Well, well, well.
Well.
You know, when they said I could guest host this show,
then they said, who's your dream guest?
Don't say, like it doesn't have to be realistic,
just say one dream guest, and then make a realistic list.
And I said Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
[cheering]
Let's pretend this is like a therapy session.
I'm your therapist.
All right.
Now, of course, as everyone knows, LeBron James just broke
one of your records, and you were
so gracious and there and everything,
but how did it make you feel?
[laughs]
I have to say, I'm pretty glad that my role in it
was finished.
You know.
But LeBron worked real hard for it.
He deserves it.
He has spent his adult life as a premier athlete
and done an exceptional job at it.
And his heart is in the right place.
I don't know that you may or may
not know how he's sent a whole school district to college.
[cheering]
Yeah.
Yeah, a mensch.
There's a whole lot he could be doing with that tuition
money, you know.
Yeah.
He could be on his own island.
But that's where his heart is.
So I got a lot of respect for him.
I wish him well.
Yeah, you were so gracious and with such
a very zen absence of ego.
And I heard you say on Jimmy Fallon,
like, you were like, oh, it's like a burden's been lifted.
You know, like it's done with that, I'm done with that.
And it was just, I thought that was
very interesting and so cool.
And it's interesting how great, the greats.
You know, you're real tall, you're gifted at basketball.
But what people don't realize is,
the work that's put into it.
That you were the kid who had the keys to the gym
after everyone went home and worked on that skyhook.
That's right.
And, you know?
It really is about getting that 10,000 hours
and being dedicated, and I think that's something
that kids don't necessarily put together
when they see just a star or someone who's the GOAT.
It's pretty, I know that's not a question.
I also want to point out, by the way,
I'm very happy for LeBron, but I
will say that your points were scored two at a time mostly.
[applause]
Well, than you.
A lot of people don't put that together, but.
Yeah.
Thank you.
OK, let me ask you this.
I don't even know how to ask it,
but my best friend, tall John, he's,
it's an unironic nickname, he's tall.
And he's 6'10".
And I remember, he's very shy, he's not a performer.
And I remember he told me, I know what it's like to be
famous because when I walk into a room, people are like,
look at that guy!
Look how tall that guy is.
As an eighth grader who is 7 feet tall,
I bet you can relate to what it is
to be famous in the way of it being very self-conscious,
very kind of, and you know, I remember seeing that like you
were 14, you were an eighth grader playing
with the seniors because you were so tall
and it was one time you cried, and that
was what made you put on this game face,
this kind of stoicism.
And in a way, that's kind of a survival skill.
Do you think that's part of being this kid that was
so tall at such a young age?
I think at that time, that's how I coped.
Because I didn't know how to cope, you know.
And I remember, I was that age, 14,
and I went to Madison Square Garden to see a game.
And the guy asked me for my autograph.
I said, you don't know who I am.
Oh, I know who you are.
No, you don't know who I am.
And we went back and forth for.
I said, well, I'll get rid of this guy,
and I signed my name.
And he said, this is some stupid name you thought up.
And he balled it up and he threw it away.
And talk about crushed egos.
Oh!
But that's how you learn the ropes, you know.
You got to, you have to take your licks.
It's not, it's not fun.
But being the person that I am and what I wanted
to do with my life, I've been able to do it
since I've retired, you know.
I mean, I was always a fan of your basketball.
But I became moved to super fandom
when just reading your writing and your pieces
and your Substack, and I mean, I think of myself
as someone who does odd jobs.
You, I feel very much a kindred spirit with you.
You write for "Time" magazine, and
then you've got your Substack.
And then like you wrote for "Veronica Mars."
And then like, I mean, it's so cool!
You watch "The Bachelor" and you write it pieces on it for,
you would write for the "Hollywood Reporter"
and they were so thoughtful.
And they weren't just fluff, even "The Bachelor" stuff,
because it is so fascinating to watch these people
and to think about what's going on in their minds.
Well, you know, my manager and friend, Deborah Morales,
enabled me to figure out a way to express all of this
and make it work as a living.
Getting paid for doing something that you love
is like almost as good as playing
basketball and getting paid.
[applause]
Yeah.
There are people, there, it's such a rare gem of a thing
when, you know, like, singer songwriters, like when someone
can write beautiful songs and they
happen to be great singers.
Like, that's just such a wonderful, happy accident.
And with you with writing, you have all this experience,
all these ideas, all these progressive thoughts,
you're so introspective.
And then on top of it, you're this like beautiful writer,
you know?
Like, the way you put words together, I find thrilling.
But you know, Cole Porter was that talented in that he could
write songs and write the lyrics for them
and they go together like hand in glove.
Very few people like that.
Yeah, well, you're one of them, that's my point.
But I know--
[applause]
I did all, I did a lot of these.
Whoa, well done.
I'm not going to do that one yet.
Hold on.
Listen, I've got little notes for myself.
Of course, there's this one.
I got to know Robin Williams.
You did?
Yeah.
And you and him have, you share a same,
you share a same talent in that you can get people
to laugh when they're hurting.
