0:00:00.905,0:00:04.525
Eric Hirshberg: So I assume that Norman[br]doesn't need much of an introduction,

0:00:04.549,0:00:06.054
but TED's audience is global,

0:00:06.078,0:00:07.275
it's diverse,

0:00:07.299,0:00:10.285
so I've been tasked[br]with starting with his bio,

0:00:10.309,0:00:12.595
which could easily take up[br]the entire 18 minutes,

0:00:12.619,0:00:16.562
so instead we're going to do[br]93 years in 93 seconds or less.

0:00:16.586,0:00:17.736
(Laughter)

0:00:18.258,0:00:19.805
You were born in New Hampshire.

0:00:19.829,0:00:21.544
Norman Lear: New Haven, Connecticut.

0:00:21.568,0:00:22.854
EH: New Haven, Connecticut.

0:00:22.878,0:00:25.766
(Laughter)

0:00:25.790,0:00:27.410
NL: There goes seven more seconds.

0:00:27.434,0:00:28.677
EH: Nailed it.

0:00:28.701,0:00:30.691
(Laughter)

0:00:31.042,0:00:32.947
You were born in New Haven, Connecticut.

0:00:32.971,0:00:35.376
Your father was a con man --[br]I got that right.

0:00:35.400,0:00:38.147
He was taken away to prison[br]when you were nine years old.

0:00:38.171,0:00:41.328
You flew 52 missions[br]as a fighter pilot in World War II.

0:00:41.686,0:00:42.836
You came back to --

0:00:42.860,0:00:44.010
NL: Radio operator.

0:00:44.542,0:00:47.025
EH: You came to LA[br]to break into Hollywood,

0:00:47.049,0:00:48.929
first in publicity, then in TV.

0:00:48.953,0:00:51.112
You had no training as a writer, formally,

0:00:51.136,0:00:52.540
but you hustled your way in.

0:00:52.564,0:00:54.017
Your breakthrough, your debut,

0:00:54.041,0:00:56.309
was a little show[br]called "All in the Family."

0:00:56.333,0:00:58.437
You followed that up with a string of hits

0:00:58.461,0:01:00.579
that to this day is unmatched[br]in Hollywood:

0:01:00.603,0:01:02.643
"Sanford and Son," "Maude," "Good Times,"

0:01:02.667,0:01:04.493
"The Jeffersons," "One Day at a Time,"

0:01:04.517,0:01:05.930
"Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman,"

0:01:05.954,0:01:07.717
to name literally a fraction of them.

0:01:07.741,0:01:09.518
Not only are they all commercially --

0:01:09.542,0:01:13.548
(Applause)

0:01:13.572,0:01:16.557
Not only are they all[br]commercially successful,

0:01:16.581,0:01:18.555
but many of them push our culture forward

0:01:18.579,0:01:20.941
by giving the underrepresented[br]members of society

0:01:20.965,0:01:23.001
their first prime-time voice.

0:01:23.333,0:01:26.644
You have seven shows[br]in the top 10 at one time.

0:01:27.033,0:01:28.262
At one point,

0:01:28.286,0:01:31.623
you aggregate an audience[br]of 120 million people per week

0:01:31.647,0:01:32.873
watching your content.

0:01:32.897,0:01:35.136
That's more than the audience[br]for Super Bowl 50,

0:01:35.160,0:01:36.399
which happens once a year.

0:01:36.423,0:01:37.645
NL: Holy shit.

0:01:37.669,0:01:39.442
(Laughter)

0:01:39.466,0:01:41.688
(Applause)

0:01:41.712,0:01:44.071
EH: And we're not even[br]to the holy shit part.

0:01:44.095,0:01:45.134
(Laughter)

0:01:45.158,0:01:47.885
You land yourself[br]on Richard Nixon's enemies list --

0:01:47.909,0:01:49.059
he had one.

0:01:49.399,0:01:51.494
That's an applause line, too.

0:01:51.518,0:01:53.320
(Applause)

0:01:53.344,0:01:56.941
You're inducted into the TV Hall of Fame[br]on the first day that it exists.

0:01:56.965,0:01:58.365
Then came the movies.

0:01:58.389,0:01:59.969
"Fried Green Tomatoes,"

0:01:59.993,0:02:02.018
"The Princess Bride," "Stand By Me,"

0:02:02.042,0:02:03.215
"This Is Spinal Tap."

