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at Ultra running.com. I was like,

1:24

fuck it, let's go. Do you

1:26

want to start with the Kanye

1:29

or should we... Actually, I wanted

1:31

to show you what I'm wearing

1:33

underneath here. Can you imagine? That

1:35

would have been really funny if

1:37

I turned up in like a

1:40

fur coat and nothing underneath. Would

1:42

have been a bit of a

1:44

weird joke. Actually, I actually do

1:46

want to start with the Kanye.

1:48

So, as the executive producer

1:51

of the Grammys. Yeah. Do you, like,

1:53

are you happy or are you pissed?

1:55

Was there another emotion that comes

1:57

with seeing Kanye where like pop up on

1:59

the... like I was like I think he's like

2:01

he's not for me yeah and so like

2:04

I was just like oh it's good for

2:06

the show in a way because everyone's like

2:08

oh shit what's gonna happen oh and on

2:10

the other hand it's like you have a

2:12

pre-planned thing like what's your first emotion when

2:14

that happens genuinely honestly yeah

2:17

I couldn't carry the way like I was like

2:19

I think he's not for me yeah and so

2:21

like I was just like oh it's you know it's

2:23

just what he does what he does right he

2:25

does right he does right he does right he

2:27

But I genuinely didn't think about it. The

2:30

truth of it is, during that red carpet,

2:32

you know, like I am, that is the most

2:34

stressful period of like my year. That

2:36

one hour, that like that 90 minutes.

2:38

That's the one hour leading into the

2:40

show. That's the 90 minutes where you

2:42

finish a dress rehearsal, which went terribly,

2:44

and you finish that like. 240 and

2:46

then the show goes live at 5.

2:48

It's like that Law Michael's thing. He's

2:50

always says it doesn't matter when you're

2:53

ready, the show goes live at 5

2:55

and it is what it is. So

2:57

like there was a thing about carnier,

2:59

I genuinely didn't even see it till after

3:01

the show. Honestly I didn't. Wow. Like I knew

3:03

there was a thing and I knew he'd done

3:05

like a stunt with his wife and I

3:07

was like, oh, is the... Camera's gonna work is the

3:09

com's gonna work is the show gonna work like that's

3:12

all like genuinely That's what I was thinking about at

3:14

that time. I was very in the zone So I

3:16

wasn't distracted, but I knew he wasn't coming to the

3:18

main show How did you know that because I'd heard?

3:20

He was just coming to the red carpet and then

3:22

leaving and he didn't have a I mean I'm in

3:24

charge of the floor plan. Yeah. So that's well, that's

3:26

what got me because I know yeah, everyone's gonna be

3:29

sitting. Yeah, everyone's gonna be sitting and I

3:31

didn't see Kanya. Then for a

3:33

moment I thought you didn't tell

3:35

me Kanya was coming because you

3:37

wanted to surprise me. I don't

3:40

know if anyone knew Kanya was

3:42

coming, but I think I don't,

3:44

but there was no truth, genuinely

3:46

no truth to him being kicked

3:48

out. That's just not true. He

3:50

went and did the carpet and

3:52

as far as I understand it,

3:55

he then got in a car

3:57

and left. I tell people he

3:59

was nominated? If you come to JZ's guest,

4:01

Ben Khan then say, hey dude, you're not welcome

4:03

here. Yeah, that's right. If you're a

4:05

plus one. That's true. That's a very good

4:07

point because I never know the plus ones.

4:09

So you know that like Madison Beer is

4:11

sat over here. She may have just been

4:13

ready. Yeah. Because last year, you made me

4:16

bring a county west? And then you've got

4:18

nothing you can do about. Ooz, right? So it

4:20

could have been. Yeah, but you said that, but then.

4:22

But then people, you're right, you don't know, and

4:24

people show up with famous people, and then suddenly

4:26

they're on camera, like you didn't know they were

4:29

coming, and it's like, oh, they're there with, you

4:31

know, whoever. I think this was the most dramatic

4:33

red carpet we've had at the Grammys, like in

4:35

the years that we've done it together? Because

4:37

like, this was the year where Kaniy steps

4:40

onto the Grammys, then immediately people were, there's

4:42

every opinion. Right? So some people are going,

4:44

how can the Grammys allow this? There are

4:46

children there. Now there's a naked woman on

4:48

the red carpet. My children, there's always the

4:51

children, I'm always like, there's, you know, the

4:53

children are there, the children, the children, the

4:55

children. So that's what the people were saying.

4:57

And then, I don't know if you saw

4:59

any of these actually, because you're so wrapped

5:01

up in the show. Yeah. Yeah. Then there

5:04

was the baby face. Oh yeah, so I saw

5:06

that, right? I did see that.

5:08

Yeah, the two AP reporters or

5:10

whatever they were, were interviewing. Chapo?

5:12

Yeah, they're interviewing Baby Face mid-conversation.

5:14

Yeah. They're just like, ah. You

5:16

know what? I only actually saw

5:18

that well afterwards because Chloe Kardashian. tweeted about it.

5:20

She posted the video going, baby faces a legend,

5:22

how dare you. And the first thing I thought

5:24

is, and the baby faces a mate of mine,

5:26

like I love baby, like he's like, not only

5:28

is he a legend and an icon and a

5:30

music official, he's also one of the nicest men.

5:32

He actually is. No, he's genuinely, there is no,

5:34

he handled that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh

5:36

my God, he's full of love and praise and praise,

5:38

I love being around him, like, like, like, like,

5:40

I find him, I find him, I find him,

5:42

I find him, I find him, an inspiring, I

5:44

find him, an inspiring, an inspiring, I find him, an

5:47

inspiring, an inspiring, an inspiring, an inspiring, an inspiring,

5:49

a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a,

5:51

a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, I actually

5:53

did, because it's like the culture that we're in right now, where like

5:55

they're red carpet reporters on AP. They're

5:57

not Trevor Noah hosting the Grammys. They

6:00

don't have 10,000 hours of experience. They're on a thing. They probably don't

6:02

know the story and the history of Baby Face's commitment to music. And

6:04

then Chapel Rhone, who is one of the biggest stars, they know Chapel

6:06

Rhone better than they don't ever know Baby Face. And they're like, oh,

6:08

don't, and they know that they're going to get more bang for their

6:10

buck there. I'm not being disrespectful with the baby. Of course they're having

6:12

a little badly, but I hate. But I hate the ways to why

6:14

he said you want to why he said you want to why he

6:16

said you want to why he said you want to why he said,

6:19

like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like,

6:21

like, like, like, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he,

6:23

he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he,

6:25

That man has been in the game since when. He knows every red

6:27

carpet, he knows every part, he knows what the game is about. So

6:29

he, to your point, he didn't even, he had no ego in

6:31

the way he did it. He was like, oh you guys need

6:33

that, don't you? And he's like, oh you guys need that,

6:35

don't you? And he's like, I'm on my way. He's

6:37

like, oh you guys need that, don't you? And he's like,

6:40

he doesn't, he doesn't, he doesn't need it. He doesn't need

6:42

it. He doesn't need it. He doesn't need it. He

6:44

doesn't need it. He doesn't need it. He doesn't need

6:46

it. He doesn't need it. He doesn't need

6:48

it. He doesn't need it. He doesn't need

6:50

it. He doesn't need it. He doesn't need

6:53

it. He doesn't need it. go out to

6:55

find who those two girls are and then

6:57

let's just make their life miserable. You just

6:59

wish the internet doesn't exist? Yeah, I guess

7:01

that. Well, no fairness. I do need a

7:04

certain, I think there's like a certain amount

7:06

of accountability that they need

7:08

to be held to. It's a red carpet.

7:10

No one even needed to see it. No

7:12

one would have known about it. Why does

7:15

everyone need to be so offended all the

7:17

time? No, but okay, okay. I'll just be

7:19

horrified. I think it's a tough lesson for

7:21

them to look, like the way they're learning

7:23

the lesson. If they had a good producer, someone would

7:25

just say, like, don't do it like that again, next

7:28

time, rope the person in. Oh my God, it's Chapel

7:30

Rhone. Babyface, do you know Chapel Rhone? Oh, Chapel, have

7:32

you ever? Man, oh legend, old school legend, new school,

7:34

oh man. Chapel, you have to, oh man, you have

7:36

to, oh legend, old school legend, new school, oh man.

7:38

Chapel, you have to, oh man, you, you have to,

7:41

old school, old school, legend, legend, news, news, news, news,

7:43

news, new school, news, news, news, news, news, news, news,

7:45

news, news, news, news, news, news, news, news, news, news,

7:47

news, news, news, news, news, news, news, news, news, news,

7:49

news, news, news, news, news, news, news, news, news, news,

7:51

news, news, news, news, news, news, old That could have

7:54

been a moment. That's why they're paying the

7:56

big bucks. But this is... We saw

7:58

a lesson in hosting there. I thought

8:00

I was coming to what now? I'm

8:02

actually coming to master class. I'm coming

8:04

to master class. This guy. I can't

8:06

even... I was going to say, this

8:09

is actually the issue though with a

8:11

lot of the, I'll say, podcast culture

8:13

or the people that end up broadcasting

8:15

without putting in the 10,000 hours, right?

8:17

Because back in the day, if you

8:20

ended up with any kind of a

8:22

platform, you would have done things like...

8:24

a small television station or whatever it is.

8:26

And you get to the point where you

8:28

know how to deal with the red carpet

8:30

moment, which is largely unscripted. Anything happens. Now,

8:33

what you end up with is people that

8:35

obviously have a very strong following, but they

8:37

haven't got the experience behind them to be able

8:39

to know to do something like that. Sorry. I'm

8:41

sorry, I'm confused. We're talking about two girls who

8:43

are hosting for AP live on a red carpet

8:46

at the Grammys. That's not, they're not hosting the

8:48

Oscars here. No, but I get, but Caesar's right

8:50

though. No, no, no, this is their experience. No, but

8:52

Caesar, no, but here's where Caesar's right. Back in the

8:54

day, you couldn't even get to the AP hosting on

8:56

the red carpet without having like, no, you

8:58

know what, you know what, you see this

9:00

actually is with stand-up comedy, would stand-up comedy,

9:02

would stand-up comedy now, comedy now, comedy now,

9:04

now, now, now, now, today, right, right? There

9:06

are comedy clubs around the country, like the

9:08

US particularly, and some in the world, where

9:10

they've started hiring people who are funny on

9:12

Tiktok. And then they come to the comedy

9:14

club, their fans come, they pack it up, and

9:16

then 10 minutes in, everyone realizes no

9:19

one was prepared for this moment.

9:21

Like the Tiktok comedian doesn't know how to

9:23

make the people laugh, or doesn't know how to

9:25

shift with the room. The room doesn't know what

9:27

to do, and then club owners started

9:29

booking backup acts. for the Tiktok

9:31

stars because they knew that red

9:34

carpet thing would happen to them

9:36

in the clubs. So I hear what you're

9:38

saying. But I also get what you're

9:40

saying. It's not like they shot Baby

9:43

Face. Is what I'm saying here. No,

9:45

no, no, let's be honest. We're also

9:47

making it seem like what they did.

9:49

We're also making it seem like what

9:52

they did. We made it seem like

9:54

they'd dragged himself down the carpet. Yeah.

9:56

Still bleeding from the wound they'd inflicted

9:59

on the wound. They knew that they

10:01

were going to get more hits if they

10:03

managed to get chapel. And chapel's not hanging

10:05

around. Chapel's not going to go, and I

10:07

don't mean anything about chapel, but she's not

10:09

going to go, oh, I'll sit here for

10:11

six minutes. No, she's finished with baby face.

10:14

She's on and you've either got a geter

10:16

or you don't. So I get it. But

10:18

you're right, the way they should have done

10:20

it would be the collapse. Yeah. I think

10:22

this is like a swag that to your point

10:24

that to your point would come from

10:27

experience. Not would he well not he

10:29

have done something? No, what I mean

10:31

is most likely would have done so

10:33

you think he would have come on

10:35

stage 100% and I'll tell you why

10:37

Whenever there's been a big moment

10:39

and Kainay knows that he can seize

10:41

it he will Funny enough MTV awards.

10:44

I don't even know what year

10:46

it was when he stepped on

10:48

stage and Justice versus Simian won

10:50

the video for video the year.

10:52

Yeah, and he had What's that?

10:54

Oh, did it? Oh, yeah. Anyway, that

10:56

video. He had that video nominated. He

10:58

steps on stage and he goes, man,

11:00

this video cost a million dollars for

11:03

him. I had me along in this.

11:05

So whenever there's a moment that he

11:07

can seize for attention. Yeah. Now, obviously

11:09

there was a long time ago. Maybe he's

11:11

a different man now. Well, I don't think

11:13

so. He like seized the red carpet. Yes.

11:16

How would you have coped if he was

11:18

in the rub? How would you have

11:20

felt, honestly, if he was in

11:22

the room, knowing that he was

11:24

there, knowing that there's an unpredictability

11:27

around you at those tables? Because

11:29

you're vulnerable. Okay. Because you're not,

11:31

most hosts are on a stage.

11:33

Yes. They're away from people. Yeah,

11:36

they're not amongst the people. You

11:38

are right in amongst the people. Okay,

11:40

so, one, he's very unpredictable, but I

11:42

have met Kanya that I think a

11:44

lot of people don't know is, even

11:46

when he has his like... you know

11:49

when he when he spins and when

11:51

he's going through something whatever it might

11:53

be bipolar or not. Kanya wears comedy

11:55

like loves comedy and loves telling

11:57

jokes and if you listen to his

12:00

You know how much he loves telling jokes. He's

12:02

got some of the best punchlines in his raps.

12:04

But when he tweets them, I think a lot

12:06

of them don't come off well. And comedy,

12:08

as we all know, you miss.

12:11

You know I mean? Comedy's about misses.

