00:00:00
All right, this is a fun one. Arnold Schwarzenegger. And we went to his sort of office space, which is like really
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huge. And he's got all of his uh Predator statues and posters. It's a very fun place. And um he's he's just
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fun to talk to. I mean, he has a great sense of humor and he's just fun. Everything about him. And you'll see
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what happens. >> Yeah. He likes comedy. The first time I think we went to somebody. We didn't
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know how to do it. It was early. We >> go to his office. set all this crap up.
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We got on the ground. We goofed around. Uh we had some laughs. >> And he was just upbeat, lighthearted.
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>> Yeah. >> I I thought one of my favorites. >> Yeah. And I just wanted to do push-ups
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in front of him. So you you hear that. I think we posted a picture. Yeah. And he's a he is and always has been the
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most positive, you know. >> Yeah. You had good form and the buttocks were going up and down and I was looking
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at them and with delight. >> I like he goes I have to give it to you guys just so puny but you know you don't
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get fat. >> How do you say how do you say so lean because the whole thing is to be lean
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like a little chihuahua. You don't want to be a big bear, you know. So anyway,
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the whole thing is really fun and uh Arnold s he's the only one and only Arnold Z.
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>> Don't say anything if you don't have any positive >> so it'll be kind of quiet.
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>> What is this? He's got wires all over. >> Let me do your trick.
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>> It's a little tiny. >> How long you guys been doing this >> this 18 months? 18 months.
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>> Is that right? >> Yeah. >> And how did you end up together?
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>> We I met him before SNL, believe it or not, in the 80s at the clubs and stuff.
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>> 80s? Jesus. >> Well, whatever. And then I moved back down to LA and we started hanging out
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and then he I had a little podcast I was doing. He came on then our manager said,
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"Yeah, you got to do this." So, >> yeah. Yeah, >> that was it.
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>> Yeah. >> But I think it's a great idea because I think it creates more energy if you have
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two people kind of back and forth >> type of thing. makes it a lot easier.
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>> It's a lot better. Yeah, it makes it go quicker. And he's pretty smart. And we
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both know a lot of same people. This guy is. And uh >> it happens. Sorry, Arnold. You're smart,
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too. >> Oh, man. >> Let me tell you, I mean, it's it's it's
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really >> I think this is the first one that we doing with comedians. >> That's a fun one.
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>> Am I right? >> Yeah. >> First podcast. Yeah. Because I mean, you
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guys made me laugh. Let me tell you, >> more often than anything, I mean, when I
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>> kind of is a comedian, >> you know, not as funny as we are. >> Yeah. I mean, sort of.
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>> But but I I don't see Conan as much as a a comedian. >> Well, he's not a standup, but he's
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>> But but in general, because I know him more as a host, right, >> of a of a very popular kind of a talk
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show, right? I have done his show several times as but not as a standup comedy and all this but I mean we have
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all known each other >> on a personal level >> and have had a lot of fun together on
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the personal and then you of course you guys came to the White House >> you know we're doing the Hansen Franc
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because we had this great American workout >> which was kind of like a copy of what
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Kennedy used to do in the White House because all the other presidents really never really capitalized on this idea of
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President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, right? Created on the Eisenhower, but then Kennedy made it
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kind of walk. I did that in school. It was when I was in sixth grade. It was like 50 push-ups, you know, pull-ups.
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You did all that. >> You got a medal when you could do certain things. And so what happened is
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is that we had now the the the the event, the Great American Workout at the South Lawn of the White House. Yes. But
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you don't just want to make it a fitness event, right? And make it boring. So we
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wanted to make it hip. >> So we asked them, Hans and France had to come to the White House and and and
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entertain the people and the kids and everybody. And they made everyone laugh and how and it was just huge. And it got
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got us also because of them great ratings. >> Yeah. Good press. And so the all the
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press was there and uh you know there were like the big shots from Saturday Night Live and Hans in France still
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looking for you know Uncle Arnold and all this and we walked around and just walk around. Exactly.
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>> Don't undo your belt. You might cause a flower. >> Yeah. And then flip everyone through the
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air to land in their own baby boo. >> That was the that was one of the best.
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That that in your buttocks are like marshmallows. You're lucky I don't have
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a campfire here. So they're threatening to burn someone. >> Hans and France was so funny. It was so
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great when you did it. You didn't meet the host, right? You just came on. >> Yeah, I was on I was a guest. He invited
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me to come to the show and to be a guest there and with Danny Devito one time. I
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was there with Danny Dvito twins. >> Yeah. And he was like trying to attack
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the audience. You were holding him back. >> But we didn't know how you were going to
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react. We started doing it and we heard Arnold's coming. Arnold's coming. And
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then they said, "Arnold is waiting down the hall. This is an 8H in New York."
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>> So Kevin and I are a little nervous. We went in and you're in some chair and you
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lean back and you go, "How do I do the accent again, fellas?" >> Right.
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>> So then we knew you loved it. >> Well, no, but to me it was heaven
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because you have to understand that when I first wanted to get into uh acting, one of the first things they said was,
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you know, it won't work. No one in America has ever made it that had an accent. No one could be a leading man or
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anything like this says it's very tough to do. People want to hear someone talk
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like John Wayne like Clint Eastwood and or Alpuccino this with the guys, you know. So anyway, so then
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>> I realized that I had to kind of make the accent actually something not to
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hide it but to actually make something of it. But then out of nowhere without me controlling it, they came along and
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they legitimized it because now there was someone that actually took that subject of accent. M
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>> and and had a good time with it. Not to make fun of it, but to actually
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entertain people with it and to do it overboard. And so all of a sudden from that point on,
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>> it became much more accepted the whole thing. It really became much easier for
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me. >> Oh, I didn't even know that. >> It's also comedy and you know, you doing
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a lot of action. It's good. Now you're involved in comedy. It's just one more
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thing in the comedy field that people think of you then it's funny. >> And it's also you were in on the joke.
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You were inside the having fun. I always had a good sense of humor and he always was the first one to
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be able to make fun of myself and of my situation, the body, you know, coming from Germany, you know, all of this kind
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of stuff. The German accent, >> the flav puny arms and the little girly man, which girly man was to me was just
00:07:05
like, you know, gym talk, like you little puny arms, you look like a girly man. And then when you became governor,
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sometimes you would use that to describe the legislators, right? Yeah. Yeah, you
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would use some of it that a bunch of girly men perhaps. >> Exactly. So we would go out and said,
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you know, that we should sign this bill, but you know this the legislators up there in Sacramento, they're such girly
00:07:26
men. They're afraid to do the the hard work and all this stuff and they were
00:07:30
really offended by the whole thing. So I actually stopped it, you know, because I
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said I said, you know, I want to work with those guys. I didn't I didn't mean
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it in a negative negative way. I just wanted to actually >> I didn't want to insult them. I actually
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wanted to just entertain the crowd. But I was out in the shopping mall and I was
00:07:48
like saying to the people I said be with me you know they vote for this initiatives that are coming up in
00:07:52
November. I said you know I have to take it directly to you the initiatives because this girly man in Sacramento
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wouldn't go for it. And they were laughing you know that day when I went back to Sacramento how could you call us
00:08:04
girly man this is not fair you know for you to do I said I'm sorry I I didn't
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want to offend you. >> Yeah. To me it was just silly. The New York Times called me and tried to get me
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to explain what it meant. And to me, it was just two guys lifting weights in a gym teasing each other. There was no
00:08:19
homophobic undertones. >> No, not at all. But today, you have to be so careful when you say all this
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stuff. >> Yeah. You say the baby man, your little baby, and then they're like, "Why is
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that against babies?" And >> yes, there's a baby man. You what I like
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is we were saying you as a uh politician are one of the few that does you were putting humor in and it does make people
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listen because you did it before. You had nicknames for foes and stuff. >> That's right. Exactly. Yeah.
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>> You you came out of the box as a breath of fresh air in California like the
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anti-olitician telling it like it is. I remember your first debate I think was they tax us
00:08:54
when we go to the bathroom in the morning. They tax us when we drive in our cars. They t you know it was such a
00:08:59
>> when you have a cup of coffee they tax they tax they tax tax noon at night
00:09:05
taxing. >> Yeah but that made you stand out but um anyway so your book I read it
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>> it's called you don't know this but it's called be useful seven tools for life.
