WEBVTT 00:00:00.905 --> 00:00:04.525 Eric Hirshberg: So I assume that Norman doesn't need much of an introduction, 00:00:04.549 --> 00:00:06.054 but TED's audience is global, 00:00:06.078 --> 00:00:07.275 it's diverse, 00:00:07.299 --> 00:00:10.285 so I've been tasked with starting with his bio, 00:00:10.309 --> 00:00:12.595 which could easily take up the entire 18 minutes, 00:00:12.619 --> 00:00:16.562 so instead we're going to do 93 years in 93 seconds or less. 00:00:16.586 --> 00:00:17.736 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:00:18.258 --> 00:00:19.805 You were born in New Hampshire. NOTE Paragraph 00:00:19.829 --> 00:00:21.544 Norman Lear: New Haven, Connecticut. NOTE Paragraph 00:00:21.568 --> 00:00:22.854 EH: New Haven, Connecticut. NOTE Paragraph 00:00:22.878 --> 00:00:25.766 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:00:25.790 --> 00:00:27.410 NL: There goes seven more seconds. NOTE Paragraph 00:00:27.434 --> 00:00:28.677 EH: Nailed it. NOTE Paragraph 00:00:28.701 --> 00:00:30.691 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:00:31.042 --> 00:00:32.947 You were born in New Haven, Connecticut. 00:00:32.971 --> 00:00:35.376 Your father was a con man -- I got that right. 00:00:35.400 --> 00:00:38.147 He was taken away to prison when you were nine years old. 00:00:38.171 --> 00:00:41.328 You flew 52 missions as a fighter pilot in World War II. 00:00:41.686 --> 00:00:42.836 You came back to -- NOTE Paragraph 00:00:42.860 --> 00:00:44.010 NL: Radio operator. NOTE Paragraph 00:00:44.542 --> 00:00:47.025 EH: You came to LA to break into Hollywood, 00:00:47.049 --> 00:00:48.929 first in publicity, then in TV. 00:00:48.953 --> 00:00:51.112 You had no training as a writer, formally, 00:00:51.136 --> 00:00:52.540 but you hustled your way in. 00:00:52.564 --> 00:00:54.017 Your breakthrough, your debut, 00:00:54.041 --> 00:00:56.309 was a little show called "All in the Family." 00:00:56.333 --> 00:00:58.437 You followed that up with a string of hits 00:00:58.461 --> 00:01:00.579 that to this day is unmatched in Hollywood: 00:01:00.603 --> 00:01:02.643 "Sanford and Son," "Maude," "Good Times," 00:01:02.667 --> 00:01:04.493 "The Jeffersons," "One Day at a Time," 00:01:04.517 --> 00:01:05.930 "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman," 00:01:05.954 --> 00:01:07.717 to name literally a fraction of them. 00:01:07.741 --> 00:01:09.518 Not only are they all commercially -- NOTE Paragraph 00:01:09.542 --> 00:01:13.548 (Applause) NOTE Paragraph 00:01:13.572 --> 00:01:16.557 Not only are they all commercially successful, 00:01:16.581 --> 00:01:18.555 but many of them push our culture forward 00:01:18.579 --> 00:01:20.941 by giving the underrepresented members of society 00:01:20.965 --> 00:01:23.001 their first prime-time voice. 00:01:23.333 --> 00:01:26.644 You have seven shows in the top 10 at one time. 00:01:27.033 --> 00:01:28.262 At one point, 00:01:28.286 --> 00:01:31.623 you aggregate an audience of 120 million people per week 00:01:31.647 --> 00:01:32.873 watching your content. 00:01:32.897 --> 00:01:35.136 That's more than the audience for Super Bowl 50, 00:01:35.160 --> 00:01:36.399 which happens once a year. NOTE Paragraph 00:01:36.423 --> 00:01:37.645 NL: Holy shit. NOTE Paragraph 00:01:37.669 --> 00:01:39.442 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:01:39.466 --> 00:01:41.688 (Applause) NOTE Paragraph 00:01:41.712 --> 00:01:44.071 EH: And we're not even to the holy shit part. NOTE Paragraph 00:01:44.095 --> 00:01:45.134 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:01:45.158 --> 00:01:47.885 You land yourself on Richard Nixon's enemies list -- 00:01:47.909 --> 00:01:49.059 he had one. NOTE Paragraph 00:01:49.399 --> 00:01:51.494 That's an applause line, too. NOTE Paragraph 00:01:51.518 --> 00:01:53.320 (Applause) NOTE Paragraph 00:01:53.344 --> 00:01:56.941 You're inducted into the TV Hall of Fame on the first day that it exists. 