James Gunn + Kevin Costner (Carolla Classics)

Transcript

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Visit and I direct on gov.uk and check ahead with providers. You are now tuned in to Hollywood ways embracing. Oh hey, did. I know that you like the lies that you like to shine, has no other place you to be. This is how he does, how he does and how. I welcome the Hollywood Way Way. I'm Doug Elliott, Breezy. Ted Foxman in the booth. 33 I well, I'll tell you about my week a little bit because it was crazy because, you know, at this week it was like my three year anniversary with my girlfriend and her birthday. It's like, I mean, the cluster, a cluster of of coming up with gift ideas and entertaining. It's just, I'm getting old. It's not easy. How far apart was the anniversary of your birthday? So. Yeah, that's yeah. And let me tell you something, I don't know the world I know right now people are saying like money is tight for people and this and that. But I wanted to get her something nice. I wanted to get her a nice Chanel bag, but I go and I'm like, I've made the decision. I know the exact bag and I get to the Chanel store and I'm like, Hey. And they're like, Do you have an appointment like an appointment? I'm like, Why do I need an appointment? They're like, You need an appointment. I'm like, I'm like, But I know what my bag is. Can I just give you the card and you just wrap it up to like, No, OK, so then I try to call from the car. You can't even call to make an appointment. You got to get on line. And then I get to two days later. Now it's been the stress of getting this item. I go to the Neiman Marcus instead of the Chanel store because I'm mad at the Chanel store like they give a s**t like they care at all that I'm like algorithm. I go to Neiman Marcus and I the first guy and I get on the line there and all of a sudden, like the new line just came out. So there's like a hoard of Beverly Hills women that are coming and they honestly were ready to stomp all over me to get to this stuff. But I made my way in and I got this bag and my girl was just thrilled. So every girl is thrilled to get a Chanel back. But to the defense of Chanel and all of these high end stores are doing appointments. When these are these scams of the PPP loans and all this stuff hit, these stores got hit hard. So now, I mean, even Cartier, you need an appointment. There's one sales person per human human. Exactly. They have to keep a close monitor. These people were coming to rodeo. They were still in stuff, running out with things. This is why Brizzi is so awesome because I've been angry for four days that Chanel does want to take my money. And now you've given me a very smart reason when there was so much access. And you know, there was some people coming from different areas that had money that they didn't have before. It made pet places like Beverly Hills a little scary, a little sketchy like me. And Chris went there one day and it was so many people. I'm talking my pants sagging. It just looked like there was there wasn't a gun for. And I said, You know what? Next time, like, I'm just I'm not walking down rodeo with. It's flooded with people and it's never like that. No, it's never like that. And nothing's on sale on Rodeo. Believe it. Yeah, you get what I'm saying. So I got it. And I know that credit card bounced for this bag. But Chanel Chanel, along with a number of other stores, actually had signs up that said, you know, this form of payment is not welcome here, you know, because it was bring in just the wrong vibe to the to the vibe. Got so credible. Actually, it was not personal. All right. Well, we got some good stuff today because senior producer Ted Foxman has brought in chef Michael furiously from one of my favorite recipes. All that it out, all the stuff. He is doing it. I love it. And by the way, no one really understands that he's not like some scrub producer. This is like a really successful businessman. I was like 30 businesses, but he enjoys this right, Ted? This is fun. I love it. Ted loves making things happen. He does. That's what I like about. He loves seeing s**t through and there's you can't have a more important person. Yeah, and everybody should do that. And by the way, I'm bringing a person who likes to see things through. After Michael furiously comes on, we're going to talk Wolf of Wall Street and then, yes, my old friend, the wolf of Wall Street, Jordan Belfort, to be with us. So we'll be right back. I think you're Robyn's friends thing in my face. Before we start today's conversation, we want to thank Credit Karma for sponsoring Hollywood ways. Do you feel overwhelmed when it comes to handling personal finances? Breezy. You hate the Hollywood. I do. It's tough. You aren't the only one. We aren't the only ones. We're in this together. Credit Karma is here to help you make those big calls with more confidence. Whether you refinance your credit card debt or pay in for an upcoming expense, Credit Karma uses your credit data to show you personal loan offers that are personalized for you. The best part about Credit Karma is that it's completely free, and comparing loan offers will not affect your credit score at all. Finding a loan that fit my needs when I needed to pay off my home renovations was tough, but with Credit Karma, they made it incredibly easy and helpful for me along the way. Plus, Credit Karma helps you keep track of your financial progress and even let you know if you can refinance and save money. Ready to apply? Head to Credit Karma JD.com forward slash loan offers to see your personalized offers with your approval odds right now. Credit Karma JD.com Forward slash loan officers define the loan for you. That's Credit Karma dot com forward slash loan officers. I'm ready to go, but are you sure about these forward backward slashes? I don't know when you know it's forward or backwards. I don't know. They all look slanted. Yeah, CreditCards.com and Doug's daily ish. I welcome back Hollywood ways and we're talking our food meal of the week, which we're still trying to figure out this segment. But breezy senior Foxman is delivering goods, so he brought chef Michael. Fiorella, who, you know, is the chef at Oliviera, which is one of the hot places in town and Esmya, which is also like Oprah, where are these at? These restaurants are new to me. So where are they? There were both on Melrose, where all of it is at 90. Melrose and e-SIM is actually out Lapeer just around the corner. West Hollywood Bowl west east of Hollywood. This sounds fancy. Oh, these are good Italian cuisine. It is Italian similar as well. Yeah, is this is a more coastal European. So breezy just so you know, like right before the pandemic happens, all of it opens and it's the hottest place in town along with Craig's. Probably it's right next door and they're they're huge. Everybody's going, all the celebrities are going and then this happens to you. And that must have been pretty horrible, devastating testament of also, do you think like your life is over? What's going on there? It was it was an emotional rollercoaster. I mean, we came out of the out of the gates and it was just gangbusters. And we were actually we couldn't believe we just knocked it out of the park, you know? Thanks to all of our support and then all of a sudden one day it was just gone. I remember being at the restaurant on a Saturday night and there was word, you know, that restaurants are going to shut down or slow down, and the place was packed and I was like, You know, we're going to be the place that makes it. I think Melrose was you could see all the way down Melrose, not a car or a person on the street, which was you'd never see that I actually took some pictures of. It's eerie, but still the place was jumping and I was like, You know what? We're going to be the place that makes me have a bunch of reservations tomorrow. On Sunday, we're going to be packed on Sunday. And then throughout Saturday night you saw the Sunday reservations drop from like hundreds to 150 and somebody was like, Oh, we have no reservation, and we were closed on Monday. Just like that. And Michael, you're a Long Island guy like me. Yeah, and you come out to Hollywood. You're not even trained in culinary arts. Like, no, why do you come to Hollywood? Tell me about that funny story. I was working in restaurants. I was cooking. I'd cooked all over, you know, the country. I was living in Miami at the time, actually, and I knew I wanted to make a change, but I was actually a crazy Entourage fan. Oh, look at that breezy look at what? Yeah, I mean, and I didn't set that up at all, by the way. Yeah, you did. You knew something. I was. I was. I was crazy into entourage, and that's how I started to. That was my that's my vision of L.A. What I thought about it used to be Baywatch. Right, right. And then I started watching Entourage. I was like, Oh, this is L.A. These guys were my age. I was like 28 or 29 at the time. I think they were two in the show anyway. And somebody offered me a job out here. And normally, when you're from New York or Long Island, L.A. is kind of like a stigma. You know, it's like the other coast in New York, New York, better and all that. But by this time, I've been watching Entourage for a couple of seasons and I was like, someone offered me a job. I was like, f**king, I'll take it. I came out here, sight unseen. Hopefully, I live life like entourage, so. Not yet. How does the reality compare to what you saw in the show? You know, I mean, I'm not. I don't eat Earth Cafe and go to Villa every night. I can tell you that at the time I thought maybe I was like, You know, I lived in the neighborhood. I lived in West Hollywood right on the West Nile, but I just I got here. I started to work and I started driving then. And 16 years later, I'm still just grinding. You know, there's no and how do you go? You said you were washing dishes. How do you learn how to cook on your own and get into this? Yeah, I mean, I was I was washing dishes when I was when I was a kid. My first job, my dad was like, You've got to get a job. I was like 12 or 13 years old, so I worked at a deli up the road, so I got a little experience there. And then the next summer, my dad hooked me up with a friend of his that worked on a meat truck. So we and I would be I was like, the delivery boy we'd get. We get up on Long Island at like four o'clock in the morning drive into Manhattan from like it's like an hour and a