April 29, 2024 • 22 mins
Jimmy Failla, host of Fox News Saturday Night and author of the Cancel Culture Dictionary, joins Karol on the show. They discuss Jimmy's journey into the media world, the reasons why Hollywood alienates half the country, the negative impact of social media, and the importance of finding joy and perspective in life. Jimmy shares his insights on cancel culture and the need to prioritize fun over grievance. The Karol Markowicz Show is part of the Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Podcast Network - new episodes debut every Monday & Thursday.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Hi, and welcome back to the Carol Markowitz Show on iHeartRadio.
If you've listened to the show for a while, you
know there are three questions I ask all of my guests.
I ask, what do you think is our largest cultural
societal problem in America? And sometimes I sidebar to do
you think it's solvable? I ask do you feel like
(00:24):
you've made it? And then I ask my guests, usually
to end with their best tip for my listeners on
how they can improve their lives. In the last few episodes,
I've been talking about that last question. It's something I
enjoy discussing. I like thinking about improving my life. I
like taking steps to improve my life. I like caring
(00:45):
suggestions on how to improve my life. But now I
want to get into that first question because I've obviously
thought a lot about what I think is our largest
cultural problem, and while my answer changes from time to time,
I have one overarching one that I think is a
huge issue for us. I call it bystanderism. It's when
(01:08):
something bad is happening, everyone knows it's bad, and no
one steps in. I've written about this a lot in
the past. I wrote about it when there were various
abuse scandals, the one in Penn State or the one
with the Olympic gymnasts. I wrote one that stuck out
to me about a flight attendant forcing someone to put
their dog in the overhead compartment of an airplane and
(01:29):
how the dog barked until it died and no one
said a word. I'm not even a dog person. I'm allergic. Okay,
don't kill me, dog people, And there's no way in
the world that dog is going into the overhead compartment
while I'm on that flight. There's just no way. And
obviously the abuse scandals, I don't understand how so many
(01:49):
people knew or suspected or had an inkling and didn't
do or say anything. I just could never live with myself.
I know I'm not perfect, but there's absolutely no way
that I wouldn't get involved and step in. And I
don't care how popular you know the people involved are
or how highly regarded, it just really wouldn't matter to me.
(02:11):
A few days ago, the mayor of San Jose, Matt Mayhan,
was being interviewed on the street when an unwell man
attacked his security guy. The security guy and the man
got into this altercation, fighting in the street I mean,
it looked so bizarre while a bunch of people stood
around and watched filmed, called the police whatever. I tweeted
(02:34):
that it's not the crazed man that makes me afraid
for our society, but all the men standing around doing nothing.
I don't understand how that can be someone's reaction. There
were a bunch of men, they could have taken that
guy down easily, but they all stood around and watched.
I talked about this on an episode with Jesse Kelly
(02:54):
where we talked about how we want to raise the
kinds of kids that will jump into the terror fying
ocean to save their friend. And I admit it, like
I want my kids to be like that, but I
would be so scared and I'd be like, please don't
jump in, just save yourself. That's very high stakes. A
bunch of people subduing a guy on the street would
(03:15):
be far lower stakes, and still no one did it.
I get the arguments as to why that is. People
point to Daniel Penny, who was a bystander on a
New York City subway and ended up allegedly killing an
aggressive homeless man. He's been arrested and may end up
in prison. For trying to save a train car full
(03:36):
of people from this deranged guy. People got the lesson
that stepping in could lead to problems. I get that,
But here's the thing. I remember hearing about our insane
litigious society in the nineteen eighties and being warned that
if someone falls down on the ground, don't help them
up in case they sue you. This was a whole thing,
but remember that last episode of Seinfeld. We used to
(03:58):
know that being a stander and not helping was okay,
maybe not an arrestable offense, but still pretty bad. That
was nineteen ninety eight, and then heroes rushed into burning
buildings to save people on nine to eleven. Firemen, police officers, yes,
but also regular people. And then a few years later,
(04:19):
I was living in New York for the Blackout of
two thousand and three, and it was such a helpful time.
Nine to eleven wasn't that long ago, and everyone wanted
to be a hero. They were carrying groceries for the
old lady in their building, they were checking in on people.
It was really really nice. Something has changed since then,
and maybe it's our phones and social media. And believe me,
(04:41):
sometimes I think that's our biggest societal problem. I mean,
that's it, right, and that people answer that a lot
on the show, But it seems like too fast to
change for that to be the reason for this problem.
I don't know how to fix this issue. In our house,
we talk a lot and have for years about not
being bystanders. You're expected to step in and help if
(05:02):
you can. Yes, there's a risk and something bad could happen, absolutely,
but the alternative is living in the world where no
one helps, and that's the worst outcome I could think of.
Coming up next, an interview with Jimmy Fayla. Join us
after the break. Welcome back to the Carol Markowitz Show
(05:25):
on iHeartRadio. My guest today is Jimmy Fayla, host of
Fox News Saturday Night, host of Fox Across America on
Fox News Radio, and the author of the awesome book
Cancel Culture Dictionary, The A to Z Guide on Winning
the War on fun.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
Hi Jimmy, Hey, Carol, this is kind of a big deal.
