May 5, 2025

From NBC Page to Talent Agent: Jeff Lesh’s Career in Entertainment (Replay)

From NBC Page to Talent Agent: Jeff Lesh’s Career in Entertainment (Replay)
Apple Podcasts podcast player badge
Spotify podcast player badge
Castro podcast player badge
RSS Feed podcast player badge
Youtube Music podcast player badge
Apple Podcasts podcast player icon Spotify podcast player icon Castro podcast player icon RSS Feed podcast player icon Youtube Music podcast player icon
Season 6

What does it take to succeed behind the scenes in the entertainment business? In this special replay, veteran talent agent Jeff Lesh shares his career journey — from NBC’s iconic Page Program to representing top comedians and navigating the realities of the industry.

Jeff’s story is packed with lessons on resilience, relationship-building, and managing creative talent — insights that apply far beyond entertainment.

Whether you’re pursuing a career in media or simply love behind-the-scenes stories, this conversation offers humor, hard-earned wisdom, and inspiration for anyone chasing success on their own terms.

Episode Highlights:

  • Breaking into entertainment through NBC’s Page Program
  • Working with comedians and navigating tough personalities
  • Career lessons in resilience, adaptability, and trust
  • Real-world advice for building a thriving career

Listen now for an honest, entertaining look at what it really takes to succeed behind the scenes.


To discover more episodes or connect with us:



00:00 - Introduction to No Wrong Choices

02:35 - Meeting Talent Agent Jeff Lesch

06:06 - From Pharmacist Dreams to NBC

13:50 - The Olympics and Career Inflection Points

26:17 - William Morris Mailroom Experience

31:25 - Becoming a Comedy Agent

39:21 - Working with Gilbert Gottfried

45:14 - Industry Insights and Career Advice

51:03 - Closing Thoughts and Takeaways

WEBVTT

00:00:03.366 --> 00:00:06.450
Hello and welcome to no Wrong Choices.

00:00:06.450 --> 00:00:23.650
Along with Larry Shea and Tushar Saxena, I am Larry Samuels, and this is a podcast about the adventures of life where each episode we'll talk to somebody who had a dream or a vision, chased after it and either got there or got close, and they're going to share their story back with us.

00:00:23.650 --> 00:00:42.210
And this week we're talking to a good friend of mine, talent agent Jeff Lesh, who's been in the business for decades working for William Morris, broke in through the legendary mailroom program, which he'll certainly dig into as we get into the conversation, but a good friend and a great, great storyteller.

00:00:42.210 --> 00:00:46.411
Maybe you know too, sherry, you've spent a lot of time with Jeff over the years.

00:00:46.411 --> 00:00:48.186
Do you want to tell us a little bit about him?

00:00:48.780 --> 00:00:54.823
I think this is a great way to start us off too, speaking of Jeff Lesh, your good buddy, and I've known him.

00:00:54.823 --> 00:01:02.262
Like you said, I've only probably known Jeff for about 10 years and I realized that after speaking to him I really probably didn't know Jeff all that well at all.

00:01:02.262 --> 00:01:11.748
You know, this is all about the story about how you make it and how you get to the top, and it's partly luck, it's part opportunity, and then you know it's part hard work as well.

00:01:11.748 --> 00:01:14.409
So I'll tell you what I had a great time talking to Jeff.

00:01:14.409 --> 00:01:22.935
I mean, I always have a great time hanging out with Jeff and talking to him, but this was really probably one of the first times I actually had an opportunity to sit down and get to know Jeff a little bit better.

00:01:22.935 --> 00:01:24.835
That's really what I was really happy with.

00:01:24.975 --> 00:01:42.531
Yeah, we've been bumping into Jeff at Super Bowl parties and special events, for, you know, like, like he said, a decade or a decade and a half, yeah, and one of the things you always realize about Jeff is what a great storyteller he is, so what a perfect guy to bring on our program and talk about his amazing career, because he's had one.

00:01:42.531 --> 00:01:49.289
And it's about, as you said, t, it's about opportunity and then being prepared once that opportunity presents itself.

00:01:49.289 --> 00:02:04.546
And one of the things you know that we're going to try to bring to our listeners on this show is how you can be prepared to enter the door as it's cracked for you, because you know, if you have that opportunity and you're not prepared to take to follow through with it, what good is it?

00:02:04.546 --> 00:02:04.888
You know?

00:02:04.888 --> 00:02:12.764
So we're going to bring you some entertaining stories, some interesting people, some great storytellers like Jeff, and I think it's a great way to kick it off and get the ball.

00:02:12.764 --> 00:02:14.028
Get the ball rolling with Jeff.

00:02:14.049 --> 00:02:29.006
Flash, I agree, and you know, the other thing that's so great about things like this is sometimes wonderful opportunities either find us or we happen to stumble into them by accident, and in the case of Jeff, I think there's a little bit of both.

00:02:29.006 --> 00:02:29.949
That happens here.

00:02:29.949 --> 00:02:33.062
So with that, why don't we step into the interview?

00:02:33.062 --> 00:02:35.266
Everybody here is Jeff Lesh.

00:02:35.266 --> 00:02:42.167
Now joining the conversation is my close friend and veteran talent agent, jeff Lesh.

00:02:42.167 --> 00:02:43.049
Thank you for joining us.

00:02:43.430 --> 00:02:46.747
I am happy to be here and only just to spend some time with Tushar.

00:02:46.747 --> 00:02:48.104
That's the most important thing.

00:02:48.104 --> 00:02:48.768
It really is.

00:02:49.382 --> 00:02:52.510
That is how we feel all the time.

00:02:52.510 --> 00:03:21.743
So, jeff, as we were sort of putting the parameters together for a show about dreamers and people figuring out their path in life and sort of going after that dream and grabbing onto it, the first person I thought of was undoubtedly you, who wakes up at 10, goes to work at noon, comes home at 3.30, takes a two-hour lunch, like, if anybody's living the dream and has it figured out, it's Jeff Lesch.

00:03:22.846 --> 00:03:32.730
I can't even explain how you just completely described my schedule so for you it's you're forgetting the yoga session.

00:03:32.971 --> 00:03:42.207
So for you, it's my baby takes the afternoon train works from noon till three and then works from works from noon to noon.

00:03:42.207 --> 00:03:51.985
Oh three, I love it so, jeff I, I guess I'll start off with the first question to you, which is did you always want to be a talent agent?

00:03:53.149 --> 00:03:53.550
hell.

00:03:53.550 --> 00:03:58.241
No, the answer is I had no idea what being a talent agent was.

00:03:58.241 --> 00:04:01.586
I had limited experience with it, didn't know.

00:04:01.586 --> 00:04:05.234
I wanted to be a pharmacist you wanted to be a pharmacist.

00:04:05.294 --> 00:04:06.362
Why a pharmacist I?

00:04:06.402 --> 00:04:06.623
want.

00:04:06.623 --> 00:04:09.013
Well, my father had a pharmacy in jersey.

00:04:09.013 --> 00:04:13.328
It was a pharmacy and liquor store and I could have been either a drunk or a pharmacist.

00:04:13.328 --> 00:04:16.023
So I wanted to be a pharmacist and I turned out to be a.

00:04:16.023 --> 00:04:18.307
The pharmacist part didn't work out.

00:04:18.307 --> 00:04:22.862
Thank you, the uh clearly, clearly clearly, clearly.

00:04:23.182 --> 00:04:27.312
So I went to the university of of Rhode Island and I could not pass organic chemistry.

00:04:27.312 --> 00:04:33.413
So the good people at the University of Rhode Island suggested that I find something else to do with my time.

00:04:33.413 --> 00:04:40.173
You can either you can either find another major or go to a different school.

00:04:40.173 --> 00:04:41.485
Don't come back here.

00:04:41.485 --> 00:04:45.370
So I I switched to become a?

00:04:45.370 --> 00:04:56.112
Uh a journalism and history major, and got some internships at local television stations and ended up um, uh.

00:04:56.112 --> 00:05:10.411
This time of year is like the perfect way of uh of talk this time of uh of of years, the perfect, perfect time to talk about it, because I uh got a job working at the 96 Olympic games in Atlanta for NBC.

00:05:10.692 --> 00:05:11.012
Oh, wow.

00:05:11.521 --> 00:05:15.343
And it was through a friend I, who's a friend of Larry's as well.

00:05:15.343 --> 00:05:17.370
Um, he went to Emory.

00:05:17.370 --> 00:05:21.067
He called me and said they're desperate for people to come down and work at the Olympics.

00:05:21.067 --> 00:05:23.872
And I said you know, desperate, perfect.

00:05:26.319 --> 00:05:26.904
I and work at the Olympics.

00:05:26.904 --> 00:05:28.899
And I said, you know, desperate, perfect, I'm perfect, what I think, I think Jeff Lesh.

00:05:29.360 --> 00:05:35.946
Desperate when you were desperate for someone, clearly because of this interview, Larry, desperate.

00:05:35.946 --> 00:05:45.610
So I got into my father's 93 Buick Century and I drove to Atlanta that night 15 hours, and I ended up working for NBC for the whole of the Olympics.

