Arnold Schwarzenegger

[0] Hi, I'm Arnold Schwarzenegger.

[1] They're supposed to comment on what it is like to be Conan's friend.

[2] Well, how the fuck would I know?

[3] Fall is here, hear the yell, back to school, ring the bell, brand new shoes, walking loose, climb the fence, books and pens, I can tell that we are going to be friends.

[4] I can tell that we are going to be friends Hey there Welcome to Conan O 'Brien needs a friend joined by my crew My posse My gang Matt Goreley Sonam of Sessian Nice to have you guys here Good to ride with you again Yeah ride for your die I always say Yeah I've never said that ride or die Is that what you mean?

[5] Ride free or die?

[6] Oh I was thinking live free or die hard This posse sucks No, it's live free and die hard or live free or die hard.

[7] Live free or die hard.

[8] God, worst.

[9] Guess what?

[10] We just won the award.

[11] I was just contacted worst podcast open ever.

[12] We did it.

[13] Yeah, it was bad.

[14] We just got it.

[15] We just got it.

[16] I think we can do better.

[17] Listen to this review.

[18] The host quibbled over whether it's live free and die hard or live free or die hard, never even mentioning the film itself.

[19] It was a muddled, tangled mess.

[20] It went on for 10 minutes.

[21] And then this reviewer's review was read off of an iPhone.

[22] Can we get a fact check on that?

[23] I'm getting the fact check right now.

[24] And it's verified.

[25] It's live free or die hard.

[26] Not to be confused with a good day to die hard.

[27] The fifth installment.

[28] Oh, then as Gourley continues the theme, I can't believe this review came out so quickly as we're doing it.

[29] As Gourley continued the theme, the segment became even more flaccid, tangled, and self -referential.

[30] A good day to die limp.

[31] Gorely went even further.

[32] The imp who never takes a cue.

[33] kept chucking out different versions of good times die hard until the whole thing was literal oral diarrhea wow this is man this is this is serious this is slate and still a better review than good day to die hard yeah exactly and just when you thought it was over Gourley continued it one last time for the ultimate callback this reviewer is now taking his life that's crazy oh wait a minute look like just popped up an obituary oh no yes prominent reviewer for Slate takes own life this is fucking crazy podcast reviewer for Slate took their own life just after finishing a takedown of Conan O 'Brien needs a friend I love that you're actually miming the swiping of the phone I am scrolling up because I have good space work and this is all really happening yeah Yeah.

[34] In a first, O 'Brien read the obituary for the fake podcaster from the fake Slate Review while miming, swiping up on his screen.

[35] Oh.

[36] Well, Agile Minds, I suppose.

[37] Agile Minds.

[38] We got them.

[39] Hey, look, we don't have a lot of time, but I do want to point out some other great people that are always here in the booth with us making this happen.

[40] The great Adam Sacks, a wonderkind who got us into the whole podcast world.

[41] Without whom, you know?

[42] Without whom, I would be virtually unknown, except for the.

[43] Almost 30 years of fame before him.

[44] And then, Eduardo, doing a great job.

[45] Killing it, Eduardo.

[46] Designed this sound studio, made it perfect.

[47] And then, of course, Blay.

[48] Blay is here.

[49] Yeah.

[50] And, huh.

[51] I don't wonder why I brought him on.

[52] Wonderkind.

[53] He designed this studio, and Blay is here.

[54] Well, also, Blay is here.

[55] But Blay has been with me for a long time.

[56] Blay came on.

[57] You were a kid when you came on, Blay.

[58] That's right out of college.

[59] 2001, a 22 -year -old, fresh out of the oven.

[60] That's right.

[61] And that was a long time ago.

[62] Yeah, 2001.

[63] And I bring us up for a reason because we were talking about it just before the podcast.

[64] Some would say I'm jamming this in to the conversation.

[65] But you still dress like a child.

[66] It's your generation, man. You know, in World War II, 20 -year -old stormed beaches.

[67] They had their lives cut short defending America.

[68] And you're wearing, what is that T -shirt?

[69] I don't know.

[70] And you wear ironic watches that are plastic and you wear...

[71] Well, no, I've switched to a bracelet.

[72] Is that a Taylor Swift friendship bracelet?

[73] Oh, these are just, these are just bracelets.

[74] You know, I got these in Thailand.

[75] I got these.

[76] Okay, whatever.

[77] I want to know where the real men have gone.

[78] Look at you.

[79] Every time, you're always walking around.

[80] You've got a kooky backpack and you've got little.

[81] I have holes in my jeans.

[82] Oh, my God.

[83] Oh, boy, you're just stepping in it now.

[84] Did you pay extra for the hole in your jeans?

[85] Was that extra?

[86] I will say that I've worked here for a number of years and, and I like to dress.

[87] I have my own style, but I would be lying if I said there wasn't a wist.

[88] every morning when I put my clothes on.

[89] Oh, yeah.

[90] What is Conan?

[91] I know that feeling.

[92] Every morning.

[93] I do too.

[94] You've done that to everybody who works for you.

[95] What's that movie where I think it's never.

[96] Stop saying die hard.

[97] I think it's the never -ended story where the kid has to walk by these statues and they might open up and obliterate that with eye beams or whatever.

[98] And it's like the eye of Soron.

[99] It's like coming to work every day.

[100] I know the eye of Soron is going to peer upon me. My only question is this.

[101] And it's just just for your entire generation.

[102] Okay, okay, I can't wait to answer this.

[103] No, but isn't there a time for us to grow up?

[104] I think other generations had to go through the Depression, and they had to go through, I mean, just terrible events, the Civil War, everything.

[105] And they were, they were forced to become men early.

[106] Oh, what did you go through?

[107] Oh, please, don't even get into it.

[108] What had you done?

[109] I went through the cancellation of the show, Chips.

[110] Oh, God.

[111] I watched a great show about two motorcycling policemen in Los Angeles go away.

[112] I watched Gerald Ford stumble on a tarmac.

[113] Do you know what that does to a little boy?

[114] I had terrible, terrible things happen to me. Like, what else?

[115] What else is happening?

[116] Nothing is happy to you.

[117] Like that's not enough?

[118] The sunscreen I used as a boy was not nearly up to snuff.

[119] And I'm paying for it now by having things removed from my neck.

[120] Because that sunscreen was probably the equivalent of an SPF10.

[121] Not an SPF 50, which is what I should be had.

[122] According to my person who works on my face I have a whole team that crafts this body I have suffered and I am a man because I went through things and Blay look at you.

[123] Well, okay, let me ask you a question that how do you think I should dress?

[124] What would be the ideal?

[125] Have you ever worn a suit?

[126] I think when you go to a funeral for a loved one you're wearing a hoof farted t -shirt a backwards baseball cap that says, what, me worry?

[127] And then you've got like seven watches.

[128] that are all plastic.

[129] Isn't it funny?

[130] They don't tell time, quipped Blay.

[131] Can you just take a look around this room, though?

[132] Because I am wondering how you made it this far with shirts like that.

[133] We have all just relegated ourselves to basics because the way to be invisible in front of this man. That's true.

[134] Sonah, I've only criticized you for only having one leather jacket for the last 25 years.

[135] Yeah.

[136] Well, that's a high -class snub.

[137] I know.

[138] I'm saying it's just looks like the one that the general wore and Planet of the Apes.

[139] Got little ridges on the shoulder But where am I supposed to replace it like every few months?

[140] No, just one other jacket.

[141] That's all.

[142] Come on, get out of here.

[143] But you do have that kind of boomer trait of you have to comment on everything the way everybody looks and the way they live their lives.

[144] Excuse me, I'm not a boomer.

[145] You are a boomer.

[146] I am not.

[147] You are.

[148] That is a sick bird.

[149] I am not a boomer.

[150] I'm Gen Y. No, you're not.

[151] Yeah, as in why the fuck am I working with you people?

[152] I'm self -conscious now Is there an age that you think We should stop wearing baseball cap?

[153] No, no, no, that's always cool, Eduardo.

[154] You know what?

[155] And by the way, that's a football cap.

[156] It has everything to do.

[157] No, it's because you think Eduardo's cool And you like to beat up on Blay.

[158] That's not it.

[159] I really do have an issue with Blay.

[160] I'm worried you're always going to be a child and I don't want to visit you in a nursing home because I'm going to live forever.

[161] I don't want to visit you in a nursing home and he's like, oh, he's over there, and you're, you know what I mean?

[162] You're dressed like a, like a 16 -year -old Korean schoolgirl.

[163] I would like to see that.

[164] Who's gone to a club, you know what I mean?

[165] I mean, and you're like, oh, this person on my t -shirt, that's Obishi.

[166] He's a little squiggly -doodly.

[167] I love the squiggly doodily.

[168] I watch them every Saturday morning.

[169] Oh, I don't know where to fall in this.

