mean, I bring it down to I joke and I say, you know, and I worked at Sears, Long Island.
I remember I'd work in the paint department with this other person, and then the other person got upgraded to a red badge.
You're like, Whoa, what's a red badge?
Well, now I have the power to avoid things, and you need me to override things.
And then that person with the little red badge would, now they're on a power trip.
And you're like, Dad, we hung it.
What are you talking about?
You're still the same meathead.
And now you're taking advantage because you got a red badge.
So imagine that.
I would see things behind the curtain that the public had no clue about.
And I was shocked that.
The general public does not have any clue of how certain things go.
Now, people's business is people's business, but what I can't, what would drive me nuts is like, you know, People Magazine, couple of the year.
And you're like, they're not a couple.
He doesn't even like women.
What a sham.
What a, what a, oh, you know, this, this one.
It's just, you would see things, certain people would come in and they'd be, It was disturbing.
And if it was my brother or a friend of mine with some of the people, I'd go, Is there something wrong with you?
Like, there's something really disturbing wrong with you.
But no one's saying anything because, oh, well, this one's a star.
This one's on a big TV show at ABC.
And even Holly, when SNL, just in power and in that world of vanity, you will sell yourself.
You will sell your soul, you will do anything to get to the top, and it happens like that.
People go, Wow, how can that happen?
I remember meeting some of the biggest uh people that I looked up to in my life, and what you don't imagine you know, you imagine being a little kid thinking about, but when they're in front of you and they're like, Hey, man, you wanna and you're going, Oh my god, I can't believe I'm hanging out with so and so, and they go, Hey, man, you have a little bit of this, and you like doing this and this and this.
I mean, this is the way I roll, and I'm like, Why?
Yes, let me cheat my wife and do drugs I've never done and do.
Wow, you're into that.
Okay, that's how fast it happens.
And I remember, I give credit to my wife.
Towards the end of the SNL, I just filmed Half Baked and I'm getting movie offers, blah, blah, blah.
And the last year of SNL was really rough for me.
The people that supported me left.
And the new people were not big fans.
That's just the way business goes.
And I look back on it.
But they really went out of their way to make what I felt make life miserable.
And I started getting really, and my wife said this to me, I'll never forget.
She goes, You know, all you do is come home, you complain, you're smoking weed all the time to numb yourself.
Why are you there?
Why don't you quit?
I went, Are you seriously?
Is there something wrong with you?
You don't quit.
Like, seriously, is there something wrong with you?
She's like, No, is there something wrong with you?
You said you would never stay at a job that sucked the life out of you.
You never do it.
No money in the world can do that.
And that's it.
You say that and you feel it, but you're like, Well, I'm a silent lie.
I got a movie coming out.
Another movie deal.
You don't understand.
I'm this close.
But then.
I would see, you know, I remember when Farley came on to host.
And he was there that week.
And long story short, they were like, listen, he's going to ask you to go out.
We've got a serious situation with him.
He's got, there's a lot of problems.
He was walking around with a 24 hour nurse.
Chris Rock was.
Walking around the hallways, and I said, What are you doing here?
He's like, I'm here just in case.
And I'm not blaming anyone, but I could not believe that not one human being, if that was my sibling, if that was my best friend, I'd go, hey man, I don't care what movie you're promoting.
I don't care how much you're, your life is in danger, bro.
Your life is in danger.
And was it for the ratings?
Was it to promote something?
And He clearly had drug issues, which we all saw that were very serious.
And I'll never forget the phone call I got from him on a Thursday night.
I think it was a Wednesday night after the table read.
And I had a friend over there, and my wife answered the phone and she goes, Jim, it's Chris, Chris Farley.
How do you get my number?
She goes, I don't know.
I pick up the phone.
Now, here's a guy whose soul is beautiful.
But vanity's just eating him alive and making $10 million now.
A picture $10 million.
Anyone would die to have that.
And he asked me, Jim, am I funny?
I went, what?
He goes, am I funny or am I just a stupid fat guy?
I can't get girls.
Two months later, when he was gone, but I remember going, No one cares about your life, they just care about the rating, and we're just a product.
Yes, we're a product, doesn't matter how many people die, you know, how many people die from this product that's new by uh this line.
I mean, you know, put this in your this is not like sugar, it doesn't get you know, a couple people have cancer, don't worry about it, but we made trillions of dollars, and you know, the lawyers will.
We'll take care of the people.
And this drug is new.
A couple of people died, but you know what?
It's a billion dollars.
Shut them up.
Vanity, power, money, the love of it is soulless.
And it will kill you.
And it will disregard you.
And you better have a moral grounding before it all comes.
And I knew this environment was going to destroy me.
And my wife, God bless her soul.
At the end of the day, she was right.
And I took destiny in my own hands.
And we went through a lot of different struggles.
I went through a situation where someone clearly took something of mine and made $10 to $20 million.
An idea, you mean?
And to God, on my kids' lives.
And I remember I was like, I'm going to get them.
And my wife again, she was like, Jim, Jim, let them have it.
What are you, God?
You cringe, man.
What are you?
It's just something wrong with you.
She was like, Jim, you left because you wanted to be with your children.
You're working at a radio station because you wanted to be home every day to watch your children.
You just brought your parents from Florida.
You wanted to be with your parents to watch them be elderly.
Do you want that?
That is always going to be there.
It's always going to be there, Jim.
Let them have it because if they need to steal it, if they need to lie about it, it will destroy them eventually.
And I'll tell you what, I will never forget years later watching certain individuals and their life deteriorate and.
After taking and making big fame and money and this and that, and watching the crown come off.
And the amazing grace of it all was to see them years later come up to me and go, and not knowing I knew like what you were about years ago and all that money.
And they said, I'll never forget this.
They said, Hey, man, I don't know what you're doing here, but I wanted to tell you, I really admire.
The path you took in life.
I wish I did that because I didn't get to see my parents die and I was chasing stars and your kids.
I really admire what you do.
