Charles Barkley: Good Hypnosis
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That's 15% off at SaatchiArt.com. S-A-A-T-C-H-I-Art.com. Ever wish your favorite TV show had twice as many episodes? Everyone knows that feeling. And so does Discover. Everyone wants more of their favorites. That's why Discover doubles another favorite thing. Cash back.

That's right. Discover automatically doubles the cash back earned on your credit card at the end of your first year with Cash Back Match. Now that's a real crowd pleaser. Everyone knows how it ends. Double the cash back. See terms at discover.com slash credit card. Charles! What's up, my brother? How are you? Man, I'm doing great. Hey, what's your fucking podcast called? It's called Literally with Rob Lowe.

Hey, it's Rob. Welcome to Literally With Me. I'm so excited to have my man, Charles Barkley. I mean, just saying the name Charles Barkley is like seeing a dolphin in the wild. It just releases a good feeling in your body. Do you know what I mean? Who doesn't love Charles Barkley? And for good reason. I mean, he's hilarious.

Um, his insight, which I think you will find, um, to be pretty extraordinary, uh, is amazing. And he's so damn entertaining and he's in the basketball hall of fame, man. He's the round mound of rebound. Come on. He's the man. So, um, here we go with Charles Barkley. You got to download it, man. You got, you got to hear the one I did with magic. That was. We had magic on, uh, two weeks ago.

Me and Ernie got one called The Steam Room. No way. Yeah. And we had actually we had our best one last week. We had Dr. Fauci on. No way. Oh, yeah. He was amazing. I mean, he answered every question that any person

person like a layman would want to know without, you know, me and Ernie, we just try to have fun. We had magic on a couple of weeks ago. He was awesome. Well, I, first of all, give me, give me a Fauci headline. What do I, what do I need to know? He just talked about, you know, but there's this bullshit about different types of blood makes you, you know, it's really helpful. He taught me. So yeah, that is a true fact. Different types of blood.

makes you not immune, but like it's a lot harder chance of you getting it. That's funny. My wife was just telling me this and I was like, I don't know if I believe that. Yeah, he said it. Then I asked him because we had one of our reporters die like two weeks ago and we had like one of my high school teammates die like the week of Christmas of COVID. And I said, you

Why is it that some people just get a cold and some people are like dead? He says, I'll be honest with you, Charles, we have zero idea. I mean, he was really good as far as like he didn't give us. He just said, hey, we don't know a lot about this thing. But just just, you know, because I can say you're not going to get access to somebody that amazing and brilliant that you can just ask him anything. And he was just fabulous.

God, that's so great. Magic was great the week before that, too. He's so funny. I mean, we got, you know, because you and I and Magic were of that

People don't know like how like close isn't the right word, but like how much we all were in each other's lives because you guys were the stars of the league. And I was always around like, you know, doing all of it. I mean, I just saw this documentary on the Dream Team. Is that a documentary or is that I'm just coming to see it? You just coming to see it. It's been out for a while. It's pretty awesome, isn't it? Oh, my God. Is it good? It's.

So good. First of all, do you believe that Chuck Daly threw that first game against the college kids? First of all, I work with Grant Hill and C-Web, and they talk so much shit about it every week. They're like, you know, Dream Team only lost one game. First of all, we didn't lose the game. Chuck stopped it. After we started getting serious and got it back down to like two points, he called a game, which was really awesome on Chuck's part.

Man, he was great. He was great with his, like, suits. He looked like he was out of The Sopranos. Man, he was... Him, Pat Riley...

They wanted to be the best dressed guy in the building every single night. I mean, it was, I mean, they took great pride at it. I mean, Pac had a slick look, but Chuck, man, they used to call him Daddy Rich. That was the business gave him that nickname, Daddy Rich, because he was like, he wanted to be a pretty rich dude. It was awesome. Daddy Rich. It's such a good. And I always liked how Riley never, you know, he famous. He used to do that crouch thing.

Oh, yeah. He'd do like the famous crouch with the rolled up paper like he'd pose. Oh, like he's just off the cover of GQ. Yeah, those were the days. That Dream Team thing was, that documentary, if you guys, listeners haven't looked at it, it's just fantastic. I mean, I love the part where Coach K...

Bobby Hurley is interviewed and Bobby Hurley is like, yeah, it was amazing. We were just flowing. We couldn't be stopped. Then it cuts to Coach K goes, there are some people who believe in the Easter Bunny and who believe in Santa Claus. And now that they're older, I'm sorry to tell them the game was thrown. Yeah, it's so funny because like, first of all, these kids were like,

High school and high school seniors and freshmen. And we were just screwing around for like the first 30 minutes. And then they're like, they're up.

And then all of a sudden, they're like, yeah, we better stop this right now. Then we just started just kicking their ass, just kicking their ass. Chuck said, that's enough for today. Oh, hell no, Coach. I mean, you just have to be there. Like, all the guys went crazy. Because, like I say, in the beginning, we were just like, these guys, some of them were in high school, and most of them were freshmen, so we didn't want to kill them. And then all of a sudden, they got a big lead, and we're out there joking around. It was the first day of practice, too, Rob. Like, we hadn't even, like –

Got checked into the hotel, basically. Where was it? Was it in Portland? No, it was in San Diego. Yeah. Because I came up to Portland for one of the practices and that was... Yeah, that was the... If I remember correctly, I think that was called a Tournament of the Americas. Yes. Yeah. That was like an...

So I'll tell you this story about Michael Jordan, who's fucking nuts. So we're playing. I think it was Puerto Rico. So me and Chuck Bailey, David Robinson and Michael wouldn't play golf that morning.

So we played 18 holes and like, hey, Chuck's late. Let's get back to the hotel and get some rest. And Michael's like, no, I'm going to play another 18. And he's like, Michael, we got to – he said, don't worry about it, Coach. I'll be fine. He plays another 18. He gets to the game and we're going over the starting lineup. He's like, Patrick, you got this guy. Charles, you got this guy. Scotty, you got this guy. This guy here. No, Michael, no, no, no. I got that little fucking point guard.

And Chuck says, he's the point guard. You're the two guard. He said, no, no. That fucker said some shit about me in the newspaper. And this dude, man, guarded this guy like it was game fucking seven. No. On a playoff. I mean, after he, this A-Rod, after he had played 36 holes of golf,

I mean, Michael said, you got to... Michael looks at him like, I said I got the guy. And Chuck said, okay, you got it. And man, I'm telling you, Michael guarded this guy like it was game seven. And he was talking to him the whole time. Don't you ever fucking say anything about me again. I'm fucking Michael Jordan. Don't you ever fucking say that. I don't care what country you're from. I mean, and we're sitting there like...

This dude is crazy, man. It's awesome. People have, I mean, look, everybody knows the legend of Michael and how competitive he is. But when you, when you witness it firsthand, it's unreal. I, I was, I forget if you were on this team or not, when magic used to have the big summer game for his charity. Right. I think you were on it, but I don't play it. I played it. I played it a bunch of them. That was crazy though. Wasn't it? Oh, I, well, I coached one year. Right. And I,

And Michael was on my team with Magic. It was the first time they'd ever actually played on any team of any sort. And, you know, nobody plays defense. The score was, I'm not kidding, was like 230 to like 250. And I had done nothing except sit and have fun and watch. And I realized, wait a minute, I'm supposed to be the coach. I should do something. So I called a 20-second timeout. And it was like, you know, a minute left in the game, whatever. And Michael is seething.

seething and magic's like laughing and patting everybody and then he realized Michael's pissed and everybody kind of gets really quiet in the huddle and everybody looks at Michael like what's going on and he goes you guys want to fucking win this thing and like it never occurred to anybody to win anything

And it was like, oh, okay. And everybody got really serious and it became a game. Yeah, because, you know, like you just go to, we raised a ton of money for charity. Everybody's there to have fun. But Michael's a different dude, man. I mean, the other story during the Olympics, if you remember, and they talk about it a little bit, Tony Kukoc had signed with the Bulls. We hadn't played with the Bulls.

