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Sept. 4, 2022 - Timcast IRL - Tim Pool
37:27
Sunday Uncensored: Robert Davi & Alex Marlow Member Podcast: Robert Davi Tells Crazy Hollywood Stories And How Pablo Escobar Gave Him Emeralds

Tim & Co join the one and only Robert Davi (Goonies, My Son Hunter) and journalist, Alex Marlow, for a spicy bonus segment usually only available on Timcast.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Participants
Main voices
r
robert davi
22:56
t
tim pool
07:20
Appearances
a
alex marlow
03:03
Clips
j
josh hammer
00:32
l
lauren southern
00:53
| Copy link to current segment

Speaker Time Text
unidentified
Robert Davi, legendary actor, movie star.
tim pool
You have some stories to tell us about the deep, seedy underbelly of Hollywood.
robert davi
Well.
tim pool
Spill the beans.
robert davi
Spill the beans.
Well, I started to allude to a story of when I did the film with Sinatra in 1977, my first film.
And what it was, was I was working as a waiter in New York City at a place called Fiorello's, which was across the street from Lincoln Center.
And I was making my nut.
I had a railroad flat on 2nd Avenue.
It was $175 a month back in the day.
tim pool
Railroads.
They suck.
robert davi
Railroad flat.
unidentified
Yeah.
robert davi
You know.
It was great.
Great spot.
tim pool
For those that aren't familiar, this basically means that all the rooms are connected to each other in a row.
So it's like you walk in the living room and there's a bedroom, which is basically a hallway, and then a bedroom, which is basically a hallway, and then maybe a back room.
So people might not be familiar.
robert davi
Right.
Wow.
tim pool
Yeah.
robert davi
But no, this was cool, actually.
You know, $5,000.
Same thing I was paying $1.75 for.
So I was able to do that.
I was studying with Stella Adler, great acting coach at her school, taking my voice lessons from Samuel Margulies and Dan Farrow from Juilliard, and working at a fruit and vegetable stand at 110th and Broadway.
17th and Broadway, 110th and Broadway. Now I got fired from Fiorello's and I was
making my nut, paying for everything that I had to do, working three days a
week as a waiter.
I went in one night, the guy says, you're fired.
I go, what?
He goes, I've got to let you go.
I go, why?
He goes, you didn't hand in all your checks.
No, he said, you didn't hand in all your checks the other night.
I said, yes I did.
I'm very careful.
He goes, check your drawer.
And you have a drawer with a key.
I went in this drawer.
I'm a lefty.
This was so slanted the other way.
I pulled out the check.
I said, well, it's not me.
It's not my writing.
It's a mistake, Frank.
His name was Frank.
He goes, I've got to let you go.
And I went like that.
What?
It was like getting hit in the solar plexus.
And I was innocent.
I don't look innocent, but I was innocent.
unidentified
All right?
robert davi
I didn't know to say to him at that time, well, how much will it cost to keep my job?
Because I was making good tips.
They found out.
And my checks were bigger than everybody else's because people were doing funny things.
I got fired.
Well, lo and behold, two and a half months later, I get this movie with Frank Sinatra, Contract on Cherry Street, which changed my career.
And I'm doing the film, filming during the time, three months.
So for making $300 a week as a waiter, I got $3,500 a week all of a sudden for three months doing the film.
Sinatra paid.
unidentified
Nice.
robert davi
Right?
Nice little payday back then.
unidentified
That's great.
robert davi
So now, I'm doing the film, and I told Harry Guardino, who's one of the funniest guys around.
He's been in Dirty Harry's, a lot of films.
What year was this, one more time?
unidentified
1977.
robert davi
77.
In New York City.
And I then go to... One night, Harry, on my trailer door, you know, a little two-banger, not a big trailer at that time.
He goes, the old man wants to take us to dinner.
I go, okay. He says, yeah, all right. So I go over, get in the car.
In the car is Jilly Rizzo, who was Frank's right-hand guy, like his brother.
Another gentleman who was the...
was a very interesting guy in New York City, okay.
And then Martin Gables and myself and Frank Sinatra.
So we go, and I'm thinking we're going to go to Patsy's Pizzeria at 117th and Broadway or Patsy's at West 54th Street, two of the great places we would go to.
alex marlow
Both called Patsy's, coincidentally?
robert davi
Yes.
alex marlow
Is it the same Patsy's?
robert davi
No.
alex marlow
I didn't think so, based on the way you were telling the story.
robert davi
Totally different Patsy's.