Sometimes life is decisions and it's not easy to stick to your morals.
It's not easy to always do the right thing because the wrong thing is so tempting, sometimes worth so much more money.
And so, really, by society.
Lefty.
It's, I love everything you just said.
I can so relate to all of this.
I've spoken before about, you know, in my own life, I was at the top of the cable news industry and I had a job forever at Fox News.
That's not a place that would fire you.
You know, once you were big there, like they don't fire you.
And they wanted me to stay.
They offered me a huge, huge deal to stay and I would have been Queen Bee.
And I couldn't have cared less.
I couldn't have cared less.
I needed to see my own children grow.
Up.
I wanted to raise them and not to have somebody else raise them.
And prior to making my decision, I had just done a book tour where I had the benefit of sitting next to a really successful finance guy.
He was like a hedge fund guy.
And he's like, You got kids?
I'm like, Yeah.
He goes, How old are they?
I said, Oh, right now they're seven, five, and three.
He said, You're so lucky.
You're so lucky.
He goes, I missed it all.
He goes, I've made hundreds of millions of dollars and I missed it all.
He goes, I would give anything to go back and make a different choice.
And when I read you say, This is another interview.
People come up to you who haven't seen you, right?
Because you're not on SNL anymore, right?
Like it's not necessarily you're on the big movie screen, same as I'm not.
And all right, I'm not on cable news every night.
And they say, Hey, what happened?
What happened to you?
And tell them, tell us what you say.
It's so profound.
It's so exactly right on.
I'll tell you what happened to me.
Well, I started living my life.
I was there for my children.
I was there for my wife.
I was there for my family.
And I always.
When I was, when I was, I came to terms where, and I know this is kind of silly, I might not even put this out there before.
When I saw the movie Pulp Fiction, this is, I went, What happened to John Travolta?
I went, Holy crow, his career is resurrected.
And what that taught me was that world is always there, it never turns its back on you.
All they care about is can you make money?
Can you make money?
Can you still get someone to pay?
To want to see you.
That's it.
As long as you have that talent, you will always exist.
So you can leave, come back, leave, come back, leave, come back.
And I also said, Hollywood's there forever.
My children and family are not.
And when I die, I can tell you who's not going to be there.
The TV show, the billions of dollars, none of that's going to be there.
God willing, it'll be my wife, my kids, and the closest friends that I grew up with that gave me those great moments in time, which is what we try to gather in life.
That is, I don't know if that was the exact quote, but.
That's pretty much.
Yeah, that was it.
I mean, really, that boils down to I've been doing something more important.
That's what happened to me.
I made more profound choices in my life that maybe didn't pay me as much or make me as big a star, but I held my parents while they died.
I raised my three daughters, in your case, and in mine, my two boys and my girl.
I was with my spouse, who I love.
I know you guys call yourselves marriage warriors, and we'll get to DNA.
Marriage Warriors and Wisdom 00:02:05
Yeah.
That.
That's everything.
And that wisdom is not bestowed on everyone.
No, no.
And you know what?
It's not that it's, I'm not here to preach that, hey, that's the way to go.
I just sleep better at night.
I sleep better at night.
And you know, I'm not going to lie to you.
I was called the leather pants and kangaroo syndrome because when I knew I wanted to go into the entertainment world, which I was young, I think it was 16 when I said, this is what I'm doing.
I knew I had a talent.
I knew it was a God given talent, and it felt good to heal people and make them laugh and watch them pain and laugh.
And we get through things that way.
But at the same time, I was like, I'm going to get so big.
I went, I'm going to get leather pants and I'm going to get a kangaroo.
And I'm going to walk through the mall.
This is crazy out of control kangaroo.
And people like that.
Yes.
And so it's always, are you chasing the leather pants and kangaroo?
Are you chasing what's going to fulfill your life?
And it's not always easy to do that because this side's so loud and tempting.
But once in a while, once in a while, but then I think of this too.
You know, as a kid, I would go back then, grown up, went, man, I want to.
My favorite actors were Jack Nicholson, Pashit De Niro.
That's, if I get, I want to do stuff with them.
If I can hang out, Metallica, I want to be a Metallica, Judas Priest, and I love the Mets.
And I literally had to take a couple steps back in one moment in time, and whatever you call it, God, whatever, how you reflection.
And I remember reflecting, going, what more do you want?
You worked with Pesci, you worked with De Niro, you did some of the best scenes ever to be remembered with Nicholson, all three of these guys in SNL.
Dangerous Visuals with Chappelle 00:15:10
You are in a cult movie that people still talk about today.
You toured with the band Metallica, your friends.
You throw out the first pitch at the Mets game.
What do you want?
Did you see it differently?
You asked, you got it.
What more do you want?
What you want is at home with your friends, lifting each other.
It's already there.
Sometimes we perceive things and chase things, but the visual up here is never quite.
This could be a dangerous visual.
It could be.
And it's an imbalance that I've been trying my whole life.
And I have to say, I thank God my wife has been around to help me with it.
I'd probably be a complete maniac if she wasn't around.
I think your book, like your memoir, is going to have to be titled Nailed It.
Wait, pause there.
Quick add more with Jim on what's happening lately with respect to his COVID stance and also his long standing.
Friendship with Dave Chappelle and what he thinks of what's happened to him.
There's actually breaking news on the Dave Chappelle situation, which I'll bring to you in a minute.
You heard Jim mention it.
He was the star, he is, remains the star of one of the most popular movies.
Half baked.
And in that movie, which is totally beloved and a cult favorite now, too, he starred across from a guy who had become his friend and an acting partner in a few projects named Dave Chappelle.
So let's just take those of you who have not seen Half Baked back to just a little flavor of that movie.
You can guess what it's about if you haven't seen it.
And you can see Jim and Dave and others watch this.
What do you guys want?
Get some sour cream.
And onion chips with some dip, man.
Some beef jerky, some peanut butter.
Get some Hagen Doss ice cream bars.
A whole lot of hot, make sure chocolate.
Gotta have chocolate, man.
