Transcript
Hi, greetings, everybody. Welcome to a very exciting and special edition of What Degree is scandalous with Kato Kaelin and Tom Jenner and Kato? We have a friend of yours, a friend of mine soon to be a friend of our audience. I think joining us, we're going to bring him in right at the top. You look familiar? Where's the baseball bat? This I didn't bring it. A Cayman has to pull over you guys. If you are in the south and not even the south, I'm saying all of America. Every billboard is don't scream, call it Canada. But it's even bigger than that, having them here. Our relationship goes back over 20 years. We're going to it's just we'll talk about all that stuff, but I'm honored. It's like he should be in here all the time. I took all these offices. He said, I'm hanging out here. I'm coming here every week. That's a part of me. We have a new spot for you to actually park media. This is meant for you, brother. Kato, I've got to say it came here. You got that look of a guy who's made a fortune in one career has another career that's just fun as hell. Gets to hang with his buddies and just be relaxed. I got that nice tan. Looks like he'd still play in the Ryder Cup for Team Greece or whatever. Davis Cup. Oh, hey, Ryder Cup. That's golf. Oh. The Davis Cup. It's Davis Cup. Fine, whatever. Well, actually, I've heard I've seen it break all over. He's he's bringing his tennis racket to a golf club. You get that. Was that an insult? Golf over tennis? Yes. Over golf. Well, you know what I mean? You look like you could be a golfer. He is. You know, he does. He is like, you know, the best thing about a keeper? I live the same way. He says, Kato just have fun. That's always said how down I could be. He'll just say, life's great. Just have fun. And I'm like, You know, that's sports to live by always having fun. Always just a great man. Always making other places better. Making other people better. And it's because of his, as you can see here is he's a great person and he's going to be in our our guest, but hopefully he'll be in our guest every week. You know, it's a great mantra for life. If you can go through life and have fun, everybody has to deal with crap, right? You still have to work. But if you could do something, you enjoy and enjoy it along the way. We got a lot to get to today. Akeem has a background with Kato in Television Eye for an Eye, a syndicated show that ran for well over 100 episodes, well over 300. This is unbelievable. A lot of you are going to remember the show. It was amazing. Akeem was the judge, Kato was the court reporter. Akeem had a baseball bat extreme Akeem. We're going to talk about that. But of course, he also spends half his time in Charlotte's Charles Charleston, South Carolina, home of Alex Murdock. Murder to murder. Murder. Yeah. And while that just came to a head, we're taping today the day he was sentenced. So a kid has had a lot of history. Well, Joseph knows the family knows the judge. I know all the parties. This is going to be fascinating. And you know how to party. And by the way, did you ever a party with their family? Did you? I mean, ever did. No, I don't think they're the type that you would party. But yeah, they're weird as hell to start with, but we'll get into all that. But can I start with something else? Yes. Yes. Akeem, I don't know if you listen to last week's show, but I lost my wallet. So we moved in. I lost my wallet. And that's, you know, you have to deal with all that crap, right? The driver's license, the credit cards, the debit card. You don't realize how much you have in your wallet. But I want to update this story. He found it. I get a voicemail from Walgreens last night. This is almost two weeks later. I was 100 percent sure I lost my wallet in my garage because we moved. And don't act like you're bored. This has a good ending. Walgreens, this say at least making CBS OK, so I go there. Now, listen to this. Tell me if this is not crazy. I had not a lot of cash, but a little bit of cash in this wallet. They found it in the parking lot, so this thing must have fallen out of the car. I don't know how I left it at Walgreens. What are the odds? You can go into Walgreens here in Los Angeles, steal anything you damn? Well, please. They're not going to arrest you. Someone's surely going to take my wallet off the ground, right? All the money was there. All the credit cards were there. Nothing was moved. This is almost two weeks later. The only thing that's different with my wallet, the added money somebody else's debit card is in my wallet. I've never heard of the name. I don't know who this person is. Nothing else was touched. I monitor it. There was no fraud. No one was using these cards but somebody else's debit card. A female I've never heard of is in my wallet. Is that not kind of weird kind of bizarre? It's kind of weird. That's bizarre. Counselor, what do you have to say about this? Can I sue somebody? I don't even know where to begin on that. I mean, this is worth 10 million from Walgreens, isn't it, for just discounts? Yeah, Walgreens, you know, they called you. Yeah, they found it. Yeah, but I still have to stress. Yeah, they should have called me sooner. Oh hey, welcome. So you're going back and forth, right? You still have the house in in South Carolina and you're here in the Hollywood Hills and you've got a presence here in the entertainment community. Yeah. How long have you been doing that? What is your life like right now? So I've been doing it, I guess. Right, right up here on the bike here, I guess about ten years going back and forth. And I have a big law firm in the south and north. Garland, Georgia. About 75 attorneys that work for me. And then here I own a production company and we produce TV shows and movies and we put them on the air and and create products here, right? So I come here and this crazy L.A. and then I go home to the south and I'm like, Good morning, good morning. Everybody's so friendly and different and he's and go ladies and go lowbrow. He goes right to sunset Gower. He's right there with all the movies. He's got there. He's got offices all over the place. Get me out productions and I'll brag about his daughter, who's the youngest producer in Hollywood's history at 21 year old at that sold her own show. So it's it's in their blood. Obviously, it's still on the air. Her shows what their second season, isn't it? Yeah, she was. I think she was. She was the youngest person ever to sell TV show. Yeah, she got Hollywood's most rising star, and she's a finalist for