February 5, 2024 • 39 mins
Back by popular demand, guest host, Brandon Lewis, returns to ask Isaac Mizrahi more burning questions from his fans and Isaac doesn't hold back. He reveals the best advice he ever got from Liza Minelli, his favorite skincare regimen, what he wants (and doesn’t want) in his obituary and so much more.
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
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
You stick to a plan and you do what you
were supposed to do, and then you're a bit. You
don't have to worry about it because it's clear to
the world that you did what you were supposed to do,
yeh know, yes, Whereas like you know, right now, I
don't feel like it's clear that the world understands what
I'm supposed to do, okay, right, And so I'm afraid
(00:22):
if I die tomorrow, my oh bit will not say
the right thing. This is 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 2 (00:45):
Queen. It's queen. We have a lot to discuss, all right,
I'll talk to you soon. Thanks.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
So a few months ago, we had my friend Brandon
interview me for a special Thanksgiving episode called Ask Isaac.
Brandon asked me all these like really fabulous questions that
listeners sent in, and let me tell you, there was
some really incredibly juicy ones. Well, that episode was so
successful and we had so many questions that we didn't
(01:13):
even get to so I invited Brandon back for another round.
So today's episode is Ask Isaac, Part two, and we're
gonna delve even further, and in advance, I'm going to
thank you for your questions. Let's get right into it.
Queen Darling, it's so funny that we don't have nicknames
(01:36):
for each other other than queen. I mean, like, you know,
such a generic I.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Feel like that sort of it's all encompassing, right, don't
you feel like there's no other queen?
Speaker 1 (01:45):
Maybe? Maybe so? By the way, your your hair is
even shorter. Is that possible? Did you cut it even shorter?
Speaker 2 (01:51):
No? I didn't. I'm just sort of letting it. I'm
letting it go. You like this length?
Speaker 1 (01:54):
I do like it that length. I have to say, Darling,
here we are again. Here we are again?
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Yes, yes, here we are again. I think there's some
more questions.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Well answer the first time? Yeah, exactly. So do you
have the questions?
Speaker 2 (02:09):
I have the questions. Our first question is from Mel's
Bells and Mels Bell's Rights. How do you deal with
nerves before going on stage?
Speaker 1 (02:19):
Wow, Mels Mells Bells, I have to tell you that
is bone crushing, soul crushing. Really, yes, stage fright is
like the Boogeyman, you know, like it has absolutely no shape,
no name. It's like lurking like some crazy you know
(02:43):
Wes Craven's movie, where like there's something going to come
out of a closet and start hacking at you. Really, yes, yes,
Like it starts from a day or to an advance
and I'll put it off. And I put it off
because it is irrational. It's not a real fear. And
now more and more I am able to like make
myself calm and not nervous before I go out. And
(03:07):
I was texting with a really close friend of mine
at the last show I did, and I was saying,
stage fright is real, and I think I'm gonna kill
myself and blah blah, And he was like, Darling, really,
you know this material, Okay, just go out there and
have a lot of fun. Yes, and you know the rest.
That's the thing. I know. I mean, I know at
the minute you walk out on stage, you feel buoyed
(03:29):
by this love, you know, the waves of energy and
the waves of love that you're feeling from the audience,
and you hook into that baby and you're free. You're free,
and it's a kind of freedom that you can't describe.
There is nothing else in life that is as good
as that. You know, sex is not as good as
(03:51):
I'm not getting like an orgy, is that? Like I'm
trying to think like spaghetti with I don't know, with
meats and cheeses no es good good, not as good? Know.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
But the thing about it is you can never tell
that you would either have something like that or whatever
you do, well go.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
I mean, here's the thing, you know. I used to
work with Liza all the time, right, like Lilli. I
used to make like dresses for her shows, right, and
I used to dress her in clothes and she would
perform and them. We went out and we were very
close friends at her place at my place, like really
close friends. And one of the first times she gave
(04:28):
me an award, I think it was my first CFDA award.
The CFDA is the Council of Fashion Designers of America.
And I was literally like falling through the floor with
the nerves because like I felt like a Charlotte. Everybody has,
you know, imposter syndrome, and now here I am accepting
an award in this room full of people who really
(04:50):
feel it should be them accepting it right, So it
just didn't feel right. And she was like, Darling, it
looks like you're And by the way, she did call
me Darla. Yes, we called it yeah, and that case,
yes darling. She checked. She said, Darling, you're nervous. I
was like, you little bit, you know. She's like, okay,
what's your favorite flavor ice cream? And I said, oh,
my favorite flavor is I don't know, mint chocolate chip.
(05:13):
And she said, okay, pretend it's the end of the evening.
It's all over. You're sitting in your bed eating a
big bowl of mint chocolate chip ice cream. Right. So
if it sucks, it sucks, you still get your bowl
of ice cream. If it's great, you still get your both.
So if you can just keep that thought in your mind,
and that was the most genius thing anybody ever ever
(05:35):
said to me. So that was one thing. And then
if you watch her walk on stage in any venue,
whether it's you know, two hundred people in a nightclub
or it's you know, literally eight thousand people at Radio
City Music Hall, right, or tenthou twelve thousand people at mediums,
she takes that room, honey, She walks on that stage
(05:56):
and she takes them, you know, and that's what you learn,
You learn to take a room. It's that's the most
important thing I think about performing on stage is learning
how to enter.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
So Eric Forgot, that's his name, Eric Forgot. He asked,
is that the best advice you've ever received?
Speaker 1 (06:15):
Yes? I would say, so, that is the best advice
I ever received. Absolutely. It's a good question because I
don't believe in advice, you know. I always people say, oh,
what advice would you give, And I'd say, like, you know,
just run, don't do it. If you need advice, darling,
you're in the wrong profession, you know. But I would
say that is the best advice I ever received.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
Okay, Wait, Also, you received that advice from Judy's daughter,
you know, Lorna's sister. That's a little different.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Not everyone gets advice since daughter, since daughter's vincent. Yeah,
right now, you're right.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Okay, So what has been the proudest and she's met
so far or greatest challenge? And that was from Frederick Rubin.
You know.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
There are a few good achievements, right Okay. One was
the one man show I did on off Broadway in
late two thousand. Leme Mizrahi. Yeah, that was a really, really,
really big achievement, and it was realized, you know, under
a great deal of pressure and with a great deal
(07:19):
of obstacles, so many people who did not belong working
on that show, so many people who should have worked,
I mean, one obstacle after another, and finally it got
made and it ran for like over a year, I think,
between the workshop and the shows, it ran for a
very long time. And I was so proud of it,
and it made me feel so good to do that
(07:40):
show every night. You know. My other great achievement was
finishing a memoir. That felt like a big, big, big,
great achievement, and you know, because it was somehow about
reconciling what was in my head with the rest of
(08:00):
the world. You know, It's like, here is the story
as I lived it. So it might be skewed, it
might be wrong, but this is my truth, you know
what I mean. So if you're reading this book and
you don't agree, you are wrong, because it's just my truth,
you know. And I was really scared that my mother
would absolutely hate it and she would disown me or something,
(08:23):
because it's a very round portrait of this woman and
she really loved it. She's really not that coherent anymore,
but I slipped it in right under the like she
was coherent enough to read it and tell me how
proud she was of me for writing it, and tell
me how incredibly like flattered she was at the portrayal
(08:43):
of that character of my mother in that book, you know,
And that was like the greatest gift of ever.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
Well, I mean, it's an amazing book. I mean, I
did the audiobook because again, there were so many words
on the page and there were no pictures, so I
had to.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Listen to it, right because all you know is fashion
exactly exactly.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
I was like, we're the illustrations with the pictures. And
so after I finished, remember, I texted you and I
was like, this was the most amazing thing I've ever
you know, I know a lot of these stories because
you've shared them with me, but to have them all
at once in the way that you told it, I mean,
I thought it was an amazing book.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
Well, thank you, Darling, thank you, thank you. And I
think the greatest challenge for me, which sounds stupid, but
the greatest challenge for me is to try not to
like hate the physical reality of my face and my body.