half from where I grew up. Pick go to the Meatpacking District, which then was actually a Meatpacking District, go to all the butcher shops, pick up all the meat and then come back to Long Island and drop off the the meat at the restaurant. So like 13 years old, I was going in the back door of restaurants and it's not like today, like restaurants were like pirate ships at the time. Yeah. You go in like these guys who drink and smoke in person, like but always making me food. And yeah, I was amazed. All like, this is cool. I really want to do this. So my brother was a waiter. He got me a job as a dishwasher and I started washing dishes. That was when I was a freshman in high school. I graduated in 94, so just when I came out of high school, I was a lit major. I wanted to write. I thought I wanted to write terrible. I'd rather cook. Now, now that I hear your stories, I'm like, Oh, but similar the stress and the anxiety sound very similar. Yeah, you're putting out something that you're immediately critiqued on, no matter how hard you worked on it. People can just s**t on it right away. And you brought the dish of the week. One of my favorite things is baloney. So I am a I like to think I'm a connoisseur and I'm also a big critic of it. And this was excellent, which we ate at 10 a.m. bolognaise. But tell me about that dish. It's become probably one of the more popular dish in the restaurant, and that's a huge fan of it. When he called me yesterday said, You know, you know, what do you want to cook? And I started telling him what I could do this and that, and maybe the salad. He was like, Yeah, great. Can you just bring the Bolognese? So it was excellent and thank you for bringing it was very good. Cool. Just at the others. And it's usually a hard no for me to have anything for dinner. It's usually a hard no, I have to have breakfast. Yeah, most people, you change that for me. So it's by the way, Brees is going to be 200 pounds next week. Bring getting meatball right. Yeah, right. I love it. Well, Michael, thank you for coming in. I know it was short and sweet, Michael. How to wait around because we had a real long interview that we will have coming up with Jordan Belfort, The Wolf of Wall Street. So we'll be back in Hollywood. This Hollywood? Yeah, yeah. Let's hear it. All right, welcome back. Hollywood ways, chef Michael Fiorella from all of that and e-SIM, I just brought us some food and I'm full now. I need a nap. How about you? No. Okay, good. Well, I want to talk before we bring on Jordan Belfort. I want to talk about Wolf of Wall Street. Came out in 2013, was nominated, I think, for five Oscars. But director movie Leo, who won a Golden Globe. Martin Scorsese, his most successful movie, financially 392 million in just box office. And and here's a little interesting thing, because it's a movie about thieves was financed by a thief, Jolo. Who is this Indonesian criminal, I guess, who stole all this money from the Indonesian people? We're talking billions of dollars. And I had personal contact with him, but I have no, no money. But he is on the lam. As far as I know, I think he's still on the lam. He financed this movie, which is by far Scorsese, his biggest budget also. So how did that happen? How million dollars? How does he get in the in the play? He was in charge of the sovereign wealth fund. He was. They gave him billions of dollars and he was just throwing it around town and he was obsessed with Hollywood stars. There were a bunch of gifts that had to be returned that he had given, including DiCaprio himself. So Wolf of Wall Street just has a lot of personal connections to me because I know Jordan Belfort my whole life A and B. He brought me the book years before the movie got made, and I was too stupid to understand that it was a comedy because I told Jordan, he's a f**king animal and people are going to hate his guts. And I just didn't see it. And Martin Scorsese is a genius. So did you guys get a chance to look at this movie, which I know you've seen? But Wolf of Wall Street is one of the best movies I've ever seen. Oh, I like that. I'm putting that in my top. And what do you see it as breezy? Do you see it as a comedy, as a drama? How does it hit you? I see it as all of those things. I think Jonah Hill was completely hilarious to me, so I think Leonardo was hilarious to me as well. And times, you know what I mean? But I love the pace of that movie. It was just gone, gone, gone, gone, gone. And I like things like that. It wasn't slow. It's got the Goodfellas thing, and we'll talk to Jordan a little bit about is that, you know, Goodfellas is really like this movie that sucks you into this world that you go, Oh, I want to be a part of. And then at the end of it, it's a morality play and you go, OK, you're going to die or you're going to go to jail. Right? But how it always ends. Wolf of Wall Street doesn't do that. You can steal and you can rob and you go to jail, you play tennis and you come out and life is great. So your motivation is so pickleball. You do this. Yeah, well, they need pickleball in jail, by the way, and jail would really I could go to jail, commit a crime, by the way I would love, you know what? I'm getting locked up. I got to play this guy, they say, is the best. So over at federal, that would be a comedy idea. Getting thrown in jail on purpose to beat the best pick a ballplayer. That would be funny. So where did you laugh the most at this? I laugh the most when they were in the elevator, going up, having sex that everybody you see there is like, what the Hell's going on? There were so many funny moments in that movie for me when he's driving in the Quaaludes, which it's so nuts to me, the story because and I'll talk to Jordan. But Jordan, I, one of our best friends who my friend Barry Guesser passed away. He was a quaint Hollywood machine and I was five years younger. Quaalude, what? What is a you don't. I don't really hear about him these days. So what is a. So Quaaludes are have been gone for at least 20 years, and I don't ever want to encourage or ever sell people on drugs. I only did one once in my life. It was the greatest drug that I can imagine because what it was is it was like trying to be ran on Quaaludes. It was like drinking like a good time. It was. It was like drinking a case of beer without feeling full, without getting nauseous, without being unconscious. Now what they do in the movie is they do too many of them and they drink as well, which then back up, you don't. You wake up and you have no idea what happened. But when you took one, which I did, the one time I did, you just loved everybody. So it was just like ecstasy. I would say it was like ecstasy without those bad effects, either because this was a drug that was a legal drug that was given as a prescription painkiller. Oh yeah. So so it wasn't like this thing that was made in a lab and you didn't know what you were getting. It was a drug that Big Pharma. Yeah, that was allegedly not going to kill you. But what happened is people were abusing it like Jordan and ruined it for the rest of us. So we're going to have to talk about that. But the scene where he did that my entire childhood, I know the story of my friend Barry, who got pulled over, you know, and the cops said, You know how fast you were gone? I was like, I don't know, 70, 80. Like now he's like on 90 100 is like, No, he's like, you were doing 10 miles an hour in the left hand lane on the freeway. So oh, it was. Yeah. So I had always heard this. So when I go to the screening of Wolf of Wall Street with Jordan and Barry, that's how I saw this movie before it came out and they showed that scene of him on the Quaaludes driving. I honestly don't think I've ever laughed harder in a movie theater, ever. And I wondered at the time whether it was just because I knew the personal stories of these guys or what. But I mean, it was hilarious, right? Like I said, there was so many funny moments in that movie, and I think it's all credited to the jokes. Nobody knew what was going on. Yeah. And what do you think about the idea, though, of just society? You know, and I don't like to make any statements, but the movie at the end of the day is wish fulfillment for bad behavior of young men. And I think most people who saw that movie that I see around, they love it like frat guys. And it's just like, I want to be that guy. So I'm not sure it gave the message they wanted. But yeah, I don't think it did. But there was so much energy, you know, for these guys to be so young and to still be professional. You know what I mean? I mean, they were doing a thing that was that they were working at Burger King. Yeah, I own the stock market. Yeah, and I think of making things happen. And I think at the time, because I knew a lot of people who worked with Jordan at the time, there was a moment where they thought they were actually like really being successful smart guys who were like, We're learning what the stock market is. And then they crossed that line at some point, which will we'll talk to Jordan. So I'm excited that Steve Madden deal that that they he's he's still actively involved in that. Do you know Jordan now? Yeah. I don't think Jordan's involved with Steve Madden. But Steve Madden, you know, he doesn't bigger than ever own a piece of that. I don't think he does. Possibility? Yeah. But anyway, we will come back with the real wolf of Wall Street. Jordan Belfort. Before we start today's conversation, we want to thank Credit Karma for sponsoring Hollywood ways. Do you feel overwhelmed when it comes to handling personal finances? Breezy. You hate the Hollywood. What I do. It's tough. You aren't the only one. We aren't the only ones. We're in this together. Credit Karma is here to help you make those big calls with more confidence. Whether you're refinancing your credit card debt or paying for an upcoming expense, Credit Karma uses your credit data to show you personal loan offers that are personalized for you. The best part about Credit Karma is that it's completely free, and comparing loan offers will not affect your credit score at all. Finding a loan that fit my needs when I needed to pay off my home renovations was tough, but with Credit Karma, they made it incredibly easy and helpful for me along the way. Plus, Credit Karma helps you keep track of your financial progress and even let you know if you can refinance and save money. Ready to apply? Head to Credit Karma dot com forward slash