Forbes 30 under 30 at the age of twenty one. You know, I met her, a very impressive young lady and intense, you know, serious, right? I mean, she is an adopted this laid back lifestyle. Yeah, right. I mean, she's get that as other daughter Rosie is just and she's got her own going to be a cook, a cooking show. She stays away from the showbiz, but she's in the cooking. Yeah, she just published a book she published That's cool. A bakery on foods. Yeah, Sweet Land of Liberty. You could buy it on Amazon. This was 70 plus attorneys. That's a big business that's not small. This isn't like hang your shingle out, you know, mom and pop shop. This is big time. Oh yeah. Did you have a team in place that just runs this? And of course, your mug is on the billboards and that's what that's what moves the product and brings in the clients. But is it running on itself when you're not there? Oh, yeah, it's I mean, we have hundreds of employees and we're in offices all over the place and we handle national cases where, you know, handling all the the big cases we do. Robin Hood went in the baby food cases. We do all the class actions we do all around the nation. The Robinhood case, that's a $30 million case. Am I correct the one word? They were not taking people's orders whenever the kids were trying to buy stocks? Yeah. On the stocks because of Reddit, they told them to killed the man or, you know, set to buy a stock that everybody was shorting. So you're on the side of Robinhood or get which we were against Robert. OK, that's right. You up to say that that's a huge asset. That's a class action. That's a cla*s. Yeah, we did last year, the company, you're doing that suit? Yeah, we were appointed to the steering committee and appointed the head of the whole nation. Tom, do you hear that that was that's that's huge. And yeah, I was going to ask you, like how hard you have to fight to get this like it's got to be so much competition. Everybody wants this. Yeah, relationships are. How do you get it? So what happens is when it's complex litigation, any time there, you know, you probably see the ads for Roundup and Baby Powder and everything else. So when it's complex litigation, the court system will appoint one judge in the nation and they appoint a steering committee, which does all the cases for the whole nation. So the steering committee gets fees on every case in the nation. So it's really big and you're talking about huge amounts of money. Does that judge have a baseball bat and so huge money so. Everybody, the biggest attorneys in the country that fly in on their large ads, you know, that's best as people. The Valdez person and the round up people, they all fly in to get on the steering committee and then that one judge will appoint who gets to be on the steering committee and everybody's fighting to be on it. So, yeah, it's pretty interesting. And have we been able to get on quite a few so that we've really hit a natural stride? And Tom, you love sports and um, I do a sport thing where a team can talk about, we'll find out in a second, but. And one of his businesses in Georgia, it's one 800 seven seven seven seven seven seven seven. He got the Georgia player that was the number 77 to do the commercials that Georgia player died in a car crash. Now if you are, if we're allowed to talk, this is a huge story now, I believe. Are you talking about University of Georgia? Yeah, that recently happened. Yeah, right. They canceled the NASCAR. They were drag racing or racing. I mean, it still was the Carters. Yeah, yeah. Well, he was the one that was allegedly racing. He's the top five potential draft pick, right? Yeah. So this yeah, this did happen right for the national championship. Yeah. Yeah. So we yeah. So like Kato said, I brand one 800 all sevens all through the Carolinas and Georgia, and we do the Niall's with, you know, a lot of the football players that we had South Carolina number 77. He did commercials with me and billboards and then the 77 from Georgia, and he was the one that was killed in the car wreck. And so we represent his family from from him dying. And so it's been a lot of national attention that we've seen in our firm. It's had to do a lot of press conferences and we've we've really been getting a lot of a lot of questions from national media. I have a question. I'm national media to that. With that being said, if if the if you had the number 77, I can't think of his name, but you represent him and his family before the commercials, he was obviously paid to do that now that he's not there. Can you have a suit against the person? Yes, his family does. Is the state. So we represent his estate. So his parents, we represent the family, you know, so when someone dies, what happens is the state takes over the case. So right, that's that's who we were. And then so you have to pull the commercials. Yeah, you have to say, you know, obviously you are, of course. Yeah, we know it's it's really sad, but it's very, very you have a personal relationship. Very tragic. It's really sad. And you know, now the new stuff coming out, which you know, everybody just heard about this last week about probably could be the one draft pick was racing with them. That with. So he was in the car with the recruiter, who was driving another football player, and I believe we represent him too. I know you do want to avoid their names and not say their names. Yeah, I'm not. OK, fine. Jalen Carter is that is the top draft pick that was, you know, just misdemeanor charges of what was brought up on him this past week. Yeah, it just came out this last week and that he was going and I think it was said that he was going like they were going like 105 miles per hour. And so it's we get a lot of questions questions are we going to the University of Georgia? Are we going to see the Jalen Carter or are we going to see that we're not allowed to talk about all that? Because of course, whatever we do, the family, we have to talk to them and it's very delicate what we do. But there's, you know, with him being involved and he's such a high draft pick, that's a lot of tension on this. Oh yeah. And it's a small community. It's a it's on news every day and these are heroes. I mean, the Georgia football team, Kirby, you know, the coach there is like a god, almost. I mean, they went back to back national championships. This is. Well, I had no idea. I mean, I didn't know that many details until, you know, he was arrested this week, Carter. And you know, it was interesting when he was the statement that his lawyers