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>> Yes your ghost >> I'm going to read you one chapter >> this by the way this is true
00:09:23
chapter one. >> Oh you have the book. >> Oh [ __ ] yeah I do. I got questions. I
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got books. >> My brother and I, I've got three older brothers. We have this thing that we
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used to say for years, >> registered girly men. >> We would always say, "What would Arnold
00:09:36
do?" when we're up against any kind of challenge or something negative. I'm not
00:09:39
kidding. What would Arnold do? Because I noticed a long long Now, I'm just because I'm with you, I'm talking with a
00:09:44
slight Austin accent the whole time, but I'm always thinking, what would Arnold
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do in this situation, which would always be positive, always. So, I'm I'm not
00:09:54
surprised at all you wrote this book. book is a lot about positivity >> pretty much overall.
00:10:00
>> Yeah. It's it's it's about how to how can anybody no matter who you are and where you are
00:10:08
in the world be more successful. >> Yeah. And because there's just certain
00:10:13
things that hold us back and it's simple things sometimes like the fear of failure uh or picking little goals
00:10:21
rather than big goals and whatever it is or listening to the naysayers whatever it may be as you say I'm trying to go
00:10:28
through this in this book and to just tell people here there's seven rules I
00:10:32
could put 15 rules in there but since the publisher said that you should have no more than 260 pages so we we made it
00:10:40
we kept it in that kind of a framework. But in any case, it's basically just
00:10:45
simple rules and tools that will help people to become more successful and more free and more able to kind of like
00:10:52
go and expand and uh and you know follow their dreams and how do you create a dream for yourself? How do you create a
00:10:58
vision for yourself in order? So that's what I get into in the book. >> I think lately there's there's sort of a
00:11:03
victim card being played too much and uh it's nice to have refreshing old school.
00:11:08
There's a chapter work your ass off. It's just very basic, but it's not what
00:11:13
people say out there as much anymore, you know. >> Yeah. Yeah. But it I talk about exactly
00:11:17
what I did, you know, when I came over to this country, I was into working. >> Mhm.
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>> I was not shying away from working. I was I say, I'm willing to work. Even
00:11:28
though I was a Mr. Universe several times over and Mr. World >> seven >> and Mr. Olympia, Mr. Olympia seven times
00:11:37
over. >> Jesus. Not at that point. And then the early 70s I was like five times Mr.
00:11:42
Universe, Mr. World, Mr. International, and two times Mr. Olympia. >> And there was So now
00:11:51
>> there was nowhere at the time. >> No, it was it was it was kind of like uh
00:11:55
in bodybuilding there was no money. >> We didn't make any money. >> It's like Miss America, right?
00:12:00
>> So it was like one of those crazy things that still be had to make a living. So,
00:12:04
you know, I started a mail order business to kind of like sell booklets on how to train your biceps and your
00:12:10
chest and all of those kind of things. >> So, with 20 steps doing to do that.
00:12:14
>> That's right. So, but the the thing is still we need to go and let's go out and
00:12:19
work. So, my friend Franco Columbo the bodybuilding champion >> remember very well and loved you and him
00:12:25
together. >> That's right. Yeah. Yeah. So he was a he was a brick layer,
00:12:29
>> professional masonry worker, learned it in Italy, in Sardinia, then continued
00:12:33
working in in Germany. That's where I met him. And so when he came over here
00:12:37
and we kind of always trained together, I said to Franco, I said, "Franco, you're a masonry worker. You're you're a
00:12:43
brick layer. Why don't we start a brick laying business?" >> Mhm.
00:12:46
>> I said, "In America, they love this European bullshit." I said, you know, so
00:12:51
we call it the Italian masonry expert. Yeah. Yeah. >> And we put a little ad in the LA Times.
00:12:58
What the next day >> after we put this ad in without beyond our >> knowledge, I mean earthquake happened.
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>> Expectation was the earthquake happened. It's 1971. This explosions
00:13:12
fall down the patios the walls everything. So now we started getting a >> It's funny.
00:13:22
Nothing to do with it. But anyway, the next thing I know is we get all these phone calls.
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>> Yeah. Can you come out and give me an estimate of how to build rebuild my
00:13:33
chimney and how to rebuild my fireplace? How to do my patio? I have a huge crack
00:13:37
going through the whole patio and we cannot continue like that. Blah blah blah. So Frank and I started going out
00:13:43
and doing estimates and of course we were not really experienced in all this stuff. So we just started, you know,
00:13:48
measuring the stuff and then we had always arguments uh about, you know, I was always kind of like the good guy. He
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was the bad Italian who always charges too much and then they I would say this is outrageous. Frankly, you cannot
00:14:01
charge, you know, $7,000, $600 for this stuff. We can do it cheaper than that. No, no, no, no. And it would be then we
00:14:08
started in German and in Italian, we started arguing. No one understood what we were saying. And they just imagine I
00:14:14
said to the guy I wouldn't say to the customer said well I got him down now finally so we can do it for $5,000 and
00:14:20
they say thank you so much and they hugged me and then we did the job. >> How do you teach street smarts like that
00:14:26
one is the Italian name in the paper and then the collapsing but then this whole
00:14:30
song and dance I mean that's just like street smarts or what would you call that idea? But remember that I when I uh
00:14:38
uh was in in school uh I was an apprentice in selling. >> Oh. >> So so so when I was 15 years old instead
00:14:48
of going to uh go on to a university career or anything I learned to be a salesperson and uh so I was kind of an
00:14:57
apprentice for three years and I learned how to sell. So sell, sell, sell. This is and I have one of the chapters in the
00:15:04
book that is in there because I realized of how important selling is. So the art
00:15:09
of selling was in this case was when I go to a customer and he says, "Can you
00:15:14
show, can you tell me how much it costs to redo this chimney, uh, it sounds better
00:15:21
>> if you go like you do in the store, 50% off?" >> Yes. No matter what.
00:15:25
>> But first they add the 50% and then they give you 50% off. So, so, so my idea was
00:15:31
I said I measured it out and I said to Frank, I said, "I think it will cost us
00:15:34
by the time we buy the material, which will be $2,000, our workmanship, it would take us a week to do this, $1,500
00:15:42
each is $3,000. So that's $5,000." So then Frankie said, "Yeah, $5,000. We can
00:15:47
do it." So then I would go to the guy and says, "He wants $7,800."
00:15:51
And the guy would freak out and said, "Oh my god, I don't know if I can afford
00:15:54
this. This is like outrageous." I said, "Let me work on it." And so I would go
00:15:58
to Frank and then all of a sudden we have the screaming match in the corner. And then in Italian and all of this
00:16:10
stuff and then the next thing is I go back to the guy and says I brought him down to $5,000. The guy say, "Oh, thank
00:16:15
God. Thank God." Oh. And they will hug me and then we get the job, you know. So
00:16:19
this is it's about so we we gave them a good deal but I mean we also kind of
00:16:24
sold the idea that they got a special special deal. >> Did you do you do physical work or just
00:16:29
sort of >> Yeah. No, I was the I was the the guy that was mixing the cement and the and
00:16:36
the sand >> and the water. So I had I I picked up the the the mixer at the construction
00:16:43
place where you rent construction equipment and I picked it up with my car. They put it on in the back and they
00:16:50
just took it to the construction. >> You just used blenders to save money >> and I just uh Exactly.
00:16:56
>> Didn't they notice how how pumped up you guys were? Did they comment on it? You
00:17:01
comment on the speed and what did you say the bodybuilders and they said but why
00:17:08
do you we really didn't want to say that we have to work for a living. We just
00:17:12
said we said look we have two choices. >> One of the things is I lost one of the
00:17:17
Mr. the universe contest because they didn't have enough of a tan. >> So that's why you're out there.
00:17:22
>> I said so I said which was in Florida which is really true. One of the reasons
00:17:26
was I didn't have a tan. The other one was I was a little bit too chubby. I didn't I wasn't cut enough. Yeah.
00:17:31
Exactly. >> Body free. >> So so anyway so I said you know I lost my bodybuilding competition because I
00:17:37
didn't have enough of a tan. >> I said that will never ever happen again. Right.