[170] Obishi has some good merch.

[171] You've got to admit, you're on my side a little bit.

[172] No, no, I'm on Team Blay.

[173] I'm on Team Blay.

[174] I just don't think you get it.

[175] Oh, I get it completely.

[176] You don't get it, and you hate it.

[177] No, no, no. I get it completely.

[178] It's a little story called Peter Pan.

[179] I won't grow up.

[180] I don't want to go to school.

[181] Just a moment on a parent and I'll fall so we rule.

[182] I'll dress like play every day.

[183] Can I say a thing which is, oh, why am I even going to say this?

[184] When you open your closet to get dressed in the morning, I bet there's all kinds of, like, plastic hats.

[185] That is true.

[186] Actually, today I had to go through a whole pile of hats.

[187] What are you doing?

[188] Blay, what are you doing?

[189] Let him take his own grave.

[190] This is what I was going to say, which is, this is a bad analogy.

[191] But, you know, Batman, the reason why Batman wears, can I just speak?

[192] The reason why Batman wears a big bat on his chest is because that's where the armor is thickest.

[193] So people will shoot at the bat, okay?

[194] So I'm like the bat symbol on his chest.

[195] It's from the Dark Night Returns.

[196] But so basically everyone else should be thanking me because I am drawing.

[197] his ire for you.

[198] But I don't want that for you.

[199] I'm jumping on the fashion grenade, so to speak, for the office.

[200] But we shouldn't have to do that.

[201] You know what I mean?

[202] I'm just a little worried about you, Blay, because you came to work with me as a young man, and I thought, oh, this is cool.

[203] I like this young guy.

[204] Maybe he'll stick with me for the long haul, and that was 22 years ago.

[205] Yes.

[206] And if anything, you dressed more like a man then.

[207] And now you've just become like a theme park animal that's running around, you know.

[208] Who's he hurting, though?

[209] The other thing I'll say is, you know, I lost a bunch of weight a couple years ago.

[210] And so now that allowed me. I could, I only had a certain amount of clothes to choose from when you're, you know, six, three and you're a bigger guy.

[211] You can know.

[212] So, but now I'm like, oh, man, that looks cool.

[213] That looks cool.

[214] So I'm kind of having a renaissance because I could never wear these kind of clothes.

[215] He's expressing himself.

[216] Amen.

[217] And you're shooting on him.

[218] Okay.

[219] You have an apology.

[220] No, can I say is one thing.

[221] Sona, he just did this jujitsu move where it now looks like I'm weight shaming him, which is terrible.

[222] That's a terrible thing you just did to me. First of all, yes, you did lose a lot of weight.

[223] I just thought that you had terrible diarrhea.

[224] I didn't realize that you went on this regimen.

[225] Both things can be true.

[226] Yeah, but that's my favorite diet, by the way.

[227] That's going to sweep the nation soon.

[228] But I just want to see you in a suit once.

[229] I will wear a suit.

[230] I will dress up.

[231] And that doesn't mean, and you can't put any pins on it for like DC or Marbleau.

[232] You can.

[233] No, this is a bank.

[234] This, from now on, this whole podcast empire is a bank.

[235] This is Bank of America.

[236] And I'm going to start dressing up.

[237] You're wearing a t -shirt.

[238] You look like you're working on a little schooner right now.

[239] Okay, that's.

[240] Oh, let's get him.

[241] Oh, that's not going to go well.

[242] Silicon Valley over there.

[243] Oh, let's fight Bruce Lee.

[244] That'll go well.

[245] Good luck.

[246] I've got a spoon.

[247] I'm going to go attack Bruce Lee.

[248] You're right.

[249] I don't want to do that.

[250] So, no, I just think.

[251] Adam, you think as the guy who really is the power behind the throne, don't you think it would be a good idea?

[252] Like, I'm a big admirer, and he's a friend of Jack White, because Jack White makes everyone around him sort of dress up.

[253] And I think that's really cool.

[254] And it has this cool effect.

[255] When you see Jack and his gang, they're all dressed for the occasion.

[256] And in me, I just look like I run a daycare center.

[257] You're the most casually dressed of any of us.

[258] Today I am, but you have to admit mostly, I wear a tie a lot.

[259] I mean, today just happens to be an off day.

[260] I was going to say is that, like, they, it starts at the top, right?

[261] It starts with Jack White, and then they all, I guess, mirror their style off of him.

[262] Well, I think he also tazes them if they don't agree.

[263] I think, but what I'm saying is, don't you think maybe we should start to have a dress code here where you've got to have, and we have to pretend it's a bank in 195.

[264] No, that's.

[265] And you'll have to wear fedora hats, like hats from the 50s.

[266] This is all the stuff I got mocked for in the first place.

[267] I know, but that was a couple of years ago.

[268] I mean, I never wore a fedora.

[269] This is a comedy podcast.

[270] I think it's a good idea, but we'd have to work it into the budget because we can't ask people to go and buy new wardrobe.

[271] So you have to figure out.

[272] Okay, I'll pay for it, but it's have to be very shittily made clothing.

[273] I mean, very bad.

[274] Like stuff that if it rains, the color runs.

[275] No, I need a new leather jacket.

[276] I will give you one of my old ones.

[277] What?

[278] No, you're gigantic.

[279] So what?

[280] That's not going to fit me. It doesn't matter.

[281] Buy me a new jacket.

[282] Yeah, I want a new Rivian SUV.

[283] Okay.

[284] Thanks.

[285] Just buy his stuff.

[286] No, I'm getting him to Rivian.

[287] I'm not getting you a jacket.

[288] Oh, come on.

[289] It's so much more expensive for Rivian.

[290] I just think that this is a comedy podcast and I want to say on the record, I like how Blay dresses and I'm totally fine with it and I think you're being a bully.

[291] Thank you.

[292] But I'm a bully.

[293] I will dress up.

[294] I will dress up and come in and you might.

[295] Don't change yourself.

[296] You might not like it.

[297] No, I love the idea of Blay coming in.

[298] Yeah, just come in a suit one day.

[299] It might freak you up.

[300] I mean.

[301] No, and it's not going to freak me out to see you dress as an adult.

[302] You're 72 years old, for Christ's sake.

[303] It's time to, you know, grow up a little bit.

[304] All right.

[305] Today it's a big deal.

[306] This is a big deal.

[307] This is a big deal for my childhood.

[308] This is a big deal for anybody, I would think.

[309] My guest today is widely regarded as one of the greatest bodybuilders of all time, audience still thinking.

[310] Tom Hanks?

[311] He's also an actor, author, and politician.

[312] He's a massive.

[313] figure.

[314] He has a massive figure.

[315] Now he has a new book entitled Be Useful, Seven Tools for Life.

[316] I'm thrilled he's here today.

[317] Arnold Schwarzenegger, welcome.

[318] I just walked into this studio and they put a piece of paper underneath me here and they say, go and read this off and comment on what it is like to be Conan's friend.

[319] I don't know.

[320] I hope it's going to be a fantastic friendship where it's a give and take that's what I hope but I mean right now I just saw him for two minutes and we have been kibitzing for a little bit here but of course he's not the first time we've seen each other I mean we have seen each other many times before I've done his show before I was at a good time and he was in charge of promoting all my movies that's why they went through the roof and so I hope that now I came out with a book called Be Useful And I hope it does the same with the book.

[321] Sell, sell, sell.

[322] It's one of the chapters in the book.

[323] I read the book.

[324] Sell, sell, sell.

[325] You're already much more successful because of the book.

[326] We should let Arnold just keep going because this is fantastic.

[327] This is absolutely fantastic.

[328] Did they talk to much already?

[329] I don't want to talk too much.

[330] No, no, you didn't talk to much at all.

[331] The next 50 minutes, I'm not going to say it.

[332] Nobody wants to hear me. They want to hear you.

[333] No, no, I want to hear you.

[334] You were so funny.

[335] I listened to you when you're Danny Carvey and this guy's on for the Hansen Fransstick.

[336] You were reading, and you were reading out, you actually invited me, but they had the environmental conference, so he couldn't make it.

[337] But that was so funny.

[338] I was laughing.

[339] There's no comedy movie, to be honest with you, that I have laughed that much than just listening to you.

[340] With the Hans and Franz movie.

[341] And Kevin Ealing.

[342] Robert Smigel.

[343] Robert Smigel.

[344] Smigel.

[345] Smigel.

[346] Smigel.

[347] Yeah.

[348] Smigel.

[349] Yeah.

[350] It's just making my life right now.

[351] We wrote a movie a long time ago.

[352] I'm just going to tell the viewers, we wrote a Hans and Franz movie, and it was, and we wrote you as half the movie, even though we hadn't even pitched it to you yet.

[353] And one of my favorite things is we depicted your house as being two flexed buttocks that opened that you walked through.

[354] It was so much fun.