made. There was that was really Kraft craftily written, right? Misdemeanor charge. They were really trying to downplay whatever type of involvement he had because this is going into the draft as well, right? And he's at the combine now, I think. I'm not sure if he went out there or not. And then you got the the other thing is your future earnings of these, these these guys that were killed, right? I mean, if you're playing for Georgia, there's a good chance you're going to the NFL. Oh, yeah. So so if if we if we sue, it's under a different standard. So he what he's been charged with is criminal, criminal. It's beyond a reasonable doubt. What if we do do a case against him? It's. He was negligent, negligent for driving and enticing a speed chase. You know, for them doing this, which ultimately can participate in led to the death of this person, said that's what you do in a civil lawsuit. So what we would be doing is cases for the family to be compensated for the loss of their son. And that's what you guys specialize in. Yes. So what we do with the plane is personal injury. Yeah. Well, hey, tragic. I'm sure you had a close personal relationship with this guy. So my my our firm sympathies go out. Not me, but OK. Sure. OK, well, that's tragic all the way around. So I hope for the best for our family. Yeah. And you know, there's of course, the tragedy. It was the loss of life. If we could talk about the ultimate always Maggie and Paul, the year from Charleston, I think there are from another. I can't think of a town name, but it's a land was called Mosul, where he had his the hunting grounds. So what I'm talking about is the Alex Murdock case, which the verdict came out if you listen to our show where he's guilty of murder. But I watched his Netflix special the other day, and there's a four part special on this. There, there's so much with this family that was there was a boating accident with Paul that this a girl was killed in the cover up that was along with the cover. There was a 15 year old kid who was gay at the high school that they don't know what happened to him, but they just found him laying in the street. Dead didn't get hit by a car because the positioning was just too bizarre. But in the logs, that name was in there also and the specials just fascinating with this family of how don't forget the housekeeper. This is part of their to the housekeeper who was climbing up just a few cement stairs. Next thing you know, she's she's dead and and the family didn't know that they were awarded like he sued his own estate for 4.3 million or more. And they never got it. They didn't even know this. And what is this guy is working at? And did you know the cases you're from there? Did you know about all these things? The boating was so much, probably on the news there a lot more. Did you know in your mind you're going with this family? Well, and to put in perspective, this family has ruled that area for years, a hundred years. Their great grandfather was there. The here y'all call them District Attorney. We call them solicitor right now. Close by the way, is this to you? So this area that you're talking about, so it's Charleston, is and where they're from. It's all everybody knows each other. It's an hour away. But we practice law in these areas too, so we know everybody. So it's been going on for 100 years. The great grandfather was the head, district attorney or solicitor. The grandfather was next, then the the the father, and then it gets all the way down. It's which means if you're the head D.A. in a small area, you know all the police, you know, all the judges, you know, everything going on. But not only did they do that, they had the the injury law firm to that would sue people and get the biggest verdicts in that area. They they they really controlled that area so much. I remember I was there on another case and they were picking a jury panel, the Murdock law firm. They were representing someone. And the judge said, who in here knows the Murdochs or has been represented by them. And almost the whole jury panel stood up and said, We do we do with one side or the other. Either you committed a crime or is fighting to win your money, and the judge is like, That's that's great. You can all sit down. I mean, so there's nobody that didn't know them. I mean, they they they, for example, the courthouse where Alex was tried out for these murder cases, there's a big portrait of his grandfather. That's right in the courthouse, right? And you know, and they had to take it down for the trial. It doesn't help that it's called the Murdock Courthouse Home Court advantage. The court, I think you'll get away with it. You know, it's it's just so odd and different from what we're used to because that family was on both sides. They were on the prosecutors side. Right. They're very, very powerful. Because of that, they convicted a lot of people in that same courtroom, probably probably something to life sentences or, you know, the death penalty or whatever. Now he's in there. Plus, you know, the rich, too. So they're they're making it on the other side in civil cases. The first impression I have this family and I watched the Dateline specials about the boating accident is they're just the biggest creeps on the planet. Alex Murtaugh is the most disgusting, disturbing, creepy, weird, odd individual that I think I've ever like. He's in the top ten from what I've seen. I. Could be wrong, but that's how he comes across. And then let's remember what he did. Yeah, he killed his son with a shotgun and his wife with a rifle and lied his a*s up and down Broadway, you know, on the way to. Unfortunately, not the electric chair, but I think it's worse for a guy like that to spend life in prison as opposed to taking him out and five years or something or 10. Let him think about it and just deal with it forever, right? Am I wrong? I mean, is there some redeeming qualities about this guy? I mean, luckily, without parole to serve, we don't own the victims. Don't have to worry about him coming up for parole. He'll he'll spend the rest of his years and, you know, with life. Yeah, the fact that he I mean, he was a part time prosecutor to prosecute people put in jail. He was, you know, he had blue lights on his personal car that he would stop people, you know, I'm sure he probably had a badge. He had a badge. He sent in the special that he carried his badge around and it was even a cop. So is it is he going to be in a prison? Is it going to be a white collar or blue guy? It's because this