0:00:00.905,0:00:04.520
Eric Hirshberg: So I assume that Norman[br]doesn't need much of an introduction,

0:00:04.520,0:00:06.078
but TED's audience is global,

0:00:06.078,0:00:07.299
it's diverse,

0:00:07.299,0:00:10.309
so I've been tasked[br]with starting with his bio,

0:00:10.309,0:00:12.598
which could easily take up[br]the entire 18 minutes,

0:00:12.598,0:00:17.214
so instead we're going to do[br]93 years in 93 seconds or less.

0:00:18.340,0:00:20.052
You were born in New Hampshire.

0:00:20.052,0:00:21.485
Norman Lear: New Haven, CT.

0:00:21.485,0:00:22.994
EH: New Haven, CT.

0:00:22.994,0:00:25.084
(Laughter)

0:00:25.790,0:00:27.397
NL: There goes [70] seconds.

0:00:27.397,0:00:29.223
EH: Nailed it.

0:00:29.223,0:00:30.308
(Laughter)

0:00:31.162,0:00:32.759
You were born in New Haven, CT.

0:00:32.759,0:00:34.094
Your father was a con man --

0:00:34.094,0:00:35.480
I got that right.

0:00:35.480,0:00:38.165
He was taken away to prison[br]when you were nine years old.

0:00:38.165,0:00:41.860
You flew 52 missions[br]as a fighter pilot in World War II.

0:00:41.860,0:00:42.860
You came back to --

0:00:42.860,0:00:44.416
NL: Radio operator.

0:00:44.838,0:00:47.203
EH: You came to LA[br]to break into Hollywood,

0:00:47.203,0:00:49.165
first in publicity, then in TV.

0:00:49.165,0:00:51.197
You had no training as a writer, formally,

0:00:51.197,0:00:52.564
but you hustled your way in.

0:00:52.564,0:00:53.557
Your breakthrough --

0:00:53.557,0:00:54.560
your debut --

0:00:54.560,0:00:56.657
was a little show[br]called "All in the Family".

0:00:56.657,0:00:58.559
You follow that up with a string of hits

0:00:58.559,0:01:00.733
that to this day is unmatched[br]in Hollywood:

0:01:00.733,0:01:01.728
"Sanford and Son",

0:01:01.728,0:01:02.729
"Maude",

0:01:02.729,0:01:03.734
"Good Times",

0:01:03.734,0:01:04.725
"The Jeffersons",

0:01:04.725,0:01:05.727
"One Day at a Time",

0:01:05.727,0:01:07.154
"Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman",

0:01:07.154,0:01:08.922
to name literally a fraction of them.

0:01:08.922,0:01:10.699
Not only are they all commercially --

0:01:10.699,0:01:11.699
(Applause)

0:01:13.809,0:01:16.581
Not only are they all[br]commercially successful,

0:01:16.581,0:01:18.579
but many of them push our culture forward

0:01:18.579,0:01:20.965
by giving the underrepresented[br]members of society

0:01:20.965,0:01:23.531
their first prime-time voice.

0:01:23.531,0:01:27.107
You have seven shows[br]in the top 10 at one time.

0:01:27.107,0:01:28.111
At one point,

0:01:28.111,0:01:31.733
you aggregate an audience of 120[br]million people per week

0:01:31.733,0:01:32.782
watching your content.

0:01:32.782,0:01:35.132
That's more than the audience[br]for Super Bowl 50

0:01:35.132,0:01:36.384
which happens once a year.

0:01:36.384,0:01:37.568
NL: Holy shit.

0:01:37.568,0:01:38.946
(Laughter)

0:01:39.466,0:01:41.246
(Applause)

0:01:41.836,0:01:44.095
EH: And we're not even[br]to the holy shit part.

0:01:44.095,0:01:45.095
(Laughter)

0:01:45.095,0:01:47.909
You land yourself[br]on Richard Nixon's enemies list --

0:01:47.909,0:01:49.566
he had one.

0:01:49.566,0:01:50.570
You're --

0:01:50.570,0:01:52.338
That's an applause line, too.

0:01:52.338,0:01:53.344
(Applause)

0:01:53.344,0:01:56.965
You're inducted into the TV Hall of Fame[br]on the first day that it exists.

0:01:56.965,0:01:58.389
Then came the movies.