[355] Because I remember there was one scene in there that I still remember from the script.

[356] One of my cousins says, I have to go to the bathroom.

[357] And he said, so where do I go?

[358] And I said, you go right down to the deltoid.

[359] And the delta, you turn left.

[360] And then you will see a huge calf, all split in half.

[361] He walks through the calf, and they would do the six -pack.

[362] I said, if you see an eight -pack, that's not the one.

[363] The six -pack, you go through that one.

[364] We have to make this movie now.

[365] And that is, we have to make this movie.

[366] And that's six -pack.

[367] That's where you walk in, and that's where you go to the bathroom.

[368] But this is not a girly man bathroom, okay?

[369] So, I mean, it was all of this stuff.

[370] It was so silly.

[371] And I remembered yesterday I was talking to Robert and I was talking and I talked to Dana a lot and I was telling them, I remembered we wrote a scene where you were, some, someone passes and it's, you're very sad and you're one of the pallbearers and with all of your friends.

[372] And then you get to the grave and you all start doing lifts with the coffin.

[373] We put all this foolishness in there.

[374] It was so much fun.

[375] But it was fantastic.

[376] It was so well written and I hope to do it.

[377] Yeah.

[378] I really hope they do it.

[379] I'll put up all the money.

[380] You still can do it.

[381] You have it now.

[382] I have it, yes.

[383] You bought, I mean, they paid you almost a billion dollars for this podcast.

[384] Two billion.

[385] Two billion.

[386] Two billion.

[387] Two billion dollars.

[388] It was all Bitcoin.

[389] Are you married?

[390] Yes, I am.

[391] Then I understand twice as much.

[392] My wife said, no, it needs to be too.

[393] You know, I have to say, I'm going to, I'm going to, there's so much to talk about, but But from the first time, I worked at Saturday Night Live when you came there and you did a Hanson -Fran sketch.

[394] And I always was a fan of your movie work.

[395] You are so fucking funny.

[396] You are hilarious.

[397] You are so naturally funny.

[398] You can see it in pumping iron.

[399] You can see it throughout your whole career.

[400] Always very funny, really funny.

[401] And you came on my show when we were out here in Los Angeles, the late night show, and you prepared.

[402] And that's a big part of your book, is preparation.

[403] But you kept calling our segment producer saying, I can do better more and more before.

[404] Before you came on the show.

[405] You had so many great jokes.

[406] You prepared more than any comedian I think I've ever worked with.

[407] You were absolutely fantastic.

[408] And then my favorite thing is we wheeled out a real photograph of me in boxer shorts, just boxer shorts that we took before the show.

[409] And it was life size.

[410] And you tore me apart verbally, my body.

[411] You went after my body.

[412] And the crowd was laughing so hard.

[413] they started stamping their feet, and the fire marshals were worried that they would do structural damage.

[414] I remember that.

[415] As a matter of fact, one of the things I remember was that your producer or showrun or whatever they call it on those late night shows taught me not to throw up.

[416] Thank you, Frank Smiley.

[417] I said, when they roll out the picture, I said, wouldn't it be great if I just throw up?

[418] I said, because I will find something on his body that would be throw -upable.

[419] you know so and you did and he said you know they say that would be too gross because it's a late show we want to entertain people we don't want to gross them out plus right after you there is a food commercial so you're big so your big achievement in show business among many is looking at my almost naked body and not throwing up is that what you're saying that is discipline and I talk about this and be useful that is discipline I mean And I was doing everything that I could, trying to kind of look at, you know, you doubt that it's, I try to not to look below the belt.

[420] So I was doing everything to try to stay as serious as possible and not to throw up.

[421] Congratulations.

[422] But the bottom line is you have a good body.

[423] You look lean.

[424] Yes, thank you.

[425] And I think that's the most important thing to stay healthy and to stay alive for a long time is to be lean.

[426] Tell me it.

[427] So you're in the right track.

[428] Tell me if I'm wrong, Arnold.

[429] But when you first came into the room and you can tell me if I'm wrong, I looked right in your eyes and you looked right in my eyes and you sized me up.

[430] And we haven't seen each other in a little while.

[431] And I saw in your eyes fear.

[432] God.

[433] Is that correct?

[434] Okay.

[435] Of throwing up.

[436] No. I saw fear.

[437] I saw physical intimidation.

[438] I did not know that you detected that.

[439] I saw it.

[440] I mean, I was trying to cover up.

[441] I was trying to cover up.

[442] the fear and intimidation and how little I felt compared to you, career wise, intelligence wise, body wise, definition wise, size wise, six pack wise, everything.

[443] I mean, I say maybe I can hide my inferiority complex.

[444] Yeah, yeah.

[445] But you obviously saw it.

[446] I saw it.

[447] I saw it.

[448] I saw it.

[449] I smelled it.

[450] It's a pheromone.

[451] You can smell when fear is released into the air.

[452] I could smell it.

[453] Absolutely.

[454] So I could smell, it's sort of a sausage smell.

[455] Oh, yeah.

[456] That's what I could.

[457] Yes, to me, it's more like a vina schnitzel smell.

[458] You know, we're, first of all, good God, this is already my favorite interview.

[459] I mean, I've talked to everybody, but you are just a delight.

[460] And I want to tell you something, which is a few years ago, I've always been a fan of yours, and always found you to be just inspiring personal.

[461] lot of ways.

[462] And then two years ago, you released a video after January 6th.

[463] And it's called a servant's heart.

[464] And you did it, you put it out alone.

[465] It's just you at your desk talking.

[466] And it was your response to January 6th.

[467] And I thought it was one of the greatest public services I've seen anybody do for their country.

[468] Because you were elected, governor as a Republican, but you worked very hard to be bipartisan and then you came out at this crucial time and you're adored by people on the left and the right you've got fans all over the world who don't even know what your political affiliation is and you just talked about how wrong this was and I thought I said to all my producers I have got to get into a room with Arnold Schwarzenegger at some point and tell him how thankful I am.

[469] I really am very thankful for that and also your post about war in Ukraine in Russia's invasion.

[470] I thought, this man is speaking from the heart.

[471] He doesn't care about the consequences.

[472] He's telling us the truth.

[473] And I was just blown away.

[474] So thank you.

[475] Really, seriously, all the, we'll get back to you mocking my body and there's a lot to mock.

[476] But I did want to tell you that I was heartily impressed and I think you've done a lot of good.

[477] So much good.

[478] Well, thank you.

[479] I appreciate you saying that.

[480] And, you know, it was really actually very kind of satisfying, doing it.

[481] You know, when you see something that is so wrong, then you want to speak up and you want to let your voice be heard.

[482] And, you know, we are very fortunate that we are celebrities and we have a huge following.

[483] And so when we say something, people pay attention.

[484] And so that's the idea is to use that power of influence and to make people pay attention to something that is that important, such a very important issue, which is to protect our democracy and to defend our democracy and to do everything that we can to do that.

[485] Yeah, because it's a very scary time right now.

[486] Absolutely.

[487] And I don't know, this air is pretty soon, but I know Mitt Romney just announced that he's not going to run for Senate again.

[488] He's a Republican.

[489] He's another person who I found a lot to admire about because he speaks his mind about Trump and about what's going on on politics.

[490] And he just said, he said in one quote that I think is coming out.

[491] He doesn't, he doesn't believe that a lot of his people, that he works with in the Senate, really believe in the Constitution.

[492] And that was terrifying to me. Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

[493] But, you know, I think that we have gone through difficult moments in the past.

[494] Yes.

[495] We should not forget that.

[496] I remember that when they came, you know, to America in 1968, it was the year where they shot Martin Luther King and where they shot, you know, Bobby Kennedy.

[497] And the riot at the Democratic Convention.

[498] intervention and the Vietnam War, the hippies were running around, everyone was stoned beyond their mind, including myself.

[499] I love hippie Arnold.

[500] I'm just imagining hippie Arnold.

[501] No, the funny thing is I was totally the opposite, but I didn't even know what it was.

[502] Body billers were taking me up to San Francisco, the hate, what is you called?

[503] Hate Asbury.

[504] Hate Asbury, exactly.

[505] And I would be sleeping out there.

[506] night and that would be getting stoned and all this stuff.

[507] So it was like, it was just a really weird time.

[508] I thought it was American.

[509] It was quite normal.

[510] I didn't even know I was in that, in that weird zone in America, where America was going through some really incredible challenges.

[511] And, you know, then after that, it was followed up with, you know, Nixon got elected, which was terrific, but then he screwed up.

[512] Yeah, it would be the Watergate.

[513] And there was all that going on.

[514] And, you know, And then finally, you know, we found a leader in Ronald Reagan.

[515] You know, I think that Biden is not going to be the guy.

[516] I don't think Trump is going to be the guy.

[517] But there's someone out there.

[518] It's getting late, though.

[519] If you don't want, if it means change very quickly in politics.