12:13

So the first part I'll say is

12:15

this. I wouldn't be afraid, but I

12:17

would be worried for the show and

12:19

what's going to happen because now is Kanye

12:21

going to go up when

12:23

Taylor's up again now? Is Kanye going to?

12:25

Because now I'm the person who's in the

12:27

room and then now I go you know, you

12:29

don't want Kanye getting tackled by a security

12:31

guard but you also don't want to be

12:33

the security guard. So I don't know what

12:35

it would be. I think I would have.

12:37

And then on a night when we're there and

12:40

half the room, I would say even three quarters

12:42

of the room has like a

12:44

strange morose feeling to them. That's

12:48

not the night you want unpredictability. Because

12:51

I don't know

12:53

about you but

12:55

this Grammy's I

12:58

mean mean for sure, look, the

13:00

Kanye thing is for

13:02

me I would have

13:04

done everything we can. Would you cut to him

13:06

or cut away from him? I'm not going to

13:08

talk on him and the Grammys either way. Luckily

13:10

I didn't even know about it because I was

13:12

too busy but I'm not going to go out

13:14

of my way and go let's clear a table.

13:16

Let's get rid of one of the nominees in

13:18

the Jazz category to give Yay a table. But

13:20

it's up to the Academy and it's nothing to

13:22

do with me. I think people would

13:24

have been stressed in the room.

13:26

But it was but moving from

13:29

that it was a very different atmosphere

13:31

because people didn't know how they were supposed to feel. And

13:33

it was a really weird one because everybody's

13:35

there and you won them

13:37

over in a big way and so did the show

13:39

and I feel really good about that and the response that

13:42

we've had from it I don't know if you read

13:44

reviews. So

13:46

Vanity Fair Variety Hollywood Reporter also without

13:48

question best Grammys of all time like they're

13:50

really going wild of it and I

13:52

do think that's because you got the balance

13:54

really well. But it was incredibly tricky

13:56

for sure because people don't know whether is

13:58

this supposed to be a Is it a

14:00

sad event? Is it a happy event?

14:03

Are we dancing or are we crying?

14:05

Are we giving or are we taking?

14:07

Like, and it was very, it was

14:10

a weird dance for you to have

14:12

to do. Yeah, but I think, no,

14:14

but I, but I think for all

14:16

of us, so, okay, like, to your

14:18

point, we, you know, everything is happening

14:21

in relation to everything else.

14:23

That's life, right? So now you're in

14:25

Los Angeles, where everyone, You just start

14:28

with that, right? So you've got the

14:30

room full of people. But now what

14:32

I realized as the night was going

14:35

was, we're also in a moment

14:37

where the majority of the people in

14:39

that room are also feeling a certain kind

14:41

of way. So Lady Gaga, if it

14:43

was any other year, would have just been

14:45

like, fun times, thank you very much. And

14:48

then Lady Gaga goes, you know, trans people

14:50

are not invisible. Then you're like, oh, yes,

14:52

Trump said the thing, and this is on

14:55

Gaga, and this is on Gaga, She wins

14:57

the award. She doesn't just go

14:59

like, what a good time, I

15:01

love life. Wow, I'm a new

15:03

artist, I'm the best, no. She

15:05

goes, let me tell you how

15:07

shit it is being an artist

15:09

who doesn't make money. And what

15:11

actually happens on the other side,

15:13

or the other side, or the,

15:15

you know, before, the precursor to

15:17

success, you can't make money. And

15:19

what actually happens on the other

15:21

side, or the, you know, before,

15:23

the precursor, you're screwed in this

15:25

country. And then Alicia Keys comes

15:27

on and she goes, hey, we

15:29

do need diversity, we want everyone

15:31

in the same room, it's a

15:34

celebratory thing, but then, don't she

15:36

gives you a reminder, she's like,

15:38

yo, if you're a dark-skinned black

15:40

woman, you are seen as aggressive,

15:42

you are seen as wrong, you are

15:44

seen as loud, and you, so again,

15:47

people are cheering, but they're like, oh

15:49

yeah, shit. And then Alicia Keys comes

15:51

on and she goes, hey, we do

15:53

need diversity. with something on their

15:55

minds other than awards in music,

15:57

which is rare for the awards

15:59

in music like the last time I

16:01

think this probably happened was maybe when Kobe

16:04

died right and that we weren't doing the Grammys

16:06

that but it was like literally night before the

16:08

Grammys or the day of or something it's like

16:10

no I was actually I was fun enough involved

16:13

in that you were involved in that one yeah

16:15

so I had been given the job that I

16:17

have now I was given the job as executive

16:19

producer the Grammys but what I said is

16:21

I wanted to go for a year and not

16:23

be number one so I went and I was

16:26

a producer on that show, essentially being like the

16:28

number two on it, shadowing Ken Ehrlich, who was

16:30

the producer, because I wanted to know like how

16:32

to do it, because that's a beast of a

16:34

show and I didn't... And also you can't just

16:36

get the job and your first time being the

16:38

producer of it is being the like show writer

16:40

of it. So I went, for two years I

16:43

did the Alicia Keys one, because they're... penciled me

16:45

and they knew that I was going to be

16:47

it. So, I mean, listen, if somebody says, oh,

16:49

you're going to go and like help out the

16:51

producers of the Grammys and you're taking this thing over,

16:53

you're going to go. So it was the morning of,

16:55

it was just before the dress run started. It was

16:57

10 o'clock in the morning we heard and I went

16:59

into Alicia's dressing room and I said, listen, just so

17:01

you know. We just heard the news that Kobe's died

17:03

and she was totally shocked. And I think she had

17:05

the idea that we should go and find boys to

17:07

men and see it because they were in the building

17:09

for some reason, maybe they would nominate or whatever. And so

17:11

we had that idea and then I had the idea to

17:14

black out all the other shirts. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, in

17:16

the raft. And so we did a shot of that. But

17:18

it was Ken Ehrlich was exact producer, but I was there

17:20

that day, but you're right, but you're right, but you're right.

17:22

But it seems like, but it seems like, but it seems

17:24

like, but it seems like, but it seems like with the

17:26

Grammys, with the Grammys, with the Grammys, with the Grammys, with

17:28

the Grammys, with the Grammys, with the Grammys, with the Grammys,

17:30

with the Grammys, with the Grammys, with the Grammys, with the

17:32

Grammys, with the Grammys, with the Grammys, with the Grammys, Whitney

17:34

dies. Yeah, they call it the Grammys Cross. I mean, Whitney

17:36

dies and then it happens. We've had we've had Kobe in

17:39

the house that he built at Stapel Center. Obviously, we did

17:41

two during COVID. Then we had the fires

17:43

this time. It's always a lot to

17:45

handle. It's always a lot to handle.

17:47

But then you're a lot to handle.

17:50

It's always a lot to handle. But

17:52

then you're used to that a lot

17:54

to handle, but then you're used to

17:56

think it's a one-off event like that.

17:59

Okay, so it's. Similar in

18:01

some ways. And then in

18:03

other ways it's a lot

18:06

hard and a lot different.

18:08

And I'll tell you, I'll

18:10

tell you, let's take a

18:13

break and then right after

18:15

that I'll explain what I

18:17

mean. We're going to

18:19

continue this conversation

18:22

right after this

18:24

short break. And you

18:26

understand this feeling, because you were

18:28

doing the late late show with

18:30

Corden. I was. One of the worst days,

18:32

not just for the show, but for

18:35

people, whenever there was a mass tragedy,

18:37

you know, which would unfortunately happen all

18:39

too often in America. So it would

18:42

be mass shooting, mass shooting, mass shooting.

18:44

This happened, you know, it was

18:46

always something like that. And those days

18:48

were tough. However, the Grammys

18:50

is exponentially tougher. Because everyone coming

18:52

to the daily show. was coming to

18:55

engage in Trevor Noah's opinion of the

18:57

world. Or the show's processing of the

18:59

world with the correspondence and everyone else.

19:01

So it was like in a weird

19:04

way, it's like we're all coming to

19:06

the same church. We all have the

19:08

same religion and now we're just gonna

19:10

process what has happened to us as

19:13

people, right? And this year, like I

19:15

realize that more than most years. The

19:17

Grammys is the perfect coming together

19:19

of strangers and it's something we

19:22

don't have in society anymore. Right

19:24

you have someone walking to the building who

19:26

lives in Miami full-time They're only here

19:28

because their record label or their company

19:30

brought them or but they live in

19:32

Miami You've got someone who comes from

19:34

London. You've got somebody who comes in

19:36

from Finland and they're like an engineer

19:38

and they're phenomenal But like nobody knows

19:40

them except in the music industry you

19:42

got people from New York you got

19:45

people as a whole has a whole contingency

19:47

right? But then you even break it up

19:49

about amongst like genres and ideas You know there's

19:51

a joke you saw the joke I made at

19:53

the top when I go like mustard and then

19:56

I was like ask your black friends because

19:58

I know the whole chunk of the room was like,

20:00

what was that? Like, what was that? What

20:02

is happening here? Yeah. And its

20:04

difficulty is, I think, the thing that makes

20:07

it beautiful. It's like, it comes with

20:09

a precariousness, but I also enjoy

20:11

the fact that somebody who only listens

20:14

to hip-hop is now gonna hear a

20:16

country artist for the first time,

20:18

somebody who only listens to pop

20:20

is gonna hear a rock artist

20:22

for the first time, somebody, I

20:24

think there's a greater cross-pollination of

20:27

fans in music. at the Grammys than

20:29

in any other instance. Because when else

20:31

are you forced in a good way

20:33

to engage in somebody else's ideas? Now

20:35

for me as the host, it becomes

20:37

extra hard because comedy is extremely subjective

20:39

and comedy is like, people also have

20:41

to come for comedy. Some people have

20:43

come to the Grammys or they're even

20:45

like watching on TV. And then they're

20:47

like, yeah, yeah, get done with this.

20:49

I'm here for Beyonce. Yeah. Who is

20:52

this guy? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,

20:54

yeah, but, yeah, but, come on, come

20:56

on. And I know this. I know

20:58

this as well. You know, that's the

21:00

job of the host. You're like moving

21:02

things along, right? But it becomes

21:04

harder because it's not a comedy

21:06

show, but people do want to

21:08

laugh. You know, it's an award

21:10

show, but it's an award show,

21:12

but it's also a somber, but

21:14

it's a somber, a somber, So

21:16

it's much harder because with the Daily Show at

21:18

the end of the day I would go you

21:21

at the Daily Show I'm at the Daily Show.

21:23

Welcome to the Daily Show And it's about the

21:25

Daily Show. Let me let me tell you when

21:27

I let me tell you when I knew how

21:29

different the Grammys was This isn't like a

21:32

long ago story four or five weeks

21:34

ago. I was in a restaurant in

21:36

New York having like lunch or something

21:38

and the manager of the restaurant

21:40

walked walked over and went hey

21:42

Trevor congratulations on hosting the Grammys.

21:45

What an amazing, wow, this is

21:47

gonna be great for you in your career.

21:49

I was like, thank you. And he's like,

21:51

man, are you nervous? Like, doing this for

21:53

the first time, is gonna be crazy? And

21:55

I paused and I was like, and then

21:57

the person I was having the lunch with.

22:00

Very sweet, but he leaned and he's

22:02

like, what? It's not his first time,

22:04

it's his second time. And that's what

22:06

I realize that like, and not even

22:09

realize, I've always known this, the Grammises

22:11

is not about me, you know me,

22:13

I'm not trying to make it about

22:15

me, I'm trying to keep the show

22:17

moving, and I'm trying to stitch things

22:20

together. But there are people who are coming

22:22

for their person, and if their

22:24

person's not there, they're not coming.

22:26

So they're a fan of this artist

22:28

if artists are not there, they're

22:30

not watching. You know? And so I

22:33

am just this random person who pops

22:35

into people's lives and tries to stitch

22:37

together an incoherent group of people that

22:39

you, in my opinion, and I'll say

22:41

this to you before we forget,

22:44

masterfully put it together. I've been to

22:46

five Grammys now. Let me tell you something

22:48

Ben. The way you stitch, like just

22:50

like the best new artists. You

22:52

know everyone going from Benson Boone,

22:54

you know going over to Doichi

22:56

going over to Teddy swims going

22:59

over to Ray. Yo Like even

23:01

that is that that's hard because

23:03

it's all different people doing different

23:05

things and yet you created a

23:07

cohesive vibe that that's that's what

23:09

keeps bringing me back to the

23:12

grammars. Well a couple of things.

23:14

Firstly, it's really funny that you

23:16

say that because When you say

23:18

about the show and how difficult

23:20

it is for you going, all

23:22

people are here for different reasons,

23:25

I think about that in the

23:27

way I program the show all

23:29

the time. Because I'm perfectly aware

23:31

that like, Auntie Marilyn in Nebraska

23:33

does not want to watch Docci

23:35

and in the same way that

23:37

like, someone who loves Doji is

23:40

not interested in Lainey Wilson. So

23:42

that's partly where we've done as

23:44

much as we can to like

23:46

make the show something for everybody.

23:48

It's not that they don't want to, they don't

23:50

know that they want to. They don't know it.

23:52

Yeah, yeah. But we try and make it like

23:54

a show that everybody would enjoy from beginning to

23:57

end. I think you undermine, not undermine, that's the

23:59

wrong word. I think you underserved the purpose

24:01

that you have in that show. And like,

24:03

Cordon, I got involved in the Grammys because

24:05

of James Cordon. So obviously, I was his,

24:07

I mean, I am his partner and I

24:09

was his showrunner for late-late show with Rob.

24:11

Business partner, by the way, not married. Yeah,

24:13

we're not married. We're not married. No, no,

24:15

no, because you're right. People say words that

24:17

mean other things all the time. Right. And

24:19

then somebody's like, wow, James Corden's married to

24:21

this guy? I don't know. James Corden was

24:23

even gay. And then it's a whole thing.