0:01:58.389,0:01:59.993
"Fried Green Tomatoes",

0:01:59.993,0:02:01.038
"The Princess Bride",

0:02:01.038,0:02:02.042
"Stand By Me",

0:02:02.042,0:02:03.399
"This is Spinal Tap".

0:02:03.399,0:02:04.400
(Applause)

0:02:04.400,0:02:06.608
Again, just to name a fraction.

0:02:06.878,0:02:08.541
Then you wipe the slate clean --

0:02:08.541,0:02:12.512
start a third act as a political activist[br]focusing on protecting the First Amendment

0:02:12.512,0:02:14.386
and the separation of church and state.

0:02:14.386,0:02:16.200
You start People For The American Way.

0:02:16.200,0:02:18.055
You buy the Declaration of Independence

0:02:18.055,0:02:19.597
and give it back to the people.

0:02:19.597,0:02:21.959
You stay active in both[br]entertainment and politics

0:02:21.959,0:02:23.874
until the ripe old of age of 93,

0:02:23.874,0:02:24.976
when you write a book

0:02:24.976,0:02:27.107
and make a documentary[br]about your life story.

0:02:27.107,0:02:28.648
And after all that,

0:02:28.648,0:02:31.156
they finally think you're[br]ready for a TED Talk.

0:02:31.156,0:02:32.842
(Laughter)

0:02:32.842,0:02:34.746
(Applause)

0:02:37.625,0:02:39.227
NL: I love being here.

0:02:39.599,0:02:42.037
And I love you for agreeing to do this.

0:02:42.269,0:02:43.476
EH: Thank you for asking.

0:02:43.685,0:02:44.428
It's my honor.

0:02:44.637,0:02:46.170
So here's my first question.

0:02:46.356,0:02:47.865
Was your mother proud of you?

0:02:48.120,0:02:49.653
(Laughter)

0:02:50.349,0:02:51.619
NL: My mother ...

0:02:51.619,0:02:52.786
what a place to start.

0:02:54.926,0:02:55.926
When I came back --

0:02:55.926,0:02:57.142
let me put it this way --

0:02:57.142,0:02:59.042
When I came back from the war,

0:02:59.042,0:03:04.492
she showed me the letters[br]that I had written her from overseas,

0:03:04.492,0:03:06.795
and they were absolute love letters.

0:03:11.760,0:03:13.922
This really sums up my mother.

0:03:13.922,0:03:15.048
They were love letters,

0:03:15.048,0:03:17.259
as if I had written them to --

0:03:17.259,0:03:19.117
they were love letters.

0:03:21.359,0:03:25.771
A year later I asked my mother[br]if I could have them

0:03:25.771,0:03:30.334
because I'd like to keep them[br]all the years of my life ...

0:03:30.334,0:03:32.146
she had thrown them away.

0:03:32.468,0:03:34.628
(Laughter)

0:03:37.122,0:03:38.218
That's my mother.

0:03:38.218,0:03:39.983
(Laughter)

0:03:41.006,0:03:47.510
The best way I can sum it up[br]in more recent times is --

0:03:47.510,0:03:49.585
this is also more recent times --

0:03:49.585,0:03:50.710
a number of years ago,

0:03:50.710,0:03:54.905
when they started the Hall of Fame[br]to which you referred,

0:03:54.905,0:03:56.495
it was a Sunday morning

0:03:56.495,0:04:01.980
when I got a call from the fellow who ran[br]the TV Academy of Arts and Sciences,

0:04:01.980,0:04:04.758
he was calling me to tell me[br]they had met all day yesterday

0:04:04.758,0:04:09.355
and he was confidentially telling me[br]they were going to start a hall of fame

0:04:09.355,0:04:12.321
and these were the inductees.

0:04:15.583,0:04:17.147
I started to say Richard Nixon

0:04:17.147,0:04:18.813
because Richard Nixon --

0:04:18.813,0:04:20.870
EH: I don't think he was on their list.

0:04:21.538,0:04:23.486
NL: William Paley who started CBS,

0:04:23.486,0:04:27.086
David Sarnoff who started NBC,

0:04:27.086,0:04:28.092
Edward R. Morrow,

0:04:28.092,0:04:31.818
the greatest of the foreign[br]correspondents,

0:04:31.818,0:04:33.013
Patty Chayefsky --

0:04:33.013,0:04:35.791
I think the best writer[br]that ever came out of television --

0:04:35.791,0:04:36.786
Milton Berle,

0:04:36.786,0:04:37.923
Lucille Ball

0:04:37.923,0:04:39.269
and me.