[520] Yeah.

[521] But there's, there's someone out there in America because America has a lot of talent.

[522] So there's someone out there that has the energy and the vision and the strength.

[523] to bring people together and to create a new kind of leadership, you know, with a new energy and stuff like that.

[524] So right now I don't see it, but...

[525] What if that person is closer to you right now than you think?

[526] Oh.

[527] Sona?

[528] What?

[529] No, not Sona.

[530] Why not?

[531] I'm looking at him right here.

[532] Yeah.

[533] I bring the country together.

[534] Yeah, good.

[535] The real Conan.

[536] Now you're talking.

[537] Right?

[538] With the sword, the Conan.

[539] No. The Conan O 'Brien, Conan the barbarian.

[540] Ooh, running mates.

[541] Exactly.

[542] Exactly.

[543] I'll run with you.

[544] You run.

[545] We'll clear that whole immigration thing up.

[546] But that's right, because I was, I think when you first became governor, people said, well, you're so excited and they thought, could Arnold Schwarzenegger be president?

[547] It's like, well, no, you need to be born in the United States.

[548] Yeah.

[549] And that's when we thought, time machine.

[550] Huh?

[551] We go back in time.

[552] You're born in Maine.

[553] Coastal Maine.

[554] We change.

[555] Yes.

[556] The Constitution.

[557] you go back I always talk about that's a time travel movie and you've done them I know where you go back in time to change the Constitution so you can be present instead of the Terminator it's just the editor yeah yeah yeah I mean I talk about immigration reform that's what I'm talking about yeah yeah yeah Arnold Schwarzenegger goes back in time Jefferson's scribbling away wouldn't really be Jefferson if it's the Constitution but let's just play with that anyway sir what are you doing here get out of the way.

[558] Give me that quill.

[559] I told you I'll be back.

[560] What is he talking about?

[561] There's no such thing as movies.

[562] I do want to talk about your book, Be Useful, Seven Tools for Life, because I read this book yesterday, and there's so much in here that, as I said, if I had just seen only your action movies over the years, especially in the early ones, I would think, well, this man, he's a great action star, but then as you started to make other movies and I got to interview you and be around you a couple of times, I saw how hilarious you are, how funny you are, naturally, and it's in you.

[563] I thought, okay, there's more in this book that comes out that I never imagine.

[564] For example, you say that, and I would have thought, if you have to define the self -made man in Hollywood, it would be Arnold Schwarzenegger.

[565] You come from a very poor part of Austria.

[566] You grew up, no running water, and you didn't speak the language, and you came here and you managed to not only be a bodybuilding champion, but a biggest movie star in the world and conquer politics.

[567] You do all these things.

[568] You overcome all these challenges.

[569] And in your book, you say, you can call me whatever you want.

[570] You can call me Schnitzel.

[571] You can call me Arnie.

[572] Do not call me a self -made man. What do you mean by that?

[573] Well, I know that people, when they call me a self -made man, it's a compliment.

[574] They mean it as a compliment.

[575] But I also at the same time want to make it clear that a self -made man means that there is no one that helped me, that I made myself, which is not true.

[576] I mean, my parents helped me, my father, my mother, my teachers helped me, my coaches helped me. I had all this bodybuilding coaches and weightlifting coaches that helped me. I had Joe Weider, who was kind of like the king of bodybuilding and fitness in America, bring me to America and make my dream become a reality, got me an apartment when I came to America, got me some money, so I could get started here and become the greatest bodybuilder of all time.

[577] It was, you know, the agents and the producers that helped me to get then into movies.

[578] And I remember 5 .8 million people voted for me to become governor of California.

[579] wanting.

[580] How can I say I made myself governor?

[581] Right.

[582] And so it's not a dictatorship or anything like that.

[583] So I think that I got a help, I got to help for millions and millions of people.

[584] And I want to have people understand that, that I know that I'm a product of a lot of help.

[585] Because that's important to each one of us to know that, that we're a product of a lot of help.

[586] Because that makes you then go and feel responsible also to go out and help other people.

[587] because a lot of young people and people that are helpless, people that are poor, people that don't know how to make the next move to help them.

[588] Because we were helped, so let's help them.

[589] So this is what made me an enthusiastic kind of public servant, someone that got involved very enthusiastically with Special Olympics in the beginning in the 70s and create weightlifting for Special Olympians and become the international coach for them.

[590] That's what got me involved in the president's council and fitness and travels through all 50 States and give something back and promote health and fitness.

[591] I started after school programs.

[592] And then eventually I ran for governor when everyone said, Arnold, you're insane because you're going to miss out on two movies a year, which you make $20 million a movie.

[593] You're missing out on all that money for becoming governor.

[594] Are you crazy?

[595] And I tell people, I said, look, every dollar that I made was because of America.

[596] I became rich and famous because of Because of America, not because of Austria, not because of Germany or any other place, America.

[597] So it's natural for me to want to give something back.

[598] So it doesn't bother me at all not to go and make movies for a few years.

[599] The other surprise in this book is you talk a lot about failure.

[600] You make this point about bodybuilding, which is built into the fabric of bodybuilding is failure.

[601] Because you need to grow the muscle, you need to push it to the point of absolute failure, recover, then add more weights and you need to push it to failure again.

[602] So in a weird way, bodybuilding is repetitive failure over and over and over again, which I had never really thought about.

[603] Yeah, and that is why I tell people that what makes you sometimes not be successful is your fear of failure.

[604] And so as soon as you become kind of friends with failure and you say, You said, well, wait a minute.

[605] Michael Jordan talks about he became the greatest basketball player because he missed his 5 ,000 shots.

[606] And he screwed up 280 -some games and all of this.

[607] And that's what made him the greatest basketball player.

[608] So it's failure where we learn really the most.

[609] And in body building, it's built in that you do the exercise.

[610] Like you say, until you fail, in weightlifting, you go in lift until you fail because it's the only way you know how much you can lift is if you go all out and always.

[611] live beyond of what you can lift, and then you know exactly what you can do.

[612] I missed the 500 -pound bench press at least 10 times in different competitions, but the 11th time I did it.

[613] You know, so I didn't feel like I was a failure.

[614] I just felt like I have to train more.

[615] And so I think the key thing is to tell people, don't be afraid of failure because it makes you kind of like freeze and not make a move forward.

[616] Be friends with that and understand that from failure we can learn more and therefore let's go all out and just feel free of that and not be worried and afraid all the time.

[617] I also didn't realize just how much, I mean, there are all these, you know, cliches, no pain, no gain.

[618] And you talk about that, you're very just, you say, look, there's a lot of clichés out there, but here's the reality of it.

[619] But when you talk about lifting and the pain that's involved, there's real pain involved, that's why I never got into professional bodybuilding.

[620] Excuse me. What do you mean?

[621] I'm sorry.

[622] No, no, no. I have the frame.

[623] I have the natural genetic disposition for it.

[624] Oh, absolutely.

[625] Thank you.

[626] See, there's someone here who knows who I think we should respect.

[627] He seemed very genuine when he said.

[628] What kind of mirrors do you use?

[629] I got them from a circus, Arnold.

[630] Why do you ask?

[631] They were free, and I love them.

[632] I have a massive chest.

[633] Then I see these other mirrors and I spit on them.

[634] But it's that you became comfortable.

[635] with pain and you were you were kind of almost it's almost sounds like you were addicted to not in a bad way but addicted so addicted to uh to working out i love this section of the book that as a young man 15 16 years old you broke into a gym because it wasn't open on the weekend and you wanted to work out now i've broken out of gyms i have never broken into i've never broken into a gym that intensity was always there wasn't yeah it was well our weightlifting club was in a stadium.

[636] And so on the weekends, there were always games, soccer games, because it was underneath the stadium.

[637] And so you were not allowed to go in underneath where the wrestling club was, where the boxing club, was the weightlifting club, and all that, because it was for the soccer players.

[638] And so I had to kind of sneak in.

[639] So what they did on Friday night was I did, I opened the latch of the window on top.

[640] And so that from the outside, I can open up the window and then crawl in and sometimes one time it was I forgot to open it and I just broke the window and they climbed in the end of the back and then I worked out for hours and hours and hours it was like absolute heaven but what is important here is is to recognize that your brain and your mind is no different than the muscle so the muscle grows by you know you know, pushing it and going through pain and to discomfort.

[641] Well, the same is with your head, that if you really want to grow as a person and if you want to get tough, you've got to go through pain.

[642] You know, you should not shy away.

[643] This is a lot of times the day with the day's youth, you know, when they talk about, you know, the boys are having a problem, the girls having a problem, this is a problem, that's a problem.

[644] Everyone has a problem.

[645] It's like they're getting softer.

[646] And they're not willing anymore to kind of take themselves.

[647] through this pain period and through the discomfort.

[648] Everyone wants to be in comfort.