00:17:41
>> I said, "So now, not only am I training every day on Muscle Beach down there in
00:17:46
Venice Beach, you know, the weightlifting platform." I said, "But I want to work out here." We rip off the
00:17:51
shirt and we work outside because then you get the natural tan all over the place. You get brown. I said, "And then
00:17:57
this way how we can win." So this is why we work a few hours every day in the
00:18:01
sun, >> right? You give me a lot. >> This was one of the This was one of the
00:18:04
rap. I said, "He happens to be a brick layer, an outstanding brick layer from
00:18:08
Italy. He did all the special masonry work. He even worked in the Vatican. And the work was good. Basically built the
00:18:14
Vatican. >> So I don't want to jump ahead here, but then it's the biggest selling point you
00:18:23
did and how did you apply this to selling yourself to Hollywood, not wanting to play the second or third
00:18:30
lead, but starting at movie star? >> Yeah. Did he not did you not do any uh
00:18:35
what most people do? Small part. Small part. Are you right? >> No. I I did, but my goal was Oh.
00:18:41
>> to be a leading man. >> Yeah. >> So, uh I remember for instance, Lucio
00:18:46
Ball will call me. >> Jeez. >> And uh I was at Gorge Gym working out
00:18:52
>> and she saw me on the B Griffin show. >> Arnold. >> And she said she she called me
00:18:56
>> Arnold. Oh, this is Lucy. That's right. A little bit of smoking. Yeah.
00:19:00
>> That's right. And and so she says, "Uh, I saw you on the M Griffin show. I want
00:19:06
you to come in and read for this part uh Joe Sander uh which is uh a massur from
00:19:15
Italy. There's an Italian accent, but most people don't know the difference
00:19:18
between a German accent, Italian accent, blah blah blah. Come on in and read. >> And so I would go in there and I would
00:19:25
say, "Oh my god, this is a TV show with Art Connie, Lucio Ball. Art Connie just
00:19:30
won the Academy Awards and and all that stuff." So this is like really big. So I
00:19:34
went in there and um she opened up the script and said they read this part but I had no idea what that means. So I I so
00:19:43
she says she says well I need I need to come in and you know my back hurts and says u how do you know how to massage?
00:19:50
And I said my name is Joe Sandow and I am from Italy. I'm a truck driver from Italy. And in
00:20:00
Italy, every truck driver also does massages. And she says, "Oh, way >> you went to my
00:20:09
>> Let's go and take the script away." >> Yeah. No script. >> I say, "The idea of it is this blah
00:20:15
blah." So, she explained to me the idea and then she asked me some questions,
00:20:20
right? And then I would just say, "Yeah, yeah, I'm from Italy. I'm a truck driver
00:20:24
and my name is Josando." And of course in Italy everyone does this massages and
00:20:28
then she was like laughing and everyone else was laughing and then she says you see guys I told you I told you he will
00:20:34
be good. I mean you know he's not used to the script idea and the reading idea
00:20:37
but I mean he can by the time we shoot this next Friday he will be perfect. I promise you guys that and you are you
00:20:44
here ready to be here every day for rehearsal and I >> I didn't even know what the rehearsal
00:20:50
meant but any case but the b I said yeah yeah whatever you want me to do I do. And so I came every day. I worked with
00:20:57
her every day. She was very patient patient. And uh we shot then on Friday and she kept saying he says and you need
00:21:06
to project more. You need to project more because we're shooting live. >> So I had no idea what life live meant. I
00:21:11
had no idea any of that meant. So anyway, >> we rehearsed and we rehearsed and then
00:21:17
we shot this scene >> that I'm ringing the doorbell. The green light lights up at the door and I open
00:21:26
the door. She opens up the door and she says, "You are the mass?" And I say,
00:21:30
"Yeah, I'm the mass." Uh, you know, she says, "Come on in." And so I go in there
00:21:35
and all of a sudden huge applause. >> Oh my god. You don't know that there's
00:21:40
people. >> So now I'm standing with my massage table and I'm looking out like this,
00:21:44
staring out. I'm in shock. I'm frozen. >> First time you frozen. So this is not
00:21:50
what the scene is supposed to be to be frozen to come in there and to be like this Italian flamboyant guy that opens
00:21:56
up the massage table professionally. Chuck chuck chuck ch boom flips it open and say lie down, you know. So I'm not
00:22:03
standing there like this, you know, totally frozen. And then she says, "What
00:22:07
are you massaging me? Get the table set up." So she immediately saw what was
00:22:11
happen. Oh yeah, totally. And then so I said, "Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly."
00:22:14
And the applause continued. So I flipped the table over. Now, of course, I only had the tank top on, so I had like the
00:22:20
big guns hanging out and the whole thing. But anyway, it was it was fantastic. The whole thing Connie came
00:22:27
in in the middle of the scene. The whole thing was like a seven minute scene and
00:22:31
it played like a jewel. I remembered all my lines. She said it was fantastic. And
00:22:35
then I tell you something, >> from that moment on, Lucia Ball, as long as she lived,
00:22:43
she always wrote me a letter. M >> every movie that I did after that she saw me on streets of San Francisco to
00:22:50
play a guest starring role which I got after that two years later she saw Stay Hungry that came out with Bob Raerson he
00:22:57
directed me Jeff Bridges and Sally Fields she wrote me a letter I'm so proud of you you're fantastic I knew you
00:23:04
had this potential you're going to be a big star I mean what a sweeter of a woman as tough as she was everyone knows
00:23:11
she was one of the tough toughest women in town Uh, you know, and Art Connie could tell you that because she kind of
00:23:18
directed the show even though she was not the director. And then Gary Morton, who was her husband, could also tell you
00:23:25
how tough she was studio. I mean, she did a pilot with Desi Ares Jr. called Whacked Out. And we're doing the pilot.
00:23:32
>> Audience is there and we're really bombing. I mean, it's silent. And all of
00:23:36
a sudden, I hear a voice from the bleachers going, "What's wrong with you
00:23:40
people?" So Lucille Bala grabbed the microphone and was yelling at the audience, "This is funny." Then the
00:23:46
whole audience flipped out, made a big line, and it took an hour and a half for everyone to get her autograph.
00:23:52
>> That's fantastic. >> You know, for her to take time to do that with you is pretty nice because she
00:23:57
could have just said, "Tough reading. Get out, you know, next." But absolutely
00:24:01
to work with you and to be that big of a star and and get you going and that was
00:24:05
really probably one of the biggest things even just confidence wise. >> Yeah. Yeah. No, but I I as much as
00:24:10
people were negative about the idea of a muscle guy getting into movies because they what they felt kind of the 60s the
00:24:18
era of the Hercules movies receive movies but I mean for me big because when I was 15 years old and I saw Steve
00:24:36
Reeves and Rich Park on the screen said, "Oh my god, can you believe bodybuilders
00:24:41
>> then become leading man in movies?" So that was my motivation to get into
00:24:47
bodybuilding. I said myself, "Oh, then I can be an actor." So then then I go to
00:24:51
Hollywood. There's Muscle Beach and there's Hollywood. So you have your own
00:24:55
fantasies as a kid with 15. So that was my fantasy and I made my fantasy become a reality. And I talk about that in the
00:25:02
book, how important it is that we have a vision and that we have a goal and that
00:25:06
we have something to chase. No matter how stupid it may sound to other people, but just don't listen to the naysayers.
00:25:13
Chase your dreams. And that's exactly what I did. >> And that part of the book, don't listen,
00:25:17
that seems like a lot of people like I would get my feelings hurt a lot in the early days before I got on Saturday
00:25:22
Night Live. If someone if I someone said I wasn't good or whatever, what are the
00:25:26
mind tricks you played to get around that? like they're saying you're terrible, you're nothing, this isn't
00:25:30
going to make it, that's not good. And you twist it in your mind. >> You know, I I didn't have to really
00:25:36
twist much because I just saw my vision very clearly in front of me of me becoming eventually a Mr. Universe for
00:25:44
me eventually coming to America and eventually getting into movies. I saw that and for it was so believable
00:25:52
>> that I had such faith in my vision that uh there was no one that could talk me
00:25:58
out of it. >> They just didn't get it in your head. You're like >> well I understood
00:26:02
>> that when someone has never done something it's like you know Nelson
00:26:05
Nelson Mandela always said you know everything is always impossible until someone does it and this is exactly
00:26:11
there was no Austrian ever that became Mr. Universe. So when I say I want to be Mr. universe. Of course, they laughed,
00:26:17
you know, because they thought, well, if he says he wants to be a ski champion, that makes sense. But not to be a Mr.
00:26:23
Universe or to be a weightlifter or something like this. Weightlifting was kind of dominated by the Russians.
00:26:28
Bodybuilding was dominated by the Americans or by the British. So, I mean, what is he talking about?