00:01:56.965 --> 00:01:58.365 Then came the movies. 00:01:58.389 --> 00:01:59.969 "Fried Green Tomatoes," 00:01:59.993 --> 00:02:02.018 "The Princess Bride," "Stand By Me," 00:02:02.042 --> 00:02:03.215 "This Is Spinal Tap." NOTE Paragraph 00:02:03.239 --> 00:02:04.376 (Applause) NOTE Paragraph 00:02:04.400 --> 00:02:05.932 Again, just to name a fraction. 00:02:05.956 --> 00:02:06.987 (Applause) NOTE Paragraph 00:02:07.011 --> 00:02:08.517 Then you wipe the slate clean, 00:02:08.541 --> 00:02:12.588 start a third act as a political activist focusing on protecting the First Amendment 00:02:12.612 --> 00:02:14.562 and the separation of church and state. 00:02:14.586 --> 00:02:16.476 You start People For The American Way. 00:02:16.500 --> 00:02:18.358 You buy the Declaration of Independence 00:02:18.382 --> 00:02:19.873 and give it back to the people. 00:02:19.897 --> 00:02:22.235 You stay active in both entertainment and politics 00:02:22.259 --> 00:02:23.791 until the ripe old of age of 93, 00:02:23.815 --> 00:02:25.061 when you write a book 00:02:25.085 --> 00:02:27.249 and make a documentary about your life story. 00:02:27.273 --> 00:02:28.447 And after all that, 00:02:28.471 --> 00:02:31.013 they finally think you're ready for a TED Talk. NOTE Paragraph 00:02:31.037 --> 00:02:32.818 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:02:32.842 --> 00:02:37.414 (Applause) NOTE Paragraph 00:02:37.438 --> 00:02:39.236 NL: I love being here. 00:02:39.260 --> 00:02:41.975 And I love you for agreeing to do this. NOTE Paragraph 00:02:41.999 --> 00:02:43.988 EH: Thank you for asking. It's my honor. 00:02:44.012 --> 00:02:45.559 So here's my first question. 00:02:45.919 --> 00:02:47.633 Was your mother proud of you? NOTE Paragraph 00:02:47.657 --> 00:02:49.653 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:02:50.055 --> 00:02:51.388 NL: My mother ... 00:02:51.412 --> 00:02:52.579 what a place to start. 00:02:54.967 --> 00:02:57.118 Let me put it this way -- 00:02:57.142 --> 00:02:58.762 when I came back from the war, 00:02:58.786 --> 00:03:04.374 she showed me the letters that I had written her from overseas, 00:03:04.398 --> 00:03:06.795 and they were absolute love letters. 00:03:09.961 --> 00:03:11.540 (Laughter) 00:03:11.564 --> 00:03:13.286 This really sums up my mother. 00:03:13.730 --> 00:03:14.881 They were love letters, 00:03:14.905 --> 00:03:17.107 as if I had written them to -- 00:03:17.131 --> 00:03:18.428 they were love letters. 00:03:21.214 --> 00:03:25.747 A year later I asked my mother if I could have them, 00:03:25.771 --> 00:03:30.048 because I'd like to keep them all the years of my life ... 00:03:30.072 --> 00:03:31.581 She had thrown them away. NOTE Paragraph 00:03:31.605 --> 00:03:35.668 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:03:36.890 --> 00:03:38.194 That's my mother. NOTE Paragraph 00:03:38.218 --> 00:03:40.696 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:03:40.720 --> 00:03:47.240 The best way I can sum it up in more recent times is -- 00:03:47.264 --> 00:03:49.561 this is also more recent times -- 00:03:49.585 --> 00:03:50.767 a number of years ago, 00:03:50.791 --> 00:03:54.664 when they started the Hall of Fame to which you referred, 00:03:54.688 --> 00:03:56.471 it was a Sunday morning, 00:03:56.495 --> 00:04:01.749 when I got a call from the fellow who ran the TV Academy of Arts and Sciences. 