It is like, now, me and you have this funny
relationship where we've done TV together and yeah, box events
and stuff like that. But you know how they always say,
like you never see two homeless guys hanging out on
the same street corner because their energy is contact. Yeah.
So like the other guy who plays the saxophone, I'm
(06:00):
the guy who marangue dances with the doll on the subway.
But we are, but we did it.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
Yeah, I feel like I'm going to rake in the cash.
I don't know, you know, you.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Know, my money's on you because my marangue has really
gone downhill since I got the TV show.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
Yeah, we'll practice whatever, you know. I loved your book.
I think you are so funny, and you're also just
so fun and you tackle serious stuff obviously, but you're
just always having a good time, and I think that
you are winning the war on fun. So how did
you get into the media world.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Well, there's a wild story. So I always wanted to
do this, and I was driving, you know, a cab
with ambitions of doing this, and I was doing stand
up and trying to sell screenplays, which I can tell
you all about, and auditioning for TV roles and everything
in between. But my actual fox on entry, the point
of entry was Kennedy. One night, her booker saw me
(06:57):
at the Gotham Comedy Club down on twenty third and
seven and invited me to come on Kennedy's first show.
So the first time I was here at Fox, like
I've told the story a bunch like, I literally had
a taxi double parked outside of the film on Sixth Avenue. Trunk.
This is important, Okay, trunk open hazards on because that
makes the cops think you're running inside to get something.
(07:18):
Get Yeah, So that's how I bought my way out
of a parking ticket, and I did it, hit on
Kennedy and got back into my cab and drove people
around bizarre. I love that that was the way in
as I started appearing on her show, and then within
a few years I got to write for her show,
and that kind of snowballed into radio, and then with
the help of some low level extortion, radio became TOV
(07:40):
and here we are.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
You're the best dressed man on TV.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
It makes sense. I've kind of like for the pod.
I dialed it in. I tried to look like a
civilian and I don't actually dip into my cry for
Help collection that you might see me wearing in prime time.
Put a note on that. Greg gott felt, my stablemate
who makes fun of my clothes a lot only resents
them because they don't come in kids sizes. If you
(08:05):
could get my jackets as part of the Peter Dinklage collection,
he likes last. But anyway, it's good to be here.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
It's good to have you. So do you feel like
you've made it?
Speaker 2 (08:16):
So this is weird? I would think on paper, absolutely,
But I think something that gets you from driving a
taxi eighty four hours a week to hear is like
I almost call it, like there's like this abusive stage
dad that lives in your head, Carol, that just keeps
yelling at you until the second you go on stage.
And the reason I'm making this point is like it
(08:37):
really is I have like a Joe Jackson, like Michael
Jackson's dad just yells at me all day and then
right out to go on the TV set, he's like,
you look good, Michael, And I'm like really, And I
get so excited and I go do a pretty good job.
But when that's over, okay, your stage dad, just because
the arenas get bigger, you know, and maybe the wardrobe
gets fancier, your stage dad doesn't dial back the beatdown.
(09:00):
I don't know that I walk around thinking I made it.
I think my friends do. I think my family does,
and I think for me, like what should have been
the moment like when they they for like a month
when my show launched, they had me on the Marriott
Marquee in Times Square, Billboard and Times Square. But you
know this is like a New Yorker, you don't take
a billboard seriously unless someone drew X rated graffiti on
(09:21):
the faith. So it's like, to me, it just like
a bad photoshop. Like I couldn't even give myself to win.
I'm like, does anyone you couldn't.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
You couldn't hire anybody to like get out there and like,
you know, make this real for me, just like penises
on it?
Speaker 2 (09:36):
No thank you? What are you're trying to say?
Speaker 1 (09:41):
But just to be clear, there isn't actually a stage
dad with a switch beating Jimmy behind the scenes. This
is you do this to yourself?
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Yeah, no, straight up. I mean there's a guy pay
on Craigslist, but that's not who I'm quote. I'm kidding,
that's not who I'm quoting here.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
So in your book Cancel Culture Dictionary, you talk about
Hollywood and how they half the country regularly. Why do
they do this? Do they hate money?
Speaker 2 (10:06):
I actually think they do it because they believe it
might lead to more money. Meaning if they, you know,
carry the views of the elites in Hollywood, they'll be
more likely to be cast by them and maybe be
a part of the in crowd. Like I'll give you
two quick examples, like Jimmy Kimmel, who obviously is hosting
the Oscars, so he's as far up as he could go.
(10:28):
But part of the reason he's there is because he's
essentially paying protection money to the woke mob for all
of the things he did early in his career, right
the Man Show, or all the blackface he wore when
he was doing his Carmelone sketches. You know, if he
didn't align with their political views, Jimmy Kimmel would have
been be unemployed for like ten years.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
Right, He's just not even that funny.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
So well, I believe this Carol like he's there those guys,
he's capable. I don't believe Colbert is capable. Like Colbear
is as funny as an orphanage on fire on death
with no survivors, which should be clear, it's not funny, okay,
not funny humor A Colbert is terrible. I believe Kimmel
(11:10):
would be capable, except he's doing this thing that we
saw Alec Baldwin do on SNL when he tried to
be a Trump impersonator. He's showing the audience that it
clearly comes from a place of malice, and comedy doesn't
work if it looks like it's truly mean spirited. Like
mean spirited jokes work, but they work because they look
(11:31):
like they're being done from a place of love. Can
you start telling that joke with like a scowl? Like
Alec Baldwind's Trump impression was more offensive than anything Trumps
ever said in real life. And Trump's you know, he's
throwing some wild pitches. Yeah, give him that, But the
balding is terrible. The kimmelding was terrible. So what about Hollywood?
