November 20, 2023 • 45 mins
In honor of Thanksgiving, Isaac Mizrahi thanks his listeners with an episode featuring questions from his fans. From his greatest fear to why a psychic wouldn’t work with him to terrifying flights on the Concorde, Isaac and guest host, Brandon Lewis, get into it all.
Follow Hello Isaac on @helloisaacpodcast on Instagram and TikTok, Isaac @imisaacmizrahi on Instagram and TikTok and Brandon Lewis @brandonnlewis.
(Recorded on October 10, 2023)
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Did you ever fly the concord?
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I flew the concord so many times, and it was
the most terrifying thing in the world.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Say, it looks so scary because it's.
Speaker 3 (00:10):
Narrow, narrow, narrow, narrow. Literally this an island.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Then two tiny seats and it's long and you can
barely stand up, and there's stewardess is with cards and
it's crazy.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
Like two seats.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Ahead of you is Anna winter right and Ray Charles
and Merce Cunningham, and they could never land where they
were supposed to because it was too light or too
much wind. I was in the concord a few times
when like they had to drop fuel over the ocean
and go back, and then you'd have to get another
flight and it took you three times as long and
it was also expensive. It was so crazy. This is
(00:48):
Hello Isaac, my podcast about the idea of success and
how failure affects it. I'm Isaac Mizrahi, and in this
episode I talked to my dear friend and today's guest host,
Brandon Lewis.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Hello, Isaac, it's me Brandon Lewis. I'm super excited to
ask you these questions. So I guess it's hello, Brandon. Instead,
we'll talk. We'll figure it out. Okay, I'll talk to
you soon.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Sometimes working with somebody, you know, you develop a really
really really great rapport with them, and you know, you
start questioning, like whether it's best to kind of continue
working together or develop some kind of a friendship. You know.
Oftentimes it's both, as in the case with Brandon Lewis,
(01:38):
who I met years and years and years ago, and
the way we got to know each other was in
the very intimate setting of the backseat of my car.
We traveled to QVC together about three hundred and fifty
times there and back, so it was like hours in
the car on the way to QVC, hours together in
the mall, waiting for the next QVC appearance, hours together
(02:00):
eating dinner, waiting for the next appearance on QVC, and
then hours back in the car. So I know a
lot about this man, and he knows a lot about me.
And the thing about Brandon is he is just so
funny and so delightful, and I'm not exactly sure what
it is about him that just tickles me. You know,
He's just like a fun soul, like our souls match,
(02:23):
you know. So today the podcast is going to be
a little different in that Brandon is going to run
the interview. He is going to ask me questions that
we have culled from my listeners, right, and also he's
going to expand on them because he knows me so well.
I'm not exactly sure what to expect. I just thought
this was an interesting exercise on top of the million
(02:45):
and two interviews I've ever done. This is kind of like,
you know, the home turf version of that. So here
we go.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
Hi queen, Hi queen.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
What's going on? You look chic in the headphones. It's
kind of like a wig reveal on a lipsying for
your life or something. Well, you have another pair of
headphones under.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Under the headphone heads exactly exactly exactly. Wait, so this
is your podcast?
Speaker 3 (03:15):
Yes, this is hello Isaac.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
And what we decided to do is like I want
to answer questions for in my life. And by the way,
even though I've done a million podcasts like this is
an opportunity for me to do like a very in
depth of a thing, you know, like sometimes on someone
else's podcast, you don't want to go like, hey, you know,
here's like the really most serious possible thing or the funniest, craziest,
(03:41):
most kind of you know, ridiculous thing, and so here
I feel like we can do that maybe a little bit.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
You know.
Speaker 4 (03:48):
Well, my goal is to have you cry and then
also can unpack all your traumas. So I will be okay,
you know, Diane Sawyer, Barbara Walters, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Okay, we'll go, We'll go.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
Do I like it? I like it. I like it.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
I'm going to give you something like the Betty Davis
Faye done Away moment. I'm gonna give you that. Okay,
I'm gonna reveal my own personal Fay done away.
Speaker 4 (04:12):
Please please please, Well, that's what I'm hoping for. I
would like to do a question from me. What's your
first memory of us meeting? Do you recalled? Do you
know what happened?
Speaker 2 (04:23):
You know? I think it was in a past life, Darling. Okay,
like seventeenth century Spain. I think we were nuns together.
I think so too, in a convent. We were like
sort of sequestered in a convent during like the inquisition
of something.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
Yes, that that actually is what I was gonna say.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
I was like, oh no, I don't remember meeting you.
I don't remember meeting you do you what? What was it?
Speaker 1 (04:46):
Okay?
Speaker 4 (04:46):
So I was at Liz Claiborne, like you know, in learning,
working whatever, and it was like hot and I was
giving like my best Tom Brown impression come on, and
like all of the other like boy interns were doing
the same thing. And you walked in. You said, what
is this the Tom Brown fashion show?
Speaker 3 (05:03):
And so I say that that was our first funny.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
Sort of interaction.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
I was like, what, well, you know what.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
I got to tell you something. Now here's the first
day done away moment you're ready, I'm ready? Which is that?
Like I worked at Liz Claiborne, and I didn't realize
that I was usurping Tim Gunn's position there, like he
was already the fashion person. It's at Liz Claiborne, right,
And I didn't know anything about that. I just travel
(05:30):
through the world, darling, you know this, like I am
insulated from information. So I had absolutely no idea that
this person was doing that already. And when I got
the job, you know, Tim gun sent me flowers and
I was like, well, why is Tim I mean I
like him, but why is he sending me flowers? Anyway,
then it turned out like I didn't even honestly, I
(05:52):
just barreled along. I redid that. You know what an
effort that was for me. I redid Liz Claiborne. And
what was at two thousand and ten or two thousand
and nine or something, Yeah, two thousand and eight. Anyway,
And so like later in his book, Tim Gunn like
completely trashes me.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
Did you know this?
Speaker 1 (06:12):
She dragged you?
Speaker 2 (06:14):
She dragged me, And I never understood why. I never
understood because we met once. When I did Veronica, you
know Veronica Webs. Yes, our fat, fabulous favorite person, Veronica
Web She and he had a show together, like a
fashion reality show or something, and I taped a segment
in my studio and he was lovely and I was
(06:35):
lovely and she was lovely and it was all lovely.
And then the next thing I know, I'm being dragged
in his book. Yes, So anyway, I never understood that.
I never understood that.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Well I do, because you hate Brown.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
That's that's pretty much you know what that? I mean?
That was the god thing said.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
And it said in this book that I hated Brown
and that I threw a fit and threw him out
of a fitting, which couldn't be farther from the truth.
I don't remember ever being in a fitting with tim on. Okay,
so that's the first thing.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
I wear black. I wear navy.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
I don't love the way brown clothes look brown clothes.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
I should say I don't love clothes.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Yeah, no, I love brown food. I love brown, you
know cars, I love brown. I just don't like I
don't like brown. I don't like brown clothes. I love
a brown dog. Are you kidding me?
Speaker 1 (07:22):
My dog is?
Speaker 2 (07:23):
My dog is brown? Yes, Georgie is a shade of
whiskey brown.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
Yes. Yes.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
So I have a couple of questions from the audience.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
Okay, let's go yet, it's going baby, Okay.
Speaker 4 (07:34):
So this is from Emily Macgirl. She says, you're a
chameleon with so many talents. How do you know what
you want to do or to focus on?
Speaker 3 (07:46):
You know, that is a really good question. Thank you
to Emily. Emily.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
Yes, yeah, well here's the thing, you know, I don't
chew what I do. I do it. I just do it,
you know. And I've always done a lot of things.
And I've always been told by my teachers and by
my mentors and people that I really respected a lot,
(08:15):
that I would eventually have to choose one thing and
do it. And I don't know if they were wrong.
They were wrong for me, but in general, you know,
I think it makes a lot of sense for a
person to kind of narrow it down and hone it down,
you know. But it never made sense to me, of course.
And the thing that rules my life is work. I
(08:38):
don't think about any any other aspect of life. I
think only of work. And one of the reasons I
think it works between Arnold, my husband, and I, is
because he doesn't have any problems with that. He doesn't
make it an issue like, oh, you know, why don't
you ever pay any more attention to me? Or I'm
not as important to you as your work, darling? Why
(09:01):
should that ever be an issue? Why is a person
you know what I mean so honestly, like he needs
a lot of space, and I need a lot of
space to work and to do what I do. And
you know, when I was twenty six or twenty seven
years old, Bruce Weber, you know the photographer, Ye, he
recommended this psychic right, I show up, she sits down,
(09:25):
she looks at my chart, or she looks at my taro,
she goes you know what. I can't read for you
because you have made every mistake in the book. Like
there is no saving you. You are gone. You're never
going to amount to anything. It's a terrible life ahead
and goodbye.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
You know.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
I never told this to anyone except my shrink and
other psychics that I've been to see. But you know,
ever since she told me that, I think she's right.
You know, I think I made every mistake in the book.
I was supposed to be, you know, Patty Lapone or something. Okay,
you know, I'm not supposed to be. I'm not exactly how.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
You're right. You're right, It's true. It's true.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
No, But you know, I was supposed to be in
show business primarily, you know, and I took this sort
of path.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
And I've said this many times.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
I needed to get out of the house that I
grew up in because it was very wrong.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
I mean, I had a great childhood.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
My parents were great, my sisters were great, but it
was just hard because it was this kind of orthodox
Jewish place, and they did not like gaze, and they
did not like artists, you know, not so much in
the house, but in the community and the school I
went to, and it was really rough, and so I
was plotting my escape, you know, and so it occurred
(10:46):
to me that it would be much easier for me
to make money in the fashion business. Seeing is how
like there was an actual fashion business in New York,
you know, and seeing is how my father had certain
connections in the fashion business.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
You know.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
When I was like fifteen years old, he introduced me
to this woman called Ellie Fishman, who was a great, great,
great children's were designer. She had the showroom next door
to his. He was a children's manufacturer, and she took
a look at my sketches and she gave me all
of this fabulous advice. She said, you should go to
(11:23):
Parsons and you should do this, and you should do that.