I guess that comes from a kind of checked narcissism
(09:39):
or something. You know. It's like I want to be
beautiful and I was never beautiful and I was never
thin enough, and I was never beautiful enough, and so
like I look in the mirror and I go, really
that that that like my whole life, I'm fighting looking
in the mirror and hating what I see. You know
what I mean.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
But that's not just a you thing, you know what
I mean. I mean, like you don't feel that way,
But that's not a everyone feels that way. Any person
feels that way at any given time. They can feel
like they are not enough, they don't look a certain
way that they want to Darling.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
That's one of my famous quotes, well, which is something
like I don't remember, I can't quote myself. You can't
quote yourself, right, But it's something like it's something like,
stop worrying about what others think about the way you're
dressed or the way you look, because they're so freaked
out about how shitty they look to notice or something
(10:31):
like that. Yeah, it's true, every so freaked out about shitty, yes,
that they don't even notice what you look like, no,
unless you're on a red carpet right and taking your
picture and you're next to like, you know, Selma Blair
or something that weighs a paeon. She's so gorgeous and
she has that proportion. She looks so great and close
and there you are this towering like geek you know,
(10:52):
or something you know, like Sarah Jessica Parker, and she
looks like that and you look like this.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Well, you're describing these like glamazons, right, You're describe other
worldly type figures. No one care.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
Well, that's who I was surrounded by all those years,
and ballet dancers with those bodies.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
You know.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
I did ballet costumes, and I'm a ballet fiend. I
took class a few times. A few times. I took
a few classes when I.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Was on point. Did you do point? No?
Speaker 1 (11:19):
I never, I never. I do have a bit of
point shoes, I know on point I have, but I've
never performed in point shoes.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Now, great, okay, So nava Ignato asks what excites you
the most for the upcoming few years?
Speaker 1 (11:35):
What excites me the most is performing? Right, Like, I
have this incredible manager now who books me regularly in
sort of concert venues, small concert venues around the country.
And although it's not like Joan or Something or Sandra
Something who has like they just do every night they're
in another city, they're doing another show and they're so lucky.
What fun that must be. But I look forward to
(11:58):
kind of getting into a groove like that. That's what
I really want to do. And I want to write.
I want to write a play. I want to write
a television series. I want to write stuff, you know.
So that's what I look forward to the most. And
also I love my podcast. I know this sounds crazy,
but I love how it's plug Is that what you know?
But I love it, and I would love it to
(12:19):
reach a kind of a critical mass of some kind.
I would like it to be again in some kind
of the public discourse. I want it to be people
to talk about me. I want people to talk.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
I have a feeling that this specific episode will get
you to that point. So I'm happy to be here
for this transition, right, I have that to sort of,
you know, keep it going funny. So you're welcome. Yes, okay,
So how about this tell us about the most difficult
decision you've ever made in your life? And what was
(12:49):
the lesson? And that was from Lover of the Sea.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
You know, I was just talking about decision making with
my shrink the other day. Yes, because right now I'm
looking at making a lot of very very hard decisions.
I think right now, in the entire world, every single
person on this earth, I think it's just astrological to something.
It's a moment when people are making a lot of
hard decisions. Yes, and you're not a Libra. You are
(13:14):
a Gemini, is that right? You're a Gemini? Yeah, But
for a Libra, it's nearly impossible to make a decision, right,
You're just weighing things and weighing things and weighing things
and wearying things. And what ends up happening is like
there is no decision made. Like I remember, I swear
to god this is a really dumb story. But when
(13:36):
I was thirteen or something, okay, my parents said, oh,
do you want to go to sleep away camp? You know,
are you bored for two months? So you go out
and stay in a cabin for two months. And I
was very challenged by that idea, and I was like what, Ugh,
I don't know. And so for weeks I would go
to bed every night and wake up in the morning
(13:56):
and think and ponder and way and go yes, no,
this that the and then one morning I just woke
up and I knew that I was going to sleep away.
Like the decision was not mine to make. It just
made itself after so after looking at every angle, at
every aspect of it, and I feel like that's the
(14:18):
answer for a Libra. And I'm not sure you can
apply that to sort of, you know, an Aquarius to
something or a Virgo, But for a Libra, it's all
about letting the decision be made by the universe.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
And then what do you learn from that after you've
made that decision. It's kind of out of your hands.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
I don't know, you know, I learn a lot of things.
I learn ridiculous things that are embarrassing to talk. And
I would never say, like I learned that something has
more calories than something else, and not to eat that
thing if you don't want to gain you know, it's
like that's what I learned. As far as like learning lessons,
you could learn the lesson, but it doesn't affect the
(14:57):
way you act going forward, thank God, because you fail
and fail and fail, and by the way, you know, Hello,
Isaac is a lot about failure, and I'm not sure
if you got a question about failure and.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
I do actually have a couple.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Listen, let's get right into that topic. You know, people
answer that question they go, oh, I did this, and
I fell and I picked myself up by the bootstraps
and I learned, And I think that is a great truth.
But you know it's like for me, I don't learn
anything from failure because I fail often. And I think
(15:31):
the lesson you learned about failure is not to be
afraid of failing. Don't be afraid of failing and not
learning your lesson. I guess people would think that when
I closed my coturier in nineteen ninety eight or whatever
that was, that was a great, big failure. But you
know what, like I never saw it as a failure.
I thought it was the greatest decision that had ever
(15:53):
been made. And again I kind of weighed things and
weighed things that I was like, should I do this?
Should I do should I close my door? Should I
conform to what this company wants me to do in
order to stay open? And I just didn't think it
was fresh. I thought I would be very bored and
so like the decision was made for me. We closed
the doors, and when we did, I felt so liberated.
(16:16):
I mean it, I felt better on those few days
after that. And I know that sounds weird, and I'm
really sorry about all the people that lost their jobs
and all the people who had a lot of clothes
that they had to sell whatever, But for me personally,
it was a big, big, big burden that was just
getting worse and worse and worse, and I was so
happy to be free of it. So I didn't really
(16:36):
like think of it as a big failure. And I
was going around telling people like this is the greatest,
and they thought I was in denial, and maybe I was.
It could be that I was in denial. And there
were people who would call and leave these metress like oh, darling,
I'm so sorry, call me back, call me back, And
then I knew they wanted to commiserate with me, and
I did not feel that way. And then I'd get
(16:57):
another message like darling, don't you want to talk? And
then the third message like you better call me back?
You ask whole like what you know? It's like, well,
because I know that you just want to get me
on the phone. So you of course hear how miserable
I am when I'm not. You know, do you feel like.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
That was a sort of important part of your transitioning
into all these other fields like that needed to happen
in order for you to go to do your one
man show, to do your television show.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
I guess so, you know, I guess. So. I mean again,
like things happen to me, you know, and I mean
this it's the same thing as feeling that I don't
really make decisions. You know. I strive, and I strive,
and I try to get things done, and I try
to get things done, but what ends up happening to
me is much more important and much more profound than
(17:44):
what I plan, you know. And so like I was
working on my one man show way before I closed
out in nineteen ninety eight, I was doing Joe's pub already,
it was already kind of in the world doing stuff.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
Yes, Do you don't feel like that allowed you the more?
Speaker 1 (18:02):
Yes? Maybe it did. Maybe it did. Maybe I saw
it as this like thing where I was letting go
of a big, big, big infrastructure that I didn't need
any more personally, you know, Yeah, yes, could be. But
you know what I mean it's like, yes, it happened.
I didn't do it, It just happened, and I was
so thrilled.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
You know.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
Yeah, I don't know exactly how to answer the question,
because yes, you learn a lot from failure, but the
best lesson to learn from failure is not to be
afraid to fail again.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
You know, yeah, I mean, you know, and if you do, then.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
It's fine, right, exactly, it's not fine. It's fine. It
is what it is, right, and your life is going
to take a shape.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
I mean that was literally verbatim what fl At the
Shore's question was, which was, you know, your successful failure
as an important teacher, what lessons have you learned?
Speaker 1 (18:56):
Well, there you go, a cell, darling, thank you for
the question.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
All right, So what do you love about living in
New York?
Speaker 1 (19:14):
You know, I don't even know anymore. I just know
that I hate living everywhere else, you know, I just
know that I go other places and I go, oh,
you know, no, no, no, except you know, I really
like Bridgehampton, and but Bridge Hampton is in the Tri
state area, so I take it as it's part of
the New York experience. And by the way, the real
(19:34):
houseoves of New York. A few episodes take place in
the Hampton's. So yeah, so we feel justified. But I
swear to you, Brandon, like I am one of those
like crazy characters who you know, have a real hard
time separating from New York. And you know, it's like
that Rose Nyland thing from The Golden Girls when they
(19:55):
go to New York City, when Dorothy and Rose go
to New York City and it's roses for time in
New York and Dorothy goes, well, what did you think?