But he was making more money than Scottie and Michael. And so getting ready for the game, Michael and Scottie said, hey, you take him, I take him. Nobody else get to guard this fucking dude. And they talked about it in a documentary. This dude was averaging like 40 points a game and had like 10. I mean, they traumatized this dude. They took turns.

traumatizing Tony Cucco. It was unbelievable. I got to go back and watch that game. You got to go watch. They talk about it in the documentary. It's like, hey,

They took it personal because he was making more money than him, than those two guys. And they literally locked him down. It was crazy. Well, see, this is okay. I knew we were going to go down this rabbit hole. This is why the NBA for me was great. Then I look, I don't want to trash talk the NBA. It's pays your bills right now. It's all great. But dude, I don't, I'm not, I'm not feeling it. I'm like, that's the problem.

Yeah. Thank you. I mean, you know, Magic and him and Bird are great friends now, but they wasn't great friends when they played each other. No. You know, like, you know, something. And listen, I don't, I never want to say anything bad about the NBA. They pay my bills. You are 100% correct. But sports to me are about competition, going out there and say, look at this guy now. So, yeah, we're going to play today and I'm going to kick your ass or you're going to kick my ass. And we're going to shake hands after the game. Right.

But these guys out there be hugging and kissing and having fun together. I'm like, yo, man, that's not what sports are. And then I want to beat the best. I don't want to be friends with the best. I mean, bragging rights. I mean, Mattie Johnson, Labbert, they want to beat each other, have bragging rights. Me and Patrick Ewing and Carmelo wanted to be Michael, but we can have bragging rights because that's the beauty essence of sports competition. So you get to brag like I beat you.

So it's a little bit different now. They're all friendly now and it's interesting to watch for me. You know, and they unchanged the rules where you if you kiss somebody as a foul. Yeah, I mean, a little peck on the cheek, two shot. That's a flagrant penalty. So it kind of. Yeah. You know, it's so funny when we had we had magic on last week. He was talking about one of his biggest regrets.

And he said when they played the Lakers for the championship and it's that famous play with Kevin McHale, clothesline Kurt Rambis. Oh, yeah. And he says we had a better team. But after that foul, we spent the rest of the series trying to be tough and bulleted Celtics. And we end up losing the series because we didn't think about playing basketball. But the point I was trying to make was.

They didn't even toss people out the game back then. I know. Yeah. You go back and look at one thing about that. Other than that, I don't know if you've seen that Jordan documentary. Oh, it's amazing. Yeah, of course. It's amazing. But what I forgot about, I mean, even because I'm obviously in that exact same time period, how bad the Pistons beat the hell out of him. Oh, I mean, like it,

When I was looking at that document, like, damn, they tried to kill this dude. And there was no flagrant fouls. You just got two free throws. You got that one famous scene where Dennis Rodman just knocked Scottie into like the third row of the stands. And it's like just two foul shots. I mean, it's amazing that the lack of physicality in the game today. I mean, they always trying to compare us. Oh, Steph Curry is a great player.

Shev Curry's a great player, but anybody who thinks he could take those beatings that Michael Jordan took or we had hand checking. Or that Reggie Miller took going through screens. Yes. So if anybody, like I say, I don't ever want to hate on these young guys, but you have to be fair.

I love Steph Curry, but if you go back and look at some of those shots Michael took against the Pistons for three years before they beat him, they didn't beat him to the fourth year. But the beating he took those first three years, the quote unquote Jordan rules, um,

that documentary made me respect Michael even more. I knew he was the greatest, but to come through and, you know, the thing he don't do like they do today. He did like, I'm not going to play with no other guys. I'm just going to get bigger. Well, that's what I was going to say. He didn't go to when he, when he couldn't get past the Pistons for three years, he didn't go, I know I'll go play for the Pistons. Or no, he just said, I'm going to keep getting bigger and stronger. And if you notice, looking at his body, he picked up probably 20 to 30 pounds of muscles, uh,

between the early in his career, he put on at least 30 pounds of muscle. I mean, because at one point, you know, his body was the best, the goodest a body can get. Yeah. I mean, that's as good as a gay, you know, you can do, you know, him, Carl Malone, Scottie Pippen,

You know, those guys had three Colby's in that conversation also in Tiger Woods and obviously LeBron to date. I mean, these guys got the most amazing bodies you ever going to see.

Who would you least want to try to body up? By the way, nobody bodies up anybody, so you don't need to worry about it. It doesn't happen today. Yeah, that's true. But like in your prime, when you used to just murk people with your body, who today would you not want a part of? No, I don't look at it like that. You know, it'd be great to play against LeBron. Yeah, that's what I was thinking. Or Kevin Durant, even though he's a little frail little thing, but he's a great, great player. Have you ever looked at Kevin Durant's ankles?

It's fascinating to look at Kevin Durant's ankles. They're nothing. They're little toothpicks. It's amazing. You know, and the thing that was funny, they used to say, when he came into the league, he couldn't bench press 185 pounds. And they're like, I think at the, at the combine, he did it like once and couldn't get it up. And people like,

This guy, we don't know if he's going to be a great player. And one of the guys says, yeah, basketball is not that heavy, though, which was one of the great lines of all time. He's like, yeah, yeah, basketballs aren't heavy. This is not a weightlifting contest out here. I say because I know a lot of guys who are really strong can't play worth a shit. So this is not a weightlifting contest out here.

That's the other thing is I bet you the dudes today are doing way different things with their free time than you guys are doing. First of all, the internet was not – I don't mean to make you sound old because we're basically the same age. Hey, listen. It's good to get old. Hey, listen. I used to make fun of old people. Now I'm one of them. It's just not funny. Like, you're old, man. You're old. Now I'm like, uh-oh. I know. It happened.

But you imagine there was no Internet in those days. Now these guys are in their hotels with all of that up there at their fingertips. What it must be like to be on the road now. You know, it's crazy, you know, watching TV shows. I like when they come up with something. It's funny, like.

I'm trying to figure like every kid, like all our kids think there's always been an internet, Rob. That's the shit that's funny. Like everybody born at a certain age think there was an internet. I says, no, none of us have cell phones. Like every kid now got a cell phone. I think the first time I got to say I could use the cell phone. It was one of those big ass block things about this long. And you're like, and it wasn't even yours. And then there's Gordon Gecko cell phones from Wall Street where he pulls it up the size of his head.

Yeah. So, and I don't even remember. I wish the first time I got a cell phone, it was still pretty clunky if I remember correctly. Yeah. But, you know, the one thing about it though, Rob, if you got any bad habits, you know, you see, you can't have bad habits and play sports because you get a lot of free time. And, you know, no matter what your advice is, you have to really be careful because with all that free time, you know,

If you don't keep your head on straight and on a swivel, because there's always somebody coming for you. You know, anytime you got money, people coming for you.