is his his life expectancy will be probably they'll be. He'll be probably locked up with people that he put in jail and he's probably going to be beat up or he's going to be, you know, possibly, you know, killed in prison in a state prison all the way in South Carolina is no joke. Yeah, there's some some people in state prison you don't want to mess with. He's going to be uncomfortable. It's a big difference between state and federal prisons. Federal prisons is what you hear about the country clubs and stuff. The state is not. I mean, and if he's got life without parole, he'll be probably at this place called C.s.i. and Columbia South Gon. That is a really rough place. Would you think that people will know him? Obviously. Oh hell yeah. So you think what your opinion? Do you think he's just going to get thrashed? Well, he'll they'll have to protect him in prison. I would imagine a little bit. Yeah, he's yeah. Maybe he's out, which could be worse. If you're in solitary confinement, you know that could be even worse. Hey, Kim, how close did you follow the trial? Because I didn't follow super closely where I was watching it live. Who else could have possibly done this? I know what hung him, essentially was the audio or video recording on his phone that placed him at those dog kennels when he said he was taking a nap and he was there right then he made the 9-1-1 call so quickly after the actual murders that it was just, there's no way it would probably happen that quickly. Did they ever try to throw another name or another scenario out there who possibly could have done it? Well, the defense tried to say there was two shooters because there was two guns, and but it goes to show you the lengths he went to to think of this. I mean, he thought of the two guns so we could act like there's two shooters. He after he shot them, he texted his wife and tried to call her and tried to do all this cover up to to to show that he's innocent. So, I mean, it had to be pre-planned. I mean, if they had to have the two guns and try to act like there's two killers. And so any smart I mean, he's a former prosecutor, he knows the trials, he knows I've got to have an alibi. So he was texting afterwards and he was doing that. But the video of the victim is what killed them. Paul Paul Paul was taken a video of a Snapchat with a Snapchat video of his friend's dog, who he was watching, whose tail was messed up. Alec didn't know that he was taking that video right before the murders. And in the background, he's talking to his wife. And you could hear him talking to his wife right there, and he sent it to the friend, and the friend had the video that showed the exact time that the video was taken. And that's what that's what got him and even the jurors. They interviewed the jurors afterwards, and they said, that's what convicted. You know, again, maybe I'm sounding stupid for saying this, but a how did they know that? Because Snapchat, isn't it? Is that gone in a second? So they had a clearly go to Snapchat into the servers or whatnot to get this? Probably. Wow. I mean, thank God something like that happened, right? Or he could have gotten away with. Is that funny? Isn't that that's karma? Is that the odds? I mean, it's fascinating that the odds that that's the reason that happened to be that he's filming a Snapchat and his dad obviously doesn't know probably what Snapchat is, or he doesn't even realize it. And it's all from that little piece of it's like a little Columbo moment. Right, right? It's like, Oh, well, then your Snapchat, you know, when he comes back the second or third time, one more question, which is no way. Now you don't want Columbo doing that U-turn coming back. One more thing. Akeem, what was the buzz in Charleston as far as a motive? Because they don't have to bring up a motive to convict somebody? You don't need that in a murder case like that. But was it the fact? Did he have major financial issues? It sounds like he did. He's a drug addict. He can't as his colleagues and his law partners, and even even some of his clients out of millions. So what was that it? So problems. You know, me and everybody else we're all debating. Where did it spend this money? I mean, this town, you can buy a huge house for, you know, a hundred and fifty thousand two hundred dollars. I mean, he owned that big estate I think it sold for, you know, maybe not even two million. I mean, so things are not that expensive. And he was stealing millions and millions from clients and one client he stole four or five million dollars from. That's just one client. And he was making money. So where did it all go? He said he was spending. What was it like 6000 milligrams of OxyContin a day? And have you ever taken 30, you know, 30, you're wiped out? I mean, you know, 60, you're wiped out. There's no way he was taken that much a day. And so where did the money all go? And that's what everybody's wondering. I mean, I still don't know. You know what? When you peel back, I always feel in a lot of times I'm right about this thing. It's guys like that that they have a lot of power, but they can't get away with anything in town, right in Charleston. Everybody knows who he is. He has an odd look to himself. So it's not like he's going to get away. These guys are buying private planes or spending money on private planes are going to Vegas, they're going to the Philippines, they're going to the Bahamas. They're going where they're not recognizing they're spending the money on women and gambling and doing crap like that, and they can go quickly. You know, I'm not saying that you're going to blow through millions every day. Know you think he's talking from personal experience, but he's very passionate about it. Other than the hookers, the booze, the private planes. I know nothing about any of this, but I had a friend of mine that actually fell asleep in a crap table. Why are you dogging me? I brought up a very good case of cross-examining you, fellows. You're are expert. I imagine he's gay. Yeah. Well, that's actually part of the case. Yeah. He had a son, Buster and a brother. They went to Vegas. Yeah. To me, it's this guy. It's no sex with him. Yeah. But they had the he had a part of the trial, and part of the documentary is he has his brother and his son, Buster, were in Vegas and calling. And it was fascinating too, because while he's in prison, he's calling Buster. And the phone calls start out by saying these phone calls are monitored and taped. So he knows going in that the phone calls are taped, but you