24:25

And then it's like, it's like when Kendrick

24:27

said, when Kendrick said my aunt transitioned. And

24:29

then. most of the black people were like

24:31

we know what he meant he meant passed

24:34

away yeah but then I saw a lot

24:36

of white people be like he's got an

24:38

uncle what yeah literally like so any actually

24:40

does any you know yeah it was very

24:42

confusing so I just wanted to throw that

24:44

in yes I do love him but he's

24:46

not my lover yes so I only got

24:48

involved in the Grammys because he got asked

24:50

to host it so I went along to

24:52

be his like host producer got a god

24:54

and that's when the recording had to know

24:56

me and that's when like CBS and the

24:58

recording had me said would you ever Then

25:00

he decided he wasn't going to do the

25:02

Grammys anymore, at least he's got appointed. And

25:04

they said to me, Ken is, you know,

25:06

however old he is, I think he was

25:08

at, you know, 70, odd 80, whatever. They

25:10

said, would you ever consider it? He'd run

25:12

it 40 years. I was like, and that's

25:14

how this all happened. But James always used

25:16

to say, it's something I wonder if you

25:18

feel. James used to say the morning after

25:20

the Grammys, he always used to say, the

25:22

thing I don't understand why I don't understand

25:25

why I don't understand why I don't understand

25:27

why I don't understand why I don't understand

25:29

why I don't understand why I don't understand

25:31

why I don't understand why I don't understand

25:33

why I don't understand why I don't understand

25:35

why I don't understand why I don't understand

25:37

why I don't understand why I don't understand

25:39

why I do. It's career suicide. You are,

25:41

you are a joke, you are over, you

25:43

are rubbish, you can never work again, it's

25:45

a disaster. If it goes well, you get

25:47

12 lovely emails. You get 12 lovely emails.

25:49

He's like, he's like, why, why do I,

25:51

I don't need 12 lovely emails. I don't,

25:53

but like, he also did it for the

25:55

buzz and the love of it and the

25:57

excitement. And for you, I genuinely, the biggest

25:59

panic. had this year was in regards

26:01

to you. And I don't know if you know

26:03

this. I genuinely could not have done

26:05

the show this year without you. I couldn't

26:08

have done it without you. It was such

26:10

a high wire act because loads of people

26:12

said we shouldn't do the show. Like loads

26:14

of people were like cancel the Grammys, do

26:17

better. Like what's her name? The amazing actress

26:19

from Hacks. Jean Smart. She said cancel all

26:21

award shows and give the money to fire

26:24

relief or whatever. It's like there was this

26:26

real, and everyone was like, why are you

26:28

doing it? It's not about people picking up

26:30

gold statues and all this. So there was

26:33

this huge attention on us and everyone

26:35

was going, you're cancelling it, right? You're canceling

26:37

it. I really didn't want to cancel it.

26:39

For many reasons. One, I thought we could

26:41

do real good on the night. Two I

26:44

thought it's three and a half weeks. If

26:46

the fires are still raging, but you had

26:48

been evacuated from your own home and you

26:50

were still like, I think we can do

26:52

the show. 100% wanted to do it more

26:54

than ever. What people don't realize, and I'm

26:56

going to come back to the bit by

26:59

unit second, but what people don't realize, and

27:01

why I was annoyed, but I don't get

27:03

annoyed much, you know that? When people were

27:05

like, this is just cancel it. We did

27:07

the math on this. Six thousand five

27:09

hundred people. All from Los Angeles,

27:11

in some ways, take a wage

27:14

from the Grammys happening. I'm not

27:16

talking about Sabrina Carpenter in Chapel

27:18

Rhone. I'm talking about the people

27:20

who build the stages, the caterers,

27:22

the producers, the writers, the choreographers.

27:24

That's how many, the drivers. It's

27:26

insane. So all these people saying,

27:28

and a lot of them lost

27:30

their houses, and a lot of

27:32

them I know. And the worst

27:34

thing I could do to them,

27:36

Hey guys, because you guys are

27:38

struggling right now and because you've

27:41

lost your house, and because you're having

27:43

a really tough time, we've decided to

27:45

take your wage away. Okay, just to make

27:47

things a bit easier for you so that

27:49

you don't need to work right now. Okay,

27:51

I hope that makes you feel good. You

27:53

know, we're really with you, hearts with you,

27:55

I love LA. What? Like, it was just,

27:57

it just didn't understand it. And then people

27:59

were like... There was somebody from Nashville who was

28:01

going to come to the show, big star,

28:03

and they said, their agent called and they said

28:05

they don't want to take hotel rooms in

28:07

LA, so we're no longer going to be doing

28:10

it because we don't, we think inappropriate to

28:12

take hotel rooms. I was

28:14

like, hotel rooms right now in Los

28:16

Angeles, the week of the Grammys, and actually

28:18

that week, which was three weeks ago,

28:20

we're at 32 % capacity. know what's funny?

28:22

I said this to Seizure. So Seizure, you

28:24

flew in from, we were in South

28:26

Africa because I mean, we did the other

28:28

podcasts together, a few episodes. Yeah, like now,

28:30

basically a few weeks ago. Yeah, we

28:32

did the episode together. Then he

28:34

flew it and I said to him, I

28:36

was shocked. I was like, LA is empty.

28:38

The airport is empty. The flights coming in

28:40

are empty. The hotels are empty. LA is

28:42

empty. But people are like, and then you

28:44

said, sorry, sorry to interrupt you. You said

28:47

to me, you were like, yo man, LA

28:49

is down. Like you remember, because you said

28:51

something about like how everything is, you noticed

28:53

it coming in. The flights were extremely cheap

28:55

or relatively cheap compared to what they would

28:57

have been like this time last year. And

29:00

then as you say, everything was fully available.

29:02

Everything was available because the hotels are empty.

29:04

And so I've got an artist team from

29:06

Nashville, when I live and LA

29:08

now, I'm 10 here. No, I change.

29:10

We can talk about that too, but I

29:12

can't get distracted. Let me go. So

29:15

like, you know, I feel very, when

29:17

something like that happens, you become, you either

29:20

go, 2019, there was a fire in

29:22

my garden. It was Getty Center. We were

29:24

evacuated. I thought everything was gone. It

29:26

was fine, my house. But I was like,

29:28

get me home to London. What the

29:30

hell am I doing here in this place

29:32

that can burn my house down? I

29:34

was like, done. This time, I don't know

29:36

why, entirely different. Maybe it's because

29:38

I've got two kids now, and like two little

29:40

Americans. Maybe it's just I've grown in to

29:42

love this country. Maybe it's I've just been here

29:44

this is my 11th year. But I just

29:46

had this pride in our city. I was like,

29:48

it was really, it was this like resilience

29:51

and love for it. Why we started with Isle

29:53

of LA on the show. It's why we

29:55

did all the local businesses. It all came from

29:57

that like heart of like what I feel.

29:59

Yeah, you had You had like a... No,

30:01

I'm in it. Uncharacteristically, um...

30:03

I say uncharacteristic because like, I

30:05

always find like English people are resilient,

30:08

but there isn't like the same level

30:10

of schmeltz. Yeah. Yeah. No, I know,

30:12

it is, I've got... But now you

30:14

have like a... No, I do. I

30:16

love this place. You're like, my neighbours,

30:18

and we're going to make this. And

30:21

we've got a community. Yeah. You were

30:23

USA. That's what I'm waiting for what

30:25

I'm waiting for. I'm not chanting USA,

30:27

guys. A few more years. I've started

30:29

to get to know my neighbours. A

30:31

few more years. Yeah, four more years.

30:34

Make the Grammys great again, guys. So

30:36

then when this artist said, we're not

30:38

going to come, we don't want to

30:41

come, and they weren't in the show

30:43

anyway, they had confirmed, but I was

30:45

hoping to get them, and they were

30:47

like, no, we're going to keep the

30:50

hotel rooms free. And it was the

30:52

idea that people who have been evacuated,

30:54

Not wealthy enough to stay in a

30:56

hotel for more than two or three

30:58

nights. You think they're staying at the

31:00

London on Sunset Boulevard for like three

31:02

months? Right. Like these, they can't, they

31:05

don't have any possessions anymore or they're

31:07

wealthy enough to rent a new place

31:09

or move on out. The economics of a

31:11

hotel will just never work. Right. So the

31:13

hotels are empty, everybody knows that in this

31:15

town, bars aren't being used, valets, like the

31:17

whole thing. So that annoy me. So that's

31:19

why I was like... A friend of mine,

31:21

Jeffrey, I'm going to, I hope he won't mind, Jeffrey

31:23

Katzenberg calls me. Literally while I'm evacuated and while everybody

31:25

is going, we don't know if the Grammy should happen.

31:27

And me and Harvey, Harvey Mason Junior, who runs the

31:29

recording academy, who employs me to produce the show, we

31:32

were both like, we really think we can do something

31:34

good on this show. And Jeffrey called me, and Jeffrey's

31:36

like one of my favorite people in the world. And

31:38

he called me and he said, like, like, like, why

31:40

don't we think about doing something about doing something on

31:42

television on television on television on television on television on

31:44

television on television with musicians with musicians with musicians with

31:46

musicians with musicians with musicians for musicians for musicians. the

31:48

fires. This was before fire aid had been announced and

31:50

Irving's thing. He said, I really think that you'd be

31:52

the right person to put it together, get the artists,

31:54

we could find a network, we'd do the whole thing.

31:56

And I said, literally, I was in our hotel room

31:58

with all my bags around me. I said, Jeffrey,

32:00

but to do that, you'd need X million dollars to put

32:02

on an event. I've already got X million dollars

32:05

on February the 2nd. It's the Grammys. You're also going

32:07

to need a network to like, put it on. And I was like,

32:09

I've already got that. It's CBS. You'd also need people

32:11

to watch it. And that's called the Grammys, so people

32:13

will watch it. And you'd also need to get Biance and Taylor

32:15

and Garga and Garga and Bruno and a Liva and a Liva

32:17

in a Liva in a Liva, a Liva, a Liva, a Liva,

32:19

a Liva, a Liva, a Liva, a Liva, a Liva, a Liva,

32:21

a Liva, a Liva, a Liva, a Liva, a Liva, a Liva,

32:23

a Liva, a Liva, a Liva, a Liva, a Liva, a Liva,

32:26

a Liva, a Liva, And I've already got that, it's called the

32:28

Grammys. I was like, why would we do something for that? Why

32:30

not just make this, that? And that's what we needed to do.

32:32

And it was a crazy high wire act for you

32:34

to do, because at the one time you're going, please

32:36

work with Sabrina Carpenter, but the other time you're saying,

32:39

go to this QR code and help these people. And

32:41

I think it was an impossible job that you did

32:43

unbelievably, unbelievably well. So much so that I want you

32:45

to know something that I want you to know something

32:47

that I only found out about about an hour about

32:50

an hour ago. I only found out about an hour

32:52

ago. During the telecast,

32:54

just during the telecast, there was donations

32:56

of over eight and a half million

32:58

dollars. All together, it's been nine, just

33:00

over nine. It's 24 million for all

33:02

the weekends events at the Grammys. But

33:04

just during the telecast is nine million.

33:06

It's eight and a half million. What

33:09

is fascinating about that? I literally just

33:11

found out a minute ago in my

33:13

office. Is the average donation of that

33:15

was less than 50 bucks. So what

33:17

happened was the biggest donation from people

33:19

at home was a 30 then it

33:21

was a 10 and then it was

33:23

a 5 That's the three donations Everything

33:25

else was beneath that level. Wow what

33:27

that means is? Hundreds of thousands

33:29

of people were watching the show and

33:32

watching you go. There's a QR code.

33:34

Yeah, and they were donating five ten

33:36

twenty enough that we raised $8 million

33:38

just from those donations. That's a good,

33:41

because you'd think if you raise $8

33:43

million, that's a hundred grand year, that's

33:45

half a million there. Of course, you

33:48

know, like, that's not, no corporate sponsors,

33:50

that's not including the artists that add

33:52

up to that 24, it's just people

33:55

at home. And like, that's because you,

33:57

successfully, and I'm not just blowing

33:59

smoke. your ass, but like that's because

34:01

you successfully and like seismically changed, like people

34:03

to do that, people to go up to

34:06

their screen and get their phone and then

34:08

type in a code rather than just watching

34:10

TV and enjoying the Grammys, that's because you

34:13

did it really well. And so... it was

34:15

a high wire act but I knew that

34:17

I needed you hugely because without you it

34:19

would have been impossible to get the excitement

34:22

and the joy and allow somebody to stand

34:24

there and win a Grammy to also have

34:26

someone who loves and understands music but fundamentally

34:29

to get the tone right so that we

34:31

could go from I love LA or the

34:33

fireman coming on stage or the commercials for

34:35

the businesses or all the other or the

34:38

choir that sung with Stevie Wonder from schools

34:40

that burned down all those bits that we'd

34:42

come up with yeah you had to get

34:45

us through them and at the same time

34:47

make a joke about I don't know, alligator

34:49

bites. Right, right. And that was needed. So

34:51

my big... I've talked for too long, I'm

34:54

sorry. No, what do you mean? There's the

34:56

podcast. We have to talk about the Grammys.

34:58

You're the Grammys guy. What do you mean?

35:00

But I freaked out. Do you not know

35:03

this? I don't know anything. I'm waiting to

35:05

hear it. All right. So it was the

35:07

week of the show. So we make this

35:10

announcement, we're going ahead with the show. And

35:12

I'm like, great, we're going ahead and I

35:14

start planning it and I start thinking of

35:16

all these ideas and I'm like, and then

35:19

Trevor could do this and like, oh, and

35:21

then Trevor could start like this and then

35:23

he could like unveil the photo of doors.

