Pivot · Feb 25, 2022

Russia Invades Ukraine, Texas Gov.'s Attack on Trans Youth, and Guest Ben Stiller

Automatic transcript of the end of the episode, from 53:39. Speakers are labeled by software and may contain errors. Highlighted passages are Scott’s predictions.

Guest · 53:39 Learn from them both in my relationship and my marriage and, with my kids and, you know, being present with your kids when you're there. But it's an ever changing, evolving thing. You know? And right now, I'm really grateful for what I've got going on in my life. And I feel like that Kara Swisher · 54:00 Alright. Sorry. I'm gonna shift it back to severance because that's about this idea of work life balance. And not just that, but the the the the splitting of work. Right now through the pandemic, you know, this is sort of... This show resonates quite a bit because after the pandemic, people aren't going back to work. They... And they have their work at home, and it invades their home in the other direction. Scott Galloway · 54:20 Jesus Christ. I was just getting somewhere with Ben, and you go back to fucking Kara Swisher · 54:23 Big Cat. Yes. We're going to. Jesus Christ. Scott Galloway · 54:25 I finally have my Stop. Stop. My Oprah moment with Ben Stiller, and you go back Kara Swisher · 54:29 to Big There's no Oprah moment here. Thank you, Ben, for that thoughtful answer. Anyway I want you Guest · 54:34 to break down the blockchain and Bitcoin for me, please. We're Kara Swisher · 54:37 But we will in a second. Scott Galloway · 54:38 Cum Rocket is replacing the dollar, Ben. That's all you need to know. Kara Swisher · 54:42 Stop it. Scott Galloway · 54:42 Sorry. Go ahead. Kara Swisher · 54:43 Stop it. Oh my god. I'm so embarrassed. So, we invite a nice boy over for dinner, and here you are behaving like this. So, so in returning to the office, one of the things that a lot of people in tech I know did, they they still have these big beautiful offices. They still have not just tech, but they lead the way in that idea of work as home, and now home is work. When you're doing... In this office, one of the things that's important are these relationships developed at work. What happens between Petey and your main character and Mark? What happens in this world now in the real world? It's almost more dystopian than this one is. Guest · 55:23 Yeah. Well, I mean, it's so disconnected. I mean, here we are. We're just all doing all of this over screens all the time. I edited the whole show. I'd say, like, 90% of the editing I did at home on my computer with my editor who was in Brooklyn. I was in, you know, Westchester, we just were, and the only time we actually ever came together was actually to shoot the show and then everybody would leave and there was it was very and of course everybody was in PPE and everything. I think the work I never experienced that, the sort of like office work life. I just was always Kara Swisher · 55:55 outside In person collaboration is important for creativity and inspiration. Guest · 55:59 Yeah, for sure. And I think now when you have an in person meeting with someone, feels very different. It feels like, I mean, obviously it's more rare, but you need that connection really does make a difference. And I think the work in the show is these people go to work. They don't know anything about their outside life. So all they have, they're almost like children because they've only been alive in their heads since they got activated down there. So you know the relationship that Mark and PD have that he sort of like his kind of like his older brother. You know it it's really the only sort of emotional connection that he has in his life is down there is with that person. Then all of sudden that person's gone. And that's another metaphor I think is interesting in the show. When people sort of get, they leave or they get fired or they, you know, leave the job, all of a sudden they're gone. Yet at the company they say we don't have things like death down here, but they really do because people just disappear. That's kind of I think what we deal with in life with loss where people are just there and then they're not