I mean, if I hear this phrase, I got a way we can make a lot of money. I'm like, I got a lot of money. Don't be bringing me no cheap ass deals. I mean, but people bring you, people be bringing you bullshit deals all the time, man. If I had a dollar every time, hey, I got a way we can make a lot of money. I have twice as much money as I got now. And they're always shit ideas too. Because what they really mean is, hey, I don't have any money. Let me borrow some of your money and throw it at this shit idea. And then if it go bad, you lose your money.

Yeah, I don't want that shit. I said, because, you know, I tell these young guys, man, you know, 80%, 80% of professional athletes go broke. And that's really unfortunate and sad. I tell these young guys, hey, man, you got to learn the magic word. No, just tell them no.

You don't have to take care of everybody in your family. You don't have to take care of all your brothers and sisters. If you want to do something nice for them, that's fine. But let me tell you something. You don't have to take care of your whole family and everybody in the neighborhood because you're going to go broke. No matter how much money you make, you're going to go broke if you spend it like crazy or taking care of everybody you grew up with. So do you really... This is really interesting because I'd never thought of it in that way. So really what it is is...

In the sort of therapy recovery community, we would say they're being codependent. They can't say no. They want to be loved. They want to be liked. And that is fueling bad decisions. And it's not that they're making bad investment decisions. They're codependent trying to help people. Yeah. But, you know, Dr. Fields said something to me one time. We were in Vegas one time gambling.

And he always say money don't solve money problems. And I was like, I don't know what the hell that mean, but it sounds interesting. He was really nice and awesome. And we were sitting there playing blackjack. And I said, Hey doc, why do you say that money don't solve money problems? He says, you just can't throw money at people and think it's going to solve all their problems.

Listen, when people start spending more money than they got, that's a lack of discipline, a lack of pride and self-esteem. You know how much money you got. You should stay within your means. But to just give people money

it's not a good thing. It took me a long time to learn that too. I'm not just talking out of my ass. I mean, I probably gave away $3 million to family and friends that I'll never see again. And you said something very interesting. Hey, trying to get everybody to like you, that ain't going to happen. That's not going to happen. People, because the first time you tell people no, they mad. Grant Hill's mom on the second dream team,

Grand Hill mom gave me the best advice that I'd never listened to. This is true story. We're sitting in Atlanta. I was having lunch with her and Calvin and Grant. And they said, oh, well, we're only going to be here like a few days because Calvin's got to get back to work.

And at that time, Grant had just signed for $100 million. I says, Mr. Grant just signed for $100 million. He's going to take care of you and Calvin? He says, Charles, sit your ass down right here and let me talk to you. Don't you start taking care of all your family and friends. Number one, they never going to stop.

But he said, the main thing is the first time you tell them, no, they're going to hate you forever. You can give them a million dollars. If they need another 200,000, if you don't give it to them, they're going to hate you forever. And every time I see her, that's the best advice I ever got. And I did not listen. It took me probably another three or four years to realize that, man, she's right. These people are never going to stop asking me for money.

And I'm going to go broke. So it was the best advice I got. And I didn't listen. So when I got a chance to talk to these young guys, I tell them, you know, man, if you want to do something nice for your mom and dad or maybe. But don't take care of them and just put them on the payroll and just get them unlimited access to your money. Don't do that. Do they listen?

Some of them do. You got to understand something, Rob. You got the way it works is you got the good guy on his shoulder and then you got that other little guy on the shoulder saying, oh, don't listen to those old guys. They're just hating on you, man. We've been with you through this whole journey.

So it is just like that. It's somebody on the other side that says, oh man, screw Charles Barkley. He don't know what it's like to be us. We grew up together. You got to take care of us. I mean, we're your boys. We're your family. We're your friends. And it's exactly like that. You got two people on those shoulders and they're saying the exact opposite of what you're saying. Say, yo man, save your money. Put your money in the bank. Get you a good financial advisor. You know, Robert, it's like

When I first got there, Dr. J, who was great to me, him and Moses are really amazing. And I had like a bunch of cars. And Dr. J says, how many of those cars can you drive at the same time? I said, what do you mean? He said, what do you mean? He says, well, how many can you drive at the same time? I said, only one. He said, well, why do you need those other five? And he said, Charles, people know who you are. You don't have to have a bunch of different cars or flashy cars. You're fucking Charles Barkley. Everybody know you.

Don't waste your money, son. This money, because the money you make got to last you your whole life, because no matter how great you are at your sport, you're going to be retired at 30 something. And hopefully you'll live a long life after that. But that money you make when you play sports, it's got to last you your whole life. So they said, hey, take all them damn cars back.

You need one car. And I always tell these guys, hey, buy one car. If you want two, that's fine. You don't need more than two cars. You really only need one. But to have a bunch of cars is just stupid. Because he says to me something interesting I tell these young guys. It's not the fact that you can't afford all those cars, but...

All that money sitting in your garage in five, 10, 15, 20 years, it could be worth four times that much instead of just sitting in your stupid garage. Yeah. It's great economics that people don't know. They probably never grew up with hearing that kind of stuff. Well, because the guys... Listen, it's a very difficult thing because...

You wake up one day and you got millions of dollars. And first of all, you're like, okay, I'm 20 years old. I'm going to make a lot. I'm going to make this money a long time. So given 10,000, 20,000, 5,000, 3,000 to 20, 30, 20 people, it don't sound like a lot, but then it starts adding up really fucking quickly because I think one thing I always tell people is,

They ain't got no perception of what taxes is. They're like, I saw, yo, Charles, you made $6 million this year. Yeah, I don't take $6 million home, fool. I mean, that's what you're like. When they start putting anybody, yours, mine, anybody play a sport, when they start putting all these salaries in the newspaper,

That's when all hell started breaking loose for these guys. They're like, oh, my God, they know exactly how much every single person makes now. And that was a direct correlation when guys start being, man, my family is killing me. You know, Rob, I talked about this with Magic the other day. You know, people look at how much these guys make today and number one, bless them.

But I was telling the story. This is how old I am, just to be honest with you. I remember the first time Magic Johnson signed for a million dollars. We were walking around the locker room high-fiving each other. We couldn't believe an NBA player made a million dollars. I mean, you know, guys now, the average salary, I think it's like $8 million. We got guys making $30, $40 million. God bless them, I said. But like, I said, yo, man.

And I'm with Dr. J, Moses, Maurice Cheeks, and Andrew Tonin. We're high-fiving each other because we couldn't believe they were going to pay an NBA player a million dollars.

And it's crazy. It's unreal. But like you say, it's such a limited, you could blow a knee out. Who knows? I mean, I never, by the way, I never begrudge anybody any success on any level, anywhere, anyhow. Any actor, any musician, anybody, any businessman. I'm like...

I've never hated on people in that way. No. And like I say, I made more money than Dr. J, Bill Russell, Kareem. Those guys are obviously better players to me. And now these guys make more money than me. So that's all just, hey, inflation, television networks, which I'm part of now. Oh, yeah. You guys are the best show on TV. You know that. Everybody knows that. You guys are...