[649] People, kids want to sleep in to seven, eight o 'clock at night.

[650] When I, when I sleep longer than six o 'clock, I already hear my father's voice who has been dead for more than 50 years.

[651] But I still hear his voice, Arnold, be useful.

[652] Because that's what my dad always said.

[653] And he always would say, he says, do you think this country was built by people, sleeping in.

[654] No, this country was built by people that were able to work hard.

[655] You work their ass off.

[656] And it goes through torture and to go through pain and to do all of the...

[657] And so I was...

[658] That's what motivates me. Because I don't want to go and lie around and live in comfort.

[659] Yeah, when you go on vacation, of course, when we go skiing, I go to San Valley.

[660] Yeah, then I live in comfort.

[661] I sit out in the jacuzzi after skiing and all that stuff.

[662] But I mean, throughout the year, it's all about okay, we got to go and do something.

[663] Right.

[664] move the things forward.

[665] And if I don't have enough to do with my own work, then you do some stuff for the community.

[666] So there's always things to do.

[667] And so this is what I'm trying to teach people is to make this life rich, not to exist, but to live.

[668] And living means really to go all out 24 hours a day.

[669] Yes, you sleep six hours a day or if you need seven hours, so be it.

[670] But the rest of the time, there's so much that we can do.

[671] Well, I need 15 hours of sleep.

[672] 15 hours.

[673] No, poor baby.

[674] And then I need to sit in a bath of heavy cream.

[675] How many?

[676] Sonia, you remember, you just have to pour the cream into the tub.

[677] Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[678] How many times you have to change diapers during the night?

[679] And he needs a bottle.

[680] He has a person for the diaper changing.

[681] You know, what's fascinating to me is that, because you talk about your father a lot and it's a complicated relationship because you've said that your father could be physically abusive absolutely yeah we were beaten uh with the hands with the fist with the belt with the branches i mean you you you can think of it and that's exactly what happened there was a whole inventory of things that he would use and at the same time he was the kindest and the sweetest man So what happened was, is that I realized that after I left home and I thought back about this time period, you know, that he was, you know, in the Second World War.

[682] I heard my mother talk a lot about that he had shrapnel's in his body and that he had surgeries, back surgeries and stuff like that.

[683] They were buried in Leningrad during the Second World War and then shipped to Poland and then shipped home with back injuries and all this stuff.

[684] So, you know, he went through, you know, he had malaria.

[685] So he went through a lot of pain.

[686] And so the guys after the Second World War, and that was born in 1947, a lot of them were drinking.

[687] Yeah.

[688] And so the problem was when they were in pain, they were drinking.

[689] And they were drinking together.

[690] And it's like once or twice a week.

[691] They will come home and you could hear it already at three in the morning.

[692] We would live in fear because we knew that he would be violent when he gets home.

[693] He would throw around dishes and all of that stuff.

[694] And, you know, so it would be that.

[695] kind of an atmosphere because of his pain and because of the misery that he went through.

[696] But then again, he snaps into this kind of a wonderful man and very giving and getting us ice cream and desserts and treating us nice and we were cuddling up with him in bed.

[697] And there was the sweetness.

[698] Right.

[699] So it was this kind of a - It would be very confusing.

[700] Very, very confusing as a young kid.

[701] But that didn't mean that we didn't learn a lot from him, the discipline, you know, that we had to kind of do our 200 bushups.

[702] in the morning to earn breakfast.

[703] You know, we had to do our knee bends.

[704] We had to do running.

[705] Everything was always a competition between my brother and I. He set this up, always to make us very competitive and so on.

[706] And so I think that all of that was really helpful for me. When I think back, what gave me the drive was him.

[707] Yeah.

[708] And it was my mother.

[709] You know, my mother gave me the love.

[710] He gave me the discipline.

[711] And both of them together made sure that I ran away from home.

[712] as quickly as possible.

[713] So with the age of 18, I went into the military to become a tank driver.

[714] I wanted to go quickly as early as possible as I could legally to go into military so I could get my passport and I could leave the country and could leave that home that I felt was miserable.

[715] I don't want to grow up like that.

[716] I don't want to continue my life like that.

[717] I want to go to America.

[718] You know, this is my new dream was to go to America and to live where the Empire State Building was, where the Golden Gate Bridge was where that six lane highways were where there's Hollywood, Muscle Beach and all of the stuff.

[719] So that was my motivation.

[720] So my father helped me in a way to get away from home and to build a new life.

[721] And it was his kind of brutality and his toughness and all of this stuff that made me who I am today.

[722] So I cannot say oh, I hate my dad.

[723] I love my dad.

[724] I love that he gave me that discipline and that he pushed me all the time and that I'm here and I'm successful because of my dad and because of all of that.

[725] There's some other books that say, oh, if you visualize it, it will happen.

[726] And you're careful to say, I don't, you don't really believe that, but you do think having an image in your mind can be quite helpful.

[727] And you had an image in your mind of your name on the top of a marquee, Schwarzenegger.

[728] And when you come to Hollywood and you start to look like you're going to have some success in the business, you're getting a lot of pressure to change your last name.

[729] But you said, no. Schwarzenegger is going to look so great at the top of a movie marquee, on the top of a movie poster.

[730] And you had all the experts telling you, no, you got to change it.

[731] And you said, it's going to look great.

[732] And you were right.

[733] I mean, but that was just you, you imagined it and you made it a reality to yourself.

[734] And you knew then that it could exist.

[735] You had to put in an incredible amount of work.

[736] But I think the fact that you didn't change your name was, and is symbolic of a lot things that you refuse to do.

[737] Yeah, I think that the cliche thing that people say always is see it, believe it, achieve it is absolutely so accurate because the fact of the matter is that if you don't see it, you're not going to go and become successful by accident.

[738] You know, you don't have your, you didn't have your show or this podcast because you never thought about it, right?

[739] So, I mean, you first, of course, have to dream about it.

[740] You have to visualize it.

[741] And I could visualize, because I think there was nothing around, no TV or anything.

[742] So I was sitting a lot and daydreaming as a kid.

[743] And so I was kind of visualizing this stuff.

[744] And eventually I could see myself as a bodybuilding champion.

[745] And then when I became a bodybuilding champion, I could see myself as a leading man. Because I idolized Clint Eastwood and I said myself, well, if he can make it.

[746] And if my idols, Reg Park and Steve Reeves that did Hercules movies, If they can make it, why couldn't I?

[747] And then eventually it happened, even though, as I mentioned in a book, there were the naysayers.

[748] You know, for every great idea that you have, I'm sure that you went through the same thing, every great idea you have people who say, it's hard to do.

[749] These guys right here, you're sitting in a room, this is the naysaying crew right here.

[750] I tell them I could be a great bodybuilder, a male model, no, no, no. And then once I achieve that, which I will.

[751] We're more realists, by the way.

[752] Magnetayers, just bringing you back.

[753] Yeah, so it's always the naysayers.

[754] So, of course, imagine me, I weigh 250 pounds, and I said, I want to be a leading man. Of course, the agents and the producers say, look, the bodybuilding and the Hercules movies are out, and this is the 70s, you know, Dustin Hoffman is the idol and, you know, Woody Allen and the...

[755] You need to lose 240 pounds.

[756] Yeah, exactly.

[757] And get some glasses.

[758] That's right.

[759] And in New York accent.

[760] Yeah, that's exactly what the...

[761] I'm walking here.

[762] Yeah.

[763] So they said, you're out.

[764] So why don't you just stay with bodybuilding and open up a health food store or something like that?

[765] We can help you with that, but not to get into movies.

[766] So there was no, no, no. They said the body was too big.

[767] I have an accent.

[768] People are scared of the German accent.

[769] It drops people the wrong way.

[770] And the name no one can pronounce is to forget it.

[771] And true enough, all of those things, an ant became assets.

[772] Yeah.

[773] You know, when they did Conan the barbarian, John Millius, the director.

[774] and the famous writer said if we wouldn't have had Schwarzenegger, we would have to build one.

[775] So all of us in the party was, without this body, they couldn't have done Conan, the barbarian.

[776] Yeah.

[777] That movie ruined my life, by the way.

[778] Yeah.

[779] When I grew up, Conan was just an interesting name and no one really knew about the comic books and then that movie came out and everywhere I went, it was, hey, where's your sword?

[780] Where's your sword, Conan?

[781] Leave me alone.

[782] And that created something for me to fight against.

[783] Oh, absolutely, I can imagine.

[784] That's how I grew.

[785] That's how you grew.

[786] I was sad.

[787] I was so different from Conan that that forced me to be a comedian because that was my only recourse.

[788] I don't even know how you did it.

[789] Some would say I haven't.

[790] But I mean, it was really interesting that all of a sudden, the body was the thing to have.

[791] Otherwise, we couldn't do Conan.

[792] The muscles were welcome.