00:05:45.610 --> 00:05:47.742
But it wasn't just, you know, just during the games.

00:05:47.742 --> 00:05:52.785
I was there for, I think, six or seven weeks, you know, with the prep and then with everything else.

00:05:52.785 --> 00:05:53.666
And I was a PA.

00:05:53.666 --> 00:05:55.351
I was, you know, run get me coffee.

00:05:55.351 --> 00:05:57.362
Uh, go get donuts.

00:05:57.362 --> 00:05:59.627
One box for the crew, one box for Al Roker.

00:06:00.370 --> 00:06:02.173
Um, it was, it was.

00:06:02.173 --> 00:06:09.982
Al was much bigger at the time, we would.

00:06:09.982 --> 00:06:11.524
It was basically go pick up, uh, mary lou retton at the airport.

00:06:11.524 --> 00:06:13.528
Um, it was the craziest job.

00:06:13.528 --> 00:06:14.672
I met everybody.

00:06:14.672 --> 00:06:16.622
I was in the park when the bomb blew up.

00:06:16.622 --> 00:06:19.288
I remember that I, I was.

00:06:19.288 --> 00:06:21.372
I had breakfast with richard jewel that morning.

00:06:21.372 --> 00:06:26.725
Wow, you guys remember he was the guy who was accused of blowing it up and we all knew he didn't do it, you know.

00:06:26.725 --> 00:06:33.793
But it was like it was, you know, an absolutely crazy, amazing, awesome summer.

00:06:34.375 --> 00:06:42.252
So hold on, so let's back up to that moment, because this is the critical thing, this is what the crux of the biscuit is with this show is how did that happen?

00:06:42.252 --> 00:06:43.805
The crux of the biscuit.

00:06:43.805 --> 00:06:46.362
So was it a phone call?

00:06:46.362 --> 00:06:58.305
Tell us about them, cause that had to be the biggest break of your life in terms of your professional career right there, that phone call that drove you down to Atlanta to get this job, and then you were willing to do pretty much anything, correct?

00:06:58.565 --> 00:06:59.228
Exactly Okay.

00:06:59.228 --> 00:07:02.764
So the background is I had I didn't know anybody in the entertainment business.

00:07:02.764 --> 00:07:03.387
So I grew up.

00:07:03.387 --> 00:07:07.348
I always loved television, right, I always loved TV.

00:07:07.348 --> 00:07:12.007
I'm an insomniac, as Larry will tell you, so I was up all night watching TV.

00:07:12.007 --> 00:07:14.047
After a while my parents gave up.

00:07:14.047 --> 00:07:17.846
I didn't have a bedtime, I would just be up watching TV all night.

00:07:17.846 --> 00:07:21.685
So it was always my favorite thing.

00:07:21.685 --> 00:07:24.233
But I didn't know someone could make a career out of it.

00:07:24.233 --> 00:07:25.341
It just never occurred to me.

00:07:25.341 --> 00:07:32.663
So um I, when I switched majors, I was able to get this internship at the local news station on my own.

00:07:32.663 --> 00:07:38.661
But that summer, uh, which you know, I didn't have a, I didn't have anything lined up.

00:07:38.661 --> 00:07:45.348
So I figured out a way through a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend, which is what everybody does to to get an internship.

00:07:45.348 --> 00:07:47.045
Do you guys remember the MTV Beach House?

00:07:47.045 --> 00:07:48.148
Yeah, absolutely.

00:07:48.187 --> 00:07:49.391
Of course, sure Right.

00:07:49.391 --> 00:08:08.625
So I ended up getting an internship at the MTV Beach House and my summer was going to be spent I think it was at the Hamptons that year, just kind of being a gopher or whatever interns do at the MTV Beach House, being a gopher or whatever interns do at the MTV beach house.

00:08:08.625 --> 00:08:12.141
Um, and then our friend Craig calls me up and says hey, he gives me the desperation phone call and says they need people and I and they pay.

00:08:12.141 --> 00:08:18.302
So I wasn't going to get paid for the internship and it was with NBC at the Olympics and not MTV.

00:08:18.302 --> 00:08:27.060
I mean I'm sure there would have been other perks, but you know, I'm like, yeah, why not, let's do this.

00:08:27.081 --> 00:08:30.987
So that phone call got me right into that car and down I went and I mean it was, it was awesome.

00:08:30.987 --> 00:08:31.769
I did everything.

00:08:31.769 --> 00:08:33.432
Uh, I was at every.

00:08:33.432 --> 00:08:35.163
I was at so many of the events.

00:08:35.163 --> 00:08:37.951
I met every famous person who was there.

00:08:37.951 --> 00:08:44.590
I was like I was bob costas's driver, like it was just wow, that's great, and I didn't know anything.

00:08:44.590 --> 00:09:01.706
We get there and they hand us keys to a brand new cadillac and a card where you can get a coke and a tiny little broadcaster in atlanta exactly that's good well, the relationships okay easy, easy, I mean.

00:09:01.726 --> 00:09:11.283
The relationships that you made through that experience must have been invaluable and you know, knowing your story as well as I do.

00:09:11.283 --> 00:09:21.876
If I remember correctly from there, you became a page at NBC which must have, you know, accelerated, you know your network and opened up that many more doors.

00:09:21.876 --> 00:09:25.087
Did you jump right from the Olympics to the PAGE program?

00:09:26.110 --> 00:09:26.251
No.

00:09:26.251 --> 00:09:31.426
So at the end of the Olympics I became the.

00:09:31.426 --> 00:09:40.428
This is something that I kind of learned is always be there when someone turns around and needs something, no matter how stupid it is, and always be the first guy that someone thinks of.

00:09:40.428 --> 00:09:43.246
You want to be the person that says oh crap, get Larry.

00:09:43.246 --> 00:09:44.645
Oh crap, get Tushar.

00:09:44.645 --> 00:09:50.581
Oh crap, get Larry.

00:09:50.581 --> 00:09:51.001
Oh crap, get Tushar.

00:09:51.001 --> 00:09:51.361
Oh crap, get Jeff.

00:09:51.361 --> 00:09:52.104
It's one of your best qualities, jeff.

00:09:52.104 --> 00:09:53.385
I must say I had very few, that's true.

00:09:53.385 --> 00:09:55.570
So they, you know you always want to be that guy.

00:09:55.590 --> 00:10:02.402
So I became that guy down in Atlanta and at the end of it they said listen, are you going home?

00:10:02.402 --> 00:10:02.841
Do you have any plans?

00:10:02.841 --> 00:10:13.764
Short story is I got hired to work at the Democratic National Convention, which was Clinton's second nomination, in Chicago, and I ended up going there and they were launching MSNBC.

00:10:13.764 --> 00:10:17.658
So I was there when the first broadcast and I was, you know.

00:10:17.658 --> 00:10:20.904
I was there when, you know, clinton got the nomination balloons fall, all that.

00:10:20.904 --> 00:10:29.429
And then I had plans to go overseas for a year abroad and they said, well, just keep in touch.

00:10:29.429 --> 00:10:33.750
And through that I got an internship at Dateline.

00:10:33.750 --> 00:10:44.594
So my last year at school I was just barely doing any classes and I drove down to 30 Rock and I would work for Dateline and then, when I graduated With Stone Phillips.

00:10:45.480 --> 00:10:49.524
With Stone Phillips and Jane Paul Wow, who were very nice.

00:10:49.524 --> 00:10:58.188
They were lovely and they were really nice to the interns, which I've learned to judge people by how nice they are to the people that are below them.

00:10:58.188 --> 00:11:02.990
That's very interesting and every one of quality I ever met was like that.

00:11:02.990 --> 00:11:11.089
They were all the people that are nice to their assistants, that are nice to the interns and specifically nice to the pages at NBC which I'll get to.

00:11:11.089 --> 00:11:12.605
Those were the quality people.

00:11:12.605 --> 00:11:30.130
So I graduated on a Wednesday, thursday, I had a page interview which I don't know if you guys know about it, but it's a really complicated program to get into and if I didn't have these other jobs, I it, but it's a really complicated program to get into and if I didn't have these other jobs I never would have gotten into it?

00:11:30.150 --> 00:11:34.395
I never would have heard of it, Jeff, for context, and I don't know how many people are familiar with the program.

00:11:34.395 --> 00:11:42.399
There are so many stars, so many celebrities, so many CEOs who have come out of that program.

00:11:42.399 --> 00:11:42.692
Just name a few to give people context.

00:11:42.543 --> 00:11:43.048
Oh God, Just name a few to give people context.

00:11:43.048 --> 00:11:55.966
Oh God, Brandon Tartagoff, Mike Eisner On the acting side, Regis Philbin and more recently, Aubrey Plaza from Parks and Recreation.

00:11:56.005 --> 00:11:58.448
They were pages, I think.

00:11:58.469 --> 00:12:00.572
Superman was a page, if I remember correctly.

00:12:00.572 --> 00:12:01.131
Oh, my God.

00:12:01.932 --> 00:12:06.662
Yeah, chris, they were all, but that's just the top of it.

00:12:06.662 --> 00:12:09.328
Most, like most of them are behind the scenes.