I mean, between you and Shaq and, um, I mean, there's so many things I love on your show. You look, by the way, I was saying, you look like you've lost weight to me. I'm trying to get there. You know, I got two new hips, so there's no reason for me to be fat and lazy anymore. Uh, I got two new hips in the last couple of years, but I've gained like 70 pounds, uh, since I retired. Well, that's a lot. It actually 82, but I didn't want to tell you that. Um, but,

But so I'm going to spend the next year and a half to two years getting myself in shape because my doctor told me, he says, Chuck,

You see a lot of fat young people, but you don't see no fat old people. So you really need to get yourself in shape. Yeah, no, it's – I think you look great in Descend Wonders for the golf swing, the crazy hitches out of the golf swing, it looks like, from what I can see, watching from afar. Hey, let me tell you something, man. Nobody has worked harder. Nobody in this world has worked harder –

on their golf game. I met a guy named Stan Utley a couple of years ago. He's one of the best teachers in the world, one of the best guys in the world. My friends call him Mr. Miyagi. I found my Mr. Miyagi and he took the time. I mean, he worked with all the pros, but he took the time to work with me. He's one of my neighbors in Scottsdale. And I had really pretty much given up thinking I was going to get better at golf. I'm not going to lie.

And he said, hey, let me spend some time with you. And I kind of was reluctant, to be honest with you, because I was like, yo, man, I've tried everything. And let me tell y'all something. Don't fall for that bullshit on no hypnosis. I got hypnotized by a dude. I just got a good fucking nap. I woke up with the same shitty swing. I was like, you know, I fell for that trick. I flew to L.A. I saw this guy do a halftime show.

He had people doing crazy shit. Rob, I'm like this guy. Yeah, I can fix your golf swing. You're going to wake up. You're going to be awesome. I woke up. I've got a good little ass nap out of it. But I woke up with the same shitty golf swing. Well, I had good hypnosis. You did? Yes. See, I think there's a thing. I know that certain people are more susceptible to it than others. I know that's sort of a fact. My mom was sick.

Like she could go to an auditorium full of people and whatever the person on stage was being told to do, that would happen to her in the audience. And I think I inherited it because the one, well, I was hypnotized a couple of times. The one time I really remember, I was a really young kid and I was getting bullied at school.

And I just moved to a new school and there was this one guy who just loved to give me trouble and like, you know, assault, try to punch me, just all this stuff. And he was huge. And so I was hypnotized to like, you know, not be scared, stand up for myself, all that stuff the next day.

The next morning, I go to school. The guy says something to me, and I broke his nose. Broke it. Did you know all bullies are punks? All you got to do is hit them one time, Rob. Listen, every bully I've ever known in my life, the one time they get their ass kicked, if somebody hit them, they'll fold like a chair.

It's I didn't know that. I didn't know that. And by the way, I didn't I didn't have the whatever in me to to do anything. The hypnosis, the hypnosis, because I went from one day being terrified hypnosis next day. Whammo. I like it. But you know what you should do to really fuck him up? Just send him notes about your fucking Rob Lodenow. And he's probably got a fucking loser life. That's what you should do.

That's like like once a month, you should send him a picture like I'm fucking Rob Lowe. How you like me now? Yeah. Yeah. Who the fuck are you now? And where are you anyway? That's amazing. Hold the thought. We'll be right back.

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Qualifying plan required. Wi-Fi were available on select U.S. airlines. Deposit and Hilton Honors membership required for 15% discount. Terms and conditions apply. All right, so I got to ask you this. Like I said, your show is genius. You and Shaq, all you guys, it's so good. Honestly, I'd almost rather watch the show than the games a lot of times. I know I'm not alone in that. But you're like rabbit hole about San Antonio. Women in San Antonio is the greatest thing ever.

And it's just a joke. Of course it's a joke. But see, some people are sensitive. Okay, so Rob, the reason our show works... By the way, I had to ask you that because my boys were like, you have to ask Charles about...

san antonio they they were the ones who made my i will because i know it's a joke it's funny so and the people of san antonio uh were awesome when i went down there they had all these girls come up who were hot and wearing charles barkley sucks t-shirts it was really fun uh you know what i just want people to laugh and watch stupid basketball that's what i want to do yeah i was you know i tell people

You know, man, we're on from eight to two in the morning. Nobody want to watch basketball from eight to two in the morning. That's I get paid to do it. I don't want to do it. So I just want people to watch our show and just laugh their ass off. And I'm hoping that basketball is good, but it's still eight to two in the morning. And like,

I can sit there and say, well, this is how you pick and roll. They're going under. They're going over. They're hedging. This is a zone. This is a 2-3 zone. This is a 1-3-1 zone. Like, yo, man, I don't want to hear that shit from 8 to 2 in the morning. I want to watch basketball and I want to laugh. And I give the people around us a lot of credit behind the scenes. They work their butt off.

They make us laugh more than we make them laugh. But, man, Ernie, Kenny, and Shaq, Ernest Ashley is the only one who works hard, to be honest with you. He has to know all the segment stuff. Oh, yeah, right. Yeah, and me, Kenny, and Ernie, me, Kenny, and Shaq just go out there and act like,

We're in a locker room with the fellas having a good time. And that's what works. Yeah, that's what works. But like I say, the key is, you know, man, nobody want to be serious from eight to two in the morning. They want to laugh and have a good time. So sometimes I think Shaq's asleep. Well, that's probably because he is. Right. I will tell you this. The one thing that concerns me about Shaq.

Shaq is the hardest working dude in the world. In the world. In the world, yeah. And he has something to do every day.

And I worry about him. Like every weekend, you know, he's a DJ on the weekend or he's shooting a commercial or he's making appearances. And I'm not even exaggerating, Rob. I'm talking about like every single week he's working. Like sometimes we're like, I got an appearance in New York. Like when we get off at two, he heads to the airport to fly somewhere. And I say, I say, yo, man, first of all, you got plenty of money.

You never. And I tell him, I said, are you trying to recapture being Shaquille O'Neal? And we're having a serious conversation. He says, what do you mean? I says, there's nothing better than being Shaquille O'Neal. There's nothing. There's nothing going to be better than being Charles Barkley. That's over with. We got lucky to be that person for that short extended period of time.

This thing you're chasing where you just going, if I work all the time and do all this other crap, I'm going to get that same type of rush. No, it doesn't work like that. Like Magic Johnson, he's a billionaire, great businessman. You know, he really taught us brothers how to be businessmen.

But I guarantee you, being Magic Johnson, the great businessman, ain't near as great as being Magic Johnson's Showtime Lakers. Because that is such, I don't need, it's just such an amazing thing when you're really good at something and everybody's watching. And that's the only thing that concerns me about Shaquille, because, man, this dude works all the time. And I don't know why.

I mean, you can, I mean, I want to play golf and fish. I ain't going to even lie. I want to play golf. If I could play golf and fish every day, I would do, I would, I would do it. 100%. Same. By the way, what, when you fit, what are you lake fish, ocean fish? Do you care? Yeah, I know. I do care. I don't like the ocean fish. I've done it. Okay. Okay. Let's talk. Okay. So,

I hear this a lot. I don't get it. Like my dad's the same. He doesn't care about ocean fishing. My son only fishes in the ocean. He's got his commercial fisher's license, the whole thing. He's an expert, expert, expert at it. And he doesn't want to go fish in the... So what... Is it just where you grew up and what you're used to? Well...

Uh, uh, that's a great point. Uh, growing up in Alabama, uh, it's nothing but lakes and ponds. So that, but I did try, I don't like being on a boat, uh, out there. I ain't gonna lie. Yeah. Yeah. Hey, that was one time I was at the Bahamas. I think I was with the globe travel. We went down there on vacation to have some fun and we were downstairs drinking, having a good time, but they're going to take us out way out the, uh,

The fish. Yeah, marlin fishing. Yeah. And so we come up and I can't see land. I was, oh, shit. Oh, shit. I can't do this, y'all. I can't. I can't. My heart started racing because I was telling myself if something go wrong, I need to be able to see land.