And then she introduced me to Molly Parnis, who was
a really fabulous designer at the time, and also Anthony Mudo,
this other great designer, and they looked at my sketches
and they gave me critiques, et cetera, et cetera. And
that's how I got into design, because you know, I
was at Performing Arts High School, having the time of
(11:44):
my life, you know, performing exactly performing Shakespeare, performing tennessee
Williams and going to a chorus line every night and
standing in the back right, literally standing room at a
chorus line cost six dollars, exactly six dollars. I mean,
who's not going to go stand in the back every
night of your life? I watch a course or Chicago,
(12:06):
the original version of Chicago with Gwen Verdon and Cheta
Rivera and Jerry or Back and all those great people. Anyway,
it was such a far leap away from the traditional
kind of orthodox jewelry that I was born into. And
the point is that I escaped that by getting a
(12:27):
job immediately after Parsons at Peri Ellis and making quite
a good salary even right out of school. And then,
you know, it grew and grew and grew, and then
I became this famous fashion designer and really I am
trying now to sort of transition into show business.
Speaker 3 (12:45):
And you know, I'm making big inroads, Darling.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
I've seen I've seen your transition.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
So you know, Darling, I'm also writing a novel, and
I'm also doing cooking segments and maybe working on a cookbook.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
You know.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
So it's a lot going on. And I'm not saying
it's all good. I'm just saying it's pretty good. It's
something that I need to do, and I don't really
see like my work in fashion diminishing as much. And
so I'm not exactly sure how I do all the
things I do. I'm not sure. And by the way,
there are things I cannot do. I cannot do math,
(13:19):
I can I can juggle.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Actually, okay, well then forget it all right, so she
can do no?
Speaker 3 (13:25):
You know what I mean?
Speaker 1 (13:26):
Well, I mean, I remember you said ones that if
something doesn't amuse you or something you know what I mean,
then it's over. Do you still feel that same way?
Speaker 2 (13:35):
Yes, yes I do. And worse, I mean, it gets
worse as you get older. I was very easily bored
through my teenage, my early adulthood, my late adulthood, and
now as I approached advanced middle age. As I approach
middle age, I should say, of course, I go, you
(13:57):
know what, there's no time for this. I need to
move on. This is so boring, Like that's it, it's over,
you know.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
So I have another question from a listener cater I photos.
They ask what gives you hope?
Speaker 3 (14:13):
What gives me hope?
Speaker 1 (14:15):
Right?
Speaker 2 (14:15):
You know, I'm not sure. Again, It's like I can't
answer questions with a definitive.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
Well, what keeps you going, like, what gets you on
to that next space?
Speaker 2 (14:28):
My work, work, work, work, never taking your nose out
of your work, that being the most important thing, you know,
because I'm good at work, I'm good at focusing, I'm
good at accomplishment. Right, And you know, I've always been
a problem sleeper. I've always had like a bad time
sleeping my whole life. It's awful, it's terrible. And the
(14:50):
only thing that actually can lull me into a sense
of calm enough to go to sleep is thinking about
the process, not exactly the specifics, but the prospect of
waking up the next morning and diving into work. You know,
it fills me with a kind of like lightness, because
(15:11):
when I feel like I don't have a good job,
when I feel like I'm doing the wrong job, I
get very heavy and I don't sleep, and I feel
like I have nothing to live for, you know, And
so hope is about my work because that is the
world that I create and that I have quote unquote
(15:34):
like control over, even though no one has control over anything, no,
but you train yourself to have a kind of control
over your own creativity and how you can manipulate that
and function right. And so that is what gives me hope.
Knowing that I am excited about the next day is
(15:55):
what gives me that kind of hope.
Speaker 4 (15:57):
Well, then you know to pivot on that, Sarah mel Mellory,
She says, what are you afraid of?
Speaker 1 (16:04):
And how do you manage your fear?
Speaker 3 (16:05):
Hi? Sarah, Hey, wait, what was the question again? What
am I afraid? What are you afraid of?
Speaker 1 (16:10):
And how do you manage your fears?
Speaker 3 (16:12):
Darling? Are you kidding? What am I not afraid of?
Speaker 1 (16:15):
Exactly?
Speaker 3 (16:15):
You know what am I not afraid of?
Speaker 2 (16:17):
And the thing is, you know, specifically, I'm not really
afraid of anything. Okay, Like when not yes, when I
look at the thing in front of me, I go, okay,
here's how we deal with this terrible thing. I do
this that the other thing, and poof, it's gone or
it's not gone. And I have a real problem. But
(16:37):
you know, in a minute, I'm gonna have dinner and
I'm gonna snuggle with my dogs and watch RuPaul drag
race Philippines, right, and I'm gonna be happy for a minute.
So I developed this way of escaping my fear. You know, like,
I have a wonderful, wonderful life with my husband and
my dogs that I really love. So that's the way
I deal with the fear. But you know, every night
(16:59):
at three in the morning, I wake with this horrible,
horrible fear. And the more I talk to people on
this podcast, the more I talk to my friends, right,
the more I realize that that is a universal feeling
and darling, especially now, I mean with what's going on
in this world, the wars and the fake news of
(17:19):
it all, and not knowing what to believe. You know,
I wake up with a sense of fear about everything.
It's like a heavy kind of a weight on my
esophagus literally every single morning. And I'm not making this up.
And I come across as this abulliant, fun kind of
(17:39):
a guy who bores really easily and who has, you know,
millions of things to simulate him, you know, which is
not untrue, but it is born on the back of
really great fear and dread and loathing that is instilled
in me.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
You know.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
And I was like a tiny kid. When I was
like four years years old, I had spinal meningitis.
Speaker 3 (18:04):
You know, I've told this many many times. It's in
my memoir.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
I don't remember a thing about it, but I guess
I was raced out of the house, raced to the hospital.
They just saved my life. It was in the newspaper
because it was like a kind of a rare form
of funnel men andingitis, and it was an item in
the post that this boy in Brooklyn was right at
my monodes Hospital or Mount Sinai wherever they whisked me to.
But anyway, the point is that, you know, I think
(18:29):
that that trauma embedded itself in me in such a
way that like, there isn't a moment when I don't
feel this kind of fear. Fear is a motivating thing.
It's a motivating thing. It makes me sort of who
I am. It sounds like a terrible thing. It is
a terrible thing. I mean, yeah, exactly, it can be
(18:52):
a motivator. Yeah. You know, Betty Halbriych and I we
talked about that, you know, Betty, the fabulous Betty.
Speaker 3 (18:58):
She says she's afraid, like leave the room in the morning,
and I am with her on that.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
But then I confront this idea that I have to
go out into the world, and I do it.
Speaker 3 (19:09):
You know, yes, I do it.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
And some things are easier than others, and some things
that you repeat a lot get easier.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
Helen Javez asks, what is an eponomy of love in
your eyes?
Speaker 2 (19:30):
Helen Jovez, you know, the epitome of love to me
is never wanting to part from these people, from these
from these dogs, from my husband, from Myra. You know,
It's like I always want to be friends with these people.
I never want to not be friends with them, you know,
And to me, that is truly love.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
You know.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
It's like when you have to part from somebody and
you just hate parting from them, that is.
Speaker 3 (19:55):
A rare, rare, rare.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
You know.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
It's like when we're together, me and you, this is
not whatever. I don't want it to end. Like when
I have to hang up the phone, I'm like, all right,
well is our next call going to be?
Speaker 3 (20:10):
You know what?
Speaker 2 (20:10):
So that's really to me the epitome of love. And
one thing I have to say, like my husband is
just the most wonderful.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
I mean, we love each other so much.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
By the way, watch us get divorced next week or
something God forbidden on that week's episode.
Speaker 3 (20:27):
Episode the Separation.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
No, But you know what, like I love him so much,
and I'm not even sure what the hell is happening.
It's kind of deepening, you know, whereas like we met
in two thousand and two thousand and then we separated
for a really long time very shortly after two thousand
and we came back together in two thousand and seven,
and we've been together since then.
Speaker 3 (20:50):
We got married in twenty eleven, right, and.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
Over the course of those years it has had its ups,
sure terrible like downs where I really didn't think it
was going to work out, Like one At one point,
Arnold like left the house with the dog and a
bag and that was it, yes, And I thought, okay, bye,
you know, and I felt so bad, and something always
(21:15):
brought us back together. And by the way, we don't
have an open relationship. We are monogamous, you know, not
saying that's going to be forever. Of course, I'm not
saying I'm sorry, but on that episode explore Polly Emory exactly. No,
but you know what, it just happens that we are monogamous.
(21:36):
I guess we're both like, you know, generationally, we believe
in that. Weirdly, we don't believe in God, we don't
believe in this we don't believe in that, but we
do believe in monogamy.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
It doesn't make any sense, but I.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
Believe in the same thing. You know, my situation.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
I mean, it's not because I don't find other men
attractive or lovable or sexy of something. It's just because
I don't know. It seems so messy. See, And I
went through that, Darling, I went through a long period
of like, yes, you know of horedom. You know, I
slept with a lot horedom. And I had a few moments.
(22:12):
I had a few moments and and and I don't
regret it. I think it was the greatest thing I
ever did. And by the way, I had this incredible
psychic who actually said to me, Darling, you should go
to the edge. Don't be afraid. And I know you
can be careful, and I know about AIDS, and I
know about all the terrible diseases and blah blah blah
(22:32):
and crazy people out there, but you go to that edge,
you know, don't be afraid to do that. And and
it was good advice, you know, it was good advice.
Tempered with her saying to be careful, it was very
very good advice for her to tell me to loosen
up and go out and meet all these people. And
that is how I met Arnold. We met on the
street as a total hookup.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
It wait, tell me that story because I love that really.
Speaker 3 (22:55):
Okay. I was walking Harry.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
We were selling my mother's house because it had been
years since my father passed away and she didn't need
this big house. We were selling it, right, And I
came from the lawyers and I was wearing this gorgeous.
Speaker 3 (23:08):
Suit with flip flops.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
I remember, it was a beautiful savile roast suit with
a tie and a pocket square. And I was freaking
out because Harry I had to leave him extra long
that day for his midday walk, and I was freaking out.
I raced into the apartment and I got him for
a walk and walking around the block, and I noticed
Arnold and he noticed me from across not from across
(23:30):
twelth Street, Dolly, from across Fifth Avenue, okay, like literally
from an avenue.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
I was like, who's that darling?
Speaker 2 (23:38):
Right?
Speaker 3 (23:38):
Who is that right? Who is who is that right?
Speaker 2 (23:42):
And I just kept walking and the next thing I knew,
I was on thirteenth Street and was like Arnold and
he was saying, oh, hi, I listen, aren't you that designer?
And I was like yes, And finally somebody saying aren't
you that person? Who wasn't there to say like, oh,
you know, we need to do a license together or
(24:03):
you know, or can you get me wholesale or something?