35:26

And I'm actually thinking of all of it

35:28

and like, really, and I'm phoning all the

35:30

artists because they all want to know that

35:32

it's going to be okay. Yeah. I went

35:35

around each one, not each one of them,

35:37

not all of them, but a lot of

35:39

them wanted a call to understand what we

35:41

were doing and I reassured them instantly and

35:44

they could feel, oh there's love here and

35:46

like it's gonna be okay. And it got

35:48

to like the 12th of January or 13th

35:51

of January, I don't know these exact dates,

35:53

but it was like, you know, and Eric

35:55

Cook, the co-ep, who sort of runs the

35:57

budget, comes into my office, and he says,

36:00

He says, we still haven't got Trevor's contract

36:02

signed. When are you announcing Trevor? And I

36:04

went, hold on. We haven't announced Trevor. And

36:07

he's like, no, I was like, why haven't

36:09

we announced Trevor? He's like, I don't know,

36:11

we've never announced Trevor. I was like, I

36:13

had no idea we hadn't announced you as

36:16

the host. Because we, you and I are,

36:18

I would say very close friends. And I

36:20

just, we just assume we're doing it together.

36:23

We're doing it together. I don't know. So

36:25

here's a funny thing about me though. No,

36:27

but here's a funny thing. I'm the opposite.

36:29

Cesar will even tell you this. I don't

36:32

assume anything. So even when they ask me,

36:34

are you doing the Grammys, I say, and

36:36

it's the truth. I go, they'll let me

36:38

know if they want me. No, but we

36:41

don't know. But what I'm saying is with

36:43

the fires and I'm saying with all of

36:45

that. So I'm still going like, like, hey,

36:48

hey, hey, hey, man, man, I don't, I

36:50

don't, and this guy, this guy's known me,

36:52

this guy's known me, we are, we are,

36:54

we are like 20 something, we are like

36:57

20 something, we are like 20 something years,

36:59

Cesar knows me, I take nothing for granted.

37:01

I always assume that I will be fired

37:04

or can be fired. Right. Anything in life

37:06

can change. And I don't even have like,

37:08

I'm like baby faced with most things. Yeah,

37:10

okay. I turn around and I go, you

37:13

are, you're very relaxed. You walk ahead. So

37:15

for me, I was just sitting in South

37:17

Africa, literally just being like, man, this is

37:19

crazy as the grammy's happening or, but I

37:22

don't even assume that I'm doing it even

37:24

though we've spoken. I have in my head

37:26

designed an entire show, which I didn't know,

37:29

based with you at the helm. Every element

37:31

of it, from like the Genzi commercial joke,

37:33

I already got like a bit of that,

37:35

like the whole idea of like everything was

37:38

with you in my head. It didn't cross

37:40

my mind for a second you weren't doing

37:42

the show. And then Eric went, well no,

37:45

we haven't announced him. So I was like,

37:47

so I had this cold sweat come over

37:49

my body. It was about like, like, like,

37:51

it must have been really early early in

37:54

really early in the early in the morning.

37:56

because I remember, so then it was nine

37:58

o'clock, that's right. So I call you. because

38:01

I'm panicking a little bit and it goes

38:03

straight to aunt's phone. Then I called Rachel

38:05

Rush, who's your agent, and it rang. Rachel

38:07

Rush never doesn't pick up. No, it's insta

38:10

pick. It's insta pick. She picks up instantly

38:12

and we've just announced we're definitely going ahead

38:14

with the Grammys. Rings and rings and rings.

38:16

No one picks up. I'm just getting snubbed.

38:19

I'm like, I am like heavy breathing. So

38:21

then I'm like, all right, I haven't got

38:23

Rachel, I haven't got Trevor, I haven't got

38:26

Norm. Derek will pick up, Derek will pick

38:28

up. So then, Derek, I ring him, nothing,

38:30

five minutes later, on Zoom, can I call

38:32

back later in the day? That's far too

38:35

formal for me, Derek. That is far too

38:37

formal. Then Rachel Rush text me and goes,

38:39

Rachel Rush text me, this is now like

38:42

945, Rachel Rush takes me going, sorry, sorry

38:44

I had a miscool, being in meetings, we'll

38:46

make sure we speak later in the day.

38:48

And I am like, so I try you

38:51

again, I'm like, oh my God. to try

38:53

you. Again, no answer. These are four people

38:55

who I know your listeners wouldn't necessarily know,

38:57

but four people who pick up my call.

39:00

I'm like a friend. And what's funny is

39:02

what I'm experiencing just from, because I don't

39:04

know anyone else's story, but for me, when

39:07

this was all happening, I was in South

39:09

Africa and I specifically decided that I'm gonna

39:11

take some time away from digital devices and

39:13

I like made a whole thing. Then I

39:16

wrote to one of my friends, I said

39:18

to one of my friends, I was like,

39:20

hey. I think I'm gonna send this out

39:23

as sort of an out of office to

39:25

everyone just to be like hey I'm staying

39:27

away from my phone if you then he

39:29

was like calm down he's like you're not

39:32

a doctor you're not a lawyer nobody needs

39:34

you like that dude and then he said

39:36

if someone needs to get a hold of

39:38

you they'll find you through your people so

39:41

relax so I was like all right literally

39:43

my phone for maybe 10 days was just

39:45

maybe look in the morning maybe look at

39:48

night and that was it well I was

39:50

having a utter freaking out. I'm sorry my

39:52

phone. So I'm also going, all four of

39:54

them are on a zoom right now, it's

39:57

nine in the morning, they've read the announcement,

39:59

they're going ahead, and they are discussing how

40:01

Trevor thinks it's not a good idea, and

40:04

I'm also annoyed at myself, genuinely annoyed myself,

40:06

and it was bad producing. I did, I

40:08

made a genuine mistake. Being serious, I actually

40:10

learned from this, and you don't even know

40:13

about it. In my head, I think of

40:15

us as... kind of a unit, in a

40:17

lovely way. I'm with you. I just thought,

40:20

oh Trevor will be fine with all of

40:22

this. And this is great. And I was

40:24

so annoyed at myself that we had made

40:26

an announcement, not with your name in it,

40:29

that the Grammys was happening and I hadn't

40:31

picked up the phone to you and gone,

40:33

do you think that's all right? Is that

40:35

okay with you? Will you still do it?

40:38

Because if you had said, I don't want

40:40

to do it, I don't think I would

40:42

have gone ahead and... We might have gone

40:45

ahead, I'm not saying you're bigger than the

40:47

Grammys, but I would have said Harvey, I

40:49

need to find a host that can manage

40:51

what we're about to do before we go

40:54

ahead. We can't announce we're doing it until

40:56

I know who's going to be the voice

40:58

of our ideas and our vision and whatever.

41:01

And I was so angry at myself, because

41:03

it's a real ball drop for me, and

41:05

as you'll know, I'm like quite... And I

41:07

had no emotion good. So I was sorry

41:10

that you went through all of this. So

41:12

I called a meeting with my staff. I

41:14

was skipping from the grass, enjoying a mountain.

41:16

Where the hell were Norm, Derek, and Rachel.

41:19

So I called a meeting with Patrick and

41:21

Amrage, and we called in, and they all

41:23

knew. It was about 1030 that morning. I

41:26

said, I've got, I've just got something in

41:28

my stomach I have to share with all

41:30

of you. Trevor's out. I think Trevor's out.

41:32

I swear to God. The room, it was

41:35

the most morbid room. Everyone was like, oh

41:37

my God, I was like, I've, I said

41:39

I've fed up. I was like, I didn't,

41:42

I don't know what's happened. I might be

41:44

able to talk him back in. I was

41:46

spiraling. I don't know what was going on

41:48

with me. I'm this to get the character.

41:51

I was really out of character. But I

41:53

was like, there was so much at stake

41:55

for me with this show. That makes sense.

41:58

I put my heart and soul into this

42:00

Grammys, partly because I love the Grammys now.

42:02

I've just decided it's like, it's my baby

42:04

now. I've done it five years and... And

42:07

I love, I'm a proper music fan, so

42:09

I love that. And I just like telly

42:11

and the challenge of it. And I've, and

42:13

the LA thing evacuated. And now in age

42:16

home and now we can raise money. Yeah.

42:18

And I was like, this is so idiotic,

42:20

give me an amateur game. Anyway, no one

42:23

takes me back. Still, it's now like 1130

42:25

and no one has called me. So I

42:27

know I'm screwed. Because no one's called me

42:29

back and it's... And it's like, you've got

42:32

to admit, that does sound weird. It does

42:34

sound weird. It's bad. And I'm like, and

42:36

maybe they're annoyed and in check and whatever,

42:39

and I knew that like Norman had friends

42:41

who'd lost houses and stuff. So they were

42:43

all probably like, we shouldn't do the show.

42:45

And Rachel's a very sensitive person as well.

42:48

So she might have thought, I could see

42:50

how all of them could say to you

42:52

in some way. I could see how all

42:54

of them could go. Everyone goes, everyone's in

42:57

the room. It's about midday. My phone goes

42:59

and it says Trevor Noah. I'm like, fuck.

43:01

For the first time I'm like, it was

43:04

like a girlfriend telling me if I was

43:06

going to get a second day. I became

43:08

this pathetic kid. So I'm like, guys, guys,

43:10

give me the room, give me the room,

43:13

give me the room, everyone, give me the

43:15

room. Everyone, give me the room. You know,

43:17

so everyone files out the room, going good

43:20

luck, good luck, and I'm like, pick up

43:22

the phone. You within a minute, I was

43:24

like, hey man, how are you? You're like,

43:26

good, I'm just in South Africa, how are

43:29

you doing? I was like, I'm good, everything

43:31

okay with you? Yeah, just having a break

43:33

with mom. And literally I was like, what

43:36

an idiot am I? I've spent the whole

43:38

morning crying over this disaster. And I was

43:40

like, I didn't know there was a disaster

43:42

on your end. I was pretending to be

43:45

so cool. I've never been as uncall in

43:47

my life. you know the Grammys at some

43:49

point we should talk about it you're like

43:51

yeah yeah at some point we should just

43:54

yeah whenever like you know I'm around I'm

43:56

back in LA next week let's talk then

43:58

sure yeah and absolutely Meanwhile, we had the

44:01

opposite, because obviously the fires happened. Now we're

44:03

wondering what's going to happen, how are you

44:05

going to do it, how people are going

44:07

to do it. Everyone's trying to figure out

44:10

the semblance of normalcy that they can attain

44:12

during a disaster like this. And then you

44:14

and I spoke. We thought they were going

44:17

to get canceled. Yeah, we thought it was

44:19

going to get canceled. And then it was

44:21

you who said to me, you had like

44:23

no doubt in Ben being able to pull

44:26

it off funny enough. I didn't. I've worked

44:28

with you guys for like four years now,

44:30

I've seen how you guys do your thing,

44:32

and I know the chemistry you have, right?

44:35

The first time in Vegas, I was familiar

44:37

with your work, but I obviously had never

44:39

seen you deliver. And after that year, I

44:42

even told him, I said, this is the

44:44

right person for you. Like I've never seen

44:46

an on-air chemistry like what you guys have.

44:48

And I'm not even saying this, because you,

44:51

yeah, right, right? He'll know. You put out

44:53

the announcement even on Instagram and funny enough

44:55

I sent you a DM and my response

44:58

was like a fire emoji Which I then

45:00

thought, well, I probably should have done it.

45:02

I sat in my house with two houses

45:04

Yeah, but I was a hundred percent sure

45:07

you'd be able to pull it off. I

45:09

just knew that the tone of the show

45:11

would have to be different for sure, which

45:13

is all we initially discussed yeah, and then

45:16

everything from that point on Did you ever

45:18

was so my instinct was obviously wrong? as

45:20

in like you hadn't you weren't pulling out

45:23

no but did you ever consider actually maybe

45:25

i shouldn't be hosting it this year i

45:27

don't or i don't want the challenge of

45:29

it this year or you know what maybe

45:32

this isn't for me did it cross your

45:34

mind at any point or you were just

45:36

as easy going as you made out to

45:39

me on the phone okay let's let's take

45:41

a break i'll think about it and then

45:43

i'll i'll give you the answer to that

45:49

So I want to take a moment to

45:51

talk about Zip Recruiter. No matter what job

45:53

you're searching for or hiring for Zip Recruiter

45:55

can help. Today we're talking about the Grammys,

45:57

and if you just think about a show

45:59

like that, it's incredible the number of very...

46:02

specific jobs that go into putting it all

46:04

together. You know, it's actually funny. Speaking

46:06

of jobs, you and I basically met

46:08

through jobs, right? And you and

46:10

I met on a production

46:12

set, basically. Like I was doing,

46:15

you know, the kids show, you were doing,

46:17

what are you doing at the time?

46:19

MTV? Yeah, so you're doing MTV.

46:21

And so you go there day

46:23

one. And what do you expect?

46:26

Well. I don't really have an

46:28

expectation because how I got my

46:30

job was via like an open

46:32

audition. So literally everything was a

46:34

learning experience. And just, you know,

46:36

okay, what do you do? Then they'll tell

46:38

you, then you move on. Okay, what do you

46:40

do? What do you do? What do you do?

46:42

What's your role? How does it all fit together

46:45

to then create the big production?

46:47

That's probably the most mind blowing

46:49

part of a production is how

46:51

many people need to come together

46:53

to make it happen. And they're like,

46:55

what do you mean doing what? I'm like, what? We're doing

46:57

what? There's literally everything in entertainment. You know, I

46:59

remember when I discovered there's somebody whose job it is to

47:02

make sure that the cables that are on the cameras don't

47:04

get tangled up because they're... You know, and like, that's one

47:06

of the most important people on the job. Like, running along

47:08

the sidelines at the NFL or, you know, at a live

47:10

show like the Gramys or you name it. Like, that person's

47:13

job is just to make sure that the cables, that the

47:15

cables, that the cables, that the cables, that the cables, that

47:17

the cables, that the cables, that the cables, don't, don't, don't,

47:19

don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't,

47:21

don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't You

47:23

know, I've always wondered, what's the first boy group?