loan offers to see your personalized offers with your approval odds right now. Credit Karma Gqom forward slash loan officers define the loan for you. That's Credit Karma dot com forward slash loan officers. I'm ready to go, but are you sure about these forward backward slashes? I don't know. When you know it's forward or backwards, I don't know. I'll look slim. Yeah, CreditCards.com. Welcome back. Hollywood Way's long time friend I was. I saw a screening of Wolf of Wall Street with him before it actually was released, and he gave me the book years before and I'm just was too dumb to understand how good this movie could be. But Jordan Belfort, what's happened and are doing great? I'm really happy. Excited to be here with your new co-host Breezy because I've been on your podcast victory, right? But this is awesome. By the way. I love what you guys are doing, so I want, you know, you can ask me anything. I'm awake. I'm ready to roll here. Yeah, that's amazing. Pass on welfare. What do you think about that? We serve bolognaise chef Michael Theora Ali. We bring in some bolognaise at 10 a.m. Is that weird enough? Now I was buying the best bolognaise I've ever had. I like eating pasta is a breakfast, lunch and dinner thing, and I think there's any reason it can't be. I hate politics too hot. It was like the right temperature. Yeah, very important. But I'm going to take you to the restaurant so we can actually like, eat it fresh right out. Love it. Anyway, it was great. So life is good. You're married, everything's everything's great with you. I am very fortunate because my life right now is sometimes because. What would you change? I would change probably nothing right now in my life. I really am happy. Got a great wife going back and forth. You know, I'm spending most of my time now in Miami, about 90 percent a little bit in L.A. here and there. So yeah, it's great to be so. So let's roll. I want to talk to you about really the second act of your life, which I think is amazing and remarkable and really kind of traces the time that social media comes out and you get this movie going, which I know how hard you worked. You were on the entourage set going to Connolly, like, is Leo doing my movie or what? And you made this thing you did. You really made this thing happen. And I think what's incredible when I watched it last night, the first line of the movie is, Hi, I'm Jordan Belfort, and you couldn't ask for a more of a calling card to help you resurrect your life. And I want to know, where are you at in 2013 when this movie comes out? Where is life both financially in your head and everything? It's a great question, so I'm going to tell you a phenomenal story. When I wrote the book, it was 2005, when I started finished it in 2006, right? Took about seven edits to get it right. Finally, when the book was fully ended, it was slipped to Leo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg. Now, at the time, Wahlberg wasn't as big a star. Clooney was a bit old, so it came down to Leo and Brad, and there was a bidding war between those two. Each side said whatever. He pays you I'll pay you 10 percent more and up and up and up it went. And finally, Leo's like, I got Scorsese to come on board and I'm like, Well, there you go. I don't work, right? And also, I always love Leo like I always do. Leo was the right, the right person. But with Scorsese, it was a no brainer. So I sold it to Leo and Marty at Warner. Terry Winter. Brilliant genius. Brilliant writer. He goes out and he pens this the first draft and it's like un f**king believable. It's like, I'm like, Holy crap, it's amazing, right? It's basically the movie that you saw. It was that good. Everyone reads the script like, Oh my God, it's like almost perfect. It just needs like, you know, maybe one or two minor passes, but it's unbelievable, right? So Warners gets the script. They love it. A green light, the movie. They rent the soundstages, they going to sink a yacht Mexico, and then the writers strike. It's wow. And they can't polish the script. Everyone puts their pens down, and Leo and Marty are stuck. Nagel wait and do Shutter Island instead, and the window closes. And you know, the thing with Marty is, while he's the most talented, amazing director out there, right? Slow. And he can't. He lives the project for years. So I had this quagmire where Marty was attached, and no one's going to try to take it from Marty because it's Marty, right? But he's also dancing at a thousand weddings. It was Leo's passion project, but Leo was the one that was driving it right. And I was devastated when this hat like it got. I was like, I thought, Oh my God, like, you know, I thought at that moment in two thousand, like, what a what a comeback. I read this book. It gets made. What's the chances like? It's so you know how hard it is to get a movie made? I can't get anything. It's very hard. So many things have to line up, right? So and then it gets canceled at the last second. And I'm devastated, Leo swears. I promise you. Yeah, I'm going to get this done just to have patience, right? So the years go by, the years go by. Twenty eight, the GFC. The global financial crisis hits. It's impossible to make money now. I'm writing another book now and I can't even sell it. You couldn't sell any for a dollar back then because no one had money, right? And where are your finances at this moment and no money? Because I can count on that movie? Yeah, yeah. Like I was making. I was a writer and I don't love to write, you know, I'm proficient at it. I don't enjoy it. It's very difficult for me to write. Sounds familiar? Yeah, right? And I'm trying to work on this book, and no one is buying anything. So I have no money. And I said to my, my then wife, I'm like, You know, I hate writing, I want it. I love speaking on only become speaker. So we made that decision. I'll never forget to call my bookcase, and I said, Hey, I want to become a speaker. And he says, that's a great idea. You just got to wait till the movie comes out. Then they'll come for you. And I read, Remember I was like, f**k you, I'll wait till the two they come. For me, it's like it goes against everything I believe about success, life about, you know, being the master of your own destiny. I say that I'm going to go out there, make it happen without a movie. So I start off giving free speeches at colleges, and then I have my first booking for a few thousand dollars. And then I wasn't teaching sales yet because I had this sort of negative anger. Like last time I taught all these sales people, they went village, the village. I can't do it again. And then finally, I switched like I did this little favor for a friend and taught at Salesforce at a close and people taped it. People saw the footage and people started booking me social media. So they liked you even even before this guy. So so what happened was I built this really very, very large business around training salespeople and doing public seminars around the world. And I made a lot of a lot of money that I started getting into some deals in the mining sector. And I know I know banking for years went by. I was pretty much back on top. Now and made a lot of money again, living in a beautiful. When Leo first came to my house, I was in a tiny apartment, you know, in Marina, you know, it was by Marina del Rey. What did you get out of Jillian? Two thousand and five right before Halloween Day 2005, right? I went in July. Did you keep your prison garb on for a costume or would you? Yeah, yeah, I got to do that one based on my novel five, six, two, one, three or five. I remember this. Everyone remembers that prison time, right? So anyway, so so now I really didn't do very well, and I moved into a massive house on the water in Manhattan Beach. She'll now in the ocean again, a massive engine, right? And Leo and know calls me buddy. It's like 2011. Now it's four and a half years later. Guess what? It's we've done marches on board. We got the money lined up, ready to go, ready to go. I'm coming over to your house. Let's celebrate. It goes you living at the same place and not I'm moving as my new address. So he comes over to my house. He walks and he's like, What happened to your life? You all like, broke. When I met you, I said, Oh, well, I, you know, I built this new business, you know, go around the world giving seminars on the I'll show you. So I put up on the TV a video of an event where I'm teaching people on stage and Leo looks at is like mouth drops. He's like, Holy s**t, Marty is going to go crazy. When he sees this footage, he sends the footage to Marty. Marty goes, Bananas, goes through all my. Videos and they rewrite the entire third act of the movie and make it into a comeback story. So I think the interesting lesson there is like the original script was amazing, but Andy would be going to jail. Yeah, because that's what my life was at that point. So as bad as the delay was by taking control of my life and making the best of it, I rebuilt my life again. So when the movie was finally shot, it made it a much better movie that ended with me coming back. Yeah, I'd sell me this pen at the end. Also, those commercials in there like to come to my straight line seminars. That was not. That's so interesting to me because the movie, when I look at it, which has a lot of similarities to Goodfellas, but the biggest difference is at the end of Goodfellas, he's a loser and his friends are dead or in jail, right? This movie ends, which I thought was Scorsese. I thought when I walked out, maybe it's like some idiot film critic. I thought Scorsese is genius was that he's making a statement about capitalism like, this is what the world is. Go get what you can get. And really, the consequences are you go to jail and play tennis for a couple of years. You come back. But that's not what it was. So the ending was supposed to be basically Goodfellas, you're in jail and your life is f**ked. I think that Marty, the genius of Marty, is that he believes in not moralizing to people that watch his movies. He puts characters up on screen and lets you make your decision if you love them or hate them. In other words, what I hate is when someone spoon feeds me, morality, when I'm watching, when they obviously the character does something that's so bad because they want you to hate a character. They want you to love a character. So Marty didn't do that. He understands like these people are complex. Listen, I was a despicable