00:04:01.773 --> 00:04:04.742 He was calling me to tell me they had met all day yesterday 00:04:04.766 --> 00:04:08.979 and he was confidentially telling me they were going to start a hall of fame 00:04:09.003 --> 00:04:11.757 and these were the inductees. 00:04:15.201 --> 00:04:17.123 I started to say "Richard Nixon," 00:04:17.147 --> 00:04:18.789 because Richard Nixon -- NOTE Paragraph 00:04:18.813 --> 00:04:20.684 EH: I don't think he was on their list. NOTE Paragraph 00:04:20.708 --> 00:04:23.231 NL: William Paley, who started CBS, 00:04:23.255 --> 00:04:26.889 David Sarnoff, who started NBC, 00:04:26.913 --> 00:04:28.068 Edward R. Murrow, 00:04:28.092 --> 00:04:31.794 the greatest of the foreign correspondents, 00:04:31.818 --> 00:04:32.989 Patty Chayefsky -- 00:04:33.013 --> 00:04:35.775 I think the best writer that ever came out of television -- 00:04:35.799 --> 00:04:37.776 Milton Berle, Lucille Ball, 00:04:37.800 --> 00:04:39.181 and me. NOTE Paragraph 00:04:39.205 --> 00:04:40.356 EH: Not bad. NOTE Paragraph 00:04:40.380 --> 00:04:43.095 NL: I call my mother immediately in Hartford, Connecticut. 00:04:43.119 --> 00:04:44.642 "Mom, this is what's happened, 00:04:44.666 --> 00:04:46.265 they're starting a hall of fame," 00:04:46.289 --> 00:04:48.012 I tell her the list of names and me, 00:04:48.036 --> 00:04:49.194 and she says, 00:04:49.218 --> 00:04:51.955 "Listen, if that's what they want to do, who am I to say?" NOTE Paragraph 00:04:51.979 --> 00:04:55.480 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:04:55.504 --> 00:04:58.420 (Applause) 00:04:58.444 --> 00:04:59.801 That's my Ma. 00:04:59.825 --> 00:05:01.705 I think it earns that kind of a laugh 00:05:01.729 --> 00:05:03.825 because everybody has a piece of that mother. NOTE Paragraph 00:05:03.849 --> 00:05:05.023 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:05:05.047 --> 00:05:07.904 EH: And the sitcom Jewish mother is born, right there. NOTE Paragraph 00:05:08.348 --> 00:05:13.158 So your father also played a large role in your life, 00:05:13.182 --> 00:05:14.832 mostly by his absence. 00:05:14.856 --> 00:05:16.013 NL: Yeah. 00:05:16.037 --> 00:05:18.560 Tell us what happened when you were nine years old. NOTE Paragraph 00:05:18.584 --> 00:05:23.563 NL: He was flying to Oklahoma 00:05:23.587 --> 00:05:25.658 with three guys that my mother said, 00:05:25.682 --> 00:05:28.064 "I don't want you to have anything to do with them, 00:05:28.088 --> 00:05:29.341 I don't trust those men." 00:05:30.040 --> 00:05:31.390 That's when I heard, 00:05:31.414 --> 00:05:32.897 maybe not for the first time, 00:05:32.921 --> 00:05:36.587 "Stifle yourself, Jeanette, I'm going." 00:05:36.611 --> 00:05:38.088 And he went. 00:05:38.112 --> 00:05:43.129 It turns out he was picking up some fake bonds, 00:05:43.153 --> 00:05:46.676 which he was flying across the country to sell. 00:05:47.764 --> 00:05:51.311 But the fact that he was going to Oklahoma in a plane, 00:05:51.335 --> 00:05:55.026 and he was going to bring me back a 10-gallon hat, 00:05:55.050 --> 00:06:00.748 just like Ken Maynard, my favorite cowboy wore. 00:06:02.124 --> 00:06:07.212 You know, this was a few years after Lindbergh crossed the Atlantic. 