[793] Then when they did Terminator, Jim Cameron, said if Schwarzenegger wouldn't have talked like a machine naturally with his German accent this movie wouldn't have worked so over a sudden the accent became like a big plus and then with the name in the 80s obviously then they said you know the actors don't really change their names anymore now they keep the Gina Lola Bridgeta name and the Arnold Schwarzenegger name and all those long difficult names they keep those names because if it's hard to remember then it's hard to forget Hey there you go you know you say something in the book that's very funny you said at one point in the book that you hired a coach to help you get rid of your accent and you want your money back.

[794] Well, let's be honest, here.

[795] I mean, let's be honest.

[796] I remember sitting there.

[797] Have you ever heard of this guy, Robert Easton?

[798] So he was like a speech coach and a voice coach.

[799] And he was an expert in like hundreds of different accents.

[800] And he started then, and he worked with a lot of famous actors, helped them to get an Irish accent or to adopt.

[801] the Australian accent, he was just so good or a German accent, whatever.

[802] And so you would go to him also if you have a German accent to get rid of it.

[803] And so he would do have you to exercise.

[804] He says, you know, the Germans always say every TH with an S. So he says, it's 3 ,333.

[805] He says, no, it's 3 ,333 with a TH, not with an S. So he says, let's practice that now over and over.

[806] I was running around, you know, 3 ,33, and one -third.

[807] And then also we don't have kind of the V and the W sounds, you know.

[808] So for us, it's just I have some red wine, not wine, but vine with a V. So he had me practice the fine wine grows on a vine.

[809] Oh, my God.

[810] And the sink is made out of zinc.

[811] So things like that, because this is all this guy was pranking you.

[812] I don't think he's a speech coach.

[813] This was a fraternity prank.

[814] Well, that's why I said to him.

[815] I said, get me my money back.

[816] Tell him to say this.

[817] Robert Easton.

[818] I'm going to go after his estate.

[819] He already passed away.

[820] But I'm going to go after his essay because this did not work.

[821] You know, I'm still having the accent.

[822] But no one wants you to lose the accent.

[823] No, I know.

[824] That's the thing.

[825] No one wants, that's you.

[826] For how many years people said he would never make it because of this accent?

[827] And then all of a sudden, I'm turning on Saturday Night Live.

[828] and there's Hans and France.

[829] Yeah.

[830] You know, having the greatest time and it's becoming this huge hit because of the accent.

[831] So people ask me, says, do you mind?

[832] They make fun of your accent.

[833] They said, no. They legitimize it.

[834] They make it real.

[835] Now it becomes part of America's fabric here.

[836] Yes, it is.

[837] It's fantastic.

[838] And so then they invited me on the show and we had a great time.

[839] And even when I was in front of the White House and we did the great American workout, you know, when I was the chairman of the president's council of fitness, I had Hans and France come and do a whole stick there in the White House about, you know, the Hans in France and we did our little stick with the accent and all this.

[840] And people were howling.

[841] They loved it every minute of it.

[842] So it was really great.

[843] This guys were terrific.

[844] It's also, it's so much in the fabric that my son has grown up and he's aware of you and he's seen some of the movies but primarily he knows you as your counterpart on the Simpsons, Rainier Wolf Castle.

[845] and so you are woven into there's a Simpsons character who's based on you clearly who talks like you and he to me that's the real achievement is when even if someone tried to avoid I'm not going to see any Arnold Schwarzenegger movies I'm not going to have anything I'm not going to know anything about his time as governor I'm going to try to ignore everything he's done as a physical fitness champion I'm just going to watch the Simpsons you're going to run into Arnold Schwarzenegger you're everywhere absolutely but it has become so odd in a way because I would be sitting, I would be in an elevator.

[846] And I will be talking to somebody in the door, opens up, and then someone will walk in and said, I knew it was you.

[847] And I said, what do you mean?

[848] I said, I just heard your voice, and I knew it was you.

[849] So it's my voice and my accent is so identifiable now.

[850] I know that people don't even have to see you, and they immediately detect that it was you.

[851] Yeah, how do you order a pizza and not have the person on the other end?

[852] I just go like, okay, Arnold, you know, we know this is you.

[853] Do you know what I mean?

[854] And I'm sure you're ordering ordering a ton of pizzas.

[855] I would like to have 7 ,000 pizzas.

[856] 7 ,000 pizzas.

[857] You asked him how he orders the pizza.

[858] I want the venoussnezzlitzel pizza.

[859] Extra wienershnezzles.

[860] I want the Weisswurst pizza.

[861] But very, is this Arnold Schwarzenegger again?

[862] No. Exactly.

[863] I'll be an order of pizza.

[864] You know, in the early part of the book, when you're talking so much about you, come here to Los Angeles to be a bodybuilder and you realize that it's not as far along as you thought it was, you know, the bodybuilding and you really had to become part of changing that movement and adding a lot to the sport and that it was a challenge to become, you know, a bodybuilder, even though you had had all the success in Europe when you came to the U .S., you felt like almost like you were starting again.

[865] Well, it was really funny because, you know, the magazines that I got as a kid were American magazines, a lot of them.

[866] And so in this American weeder magazines, you know, he had pictures of bodybuilders in Hollywood, you know, this was Dave Draper was doing the movie, don't make waves with Tony Curtis.

[867] And there were others that were doing movies in Chinni Chita in Rome or they say, me said, oh, this bodybuilding is really big, not here in Austria, but, I mean, in America.

[868] So then when I go to America, I realized that people were asking, what do you do?

[869] Why are you so muscular?

[870] And are you a football player?

[871] Are you a bouncer?

[872] You know, what, what's going on here?

[873] You know, are you a wrestler?

[874] Oh, you're a professional wrestler.

[875] But they would guess everything except bodybuilder.

[876] Because it almost didn't exist.

[877] It didn't exist.

[878] Exactly.

[879] So I realized that.

[880] So I, of course, loved the sport and I felt like okay Arnold you learned how to sell you were an apprentice in selling and being a salesperson so let's sell bodybuilding and so I started approaching it in the same way as a product any product and I started hiring a publicist this girl by the name of Shelley Sellover I remember her name she was working for a big agency publicity agency and she was kind of like beginning on her her craft and that's why they gave her to me and they said okay you deal with this bodybuilder and she was very good she got me on the tonight show and on the muf grifford show and uh you know and all this various different talk shows and uh an interview with the l a times and we got going and we started promoting the sport and then the book pumping iron started coming out and those guys charles gains and george butler did an extraordinary job with the photographs and with the writing of pumping on.

[881] And then eventually the documentary came out and we did that.

[882] And that was like a huge hit, one of the biggest documentaries in the 70s.

[883] And so all of a sudden, bodybuilding started to grow and grow.

[884] And it became really fashionable and became in.

[885] Do you, I'm curious now at this age, what do you do?

[886] Because you look fantastic, but obviously you've probably completely changed up your regimen because you have different goals now.

[887] So what do you do when you get up in the morning 6 -605 606 you've had your vener schnitzel pizza you've made sure you've gone online and checked in on Conan O 'Brien what he's up to you've listened to his latest podcast that's all out of the way you've watched some of my classic clips now it's 8 o 'clock 9 o 'clock but you go to work out what do you do what do you do is the goal now to trying to increase weights do you want so everything that you say is absolutely true that's how my day starts the only thing that you forgot which is kind of like very selfish thinking because you forgot my animals Oh you're right You see Before I watch Conan And before I listen to you I go and feed Lulu in whiskey That's right And then I feed Of course Schnelli which is my pig You have a pig And then I have three dogs You have three dogs Yes And then And then Lulu and Schittzel is the miniature donkey.

[888] Miniature donkey.

[889] And then whiskey is the miniature pony.

[890] How did you get to have a miniature donkey?

[891] Well, my girlfriend gave it to me. Okay.

[892] That's the answer to most things.

[893] So I had whiskey, which is my daughter's miniature pony.

[894] And my daughter's somewhat abandoned this whiskey.

[895] So, you know, she used to be hanging out and taking her around and everything.

[896] like this on shows and and uh walking with her and then all of a sudden from one day the next she didn't do anything and this whiskey was this miniature pony was down at the stable down a mandeville canyon by herself and no no one really did paid attention to it so i said to one of the guys down there can you bring the whiskey up to the house and so i have a big backyard i have two and a half acres of flat ground and so he brought whiskey up and so I had to run around up there and then I brought it into the kitchen I started feeding her some cookies and some you know carrots and all this you have a pony in the kitchen yeah there's a pony and a donkey in the kitchen miniature now you know cut a few years later my girlfriend says okay you cannot have a pony alone it needs company right so she gets me for Christmas a miniature donkey so I get this little miniature donkey, which was very young, nine months old, and they fell in love with each other, and they hang out together.

