Episode Transcript
[00:00:02] Speaker A: This is the Kevin Trudeau show.
[00:00:04] Speaker B: I am exposing the corruption in government and in major multinational corporations. We're telling you the things that they don't want you to know that will make your life better.
[00:00:15] Speaker A: Live from Beverly Hills, California, welcome your host, Kevin Trudeau.
[00:00:40] Speaker B: Thank you. Thank you very much. Grab a seat. Grab a seat. I'm Kevin Trudeau. Welcome to the Kevin Trudeau show. We are here with a live studio audience.
It's actually real. Are we actually broadcasting or. I see nothing on the screen here.
Am I actually just a voice in a black void, or are we actually. I get thumbs up, ok? I see nothing, but I see. I get thumbs up. You know, the fake studio audience that we have back in the studio in Chicago, that applause. This is a real studio audience. We're here in Beverly Hills.
We're in Beverly Hills at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, right? At the Wilshire Boulevard and Rodeo Drive.
Heart of wealth and opulence. A lot of good stuff here. We're here for a global information network high level summer conference for level five members and above. But this is the Kevin Trudeau show. We're so glad to have you here. I have a very special guest that I'm going to be bringing out in just a moment. But before I do, I have to address the biggest news other than Djokovic losing against Alcarez in the Wimbledon finals, which was an exciting match that I watched this morning.
I'm actually recording this on Sunday. You're watching this probably on Monday when we actually see it out there live. We're not live, by the way. We're live here, but you're watching it on Monday.
But the big news is obviously the terrible assassination attempt of President Trump, former President Trump, and it's in the news. There's a lot of already conspiracy theories about what's going on. And let me just give you a short little take on this.
This is a tragic situation, if we remember in history in the United States.
Martin Luther King was assassinated.
RFK Robert Kennedy junior was assassinated.
His brother JFK was assassinated. And if you go back, obviously President Lincoln was assassinated.
And there was a lot of things learned from these assassinations. When John F. Kennedy was assassinated, a guy allegedly went into the book depository, walked in with a rifle, strolled up, opened up a window and shot. Maybe there was a second shooter on the grassy knoll. There's a lot of things going on there, but clearly somebody shot from the book depository.
Based on that, the Secret Service had come up with some very specific protocols to protect people that they're protecting, like, former presidents, and one of which is if President Biden or past President Obama or Clinton or President Trump, they all have Secret Service details. If they're speaking, the Secret Service comes in and says, okay, let's do a little walkthrough here. This is the podium.
Where would a shooter be if there's somebody trying to assassinate him? So they do a 360 degree search and say, where could a shooter be? Oh, there's a building right there, and there's a building over there. And there's a building right there. So what the secret Service does is we need to secure the building.
So we have to go in and make sure that nobody can get in or out of the building. And they put people on top of the building, on the roofs.
That's standard protocol.
There are witnesses that have been filmed on camera, and they seem like they're not fake. They seem like they're legitimate witnesses who said, yeah, I saw the guy shoot. He was on top of the building. I saw the shooter on top of the building, and I saw after the shooting how the secret service immediately came and shot him and killed him. So there's a couple interesting questions here. Number one, how is it that he got on top of the building if the building was secured by protocol? By protocol, it was supposed to be secure. That means nobody could enter or leave the building. So how did he get in? And it was supposed to be by protocol, secret service on top of the building, because it was obviously a clear line of sight for an assassination attempt. And so that's a question. And then the other question is, how was it within seconds after the shot that Secret Service took the guy out?
How is that possible? How is it that people on the ground said they saw him before he shot, but the Secret Service didn't see him before he shot, but then as soon as he shot, they immediately took him out?
There's a lot of questions, aren't there? A lot of interesting questions. But at the end of the day, whether you like President Trump or hate President Trump, we should all be horrified that somebody tried to kill President Trump. Just like we would have been horrified if they tried to kill President Biden or President Obama or anybody, President Clinton, whether you like their politics or not, we should be horrified at violence in every form and without exception. So it's a terrible situation, and we only know what we're being told, correct?
We only know what we're being told in the media, those very trustworthy people that always tell the truth.
I'll tell you about the media. Real quick. I am going to bring out a very special guest here because we're in Hollywood. So I have a Hollywood guest. Okay. Somebody you don't know, though. It's a behind the scenes Hollywood guest. I'll make up all types of things about him. So you think he's. Yeah, but it's going to be great.
I was in Kiev, Ukraine, and in Kiev, Ukraine, there was a square, actually, similar to this room service table.
And I'm at this hotel, and there's this square, and this is where, like, political speeches are held and so forth in Kiev. This was years ago, 1520 years ago, and I'm in this area. And there were some political upheavals going on in Kiev, Ukraine, at the time. And I'm on my balcony. I'll never forget this. I'm on my balcony, and because I'm in Kiev, Ukraine, they had a little market right around the corner where I went, and I bought Beluga caviar. And the reason I bought Beluga caviar, other than the fact that I do like beluga caviar, in case anybody is interested, or iranian imperial caviar, back then, it was all from wild sturgeon. But the reason I bought it, I bought a tin which is about this big, about that thick, this enormous tin for, like $35 because it was in Kiev, you know, and I had american dollars, and they had, like, this abundance of this caviar. This same tin would have cost like 3000 in America. That's like $35. Okay, I'll take two.