00:06:07.236 --> 00:06:10.833 I mean, it was exotic that my father was going there. 00:06:10.857 --> 00:06:12.098 But when he came back, 00:06:12.122 --> 00:06:14.186 they arrested him as he got off the plane. 00:06:14.553 --> 00:06:18.949 That night newspapers were all over the house, 00:06:18.973 --> 00:06:21.593 my father was with his hat in front of his face, 00:06:21.617 --> 00:06:23.116 manacled to a detective. NOTE Paragraph 00:06:23.720 --> 00:06:27.378 And my mother was selling the furniture, because we were leaving -- 00:06:27.402 --> 00:06:31.211 she didn't want to stay in that state of shame, 00:06:31.235 --> 00:06:33.700 in Chelsea, Massachusetts. 00:06:34.528 --> 00:06:38.192 And selling the furniture -- 00:06:38.216 --> 00:06:40.276 the house was loaded with people. 00:06:40.712 --> 00:06:42.830 And in the middle of all of that, 00:06:42.854 --> 00:06:49.042 some strange horse's ass put his hand on my shoulder and said, 00:06:49.066 --> 00:06:51.192 "Well, you're the man of the house now." 00:06:52.982 --> 00:06:58.553 I'm crying and this asshole says, "You're the man of the house now." 00:06:59.268 --> 00:07:02.202 And I think that was the moment 00:07:02.226 --> 00:07:06.336 I began to understand the foolishness of the human condition. 00:07:07.678 --> 00:07:09.836 So ... 00:07:10.558 --> 00:07:15.138 it took a lot of years to look back at it and feel it was a benefit. 00:07:16.437 --> 00:07:17.587 But -- NOTE Paragraph 00:07:17.611 --> 00:07:19.879 EH: It's interesting you called it a benefit. NOTE Paragraph 00:07:19.903 --> 00:07:22.334 NL: Benefit in that it gave me that springboard. 00:07:22.358 --> 00:07:26.138 I mean that I could think 00:07:26.162 --> 00:07:29.350 how foolish it was to say to this crying nine-year-old boy, 00:07:29.374 --> 00:07:31.279 "You're the man of the house now." 00:07:31.303 --> 00:07:34.716 And then I was crying and then he said, 00:07:34.740 --> 00:07:36.890 "And men of the house don't cry." 00:07:37.755 --> 00:07:39.295 And I ... NOTE Paragraph 00:07:39.319 --> 00:07:40.604 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:07:40.628 --> 00:07:42.044 So ... 00:07:44.413 --> 00:07:45.920 I look back and I think 00:07:45.944 --> 00:07:50.087 that's when I learned the foolishness of the human condition, 00:07:50.111 --> 00:07:53.039 and it's been that gift that I've used. NOTE Paragraph 00:07:54.015 --> 00:07:56.543 EH: So you have a father who's absent, 00:07:56.567 --> 00:07:59.513 you have a mother for whom apparently nothing is good enough. 00:07:59.870 --> 00:08:05.132 Do you think that starting out as a kid who maybe never felt heard 00:08:05.156 --> 00:08:06.678 started you down a journey 00:08:06.702 --> 00:08:08.480 that ended with you being an adult 00:08:08.504 --> 00:08:10.805 with a weekly audience of 120 million people? NOTE Paragraph 00:08:11.869 --> 00:08:14.879 NL: I love the way you put that question, 00:08:14.903 --> 00:08:18.722 because I guess I've spent my life wanting -- 00:08:18.746 --> 00:08:20.732 if anything, wanting to be heard. 00:08:24.898 --> 00:08:26.152 I think -- 00:08:28.524 --> 00:08:30.096 It's a simple answer, yes, 00:08:30.120 --> 00:08:32.436 that was what sparked -- 00:08:33.857 --> 00:08:35.564 well, there were other things, too. 00:08:35.588 --> 00:08:38.419 When my father was away, 00:08:38.443 --> 00:08:44.485 I was fooling with a crystal radio set that we had made together, 00:08:44.509 --> 00:08:49.080 and I caught a signal that turned out to be Father Coughlin. 