person back then at times and was a wonderful person at times. You know, good people do bad things, bad people can do good things. And I think Marty's genius is that he didn't like, let's have him kill a small dog in the beginning of Act three. So everyone just hates this guy because then get the hatred. Everyone could rally around that versus saying that you can love me in one moment, be rooting for him and saying, What are you? No, stop, don't do. And that's what makes the movie so special. So in the end, it was simply, now is an interesting thing. So they came to me, the Eddie. The movie was done written but hadn't started shooting. Like We need needed ending. What's the ending going to be? And Leo and I sat down for like a few days going back and forth. I had an idea. I said, Hey, I was doing all this charity work in Africa. I'd go into it what I was doing seminars in Africa, so I was going to enter into different countries. Zambia was going to South African townships. I was I created program sales and entrepreneurship skills for the kids, right? And I was doing this. All that is great video footage of me empowering all these kids. Like, How about like I'm now like, I'm going through that. So everybody. So on the nose, like, come on, you're the wolf of Wall Street. I'm like, All right, fine. So like at the end, the point was, as you said correctly, it's like, Look, there he goes. He's like, he's the ultimate salesperson. He's right back on top again, and here he is, teaching other people the same thing. And I I think also for if you want to look at it from a really empowered point of view, like for a business young business person, it's like it shows you the power of being able to influence and persuade you into the day. No matter how great your product is now, how great your service is. Someone has to sell to someone else without that skill. It can be very difficult to succeed. So when you see the movie the first time, though, which I know my reaction when I saw it with you, any part of you worry. While people are always the first I was saw with you for the first, Oh, really don't want to me because I was a movie was first released. I thought privately I was overseas on a tour. I was on tour, you know, speaking right. I think I was in in Italy and I couldn't attend the initial like, very private four or five people. And Alexandra Milchan attended without me because I was away. Rachel's, you'll see when you get back and I'm waiting anxiously for the movie to come out right. And the I think her call was four hours, actually. Right, right. We saw three hour cut, and when she gets out, she calls me. So she's like, I'm out of f**king breath. She's like, I could just tell you two things. Your life is never going to be the same again after this movie comes out and she goes any to watch it again because it's so, it's so good. I, yeah, I can't might have missed. I've never seen anything like it. I mean, she's a movie. Yeah, movies, movie person. And she's I've never seen anything like that. It's like a little math. It's a masterpiece. Create so no party you because now you built your business up and you're now respected as you've. You've made this comeback. No party. You was like, Oh my God, this is going to destroy me. People are going to think, I'm just disgusting and whatever. Yeah, when you saw it. No, no, no, no, no. I didn't know when I saw the movie. I think the weirdest part and it still is weird for me is when, you know, when he says, I'm Jordan Belfort. It's just every time he says, my name is he does like 20 times. It feels like somebody is trying to make sure they don't forget you. Ali kind of looks like me is like he acted like me and like, he is really strange, you know? And then I was watching Django Movie that night. He kind of looked like Hoover. Like Leo is like, I think people don't realize just how f**king velvet. Say he's just good, he's really good. I mean, it's amazing to do that was fast, but you know what? I've seen the reaction to you when we've been out and this movie again, which I'm just trying to get a little bit into Scorsese, who said this movie is supposed to be on some level of an indictment of this behavior. But at the end of the day, you become a hero when this movie is over. I've been out with you where people come up to you, shake your hand, want to hug you? They ignore some of the other famous people that we know right and come right to you. I know. Could you ever have imagined that would happen? Not like. And what happens is, is that I teach a very powerful system of sales and persuasion. And I think what happens is they watch the movie and I give a lot of weight to free. So like, they go online, they'll see you. And they've all these things, these lessons I teach you about success. And it's really pure stuff. It's a lot of Hulkster is that they try to sell s**t online. I never did that. I never, ever once sold a business opportunity was always about learning. And so I think the people what they love is that this actually skill and strategy and that helps them. So some people just love it because it's, well, my god, you're famous. I let other people like, like, last night I went out for dinner and some kid it was from England say next to me. And he just says, Dude, I have to just tell you, you changed my life. Like, I went through your stuff and like, I'm like a top producer. Like, I made a million dollars less. I would have never made this without you. Like, Thank you so much. It's awesome. There are so many parts like the gym. Real s**t, you real. Exactly. It's real stuff, you know? And that's what I want to go back to a little bit to the beginning. You're from queens, you're from a working class neighborhood and you just obviously were always a good salesman. But you get into this business that I know it personally because I know you and I had a lot of friends who were at your business. I don't know the stock market, stock stock and really at the at the turn of when this became this thing that everybody could kind of be part of. So a lot of people ask me because they know we're good friends. Do you have guilt that you feel bad? You this? But I also try to explain the same way society is talking about now about giving people second chances. But also, you're a kid at 20 years old, and all of a sudden you entered this world, which I assume in the movie when you go to that first brokerage house, that was real. And yeah, yeah, yeah. And you go in there and you actually think you're you're doing a business. I mean, and you're selling and you're feeling good and you're getting a paycheck. So at what point did you go? I've crossed the line. So there's a couple of times, and I think it's a really good point you bring up. But if there's one thing about the movie that I think was slightly off right like to me, my descent into insanity happened a bit too quickly. Even for the the screen. Like, I understand, it's only a few hours you have to like, show things. But like in the movie, I go down to Wall Street in the Matthew McConaughey guard on Mike Makhado, right? And I'm like, There's this nice guy, and I'm like, Yeah, I'm like him. All right. How close was was. I don't want to go back to credibly close to like, walk out was this amazing guy funny, so charismatic and funny. So charismatic, right? So, and Matthew McConaughey just was. I mean, it's one of the greatest moments after really, really the greatest scenes I've ever seen. It is, yeah. So and I say, Hey, you know what? I'm so happy. Can't we make our clients money too? He's like, No, and I'm like, like, I really thought a broker was supposed to make people money, right? And then he's like, No, it's not what happens. And he goes on this whole tirade about the Ferris wheel. The circus is open 24, seven, 365 that it's really amazing. And then the next scene I'm at a strip club snorting coke right now, in reality. It took two to three years to go from that point where I was just sort of like naive do good kid to like, f**k everyone and give a s**t like I want to make money. It's Wall Street. We had just the rape and pillage, right? That the Senate took many years and it was a little bit at a time. And what happens is, is you don't lose your ethics of morality instantly, at least not me. In my case, it was slowly, insidiously you doing everything right. Then you do one thing. And we both know the person who taught me that stuff was so in a mutual friend of one of my one of my best friends passed away right about taking a bag of cash from someone. And in that moment, like, I knew what was wrong, but everyone was saying, Everyone does this. It's like, not you. And it's true. It was true. Doesn't make it right. And I did that and then I'm doing everything right again. But once you make that first step, your line of morality moves. Yeah. So next time you take a step is a bit further over the line a bit further. And therefore you know it through these tiny, imperceptible steps you're doing. You never thought you'd do. You know you're hanging out with people you never thought you'd associate with, and it all seems perfectly OK. It's like when you go into a piping hot bath tub, you dip your toilet f**king so hot. Yeah. And then five minutes later, you're submerged. Body in perfect. It's all burn. Yeah, it's not because the water cooled off. You got used to it. Yeah, and that's really what happened. That got to a point where the abnormal seemed normal. And one of the things that allowed Stratton to be Stratton was located in Long Island, all. Wall Street. So it was a self-contained society. You worked at Stratton. You hung out with people that worked there. They were the people that provided services to the car dealers, the tailors, the printers was almost like a hole, all under the same system. And you're helping all those people and making so much money. So I think the interesting thing, though, is that there's people that made more money than me, like you have hedge funds were just getting started there, but ultimately, like so I was making 50, 100 million bucks in a year, right? Nowadays, as people make a billion dollars, you're right. But the difference was that even the kids that worked for me, they were making a million dollars a year. An average broker made a million or more. The secretaries were making a quarter million. It was like everything. Everyone was making some gold rush, right? Almost right. And it was this incredible camaraderie and