(11:52):
There was this manufactured hysteria around Trump when he entered politics.
I say manufactured hysteria because all of his biggest critics
who said, like he's an existential threat, We're all going
to die were people who had spent the previous thirty
years working with him, Right like for NBC to open
SNL by crying when he won the election and having
(12:12):
Kate McKinnon play Hollywood. Yeah, it was a good episode
that was right for the wrong reason. But likenl he
had hosted that show twice and this is happening on NBC,
a network that is still paying him royalties to this day. Yeah,
Celebrity Apprentice, which he hosted for fifteen years. So it
was manufactured in the sense that Hollywood bought into this,
and I think everyone thought they had to outsell each
(12:34):
other when it came to their outrage or there. And
I think that's where Hollywood blew this in terms of
the oscars and alienating half the country.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
Do you remember when the during the height of the
me too thing, Russell Simmons got, you know, caught up
in something. Somebody accused him of something, and he literally said, Okay,
it's going to be okay. I'm going to build an
anti NRA, anti Trump like, you know outlet. That is
what I'm going to do to repent for this. So
they really do see it as I could do bad things,
(13:07):
but as long as I'm on the right political side,
everything will be okay.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
So those are the two motivating factors. Okay, the protection
money that guys pay if they're Jimmy Kimmel and the
fact that a lot of actors, I mean it, I
know a lot of them, they are stupid. And what
I mean by that is, you know, Hollywood actors are famous,
as you know, I mentioned this in the book, because
they hit the genetic lottery right, you know. And if
you are an a list elite actor, you are so
(13:32):
good looking as I say that, the rest of us
are willing to pay thirty dollars for a popcorn to
watch you recite the words that were written by an
ugly person. Okay, that is Hollywood. That's so tract You
think about Matthew McConaughey, Carol, he's still gorgeous. They're putting
him in a Cadillac with no script to just talk
to himself and drive around the woods. And it sells
cars because he's that hot, you know. And that's why
(13:55):
they should almost stay in their lane, because they offer
us an off eran in their that gets us away
from politics, gets us away from division. And that's my
frustration with Hollywood and the arts going political.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
Can you see yourself doing something in Hollywood, because I
could totally see you doing something in Hollywood your depite
your wrong views.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
I mean, Hollywood, Florida Hey, we would welcome you moment
arms to the hard rock casino there. Yeah, it's really
down there. I listen. I grew up with dreams of
being a part of the Hollywood. That was like a hang.
It wasn't a we have the answers in life, We're
(14:36):
going to coach you through a pandemic. It was just like, hey,
I see my movie. Yeah, here's me chain smoking on
Johnny Carson's show promoting my movie. You know. And that's
what how it used to be, is like we had
always shaken hands on this deal that they had better
lives than us, and we resent them for it because
we knew some people were just gifted in ways the
rest of us weren't, and we were just thankful to
(14:58):
vicariously live through there a few nights a year on
TV or at a premiere or at an award show.
And if I could be a part of that Hollywood,
I would do it at a second. Are you kidding me?
And that's the thing. It's like, Carol, most of the
people giving you a speech about inequality are so rich
they're using people as furniture. They're actually like sitting on
(15:18):
families as couches. Yeah, and It's like they get up
to the mic and they're like, no, we know it's hard.
I'm like, no, no, you don't, you don't.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
Right. There was that story also a few years ago
where Hollywood celebrities had during the big wildfires, they evacuated
their homes, but forgot to tell their like cleaning people
that were coming to work their house staff. They failed
to mention it. So these people like you know, went
around the fires to get into these communities only to
(15:46):
find that everybody had left. Yeah, that's how I see
Hollywood pretty much.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
Not a lot of self awareness. That's the way I
would say it.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
We're going to take a quick break and be right
back on the Carol Markowitz Show. What would you say
is our biggest societal problem? Like, outside of you know,
Hollywood being the worst.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
I just think we're too connected. I think, honestly, I
think the biggest challenge facing civilization is social media. And
I say that because there is a very positive upside
to social media. It is entertaining. You know, people do
find great joy in using it when they're you know,
looking at songs they like or jokes they find funny.
But because our disagreements never separate, anymore. It's like we
(16:32):
all grew up fighting around the same issues we're fighting
around today. It's just the way we fight about them
is different. Meaning you might disagree with the guy to
family function and then not see him for two months.
But now you disagree with him at the family function
and he's in your pocket on the way home, in
your life, right, spouting off about let me tell you
what this fool said. And now you're like, oh, yeah,
(16:52):
it's not a fight, and I don't. That's the problem
is that I don't think that we can't coexist anymore.