Some popcorn, bread popcorn, graham crackers.
Graham crackers is the marshmallows, little marshmallows, and little chocolate bars.
And we'll make some s'mores, man.
Yeah, that's what I'm saying, y'all.
Also, celery, grape jelly, Captain Crunch with the little crunch berries.
Pizzas.
We need two big pizzas, man.
Everything on them with water.
Whole lot of water and onions.
That's it?
Yeah.
Anyone want anything else?
Oh, yeah.
Give me a box of condoms and what's that stuff?
I used to eat it all the time back in the day.
Pussy.
That's right.
You got it.
Thanks, man.
And hey, I'm not back in 10 minutes.
Call the police.
If he ain't back in 10 minutes, we're calling Domino's.
What do you guys want?
I love your enthusiasm in that clip, Jim.
Yeah, bunion, sour cream, and onion.
I have never been baked, not half or otherwise, but it's inspiring.
You're actually making me want to try it.
Yeah, can you believe that?
Throughout the house.
Yeah.
So, Dave Chappelle, let me bring you the breaking news on him.
The backlash to his Netflix special, where he calls himself a TERF and he's gotten on the wrong side of these transgender activists.
I continue to maintain, not normal transgender people.
Honestly, the activists are just the worst.
His alma mater, his high school in Washington, D.C., just canceled a planned fundraiser with him after some moronic students.
Threatened to stage a walkout because they were uncomfortable with his remarks.
Now, it's the Duke Ellington School of Arts in Georgetown where he went.
And the article points out Chappelle, who has given back to his alma mater in a number of ways over the years, listen, he donated $100,000 to this school.
He gave it one of his Emmy Awards in 2017.
He delivered a commencement address there.
He held a master class for students.
He regularly visits campus with other notable celebrities, from Bradley Cooper to Chris Tucker, and so on and so forth.
And because He did that Netflix special.
They're basically saying, no, we're not doing a fundraiser with you.
And by the way, the fundraiser was for a new theater named after him.
No word on whether that's going to go forward now as planned.
What do you make of what's happening to him and the blowback to that special?
Well, I'll say this.
Whoever it is, and when you decide to cancel someone, give them all their money back.
If you're really serious, give him back the $100,000.
Give him back all the money, everything he's ever given.
If you're that serious about, A couple people that are paid andor whatever their agenda is, and you're going to let them control the narrative, then you are just as part of the problem.
Because it is a problem.
It's a serious problem when you allow, you know, if you were going to start defining what is offensive, you better get in line.
My wife has had battle cancer for over 12, 13 years.
And I won't say it's from certain things, but maybe we should look at how many women have gotten breast cancer ever since they came out with birth control.
I'm not saying birth control is the cause of it, but it's quite interesting the numbers.
Maybe I find that offensive.
I find it offensive how we sold wars to murder people and kill and genocide our own children.
To go to a place that we had no right being and come back and not only just blow their limbs off, but now you destroyed their mothers, their brothers, their children, and generations.
I find that offensive.
And when you start making remarks just the way you are, you're allowed to say racist, you're allowed to say white supremacy, you're allowed to say whatever word you can.
But when the mirror is turned on you, You don't get a right to demand and control the narrative.
So, to that, I, you know, in my special, I mentor gender and I go after college pretty hard.
And I was a little nervous.
I say words that we used to say in the 80s and compare it to today.
And then when Dave came out and he said what he had to say, I didn't.
First of all, it's like a TV show.
Let's look at half the TV shows.
There's no offensive television.
We call it acting, and then you want to cancel it.
It's moronic, but it's dangerous.
It's demonic, and it's evil.
It's well funded, and it's meant to mind, terrorize, and destroy.
And it's just another method of pulling people apart.
And quite frankly, I have no respect for that way whatsoever.
I have no respect for anyone that tries to cancel things.
To me, you're the problem.
You're the issue.
You're the division.
You're the one that needs to find love that you lost somewhere.
You're the one that needs to heal from a wound that you took.
And it's not up to you to lash it out on an entire society and pull it in.
It's like watching a three year old jump up and down on a carpet screaming and yelling.
And no one's, why the kid's drawing all the attention.
But at the end of the day, the kid is doing something that, quite frankly, the parents don't want them to do, or it's going to harm them, or whatever the scenario.
What I'm saying is, it looks like a three year old jumping up and down.
And the fact that corporate media or whoever the press allows this to be in the forefront, I call corporate media nothing short of terrorists.
Their mind is.
Evil, demonic terrorist, all of them.
They put out agendas to create a circus.
Hey, you know, here's the Aaron Rodgers.
I can't believe Aaron Rodgers is a liar.
I don't think he should do it.
This side says this.
Let's talk to that side.
Let's do this side.
If you can see through all that, it's so obvious and it becomes comical after a while.
Dave is a brilliant human being from what I remember.
I haven't talked to him in at least five years, if not more.
I've emailed him.
I haven't heard much from him in the last couple of years.
But I will say he was one of the most deepest, spiritual, smartest human beings I've ever seen.
And he taught me a lot.
When we were doing half bait, I remember him going, His exact words were, Jim, be careful.
I see the way they're looking at you, man.
And I'm like, what do you, what do you tell?
He's like, man, you don't understand.
There's some evil things out here in Hollywood.
And I didn't really understand what he was talking about.
And we would have long, long discussions about a lot of things that are probably too heavy for a lot of people to listen to.
So at the end of the day, Dave is always going to say how he feels.
He comes from somewhere that.
He feels strong about it.
I've always admired him.
I will always admire him.
And for those people that want to cancel him, I have no respect for them.
I have no regard for them because they're weak.
They're weak.
They're weak.
They are part of the problem in our society.
I'm sorry.
I don't think he said anything that was.
Pure malicious intent.
At the end of the day, he's a comic.
If they don't like the Megyn Kelly show, you don't watch it.
Right.
That's what he said.
Watch it.
That's what he said in this Dixon Stone special.
He's like, hey, you clicked on my face.