team spirit, and it started off pure like there was no intention to break the law but to lose people money. And the truth is, you always want to make people money. Why would you want to lose someone money? Because we make the most money ever made in any deal with Steve Bannon shoes, right? That was our IPO, and I owe most of the company. So we made more on that one deal than all the others combined because it's a winning deal. You never want to lose a client money. Right? But it's really hard to find young entrepreneurs. It's venture capital. So we were doing public venture capital, so it became very difficult to find good companies. And what I should have done is slowed my growth down. That was my big mistake. But by growing so fast, I had such a huge operation. I needed to do deals like the studio that, you know, why do they put up so many movies? Because they have to put something out? Yeah, right? So like, if they only had to do one movie, they could make one great movie, but they had this huge machine. They got to feed this distribution machine all the over that comes on. So they put movie after movie after movie in a lot of them. Some I want to go back because what you said was interesting about this kind of society that you're created and it's insular. And even when the movie comes out in 2013 and there was some criticism about the way people talk, the way people do this and that. But what I found interesting watching it last night is the women and the men are all as one. It's kind of a group where everybody's not afraid to voice themselves the way they do. And I think now, which I know you and I have talked about it a lot, but the way the this small group of people is trying to determine how people can interact with each other and where the hierarchies can be. So what I mean, women could succeed in your world just as much as the men convicted. I think for me, what's odd about the whole thing is my mother is like is probably one of the most empowered women in the world. Seriously, my mother was she's 88 now, but she was a CPA in the 50s in the Mad Men. Are you still mad? Know. So in that time frame, the way they treated women, she was a CPA and the head of a department at one of the biggest accounting firms in the world. My mother? All right. So like and then she went back to law school when she was 64, passed the bar, 68, was the oldest woman in New York state to pa*s. The bar was pro bono lawyer of the Year, when she was 73, doing charity work for women. So I always had this really I to me, women never occurred to me that there was that much oppression and things were unfair. Right. And it really was, by the way, she would tell me now like that she, you know, she had to put up with a lot of s**t back then, but she was very smart and she was strong. But in Stratton, it didn't matter. The thing about Stratton was it didn't matter where you came from, what school you went to, the color of your skin. And I still to this day say, I'm prejudiced. I have some severe prejudices. I am very prejudiced person. I hate lazy people and stupid people, right? Everyone else I love or hate, I don't care like it does to me. I'm colorblind like that. I always was. I believe that success and all work should speak for, like, never judge people. I wasn't raised that way in my family. That's that's me. But I know there it exists in other parts of the world very badly. But I was in a bubble where it did not exist in my household, where I grew up. It was not like that. Do you think? Do you look at what's happening now, Wolf of Wall Street? Do you think they try to change that script right now, eight years later? Do you think that would be a problem? Some of the stuff that they say? I don't, and I'll tell you why. I think that you passed on it when you looked at it. You know you and you always talk about it, Doug. I just need everyone to understand. I just need to address that really quick. Yes, I could have said I'm going to make it, but that's the biggest budget Scorsese he's ever had. But here's the thing, Doug, OK? You might have gotten crucified if you did it because it's Scorsese and Leo. It it creates some. It has some sort of intangible cloak around it because Scorsese gets art and it takes on a different level of art, right? And also because the actions occurred in the past. In other words, so it's going back to a time was present day that wasn't present day and an entourage where it does get criticism, which is my favorite f**kin shows of all time, is a bit too close to the present. In other words, what I did was pre-social media freephone no one had. Smartphone back then with a camera, right? It was a different time, and I think people get that. So it was a combination of Leo, Marty and I was also just something special about the movie that I was expecting. Sometimes it just comes out great. The edit and I feel like you couldn't see the story. You had to hear it just because it's on. Like you said, people did not have all of what they had now. Exactly. Yeah, it's that moment. But by entourage, the cell phones were events exactly who were big events. Let me give an example, like when I see I hear about sexual harassment, like you would think that Stratton was the centerpiece. Never happened. Never. That was. That did not occur. If someone would harass a girl, they'd be beaten up by the guys. Right? Yeah, it wasn't like that. It was like either awful one or one. Like the other words, if someone was going to be respected, they would totally be respected. But it was just moseying don't want respect. That one was crazy. We were all young and doing drugs and wild and crazy, and it was fun, but it was very much by the most consensual place of madness that you ever found. We had older people with sixty five years old working there. We had women that of all different ages, and no one gave a s**t. It was everyone was making money that was about to say, I also feel like because it was like an even playing field. There was no reason to be mad. You know, if you say that the secretaries were making the money that they were making, what the f**k are you? Nobody had nothing to say. We should get my say that we should call up my old secretaries. You get an a call from me now. Mona. All right. Who I could call right now. And she would tell you that not only was no one is a female's perspective. Not only was no one harassed her like that, she was. It was like the women when I met her, like five years ago, she came to an event and she's like, These women don't know it. Like, It's so much fun. It was so amazing. And like, everyone was so respect. Everyone felt respected. They really were. And everyone just got paid a lot of money. Everyone became an early, stayed late and had fun on the weekends. Together was like a family and then it got dark. OK, and that's the problem. And the reason it got really dark was a drugs that was about to say all right in the drugs, you know, doesn't. I'm sober for many, many years now, right? And sober since 1997, right? April 17. I have friends that do drugs still right. Whenever I see drugs heavily involved in any situation, whether it's a marriage, you know, friendship, a business, it never f**king ends. Well, it doesn't because it's all fun and games. But at some point it will reverse on you. A lot of the behavior was because of drugs. I'm not making an excuse. I was a drug addict. I know I knew Zach was f**king greedy, OK? I was like, Johnny. Jonah Hill's character. And that guy is hysterical. Yeah. The real guy, Danny, right? But when drugs are involved, it typically ends up going in a very bad direction. And that's kind of what it was a certain point. Also, I left the firm and I said, I'm not f**king leaving. Actually, I did leave after that, all right. And I left it in charge of it with someone else and they took it. I think a much darker direction than I had, which was the FBI agent was a friend of my now. Yeah, he was on my podcast and you know, he was saying this whole thing like that. I lost poor people money, which was just false. And we never you were not a lot less. You were a millionaire. You could not open up an account at my firm. Right. And and there was this narrative and poor people lost money and I was like, the way he goes, let me explain what happened. He goes, when you were there for five years. It's true. No, it was. Every account was a millionaire is all valid after I left. It became like the Wild West and I would open up accounts. So I was no longer part of the company, but it did spiral out of control. So like after like, you know, you have one person like a drug dealer and it's like this order in the court. When there's a cartel, eliminate the leader and it's like everyone shooting each other in the street. It was like, there's madness going on. But in the movie, they got Rob Reiner playing your father, who, you know, I had Marvin, the accountant in Entourage, who was based on my father. So we had that similarity was Where were your parents in all this? Were they this nice kind of conservative Jewish family? And what did they think was going on and how much were they involved? So my mom, yeah, my mom was very conservative, Jewish. My dad difference also. My dad was the most honest, ethical man I've ever met. Never had a speeding ticket in his life. Overpay you on his taxes? Yeah, yeah. You know, both were CPAs. My dad was very difficult to work with, so he was not user friendly yet. He had two personas. We called him Sir Max or Mad Max. You know, depending on what triggered him, he could be either one. He'd go back and forth in the same conversation like certain keywords and make him come. Sir Max and Sir Max was like this almost British aristocrat twang, like he never was out of f**king the Bronx his whole life. But somehow he adopted like a Ted Knight from Caddyshack. He had this great British thing like, Hello. Yeah. And then like, this would set him off. He called my, you know, at the end of war, things like in the movies. True. When the phone would ring in our house, he'd go f**king crazy. And this is something that that that people nowadays don't understand because no one has phones anymore. Yeah, right. But back then it's all in the 70s or 80s, I'll tell you like, Oh man, yeah, some people they know, yeah, when the phone rang, he'd go nuts. My father would lose. And the worst thing is if the call was for him or like, so like, we'd be all saying that right? My dad was always in the