0:02:03.239,0:02:04.376
(Applause)

0:02:04.400,0:02:05.932
Again, just to name a fraction.

0:02:05.956,0:02:06.987
(Applause)

0:02:07.011,0:02:08.517
Then you wipe the slate clean,

0:02:08.541,0:02:12.588
start a third act as a political activist[br]focusing on protecting the First Amendment

0:02:12.612,0:02:14.562
and the separation of church and state.

0:02:14.586,0:02:16.476
You start People For The American Way.

0:02:16.500,0:02:18.358
You buy the Declaration of Independence

0:02:18.382,0:02:19.873
and give it back to the people.

0:02:19.897,0:02:22.235
You stay active in both[br]entertainment and politics

0:02:22.259,0:02:23.791
until the ripe old of age of 93,

0:02:23.815,0:02:25.061
when you write a book

0:02:25.085,0:02:27.249
and make a documentary[br]about your life story.

0:02:27.273,0:02:28.447
And after all that,

0:02:28.471,0:02:31.013
they finally think[br]you're ready for a TED Talk.

0:02:31.037,0:02:32.818
(Laughter)

0:02:32.842,0:02:37.414
(Applause)

0:02:37.438,0:02:39.236
NL: I love being here.

0:02:39.260,0:02:41.975
And I love you for agreeing to do this.

0:02:41.999,0:02:43.988
EH: Thank you for asking. It's my honor.

0:02:44.012,0:02:45.559
So here's my first question.

0:02:45.919,0:02:47.633
Was your mother proud of you?

0:02:47.657,0:02:49.653
(Laughter)

0:02:50.055,0:02:51.388
NL: My mother ...

0:02:51.412,0:02:52.579
what a place to start.

0:02:54.967,0:02:57.118
Let me put it this way --

0:02:57.142,0:02:58.762
when I came back from the war,

0:02:58.786,0:03:04.374
she showed me the letters[br]that I had written her from overseas,

0:03:04.398,0:03:06.795
and they were absolute love letters.

0:03:09.961,0:03:11.540
(Laughter)

0:03:11.564,0:03:13.286
This really sums up my mother.

0:03:13.730,0:03:14.881
They were love letters,

0:03:14.905,0:03:17.107
as if I had written them to --

0:03:17.131,0:03:18.428
they were love letters.

0:03:21.214,0:03:25.747
A year later I asked my mother[br]if I could have them,

0:03:25.771,0:03:30.048
because I'd like to keep them[br]all the years of my life ...

0:03:30.072,0:03:31.581
She had thrown them away.

0:03:31.605,0:03:35.668
(Laughter)

0:03:36.890,0:03:38.194
That's my mother.

0:03:38.218,0:03:40.696
(Laughter)

0:03:40.720,0:03:47.240
The best way I can sum it up[br]in more recent times is --

0:03:47.264,0:03:49.561
this is also more recent times --

0:03:49.585,0:03:50.767
a number of years ago,

0:03:50.791,0:03:54.664
when they started the Hall of Fame[br]to which you referred,

0:03:54.688,0:03:56.471
it was a Sunday morning,

0:03:56.495,0:04:01.749
when I got a call from the fellow who ran[br]the TV Academy of Arts and Sciences.

0:04:01.773,0:04:04.742
He was calling me to tell me[br]they had met all day yesterday

0:04:04.766,0:04:08.979
and he was confidentially telling me[br]they were going to start a hall of fame

0:04:09.003,0:04:11.757
and these were the inductees.

0:04:15.201,0:04:17.123
I started to say "Richard Nixon,"

0:04:17.147,0:04:18.789
because Richard Nixon --

0:04:18.813,0:04:20.684
EH: I don't think he was on their list.

0:04:20.708,0:04:23.231
NL: William Paley, who started CBS,

0:04:23.255,0:04:26.889
David Sarnoff, who started NBC,

0:04:26.913,0:04:28.068
Edward R. Murrow,

0:04:28.092,0:04:31.794
the greatest of the foreign[br]correspondents,

0:04:31.818,0:04:32.989
Patty Chayefsky --

0:04:33.013,0:04:35.775
I think the best writer[br]that ever came out of television --

0:04:35.799,0:04:37.776
Milton Berle, Lucille Ball,

0:04:37.800,0:04:39.181
and me.