Nobody made you come to Netflix and watch this show.
So you're out.
It doesn't matter.
You could scream and yell.
But the reason why they're doing this, maybe they're scared.
Maybe they're scared.
Of perhaps looking into their own life, their own decisions, their own parade.
And maybe that it's always been always be careful of the biggest mouths.
It's because they don't want to be looked at.
Well, what about?
By the way, I should update my reporting.
My team is telling me that Politico, which broke this story, just updated their report to say the school now says we're going to reschedule it.
It's postponed, but it's rescheduled.
So that's better than.
Cancelled, so we'll see.
But let me ask you about that because I know my team tells me that when we were doing the top of the show on Rittenhouse, you were doing a Facebook post on that.
And I think that's interesting because it's suffering, that case is suffering from the same problem, right?
That the media rushed to judgment.
It's just a pure, Saya, how do we keep the masses divided?
Oh, just constantly create new scenarios and we'll keep them barking at one another.
It's quite genius, Saya.
And it's exactly what it is.
It's boop, boop, booley.
Here comes the Rittenhouse.
Oh, clearly it was self defense.
I think he's a murderer.
Well, have you seen the people that he killed?
They were a bunch of animals.
What was he doing there?
Being a 16 year old chide deserves to be hung.
I think they should take away everyone's guns because of him.
I think it's quite the opposite.
We should have more guns.
Boop, boop, booley.
Boop, booley.
Boop, booley.
Booley.
Bo A genius platform to confuse you and to look in all different ways.
Hey, Aaron Rodgers, he's a liar.
To hear Terry Bradshaw.
Go on national TV going, let's just face it, he took a horse pill.
Are you really, really, did you just say that?
A drug that's been around for so long.
I've been on it.
Yes, they have for animals, but they also have the human version.
The mindless, it's almost comical how, how, how.
How mindless and the gene pool just drops, and people going, You know, he should be a team player.
I don't think he should get the shot.
Why did he get the shot?
If he got the shot, he went, Oh my God.
I think he shouldn't have a choice.
Well, I think we're trying to say, You're a grandma killer.
You're selfish.
I am my freedom.
Back to the Rind House.
Left, right.
Facts, not facts.
Anti-vaxxing.
Gay, not gay.
Transvestite, not a transvestite.
We don't say that anymore.
Wow.
Wait, that wasn't a Rind House.
What?
That last piece wasn't in Rittenhouse.
That's the only thing that didn't make it into that trial.
Transvestite, not transvestite.
But I understand your point.
It's everyone gets very tribal on these things and resorts to their sort of native team.
I would like to exclude myself.
I would say I didn't say much about Rittenhouse because I wanted to see what happened.
I wanted to see the evidence.
And now, as a lawyer, I've seen it.
And this kid, he was acting in self defense.
And I don't think there's any other conclusion now, having seen the actual testimony that was presented before the jury.
And you mark my words, when he is acquitted, It will not be accepted by the media.
They will not.
It doesn't matter who steps in to tell them that it was self defense.
Media Riots After Acquittal 00:04:21
They won't accept it.
And I do believe that there sadly will be riots as a result of it.
And the jury has that weighing on them, which is unfair too.
I stole the last word on that.
Wait, go ahead.
Yeah, you can have it.
Yeah, yeah, no.
It's.
I don't get involved.
The whole thing is tragic.
And what people don't look at is.
So many other people were murdered innocently, murdered.
And the brainwashing and mind control propaganda that went on and continues to go on, it's been going on for the longest time.
You know, I remember my daughter at one point, I sit and she's like, you know, we need to be writing.
I said, let me ask you something.
Are you okay with grandma and papa driving to dinner that know nothing about anything?
They just sit there and they watch reruns of Everyone Loves Raymond, and they get pulled out of their car and beat to death for something that happened in a state they've never been to, happened in a situation that they're completely innocent of.
You're okay with that?
You don't see the madness in this all?
You don't see the mind terrorism and how the media created murder?
They created fires.
They created hate.
They created lying.
You don't see how corporate media did that.
You know, more peaceful protests if someone's playing soccer with some old lady's head.
Well, you know, there's nothing to see here.
You know, you may have a lot of people fooled, but at the end of the day, that is the pure demon.
That's the monster that has to end.
That's the monster that has to be exposed.
You know, whatever the circumstances with this kid, At the end of the day, they were destroying lives, burning buildings, killing innocent people.
You don't get to react like that for something that you have nothing to do with.
Period.
If a comedian gets killed by a club owner, and we know that club owners have been stealing from comedians for a long time, and we know that they've been keeping us down and not doing it, do we start burning all the comedy clubs?
Have we lost our common sense?
I think we might have.
Tonight.
Don't forget on your program, show them lots of lights and big headlines, and it'll just be like a child.
They love it.
Put in more colors and make it very loud so they can keep, they don't, and make sure you have something on the bottom.
It's like, hey, listen to this, listen to this, read the bottom, read the bottom, listen to this, listen to this, read the bottom, read the bottom.
Next, don't go anywhere because this is the latest.
It's madness.
Well, I mean, I said before, if you don't think that the media was manipulating you in blowing up cases like the Jacob Blake shooting and the George Floyd shooting.
Because we were in an election year, then you haven't been paying attention because they do it every four years, especially in advance of a presidential election.
They pick a case.
If it can make police look bad, so much the better, and they blow it up.
And the manipulation is then forgotten, and people forget because then we get whatever Joe Biden, a Democrat in office, whomever it is, and something similarly bad looking on tape will happen, and they ignore it.
If it doesn't help their agenda, they won't put it on television, right?
It's like people forget.
You've been unafraid to take a stand on.
Many issues, but the latest is the COVID vaccine mandates saying you're not going to perform in a venue.
Make sure I have it right.
Not going to perform in a venue that mandates the little vaccine card.
Why was that important to you?
Well, when we've reached it, listen, well, first of all, what I don't like is the ignorance of humanity.