00:12:09.328 --> 00:12:19.086
People, like most of them, just, you know, they went on to not, you know, not the headline names, but the people running networks and the people doing, you know, doing the work of tv and film.

00:12:19.769 --> 00:12:29.279
so many of them were paid it's a big deal everything you're talking about is relationships, right, it's like the people you knew and the things that happened along the way, right.

00:12:29.279 --> 00:12:37.886
It just seems to be a general theme in how you get from one point to another too and and you know larry, I know larry has this attitude too like if you were.

00:12:38.568 --> 00:12:45.788
You know, I don't know how much I can swear on this, but if you were a jackass to people along the way, everybody remembers you as the jackass.

00:12:45.849 --> 00:12:48.393
Yep, If you were cool everybody.

00:12:48.533 --> 00:12:50.259
Oh, I know, that guy bring them in, but but you, know.

00:12:50.341 --> 00:13:07.946
Interestingly, and I'll just throw this out there you learn from those people too, Like I'm a believer that you learn from every single experience in life, and when I look back as my time as a manager all those horrible people that I dealt with along the way they taught me just as much as the good people, and I'm sure you had those same experiences.

00:13:08.548 --> 00:13:10.633
Oh God, yeah, I've, larry.

00:13:10.633 --> 00:13:11.380
You had a.

00:13:11.380 --> 00:13:13.886
Well, guys, this is I met.

00:13:13.886 --> 00:13:15.169
Larry had an internship.

00:13:15.169 --> 00:13:16.721
Did you have an internship there, larry?

00:13:16.801 --> 00:13:23.663
I started as an intern and then I just you know picked up every project I possibly could, similar to you, working in the studios.

00:13:23.663 --> 00:13:29.974
Eventually I was freelance PA and then I was a full-time PA who was paid like a freelance PA.

00:13:29.974 --> 00:13:32.905
So I just did everything I possibly could Well.

00:13:33.226 --> 00:13:38.807
the reason why I say that is because Larry had this boss, who will remain nameless, but he was a jerk-off.

00:13:39.467 --> 00:13:41.152
I almost fought him in a hallway.

00:13:41.152 --> 00:13:43.365
That is a true story.

00:13:43.424 --> 00:13:47.984
I really did Well, to be fair to be fair, it would have been a very short fight.

00:13:48.004 --> 00:13:52.113
Yes, who would have won?

00:13:52.113 --> 00:13:52.653
Wait a minute.

00:13:54.865 --> 00:13:55.808
It would have been two hits.

00:13:55.808 --> 00:13:58.489
It would have been Larry hitting him and then Larry hitting him again.

00:14:00.160 --> 00:14:01.166
That's exactly right.

00:14:01.166 --> 00:14:06.028
This MF drove me out of NBC because I was going to kill him.

00:14:06.028 --> 00:14:07.764
I needed to do it for my own safety.

00:14:08.488 --> 00:14:09.110
So he didn't do time.

00:14:09.110 --> 00:14:20.390
But anyway, the point, going back to what Larry was saying, is I learned a lot from that guy because I saw how he acted, I saw how he treated people and, yeah, he was really good at his primary job.

00:14:21.160 --> 00:14:48.067
But eventually you become expendable in that primary job right right, and it's how you act to people, is how it is how you're judged, and good lord so at what moment, then you know, after all this, all these, all these experiences you've had, did you you say to yourself you know what I really love, what I'm doing here, this is the, this is the career I want to go for.

00:14:49.159 --> 00:14:50.182
So I loved it.

00:14:50.182 --> 00:14:50.865
I was at.

00:14:50.865 --> 00:14:53.611
I was working at at the time it was Conan O'Brien show.

00:14:53.611 --> 00:14:55.445
I was working at Rosie O'Donnell show.

00:14:55.445 --> 00:14:57.250
I was working at Saturday night live.

00:14:57.250 --> 00:15:03.991
I was working at like I was at every single Saturday night live 90, you know 98, 97, 98, 99.

00:15:03.991 --> 00:15:15.203
I was like at every one, um, and it was like it was easily the greatest job in the world, because all the women were gorgeous and all the guys looked like me, which means I looked like you guys.

00:15:15.203 --> 00:15:16.706
Like it was, it was, it was.

00:15:17.126 --> 00:15:20.412
Hey thank you.

00:15:20.412 --> 00:15:23.419
So, uh, it was.

00:15:23.419 --> 00:15:24.120
It was absolutely great.

00:15:24.120 --> 00:15:34.846
So I made 10 bucks an hour, no health insurance, and we just never stopped working and anytime anybody turned around and need something, I would be there and everybody wanted.

00:15:34.846 --> 00:15:37.287
Basically, what you do is you give tours to tourists.

00:15:37.287 --> 00:15:43.549
Right, you'd have people from Wisconsin come in and you'd be reading from a script.

00:15:43.549 --> 00:15:52.394
Like you know, this is where Seinfeld is on NBC and it makes a million dollars every 30 seconds for commercials.

00:15:52.394 --> 00:16:01.077
And NBC makes 95% of its money from commercials and some yokel would always ask well, where's the other 5% come?

00:16:01.077 --> 00:16:01.857
And I would mix it up.

00:16:01.857 --> 00:16:08.432
I'd say gambling and prostitution, and eventually they suggested that I don't do tours anymore.

00:16:08.432 --> 00:16:17.913
I was, I was scaring the tourists from wisconsin so so everybody was going.

00:16:17.933 --> 00:16:29.135
Then you, what you do is you apply for assignments and you, you, you go and work for um of the shows SNL or Conan or whatever.

00:16:29.135 --> 00:16:46.570
And I looked around and saw that the people who got hired after they were done with their page program because it's only a year long all were doing behind-the-scenes stuff, like they weren't doing the glamour spots of you know being down at the SNL desk and hanging out with George Clooney.

00:16:46.570 --> 00:16:50.845
They were working in marketing, they were working in PR, they were working for news.

00:16:50.845 --> 00:16:52.186
They were doing that stuff.

00:16:52.220 --> 00:17:06.762
So I took all of the non-glamour assignments and I think it was around that time that someone came to me and said hey, look, I know you got a little while left in your page program, but do you want to work for news?

00:17:06.762 --> 00:17:14.583
And I took a job as a news producer and I had, like, I spent the summer in Pittsburgh.

00:17:14.583 --> 00:17:23.028
I was working with Geraldo Rivera at the time and I was you know I was, I wasn't, I was a 23 year old news producer.

00:17:23.028 --> 00:17:26.276
It was stupid that they just gave me this job.

00:17:26.276 --> 00:17:28.727
I can't imagine what you learned from Geraldo.

00:17:29.348 --> 00:17:31.527
Geraldo, I learned never.

00:17:32.162 --> 00:17:33.086
No, you know what I learned from him?

00:17:33.086 --> 00:17:37.566
I learned never to be in anyone's shot Like get the fuck out of the way.

00:17:37.566 --> 00:17:51.166
Right and the truth doesn't really matter At the time, but it was mostly like you could do a montage of Geraldo, like you could literally do a montage.

00:17:51.166 --> 00:17:52.484
Let's get out of my shot.

00:17:52.484 --> 00:18:00.207
You can literally do a montage.

00:18:00.307 --> 00:18:07.082
I love it, but he was a nice enough guy and it was, you know it was.

00:18:07.082 --> 00:18:08.407
But he was a nice enough guy and, uh, it was, you know it was.

00:18:08.407 --> 00:18:08.689
He was doing.

00:18:08.689 --> 00:18:18.673
This was before he kind of lost his mind with the, with the, with the right wing stuff, and he was, you know he was, he was cool, um, and I remember, before I forget, one of the greatest jobs I had at snl.

00:18:18.673 --> 00:18:30.792
I don't know if you guys remember this, but in 97 98 99, the hottest, hottest tickets in New York were Yankees, red Sox, the producers, on Broadway with Roderick and Nathan.

00:18:30.813 --> 00:18:31.415
Lane, nathan Lane.

00:18:31.415 --> 00:18:32.299
Yeah, yeah, sure.

00:18:33.304 --> 00:18:34.448
And Rosie O'Donnell's show.

00:18:34.448 --> 00:18:37.227
Rosie O'Donnell's tickets were like gold.

00:18:38.009 --> 00:18:39.906
Really, did they know she was an asshole?

00:18:39.906 --> 00:18:41.029
Were they aware of this or no?

00:18:41.029 --> 00:18:46.290
Well, I can get back to that lady.

00:18:46.290 --> 00:18:47.693
Never mind, never mind.

00:18:48.941 --> 00:18:50.288
No, that's the one I can actually talk about.

00:18:50.288 --> 00:18:51.855
She was terrible she was a tyrant.

00:18:51.855 --> 00:18:53.866
She was awful to her people.

00:18:53.866 --> 00:19:05.288
She had people fired, whatever Remind me of that so I can get back to that because there's a mayor call button, so anyway, it was the hottest ticket in the world, so I became like the ticket guy.

00:19:05.288 --> 00:19:09.446
Someone decided I should be the one in charge of the tickets for Rosie O'Donnell.