And Rose goes, oh, it's so much like how does
anybody live here? The noise? And you know, I went
to Bloomingdale's. You could fit the whole of Saint Olaf
like inside the store of Bloomingdals. It's just so much
(20:15):
and so big and so much and so big. And
the thing is, that's what I was born into. That's
what I was bred into. You know. I was born
in Brooklyn, and you know, my father worked on thirty
fourth Street, across the street from Macy's. I went to
high school on forty sixth Street between sixth and Broadway,
right in the middle of the theater district, you know,
(20:38):
And so I grew up in all of the excitement
and danger and squalor and incredible beauty of New York City.
And when you get used to that, you know, like
in La they go, oh, look at that view, and
I'm like, what, that's a view. That's some lights and
some houses, you know, right, you want to see of you, darling?
(20:59):
You are you? Yes, go to Brooklyn and look at
the skyline from Brooklyn, you know, or look at the
Empire State Building from like my neighbor's window. You know,
it's like that is of you, right. Sorry. I like
living in New York because I know I wouldn't like
living anywhere else. And I like the constant bombardment of stimulation.
(21:20):
And I like the great contrast of beautiful things and
really really ugly terrible things, you know. I like that contrast.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
Well, okay, so you've lived in the West Village for forever. Yes,
why not the Upper East Side?
Speaker 1 (21:35):
Well, listen, I lived on the Upper West Side of
the eighties. When I first moved out of my mom's house.
Everything up there was really inexpensive and it was very cool.
It was coming up from a real bombed out kind
of a thing, and there were all these fun new
places in the Upper West side. I would live in
the Upper East Side, could you know?
Speaker 2 (21:55):
I mean, I feel like it's you, you know a little.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
Bit darling listen, rethinking everything. I guess I'm going through
some kind of crazy Saturn or Pluto thing. I don't
know what, as my ask my my astrologer, I'm going
through some crazy things. But like, I don't mean to
shade every other place than New York. That's not what
I'm doing. If you talk to Rory Gilmore or Laura
(22:19):
La Gilmore or el Okay, they would say, like, no,
we're never leaving stars hollow because of course placed in
the world.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
And this one psychic said that to me when I
was eighteen. He said, well, you feel about New York
the way farmers feel about the soil, about the ground
under their feet where they're going to grow these crops
and they're going to reap the benefits of the crops.
And you know that's the thing. It's like people love
where they're from, and I love where I'm from. Rose
(22:47):
Nyland could not deal with it. I don't blame her,
but I can't deal with any place.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
Of course, you know it's New York. Or maybe we'd
have different feelings if we lived in stars them.
Speaker 1 (22:59):
Well, you know what, not kidding? Bridge Hampton is my
version of Star's Hollow.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
Okay, So what are your daily rituals or routine?
Speaker 1 (23:08):
Oh? Oh, well, you know there are some okay, by
the way, aside from the boring ones, like constantly flossing
and brushing one's teeth right, right, and you know, trying
to count points wait, unts points. I do a lot
of different moisturizers. I don't know if you know that, right,
I know, I know that, and I have been doing
(23:31):
that since I am I would say I got a
job at Perry Ellis when I was seventeen or eighteen
years old, and Perry Ellis, I don't know why, but
he was obsessed with Keels. It was just when Keels
was sort of like you know, coming even though it's
been open since the nineteenth century, it was having a
moment like it was having the moment where it was
(23:52):
revived into that big brand, and he was all about Keels.
And I remember like for me, it was expensive to
buy Krem decor, but I did. I did it anyway,
you know, Yes, I bought like, you know, facial moisturizer,
foot moisturizer, body moisturizer, you know, all kinds of like
posts and pre shaving moisturizers, like I have millions of these,
(24:13):
so I do believe in moisturizers.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
Would you like to be an influencer? Is that because
I know people who know my sister works for Keels,
like I can get you some things, you know? Do
you want to be a beauty influencer?
Speaker 1 (24:24):
I have to tell you, I like buying my own
beauty products, like please do not give me moisturizer. Please
not like, oh, here's a great product that you'll love,
because I won't. I'm just telling you I won't love
that product.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
You know.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
Okay, give me a moisturizer because I got it. I
got it together. It's a great trial and error that
I come to my beauty routine. So don't try to
influence gives me?
Speaker 2 (24:48):
Okay, all right it okay? So I have a fashion
question for you. What is your favorite collection you've ever done?
And why? And that's from our good friend Deborah Watson.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
We loved it, Debbie Debs. What's going Debs? I think
my favorite collection I ever did. I thought the best
collection I ever did, got the worst reviews ever, but
it was definitely the best work I've ever done, which
was this collection that I did. I don't remember what
year it was or what season, but girl, I just
had so many ideas and I made them all happen,
(25:20):
and I made them all relate in this way. It
was all about like this new approach to like the Southwest, right.
So I had these giant kind of like photo reel
prints that I swear I did first. You know, people go, oh,
he's doing that, darling, look at it. Before I made
those dresses with huge roses on, like human size roses.
(25:42):
No one ever did that, Okay, So I did that.
I created that whole thing. Maybe others had done handpainted.
I worked with this woman called Sylvia Cannapa who was
a friend, and she ran this mill with her sisters Cannapa.
It was called Canapa, and they killed themselves. They made
me like literally like seventy five different fabrics and seventy
(26:03):
five different prints. So it's these amazing huge prints. And
also it wasn't American West as much as it was
like gun Smoke or something like Mushady with like curls curls.
The hair was so good. Yeah, I think the hair
was Garren and it was so like fucked up and good.
Kevin did the face Kevin's face obviously, and that so
(26:26):
it was a lot of like sort of like hoe
down skirts and big, big, big lashes. But also I
made up this thing called tooled and jeweled, and I
found the sky somewhere in Texas or somewhere whatever who
made the most gorgeous like tooled leather objects. And I
made him make like tooled leather boustiers, you know, and
(26:47):
like jewelry that was all tooled leather pieces that had
then been encrusted. I mean, it was too much. And
then I made lace. I had this lace fabricated with
like horseshoes and horses, and it was too much. It
was so great. So it wasn't like you know, that
sort of Ralph Laura in American West thing, which I
think is genius, But it wasn't that. I would never
(27:09):
take that from him. He does that period. He's the
one who does that, you know. But I did this
whole kind of gun smoke thing, and it was hilarious
and it was so glamorous and the girls looked so glamorous,
and it was this Manola Blanic. The shoe was genius.
It was this high heel with just like a two
straps across. It was very miskitty. All I have to
say to Manola was miss kitty, and in two seconds
(27:32):
he understood the whole esthetics kitty should be. Then in
a minute I was sent to the shoe and five
minutes later I got the shoe from Minola. Blank.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
But he's like two words, miss kitty. That's it. I'm
not going to say anymore.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
Yep, not gonna say. I'm done.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
I'm done, okay. So what do you like to do
in your free time and what are your favorite things
to do? This is from Roseanne Limbiano.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
I like in my free time to do almost nothing,
you know, Yes, like in my free time to be
with my dogs and to cook a little something. I
really like to cook. And I have like my five
favorite things that I cook, and occasionally I'll discover something
new to cook and one of them is like a
(28:14):
roasted fish. I mean they're all so incredibly simple things,
you know. So that's what I like to do. I
like to do very little. I love watching the Gilmore Girls.
I love watching Missus Mays give me a Sherman Palladino
moment of course, give me a binge of a Sherman
Palladino and I'm very happy.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
How many times have you watched Kilmore Girls exactly this?
Speaker 1 (28:37):
I'm going on my fifth time around. Okay, yes it's
crazy but true.
Speaker 2 (28:43):
I'm still in mournings, so it's like, you know, I can't.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
Just finished, but it comes back. I'm telling you, I
never finished. I just was like, Okay, season seven's over,
let's start again. Season one, Episode one, Rory at Luke's
being you know, hit on by the guy, right, yeah,
we will remember.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
It's too fresh, you know what I mean. Like the
other day I heard the wedding song that played during
Lorelei and Luke's wedding at the you know those episodes
that they did for Netflix. Like I heard that song
and I was just like, you know what, too soon.
I can't go there yet. I can't go there. I
can't go there. It's actually too much for me. Maren
(29:27):
tar Ass, do you prefer dinner out or at home?
And if at home, do you plan out for the week.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
Well, let's see, I love eating out. I love it.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
You know.