Vaccine Mandates and Venues 00:07:37
Where everyone now has become a doctor and they know all the facts and figures.
You know, at the end of the day, that's just the cockatoo in you, a cockatoo bird where you just stare at the screen and go, facts and figures, facts and figures.
That's where you get your information.
You didn't sit there and think of it.
So, with that said, I have three very dear friends.
One, I do a benefit for every year, we do it super Cooper.
That's the name of the.
And when the swine flu came out, they gave their daughter a shot and she woke up next day paralyzed.
And the trauma, not only from the child, but from the parents, and the audacity and the inhuman thought process of people going, oh, you know, that's one in a million.
That's, oh, yeah.
Until it's your child, until it's your mother.
And I also have a friend now who runs a very successful comedy club.
And he just said, My hand to God, three weeks ago, Jim, my daughter, she's in college and she got the thing because she wanted to do this.
And she started complaining.
And long story short, she went from one specialist to the next specialist all the way to Sloan Kettering.
Where they had to cancel out because they start growing little tumors, they had to cancel out that it was cancer.
But they did say, and as God is my witness, yeah, that's from the.
But if we, you know, so to force people to be entertained, I just want to entertain.
When you start forcing people just to have a laugh, you got to get injected.
Now, whatever your stance is, I don't care anymore.
I really don't.
You can scream till you're blue in the face.
Well, it's for the benefit of other people.
I've never heard of a medicine.
That doesn't work once you have it unless everyone else takes it.
Here, this is going to help me from going blind.
Well, it doesn't work unless everyone takes it.
The thought process of that is mind boggling.
I would get it if it was a thousand percent pure, no problems.
I get it.
But I had COVID.
My wife with stage four cancer has had COVID.
My daughter had COVID.
They told us to take vitamins and this and that.
And the exact quote from an infectious disease doctor said, You know, just tell me if it gets worse.
What kind of protocol is that from a doctor?
Yep.
Since when do we say, Hang in there, let me know if it gets worse?
Give me something that might work until it gets worse.
Well, I had a question.
We're getting a little better on the therapeutics.
I mean, I'll say that.
Jim's going to stay with us and we're going to continue our conversation because it's just too good.
So, one of the callers just asked that I ask you about a story when you were touring with Metallica, a dream come true for you, I know, about someone who had suffered brain damage who spoke with you and it became a life changing event.
He was a veteran.
He went over, you know, the Gulf and he came back and he actually survived that.
And then got in a bad motorcycle accident.
He took a motorcycle.
And long story short, he had brain damage, couldn't, had trouble walking, and just he lived in a hospital bed, didn't want to live, got seriously depressed for a long time.
And his wife, here's wife Sarah, Sarah and Pete is the couple.
And I'm hesitant to put their.
I'd love to, like, you can follow them.
I follow them anyway.
I'm not going to do it.
So, because I don't want to invade their privacy.
Long story short, they would go to every single show and I would see them at every show.
You know, bands like Metallica, they have people that follow them everywhere.
And they were such a, to watch him in the beginning, he was always very quiet.
Pete was quiet.
He had a beard.
He was always, didn't really say a lot.
And long story short, I remember Sarah telling me his story and it was so heartfelt.
And she cries while she says it.
And she says, You know, the reason I started following the band was because he wanted to die.
I was losing my husband.
I was losing the person, the love of my life.
And one day I came home and he said, Metallic is coming.
I want to see Metallic.
And I never saw him with so much enthusiasm since the accident and all that.
And she goes, Okay, well, we'll figure out how to get you in a wheelchair and how to get you to show.
Long story short, they go to the show and they're waiting in line to buy tickets, and now other people, like, Oh, what happened?
You, oh, I'm a vet, blah blah blah.
You know, people are talking.
Then they started going to every show, and every month he has to go for exams.
And they check, you know, they check his brain, and every single one was like, Yeah, still, you know, it's gone.
Until I believe it was towards the end of the 2018 tour, I want to say lighten up tour for Metallica.
And she said, I have the email.
She went, Jim, you're not going to believe what happened today.
So she's like, Oh my God, is this a miracle of God?
Long story short, for the first time ever, his brain started healing itself.
It was a part of his brain that started healing.
And the doctors were convinced that it was from not just going to the Metallic and seeing the band, the music, it was about the community, the thrive to live, the inspiration, the unity, the village, the family.
Somehow started.
And so they wanted to, Metallica then was going to go on a European tour.
And this was all before COVID hit and all that jazz.
They wanted to send him out with a monitor to see how it's working when he's at the shows, how much it changes, and if they're on to a new way to start healing people, not only with brain damage, with all these other things.
So it's a pretty powerful and amazing story, especially when you listen to his.
Wife Sarah talks about it.
And they come see me all the time.
Metallica Tour Monitor 00:13:23
They're a beautiful couple.
But yeah, that was, it's a pretty amazing story.
It's the power of the human connection, sort of, you know, the thing we talked about earlier, the thing that you recognized, I also have recognized is the thing we're here for, not money, not quote success, not necessarily fancy degrees, not fame, that human connection.
And it can be at church, it can be at a concert.
It was the thing I liked.
Best when I went to the Today Show about being in front of a live audience there.
You get that all the time as a stand up comedian, but I don't get it that often.
It was so wonderful to spend time with a couple hundred human beings every morning and see their faces and be in with their energy, you know, and bounce off of them, your ideas, your emotions.
That was my favorite thing about the whole thing.
A lot of people don't get that.
And it is, it's soul nurturing.
It is.
It's interaction.
That's energy.
The energy you're, we're talking that you spark something to me, which is, it's, It's a light.
It's a power.
It's an energy.
It's beautiful.
It's a spirit.
That's the way we move and groove.
It's very essential.
It's very powerful.
It's very underrated.
Well, so let's talk about the star of your life, and that is D, your wife.
Yeah.
She's some sort of badass.
I love the way you talk about her because you've been open about the cancer diagnosis, and yet, God forbid I ever get cancer.
I want my husband to talk about me the way you talk about D, which is like she's still hot.