If something happened to that boat, I'd have started swimming. I might have been going further out in the ocean. I don't even know. Yeah, that's a problem. So I'm like, yo, man, I need to see land. I can't even enjoy myself because I can't see land.

And it was scary. Well, that will do it. That's the answer. You know, you got to be on a boat to be in the ocean. Yeah, I know that, though. But I want to be able to see land wherever I'm at, brother. I need because I know it's not. Listen, well, I'm not a stud anymore. But back in the day, I was a stud. I said, I don't care how far I am away from land. I could make it. Hey, like right now, I can't swim to lift up a swimming pool without getting tired. But back when I was 20 something, if I see land, if it was 100 miles away, I think I can make it.

Yeah, well, we got to fish. We got to fish. We got to golf. We got to do it all. I tell you what, I would love to go golfing with you, but I tell you what, just because of you, because I got a lot of love for you. And first of all, don't have your flunkies calling people either trying to get in touch with me. Tell me I have your number. Like, Lon Rosen calls me. He's like, hey, Rob wants you to do his podcast. Of course I'll do his podcast. And then TNT's like,

Hey, do you know Rob Lowe? I said, yeah, I know Rob Lowe. He's been calling. I said, we got it now. I've been talking to Rob. Dude, you can pick up the phone. I didn't have, I don't have the digits. Okay. I got the digits now. Okay. Well, listen, I tell you like the point I was make was I'll be, I would love, I'll take another chance on the ocean fishing with you. Well, I want to, I, I've took up golf, man. I, I, it's the greatest thing ever. Isn't it? Uh,

I what's so addicting when I go to sleep every single night, the last thoughts I have are about my golf swing. Hey, let me tell you something. Golf is the only thing in my life. Like I got tired of playing basketball at times.

Because you're like, man, I'm tired of this. I need a break. I can play golf every single day. I love to walk. And then, listen, we're out there. That's the closest I'm going to get to the locker room again. Right. Being out there with these three guys who are all has-beens just like myself. And we just talk shit to each other because we can't play anything anymore but golf.

And there's nothing better than talking, playing with old retired jocks. All we got is the good old days. And we are all, a couple of us are good at golf, a couple of us are mediocre, some of us are bad. But just being out there with each other, walking,

I love the difference between the East Coast and the West Coast. Like when I'm in Arizona, the courses are beautiful, but it's target golf. Yeah. But I live in Philadelphia during the summer and they got those big old trees. Oh, it's beautiful, isn't it? Oh, I love it. I love being out there just walking around.

And again, there's trees everywhere. There's no autographs. There's no pictures. There's just some cigar smoking, some trash talking. And you just get a 45 hour break and just have fun with the people you want to be with. You're speaking my language, man. Because I tell people, people are nice. But when you go to the supermarket, people want to talk to you. When you go to the dry cleaner, people want to talk to you.

You have to be on and nice all the time. I love when I can go to the golf course with my guys and like, yo, man, I can relax. I can say fuck, shit, whatever I want to. I can call them names. And nobody's around to hear it and like might report it or something. So I love being with my guys on the golf course, man. It's just nothing like it. One of my favorite times with you, Charles, I'll never forget was –

We were at the famous Lake Tahoe celebrity golf thing. You were playing in it. I was not. I was there visiting. We all got together. So this, I don't know if you remember, this is who was at the blackjack table. You, Michael, Mario Lemieux, Pete Sampras. I mean, it's like a hall of fame of hall of fame.

And you guys, but here's the best though. You guys were playing double hands, not paying any attention at all to the game because you were also playing the craps table that was right in front of you. It was epic. I could not believe what was going on. I miss Pete.

Yeah. I miss Pete. Pete was Pete was a lot more fun in person than he showed on television. Totally. He was awesome to be around. Yeah. Why don't you why don't you play in Tahoe? I'm going to. Here's the thing. I stopped playing for 25 years when I had my kids. I stopped the game. One hundred percent stopped.

And now we're old. What else are we going to fucking do? I know I got to do it. I'm back, man. I'm a 14, a legit 14. And so it's right. I think that's what you want going into a tournament. Feels like the perfect handicap. I could be really helpful.

Well, no, you play your own ball in Tahoe. It's just there's no strokes in Tahoe. It's just mono, mono. Oh, yeah. It's mono and mono. Yes. But listen, there's only three jackasses there that are trying to win a tournament. The other 60 guys are there just to have fun. Right. Because the one thing about Tahoe, number one, it's beautiful. Yeah. It's beautiful. But for some reason, it's like the only place in the world that's not hot in the middle of the summer.

It's crazy. Like, no matter where you're at in the country, it's hot as hell during the summer. Every year I've been to Tahoe, and I think I just finished my 25th year. Yeah. It's going to be 70 degrees, a little breeze, and the water's going to be perfect. That's the first thing I put on my schedule every year. Okay, I'm going to do it because here's why. I was training for the AT&T, and then I realized –

It's always going to be right in the middle of my season shooting 911 Lone Star. I can't do it this mid-February. Summer, I can do it. What are the dates on Tahoe again? It's like the third week in July.

Hey, what was the asshole on your show last year? You want to play golf with him, didn't you? Which would? What's this? What on your show? You play golf? Oh, the asshole. Yeah. Yeah. And he got hit by lightning. Yes. I was pissing me off. Yeah. He got hit by lightning. But you like my swing. I like the watching the show. Come on, man.

Come on, man. I'm going to support you. I always have. Let me tell you something. Your best work. No, I shouldn't say that because that makes it sound like you're into other work. The West Wing...

was one of the great shows that I've ever seen. Not just blowing smoke up your ass. You know, you go back and look at all the characters. You know, I'm starting to look at a bunch of old stuff during the pandemic. Like, my new love is Billions. Yeah. Holy shit. Yeah. Like, Billions is my new thing now, man. I'm like, I had... Because I'm not big on watching...

like series like that. Cause I, you know, I just don't have that, you know, people start with a binge watch. I'm like, yeah, man. I'm like, I want to think I'm a band. Just, I watch, I'll watch a lot of golf or a lot of sports, but I'm not going to be able to watch shows. Yeah. I'm saying I, and thank you. That's so sweet. I appreciate it. Yeah. I binge watching it for me is,

You know, yeah, it's hard. It's hard. My wife, Cheryl, loves it. The boys love it. But I'm like, I'm such a boring dude. It's like it's a golf channel. You know, it used to be news. Can't do that anymore. Let me tell you something. You can't watch the news. I totally agree with you. I'm such an addict on the golf channel. I can know who's swinging before they put their name up there.

That's how much, like, I'm addicted to the golf channel. But the thing that happened to me, the reason I lost my swing in the first place, I was taking lessons from every single Tom, Dick, and Harry. Yeah.

And so I started watching the Golf Channel, trying to get better. So now it's like, man, it's just fun watching golf. It's beautiful somewhere. But then, like I say, I finally found the right teacher. But, man, I can watch. And everybody knows Sergio and Tiger and Justin Thomas and Dustin Johnson. I know guys.

Like rank 100 in the world. I'm like, oh, that's what's his name? Swing right there. Yeah, I know. Right. Yeah. The tiger is one guy I've never met. I've never met tiger. I'm dying to meet tiger. He's the goat. He's the goat of goats. I hear such such he's like he's like Michael in that his career speaks for itself. But the stories that you hear about what a gnarly badass he is are unbelievable. Yeah.