Speaker 3 (24:06):
He was actually exactly.
Speaker 2 (24:08):
I could feel his kind of attraction, you know what
I mean, there was a great attraction.
Speaker 3 (24:14):
Listen.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
If we felt the attraction across like the breath of
Fifth Avenue, right, it meant something, yes, you know, like
you can immediately tell if somebody is creepy or not creepy,
or what their intentions are. And anyway, this is before
cell phones, before everything. So we walked around to twelfth
Street in front of my building and I was like,
(24:35):
oh gee, I don't have a pen. Want to come
upstairs so I can get your phone number because we
didn't have pens. So there we were upstairs, and you know,
the rest is kind.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
Of history history. What a love story?
Speaker 3 (24:47):
You know?
Speaker 2 (24:48):
Well, you know, I'll tell you what is Shirley McClain
You know her right? She said that I think she
met her husband at like a bar, like a you know,
a singles bar. And I was like right on Shirley,
you know. So I feel like it's a great place
to meet your your husband, well, you know.
Speaker 4 (25:04):
On the street, you know, anywhere. I know a lot
of people meet their people online. That's another way of
meeting someone, you know, that's right.
Speaker 3 (25:12):
So that's what's the difference.
Speaker 4 (25:14):
There's not really I mean, you could meet the maca
Hoots and that would be fun.
Speaker 3 (25:18):
Oh not Cahoots.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
Who's well, who's this bar in the like the eighties?
It was one of the first gay bars that I
went through in my life, Uncle.
Speaker 3 (25:30):
Charlie the Hoots, Yes, boy bar. What else?
Speaker 2 (25:35):
There were a few other really good bars that I
used to go to, and then later there was like Splash,
There was this place called Candle on the Upper West Side.
There were a few really good kind of bars. There
was the scariest place called the Townhouse, which that I
went like maybe twice in my life. And I feel
like that's your favorite place.
Speaker 3 (25:53):
It's just so genius, you know, and he's so crazy.
Speaker 1 (25:57):
You showed me the commercial for Townhouse, and to me,
I mean, it's like the craziest thing of every singing.
Speaker 3 (26:02):
There was a commercial for Townhouse.
Speaker 4 (26:04):
There's a commercial about townhouse and it's like people stealing kisses,
like and then like there's a code that's implemented.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
There was a dress code. Dress it was a blazer.
You had to be in a blazer if not a
suit and tie. And it was like professionals profess at
the townhouse. Yes, exactly. Oh my god, how crazy that
place was.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
But anyway, it's still kind of crazy and still and
like genius a little bit.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
I mean, just well it's still there. That it is
still there is a crazy thought.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
Yes, no, it's insane.
Speaker 4 (26:35):
Okay, So I have another question from Vicky Whary Tobias Vicku.
She asked, if you weren't living in New York, where
would be your favorite.
Speaker 1 (26:46):
Post to live?
Speaker 3 (26:48):
Wow? Well, you know what, darling, what can I just
tell you something? Please?
Speaker 2 (26:54):
Nowhere? I would live nowhere? Okay, I mean it, where
is nowhere? No, I mean the only place I would
and will ever live is New York. And by the way,
I've had to stay in Los Angeles for a month here,
and Paris for a month there, and blah blah. And
the thing is I will continue to do that. I
will always be an East Coast kind of New York
(27:15):
guy and if I have to spend four or five
months somewhere else, I will do so. I will never move,
and I don't think I could live anywhere else. I
used to like London a lot. I don't like it
so much anymore, you know, like since Brexit, I feel
a weird kind of constriction since Brexit.
Speaker 3 (27:33):
It's my own fantasy.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
But I love London. Like when I went there, I
was like, I actually could live here. It's just the
food isn't so great.
Speaker 3 (27:40):
But I got the food is great now. Oh my god, Well, Darling,
listen to me.
Speaker 2 (27:45):
When I was a kid going to London in like
the late seventies, in the early eighties and the nineties,
the food was horrible.
Speaker 3 (27:52):
There was no food.
Speaker 2 (27:53):
It was like Paris had great food and Italy had
great food. Nothing to eat in London. And now, by
the way, there is terrible food in Paris. You can
get some really bad food in Paris, and London has
a million good restaurants, like some of the great restaurants.
I mean, don't come for me the other place, you
know what. I don't hate Los Angeles. I think the
(28:15):
longest I've ever spent in Los Angeles is about three
or four weeks, and I like it. I like the
whole because here's the thing, you know what, Like I
don't drive. I can't drive on a freeway, so it
always has to be a car.
Speaker 3 (28:26):
And driver for me.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
So I don't know where I am in Los Angeles.
So I was like, oh, here, we're downtown. We're uptown.
I'm like, is there an uptown in a downtown in
this place?
Speaker 1 (28:35):
Right?
Speaker 3 (28:35):
But anyway, I like Los Angeles. I don't know.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
I mean I would live there for four or five
months or six months or whatever, you know, I would
live in Chicago.
Speaker 3 (28:44):
I adore Chicago. How about that? Oh my god? Chicago
is one of.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
The great It's like kind of a lot like New York,
except it's slightly smaller and slightly more kind of friendly
or something, and just every inch is interesting.
Speaker 3 (29:02):
They have millions of museums.
Speaker 2 (29:04):
There, and well they don't really have a theater thing
going on there, and that's my thing.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
Like, I need a Broadway show every minute, you know,
like to hate. I need a Broadway.
Speaker 1 (29:13):
Show, a Broadway show to see and to hate, to
see and.
Speaker 2 (29:16):
To hate exactly, Yes, yes, no, true, I do love
to hate a Broadway show. I love it more than
loving a Broadway show. I love to hate it, brother.
Speaker 1 (29:27):
Of course. And we've seen this, you know, we see,
we see, we've seen it. We've seen that.
Speaker 3 (29:35):
Oh my god.
Speaker 2 (29:36):
All right, okay, so I do love a Broadway show, Yes,
I do love that. You know, if you're in New York,
it takes what like six or seven hours to get
to Europe, for eight hours to get to Europe, whereas
if you live in Los Angeles, it takes like a
trillion years to get to Europe. But then again, if
you live in Los Angeles, it takes less time to
get to Japan or something. Right, And there was this
whole kind of movement afoot when I was a kid,
(29:58):
like in the eighties where people would go like, oh,
you know, the Pacific Rim. Soon it's going to be
all about Los Angeles because everyone just wants to be
in like, you know, Japan and Asia and whatever, and
so it's going to become all about Los Angeles because
it's quicker to get there from Los Angeles. And I'm thinking,
you know what, Pacific rim darling rim this, honey rim
(30:19):
this No, no, no, no, no, no, I don't know
Pacific rim darling.
Speaker 3 (30:23):
No no to the Pacific. Oh my god, you know,
I'm bringing back all these memories. But go on, wait,
did you ever.
Speaker 1 (30:31):
Fly the concord to get excuse me?
Speaker 2 (30:35):
Did I fly the concord? I the concord with so
many times?
Speaker 1 (30:40):
Tell me?
Speaker 2 (30:41):
It was incredible because you got there in like three hours.
You were in past in three hours, you were in like,
you know, London. There was a be a concord. It
was also the most terrifying thing in the world because.
Speaker 1 (30:53):
You say, it looks so scary.
Speaker 3 (30:55):
Because it's narrow, narrow, narrow.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
Now literally there's two tiny seats and then two tiny seats,
and it's long and you can barely stand up, and
there's Stewardess is with carts and it's crazy. And by
the way, you know, like two seats ahead of you
is Anna Winter, right and Ray Charles and Merce Cunningham.
Speaker 3 (31:16):
I'm not kidding you. This was who used to fly
in the concord.
Speaker 2 (31:19):
And I swear they could never land where they were
supposed to because it was too light or too much wind.
And I was in the concord a few times when
like they had to drop fuel over the ocean and
go back, and then you'd have to get another flight,
and it took you three times as long, and it
was also expensive. It was so crazy anyway, so many
times that happened to me twice where they had to
dump the fuel and go back. And then once we
(31:41):
barely landed in London, it was so scary and we
didn't land when we were supposed to land. So I
was with George Malcolmus, who was a really good friend
of mine, George of Manola Blonic fame, right. I don't
know why he was on the same flight in the
concord and luckily because he was able to arrange a car.
I am so not good at arranging things, really.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
It's like you can arrange things, No.
Speaker 3 (32:03):
I get an assistant to arrange things.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
Charling, did you arrange your assistant to arrange those things?
Speaker 2 (32:08):
I'm just saying, well, this is before the cell phone
and before the Wi fi. You know where you could
say to that We're not landing at Spittlesfield or whatever
the hell the name of that airport was in London.
We're landing at some other god forsaken place near London,
and I need now by the way, it's going to
be a three hour drive to get to Lesson. You see,
(32:28):
what you think you're making up for, You're not making up.
Speaker 4 (32:31):
I only brought that up because I was watching the
Supermodel documentary and they were talking about and they looked
it up and I'm like, this seems like the scariest
thing I've ever seen in my life.
Speaker 3 (32:38):
That's very scary.
Speaker 2 (32:39):
And by the way, Linda Evangelista, I'm sure I told
this story before. It's a really larious story. She used
to really like my clothes and she would order them
at fittings. And then one day she came to a
fitting and there was some clothes for her and Dawn Brown,
this woman who ran public relations for me in those days.
She said to Linda, where should we send these clothes?
And she was like, hmm, you know what, just send
(33:02):
them to the Air France Concord Lounge.
Speaker 3 (33:04):
They'll know where to find me.
Speaker 2 (33:05):
And I was like what and she meant that she
was I know, it was really fabulous. It was very Linda,
It is fabulous.
Speaker 1 (33:19):
Okay.
Speaker 4 (33:20):
So Sarah Simone asked, how are you able to find
time to do all the things you're involved with, designing,
et cetera.
Speaker 3 (33:27):
How do I find time to do what I do?
Speaker 2 (33:29):
Honestly, I have way too much time on my hands,
you know, Like, yeah, I end up spending a lot
of time, you know, playing computer bridge. I mean it,
I don't know, it's it's really not an issue finding
time to do stuff that you need. I always say
that it's actually it takes less time, you know, to
(33:51):
do what you want and to do all the things
you want. Then it takes to kind of regret not
doing what you want. Regret is a very time consuming pastime, Darling.