47:25

I've always read that since I was

47:28

a kid. And I was like, I

47:30

wonder what a first boy group is.

47:32

Like, what is that? It's the group

47:35

that is most important. That's my wife's

47:37

first boy. Hey man. This is why you

47:39

need like hiring. Because I mean,

47:41

how many jobs are there? Do you know

47:44

what I mean? Like think about it.

47:46

Everyone thinks of a cameraman. Yeah. When

47:48

a movie is being made or when

47:50

a show is being created on live

47:52

TV, do you know how many different

47:54

people are making that camera work? You

47:56

know what I mean? You watch something, you

47:58

think two people were having a... conversation.

48:00

You don't know behind them. There were

48:03

200 people making it look like it

48:05

was just two people having a conversation.

48:07

And all of those roles need people.

48:10

And they need to be filled. You

48:12

need to know where to go and

48:14

find them. And that's where Zip Recruitor

48:16

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48:19

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48:21

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48:23

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48:26

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48:28

no matter the role or industry, they

48:30

really mean it. Whether you need to

48:33

find that one person, that one employee

48:35

for your small business, or staff for

48:37

a big event. You can see for

48:40

yourself by going to zipprecooter.com/Trevor. With smart

48:42

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48:44

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48:47

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48:49

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See for yourself. Try it now for

49:00

free at ziprecooter.com/Trevor. That's Ziprecooter. Ziprecooter. The

49:03

smartest way to hire. Okay, so 2024

49:05

is coming to a close. I've been

49:07

on tour almost for two years. This

49:10

is like me finally wrapping things up.

49:12

I put on a few extra shows

49:14

in New York, at the Beacon, at

49:17

the Comedy Cella, at a little theater

49:19

downtown, at the Soho Theatre, and then

49:21

I decided I'm going to go to

49:24

South Africa for Christmas, I'm going to

49:26

spend time with my mom, and then

49:28

I'll spend new years in South Africa

49:31

and Johannesburg, which I don't regularly do

49:33

with my friends, Cesarinella, everyone. We normally

49:35

travel. And then I decide, you know

49:38

what, I'm just going to spend time

49:40

at home at home doing like nothing

49:42

and just chill. Just get back to

49:44

home vibes, home vibes. So I'm home,

49:47

I'm home, I'm home, having a wonderful

49:49

time. While we're there, the news comes

49:51

out about LA. And it's the same

49:54

news that always comes out every year.

49:56

There are wildfires in LA. Now... It's

49:58

not diminished by the fact that it

50:01

always happens, but you always think to

50:03

yourself, oh yeah, they got it, man.

50:05

They always got it. It can get

50:08

a little out of hand, but they've

50:10

got it. They've got it. They've got

50:12

it. Then the fires grow. And the

50:14

fires grow. They keep growing. Now you

50:16

keep growing. Now you hear about evacuation

50:18

orders. And now you hear about evacuation

50:21

orders. And now we're reading this secondhand.

50:23

Now we're like, wow. It looks like

50:26

the whole cities burn. Now personal

50:28

friends start texting me. or like

50:30

my manager, my agent Matt Lake,

50:32

literally his house gone, like gone,

50:35

gone, gone, gone, ashes. No, but

50:37

you, so now you start getting

50:39

direct people going, hey man, how's

50:41

gone, hey, how's gone, hey, how's

50:43

gone, hey, how's gone, hey, how's

50:45

gone, hey, how's gone, and now

50:47

you're like, wait, wait, wait, everyone,

50:49

how far is this thing getting?

50:51

Now you're like, oh, everyone is

50:53

gonna be involved in this. but

50:55

it's not about me so I'm just like

50:57

I hope everyone's okay and whenever there's a

50:59

tragedy I hate being the person who's texting

51:01

people because I feel like I don't need

51:03

you to reply to my text while shit's

51:06

going wrong in your life so I'll text

51:08

you afterwards because my text doesn't necessarily

51:10

help you know what I mean so I'm quiet

51:12

I'm spending time off my devices we go we see

51:15

things are being canceled moved etc I go

51:17

sees where what do you think's gonna happen

51:19

he's gonna happen he's like I don't know But

51:21

if you know if anything happened they'll let

51:23

you know I'm like all right. We'll

51:25

see other Grammys still happening. We don't

51:27

know we don't know we don't know. Grammys

51:29

gets announced The Grammys are happening, but they

51:32

say nothing about me. So I'm like oh,

51:34

okay. Guess there's gonna be a shift. It's

51:36

fine. Then I go Caesar you saw the

51:38

Grammys is happening. He's like oh, okay. Guess

51:40

there's gonna be a shift. It's gonna be

51:42

a shift. It's fine. Then I'm like Ben

51:44

will do I'm like Ben will do I

51:46

don't will do I don't And I'm

51:48

fine, I'm just living my own

51:51

life. We speak on the phone.

51:53

The only doubts I had were doubts

51:55

around... So I'll start with this.

51:57

Number one, to what James...

51:59

And what anyone who's hosted an award

52:02

show will know. Like I remember like

52:04

talking to Kevin Hart about it, I've

52:06

talked to Chris Rock about it, you

52:08

name it. Hosting a show is one

52:11

of the more thankless things you can

52:13

do. Right? And not thankless like, oh,

52:15

I need the thanks, but it's just

52:17

because it's such a high wire act,

52:20

even if there's nothing bad happening in

52:22

the world. You step onto a stage

52:24

where people haven't come for you. and

52:27

you then do the thing that you

52:29

do, which is already precarious. Comedy is

52:31

not a safe art form. Full stop.

52:33

Like, just even people who are coming

52:36

to a comedy club, there's a possibility

52:38

that comedy doesn't go the way they

52:40

wanted to. For a comedian, it's not

52:42

a safe art form. No comedians like,

52:45

ah, what a lovely easy job I

52:47

have, right? So you start with that.

52:50

Then an award show where people are

52:52

coming for music is not even like

52:54

the Emmys and the Oscars where people

52:56

are, you know, used to sitting down,

52:58

having people talk all night. No, the

53:00

music speaks at the Grammys. You know,

53:02

there's very little speaking at the Grammys.

53:04

So I have very little speaking at

53:06

the Grammys. So I have my latent

53:09

doubts about doing the Grammys. I roll

53:11

to the Grammys because of you. You

53:13

know what I mean? There's literally from

53:15

the beginning. I was like the best

53:17

show on. And I love making people

53:19

feel good. Now the fires are happening.

53:21

I go, okay, so I've already got

53:23

the doubts I had. But now, what

53:25

are you throwing a party while everyone's

53:27

having a funeral? What are you doing?

53:29

How bad is the devastation? Are you

53:31

assuming devastation on their behalf? Because that's

53:33

another thing I've realized we do quite

53:35

a lot in society these days is

53:37

we assume things on other people's behoves

53:40

that they themselves aren't experiencing. Baby Face

53:42

is a good example. Baby Face wasn't

53:44

pissed off. People were pissed off. How

53:46

dare you! But the man that you

53:48

are daring on behalf of is like,

53:50

nah, I get it, man. It's part

53:52

of the game, relax. People get offended

53:54

on, you know, the places behalf, people

53:56

get offended. People, we do that, and

53:58

sometimes we... we do it, I think

54:00

most of the time we try and

54:02

do it out of good, but the intention doesn't

54:05

match up with the outcome, right? So

54:07

I didn't want to make the assumption

54:09

and be like, no, I cannot do

54:11

the Grammys at this tough time. I

54:13

cannot, then it's like, whoa, what about

54:15

the people who've worked for a year

54:17

on their music? What about the people

54:20

who've prepared for you to work on

54:22

the Grammys? What about the people? And

54:24

I spend most of my time with

54:26

these guys. chatting to, you know, the

54:28

stage hand backstage. I'm being ushered around,

54:30

you know, by the crew. I'm building

54:33

bonds with the cameraman because you

54:35

know what it's like, Caesar, when

54:37

you've hosted. That's the thing. These

54:39

are the people that you're doing

54:41

most of it with. So I'm not in

54:43

the position to assume anything. I

54:46

just go, I will work with what

54:48

is given to me. But what I

54:50

thought from the get-go, even when I came

54:52

to LA, was, man, this is going to

54:54

be hard. And this is going to

54:57

be hard because half the people who

54:59

are here have a feeling of sadness

55:01

that they're carrying. It's

55:03

mixed in with resilience, but

55:05

it's still sadness. The other half

55:08

have some sort of reverence for

55:10

what everyone is experiencing,

55:12

but they've come into town,

55:15

but they also don't want to

55:17

be the people with confetti and

55:19

streamers. So every... Normal pre-grammy party

55:21

was canceled every after party was

55:24

canceled. There was no Spotify party

55:26

There was no CAA party. There

55:28

was no Warner music party.

55:30

There's nothing There's nothing so the

55:33

preamble feels different people feel different

55:35

people feel different You know the

55:37

first time you're gonna put something

55:40

nice on is just to go to the

55:42

show. That's that's not usual and Then

55:44

on top of that you realize that

55:46

the audience isn't having the same feelings

55:48

depending on where they are? They're not having

55:51

the same feeling. Somebody's watching in London. They're

55:53

not having the same feeling. They're happy for

55:55

Ray. You know? And then someone's watching from

55:57

Australia and then someone's watching from... But these

55:59

people are... like oh yeah we know that there is

56:01

a fire but also when we had a

56:03

fire you didn't do the thing so

56:05

we're having a different feeling and and

56:07

I was watching this online I was

56:09

seeing people so I didn't I didn't

56:11

assume anything but I knew for me

56:14

personally I was like this is probably

56:16

gonna be my least favorite Grammys because

56:18

whatever happens I will be doing

56:20

something wrong but it was it your

56:22

least favorite in the end yeah easily right

56:25

Just because you were worried about that high

56:27

line of how you were but I mean

56:29

because you couldn't be loose So not even

56:31

loose so it's like and when I say

56:33

least favorite I'm using you know like

56:35

favorite the way you know it's like

56:37

your experience You don't mean least for

56:39

as in the show you mean your

56:41

experience But for me as Trevor. Yeah, this

56:43

was the most stressful most high-wire

56:46

most because I I don't

56:48

want anyone who's experiencing this

56:50

disaster to feel like I'm

56:52

minimizing because I'm not I literally

56:54

have some of my people in

56:56

the audience where we've experienced a

56:58

collective loss. So even on a

57:00

personal level, it's not like strangers.

57:02

I'm like, I want you to think, you

57:04

know. But then you know, there's someone

57:06

who's watching going like, oh really? What?

57:08

I just tuned in for a funeral

57:11

because it is a celebration. And I

57:13

always think that's the paradox of life

57:15

to accept is that in the same

57:17

hospital where somebody's dying, a

57:19

baby's just been born. Literally.

57:22

Literally. And then in another hallway,

57:24

people are crying because they've had

57:26

the exact opposite experience. But what

57:28

do you do? Do you say

57:30

the hospital is all sad? Or do you

57:32

say no balloons? Or do you say no crying?

57:34

Like what do you do? And that's what

57:37

it felt like coming in. And that's

57:39

what it felt like coming in. And so

57:41

even doing the show, you saw it's like,

57:43

we were like, what jokes would work or

57:45

wouldn't work or what do we say or

57:47

not say? This is when I knew the

57:49

rumor was different. This is different. That's

57:52

when I knew this was going to be a weird different

57:54

vibe. I didn't know which way the vibe would go, but

57:56

I've never done a Grammys. Other than COVID, but that

57:58

was different, I've never done... everyone is sat.

58:00

You mean because usually it's the mayhem

58:02

that they're arriving? Yeah, Taylor's just walking.

58:05

Nice to see you. Nice to see

58:07

you. And you know that table and

58:09

that table in and someone's over there.

58:11

But you think that's because we started

58:13

it with with you talking about devastation.

58:15

No, no, no, no, but they were

58:17

seated. Yeah. Regardless of what I know

58:19

what you mean, but they were in

58:21

their seats. They weren't, people are normally

58:23

walking in. You know, the wrappers are

58:25

there, or there, There's usually a party

58:27

in everybody's dressing room. Yes. There was

58:29

none of that. There was none of

58:31

that. But there was by the end

58:34

of the show. Yes, but it wasn't

58:36

a party. It was a it was

58:38

it was the feeling that you have

58:40

after a funeral or awake. It was

58:42

it was a feeling where most of

58:44

the feelings that people had had had

58:46

had been addressed. So you know when

58:48

you when you're applying a bomb to

58:50

a burn wound. There is a feeling

58:52

of relief that comes with it that

58:54

allows you to not feel burnt for

58:56

a moment. Like Kendrick and his acceptance

58:58

speech, that was a love letter to

59:00

LA. Kendrick may have made the same

59:02

acceptance speech where the fire is not

59:05

there, but I don't think he would

59:07

have. Now he's like, he's talking about

59:09

his love for each and every part

59:11

of those, every city. It wasn't just

59:13

Compton now. It was him going, yo

59:15

man, Pasadena, and you know, Santa Monica,

59:17

and he's like, all of this is

59:19

part of me. Every single artist who

59:21

got up and said something about something

59:23

became part of the bomb that soothed

59:25

the nights and the show. So I

59:27

think the feeling we experienced at the

59:29

end with Beyonce standing up there, I've

59:31

never seen Beyonce that emotional. Never. Did

59:34

you think that was because of what

59:36

happened in Los Angeles? Or do you

59:38

think it's because of everything? Winning an

59:40

album? No, no, no, no. I think

59:42

it's like people saw Billy Irish crying

59:44

when... Beyonce was up on stage and

59:46

lots of people have said to me

59:48

why do you think she was crying

59:50

and it's really interesting it's like I

59:52

think it could have just been the

59:54

emotion of the night but I mean

59:56

it could have been anything from being

59:58

happy to see Beyonce some people were

1:00:00

saying oh she's sad that she's lost

1:00:02

and that's why she's crying. I was

1:00:05

like, oh my God, you don't know

1:00:07

this guy. Yeah, you don't know any

1:00:09

nicest person. Yeah, you don't know Billy

1:00:11

then. There is no, like she is

1:00:13

just the most exceptional human being. But

1:00:15

I actually think, I think what set

1:00:17

her off if I had to guess.