00:26:33
>> You beat the odds once in a big way and now you're going to do it in an even
00:26:36
bigger way to come all the way to America and know the language. Did you know the language at all when you got
00:26:41
here? It took you a while. No, I mean there was a lot of subtle things like I said when Lucy Paul said we gonna go and
00:26:46
read come over to for a read. I did not know what that meant. I did not know when she said we're going to shoot this
00:26:52
live that this means there will be a live audience and we will be live the filming and not taping and stuff like
00:26:59
that. So all of this stuff I did not know but I learned the language quickly. I went to college. I remember I went to
00:27:05
Santa Monica City College and took English classes and then eventually took business classes and uh all the stuff
00:27:11
that I learned as an apprentice selling marketing, publicity and uh accounting, mathematics and all of this stuff micro
00:27:20
and microeconomics and all and then then eventually got a degree in that which was also not something that I planned on
00:27:26
doing but I was like going part-time to college >> uh for eight years. I mean, think about it. From 1969 to
00:27:34
1977, >> it was like a I just wanted to educate myself. Yeah. And I didn't have a
00:27:40
student visa, so I couldn't go full-time to college. So, I had to always just
00:27:44
take two classes. So, sometimes even to cheat a little bit, I took two classes at Santa Monica City College and then at
00:27:51
night I would go with the UCLA and take some extension courses and then sometimes I would take classes at West
00:27:57
Los Angeles College and stuff like that. But eventually I got enough like almost
00:28:01
300 units of credits and then they gave me a degree. >> You know it's so easy to quit along the
00:28:05
way in this guy. There's so many hard obstacles that people just go I can't do
00:28:09
that. I'll forget it. >> I have a question. Did you when you were thinking of your vision Mr. Olympia this
00:28:14
and when you envision yourself as a movie star did you envision Conan the Barbarian? Did you ever envision twins
00:28:21
and Kindergarten cop? It evolved Conan the Barbar I mean your physicality John Wayne. What I envisioned was like just
00:28:28
like you know Re Park and Steve Reeves. I said myself maybe I can somehow use the muscles and get in the movies.
00:28:36
>> I did not know that that that there are errors. >> Yeah. >> You know that there was the 60s was the
00:28:42
muscle era where they made all these muscle movies and stuff like that that the 70s would be kind of like the
00:28:48
opposite and all of a sudden Wood Moody Allen and Dustin Hoffars. No, those guys Exactly.
00:28:55
And so everyone say to me, Arnold, those guys weigh 100 pounds. We can't put you
00:29:00
in a movie with those guys. It doesn't work, you know. So, forget about it. So,
00:29:04
it was all that that kind of thing. So, but eventually I think that after they did Stay Hungry,
00:29:11
>> Yeah. >> and I played a bodybuilding champion in Stay Hungry in the movie and people and
00:29:16
I got the uh the Golden Globe Awards for best acting debut >> for that movie. So that really helped
00:29:24
me. >> Did you improvise those lines though some of >> No, there was the the in Stay Hungry was
00:29:29
all written >> and uh >> you really you were natural in that >> and well thank you. And then pumping
00:29:34
iron came out and then then that was a big hit. >> Yeah. >> And so then all of a sudden people
00:29:40
started saying it was pumping on actually that made Ed Pressman who just passed away recently famous producer.
00:29:46
Yeah. who saw me in pumping iron and then got the rights of the Conan the Conan right
00:29:54
inching over to like more mainstream and then you're going to get away from only
00:29:59
strongman parts like when I moved here I got a script the first time I just read
00:30:03
it to them they handed me the script and I just read it back to them and they're
00:30:05
like what are you doing I'm like I don't know you know because you know they go
00:30:09
come read it was the same thing I don't know sides all the lingo I didn't know
00:30:13
and I it was hard for me to get work and I'm only this strong So, I know it was a
00:30:17
little bit of a detriment. >> Dave, did you find it tells you something about yourself? Like me in the
00:30:21
early '8s, I go to audition, I walk in a room and I see babyfaced guys with weak
00:30:27
chins and little arms, >> baby men. >> They all look like me, you know? I mean,
00:30:31
you would walk in reading for something. Would you see a lot of other big guys waiting to read?
00:30:36
>> No, I never read again. >> You never read that? No. No. You never
00:30:40
audition. Wow. >> No, never. I I swear I I knew that I did this auditioning. This is not my bag.
00:30:47
>> That's not my bag. >> But for some reason or the other from that point on it always they came to me
00:30:53
like Bob Raferson came to me and said, I want you to do Stay Hungry, but you have
00:30:57
to take acting classes. >> Yeah. I get you, you know, with this guy Eric Morris who was an acting coach. He
00:31:03
says he was working with Chuck Nicholson and blah blah blah. He says, "I want you
00:31:07
to to take acting lessons and then you will come in for a reading." So I was
00:31:13
like working with this guy for four months. So you weren't auditioning >> before I got brains did this as a joke
00:31:18
in a way. And he had did someone tape it and I came in >> and I did the scenes for him
00:31:25
>> and uh >> but it was basically already signed for the movie, right? So it was not really
00:31:31
that was in danger. But so anyway, I did I did the scenes and he again was very very complimentary.
00:31:38
>> But this is the this is the the the sweetness of people in this town that I
00:31:42
noticed kind of how supportive they can be. Like Barb immediately says stop it. >> I said what? He says look at my hair.
00:31:52
Look at my hair on my forearm. So I said okay I see your hair in the forearm. He
00:31:58
says it's standing up. Do you notice here in my form when this stands up it means that I totally bought in a scene.
00:32:05
>> So what you just did I totally bought in. It was so touching. It was so
00:32:10
emotional. It was so well delivered. We don't even have to go any further. This
00:32:14
is it. You have the part. Wow. >> This is how it would would be like that.
00:32:17
And the same was with Jeff Bridges and been Sally Fields. They know I was a beginner on this whole thing but oh man
00:32:24
they were so supportive when we did the scenes. Sally Fields was like extraordinary and as so was Jeff Bridges
00:32:31
so supportive and everything extra time. I had I had really a good good experience and then I think Lanceburg
00:32:38
when he hired me for you know the chain Mansfield story with Lonnie Anderson where I played Mickey Hagday you know
00:32:45
because Lonnie uh Chain Mansfield's husband was a Hungarian guy >> right so
00:32:51
>> and and and so he was Mr. universe and uh so I played that character basically
00:32:57
and uh so with an accent it was the accent was perfect. Then eventually I got then the Conan uh gig. Yeah. And it
00:33:05
was a big international kind of a movie with Universal Studios. >> How much of that did ro like 200 million
00:33:11
or something? >> No. No. In those days there was no 200 million but I mean it it grossed out I
00:33:15
think780 million. It was like it was like really it was big and it was number one at the box
00:33:23
office when it opened up. So everyone was really happy and they signed me up for a second one and that's when I was
00:33:30
my first the second Conan was I made the first million dollars. And how old were
00:33:35
you when you first made that million on the second Conan movie about like 33 or 34 years old?
00:33:42
>> What did that mean to you coming from where you came from in Austria to get a
00:33:46
million? >> Well, my my dream was I said I want to be like Clint Eastwood because Clint
00:33:50
Eastwood Charles Bronson and Mal Brando were the only guys that were going over getting over a million dollars a movie
00:33:58
in the 70s in the early 70s. So they were like the kings. So I said to myself, wouldn't it be cool if I get a
00:34:04
million dollars a movie, you know, and I always shot for the stars, always the big the big dream. And then eventually
00:34:10
it happened. >> So I I felt fantastic. I felt delighted that I made a million dollars and that
00:34:16
I'm a millionaire. But >> I was already a millionaire before then because I was insisting on making my
00:34:23
money in real estate. >> You know, like for instance, this building that we're sitting in right
00:34:28
now, I built it in 1984. So 1984 I bought at least before at least it was No, it was not before Conan
00:34:37
but it was before we we went Terminator and all those. >> And where did you get the money to buy
00:34:43
the real estate? >> Well, I was I was working on construction sites. I was doing
00:34:47
exhibitions and all and I started saving money and then there was an apartment building for sale in Santa Monica for
00:34:56
$240,000. But that's like the day. Yeah. You know, the $10 million. I don't know what. But
00:35:03
in any case, was $240,000 >> and I needed $37,000 down payment. >> I had in my bank account 27.
00:35:15
So I went to Joe Weider who was the publisher of the bodybuilding magazine. Exactly. And I said, "Can you go and
00:35:22
loan me $10,000 for one year?" and he said, "Absolutely." And so he
00:35:29
would get loan me the the $10,000. I will put the $37,000 down and I bought this building uh this office building.