It's a very very time consuming thing. Regret is that's
gonna eat away at you, Darling, It's gonna eat away
at you. Try not to regret shit, Try to do
(34:12):
everything and not regret not doing things.
Speaker 1 (34:15):
I mean you have them.
Speaker 2 (34:16):
Well, you know, back to that psychic that Bruce Weber
told me to go see, right, like maybe I did
do everything. Maybe I should regret everything I've ever done,
you know, But I got to tell you it's like,
you know, I've been told by better psychics that she
was crazy. I've been working on this in therapy since
I'm eight years old, you know, right, And I think
(34:39):
in my case, you know, I write a lot of jokes.
I do an act in a club that I then
take on tour to theaters, and it really works great
in theaters. It almost becomes like a crazy, little, very
intimate concert, you know.
Speaker 3 (34:52):
And I find that, like, because I don't have.
Speaker 2 (34:58):
This monot to this past, because I did do so
many different things, I feel like I have a lot
more to talk about or something like, I feel that
the culture that everyone needs to kind of encourage within themselves.
Like I think everybody is constantly looking at art and
(35:20):
reading things and looking at politics and looking at the
world they live in, and they're figuring out who they
are and they're expressing themselves in an original way. And
in my case, you know, Darling, I've seen a lot
of different stuff. I had a talk show on two
different networks for like a total of seven years, you know.
(35:41):
I did talking heads on Red Carpets for years next
to Joan Rivers, I exactly, you know. And I've met
all these people, and I know these people, and I've
been to like factories and crazy places like you know,
whatever it is in Asia and in Europe, and it
was just different kinds of experiences. So when I talk
(36:03):
about things, I tend to think that it's an interesting perspective.
Like when I said earlier that I don't like to
be bored. Yes, I would also rather die than bore people.
You know, I don't think that's possible. By the way, Well,
I haven't seen it. I haven't experienced it. I haven't
seen it, right. And the other thing is like, because
(36:25):
I didn't start telling jokes at a young age the
way like Seinfeld or something. You know, they all start
when they're in their teens and their twenties, and they
go to the comedy club and they tell a million
bad jokes, right, and then they finally get a good one,
and they think, Wow, this is a good joke, and
they learn what a good joke is. You know, Well,
I was learning what good jokes were all these years too,
(36:46):
without having to like fail at bad jokes. That never
resonates to me when they say, oh, you have to
like tell a million bad jokes till you get a
good ten minutes.
Speaker 4 (36:55):
You know, well, you you also are funny. I mean
I feel like a sense of humor and all of
that stuff is sort of you know, it's like tastes
like you either have it or you don't have it.
So I know that there has to be difference between
being funny in life and then being funny on stage right.
Speaker 2 (37:11):
Right there is because on stage you need some laughs,
you know what I mean, So you have to go
for the jugular. You have to build and build and
build and then get a laugh, you know, like you
have to get a lot of little.
Speaker 3 (37:21):
Laughs and then a big laugh. So it's a kind
of an architecture, right.
Speaker 2 (37:24):
But what I'm saying is like, you know, I do
a little of that, but I do mostly this kind
of audience like engagement where I hope that they're very
interesting because things occur to me on stage that are
much more interesting than just a joke.
Speaker 3 (37:40):
You know what I mean?
Speaker 1 (37:41):
Is that what you think of when you're on stage
and doing your cabreat.
Speaker 2 (37:45):
Mostly what I'm thinking of is what is happening exactly
at that moment. You know, It's like topical, right, like
what is the topic of the moment to something like
when I was in Houston a couple of weeks ago
was Beyonce's birthday, right big concert National Holidays, and they
had a big concert and I couldn't believe we were
(38:06):
sold up, but we were, and we had a big crowd,
you know, at the Zilka Center or whatever it was.
Speaker 3 (38:12):
Yes, and I thought, and I'm not kidding.
Speaker 2 (38:13):
The first line was so I guess you couldn't get
tickets to Beyonce.
Speaker 3 (38:17):
Right, But it just occurred to me.
Speaker 2 (38:19):
I looked at them, I was like, what the fuck
are you people doing here when you could actually be
at the Beyonce birthday concert?
Speaker 3 (38:25):
Are you crazy? You know? Well the.
Speaker 2 (38:29):
Joke?
Speaker 1 (38:30):
Did you say you were also the Beyonce of the Jews?
Speaker 2 (38:32):
Like?
Speaker 1 (38:32):
At that?
Speaker 2 (38:33):
I did not say no, I didn't say it, except
you know what, I wasn't wearing my hands broidantly.
Speaker 3 (38:39):
It's hard, exactly exactly right, right right?
Speaker 1 (38:42):
I know your birthday's coming up, right.
Speaker 2 (38:45):
Can we please talk about how shitty birthdays are?
Speaker 3 (38:49):
They are so shitty.
Speaker 4 (38:52):
There's so much pressure behind it. It's pressure to either
have a good day, pressure to see someone or do
something you don't want to do, or just the fact
that it's happening in general.
Speaker 2 (39:02):
So I exactly exactly. And either you're going to be
surprised by a bunch of people surprising you. Is there
anything worse than walking to a room people going you
wanna No, it's not going to happen, right, Or you're
planning your own birthday party, which seems so repulsive, and
so no one comes, but it's still it's like a
(39:25):
lot of stress, and then you think it's not going
to be as fun as like, and then you end
up doing nothing, and then you feel really shitty about
doing nothing. And then people send flowers.
Speaker 1 (39:39):
It's unless it's me, ho.
Speaker 2 (39:41):
Well, you know, unless it's one or two or three
things from me or z or some flowers that I
really like, but don't send the flowers.
Speaker 1 (39:52):
Flower.
Speaker 2 (39:53):
I like flowers, but that's don't send the flowers because
I love flowers, So don't send me flowers. Don't sell
me anything to eat, because that's also cruel when I'm
always trying to diet.
Speaker 4 (40:05):
I was going to send an edible arrangement and a couple,
you know, some flowers to your house, but.
Speaker 3 (40:09):
I edible arrangement. Oh my god, that's hilarious.
Speaker 2 (40:13):
You know, I'll tell you what, Like, I spend so
much time worrying about, like, you know, what I'm eating
and edible arrangements and people sending me things that whatever.
Speaker 3 (40:23):
And then there was.
Speaker 2 (40:23):
That incredible, the wonderful moment from Oprah where she went,
you know, I'm embarrassed that all this time in my
life I've wasted, wasted thinking I'm fat.
Speaker 3 (40:36):
I'm ugly, what the hell? Who the hell cares?
Speaker 2 (40:40):
Do you remember when she made that statement that was
something like fifteen years ago, and I was like, oh
my god, Oprah, I love you. So this was the
greatest thing anyone ever said. But then she regressed and
she went on a diet, and now she's like on ozeba.
Literally no, I'm serious, We don't say, but no, she
looks so skinny now, and I just want to go
so like, why is everyone and yet because it is
(41:03):
a weird common thing for people of my generation and
we must must move past that.
Speaker 3 (41:09):
That's what I really want to do.
Speaker 2 (41:10):
That's what I want to do on my birthday. Just
get over it already, Yes, get over it.
Speaker 1 (41:16):
But you don't feel like it gets easier.
Speaker 2 (41:19):
No, And you know what, every year when I go
from my checkup, my doctor goes, you're bordering on obesity, darling,
you're bordering on obesity.
Speaker 3 (41:26):
And he's not wrong.
Speaker 2 (41:28):
He's like, well, if you were going to be your regular,
this would be And it's like, I'm supposed to be
forty pounds thinner than I am. You know that would
make anybody crazy. That'll make anybody up.
Speaker 4 (41:38):
Of course, it's like, hey, like happy birthday. Also, can
you fix it?
Speaker 3 (41:42):
Can you change exactly right? Right?
Speaker 1 (41:45):
Okay, So last question, is there anything that you'd like
to promote on this podcast?
Speaker 2 (41:50):
Well, I have some shows first of all at Cafe Carlisle.
I'm doing like a sort of a holiday show November
twenty eighth and twenty ninth.
Speaker 3 (41:58):
Please get tickets to that.
Speaker 2 (42:00):
And I also have a show on December first in Stonybrook,
New York, and that'll be fun. People can come to that.
Come on Stonybrook, Come on Stonybrook. Please go to my
website Hello Isaac to get tickets, Hello Isaac dot com.
Speaker 1 (42:17):
Well, I mean I think that's it, right, It may.
Speaker 3 (42:19):
Possibly be it. I think fifteen needs to happen obviously.
Speaker 1 (42:24):
Right, But I'm down for part fifteen. I have my
people talk to your people and we can probably put
something together. But this has been fun.
Speaker 2 (42:32):
Well, it's been really great. Thank you, thank you. Thank
you did me a real favor. You did me a
real solid darling.
Speaker 1 (42:39):
It's my pleasure.
Speaker 3 (42:44):
Well, I mean, on top of feeling completely.
Speaker 2 (42:47):
Naked, like I've said stuff that I probably shouldn't have said,
I feel very accomplished. I feel like I did what
we set out to do, which was an even more
in depth interview than I could ever possibly do for
any other podcasts or any other interview or any other
(43:11):
magazine article. Like this was a lot of truth. Like
it was so much truth that I need a nap
for God's sake. And Darlings, you heard it here first.
That was so much fun. Keep the questions coming because
who knows, this may become a regular thing. Thank you
so much for listening, Darlings. If you enjoyed this episode,
(43:37):
do me a favor and tell someone, Tell a friend,
tell your mother, tell your cousin, tell everyone you know. Okay,
and be sure to rate the show.
Speaker 3 (43:47):
I love rating stuff.
Speaker 2 (43:48):
Go on and rate and review the show on Apple
Podcasts so more people can hear about it. It makes
such a gigantic difference. And like it takes a second,
so go.
Speaker 3 (43:58):
On and do it.
Speaker 2 (44:00):
And if you want more fun content videos and posts
of all kinds, follow the show on Instagram and TikTok at.
Hello Isaac podcast And by the way, check me out
on Instagram and TikTok at. I am Isaac Msrahi. This
is Isaac Missrahi. Thank you, I love you, and I
(44:22):
never thought I'd say this, but goodbye Isaac. Hello Isaac
is produced by Imagine Audio, Awfully Nice and I AM
Entertainment for iHeartMedia. The series is hosted by me Isaac Msrahi.
Hello Isaac is produced by Robin Gelfenbein. The senior producers
(44:43):
are Jesse Burton and John Assanti and his Executive produced
by Ron Howard, Brian Grazer, Carral Welker, and Nathan Klokey
at Imagine Audio, production management from Katie Hodges, Sound design
and mixing by Cedric Wilson. Original music composed by Than Walter.