So I'm sitting there eating my beluga caviar with a spoon, but it can't be a steel spoon. If you know anything about caviar, it has to be alabaster spoon or another pearl spoon so it doesn't interact with the delicateness of the caviar.
Welcome to Beverly Hills.
Welcome to Hollywood. Okay, so I'm eating my caviar, and of course, you can't eat caviar without.
[00:08:33] Speaker A: Champagne.
[00:08:34] Speaker B: Champagne. Thank you.
Caviar dreams. Champagne dreams. So I have champagne with the caviar, and I'm sitting on the balcony overlooking the square.
A truck pulls up. Two trucks pull up, and they're open bed trucks filled with people with protest signs.
A third van pulls up. The people jump out of the truck with the protest signs, and they're standing around. The van opens up, and a couple cameramen get out, and there's looks like a director or a producer telling the protesters where to stand. And he's checking the camera angle, and I've seen movie sets and things shot before and they're setting this thing up. They got the cameras ready and then the guy does this and then everyone starts screaming and then he goes, okay, that's a wrap. And then I'll just hop in their truck and leave.
And I'm going, this is like wag the dog. Remember the tv show or the movie wag the dog if you haven't seen it.
A couple hours later, my mom calls me from Boston, Massachusetts. She knows I'm in Kiev, Ukraine. Oh, my God, you're in Kiev. There's, there's tanks in the streets and there's mayhem. And I go, what are you talking about? She goes, it's all over the news. The people are rioting in the streets. I go, no, I actually happen to see the riot that you're watching on the news. And it was staged.
It was 100% staged.
It's a lie. And it's on CNN and it's on Fox and it's on ABC and it's a lie. It was staged. 100% fake. Not 90% fake, 100% fake.
Now, stupid me. Six months later, I'm watching the news and it's talking about the blizzard in Boston where my mother and father live. And it's, oh, my God, I'm watching this. This is horrific. So I call my mother, I said, are you all right? What's the matter? I go, it's like 25ft of snow. I'm watching the news like people are dying. There's no food, there's no. And she's like, Kevin, everything is fine here. We got like three inches. I go, no, but I'm watching the news and she goes, remember Kiev?
So the point is, please, please, please. I mean, it's so easy to be a styop, susceptible to the negative influence of other people and believe whatever is in the news. It's easy. It's easy because they do a magnificent job of putting you in a trance with all the hypnotic language patterns and all the technical skills that they have to get you mesmerized and get you convinced that what they're saying is true.
Pay attention. Don't believe everything in the news.
Just remember that. Don't believe everything in the news. Well, we have a special guest I'm going to bring out right now. We're going to have a lot of fun. From Hollywood, California, from Beverly Hills, Los Angeles. I've known this gentleman for, I think, over 30 years. He's a Hollywood producer. He's produced movies, television specials, and he's also been the guy who's produced all of my tv infomercials since day one, so he knows stuff about me that I hope he doesn't share.
So please help me. Welcome to the Kevin Trudeau show. Mister. John Denny.
Hey. Good to see you, buddy.
Look at Matt Mandev.
John, when was the last time you got this type of an ovation for one of your movies?
[00:13:02] Speaker A: Well, I was following an assassination attempt in beluga caviar. It's gotta be the best lead in I've ever gotten.
But good to see you all. Obviously, no one emailed me about the dress code.
Gin is by far the best dressed, most stylish, good looking group of people, like minded people I've ever seen.
[00:13:31] Speaker B: And I've been seriously.
[00:13:44] Speaker A: Sure.
I was hoping one of you showed up in sweat so I wouldn't feel it, but I just got off a tennis court, so. Very, very la.
[00:13:52] Speaker B: Well, glad to have you here. I appreciate you coming by.
[00:13:54] Speaker A: Of course.
[00:13:55] Speaker B: We've known each other for what, 30 years?
[00:13:56] Speaker A: More. Kevin and I were newborns in a.
It's been 30 years.
[00:14:06] Speaker B: Wow. And we met in Chicago through a mutual friend.
[00:14:10] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:14:11] Speaker B: How many here know the name Danny Bonaducci? The redheaded kid from the Partridge family?
So I was friends with Danny back in Chicago. He had a radio show on the loop, and he introduced me. Now, how did you guys know? Because you were shooting a movie for him.
[00:14:26] Speaker A: Yeah, I wrote an executive produced the Partridge family movie on ABC and also his daytime series, which lasted a couple of years. But Danny was a character. As you remember, the redheaded kid from the Partridge had gone through a lot of issues, you know, drug abuse and other issues in his life.
And this was probably 19 96, 95 in that range. And Danny said, hey, I have done it. I did an infomercial with this guy, and I'm wondering if you'd like to meet him. He's a pretty good guy.
And I said, a, I have no interest in meeting another guy.
And b, infomercials. No, thank you. At the time, infomercials had a somewhat negative connotation. There was a lot of stuff out there being sold in late night television at two, three in the morning when you wake up. And there they are.