And Robin was exceptional at that.
And I'm so sorry he's gone.
He was a beautiful man and I miss him.
But you've revived his spirit.
Oh, my goodness.
[applause]
You are, much like how Robin, with Whoopi and Billy Crystal,
started, I can't remember what it's called.
Comic Relief.
Comic Relief, you, you've been very active in activism,
you've been an activist for a long time.
What was that inciting incident?
What got you?
Well, for me, it was the murder of Emmett Till.
That bothered me, and I couldn't understand it.
I asked my parents to explain it.
They didn't have the words.
So I spent my life since then trying to figure out
how to get us all to tamp down on the hatred
and learn to know and respect and love each other.
That's where we got to go.
And we got to get there.
[applause]
[cheering]
Absolutely, absolutely.
Yeah, I think we all think we're so different,
and we're the same, you know.
I always think, like, we're just,
we're the same as this mug, this table,
we're just molecules, we're not different.
One people, one planet.
We've got to take care of it and take care of each other.
I mean, yeah, I always think like--
When ever things get too heavy, I'm just like, come on,
we're in [bleep] outer space.
Yeah.
Like, nothing matters.
We're going to blow the place up.
Wait a minute.
[laughs]
Wait, whoa, you know?
Um, I know you've been in a million things
and you've been doing, you're so vital.
To me, you're in your most vital, most exciting years.
But just going back to, because I watched the documentary,
"Minority of One," which I really loved.
I hope you're happy with it.
Thank you, yeah.
I thought it was spectacular.
[applause] Thank you.
Thank you.
I don't know why I said thank you.
Thank you, they were clapping for me, just because I
asked the question so well.
But when you did "Airplane," it was a kind of--
[cheering]
--it was transformational for you,
because you had always been this kind
of game face stoic dude, maybe protecting
yourself in some way.
"Airplane" enabled me to make fun of my image
and laugh about it.
And it got people, they stopped thinking
about that as who I was.
And it was right around the time
we won a world championship.
That helped.
Yeah.
But it feels like it unlocked something
in you, where you were able to not be
how other people defined you.
Right.
And I had like a certain fear of exposing myself at times.
Just my inner thoughts and emotional feelings really,
I was worried about sharing those.
And I've gotten over that.
We tend to have shame around our own feelings
and we forget that's all we are, right?
We're just people like everyone else.
That's how it works.
I want to put my face in your hand, but I know that's weird.
We can do hands.
Let's do hands.
Pretty much the same.
Uh, uh, uh!
Oh, you want to start there?
[cheering]
I was just going to end this, but I just want to keep going.
But I'll end it.
But I just want to keep going.
But I'll end it.
Keep going!
How deep?
You know what I really want to ask
you about is, also, your friendship with Bruce Lee.
I just, to me, that tracks so well.
It should, because when I met Bruce,
I wasn't really a hot shot professional athlete,
and he was working as Kato in the "Green Hornet."
And I just wanted to study Chinese martial arts.
And a guy sent me over to him who knew him and said,
hey, try and work this with Bruce.
And the way he really showed me how
powerful his art was when he had me punch and kick a bag.
He'd get behind, put his weight behind it
and said, punch and kick it.
And I did.
He said, hmm, that was interesting.
And then he had his wife come out.
And he told me, all right, you put
your weight behind the bag.
And I did.
And she kicked the bag, and my body flew off of it,
and I got to learn that.
What is the key to that?
Is it about like center of weight or something?
No, it has just learning how to control your inner forces
in a way that enable you to deal with someone who might
be trying something wrong.
If you learn how to move and--
You can just say you don't know.
No, I do know.
But I do know.
It's harder to talk about it than it is to do it, you know.
So if you have the time and inclination.
I do.
You know what's really good that you can do on your own?
Tai Chi.
Great exercise.
There you go. - I don't know.
I'm just making it up from what I see people do in the park.
But you keep doing that for a couple of months
and you'll notice an increase in strength and balance
and endurance and stuff.
Yeah, I love Bruce Lee.
You know what reminds me of you with him, is just the idea of,
be like water. - Yeah, exactly.
To--
The name of his movie.
Yeah, to adjust to any circumstance,
to sprout where you're planted, when water is in a teacup,
it's the shape of a teacup, when water, all that stuff.
And Bruce was all about--
Well, it's deep.
--brotherhood.
[bleep] you.
Yeah.
He was all about brotherhood, you know.
And for a long time, Chinese people
didn't like him teaching people who weren't Chinese.
But Bruce said, hey, you know, I've
learned things from people who weren't
Chinese that maybe they might have wanted to keep quiet.
But they shared it.
And that was his attitude about it.
And it made it possible for the exchange to happen.
I know that's how it was with me and him.
Our friendship was based on that.
And it meant something.
Those are mitzvahs, they're generous,
it's a wonderful way to live.
A good deed, yes, absolutely.
And that's how I think of you.
It's Mr. Rogers and you, you're my top two.
We're all right.
It's true!
[cheering]
I adore you.
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