become so immune to it because you start getting to your regular banter on a phone. You forget about being taped, and he's saying things that are all on tape that it's like, This guy is this guy. That's horrible. Well, I think it's a combo. He knows he has a history of getting out of any sort of trouble. So I think he's always thinking he'll find a way. Right? It's like that Dirty John guy. Remember, did you guys watch that, that great series, that podcast series where the daughter of the woman in Newport Beach finally killed him? It's fat. It's so good if you haven't seen that, but these guys are so creepy. They think. They think they're smart. They are smart, right? And they think that they can get themselves out of any jam. And then when it's not immediate, it's even like when, you know, video recorders are out there and you're doing some things. You don't think about it at the moment because you can't see yourself or there's no immediate repercussions. But even a guy like that that should know is saying things on this recorded call, right, that you know, it's going to come back and get him. Yeah, I know when you're in Charleston, so you never, never even saw the guy out. I mean, I didn't say you hung out with me. Did you ever see him? You didn't. Yeah, that lawyer convention. He was. He was the president of the South Carolina trial lawyers. So he was the the present. He was our president. I mean, that's that's how big he was. I mean, he's, you know. But with that power, you got to look at what comes with it. So in south kind, the legislatures appoint the judges. So with all their power, you can't get elected without their power. So the legislatures then appoint the judges would then the judges know that. Of course, I'm not saying that they're biased or anything else, but you've got, but they're the prosecutor. Mm hmm. So you're in front of these judges every day. You know them. They know every. So you've got the politicians, you've got the judiciary, you've got the police, you're you're their boss, the police boss, you know, they're there. I mean, and it's your whole family and it's this whole area. So that's why. No place to go without checks and balances, there was no checks and balances in the city for a hundred years, 100 year and generations. I mean, this is what happens when there's no checks and balances. You think, I guess, that you can just go kill your wife and son, you're going to get away with because you've gotten away with everything your whole life and your family's got? I bet you. I bet you people in his life. It would, I say, joking in matter of passing they, Oh, you could get away with murder. You're a murderer. And I'm sure that resonated with him. Like, Yeah, I bet I could get away with murder. Yeah. And you know, we probably. And and like you said, who knows if this is even the first? I mean, there's the dead boy, there's a dead housekeeper, there's a dead. I mean, who knows? Yeah, there's a string of coincidences behind him involved dead bodies, right? Can you imagine if this guy's a serial killer that they find out all these different things to the family? Well, I mean, technically, are you? How many does it take? That's three separate incidences. If you consider his wife and child, the other kid and then the housekeeper. The housekeeper. The story that just because for people saying he's going to take care of the of the family of the housekeeper that you know, and she didn't come from money, that he took all their money. It just blows me away. This guy is evil. That's a lot of tension on a city will probably let the news every single night. It's just out there all the time, right? It's the everybody's talking about it because it's a huge national story. Imagine how big that is in Charleston. You know, it's everybody's talking about it, but we have people from all around the nation that I get France upon that. Keep saying I'm watching it. And so it's really gathered. I think it's one of the biggest national criminal trials may be. I think it's even bigger. And Casey Anthony, I think it's probably right under there. Yeah, your famous case of O'Jays. And yeah, it's definitely one of uptown. Yeah, that's a class of its own. But you know, it's definitely one of the top three biggest. Oh, all the way as a father killing his family to members of his family. So came and got it, Gary. Yeah, who did it? So obviously, your genius, a very erudite man. This genius that you are. Do you with your production company and you, you know, offices at Sunset Gower, do you try to come up with shows based on trials or based on crime? Or do you you do all things comedy you do? What's the thing that gets you like? That's what I want to do. Is it something that's just out there? Bizarre? Is it? Is it? Do you have like a niche, you know, will sell at Tell Everybody The Office? The only thing I don't want to hear is. And to me, the biggest insult if someone said, Oh, we've heard this before. I never want to pitch anything that anybody has even remotely done before it. So if it's it doesn't matter how crazy it is or how different it is, as long as we're not pitching something that someone else has already already done is it's my date. So there's nothing that at your company that knows you do stuff that no one, you know is never pitched before. Right, right, right. Like today, I think we were talking about little people, babysitters, you know that a lot of people, oh, that again, the babysitter. You know, I guess writing teenagers, you know, and I know that's never been pets before outside. It's interesting, you know, I mean, so you know, but then again, we'll have a serious pet coming up, too. So as long as it's never been done before, you know, Kato and I have pitched studios, we've pitched production guys. We do this a lot. What's harder pitching a network, a streamer, a studio or convincing a jury that someone's innocent? What's tougher? Well, you know, a former prosecutor. And I've been a criminal defense attorney, so they're they're both sort of easy. The prosecutor, the because the police are, in my opinion, very trained. I mean, I could close my eyes and go on a DUI person. And what did you observe? Bloodshot eyes unsteady on their feet, slurred speech? If I heard it, once I heard it a million times and I knew they were going to, you know, they all because they're trained. They say this, saying, Yeah. Instead, I mean, they they said, Say all. And what did you do next? So what did you do as a prosecutor? That's what you do. And then as a criminal