So I met Kevin.
We hit it off. We had an italian dinner, of course, somewhere.
And I just found him incredibly interesting and charming and worldly. And he said to me, look, would you be interested in producing one of my infomercials? And I was a movie guy.
I was a tv guy. And the first question I asked are there any credits rolling on infomercial?
No, there are no credits. Okay, maybe. Maybe I could do this. And he said, why don't you come to the infomercial convention in Las Vegas and see what it's all about?
Now, I had been to the Cannes film festival. I'd been to Sundance. I'd been to the Venice Film Festival. All these beautiful, incredibly gaudy and interesting worldly film festivals. And as I was flying into Las Vegas, I noticed there were more private jets in the infomercial convention than I had ever seen in any film festival. And I said, there might be a business here. And then Kevin and I spoke about his goals and what he wanted to do. And I was incredibly impressed with his charisma and his on air command and his conviction about things that we started a working relationship.
[00:16:47] Speaker B: Well, it was really interesting because the infomercial convention was being held at the Mirage. And at the time, I was the king of infomercials. So I had the biggest sweet in Las Vegas, which was not at the mirage. It was over at the MGM. And Barbra Streisand was in the suite the week before me. So I had this big, huge suite. And everybody at the convention who wanted to meet me, which was. There was a list you had the kit on to have, you know, I was holding court, if you remember. So people would be lining up in the hallway with meeting times to meet me for ten minutes or five minutes. You have seven minutes. And so when John was there, sitting there in kind of a throne that I had in the room.
And it's true, because it was all about the staging to set up the tone with the people. So mine was higher than everybody else. So when they came in, they had to, like, you know, put my hand out, and they would.
[00:17:41] Speaker A: And apparently, this psychological strategy of towering over his guests still applies to this day.
How you doing?
[00:18:02] Speaker B: All right, now, hold on a second. He's got two cushions.
[00:18:04] Speaker A: I do.
[00:18:06] Speaker B: He came out here and he goes, wait a minute. I need a bigger cushion.
[00:18:09] Speaker A: After 20 years of therapy, you figure I could forego the cushions, but apparently I'm stupid.
[00:18:15] Speaker B: So we got together and I said, all right, we're going to shoot an infomercial. So he does research on infomercials and how they're all shot, you know, the scripts that are done and the teleprompters and the rehearsals and the days of shooting and editing and all that stuff. So I don't know this, but he's doing all this research. So I said, yeah, we'll shoot 09:00 on Tuesday morning. Now, when I say we're shooting at 09:00 that means the cameras are rolling at 09:00. And John still to this day, uses nine ish.
[00:18:46] Speaker A: There's apparently no ish at Jin.
Apparently.
Apparently ish does not exist in the lexicon.
[00:18:54] Speaker B: He says, are you starting the meeting at what, nine ish? I go, no, we started at nine.
It just goes back with the infomercial. So I get there and he's still tweaking lights at 09:00. Right, because he wants to get to write.
But tell us about the first, the first time we shot that infomercial.
[00:19:10] Speaker A: Which one was the one?
[00:19:11] Speaker B: Well, I think this is, I'm not sure which one it was, but the first time I actually did any infomercial with you.
[00:19:15] Speaker A: Yeah, I forgot what it was. I mean, it, you know, I've done natural cures and, you know, the Ron Ball and the mortars and many of Kevin's, the world's fastest reader, Scott Flansburg.
[00:19:29] Speaker B: The human calculator, Ellen Criedman.
[00:19:31] Speaker A: We did with the relationship endless.
[00:19:33] Speaker B: And then we also did the one with Master Ty, with Danny Bonaducci on.
[00:19:37] Speaker A: With the straight shooting golf.
[00:19:39] Speaker B: Straight shooting golf with Mike Siegel.
[00:19:40] Speaker A: Yeah, all that great stuff.
So, yeah, I came from the movie world where you do 103 takes and you tweak the lighting and there's hair and makeup, and it takes six and a half weeks to get a minute or two.
And we had a host, I had hosted a couple of shows as well with Kevin. But Kevin sat down at nine ish.
He wasn't very happy about that. But, you know, I made up some excuse and Kevin says, okay, we're going to go right through it. And then I said, sure. And then we'll do another take and maybe another take and we'll redo some stuff. He said, I don't think so.
[00:20:27] Speaker B: And then John's going, where's the teleprompter?
Where are the cue cards?
[00:20:32] Speaker A: Right?
[00:20:32] Speaker B: Where's the script?
[00:20:33] Speaker A: Where are the notes? Yeah, where the notes? Basically, as the director, I yelled, action.
And then I could have gone to subway and had a tuna sandwich.
[00:20:45] Speaker B: There was nothing left for me to do.
[00:20:47] Speaker A: Basically, I sat there and action. When you say action, we were in Beverly Hills in Hollywood. That's, you know, it gives you a certain amount of power. That power dissipated immediately because Kevin literally did 30 minutes straight of incredibly compelling information. And then at the end I said, you know, is there anything else you'd like to do? He said, yeah, go have lunch.