I just think we're being asked to do it too
much much. Yeah, And I think, like if I was president,
can happen, there's a background check. I was president, I
would declare, like, I'd sell the idea of like a
social media moratorium, because I think if we ever like
once we got on Carol, we've never been off. We
(17:14):
haven't been off for a day of a pandemic, yeah,
not a national tragedy, a global disaster. We've never had
a day off, right, But I think if we collectively
took a week off, we'd come back that Monday, pick
up where we left off and realize how unnecessary. Ninety
nine percent of what we're doing is you know, if
(17:34):
you twenty years ago would have taken a picture of
your dinner and showed it to a group of people,
would to put you in a home. That's how it
would have ended. I still think we should I know,
I dig it. But if you showed people twenty years
ago a picture of your lasagna, they would have put
you in a home and went out for lasagna. So
it's not to say the dinner picture doesn't influence people.
It does. A weird we're in this weird vortex where
(17:57):
we don't keep up with the Kardashians, like we are
all our own Kardashian. Every one of us is our
own Kardashian.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
That absolutely, and I'm super influenced because like during the
twenty sixteen election, where they talked about taco trucks all
the time, I would just have tacos constantly because it
was just in the news. It was like Hillary Clinton
talking about the taco trucks and Donald Trump having his
taco bulls, Like I mean, how wasn't that really a
commercial for tacos?
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Well that but that's where social media. No, you're right,
but that's where social media transformed politics because something Trump
knows and it does play heavily to his favor, is
you're not running for president anymore. You are running for
class president. Yes, and it's different. You're running in a
high school election now. Even though the issues are serious,
there's such an effort being put into making the campaign.
(18:45):
On Trump's end, it's him, He tweets, he does what
he says, he has his nutty moments, and he's Trump,
and people like it and they like the lack of
a filter. On the Biden end, you can see there's
fifty political strategists calculating everything and reapproving every statement. But
nonetheless they are engage in the same thing.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
That's so wise, like really the class president thing that
is so smart. I grew up without yourself. That's amazing.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Oh my god. I mean it also makes sense. You're
over complementing it.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
I mean this, No, it's really good.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
No, but my analogies also peak at my level of education.
It's just like you'll notice, I didn't say this is
like when you're trying to be the resident administrator in
norm because I didn't go to what.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
Right, So you're amazing, You're so funny. Your book Cancel
Culture Dictionary is fantastic. I really really enjoyed it. And
here with a tip for my listeners on how they
can improve their lives. How can they be happy like you?
Speaker 2 (19:43):
Honestly, you got a perspective. That's the trick and most people,
you know, life has a way of denying it to
you because we live very moment to moment. Now, everybody's
kind of a prisoner of the moment in that the
omnipotence of the news force and your social media feed
often makes us feel like the the moment you're living
in is the only one they'll ever beat. But if
you can think beyond the blast of that fire hose
(20:05):
we're consuming news through, you can probably find a lot
of fun that's not related to the things that bother you.
I don't mean to get deep, like when I was
a cab get deep. Yeah, when I drive. It really
was driving a cab five am to five pm every
day and doing stand up every night because I really
wanted to do what I'm doing now, but knowing it
was like beating me down. A woman in my cab
(20:27):
told me one day, your problem is like your alarm
clock represents the wrong thing to you, And I was like,
what does that actually mean? And she's like, whatever you do, okay,
that sucks. He's like, no matter how much you think
it sucks to get up an hour earlier, if you
get up an hour earlier and your eyes open to
this thing you are psyched to do, okay, you suddenly
(20:49):
see this whole new meaning to your alarm clock. And
that's how I got arrested for fondling myself on the
I'm kidding, but the theory after alarm clock needs to
represent joy. And she said, and honestly, she said, if
you just take your day and there's gonna be a
lot of things you don't want to do, but you
(21:10):
just set mile markers of fun through your day, you're
kind of calibrated to go look for the good time
instead of the bad time. And that's my argument against
cancel culture is it's taking sources of joy and training
people to police them for grievous Hey, is this cast
diverse enough? Is that joke punching up instead of punching down?
The point is if the joke's funny, it's funny. If
(21:32):
the movie's good, it's good. Do what you want with
the cast, Do what you want with the punchline. But
because we got to this place where we were rewarding grievous,
a lot of people broke their fun compas because they're like,
I'm gonna go towards the anger because you get likes
for saying you're mad at Dave Chappelle. But I promise me,
even if you don't like all the Chappelle's jokes, you'll
get a more rewarding life out of laughing at the
ones you do than picketing outside the theater for the
(21:54):
ones you don't. Because that's the punchline to the whole thing,
Carol is. Cancel culture has always existed before they were
social media. Like, we had people who went to comedy
clubs and got mad. We call them cancel culture. We
called them losers, okay, And that's all that ever was.
If you go looking for the fun and you defund
the fun police, which is when they are, you probably
(22:17):
might wind up with my disposition. That's all I'm That's
all I'm doing differently than anybody else is I've just
calibrated to look for the good time.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
I love it. Here's Jimmy Fayla. He is amazing. His
book is canceled Culture Dictionary, The A to Z Guide
on Winning the War on fund by It, watch his
show on Saturday nights and listen to him on Fox
News Radio.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
Thank you so much, Jimmy, I miss You're ready, Carroll,
I miss you too.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
Let's hang out.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
This is a great street corner.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
Thanks so much for joining us on The Carol Marcowitch Show.
Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
Hi, and welcome back to the Carol Markowitz Show on iHeartRadio.
If you've listened to the show for a while, you
know there are three questions I ask all of my guests.
I ask, what do you think is our largest cultural
societal problem in America? And sometimes I sidebar to do
you think it's solvable? I ask do you feel like
(00:24):
you've made it? And then I ask my guests, usually
to end with their best tip for my listeners on
how they can improve their lives. In the last few episodes,
I've been talking about that last question. It's something I
enjoy discussing. I like thinking about improving my life. I
like taking steps to improve my life. I like caring
(00:45):
suggestions on how to improve my life. But now I
want to get into that first question because I've obviously
thought a lot about what I think is our largest
cultural problem, and while my answer changes from time to time,
I have one overarching one that I think is a
huge issue for us. I call it bystanderism. It's when
(01:08):
something bad is happening, everyone knows it's bad, and no
one steps in. I've written about this a lot in
the past. I wrote about it when there were various
abuse scandals, the one in Penn State or the one
with the Olympic gymnasts. I wrote one that stuck out
to me about a flight attendant forcing someone to put
their dog in the overhead compartment of an airplane and
(01:29):
how the dog barked until it died and no one
said a word. I'm not even a dog person. I'm allergic. Okay,
don't kill me, dog people, And there's no way in
the world that dog is going into the overhead compartment
while I'm on that flight. There's just no way. And
obviously the abuse scandals, I don't understand how so many
(01:49):
people knew or suspected or had an inkling and didn't
do or say anything. I just could never live with myself.
I know I'm not perfect, but there's absolutely no way
that I wouldn't get involved and step in. And I
don't care how popular you know the people involved are
or how highly regarded, it just really wouldn't matter to me.
(02:11):
A few days ago, the mayor of San Jose, Matt Mayhan,
was being interviewed on the street when an unwell man
attacked his security guy. The security guy and the man
got into this altercation, fighting in the street I mean,
it looked so bizarre while a bunch of people stood
around and watched filmed, called the police whatever. I tweeted
(02:34):
that it's not the crazed man that makes me afraid
for our society, but all the men standing around doing nothing.
I don't understand how that can be someone's reaction. There
were a bunch of men, they could have taken that
guy down easily, but they all stood around and watched.
I talked about this on an episode with Jesse Kelly
(02:54):
where we talked about how we want to raise the
kinds of kids that will jump into the terror fying
ocean to save their friend. And I admit it, like
I want my kids to be like that, but I
would be so scared and I'd be like, please don't
jump in, just save yourself. That's very high stakes. A
bunch of people subduing a guy on the street would
(03:15):
be far lower stakes, and still no one did it.
I get the arguments as to why that is. People
point to Daniel Penny, who was a bystander on a
New York City subway and ended up allegedly killing an
aggressive homeless man. He's been arrested and may end up
in prison. For trying to save a train car full
(03:36):
of people from this deranged guy. People got the lesson
that stepping in could lead to problems. I get that,
But here's the thing. I remember hearing about our insane
litigious society in the nineteen eighties and being warned that
if someone falls down on the ground, don't help them
up in case they sue you. This was a whole thing,
but remember that last episode of Seinfeld. We used to
(03:58):
know that being a stander and not helping was okay,
maybe not an arrestable offense, but still pretty bad. That
was nineteen ninety eight, and then heroes rushed into burning
buildings to save people on nine to eleven. Firemen, police officers, yes,
but also regular people. And then a few years later,
(04:19):
I was living in New York for the Blackout of
two thousand and three, and it was such a helpful time.
Nine to eleven wasn't that long ago, and everyone wanted
to be a hero. They were carrying groceries for the
old lady in their building, they were checking in on people.
It was really really nice. Something has changed since then,
and maybe it's our phones and social media. And believe me,
(04:41):
sometimes I think that's our biggest societal problem. I mean,
that's it, right, and that people answer that a lot
on the show, But it seems like too fast to
change for that to be the reason for this problem.
I don't know how to fix this issue. In our house,
we talk a lot and have for years about not
being bystanders. You're expected to step in and help if
(05:02):
you can. Yes, there's a risk and something bad could happen, absolutely,
but the alternative is living in the world where no
one helps, and that's the worst outcome I could think of.
Coming up next, an interview with Jimmy Fayla. Join us
after the break. Welcome back to the Carol Markowitz Show
(05:25):
on iHeartRadio. My guest today is Jimmy Fayla, host of
Fox News Saturday Night, host of Fox Across America on
Fox News Radio, and the author of the awesome book
Cancel Culture Dictionary, The A to Z Guide on Winning
the War on fun.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
Hi Jimmy, Hey, Carol, this is kind of a big deal.
It is like, now, me and you have this funny
relationship where we've done TV together and yeah, box events
and stuff like that. But you know how they always say,
like you never see two homeless guys hanging out on
the same street corner because their energy is contact. Yeah.