there. That to me is so much at the heart of how we process our relationships is that feeling that inevitably there's going to be that loss. That somehow resonated for me in the show. Kara Swisher · 57:10 Yeah, they only have melon to talk about. That was painful. Guest · 57:12 Yeah, melon bar is like... That's the... That's where, you know, in terms of, like, what the rewards are, if that's all you have. Kara Swisher · 57:18 The the guy who plays the HR guy is fantastic. Guest · 57:22 Oh, yeah. Milton. Kara Swisher · 57:23 So is Patricia Arquette. She's particularly menacing Yeah. Guest · 57:26 She's a fantastic way too. You know, she's a great actress who just has a wonderful sense of humor and as a person, as a real social conscience. But she just sort of jumps off the deep end and is willing to go for not knowing what it's gonna be and take those chances, which I love. Kara Swisher · 57:44 Yeah. She plays evil very well. Scott? Scott Galloway · 57:46 I'm curious if there's a box you wanna check professionally in the next five years. Is it tackling a genre, a story, working a a medium? Like, you think, wow. Kara Swisher · 57:55 Zoolander in the metaverse, for example, what would that look like? Scott Galloway · 57:59 Yeah, what would that look like? Kara Swisher · 58:00 Bad, it would look bad. Scott Galloway · 58:01 Ben, don't let Kara get in between us. Be honest, what is the box, in five years you think I would really like to check this box professionally? What is Kara Swisher · 58:10 Could be Bitcoin. We don't care. Guest · 58:13 I wanna mine some Bitcoin. Wanna literally mine Bitcoin. Scott Galloway · 58:16 What's the next thing for you? What what would you what what do you wanna what bell do you wanna ring here professionally? Guest · 58:23 It's been it's been five or six years since I've acted actually. And I I think I wanna try that again and go back in and try to figure out how to do that. Scott Galloway · 58:33 Comedic acting, dramatic acting, what... Who would you like to work with? What would the story who is the person you'd want to portray? I know Kara Swisher · 58:39 Oh my goodness. He's got a minute. Scott Galloway · 58:41 Hold on. A guy like Ben, it's pretty clear you're a pretty thoughtful man. You've thought about this stuff. Let us in there. What would you love to professionally in the next five years? Guest · 58:54 Maybe maybe go on a play on stage and do that. I think I did that about ten or eleven years ago. I I found that the most challenging, exciting thing as an actor because you gotta do it all yourself every night. Kara Swisher · 59:08 Mhmm. Guest · 59:09 I love directing though too. So I I think if I could keep on making stories that... Movies and shows that I'd wanna see, that's kind of what I went back to a few years ago. It's like what I really would wanna see this. So maybe acting some more, acting in something serious, acting something funny. I'm not looking to have to go and do Shakespeare or something at this point. Scott Galloway · 59:34 What book or what story would you that you've read or would you most wanna direct right now? If you could direct any... Anything that hasn't been made Guest · 59:41 into I'm working on a a limited series about Benedict Arnold. Yeah. Kara Swisher · 59:48 Great character. Guest · 59:49 Yeah. And and Oscar Isaac's gonna play Benedict, and it's Kara Swisher · 59:52 Oh, wow. Great. Guest · 59:53 Really interesting story because he was such a huge hero of the revolution, and then, you know, and then wasn't. Kara Swisher · 59:59 Vice president. Guest · 1:00:00 In the context of what, you know, The United States was at... Or not The United States yet, but, know, what our country was becoming and, you know, how we now define it as The United States. But at that time, it was a lot much more of a gray area. And so I I find that, you know, especially with what's going on right now, you know, something Kara Swisher · 1:00:18 The Rudy Giuliani of his day. I'm teasing. I think Guest · 1:00:22 that's brave, though. Think he was a little more brave. Kara Swisher · 1:00:24 Oh, I get it. I... Please. Rudy Giuliani has lost every every narrative