And that was it, and two weeks later, it was on air and touching people and moving people and certainly informing and enlightening people. The one thing about Kevin, I will say this. I don't think I've ever said this to you. You know, the world's reliance, or at least our respect for language, has diminished so much over the years, and social media has something to do with that as well. You know, people don't read anymore. They certainly don't know how to write anymore. And Kevin is the only person I've known now for 30 years who's never said two words. Never said two words. And the two words are, uh.
And, like, like, uh. Like, I really want to. Like, I really want to do my radio show today. And, like, you know, like, like, like I was in prison, you know, like.
And he's the only person I've known. I've actually listened to it for all these years, for one moment when Kevin's command of the english language and his ability to communicate didn't have the clarity, power, and purpose that it has. So I've been always impressed by that. It's really been great.
Like, you're amazing.
[00:22:42] Speaker B: Well, there are two words that I do use in negotiation. The first word is spelled h u h.
The other one is w h a, pronounced wha wha.
Sometimes I put them together.
[00:22:55] Speaker A: Huh.
[00:22:55] Speaker B: What?
What?
[00:22:57] Speaker A: What?
You know, if you add a like in there, you do, you'll be golden.
[00:23:04] Speaker B: Now, obviously, people know I did mega memory, which was the first infomercial, if you were watching the show, I showed you the very first infomercial I did. John was not around at that time, in 1989. And then later, the show I did with Danny Bonaducci with mega memory, and then, so I was known at the time, when we met as the memory guy, you know, with the world's greatest memory. I could remember anything and everything, you know, names, faces. I could go in, and I would do all these amazing demonstrations.
[00:23:36] Speaker A: He forgot to tell me about the.
[00:23:37] Speaker B: Dress code, so he's slipping a little bit.
So John and I at the time, this is back in the nineties, are both single guys.
So we're going out to, we go out to a club. So this is an interesting story.
[00:23:56] Speaker A: Well, it's a sad story.
I'm still covering for one of us. Yes.
All's well then ends well for you, of course. So I had known Kevin probably for about six months or so, friends, we weren't working yet together, and Danny had introduced us, and we sort of hit it off, in spite of the fact that he was a guy and did infomercials, you know, surprising. I have a new friend, and I'm in Chicago.
I'm based in LA, but, you know, was there, and we probably, you know, we were hanging out and we go to a bar club, probably on Oak street, you know, in that nice, cool area of Chicago, which is really pretty. And back in those days, this is, you know, the war of 1812, there really weren't cell phones then. Some people had them, we didn't.
And, you know, at the end of the night, it's 132 in the morning, it's last call, and I'm in town, you know, I'm a single guy, and there's a girl at the bar, and I've been chatting her up, and the lights start going up. Remember, you know, in those bars, the lights start going up, and they want you out. And I'm already, you know, I'm already awkward anyway, you know, it's not like I'm cool like him, you know, I'm a. Whoa. And I, you know, we talked, and I said, you know, I'm wondering, could I get your number and give you a call? And she said, you know, it's dark.
And so she said, I'll give you my number, and I don't have a pen on me or a piece of paper. I've got nothing. And I'm not going to rely on this memory like.
So I realized that next to me is the world's most famous memory expert.
You know, I mean, he also kind of. He chatted her up a little bit too clearly I was winning.
Clearly.
And I said, okay. You know, it's the pressure, the lights. The girl's starting to edge out. She's grabbing her handbag, and I said, kevin, come over here, will you remember her number and give it to me on the way home?
I have a feeling I think you know where this is going.
I said, just tell my friend. He's mega memory. I think she actually recognized him as well, which made it even worse. And she said, sure, I'll give you my number. 312-573-1177 just to be safe.
Could you just repeat that for the memory expert? 3125-5612 I said, kevin, got it. Got it. You sure you got it? Got it. Perfect. Lights go on. Everybody parts.
[00:26:55] Speaker B: I'll call you.
I'll call you.
[00:27:00] Speaker A: So we get into the Rolls Royce. Kevin's driving, and I find a piece of paper in the glove compartment. And I have a pen now, and I'm not waiting. I'm not. It's it happened a minute ago.
As Kevin's driving, I said, kevin, you know what? What's that number again?
And he's driving. He says, 312-55-6161 June, you memorize frontwards and backwards, the US constitution.
[00:27:34] Speaker B: You know.
[00:27:35] Speaker A: Eleven languages, frontwards and backwards.
You have to. 312556. Doesn't remember it. He went out with her. He called her the next day, he went out with her.
Didn't last.
[00:27:56] Speaker B: Didn't last long time ago.
[00:28:01] Speaker A: Anybody old enough to remember Jack Benny, the comedian now was him.
Yeah, that was. That was a great. That was a fun moment. And yet we remain friends.
[00:28:13] Speaker B: After all that.
[00:28:14] Speaker A: After all done.
[00:28:15] Speaker B: Well, we did an infomercial, I remember, with the book natural cures. And you have to understand the story behind the natural cures book.