Patsy's Pizzeria and Patsy's Restaurant.
Totally different things.
So we go to make a U-turn and they park right in front of Lincoln Center.
Fiorello's.
I look at Harry Guardino.
I look at Frank.
I look at Harry.
He smiles.
I look at Frank and Frank goes, come on, let's go eat.
We go into the restaurant.
Lo and behold, the guy that fired me turned whiter than this paper.
I've never seen anybody turn so white.
Not only because I was walking with Sinatra, but the other guy with us was in head of all the restaurants in New York City.
He was the one that made sure everyone had their produce and everything was running right and everything else.
So we sit down and eat and I'm like, you know, this is a, what an up and comings.
And the guy leaves the table for a few minutes, he goes, I'll be right back.
He goes, comes back with an envelope.
He goes, gives it to me.
I go, what's this?
He goes, You know, severance pay.
They should have never fired you.
I had to talk with the guy.
unidentified
Wow.
robert davi
So that was... That's cool.
And another thing he said to me that he was very sensitive, I have scarring on my neck and other places.
And Sinatra had scarring.
He was a forceps baby, meaning back in the day they would use forceps to take you out.
unidentified
Oh yeah, right.
robert davi
Which I was.
And he said to me, early on he liked me, he says, He goes, you're a forceps baby, huh?
I go, yeah.
He goes, yeah, me too.
And he showed me his scar.
He says, never let them bother you.
unidentified
Wow.
robert davi
And he was that way.
And when I did the Bond film, he was very close to Cubby Broccoli.
Cubby Broccoli produced all the Bond films.
And I used to have lunch with Cubby Broccoli, Frank Sinatra, or dinner, and a guy named Sidney Korshak.
Sidney Korshak was the most powerful man in Hollywood.
He was a lawyer.
And any problem in the world in film, Sidney Korshak could take care of it.
Any studio would get... The legendary story of the Godfather is when they wanted Al Pacino.
Francis Ford Coppola wanted Al Pacino to show you who Sidney Korshak was.
They, uh, Bob Evans, who was the head of Paramount, called a guy named Jim Aubrey, who was called the Smiling Cobra, who I did a TV series for years later, but he was the head of MGM.
He had to call him up because Pacino was signed to a picture that MGM had.
They wanted to have Pacino released from this picture.
So they call him up, Evans calls him up, he says, uh, Jim, I, you got this actor, Al Pacino, I'd like to, Francis Watts, he used him for The Godfather.
You got him for this little film, but our book is number one in the world, it's like, Your film will be worth much more money if you let him do The Godfather first, then the guy goes F you and hangs up the phone.
Evans calls up Sidney Korshak.
Sidney, I've got a little problem.
Can you curse on this show now?
unidentified
Yeah, yeah.
tim pool
Because it's more cocksucker motherfucker.
unidentified
Alright, good.
robert davi
So, Sidney Korshak.
Evans calls up Sidney and says, Sid, I've got a problem.
What's your problem?
Well, we want this actor.
What's his name?
Al Pacino.
Al Pacino.
I never heard of him.
No, Pacino.
How do you spell it?
P-I-C-I-N-O.
Pacino.
Okay, what's the problem?
Well, I called up Aubrey.
He's signed to do a picture at MGM.
I told Aubrey, he says, look, just hold off a bit.
Let's do The Godfather.
You're filming.
He says, alright, I'll get back to you.
Five minutes later, Aubrey calls up Evans and goes, you cocksucker, you son of a bitch, and hangs up on him.
Five minutes later, Sidney Korshak calls up Evans and says, all right, you got your Pacino?
He goes, I figured.
He goes, why?
Because I just got off the phone with Aubrey.
What did he say?
He didn't say anything.
He cursed me up and down.
I go, what did you say?
He says, well, I told him.
I says, look.
You know that thing, I didn't talk to Aubrey, I talked to Kirk Kerkorian, you know who that was?
He owned MGM, the MGM Grand, the big casinos and all of that.
He says, I called up Kirk, he says, well what did you say to him?
I says, you know Kirk, that thing you're building in the desert, meaning the big casino, what decade would you like it finished?
And that's how it got started.
unidentified
Wow.
Oh wow.
robert davi
Back in the day, people, and look, I don't like crime at all, but we have, our government is worse than the mafia.
The mafia in Italy actually came about because of the suppression of the government.
Did you know that?
lauren southern
Filling a vacuum.
tim pool
Yeah.
robert davi
In Sicily, because the people, you know, and I always felt that, you know, Imagine if they were back on the streets.