1:00:19

Yeah. And again, I don't know, I

1:00:21

really don't know, I don't know, I

1:00:23

don't know, I don't know her that

1:00:25

well. But I think that's a fireman

1:00:27

made that moment emotional. a new strait away,

1:00:29

I was like, we have to get firemen

1:00:32

to give out them, because that's, because that

1:00:34

is the biggest, that's the Celine Dion moment

1:00:36

that we had last year. It's, you know,

1:00:38

it's special. If it wasn't the fires, you'd

1:00:40

be asking Paul McCartney or McGelegia. And so

1:00:42

the idea that you get 20 firefighters and

1:00:44

you play some emotive music and you come

1:00:46

out, I actually think that was a real,

1:00:49

um... period or a full stop at

1:00:51

the end of the show because it

1:00:53

was like we've done all these bits,

1:00:55

let's support these local businesses, let's have

1:00:57

this like Gargar Bruno performance. And then

1:01:00

at the end you just see like

1:01:02

this powerful 20 fireman giving

1:01:04

out this historic moment that was

1:01:06

to Beyonce that made it even

1:01:08

more historic, it's the thing that

1:01:10

people have been begging for for however

1:01:13

many years and it's a group of

1:01:15

firefighters, I loved it. Yeah, I just thought that

1:01:17

might have led to the emotion. It was

1:01:19

like the person who they grew up loving

1:01:21

in Biance, say someone like Billy, and you

1:01:24

got the firefighters there, and the night's gone,

1:01:26

like it's been a lovely night, music's brought

1:01:28

people together, and I thought maybe that was

1:01:30

why there was so much emotion in the

1:01:32

room, but I don't know. I think it

1:01:34

was a combination of everything, actually. Because you

1:01:36

were seated in the room, you're not, yeah.

1:01:38

Even before the show started, so if

1:01:41

you go back and you listen to...

1:01:43

everything that leads up to Grammy weekend,

1:01:45

right? The pre-parties, etc, and so on.

1:01:47

That adds the energy. The vibrancy of

1:01:49

the city, as the energy. And not

1:01:51

that the city wasn't vibrant, but things

1:01:54

were very different from, I'd say

1:01:56

Wednesday onwards, and that was evidence.

1:01:58

In the first writing meeting... we already agree

1:02:00

that the tone of the show would have to

1:02:02

be different. Not to say that the show is

1:02:05

going to be sad, but we're observing a moment.

1:02:07

And then by the time you get to the

1:02:09

actual show, everything that you're saying,

1:02:11

it ends up being big in the sum

1:02:13

of its parts. So yes, Beyonce is emotional

1:02:15

because it is a very big moment, but

1:02:18

also you correct the people that do hand

1:02:20

over their war tour, do make it even

1:02:22

that much more amplified. So I

1:02:24

think it was all of that coming together

1:02:26

and... It ended up being beautiful in a

1:02:28

way because if you look at the reviews

1:02:30

now, when people speak about the show

1:02:33

holistically, they're saying best Grammys

1:02:35

in however many years. Because that's really

1:02:37

what TV is about. That rollercoast of

1:02:39

emotion is actually quite good sometimes. If

1:02:41

you can cry this one moment, but

1:02:44

also end up crying because you're

1:02:46

joyful and you're happy that Beyonce finally

1:02:48

clings the award. That's what makes it

1:02:50

beautiful. So it ultimately worked out. Yeah, the

1:02:53

emotion went, it was really amazing. Because

1:02:55

like the firefighters were backstage, man, they

1:02:57

were a great group. Just like, just,

1:02:59

you know, because what I appreciated, what

1:03:02

you did there with them, was we

1:03:04

do a good job of calling on people

1:03:06

to help us when we need the help.

1:03:08

We forget that they're people as well.

1:03:10

You know what I mean? So we call them

1:03:12

firefighters, but they're people. Yeah. And it was cool to

1:03:14

meet the people who are firefighters backstage and just see

1:03:16

them like laughing and talking shit. So I was talking

1:03:19

to one of the... one of the pilots who flies

1:03:21

the helicopters and he like runs the command of all

1:03:23

of them and he has to manage the airspace you

1:03:25

know like choreograph what the planes are doing what the

1:03:28

helicopters are doing so that they don't crash him because

1:03:30

you have to wait for the one to go by

1:03:32

before the other one can come so that they can

1:03:34

drop the water and do the thing you know

1:03:36

it's complicated but you need the water to be coming

1:03:38

as quickly as possible you've got them picking up at

1:03:41

the reservoir so he's telling me this we're talking about

1:03:43

it we're talking about it we're we're talking about it

1:03:45

we having but then but then but then but then

1:03:47

and we're epitomize the paradox of humanity because on the

1:03:49

one hand he's he's going yeah man this thing was

1:03:51

crazy and he's like man but this was so great

1:03:53

thank you for having us and I can't believe this

1:03:55

and he's like and Beyonce took a selfie with she

1:03:57

took a selfie with every firefighter backstage by the way

1:04:00

Let me tell you something, like, she even

1:04:02

thanked them before she accepted the award.

1:04:04

You noticed that, right? She, by the

1:04:06

way, not just thanked them. Beyonce, took

1:04:08

the award from both, like, there were

1:04:10

two people, she took the award from

1:04:12

one, hugged both, looked at both in

1:04:14

the eye, and I know some people,

1:04:16

like, what's the big deal with that?

1:04:18

For me, those are like some of

1:04:20

the moments where I appreciate the humanity

1:04:23

of someone more, because when you've won

1:04:25

album of the year, you black out.

1:04:27

Yeah. Like I don't judge anymore. I

1:04:29

remember when I won the Emmy, every

1:04:31

thought I had before that, you've experienced

1:04:33

this, the first time, especially, or the,

1:04:35

like, and it was Bonsie's first time,

1:04:37

you black out, you think you know

1:04:39

everything before you come in there, and

1:04:41

they say your name, your mouth goes

1:04:43

a little dry, you go wait, what,

1:04:45

wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. And

1:04:47

she had the, the humanity, I wouldn't

1:04:49

even say the presence of mine to

1:04:51

go, And then for me, what was

1:04:53

great was seeing it carry on backstage.

1:04:56

She like took selfies with the, and

1:04:58

this is like, you know as an

1:05:00

artist, you don't want to be taking

1:05:02

a selfie when you've been crying a

1:05:04

little bit and your makeup isn't great,

1:05:06

the lighting is not, no, Beyonce took

1:05:08

all the selfies, the light was terrible

1:05:10

backstage. These people were, and she was

1:05:12

talking to everybody and laughing, it's like

1:05:14

the full encapsulation of what the night

1:05:16

was about, which is what LA feels

1:05:18

like it's going through as going through

1:05:20

as a place. And which is what

1:05:22

every place that goes through a disaster

1:05:24

feels like, right? You have the shock

1:05:27

of the events happening. You have the

1:05:29

moment where everyone wonders like how bad

1:05:31

it's going to get or how far

1:05:33

it will go. And then from that

1:05:35

in the most cliched way, you start

1:05:37

noticing little sprouts of hope. And then

1:05:39

you start seeing resilience and you see

1:05:41

the first smile and the first hug

1:05:43

and the first, you know, and I

1:05:45

think that for me, even on a

1:05:47

personal level. was a beautiful encapsulation. of

1:05:49

all of it and I think I

1:05:51

can't speak for her, but I think

1:05:53

that's what Beyonce was feeling. I was

1:05:55

like, remember man, she didn't get, she

1:05:57

didn't get nominated at the Country Music

1:06:00

Awards. No. Imagine what it feels like

1:06:02

for Beyonce. Yeah. You dabble in this

1:06:04

thing called country. Now people think you're

1:06:06

dabbling. People don't know how much she

1:06:08

loves and grew up on country. You

1:06:10

know what I mean? It's proper Texas

1:06:12

girl. You do this thing. And then

1:06:14

Country Music and then Country Music Music

1:06:16

Awards Awards. And you're like damn, you

1:06:18

know, and then here you are in

1:06:20

another award show and you go All

1:06:22

right. Well, I don't know. I don't

1:06:24

know what will happen as an artist

1:06:26

you might have made a terrible mistake

1:06:28

And so I think it's a culmination

1:06:31

of everything. It's the room. It's the

1:06:33

night. It's the people. It's the journey.

1:06:35

It's her personal journey. It's it's all

1:06:37

of it and I think everyone else

1:06:39

in the room felt that for her

1:06:41

and for everything There's a happy ending

1:06:43

we all want that that's not life

1:06:45

unfortunately, but we all want that and

1:06:47

in a way that felt like the

1:06:49

happy ending It's the craziest sentence a

1:06:51

human being can ever say but it

1:06:53

was like It was amazing that the

1:06:55

underdog won You know in as well

1:06:57

to say like Biance is the underdog,

1:06:59

but that's what it felt like in

1:07:01

the room right Whether it was Taylor

1:07:04

Swift or Billy Eilish or or Shabuzzi

1:07:06

or you know Buster rhymes or you

1:07:08

know? people were like Damn, she did

1:07:10

it! And I know people like, yeah,

1:07:12

but it's Beyonce, it's like, no, no,

1:07:14

no, no, but still, in the same

1:07:16

way, Superman at the end of the

1:07:18

movie, we go, oh, he got out

1:07:20

from, oh, under that building that Zod

1:07:22

smashed him with, that's what it felt

1:07:24

like, is like, we've been on this

1:07:26

journey, and that was, yeah, it was

1:07:28

just like a magical real moment to

1:07:30

be part of. Did the atmosphere in

1:07:32

the atmosphere in the room, because, because,

1:07:34

you're in the atmosphere in the room,

1:07:37

like, like, like, like, like, like, like,

1:07:39

like, like, like, like, like, like, like,

1:07:41

like, like, like, like, like, like, like,

1:07:43

like, like, like, like, like, like, like,

1:07:45

like, like, like, like, like, like, like,

1:07:47

like, like, like, like, like, like, like,

1:07:49

like, like, like, like, like, like in

1:07:51

the in the parking lot basically with

1:07:53

all the cameras. Oh yeah you're disconnected

1:07:55

and a weird thing. I'm sort of

1:07:57

in the most connected and also the

1:07:59

most disconnected. at every element in some

1:08:01

ways, but then you're not, you're trying

1:08:03

to just procate. But the feeling in the

1:08:06

room, what was the feeling in the room when

1:08:08

Kendrick won? What was the feeling in the

1:08:10

room when Beyonce won? And did the, did

1:08:12

the, did the, did the room change during

1:08:14

the night? I think at the beginning, everyone

1:08:16

was like, how are we supposed to be? But

1:08:19

I do feel like at the end, there was just

1:08:21

a love in there and it was a real warmth.

1:08:23

as you correctly point out, people are kind

1:08:25

of looking for permission to act a

1:08:27

certain way, but they don't know how to act until

1:08:29

you give them that direction, right? And so

1:08:31

in the opening of the show, I think quickly

1:08:33

people were there to celebrate artists and

1:08:36

music, obviously these music biggest nights, but

1:08:38

you made them observe a moment initially.

1:08:40

And they're like, okay, cool, we're with

1:08:42

that. And then slowly the show

1:08:44

started to open up with the performances,

1:08:47

obviously the production, etc, etc, and so

1:08:49

on. And people started to feel good

1:08:51

about it. Now when you mention Kendrick,

1:08:54

I can tell you right now

1:08:56

everybody when the Kendrick announcement wall,

1:08:58

because it happened twice in the

1:09:01

live show, not the three awards

1:09:03

you won before. Both those

1:09:05

instances, when Kendrick won, I

1:09:08

think everybody in the building was

1:09:10

happy for him. Everybody was

1:09:12

happy. Yeah, yeah, they were. To the

1:09:14

points where they literally sang along

1:09:16

to not like us until he

1:09:19

stepped on stage. I will use

1:09:21

Drake Fed. I wasn't sensed. And

1:09:23

you were. Yeah, yeah. And he

1:09:25

is. He is. She was like,

1:09:27

what is this? When the crowd

1:09:29

chanted and you said, why not?

1:09:31

Yeah. I mean, wow. You were

1:09:33

personally hurt. But also you're seeing

1:09:35

like the biggest icons in the

1:09:37

world doing it. Yeah. You're not

1:09:39

just seeing the crowd doing it.

1:09:41

You're seeing, I had all the

1:09:43

cameras and you see Taylor and Beyonce

1:09:45

and they're all singing along. Let me

1:09:48

tell you something, that moment was so

1:09:50

big that the only text I've gotten

1:09:52

other than congratulations on a Grammy's, the

1:09:54

next number of text that I've gotten

1:09:57

from people, without fail, the largest number

1:09:59

is. This, like, like, basically, I'll try

1:10:01

and sum them all up in one

1:10:03

sense, as one of my friends wrote

1:10:06

in the best way, he said, huh,

1:10:08

this was a tough night for you

1:10:10

light skins, huh? That's what this, that's

1:10:12

what people all sexist me. Are you

1:10:14

okay? That's what you mean. I'm like,

1:10:16

and it was organic. That was, because

1:10:18

the room before that sort of was

1:10:20

observing the night. That song elicited something

1:10:22

in them where they forgot that they

1:10:24

were participating. And they were just like,

1:10:27

ah, sad, sad, sad, say, a minor!

1:10:29

But I mean, would you think that

1:10:31

was a turning point? Do you think

1:10:33

there was a turning point? Or do

1:10:35

you think it was a turning point?