00:35:37
Two years later, someone comes to me and offers me another $500,000 for the same building. This is how much
00:35:44
real estate went up in the 70s because of the high inflation rate. Right? So I now immediately sold this building, took
00:35:51
that profit and trade it up to a 12unit apartment building. Then I sold that two
00:35:56
years later and traded up to a 36 unit apartment. >> Your book on how to become a millionaire
00:36:01
coming up. So I was like really quickly in the in the 70s I was already a millionaire.
00:36:13
>> Without giving away numbers, but I'm always fascinated. How much real estate
00:36:17
did you end up buying? And was it all Southern California where you bought property? Did you buy it other places? I
00:36:22
I always was in other places in Colorado for instance, we bought a whole square block in Colorado and then eventually
00:36:28
there was a square block still on it. Yeah. >> How much was the square block square
00:36:32
block? >> It was it was it was not that because we bought up pieces at the time. Yeah.
00:36:39
>> And then eventually was a square block and then we were able to sell this to
00:36:42
someone that wanted to build a high-rise and then we were able to get cut in 10%
00:36:47
of the high-rise and blah blah blah and all that stuff. So anyway, so I was always felt very comfortable with the
00:36:52
real estate business, but at the same time the rule is don't have all your irons in the same fire. So I was, you
00:36:59
know, investing in stocks and in bonds and all kinds of other kind of like startup businesses and so on. And so um
00:37:07
my investments always were very good. I never lost money on any investment as far as that goes. There was a huge and
00:37:14
listen to this. It was really funny because I bought the first money I got. I I saved I bought land out in the
00:37:21
Endelope Valley. >> Why? Because I read somewhere when I came over to this country that they're
00:37:28
going to build a supersonic airport out there. >> And so I said, "Oh, I'm going to go
00:37:33
without telling anyone. I'm going to sneak out there and I'm going to buy
00:37:36
some property." Put a knife in your mouth. Exactly. And so this is what I did. I bought for $5,000. I had only
00:37:43
$1,000. So I had to pay off the $5,000. I bought this property out there and then of course they never built the
00:37:49
airport. >> I thought the United States Air Force is out there. >> No, but the air force is out there. I
00:37:53
mean the supersonic airport. They passed a law, an international law that said no
00:37:59
supersonic aircrafts can fly over land. >> So that only over the ocean. So that
00:38:04
killed the idea and so they kept the LA airport here. So my investment went down
00:38:08
the tube. So everyone was laughing about it. You know, but here's what the thing
00:38:13
Joe Wido said to me. He says, "I know. Don't worry about it. This will be a
00:38:18
good investment for your grandchildren." >> Yeah. >> Keep it. Forget about it.
00:38:23
>> Yeah. >> I did. I totally forgot about it and I kept it. Today it's worth $1.5 million.
00:38:31
>> Just to show you a $5,000 property. So, I didn't even lose money on that
00:38:36
investment. So this is just to show you that uh you know if you really hold on to it
00:38:41
>> we talk more about the rest of the podcast >> how to uh Arnold uh what would you
00:38:48
>> after what was after >> the one you just said oh Conan what was the first sort of mainstream
00:38:55
>> Conan too and then >> well what was >> that was kind of mainstream
00:38:59
>> the funny thing was my my dreams >> and my desires grew >> and I'm sure it's the same with
00:39:06
First you want to do stand up comment but then you say wouldn't it be great if
00:39:09
I do a TV show wouldn't it be great if I do a movie what so you it grows you know
00:39:15
you get more and more hungry and so the same thing happened to me you know so I said to myself
00:39:19
>> wouldn't it be cool if I could do movies that doesn't >> rely on muscles
00:39:24
>> right >> so what what happened was Jim Cameron comes along >> and he says to me Mike Meadow boy and
00:39:31
they say to me he says do you want to do this movie called Terminator And I said, "Uh, yeah." I said, "That
00:39:39
would be great. Can you send me the script?" They said, "Sure." So, he sent
00:39:42
me the script and they said, "It would be this character Ree," which is a
00:39:46
heroic character in the movie. >> And I said, "Uh, oh, that would be a
00:39:50
really great great role." And then, for some reason, the other when I met with
00:39:53
Jim Cameron and we uh had lunch, I talked the entire lunch about Terminator. >> Here's Jim. I said, "I know you have not
00:40:05
directed much, but uh but I say here's what is important when you direct this
00:40:11
guy, whoever plays the termin that he says, well the the character that we hired for it is OJ Simpson."
00:40:19
He says, "But the studio is kind of like negative about him >> because they think that he cannot sell
00:40:26
the idea of being a killing machine." >> Oh. Oh. >> He says, "OJ is not enough of a killer."
00:40:32
>> He's kind of nice. uh that he looks he looks too soft for that. So these are
00:40:36
great quotes. So look this is the truth. I mean this is like unbelievable. >> He's doing hurts commercial
00:40:41
>> and uh and and and so they they said so this is not really set in stone. The
00:40:47
whole thing is said, but uh after listening to you, Jim Cameron said, after listening to you
00:40:54
talking to me about the Terminator that he has to be trained to be like a machine and he cannot walk like a human
00:41:02
being, that he cannot talk like a human being. You're absolutely correct. Your take on
00:41:08
it is perfect. Why don't you play the Terminator? >> Yeah. >> And I said, "No, no, no, no, no." I
00:41:13
said, "Look, I want to play Ree. I want to be the hero, not the villain. Yeah,
00:41:17
I'm set up in my mind. >> Well, the way I shoot it, it would be like a hero and a villain. Hero because
00:41:24
he does all these unbelievable things and wipes everyone out. Villain because he's a machine.
00:41:30
>> But you don't have to be responsible perfectly personally because you're a
00:41:34
machine. You're directed by some higher power. So, it's not like you going
00:41:38
around killing things. So, I said to him said, "Oh, let me think about it." And
00:41:42
so for for a few days I thought about it and then I said to myself, he's actually
00:41:47
right. If he shoots this the right way, this could be really cool. And then I called him back and I said, "Okay, I'm
00:41:52
in." >> And so there was the first movie where we were through the whole movie.
00:41:57
>> No, never. It was like jacket, leather jacket and the whole thing like that.
00:42:02
>> And from then I got the offer to do after Terminator to do Commander and
00:42:07
after that to do Predator, Running Man. And it went on and on and on. in every one of your movies.
00:42:12
>> I was in I was in >> I was accepted in Hollywood as the action hero
00:42:18
>> and it all came from Conan and from Terminator. So this what kind of was my
00:42:23
launching pad. >> And you god you just had such a run at >> you know Dana I saw a a copy of
00:42:28
Terminator when you say you know your catchphrases are very short which is smart.
00:42:32
>> I saw an early copy when you say come with me if you want to live. >> Yeah. And it was, "Come with me if you
00:42:38
want to live because I know all the shortcuts in town. I we can go down the 710 and we can get in a carpool lane and
00:42:45
the and the monster robot only can drive in the regular cuz he's one person." And
00:42:51
I think it was better you tightened it >> because that seemed like if you want to
00:42:55
live. >> Yeah. You didn't want to get be too wordy in that. >> Yeah. It was too wordy. And so the final
00:43:00
script, come with me if you want to live. >> They cut all that out there. There's a
00:43:06
lot of You had a lot of good ones. Did you know at the time when you do those that these might be sort of cool little
00:43:10
things? >> No, you don't know. I mean, we never know what would hit and what would what
00:43:16
people really like. I mean, you wish you can say that and say, "Oh, this was
00:43:19
written this way or I improvised that." It's not that wouldn't be true. The
00:43:23
reality of it is we had no no idea that even I'll be back will be a line that
00:43:28
would be the most repeated kind of line. Yeah. you know, anything. We just I was
00:43:33
arguing with Jim Cameron endlessly about I will be back. He says, "No, I wrote
00:43:39
I'll be back." >> I'm going to say, "I will be back."
00:43:42
Because I don't like the L thing sounds a little weird. >> I said, "I will be back." And he says,
00:43:49
"Who the [ __ ] wrote the script?" >> Oh, yeah. >> Are you the script writer now or am I
00:43:54
the script writer? I said, "You're the script writer." And he says, "Okay."
00:43:57
Okay. So, we say, "I'll be back." And if you want, we can shoot it 10 different
00:44:01
ways if that makes you feel comfortable. He says, "But so let's just do that.