0:04:39.269,0:04:40.269
EH: Not bad.

0:04:40.269,0:04:43.039
NL: I call my mother[br]immediately in Hartford, CT.

0:04:43.039,0:04:44.666
"Mom, this is what's happened,

0:04:44.666,0:04:46.289
they're starting a hall of fame,"

0:04:46.289,0:04:48.285
I tell her the list of names and me,

0:04:48.285,0:04:49.285
and she says,

0:04:49.285,0:04:52.022
"Listen, if that's what they[br]want to do, who am I to say?"

0:04:52.022,0:04:53.370
(Laughter)

0:04:53.370,0:04:54.374
(Applause)

0:04:55.581,0:04:58.661
NL: So that's ...

0:04:58.661,0:04:59.825
that's my Ma --

0:04:59.825,0:05:01.729
I think it earns that kind of a laugh

0:05:01.729,0:05:03.842
because everybody[br]has a piece of that mother.

0:05:03.842,0:05:04.836
(Laughter)

0:05:05.196,0:05:08.052
EH: And the sitcom Jewish mother[br]is born right there.

0:05:08.571,0:05:13.266
So your father also played[br]a large role in your life,

0:05:13.266,0:05:15.081
mostly by his absence.

0:05:15.476,0:05:18.424
Tell us what happened when[br]you were nine years old.

0:05:18.712,0:05:20.859
NL: He was ...

0:05:20.859,0:05:23.587
he was flying to Oklahoma

0:05:23.587,0:05:25.300
with three guys that my mother said,

0:05:25.300,0:05:26.303
"Don't --

0:05:26.303,0:05:28.645
I don't want you to have[br]anything to do with them,

0:05:28.645,0:05:30.208
I don't trust those men."

0:05:30.208,0:05:31.671
That's when I heard,

0:05:31.671,0:05:33.132
maybe not for the first time,

0:05:33.132,0:05:36.888
"Stifle yourself, Jeanette, I'm going."

0:05:36.888,0:05:38.417
And he went.

0:05:38.821,0:05:41.318
It turns out he was selling --

0:05:41.318,0:05:43.572
picking up some fake bonds,

0:05:43.572,0:05:46.947
which he was flying[br]across the country to sell.

0:05:47.991,0:05:51.470
But the fact that he was[br]going to Oklahoma in a plane,

0:05:51.470,0:05:55.050
and he was going to bring me[br]back a 10-gallon hat,

0:05:55.050,0:06:01.110
just like Ken Maynard,[br]my favorite cowboy wore.

0:06:02.546,0:06:07.236
You know this was a few years after[br]Lindbergh crossed the Atlantic--

0:06:07.236,0:06:08.236
planes were --

0:06:08.236,0:06:10.857
I mean it was exotic[br]that my father was going there.

0:06:10.857,0:06:12.022
But when he came back,

0:06:12.022,0:06:14.718
they arrested him as he got off the plane.

0:06:14.718,0:06:18.973
That night newspapers[br]were all over the house,

0:06:18.973,0:06:21.833
my father was with his hat[br]in front of his face,

0:06:21.833,0:06:23.792
manacled to a detector.

0:06:23.792,0:06:27.402
And my mother was selling the furniture[br]because we were leaving --

0:06:27.402,0:06:28.630
she couldn't afford --

0:06:28.630,0:06:31.397
she didn't want to stay[br]in that state of shame,

0:06:31.397,0:06:33.700
in Chelsea, MA.

0:06:34.607,0:06:38.216
And selling the furniture,

0:06:38.216,0:06:40.910
the house was loaded with people.

0:06:40.910,0:06:42.981
And in the middle of all of that,

0:06:42.981,0:06:49.066
some strange horse's ass[br]put his hand on my shoulder and said,

0:06:49.066,0:06:52.038
"Well, you're the man of the house now."

0:06:53.315,0:06:59.268
I'm crying and this asshole says[br]"You're the man of the house now."

0:06:59.268,0:07:02.387
And I think that was the moment

0:07:02.387,0:07:06.497
I began to understand the foolishness[br]of the human condition.

0:07:07.927,0:07:10.707
So ...

0:07:10.707,0:07:15.415
it took a lot of years to look back at it[br]and feel it was a benefit.