There wouldn't be no drugs.
There wouldn't be fentanyl.
unidentified
Right.
robert davi
There wouldn't be any of this.
There'd be much more.
This crap wouldn't happen.
tim pool
Yeah.
Yeah, it was its own government in a sense.
robert davi
Yes.
tim pool
I've been there.
under the government you get less rights but what people don't understand too is
um...
i went out of brazil and i was covering the favelas in the gangs have been there
but people don't realize that they hear gang anything it's a bunch people just
like shake you down and knows local government right they could be called the gangs because the government
didn't like them and didn't have authority over them but couldn't do
anything until they pacified
But I remember when I went in there, we were going to do an interview with a gang leader and I was like, do we got to be worried?
And they were like, no, it's like walking up to a city councilman.
It's just a local guy who lives here.
They have different rules from the government wants, but their whole thing is keep the peace.
Ain't nobody got to be fucking with my family or shit like that.
So he was like, Hey, we'll get you an interview.
And he put on a mask and then he explained what was going on.
They were basically in these favelas, there was no government, so a gang happened, which became the government.
They sold drugs, they partied, but the people there were getting along.
That was what they wanted, that's what they liked.
The government came in with guns and then cleared them all out and asserted their dominance over the area.
lauren southern
At least the gangsters are honest with you, let me tell you something.
tim pool
Yeah, seriously.
robert davi
If you break the law, the government is manipulative.
These guys, so I always felt that, you know, I mean, it's interesting, you know, you don't want to, nobody wants crime and anything else, but there was a certain order, you know, there was a Sicilian, and I'm not denigrating, I mean, there was a code of, there was an actual book written in Sicilian
unidentified
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robert davi
A coat of ethics and honor that these old time guys had.
Now what they did is when the young guys came in and they started veering into drugs, that then became another thing.
Because You know, I met Pablo Escobar.
Oh yeah, how'd that go?
Yeah, when I did the Bond film.
I'm in the Amazon rainforest.
When I filmed in the favelas and I filmed in the Amazon rainforest with the Yanomami Indians, it was the first ecology film with a Finnish film director, Mika Kautismäki.
And we went to Manaus, Boa Vista, Tepicang, and we're in Manaus, which is where the rubber barons built this huge Hotel Trapical.
I mean opulent, unbelievable.
And the Bond film had just come out.
It was getting a lot of attention all over the world and Brazil especially as well.
And I'm sitting at this luncheon area.
I'm kind of flirting with these Irish dancers.
And a guy comes over to me.
He goes, Mr. Davi, yes.
He goes, we saw Licence to Kill.
He says, we enjoyed the film very much.
He goes, thank you so much.
He goes, a friend would like to meet you.
I go, oh yeah, sure, where is he?
He says, oh no, no, it's a little drive.
You can come with us?
And I go like… And I'm interested, okay.
Could it be?
Okay, all right, sure.
Yes, don't worry, you'll be okay.
So we drive, about a half hour, 40 minutes.
tim pool
You get in a car with some strangers?
alex marlow
Did you actually feel like you had an option?
Did you feel like you had an option, or was it a?
robert davi
No, I was okay.
I felt, you know, you gotta realize, I'll tell you the other story to this,
because there's a certain point where celebrity feels, invincible, it's stupid.
It's a dumb feeling.
It's very dangerous, but it's a dumb feeling.
And I experienced that, so I understand it.
So what happens is, they drive me to a place.
We're in the little dirt road and trees and jungle and all of a sudden this dirt, this tree thing goes like this.
It opens up and then there's another long dirt road and we go and now I'm getting a little nervous and then there's a clearing and guys that is watching and we go and I figure okay and they told me yes Mr. Escobar would like to meet you.
tim pool
No way!
unidentified
That's insane.
robert davi
Now, you had heard about me from Beverly Hills because when I did the research, the guy that designed his home in Medellin was a guy that I was researching with.
I was asking questions.
Hence, loyalty is more important to me than money and some other things like that.
So now, I meet Escobar, broken English.
He goes, I like the film.
Very good.
Loyalty is more important to the man.
And this and that.
And the other thing goes, you know, I tell you a little bit about my personality, which would have been interesting in the film.
He says, when I was younger, I wanted to buy a discotheque, Medellin.
I had money, and they wouldn't sell it to me, so I offered them more money.
offered them more money, they wouldn't sell it to me. So what I did is I built the exact
same place across the street and didn't charge for drinks or entrance. I put them out of business.