00:08:49.684 --> 00:08:50.834 (Laughter) 00:08:52.770 --> 00:08:54.112 Yeah, somebody laughed. NOTE Paragraph 00:08:54.136 --> 00:08:55.563 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:08:55.587 --> 00:08:57.018 But not funny, 00:08:57.042 --> 00:08:58.542 this was a horse's -- 00:08:58.566 --> 00:09:00.182 not a horse's ass -- 00:09:00.206 --> 00:09:02.797 He was very vocal about hating the New Deal 00:09:02.821 --> 00:09:05.284 and Roosevelt and Jews. 00:09:06.256 --> 00:09:09.589 The first time I ran into an understanding 00:09:09.613 --> 00:09:12.506 that there were people in this world that hated me 00:09:12.530 --> 00:09:14.466 because I was born to Jewish parents. 00:09:15.291 --> 00:09:19.418 And that had an enormous effect on my life. NOTE Paragraph 00:09:20.059 --> 00:09:22.042 EH: So you had a childhood 00:09:22.066 --> 00:09:25.148 with little in the way of strong male role models, 00:09:25.172 --> 00:09:26.708 except for your grandfather. 00:09:27.272 --> 00:09:29.152 Tell us about him. NOTE Paragraph 00:09:29.176 --> 00:09:30.326 NL: Oh, my grandfather. 00:09:31.323 --> 00:09:35.784 Well here's the way I always talked about that grandfather. 00:09:37.606 --> 00:09:38.756 There were parades, 00:09:38.780 --> 00:09:40.661 lots of parades when I was a kid. 00:09:40.685 --> 00:09:42.597 There were parades on Veteran's Day -- 00:09:42.621 --> 00:09:44.189 there wasn't a President's Day. 00:09:44.213 --> 00:09:46.126 There was an Abraham Lincoln's birthday, 00:09:46.150 --> 00:09:48.254 George Washington's birthday 00:09:48.278 --> 00:09:50.768 and Flag Day ... 00:09:51.821 --> 00:09:53.580 And lots of little parades. 00:09:53.604 --> 00:09:55.033 My grandfather used to take me 00:09:55.057 --> 00:09:56.783 and we'd stand on the street corner, 00:09:56.807 --> 00:09:58.143 he'd hold my hand 00:09:58.167 --> 00:10:01.230 and I'd look up and I'd see a tear running down his eye. 00:10:03.910 --> 00:10:06.274 And he meant a great deal to me. 00:10:06.298 --> 00:10:11.656 And he used to write presidents of the United States. 00:10:11.680 --> 00:10:13.300 Every letter started, 00:10:13.324 --> 00:10:16.403 "My dearest, darling Mr. President," 00:10:16.427 --> 00:10:21.045 and he'd tell him something wonderful about what he did. 00:10:21.069 --> 00:10:24.001 But when he disagreed with the President he also wrote, 00:10:24.025 --> 00:10:25.692 "My dearest, darling Mr. President, 00:10:25.716 --> 00:10:27.510 Didn't I tell you last week ...?" NOTE Paragraph 00:10:27.534 --> 00:10:29.113 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:10:29.559 --> 00:10:34.739 And I would run down the stairs every now and then 00:10:34.763 --> 00:10:35.995 and pick up the mail. 00:10:36.019 --> 00:10:37.238 We were three flights up, 00:10:37.262 --> 00:10:39.487 74 York Street, New Haven, Connecticut. 00:10:40.945 --> 00:10:47.557 And I'd pick up a little white envelope reading, "Shya C. called at this address." 00:10:50.734 --> 00:10:55.270 And that's the story I have told about my grandfather -- NOTE Paragraph 00:10:55.294 --> 00:10:57.315 EH: They wrote him back on the envelopes -- NOTE Paragraph 00:10:57.339 --> 00:10:58.559 NL: They wrote back. 00:11:00.862 --> 00:11:05.268 But I have shown them myself, 00:11:05.292 --> 00:11:10.410 going way back to Phil Donahue and others before him, 00:11:10.434 --> 00:11:14.743 literally dozens of interviews in which I told that story. 00:11:16.283 --> 00:11:21.402 This will be the second time I have said the whole story was a lie. 00:11:24.151 --> 00:11:28.343 The truth was my grandfather took me to parades, 00:11:28.367 --> 00:11:29.690 we had lots of those. 