same spot in the house. He sat on a chair, his chair in his boxer shorts with his giant stomach hanging over his boxers like South America, right? And like Brazil popping out of his eye and the phone would ring my mother OK would literally jump off in Rome like a track star to get to stop the ringing of the phone. I'll get. I'll get it. Match.com now it's OK. It's like a comedy show, right? All right. And then she'd get the phone and the worst thing she could say, Max, it's for you because my father was always watching like some cop show T.J. Hooker on Heather Locklear and then the second in the second would be God. Call the kidney. My father could curse like good T.S. Eliot on steroids. It was. It was beautiful. My father could die as it was like art, right? A piece of gold. It also got to the end. Hello, and he got this great. Yeah. Oh, Radio Jimmy. Yes, OK, good. Oh, excellent. Oh, perfect. Thank you. Bye. But they stomped back in the come Mad Max, and that was like. And I watched that probably go right. Was he on you all the time? You're going to get in trouble? Or was he like, I can't believe how successful you are. What were your thoughts? What's a bit complex here is that 98 percent of what I did at Stratton was perfectly legal. You would never know. In other words, like it wasn't like Bernie Madoff. There was no firm there. It was like, this was a real was a completely. I was surrounded by lots of professional people that were experts in the market, and they're all watching this happen. And, you know, we're new, which was we're aggressive, no doubt an aggressive house. And if you knew the business really, really well, you knew that there was some manipulation in the stocks going on. But that's very it's like almost like compared to what's going on now. That was nothing, right? My dad didn't know about the stock market. He was a financial guy, so he was the CFO of all things non-stock related. So he did. Not only show is money pouring in. And his job was to pay all the bills, make sure that everything managing the financial operations of the company, but not involved in the brokerage side, which is why he never got in trouble. He never even got in trouble. My bother. He was just that. Nothing to do with the actual brought back isn't even registered. He had a parent company that he actually ran. That was that ran. All the finance was a holding company, right? And so we didn't know what he was more concerned about was the drug use like as that started to spiral out of control. But the thing was, my dad, you know, I had this, I guess you see in the movie, it's very accurate. I had this ability to speak really well publicly, especially ones about motivation and and sales. So like my dad would watch as I would speak to like one, I gave two meetings a day, you know, in the morning at nine o'clock and then another five after the market closed. And my dad's in the back and I'm like, he's watching his son speak and he's like, So he's almost like, he's drinking the Kool-Aid himself, like, you know? And he didn't know, like, he didn't know anything was really going on that was illegal. In terms of the stocks, you just thought the the drug use. But he used to always say, you guys are going to, you know, he had these crazy expressions like, you know, you get caught in a ringer. Where the f**k that you came from a different generation when you got arrested? The what what was your parents' reaction to it could not have been more supportive. Right? They just supported me fully and they were amazing. I mean, they were obviously upset about it, but not in the sense that, oh, how could you have done this? They were like, All right, you know, are you? How do we help you get through and what the movie doesn't show? So tell us what was jail experience like in the movie? It looks like you're having a good time playing tennis. What was it really like and did it? Did it make you go? I never want to go back. I was having a good time playing tennis, but she doesn't. Jail sucks. OK, listen, I wasn't. I wasn't. I was in a camp. This federal prison federal camp, right? Exactly. So not prison. Not a potentially very. It's a very dear friend. It's not like good follows you cutting up garlic with a razor one. Well, it's like that. But there's not like in other words, it's not like it's it's nothing like what you saw in Goodfellas, because that's a very, you know, there's people being murdered that is a financial nonviolent crimes and a white collar crime, white collar and a short sentence, you know, so when you have, it goes by a point system. And I had very low points because first time offender, no violence, no gun charges, right? So. So they put you in a camp. There's no bars. There's no walls. There's no fence. You could just people some inside a campus that basically people will play sports all day. It wasn't bad, but it's jail and jail sucks like, you know, you're surrounded by all the losers. When I say lose, I mean, people that lost the game of life like, you know, your your freedom is taken away. If your money is gone and you're basically surrounded by other people who like, you know, society says are losers of society. And you're. And so it's terrible. So I think the worst part is what? Could do to you psychologically for me. You know, I got lucky that when I went to the prison camp was tapped, when I got who's my bunkmate? Is Tommy Chong from Cheech and Chong? That was your bunkmate. I don't even know. That's my bunk. That's amazing. They put us together because we're both high profile. They put us in the same cube cube together. And and that was how I started writing. So Tommy was writing a book and I would tell him stories at night and I would just have them rolling on the floor, you know, basically just be rolling on the floor, right? The third night together, he's like, You know, honestly, I thought you were full of s**t, you know? But my wife googled you and all of this is true. It's like actually reported stuff because you have to write a book about this. It'll be amazing. I'm like, Really? I'm like, You think my life was crazy? Cause I'm Tommy Chong and I think your life is f**king crazy, right? That's amazing. What was that like? Were you sober when you went to jail? Yeah. Sober for six years before jail. Oh yeah. Oh, so you're lucky because I got sober in 97 and April nine. Tommy wasn't getting some weed into the prison. Nah, nah. He wasn't back then, but Tommy was there for selling bongs on the internet. Jesus. Not even pot. Believe it or not, this is paraphernalia on this f**king I mean, in fact, they put him. I don't even know that's a law. It's a piece of glass because he is selling it across state lines and it's so stupid. And he took the fall for his son because his son owned the company, and it is really just it was the whole thing, just stupid. I didn't belong there. He got a year and a day. And the reason I give you a day is because if you have underage, you can't get good time. So it's actually a year and a days better than 11 months and 29 days. So we got a year in a day and I was like, f**k it, this guy got a year and a date. What he did, I I deserve three centuries for what I did. But the truth is, he didn't deserve any time. So it was your sentence. Mine was it was for 48 months. Oh, I thought I got it got reduced because I went through what's called the drug program. Yeah, and and with good times. So I ended up doing 22 months. Yeah, I did 22 months and that and it was during that time when I didn't write the book. I learned how to write. So I was trying to write and failing miserably. And then ultimately, after like a month of I would show Tommy my page, I said, What do you think? Is they really sock like that to me? And what you really think? Yeah. And then I could write, and then I stumbled upon this book in the prison library, Bonfire of the Vanities and Tom come off. As soon as I started reading this book, I'm like, Oh my God, I just got I want to write like this, and I literally took out a yellow highlighter. And I use this book like a textbook, and I studied it like for three months straight. I just started like analyzing how he introduces characters, how he describes locations, how it creates conflicts and old language patterns. And I just I used it literally like my Bible, and I taught myself to write by reading this book. And no time I look back at moments in my life were like that were really pivotal. And another pivotal moment was I almost got a reduction in my sentence for another year off. It was right before Christmas, 2004 was November, and they had some motion they were going to make to reduce my sentence by a year. And I was going to be out for Christmas time, right? And I was like, It's a shoo in. Even the U.S. attorney signed off on it. All right, because I've done a few months before and it was whole. So once I was there for, I had two different sentences. One of them was because I was cooperating with the government, right? Supposedly, I was a rat, but I was not your average rat. I slipped the note to my like I wouldn't like I was giving information. But when they asked me to rap my friend that I wouldn't do it and I alerted my friend, I gave him like a note saying, Don't talk to me, I'm wired because I wouldn't I wouldn't rat my friend out, right? Like I was. OK, I like, you want information. Fine. I'll, you know on the whole thing. Fine, I'll tell you that people, but not my friend. I drew a moral line there, right? Yeah, but you can't do that if you get to cooperate. That's that's not allowed, right? So I was out for dinner, my friend. I slipped him a note saying Don't in prison, which is in the movies, in the movie, right? But it wasn't the Jonah Hill character was someone else entirely. But anyway, and I slipped him the note and and then six months later, I felt great about that. Like, I'm a good standup guy. I'm not a rat, you know, six months later, he got in trouble for the S, and he had to turn me in and he reported me, Oh s**t, and they vine. They put me in jail, put back in jail. It was literally at that moment, so I pled guilty to all this s**t and I was facing. They were going to break my agreement. So I was going to get 25 years because of this note, and FBI agent agent Coleman stood up for me. He's like, No, you can't do that to him. And, you know, he was his friend. He understood it wasn't like a selfish thing I did, and he stood up for me, and the FBI agent stopped me from