A special thanks to Neil Phelps and Sarah Katanak at
(45:04):
I AM Entertainment
Did you ever fly the concord?
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I flew the concord so many times, and it was
the most terrifying thing in the world.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Say, it looks so scary because it's.
Speaker 3 (00:10):
Narrow, narrow, narrow, narrow. Literally this an island.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Then two tiny seats and it's long and you can
barely stand up, and there's stewardess is with cards and
it's crazy.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
Like two seats.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Ahead of you is Anna winter right and Ray Charles
and Merce Cunningham, and they could never land where they
were supposed to because it was too light or too
much wind. I was in the concord a few times
when like they had to drop fuel over the ocean
and go back, and then you'd have to get another
flight and it took you three times as long and
it was also expensive. It was so crazy. This is
(00:48):
Hello Isaac, my podcast about the idea of success and
how failure affects it. I'm Isaac Mizrahi, and in this
episode I talked to my dear friend and today's guest host,
Brandon Lewis.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Hello, Isaac, it's me Brandon Lewis. I'm super excited to
ask you these questions. So I guess it's hello, Brandon. Instead,
we'll talk. We'll figure it out. Okay, I'll talk to
you soon.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Sometimes working with somebody, you know, you develop a really
really really great rapport with them, and you know, you
start questioning, like whether it's best to kind of continue
working together or develop some kind of a friendship. You know.
Oftentimes it's both, as in the case with Brandon Lewis,
(01:38):
who I met years and years and years ago, and
the way we got to know each other was in
the very intimate setting of the backseat of my car.
We traveled to QVC together about three hundred and fifty
times there and back, so it was like hours in
the car on the way to QVC, hours together in
the mall, waiting for the next QVC appearance, hours together
(02:00):
eating dinner, waiting for the next appearance on QVC, and
then hours back in the car. So I know a
lot about this man, and he knows a lot about me.
And the thing about Brandon is he is just so
funny and so delightful, and I'm not exactly sure what
it is about him that just tickles me. You know,
He's just like a fun soul, like our souls match,
(02:23):
you know. So today the podcast is going to be
a little different in that Brandon is going to run
the interview. He is going to ask me questions that
we have culled from my listeners, right, and also he's
going to expand on them because he knows me so well.
I'm not exactly sure what to expect. I just thought
this was an interesting exercise on top of the million
(02:45):
and two interviews I've ever done. This is kind of like,
you know, the home turf version of that. So here
we go.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
Hi queen, Hi queen.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
What's going on? You look chic in the headphones. It's
kind of like a wig reveal on a lipsying for
your life or something. Well, you have another pair of
headphones under.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Under the headphone heads exactly exactly exactly. Wait, so this
is your podcast?
Speaker 3 (03:15):
Yes, this is hello Isaac.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
And what we decided to do is like I want
to answer questions for in my life. And by the way,
even though I've done a million podcasts like this is
an opportunity for me to do like a very in
depth of a thing, you know, like sometimes on someone
else's podcast, you don't want to go like, hey, you know,
here's like the really most serious possible thing or the funniest, craziest,
(03:41):
most kind of you know, ridiculous thing, and so here
I feel like we can do that maybe a little bit.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
You know.
Speaker 4 (03:48):
Well, my goal is to have you cry and then
also can unpack all your traumas. So I will be okay,
you know, Diane Sawyer, Barbara Walters, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Okay, we'll go, We'll go.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
Do I like it? I like it. I like it.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
I'm going to give you something like the Betty Davis
Faye done Away moment. I'm gonna give you that. Okay,
I'm gonna reveal my own personal Fay done away.
Speaker 4 (04:12):
Please please please, Well, that's what I'm hoping for. I
would like to do a question from me. What's your
first memory of us meeting? Do you recalled? Do you
know what happened?
Speaker 2 (04:23):
You know? I think it was in a past life, Darling. Okay,
like seventeenth century Spain. I think we were nuns together.
I think so too, in a convent. We were like
sort of sequestered in a convent during like the inquisition
of something.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
Yes, that that actually is what I was gonna say.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
I was like, oh no, I don't remember meeting you.
I don't remember meeting you do you what? What was it?
Speaker 1 (04:46):
Okay?
Speaker 4 (04:46):
So I was at Liz Claiborne, like you know, in learning,
working whatever, and it was like hot and I was
giving like my best Tom Brown impression come on, and
like all of the other like boy interns were doing
the same thing. And you walked in. You said, what
is this the Tom Brown fashion show?
Speaker 3 (05:03):
And so I say that that was our first funny.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
Sort of interaction.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
I was like, what, well, you know what.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
I got to tell you something. Now here's the first
day done away moment you're ready, I'm ready? Which is that?
Like I worked at Liz Claiborne, and I didn't realize
that I was usurping Tim Gunn's position there, like he
was already the fashion person. It's at Liz Claiborne, right,
And I didn't know anything about that. I just travel
(05:30):
through the world, darling, you know this, like I am
insulated from information. So I had absolutely no idea that
this person was doing that already. And when I got
the job, you know, Tim gun sent me flowers and
I was like, well, why is Tim I mean I
like him, but why is he sending me flowers? Anyway,
then it turned out like I didn't even honestly, I
(05:52):
just barreled along. I redid that. You know what an
effort that was for me. I redid Liz Claiborne. And
what was at two thousand and ten or two thousand
and nine or something, Yeah, two thousand and eight. Anyway,
And so like later in his book, Tim Gunn like
completely trashes me.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
Did you know this?
Speaker 1 (06:12):
She dragged you?
Speaker 2 (06:14):
She dragged me, And I never understood why. I never
understood because we met once. When I did Veronica, you
know Veronica Webs. Yes, our fat, fabulous favorite person, Veronica
Web She and he had a show together, like a
fashion reality show or something, and I taped a segment
in my studio and he was lovely and I was
(06:35):
lovely and she was lovely and it was all lovely.
And then the next thing I know, I'm being dragged
in his book. Yes, So anyway, I never understood that.
I never understood that.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Well I do, because you hate Brown.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
That's that's pretty much you know what that? I mean?
That was the god thing said.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
And it said in this book that I hated Brown
and that I threw a fit and threw him out
of a fitting, which couldn't be farther from the truth.
I don't remember ever being in a fitting with tim on. Okay,
so that's the first thing.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
I wear black. I wear navy.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
I don't love the way brown clothes look brown clothes.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
I should say I don't love clothes.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Yeah, no, I love brown food. I love brown, you
know cars, I love brown. I just don't like I
don't like brown. I don't like brown clothes. I love
a brown dog. Are you kidding me?
Speaker 1 (07:22):
My dog is?
Speaker 2 (07:23):
My dog is brown? Yes, Georgie is a shade of
whiskey brown.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
Yes. Yes.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
So I have a couple of questions from the audience.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
Okay, let's go yet, it's going baby, Okay.
Speaker 4 (07:34):
So this is from Emily Macgirl. She says, you're a
chameleon with so many talents. How do you know what
you want to do or to focus on?
Speaker 3 (07:46):
You know, that is a really good question. Thank you
to Emily. Emily.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
Yes, yeah, well here's the thing, you know, I don't
chew what I do. I do it. I just do it,
you know. And I've always done a lot of things.
And I've always been told by my teachers and by
my mentors and people that I really respected a lot,
(08:15):
that I would eventually have to choose one thing and
do it. And I don't know if they were wrong.
They were wrong for me, but in general, you know,
I think it makes a lot of sense for a
person to kind of narrow it down and hone it down,
you know. But it never made sense to me, of course.
And the thing that rules my life is work. I
(08:38):
don't think about any any other aspect of life. I
think only of work. And one of the reasons I
think it works between Arnold, my husband, and I, is
because he doesn't have any problems with that. He doesn't
make it an issue like, oh, you know, why don't
you ever pay any more attention to me? Or I'm
not as important to you as your work, darling? Why
(09:01):
should that ever be an issue? Why is a person
you know what I mean so honestly, like he needs
a lot of space, and I need a lot of
space to work and to do what I do. And
you know, when I was twenty six or twenty seven
years old, Bruce Weber, you know the photographer, Ye, he
recommended this psychic right, I show up, she sits down,
(09:25):
she looks at my chart, or she looks at my taro,
she goes you know what. I can't read for you
because you have made every mistake in the book. Like
there is no saving you. You are gone. You're never
going to amount to anything. It's a terrible life ahead
and goodbye.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
You know.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
I never told this to anyone except my shrink and
other psychics that I've been to see. But you know,
ever since she told me that, I think she's right.
You know, I think I made every mistake in the book.
I was supposed to be, you know, Patty Lapone or something. Okay,
you know, I'm not supposed to be. I'm not exactly how.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
You're right. You're right, It's true. It's true.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
No, But you know, I was supposed to be in
show business primarily, you know, and I took this sort
of path.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
And I've said this many times.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
I needed to get out of the house that I
grew up in because it was very wrong.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
I mean, I had a great childhood.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
My parents were great, my sisters were great, but it
was just hard because it was this kind of orthodox
Jewish place, and they did not like gaze, and they
did not like artists, you know, not so much in
the house, but in the community and the school I
went to, and it was really rough, and so I
was plotting my escape, you know, and so it occurred
(10:46):
to me that it would be much easier for me
to make money in the fashion business. Seeing is how
like there was an actual fashion business in New York,
you know, and seeing is how my father had certain
connections in the fashion business.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
You know.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
When I was like fifteen years old, he introduced me
to this woman called Ellie Fishman, who was a great, great,
great children's were designer. She had the showroom next door
to his. He was a children's manufacturer, and she took
a look at my sketches and she gave me all
of this fabulous advice. She said, you should go to
(11:23):
Parsons and you should do this, and you should do that.
And then she introduced me to Molly Parnis, who was
a really fabulous designer at the time, and also Anthony Mudo,
this other great designer, and they looked at my sketches
and they gave me critiques, et cetera, et cetera. And
that's how I got into design, because you know, I
was at Performing Arts High School, having the time of
(11:44):
my life, you know, performing exactly performing Shakespeare, performing tennessee
Williams and going to a chorus line every night and
standing in the back right, literally standing room at a
chorus line cost six dollars, exactly six dollars. I mean,
who's not going to go stand in the back every
night of your life? I watch a course or Chicago,
(12:06):
the original version of Chicago with Gwen Verdon and Cheta
Rivera and Jerry or Back and all those great people. Anyway,
it was such a far leap away from the traditional
kind of orthodox jewelry that I was born into. And
the point is that I escaped that by getting a
(12:27):
job immediately after Parsons at Peri Ellis and making quite
a good salary even right out of school. And then,
you know, it grew and grew and grew, and then
I became this famous fashion designer and really I am
trying now to sort of transition into show business.