Speaker 1 (29:39):
My mother used to say this thing, like her definition
of homosexuality, the favorite thing in the world. When I
was dating this guy, Douglas, his mother and she and
I and Douglas had dinner one night and Douglas's mother
was like, Oh, it's so hard, so hard to be gay,
and they're persecuted and blah blah. And my mother said, Darling,
don't worryorry about them. To have a great life. They
(30:02):
eat out, they see shows. Yes, that was the end
of the sentence. They eat out all they see shows.
That's all that we just left it dangling. That's all
that we do. And she was right, like, I really
like to eat out. And I have to tell you
I like eating in restaurants that I know because I
know I'm not going to be thrown shade. I'm going
to be seated in a nice place Il Cantanri, Santa Bros.
(30:25):
You know these kinds of places, Pierre's, Bridge Hampton, Dope,
bo Il Punte whatever it is, you know what I mean. Yeah,
I like going to those places. But I also love
to cook. And during COVID, it was a very very
important thing that you planned out cooking, you know. So
to answer her question, now, yes, I do plan three
or four days in advance, right, and you know, you
(30:47):
try to buy, like stuff that you know will remain fresh.
You know, if you buy a fish, it's not going
to remain fresh, so you have to buy that that day,
you know.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
So yeah, well, you know I've only seen these sort
of home cook fields. I haven't personally experience them.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
Well at some point, I'm sure I've cooked for you
once or twice.
Speaker 2 (31:05):
Brandwalls. Okay, okay. Do you play an instrument? And this
is from outstanding game plan.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
I used to play an instrument. I played piano for
years and years and years, and then I just stopped.
Like I pretended that I didn't stop. I would pick
something up and I would play something, and now I
just completely stopped and over COVID again. My friend Mark
Marris was like, what a good opportunity. You have nothing
(31:35):
but time on your hands. Why don't you start playing
the piano again? And he was right, And I tried
and I just couldn't. It is just torture for me
to play the piano. That was one thing I was
able to give up, you know, Like when I was
a kid, I took a lot of piano lessons. You know,
at one point I thought maybe I was going to
be like a concert pianist, and I really really made
(31:55):
the effort, and you know, it really was very, very
very hard. It didn't come as naturally to me as
some of the other things I do. And music comes
very naturally to me. Singing comes very naturally to me,
but not playing the piano, not playing an instrument, you know,
but luckily I learned to do it, and luckily I
(32:15):
can read music, so this comes in very handy for me.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
And you've written lyrics for songs.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
I have written lyrics, and I am in the process
of writing more lyrics.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
So okay, well, also an album soon, please. I feel
like everyone's been asking for this, for this album. Yes, well, okay,
how about this? What do you want your obituary to say?
Speaker 1 (32:35):
You know, And here's the thing. I'm glad this is
like a forum. This is like an Isaac Brandon forum.
Speaker 2 (32:40):
This is a safe space.
Speaker 1 (32:41):
A safe space because here's the thing about oh bits.
It drives me crazy. I think about it all the time.
You know, there are certain oh bits that have made
me more crazy, either in their placement, like way in
the back on the worst page, in like a corner
on the bottom with that worst picture.
Speaker 2 (33:00):
It would kill you, right, it would kill me, right right?
Speaker 1 (33:03):
Did you ever read Marlon Brando's A Bit Right, No,
I'm not kidding you. The first paragraph or the headline
was something like Marlon Brando, the brilliant actor who was
supposed to be a huge legendary star and wasn't, you know,
And it's like, okay, he wasn't. Like this is news
(33:23):
to me. He failed. Yes, the whole oh bit was
about how Marlon Brando didn't really accomplish what he set
out to accomplish, you know, Like that's the problem with
my whole operating sort of philosophy, which is that you know,
you stick to a plan and you do what you
(33:45):
were supposed to do, and then you're a bit. You
don't have to worry about it because it's clear to
the world that you did what you were supposed to do,
yeh know, yes, Whereas like, you know, right now, I
don't feel like it's clear that the world under stands
what I'm supposed to do, okay, right, And so I'm
afraid if I die tomorrow, a bit will not say
(34:08):
the right thing.
Speaker 2 (34:09):
What do you know, it's gonna say like legendary, famed, you.
Speaker 1 (34:13):
Know, No, it's going to say like I did a
lot of things.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
That did a lot of stuff.
Speaker 1 (34:18):
Right, But I feel as though, you know, I have
yet to like write a very very good novel. I
have yet to appear on stage and thrill some kind
of like you know, critical massive people. You know, that
was the plan. That was what I was supposed to
be remembered by. So oh bits are really really important
to me. And then you talk to Jake Cohen, or
(34:42):
you talk to Solely Dot O'Brien, or you talk to
a lot of people and you ask this question and
they go, you know, I want Solely Dot o brian
said this thing to me, and I swear to god,
she really opened a light bulb in my brain. She said,
you know what I just wanted to say, like, you know,
Solidad O'Brien, wife, mother, blah blah. She was a good person,
(35:04):
you know, yeah, And I think maybe that's all I
want from my obituary, Isaac Mizrahi. She was a good person,
you know what I mean, Like, maybe that's what it's
all about, just being a good person. And I remember
I had this shrink for twenty five years. You know,
I've been in therapy since I literally in first grade,
so eight years old right till now. And I recently
(35:25):
have found a new shrink about eight years ago. Right,
But the shrink I was with for twenty five years
he died, well, he was very old. He died at
like ninety six or something like that. And it was
kind of devastating because we were right in the middle.
I knew it was coming because you were a ninety
six year old shrink. You're kind of expecting something, right,
(35:46):
you don't laugh, don't laught. But anyway, he was like
the center of my world. He was such a father figure,
such a friend figure. And he used to say to me, Isaac, Isaac, Isaac,
stop with that, stopping And this was what I loved
about hi, because you are not supposed to say things.
He would say, Isaac, you are a good person. Usually
you do the good right, just thing. And when he
(36:10):
would say that to me, I would stop and go, Okay,
you know that's it, that's enough. So I think I
want to be a good person. He was a good person. Yeah, yes, yeah,
and he failed at everything he tried to.
Speaker 2 (36:24):
Do right awful in the car and stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (36:26):
Exactly right.
Speaker 2 (36:28):
Okay, So last question, what do you have to promote
on this podcast?
Speaker 1 (36:32):
Me, what do I have to promote? Well, you know,
aside from thee hundred million things that I do constantly,
we have a lot of shows coming up, and I'm
not exactly sure when or where this is. Okay, a few,
So go on my website, which is Hello Isaac dot
com and look him up and come to my shows. Please.
That's what I'm promoting. Yes, and world peace, of course,
(36:54):
and world peace. I'd like to the world peace.
Speaker 2 (36:56):
Right exactly. Okay, this has been fun, so fun?
Speaker 1 (37:03):
How is that over? God? You know, it just goes
by so fast. Don't forget that, darling. Youth is gone.
I take advantage of your youth, I mean it. God,
that's my final closing thought. Take advantage damn youth if
you can call it youth anymore. Okay, all right, why bye?
(37:35):
I have to say I could get very used to
this where I am asked the questions and I answer
the questions. It's so much fun. I have to say.
I love it, and I want to thank you all
so much for asking me so many great questions which
brought out so many things about my own bit. I mean,
I had never really kind of answered that question in
(37:56):
such detail before or the question about stage fright and
Liza's amazing advice. Anyway, what a fun, fun, fun podcast.
I hope you liked it. Thank you so much for
joining Darlings. If you enjoyed this episode, do me a
favorite and tell someone, tell a friend, tell your mother,
(38:19):
tell your cousin, tell everyone you know. Okay, and be
sure to rate the show. I love rating stuff. 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 on and do it. And if you want more
fun content videos and posts of all kinds, follow the
(38:44):
show on Instagram and TikTok at Hello Isaac podcast And
by the way, check me out on Instagram and TikTok at.
I Am Isaac Musrahi. This is Isaac Msrahi. Thank you.
I love you and I never thought I say this,
but goodbye Isaac. Hello Isaac is produced by Imagine Audio
(39:08):
Awfully Nice and I AM Entertainment for I Heeart Media.
The series is hosted by me Isaac Musrahi. Hello Isaac
is produced by Robin Gelfenbein. The senior producers are Jesse
Burton and John Assanti vis Executive produced by Ron Howard,
Brian Grazerkarra Welker, and Nathan Cloke at Imagined Audio, Production
(39:31):
management from Katie Hodges, Sound design and mixing by Cedric Wilson.