0:04:39.205,0:04:40.356
EH: Not bad.

0:04:40.380,0:04:43.095
NL: I call my mother[br]immediately in Hartford, Connecticut.

0:04:43.119,0:04:44.642
"Mom, this is what's happened,

0:04:44.666,0:04:46.265
they're starting a hall of fame,"

0:04:46.289,0:04:48.012
I tell her the list of names and me,

0:04:48.036,0:04:49.194
and she says,

0:04:49.218,0:04:51.955
"Listen, if that's what they[br]want to do, who am I to say?"

0:04:51.979,0:04:55.480
(Laughter)

0:04:55.504,0:04:58.420
(Applause)

0:04:58.444,0:04:59.801
That's my Ma.

0:04:59.825,0:05:01.705
I think it earns that kind of a laugh

0:05:01.729,0:05:03.825
because everybody[br]has a piece of that mother.

0:05:03.849,0:05:05.023
(Laughter)

0:05:05.047,0:05:07.904
EH: And the sitcom Jewish mother[br]is born, right there.

0:05:08.348,0:05:13.158
So your father also played[br]a large role in your life,

0:05:13.182,0:05:14.832
mostly by his absence.

0:05:14.856,0:05:16.013
NL: Yeah.

0:05:16.037,0:05:18.660
EH: Tell us what happened[br]when you were nine years old.

0:05:18.684,0:05:23.563
NL: He was flying to Oklahoma

0:05:23.587,0:05:25.658
with three guys that my mother said,

0:05:25.682,0:05:28.064
"I don't want you to have[br]anything to do with them,

0:05:28.088,0:05:29.341
I don't trust those men."

0:05:30.040,0:05:31.390
That's when I heard,

0:05:31.414,0:05:32.897
maybe not for the first time,

0:05:32.921,0:05:36.587
"Stifle yourself, Jeanette, I'm going."

0:05:36.611,0:05:38.088
And he went.

0:05:38.112,0:05:43.129
It turns out he was picking up[br]some fake bonds,

0:05:43.153,0:05:46.676
which he was flying[br]across the country to sell.

0:05:47.764,0:05:51.311
But the fact that he was going[br]to Oklahoma in a plane,

0:05:51.335,0:05:55.026
and he was going to bring me[br]back a 10-gallon hat,

0:05:55.050,0:06:00.748
just like Ken Maynard,[br]my favorite cowboy wore.

0:06:02.124,0:06:07.212
You know, this was a few years[br]after Lindbergh crossed the Atlantic.

0:06:07.236,0:06:10.833
I mean, it was exotic[br]that my father was going there.

0:06:10.857,0:06:12.098
But when he came back,

0:06:12.122,0:06:14.186
they arrested him as he got off the plane.

0:06:14.553,0:06:18.949
That night newspapers[br]were all over the house,

0:06:18.973,0:06:21.593
my father was with his hat[br]in front of his face,

0:06:21.617,0:06:23.116
manacled to a detective.

0:06:23.720,0:06:27.378
And my mother was selling the furniture,[br]because we were leaving --

0:06:27.402,0:06:31.211
she didn't want to stay[br]in that state of shame,

0:06:31.235,0:06:33.700
in Chelsea, Massachusetts.

0:06:34.528,0:06:38.192
And selling the furniture --

0:06:38.216,0:06:40.276
the house was loaded with people.

0:06:40.712,0:06:42.830
And in the middle of all of that,

0:06:42.854,0:06:49.042
some strange horse's ass[br]put his hand on my shoulder and said,

0:06:49.066,0:06:51.192
"Well, you're the man of the house now."

0:06:52.982,0:06:58.553
I'm crying and this asshole says,[br]"You're the man of the house now."

0:06:59.268,0:07:02.202
And I think that was the moment

0:07:02.226,0:07:06.336
I began to understand the foolishness[br]of the human condition.

0:07:07.678,0:07:09.836
So ...

0:07:10.558,0:07:15.138
it took a lot of years to look back at it[br]and feel it was a benefit.

0:07:16.437,0:07:17.587
But --

0:07:17.611,0:07:19.879
EH: It's interesting[br]you called it a benefit.

0:07:19.903,0:07:22.334
NL: Benefit in that it gave[br]me that springboard.