Speaker 3 (12:45):
And you know, I'm making big inroads, Darling.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
I've seen I've seen your transition.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
So you know, Darling, I'm also writing a novel, and
I'm also doing cooking segments and maybe working on a cookbook.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
You know.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
So it's a lot going on. And I'm not saying
it's all good. I'm just saying it's pretty good. It's
something that I need to do, and I don't really
see like my work in fashion diminishing as much. And
so I'm not exactly sure how I do all the
things I do. I'm not sure. And by the way,
there are things I cannot do. I cannot do math,
(13:19):
I can I can juggle.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Actually, okay, well then forget it all right, so she
can do no?
Speaker 3 (13:25):
You know what I mean?
Speaker 1 (13:26):
Well, I mean, I remember you said ones that if
something doesn't amuse you or something you know what I mean,
then it's over. Do you still feel that same way?
Speaker 2 (13:35):
Yes, yes I do. And worse, I mean, it gets
worse as you get older. I was very easily bored
through my teenage, my early adulthood, my late adulthood, and
now as I approached advanced middle age. As I approach
middle age, I should say, of course, I go, you
(13:57):
know what, there's no time for this. I need to
move on. This is so boring, Like that's it, it's over,
you know.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
So I have another question from a listener cater I photos.
They ask what gives you hope?
Speaker 3 (14:13):
What gives me hope?
Speaker 1 (14:15):
Right?
Speaker 2 (14:15):
You know, I'm not sure. Again, It's like I can't
answer questions with a definitive.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
Well, what keeps you going, like, what gets you on
to that next space?
Speaker 2 (14:28):
My work, work, work, work, never taking your nose out
of your work, that being the most important thing, you know,
because I'm good at work, I'm good at focusing, I'm
good at accomplishment. Right, And you know, I've always been
a problem sleeper. I've always had like a bad time
sleeping my whole life. It's awful, it's terrible. And the
(14:50):
only thing that actually can lull me into a sense
of calm enough to go to sleep is thinking about
the process, not exactly the specifics, but the prospect of
waking up the next morning and diving into work. You know,
it fills me with a kind of like lightness, because
(15:11):
when I feel like I don't have a good job,
when I feel like I'm doing the wrong job, I
get very heavy and I don't sleep, and I feel
like I have nothing to live for, you know, And
so hope is about my work because that is the
world that I create and that I have quote unquote
(15:34):
like control over, even though no one has control over anything, no,
but you train yourself to have a kind of control
over your own creativity and how you can manipulate that
and function right. And so that is what gives me hope.
Knowing that I am excited about the next day is
(15:55):
what gives me that kind of hope.
Speaker 4 (15:57):
Well, then you know to pivot on that, Sarah mel Mellory,
She says, what are you afraid of?
Speaker 1 (16:04):
And how do you manage your fear?
Speaker 3 (16:05):
Hi? Sarah, Hey, wait, what was the question again? What
am I afraid? What are you afraid of?
Speaker 1 (16:10):
And how do you manage your fears?
Speaker 3 (16:12):
Darling? Are you kidding? What am I not afraid of?
Speaker 1 (16:15):
Exactly?
Speaker 3 (16:15):
You know what am I not afraid of?
Speaker 2 (16:17):
And the thing is, you know, specifically, I'm not really
afraid of anything. Okay, Like when not yes, when I
look at the thing in front of me, I go, okay,
here's how we deal with this terrible thing. I do
this that the other thing, and poof, it's gone or
it's not gone. And I have a real problem. But
(16:37):
you know, in a minute, I'm gonna have dinner and
I'm gonna snuggle with my dogs and watch RuPaul drag
race Philippines, right, and I'm gonna be happy for a minute.
So I developed this way of escaping my fear. You know, like,
I have a wonderful, wonderful life with my husband and
my dogs that I really love. So that's the way
I deal with the fear. But you know, every night
(16:59):
at three in the morning, I wake with this horrible,
horrible fear. And the more I talk to people on
this podcast, the more I talk to my friends, right,
the more I realize that that is a universal feeling
and darling, especially now, I mean with what's going on
in this world, the wars and the fake news of
(17:19):
it all, and not knowing what to believe. You know,
I wake up with a sense of fear about everything.
It's like a heavy kind of a weight on my
esophagus literally every single morning. And I'm not making this up.
And I come across as this abulliant, fun kind of
(17:39):
a guy who bores really easily and who has, you know,
millions of things to simulate him, you know, which is
not untrue, but it is born on the back of
really great fear and dread and loathing that is instilled
in me.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
You know.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
And I was like a tiny kid. When I was
like four years years old, I had spinal meningitis.
Speaker 3 (18:04):
You know, I've told this many many times. It's in
my memoir.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
I don't remember a thing about it, but I guess
I was raced out of the house, raced to the hospital.
They just saved my life. It was in the newspaper
because it was like a kind of a rare form
of funnel men andingitis, and it was an item in
the post that this boy in Brooklyn was right at
my monodes Hospital or Mount Sinai wherever they whisked me to.
But anyway, the point is that, you know, I think
(18:29):
that that trauma embedded itself in me in such a
way that like, there isn't a moment when I don't
feel this kind of fear. Fear is a motivating thing.
It's a motivating thing. It makes me sort of who
I am. It sounds like a terrible thing. It is
a terrible thing. I mean, yeah, exactly, it can be
(18:52):
a motivator. Yeah. You know, Betty Halbriych and I we
talked about that, you know, Betty, the fabulous Betty.
Speaker 3 (18:58):
She says she's afraid, like leave the room in the morning,
and I am with her on that.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
But then I confront this idea that I have to
go out into the world, and I do it.
Speaker 3 (19:09):
You know, yes, I do it.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
And some things are easier than others, and some things
that you repeat a lot get easier.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
Helen Javez asks, what is an eponomy of love in
your eyes?
Speaker 2 (19:30):
Helen Jovez, you know, the epitome of love to me
is never wanting to part from these people, from these
from these dogs, from my husband, from Myra. You know,
It's like I always want to be friends with these people.
I never want to not be friends with them, you know,
And to me, that is truly love.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
You know.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
It's like when you have to part from somebody and
you just hate parting from them, that is.
Speaker 3 (19:55):
A rare, rare, rare.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
You know.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
It's like when we're together, me and you, this is
not whatever. I don't want it to end. Like when
I have to hang up the phone, I'm like, all right,
well is our next call going to be?
Speaker 3 (20:10):
You know what?
Speaker 2 (20:10):
So that's really to me the epitome of love. And
one thing I have to say, like my husband is
just the most wonderful.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
I mean, we love each other so much.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
By the way, watch us get divorced next week or
something God forbidden on that week's episode.
Speaker 3 (20:27):
Episode the Separation.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
No, But you know what, like I love him so much,
and I'm not even sure what the hell is happening.
It's kind of deepening, you know, whereas like we met
in two thousand and two thousand and then we separated
for a really long time very shortly after two thousand
and we came back together in two thousand and seven,
and we've been together since then.
Speaker 3 (20:50):
We got married in twenty eleven, right, and.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
Over the course of those years it has had its ups,
sure terrible like downs where I really didn't think it
was going to work out, Like one At one point,
Arnold like left the house with the dog and a
bag and that was it, yes, And I thought, okay, bye,
you know, and I felt so bad, and something always
(21:15):
brought us back together. And by the way, we don't
have an open relationship. We are monogamous, you know, not
saying that's going to be forever. Of course, I'm not
saying I'm sorry, but on that episode explore Polly Emory exactly. No,
but you know what, it just happens that we are monogamous.
(21:36):
I guess we're both like, you know, generationally, we believe
in that. Weirdly, we don't believe in God, we don't
believe in this we don't believe in that, but we
do believe in monogamy.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
It doesn't make any sense, but I.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
Believe in the same thing. You know, my situation.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
I mean, it's not because I don't find other men
attractive or lovable or sexy of something. It's just because
I don't know. It seems so messy. See, And I
went through that, Darling, I went through a long period
of like, yes, you know of horedom. You know, I
slept with a lot horedom. And I had a few moments.
(22:12):
I had a few moments and and and I don't
regret it. I think it was the greatest thing I
ever did. And by the way, I had this incredible
psychic who actually said to me, Darling, you should go
to the edge. Don't be afraid. And I know you
can be careful, and I know about AIDS, and I
know about all the terrible diseases and blah blah blah
(22:32):
and crazy people out there, but you go to that edge,
you know, don't be afraid to do that. And and
it was good advice, you know, it was good advice.
Tempered with her saying to be careful, it was very
very good advice for her to tell me to loosen
up and go out and meet all these people. And
that is how I met Arnold. We met on the
street as a total hookup.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
It wait, tell me that story because I love that really.
Speaker 3 (22:55):
Okay. I was walking Harry.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
We were selling my mother's house because it had been
years since my father passed away and she didn't need
this big house. We were selling it, right, And I
came from the lawyers and I was wearing this gorgeous.
Speaker 3 (23:08):
Suit with flip flops.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
I remember, it was a beautiful savile roast suit with
a tie and a pocket square. And I was freaking
out because Harry I had to leave him extra long
that day for his midday walk, and I was freaking out.
I raced into the apartment and I got him for
a walk and walking around the block, and I noticed
Arnold and he noticed me from across not from across
(23:30):
twelth Street, Dolly, from across Fifth Avenue, okay, like literally
from an avenue.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
I was like, who's that darling?
Speaker 2 (23:38):
Right?
Speaker 3 (23:38):
Who is that right? Who is who is that right?
Speaker 2 (23:42):
And I just kept walking and the next thing I knew,
I was on thirteenth Street and was like Arnold and
he was saying, oh, hi, I listen, aren't you that designer?
And I was like yes, And finally somebody saying aren't
you that person? Who wasn't there to say like, oh,
you know, we need to do a license together or
(24:03):
you know, or can you get me wholesale or something?
Speaker 3 (24:06):
He was actually exactly.
Speaker 2 (24:08):
I could feel his kind of attraction, you know what
I mean, there was a great attraction.