defense attorney, it's so easy to like when the officer gets up. There you go and you don't do this and you didn't take a fingerprint there. You didn't take it. The ladies and gentlemen jury that's reasonable doubt. So it's to me that those were both easy, you know, to do. And unfortunately, I was, you know, too good at it. That's why I quit doing criminal defense because I was like, Oh, in maybe should not have found them not guilty, but whatever you know, to Johnson, there's an oath. I mean, I was just doing my job. I didn't really mean for it. I read, So, you know, I quit doing criminal defense because of that ad. So, but pitching studios, it's it's a little bit harder for me because. Cause, you know, sometimes they don't. They're a little bit more conservative than you would think they're like. But this is what we stick to. This is and that's why we see a lot of the same boring shows on every time. Oh, you know, it's like, this is only what we do. Well, maybe if you Brent's down in some a little bit more exciting, your ratings might go up. But I'm not telling you how to run a business, you know? Yeah, that's got to be frustrating. We know it'll work. Did you tell him yourself? Did you ever see eye for an eye an episode of it? Oh yeah, OK. So we had Hugh give out a judgment of what he has to do. What do you think of this for a pitch? Doing a celebrity version. Are you kidding? It's great. Why not? Because you get a celebrity to do a challenge or whatever Akeem would say. All right. You're not here to be in a parking ticket. We're going to give you an epidural. You got to try to do five things with your legs numb. We did that, and Perlman agreed to it. I remember the one episode. I think they were arguing over a mechanic bill or something, and the end the one that lost had to carry a rickshaw up. Another seems like that's my favorite one. Yeah, that was that. Dallas East End. Yeah, a rickshaw where they had to do. Then we did the rickshaw races. Oh, you're I don't know if you remember that was that he is of a dispute over. Yeah. Come on, bill. So he had to do the rickshaw. So let me let me just set this up. So go on YouTube and find some of these episodes. If you don't know what we're talking about, it does eye for an eye. Yeah, over 300 episodes syndicated. This is the show. You watch it, you know, four o'clock in the afternoon after Oprah, you know, things like that, right? Or later at night. Akeem was the judge who carried a baseball bat, which has never been done before. This court shows right. Never seen extreme Akeem and the crowd starts chanting. And then, of course, you get this guy, Kato Kaelin. Go to the audience and, you know, with his perps and quips and in lines and instigation. And wow, the dynamic duo you two, you guys killed it for a while. Let's talk about it. How did they pair you two together? How did the show end up in Dallas? Whose idea was it? Give us the backstory. Well, the first first thing. I would never do this for that Kato. I mean, Kato. I hope everybody gets say he is the best host by far out of anybody I've ever seen in my life. I mean, he is amazing. I mean, really amazing and funny. And he he comes with, you know, Tom, you friends with Kato. He can come up with the best one liners I've ever seen and him. And so we we came up with idea there was a judge in South Carolina and his name was Judge Epps. And instead of sentencing people to prison, he would do stuff like, You know, you're going to have to go, you know, if the grandmother spoke with him, you know, go live with your grandmother, you're going to have to, you know, be there, you're going to do this, you know, all sorts of creative punishments. He would make them hold signs up saying, you know, I shoplifted at this store and they had a choice. They could go to jail or they could put a hold the sign up in front of the store that they shoplift. And that's legal. A judge could do that discretion. Yeah. Is that a South Carolina thing or, you know, any place can do it? I mean, they he gives them a choice. You know, you can go to jail and he wanted them to because jails are overcrowded and what isn't like a learn in jail, but to learn how to be another criminal, there's is a school to learn how to do other crimes in jail. You know what? But being humiliated like that will probably help deter you from committing another crime, right? That's actually pretty smart. He was great, and he would make, you know, pick up trash and just whatever it was. So he was my favorite judge when I was a prosecutor, and so I modeled the show after after him and and I liked it because once again, I didn't want to do another judge show like everybody else has done. I mean, it's the same boring shows. Oh, your verdict is for one hundred and fifty dollars. I mean, who cares, you know, and hours. We wanted the person to feel what the victim felt like, and it's hilarious. Kato is amazing. Well, you know, I mean, he really is. I mean, well, thank you. And but the stuff that we did that you would give the person to do for their crime just made the show's team of writers that came up with the punishment ideas. Or did you guys do that? We did it. I did. Yeah. And and we would run it by people. But just so they didn't say that we went too far in the contract I would put if you lost, these are one of these 10 things could happen to you. And so of course, none of them ever thought they would lose. So I didn't want someone to say, Yeah, but people love being on TV, you know, that's a big part of it. When I was working for NBC in Chicago as the sports anchor at NBC during the Bulls run of their last three titles. NBC Tower is where NBC is in Chicago, and one floor up from us in the newsroom for NBC was The Jerry Springer Show on one side and the Jenny Jones Show on the other side. So I would I loved those shows. I would go up there during my breaks. No joke, and I would go because I got to know everybody at Springer and I would go backstage and watch. And when they're yelling and screaming and fighting on stage and then they come back, they're hugging, they're high fiving. Like, Can you believe what? We just pulled off it? Is also right, which you kind of knew, but it was really funny. I love that kind of crap. Did people come on to your show? Were these real, real grudges or real beefs that they had? Or was this a little bit performance by the by the people that were being charged? I mean, they signed some saying it's it's real and stuff. I mean, we. There are before the show, not that we're involved