-Our first guest tonight is an Emmy and Grammy
nominated TV and record producer,
you know, from shows such as "The X Factor,"
"American Idol," and "America's Got Talent."
His new show, "America's Got Talent Extreme,"
airs Mondays at 8:00 right here on NBC.
Let's take a look.
-[Bleep]
-Oh, God!
-♪ Tricky, tricky, tricky ♪
[ Audience screams ]
-Oh, no too far, man!
[ Music climbs ]
-♪ It's like that job that we don't quit ♪
-With a drift. That drift was for you, Travis.
-Please welcome to the show, Simon Cowell. Hello, Simon.
[ Cheers and applause ] -Hello, Seth.
-Simon, I'm just going to start by saying this.
That might be the best clip we've ever shown to introduce
a guest in the history of this show.
-Thank you. I mean, that was that was a wild show.
-Yeah.
This is a I do want to start by asking how you're doing.
You have a broken arm
and I I believe you broke this bike riding.
Is that correct?
-It's not as bad as your hand. -Yeah, no, exactly.
I mean, that thing still shows
and I think it's not coming off the makeup.
But you broke your back bike riding in 2020, as well.
Now are you? Are you bad at biking?
[ Laughter ]
-Well, yes, actually.
I mean, yeah,
for that to happen, what was it within like a year?
Yeah, it wasn't great.
The irony was, is that part of my kind of like physio
was to cycle, so it didn't quite work out.
So this is going to be on for about a month or so
and there are literally will be back on my bike again.
-Well, that's I mean, this speaks to
your commitment to cycling.
There's nothing, it seems at this point,
there's nothing that will keep you off your bike.
-No. -Yeah.
-I do love it, I'm just not very good at it, like you said.
-Now this show your fellow judges -- you have a WWE star,
you have a motocross professional, and yourself --
Is it weird that you're the one in a cast?
[ Laughter ]
-I'm not the only one, actually, Travis,
who's, you know, like you said, one of the other judges,
a week before me was jumping off a building or something.
The parachute didn't open so he broke his pelvis.
Then a few days later, I broke my arm.
So I sent him a note saying,
"We're both in is like, you know, we've got broken bones.
You've just got the better story."
-Yeah, yeah, definitely on set.
You want to make sure you tell yours first.
You don't want to, you don't want to follow
the parachute didn't open story.
-But there is a kind of an irony on this show
that two out of the three judges, like you said,
are watching the show with broken bones right now.
-Do you ever, do you -- when you watch these extreme stunts
and meet these extreme sport athletes,
do you ever feel the pull to try what they like to do?
-A million percent.
There was one guy who --
Yeah, he was on episode one, shot himself out of a cannon
and he went about 100 feet in the air
through this flaming ring.
And I was thinking if I hadn't broken my back,
I think I would have done that one.
-Well, then I can't believe I'm saying this.
Breaking your back might have been the best thing
that ever happened to you. -Exactly.
there's always a silver lining.
-Now, you know, I'm wondering as you sort of branch out,
certainly into "America's Got Talent" as a world.
You know, I would imagine for a long time people
thought you could only judge singing.
And then now you judge everything.
Do people on the streets ever ask you to judge a talent?
-Yes, Seth. -They do?
-I get it. Yeah.
And sometimes very uncomfortable situations.
I mean.
The most famous, I think, being -- this is a true story --
A couple came up to me in a restaurant
and said we'll pay you X amount of dollars
to watch them having sex and will I judge it?
And I said, "Well, how much?" And stupidly said no.
If you're watching. I'll do it.
[ Laughter ]
-Simon, I got a look, you can say no.
What was it? Well, it's X amount of dollars.
What's the number they throw out?
-I think from memory, I mean -- I think it was about 150 grand.
-Wow! That's a weird number. -Yeah.
I mean, I don't know how they calculated it.
-Yeah.
I wonder if they were like, "Should we do $100,000?"
"That's not enough." "$200,000?" "Don't be crazy."
[ Laughter ] He's not all that.
-I mean, you can, but I would have offered a discount.
But like I said, if you're watching, I'm available.
-Yeah, they're like, it's 150 grand.
It won't take long at all. -[ Laughs ]
-You have, you obviously discovered some huge stars
over the course of your career doing what you've done.
Yet there have been a lot of people who have won competitions
who have not had as long careers outside the bodies of the show.