00:19:10.772 --> 00:19:18.503
I was trading these things for everything under the sun, like front row seats at the producers.

00:19:18.503 --> 00:19:21.319
I was like a concierge, like just getting.

00:19:21.319 --> 00:19:28.611
The executives at NBC would call me and ask me to get tickets for rosie o'donnell show, like high level people.

00:19:28.611 --> 00:19:37.132
Her brother once called me who larry knows, and asked me to get them tickets to her, to his sister's show yes did she not want him at the show?

00:19:38.034 --> 00:19:44.702
she didn't, she didn't, he didn't want to bother her, you know, yeah, so he bothered you um yeah but it was like I would.

00:19:44.702 --> 00:19:45.084
I would.

00:19:45.084 --> 00:19:46.650
It was the greatest thing in the world.

00:19:46.650 --> 00:19:48.166
It was like you had the keys to the kingdom.

00:19:48.166 --> 00:19:51.625
I only had the job for, like you know, two months, but it was like the greatest thing in the world.

00:19:52.141 --> 00:19:57.988
It's going to go on Jeff's tombstone it's going to be once was the keeper of the castle, exactly.

00:20:01.020 --> 00:20:03.547
So to get back to that, she was a tyrant and she was terrible.

00:20:03.547 --> 00:20:07.669
Later in life, at William Morris, I met her and it was you know.

00:20:07.669 --> 00:20:13.431
It's 15 years later and she, like, acknowledged how horrible she was.

00:20:13.431 --> 00:20:14.892
She was navigating the halls of NBC.

00:20:14.892 --> 00:20:18.133
When does the moment come that you say, ok, I've been doing this?

00:20:19.252 --> 00:20:20.134
I've been paying my dues.

00:20:20.134 --> 00:20:35.667
There's got to be a little bit more, or is there something else that I want to chase?

00:20:35.868 --> 00:20:37.401
Wait before you answer that question, jeff.

00:20:37.401 --> 00:20:40.295
What was the time period we're talking about now?

00:20:40.295 --> 00:20:42.101
You know you've done all your experience stuff.

00:20:42.101 --> 00:20:47.991
Now you're you've essentially had your keeper of the castle moment and then you're going to move forward again.

00:20:47.991 --> 00:20:50.824
So how many, how long of a time period are we talking about there?

00:20:51.707 --> 00:21:00.123
so I was at nbc, between paging and producing and whatnot, from 96 until may 2000.

00:21:00.123 --> 00:21:04.904
And in may 2000 so I was, I became a promotions producer.

00:21:04.904 --> 00:21:18.413
I was working on news and nightly, and I looked around and saw that everyone was in their 40s, everyone was divorced, everyone worked 9000 hours a day, everyone was miserable.

00:21:18.413 --> 00:21:19.614
Everybody was waking up.

00:21:19.614 --> 00:21:25.637
The only people who were married still were people who were married to other people in the same business.

00:21:25.637 --> 00:21:26.817
Sure Right.

00:21:26.817 --> 00:21:29.771
So I didn't care about that.

00:21:29.771 --> 00:21:31.099
But I was kind of looking at my future.

00:21:31.099 --> 00:21:40.875
I'm like do I want to be waking up at four in the morning listening to NPR for that next story and trying to figure out how to produce it for NBC News?

00:21:40.875 --> 00:21:46.228
But I had this dilemma because I was basically living a dream.

00:21:46.228 --> 00:21:47.309
Like, I wanted to work at NBC.

00:21:47.309 --> 00:21:51.565
It's NBC, it's the best and the best of NBC News.

00:21:51.565 --> 00:21:55.314
So I was.

00:21:56.541 --> 00:21:59.250
I went to my boss and I said you know, what else can I do?

00:21:59.250 --> 00:22:01.425
And so she introduced me to.

00:22:01.425 --> 00:22:08.103
She liked me, so she introduced me to this guy and his name was Henry Reich and Henry was the.

00:22:08.103 --> 00:22:09.944
He was the.

00:22:09.944 --> 00:22:12.968
He worked for William Morris Agency and he was the.

00:22:12.968 --> 00:22:21.738
He represented anchors and reporters and-air personalities.

00:22:21.738 --> 00:22:34.969
He was the agent for the on-air personalities and, uh, you know, his client list includes everybody from Joe Scarborough to Lawrence O'Donnell to to Jim Kramer, to, it's just he's, he's the best of the business.

00:22:34.969 --> 00:22:39.903
And I became friendly with him as he would come in and out.

00:22:39.903 --> 00:22:44.452
And after a while he turned to me and he said you know, what do you?

00:22:44.452 --> 00:22:45.193
What do you want to do?

00:22:45.193 --> 00:22:48.680
And I said you know, what you do sounds kind of interesting.

00:22:48.680 --> 00:22:51.490
And he says well, you know, you seem marginally intelligent.

00:22:51.490 --> 00:22:53.346
Why don't you come work in our mailroom?

00:22:53.346 --> 00:22:56.467
And I said I am marginally intelligent, right.

00:22:59.061 --> 00:22:59.971
So so what?

00:22:59.971 --> 00:23:00.720
So what happened?

00:23:00.720 --> 00:23:02.465
So this is all right, this is it right here?

00:23:02.465 --> 00:23:04.648
Right because you're, you're about to make a leap.

00:23:04.648 --> 00:23:06.440
You know we can all feel that happening.

00:23:06.440 --> 00:23:08.525
And how does it happen?

00:23:08.525 --> 00:23:09.227
How does this?

00:23:09.227 --> 00:23:11.953
How does this, uh, transformation occur?

00:23:12.756 --> 00:23:19.628
uh, another friend of, actually of larry's introduced me to someone else where I was at the same time offered a job.

00:23:19.628 --> 00:23:21.451
This is 99.

00:23:21.451 --> 00:23:28.191
I'm sorry, this is like late 99, 2000, may of 2000, like around there.

00:23:28.191 --> 00:23:46.255
And the job was to work with NBC's new web services in San Francisco, which is like one of my favorite cities, making like at the time I was, you know, I still wasn't making a ton of dough dough, but it was making close to six figures car shares, like the whole thing.

00:23:47.000 --> 00:24:03.521
Moving to San Francisco, which is one of my favorite cities, and I had that on the table, and then I was offered a spot in the William Morris Mailroom, making $17,500 a year, year and um, it is.

00:24:03.521 --> 00:24:07.131
I don't know if you guys know or know what it is or have heard of it, but it is a real as, as, as cool as the page program is.

00:24:07.131 --> 00:24:12.945
The way morris mailroom is like it's really the keys to the king, really, it's really it.

00:24:12.945 --> 00:24:15.730
It's harder to get into than harvard business school.

00:24:15.730 --> 00:24:16.532
It is.

00:24:16.532 --> 00:24:18.160
It is the, the.

00:24:18.160 --> 00:24:19.621
So I don't have the job yet, right?

00:24:19.621 --> 00:24:28.847
So so I was just offered an interview, it's all I was offered and I just you know so so I was.

00:24:28.847 --> 00:24:33.852
So I was offered that one job in San Francisco which is a no brainer to take, like it's a total no brainer.

00:24:34.491 --> 00:24:39.316
And I remember I was talking to my, I was about to move out of my house, so I'm still living with my parents, I'm 25.

00:24:39.316 --> 00:24:48.800
And my son, I said to my father, you know well, anyway, I got the interview, um, I end up getting, I end up getting in.

00:24:48.800 --> 00:24:49.984
It was like a panel interview.

00:24:49.984 --> 00:24:59.046
There were like these six senior agents of like really famous people, um and um, I, I make it, I they, they offer me the job.

00:24:59.046 --> 00:25:00.367
I mean, henry was super helpful.

00:25:00.367 --> 00:25:03.192
That guy, you know just I guess, really went to bat for him.

00:25:03.192 --> 00:25:10.627
And I remember saying to my father I'm like, okay, this is the job in San Francisco, or I could do this job.

00:25:10.627 --> 00:25:14.723
And my father, was a pharmacist in Jersey had.

00:25:15.183 --> 00:25:32.411
He didn't know from the internet, like he didn't know from NBCI or whatever, but he had heard of the william morris mailroom, uh, and he said, no, you gotta take that job the one at william morris, the one at william morris and he says I said yeah, pop, but it means I gotta stay home and live with you and mom.

00:25:32.411 --> 00:25:39.987
He goes don't leave me alone with that I've met your mom and I understand completely.

00:25:40.047 --> 00:25:40.827
There you go.

00:25:41.648 --> 00:25:46.032
So I took that gig and you know.

00:25:46.032 --> 00:25:48.976
A side note is have you guys ever heard of NBCI?

00:25:52.819 --> 00:25:54.001
Well, that's exactly the next question.

00:25:54.001 --> 00:25:57.606
When he talked about inflection points, you chose to go right.

00:25:57.708 --> 00:25:58.909
You could have gone left.

00:25:59.170 --> 00:26:02.275
Yeah, but we know what happens after you went right.

00:26:04.980 --> 00:26:05.922
What would have happened?

00:26:06.001 --> 00:26:06.784
if you had made that other decision.

00:26:06.784 --> 00:26:08.767
Well, I always say like I made the best decision in the world.