He goes, that was one interesting idea of personality. He goes, and then I had a house
and I knew this, the Pasafino horses, the You know what those are?
They're the horses that have the gate where the left side, rear, and front go at the same time.
So when they're in the mountains, there's no jiggling, okay?
So he goes, he says, what's interesting, nice colors.
In my house, we would play Lulu, which is like the, I guess, blackjack or card game.
We'd drink aguardiente.
He goes, and then we hear, And we put the cars down, we pick up a drink, and we watch the gate of the Passo Finors coming through the house.
It's interesting.
I mean, and then he gives me a little bag and we talked a little more about stuff.
lauren southern
What was in the bag?
alex marlow
Emeralds.
Emeralds?
robert davi
Emeralds.
What?
alex marlow
Is this emeralds in case the feds are listening or is this emeralds?
robert davi
Yeah, yeah.
Literally.
Emeralds.
No, they were jewels.
alex marlow
No.
unidentified
Oh, cool.
robert davi
There were gems, because when I went to... Tim, are you taking notes?
alex marlow
When you get really big, you're going to be able to pull off all this stuff.
tim pool
It's going to be great.
unidentified
I'm excited.
robert davi
No, no, no.
So, no, this was actually, you know, he says, you have girlfriend, wife, whatever, he says, you can make ring out of.
These are raw stones.
And he gave me a bag of raw stones.
tim pool
Were they big?
robert davi
Yeah, they were nice.
unidentified
I scored a lot of points over the years.
lauren southern
Did you give them to a girlfriend?
tim pool
Is there any concern about receiving that from... Well, just with the I.R.F.
Yeah, I guess.
lauren southern
Yeah, I'd be more worried about the government than the gangsters every time.
alex marlow
No, no, no, but this is actually a great question.
It's like, does he expect anything or he's just... No!
robert davi
No, we're just appreciative.
unidentified
Wow.
robert davi
I never saw him again.
unidentified
Wow.
robert davi
Never had anything... Wow.
No, no, this was just...
tim pool
Was it a nice place?
Was it fun?
You're like chilling in a nice chair, have a cigar or something?
robert davi
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
I didn't have a cigar, but it was a nice... I had a drink.
tim pool
Any food?
robert davi
There was some crudité stuff, but I didn't need it.
tim pool
It's funny, because he's like, I see myself in your villain.
unidentified
You know what I mean?
robert davi
Yes, yes, yes.
You know, I was very savvy, don't forget.
unidentified
As Sanchez.
robert davi
And then later on, in 2002... That's a good idea for a movie.
It was, you know, and then later on, in 2002.
tim pool
That's a good idea for a movie.
robert davi
2003, I met the guys that killed him.
unidentified
Wow.
robert davi
That's crazy.
I met the guys that killed him.
And I had to tell my friend who knew this story, who was a Special Forces guy, another thing, he says, you've got to tell him this story, that you met Escobar.
And these are the guys that took him out.
alex marlow
Lauren, I got an idea for you because I've been following Robert around for a couple of days and doing tons of publicity and he has a thousand of these stories.
I've heard him tell 400 stories over the last three days and I've only heard him repeat himself once.
There was one time.
There was one time.
But that's it.
Just following Robert around.
We walked into a Nancy O'Dell with a really hot bar and he walks up to the maitre d and he just comes in says two cappuccinos please and it is like there's no cappuccino this is a place where you go for a martini or something like that you're not you're getting a cappuccino here they produce a cappuccino just magically it's like he's got this way with people it's the voice it's the vibe yeah it's the
lauren southern
They know he knows people.
alex marlow
I had a modest budget for marketing so I have a nice room.
robert davi
It's like I went to the hotel where I'm at.
lauren southern
Yeah.
robert davi
No, it's awesome.
I had a, you know, modest budget for marketing, so I have a nice room.
I've been to the place before, and the, you know, guy that works there who's from Ethiopia,
Great little guy.
His name was Angel, in his Ethiopian language.
Takes me to my room, brings the bags in.
unidentified
He goes, He goes, you're fantastic.
robert davi
Thank you so much.
Gives me my bags.
I give him a little tip.
Thank you very much.
He goes, I'm so, such a pleasure.
Can I have a selfie?
Of course.
We take a selfie.
Sweetheart guy.
This is, oh, Salt of the Earth.
We talk a little bit about Haile Selassie and the Ark of the Covenant and everything like that.
He comes back.
I'm going to arrange for it.