She's gorgeous.
Her body, her, her mind, like everything.
It's like, Most of us, I'm lucky, but most of us would love to have our spouse talk like that about us on our best day, never mind if we're going through a massive health challenge.
So take me back to the beginning, because it sounds like you and Dee met, like, sort of at the peak of your career.
Was it in the 90s?
No, it was prior.
So we were really good.
All right.
So I grew up in Long Island, and then my parents did the law.
They retired, they moved to Florida.
I grew up on the same street my whole life.
So I was pretty angry at them.
So now I think I was 19 years old, and we moved to Florida, and I was pissed.
I didn't want to can stand Florida.
And then, long story short, I moved back to Long Island and I realized I couldn't make it.
So I moved back to Florida.
So when I moved, when I committed to Florida, there was a girl that lived next door to me and we were really close friends.
And long story short, I started dating a girl.
And D, my wife, was her best friend.
Oh, really?
Never thought, never, Megan, again, extremely mortal.
I grew up with a lot of girls around me.
I have a lot of nieces close to my age.
I have this deeper respect.
I know it sounds corny, but for girls, women, the way men look at them.
Because I would see, you know, I'd go out with my nieces and I'd see the way guys like, oh, whoa, easy.
This is my niece.
Like, she's like a sister to me.
So, whatever the reason, she was way off limits.
But she had this glow about her and she was funny.
Now, after we broke up, She still would hang out because we were like best friends.
I knew everyone she was dating.
She knew everyone I was dating.
She'd call me up to make her laugh.
Can you come over?
Tim's being a jerk and advising you to laugh.
I'd come over and make her laugh and be on my way.
Then she moved.
She left.
Then I started doing stand up comedy.
And while I was doing stand up comedy, we kept the time.
We're talking.
Late 80s, 90s, there was no texting.
There's no computer.
If you, if you once a while, she writes a letter.
And if you get a letter and you're not dating a girl, yeah, okay, yeah.
Um, not writing a letter back.
Um, so I decide I'm gonna move to New York to chase television and movies and stand up career.
I'm ready to go.
I'm doing clubs in Florida and the south and I'm ready to go.
And uh, Before I went, one of my best friends, my best friend, who was in love with me, I didn't realize how much she was.
She tragically passed away in a car crash.
And I went to her gravesite and I was like, Kristen, I know, I know this sounds crazy.
This is the gods on the street.
I said, I know this sounds, I know you would always look out for me and you wanted the best for me.
And I'm going to beg your spirit to look after me because I'm going to make it.
You said it and I feel it.
I'm going to make it.
And I pray to God that that woman comes in my life before it happens because I'll never know if they really love me.
Yeah.
And so I go up to Long Island and I'm staying with my friend Phil's mom.
Yeah, I grew up with her.
And Phil's mom is a real Italian lady.
And as soon as I get in the door, she's like, This girl D keeps calling and she's got a Florida knife.
I don't like her.
She called too many, asking too many questions.
I don't like it, Jimmy.
And I'm going, D, D from Florida?
Why would she be?
That doesn't make sense.
I only know one D, and she had a Long Island number.
So, sure enough, it was her, and I blew her off for a good two weeks because I'm here.
I don't want to date.
I just wanted to work.
I want to do comedy clubs.
I want to get on television.
I want, I'm chasing a career.
That's why I'm here.
This is my college.
This is my university.
And she finally says, You know, I just want, you know, I don't know anyone here.
Dating a guy, and I'm stuck in Long Island.
We agree, and we're going to meet at a gas station.
Nice.
Real romantic.
Because she said, You'll never figure out where I am.
I'm in this cove.
In this, it's we didn't, there were no ways and all that.
Exactly.
You'll never figure it out.
I'll meet you at this gas station.
I go, she's not there.
I'm pissed.
I wait 15 minutes.
I go to leave.
I realize I got no gas.
I go pulling back in.
I start pumping my gas.
I'm ready to leave again.
She's not there.
The owner of the gas station comes out.
He goes, Jim Brewer?
I said, he goes, we went to Nassau Community College.
I was in a Play with you, dude.
You were the best actor.
What have you been doing?
I'm going, Oh, no, I don't want to have time to talk to this guy.
He's going, Remember, you used to do Batman?
Do it to Batman.
Do it to Batman.
Oh, boy.
He goes, Come inside.
He had to take my number.
Like, what are you doing here?
I was supposed to meet some girl.
She never.
And all of a sudden, it's like a movie, Megan.
My hand, I got.
I heard Jim.
And I looked in the doorway of a gas station.
And he turned, and I turned, and he goes, Is that the girl you're supposed to meet?
And all it wasn't that she was the sexiest thing in the last year, I cannot explain it.
My feeling was, oh my god, this is my wife, this is gonna be my wife.
And we hung out as best friends.
When I say best friends, we laid everything on the line for a while, and we were too scared to break that wall.
This was it, felt so good being such a close friend.
Telling your skeleton, she's telling it, and then we broke the wall.
And then six months later, we're engaged.
Everyone said, You guys are crazy, you're too young.
I think I was just about to turn 26, she was 22.
We had $200 between the two of us, and she was there.
We didn't have a squat, and we grew together.
We went from living in an attic of someone's house, paying 700 bucks rent for the For the heat, we leave the gas stove open to heat up the top.
And from that all the way until today, that is the woman who I mean, when it comes to a wife, this woman is so powerful.
She takes arrows from every direction.
Like, I'm going to be a mom.
Oh, you don't want a career.
Oh, God, we eat bonbons all day.
Well, some of us work.
She hears snarky comments.
Some of us don't have a husband that does.
She would always take a beating from family members that would degrade her, take her.
And she always stood by me, no matter what.
No matter what.
I said, D, I think if I go in this direction, and she's like, Jim, if you go in that direction, just do it.
I've got the kid.
I've got this.
You go do what you got to do.
And that is such a powerful partner to have.