1:10:37

Or do you think it was? No,

1:10:39

no, no, no. It already started to

1:10:41

warm up long before that. Well, where

1:10:43

would you say the same point? I'm

1:10:45

interested. The person who had the most

1:10:47

difficult task all night all night, apart

1:10:50

from you, apart from you. I think

1:10:52

we gave Sabrina Carpenter into a really

1:10:54

hard task. Yo, can I tell you?

1:10:56

Yes, I could take it. So the

1:10:58

thing I obsess about more than anything

1:11:00

else, the thing I spend more time

1:11:02

on than anything else is the running

1:11:04

order. What I mean by that is

1:11:06

like the order, where you go, what

1:11:08

award, how it, first it's a logistical

1:11:11

nightmare, because you've got to build one

1:11:13

set while you're taking another one down

1:11:15

and you've got to time, so that

1:11:17

this goes up while that goes down.

1:11:19

It's like a crazy building process, a

1:11:21

band doors that had lost everything and

1:11:23

so therefore a band doors who had

1:11:25

lost everything and so therefore had almost

1:11:27

like an excuse. It was like a

1:11:29

beautiful moment where we were like seeing

1:11:31

them and seeing them experiencing opening the

1:11:34

Grammys which was really beautiful. Then you

1:11:36

go in and we come to Trevor

1:11:38

and you're doing your opening. Then Billy

1:11:40

Eilish is on... Literally on a background

1:11:42

that got burnt down, but it's where

1:11:44

she comes from and it's a really

1:11:46

beautiful song Then we've got the commercials

1:11:48

which is helping local businesses and then

1:11:50

you get to top of act two

1:11:52

and Sabrina Carpenter has to sing about

1:11:54

espresso and she's doing it while she

1:11:57

she's doing a comedy act. It was

1:11:59

a full-on comedy act. And that was

1:12:01

the moment where it was like, okay,

1:12:03

if we've done the work in part

1:12:05

one, if all of those things, Trevor's

1:12:07

intro, doors, mono, but fundraising, let's go

1:12:09

big on the fundraising, Billy-Irish commercials, if

1:12:11

those five things have worked, then Sabrina's

1:12:13

gonna be okay and this will be

1:12:15

great. If not, then everyone's gonna be

1:12:18

like, why is she falling through the

1:12:20

stairs? Do you not know what's going

1:12:22

on? Luckily, I think, because Part One

1:12:24

went really well, because you did really

1:12:26

well, because Billy Irish was incredible, because

1:12:28

Dawes was very moving, and fundamentally, Sabrina

1:12:30

was unbelievably brilliant, and funny and charming,

1:12:32

and like old-school Hollywood glam and phenomenal

1:12:34

talent, that suddenly everybody was up dancing,

1:12:36

at the beginning of the song they

1:12:38

were not, by the end of the

1:12:41

song they were, by the time they

1:12:43

got to chapel, everybody was up, and

1:12:45

then from Benson, all the way from

1:12:47

Benson, to Dochi, to Teddy, to Shaboos,

1:12:49

to Shaboos, to... Ray it was carnage

1:12:51

everywhere we looked people were on their

1:12:53

feet and I was like and that

1:12:55

was the biggest moment for me when

1:12:57

we finished best new artists I was

1:12:59

like celebrating with Hamish because I was

1:13:02

like actually Whatever happens from like the

1:13:04

next hour and a half two hours

1:13:06

like that was a really beautiful way

1:13:08

of taking an audience that you were

1:13:10

nervous about and by the end of

1:13:12

Ray they're on their feet like going

1:13:14

this one of the best things we've

1:13:16

seen and so yeah that was that

1:13:18

was that was the moment Sabrina had

1:13:20

to turn it so Sabrina had to

1:13:22

turn it. because you've now reminded me

1:13:25

of something that I observed and I

1:13:27

didn't speak to you about it even

1:13:29

after a show right you mentioned about

1:13:31

the different set changes obviously you are

1:13:33

stage left and stage right during Sabrina's

1:13:35

performance she had the part where she's

1:13:37

by the porch yeah and at the

1:13:39

end I think they're supposed to clear

1:13:41

the porch so that you can drop

1:13:43

the stage on the left so Cardi

1:13:45

would come out yeah performance and I

1:13:48

think there was a delay with clearing

1:13:50

that the stage couldn't drop fully he

1:13:52

delivered the link and I think you

1:13:54

had to buy like Look like 20

1:13:56

seconds. Correct. My question is, and I've

1:13:58

seen these things happen specifically with you,

1:14:00

very very special moments. that the viewer

1:14:02

doesn't get to understand because they don't

1:14:04

know what was meant to happen

1:14:06

to begin with car and Things

1:14:08

will go wrong in a major

1:14:11

way. Yeah, I've never seen you

1:14:13

I've never heard you shout. I've

1:14:15

never seen you lose your composure

1:14:17

Is that a matter of

1:14:19

just experience or is that how

1:14:21

you are as a person? Well, that

1:14:23

was Trevor's fault. I know his

1:14:26

the way he speaks. I know his pace

1:14:28

that he speaks So when I do a

1:14:30

link, I time it out and I read

1:14:32

it as Trevor's voice in my brain and

1:14:34

I time how long it's going to take

1:14:36

to do the porch and for that to

1:14:38

come down. I want you to go back

1:14:40

and I want you to watch that. For

1:14:42

some reason and I have no idea why,

1:14:44

somebody pressed times four on Trevor Noah and

1:14:46

you whizzed through this link. It didn't matter

1:14:48

in any way. You whizzed through a link

1:14:50

that you would never ever whizzed through before.

1:14:52

I don't even remember what the link was.

1:14:55

But you literally read, okay, the fundraising on

1:14:57

the thing, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, and here's

1:14:59

somebody, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, and here's somebody, blah,

1:15:01

blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, and here's somebody, blah, blah,

1:15:03

blah, blah, blah, blah, and here's somebody, blah, blah, blah,

1:15:05

and here's somebody, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,

1:15:08

blah, and I. And here's, blah, and I. And here's,

1:15:10

blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,

1:15:12

blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,

1:15:14

blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,

1:15:16

blah, blah, blah, What? The audience is going to

1:15:19

be so surprised that the porch has

1:15:21

to be taken away. And that like,

1:15:23

I'm also a bit like, it doesn't

1:15:25

need, that is the least of our

1:15:27

worries. The worry for me was best

1:15:29

new artist and how we logistically did

1:15:32

that, because that was impossible for Hamish

1:15:34

and Haley our directing team to do.

1:15:36

But that moment was just like, well,

1:15:38

one of those things didn't really bother

1:15:40

me. I'll tell you why. Don't go

1:15:42

anywhere, because we got more what now,

1:15:44

after this. What

1:15:52

was the link? So the

1:15:55

link you're talking about

1:15:57

was coming out of

1:15:59

Sabrina? going into the monologue going

1:16:01

into the table talk moving around so

1:16:03

as Caesar's says no it wasn't there where

1:16:06

you were right about the first part you

1:16:08

came out of Sabrina came out of Sabrina

1:16:10

and you went you did a whole thing

1:16:12

about jokes leave them to me yeah but

1:16:14

you did them under the applause so that

1:16:16

was done you weren't going into a monologue

1:16:19

oh yeah this was coming out of Sabrina

1:16:21

into cardie B and then going into the

1:16:23

just into going to best rap album best

1:16:25

rap album It was a small

1:16:27

link, but you... So I can tell

1:16:30

you, but I can tell you what

1:16:32

the feeling was. So, one of

1:16:34

the biggest unknowns coming into

1:16:36

this show was where would the

1:16:39

audience be? Right? How many people

1:16:41

are in that room? What do

1:16:43

you think? 14,000? Yeah, probably

1:16:45

14,000. Now, the weird thing

1:16:47

about doing live TV, and

1:16:50

especially an award show or

1:16:52

anything like that is... you're

1:16:54

balancing two balls that are

1:16:56

very differently sized. You have the

1:16:58

TV audience, which is massive, and

1:17:01

then you have the live audience, which

1:17:03

is tiny in comparison. However,

1:17:05

the live audience has a direct and

1:17:07

immediate impact on you. The TV audience

1:17:10

does not. But now if you ignore the

1:17:12

live audience, that is at your peril as

1:17:14

a performer. because they will never be with

1:17:16

you and if you don't have the room

1:17:19

you don't have the right energy that gets

1:17:21

you to where you need to be in

1:17:23

whatever you're saying they're not listening they're not

1:17:25

paying attention they're not coming with you they're

1:17:28

not laughing you name it if you only pay

1:17:30

attention to the room the person at home is

1:17:32

going well clearly this is not for me

1:17:34

yeah this is taking too long this is

1:17:36

and you've watched an award show with it

1:17:38

feels self indulgent you're sitting at home And

1:17:40

then the people there are like, ah, nice

1:17:42

shoes, ha ha ha, ha, ha, ha, ha,

1:17:44

ha, and you're like, all right, clearly this

1:17:46

is not about me. I'm just watching people,

1:17:48

but this is the delicate dance. You

1:17:51

are making a show for television, but

1:17:53

there aren't 200 people in that room

1:17:55

with you. They're 14,000 people in the

1:17:57

room with you. So they are as

1:17:59

important. in a weird way as the

1:18:01

people at home, and yet they serve

1:18:04

very different purposes. So your pace for

1:18:06

the people in the room is different

1:18:08

to your pace for the people at

1:18:10

home. Your pace for a joke is

1:18:13

different, your pace for everything. So

1:18:15

in these moments, what I'm experiencing

1:18:17

is I've just felt where the

1:18:19

room is when we've come out of

1:18:21

the top of the show, and I've gone damn.

1:18:24

We have a lot of work to

1:18:26

do tonight because people aren't as...

1:18:28

celebratory as they normally are.

1:18:31

So now when people are saying, how

1:18:33

are you and how have you been, at

1:18:35

every table, with it's Cynthia Arivo

1:18:37

talking to Taylor Swift, whether it's

1:18:39

John Legend going over and talking

1:18:41

to, you know, as Parenza Spalding

1:18:44

or whoever it is, everyone there

1:18:46

is going, how are you? Normally it's

1:18:48

like, hey, what's up? How you feeling? Yeah,

1:18:50

baby, oh, look at you? No, now people like,

1:18:52

how are you? How are you? How are you?

1:18:54

How are you? How are you? How are you?

1:18:56

How are you? And now I'm going, oh man,

1:18:59

this is not where I would do the

1:19:01

jokes that I thought I would do

1:19:03

and I've got to move that around.

1:19:05

I'm doing all of this in my

1:19:07

head here. I'm trying to think of

1:19:09

how we're shifting things. I'm trying to

1:19:11

think of how we're shifting things. I'm

1:19:13

trying to think of, and I mean,

1:19:15

you know me well, both of you

1:19:17

do. After every show I go, there's

1:19:19

a million things I could have

1:19:21

done better. But because I know

1:19:24

comedy is so precarious. I remember

1:19:26

like everyone laughing at Joe Coy

1:19:28

was terrible. Then people said to

1:19:30

me, they were like, aha, Trevor,

1:19:32

Joe Coy, that was terrible, right? I

1:19:34

was like, I take no joy in

1:19:36

that. There's literally no part of me

1:19:38

that was like, ha ha, yeah, Joe

1:19:40

Coy. No, I was going as a

1:19:42

fellow comedian, yo, my man. I'm not

1:19:44

happy and I know what that's like

1:19:46

as a feeling, you know, any performer

1:19:49

who's had, especially a stand-up comedian.

1:19:51

I'll never look like. and then

1:19:53

even less compelling to my friend

1:19:55

you are now my friend you

1:19:57

know it very well so in

1:19:59

In this moment, I'm going, we have

1:20:02

to edit what the show is or

1:20:04

isn't going to be because I've responded

1:20:06

to what's happened in like the monologue

1:20:08

and I've felt, because you know me,

1:20:11

I'm doing it dynamically, I'm trying

1:20:13

to feel where the people are,

1:20:15

because contrary to popular belief, you

1:20:17

know, and I wish like people would

1:20:19

understand this, especially online, there

1:20:22

is almost no comedian that is

1:20:24

getting on stage to try and make you

1:20:26

feel shit. The very act of being

1:20:28

a comedian. is people who want to

1:20:30

go on stage to make other people feel

1:20:33

better. They like a laugh. They like making

1:20:35

people laugh, right? But now, as like the

1:20:37

aperture has expanded and as

1:20:39

like things are moved out of

1:20:41

context, people are subjected to comedy

1:20:43

that they maybe didn't ask for

1:20:46

or they're watching something that isn't

1:20:48

for them. And I understand that.

1:20:50

You know, that's the nature of

1:20:53

entertainment and TV and social media

1:20:55

and particular clipping of things, etc.

1:20:57

Right. So... I know as a performer, oh man, if

1:20:59

I don't get that right or if that

1:21:01

moves or if they're gonna get that, it's

1:21:04

gonna create the wrong ripple effect for the

1:21:06

show, not even for me. And I don't

1:21:08

want the show to have that kind

1:21:10

of feeling. I don't want people

1:21:12

coming up now. If I'm having

1:21:14

a terrible time, Coddy B doesn't

1:21:16

come on and like laugh and

1:21:18

giggle when she's presenting the award.

1:21:20

If I'm having a terrible time,

1:21:23

Gloria Estefan doesn't come on like,

1:21:25

thanks Trevor and a little fun

1:21:27

little bounce in her vibe. If

1:21:29

I'm having a terrible time, Jaylow and

1:21:31

Heidi Kloom don't pull off Benson's outfit

1:21:33

the same way. Now they go like,

1:21:35

oh. Can we pull off this guy?

1:21:37

I don't want to be part to

1:21:39

Jim. Let me tell you something man.