00:26:08.767 --> 00:26:11.732
But who knows, I might have been in Silicon Valley and I might have met, you know—.

00:26:11.752 --> 00:26:12.153
That's true.

00:26:12.579 --> 00:26:14.607
I might have met Elon Musk.

00:26:14.607 --> 00:26:15.088
You know what I mean.

00:26:15.339 --> 00:26:15.780
You might have created.

00:26:15.800 --> 00:26:15.961
Google.

00:26:15.981 --> 00:26:16.383
Why would I be?

00:26:16.403 --> 00:26:16.844
talking to you?

00:26:16.844 --> 00:26:18.446
Yeah, exactly.

00:26:18.527 --> 00:26:20.270
If I were to have, it would have been.

00:26:20.310 --> 00:26:21.673
Jugal, it would have been Jugal.

00:26:24.182 --> 00:26:24.885
The Jewish Google Say.

00:26:24.885 --> 00:26:25.851
You're searching for Jews online.

00:26:25.851 --> 00:26:29.326
You're in the door, exactly, you're pushing the mail cart.

00:26:30.662 --> 00:26:34.102
You're literally pushing the mail cart, are you?

00:26:34.162 --> 00:26:40.200
told beforehand that this is what you're going to be doing for the next six months, 12 months, three years.

00:26:40.200 --> 00:26:42.848
How long is your sentence going into this?

00:26:43.140 --> 00:26:44.286
There is no sentence.

00:26:44.286 --> 00:26:46.006
It is a sentence without end.

00:26:46.006 --> 00:26:53.871
So basically you work pushing a mail cart so I remember you guys sent me over a list of hazing and things like that.

00:26:53.871 --> 00:27:10.920
There's no hazing per se, okay, but you are making very little dough in the most expensive city in the world and you there is no prospect of making more dough because there's no guarantees.

00:27:10.920 --> 00:27:17.032
It's not like, you know, being a being an intern in a law firm, where you start off at a certain level and then you go up.

00:27:17.032 --> 00:27:19.845
It's got like a 97 percent attrition rate.

00:27:20.005 --> 00:27:20.747
Wow, wow.

00:27:20.787 --> 00:27:34.634
So, excuse me, so, um, you do that for six months and then you become a floating assistant, which means you basically, whenever a regular assistant to an agent is not around, you fill in for that day.

00:27:34.634 --> 00:27:44.607
So after you push a mail cart around, you kind of meet as many people as you can, um, and you see the craziness that's going on people yelling at people, people screaming at people, people.

00:27:44.607 --> 00:27:48.971
You know it's not just like entourage, but it's a little bit like entourage right?

00:27:49.452 --> 00:27:51.800
did you ever see the movie swimming, swimming with sharks?

00:27:52.761 --> 00:28:00.352
so buddy ackerman was not an agent, he was a, he was a producer, right, so we didn't have a guy like that that he was based on.

00:28:00.352 --> 00:28:04.622
Um, uh, shoot, who was the guy he was based on?

00:28:05.462 --> 00:28:13.615
uh, scott, scott rudin that sounds right yeah that sounds right he was based on him.

00:28:13.615 --> 00:28:27.727
Um yeah, where from the outside you think he's the greatest guy in the world, but when you work for him or had to work with him, you realize what a crazy person he was so that's part of the pay in the do stuff too that is talking about you know it

00:28:27.807 --> 00:28:28.691
is the paying, the do stuff.

00:28:28.691 --> 00:28:32.864
But 90 of the people were really not like normal people.

00:28:32.864 --> 00:28:37.752
You know you had crazies and they were fun, but they were, you know it's.

00:28:37.993 --> 00:28:40.503
It's the entertainment business there's going to be crazies.

00:28:40.984 --> 00:28:46.413
You know you've been pushing the mail cart around for a while and you understand the culture.

00:28:46.413 --> 00:28:49.280
You're getting a feel You're a floating agent Like.

00:28:49.280 --> 00:28:58.865
When was the moment where you're like, ok, I can do this and I want to do this, and collectively with that?

00:28:58.865 --> 00:29:02.634
When did you know that you could do it and that you were the right guy?

00:29:04.060 --> 00:29:04.785
Well, I'll let you know.

00:29:04.785 --> 00:29:09.926
Like what made you different?

00:29:09.980 --> 00:29:10.883
What made you unique from?

00:29:10.903 --> 00:29:12.288
the others that were pushing the cards too.

00:29:12.288 --> 00:29:22.472
One of the comedy desks opened up and, honestly, one of the big things that made me different was privilege.

00:29:22.472 --> 00:29:25.288
I was able to save my dough.

00:29:25.288 --> 00:29:26.766
I was able to live with my parents.

00:29:26.766 --> 00:29:30.170
I didn't have to go and take a job making tons of money.

00:29:30.170 --> 00:29:42.489
I was able to afford to to do things you know, because I'm lucky that I had the backup, um, so I was able to make very little money.

00:29:43.421 --> 00:29:44.305
You get on a desk.

00:29:44.305 --> 00:29:57.411
I got on a desk of a guy named um Brian Stern, who was a young agent in the comedy department and I was his assistant for, uh, three and a half years and in that three and a half years, everybody from my mailroom class went.

00:29:57.411 --> 00:29:58.560
They got jobs on wall street.

00:29:58.560 --> 00:29:59.782
They got jobs for Goldman Sachs.

00:29:59.782 --> 00:30:01.105
They went and got jobs for studios.

00:30:01.105 --> 00:30:03.171
They went and got jobs for, you know, they did a.

00:30:03.171 --> 00:30:04.721
They did a whole bunch of different things.

00:30:04.721 --> 00:30:14.513
Most of them every one of them who wants to be in the entertainment industry is still in the entertainment industry, but for the, for the most part, they, you know they left.

00:30:14.513 --> 00:30:16.505
They got jobs where you could make dough.

00:30:16.505 --> 00:30:27.229
Uh, and I had the thankfully, the backup of my parents and the fact that I, you know, socked away every dime I made and bought a place, um, so I was able to do it.

00:30:27.229 --> 00:30:47.048
So, um, you know, and then so I worked for this guy, um, and we had this amazing roster of talent, um, you know, all tons of writers on Saturday night live, uh, we worked with Susie Essman, from, uh, from, curb your Enthusiasm, who was just, you know, getting huge.

00:30:47.048 --> 00:30:58.644
And uh, uh, jennifer Jennifer Hudson, who was Dreamgirls and and blowing up and becoming a star, and there was some Samantha Bee, who was on the daily show and then, you know, you know, her now is having her own show.

00:30:59.326 --> 00:31:07.675
Um, and we were working with all of these, these amazing young kind of talent coming out of new york, and you know, we were.

00:31:07.675 --> 00:31:18.445
We were getting them jobs on tv and launching their television shows and and casting, and, you know, doing all that and my, you know, primary area of interest was comedy.

00:31:18.445 --> 00:31:32.832
Um, so, while my boss was getting them television shows, I started booking them in clubs and in theaters and for uh, corporations.

00:31:32.832 --> 00:31:38.789
And I discovered that the corporations, you know, they ask Willie Sutton, you know, why do you rob banks?

00:31:38.789 --> 00:31:40.280
And he said that's where the money is.

00:31:40.280 --> 00:31:49.512
And I said, you know, these corporations want to have comedians in, especially clean comedians, and they have tons of dough.

00:31:49.512 --> 00:31:55.266
And you know, they ask how much someone costs and you can always say, well, how much do you have?

00:31:55.266 --> 00:32:02.650
And they would tell me, and I'd give them somebody you know, correct to put it.

00:32:02.670 --> 00:32:24.977
And I just started booking all of these you know comedians of corporations and eventually, you know, after three and a half years of doing this, my boss, who was this wonderful woman, came to me and said listen, I need your help because I I I've been going to Whoopi Goldberg's television uh, shows.

00:32:24.977 --> 00:32:29.642
She hasn't been on the road and I've been going to her shows all this time and I have a family I can't really go anymore.

00:32:29.642 --> 00:32:34.531
Can you go and be kind of like her guy and cover shows?

00:32:34.531 --> 00:32:39.411
And I said, sure, because that's what I learned Always say yes, you know.

00:32:39.411 --> 00:32:48.933
Um, so I started going on the road with whoopie in 2002 or three and basically have been on the road with her ever since.

00:32:48.933 --> 00:32:55.752
And it was just because I was the right guy at the right place at the right time.

00:32:55.752 --> 00:32:57.268
So it's all luck to answer your question.

00:32:57.268 --> 00:32:58.414
It's like just always be there and always say yes.

00:32:58.414 --> 00:32:59.240
So it's all luck to answer your question.

00:32:59.240 --> 00:33:04.718
It's like just always be there and always say yes.

00:33:04.718 --> 00:33:08.825
And then the same thing happened with, you know, all of the other comedians we represented.

00:33:08.825 --> 00:33:12.853
Like we just I was just always kind of in the room and there, which was cool.

00:33:13.119 --> 00:33:32.816
And then one of the one of the fun ones I got to do is I went out to LA when I was just out in the mailroom and I was just starting to do all of this stuff and, uh, we had become friendly and she introduced me to the comedian that night who was Mitch Hedberg, um, who you know is is an absolute legend.