Do you feel like you have a pretty good eye
when a season of one of your shows is over of knowing
who actually has the talent for a career beyond it?
-100 percent. Yeah.
I mean, we always use this expression Seth, which is,
you know, forget about the show, it's like a bubble.
Outside the show is the real world.
And we try as much as we can, as long as they're on the show,
to kind of prepare them for the real world,
because that's where the real competition begins.
So whether it's "Got Talent," you know,
try to get a residency in Vegas, the singing shows,
I mean, all of the artists you've got to compete against.
So I think it's great training.
But like with anything, there's no guarantees.
But luckily, over the years, you know, we were just lucky.
We met some amazing people over the years.
Normally you can tell, sometimes in the very first audition,
this person's going to have a massive career.
You can just tell, like Carrie Underwood,
I remember her first audition.
It was, we weren't having a great day
and she came in and I'm like,
"Wow, there's something about this girl."
And you know, she's gone on to do great.
And so, you know, we've had some great moments.
We've had some not so great moments.
-Well, you've got you've had a lot of moments.
I think it's hard to have all, be one or the other.
I would imagine there's a some sense of pride
when you see those people having these careers.
I'm also wondering what it's like you've produced
so much music over the course of your career.
Do you still, does it give you a reaction?
Does give you chills or goose bumps
when you hear your music out in the world?
-Yeah. Yeah, and it's very interesting, Seth,
because our son, Eric,
who's now eight, and I'm not making this up,
his favorite artist is One Direction.
So he's playing these songs now at eight.
And he's like, "Oh, Daddy you know there's this artist
called One Direction. What do you think about?
I'm like, "Yeah, they're amazing."
So it's kind of gone full circle, but I love it.
-Have you tried to jump in and sort of explain
your history with One Direction, are you...?
Because I would worry, having kids myself,
that if I told them I'm a part of something,
they would immediately not think it was cool anymore.
-You are 100 percent right.
You've literally got to say nothing.
-Yeah. -"Daddy, knew them."
And that's about as far as I've gone right now.
And as he gets a bit older I'll tell him the story.
But it, it, it it's yeah, I mean, you do.
I do get a personal buzz, particularly with him,
when I hear him playing a record.
And I think "Yeah, Daddy that had the artist signed"
or made the record, whatever. Yeah, it's cool.
-I very -- always fascinated by early jobs in showbiz.
You're -- Is it true that your first job
was working on the set of "The Shining"?
-Well, it was interesting because when I was about 17,
I was a runner on a. on a film set
and that is like the the bottom job,
you know, when you're working on a TV show, movie, etc., etc.
So I was a runner
and then I applied to be a runner on "The Shining."
For some reason, don't ask me why, Stanley Kubrick
would not hire runners. I have no idea why.
I mean, it was like $20 a week or something,
so I got turned down.
And then it happened that Stanley Kubrick
had bought my parents house,
and my dad bumped into him a few months later and said,
Why didn't you give Simon a job as a runner?
He went, "Oh, I didn't know it was Simon."
So he did offer me the job back.
But by that point I had got a job in the mailroom,
at EMI in music.
So I kind of went from possibly being
in the film business into music.
So it was like a, like a sliding doors moment, almost.
-So he actually did you a great favor, it turns out.
-Huge favor, yeah, thanks.
-I mean, that, your broken back, a lot's gone right for you.
-Silver lining.
-So you mentioned your 8-year-old
and my last question for you is,
have -- has he, has your school,
have they ever reached out and said,
"Simon, we're doing a talent show.
-Yes. -We would love to have you.
Has this moment happened?
-Just so happens I'm normally out of the country.
[ Laughter ]
-You would, you would soften it up for the eight year olds,
wouldn't you? -I would.
But, Seth, imagine if he's one of the people,
I've got to judge, I mean, it would be horrendous.
I am really, really pushing him to stay my side of the desk.
So he literally is in training right now.
-Yeah. And I think that's good.
And you're not that good a liar, Simon.
So I think you should try to -- -Thank you.
-I think it's a good quality.
By the way, when people aren't good liars.
It's nice to be able to know how they're feeling.
Hey, thank you so much for making the time for us tonight.
We really appreciate it. -Seth it's been a real pleasure.
-Thanks for having me on. -Simon Cowell, everybody.
"America's Got Talent Extreme" airs Mondays at 8:00 on NBC.