Original music composed by Ben Waltzon. A special thanks to
Neil Phelps and Sarah katzmak at i AM Entertainment
You stick to a plan and you do what you
were supposed to do, and then you're a bit. You
don't have to worry about it because it's clear to
the world that you did what you were supposed to do,
yeh know, yes, Whereas like you know, right now, I
don't feel like it's clear that the world understands what
I'm supposed to do, okay, right, And so I'm afraid
(00:22):
if I die tomorrow, my oh bit will not say
the right thing. This is 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 2 (00:45):
Queen. It's queen. We have a lot to discuss, all right,
I'll talk to you soon. Thanks.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
So a few months ago, we had my friend Brandon
interview me for a special Thanksgiving episode called Ask Isaac.
Brandon asked me all these like really fabulous questions that
listeners sent in, and let me tell you, there was
some really incredibly juicy ones. Well, that episode was so
successful and we had so many questions that we didn't
(01:13):
even get to so I invited Brandon back for another round.
So today's episode is Ask Isaac, Part two, and we're
gonna delve even further, and in advance, I'm going to
thank you for your questions. Let's get right into it.
Queen Darling, it's so funny that we don't have nicknames
(01:36):
for each other other than queen. I mean, like, you know,
such a generic I.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Feel like that sort of it's all encompassing, right, don't
you feel like there's no other queen?
Speaker 1 (01:45):
Maybe? Maybe so? By the way, your your hair is
even shorter. Is that possible? Did you cut it even shorter?
Speaker 2 (01:51):
No? I didn't. I'm just sort of letting it. I'm
letting it go. You like this length?
Speaker 1 (01:54):
I do like it that length. I have to say, Darling,
here we are again. Here we are again?
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Yes, yes, here we are again. I think there's some
more questions.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Well answer the first time? Yeah, exactly. So do you
have the questions?
Speaker 2 (02:09):
I have the questions. Our first question is from Mel's
Bells and Mels Bell's Rights. How do you deal with
nerves before going on stage?
Speaker 1 (02:19):
Wow, Mels Mells Bells, I have to tell you that
is bone crushing, soul crushing. Really, yes, stage fright is
like the Boogeyman, you know, like it has absolutely no shape,
no name. It's like lurking like some crazy you know
(02:43):
Wes Craven's movie, where like there's something going to come
out of a closet and start hacking at you. Really, yes, yes,
Like it starts from a day or to an advance
and I'll put it off. And I put it off
because it is irrational. It's not a real fear. And
now more and more I am able to like make
myself calm and not nervous before I go out. And
(03:07):
I was texting with a really close friend of mine
at the last show I did, and I was saying,
stage fright is real, and I think I'm gonna kill
myself and blah blah, And he was like, Darling, really,
you know this material, Okay, just go out there and
have a lot of fun. Yes, and you know the rest.
That's the thing. I know. I mean, I know at
the minute you walk out on stage, you feel buoyed
(03:29):
by this love, you know, the waves of energy and
the waves of love that you're feeling from the audience,
and you hook into that baby and you're free. You're free,
and it's a kind of freedom that you can't describe.
There is nothing else in life that is as good
as that. You know, sex is not as good as
(03:51):
I'm not getting like an orgy, is that? Like I'm
trying to think like spaghetti with I don't know, with
meats and cheeses no es good good, not as good? Know.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
But the thing about it is you can never tell
that you would either have something like that or whatever
you do, well go.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
I mean, here's the thing, you know. I used to
work with Liza all the time, right, like Lilli. I
used to make like dresses for her shows, right, and
I used to dress her in clothes and she would
perform and them. We went out and we were very
close friends at her place at my place, like really
close friends. And one of the first times she gave
(04:28):
me an award, I think it was my first CFDA award.
The CFDA is the Council of Fashion Designers of America.
And I was literally like falling through the floor with
the nerves because like I felt like a Charlotte. Everybody has,
you know, imposter syndrome, and now here I am accepting
an award in this room full of people who really
(04:50):
feel it should be them accepting it right, So it
just didn't feel right. And she was like, Darling, it
looks like you're And by the way, she did call
me Darla. Yes, we called it yeah, and that case,
yes darling. She checked. She said, Darling, you're nervous. I
was like, you little bit, you know. She's like, okay,
what's your favorite flavor ice cream? And I said, oh,
my favorite flavor is I don't know, mint chocolate chip.
(05:13):
And she said, okay, pretend it's the end of the evening.
It's all over. You're sitting in your bed eating a
big bowl of mint chocolate chip ice cream. Right. So
if it sucks, it sucks, you still get your bowl
of ice cream. If it's great, you still get your both.
So if you can just keep that thought in your mind,
and that was the most genius thing anybody ever ever
(05:35):
said to me. So that was one thing. And then
if you watch her walk on stage in any venue,
whether it's you know, two hundred people in a nightclub
or it's you know, literally eight thousand people at Radio
City Music Hall, right, or tenthou twelve thousand people at mediums,
she takes that room, honey, She walks on that stage
(05:56):
and she takes them, you know, and that's what you learn,
You learn to take a room. It's that's the most
important thing I think about performing on stage is learning
how to enter.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
So Eric Forgot, that's his name, Eric Forgot. He asked,
is that the best advice you've ever received?
Speaker 1 (06:15):
Yes? I would say, so, that is the best advice
I ever received. Absolutely. It's a good question because I
don't believe in advice, you know. I always people say, oh,
what advice would you give, And I'd say, like, you know,
just run, don't do it. If you need advice, darling,
you're in the wrong profession, you know. But I would
say that is the best advice I ever received.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
Okay, Wait, Also, you received that advice from Judy's daughter,
you know, Lorna's sister. That's a little different.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Not everyone gets advice since daughter, since daughter's vincent. Yeah,
right now, you're right.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Okay, So what has been the proudest and she's met
so far or greatest challenge? And that was from Frederick Rubin.
You know.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
There are a few good achievements, right Okay. One was
the one man show I did on off Broadway in
late two thousand. Leme Mizrahi. Yeah, that was a really, really,
really big achievement, and it was realized, you know, under
a great deal of pressure and with a great deal
(07:19):
of obstacles, so many people who did not belong working
on that show, so many people who should have worked,
I mean, one obstacle after another, and finally it got
made and it ran for like over a year, I think,
between the workshop and the shows, it ran for a
very long time. And I was so proud of it,
and it made me feel so good to do that
(07:40):
show every night. You know. My other great achievement was
finishing a memoir. That felt like a big, big, big,
great achievement, and you know, because it was somehow about
reconciling what was in my head with the rest of
(08:00):
the world. You know, It's like, here is the story
as I lived it. So it might be skewed, it
might be wrong, but this is my truth, you know
what I mean. So if you're reading this book and
you don't agree, you are wrong, because it's just my truth,
you know. And I was really scared that my mother
would absolutely hate it and she would disown me or something,
(08:23):
because it's a very round portrait of this woman and
she really loved it. She's really not that coherent anymore,
but I slipped it in right under the like she
was coherent enough to read it and tell me how
proud she was of me for writing it, and tell
me how incredibly like flattered she was at the portrayal
(08:43):
of that character of my mother in that book, you know,
And that was like the greatest gift of ever.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
Well, I mean, it's an amazing book. I mean, I
did the audiobook because again, there were so many words
on the page and there were no pictures, so I
had to.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Listen to it, right because all you know is fashion
exactly exactly.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
I was like, we're the illustrations with the pictures. And
so after I finished, remember, I texted you and I
was like, this was the most amazing thing I've ever
you know, I know a lot of these stories because
you've shared them with me, but to have them all
at once in the way that you told it, I mean,
I thought it was an amazing book.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
Well, thank you, Darling, thank you, thank you. And I
think the greatest challenge for me, which sounds stupid, but
the greatest challenge for me is to try not to
like hate the physical reality of my face and my body.