And for those of you who are watching, in every adversity are the seeds of a greater benefit. And we know this, and this is a strong axiom that you have to understand. So the Federal Trade commission sued me for selling coral calcium because I had a guy who I was interviewing, and I said, what are the health benefits, if any, of calcium? And we all know that calcium is good for the bones and it's advertised everywhere. And he says, well, according to Otto Wahlberg, who won the Nobel Prize for Medicine twice, Otto Wahlberg says that calcium, when taken, most people are deficient in it. And when you take calcium, it can alkalize the body, and cancer can't grow in an alkaline environment. And he quoted Doctor Wahlberg, and I said, where'd you get that quote? He goes out of the New York Times, okay. The federal Trade Commission sued me because they said, you're claiming that calcium cures cancer. I said, no, we're just quoting the New York Times, which is quoting doctor Otto Wahlberg. And he never said that. This is the quote. To make a long story short, obviously, I settled with the federal Trade commission because back then, if you don't settle, you go to their building, and their employee is the judge who finds everybody guilty. And the Supreme Court just said that that's unconstitutional. No kidding.
Finally. But back then, it wasn't. So my lawyers are now thinking, hey, can we unwind this whole thing? Because it was based on something that was unconstitutional anyway. We're looking at that.
That'll cost 20 million in legal bills. So we're looking at it. Not that hard, but we are looking at it.
So out of this adversity, I signed this consent decree. And in the consent decree, I agree that I'm not going to sell any products on television anymore, with the exception of informational publications and books. Now, at that time, I had never written a book. I had mega memory, but I didn't even write that book. They just took my seminar and we just transcribed it and put it in a book form. So I never wrote a book. So I'm sitting there in Ojai, and I'm thinking, you know, I'm just gonna retire. I'm gonna sell the place in Ojai, go to Italy. I'm an italian citizen, and I'll just live in Italy and just retire. I don't have to do this anymore.
And we're having a discussion with some of my friends in Oi, and all of a sudden the idea is, you know, what? If you write a book on health, expose what the Federal Trade commission is doing and what the FDA is doing, that they're hiding all this information about coral calcium and natural ways to cure and prevent disease, that would be a great expose book. And just out of spite, I said, yeah, I would just love to write a book and expose them guys, just for spite. I said, but that's not the right reason to do it. I said, I'll do it to actually help people. And that's when the name of the book, natural cures, that the government and the drug companies don't want you to know about. And we tried to fit that on the COVID and that wouldn't work. So it was natural cures they don't want you to know about. And I said, but I don't know if anyone's going to buy this book, and I would have to sit down and write the book. So what am I going to do? So I call up John. He says, john, I need to produce an infomercial for a product that doesn't exist, because I want to see if people would be interested in buying it. So this is the name of the book. Can you produce a cover for me? So he says, yeah, I need a picture of you. I says, well, I got a picture. I don't have a picture, like a professional picture. So he says, there's a guy I know by the name of Bobby.
Where's Bobby? Is Bobby around here?
Bobby's right over here. So he goes, he does, you know, all the Academy awards, and he'll take a picture that we'll use on the COVID So I'm expecting that I'm going to go to this guy like I've seen, you know, in the movies. I'm going to go in, there's going to be beautiful women, supermodels everywhere that he's. He's got music playing and fans going on and, you know, caviar and champagne.
[00:32:40] Speaker A: It's just Kevin's house in Ojai.
He's describing.
[00:32:44] Speaker B: So I'm expecting. I'm going to go to Bobby's studio, where it's going to be world class and everything. So Bobby says, meet me at this address. So I go, and it's on some side street in, like, la, someplace where all these little tiny houses are. And I go, this can't be right. So I get there, and he says, yeah, yeah, there's, like a back. We're just kind of using this for the set area. There's some areas to shoot, and it's just him. There's nobody. What's happening? Well, we got a makeup person who's gonna put some powder on. I'm like, I'm very disappointed. And he goes, you just stand in this. Stand in this doorway. I go, this little, like, barn is gonna fall down. I go, it's like I'm afraid of getting splinters. Are there spiders around? Just stand there. So I just stand there like this. Click, click, click, click, click. All of a sudden, that's the COVID That's the book. That's the shot that's on the COVID He's a magician. He's an absolute magician. It seems like he doesn't know what he's doing.
He doesn't really have a clue, but he knows exactly what he's doing. Everything is on purpose and perfect.
[00:33:54] Speaker A: And he's from Massachusetts, which didn't hurt.
[00:33:56] Speaker B: Yeah. So, which is where I grew up. So that worked out fine. So I give him the picture. Then John produces as he does his magic. He produced the COVID of natural cures they don't want you to know about.
[00:34:06] Speaker A: Right. And what was fascinating, you know, we are now going to shoot an infomercial for a product that does not exist.
So number one is you just can't hold up a cover flimsy. So I had to find a book to put the COVID on. So I found, you know, like, insignificant book. Like, it was probably Moby Dick or crimes and punishment or.
[00:34:32] Speaker B: I think it was the joy of sex, but I'm not sure.
[00:34:37] Speaker A: Joy of sex might have been a little too thin a book.
[00:34:40] Speaker B: We wanted to show a big book.
[00:34:42] Speaker A: So it was, you know, probably a real classic. And we take crimes and punishment and throw their cover off.