And I. You know, I understand of people, you know, they don't last and things happen, but you really have to put your ego, you know, it's not, it hasn't been easy.
We, there's been times where, of course, we're at our wits' end.
I'm not going to pretend it's been absolutely amazing our whole lives.
We still constantly have to work at it, we still constantly have to help things.
And, you know, I just had this conversation with my friend last night, he went through divorce and, He's like, you know, my girlfriend leaves little notes for me all over the place.
I go, Me and D still do that, and we need a little ump.
I know she's going to be, I know she's going to get up and go on our computer, so I'll leave on the computer.
Hey.
I hope you feel beautiful today because God, I love you.
And here's a flower for you, and I'm thinking of you.
Boom.
Thanks for all you do.
Wow.
Those are just little things.
And she does the same.
And it's, you got to grow together.
But I tell you, it's, I thank God.
I asked for it.
He gave it to me.
And I have to tell you, if I saw a little note like that from Doug on the computer, I'd be like, he's trying to get some.
He's laying the foundation for later.
I'm going to have to encourage him to use his writing skills more often.
Well, send him a scud missile first.
I call it scud love missiles.
Send him one where he doesn't expect.
You know what a man loves?
You know what a man loves?
Even though the woman loves it.
I'm telling you, one of the game changers when my wife started going, she sent me a text going, Can I just tell you, I appreciate all you do for our family?
And all the hard work you put into it.
And I know that it's so simple.
Yeah.
But I was just reading that.
I was like, oh, wow.
And that made me think, oh, I'm going to up this Annie.
And then it made me think I heard more.
You got to give and take.
And once in a while, the other side isn't doing it.
You feel like you need it.
Just put the pride and ego aside.
Just send a little love scud missile.
Yes, I like that.
That's actually speaking of Dr. Laura, that's what she says.
She says, every man wants to feel like he's the hero of his family, of his wife, you know, her life.
And it's better to remind him of that.
You're only going to get goodness back from him if you reinforce that message, as opposed to like, why aren't you doing more?
And I'm doing too much.
If you actually think that, the way forward is also to send the Scud missile love muffin message.
Yes, exactly.
Both sides have to send those Scud missiles.
When she's perhaps in the food store and she's got these three little teenage terrorists with her, just my manipulating her, trying to divide and conquer us.
And she's had it with them.
And then I just send her a little, hey man, I know you're in pure chaos right now.
And what those kids are doing to you, I can only imagine as I sit here in a hotel room just going, gee, I just want to let you know, I thank God I have you.
Ping.
Right.
That little oopsie up just got me a little, you know what?
That's amazing.
I'm definitely going to do it this or that or just send him like a picture of a boob.
I think they're both going to work out just as I hope.
So we'll see.
I'll get back to you.
It doesn't hurt.
It doesn't hurt.
No, I mean, men are very visual, as you know.
It doesn't work the other way around, though.
Don't send pictures of your junk because women do not.
They're not the same.
You are 1,000% correct.
Terminal Illness Stories 00:11:32
And I'm glad you know that.
And I know my wife knows that, too.
Because once in a while, she won't go actual boo.
She'll just be like, And FaceTime.
They're like, you know what you're doing right now.
Wait until you get home, stupid.
Don't, don't.
Like, I will, I will.
Exactly.
Especially with your job.
I see the point.
You're out there on the road.
Now you're a big celebrity, and all these women are like, hmm, I would like to meet some Jim Brewer.
So, what, what, what, how do we talk about Dee and her health?
Because I don't want to bring the room down for you or anybody, but I also care about her and reading up.
On you, your marriage, your family.
I'm like, I want Dee to do well.
I want her to be okay.
I know I've heard you in interviews say it's terminal, but then years go by and she's.
She's doing okay.
And I'm like, maybe this is, maybe this is okay.
Maybe they found a way to live with this and some therapeutics.
I don't know what it is, but I just feel like I'm rooting for her.
I want her to be well.
Well, this is, so do I.
So, what are we, 2021?
2000.
Wow.
Six, it'll be, damn, five years.
So, It was a couple years ago.
First, she had breast cancer.
She has the Brocker gene.
Yeah.
Brocker.
Okay.
So she had, first, she had the breast cancer.
She had these taken out.
And then she refused to do chemo.
She's missed.
I only want good stuff in my body.
Second go round went into a lymph node.
She does the chemo, which even during that time was one of the most powerful.
Moments in our lives, too.
I mean, I became popular again for making these Mets videos and watching Mets games.
And that was all because of her.
It was all because of her.
She literally was at, she finished doing chemo and she's laying there.
She's watching me watch the first game of the Mets that year, acting like a lunatic.
Why would you bring him in the seventh inning?
Stupid.
Well, first of all, you gotta have some.
She just started going.
She's like, Jim.
Yeah, like what?
She says, Why don't you make videos like this of you watching the game and doing a recap?
Don't act, just be yourself.
Oh my god, the whole world should see this.
And boom, I did every freaking game, and it was like two million people, and they made the World Series that year.
I'm like, Who would have thought?
So, even that dark moment, something beautiful and light, and we were able to do so much and live together.
But so then after that, it went away.
And then I remember coming home and I saw this doctor's.
She was hiding from me.
I saw this thing in the kitchen.
I'm like, what is this?
What is this biopsy for?
She goes, oh, it's probably scar tissue.
The numbers were going up.
I don't think so.
And when we went there, they were like, listen, it's over.
What do you mean, silver?
It's in her lungs, her liver, bone.
It's metastasized.
It's everywhere but the brain.
We're like, well, how long are we like?
What can we do?
There's nothing we could do.
We can maybe get you in a trial if you're up for that.
Otherwise, we can get you drugs that can help you through the pain.
Like, how long?
Nine months.
Wow.
And I remember as a joke, because me and D are funny together, I looked at the doctor and went, Is there any way I can get some of these drugs to deal with this?
And she belly laughed.
I laughed.
The doctor did not think that was funny.
The doctor's like, You sick.
I'll never forget the thought.
And she's like, No, no, no.