possible. Anyway, you can also mine Bitcoin. We will we'll we will hook you up Alright. With our friends in Miami I just want you to you could get down that Guest · 1:00:34 to really explain it to me because I, like every investment Kara Swisher · 1:00:37 Bitcoin, it's just Guest · 1:00:38 went in high and got in at the highest You need point Kara Swisher · 1:00:41 and now. You should... It's important. Scott Galloway · 1:00:43 When numbers get evil, you'll recognize it. You'll know it when you see it. Kara Swisher · 1:00:46 Yes. But it's it's gonna be Scott Galloway · 1:00:47 a thing. Little severance inside joke there. There you go. Guest · 1:00:51 Mendaceous algorithms. That's one of my favorite Scott terms. Know? Kara Swisher · 1:00:55 Mendaceous fucks. Oh, yeah. Really the actual term. Feel free to use it in any one of your films or movies or whatever roles, whatsoever. Mendaceous fucks. Ben, thank you. I got you. Is really wonderful. We... I could not recommend it more. It's a wonderful wonderful show. It's called Severance. It's on Apple TV. The first episodes are now out. The first two. They come on Fridays. Is that Scott Galloway · 1:01:13 correct? Guest · 1:01:13 They come on... Yeah. They... They're on Friday... Fridays, they come on. Yeah. And I was gonna say they they air, but they don't air. They drop or whatever. Scott Galloway · 1:01:19 Yeah. Kara Swisher · 1:01:20 They drop it. They're not doing it all at once. You can't binge it. Guest · 1:01:22 And I'm so happy to be inside your pod here or be a part of this thing because I'm such a fan. Kara Swisher · 1:01:27 You are now a friend of Scott Galloway · 1:01:28 PIVOT. Really cool. Kara Swisher · 1:01:29 Are now Scott Galloway · 1:01:29 a Just friend like PIVOT, there's no getting out now. You're here, my brother. And You Pull up to the melon ball. Kara Swisher · 1:01:36 You're an innie. You're an innie. Anyway, thank you, Ben. Scott Galloway · 1:01:39 I really appreciate you. Thanks, guys. Kara Swisher · 1:01:41 So, Scott, that was very exciting. In any case, severance is really... Is a mind fuck, so you should watch it. It's not a mendacious fuck. It's a mind fuck, and you should Scott Galloway · 1:01:49 absolutely Because I know you. They send me all the episodes, so I'm up till fucking four in the morning learning about all this weirdness. Yeah. It is addictive. I'm I'm kinda into Kara Swisher · 1:01:57 It's it's it's it's suffocating in in the best of ways. Anyway, one more quick break, and then we'll be back for predictions. I get so many headaches every month. It could be chronic migraine 15 or more headache days a month, each lasting four hours or more. [Ad break] Kara Swisher · 1:03:02 Why wait? Ask your doctor. Visit botoxchronicmigraine.com or call 4 to learn more. [Ad break] — Predictions segment begins — Kara Swisher · 1:03:38 Okay, Scott. Predictions. You got any predictions? Scott Galloway · 1:03:41 I'm gonna resist the temptation to make predictions around anything important. I'm gonna talk about midlife crises and taxes. Kara Swisher · 1:03:48 Oh, alright. Scott Galloway · 1:03:49 I think Jeff Bezos is gonna go full midlife crisis. I kinda like the fact he's leaning into his midlife crisis. I'm sort of enjoying it, watching it. Mhmm. I'm not sure Kara Swisher · 1:03:57 I wouldn't crisis explanation for everything. Scott Galloway · 1:03:59 Well, the... Okay. Let me put it this way. If this was a woman was secure in a relationship, so she'd be fucking invading Ukraine right now Yes. No the majority of really bad Kara Swisher · 1:04:09 By the way, none of you are at midlife, but go ahead. Scott Galloway · 1:04:11 The the majority... Well, the the the seven eighths crisis the seven eighths life crisis. I'm convinced the majority of bad decisions in corporate America and geopolitics are a function of narcissists who can't get over the fact they're gonna die. Oh, yes. Well Anyways, so going back to a better midlife crisis, and that is Kara Swisher · 1:04:29 They are. By the way, they are. Good news for Putin there. Scott Galloway · 1:04:32 By the way, so back to the fun midlife crisis, which I am really enjoying a front row seat