Who would ever read that anyway?
And put on Kevin's beautiful, glossy cover.
And I think Kevin already had the book in his head. He knew what he wanted to say. And the most powerful and palpable things he wanted to talk about was the unholy alliance, as you all know, between Pfizer's and Merck's and the FDA and Harvard medical School. You know, I'm a little less strident than a little less bombastic. You know, I do think there are certain good things that come out of science and medicine, and I'm sure you agree, but there's no question that there's lots of conflicts of interest and lots of things that are being suppressed.
I take a statin every day, which to this day, Kevin would strangle me.
And the reality is, I'm going to take a statin every day for the rest of my life. They don't want to cure me. They want to keep me buying that drug.
[00:35:49] Speaker B: They're a good customer.
[00:35:52] Speaker A: I'm a very good customer. And they have one fiduciary responsibility as publicly traded companies, and that is to raise shareholder value. That's their one mandate. That's their goal.
[00:36:04] Speaker B: I have stock in that company. You should take a double dose.
[00:36:08] Speaker A: Totally.
So we're about to go on and shoot a show for a book that does not exist.
It's sort of like Hamlet before he. Shakespeare before he wrote Hamlet, going out to the town square and pitching the story.
And if people liked it, I'll go write it. You know, that's a story about a king and an id and, wow, you like it? I'm going to go back and write it now. And that's really what it was. If Kevin felt that there was enough response, if there was enough receptivity to what he was saying based on the calls that came in, then he would go back and take his outlines that he'd already prepared and his theories and thesises and positions and perspectives and put it in a book. So we did an infomercial again. By this time, I had learned this is about five years later, so there's no ish. We got started at 09:00 a.m.
and at 09:00 a.m. i had hired a host who, you know, we scribbled a few questions, and at 930, we were done. And Kevin walked out of the studio. And two weeks later, that infomercial tested on television.
Suffice it to say, Kevin had to write that book really fast.
That book on a infomercial that we did in 30 minutes straight to finish. No uhs, no likes, no second takes, no, let's do another version of it. That book became the number one New York Times bestseller for over a year and the biggest selling book in the world outside of Harry Potter over that two year period and change a lot of lives and perspectives. So I'm very proud of that.
[00:37:51] Speaker B: Thank you.
We've also done some fun. I mean, that was fun. It was life changing and obviously profitable and so forth. But we've also done some other interesting things.
We did a show with Grandmaster tie.
Danny Bonaducci was going to interview grandmaster Ty to sell a product called Protect Yourself, which was videotapes on how to protect yourself in 30 minutes. You can learn in 30 minutes how to basically protect yourself rather than do years and years of martial art training. It was just really focused on specific techniques of how anybody, regardless of their physical fitness level, could protect themselves and.
[00:38:42] Speaker A: Largely to protect yourself against the room service bills at the Beverly Wilshire.
That really was the.
[00:38:51] Speaker B: So Danny is there, if you remember this. And so John's getting all, we have a band. We have this beautiful set and big studio audience. It looks like a late night show, like the Tonight show or something, but it's a Danny Bonaducci show. So Danny is there as the host, big studio audience. He's going to introduce Grandmaster Ty. So I grabbed grandmaster Ty and I said, look, Danny Bonaducci has three black belts in three different disciplines.
Now, I want you guys are going to do a little demonstration where you're going to get out in front of your desk and he's going to attack you. And you need to show people how you protect yourself. And I said, you can't hold back grandmaster Ty because Danny is a badass. He thinks that you're a small, weak guy that he could actually beat up.
And unless you put Danny on the ground in like one half a second, no one's gonna buy your product.
You really have to hurt Danny in order to, in order to have your product sell.
Are you sure? Is that okay? Oh, yes. Yes.
John's over there going, this is going to be the best tv I've ever shot.
[00:40:13] Speaker A: Also check the insurance policy.
[00:40:17] Speaker B: So then I go over to Danny, who's over there. I go, Danny, you know, I'm not too convinced about this grandmaster time. I think he's actually a lot of, you know, full of it. I'm not too sure. I think it's all smoke and mirrors. So when you guys do the demonstration, I goes, Danny, hurt him, because if he can't protect himself, you're still getting paid, Danny. You're still getting paid. But if he can't protect himself. I don't want to be involved in selling the product, so try to hurt him.
Danny goes, you got it.
So John and I are back there and I'm like, john's like, this is great.
Make sure we get all the cameras. I want every angle so they come out and we're actually going to show this show. I'm going to show that here on the Kevin Trudeau show in the next few weeks. You're actually going to see this because I found the show. We found the show.
So Danny comes out. Grandmaster Ty comes out and Danny quickly, I mean. Cause he's fast and he's trained. Tries to attack Grandmaster Ty. Grandmaster Ty just smacks him and he flips on his back so fast, like, hurt his back. And it was fantastic.
[00:41:46] Speaker A: He flipped them on his back so fast, the cocaine flakes.