You know, me and Tiger used to be really close. And then when the stuff happened, he disappeared. And I do agree with you. He's the GOAT. I just hope he's happy and at peace with himself. Yeah. You know, the one thing that I try to always instill in him is, you know, man, everybody's not going to like you. The notion that everybody's going to like you, that's stupid and absurd. Right.

People don't, especially if you're successful,

And now it's gotten worse because of the internet. Like every person who lives with their parents and in their basement and all day in the pajamas, just think they have the right to be an asshole and comment on every person's because they too busy not doing stuff themselves. But this dude, he, he, he was, I played, I probably played golf with Tiger probably 10 to 20 times. And it was amazing every single time. Cause I,

You know, Robert, some guys hit the ball. You'll be standing on the tee and you're like, what was that? Like Tiger hit the ball. Man, that sure sounds different than when other guys hit it. Like, wow. So I just hope he's at peace with himself. But I tell all these guys, yo, man, don't ever confuse with you making people money that they like you. This is a business arrangement.

They're paying you all that money so they can make more money, but never confuse it with they like you. This is a business deal. That's why you have to really make a conscious effort to get rid of the people around you who don't have your best interest. You have to really surround yourself with good people because this thing ain't easy either. I tell people, hey,

this shit ain't easy at all. You ask anybody who's in that limelight, it looks like it's all roses. Hell no. I think we got, I think you and I got it, got it at the right. I mean, obviously I'm still, we're both still in it, but like, I think I would say, okay, I was thinking about this the other day. If you could go, if you could pick one year and go back in time,

And just have fun and not give a crap and just run amok and be in, do you let your id out and at party? Like, I think it would be a year that I lived through. I think it would be like probably 1984 or 85. And I, I don't want to go back to the 17th century. I don't want to go back to 1968 in the summer. Hey, I got it. We got, we did it, bro. Hey, I'll take them fucking all for the last 30 years.

You know, OK, that's true, too. No, no. I'm going to tell you something. I'm I've had an awful, awesome life. I, you know, I'm a fat kid from Alabama who grew up to be Charles Barkley. I'll be 58 years old tomorrow. Oh, well, congrats, man. Happy birthday. Thank you, brother. I can't believe my life. Two of my brothers have passed away at a younger age. My mother and grandmother got I got one brother left.

I've exceeded all my expectations and I'm not trying to be all humble or whatever. I'm the luckiest fucking dude in the world. I got to dribble a stupid basketball. I've been everywhere in the world almost. And now I get paid to talk about it. So I ain't got no point. My heart is breaking now for this COVID situation.

I told you, I lost one of our guys on TV like last two weeks ago, and he was like 45 years old.

And then I lost one of my high school teammates the week before Christmas. So my real heart breaks for everybody out here affected by the COVID situation. But really breaks my heart also is all the people who lost their jobs, lost their businesses that they're never going to get back. Yeah. And so...

I ain't got no complaints, man. I really don't. I've been so lucky and blessed. And I know you in the exact same situation, man, because I tell people all the time, are you serious? Even if I was a cocky son of a bitch in the world, when I was living in those projects in Leeds, Alabama, a town of a couple thousand people,

if somebody told me my life 40 years 50 years later was going to be like all the stuff I've done I'll be like yeah man you need to stop smoking that stuff yeah I mean for sure I'm like come on man are you serious I'm gonna do this and this and this and this

Like, it's crazy. And like I say, I'm not trying to, I really think, man, I'm so lucky and blessed that, like I say, if I die tomorrow, I just need five minutes to say, big fella, thank you. This is amazing what I, I've been here 58 years and I did some amazing things in my life. I remember I got a picture on my wall of me and President Obama.

We're standing there. He said, I was there interviewing for something. And he says, Chuck, you ever been in the Oval Office? I said, oh, yeah, I go there all the time. And he starts laughing. I said, dude, nobody goes in the Oval Office. And he took me in the Oval Office. And I don't even know they taking a picture. And they take a picture of me and him standing in the Oval Office. And I get it in the mail like a month later. And I'm like, what the hell is this?

And I called, called and he says, I sent you that. And I said, and he put it, I guess they put it out. And my friends were calling me like, yo man, this is like the coolest thing ever happened in my life. And I'm like, what are you talking about? I said, we live in a town of a couple thousand people. You're standing in the White House, in the Oval Office with President Obama. And you are our friend. And I was like, wow.

That's pretty special. Yeah. I mean, it's one of my most prized possessions. I mean, how many people get to stand in the Oval Office? That's amazing. It's amazing. And like I say, my friends are like, wow, man, this is amazing. We're so happy for you and proud of you. But I was like, so, man, I really like I say, and I look at your life. I mean, you've had an amazing career.

Thanks. Thanks. The longevity, the way you have reinvented yourself. So let me ask you this question on your show. How much medical shit did you have to learn? Oh, God. Well, you know, Charles, I can fake do a lot of things. I can fake. I can be a fake doctor. Like, man, dude, if something were to happen, a medical emergency, I could almost help. I could really almost do it.

I can fake shoot a gun. Great. I can fit all the stuff as an actor. You learn over the years. I could fake fighting. Here's the real problem. I've done nothing but other than the time I went into hypnosis and punched a guy in the nose.

The only fighting I've ever done has been on screen where you're trained to miss a guy by six inches. So like if I were to get in a fight, I'd be like swinging and missing everybody on purpose. So everything I've ever learned to do on screen is all such fake bullshit. But that said, I have my knowledge is what's that old saying? It's it's it's a mile wide, but it's only an inch deep. Yeah, because, you know, I always wonder.

I mean, obviously, when you're doing a medical show, because one of my favorite shows is The Good Doctor. Yeah. I love that show. I love The Good Doctor. He's on my bucket list of people I want to meet. Good actor, that guy. Yeah, he's unbelievable. Yeah. You know...

Him and Idris Elba, they're on my bucket list of people I want to meet. I met him. He's a great dude. He's so impressive. Yeah, he's a great guy. That's the one thing about it. See, one really cool thing, like, I remember the first time I met you. I'm like, no, and I'm not just saying that. Like, when you meet somebody who you've seen and they're like, it's pretty cool.

I mean, and I mean that sincerely. Like, the first time I met you, I'm like, damn, this is cool. That's like the first time we were playing the Lakers. I was like, yo, man, that's Jack Nicholson over there sitting beside a bench. And then I remember telling my friend the first time Jack Nicholson said my name, it's like I called all my friends. Hey, man, Jack Nicholson. Hey, Charles Barkley. It's one of those things. That's Jack Nicholson knows who I am, y'all. And then Denzel would say hello to you.

And that was the crazy thing about playing in LA. You saw all the stars sitting there. And then like your first, it take you like a little minute to get used to that. There's Jack Nichols sitting right beside the bench. You have a man from Hill Street Blues. There's Denzel Washington. There's Diane Cannon. There's Penny Marshall. There's the bestest Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger. And you're sitting there and like, I'm a 20-something year old kid.

And all these guys who I'm watching in movies, because movies are my thing. I go to the movies. I really miss the movies right now because I used to go to the movies. Oh, man, it sucks. It sucks not going to movies. But I'm a big movie buff, and it just really sucks not being able to go to the movies right now. But when you played the Lakers at the Forum –

That was our home field advantage. Oh, it was crazy. They talk about the sixth man in sports or whatever. Ours was like the Screen Actors Guild showing up. That's exactly right. We wave our Oscars at you. Yeah. And we'll be right back after this.