So like the other guy who plays the saxophone, I'm
(06:00):
the guy who marangue dances with the doll on the subway.
But we are, but we did it.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
Yeah, I feel like I'm going to rake in the cash.
I don't know, you know, you.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Know, my money's on you because my marangue has really
gone downhill since I got the TV show.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
Yeah, we'll practice whatever, you know. I loved your book.
I think you are so funny, and you're also just
so fun and you tackle serious stuff obviously, but you're
just always having a good time, and I think that
you are winning the war on fun. So how did
you get into the media world.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Well, there's a wild story. So I always wanted to
do this, and I was driving, you know, a cab
with ambitions of doing this, and I was doing stand
up and trying to sell screenplays, which I can tell
you all about, and auditioning for TV roles and everything
in between. But my actual fox on entry, the point
of entry was Kennedy. One night, her booker saw me
(06:57):
at the Gotham Comedy Club down on twenty third and
seven and invited me to come on Kennedy's first show.
So the first time I was here at Fox, like
I've told the story a bunch like, I literally had
a taxi double parked outside of the film on Sixth Avenue. Trunk.
This is important, Okay, trunk open hazards on because that
makes the cops think you're running inside to get something.
(07:18):
Get Yeah, So that's how I bought my way out
of a parking ticket, and I did it, hit on
Kennedy and got back into my cab and drove people
around bizarre. I love that that was the way in
as I started appearing on her show, and then within
a few years I got to write for her show,
and that kind of snowballed into radio, and then with
the help of some low level extortion, radio became TOV
(07:40):
and here we are.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
You're the best dressed man on TV.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
It makes sense. I've kind of like for the pod.
I dialed it in. I tried to look like a
civilian and I don't actually dip into my cry for
Help collection that you might see me wearing in prime time.
Put a note on that. Greg gott felt, my stablemate
who makes fun of my clothes a lot only resents
them because they don't come in kids sizes. If you
(08:05):
could get my jackets as part of the Peter Dinklage collection,
he likes last. But anyway, it's good to be here.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
It's good to have you. So do you feel like
you've made it?
Speaker 2 (08:16):
So this is weird? I would think on paper, absolutely,
But I think something that gets you from driving a
taxi eighty four hours a week to hear is like
I almost call it, like there's like this abusive stage
dad that lives in your head, Carol, that just keeps
yelling at you until the second you go on stage.
And the reason I'm making this point is like it
(08:37):
really is I have like a Joe Jackson, like Michael
Jackson's dad just yells at me all day and then
right out to go on the TV set, he's like,
you look good, Michael, And I'm like really, And I
get so excited and I go do a pretty good job.
But when that's over, okay, your stage dad, just because
the arenas get bigger, you know, and maybe the wardrobe
gets fancier, your stage dad doesn't dial back the beatdown.
(09:00):
I don't know that I walk around thinking I made it.
I think my friends do. I think my family does,
and I think for me, like what should have been
the moment like when they they for like a month
when my show launched, they had me on the Marriott
Marquee in Times Square, Billboard and Times Square. But you
know this is like a New Yorker, you don't take
a billboard seriously unless someone drew X rated graffiti on
(09:21):
the faith. So it's like, to me, it just like
a bad photoshop. Like I couldn't even give myself to win.
I'm like, does anyone you couldn't.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
You couldn't hire anybody to like get out there and like,
you know, make this real for me, just like penises
on it?
Speaker 2 (09:36):
No thank you? What are you're trying to say?
Speaker 1 (09:41):
But just to be clear, there isn't actually a stage
dad with a switch beating Jimmy behind the scenes. This
is you do this to yourself?
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Yeah, no, straight up. I mean there's a guy pay
on Craigslist, but that's not who I'm quote. I'm kidding,
that's not who I'm quoting here.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
So in your book Cancel Culture Dictionary, you talk about
Hollywood and how they half the country regularly. Why do
they do this? Do they hate money?
Speaker 2 (10:06):
I actually think they do it because they believe it
might lead to more money. Meaning if they, you know,
carry the views of the elites in Hollywood, they'll be
more likely to be cast by them and maybe be
a part of the in crowd. Like I'll give you
two quick examples, like Jimmy Kimmel, who obviously is hosting
the Oscars, so he's as far up as he could go.
(10:28):
But part of the reason he's there is because he's
essentially paying protection money to the woke mob for all
of the things he did early in his career, right
the Man Show, or all the blackface he wore when
he was doing his Carmelone sketches. You know, if he
didn't align with their political views, Jimmy Kimmel would have
been be unemployed for like ten years.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
Right, He's just not even that funny.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
So well, I believe this Carol like he's there those guys,
he's capable. I don't believe Colbert is capable. Like Colbear
is as funny as an orphanage on fire on death
with no survivors, which should be clear, it's not funny, okay,
not funny humor A Colbert is terrible. I believe Kimmel
(11:10):
would be capable, except he's doing this thing that we
saw Alec Baldwin do on SNL when he tried to
be a Trump impersonator. He's showing the audience that it
clearly comes from a place of malice, and comedy doesn't
work if it looks like it's truly mean spirited. Like
mean spirited jokes work, but they work because they look
(11:31):
like they're being done from a place of love. Can
you start telling that joke with like a scowl? Like
Alec Baldwind's Trump impression was more offensive than anything Trumps
ever said in real life. And Trump's you know, he's
throwing some wild pitches. Yeah, give him that, But the
balding is terrible. The kimmelding was terrible. So what about Hollywood?