You shouldn't be here.
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robert davi
I have the suite.
You're going to stay in the suite.
lauren southern
That's cool.
josh hammer
Wow.
robert davi
I got upgrades.
He goes, I want to upgrade you to this.
Now I got this huge suite.
I'm by myself.
Had I known, I would have brought the family.
You know what I mean?
alex marlow
He did the same thing to me, but he put me closer to the elevator.
He said, you shouldn't be here.
You should be where you hear the ding, ding, ding.
unidentified
You should be by the bathroom.
robert davi
I'm way in the back.
There's no sound.
There's nobody else around me.
But it's funny stuff like that.
unidentified
They would be good stories to film.
tim pool
What's the seediest Hollywood story?
What's the darkest?
I mean, meeting Pablo Escobar is pretty amazing, but ultimately you've got a bag of emeralds.
What about something like you witness a guy murder somebody or something and they drag the body out?
lauren southern
Those are stories you never tell, hey?
robert davi
Yeah, no, thank God I haven't had... But no one's listening.
I haven't had like what Burt Reynolds had when there was murder on the set or something like that.
I didn't have anything like that, thank God, happen.
I'm trying to think because, you know, 45 years of doing this, you know, there's all kinds of... You know who Tully Savalas is?
No.
Kojak.
tim pool
Kojak!
I'm 36, man, I don't know.
robert davi
Oh my God.
You see, we have to... This is... Half your age!
unidentified
All I know about Telly Savalas is a ball is a cue ball, right?
robert davi
Yes.
unidentified
Okay, that's it.
robert davi
But he was in the Dirty Dozen.
See, I think we have to... He was an iconic figure, Telly Savalas, as Kojak.
Who loves your baby?
With the lollipop in his mouth, right?
But anyway, I'm doing it.
Well, if you don't know who he is and your kids don't know, it's kind of a moot story to say.
I won't say that.
What can I tell you?
Oh, I could tell you.
When I was in Brazil, when I told you celebrity feels invincible?
unidentified
Yeah.
robert davi
So, we're in Boa Vista, which is a wild west town.
There are murders every night in this town.
People get shot up.
So, we're shooting outside a bar, and I'm drinking.
I have to get drunk, and me and this Finnish actor have to have a wrestling match.
alex marlow
Wait, wait, wait, you have to get drunk for what?
robert davi
For the scene.
unidentified
Oh, for the scene.
robert davi
I wanted to, so I, you know, I'm a method actor.
unidentified
You're a method actor, yeah, what do you do?
robert davi
So I drink some cachaça, caipirinha.
tim pool
Caipirinha.
robert davi
You know it, alright?
So I'm drinking a little bit too much of these guys, and now I'm lit.
And we're wrestling, and we're on the thing, and we're trying to do now, after the wrestle match, the dialogue scene.
And you need quiet for that.
So the AD is trying to say to this bar that's over there, when I was down, to the people, Please be quiet, please.
And nobody's being quiet.
And I go, why do we got to do another take, you know?
He goes, well, because they're not quiet.
I go, oh.
He goes, I'm going to, I'm going to go talk to them.
He goes, no, no, no, no, you stay here.
I said, no, let me watch.
Because the Bond film had come out, and I'm thinking, who the hell I am in other films.
And I go into the bar, and I see this guy.
And he looks at me like this.
The guy's look was, And I'm half lit, and I'm going to this face.
Silencio, por favor.
Para mí.
Silencio, por favor.
Para mí.
Enfermando.
Silencio.
I leave.
I go back down on the thing.
Two minutes later, the director, Mika Karusmaki, grabs me by my elbow and goes, come on, we have to go.
Why?
What happened?
He says, no, we just have to go.
Let's go.
unidentified
Don't worry about it.
robert davi
So they put me, you know, I fell asleep on the couch in the lobby of the hotel, you know, one boot off, one boot on.
Next morning I go, what happened?
And they said, you know that guy, Silencio Por Favor, whatever you said to him about me?
Yeah.
He said, you better get this gringo out of here or I'll shoot everybody in the ass.
And there was a murder that night.
Every night there were murders there.
alex marlow
So not as susceptible to your charms as the Major D at the Hamilton.
Not the same, I guess.
tim pool
Some people just want to drink.
robert davi
I don't care what you have to do about it.
I don't do that kiss and tell thing.
I would never do that.
tim pool
So, without getting into personal stories, we hear a lot about child abuse and stuff like that.
Dark stuff happening in Hollywood.
robert davi
That Corey Feldman talked about quite a bit.