0:07:22.358,0:07:26.138
I mean that I could think

0:07:26.162,0:07:29.350
how foolish it was to say[br]to this crying nine-year-old boy,

0:07:29.374,0:07:31.279
"You're the man of the house now."

0:07:31.303,0:07:34.716
And then I was crying and then he said,

0:07:34.740,0:07:36.890
"And men of the house don't cry."

0:07:37.755,0:07:39.295
And I ...

0:07:39.319,0:07:40.604
(Laughter)

0:07:40.628,0:07:42.044
So ...

0:07:44.413,0:07:45.920
I look back and I think

0:07:45.944,0:07:50.087
that's when I learned the foolishness[br]of the human condition,

0:07:50.111,0:07:53.039
and it's been that gift that I've used.

0:07:54.015,0:07:56.543
EH: So you have a father who's absent,

0:07:56.567,0:07:59.513
you have a mother for whom[br]apparently nothing is good enough.

0:07:59.870,0:08:05.132
Do you think that starting out as a kid[br]who maybe never felt heard

0:08:05.156,0:08:06.678
started you down a journey

0:08:06.702,0:08:08.480
that ended with you being an adult

0:08:08.504,0:08:10.805
with a weekly audience[br]of 120 million people?

0:08:11.869,0:08:14.879
NL: I love the way you put that question,

0:08:14.903,0:08:18.722
because I guess[br]I've spent my life wanting --

0:08:18.746,0:08:20.732
if anything, wanting to be heard.

0:08:24.898,0:08:26.152
I think --

0:08:28.524,0:08:30.096
It's a simple answer, yes,

0:08:30.120,0:08:32.436
that was what sparked --

0:08:33.857,0:08:35.564
well, there were other things, too.

0:08:35.588,0:08:38.419
When my father was away,

0:08:38.443,0:08:44.485
I was fooling with a crystal radio set[br]that we had made together,

0:08:44.509,0:08:49.080
and I caught a signal that turned out[br]to be Father Coughlin.

0:08:49.684,0:08:50.834
(Laughter)

0:08:52.770,0:08:54.112
Yeah, somebody laughed.

0:08:54.136,0:08:55.563
(Laughter)

0:08:55.587,0:08:57.018
But not funny,

0:08:57.042,0:08:58.542
this was a horse's --

0:08:58.566,0:09:00.182
not a horse's ass --

0:09:00.206,0:09:02.797
He was very vocal[br]about hating the New Deal

0:09:02.821,0:09:05.284
and Roosevelt and Jews.

0:09:06.256,0:09:09.589
The first time I ran into an understanding

0:09:09.613,0:09:12.506
that there were people[br]in this world that hated me

0:09:12.530,0:09:14.466
because I was born to Jewish parents.

0:09:15.291,0:09:19.418
And that had an enormous[br]effect on my life.

0:09:20.059,0:09:22.042
EH: So you had a childhood

0:09:22.066,0:09:25.148
with little in the way[br]of strong male role models,

0:09:25.172,0:09:26.708
except for your grandfather.

0:09:27.272,0:09:29.152
Tell us about him.

0:09:29.176,0:09:30.326
NL: Oh, my grandfather.

0:09:31.323,0:09:35.784
Well here's the way I always[br]talked about that grandfather.

0:09:37.606,0:09:38.756
There were parades,

0:09:38.780,0:09:40.661
lots of parades when I was a kid.

0:09:40.685,0:09:42.597
There were parades on Veteran's Day --

0:09:42.621,0:09:44.189
there wasn't a President's Day.

0:09:44.213,0:09:46.126
There was an Abraham Lincoln's birthday,

0:09:46.150,0:09:48.254
George Washington's birthday

0:09:48.278,0:09:50.768
and Flag Day ...

0:09:51.821,0:09:53.580
And lots of little parades.

0:09:53.604,0:09:55.033
My grandfather used to take me

0:09:55.057,0:09:56.783
and we'd stand on the street corner,

0:09:56.807,0:09:58.143
he'd hold my hand

0:09:58.167,0:10:01.230
and I'd look up and I'd see a tear[br]running down his eye.

0:10:03.910,0:10:06.274
And he meant a great deal to me.

0:10:06.298,0:10:11.656
And he used to write presidents[br]of the United States.