getting sentenced to 25 years in prison. He's a very good friend of mine to the state. Amazing guy. So I took account for lying to a federal officer, so I had two accounts running, so I was going to get a reduction. And everyone thought I was going to get it. And the judge rejected it does not mean he should get to he's got to do is 24 months and I was f**king devastated. Now I'm in jail. I'm now facing another year now. At this point, I suppose it was 24 months, not 25 years. Yeah, but but I thought I was going to be out this. I was already in jail and I'm making a motion for a further reduction. I thought I was going to get it. And then when I didn't get it, it was like this devastating moment. Like, I thought I'd be home next week to see my kids. And instead, I had another year. It's a long time when you're in jail. A year feels like a long time. And when the when when the rejection came through, they alert the prison because people sometimes will try to escape or to go crazy. So I get called in to see the prison counselor. Just listen, you how you feel. You're right. You feeling okay yourself? Yeah, you do. I know you got you upset that they rejected your motion. Like, I'm pretty upset. But what am I going to do? I'll just have the, you know, way that shows, well, listen, you know, God has got a way of, you know, of sometimes giving us what we need. And just as anything unfinished business you have here, anything that you haven't really done. Well, I was going to write a book, but I kind of had given up on it because, well, that's it, because you got to write this book. That's what God is telling you right now. Write this book. I'm like, You think she goes, Just write this, just put your head down and use this year. And I literally put my head down and I started writing the book and literally got the first hundred pages done by hand by hand. OK. And I that was when I really taught myself like all that before I was teaching myself and hadn't really. I finally cracked the code and that year and I had one hundred and ten hundred and twenty pages, I showed to a few people in the prison. They were like, Oh my God. And then I ripped them up. All right, I ripped them up and they were good enough. You know, when you're a writer, you always think it's not good enough, right? Oh, I know. Right? Yeah, exactly. Right. So I ripped them up. All right. And I left jail with nothing. No pages. All right. I came back home and I had no business. I've had a business before was shut down. Right. And I said, What should I do? Let me try to write again. And I started writing and I wrote 10 pages and I'm like, Wow, those seem like, really, I thought you were really good, you know? And and I was like, I sent to a people that were like, Oh my God, they're amazing. Keep going. Seven to an agent, Joel Gottlieb here and Joel. Read these first ten pages like. Did you pay Tom Wolfe to write those? He thought, like Tom Wolfe had wrote the page of that close to Tom Wolfe, right? And and that's how it really started. So that that's an amazing, I think, a lesson that, you know, sometimes you know you, you have these things that happen. Things don't go your way and you know, you have to just make a decision. You're going to live in the problem or find the solution to make the best of a bad situation. Just some aspirational, crazy s**t. Give us some nutty stories. What's the realistic? What's the most money ever spent a day on what? What was the craziest purchase you ever made? The craziest thing I did. It was my bachelor party. I spent a couple of million dollars in one night was really two nights and we flew, you know, 100 Strat nights and equal number of lockers to the Mirage. And it was like literally Sodom and Gomorrah on the 12th floor of the Mirage. And it was just insane. And we spent a million dollars that had to pay morgues. We wrecked the place, basically, and that was like the probably the most I ever spent in one moment, like a couple of million dollars, right? But the craziest purchase I made, right besides the yacht and everything right was Christmastime 1990, and it was two or three. We just made a fortune in some deal. And I, you know, I was wanting to reward Danny the Jonah Hill car. I bought a brand new Bentley Rolls-Royce Corniche convertible, right? It's like three hundred grand back then, right? And I wanted to buy myself yet another car. So I found some Aston Martin Virage for like a quarter million and I spent another $150000 turning it into a James Bond car. And I had them install all this s**t nail drop boxes, oil slick gas canisters like a strobe light on the license plate that put, you know, like all this crazy countermeasure s**t like Dropbox for nail is so f**king awesome, right? And they had that installed. The only problem was it drained the battery, and I never worked in trying to while the car shut off, you know? But somehow I was really in my worst moments. Like I was high as a kite on ludes I'd be driving. We dropped the mailbox to drop email. I couldn't think of funny. That was from my stupid apartment and joined. Before you go, I got to take so my my one of my closest friends who also was, you know, arrested and had some troubles with this stuff and unfortunately has passed away. But you know what, I what I found and Jordan known you a long time Barry Guesser who is, you know, really like an uncle to my children. And he was a guy that really helped you. When you got out, you got out of jail, you had nothing. And he let me $700000 on like a quick handshake. Basically, handshake. Yes, let me $700000. And and I paid him back a million four. Even though he didn't ask for a double this money, even though he just wanted his money back. Right? He was, yeah, he was like, You know, he's passed away right now. He was, what a crazy f**king bastard. What a nice agrees that you're a nice, lovable but crazy mother. But that's the funny thing. Because when I look back at my childhood, Barry, you know, he was the first guy in the neighborhood with a Mercedes and he was 18, and all the parents were looking at him like, What does this guy do? What do you do? Well, he did what Jordan did, which is these were my first mentors, and when I got into the business, I knew nothing about the stock market when I when I opened up my firm. I was a great salesman of stocks, but didn't quite understand how the stocks traded. Barry gave me an initial education. And he was an incredibly brilliant, brilliant guy. Yeah, very, very smart. The most skeptical guy that you ever met, like he was always a short seller. Always betting that stocks would go down. And and also his own worst enemy. Yeah. Complex stuff in the stock market is still happening. Yes, it's happening in the stock market. But in the crypto market, you know, there's a new Mark World right here. Cryptocurrency and blockchain, right? And if you look at blockchain, it's like, imagine like when you're laying down the railroad tracks in eighteen hundreds. That's what blockchain really is right now. It's it's just it's the future of finance, for sure. And everyone right now is rushing to lay down track and people don't even know what's going to exist on the other side of the tracks. In some respect, like when they built the tracks, we didn't really know that all these towns would pop up at all these stores and all these goods and services. So right now, everyone's laying down the track and some of the smartest, hardest working and greatest people are actively involved making a lot of money at it, but also creating massive value. And then is all the hucksters and charlatans that are also doing it as a cash grab. And there's a massive amount of that right now because there's no regulation, which baffles me. The SEC and the government needs to regulate this badly because if they do, more money will flow in and it'll be great for this industry and it will legitimize it even more. So, you know, I believe it's the future. I'm heavily involved and very careful with what I do, but it's kind of it's I mean, it's somewhat similar when you guys start in the stock market, what, 82? 83. Yeah. You know, I mean, of course, stock markets there for 50, 75 years before that. But it's all of a sudden this gold rush where all these people who are right, who have good mouths are able to get on the phone and make money. And I think everybody was learning it and shaking it out. And now I think breezier is a good question. What's going on now for getting just crypto even in the stock market with the hedge funds? Don't you think some of these guys have done far worse than what you do and they get caught, they pay a fine and nothing happens. I mean, I think the right the worst offender of any company out there is Goldman Sachs. You know, they they they put what they do with Goldman is that it's compartmentalized like, you know, they have a million different divisions and employees and, you know, every great crime, somehow their finger is in it. You know, that doesn't mean they're all criminals. They're not. They do a lot of great stuff as well. But the problem is, is that, you know, when you when you have a system like the current system on Wall Street, it's so heavily stacked against the average investor it is. And crypto is not like that as much. It's really not. So while there's a lot of fraud in crypto, this when you if you find the right companies are so much of a foul play. In my opinion, it's much Pharrell level playing field than Wall Street, and that's why people are flocking to it, because everyone intuitively knows there's something wrong on Wall Street and the big guys are always making all the money. The little guys are getting squeezed out, and crypto on some level was the great equalizer. It allows it's this is this decentralized wonderland out there, and if you really know what you're doing and you're careful and you get involved with the right people and, you know, avoid the hoaxes, it's pretty easy. Honestly, if you really do your research, you can make a bloody fortune and be part of something amazing. It's like it's really this they call Web3. What that really means is that is this next evolution of where it's empowering the individual, the creator to really like for you, like you don't need an agent anymore or a studio look like you could not have done this. You only had one path to doing what you did. I'll have to sell movie to a studio, or you'll need that now. You have things like YouTube, right? And