All set for your flight? Yep. I've got everything I need. Eye mask, neck pillow, T-Mobile, headphones. Wait, T-Mobile? You bet. Free in-flight Wi-Fi. 15% off all Hilton brands. I never go anywhere without T-Mobile. Same goes for my water bottle, chewing gum, nail clippers. Okay, I'm going to leave you to it. Find out how you can experience travel better at T-Mobile.com slash travel.

Hey, you know what I just found out? I didn't know Marlon Brando was from Omaha, Nebraska. Yeah, yeah, for sure. You know, you think he's like a big New Yorker or something. Yeah, he's... So when I watch movies and when I want to learn something about somebody, I always go to the cast information. And I was watching, for some reason, I've watched The Godfather 1 and 2, like,

Three times in the last month. Of course. As you should. As you should. Yes. And I said, I wonder where Marlon Brando's from. And he said, Nebraska. I'm like, are you shitting me? And it's just amazing. People who got talent, they're everywhere. You know, Charles, when I left Nebraska, I never wanted to come back. Worst Marlon Brando ever done. So, you know, your longevity and my longevity are pretty good, man.

I mean, I know I've been in this since 1984 and you're in the Hall of Fame. I got to get there should be an acting Hall of Fame. It's a bummer that I actually wanted to start an acting Hall of Fame. We have awards, but we don't have a Hall of Fame. You can have a Hall of Fame. But it would be probably two minute people like in the Basketball Hall of Fame. There's a little over 200 people. But there's way more than 200 actors and actresses who would be in there.

That's true. I mean, cause there's, I mean, it's just so many people who are talented. But how great would it be? Like, cause I love when major league baseball has the list and they go, you know, Enos Cabell, he's been on this list now for eight years and he's, he's going to be done or whatever. Do you know what I'm saying? It would be hilarious. It'd be like, well, Brad Pitt's definitely getting in, but you know, or whatever it'd be like unbelievable. Yeah. It's, it's a, I think people who can act,

I think it's like somebody who can sing.

uh, if you can sing, like people think they can sing, but they really can't. That's why they do karaoke, which I do. I mean, if you can fucking sing, you get paid to do it. If you do karaoke, you just like to drink and sing. Uh, so, uh, I love to, I love karaoke. Uh, cause I love to drink. What's your karaoke song. What's your throw down. Okay. Everybody has their throw down. What is yours? Oh, uh, Frank Sinatra, my way. Okay. Makes sense. Cause I actually love the words, uh,

Because I've taken a few hits, but you just keep getting up, man. Like I say, I remember my first hit, Rob. So my junior and senior year in high school, my junior year, we were really pretty good, and we made it to the state tournament, and we lost to a better team. My senior year, we were like the team. I wanted to win a state championship, but my high school was like my only goal in life at that time. And we were undefeated, and we got upset.

I was so shocked and disappointed. I kind of quit school for like a week or 10 days and I flunked Spanish. And I went back, but I couldn't catch up in Spanish. So I didn't graduate. And I remember that night. It was the worst night of my life, probably, to be honest with you.

So in my high school, I stood next door at the baseball stadium on the top and watched all my craftsmates graduate. And I sit there and cry for two hours. It was brutal. And when I was sitting there for two hours, just crying and nobody in the world knew I was there either. And that broke my heart, not to march. And I remember saying to myself, Charles, it's time for you to grow up and don't be at the mercy of

of the rest of the world. You did this shit to yourself. And for five years, I was mad. No, longer than that. Six years, I was mad at my dad because he came from California to see me graduate and just read me the right act. And I was already down and he just crushed me. I was mad at this lady named Miss Gomez who flunked me in Spanish. And I was mad at every kid who made fun of me, calling me a dummy that I didn't graduate.

And I used to play basketball and I was such a dick. I was angry. Every time I went up and down the court, I said, I'm going to stick it to my dad, every asshole who made fun of me and Mrs. Gomez. And I was not a good dude for a long time, Rob. And then one night, I remember I spit and it got on a little girl and I got suspended.

And I remember sitting in my hotel room crying. And I was telling myself, man, you are such a fucking loser. And I was saying, why did you flunk Spanish? You, not Mrs. Gomez. And she says, why do you let your dad upset you that much? And what about those other losers? You don't kick somebody when they're down. You don't call kids dumb and things like that.

And I remember just sitting there crying and I said, OK, all this shit gone tonight, all this shit gone tonight. And I think it was my second year, maybe third year in the NBA. And from that point on, I said, I'm going to play basketball just because I'm great at it. And it really changed my life, man, because I was in a really dark place. I wasn't playing basketball to have fun. I was just playing basketball to stick it to those three people, a bunch of people.

And I had to get like, as a person, you got to want to be successful for yourself. You don't want to be successful to stick it to other people. You want to make your family proud. You want to make your kid proud. But the most important thing, you got to want to do good for yourself.

But that was a really turning point for me. And I needed that because, man, I was playing basketball with the worst attitude. I was like, no, no, no, Miss Gomez, this is for you. Every time I grab a rebound, I want you to see me on TV kicking ass. But then I was like, no, man, it wasn't Miss Gomez fault that you flunked Spanish. It was your fault. He said, you and your dad got to bury the hatchet and you got to get over that. And I said, hey,

Kids do stupid things in high school. When they were calling you dummy, when they were graduating and you didn't, kids say stupid things. But you got to look yourself in the mirror and says, no, you know what? It's on me. And so that was a really big life lesson for me. And that's why people love you is because you're so honest and transparent about your growth and your journey and everything.

you're, you know, this amazing fact that you can be, you know, Hall of Fame basketball player, but have this amazing humility. It's let's, let's, it's not just, you guys are fucking funny every night on the damn show, which you are. It's, it's all, it's all this other stuff, man. Yeah. But, but Rob, I tell people though, yo, man,

He's just a stupid basketball player. And I mean that sincerely. I says, hey, we're not teachers. We're not firemen. We're not policemen. We're not somebody in the armed service. And now we're not these frontline workers. I'm like, yo, man, you dribble a basketball. And if you start thinking like, yeah, I'm the greatest thing. Like, no, you're a really good basketball player. That's it. There's some people out here who are really important and significant. And once I learned that,

Because I tell people, man, hey, teach your fireman, policeman, people in the armed service. Those are heroes. Guys who run for a thousand yards, dunk a basketball. And first of all, we got some amazing guys out there who can do that stuff, too. I mean, I just saw the greatest football player, maybe the greatest athlete ever, Tom Brady, win his seventh Super Bowl. Yep. And he's the GOAT.

He is the guy. Yeah, he is the guy. But it's just football. Hey, it's just football. Yeah. When these people out here, these frontline workers are finally getting their due, those are heroes, man. I couldn't imagine...

The shit they do. No, can't. What they see, what they put up with, what they expose that literally expose themselves to. Oh, it's unbelievable. Yeah. I mean, it's unbelievable. So we're living in a time of real of real heroes. We're living in a time where the real heroes aren't wearing capes and masks. And, you know, they're they're out there every day doing it with no record, very little recognition. And the only thing that can screw it up is Republicans and Democrats. These fucking idiots are screwing up our country.

And I said that because they're both full of shit. And we got to start holding our politicians accountable. They are awful. This notion that you have to have a majority on every subject has got to be the stupidest, dumbest thing I've ever heard in my life.