0:07:16.605,0:07:17.611
But --

0:07:17.611,0:07:19.630
EH: It's interesting[br]you call it a benefit.

0:07:19.630,0:07:20.627
Listening to you --

0:07:20.627,0:07:22.872
NL: Benefit in that it gave[br]me that springboard.

0:07:22.872,0:07:26.162
I mean that I could think

0:07:26.162,0:07:29.374
how foolish it was to say[br]to this crying nine-year-old boy,

0:07:29.374,0:07:31.468
"You're the man of the house now."

0:07:31.468,0:07:34.867
And then I was crying and then he said,

0:07:34.867,0:07:37.305
"And men of the house don't cry."

0:07:38.077,0:07:39.633
And I ...

0:07:39.633,0:07:40.628
(Laughter)

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

0:07:44.505,0:07:46.117
I look back and I think

0:07:46.117,0:07:50.275
that's when I learned the foolishness[br]of the human condition,

0:07:50.275,0:07:53.434
and it's been that gift that I've used.

0:07:54.152,0:07:56.567
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.

0:08:00.067,0:08:05.156
Do you think that starting out as a kid[br]who maybe never felt heard

0:08:05.156,0:08:06.702
started you down a journey

0:08:06.702,0:08:08.671
that ended with you being an adult

0:08:08.671,0:08:11.300
with a weekly audience[br]of 120 million people?

0:08:12.011,0:08:14.903
NL: I love the way you put that question,

0:08:14.903,0:08:18.746
because I guess I've[br]spent my life wanting --

0:08:18.746,0:08:21.503
if anything, wanting to be heard.

0:08:25.247,0:08:28.524
I think ...

0:08:28.524,0:08:29.755
it's a simple answer,

0:08:29.755,0:08:30.764
yes,

0:08:30.764,0:08:34.158
that was what sparked --

0:08:34.158,0:08:35.907
well, there's are other things, too.

0:08:35.907,0:08:38.631
When my father was away,

0:08:38.631,0:08:44.602
I was fooling with a crystal radio set[br]that we had made together,

0:08:44.602,0:08:50.105
and I caught a signal that turned[br]out to be Father Coughlin on --

0:08:52.897,0:08:54.500
Yeah, somebody laughed.

0:08:54.500,0:08:55.734
(Laughter)

0:08:55.734,0:08:57.042
But not funny,

0:08:57.042,0:08:58.566
this was a horse's--

0:08:58.566,0:09:00.338
not a horse's ass --

0:09:00.338,0:09:02.821
he was very vocal[br]about hating the New Deal

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

0:09:06.256,0:09:09.613
The first time I ran into an understanding

0:09:09.613,0:09:12.530
that there were people[br]in this world that hated me

0:09:12.530,0:09:15.107
because I was born to Jewish parents.

0:09:15.543,0:09:19.883
And that had an enormous[br]effect on my life.

0:09:20.217,0:09:21.472
EH: So you had a childhood

0:09:21.472,0:09:25.172
with little in the way of strong[br]male role models,

0:09:25.172,0:09:27.432
except for your grandfather.

0:09:27.432,0:09:29.008
Tell us about him.

0:09:29.008,0:09:31.046
NL: Oh, my grandfather.

0:09:31.466,0:09:35.784
Well here's the way I always[br]talked about that grandfather.

0:09:37.767,0:09:38.780
There were parades,

0:09:38.780,0:09:40.685
lots of parades when I was a kid.

0:09:40.685,0:09:42.422
There were parades on Veteran's Day,

0:09:42.422,0:09:43.419
on President's --

0:09:43.419,0:09:44.902
there wasn't a President's Day.

0:09:44.902,0:09:46.891
There was for Abraham Lincoln's birthday,

0:09:46.891,0:09:48.278
George Washington's birthday

0:09:48.278,0:09:51.925
and Flag Day ...

0:09:51.925,0:09:53.604
and lots of little parades.

0:09:53.604,0:09:55.044
My grandfather used to take me

0:09:55.044,0:09:56.794
and we'd stand on the street corner,

0:09:56.794,0:09:58.421
he'd hold my hand

0:09:58.421,0:10:02.223
and I'd look up and I'd see a tear[br]running down his eye.

0:10:03.910,0:10:06.298
And he meant a great deal to me.

0:10:06.298,0:10:11.680
And he used to write Presidents[br]of the United States.