00:11:30.094 --> 00:11:32.474 The truth is a tear came down his eye. 00:11:33.340 --> 00:11:37.047 The truth is he would write an occasional letter, 00:11:37.071 --> 00:11:39.474 and I did pick up those little envelopes. 00:11:40.536 --> 00:11:43.948 But "My dearest darling Mr. President," 00:11:43.972 --> 00:11:46.434 all the rest of it, 00:11:46.458 --> 00:11:50.974 is a story I borrowed from a good friend 00:11:50.998 --> 00:11:56.508 whose grandfather was that grandfather who wrote those letters. 00:11:58.506 --> 00:12:04.951 And, I mean, I stole Arthur Marshall's grandfather 00:12:04.975 --> 00:12:06.705 and made him my own. 00:12:08.997 --> 00:12:10.147 Always. 00:12:10.171 --> 00:12:12.785 When I started to write my memoir -- 00:12:12.809 --> 00:12:14.261 "Even this --" 00:12:14.285 --> 00:12:15.450 How about that? 00:12:15.474 --> 00:12:17.705 "Even This I Get to Experience." 00:12:18.848 --> 00:12:20.599 When I started to write the memoir 00:12:20.623 --> 00:12:22.182 and I started to think about it, 00:12:22.206 --> 00:12:23.356 and then I -- 00:12:24.275 --> 00:12:25.425 I -- 00:12:26.529 --> 00:12:30.331 I did a reasonable amount of crying 00:12:30.355 --> 00:12:34.188 and I realized how much I needed the father. 00:12:35.139 --> 00:12:38.440 So much so that I appropriated Arthur Marshall's grandfather. 00:12:39.575 --> 00:12:42.012 So much so, the word "father" -- 00:12:42.573 --> 00:12:44.518 I have six kids by the way. 00:12:45.273 --> 00:12:46.980 My favorite role in life. 00:12:49.482 --> 00:12:51.958 It and husband to my wife Lyn. 00:12:55.972 --> 00:13:00.453 But I stole the man's identity because I needed the father. NOTE Paragraph 00:13:01.243 --> 00:13:04.926 Now I've gone through a whole lot of shit 00:13:04.950 --> 00:13:06.957 and come out on the other side, 00:13:06.981 --> 00:13:08.568 and I actually give my father -- 00:13:08.592 --> 00:13:09.802 the best thing I -- 00:13:09.826 --> 00:13:11.115 the worst thing I -- 00:13:11.711 --> 00:13:14.795 The word I'd like to use about him and think about him is -- 00:13:14.819 --> 00:13:16.187 he was a rascal. 00:13:17.020 --> 00:13:21.933 The fact that he lied and stole and cheated, 00:13:21.957 --> 00:13:23.157 and went to prison ... 00:13:25.349 --> 00:13:29.206 I submerge that in the word "rascal." NOTE Paragraph 00:13:29.809 --> 00:13:35.936 EH: Well there's a saying that amateurs borrow and professionals steal. NOTE Paragraph 00:13:36.366 --> 00:13:37.591 NL: I'm a pro. NOTE Paragraph 00:13:37.615 --> 00:13:38.766 EH: You're a pro. NOTE Paragraph 00:13:38.790 --> 00:13:40.106 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:13:40.130 --> 00:13:43.277 And that quote is widely attributed to John Lennon, 00:13:43.301 --> 00:13:45.491 but it turns out he stole it from T.S. Eliot. 00:13:45.515 --> 00:13:46.904 So you're in good company. NOTE Paragraph 00:13:46.928 --> 00:13:48.086 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:13:50.602 --> 00:13:52.927 EH: I want to talk about your work. 00:13:52.951 --> 00:13:55.657 Obviously the impact of your work has been written about 00:13:55.681 --> 00:13:58.047 and I'm sure you've heard about it all your life: 00:13:58.071 --> 00:13:59.222 what it meant to people, 00:13:59.246 --> 00:14:00.676 what it meant to your culture, 00:14:00.700 --> 00:14:03.701 you heard the applause when I just named the names of the shows, 00:14:03.725 --> 00:14:07.153 you raised half the people in the room through your work. 00:14:07.177 --> 00:14:10.712 But have there ever been any stories about the impact of your work 00:14:10.736 --> 00:14:12.050 that surprised you? NOTE Paragraph 00:14:12.740 --> 00:14:13.954 NL: Oh, god -- 00:14:14.387 --> 00:14:19.279 surprised me and delighted me from head to toe. 00:14:21.437 --> 00:14:26.930 There was "An Evening with Norman Lear" within the last year 00:14:26.954 --> 00:14:30.458 that a group of hip-hop impresarios, 00:14:30.482 --> 00:14:34.418 performers and the Academy put together. 