He's a comedian.
Trust me.
This is not abusive.
This is his thing.
I swear.
He's not a narcissist.
Trust me.
But.
We had a friend, and the friend was like, Give me the blood work.
Look at the blood work, said, You got to fly to Houston.
We went to Houston.
The Houston doctor said, You need to be in Philadelphia right now.
They have a trial for you.
And this is the biggest, best trial for anyone with the Brocker gene.
It's worldwide.
This is the place, UPenn, Philadelphia.
And she went there, and so far, they're not all gone, but half of them have disappeared, and every other one is pretty much shrunk and it's sustained.
So, terminal meaning it'll never, in their words, it'll never just go away.
However, it's not killing you, and we're keeping it at bay, if not even like I said, a bunch have shrunk and the others have disappeared.
And so that is, she's going on five years, and it's almost just like you said, I'm always, it's like, yes, she's got terminal, even though we're going on five years, and which I shouldn't feel guilty saying that, but it's just the God's honest truth.
And I remember three years ago, They said, Listen, you're the last one on the trial.
And like, whoa.
But you're doing amazing.
And I do think a lot of it has to do with her faith.
She had a very strong faith and her outlook and faith.
And the other thing has to deal with she's extremely healthy.
She doesn't drink.
She doesn't smoke.
She doesn't do caffeine.
She does shakes.
She tries to eat well, you know, she's ice cream here and there.
She's not militant.
But she tries to stay away from gluten, anything that, anything that, what do they call it?
Gluten, like, I don't know, make sure you're.
Inflammatory?
Anything inflammatory?
Yes, inflammatory.
So, and, you know, she looks smoking.
She's beautiful.
It's like she gets better looking each year.
It's my, it's, I'm not complaining.
It's mind boggling and beautiful.
So, this is, this is the thing I've always.
I listened to you, among other places, um, The name is escaping me right now, but it's a podcast on fatherhood.
You did this not long ago.
Yeah.
And it was so good.
You were talking all about her, about your daughters, your three daughters, one of whom's still in the house, the other two off to college and getting older now.
But it brought me back hearing about this, right?
This issue.
And I know you've been dealing with some stuff with your youngest daughter and so on, not to mention your parents.
It's right back to we heard why you made the choices you made, right?
Like why.
It wasn't going to work for you to just put all of your energy into becoming a bigger star and having more money and raising to the top of your game.
And this is the payout, right?
Like, this is the moment, one of them, where you look back and you say, My kids are doing well.
I've been with my wife for this whole struggle.
She didn't have to go through this alone and she's doing better than expected.
Like, this is it.
This is like, it's not often you get to say, I'm at the moment where I'd have all the regrets.
And I don't have them.
Well, that's my Oscar.
That's my Emmy.
That's the comedian of the year.
Any award that I ever thrived for in the past, that's 10 times better.
And I'm okay with that.
That is the, you know, I used to say, I would talk about my daughter when my dad passed away.
And I'm not into dates.
I'm not into dates whatsoever.
Like, I can tell you.
You know, when my mom passed away, when my mom, I don't get into dates.
I think it boggles you down.
For me, it boggles you down.
You're like, oh, God, it's the day she died.
Oh, God.
So, um, But it was about a year after my dad passed.
And at the same time, my sister passed about a month and a half later.
It was very tragic and it was brutal.
So, with that said, we were upstate New York.
My wife was done with chemo and her hair was really short, which I thought she looked sexy.
She had my hair gray, but it was just the color was beautiful.
I thought she looked vibrant.
She was a little embarrassed to go around public.
And we rented a place.
Up near Woodstock, New York.
And my daughter, one night, we were at a fire pit with my friends, and she's like, Dad, can I borrow your phone?
I went, Dory, it is 10 o'clock.
Go to bed.
We need my phone for her.
She went, I just need it.
It's really important.
I went, Dory, go to bed.
Let the grownups talk.
And no, you're not going on the phone as a nine year old at this age.
Go to bed.
She's like, Dad, please.
I just want it.
So, long story short, she leaves.
She's a little aggravated, but she's not pissed.
And I said, Why would she need a phone?
I'm ready to go to bed.
And I see, I got a message.
It's about 11 30 at night.
And I don't know how she did it.
It was from my daughter.
And if I had my phone in front of me, I would read it, but you'd probably start bawling, which is what I did.
She was like, a year ago today, God took Grandpa.
He was my best friend.
I bet you he's up there at the Elks Lodge making spaghetti with Aunt Patty.
If you look to the sky tonight, you'll see the biggest, beautiful star.
I think that's Grandpa's angel.
And I was like, and at the end of the day, I was like, that's my Oscar.
That's the Emmy.
That's the ultimate reward.
I may not be on the cover magazine, I may not be on the pedestal like, we got to save the old time life.
That is such a bigger reward that the everyday normal human.
Don't ever take that for granted.
That's a beautiful, you're doing your job.
That is powerful.
Now, you know, she may be kicking my ass right now as a 16 year old, but at the time.
I remember.
I remember.
I haven't forgotten.
Jim Brewery, you're brilliant.
You're more than brilliant.
You're wise.
Thank You for Sharing 00:01:10
Thank you for sharing so much of yourself with us.
I'm truly honored.
I've never done this before.
I kept somebody since we started the live radio show, I kept somebody past the end of it.
I could go for another three hours.
I hope you'll come back.
Anytime, Megan, I wish you and your family all the best.
I thank you for having me on here.
And I thank you for allowing me just to share with everyone else experiences that I'm hoping will eventually inspire or help them or make them laugh or whatever.
Anyway, thank you very much.
And thanks to all of you for joining us.
I want to tell you that on Monday, we're going to take a deep dive into the steel dossier, which is completely imploded and is generating media corrections now.
A little late.
Go ahead, especially today, to download The Megan Kelly Show, Apple, Pandora, Spotify, Stitcher, youtube.com slash Megan Kelly.
Thanks for listening.
Thanks for listening to The Megan Kelly Show.
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