You know what I mean?
tim pool
I got the Nickelodeon thing about the kids being abused and stuff like that.
robert davi
Yeah, I had not experienced, thank God, any of that.
It could have been happening behind my back.
I did experience... You know what bothered me about the Me Too movement a bit?
And a certain thing, the culture of Hollywood, that in the eighties You could be, and I was never a druggie, I've had family members that had problems but I was never myself, but you could take a date to a club like the Roxbury they had on Sunset Boulevard or another club and you could be there with her and another girl could come over and the girl could say,
And, you know, for some reason a girl goes, I'll be right back.
And the girl would go, and you would, the girl would go, there would be somebody that had quaaludes that would be giving, the culture was quaaludes, so when you hear about 20 or 40 years later, he drugged me, he did this to me, he did that to me, all of this other stuff, it's kind of... They knew.
There was kind of, some of them did, I'm not saying all of them, but it was an absolute thing that was happening there that the drugs and the and and and it's unfortunate and look at I have six
No, no, no.
I've got a 3-year-old, 21-year-old, 31-year-old, 32-year-old, and 15 and 17 step-daughters.
unidentified
My goodness.
robert davi
You know what I mean?
So I'm very sensitive to women, for Pete's sakes.
But there was a culture of that drug abuse stuff in modeling and in the film world back then.
tim pool
Was it hard?
You told the story about how you finally got that job with Sinatra.
Was getting into that difficult?
robert davi
You could.
Why do you bring that up?
Here's what it was.
Word on the street was Sinatra was doing a first film in eight years, a book that his mother loved, Contract on Cherry Street.
I said to my agent, who I was freelancing with, Barry Moss, who became a great casting director for theater, put me in plays and stuff.
I says, Barry, what about Sinatra's film?
He goes, he's using all his friends.
I says, where's the casting office?
He goes, well, it's Columbia Pictures, Fifth Avenue, next to Tiffany.
I said, I'm going to go up there.
He goes, go ahead.
What do you have to lose?
tim pool
Yeah?
robert davi
So I go to this Columbia picture, and there was a guard.
Today you couldn't do this.
But there was a guard, and it was a brother.
I go, on Cherry Street, he goes, third floor.
Oh.
I take the elevator, third floor.
There's a woman sitting behind the desk and one on the desk.
Door was open.
I go, I don't mean to intrude, but I understand you're casting for Cherry Street.
I was told it was all cast, but I figured, Not quite.
Do you have a picture and resume?
I go, I didn't want to be that presumptuous.
They go, bring one tomorrow morning.
That was my opening gambit.
unidentified
Wow.
robert davi
I said, screw that.
Ran to the agent, came back ten minutes later, guard up there, third floor, they're in different positions.
I go, why wait?
And they laughed and they said, thank you very much.
unidentified
Good call.
robert davi
They called me the next morning.
Back then, though, you had no cell phones.
You had to have a pocket full of quarters.
And you had Actifone.
You had a number where you checked in every day.
All right?
So you put the number down, blah, blah, blah.
And I call in the Actifone number.
And it says, Columbia said, call them right away.
This is a Friday morning.
I call Columbia.
They go, Robert, please come and pick up a script.
I go there, pick up a script.
They give me the script.
They go, read these scenes.
Come back at 6 o'clock.
Go to the park.
Learn the scenes.
I do that.
I come back at 6 o'clock at night.
A woman named Renee Valenti was the head of Columbia at the time.
Hugh Benson was producing.
Billy Graham was directing.
And Sinatra was his project, his book.
I do the reading.
Now, actors, when you do a reading, you tend to sometimes slow down after you close the door.
You're waiting for that moment where the light bulb goes off and everyone says, it's you, it's you, it's you.
So I slowly was walking away, but the door opened up and she goes, don't leave yet.
Now that means two things.
Either they want you to read another part or they have a direction.
She came back about five or seven minutes later and she goes, what are you doing this summer?
I said, you tell me.
unidentified
Nothing.
robert davi
No, I said, you tell me.
She goes, 99% it's yours.
Wow.
And she says, we'll call your agent Monday.
Call.
tim pool
Got it.
And you went down there of your own accord.
robert davi
Own accord.
That's what I say.
I tell kids, people say, be respectful but don't take no for an answer.
If you believe in yourself.
alex marlow
This is big though, and Tim, I know this comes up in your show a lot because your audience skews younger.