00:14:35.902 --> 00:14:37.806 The subtext of "An Evening with ..." 00:14:37.830 --> 00:14:41.919 was "What do a 92-year-old Jew" -- 00:14:41.943 --> 00:14:43.094 then 92 -- 00:14:43.118 --> 00:14:45.131 "and the world of hip-hop have in common?" 00:14:45.155 --> 00:14:47.844 Russell Simmons was among seven on the stage. 00:14:48.783 --> 00:14:53.104 And when he talked about the shows, 00:14:53.128 --> 00:14:57.661 he wasn't talking about the Hollywood, 00:14:57.685 --> 00:15:01.409 George Jefferson in "The Jeffersons," 00:15:01.433 --> 00:15:03.848 or the show that was a number five show. 00:15:04.847 --> 00:15:10.498 He was talking about a simple thing that made a big -- NOTE Paragraph 00:15:13.324 --> 00:15:14.525 EH: Impact on him? NOTE Paragraph 00:15:14.549 --> 00:15:16.487 NL: An impact on him -- 00:15:16.511 --> 00:15:19.018 I was hesitating over the word, "change." 00:15:19.430 --> 00:15:21.993 It's hard for me to imagine, 00:15:22.017 --> 00:15:23.845 you know, changing somebody's life, 00:15:23.869 --> 00:15:25.654 but that's the way he put it. 00:15:25.678 --> 00:15:31.767 He saw George Jefferson write a check on "The Jeffersons," 00:15:31.791 --> 00:15:35.401 and he never knew that a black man could write a check. 00:15:36.788 --> 00:15:41.741 And he says it just impacted his life so -- 00:15:41.765 --> 00:15:43.450 it changed his life. NOTE Paragraph 00:15:43.474 --> 00:15:46.948 And when I hear things like that -- 00:15:46.972 --> 00:15:48.647 little things -- 00:15:48.671 --> 00:15:51.853 because I know that there isn't anybody in this audience 00:15:51.877 --> 00:15:58.380 that wasn't likely responsible today for some little thing they did for somebody, 00:15:58.404 --> 00:16:03.746 whether it's as little as a smile or an unexpected "Hello," 00:16:03.770 --> 00:16:06.134 that's how little this thing was. 00:16:06.833 --> 00:16:11.104 It could have been the dresser of the set 00:16:11.128 --> 00:16:12.814 who put the checkbook on the thing 00:16:12.838 --> 00:16:16.527 and George had nothing to do while he was speaking, so he wrote it, 00:16:16.551 --> 00:16:17.827 I don't know. 00:16:17.851 --> 00:16:19.001 But -- NOTE Paragraph 00:16:19.634 --> 00:16:22.572 EH: So in addition to the long list I shared in the beginning, 00:16:22.596 --> 00:16:25.242 I should have also mentioned that you invented hip-hop. NOTE Paragraph 00:16:25.266 --> 00:16:26.367 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:16:26.391 --> 00:16:27.834 NL: Well ... NOTE Paragraph 00:16:28.755 --> 00:16:30.240 EH: I want to talk about -- NOTE Paragraph 00:16:30.264 --> 00:16:31.564 NL: Well, then do it. NOTE Paragraph 00:16:31.588 --> 00:16:36.398 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:16:37.706 --> 00:16:40.468 EH: You've lead a life of accomplishment, 00:16:40.492 --> 00:16:42.428 but you've also built a life of meaning. 00:16:42.809 --> 00:16:45.381 And all of us strive to do both of those things -- 00:16:45.405 --> 00:16:46.999 not all of us manage to. 00:16:47.984 --> 00:16:51.755 But even those of us who do manage to accomplish both of those, 00:16:51.779 --> 00:16:54.349 very rarely do we figure out how to do them together. 