00:33:32.816 --> 00:33:37.226
This is right before, uh, right before he passed away.

00:33:37.226 --> 00:33:41.653
It was like maybe three or four weeks before when he was on the show.

00:33:41.653 --> 00:33:50.727
But it was like, and like I'm in the room with these like guys who I just like idolize, and I'm like I want to be in this business.

00:33:50.727 --> 00:34:10.382
This is fun, this is great, you know, and you know it's kind of funny because the work, the work is during the day, is sort of during the day, but the real work is like being with these people at night, going to the shows, being with the buyers, being with the comedians.

00:34:10.382 --> 00:34:14.641
That's the, that's the actual job, and you basically just want to be someone that can tolerate.

00:34:16.164 --> 00:34:28.952
So all that experience you had doing the behind the scenes jobs, all those you know, all those desk jobs, that really prepared you then for this portion of hey, you got to learn how to glad hand people Right Pretty much.

00:34:29.173 --> 00:34:31.461
It's like it that is.

00:34:31.461 --> 00:34:33.969
I was the world's worst assistant.

00:34:33.969 --> 00:34:40.338
I was terrible, Larry, and I always joke that you know I don't know how to use a whiteboard and you didn't know what a whiteboard was.

00:34:40.338 --> 00:34:43.943
I don't know how to use a whiteboard and you didn't know what a whiteboard was I didn't even know how to use it.

00:34:43.983 --> 00:34:44.927
You didn't know what it was.

00:34:46.130 --> 00:35:02.695
It's true, and I was literally terrible at the correspondence, at the writing letters, at the, you know, but the clients loved me, the buyers loved me and the agents loved me and the buyers loved me and the agents loved me and could always trust me.

00:35:02.695 --> 00:35:14.023
So, even though I was terrible at all of the stuff, you know, like the actual job, like if you read the job description, you know of all the multitasking and the scheduling and the.

00:35:14.023 --> 00:35:14.925
You know all the stuff.

00:35:14.925 --> 00:35:16.128
That's the actual job.

00:35:16.128 --> 00:35:25.324
I was abysmal and the one thing I learned is that all of the guys that made it guys and girls who made it to agent they were terrible at being an assistant.

00:35:25.324 --> 00:35:25.766
That's interesting.

00:35:25.766 --> 00:35:31.047
The ones that were really good at being assistants are shitty agents.

00:35:31.067 --> 00:35:31.728
This is great.

00:35:31.728 --> 00:35:32.650
This is great.

00:35:32.650 --> 00:35:35.648
So talk, talk about the job, because that's key.

00:35:35.648 --> 00:35:45.523
Like you know, we're talking about what a, what an amazing accomplishment and what a professional you became quote, unquote, professional and you know you have to do this job.

00:35:45.523 --> 00:35:54.478
So are you getting calls from people to book your talent, basically, or are you shopping your talent and when, when you make those deals, are they?

00:35:54.478 --> 00:35:58.820
I'll take any deal for this client, but this one will only do you know.

00:35:58.960 --> 00:35:59.240
Radio.

00:35:59.280 --> 00:36:01.041
City Music Hall type of thing, money.

00:36:01.101 --> 00:36:06.324
And then there's gilbert godfrey, where someone calls me and said, gilbert, I have a job for you.

00:36:06.324 --> 00:36:08.925
Before I hang the phone up, he's like, and book me at the motel six, wait, wait, I.

00:36:08.925 --> 00:36:22.036
I got two gilbert.

00:36:22.036 --> 00:36:23.561
I got two gilbert stories that are fun.

00:36:23.561 --> 00:36:40.164
So, oh my god, he was a so you know again legendary comedian that everybody knows and he's he's been a william morris client his entire career, from the time he was I think he was 16 or 17 when he first got on stage so he's and he's like in his 60s now.

00:36:40.574 --> 00:36:42.039
He's not a young man, right.

00:36:42.059 --> 00:36:43.702
No, no, he's been so anyway.

00:36:43.702 --> 00:36:45.927
But handsome, oh handsome.

00:36:45.927 --> 00:36:48.864
So I'll get to that.

00:36:48.864 --> 00:36:52.903
So he is notoriously cheap, like.

00:36:52.903 --> 00:37:01.628
Notoriously cheap, like, if you ever want to have fun, go watch his documentary.

00:37:01.628 --> 00:37:02.009
He leaves hotels.

00:37:02.028 --> 00:37:04.896
He, he has all the hotel soap from every hotel over the past 45 years.

00:37:05.016 --> 00:37:05.717
It's amazing.

00:37:05.717 --> 00:37:07.900
He has every dime he ever made.

00:37:07.900 --> 00:37:09.402
He has every dime he ever made.

00:37:09.402 --> 00:37:13.210
So, um, I, I, I had to.

00:37:13.210 --> 00:37:15.643
He was playing somewhere and I had to book him in a hotel.

00:37:15.643 --> 00:37:17.094
And I'm like Gilbert, where do you want to stay?

00:37:17.094 --> 00:37:18.815
The Marriott or the Hilton or anything?

00:37:18.815 --> 00:37:27.083
And he goes I don't know, book me in the cheapest place you can where I don't have to sleep with a rifle, which was great.

00:37:27.083 --> 00:37:38.822
So my favorite Gilbert story is I'm working at the desk and I'm working, it's like it's a long day and you, you work 10 hour days.

00:37:38.822 --> 00:37:41.719
When you're at the, when you're at the desk, you, yes, you start it.

00:37:41.719 --> 00:37:48.644
You start at 9 30, but you basically work until whenever everybody goes home and you're working on la time, so it's, you know, could be nine o'clock or whatever.

00:37:48.644 --> 00:37:51.960
So it's late at night and, uh, I get a call.

00:37:51.960 --> 00:37:53.621
Do you guys remember the Boston Phoenix?

00:37:53.621 --> 00:37:57.007
They were like the village voice of Boston, not real.

00:37:57.086 --> 00:38:01.541
Not really, no, I don't know, I've heard of it, but for the purposes of this, conversation.

00:38:01.681 --> 00:38:10.943
I do absolutely so I get a call and they say you know, are you Gilbert Gottfried's agent?

00:38:10.943 --> 00:38:12.219
I go, yeah, you know.

00:38:12.942 --> 00:38:13.885
Not who wants to know?

00:38:17.440 --> 00:38:40.748
I should have said I was like oh boy so they go um well, I'm, you know, so and so, so and so, from the boston phoenix, and we just want to let you know that we ran a contest and over all of greater New England and we have named Gilbert Gottfried as the least sexy man in the world.

00:38:40.768 --> 00:38:44.177
Wow, who did he run?

00:38:44.217 --> 00:38:44.539
against.

00:38:44.539 --> 00:38:44.880
Do you know?

00:38:46.795 --> 00:38:48.842
Was it a write-in ballot or were there other?

00:38:48.862 --> 00:38:49.264
contestants.

00:38:49.264 --> 00:38:52.702
Evidently he won, going away, I don't know.

00:38:52.702 --> 00:38:53.846
All right.

00:38:53.846 --> 00:38:56.902
So I start cracking up.

00:38:56.902 --> 00:39:00.458
I go, okay, and he's like well, we would like to interview him, we'd like to do whatever.

00:39:00.458 --> 00:39:07.119
So I call gilbert and I go well, I have good news in bed.

00:39:07.119 --> 00:39:10.063
The good news is you won an award.

00:39:10.063 --> 00:39:16.110
So I tell him and he laughs, his, he thinks this is the funniest thing in the world.

00:39:16.110 --> 00:39:26.382
So he gets, he gets interviewed, it gets where I, I gets, he goes on conan promoting, he goes on, he's on stern all the time.

00:39:26.382 --> 00:39:31.119
At the time that he's talking about, yeah, I got so much booking, so many, so much play out of this.

00:39:31.119 --> 00:39:31.902
It's crazy.

00:39:31.902 --> 00:39:34.027
Like he started doing something.

00:39:34.027 --> 00:39:35.978
So, anyway, it was like it was a huge, great thing.

00:39:36.018 --> 00:39:38.222
So cut to the following year.

00:39:38.222 --> 00:39:41.358
Um, you know that it all died down and I forgot about it a little bit.

00:39:41.358 --> 00:39:45.175
And I get a call from the boston phoenix and you know, hey, jeff, it's so and so.

00:39:45.175 --> 00:39:46.657
So I'm like, oh, how you doing?

00:39:46.657 --> 00:39:50.664
He's like, well, listen, I have bad news, uh.

00:39:50.664 --> 00:39:54.630
So, anyway, he gives me, he gives me the information he's going to give me.

00:39:54.630 --> 00:40:00.125
And then I call gilbert and I say gilbert, I have, uh, I, I have also bad news and good news.

00:40:00.125 --> 00:40:07.344
The bad news is that you didn't win the award for least sexy man in the world.

00:40:07.344 --> 00:40:19.650
He goes, oh, that is bad news and I go, well, the other news is that they've named the award the Gilbert Gottfried I felt where you were going.