0:10:11.680,0:10:12.676
Every President --

0:10:12.676,0:10:13.712
every letter started,

0:10:13.712,0:10:16.556
"My dearest, darling Mr. President,"

0:10:16.556,0:10:21.069
and he'd tell him something[br]wonderful about what he did.

0:10:21.069,0:10:24.025
But when he disagreed[br]with the President he also wrote,

0:10:24.025,0:10:25.715
"My dearest, darling Mr. President,

0:10:25.715,0:10:27.534
didn't I tell you last week...?"

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

0:10:29.760,0:10:34.763
And I would run down the stairs[br]every now and then

0:10:34.763,0:10:35.918
and pick up the mail.

0:10:35.918,0:10:37.213
We were three flights up,

0:10:37.213,0:10:40.567
74 York Street, New Haven, CT.

0:10:41.155,0:10:47.557
And I'd pick up a little white envelope[br]reading, "Shya C. called at this address."

0:10:50.991,0:10:55.294
And that's the story I have told[br]about my grandfather --

0:10:55.294,0:10:57.339
EH: They wrote him back[br]on the envelopes --

0:10:57.339,0:10:59.150
NL: They wrote back.

0:11:01.024,0:11:05.292
But I have shown them myself,

0:11:05.292,0:11:10.581
going way back to Phil Donahue[br]and others before him,

0:11:10.581,0:11:11.593
dozens --

0:11:11.593,0:11:12.587
literally --

0:11:12.587,0:11:15.177
of interviews in which I told that story.

0:11:16.405,0:11:21.839
This will be the second time I have said[br]the whole story was a lie.

0:11:24.477,0:11:28.471
The truth was my grandfather[br]took me to parades,

0:11:28.471,0:11:30.142
we had lots of those.

0:11:30.454,0:11:33.240
The truth is a tear came down his eye.

0:11:33.515,0:11:37.231
The truth is he would write[br]an occasional letter,

0:11:37.231,0:11:40.388
and I did pick up those little envelopes.

0:11:40.780,0:11:44.148
But, "My dearest darling Mr. President,"

0:11:44.148,0:11:46.676
all the rest of it,

0:11:46.676,0:11:51.141
is a story I borrowed from a good friend

0:11:51.141,0:11:56.651
whose grandfather was that grandfather[br]who wrote those letters.

0:11:58.768,0:12:00.978
And --

0:12:00.978,0:12:05.228
I mean, I stole Arthur[br]Marshall's grandfather

0:12:05.228,0:12:07.748
and made him my own.

0:12:09.169,0:12:10.171
Always.

0:12:10.171,0:12:12.809
When I started to write my memoir --

0:12:12.809,0:12:14.269
"Even this --"

0:12:14.269,0:12:15.329
How about that?

0:12:15.329,0:12:17.465
"Even This I Get To Experience".

0:12:18.957,0:12:20.623
When I started to write the memoir

0:12:20.623,0:12:22.272
and I started to think about it,

0:12:22.272,0:12:24.442
and then I ...

0:12:24.442,0:12:26.643
I ...

0:12:26.643,0:12:30.607
I did a reasonable amount of crying

0:12:30.607,0:12:35.402
and I realized how much[br]I needed the father.

0:12:35.402,0:12:39.187
So much so that I appropriated[br]Arthur Marshall's grandfather.

0:12:39.742,0:12:40.987
So much so,

0:12:40.987,0:12:42.899
the word "father" --

0:12:42.899,0:12:44.844
I have six kids by the way.

0:12:45.434,0:12:47.566
My favorite role in life.

0:12:49.636,0:12:53.719
And husband to my wife Lynn.

0:12:56.219,0:13:00.700
But I stole the man's identity[br]because I needed the father.

0:13:01.340,0:13:04.950
Now I've gone through a whole lot of shit

0:13:04.950,0:13:06.715
and come out on the other side,

0:13:06.715,0:13:08.481
and I actually give --

0:13:08.481,0:13:09.826
the best thing I --

0:13:09.826,0:13:11.958
the worst thing I --

0:13:11.958,0:13:14.819
the word I'd like to use about him[br]and think about him is --

0:13:14.819,0:13:16.689
he was a rascal.

0:13:17.329,0:13:22.172
The fact that he lied[br]and stole and cheated,

0:13:22.172,0:13:24.610
and went to prison ...

0:13:26.173,0:13:29.609
I submerge that in the word "rascal".