I feel like people, we're almost exactly the same age, that our age and younger, I don't see anyone who's a big success who didn't take what they wanted, who didn't go out there, carve their own path, didn't take no for an answer.
tim pool
Lauren killed a guy.
alex marlow
The one that we know of, and who knows beyond that.
But this is such a big thing.
tim pool
Just in case people might believe that, I'm kidding.
unidentified
Just a joke.
lauren southern
I was actually 200 refugees, if you will, on The Daily Beast.
robert davi
Oh really?
alex marlow
I literally can't think of anything I can think of anything in my life that I'm doing that I didn't just take on my own and and of course you got to get people to buy in and believe in you eventually but it's the it does start with why wait let me bring the resume now this is this is my destiny I'm going to see that it is so and I know there are people in the audience who are thinking about that and is just If this conversation gives you that push to go do something you want to do.
I mean, it's so big.
It's just such a big concept that is lost because you're not learning this in school.
No one's telling you to take what you want in school.
They're telling you to play by the rules, wait for the establishment to tap you in the shoulder, and it doesn't come.
lauren southern
And at the same time, they're strangely enough telling all these kids, oh, you're going to be president when you're older.
You're going to be an astronaut.
unidentified
You're going to be this.
lauren southern
Meanwhile, setting them all up for failure.
Yeah, for Biden!
tim pool
When I was younger, there was a lot of, I don't know what to do, someone's supposed to tell me what to do, and then at a certain point, it wasn't about, someone needs to tell me what to do, I don't know what to do, it was, you're in my way, I'm trying to do something.
alex marlow
Yes.
tim pool
And that's exactly right.
robert davi
You have to, yes, you have to, you know what I mean?
tim pool
But it wasn't like, there was a point where I decided, you know what, I'm gonna take, it was like, I'm a young kid.
I'm skating.
I'm playing music.
And I'm like, I have no idea what's going on, what I'm supposed to do.
And then as I got older, I pursued the things I cared about.
I knew what I was talking about.
And then when it came to things, I was just like, I'm going to go do this.
You're in my way if you don't want.
So like I worked for nonprofits and I'd say, here's what we got to do.
I worked for one within my first week.
I was like on probation for fundraising, you know, trying to sign people up and I sucked.
And then I actually got the job because I had my friend come and pretend to sign up so that I could get in.
And then, but that was it.
I was like, I'm getting this job.
So I need to get three signups in three days.
And on the last day, with like an hour left, I was like, I'm getting this job.
And I called my friends like, hey, show up and sign up for me.
And I'll tell them I did it.
And then signed my front up, got the job.
And a week later, I was the best in the office, signing up like eight people a day.
And then I said I figured it out. It took me about a week.
You wanted people who could naturally do it Well, I figured it out in a week
Here's how to make it better and they said we don't care what you have to say do your job and I said
I'm gonna quit and go work for an office. I went next door after after a month of working there
I went to another company and I said, here's what I'm doing per day
Will you hire me and give me a promotion?
And they said, absolutely.
We're going to steal one of the best people from a rival fundraising non-profit.
And all you want to do, of course we want you in the position.
We want you to train people.
I go to them.
Then after working there, I just decided I'm going to do my own thing with my friends because then we don't got to worry about the middleman.
And then I ended up moving to LA, went to another non-profit and said, I want to be a director.
I want to run the office.
And here's what I want.
I always tell my friends this, but some people just don't have it.
It's not trying to be mean to them, but I tell my friends, I'm like, if you really want it, after you get your job, start looking for another job.
Never stop looking for what it is you want to do.
Because I was like, you need to understand this.
This is what I tell my friends.
When I started working for Vice, people were all excited.
Like, oh man, you're so lucky.
Vice is the best.
And I said, I don't work for Vice.
Vice works for me.
And then when I wasn't getting what I want, I went to the CEO and I said, you promised me this, this, and this.
I'm here.
I'm waiting.
And I'm not going to sit around and wait forever.
Am I going to get what I asked for?
And then he was like, Shane's a cool dude.
He was like, you're right.
We're going to get it done.
A week goes by, I get a little bit, my salary goes up, they give me more things that I'm asking for, and then I'm like, this is good, but I said three things.
So then a month goes by and I go back and I said, you got me this, you kinda got me that, we're still missing this.
And they were like, we're gonna work on it, it takes time, I understand.
And I'm like, and I do too, I know it's business.
And then finally, once I got poached by ABC News and they offered me substantially more money and everything, I went to them and said, I quit.
And they were like, what?