0:10:11.680,0:10:13.300
Every letter started,

0:10:13.324,0:10:16.403
"My dearest, darling Mr. President,"

0:10:16.427,0:10:21.045
and he'd tell him something[br]wonderful about what he did.

0:10:21.069,0:10:24.001
But when he disagreed[br]with the President he also wrote,

0:10:24.025,0:10:25.692
"My dearest, darling Mr. President,

0:10:25.716,0:10:27.510
Didn't I tell you last week ...?"

0:10:27.534,0:10:29.113
(Laughter)

0:10:29.559,0:10:34.739
And I would run down the stairs[br]every now and then

0:10:34.763,0:10:35.995
and pick up the mail.

0:10:36.019,0:10:37.238
We were three flights up,

0:10:37.262,0:10:39.487
74 York Street, New Haven, Connecticut.

0:10:40.945,0:10:47.557
And I'd pick up a little white envelope[br]reading, "Shya C. called at this address."

0:10:50.734,0:10:55.270
And that's the story I have told[br]about my grandfather --

0:10:55.294,0:10:57.315
EH: They wrote him back[br]on the envelopes --

0:10:57.339,0:10:58.559
NL: They wrote back.

0:11:00.862,0:11:05.268
But I have shown them myself,

0:11:05.292,0:11:10.410
going way back to Phil Donahue[br]and others before him,

0:11:10.434,0:11:14.743
literally dozens of interviews[br]in which I told that story.

0:11:16.283,0:11:21.402
This will be the second time I have said[br]the whole story was a lie.

0:11:24.151,0:11:28.343
The truth was my grandfather[br]took me to parades,

0:11:28.367,0:11:29.690
we had lots of those.

0:11:30.094,0:11:32.474
The truth is a tear came down his eye.

0:11:33.340,0:11:37.047
The truth is he would write[br]an occasional letter,

0:11:37.071,0:11:39.474
and I did pick up those little envelopes.

0:11:40.536,0:11:43.948
But "My dearest darling Mr. President,"

0:11:43.972,0:11:46.434
all the rest of it,

0:11:46.458,0:11:50.974
is a story I borrowed from a good friend

0:11:50.998,0:11:56.508
whose grandfather was that grandfather[br]who wrote those letters.

0:11:58.506,0:12:04.951
And, I mean, I stole[br]Arthur Marshall's grandfather

0:12:04.975,0:12:06.705
and made him my own.

0:12:08.997,0:12:10.147
Always.

0:12:10.171,0:12:12.785
When I started to write my memoir --

0:12:12.809,0:12:14.261
"Even this --"

0:12:14.285,0:12:15.450
How about that?

0:12:15.474,0:12:17.705
"Even This I Get to Experience."

0:12:18.848,0:12:20.599
When I started to write the memoir

0:12:20.623,0:12:22.182
and I started to think about it,

0:12:22.206,0:12:23.356
and then I --

0:12:24.275,0:12:25.425
I --

0:12:26.529,0:12:30.331
I did a reasonable amount of crying

0:12:30.355,0:12:34.188
and I realized how much[br]I needed the father.

0:12:35.139,0:12:38.440
So much so that I appropriated[br]Arthur Marshall's grandfather.

0:12:39.575,0:12:42.012
So much so, the word "father" --

0:12:42.573,0:12:44.518
I have six kids by the way.

0:12:45.273,0:12:46.980
My favorite role in life.

0:12:49.482,0:12:51.958
It and husband to my wife Lyn.

0:12:55.972,0:13:00.453
But I stole the man's identity[br]because I needed the father.

0:13:01.243,0:13:04.926
Now I've gone through a whole lot of shit

0:13:04.950,0:13:06.957
and come out on the other side,

0:13:06.981,0:13:08.568
and I actually give my father --

0:13:08.592,0:13:09.802
the best thing I --

0:13:09.826,0:13:11.115
the worst thing I --

0:13:11.711,0:13:14.795
The word I'd like to use about him[br]and think about him is --

0:13:14.819,0:13:16.187
he was a rascal.

0:13:17.020,0:13:21.933
The fact that he lied[br]and stole and cheated,

0:13:21.957,0:13:23.157
and went to prison ...

0:13:25.349,0:13:29.206
I submerge that in the word "rascal."