00:44:06
I'll be back." Not, "I will be back. That's bullshit." And so, I was arguing
00:44:09
with him about, >> you know, what's funny is is luckily, he was so right. And he made me he made
00:44:15
>> I will be back sounds almost more robotic. And you were right. >> Yeah, I know. But I mean, so he just
00:44:19
loved I'll be back. you know, and and so we did it 10 times and uh when the movie
00:44:26
came out, everyone wanted me to repeat that line. And so you don't know, we had
00:44:31
no idea this is going to happen. We had no idea that, you know, kind of like all
00:44:35
the stuff, you know, as the Lista Baby in Terminator 2, right? Uh you know, or get to the Chopper is stupid lines. get
00:44:42
to the chopper >> just because the way I say it because I we can't I can Germans cannot pronounce
00:44:47
the a and the end. So so everything is ah chopper >> you know it's not a tumor. It's not a
00:44:54
tumor. So so when I said so when I said it's not a tumor when we rehearsed for kindergarten cop
00:45:02
>> Mhm. >> and I did the rehearsal with the kids and I said it's not a tumor. All the
00:45:08
kids started laughing even though it was supposed to be an intense scene. And then Ivan Ryman looked and he said,
00:45:13
"This is funny." They're all laughing. He says, "Say it the same way. Don't
00:45:17
change." So anyway, so so this those lines became kind of famous because the
00:45:24
way I say it with my accent and so if someone else would have said it wouldn't
00:45:28
have meant anything. >> It's musical. It's a musicality. I will be back has a different rhythm
00:45:33
comedically. I'll be back. Exactly. So intense. Didn't you do some where you
00:45:38
would drop guys off things for dropping by and you drop them off a cliff? Those kinds of dropping the guy says, "Are you
00:45:43
promised to kill me last? You know, Sally, I said, Sally, remember I promised to kill you last." And he says,
00:45:50
"Yeah, yeah." I say, "I lied." >> So, Mr. Freeze had a couple
00:45:56
>> and everyone all the kids started running around and the parents were saying, he says, "You promised me that
00:46:00
you're not going to get an F in school." I lied. >> I lied. That's great. So,
00:46:05
>> you have more comedy hits than most comedians to be honest. >> But, you know, when when we were talking
00:46:10
about >> growing your vision, >> like >> the last thing I ever thought about
00:46:15
doing was was was doing comedies. >> Yeah. >> And uh but then when I was doing a bunch
00:46:20
of movies, action movies, I said to myself, wouldn't it be cool if I could do a comedy because I felt I had a sense
00:46:26
of humor. Yes. I agree that I didn't understand the American sense of humor as well. So that's why I asked my buddy
00:46:36
Milton Pearl to teach me about comedy. Yeah. Milton Pearl. Yeah. So he would write
00:46:42
>> He was friends with Lucille Ball as well. >> Yeah. But he would write jokes for me
00:46:46
all the time. Milton Pearl. And so he always, >> you know, called me [ __ ] Nazi. You
00:46:52
have to write this [ __ ] jokes for this Nazi. God damn it. you know, but you know, but he loved hanging out with
00:46:58
me and smoking cigars with me. Because of him, I really got into the cigar smoking actually. But it was like he was
00:47:04
really really funny and he would then go and start writing stuff for me when I was doing speeches,
00:47:10
>> you know, and he would say says you can't go out there in a speech and start
00:47:13
with a serious note and you got to go and say first make the people like you. >> So say something funny,
00:47:19
>> right? you know, go out there and just say, you know what, you probably wonder
00:47:23
what what am I doing here at a medical convention in Vegas, but you know, the Dr. S and came up to me and says, I love
00:47:30
you because you're a real good American and you believe in free speech, right?
00:47:35
And I said, yeah, of course I believe in free speech. Good. Because you're going
00:47:37
to give one in Vegas on June 14th, you know. So, so then the people laugh and they say, and then they like you and now
00:47:44
whatever you say, they will like you. I said, so there was Milton Pearl's kind
00:47:47
of a thing. So he would write little jokes and little lines for me for the beginning to get to get going with with
00:47:53
the species here. >> Lucil Ball Milton Bro, you got some good ones. >> Yeah. Do you remember with the movie we
00:48:03
almost made? We wrote a script. It was called Hans and Fron's The Goodly Man
00:48:07
Dilemma that we were going to do with you. It didn't get made, but it was a funny script.
00:48:11
>> Well, just just I had that conversation just recently >> with Conan. No. Well, with Conan. Yes.
00:48:18
But I mean, we also internally had it because I said there are several scripts >> I said that were offered to me that I
00:48:27
didn't do >> for whatever the reasons were, you know, that they were dismissed or they were
00:48:33
never made or or I couldn't wait. They couldn't wait for me so they hire
00:48:38
someone else. You know, like The Rock. Yeah. Yeah. >> In the movie that the you know the rock
00:48:43
with the that was with the uh with with uh >> Sean Connory. >> Sean Connory. Exactly.
00:48:48
>> And what's the the actor's name again? >> Nick Cage. >> Nick Cage. Exactly. Nick Nicholas Cage.
00:48:54
And so I was going to do that but I mean they couldn't wait for me because I was
00:48:57
doing another movie first and all that stuff. So there were certain but the one movie that I always loved that I even
00:49:05
would do the day is the the the the script that we had together >> where Hans and France finally comes to
00:49:14
find the uncle and then I staying in his house. >> Yes. >> And I remember it was so funny.
00:49:21
>> Yes. >> And I just remember when you guys you came to me and you said I have to go to
00:49:27
the bathroom. Where where's the bathroom? And they said, you go down the hall and where you see the deltoid, you
00:49:34
go left. Then you see a calf, you go right. And then you see Yeah, exactly. There was all these huge sculptures of
00:49:41
my body all over the house. And this was the direction that I gave you guys. It was just so stupid. It's so [ __ ]
00:49:47
funny. >> Oh yeah. And you had a war room we went into where you had it was a whole
00:49:52
puzzle, a whole like a Monopoly game, but studios Paramont 20 and you had little you're pushing pieces around.
00:49:58
alone is going to do a movie over 20th Century Fox. We countered Panama with a comedy, you know.
00:50:04
>> Exactly. >> All of it was having fun with the image of Arnold at that time.
00:50:10
>> And and what you guys did in Saturday Night Live. >> Yeah. So, it was the idea was that they
00:50:14
took the Saturday Night Live idea >> where you were searching for me. >> Mhm.
00:50:20
>> And uh running into different kind of situations, but here you were actually
00:50:24
you found me >> in this movie. And now it goes on from what what do we do together? And so it
00:50:30
was hilarious the script. So I mean I think it still could be funny. >> Uh we read it we read it on Conan's
00:50:38
podcast and it had a big reaction. People really liked it. It it's from a different era in the sense that it's
00:50:43
really big funny and silly which I don't think they make enough of those movies.
00:50:47
>> You can modernize it. Oh yeah. If you get a ride at the day if you guys sit
00:50:52
down instead reworking it what works today and do it for Netflix. say you know for that audience I mean imagine
00:50:59
what the smash that would be >> lot of visual laughing from here to eternity
00:51:03
>> a lot of visual >> come out at Christmas time or before Christmas I mean it would be just would
00:51:08
be fantastic >> I'm around I'm in a second but yeah it was just a funny script and you were uh
00:51:14
it was an hilarious part for you but you know life is what it is >> exactly
00:51:20
>> you know you just keep moving on to your the chapter at the end about just giving
00:51:24
back you know and you're talking about Milton Burrow helping you loosely a ball
00:51:29
and now you must find chances or do young movie stars look you up or ask you or give advice or you're you're a mentor
00:51:36
of how to >> I don't know is there anyone more successful this will sound I'm kissing
00:51:43
your ass but is there any been anyone like you in the last 40 50 years to come to America from another country from
00:51:50
extreme poverty and do all these things and then here you are now um still going and doing,
00:51:57
>> you know, I I don't know. I think that one of the people that I always admired a lot that
00:52:04
came to America with the age of 15, I think, was Henry Kissinger. >> Yeah. And he's still around.
00:52:11
>> And Henry Kissinger had an unbelievable career. >> Yeah. >> Academic career and political career.