(11:52):
There was this manufactured hysteria around Trump when he entered politics.
I say manufactured hysteria because all of his biggest critics
who said, like he's an existential threat, We're all going
to die were people who had spent the previous thirty
years working with him, Right like for NBC to open
SNL by crying when he won the election and having
(12:12):
Kate McKinnon play Hollywood. Yeah, it was a good episode
that was right for the wrong reason. But likenl he
had hosted that show twice and this is happening on NBC,
a network that is still paying him royalties to this day. Yeah,
Celebrity Apprentice, which he hosted for fifteen years. So it
was manufactured in the sense that Hollywood bought into this,
and I think everyone thought they had to outsell each
(12:34):
other when it came to their outrage or there. And
I think that's where Hollywood blew this in terms of
the oscars and alienating half the country.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
Do you remember when the during the height of the
me too thing, Russell Simmons got, you know, caught up
in something. Somebody accused him of something, and he literally said, Okay,
it's going to be okay. I'm going to build an
anti NRA, anti Trump like, you know outlet. That is
what I'm going to do to repent for this. So
they really do see it as I could do bad things,
(13:07):
but as long as I'm on the right political side,
everything will be okay.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
So those are the two motivating factors. Okay, the protection
money that guys pay if they're Jimmy Kimmel and the
fact that a lot of actors, I mean it, I
know a lot of them, they are stupid. And what
I mean by that is, you know, Hollywood actors are famous,
as you know, I mentioned this in the book, because
they hit the genetic lottery right, you know. And if
you are an a list elite actor, you are so
(13:32):
good looking as I say that, the rest of us
are willing to pay thirty dollars for a popcorn to
watch you recite the words that were written by an
ugly person. Okay, that is Hollywood. That's so tract You
think about Matthew McConaughey, Carol, he's still gorgeous. They're putting
him in a Cadillac with no script to just talk
to himself and drive around the woods. And it sells
cars because he's that hot, you know. And that's why
(13:55):
they should almost stay in their lane, because they offer
us an off eran in their that gets us away
from politics, gets us away from division. And that's my
frustration with Hollywood and the arts going political.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
Can you see yourself doing something in Hollywood, because I
could totally see you doing something in Hollywood your depite
your wrong views.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
I mean, Hollywood, Florida Hey, we would welcome you moment
arms to the hard rock casino there. Yeah, it's really
down there. I listen. I grew up with dreams of
being a part of the Hollywood. That was like a hang.
It wasn't a we have the answers in life, We're
(14:36):
going to coach you through a pandemic. It was just like, hey,
I see my movie. Yeah, here's me chain smoking on
Johnny Carson's show promoting my movie. You know. And that's
what how it used to be, is like we had
always shaken hands on this deal that they had better
lives than us, and we resent them for it because
we knew some people were just gifted in ways the
rest of us weren't, and we were just thankful to
(14:58):
vicariously live through there a few nights a year on
TV or at a premiere or at an award show.
And if I could be a part of that Hollywood,
I would do it at a second. Are you kidding me?
And that's the thing. It's like, Carol, most of the
people giving you a speech about inequality are so rich
they're using people as furniture. They're actually like sitting on
(15:18):
families as couches. Yeah, and It's like they get up
to the mic and they're like, no, we know it's hard.
I'm like, no, no, you don't, you don't.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
Right. There was that story also a few years ago
where Hollywood celebrities had during the big wildfires, they evacuated
their homes, but forgot to tell their like cleaning people
that were coming to work their house staff. They failed
to mention it. So these people like you know, went
around the fires to get into these communities only to
(15:46):
find that everybody had left. Yeah, that's how I see
Hollywood pretty much.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
Not a lot of self awareness. That's the way I
would say it.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
We're going to take a quick break and be right
back on the Carol Markowitz Show. What would you say
is our biggest societal problem? Like, outside of you know,
Hollywood being the worst.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
I just think we're too connected. I think, honestly, I
think the biggest challenge facing civilization is social media. And
I say that because there is a very positive upside
to social media. It is entertaining. You know, people do
find great joy in using it when they're you know,
looking at songs they like or jokes they find funny.
But because our disagreements never separate, anymore. It's like we
(16:32):
all grew up fighting around the same issues we're fighting
around today. It's just the way we fight about them
is different. Meaning you might disagree with the guy to
family function and then not see him for two months.
But now you disagree with him at the family function
and he's in your pocket on the way home, in
your life, right, spouting off about let me tell you
what this fool said. And now you're like, oh, yeah,
(16:52):
it's not a fight, and I don't. That's the problem
is that I don't think that we can't coexist anymore.