Speaker 3 (24:14):
Listen.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
If we felt the attraction across like the breath of
Fifth Avenue, right, it meant something, yes, you know, like
you can immediately tell if somebody is creepy or not creepy,
or what their intentions are. And anyway, this is before
cell phones, before everything. So we walked around to twelfth
Street in front of my building and I was like,
(24:35):
oh gee, I don't have a pen. Want to come
upstairs so I can get your phone number because we
didn't have pens. So there we were upstairs, and you know,
the rest is kind.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
Of history history. What a love story?
Speaker 3 (24:47):
You know?
Speaker 2 (24:48):
Well, you know, I'll tell you what is Shirley McClain
You know her right? She said that I think she
met her husband at like a bar, like a you know,
a singles bar. And I was like right on Shirley,
you know. So I feel like it's a great place
to meet your your husband, well, you know.
Speaker 4 (25:04):
On the street, you know, anywhere. I know a lot
of people meet their people online. That's another way of
meeting someone, you know, that's right.
Speaker 3 (25:12):
So that's what's the difference.
Speaker 4 (25:14):
There's not really I mean, you could meet the maca
Hoots and that would be fun.
Speaker 3 (25:18):
Oh not Cahoots.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
Who's well, who's this bar in the like the eighties?
It was one of the first gay bars that I
went through in my life, Uncle.
Speaker 3 (25:30):
Charlie the Hoots, Yes, boy bar. What else?
Speaker 2 (25:35):
There were a few other really good bars that I
used to go to, and then later there was like Splash,
There was this place called Candle on the Upper West Side.
There were a few really good kind of bars. There
was the scariest place called the Townhouse, which that I
went like maybe twice in my life. And I feel
like that's your favorite place.
Speaker 3 (25:53):
It's just so genius, you know, and he's so crazy.
Speaker 1 (25:57):
You showed me the commercial for Townhouse, and to me,
I mean, it's like the craziest thing of every singing.
Speaker 3 (26:02):
There was a commercial for Townhouse.
Speaker 4 (26:04):
There's a commercial about townhouse and it's like people stealing kisses,
like and then like there's a code that's implemented.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
There was a dress code. Dress it was a blazer.
You had to be in a blazer if not a
suit and tie. And it was like professionals profess at
the townhouse. Yes, exactly. Oh my god, how crazy that
place was.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
But anyway, it's still kind of crazy and still and
like genius a little bit.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
I mean, just well it's still there. That it is
still there is a crazy thought.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
Yes, no, it's insane.
Speaker 4 (26:35):
Okay, So I have another question from Vicky Whary Tobias Vicku.
She asked, if you weren't living in New York, where
would be your favorite.
Speaker 1 (26:46):
Post to live?
Speaker 3 (26:48):
Wow? Well, you know what, darling, what can I just
tell you something? Please?
Speaker 2 (26:54):
Nowhere? I would live nowhere? Okay, I mean it, where
is nowhere? No, I mean the only place I would
and will ever live is New York. And by the way,
I've had to stay in Los Angeles for a month here,
and Paris for a month there, and blah blah. And
the thing is I will continue to do that. I
will always be an East Coast kind of New York
(27:15):
guy and if I have to spend four or five
months somewhere else, I will do so. I will never move,
and I don't think I could live anywhere else. I
used to like London a lot. I don't like it
so much anymore, you know, like since Brexit, I feel
a weird kind of constriction since Brexit.
Speaker 3 (27:33):
It's my own fantasy.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
But I love London. Like when I went there, I
was like, I actually could live here. It's just the
food isn't so great.
Speaker 3 (27:40):
But I got the food is great now. Oh my god, Well, Darling,
listen to me.
Speaker 2 (27:45):
When I was a kid going to London in like
the late seventies, in the early eighties and the nineties,
the food was horrible.
Speaker 3 (27:52):
There was no food.
Speaker 2 (27:53):
It was like Paris had great food and Italy had
great food. Nothing to eat in London. And now, by
the way, there is terrible food in Paris. You can
get some really bad food in Paris, and London has
a million good restaurants, like some of the great restaurants.
I mean, don't come for me the other place, you
know what. I don't hate Los Angeles. I think the
(28:15):
longest I've ever spent in Los Angeles is about three
or four weeks, and I like it. I like the
whole because here's the thing, you know what, Like I
don't drive. I can't drive on a freeway, so it
always has to be a car.
Speaker 3 (28:26):
And driver for me.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
So I don't know where I am in Los Angeles.
So I was like, oh, here, we're downtown. We're uptown.
I'm like, is there an uptown in a downtown in
this place?
Speaker 1 (28:35):
Right?
Speaker 3 (28:35):
But anyway, I like Los Angeles. I don't know.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
I mean I would live there for four or five
months or six months or whatever, you know, I would
live in Chicago.
Speaker 3 (28:44):
I adore Chicago. How about that? Oh my god? Chicago
is one of.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
The great It's like kind of a lot like New York,
except it's slightly smaller and slightly more kind of friendly
or something, and just every inch is interesting.
Speaker 3 (29:02):
They have millions of museums.
Speaker 2 (29:04):
There, and well they don't really have a theater thing
going on there, and that's my thing.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
Like, I need a Broadway show every minute, you know,
like to hate. I need a Broadway.
Speaker 1 (29:13):
Show, a Broadway show to see and to hate, to
see and.
Speaker 2 (29:16):
To hate exactly, Yes, yes, no, true, I do love
to hate a Broadway show. I love it more than
loving a Broadway show. I love to hate it, brother.
Speaker 1 (29:27):
Of course. And we've seen this, you know, we see,
we see, we've seen it. We've seen that.
Speaker 3 (29:35):
Oh my god.
Speaker 2 (29:36):
All right, okay, so I do love a Broadway show, Yes,
I do love that. You know, if you're in New York,
it takes what like six or seven hours to get
to Europe, for eight hours to get to Europe, whereas
if you live in Los Angeles, it takes like a
trillion years to get to Europe. But then again, if
you live in Los Angeles, it takes less time to
get to Japan or something. Right, And there was this
whole kind of movement afoot when I was a kid,
(29:58):
like in the eighties where people would go like, oh,
you know, the Pacific Rim. Soon it's going to be
all about Los Angeles because everyone just wants to be
in like, you know, Japan and Asia and whatever, and
so it's going to become all about Los Angeles because
it's quicker to get there from Los Angeles. And I'm thinking,
you know what, Pacific rim darling rim this, honey rim
(30:19):
this No, no, no, no, no, no, I don't know
Pacific rim darling.
Speaker 3 (30:23):
No no to the Pacific. Oh my god, you know,
I'm bringing back all these memories. But go on, wait,
did you ever.
Speaker 1 (30:31):
Fly the concord to get excuse me?
Speaker 2 (30:35):
Did I fly the concord? I the concord with so
many times?
Speaker 1 (30:40):
Tell me?
Speaker 2 (30:41):
It was incredible because you got there in like three hours.
You were in past in three hours, you were in like,
you know, London. There was a be a concord. It
was also the most terrifying thing in the world because.
Speaker 1 (30:53):
You say, it looks so scary.
Speaker 3 (30:55):
Because it's narrow, narrow, narrow.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
Now literally there's two tiny seats and then two tiny seats,
and it's long and you can barely stand up, and
there's Stewardess is with carts and it's crazy. And by
the way, you know, like two seats ahead of you
is Anna Winter, right and Ray Charles and Merce Cunningham.
Speaker 3 (31:16):
I'm not kidding you. This was who used to fly
in the concord.
Speaker 2 (31:19):
And I swear they could never land where they were
supposed to because it was too light or too much wind.
And I was in the concord a few times when
like they had to drop fuel over the ocean and
go back, and then you'd have to get another flight,
and it took you three times as long, and it
was also expensive. It was so crazy anyway, so many
times that happened to me twice where they had to
dump the fuel and go back. And then once we
(31:41):
barely landed in London, it was so scary and we
didn't land when we were supposed to land. So I
was with George Malcolmus, who was a really good friend
of mine, George of Manola Blonic fame, right. I don't
know why he was on the same flight in the
concord and luckily because he was able to arrange a car.
I am so not good at arranging things, really.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
It's like you can arrange things, No.
Speaker 3 (32:03):
I get an assistant to arrange things.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
Charling, did you arrange your assistant to arrange those things?
Speaker 2 (32:08):
I'm just saying, well, this is before the cell phone
and before the Wi fi. You know where you could
say to that We're not landing at Spittlesfield or whatever
the hell the name of that airport was in London.
We're landing at some other god forsaken place near London,
and I need now by the way, it's going to
be a three hour drive to get to Lesson. You see,
(32:28):
what you think you're making up for, You're not making up.
Speaker 4 (32:31):
I only brought that up because I was watching the
Supermodel documentary and they were talking about and they looked
it up and I'm like, this seems like the scariest
thing I've ever seen in my life.
Speaker 3 (32:38):
That's very scary.
Speaker 2 (32:39):
And by the way, Linda Evangelista, I'm sure I told
this story before. It's a really larious story. She used
to really like my clothes and she would order them
at fittings. And then one day she came to a
fitting and there was some clothes for her and Dawn Brown,
this woman who ran public relations for me in those days.
She said to Linda, where should we send these clothes?
And she was like, hmm, you know what, just send
(33:02):
them to the Air France Concord Lounge.
Speaker 3 (33:04):
They'll know where to find me.
Speaker 2 (33:05):
And I was like what and she meant that she
was I know, it was really fabulous. It was very Linda,
It is fabulous.
Speaker 1 (33:19):
Okay.
Speaker 4 (33:20):
So Sarah Simone asked, how are you able to find
time to do all the things you're involved with, designing,
et cetera.
Speaker 3 (33:27):
How do I find time to do what I do?
Speaker 2 (33:29):
Honestly, I have way too much time on my hands,
you know, Like, yeah, I end up spending a lot
of time, you know, playing computer bridge. I mean it,
I don't know, it's it's really not an issue finding
time to do stuff that you need. I always say
that it's actually it takes less time, you know, to
(33:51):
do what you want and to do all the things
you want. Then it takes to kind of regret not
doing what you want. Regret is a very time consuming pastime, Darling.
It's a very very time consuming thing. Regret is that's
gonna eat away at you, Darling, It's gonna eat away
at you. Try not to regret shit, Try to do
(34:12):
everything and not regret not doing things.
Speaker 1 (34:15):
I mean you have them.