I guess that comes from a kind of checked narcissism
(09:39):
or something. You know. It's like I want to be
beautiful and I was never beautiful and I was never
thin enough, and I was never beautiful enough, and so
like I look in the mirror and I go, really
that that that like my whole life, I'm fighting looking
in the mirror and hating what I see. You know
what I mean.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
But that's not just a you thing, you know what
I mean. I mean, like you don't feel that way,
But that's not a everyone feels that way. Any person
feels that way at any given time. They can feel
like they are not enough, they don't look a certain
way that they want to Darling.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
That's one of my famous quotes, well, which is something
like I don't remember, I can't quote myself. You can't
quote yourself, right, But it's something like it's something like,
stop worrying about what others think about the way you're
dressed or the way you look, because they're so freaked
out about how shitty they look to notice or something
(10:31):
like that. Yeah, it's true, every so freaked out about shitty, yes,
that they don't even notice what you look like, no,
unless you're on a red carpet right and taking your
picture and you're next to like, you know, Selma Blair
or something that weighs a paeon. She's so gorgeous and
she has that proportion. She looks so great and close
and there you are this towering like geek you know,
(10:52):
or something you know, like Sarah Jessica Parker, and she
looks like that and you look like this.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Well, you're describing these like glamazons, right, You're describe other
worldly type figures. No one care.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
Well, that's who I was surrounded by all those years,
and ballet dancers with those bodies.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
You know.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
I did ballet costumes, and I'm a ballet fiend. I
took class a few times. A few times. I took
a few classes when I.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Was on point. Did you do point? No?
Speaker 1 (11:19):
I never, I never. I do have a bit of
point shoes, I know on point I have, but I've
never performed in point shoes.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Now, great, okay, So nava Ignato asks what excites you
the most for the upcoming few years?
Speaker 1 (11:35):
What excites me the most is performing? Right, Like, I
have this incredible manager now who books me regularly in
sort of concert venues, small concert venues around the country.
And although it's not like Joan or Something or Sandra
Something who has like they just do every night they're
in another city, they're doing another show and they're so lucky.
What fun that must be. But I look forward to
(11:58):
kind of getting into a groove like that. That's what
I really want to do. And I want to write.
I want to write a play. I want to write
a television series. I want to write stuff, you know.
So that's what I look forward to the most. And
also I love my podcast. I know this sounds crazy,
but I love how it's plug Is that what you know?
But I love it, and I would love it to
(12:19):
reach a kind of a critical mass of some kind.
I would like it to be again in some kind
of the public discourse. I want it to be people
to talk about me. I want people to talk.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
I have a feeling that this specific episode will get
you to that point. So I'm happy to be here
for this transition, right, I have that to sort of,
you know, keep it going funny. So you're welcome. Yes, okay,
So how about this tell us about the most difficult
decision you've ever made in your life? And what was
(12:49):
the lesson? And that was from Lover of the Sea.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
You know, I was just talking about decision making with
my shrink the other day. Yes, because right now I'm
looking at making a lot of very very hard decisions.
I think right now, in the entire world, every single
person on this earth, I think it's just astrological to something.
It's a moment when people are making a lot of
hard decisions. Yes, and you're not a Libra. You are
(13:14):
a Gemini, is that right? You're a Gemini? Yeah, But
for a Libra, it's nearly impossible to make a decision, right,
You're just weighing things and weighing things and weighing things
and wearying things. And what ends up happening is like
there is no decision made. Like I remember, I swear
to god this is a really dumb story. But when
(13:36):
I was thirteen or something, okay, my parents said, oh,
do you want to go to sleep away camp? You know,
are you bored for two months? So you go out
and stay in a cabin for two months. And I
was very challenged by that idea, and I was like what, Ugh,
I don't know. And so for weeks I would go
to bed every night and wake up in the morning
(13:56):
and think and ponder and way and go yes, no,
this that the and then one morning I just woke
up and I knew that I was going to sleep away.
Like the decision was not mine to make. It just
made itself after so after looking at every angle, at
every aspect of it, and I feel like that's the
(14:18):
answer for a Libra. And I'm not sure you can
apply that to sort of, you know, an Aquarius to
something or a Virgo, But for a Libra, it's all
about letting the decision be made by the universe.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
And then what do you learn from that after you've
made that decision. It's kind of out of your hands.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
I don't know, you know, I learn a lot of things.
I learn ridiculous things that are embarrassing to talk. And
I would never say, like I learned that something has
more calories than something else, and not to eat that
thing if you don't want to gain you know, it's
like that's what I learned. As far as like learning lessons,
you could learn the lesson, but it doesn't affect the
(14:57):
way you act going forward, thank God, because you fail
and fail and fail, and by the way, you know, Hello,
Isaac is a lot about failure, and I'm not sure
if you got a question about failure and.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
I do actually have a couple.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Listen, let's get right into that topic. You know, people
answer that question they go, oh, I did this, and
I fell and I picked myself up by the bootstraps
and I learned, And I think that is a great truth.
But you know it's like for me, I don't learn
anything from failure because I fail often. And I think
(15:31):
the lesson you learned about failure is not to be
afraid of failing. Don't be afraid of failing and not
learning your lesson. I guess people would think that when
I closed my coturier in nineteen ninety eight or whatever
that was, that was a great, big failure. But you
know what, like I never saw it as a failure.
I thought it was the greatest decision that had ever
(15:53):
been made. And again I kind of weighed things and
weighed things that I was like, should I do this?
Should I do should I close my door? Should I
conform to what this company wants me to do in
order to stay open? And I just didn't think it
was fresh. I thought I would be very bored and
so like the decision was made for me. We closed
the doors, and when we did, I felt so liberated.
(16:16):
I mean it, I felt better on those few days
after that. And I know that sounds weird, and I'm
really sorry about all the people that lost their jobs
and all the people who had a lot of clothes
that they had to sell whatever, But for me personally,
it was a big, big, big burden that was just
getting worse and worse and worse, and I was so
happy to be free of it. So I didn't really
(16:36):
like think of it as a big failure. And I
was going around telling people like this is the greatest,
and they thought I was in denial, and maybe I was.
It could be that I was in denial. And there
were people who would call and leave these metress like oh, darling,
I'm so sorry, call me back, call me back, And
then I knew they wanted to commiserate with me, and
I did not feel that way. And then I'd get
(16:57):
another message like darling, don't you want to talk? And
then the third message like you better call me back?
You ask whole like what you know? It's like, well,
because I know that you just want to get me
on the phone. So you of course hear how miserable
I am when I'm not. You know, do you feel like.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
That was a sort of important part of your transitioning
into all these other fields like that needed to happen
in order for you to go to do your one
man show, to do your television show.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
I guess so, you know, I guess. So. I mean again,
like things happen to me, you know, and I mean
this it's the same thing as feeling that I don't
really make decisions. You know. I strive, and I strive,
and I try to get things done, and I try
to get things done, but what ends up happening to
me is much more important and much more profound than
(17:44):
what I plan, you know. And so like I was
working on my one man show way before I closed
out in nineteen ninety eight, I was doing Joe's pub already,
it was already kind of in the world doing stuff.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
Yes, Do you don't feel like that allowed you the more?
Speaker 1 (18:02):
Yes? Maybe it did. Maybe it did. Maybe I saw
it as this like thing where I was letting go
of a big, big, big infrastructure that I didn't need
any more personally, you know, Yeah, yes, could be. But
you know what I mean it's like, yes, it happened.
I didn't do it, It just happened, and I was
so thrilled.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
You know.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
Yeah, I don't know exactly how to answer the question,
because yes, you learn a lot from failure, but the
best lesson to learn from failure is not to be
afraid to fail again.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
You know, yeah, I mean, you know, and if you do, then.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
It's fine, right, exactly, it's not fine. It's fine. It
is what it is, right, and your life is going
to take a shape.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
I mean that was literally verbatim what fl At the
Shore's question was, which was, you know, your successful failure
as an important teacher, what lessons have you learned?
Speaker 1 (18:56):
Well, there you go, a cell, darling, thank you for
the question.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
All right, So what do you love about living in
New York?
Speaker 1 (19:14):
You know, I don't even know anymore. I just know
that I hate living everywhere else, you know, I just
know that I go other places and I go, oh,
you know, no, no, no, except you know, I really
like Bridgehampton, and but Bridge Hampton is in the Tri
state area, so I take it as it's part of
the New York experience. And by the way, the real
(19:34):
houseoves of New York. A few episodes take place in
the Hampton's. So yeah, so we feel justified. But I
swear to you, Brandon, like I am one of those
like crazy characters who you know, have a real hard
time separating from New York. And you know, it's like
that Rose Nyland thing from The Golden Girls when they
(19:55):
go to New York City, when Dorothy and Rose go
to New York City and it's roses for time in
New York and Dorothy goes, well, what did you think?