And then they were like, no, no, no, no, no, no.
We're not done yet.
And I was like, yes, we are.
I've come to you three times now telling you what I wanted.
You didn't get it for me.
I quit.
I'm done.
And then one of the C-suite guys is on the phone with me and he's like, Tim, this is not over.
And I was like, yeah, it is.
I cashed the check already.
I appreciate it.
Have a nice day.
And that was the end of it.
unidentified
Wow.
tim pool
But, you know, my attitude, people were shocked.
They were like, how could you leave Vice?
They're the big thing.
And I was like, because I'm doing something.
Vice is in my way.
I worked for them.
It was great.
They got me what I needed.
But there's an exchange here.
I'm not some dude desperate for their attention.
I come to them and say, here's my goal.
Can you provide for me?
And when they said yes and then didn't, I fired them.
That's it.
unidentified
Yeah.
robert davi
Yeah, it's so important.
That and preparation.
Like I knew I got a scholarship to Hofstra University for theatre, for acting, and I was hungry.
I mean, driven.
I didn't want to read a book.
I wanted to put them in blenders and drink them, so I could have as many as I could.
And today's youth, they're consuming social media, but reading, the written word, the classics, they're not teaching them in school.
tim pool
They want to post Instagrams, you know.
robert davi
Yeah, they want to post it.
tim pool
TikToks.
robert davi
TikToks, and all that other quick stuff, when it's really a concern.
Who were the best actors, the best directors?
What were they doing?
What was their process?
So you get inspired by, who were the best teachers?
So if you get that preparation, then you have the confidence to say to somebody and look them in the eye, and they know right away.
lauren southern
I always had a friend tell me, doing the reading is a superpower.
And it's gotten so bad today that when I apply that, he's like, any show you go on, doesn't matter where, if you just read the article that you've been asked to read by the news program, nine out of ten times you'll blow the other person out of the water that you're debating.
Because there's a good chance they never even touched it.
And that's the majority of people today.
They just won't even read past the headline.
It's wild.
tim pool
That's everybody.
alex marlow
Yeah, the bad news is the powers that be are not giving young people the tools.
They're not telling them the secrets.
But the good news is if you listen to a show like this or if you're paying attention to people who've made it and you're following Lauren online or Robert, then you are going to be so far ahead of everyone else because You now have the tools.
We're giving you guys the answers right now.
But you do have to deliver the goods, Tim.
You're a huge ball of energy.
You can't come in and demand stuff if you didn't do anything.
You've got to do the tasks at hand.
And then, if your bosses don't answer the call, then doors will open up for you.
Because I know I hire tons of young people.
Anyone who is hungry.
Anyone who comes in thinking, I'm going to make my mark.
I'm going, I've got to work with this person.
I've got to sign them up.
I've got to figure out a way.
tim pool
Yeah, and there's something called modafinil and provigil that removes your requirement for sleep.
It's used by astronauts and snipers.
robert davi
It's called modafinil?
tim pool
Modafinil.
You use it?
No, no.
robert davi
Oh, I never heard of it.
tim pool
I'm joking.
robert davi
Oh, okay.
tim pool
But people think I'm on Adderall or something.
unidentified
Oh, really?
tim pool
It's also a great option.
I don't drink.
I'm not, you know, like anti-drink or anything.
I'll drink maybe like once or twice a year for celebrations.
But mostly I take vitamins, I slam vitamin C, and cut out the sugars, trying to be healthier.
So the only thing that's close to drugs is I have a nitro cold brew in the morning.
I fucking love those things.
That's the secret I guess, and then I stay up all day.
But the real secret is cutting out the sugars and exercise.
Because when I used to eat rice, this was only a year ago, after at four o'clock I'd eat dinner, I'd fall asleep.
alex marlow
Yeah.
tim pool
And then I would have to wake up at seven to get ready for work.
And that's like, it's just draining.
But Robert, thanks for hanging out, man.
The stories were amazing.
Really do appreciate it.
robert davi
Oh, I appreciate it.
Thank you for having us.
tim pool
Absolutely.
robert davi
Great meeting you.
Great meeting you and you.
It's great being on the show.
tim pool
And I'm looking forward to watching My Son Hunter on the 7th.
robert davi
Please, yes, the 7th.
Go to mysonhunter.com.
Get that show.
Go to Breitbart and Unreported Story Society.
It was their energy that got the script together and stuff like that and their foresight of bringing it to me to direct.
tim pool
Right on.
For everybody who's a member, thanks for making this all possible.
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