to, and that is Bezos midlife crisis. Jeff Bezos is gonna buy the Denver broncos or another NFL team. Really? Why the fuck wouldn't he? Wouldn't you? He... He's got Kara Swisher · 1:04:47 Is he that interested in sports? I've never ever heard him talk about sports. Scott Galloway · 1:04:50 But he's interested he's interested in testosterone and taking his new hot girlfriend to really fun events, and he watched the Super Bowl with SoFi. Did Steve Buellard no interest. Kara Swisher · 1:05:00 Mark Mark love... Mark Cuban loves sports. Bomber loves sports. I'm just trying to think. They they really did. They really were huge fans. So who else owns it among the the techie billionaires? Oh, Paul Allen. Scott Galloway · 1:05:10 Paul Allen. You think Paul Allen loves sports? This is what they love. Kara Swisher · 1:05:14 He's not living. Scott Galloway · 1:05:14 They love they love going to... Do you think Tim Cook loves the account? These guys love Kara Swisher · 1:05:19 Tim Cook actually loves Alabama football. I'm telling you. It's like I'm Scott Galloway · 1:05:22 not accusing him of not being a Bama fan. Kara Swisher · 1:05:24 I'm just saying he's a fan. He's a big fan. I didn't ever hear Bezos talk about sports ever, not once. Scott Galloway · 1:05:28 Jeff Bezos? Kara Swisher · 1:05:30 Buying sports Scott Galloway · 1:05:31 for him. Whatever it'll be, it'll probably... I don't know. Kara Swisher · 1:05:33 Why the Broncos? Scott Galloway · 1:05:35 It's one of the few teams for sale. And I might be wrong. Might be another team, but the Broncos look like they're up for sale. But wouldn't you... If you were worth a $150,000,000,000, for a couple billion bucks, you get kind of nine or 18 awesome Sundays with your hot girlfriend, I would do it. By the way, I'm gonna buy the Glasgow Rangers just in case... Just so I can have, like, not as cool a midlife crisis. Kara Swisher · 1:05:55 Aggies. It's interesting because it is... These people do have a lot of money. Pierre Omidyar, who was obviously founded eBay and is very wealthy, bought... Invested in hotel chains. Scott Galloway · 1:06:07 He bought the Montage in Laguna, which used to be my favorite hotel. Kara Swisher · 1:06:09 Right. The brand, I guess. I I don't We bought one of the hotels. I don't... He didn't buy the brand. He bought one of the hotels. And and he... I asked him. I'm like, why did you buy a sports team? Scott Galloway · 1:06:19 He's like, He's did Kara Swisher · 1:06:20 buy a He's like, I hate sports. And they think you're... They they they make you think you have to buy a ho... A sports team, but I like hotels. Scott Galloway · 1:06:28 So Anyways. — Predictions segment ends — Kara Swisher · 1:06:29 Okay. That is our long and involved show. What a show this is. This is action packed today. And, of course, we'll be back on Tuesday Tuesday for more. Yep. And starting next week, video clips of Pivot are coming. Oh, no. Scott Galloway · 1:06:42 What a thrill. Kara Swisher · 1:06:43 I know. From Salesforce, Plu. Scott Galloway · 1:06:45 Face for podcasting. Kara Swisher · 1:06:46 You can sign up to watch them on Salesforce dot com slash Plu, plus, actually, not Plu, but plus. And we're very excited. I think it's great. We're gonna be in video. I think we just... We we... You know, we're gonna have even more fans. They like us now that they get to see us. It's gonna be very... I know they know how to find us. Scott Galloway · 1:07:02 Yeah. You're welcome. What a thrill. Get to see us. Kara Swisher · 1:07:04 Anyway, read us out, Scott Galloway. Scott Galloway · 1:07:06 Today's show was produced by Lara Nayman, Evan Engel, and Taylor Griffin. Ernie and Jatot entered in this episode. Thanks also to Drew Burrows and Mia Silberio. Make sure you subscribe to the show. Thanks for listening to pivot from New York Magazine and Vox Media. We'll be back next week for another breakdown of all things tech and business. Who is the enemy here? Let's remember this. We're not each... Americans aren't each other's enemies. The enemy just rolled over the border of Ukraine. Focus on who the real enemy is. Mhmm. [Ad break] Scott Galloway · 1:08:38 See store [Ad break]