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
EH: Well there's a saying that amatuers[br]borrow and professionals steal.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
NL: I'm a pro.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
(Laughter)

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
EH: And that quote is widely[br]attributed to John Lennon,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
but it turns out he[br]stole it from T.S. Eliot.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
So you're in good company.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
(Laughter)

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
EH: I want to talk about your work.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Obviously the impact of your work[br]has been written about

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and I'm sure you've[br]heard about it all your life:

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
what it meant to people,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
what it meant to your culture,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
you heard the applause when I just[br]named the names of the shows,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
you raised half the people[br]in the room through your work.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
But have there ever been any stories[br]about the impact of your work

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that surprised you?

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
NL: Oh, god --

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
surprised me and delighted me[br]from head to toe.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
There was an evening wtih Norman Lear[br]within the last year

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that a group of Hip-Hop[br]impressarios and performers,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and the Academy

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
put together.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
The subtext of "An Evening With ..."

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
was "what do a 92-year-old Jew" --

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
then 92 --

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
"and the world of Hip-Hop[br]have in common?"

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Russel Simmons was among seven on stage.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And when he talked about the shows,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
he wasn't talking about the Hollywood[br]George Jeffereson in the Jeffersons

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
or the show that was[br]the "Number Five" show

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
or the --

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
he was talking about a simple thing[br]that made a big --

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
EH: Impact on him?

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
NL: An impact on him --

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I was hesitating over the word, "change."

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
It's hard for me to imagine,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
you know, changing somebody's life,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
but that's how he put it.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
He saw George Jefferson[br]write a check on The Jeffersons,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and he never knew that a Black man[br]could write a check.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And he says it just[br]impacted his life so --

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
it changed his life.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And when I hear things like that --

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
little things --

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
because I know that there isn't[br]anybody in this audience

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that wasn't likely responsible today for[br]some little thing they did for somebody,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
as little as a smile[br]or an unexpected "hello,"

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that's how little this thing was.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
It could have been the dresser of the set

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
who put the checkbook on the thing

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and George had nothing to do while[br]he was speaking so he wrote it,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I don't know.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
But --

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
EH: So in addition to the long list[br]I shared in the beginning,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I should have also mentioned[br]that you invented Hip-Hop.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
(Laughter)

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
NL: Well --

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
EH: I want to talk about --

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
NL: Well, then do it.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
(Laughter)

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
EH: You've lead a life of accomplishment,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
but you've also built a life of meaning.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And all of us strive to do[br]both of those things --

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
not all of us manage to.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
But even those of us who do[br]manage to do both of those,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
very rarely do we figure out[br]how to do them together.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
You managed to push culture[br]forward through your art

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
while also achieving [world ...][br]commercial success.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
How did you do both?

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
NL: When I hear that --

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
here's where my mind goes when I hear[br]that recitation of all I accomplished.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
This planet is one of a billion ...

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
they tell us.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
In a universe of which[br]there are billions --

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
billions of universes,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
billions of planets

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
which we're trying to save

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and it requires a --

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
but anything I may have accomplished is --

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
my sister once asked me[br]what she does about something

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that was going on[br]in Newington, Connecticut

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and I said, "Write your [alderman][br]or your mayor or something,"

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and she said, "Well I'm not[br]Norman Lear, I'm Claire Lear,"

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and that is the first time[br]I said what I'm saying,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I said, "Claire. Everything you think[br]about what I may have done

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and everything you've done" --

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
she never left Newington --

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
"Can you get your fingers close enough

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
when you consider the size[br]of the planet and so forth,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
to measure anything I may have done[br]to anything you may have done?"

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
So ...

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I am convinced we're all responsible

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
for doing as much[br]as I may have accomplished.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And I understand what you saying --

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
EH: It's an articulate deflection --

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
NL: But you have to think about the --

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
you have to really buy[br]into the size and scope

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
of the creator's enterprise, here.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
EH: But here on this planet[br]you have really, really mattered.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
NL: I'm a son of a gun.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
(Laughter)

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
EH: So I have one more question for you.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
How old do you feel?

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
NL: I am the peer[br]of whoever I'm talking to.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
EH: Well I feel 93.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
(Applause)

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
NL: [We out of here?]

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
EH: Well I feel 93 years old,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
but I hope to one day feel as young[br]as the person I'm sitting across from.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Ladies and gentleman,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
the incomparable Norman Lear.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
(Applause)

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
NL: Thank you

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
(Applause)