[00:41:50] Speaker B: It was like his microphone comes flying off. So they put it back together. And so Danny is all discombobulated and we're loving it. We're just loving it. The audience is loving it. So then Danny says, but what happens if somebody just. And he grabs Grandmaster Ty's throat. Just grabs his throat. Well, Grandmaster Ty takes his hand, reaches over, squeezes and twists.
All you hear is a blood curdling scream of Danny Bonaguchi.
And then he smacked him and went on his back again. And Danny was in. What the hell was that?
That called Eagle Claw.
He goes, well, I hate it. He goes, just get away from me.
[00:42:43] Speaker A: And that's called comeuppance for having been on a show called the Partridge family.
Poetic justice.
I always said to Kevin that he had so many amazing lawyers during his travails with the FTC, he should have just hired Master Ty.
[00:43:00] Speaker B: Eagle Claw.
[00:43:01] Speaker A: Judge Kelvin Eagle claw.
[00:43:07] Speaker B: So then we. So then we go down to Australia.
You remember the australian trip? We have pictures of this. Yes, we do.
With the kangaroo. Yes. John's sitting like this, and there's a kangaroo about to pounce right behind us.
[00:43:19] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, here's the thing with Kevin. We've been on fishing trips in the wild, desolate islands of western Canada with Tom Morta. Tom is from Arkansas. You know, he's, he's a salt of the earth. You know, Kevin. Kevin hikes. Kevin does this thing. I'm a half jew from New York City.
To me, the great outdoors is the space between the front of the building and the taxi. You know that.
[00:43:48] Speaker B: Oh, my God, there's air quickly.
[00:43:54] Speaker A: I mean, hiking, you know, walleye, fishing with Kevin at five in the morning.
[00:44:02] Speaker B: Where were we?
[00:44:03] Speaker A: Australia. So yeah, I mean, Kevin introduced me to a world that, you know, resulted in several more years of therapy from me, outdoors stuff, you know, stuff that I'd never experienced before. But, yeah, it was. Australia was great.
[00:44:20] Speaker B: Australia was a lot of fun. And that fishing trip that you were talking about. All right, does anybody here, if you're watching right now, I'm going to ask you the question.
[00:44:27] Speaker A: Do.
[00:44:28] Speaker B: But by show of hands here in the room, does anybody here know of what's called a snipe hunt? A snipe hunt. Okay. A few of you. Well, a snipe is really a non existent bird. And when you have somebody such as John in the wilderness for the first time, one fun little thing you can do is convince him to go hunting for this imaginary fake bird called a snipe, sending him out into the woods in the middle of the night where there are bears and other animals that can kill you. So we sent John and everybody, everybody is in on it except John.
We sent John into the woods at midnight because the snipe only really come out between midnight, 01:00 a.m.
[00:45:17] Speaker A: First of all.
First of all, you know, to my defense, I'm in a log cabin with Kevin Trudeau, arguably the best salesman in America. Tom Mortar, who's pretty slick himself, don't get me wrong, and Blaine Aithorn, who's pretty slick himself.
So they could have convinced me of anything.
And when they said, look, there's a dangerous animal out there.
And Tom, last night at the dinner said, you know, I always remember John because we're in western Canada in an island, a desolate Indiana guides. And he said, I always remember John for coming out to the log cabinet for the first time in Gucci loafers.
I was not suited for this life.
And off I went. And there are pictures still with me with a flashlight on my forehead, looking at twelve and one and two in the morning for a non existent birdhouse.
And they were laughing back there. They were having the best of times.
So to this day, I hadn't seen Tom in 20 years.
He instantly remembered snipe, instantly remembered it.
[00:46:46] Speaker B: It was a lot of fun. And you actually caught fish for the first time in your life?
[00:46:49] Speaker A: The first time I caught fish that wasn't in a can.
Wow. They existed.
[00:46:58] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:46:59] Speaker A: We went out. Lakotas was the tribe.
Kevin made us get up at 05:00 a.m.
and there was Blaine, who's a little city slickerish himself, don't get me wrong. Me and Tom and you and we went out with Lakota tribe guides out on a rowboat and they're all catching fish. They're all catching them. They're doing it, you know, in a, in their natural global information way, effortless. Got to put in the hard work. They put in the hard work, but they're doing it, and they're reeling in fish. And I'm sitting there getting tangled, and I think I once hooked my ear, but I finally caught a fish, and it was very, very exciting. It was the last time I went fishing.
Trust me.
Trust me.
I'm perfectly fine with starkist now.
[00:48:00] Speaker B: We had some exciting times up at the ranch, too, in Ojai, because I had this, I had a home in Ojai, and I had a big ranch where Gary Spivey was, and we had, you know, parties there and dinners there with Ken and Gary Dean and the whole crew many a time. And you came up from Hollywood many a times up there as well. Do you remember any of those parties, any of the fun things we had?
[00:48:27] Speaker A: It's hard not to remember Gary Spivey, you know?
[00:48:35] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:48:35] Speaker A: I mean, they were always, Kevin's always been an amazingly gracious host. I will say this, having worked with Kevin with a team of people.
Kevin was always Sinatra.
We were always, there was dean and there was, was I Sammy or Joey, I don't know who I was, but it was always a really warm feeling. But we were also very aware of Kevin and his presence.