[897] Now, they both come into the house in the morning, so when I get up in the morning and they get them out of the stable, at six in the morning, they come into the kitchen, and I feed them cookies, they're supposed to be eating cookies?

[898] Well, no, they're just like, oatmeal cookies.

[899] I thought you were just like, here's an Oreo for you, an Oreo for you, a little Oreo for you.

[900] Get the fuck out of you!

[901] Exactly.

[902] I got this oatmeal cookies.

[903] I got this oatmeal cookies.

[904] cookies made for myself because I didn't want to have the regular commercial oatmeal cookies with the sugar.

[905] So I said, just make it with honey and honey.

[906] So they did.

[907] So I have this big jaw of oatmeal cookies.

[908] So then all of a sudden, I was eating this cookie and the horse was pushing me. So I said, let me try it.

[909] So I give it a cookie, eating it immediately.

[910] Then pushing me again.

[911] So I give her another cookie.

[912] Then I gave a lulu the cookie.

[913] So all of a sudden it became a stick.

[914] Now we make extra cookies for the horses.

[915] But the dogs it down next to me while the horses are eating the cookies.

[916] So now they're begging and they're reaching up with their paw so now I're giving cookies to the dogs.

[917] Then the pig comes around and now there's like all of them sitting there and I'm just, you know, for 10 minutes handing out cookies.

[918] You don't have to make pounds and pounds of cookies every day.

[919] It's crazy.

[920] You're snow white.

[921] You're Snow White.

[922] He's Dr. Doolittle.

[923] You're Dr. Hines Doolittle.

[924] Yeah.

[925] Listen, I don't understand.

[926] And we're talking.

[927] So that's what I do.

[928] So you know, Conan, that's what I do before I listen to your podcast.

[929] I mean, for Christ's sake.

[930] You can do it while listening to the podcast.

[931] This is the delight of Arnold Schwarzenegger is that we're talking.

[932] And I think, well, here's what we're going to talk about is his new bodywork, bodybuilding regime at this age now.

[933] What do you do now?

[934] And before I know it, you're in a room.

[935] You're basically in a keyboard elf tree making cookies.

[936] For pigs, donkeys, and ponies.

[937] That's right, exactly.

[938] It's madness.

[939] And then I go to the gym.

[940] So now I drive down to the beach.

[941] Do you ride the little pony?

[942] No, no. I've been kidding me. I have my grandchildren.

[943] They ride the pony.

[944] Got it.

[945] And they write the miniature donkey.

[946] But I hold on to the kids because you never know.

[947] You never know.

[948] They're very feisty.

[949] There's animals.

[950] They're obviously in charge and run off and all this stuff.

[951] So I want to make sure that they're safe.

[952] But the grandchildren love.

[953] coming over to the house and seeing all the animals.

[954] And every one of the grandkids has their favorite animal.

[955] You know, can I see Cherry, can I see Schnelli, can I see Lulu, can I see this again?

[956] And then what I do a lot of times is I have a cousin that is 95 years old in New York, and he's kind of old.

[957] And they're associated very, very fragile.

[958] So what I do, and I have also a cousin.

[959] the name of Monica in Austria.

[960] So what I do a lot of times is while I'm feeding the animals, I go and dial their number on my iPad and I film the whole thing.

[961] And they love it.

[962] They talk about it the entire day.

[963] They just really love it.

[964] So people really get entertained with that a lot of times people ask me, can I come over to your house and see the animals?

[965] Not to see, can they come and visit you?

[966] No, no one is interested in that.

[967] They just want to go and see the animals.

[968] And then they come over and see the animal with their kids or whatever it is.

[969] It's now got third billing to a pig.

[970] Exactly, that's right.

[971] But anyway, so then I go down to the beach.

[972] Yeah, tell me what you do there.

[973] What do you do?

[974] I take my bike off my Yukon.

[975] And then I drive to Gorge Gym.

[976] Then I work out 45 minutes at Gorge Gym.

[977] And then I ride back, put my bike back on a on a truck, and then drive home and have breakfast.

[978] We'll have nothing.

[979] And then it just continue on with my work.

[980] I would love to work out with you someday.

[981] Yeah, you can.

[982] And you might be surprised.

[983] I might be in better shape than you think I am.

[984] You know, I'm just saying.

[985] Or you might be surprised the other way that a man, my age, could let himself go that much.

[986] It could go either way.

[987] And why would I have to be surprised in the first place?

[988] That's true.

[989] What is the obsession about me being surprised?

[990] You're right.

[991] I guess I'm trying to impress you one way or the other.

[992] Well, that's okay.

[993] Even in the positive way or the negative way.

[994] That's okay.

[995] I just want to make some impression.

[996] I want to be the last thing you think of at night before you say, good night to schloodle.

[997] So he wakes up watching Conan and going to sleep thinking about you.

[998] Exactly.

[999] After he says, good night.

[1000] That is his vision.

[1001] That is his vision.

[1002] It's unbelievable.

[1003] Yeah, I'm sorry.

[1004] What is going on here?

[1005] I need to be medicated.

[1006] And I am medicated.

[1007] I just need more medication.

[1008] You talk in the book that you say that your favorite, and you've had so many great jobs.

[1009] I mean, you, in your life, you achieved all these great dreams.

[1010] You said your favorite job ever was being governor of California.

[1011] Yeah.

[1012] All -time favorite job.

[1013] The toughest job, without any doubt.

[1014] Because to bring 120 legislators together and make them agree on anything, it's kind of like impossible.

[1015] But we made it possible.

[1016] We figured it out.

[1017] And I think that to serve 40 million people and to be the governor of the greatest state in the union, greatest state in the country, out of 50 states, Californians, without by far the greatest state, with the most revenues, and the most power, the most diversity in the world, is unbelievable.

[1018] And not only that, but we are actually now the fourth largest economy in the world.

[1019] So to be governed of that, it's just unbelievable the responsibility.

[1020] And you learn a lot.

[1021] I mean, it was the most extraordinary learning experience to sit in that capital and to have meetings.

[1022] Think about that.

[1023] if a meeting from 9 to 10 with the nurses union and they want to have a better ratio between patients and nurses for every four patients one nurse rather than for every six patients one nurse and I haven't even heard of that before the ratio so you learn about all of that and what is it that nurses go through and why is it important because Because when they lift a patient from the operating table, you know, under their bed, that two women cannot sometimes do it if it's a heavier patient.

[1024] So they need a male patient there.

[1025] So they were fighting also.

[1026] They have male patients that are a little stronger to lift the patients.

[1027] So all of this stuff I've never even heard of those debates.

[1028] Then the prison guards come in and say, we're working so many overtime, so much overtime that we need to have more prison guards.

[1029] We need to hire more and we have to have more salaries and more wages.

[1030] and what benefits and all the so they talk about that issue then the teachers come in the teachers union they talk about the you know teaching and the challenges teachers go through then the people they represent the kids come in so this is how it goes on and on and on from morning to night and it's always issues that you have not really been aware of so in the beginning it was kind of like a university where you study new subjects and new issues all the time and you become so smart with all of this stuff.

[1031] And I had one advantage, and that was, I was not a real ideologue.

[1032] You know, yes, I was conservative.

[1033] Yes, I'm a Republican, but I'm not stuck in this ideological corner.

[1034] And I didn't look at the Democrats as the enemy.

[1035] I always felt kind of like in order to make this work, you have to have Democrats and Republicans work together.

[1036] So we work together and we figured out what is it that we can do together and then let's fight over the other issue.

[1037] People are so hungry for that.

[1038] yeah and so that is really what we did and that's why we were able to do build all this infrastructure and why we were able to do the redistricting reform and get rid of cherry mentoring and why we were able to go and pick so many minority judges and women and all this so we were able to do things and the environmental issues that we tackled i mean it's the only state that really reduced its greenhouse gases pollution by 25 percent within 10 years so there was a lot of great stuff that was going on but Together.

[1039] Democrats and Republicans together did this work.

[1040] Not me, not the Republicans, but Democrats and Republicans.

[1041] Here's what really I took away from your book.

[1042] And what you're saying right now is early in your career, it's you.

[1043] And you are in a situation where you can control your body.

[1044] You can control what you do to your body and how you build your body.

[1045] You can be in full control as a bodybuilder.

[1046] Then control was very important to you when you got into movies.

[1047] How can I prepare myself.

[1048] What roles are right for me?

[1049] What roles are wrong for me?

[1050] If I'm going to do a comedy, what should that comedy be?

[1051] And what would the best way for me to, how could I best show my humor?

[1052] What would work?

[1053] Who's the best this?

[1054] Who's the best that?

[1055] When you become governor, you put yourself in a situation where a governor can do so much.

[1056] It's almost like you willfully put yourself in a situation where you don't have a lot of control.

[1057] There's a lot you can't control when a job is that big.

[1058] Do you think there was some part of you that was pushing you into a situation where you can't control everything.