00:40:22.114 --> 00:40:23.797
I didn't mean to laugh at your punchline.

00:40:24.498 --> 00:40:25.539
It will be called this.

00:40:25.539 --> 00:40:30.766
So again I got him a new you know Wow, but that's just the fun with Gilbert.

00:40:30.766 --> 00:40:32.590
One of those guys was up for anything.

00:40:34.655 --> 00:40:43.135
So, jeff, look, obviously you've had a very, very, you've had a very, a very fun career thus far, uh up until this moment.

00:40:43.215 --> 00:40:44.800
Yeah, it's had its moments.

00:40:44.800 --> 00:40:46.144
All right, it's fine.

00:40:46.144 --> 00:40:47.590
Now everything is up at the end.

00:40:47.891 --> 00:40:56.427
Yeah, this is not that moment how else, you know, as we begin to, you begin to pivot towards giving you your day back.

00:40:56.427 --> 00:41:04.864
You know what are some of the other things you've seen along the way that that have changed, like how has the industry evolved along the?

00:41:04.903 --> 00:41:05.063
way.

00:41:05.063 --> 00:41:06.077
That's awesome.

00:41:06.077 --> 00:41:06.838
That's the awesome part.

00:41:06.838 --> 00:41:07.039
It hasn't.

00:41:07.039 --> 00:41:09.847
It's the same business from when William Morris got off the boat in 1890.

00:41:09.847 --> 00:41:09.929
Wow.

00:41:09.929 --> 00:41:11.934
When William Morris got off the boat in 1898.

00:41:11.934 --> 00:41:12.014
Wow.

00:41:13.639 --> 00:41:14.726
Like here's a famous person.

00:41:15.755 --> 00:41:20.940
Here's a famous person I would like them to show up somewhere and then they will get paid for it.

00:41:20.940 --> 00:41:22.320
Now, how has that changed?

00:41:22.320 --> 00:41:23.862
Now they do it by Zoom sometimes.

00:41:23.862 --> 00:41:27.025
Now they might, you know, satellite in, but it's all the same thing.

00:41:27.025 --> 00:41:42.885
It's literally the same business and I almost think that, aside from that, it's one of those rare disruption proof businesses, because the disruptions only benefit the person doing it.

00:41:42.885 --> 00:41:48.117
Like it's not much of an outside disruption, like the only the only part of it that's like disruptable is.

00:41:48.117 --> 00:41:51.981
You know you know people going directly to talent.

00:41:51.981 --> 00:41:54.244
You know you know people going directly to talent.

00:41:54.244 --> 00:42:04.838
But I have now worked with so much talent and the thing I have learned is they have no interest in that.

00:42:04.838 --> 00:42:07.603
They want someone to handle things for them, and it's been that way for 120 years.

00:42:07.603 --> 00:42:11.235
Like they just they just don't want to deal with it.

00:42:11.235 --> 00:42:14.324
It's like you pay for a service.

00:42:14.403 --> 00:42:18.764
If you have one piece of advice, let's put aside being always available.

00:42:18.764 --> 00:42:21.141
If you have one piece of advice, for someone who wants to get in.

00:42:21.375 --> 00:42:23.563
I have different advice for you than I would have for the other two.

00:42:25.876 --> 00:42:30.501
But it's a long separate private conversation that we really shouldn't have on the air.

00:42:31.023 --> 00:42:50.342
No, no, there's an adage in the business which is um, you go through four, four or five stages of a career, which is which can be in any business, which is like who the hell is jeff lesh, and then get me jeff lesh, and then get me a young jeff lesh, and then who the hell is jeff, what stage are you?

00:42:50.442 --> 00:42:50.943
at now.

00:42:50.943 --> 00:42:52.985
Jeff Right, where are?

00:42:53.025 --> 00:42:53.947
you.

00:42:53.947 --> 00:42:55.230
Would you guys like to buy some supplements?

00:42:57.536 --> 00:43:00.045
I'm always looking for a salesman, jeff Exactly.

00:43:00.045 --> 00:43:01.260
Someone get me, jeff Lesh.

00:43:02.416 --> 00:43:04.563
My advice are that things haven't changed.

00:43:04.563 --> 00:43:08.106
You always want to be the oh crap, get me that guy.

00:43:08.106 --> 00:43:09.463
You always want to be.

00:43:09.463 --> 00:43:20.958
When someone turns around and they need something, you always want to be the person that can provide them with what they need, even if they don't know they need it Like you.

00:43:20.958 --> 00:43:26.007
You, there should never be an instance the second you're not someone's first phone call, then it starts to fade Like.

00:43:26.007 --> 00:43:28.139
You want to be the person they call for the advice.

00:43:28.139 --> 00:43:33.199
You want to be the person that they call for um, the biggest thing to the smallest thing.

00:43:33.199 --> 00:43:39.402
If you're that person, you'll always be in demand, interesting and you know, that's kind of.

00:43:39.402 --> 00:43:40.766
That's kind of how I would say it.

00:43:41.025 --> 00:43:51.822
You just and and you want to be that guy, and I guess like if your friend calls you and says he wants to interview you for you want to say yes the.

00:43:51.822 --> 00:44:08.878
The question I'll end on if there is somebody out there who is 19, 20 years old and they're trying to figure out what their path is going ahead you know a you know would you recommend that they give it a shot and how would you recommend that they get started?

00:44:10.744 --> 00:44:13.634
Okay, um, the.

00:44:13.634 --> 00:44:13.715
The.

00:44:13.715 --> 00:44:20.860
I saw again attrition rate of 99%.

00:44:20.860 --> 00:44:39.878
So many thousand people walked in front of me with a mail card and then went to do something else, or worked with me at NBC and then went to do something else else, or worked with me at NBC and then went to do something else.

00:44:39.878 --> 00:44:46.630
It is, it's really a perseverance game and you have to have the wherewithal and backing of you know, understanding family.

00:44:46.630 --> 00:44:52.556
We had Harvard lawyers come in, people who went to Harvard law school and they would last three months.

00:44:52.556 --> 00:45:00.135
They would last three months and they'd walk in anybody ivy league, anybody who wants to go into the entertainment business who went to an ivy league school.

00:45:00.135 --> 00:45:02.360
I'm like get out of here, just go away.

00:45:02.360 --> 00:45:05.847
It's an industry of c students.

00:45:05.847 --> 00:45:07.128
It really is.

00:45:07.128 --> 00:45:12.302
It's an industry of really people who love entertainment but did crappy in school.

00:45:12.302 --> 00:45:14.286
Go do something.

00:45:14.286 --> 00:45:26.380
If you are a, an ivy league person with a, with an unbelievable pedigree who busted his butt, no matter where you were from, if you like, end up in the entertainment business.

00:45:26.380 --> 00:45:30.355
You failed like you should be, changing the world I really

00:45:30.474 --> 00:45:41.909
believe that, like, give me a guy, give me a girl from a state school who was a C student who busted her ass over someone from, like, a well-known college any day of the week?

00:45:41.909 --> 00:45:44.139
Wow, because that's not the skill set.

00:45:44.139 --> 00:45:45.063
It's not the skill set.

00:45:45.063 --> 00:45:48.065
You want someone who's willing to bust their ass.

00:45:48.065 --> 00:45:53.561
You want somebody who's willing to put clients first above all else, to put clients first above all else.

00:45:53.561 --> 00:46:01.990
And you know, and and be a relationship person who you know is someone that you want to high five at midnight after, you know, at a comedy show.

00:46:01.990 --> 00:46:09.336
You don't want.

00:46:09.336 --> 00:46:12.842
You know it's not, it's not for everybody, um, and the money doesn't come until deep into it as opposed to other.

00:46:12.842 --> 00:46:13.543
You know, you, you, you.

00:46:13.543 --> 00:46:14.286
There's other perks.

00:46:14.286 --> 00:46:23.318
I mean, you get two weeks off at christmas and you know the whole industry shuts down and you know larry always makes fun of me that I spend the month of december in europe.

00:46:24.239 --> 00:46:33.643
Um, well, you do right that's true, and you go to work at 10 and you leave at four and you read the New York Times from 1 until 3.

00:46:33.664 --> 00:46:38.157
I do and the perks are.

00:46:38.157 --> 00:46:45.210
You're at like I'll get a call from the head of music say meet me at my box at Madison Square Garden.

00:46:45.210 --> 00:46:48.764
We're going to the Rihanna concert tonight or we're going to the Tom Petty concert.

00:46:48.764 --> 00:46:49.867
May he rest in peace.

00:46:49.867 --> 00:47:09.608
But like all of that happens, like the perks are the fun of the job, there is not a financial reward for much longer than other high profile jobs, if that makes sense so I guess the the takeaway is hustle, perseverance, find a way to get to that door, but in the end it is absolutely worth it.

00:47:13.860 --> 00:47:19.068
Uh, sure, to put words into your mouth, it feels like that's what you're saying.

00:47:21.480 --> 00:47:26.476
I have had nothing but fun, and if I didn't do all of these things, I never would have met you guys, right?

00:47:26.697 --> 00:47:28.460
so which is special part of it too.