Speaker 2 (34:16):
Well, you know, back to that psychic that Bruce Weber
told me to go see, right, like maybe I did
do everything. Maybe I should regret everything I've ever done,
you know, But I got to tell you it's like,
you know, I've been told by better psychics that she
was crazy. I've been working on this in therapy since
I'm eight years old, you know, right, And I think
(34:39):
in my case, you know, I write a lot of jokes.
I do an act in a club that I then
take on tour to theaters, and it really works great
in theaters. It almost becomes like a crazy, little, very
intimate concert, you know.
Speaker 3 (34:52):
And I find that, like, because I don't have.
Speaker 2 (34:58):
This monot to this past, because I did do so
many different things, I feel like I have a lot
more to talk about or something like, I feel that
the culture that everyone needs to kind of encourage within themselves.
Like I think everybody is constantly looking at art and
(35:20):
reading things and looking at politics and looking at the
world they live in, and they're figuring out who they
are and they're expressing themselves in an original way. And
in my case, you know, Darling, I've seen a lot
of different stuff. I had a talk show on two
different networks for like a total of seven years, you know.
(35:41):
I did talking heads on Red Carpets for years next
to Joan Rivers, I exactly, you know. And I've met
all these people, and I know these people, and I've
been to like factories and crazy places like you know,
whatever it is in Asia and in Europe, and it
was just different kinds of experiences. So when I talk
(36:03):
about things, I tend to think that it's an interesting perspective.
Like when I said earlier that I don't like to
be bored. Yes, I would also rather die than bore people.
You know, I don't think that's possible. By the way, Well,
I haven't seen it. I haven't experienced it. I haven't
seen it, right. And the other thing is like, because
(36:25):
I didn't start telling jokes at a young age the
way like Seinfeld or something. You know, they all start
when they're in their teens and their twenties, and they
go to the comedy club and they tell a million
bad jokes, right, and then they finally get a good one,
and they think, Wow, this is a good joke, and
they learn what a good joke is. You know, Well,
I was learning what good jokes were all these years too,
(36:46):
without having to like fail at bad jokes. That never
resonates to me when they say, oh, you have to
like tell a million bad jokes till you get a
good ten minutes.
Speaker 4 (36:55):
You know, well, you you also are funny. I mean
I feel like a sense of humor and all of
that stuff is sort of you know, it's like tastes
like you either have it or you don't have it.
So I know that there has to be difference between
being funny in life and then being funny on stage right.
Speaker 2 (37:11):
Right there is because on stage you need some laughs,
you know what I mean, So you have to go
for the jugular. You have to build and build and
build and then get a laugh, you know, like you
have to get a lot of little.
Speaker 3 (37:21):
Laughs and then a big laugh. So it's a kind
of an architecture, right.
Speaker 2 (37:24):
But what I'm saying is like, you know, I do
a little of that, but I do mostly this kind
of audience like engagement where I hope that they're very
interesting because things occur to me on stage that are
much more interesting than just a joke.
Speaker 3 (37:40):
You know what I mean?
Speaker 1 (37:41):
Is that what you think of when you're on stage
and doing your cabreat.
Speaker 2 (37:45):
Mostly what I'm thinking of is what is happening exactly
at that moment. You know, It's like topical, right, like
what is the topic of the moment to something like
when I was in Houston a couple of weeks ago
was Beyonce's birthday, right big concert National Holidays, and they
had a big concert and I couldn't believe we were
(38:06):
sold up, but we were, and we had a big crowd,
you know, at the Zilka Center or whatever it was.
Speaker 3 (38:12):
Yes, and I thought, and I'm not kidding.
Speaker 2 (38:13):
The first line was so I guess you couldn't get
tickets to Beyonce.
Speaker 3 (38:17):
Right, But it just occurred to me.
Speaker 2 (38:19):
I looked at them, I was like, what the fuck
are you people doing here when you could actually be
at the Beyonce birthday concert?
Speaker 3 (38:25):
Are you crazy? You know? Well the.
Speaker 2 (38:29):
Joke?
Speaker 1 (38:30):
Did you say you were also the Beyonce of the Jews?
Speaker 2 (38:32):
Like?
Speaker 1 (38:32):
At that?
Speaker 2 (38:33):
I did not say no, I didn't say it, except
you know what, I wasn't wearing my hands broidantly.
Speaker 3 (38:39):
It's hard, exactly exactly right, right right?
Speaker 1 (38:42):
I know your birthday's coming up, right.
Speaker 2 (38:45):
Can we please talk about how shitty birthdays are?
Speaker 3 (38:49):
They are so shitty.
Speaker 4 (38:52):
There's so much pressure behind it. It's pressure to either
have a good day, pressure to see someone or do
something you don't want to do, or just the fact
that it's happening in general.
Speaker 2 (39:02):
So I exactly exactly. And either you're going to be
surprised by a bunch of people surprising you. Is there
anything worse than walking to a room people going you
wanna No, it's not going to happen, right, Or you're
planning your own birthday party, which seems so repulsive, and
so no one comes, but it's still it's like a
(39:25):
lot of stress, and then you think it's not going
to be as fun as like, and then you end
up doing nothing, and then you feel really shitty about
doing nothing. And then people send flowers.
Speaker 1 (39:39):
It's unless it's me, ho.
Speaker 2 (39:41):
Well, you know, unless it's one or two or three
things from me or z or some flowers that I
really like, but don't send the flowers.
Speaker 1 (39:52):
Flower.
Speaker 2 (39:53):
I like flowers, but that's don't send the flowers because
I love flowers, So don't send me flowers. Don't sell
me anything to eat, because that's also cruel when I'm
always trying to diet.
Speaker 4 (40:05):
I was going to send an edible arrangement and a couple,
you know, some flowers to your house, but.
Speaker 3 (40:09):
I edible arrangement. Oh my god, that's hilarious.
Speaker 2 (40:13):
You know, I'll tell you what, Like, I spend so
much time worrying about, like, you know, what I'm eating
and edible arrangements and people sending me things that whatever.
Speaker 3 (40:23):
And then there was.
Speaker 2 (40:23):
That incredible, the wonderful moment from Oprah where she went,
you know, I'm embarrassed that all this time in my
life I've wasted, wasted thinking I'm fat.
Speaker 3 (40:36):
I'm ugly, what the hell? Who the hell cares?
Speaker 2 (40:40):
Do you remember when she made that statement that was
something like fifteen years ago, and I was like, oh
my god, Oprah, I love you. So this was the
greatest thing anyone ever said. But then she regressed and
she went on a diet, and now she's like on ozeba.
Literally no, I'm serious, We don't say, but no, she
looks so skinny now, and I just want to go
so like, why is everyone and yet because it is
(41:03):
a weird common thing for people of my generation and
we must must move past that.
Speaker 3 (41:09):
That's what I really want to do.
Speaker 2 (41:10):
That's what I want to do on my birthday. Just
get over it already, Yes, get over it.
Speaker 1 (41:16):
But you don't feel like it gets easier.
Speaker 2 (41:19):
No, And you know what, every year when I go
from my checkup, my doctor goes, you're bordering on obesity, darling,
you're bordering on obesity.
Speaker 3 (41:26):
And he's not wrong.
Speaker 2 (41:28):
He's like, well, if you were going to be your regular,
this would be And it's like, I'm supposed to be
forty pounds thinner than I am. You know that would
make anybody crazy. That'll make anybody up.
Speaker 4 (41:38):
Of course, it's like, hey, like happy birthday. Also, can
you fix it?
Speaker 3 (41:42):
Can you change exactly right? Right?
Speaker 1 (41:45):
Okay, So last question, is there anything that you'd like
to promote on this podcast?
Speaker 2 (41:50):
Well, I have some shows first of all at Cafe Carlisle.
I'm doing like a sort of a holiday show November
twenty eighth and twenty ninth.
Speaker 3 (41:58):
Please get tickets to that.
Speaker 2 (42:00):
And I also have a show on December first in Stonybrook,
New York, and that'll be fun. People can come to that.
Come on Stonybrook, Come on Stonybrook. Please go to my
website Hello Isaac to get tickets, Hello Isaac dot com.
Speaker 1 (42:17):
Well, I mean I think that's it, right, It may.
Speaker 3 (42:19):
Possibly be it. I think fifteen needs to happen obviously.
Speaker 1 (42:24):
Right, But I'm down for part fifteen. I have my
people talk to your people and we can probably put
something together. But this has been fun.
Speaker 2 (42:32):
Well, it's been really great. Thank you, thank you. Thank
you did me a real favor. You did me a
real solid darling.
Speaker 1 (42:39):
It's my pleasure.
Speaker 3 (42:44):
Well, I mean, on top of feeling completely.
Speaker 2 (42:47):
Naked, like I've said stuff that I probably shouldn't have said,
I feel very accomplished. I feel like I did what
we set out to do, which was an even more
in depth interview than I could ever possibly do for
any other podcasts or any other interview or any other
(43:11):
magazine article. Like this was a lot of truth. Like
it was so much truth that I need a nap
for God's sake. And Darlings, you heard it here first.
That was so much fun. Keep the questions coming because
who knows, this may become a regular thing. Thank you
so much for listening, Darlings. If you enjoyed this episode,
(43:37):
do me a favor and tell someone, Tell a friend,
tell your mother, tell your cousin, tell everyone you know. Okay,
and be sure to rate the show.
Speaker 3 (43:47):
I love rating stuff.
Speaker 2 (43:48):
Go on and rate and review the show on Apple
Podcasts so more people can hear about it. It makes
such a gigantic difference. And like it takes a second,
so go.
Speaker 3 (43:58):
On and do it.
Speaker 2 (44:00):
And if you want more fun content videos and posts
of all kinds, follow the show on Instagram and TikTok at.
Hello Isaac podcast And by the way, check me out
on Instagram and TikTok at. I am Isaac Msrahi. This
is Isaac Missrahi. Thank you, I love you, and I
(44:22):
never thought I'd say this, but goodbye Isaac. Hello Isaac
is produced by Imagine Audio, Awfully Nice and I AM
Entertainment for iHeartMedia. The series is hosted by me Isaac Msrahi.
Hello Isaac is produced by Robin Gelfenbein. The senior producers
(44:43):
are Jesse Burton and John Assanti and his Executive produced
by Ron Howard, Brian Grazer, Carral Welker, and Nathan Klokey
at Imagine Audio, production management from Katie Hodges, Sound design
and mixing by Cedric Wilson. Original music composed by Than Walter.
A special thanks to Neil Phelps and Sarah Katanak at
(45:04):
I AM Entertainment
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