1:21:41

There are few things I love more than

1:21:44

comedians who love jokes more than anything else.

1:21:46

Cause like, the reason I say shout out

1:21:48

to Jim Gavikin, he's one of my favorite

1:21:50

human beings, he's one of my favorite comedians

1:21:52

by far. I didn't tell Jim Gavikin that

1:21:55

this was gonna happen. I didn't prompt

1:21:57

him, I didn't preempt it, I didn't

1:21:59

do anything. Sorry Jim, I really

1:22:01

apologize, but I only thought about

1:22:03

it the day of because the

1:22:05

writers, right? So the night before

1:22:07

the Grammys. Yeah, night before the

1:22:09

Grammys, Lucca gets traded to

1:22:11

Lakers, Anthony Davis goes to

1:22:13

the Mavericks. Yeah. Massive news.

1:22:16

Seizure messages me first thing in

1:22:18

the morning. He's like, yo, big things

1:22:20

happened. I'm like, yep, I know. Dan

1:22:22

Amira, one of the writers on the team, he

1:22:24

messages me, he's like, we've got to make a joke

1:22:26

about this, there's got to be a trade joke

1:22:28

or something. So I'm like, we're going to do something,

1:22:30

we'll figure it out. I get to the venue, I'm

1:22:33

like, okay, I got it, I got it, I'm looking at

1:22:35

the seating, I'm like, okay, I got it, I got it,

1:22:37

I'm looking at the seating, I'm like, I got it, I'm

1:22:39

looking at the seating, I'm like, I got it, I'm looking

1:22:41

at the seating, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I got

1:22:43

it, I'm like, I got it, I got it, I'm looking,

1:22:45

I'm looking, I'm looking, I'm looking, I'm looking

1:22:47

at the seating, I'm, I'm looking, I'm, I'm, I'm looking,

1:22:49

I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm looking, I'm, I'm looking And

1:22:51

so I'm now your host, I know, I'm

1:22:53

as shocked as you are. People love

1:22:56

it in the room, we pitch it

1:22:58

to you, you love, everyone's like,

1:23:00

this is going to be great.

1:23:02

And then like you, I made

1:23:05

the giant producer's mistake, I didn't

1:23:07

ask Jim Gaffigan. Yeah. Yeah, that

1:23:09

was happening during the show, because

1:23:12

I said, is Gaffigan

1:23:14

in? Yeah. I spoke to Gaffigan and

1:23:16

Kate down, who was with you. Not

1:23:18

that I'm aware of. And then I,

1:23:20

this is a mess, this is where like

1:23:22

literally like you, I made a massive assumption.

1:23:24

I go Jim Gaffigan, if you know anything

1:23:26

about his comedy, his writing, the way he creates shows

1:23:28

and who he is, this man has an insatiable appetite

1:23:30

for jokes. Jim Gaffigan loves funny. So I made the

1:23:32

mistake, as a fan of his, not even as like

1:23:35

a peer, as a fan of his, I went, there's

1:23:37

no way Jim Gaffigan would and love this. And I

1:23:39

thought, I'm just gonna go up to go up to

1:23:41

go up to go up to go up to go

1:23:43

up to go up to him, right before he has

1:23:45

to do it and tell it and tell him. I

1:23:47

also know that Jim Gafikin can host shows. I also

1:23:49

know that he's fantastic and he's calm under pressure. He's

1:23:51

like, Jim Gafikin is a stone cold killer in that

1:23:53

way, you know what I mean? So in my head,

1:23:56

I made all these assumptions and then at the

1:23:58

last minute someone said, has anyone's... I've spoken

1:24:00

to Jim Gaffigan and I went with

1:24:02

you, I was like, with everyone, I

1:24:05

was like, no. And then I said, I'll

1:24:07

go. And I went and I found Jim on

1:24:09

the floor. This was like, maybe like

1:24:11

a. Two acts sort of in so

1:24:13

I think it was after Sabrina

1:24:16

Carpenter and all of that yeah,

1:24:18

and I went Jim there's a

1:24:20

joke. Here's the joke and I

1:24:22

pitched it to him Thank God.

1:24:24

He immediately found it funny and

1:24:26

I was like please this is

1:24:28

how you know I trust you

1:24:30

but this is how it needs

1:24:32

to be performed and then the

1:24:34

red hot chili peppers are coming

1:24:36

and I need you to not

1:24:38

diminish their moment because that's the

1:24:40

only thing. got up there and then

1:24:42

honestly like that moment for me as well

1:24:44

was such a it was such a like

1:24:47

wonderful team moment I mean you heard the

1:24:49

room easily my favorite joke of the night

1:24:51

like by far a lot of people a

1:24:53

lot of people were saying it was easily

1:24:55

my favorite joke of the night like by

1:24:57

far a lot of people a lot of

1:25:00

people were saying it as well easily my

1:25:02

favorite joke yeah but that's why I don't

1:25:04

think I think the room was better than

1:25:06

you think it was in so many ways

1:25:08

I can contribute and what I can do

1:25:10

right I'm not judging the room. No,

1:25:12

I understand. But I know that

1:25:15

as Trevor, there's certain things I

1:25:17

should be, you know, certain marks

1:25:19

I should be hitting or certain

1:25:21

connections that I should be making.

1:25:23

But, you know, you know this, like

1:25:25

making a live show is like flying

1:25:27

a plane and then discovering

1:25:29

something's wrong with it while

1:25:31

it's flying and you have to fix

1:25:33

it. Yeah, 100%. Oh, the wing is

1:25:35

loose, but we can't land, it's live,

1:25:37

but we can't land, it's a wing.

1:25:39

live show doesn't do that live show

1:25:41

goes we are flying and there's a massive

1:25:43

error can somebody go down check on

1:25:46

the landing gear while we're flying someone go

1:25:48

check the wing while we're flying hey check

1:25:50

the the windscreen check the apparatus check the

1:25:52

equipment check the while we're flying so I

1:25:55

even as Trevor as a comedian there's moments

1:25:57

where the show is happening and I'm going

1:25:59

ah I would have done that differently. I could

1:26:01

have done that differently. The person I was looking

1:26:03

at wasn't there. So then I have to change

1:26:05

this, I'm going to move that, I'm going to,

1:26:07

but it's live. I don't want to mess up your

1:26:10

timing. It's not about me. So if I miss

1:26:12

with a joke or anything, I'll show, keep moving.

1:26:14

I can't be like, wait, hold on audience. Let

1:26:16

me give you 10 minutes that I know is

1:26:18

going to... No, but what you are good at,

1:26:20

and this is where I actually messed up, I

1:26:22

think, in the bit with Cardi, which is what

1:26:24

started this discussion, was that I just wasn't on

1:26:26

my timings, and I'm always in his ear, the

1:26:28

whole show, and I'll be like, I need you,

1:26:30

the whole show, and I'll be like, I need

1:26:32

you, I need you, to like, go a bit

1:26:34

longer here, yeah. Biance, is not in her seat

1:26:36

for country album, the weekend set, the weekend set,

1:26:38

the weekend set, isn't set, isn't set, isn't

1:26:41

set, isn't set, isn't set, isn't set, isn't

1:26:43

set, isn't set, you know, you know, you

1:26:45

know, like I know this is a quick

1:26:47

link but I need you to fill for

1:26:50

like a minute and you stand there and

1:26:52

it's the most natural thing I watched the

1:26:54

show last night I sat in my house

1:26:56

Harvey came over and we watched it we've

1:26:59

got a curry and we watched it together

1:27:01

because I can actually enjoy it and you're

1:27:03

brilliant you stand there go hey you're like

1:27:05

you're like um hey Billy how you're doing

1:27:08

how you're like um hey Billy how you

1:27:10

do you do it how you're like um hey

1:27:12

Billy how you do you do you do it?

1:27:14

where people sort of, sort of, I wish

1:27:16

they could be in my brain for

1:27:18

some of these moments. This is

1:27:20

like one of the moments

1:27:23

I'm talking about. We're coming

1:27:25

back from an ad break, right?

1:27:27

Right before we come back, you

1:27:29

say, Trevor, we need extra time. I

1:27:31

go, okay, that's fine. We need

1:27:33

extra time. I'm here. You're like,

1:27:35

yeah, speak to anyone or whatever.

1:27:38

So I'm right there. I look

1:27:40

down and I go, who's around

1:27:42

me. I'm like, who's around me.

1:27:44

Billy looks at me with terror in her eyes

1:27:46

and she goes, uh-oh, but she doesn't go, oh,

1:27:48

like a funny, oh, oh, she goes, oh, oh, like,

1:27:50

please don't do this to me. Now I

1:27:52

wasn't gonna do anything to her, but now

1:27:54

I'm like, oh man, I don't even want

1:27:57

it to seem like I was doing something

1:27:59

to her because... Here's the thing that people

1:28:01

also don't get right I know it's easy

1:28:03

to put people up on pedestals and like

1:28:05

their artists and they've won awards and the

1:28:08

you know I I know it's hard to

1:28:10

imagine this but there are human beings under

1:28:12

all of these veneers There are

1:28:14

human beings under these Twitter handles

1:28:16

there are human beings under the

1:28:18

dress rehearsal there's human beings under

1:28:20

the like tops you name a top album. There's

1:28:22

a human being under it and the my

1:28:25

job for me as Trevor is I'm not coming

1:28:27

in there to make less fun or less

1:28:29

enjoyable Because you are also on the edge

1:28:31

of your seat wondering if you're going to

1:28:33

win a Grammy. You're wondering if

1:28:35

your work is going to be lauded.

1:28:37

You're wondering if you're going to be

1:28:40

rewarded by your peers by the thing

1:28:42

that you've spent so much time doing.

1:28:44

Nobody wants to lose. Nobody wants to

1:28:46

be a loser. No one wants people to

1:28:48

like laugh at them. I don't care who

1:28:50

you are. Nobody wants that feeling. So for

1:28:52

me as the host, I'm looking down at

1:28:54

this person who's now just gone like, like,

1:28:56

man. And I've been with Billy Alice. Like, at

1:28:59

all the Grammys, this is the first time

1:29:01

she's ever done. Billy's never looked at me and

1:29:03

gone, uh-oh, she's, her infinies look at me like,

1:29:05

what's up? Hey, hey, this is the first time

1:29:07

she went, uh-oh, like, and I was like, ah,

1:29:10

but now we're live, now, what are we doing?

1:29:12

That, so, then what are we're live? Now, now, what are

1:29:14

we doing? That, so, so, then, then, he's still, he's, he's,

1:29:16

he's, now, now, now, now, now, now what are, now, now,

1:29:18

now what are, now, now, now what are, now, now, now,

1:29:20

now, now what are, now, now, now, now, now, now, now,

1:29:22

what are, now, now, now, now, what are, now, what are,

1:29:25

now, what are, what are, now, now, now, now, now, what

1:29:27

are, That's sometimes the thing that people

1:29:29

miss in a lot of these moments,

1:29:31

you know, like When was it like

1:29:33

right after the Grammys for instance? Was

1:29:35

I think it was you? No, maybe

1:29:37

police. I was someone contacted me. They're

1:29:39

like hey man How do you feel

1:29:41

some people are like feeling bad about

1:29:43

like some of the jokes or whatever

1:29:45

on the show? I was like I get it But

1:29:48

I like the one thing that I wish people

1:29:50

would get with comedy comedians I

1:29:52

don't speak for most comedians. We're

1:29:54

trying to have a good time. All

1:29:56

right The hardest place to

1:29:59

experience a collective, safe comedy show

1:30:01

is where everyone isn't the same.

1:30:03

And the Grammys, for instance, is

1:30:05

the best place for strangers and

1:30:08

people who don't normally come together

1:30:10

to come together, but it's also

1:30:12

one of the most precarious places

1:30:15

for comedy. Because the number one

1:30:17

thing that comedy needs is context.

1:30:19

Do you know what I mean? So like I saw

1:30:21

someone who said, you arrogant American, how

1:30:24

can you say this shit about my

1:30:26

people? Then I was like, I'm not

1:30:28

American. Someone was like, how could you

1:30:30

make that joke about immigrants? How

1:30:32

dare you? You know, you American, then I was

1:30:34

like, oh, I thought you knew that as an

1:30:36

immigrant. No, but those are small things

1:30:39

that you can take for granted as

1:30:41

a performer. You go, oh yeah. Because

1:30:43

you've tuned into the show for an

1:30:45

artist that maybe you never tune in

1:30:48

for, you don't know me and you

1:30:50

have this assumption. The shows in America,

1:30:52

this person's talking about LA. Yeah, that's

1:30:54

an American. I'm like, no, no, I'm

1:30:56

an immigrant. I'm making a joke about

1:30:59

the idea of immigrants by some people

1:31:01

in it. And those are the moments

1:31:03

where you go like, ah, damn, I'm

1:31:05

always. But does it bother you

1:31:07

that people, like, does it get

1:31:10

to you? Because the majority of

1:31:12

stuff is positive, but yeah, you'll

1:31:14

think about the negative. No,

1:31:16

so I don't think of it. It's

1:31:19

a weird one to say. I don't

1:31:21

think of criticism. Actually, three things. Number

1:31:23

one, I always acknowledge that the size

1:31:26

and scope of it are a lot

1:31:28

smaller than we think. You know, and

1:31:30

you often say this, these were in

1:31:32

general. How many people are saying

1:31:35

a thing is oftentimes nowhere near

1:31:37

to, you know, the amount of

1:31:39

people saying it. It's just a few

1:31:41

people can be loud. That's the first

1:31:43

thing I think of. The second one.

1:31:45

is it affects me on a professional

1:31:48

level because then I go, I always take

1:31:50

it on me, I go, I didn't do

1:31:52

that properly. You know, one of my favorite

1:31:54

things I heard was, I don't think

1:31:56

he's credited with it, but I loved

1:31:58

Anthony Jeselnick was on. on a podcast

1:32:00