Thanks for being here.
Oh, my pleasure.
In person.
It's nice to have human contact every once
in a while instead of zooming all the time.
You've been back in a studio for a little while now.
Yeah, yeah.
Since the beginning of this season.
We shot from my house last season and started up.
And we started with just virtual,
and now we have a few humans that we
can fit in here and virtual.
So it's nice.
We have a little bit of both.
Which ones are real?
I can't tell.
I can't get close enough to know who is real and who's not.
I think the ones that we just see the heads--
I think that's virtual.
Those are the real ones.
I'm pretty sure.
Your wife's birthday is today.
Is that right?
It is.
Happy birthday, Honey.
Happy birthday.
I love you.
Happy birthday.
I love you, too.
Happy birthday.
Now, are you a good gift giver?
Oh, that's a tough question for a guy.
My wife has this saying.
If it has a plug, it's not a present.
That's a good one.
And so that puts tremendous pressure on me
to find something that doesn't have a plug.
So I gave her a toaster once.
I just cut the plug off.
Good for you.
Aren't you clever.
Yeah.
Aren't you clever.
Now, how long have you been married?
31 years coming up.
Wow.
Well, that makes it hard.
Yeah.
Yeah, I find it's really hard.
We've been together 16 years, and every year, you just
have to top yourself.
And at some point, you just give up.
Isn't there an undue amount of stress and pressure
connected with gift giving?
Yeah.
I wish that could all just go away.
Yeah.
I think this year, I'm highly recommending,
and what I'm doing is donating to charity.
There's so many hungry people that need food,
and I'm donating to all the different places.
That's a great idea.
We're going to do the same.
I also want to make a donation to your school or in Africa.
Oh, the campus in Africa.
Oh, please do.
That's amazing.
And you actually sat with the gorillas?
Yeah.
There is nothing like being this close to a gorilla.
Were you frightened?
No.
They're gentle and they really are--
they're just brilliant creatures.
And they won't hurt you.
You just watch them and then they kind of look at you,
but they're pretty bored.
They just look at people and wonder
why you're looking at them.
Wow.
I have to go.
Have you been on safari?
Not now, you mean?
Oh, you didn't mean now.
No, no.
Don't go now. no, it's a long flight.
No, you got to book it.
I have not been on safari yet, but I've always wanted to go.
OK.
Well that should be something that you
plan on doing as soon as we're able to do those things again.
Yeah.
For sure.
Yeah.
First of all, I want to talk about the TV
show, which is fantastic, and you shot it in New Orleans.
But before we get to that, you and your wife,
which I didn't know, I don't think a lot of people knew,
you both had COVID early on.
Right.
We didn't want to miss out.
So we made sure--
Oh, gosh.
--that we got it early on.
It was a surprise to us.
Because we heard it was coming over, and then all of a sudden
she got it first.
She gave it to me, because we share.
And we were very lucky though in all seriousness.
We had a few days of achiness but not enough
to keep you in bed.
And I had a temperature of 99 for about three hours,
and then just exhaustion for a week, but nothing after that.
I've heard that exhaustion is one big component of it--
like barely able to function.
But now, and how long did it last for you?
It was about, all total, about 10 days.
The only thing that lingered and still is to this day
is that I lost a percentage of my ability to taste and smell.
Still to this day?
Yeah.
Wow.
I think about 75% has come back.
But if someone was brewing coffee and I walk
into a kitchen, I cannot--
I am right now.
Right behind.
I cannot smell it.
Wow, that's so weird.
I can't smell it.
I have a pot on.
You have a coffee pot right there.
Yeah, right there.
No, that's amazing and I'm glad that you all are both are OK.
Yeah, thank you.
We're going to take a break.
I want to talk to you about the TV show.
You're so good in everything you do.
So this is--
Aw, thank you.
--no exception.
We'll be back.