00:16:54.884 --> 00:16:59.764 You managed to push culture forward through your art 00:16:59.788 --> 00:17:03.646 while also achieving world-beating commercial success. 00:17:03.670 --> 00:17:04.860 How did you do both? NOTE Paragraph 00:17:11.391 --> 00:17:17.207 NL: Here's where my mind goes when I hear that recitation of all I accomplished. 00:17:19.304 --> 00:17:23.360 This planet is one of a billion, 00:17:23.384 --> 00:17:24.573 they tell us. 00:17:24.875 --> 00:17:30.693 In a universe of which there are billions -- 00:17:30.717 --> 00:17:32.285 billions of universes, 00:17:32.309 --> 00:17:35.916 billions of planets ... 00:17:35.940 --> 00:17:37.823 which we're trying to save 00:17:37.847 --> 00:17:39.631 and it requires saving. 00:17:41.549 --> 00:17:42.723 But -- 00:17:43.699 --> 00:17:47.349 anything I may have accomplished is -- 00:17:47.770 --> 00:17:51.809 my sister once asked me what she does about something 00:17:51.833 --> 00:17:54.775 that was going on in Newington, Connecticut. 00:17:54.799 --> 00:17:57.724 And I said, "Write your alderman or your mayor or something." 00:17:57.748 --> 00:18:00.886 She said, "Well I'm not Norman Lear, I'm Claire Lear." 00:18:01.819 --> 00:18:06.335 And that was the first time I said what I'm saying, 00:18:06.359 --> 00:18:10.698 I said, "Claire. With everything you think about what I may have done 00:18:10.722 --> 00:18:12.199 and everything you've done," -- 00:18:12.223 --> 00:18:14.566 she never left Newington -- 00:18:14.590 --> 00:18:16.400 "can you get your fingers close enough 00:18:16.424 --> 00:18:20.341 when you consider the size of the planet and so forth, 00:18:20.365 --> 00:18:23.579 to measure anything I may have done to anything you may have done?" NOTE Paragraph 00:18:24.150 --> 00:18:25.380 So ... 00:18:26.486 --> 00:18:30.074 I am convinced we're all responsible 00:18:30.098 --> 00:18:33.319 for doing as much as I may have accomplished. 00:18:35.269 --> 00:18:37.159 And I understand what you're saying -- NOTE Paragraph 00:18:37.183 --> 00:18:38.898 EH: It's an articulate deflection -- NOTE Paragraph 00:18:38.922 --> 00:18:42.880 NL: But you have to really buy into the size and scope 00:18:42.904 --> 00:18:44.858 of the creator's enterprise, here. NOTE Paragraph 00:18:44.882 --> 00:18:47.466 EH: But here on this planet you have really mattered. NOTE Paragraph 00:18:47.490 --> 00:18:48.640 NL: I'm a son of a gun. NOTE Paragraph 00:18:48.981 --> 00:18:50.502 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:18:50.526 --> 00:18:54.324 EH: So I have one more question for you. 00:18:54.348 --> 00:18:55.621 How old do you feel? NOTE Paragraph 00:18:57.411 --> 00:19:01.823 NL: I am the peer of whoever I'm talking to. NOTE Paragraph 00:19:02.704 --> 00:19:04.076 EH: Well, I feel 93. NOTE Paragraph 00:19:04.100 --> 00:19:10.660 (Applause) NOTE Paragraph 00:19:10.684 --> 00:19:11.994 NL: We out of here? NOTE Paragraph 00:19:12.018 --> 00:19:13.902 EH: Well, I feel 93 years old, 00:19:13.926 --> 00:19:17.715 but I hope to one day feel as young as the person I'm sitting across from. NOTE Paragraph 00:19:17.739 --> 00:19:18.889 Ladies and gentlemen, 00:19:18.913 --> 00:19:20.337 the incomparable Norman Lear. NOTE Paragraph 00:19:20.361 --> 00:19:26.025 (Applause) NOTE Paragraph 00:19:26.049 --> 00:19:27.200 NL: Thank you. NOTE Paragraph 00:19:27.224 --> 00:19:29.716 (Applause)