Social me, but this is the next evolution of that, where it's even more empowering to the creator. So I think it's amazing. Like everybody's doing it every day, but it's a bubble to put people you killed, and some of the bubbles are natural, but there's nothing wrong bubbles. Bubbles happen. You have to, you know, and what happens if you remember, like in the bubble of 1999, when the dot com bubble? Well, you know what came out of that? Amazon big winners. Many companies, amazing companies. So the good ones survive. The ones that never should have started will perish. Yeah, I think that, you know, this is something that everyone needs to take a look at and start dabbling in. Very small fastly won't be careful with it, but I think it's the future for sure. Yeah, I'm trusting you. Yeah. Well, we'll get in Jordan. You're going to make some money after this. Jordan, we can't thank you enough for coming. My pleasure. You got a big announcement coming up this week. There's a document. Yeah, there's a docu series coming out. I sold the rights. I can't say to who, but the director is just like the top director out there for docuseries, and it's going to be amazing. Super excited about. So hopefully, you know, your people will hear about this very, very soon, a lot of excitement. Well, Jordan, thank you for coming in. I'm going to take it, Oliveira. I'm going to have Michael Cook a surreal, fresh meal and you're the best man I race. Why didn't you invite me breezy? Of course you're right. You're right it. I tell you breezy Foxman. Also as my first time. Your breezy, but you're awesome. Thank you. Thank you. You know you would have the dog, L.A. You know so much great comedy and invite me. You're always leaving. I love it. All right. We will be back. Welcome back, Hollywood ways. Yes. What do you think of Jordan? Love them. Yeah. What do you think? I mean, I love how open he is. I feel like I could just talk to that guy for eight hours straight, not get bored. I see all his stories. I'm not even sure if I would say anything during the conversation I want to meet. Is that? Yeah. And you know the interesting thing, though, because a lot of people including you, Ted, by the way, were like, I mean, this guy stole money and this guy did this. So I said to you, as I've said, I can't say what's in his heart or what's in him. I know he's been a loyal friend to me since I know him. And I know he is doing really well now and doing really straight and honest things. But then he did. He turn you a little bit? So because one of the arguments I've always made is, and I'm just bringing it to Entourage a little bit because that's that's the world that I grew up in. Those guys in Entourage could have easily followed someone like Jordan as opposed to following someone like Vinnie Chase. And when you get into that world and you're 21 years old and all of a sudden, everything is coming at you, success, that line can move. So did he at least make you understand where he came from and kind of go? He paid his debt to society, and let's let him move on or what? Look, in the end, from that endeavor, he lost everything. He was broke right going to prison. So lost his family. And that's what the society is deemed as punishment in my mind. You've you've paid your debt. Did he change my mind? I think he did, because I think you realize that, you know, it doesn't start with, I'm going to become one of the worst human beings around. It starts with a well, if I just do the small little thing, slow burn of a deal. And then before you know it, you don't even recognize yourself and what you think. I never felt away. Anyway, yeah, I totally believe what he said. I mean, good people sometimes do bad things, and bad people can also do good things, you know what I mean? So I just it is what it is and also which I like to make 50 to 100 million when you're twenty two years old, but it a year of us, it happens to most of us 100 million. No, no, no. Just just honestly doing things where we, you know, it's the first move of the needle. You know, we've all done things like that. The only difference is some of us get caught. Some of us don't. Yeah, I think that's the thing to take out of it. And you know, like I said, I have a lot of friends before they meet Jordan, they go, Oh, he's a scumbag, he's this. He's not. He's a guy who made some mistakes when he was young, who was in a position that I think all of us. We don't know how we would have reacted if it happened to us. And I, I thought I was a really interesting conversation. I thought it would be interesting to know if there was no laws to to deem what he did a crime, then what would people say about him? Yeah. Greatest mother on Earth. Well, yeah. But I also do think, you know, he he laid on a lot about the fact that he's using drugs. Everybody around him is using drugs, and nothing good happens when you're when you're using drugs. Yeah, except one quaaludes. You can have a good time with one quaaludes. That's it. Now you're encouraging. They don't. They don't exist. You can't get the next segment of Quaaludes confessions. There's no other drug that I would recommend besides a little, you know what we are? I just got to, you know? You know, this year I got into edibles. And before we say goodbye, I just got to give a little talk about breezy. And I and Ted came Dallas. We did B-Real podcast so a.k.a. the Up in Smoke tour. Anyone who, by the way, do you know who Tommy Chong is, who Jordan was talking about, Cheech and Chong icon, the fact that he was jail with Tommy Chong. Yeah, that's worth going to jail. Did you know that before? I probably did. I'm old that I'm forgetting a lot of s**t. There's no way I did because I read the book Quaaludes Quaaludes mixture, but I got to talk about this experience we had before we go on B-Real from Cypress Hills podcast. Three guys breezy and I. Ted was like, sort of off to the side, but it was an enclosed room. This was not a COVID friendly room, a but b they smoked 20 joints between them in an hour. Yep. So what do you think about that? That's a lie. It's a lot, and I'm honestly I, you know. Of course, we got the heads up, but I would never put myself in that situation like because I don't like it. I, we smoke is one thing I don't like. I don't want to smell it. I think it stinks. It burns my throat, burns my nose, and it's just pointless. I love those guys and had a good time with them, but I had a migraine headache for like a day and a half after. Like I told you, the day did not go well. I think I couldn't stop laughing for about an hour and a half. Yes. And I felt like I think I was thinking to myself, like, I must say, a dumb s**t. Am I just laughing for no reason? You're like, Oh, I think these high like. Is there any way we did? And by the way, just so, you know, breezy myself and Ted did not. Take one hit of a joint, not because we're against it. I was driving, Ted was driving, but I felt like I was high and they say contact high or second hand smoke really doesn't. There's no way we weren't high. Yeah, I can't say for sure, but because there we shut off the oxygen because even out in the parking lot as we were talking, I couldn't keep a thought for about 10 seconds straight. I would lose it right in the middle. I definitely think it had some effect. To what degree? I don't know, but it definitely shifted. I can't tell you what happened and I felt violated. All I know is I drove. I drove straight to carnies on sunset the train. I got three hamburgers, two large fries. I mean anything. I don't know what that meant. The munchies. But B-Real is a cool, as do. They were all cool. They were all cool. But but you always got this vibe. He was kind of like, I honestly, I swear to you, I don't know what we talked about, but I couldn't take my eyes off of him and his voice was like, kind of mesmerizing. He was like a shaman. Are you a fan? Yeah, I am a fan. And Scott, Brazil, Scott is one of my, you know, best friends. Here is something you can't do Scott Card from Hawaii Five-O and Entourage fame and a lot of other things. He was on tour with Cypress Hill 15 20 years ago because he was in a little hip hop group. How cool is that? Wow. Yeah, so but I was a fan and I am a fan. I'm more of a fan, but I'm not a fan of it. I will never put myself in that position again. Never, ever, ever. Good answers. I don't like it. It's not about the smoking pot. I don't want to ingest that much of any. I don't want to ingest that much pizza sauce like I just I couldn't. It was excessive. Yeah, it was excessive. But I did have a good time and I'm glad we shared that together. So anyway, we're going to go to Olivetti, where chef Michael Furillo is going to make us a fresh bolognaise acima. He has a grilled lamb rib. It will literally change our world the way he talks. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He talks about the way B-Real talks about weeds. So anyway, we're going to go eat together. We'll take some pictures of it or Sanya, hopefully at a good time with this. Jordan, thank you again. Belfort Wolf of Wall Street. The documentary is coming soon. It's going to be amazing, and Hollywood wastes good chance of you announcing in the Hollywood way embracing. Oh hey, did. I know that you like the lies and you don't let it shine. There's no other place to be. This is how he does, how he does in Hollywood. Good. Good morning, good afternoon and good night and welcome to Tea Party Nappy Boy radio podcast, the most fun you'll ever listen to while you're folding your clothes. Now let's get this straight. This is not your average podcast. T-Pain never black radio is super fun. Super crazy. It's pretty much in your face conversation. That's the good thing about us. We don't do interviews, we do conversations. All of my guests, all of my co-host. We chill, we drink, we play games. We have the song of the week. We have the creative curse word of the week as long as you're having fun as our guest. Speaking of guest, each week I'm going to go through my whole contact list and dive headfirst into the world of music gaming, exotic cars, tech strippers, probably doctors, probably probably strippers that are only stripping so they can pay for tuition to become a doctor. You never know. Thirty five months and she'll make you a drink while we get you drunk and make you play B after. It's a lot going on, but that's what it's all about over here. T-Pain Nappy Boy Ready on time can see you soon, baby.