I just think we're being asked to do it too
much much. Yeah, And I think, like if I was president,
can happen, there's a background check. I was president, I
would declare, like, I'd sell the idea of like a
social media moratorium, because I think if we ever like
once we got on Carol, we've never been off. We
(17:14):
haven't been off for a day of a pandemic, yeah,
not a national tragedy, a global disaster. We've never had
a day off, right, But I think if we collectively
took a week off, we'd come back that Monday, pick
up where we left off and realize how unnecessary. Ninety
nine percent of what we're doing is you know, if
(17:34):
you twenty years ago would have taken a picture of
your dinner and showed it to a group of people,
would to put you in a home. That's how it
would have ended. I still think we should I know,
I dig it. But if you showed people twenty years
ago a picture of your lasagna, they would have put
you in a home and went out for lasagna. So
it's not to say the dinner picture doesn't influence people.
It does. A weird we're in this weird vortex where
(17:57):
we don't keep up with the Kardashians, like we are
all our own Kardashian. Every one of us is our
own Kardashian.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
That absolutely, and I'm super influenced because like during the
twenty sixteen election, where they talked about taco trucks all
the time, I would just have tacos constantly because it
was just in the news. It was like Hillary Clinton
talking about the taco trucks and Donald Trump having his
taco bulls, Like I mean, how wasn't that really a
commercial for tacos?
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Well that but that's where social media. No, you're right,
but that's where social media transformed politics because something Trump
knows and it does play heavily to his favor, is
you're not running for president anymore. You are running for
class president. Yes, and it's different. You're running in a
high school election now. Even though the issues are serious,
there's such an effort being put into making the campaign.
(18:45):
On Trump's end, it's him, He tweets, he does what
he says, he has his nutty moments, and he's Trump,
and people like it and they like the lack of
a filter. On the Biden end, you can see there's
fifty political strategists calculating everything and reapproving every statement. But
nonetheless they are engage in the same thing.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
That's so wise, like really the class president thing that
is so smart. I grew up without yourself. That's amazing.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Oh my god. I mean it also makes sense. You're
over complementing it.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
I mean this, No, it's really good.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
No, but my analogies also peak at my level of education.
It's just like you'll notice, I didn't say this is
like when you're trying to be the resident administrator in
norm because I didn't go to what.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
Right, So you're amazing, You're so funny. Your book Cancel
Culture Dictionary is fantastic. I really really enjoyed it. And
here with a tip for my listeners on how they
can improve their lives. How can they be happy like you?
Speaker 2 (19:43):
Honestly, you got a perspective. That's the trick and most people,
you know, life has a way of denying it to
you because we live very moment to moment. Now, everybody's
kind of a prisoner of the moment in that the
omnipotence of the news force and your social media feed
often makes us feel like the the moment you're living
in is the only one they'll ever beat. But if
you can think beyond the blast of that fire hose
(20:05):
we're consuming news through, you can probably find a lot
of fun that's not related to the things that bother you.
I don't mean to get deep, like when I was
a cab get deep. Yeah, when I drive. It really
was driving a cab five am to five pm every
day and doing stand up every night because I really
wanted to do what I'm doing now, but knowing it
was like beating me down. A woman in my cab
(20:27):
told me one day, your problem is like your alarm
clock represents the wrong thing to you, And I was like,
what does that actually mean? And she's like, whatever you do, okay,
that sucks. He's like, no matter how much you think
it sucks to get up an hour earlier, if you
get up an hour earlier and your eyes open to
this thing you are psyched to do, okay, you suddenly
(20:49):
see this whole new meaning to your alarm clock. And
that's how I got arrested for fondling myself on the
I'm kidding, but the theory after alarm clock needs to
represent joy. And she said, and honestly, she said, if
you just take your day and there's gonna be a
lot of things you don't want to do, but you
(21:10):
just set mile markers of fun through your day, you're
kind of calibrated to go look for the good time
instead of the bad time. And that's my argument against
cancel culture is it's taking sources of joy and training
people to police them for grievous Hey, is this cast
diverse enough? Is that joke punching up instead of punching down?
The point is if the joke's funny, it's funny. If
(21:32):
the movie's good, it's good. Do what you want with
the cast, Do what you want with the punchline. But
because we got to this place where we were rewarding grievous,
a lot of people broke their fun compas because they're like,
I'm gonna go towards the anger because you get likes
for saying you're mad at Dave Chappelle. But I promise me,
even if you don't like all the Chappelle's jokes, you'll
get a more rewarding life out of laughing at the
ones you do than picketing outside the theater for the
(21:54):
ones you don't. Because that's the punchline to the whole thing,
Carol is. Cancel culture has always existed before they were
social media. Like, we had people who went to comedy
clubs and got mad. We call them cancel culture. We
called them losers, okay, And that's all that ever was.
If you go looking for the fun and you defund
the fun police, which is when they are, you probably
(22:17):
might wind up with my disposition. That's all I'm That's
all I'm doing differently than anybody else is I've just
calibrated to look for the good time.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
I love it. Here's Jimmy Fayla. He is amazing. His
book is canceled Culture Dictionary, The A to Z Guide
on Winning the War on fund by It, watch his
show on Saturday nights and listen to him on Fox
News Radio.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
Thank you so much, Jimmy, I miss You're ready, Carroll,
I miss you too.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
Let's hang out.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
This is a great street corner.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
Thanks so much for joining us on The Carol Marcowitch Show.
Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
Host
Karol Markowicz
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