in it, but you know, there's people that work for the show that will say this courtroom is different. You you're, you know, if you want to yell at the other person, you can yell at the other person stuff like that. So they they just said they know it's a different type of courtroom that you know, and that you only have a few minutes to get your point across so that they would interject and stuff like that. Those egging them on. I know it is. And when they had some of these battles that went on, we obviously had to edit. It was, I knew, going in. I'm saying this is people are going to love the show. People just are going to love this show because when and you can tell by the audience reaction. And they were so excited to be there. What is it? What was it? Recognizability from this show? Were people noticing you all over the country? Yeah, sort of weird, you know, because I was a lawyer and I was used to people in South Carolina, you know, because I had billboards and commercials everywhere and people, you know, always taking pictures in there. But the show came and I remember I was in a rest area in New Mexico, and this guy was like, was peanuts pee next to him? And he turned to me, goes, Oh my God, you're the judge. I just watched. I laughed my a*s off. And the guys like peeing on me, you know, whatever are on the floor. And I was like. And I remember the first time I signed an autograph, I didn't know where the pudding streamer came or gave me. I was like, Mercado's used to it. That's kind of like. But you got thrown into it all of a sudden to just, you know? And when it first happens, it's a little weird. Were they recognizing you for the show, too? Because everybody knows they're like, No, they already know. But were they? Hey. Oh, that was the best when people with airport didn't say, Where's O.J.? And they said, eye for an eye. Then I knew, OK, I cleared a barrier of my life with that. And then I'd be with this guy and people going, Why is Kato with Steve Carell? Yeah, yeah, they thought it's a 40 year. But hey, why? Here's a question Why were you shooting in Dallas? I guess because it's middle of the country. Well, that's true. You give people a big hub airport. You can fly people in easily and you get crazier people in Texas. And we got away with a lot of, yeah, so you know, people don't know how syndication works. You'll shoot, what, five episodes a day for a couple of weeks to a whole season. We did more than five a day. We really did. Yeah, we pretty much we had very early mornings. We shot all day, probably at least five, maybe maybe more. But we did that. But one of the things that we had in Dallas that was great is a lot of our challenges had to be at the rodeo and we had bull riding. We had we had everything that was kind of like Tex Texas, and that's where I knew would like L.A. People would go, This is really different. We love it because it was different. It was it was. Guns are there. And now that we shot anybody, we'd use paint guns, but we did some crazy. Were you devastated when it ended or was it your call or did it do its natural loss and its course or? Yeah, it's our call there. You know, it was some disputes within the. That some of the people involved in it, you know. But you couldn't bring him to eye for an eye court. Yeah, it's that way. Maybe one day. But you know, we've lately made, you know, Kato have talked about this because we've been asked by so many people and we get stopped all the time. Please bring it back. Please bring it back. And so we've been approached about bring about the celebrity edition. So we're really in talks with about it now. Oh, well, thank you for breaking the news. Why don't you ask me earlier? I still give you my opinion. Why do you wait to spring it on the show? I just think that like, Hey, good luck, guys. Yeah, thanks. It's great. Once again, assuming you're going to what you did, play tennis, you played tennis for the Davis Cup and of Greece. He's from Greece. And he also you're a big, avid fan. You're going to be up in Indian Wells. Yeah. For the tennis. I mean, that's a big deal. I would love that tournament was the big, beautiful state that you see that they built. Who are the biggest names are going to be there. I don't know if Nadal's going to be there. I don't know. Agassi used to always come back in the day. Yeah. I haven't looked at to see who's going to be there, but it's it's so fun because I got a U.S. Open, you know, French Open, I got all of them and in the wells and he's by the way, he's front row, I got to tell you, is open this fall. I want to give. I take the picture off the camera. I'm going, he's that's a team in the front row. So you just love tennis, playing it, watching it. Yeah, well, it's fun. In the Indian Wells, there's literally spa at the top of the stadium. Yeah, and then Nobu and so you sit outside your drink and everybody's laughing loud and the players are furious. They're like telling the umpire, you know, please tell them to shut up because you know, they're used to that. And usually the umpire says, Yeah, crowd, please be quiet. All the umpire says that in the well says, Welcome to Indian Wells. You need that. That's the equivalent of the Phoenix Open in golf. I was just screaming. I saw a great documentary on Netflix is probably it came out in twenty twenty twenty. So it was the year of the pandemic. So Indian Wells, the big tournament is right around the shutdown time in 2020. And it was it was Spargo. It was following him, right? It was amazing. And just how, you know, just how they brought the whole team in from from L.A. and just all the food they were preparing and then how it all got shut down and how devastating it was because that happened in the middle of the tournament where the COVID lockdown hit in 2020, right during Indian Wells. But yeah, that's a great tournament. That's they've done an amazing job at stadium just pops up out of nowhere out there. It's very L.A. I mean, everybody's just dry champagne. Nobody's watching the matches. Everybody's like, Do I look good? I mean, it's it's like, Yeah, it's all. That's a big life. I see ABC. I just say to myself, I'm just glad to be a friend. I'm just glad to be ready to hear stories. I want to go to the U.S. Open this fall. OK, I want to go, Yeah, to go. I can't wait. I haven't checked that one off. I'm going, You got to go. We're coming. As fans chant are coming. It's fun. Yeah, we're watching you. Oh, it's Thomson. I love your wife best. I might see there's a bench that's a pitch you love