00:52:19
and it was just a genius foreign policy kind of a guy and all that stuff. So there look there's a lot of people Elon
00:52:26
Musk and people like that that that have come to this country. Remember >> Elon Musk would be a
00:52:32
>> but one of the things no matter who it is no matter how many there are >> one thing we know for sure that there's
00:52:40
no other country in the world where we could have done that. >> No other country. I mean, if I think
00:52:48
about and I'm pretty much aware of the world because I travel a lot and through
00:52:54
bodybuilding and movie promotion and when I was governor do trade missions all over the world and all of that
00:53:00
stuff, but there's just no place and even today a play at a time when we have difficulty
00:53:06
in America, you know, where the parties don't get along and they can't get much
00:53:09
done and all this stuff. Even during that time when I travel around I don't see anyone coming up to me and saying oh
00:53:17
Arnold can you help me get a visa to uh Jordan. Oh Arnold can you help me to get a visa
00:53:26
to Russia >> or can you help me to get to South Africa or something like that? No I mean
00:53:31
it's all about America please help me. Can you write a letter letter for the
00:53:36
immigration office? You know I want to get to America. I want to be in America. So this is the number one country still
00:53:43
by far. It's the most desirable place to for people to come. It's the only place
00:53:47
where someone like myself can come and make it and make it big and make all these dreams become a reality.
00:53:53
>> What are we doing right? Because we we're pretty self-critical as a nation
00:53:57
right now about America. But you have a perspective unique to people who are born here tend to take it for granted.
00:54:04
But what are we doing right so that people can come in and and do have a life like you've had in America?
00:54:12
>> But people can and people do today >> because the economic freedom
00:54:17
>> I think it is the economic freedom. I think it is just that it has its downfalls
00:54:24
and it has its big advantages and the advantages more than uh our disadvantages and that's what makes us
00:54:32
so great. Yes, we have problems and all that, but I mean it's still anyone can
00:54:36
come still today to America and really become kind of very successful. I see it all the time in a smaller way. Even I
00:54:46
see people coming from I see this one guy was coming from Israel uh to Gorge Gym. He was working out for a while.
00:54:53
Then all of a sudden he was like a personal trainer and the next thing I know he's driving around driving up with
00:54:58
Austin Martin and with the next day with a Jaguar and the guys getting $100 an hour. He works 15 hours a day.
00:55:08
>> Mhm. >> 15 hours a day. It's talking about working your ass off, right? What we
00:55:12
talked about earlier. This is this guy believes in working. So he drives these fancy cars. He has nice girls around. He
00:55:20
trains people there in the gym. is doing exactly what he wants to do. He's from
00:55:23
Israel, just came over here a few years ago. Yeah. And the same is with, you know, French guy that does the same
00:55:29
thing. I know this one girl that is from Sweden. She's a personal trainer and
00:55:33
she's making a fortune and all this. So you, this is unlike any other place, you
00:55:37
know, and so I think this is really the place to be and um where people can be successful and I think America should be
00:55:45
proud of that. And you're right. When you are an American, >> yeah, >> you take it for granted. When you're
00:55:51
American, you sometimes don't appreciate >> how great this country really is.
00:55:58
>> And the thing that that everyone has to do is, and I talk about this in the last
00:56:02
chapter, is this country was built by hardworking men and women that have sacrificed.
00:56:10
>> Mhm. that were not just looking forward to the glory but sacrificed and I think that today's kids have to
00:56:20
study that history because it will make them wake up and say I cannot be this little girly man.
00:56:29
>> Well put because >> I cannot be this guy that is staying in bed. I want to sleep in.
00:56:35
>> Oh, I want to feel good. Oh, I want to be treated kind of fairly and then and
00:56:40
and nicer and stuff. No, this is a tough world. Get up at 5:00 in the morning, 6:00 in the morning and kick some
00:56:47
serious ass. Go to work. Whatever you do, the day is 24 hours. You can do it. And this is how we make this country,
00:56:55
you know, not only great, but keep it the greatest country in the world is by not babying ourselves and not by kind of
00:57:02
like taking it easy and trying to sleep in and I want to feel better and all this kind of stuff, but to kind of do
00:57:08
the same thing as they did in the old days, work your butt off and like Ted Ted Turner always said, you know, early
00:57:15
to bed, early to rise, work like hell and advertise. This is where the action is, you know, and I I believe in that,
00:57:21
you know, but it is important to know that we got to grind it out and we cannot just always look for the
00:57:26
pleasures. But there's punishment, there's hardship, there's failure,
00:57:31
>> there is tough times that you go through, but that's all okay. We got to
00:57:36
go and have a clear vision, chase that vision, and then there will be struggles and all that stuff. The more struggles
00:57:42
we have, the tougher we will get. >> Mhm. And uh the more failures we have,
00:57:50
the more we learn and the more successful we will can get. I mean, remember what the Michael Jordan said, I
00:57:55
missed 5,000 shots. >> And I I I lost, you know, 200 some 80 games. >> Mhm.
00:58:02
>> But I became the greatest basketball player because of it. You know, what
00:58:05
I've learned. So it's it's don't be afraid of failure is one of the chapters
00:58:09
that I have in in in the book. And so I think it's it's hard work not being
00:58:15
afraid of failure to grind it out to have a clear vision not listen to the naysayers pick big pick big goals. So
00:58:22
those are the kind of rules that I talk about in the book uh because that's what
00:58:26
we need to do in order to be successful as a person and as a country. >> Yeah. And I think that, you know, it's
00:58:32
in your book, but that you you just have you in the end of the day. And sometimes
00:58:36
don't look at social media too much and get tricked out that this person did
00:58:40
nothing and is a millionaire. But what what I found a few times just being driven around the country to gigs and I
00:58:46
had first generation immigrants driving me from Russia, wherever this one Russian guy goes, I tried to open
00:58:53
business in Russia. Someone stop. I tried to hire more employees. They say stop. I come to America, I start to do
00:59:01
same thing. No one say stop. No one told me to stop. Who are you now? Almost every time. I I own the business. I just
00:59:08
like your comedy. I drive you, Mr. Ky. But so that's the idea is it's nothing.
00:59:13
I think the secret sauce of America if you put the work in consistently and are willing to fail over and over again.
00:59:19
There is some great stuff that will happen to you emotionally, mentally, and hopefully you will experience success.
00:59:26
It won't stop. >> You're absolutely right. Because no one has ever said to me, "You
00:59:32
can't." They would say, "I think this is impossible." Or there's their naysayers
00:59:36
and they say, "No one has ever done it before." But no one said, "I would not
00:59:39
allow you to do that." >> Right. >> There's no such No one.
00:59:42
>> You've already done four movies. It's your turn. Now you go back is going to
00:59:46
do to win. >> Exactly. Yeah. No such thing. So, you know, so I have to always say that none of it that I
00:59:54
accomplished would have been possible if I wouldn't have been in America. >> Mhm. Yeah.
01:00:00
>> Wow. Well, see this here? >> Yeah. >> See the hair >> hairs of my arms.
01:00:04
>> Actually, mine's here. >> Yeah. His arms monstrous forearms of
01:00:07
yours. Look at this. All pumped up. How do you do it? >> I do a lot of push-ups. I just push-ups
01:00:13
are my main thing if I can't get to the gym. But I try to, you know, I keep going.
01:00:18
>> Yeah. You know, I'm just got my fit. >> I always tell people, you occupy a room,
01:00:24
but you live here. >> So, work on this. This is where you're living. You could occupy this, but
01:00:30
>> that's right. >> You can't get away. No matter where you go, there you are.
01:00:33
>> Well, Arnold, you're total recall line. >> Total recall. >> Remember total recall when I check in on
01:00:39
the beginning, they say to me to to to sell this implant, they say, "What is
01:00:44
always the same? Wherever you go, >> you >> you there you are. >> She says, "But here we told Rico, we're
01:00:51
gonna help you with that. You can become kind of an agent, secret agent. You can
01:00:55
have this wonderful woman. You can do this. You can conquer the the blah blah." So this is the whole thing is the
01:01:00
whole line is about that. >> Do you have a favorite movie? >> Uh, no. because it's like,
01:01:07
you know, it's like I I love Twins with Danny Devito, but at the same time, I
01:01:12
love, you know, Terminator and I love, you know, Predator, True Lies. I mean, it's very hard to pick, uh, you know,
01:01:20
one. There's some movies that were fun to make, like Kindergarten Cop to work
01:01:24
with those 20 kids. That was really a lot of fun. >> Yeah. >> Um, but there's other movies that were
01:01:29
really hard to make, like True Lies. We were shooting like for six months on this movie from winter scenes and summer
01:01:36
scenes and the snow in the cold freezing cold. It was just torches and then 80 days night shooting and all that stuff.