[1059] All you can do is try, but there's a lot you can't control.

[1060] Yeah, no, you're absolutely right, but you don't want to.

[1061] Yeah.

[1062] You know, because you don't want to dictate a ship.

[1063] You don't want to have one person make all of the decisions because we're not perfect.

[1064] Right.

[1065] You know, and sometimes that goes overboard.

[1066] And it's that going power crazy and stuff like that.

[1067] So you need always to have a check and balance.

[1068] I think that's really terrific.

[1069] But what you can do where you have total control over is motivating people to move forward and to do great things.

[1070] So it doesn't matter with your philosophies, but to say, we must sit down guys.

[1071] And we've got to build more highways and freeways, more tunnels and bridges, more on -ramps and off -ramps, my school buildings, more university buildings, affordable housing.

[1072] Let's do it.

[1073] We can do it.

[1074] So now they go and they go, you know, oh, this is great.

[1075] And they sit down and you can motivate.

[1076] So you become kind of the motivator and the force behind bringing people together and creating a vision.

[1077] Like I said in the book, visualizing is the most important thing.

[1078] I had very clear visions, of course, crazy visions of what California can be.

[1079] I visualized, I told them, I visualize, you know, every city having a thousand cranes.

[1080] And we are building and building and building new dams, new highways, new this, no, and it was a crazy vision.

[1081] But you have to have a vision, but it motivated them to sit down and that we were able to do $60 billion of infrastructure, half of what I wanted, but we did it.

[1082] And so this is really the great thing.

[1083] So I think that one thing we have control over is motivating.

[1084] And that's one of the things I feel like is missing today.

[1085] There is no one in Washington that is really rallying up the troops and is motivating them and becoming kind of like their motivation.

[1086] kind of force behind it to bring people together because there's a way of doing it there's a way of doing this people that people are not saying i don't want to get together with the other side i think you just need someone that motivates them and really make it attractive and kind of like talk to them and communicate the right way and so this is i think there's certain powers that we do have that was that was able to use and that was always a positive person you know me i mean it was never kind of like I always see the world kind of like Norman Rockwell you know Norman Rockwell he always painted everything that was fun kind of optimistic and fun and fun and colorful and stuff so that's the way I that's the lens that I look through when I look at America or when I look at any of the issues or the problems and anything it's always through that lens I see bright I see it dark and black and white or anything like this I always see bright and there's a bright future ahead and I think that that to me is much more helpful than always being depressed and like, I say, oh, I got, things are terrible.

[1087] Things are going downhill and all that.

[1088] Yeah.

[1089] I was, I was very impressed, too, which I didn't realize in the book, is you had surgery that was supposed to be routine just a couple of years ago, and something went very wrong in the surgery, and it was touch and go.

[1090] Oh, yeah.

[1091] I mean, I was really pissed off.

[1092] And you, I can tell you that.

[1093] I mean, think about it.

[1094] You go into.

[1095] I was pissed off that I had a life and death experience.

[1096] But, I mean, think of it.

[1097] I mean, you go in there and you say, they say it's a two -hour procedure.

[1098] Yeah.

[1099] And the next thing you know is you wake up and they say, okay, this is 16 hours later.

[1100] Yeah.

[1101] And you're trying to talk.

[1102] And you go, won't, don't try to talk, Arnold.

[1103] You still have this thing.

[1104] They put a tube in your throat.

[1105] Yeah.

[1106] And so they then now put the tube out of my throat.

[1107] You know, coughing.

[1108] And they say, all right, let us.

[1109] explained to you.

[1110] Things went south.

[1111] We punctured through the hard wall with the wire.

[1112] Accidentally.

[1113] This was the wire that was supposed to go up and remove your old valve, aortic valve.

[1114] And then the other wire was supposed to replace that and put a new awarding valve in.

[1115] But by accident, we punctured through the wall and it created internal bleeding that we had to do an emergency opening of your rib cage, Rip everything open very quickly, otherwise he would have died.

[1116] And now we had to then do this and this and then we, by accident, also damaged the other valve, and this is how it went on.

[1117] And so now 16 hours later, but we saved you.

[1118] That is really fantastic.

[1119] I had to kind of like what I call their shifting gears.

[1120] Yeah.

[1121] You know, I had to shift gears because now this thing like going after, in the afternoon, then out, and, you know, having a good time was out the window.

[1122] Now I'm trying to survive.

[1123] And this is, just to reiterate, you thought you were going in for arthroscopic, orthoscopic thing, and then you go home that night and have your pizza and pet your donkey, and then you wake up 16 hours later, and they took all of your insides out and put them back in upside down.

[1124] That's right, yeah, exactly.

[1125] So, I mean, so this is what happened.

[1126] and so now you have to shift gears because now you have to say when they tell you that you're not out of the woods yet because what happens a lot of times they say is you can die because of pneumonia and so this is why it's very important that within a day you must get out of bed and you've got to go and start walking to really get lung exercises because that's what usually trips you up and so it's very very important and I now start setting my mind, okay, I'm going to go and I'm going to get out of bed as soon as they wheel me from this station over to my bedroom, I'm going to get out of the bed, and no matter what, and I'm going to start walking.

[1127] And so this becomes like the mission.

[1128] You know, to start walking, I don't want to die because of pneumonia.

[1129] I've gotten through the surgery and blah, blah, and so, you know, it was kind of a touch and go situation the first few days, but then I got strong and stronger.

[1130] And three months later, I started with Terminator 6.

[1131] I started filming.

[1132] Three months later, I started filming again.

[1133] They couldn't believe it on the set.

[1134] And I was back again working out regularly and all this stuff.

[1135] So, you know, I think that again with the positive way of thinking and I can do it and nothing is going to stop me, you know, with that kind of an attitude, I was able to do that.

[1136] This book is, I recommend it to everyone, be useful, seven tools for life, I recommend it because the quality that comes through again and again and again in this book that's really sweet is humility.

[1137] You have a lot of humility for someone who is almost like the cartoon representation of you can do it all and achieve everything.

[1138] You're very, very humble and you have a lot of empathy for people who maybe don't have some of your qualities or struggle.

[1139] You have an incredible amount of empathy.

[1140] And I could see that when you made these videos after January 6th and Ukraine and that really spoke to me. And I thought, God, I'm happy this man's out there and he's doing this now with his platform.

[1141] Thank you very much.

[1142] Thank you.

[1143] I love being a motivational speaker out there and writing a motivational book and having a motivational newsletter that is out there every day.

[1144] And to do all of those kind of things, the pump club and all this, you know, I felt kind of like I was motivated my whole life by people and I want to motivate other people now, millions of people around the world.

[1145] Yeah.

[1146] That's my mission.

[1147] I feel motivated.

[1148] I don't, I mean, I don't think you're motivated.

[1149] Oh, oh, you don't...

[1150] She's not very motivated, but I think I'm motivated.

[1151] I'm still stuck in your hate Ashbury days.

[1152] Well, I see that you're motivated.

[1153] I don't know why Conan is after you.

[1154] I mean, it's like you're the only woman in this room.

[1155] And who is he attacking?

[1156] Oh, my God.

[1157] It's like unbelievable.

[1158] You know what I'm saying?

[1159] Yes.

[1160] I'm going to start a rumor that he has a hostile work environment.

[1161] I'll back you up.

[1162] It's not a rumor.

[1163] It's not a rumor.

[1164] That is all I need right now.

[1165] It's not a rumor.

[1166] It's not a rumor.

[1167] It's not a rumor.

[1168] It's not a rumor.

[1169] Yes.

[1170] Arnold Schwarzenegger, thank you very much.

[1171] God bless.

[1172] Absolutely.

[1173] Thank you very much.

[1174] Thank you.

[1175] It was fun.

[1176] Conan O 'Brien needs a friend.

[1177] With Conan O 'Brien, Sonam of Sessian, and Matt Goreley.

[1178] Produced by me, Matt Goreley.

[1179] Executive produced by Adam Sacks, Nick Liao, and Jeff Ross at Team Coco, and Colin Anderson and Cody Fisher at Earwolf.

[1180] Theme song by the White Stripes.

[1181] Incidental music by Jimmy Vivino.

[1182] Take it away, Jimmy.

[1183] Our supervising producer is Aaron Blair, and our associate talent producer is Jennifer Samples.

[1184] Engineering by Eduardo Perez.

[1185] Additional production support by Mars Melnick.

[1186] Talent booking by Paula Davis, Gina Batista, and Britt Kahn.

[1187] You can rate and review this show on Apple Podcasts, and you might find your review read on a future episode.

[1188] Got a question for Conan?

[1189] Call the Team Coco hotline at 669 -587 -2847, and leave a message.

[1190] It too could be featured on a future episode.

[1191] And if you haven't already, please subscribe to Conan O 'Brien needs a friend on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever fine podcasts are downloaded.