0:13:29.809,0:13:35.936
EH: Well there's a saying that amateurs[br]borrow and professionals steal.

0:13:36.366,0:13:37.591
NL: I'm a pro.

0:13:37.615,0:13:38.766
EH: You're a pro.

0:13:38.790,0:13:40.106
(Laughter)

0:13:40.130,0:13:43.277
And that quote is widely[br]attributed to John Lennon,

0:13:43.301,0:13:45.491
but it turns out[br]he stole it from T.S. Eliot.

0:13:45.515,0:13:46.904
So you're in good company.

0:13:46.928,0:13:48.086
(Laughter)

0:13:50.602,0:13:52.927
EH: I want to talk about your work.

0:13:52.951,0:13:55.657
Obviously the impact of your work[br]has been written about

0:13:55.681,0:13:58.047
and I'm sure you've heard[br]about it all your life:

0:13:58.071,0:13:59.222
what it meant to people,

0:13:59.246,0:14:00.676
what it meant to your culture,

0:14:00.700,0:14:03.701
you heard the applause when I just[br]named the names of the shows,

0:14:03.725,0:14:07.153
you raised half the people[br]in the room through your work.

0:14:07.177,0:14:10.712
But have there ever been any stories[br]about the impact of your work

0:14:10.736,0:14:12.050
that surprised you?

0:14:12.740,0:14:13.954
NL: Oh, god --

0:14:14.387,0:14:19.279
surprised me and delighted me[br]from head to toe.

0:14:21.437,0:14:26.930
There was "An Evening with Norman Lear"[br]within the last year

0:14:26.954,0:14:30.458
that a group of hip-hop impresarios,

0:14:30.482,0:14:34.418
performers and the Academy put together.

0:14:35.902,0:14:37.806
The subtext of "An Evening with ..."

0:14:37.830,0:14:41.919
was "What do a 92-year-old Jew" --

0:14:41.943,0:14:43.094
then 92 --

0:14:43.118,0:14:45.131
"and the world of hip-hop have in common?"

0:14:45.155,0:14:47.844
Russell Simmons[br]was among seven on the stage.

0:14:48.783,0:14:53.104
And when he talked about the shows,

0:14:53.128,0:14:57.661
he wasn't talking about the Hollywood,

0:14:57.685,0:15:01.409
George Jefferson in "The Jeffersons,"

0:15:01.433,0:15:03.848
or the show that was a number five show.

0:15:04.847,0:15:10.498
He was talking about a simple[br]thing that made a big --

0:15:13.324,0:15:14.525
EH: Impact on him?

0:15:14.549,0:15:16.487
NL: An impact on him --

0:15:16.511,0:15:19.018
I was hesitating over the word, "change."

0:15:19.430,0:15:21.993
It's hard for me to imagine,

0:15:22.017,0:15:23.845
you know, changing somebody's life,

0:15:23.869,0:15:25.654
but that's the way he put it.

0:15:25.678,0:15:31.767
He saw George Jefferson[br]write a check on "The Jeffersons,"

0:15:31.791,0:15:35.401
and he never knew that a black man[br]could write a check.

0:15:36.788,0:15:41.741
And he says it just[br]impacted his life so --

0:15:41.765,0:15:43.450
it changed his life.

0:15:43.474,0:15:46.948
And when I hear things like that --

0:15:46.972,0:15:48.647
little things --

0:15:48.671,0:15:51.853
because I know that there isn't[br]anybody in this audience

0:15:51.877,0:15:58.380
that wasn't likely responsible today for[br]some little thing they did for somebody,

0:15:58.404,0:16:03.746
whether it's as little as a smile[br]or an unexpected "Hello,"

0:16:03.770,0:16:06.134
that's how little this thing was.

0:16:06.833,0:16:11.104
It could have been the dresser of the set

0:16:11.128,0:16:12.814
who put the checkbook on the thing

0:16:12.838,0:16:16.527
and George had nothing to do[br]while he was speaking, so he wrote it,

0:16:16.551,0:16:17.827
I don't know.

0:16:17.851,0:16:19.001
But --

0:16:19.634,0:16:22.572
EH: So in addition to the long list[br]I shared in the beginning,

0:16:22.596,0:16:25.242
I should have also mentioned[br]that you invented hip-hop.