01:01:42
But it was a fun movie to watch. >> What just for the fans that are listening at the end of Predator
01:01:49
you got rigged a log to kill or something. It's what did you say? What are you or something? I think it takes
01:01:54
its helmet off. You're ugly. I can't >> when you had the mud all over.
01:01:58
>> What ugly [ __ ] Yeah. Yeah. >> I knew it was a great line. You're just almost dead. You're just
01:02:07
covered in mud. You got this monster. You're one ugly [ __ ] >> Come kill me. Kill me. Do it. DO IT NOW.
01:02:14
Do it now. And then on the end say, "Get to the chopper." A vista baby.
01:02:22
>> I had no idea that I would be walking around. I would go to the Arnold Classic
01:02:25
to the sports festival. People screaming out, "Oh, get to the chopper." You know,
01:02:30
the all my lines there screaming out. It's just hilarious to watch that. >> I was at the Arnold Classic with you. We
01:02:35
were backstage and on the TV monitor were all the contestants out there doing their stuff.
01:02:40
>> Yeah. >> And so I just looked at the monitor. I asked you. I said, "Is there anyone
01:02:44
exceptional here?" >> Oh. >> And you just leaned back. >> Well, you know,
01:02:50
me. >> Yeah. [ __ ] Uh, well, >> David, what have you been up to? >> Oh, thank you. Finally. Um, well, kind
01:03:00
of. >> All right, we're going to take a quick break and come back with a commercial
01:03:03
now. Uh, no, I was going to say >> doing a lot. You've got a game show on
01:03:07
tomorrow. >> Say hi to everyone. There's, uh, Maria, who's always a fun ball buster to me.
01:03:11
Uh, there's Patrick who's on the boys spin-off, right? Patrick's doing great.
01:03:16
>> Christopher, uh, your daughters, I see all these people here and there. We did
01:03:21
Grown-Ups, too. Patrick was in, uh, >> and so, and Christopher works on Tyson's, uh, podcast.
01:03:26
>> Yeah, >> everyone's doing great. Um, just hi to the family and thanks for coming down
01:03:30
and it's great to talk to you about this book. >> But David is very very busy.
01:03:35
>> What's that? >> He's very Is that what you were doing? He's doing a lot of standup. He's
01:03:38
>> Oh, yeah. I'm doing stand up. I'm doing all the same, you know, movies.
01:03:41
>> No, I'm crushing it. I'll send you a couple links. >> Yeah.
01:03:44
>> Um, >> those are not handme-downs. This is >> Yeah, I know. These are right off the
01:03:48
rack. >> Hand me down from Dana. He's like my little brother. >> Let me ask you something. I mean,
01:03:58
>> sure. >> Uh I know that you're >> uh doing this podcast to interview me,
01:04:03
but I find it interesting >> how both of you stay so lean, >> right?
01:04:09
>> What what just give me a quick rundown. Uh what makes you stay so lean?
01:04:14
>> Are you disciplined with your eating or you working out? >> You know what I realized down the line?
01:04:19
Uh at a certain point it was my problem was more eating than working out more. So when I ate less or more thought it
01:04:26
out more, I would lose weight faster than working out too much. So it was cut out sugar,
01:04:32
>> try to cut out some white flour. And then overall, it is like more of a
01:04:36
lifestyle than just dieting or whatever. You really slowly have to start cutting
01:04:40
stuff out when you get older and you can't eat as badly, do as much this and
01:04:44
that. And I sleep probably eight hours. Uh Dana, what about you? >> Um I I ran track and field in high
01:04:50
school, you know, distance running and cross country. Then I You still do? >> Yeah, you still run.
01:04:54
>> Yeah, I do run and I and I hike. I do all kinds of things. I love >> the burn. You know how you say is better
01:05:00
than an orgasm, you know? I love hard cardio. Sorry, that was that was over something
01:05:08
pumping up. It's like I remember that was funny. >> When you get the burn, when you kick
01:05:12
into that, it's >> I love to work really, really hard. I I go up Griffith Park and I go I redline
01:05:18
really. And then um I started lifting weights, you know, in my 30s. And then I you and I have something in common. I
01:05:25
had a bypass that the operation wasn't done correctly, but didn't hurt me when
01:05:29
I was 42. So, and now I'm a little older than that. But that also put me on a
01:05:34
Mediterranean diet basically. And so my wife and I just got all the junk out of the house. We keep all the junk out of
01:05:42
the house. If it's not right there, I don't have it. And I weigh myself. Not
01:05:47
I'm not neurotic about it, but I just keep track. It's like a report card for
01:05:50
me. And I'm not trying to get too thin. I just try to stay around this weight
01:05:54
because it feels I feel lighter on my feet. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. It's hard.
01:05:57
>> No, I just think that it is so important that we stay >> lean >> even though I'm not lean.
01:06:06
>> Well, you look great. >> But I mean, I I'm just telling you that
01:06:08
I always today >> I got to this age now >> where I admire people much more when
01:06:14
they're lean than when they're bulked up. Yeah, >> because I think lean is where the action
01:06:18
is, >> you know, because you know, the body just uh No, but the body just is is
01:06:25
lives longer. >> Mhm. >> When you're lean, >> I I I look at my dogs,
01:06:30
>> you know, the dogs that usually the bigger dogs, they wipe out with the age
01:06:34
of 12, 13, 14. I have this little dog, >> uh, you know, Noodle, little dog like
01:06:40
this. He's like 14 and a half years old. runs around, jumps up on every bench,
01:06:44
and just still attacks all the other dogs when they're nasty. Just the teeth
01:06:48
and know has full full of energy, but it's little. >> So, he's going to live for the next, you
01:06:53
know, >> I'm like, I think it's amazing. >> No, I'm noodle. No, but I'm just Yes,
01:07:01
I'm comparing them because because it doesn't matter if you're carrying an
01:07:05
animal or if you're a human being, >> being leaner and being lighter is means
01:07:10
a longevity. Means that you're around a long time. >> Okay. Can I do 10 push-ups now and have
01:07:16
you analyze just my form? >> Just to start. I we my form. You can do it. >> Yeah. He's taking the mic with him.
01:07:23
>> Taking the mic out so I can >> Okay, let's see. Just doing 10. I'm not
01:07:27
>> David. Do you want me to hold it? >> Shake a little bit. Do >> you want me to hold your
01:07:31
>> No, I'll go down it. >> Okay. >> So, it depends where I want.
01:07:34
>> Here comes Dana. He's doing >> basically. So, I'm in the push-up
01:07:37
position. >> Looks a little girly man right now. >> Shaking. >> Two.
01:07:42
>> Three. >> Four. >> Five. Six. Seven. >> No pauses. >> Eight.
01:07:49
>> Nailing it. >> Nine. 10. Perfect. >> Perfect. >> Get the oxygen.
01:07:54
>> It was fantastic. It was very, very strict. And what was good about it was
01:07:59
that your body stayed absolutely flat, right? You did you didn't buckle in with
01:08:04
the at the waistline like a lot of people do and stuff like that. >> You got to keep your glutes on.
01:08:09
>> You just stay with like a board straight totally flat. >> That's the greatest disciplined.
01:08:13
>> Yes. >> Yeah. >> So that's what I do. And I do lat pulls.
01:08:17
I do stuff for the back. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> And um mobility is all the rage now.
01:08:22
>> I think it's it's great. >> Hip mobility. >> Yeah. >> All right. All right. Well, good job.
01:08:26
>> Anyway, good good to see you guys with the book. It's great. >> Thank you. Thank you for your help with
01:08:31
the book and all that stuff. I really appreciate that. >> The book is great.
01:08:34
>> And we will stay in touch. >> Of course. Always fun to write. >> We will work together again.
01:08:38
>> That would be great. >> Something. >> Let's do something.
01:08:40
>> Absolutely. >> Hey guys, if you're loving this podcast, which you are, be sure to click follow
01:08:50
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01:09:01
video now. >> Fly on the Walls presented by Odyssey, an executive produced by Dana Carvey and
01:09:06
David Spade, Heather Santoro, and Greg Holtzman, Mattie Sprung Kaiser, and Leah Reese Dennis of Odyssey. Our senior
01:09:14
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01:09:20
Entertainment. Special thanks to Patrick Fogerty, Evan Cox, Mora Curran, Melissa
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