And Rose goes, oh, it's so much like how does
anybody live here? The noise? And you know, I went
to Bloomingdale's. You could fit the whole of Saint Olaf
like inside the store of Bloomingdals. It's just so much
(20:15):
and so big and so much and so big. And
the thing is, that's what I was born into. That's
what I was bred into. You know. I was born
in Brooklyn, and you know, my father worked on thirty
fourth Street, across the street from Macy's. I went to
high school on forty sixth Street between sixth and Broadway,
right in the middle of the theater district, you know,
(20:38):
And so I grew up in all of the excitement
and danger and squalor and incredible beauty of New York City.
And when you get used to that, you know, like
in La they go, oh, look at that view, and
I'm like, what, that's a view. That's some lights and
some houses, you know, right, you want to see of you, darling?
(20:59):
You are you? Yes, go to Brooklyn and look at
the skyline from Brooklyn, you know, or look at the
Empire State Building from like my neighbor's window. You know,
it's like that is of you, right. Sorry. I like
living in New York because I know I wouldn't like
living anywhere else. And I like the constant bombardment of stimulation.
(21:20):
And I like the great contrast of beautiful things and
really really ugly terrible things, you know. I like that contrast.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
Well, okay, so you've lived in the West Village for forever. Yes,
why not the Upper East Side?
Speaker 1 (21:35):
Well, listen, I lived on the Upper West Side of
the eighties. When I first moved out of my mom's house.
Everything up there was really inexpensive and it was very cool.
It was coming up from a real bombed out kind
of a thing, and there were all these fun new
places in the Upper West side. I would live in
the Upper East Side, could you know?
Speaker 2 (21:55):
I mean, I feel like it's you, you know a little.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
Bit darling listen, rethinking everything. I guess I'm going through
some kind of crazy Saturn or Pluto thing. I don't
know what, as my ask my my astrologer, I'm going
through some crazy things. But like, I don't mean to
shade every other place than New York. That's not what
I'm doing. If you talk to Rory Gilmore or Laura
(22:19):
La Gilmore or el Okay, they would say, like, no,
we're never leaving stars hollow because of course placed in
the world.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
And this one psychic said that to me when I
was eighteen. He said, well, you feel about New York
the way farmers feel about the soil, about the ground
under their feet where they're going to grow these crops
and they're going to reap the benefits of the crops.
And you know that's the thing. It's like people love
where they're from, and I love where I'm from. Rose
(22:47):
Nyland could not deal with it. I don't blame her,
but I can't deal with any place.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
Of course, you know it's New York. Or maybe we'd
have different feelings if we lived in stars them.
Speaker 1 (22:59):
Well, you know what, not kidding? Bridge Hampton is my
version of Star's Hollow.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
Okay, So what are your daily rituals or routine?
Speaker 1 (23:08):
Oh? Oh, well, you know there are some okay, by
the way, aside from the boring ones, like constantly flossing
and brushing one's teeth right, right, and you know, trying
to count points wait, unts points. I do a lot
of different moisturizers. I don't know if you know that, right,
I know, I know that, and I have been doing
(23:31):
that since I am I would say I got a
job at Perry Ellis when I was seventeen or eighteen
years old, and Perry Ellis, I don't know why, but
he was obsessed with Keels. It was just when Keels
was sort of like you know, coming even though it's
been open since the nineteenth century, it was having a
moment like it was having the moment where it was
(23:52):
revived into that big brand, and he was all about Keels.
And I remember like for me, it was expensive to
buy Krem decor, but I did. I did it anyway,
you know, Yes, I bought like, you know, facial moisturizer,
foot moisturizer, body moisturizer, you know, all kinds of like
posts and pre shaving moisturizers, like I have millions of these,
(24:13):
so I do believe in moisturizers.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
Would you like to be an influencer? Is that because
I know people who know my sister works for Keels,
like I can get you some things, you know? Do
you want to be a beauty influencer?
Speaker 1 (24:24):
I have to tell you, I like buying my own
beauty products, like please do not give me moisturizer. Please
not like, oh, here's a great product that you'll love,
because I won't. I'm just telling you I won't love
that product.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
You know.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
Okay, give me a moisturizer because I got it. I
got it together. It's a great trial and error that
I come to my beauty routine. So don't try to
influence gives me?
Speaker 2 (24:48):
Okay, all right it okay? So I have a fashion
question for you. What is your favorite collection you've ever done?
And why? And that's from our good friend Deborah Watson.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
We loved it, Debbie Debs. What's going Debs? I think
my favorite collection I ever did. I thought the best
collection I ever did, got the worst reviews ever, but
it was definitely the best work I've ever done, which
was this collection that I did. I don't remember what
year it was or what season, but girl, I just
had so many ideas and I made them all happen,
(25:20):
and I made them all relate in this way. It
was all about like this new approach to like the Southwest, right.
So I had these giant kind of like photo reel
prints that I swear I did first. You know, people go, oh,
he's doing that, darling, look at it. Before I made
those dresses with huge roses on, like human size roses.
(25:42):
No one ever did that, Okay, So I did that.
I created that whole thing. Maybe others had done handpainted.
I worked with this woman called Sylvia Cannapa who was
a friend, and she ran this mill with her sisters Cannapa.
It was called Canapa, and they killed themselves. They made
me like literally like seventy five different fabrics and seventy
(26:03):
five different prints. So it's these amazing huge prints. And
also it wasn't American West as much as it was
like gun Smoke or something like Mushady with like curls curls.
The hair was so good. Yeah, I think the hair
was Garren and it was so like fucked up and good.
Kevin did the face Kevin's face obviously, and that so
(26:26):
it was a lot of like sort of like hoe
down skirts and big, big, big lashes. But also I
made up this thing called tooled and jeweled, and I
found the sky somewhere in Texas or somewhere whatever who
made the most gorgeous like tooled leather objects. And I
made him make like tooled leather boustiers, you know, and
(26:47):
like jewelry that was all tooled leather pieces that had
then been encrusted. I mean, it was too much. And
then I made lace. I had this lace fabricated with
like horseshoes and horses, and it was too much. It
was so great. So it wasn't like you know, that
sort of Ralph Laura in American West thing, which I
think is genius, But it wasn't that. I would never
(27:09):
take that from him. He does that period. He's the
one who does that, you know. But I did this
whole kind of gun smoke thing, and it was hilarious
and it was so glamorous and the girls looked so glamorous,
and it was this Manola Blanic. The shoe was genius.
It was this high heel with just like a two
straps across. It was very miskitty. All I have to
say to Manola was miss kitty, and in two seconds
(27:32):
he understood the whole esthetics kitty should be. Then in
a minute I was sent to the shoe and five
minutes later I got the shoe from Minola. Blank.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
But he's like two words, miss kitty. That's it. I'm
not going to say anymore.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
Yep, not gonna say. I'm done.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
I'm done, okay. So what do you like to do
in your free time and what are your favorite things
to do? This is from Roseanne Limbiano.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
I like in my free time to do almost nothing,
you know, Yes, like in my free time to be
with my dogs and to cook a little something. I
really like to cook. And I have like my five
favorite things that I cook, and occasionally I'll discover something
new to cook and one of them is like a
(28:14):
roasted fish. I mean they're all so incredibly simple things,
you know. So that's what I like to do. I
like to do very little. I love watching the Gilmore Girls.
I love watching Missus Mays give me a Sherman Palladino
moment of course, give me a binge of a Sherman
Palladino and I'm very happy.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
How many times have you watched Kilmore Girls exactly this?
Speaker 1 (28:37):
I'm going on my fifth time around. Okay, yes it's
crazy but true.
Speaker 2 (28:43):
I'm still in mournings, so it's like, you know, I can't.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
Just finished, but it comes back. I'm telling you, I
never finished. I just was like, Okay, season seven's over,
let's start again. Season one, Episode one, Rory at Luke's
being you know, hit on by the guy, right, yeah,
we will remember.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
It's too fresh, you know what I mean. Like the
other day I heard the wedding song that played during
Lorelei and Luke's wedding at the you know those episodes
that they did for Netflix. Like I heard that song
and I was just like, you know what, too soon.
I can't go there yet. I can't go there. I
can't go there. It's actually too much for me. Maren
(29:27):
tar Ass, do you prefer dinner out or at home?
And if at home, do you plan out for the week.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
Well, let's see, I love eating out. I love it.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
You know.