0:16:25.266,0:16:26.367
(Laughter)

0:16:26.391,0:16:27.834
NL: Well ...

0:16:28.755,0:16:30.240
EH: I want to talk about --

0:16:30.264,0:16:31.564
NL: Well, then do it.

0:16:31.588,0:16:36.398
(Laughter)

0:16:37.706,0:16:40.468
EH: You've lead a life of accomplishment,

0:16:40.492,0:16:42.428
but you've also built a life of meaning.

0:16:42.809,0:16:45.381
And all of us strive to do[br]both of those things --

0:16:45.405,0:16:46.999
not all of us manage to.

0:16:47.984,0:16:51.755
But even those of us who do manage[br]to accomplish both of those,

0:16:51.779,0:16:54.349
very rarely do we figure out[br]how to do them together.

0:16:54.884,0:16:59.764
You managed to push culture[br]forward through your art

0:16:59.788,0:17:03.646
while also achieving world-beating[br]commercial success.

0:17:03.670,0:17:04.860
How did you do both?

0:17:11.391,0:17:17.207
NL: Here's where my mind goes when I hear[br]that recitation of all I accomplished.

0:17:19.304,0:17:23.360
This planet is one of a billion,

0:17:23.384,0:17:24.573
they tell us.

0:17:24.875,0:17:30.693
In a universe[br]of which there are billions --

0:17:30.717,0:17:32.285
billions of universes,

0:17:32.309,0:17:35.916
billions of planets ...

0:17:35.940,0:17:37.823
which we're trying to save

0:17:37.847,0:17:39.631
and it requires saving.

0:17:41.549,0:17:42.723
But --

0:17:43.699,0:17:47.349
anything I may have accomplished is --

0:17:47.770,0:17:51.809
my sister once asked me[br]what she does about something

0:17:51.833,0:17:54.775
that was going on[br]in Newington, Connecticut.

0:17:54.799,0:17:57.724
And I said, "Write your alderman[br]or your mayor or something."

0:17:57.748,0:18:00.886
She said, "Well I'm not[br]Norman Lear, I'm Claire Lear."

0:18:01.819,0:18:06.335
And that was the first time[br]I said what I'm saying,

0:18:06.359,0:18:10.698
I said, "Claire. With everything[br]you think about what I may have done

0:18:10.722,0:18:12.199
and everything you've done," --

0:18:12.223,0:18:14.566
she never left Newington --

0:18:14.590,0:18:16.400
"can you get your fingers close enough

0:18:16.424,0:18:20.341
when you consider the size[br]of the planet and so forth,

0:18:20.365,0:18:23.579
to measure anything I may have done[br]to anything you may have done?"

0:18:24.150,0:18:25.380
So ...

0:18:26.486,0:18:30.074
I am convinced we're all responsible

0:18:30.098,0:18:33.319
for doing as much[br]as I may have accomplished.

0:18:35.269,0:18:37.159
And I understand what you're saying --

0:18:37.183,0:18:38.898
EH: It's an articulate deflection --

0:18:38.922,0:18:42.880
NL: But you have to really buy into[br]the size and scope

0:18:42.904,0:18:44.858
of the creator's enterprise, here.

0:18:44.882,0:18:47.466
EH: But here on this planet[br]you have really mattered.

0:18:47.490,0:18:48.640
NL: I'm a son of a gun.

0:18:48.981,0:18:50.502
(Laughter)

0:18:50.526,0:18:54.324
EH: So I have one more question for you.

0:18:54.348,0:18:55.621
How old do you feel?

0:18:57.411,0:19:01.823
NL: I am the peer[br]of whoever I'm talking to.

0:19:02.704,0:19:04.076
EH: Well, I feel 93.

0:19:04.100,0:19:10.660
(Applause)

0:19:10.684,0:19:11.994
NL: We out of here?

0:19:12.018,0:19:13.902
EH: Well, I feel 93 years old,

0:19:13.926,0:19:17.715
but I hope to one day feel as young[br]as the person I'm sitting across from.

0:19:17.739,0:19:18.889
Ladies and gentlemen,

0:19:18.913,0:19:20.337
the incomparable Norman Lear.

0:19:20.361,0:19:26.025
(Applause)

0:19:26.049,0:19:27.200
NL: Thank you.

0:19:27.224,0:19:29.716
(Applause)