to. Yeah, yeah, Tom, I want to do that show. She fits me. I really want to go, Let's go. Let's tell our audience what she you know. She's got a lot of great, well, we can do with. Let's make the audience on India, though, right? Yeah, maybe we'll give you all the details. But the way Shonda does it is she comes up with one great idea a month and she takes credit for that one and all the hundreds that I have during a month, she teach and then she takes a month off after her. One great idea. But this one's interesting. Yeah, I don't know if I want her involved. I think she might slip into that lifestyle a little bit too much. I'm still, I'm still. I'm still figuring out if she's going to be involved in this thing. Well, the way she told me, I love telling her, you know that it's I mean, I'm not used to South Carolina. And so, you know, drive a Ferrari here and I pull in gas station and this girl comes at me and hands me and her phone number. And she's gorgeous and she's young and I like what she does. I'm just going to be honest, I'm looking for a daddy. I go, What's a daddy? And she goes an older guy that obviously has money that still, you know, can you say the f word? Yeah, that still f**kable. And I go, I go, What? I go? And she goes, Yeah, she goes, I'm just going to be honest and I go, How do you know how to manage? Because I saw you come in with the Ferrari. So there's girls that just look for guys with money and L.A. and they want these daddies. I'd never heard of this. You know, the last time I saw a queen was at the Peninsula Hotel, we were all having dinner and wasn't there a special necklace you were wearing that night? If I do recall, I need one of those. Yeah, that I am a dad. You have it. Look at me. We got to get back. You got to get we have necklaces that are a rapper. It's a rapper that kids are. Yeah, you have one. Yeah, yeah, I gave it back. I need it, though. Hey, the show is I mean, the pitch is daddy's, right? It's I tell your wife about it. She's like, Oh my God, I've been wanting to do the show. I was like, We got to do it. We put probably could give you a few people for this show, so keep us in mind. It's yeah, I want to get out of your life more. Yeah, yeah. Well, I don't we have to wrap up. I love that you're here. I love it. I love it. I love it, that you. I always said a Tom. We've got to have a on the show we got. Yeah, but you know what? The timing today could not have been better. Just your perspective. Charleston, successful attorney, you know, and then Alex Murdoch. This whole thing, by the way, how many billboards is it? Because I want to tell all our listeners when you're in Charleston, in Atlanta, throughout the south is everywhere. Yeah, yeah. You know, there's this south, the board of billboards. They call me like, I'm white south of the border. Wow. Did you get a good like ten year, 20 year deal on these billboards or a lot of them? I think they do yearly. I think they made the contracts a year and stuff. Yeah. And so also, if you can talk about this to one of the like, you're an entrepreneur, many things you can say you buy the rights to certain things corrected by saying right that you have. If someone has to use it, they have to talk to you. Oh yeah, yeah, trademarks change. You know, trademarks on everything you know we have. Yeah. So LeBron, ready when you want to talk of Tuesday trademarked, remember you heard that story, did he? You know he did it. He tried to trademark Taco Tuesday. Who did LeBron James? How original? So yeah, because you have an advantage. You know how to do it. It's a big legal process for the average person. It's not easy to get a trademark, but now that I know you do them, yeah, the trademark tattoos don't do anything with that. Trademarks? Yeah, they're really huge. Well, good. We can funnel some business your way for sure. I don't know if I'll be doing it, but I got to go to Indian Wells. Let's get a tattoo in Chicago. How often? So whatever is working for your companies, how often you actually are you on the phone with them? You pretty much have someone that's in charge. You like, I trust him. Oh, yeah, yeah. They only call you if it's like, alter important. Like, Hey, how much money do we make today? That's a team's phone calls. Yeah. Did that cheque come in for the class action lawsuit? I feel how many zeros one degree is scandalous. Pretty soon it's going to have. Our logo is going to be don't scream, call Akeem is our biggest ad. Yeah. That's two questions. Is there two or three commas in that check? Yeah, it. Hey, by the way, how do you like action park media ask, Is this an amazing facility? Kevin Connolly's built something really, really special here. Yeah. You know, any podcasts is amazing. Big fan, I've gone back and listen, thanks a team and I appreciate that. Like, you're not just going to say that, but we do have a great show. So everybody listening right now, make sure you download and subscribe. Tell 100 friends, tell 200 friends. But seriously, this show is taking off. You know, we had great guests like you today, Akeem. So it come back. You got to come back to you. Do you love hanging out at the studios? Come on. This is like being in a fraternity house. Yeah, I mean, you got Kevin Connolly here. You got all the entourage, people. The whole crew of Entourage was here from Entourage. So Doug Allen rolling around. Yeah, people. I think people like drink and booze back there. Victory, the podcast Two O'Clock in the afternoon. It's like a fraternity house. Yeah, yeah. We got Sean Avery Sean Avery's podcast. No, Griff's given we've got the go the public. What else do you? The one degree scandalous. What are we doing tonight? Why don't we all head over to state 48? Let's go have dinner just opened up in Beverly Hills. Kato's wife's out of town, Kato. Let's go. I got to figure it out, guys. OK, well, we'll call her. We'll get permission, you know? I don't know. All right. He's got a Plan B.. Akeem, thanks for joining us. Thank you. Really appreciate it. Kato. Good seeing my man. I love it. I love it so much. Everybody, please subscribe to one degree of scandalous on YouTube and check out Ockimey all over America. We're going to be your show together soon. You have to keep us posted. I know you guys got a lot of things in the hopper, so. Best of luck to you guys and bring me along someone I want to help for Kato Kaelin. I'm Tom Sater. Thanks so much for watching the attention next week right here. One degree of scandals.
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