He was the boss. He was, in my case, certainly a very close friend, but he was a. He demanded a lot of you. And I think it was because he saw the potential in us and wanted us to realize that, you know, he was scary at times. You know, that priority manager thing scared.
[00:49:27] Speaker B: The heck out of me.
[00:49:34] Speaker A: But I always remembered amazing graciousness and laughs.
When I first heard about Gin, I was surprised because I always thought Kevin was a single malt scotch guy, and I thought he had gotten involved in an alcohol brand.
Really? Really.
[00:49:55] Speaker B: Gin.
[00:49:55] Speaker A: Interesting.
No, there were always amazing times. And Kevin always, when he was out of town, I would borrow his cars, I'd borrow his house.
It was great.
[00:50:09] Speaker B: There's been a lot of success, obviously, that you've been around. You yourself have achieved an amazing amount of success over the years. Andrew Melcher, our mutual friend, used to work for me, and amazing success has made millions, can write incredible success.
A lot of people in our circles have gone on, sometimes in their own separate directions based on what they learned and achieved. Great success. And again, our organization, my organization did very, very well. Is there anything that you would say, from your vantage point, were keys to that success.
[00:50:47] Speaker A: That's a great question.
I was hearing Donnie, who I also met for the first time on this trip, talk about copywriting, and I write. Now, I didn't write Kevin's infomercial, certainly, but henceforth, I've written many, many infomercials and directed and producing. So I had, number one, on a personal, intimate level, the opportunity to learn writing, copywriting, and marketing from the acknowledge master of it. So for that, it was an amazing joy and an amazing experience to think you know it all and then realize you don't. And Kevin was an amazing mentor and teacher on that front. But in terms of success, I think, and you all are so lucky and privileged to be privy to people like Kevin and Tom and Blaine and Donnie and many others, Ron, because one of the things I notice about them, and I mentioned this to my cameraman yesterday, because I'm also here doing a film on Kevin, that all of them speak with such clarity and such purpose behind their words. There's not a lot of waste. There's warmth, there's connection, there's empathy. But there's also a tremendous amount of focus and command of the english language, for all its beauty.
So I learned, I think part of success is to try to leave the likes and us at the door and to also connect with people, to look them in the eye. I have a saying. I don't know if it came from Kevin, but first understand and then be understood.
So understand where people are coming from. You know, we're on different sides of the spectrum, politically, completely. I live in Los Angeles, of course, you know, so you know where I'm at.
But that's the problem in this country now. We're so polarized, we're so divisive. You know, if you vote for that guy, you're the enemy. If you vote for this person, you're the enemy. If you believe in this, you're the enemy. And I'll tell you, the one thing that I see in this group, and I'm not just saying this because I'm in front of you, because I've been around others, is there's such a sense of collegialism, there's such a sense of collaboration, of support, of synergy spiritedness amongst all your members, and that's coming from Kevin and it's coming from the leadership here.
So I would say, in a very circuitous and long answer, sorry. That it's really about understanding where other people are at, being focused on your goals and your strengths, realizing you don't know it all, but have a forever lifelong appetite to learn and to be kind.
I read something once.
I have a lot of things I wish I still and still will accomplish in my life. But, you know, it's a lifelong journey.
And there's no time clock, you know, there's no time is a construct. It's a social construct. I always get angry when people say, you know, age 68 or age 43 or this or that. It's all in your head. You are who you want to be.
And I think Kevin taught me a lot of that. You know, you come in with cynicism, right? You go, oh, really? Oh, come on. And then it seeps in to your core. It starts permeating who you are, your sense of self, your sense of possibility, your sense of wonder. And Kevin really brought that to me and still does all these years. And after eight and a half years of what he experienced, to have had that attitude, to have that positivity, to have that. That sense of possibility and wonder still and no sense of retribution and no sense of vindictiveness is probably some of the greatest life lessons I've ever learned, and I thank you for it.
[00:55:02] Speaker B: I appreciate that.
[00:55:02] Speaker A: John.
[00:55:03] Speaker B: John, well spoken.
Eloquent as usual, with a couple big words in there that we need dictionaries to know them.
John is the guy who used the word parapithetic on me, and I said, huh, what I need. I need a dictionary. Parapithetic.
John came to visit me many, many times as well. Very close friend. We've been together for a long, long time. I appreciate you spending the time. By the way, he's doing a documentary and filming, doing some work on me. That's why he's here with the film crew. So we'll look forward to seeing that. That'll be a lot of fun.
[00:55:42] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, a very complex project.
Kevin is a multilayered, prismatic. Uh oh. That word again means, you know, multilayered, you know, but it's. He's a complex, interesting, layered person who could only have been made in America. He's a distinctly american original. And you all, everybody I've met, you know, imbued with that spirit, galvanized with that sense of possibility and focus and self actualization.
But it's been a great joy to be around you guys, and I hope you've enjoyed my fair city, Los Angeles. Thank you, guys. Thank you, Kevin.
[00:56:32] Speaker B: Thank you, John. Fantastic. Good to see it. I'm Kevin Trudeau. This is the Kevin Trudeau show. See you next time.