Speaker 1 (29:39):
My mother used to say this thing, like her definition
of homosexuality, the favorite thing in the world. When I
was dating this guy, Douglas, his mother and she and
I and Douglas had dinner one night and Douglas's mother
was like, Oh, it's so hard, so hard to be gay,
and they're persecuted and blah blah. And my mother said, Darling,
don't worryorry about them. To have a great life. They
(30:02):
eat out, they see shows. Yes, that was the end
of the sentence. They eat out all they see shows.
That's all that we just left it dangling. That's all
that we do. And she was right, like, I really
like to eat out. And I have to tell you
I like eating in restaurants that I know because I
know I'm not going to be thrown shade. I'm going
to be seated in a nice place Il Cantanri, Santa Bros.
(30:25):
You know these kinds of places, Pierre's, Bridge Hampton, Dope,
bo Il Punte whatever it is, you know what I mean. Yeah,
I like going to those places. But I also love
to cook. And during COVID, it was a very very
important thing that you planned out cooking, you know. So
to answer her question, now, yes, I do plan three
or four days in advance, right, and you know, you
(30:47):
try to buy, like stuff that you know will remain fresh.
You know, if you buy a fish, it's not going
to remain fresh, so you have to buy that that day,
you know.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
So yeah, well, you know I've only seen these sort
of home cook fields. I haven't personally experience them.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
Well at some point, I'm sure I've cooked for you
once or twice.
Speaker 2 (31:05):
Brandwalls. Okay, okay. Do you play an instrument? And this
is from outstanding game plan.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
I used to play an instrument. I played piano for
years and years and years, and then I just stopped.
Like I pretended that I didn't stop. I would pick
something up and I would play something, and now I
just completely stopped and over COVID again. My friend Mark
Marris was like, what a good opportunity. You have nothing
(31:35):
but time on your hands. Why don't you start playing
the piano again? And he was right, And I tried
and I just couldn't. It is just torture for me
to play the piano. That was one thing I was
able to give up, you know, Like when I was
a kid, I took a lot of piano lessons. You know,
at one point I thought maybe I was going to
be like a concert pianist, and I really really made
(31:55):
the effort, and you know, it really was very, very
very hard. It didn't come as naturally to me as
some of the other things I do. And music comes
very naturally to me. Singing comes very naturally to me,
but not playing the piano, not playing an instrument, you know,
but luckily I learned to do it, and luckily I
(32:15):
can read music, so this comes in very handy for me.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
And you've written lyrics for songs.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
I have written lyrics, and I am in the process
of writing more lyrics.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
So okay, well, also an album soon, please. I feel
like everyone's been asking for this, for this album. Yes, well, okay,
how about this? What do you want your obituary to say?
Speaker 1 (32:35):
You know, And here's the thing. I'm glad this is
like a forum. This is like an Isaac Brandon forum.
Speaker 2 (32:40):
This is a safe space.
Speaker 1 (32:41):
A safe space because here's the thing about oh bits.
It drives me crazy. I think about it all the time.
You know, there are certain oh bits that have made
me more crazy, either in their placement, like way in
the back on the worst page, in like a corner
on the bottom with that worst picture.
Speaker 2 (33:00):
It would kill you, right, it would kill me, right right?
Speaker 1 (33:03):
Did you ever read Marlon Brando's A Bit Right, No,
I'm not kidding you. The first paragraph or the headline
was something like Marlon Brando, the brilliant actor who was
supposed to be a huge legendary star and wasn't, you know,
And it's like, okay, he wasn't. Like this is news
(33:23):
to me. He failed. Yes, the whole oh bit was
about how Marlon Brando didn't really accomplish what he set
out to accomplish, you know, Like that's the problem with
my whole operating sort of philosophy, which is that you know,
you stick to a plan and you do what you
(33:45):
were supposed to do, and then you're a bit. You
don't have to worry about it because it's clear to
the world that you did what you were supposed to do,
yeh know, yes, Whereas like, you know, right now, I
don't feel like it's clear that the world under stands
what I'm supposed to do, okay, right, And so I'm
afraid if I die tomorrow, a bit will not say
(34:08):
the right thing.
Speaker 2 (34:09):
What do you know, it's gonna say like legendary, famed, you.
Speaker 1 (34:13):
Know, No, it's going to say like I did a
lot of things.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
That did a lot of stuff.
Speaker 1 (34:18):
Right, But I feel as though, you know, I have
yet to like write a very very good novel. I
have yet to appear on stage and thrill some kind
of like you know, critical massive people. You know, that
was the plan. That was what I was supposed to
be remembered by. So oh bits are really really important
to me. And then you talk to Jake Cohen, or
(34:42):
you talk to Solely Dot O'Brien, or you talk to
a lot of people and you ask this question and
they go, you know, I want Solely Dot o brian
said this thing to me, and I swear to god,
she really opened a light bulb in my brain. She said,
you know what I just wanted to say, like, you know,
Solidad O'Brien, wife, mother, blah blah. She was a good person,
(35:04):
you know, yeah, And I think maybe that's all I
want from my obituary, Isaac Mizrahi. She was a good person,
you know what I mean, Like, maybe that's what it's
all about, just being a good person. And I remember
I had this shrink for twenty five years. You know,
I've been in therapy since I literally in first grade,
so eight years old right till now. And I recently
(35:25):
have found a new shrink about eight years ago. Right,
But the shrink I was with for twenty five years
he died, well, he was very old. He died at
like ninety six or something like that. And it was
kind of devastating because we were right in the middle.
I knew it was coming because you were a ninety
six year old shrink. You're kind of expecting something, right,
(35:46):
you don't laugh, don't laught. But anyway, he was like
the center of my world. He was such a father figure,
such a friend figure. And he used to say to me, Isaac, Isaac, Isaac,
stop with that, stopping And this was what I loved
about hi, because you are not supposed to say things.
He would say, Isaac, you are a good person. Usually
you do the good right, just thing. And when he
(36:10):
would say that to me, I would stop and go, Okay,
you know that's it, that's enough. So I think I
want to be a good person. He was a good person. Yeah, yes, yeah,
and he failed at everything he tried to.
Speaker 2 (36:24):
Do right awful in the car and stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (36:26):
Exactly right.
Speaker 2 (36:28):
Okay, So last question, what do you have to promote
on this podcast?
Speaker 1 (36:32):
Me, what do I have to promote? Well, you know,
aside from thee hundred million things that I do constantly,
we have a lot of shows coming up, and I'm
not exactly sure when or where this is. Okay, a few,
So go on my website, which is Hello Isaac dot
com and look him up and come to my shows. Please.
That's what I'm promoting. Yes, and world peace, of course,
(36:54):
and world peace. I'd like to the world peace.
Speaker 2 (36:56):
Right exactly. Okay, this has been fun, so fun?
Speaker 1 (37:03):
How is that over? God? You know, it just goes
by so fast. Don't forget that, darling. Youth is gone.
I take advantage of your youth, I mean it. God,
that's my final closing thought. Take advantage damn youth if
you can call it youth anymore. Okay, all right, why bye?
(37:35):
I have to say I could get very used to
this where I am asked the questions and I answer
the questions. It's so much fun. I have to say.
I love it, and I want to thank you all
so much for asking me so many great questions which
brought out so many things about my own bit. I mean,
I had never really kind of answered that question in
(37:56):
such detail before or the question about stage fright and
Liza's amazing advice. Anyway, what a fun, fun, fun podcast.
I hope you liked it. Thank you so much for
joining Darlings. If you enjoyed this episode, do me a
favorite and tell someone, tell a friend, tell your mother,
(38:19):
tell your cousin, tell everyone you know. Okay, and be
sure to rate the show. I love rating stuff. 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 on and do it. And if you want more
fun content videos and posts of all kinds, follow the
(38:44):
show on Instagram and TikTok at Hello Isaac podcast And
by the way, check me out on Instagram and TikTok at.
I Am Isaac Musrahi. This is Isaac Msrahi. Thank you.
I love you and I never thought I say this,
but goodbye Isaac. Hello Isaac is produced by Imagine Audio
(39:08):
Awfully Nice and I AM Entertainment for I Heeart Media.
The series is hosted by me Isaac Musrahi. Hello Isaac
is produced by Robin Gelfenbein. The senior producers are Jesse
Burton and John Assanti vis Executive produced by Ron Howard,
Brian Grazerkarra Welker, and Nathan Cloke at Imagined Audio, Production
(39:31):
management from Katie Hodges, Sound design and mixing by Cedric Wilson.
Original music composed by Ben Waltzon. A special thanks to
Neil Phelps and Sarah katzmak at i AM Entertainment
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Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com