00:47:29.123 --> 00:47:29.804
Um, that's what?

00:47:29.804 --> 00:47:30.206
Wait a minute.

00:47:30.206 --> 00:47:33.742
If I didn't do all of those things, I wouldn't have met you guys.

00:47:33.782 --> 00:47:35.027
I was about to say the same thing.

00:47:36.896 --> 00:47:42.034
Well, with that, jeffrey, you know, thank you for spending time with us today.

00:47:42.034 --> 00:47:42.856
You know it's.

00:47:42.856 --> 00:47:46.085
I've had the pleasure of knowing you for a long time.

00:47:46.085 --> 00:47:56.148
I know your story is a very interesting one and hopefully for everybody else, they appreciated you and appreciate you just as much as I do.

00:47:56.148 --> 00:48:00.887
So what a sweet guy with that sweetheart.

00:48:01.195 --> 00:48:02.260
He is Jeff.

00:48:02.260 --> 00:48:03.003
He is a sweetheart.

00:48:03.003 --> 00:48:04.340
You guys should work with him on a radio.

00:48:06.715 --> 00:48:13.005
We'll get right on the podcasting thing first, or or or something like that, Jeff, thank you so much for calling.

00:48:13.034 --> 00:48:13.818
It has been an absolute pleasure.

00:48:13.818 --> 00:48:14.121
Bye, bye, thanks.

00:48:14.121 --> 00:48:14.543
Appreciate that, jeff.

00:48:14.563 --> 00:48:15.206
Thank you so much for calling in.

00:48:15.226 --> 00:48:15.969
It's been an absolute pleasure Bye-bye.

00:48:15.969 --> 00:48:16.835
Thanks, jeff, appreciate it, you're welcome.

00:48:17.695 --> 00:48:28.534
Well, that was my friend Jeff, as, again, you guys knew him previously, but his inside stories and a lot of the stuff that he ran through, I knew those stories.

00:48:28.534 --> 00:48:36.135
So I may have cheated a little bit in terms of pushing the conversation in certain ways, but you know, what did you think, larry?

00:48:36.135 --> 00:48:36.960
What were your thoughts?

00:48:37.019 --> 00:48:47.402
I think I think when I, when I hear Jeff tell these stories, it's about that one little thing right, that one little break, and then it starts the long and winding road from one thing leading to another.

00:48:47.402 --> 00:49:01.284
And I think the most important things Jeff talks about in this interview are just being the person that everybody needs, right, like that is such an important thing is to be the person that people like where is Jeff Lesh?

00:49:01.284 --> 00:49:03.016
Get me Jeff Lesh, right.

00:49:03.016 --> 00:49:05.710
I mean, that's just the most important thing I take out of this interview.

00:49:05.731 --> 00:49:06.454
Who the hell is Jeff Lesh?

00:49:06.454 --> 00:49:07.516
Who the?

00:49:07.556 --> 00:49:08.617
hell is Jeff Lesh Right?

00:49:08.617 --> 00:49:12.802
That was a great story because, you know, I think that's what it's about.

00:49:12.802 --> 00:49:18.871
I mean, I look at today's, you know, young workforce people who are trying to find their dream job.

00:49:18.871 --> 00:49:20.782
That's really who we're trying to reach here.

00:49:20.782 --> 00:49:25.434
And I just say to myself, you know, do they know how to get that opportunity?

00:49:25.434 --> 00:49:29.206
And when that opportunity presents, do they know how to take advantage of it?

00:49:29.206 --> 00:49:35.255
And I think that's the one thing that we've you know've all been able to do in our careers and I'm hoping that people do it today.

00:49:35.635 --> 00:49:43.228
And the other thing I want to mention about the interview, which is fascinating, is Jeff talks about the opportunity of privilege.

00:49:43.228 --> 00:49:50.657
Right, that he was given the opportunity because he had the support of his family to go and pursue these things, and I think that's important.

00:49:50.657 --> 00:49:57.460
But I don't think it should be a detriment when you're going after your dreams, Because if you want it, bad enough.

00:49:57.460 --> 00:50:00.206
Like Jeff said, just keep going after it.

00:50:00.206 --> 00:50:03.083
You've got to want it, and if you don't want it, that's fine too.

00:50:03.083 --> 00:50:04.521
You can go find something else to do.

00:50:04.521 --> 00:50:10.001
But Jeff really took the bull by the horns when it was presented to him, and I think that's fascinating.

00:50:10.041 --> 00:50:17.548
And the one thing I'll pick up on that is say that not only did he, not only do you pick up on the opportunities that he had, but he had fun with them as well.

00:50:17.548 --> 00:50:20.398
That's an important part of any career that you have, right?

00:50:20.398 --> 00:50:23.817
So it shouldn't simply be a matter of, yeah, you're going there for a paycheck, etc.

00:50:23.817 --> 00:50:27.726
Part of it should be you know, you love what you're doing and he loves what he does.

00:50:27.726 --> 00:50:33.644
That there's, it oozes out of every statement he makes, which is which is why I having conversations.

00:50:33.644 --> 00:50:51.545
He's such a great storyteller, but he knows how to tell a joke and he knows that he's having fun and he understands that, yeah, he's a guy who's had a lot of opportunity come his way and he's taken advantage of that opportunity, but, most of all, he's had a great deal of fun getting to know the people he works with, which is basically what you're going to do.

00:50:51.545 --> 00:50:53.730
If you're not going to have fun in what you do, why do it?

00:50:53.730 --> 00:50:54.652
Yes, absolutely.

00:50:54.672 --> 00:50:55.655
Got to love what you do yeah.

00:50:55.956 --> 00:51:01.155
And you know, the other thing that I'll share is you know, jeff is very entertaining.

00:51:01.155 --> 00:51:08.523
I make fun of him all the time that he works from, you know, 10 until 3, with two hours for lunch and plenty of time for the New York Times.

00:51:08.523 --> 00:51:32.264
But you know, Jeff is a really good person and he made a comment about integrity and things of that nature, and the thing that I'll express is you know, I think you have to have a little bit of ego to step into any competitive environment where you have to have the strength to persevere and push through, et cetera, et cetera.

00:51:32.264 --> 00:51:36.288
But moving beyond you know, that little bit that you have to have.

00:51:36.288 --> 00:51:41.817
He really doesn't have much beyond that, meaning he doesn't take things too seriously.

00:51:41.817 --> 00:51:56.969
He rolls with things, as you know, they come his way and you know, I think his demeanor of being somebody who kind of rolls with it all the time in every walk of life has been incredibly, incredibly helpful to him.

00:51:56.969 --> 00:51:59.684
So he's just a genuinely a good guy.

00:52:00.568 --> 00:52:04.740
Yeah, and that matters with relationships, which we saw in all of his stories, right?

00:52:04.740 --> 00:52:05.884
Is that it's all about?

00:52:05.884 --> 00:52:13.088
I knew this guy and they told me about this job, and so when you talk about being a good guy, you can't emphasize that enough.

00:52:13.518 --> 00:52:22.440
It's about getting along with people, because most of the jobs I've received, you know, have come from word of mouth a buddy telling a buddy and someone getting it to me.

00:52:22.440 --> 00:52:24.364
I mean, that's, that's just how life works.

00:52:24.364 --> 00:52:30.775
So you got to be a good person, even when no one's looking, and you know, opportunity will hopefully present itself.

00:52:30.914 --> 00:52:32.298
That's exactly right, and you know he.

00:52:32.298 --> 00:52:36.429
He is that guy where I would have parties and I'd be worried about.

00:52:36.429 --> 00:52:42.652
You know, there are all these different groups coming together or different factions, and this one likes this and this one likes that.

00:52:42.652 --> 00:52:43.896
Is everybody going to get along?

00:52:43.896 --> 00:52:51.317
When I would have parties like that, the first person I would call is Jeff and say Jeff, you need to come work the room.

00:52:51.317 --> 00:52:53.998
And he's a freaking genius when it comes to that.

00:52:54.018 --> 00:52:56.820
You need to come work the room and he's a freaking genius when it comes to that.

00:52:56.820 --> 00:52:57.161
He's a glue guy.

00:52:57.161 --> 00:52:58.621
Yeah, he's a good guy to have at a party.

00:52:58.621 --> 00:52:59.541
That's for sure.

00:52:59.561 --> 00:53:09.449
So he is doing exactly what he should be doing for a living and loving every single second of it.

00:53:09.449 --> 00:53:12.851
Easy for you to say yeah yeah exactly, I'm tired.

00:53:12.871 --> 00:53:14.251
It was a long conversation.

00:53:14.251 --> 00:53:15.373
I'm worn out already.

00:53:15.373 --> 00:53:27.827
So with that, our thanks go out to Jeff for sharing his story with us and to all of you for joining this episode of no Wrong Choices we post about once a week, so please follow us here or on Twitter and Instagram at TheFellasNWC.

00:53:27.827 --> 00:53:33.128
You can also check out our website at NoWrongChoicescom for additional and classic content.

00:53:33.128 --> 00:53:41.251
Until next time, remember there are no wrong choices.

00:53:41.251 --> 00:53:41.894
We learn from every experience.