You tell me you got to get 100 people together. It's got to be 51 and 49 on every subject. Come on, man. We got to start holding these politicians, Democrats and Republicans accountable. I want you to run. When are you going to run? You always talked about it. Yeah, I did. But I realized that, number one, they don't make any money. Yeah. And number two, they work all the time. Yeah. So if you think.

Two things don't go together. Little money and working all the time. Those things don't go together. I know. I get it. But boy, I would I would be your I bring out my West Wing character, Sam Seaborn, and I would be your speechwriter, your your whatever you needed me to be. I tell you what, man, you ever do it. If you ever do it, I'm just saying I'm there. I taught I've taught with the idea of being the governor of Alabama for the last four elections. Yep.

And I could have ran as a Democrat or a Republican. Yep, you could. But the more I have studied the system, the system is so broken. They don't care about these people. They don't care about these people. And listen, I can do more. I can give more to my charity work. So one of the things that I've been trying to do for the last X amount of years, I've been trying to give a million dollars a year away for my charity.

So I did my high school first. Then I did my college. Then I did. I'm doing Wounded Warriors. Yeah, I work with that. They're great. So then I gave black women in Alabama a million dollars to do IT startups. Wow, that's cool. I'm giving young black men an opportunity to learn to be carpenters, electricians and plumbers. And then I just did five historically black colleges the last few years.

So that's my goal at this stage in my life is to give a million dollars a year away to charity. So that's the reason. But I'm only working a couple more years, Rob. I ain't lying. Listen, I tell people anybody working past 60 needed a better job. I'm not going to work to the day I die. I'm going to work two more years till I'm 60. Then they can kiss my ass and find me on a golf course or at a fishing pond somewhere near you. I'm not working past 60. I love that. I,

I wish I could say the same. I just know I'm just going to keep working. But if I could just fish and golf with you, then I would retire. Hey, count me in. Because you have to ask yourself, you have to be realistic. How many more good years...

Do you have in you? Right. Like the notion that you're going to be 75 and all your shit going to still be working and you can start enjoying life. Like, yeah, nice try. I mean, you are clearly you're closer to the end than the beginning. So I think 60 is a nice round number. And hey, give me five to seven or 10 years to travel the world, play golf a lot, fish a lot.

right off into the sunset. No, you do want to, you do want to call it while you can go on the golf course and still hit a driver, a respectable distance. Yeah. I'm not at the stage where I'm playing old man golf yet. Why hit it down, down, down the middle, like two 20, every fairway. And you hit those hybrids into par fours. Yeah. We can't, we can't go there. It's too humiliating. No, that's way too humiliating. Like,

Like all my old football friends, you know, I played football for one day and I realized they were fucking nuts. I'm like, they can barely walk and they got all beat up bodies. They hit it right down the middle about 230. They hit every fairway. They got a bag full of woods. They got the three wood, the four wood, the five wood, the seven wood. And we have a great time out there though. Well, when you come to Santa Barbara next, it was great when Michael used to do his camp.

out here. That was the best. Cause the, it was, it was great. Wasn't it? Yeah. It was the best. But so when this is all over now, we have, you have my number. I have your number. I would love to, I'll take you to my club. Vice versa. It's been too, too, too long. Um,

And give Shaq a big hug for me when you see him too. I haven't seen my big brother in a long time. It's been a long time. Number one, you know, I got a lot of love and respect for you, man. I'm really proud of the success you had. I told you the first time I met you,

And I only said this about two men, too. I said, you and Tom Brady, y'all pretty men. I joke around all the time. Every time I see Tom, I say, Tom, you're a pretty man. And every time I see one of your commercials now, I say, oh, that Rob Lowe, he's a pretty man. So, man, thanks for having me on. If you ever need me again.

anytime. And I would love to play golf. And listen, I told you, I'll try to fishing with you out on the ocean again. And listen, I can do lakes with the best of them. I'll do some bass fishing, do some redfish fishing, go to Louisiana and do some shit. Last time I did Jimmy Kimmel,

We started talking about fishing and he says, you know, I just bought a place in Idaho. I want you to come visit me during the summer. And I told Jimmy, hey, don't be inviting black people places because they're coming. Black people ain't gonna never turn down no invitation to go somewhere. So Jimmy gonna be like, Chris,

First of all, I'm probably going to be the only black person in Idaho. I'm going to show up. I'm going to say, hey, where does Jimmy Kimmel live? He don't even have to give me the address. Everybody's going to know where Jimmy Kimmel lives. That's great. Well, you can crash my house anytime you want. Anytime. This is great. I love you, man. This is so fun. I appreciate it, my brother. And let me know. I'll come do you and Kenny. That'll be fun. I'll get in the steam room. I look forward to it, my brother. You take care of yourself. Hey, everybody.

Y'all got everything you need? We're so good. Okay, brother. All right, Chuck. Love you, man. Love you too, brother. Be safe. All right. Wow. That was, what a guy. I mean, right? I mean, if you could pick anybody to play golf with or fish with or hang with or have a beer with, I don't think anybody would top Charles. I mean, right? And after hearing that interview, I know you agree with me. That was pretty special. Okay. Before I sign off today, we're going to try a little something new, some fun over here. Literally.

It's called the low down line. Hello, you've reached literally in our low down line where you can get the low down on all things about me, Rob Lowe. 323-570-4551. So have at it. Here's the beep.

Hi, Rob. Jeff calling from Northern Virginia. Thanks for a fantastic podcast. You really provide a service. Question for you, a book recommendation. You recommended David Niven's The Moon's a Balloon. I've never heard of it. Bought the book from Amazon UK and enjoyed literally every single page. Just an unbelievable book.

work of art from his childhood to Hollywood in the 30s, World War II, and all the interesting stuff afterwards and a neat family story. You've recommended other fantastic books. Would really like to know...

what else you recommend or can you come out with a list on your show of, of route low must reads or your top 20? Um, I really look forward to that. Um, and again, just, uh, I cannot tell you what an experience I had with, with the moons of balloon. Thank you so much for everything. Well, Jeff from Northern Virginia, by the way, I love North that you're from Northern Virginia. It's like you're in a civil war battalion. I love that.

Thank you. I'm glad you liked Moons a Balloon. It was my inspiration for writing my two books. So the Northern Virginia Civil War thing made me think of one of my favorite books, which is called The Killer Angels. And it is a book, I believe it won the Pulitzer Prize. And it is sort of the definitive account of the Battle of Gettysburg.

And you don't have to be a historian or a Civil War buff to read it, nor should you be. It's just the most beautifully written, emotional, very short books I've ever read. So that's The Killer Angels. Another one I am loving is, I believe it's called Under the Comanche Moon. And I just heard that Paul Thomas Anderson...

One of my favorite directors has been secretly working on the movie adaptation of Under the Comanche Moon. So that is going to be one of the great movies of all time. And there you have it. Thanks. I love that. I need to do like an Oprah's book, like recommendation thing. Oprah, I'm coming for you. This is just the first version of it. Look out. There's more to come. So I'll see you all next week. And thanks for listening to Literally. You have been listening to Literally with Rob Lowe.

produced and engineered by me, Devin Tory Bryant. Executive produced by Rob Lowe for Lowe Profile. Adam Sachs and Jeff Ross at Team Coco. And Colin Anderson and Chris Bannon at Stitcher. The supervising producer is Aaron Blairt. Talent producer, Jennifer Sampas. Please rate and review this show on Apple Podcasts. And remember to subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. ♪

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