Producers’ Pick | Kathie Lee Gifford Has a Crush on Brian Kilmeade

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See latest terms and conditions of this product at StraightTalk.com. I believe now that feeling of wanting to do something big with my life is because God was saying, I'm going to take care of you. And that woman that said yes in the background, brilliantly because she's a professional broadcaster, is Kathie Lee Gifford. Oh, you were going to say Griffin. Kathie Griffin.

I absolutely was not. I'm often confused with her. Oh yeah, a little bit different. Although Kathie Lee Griffin was a friend of the network. In fact, she hosted our 10-year anniversary of Fox & Friends. I mean, talk about how things have changed, right? That's crazy.

Yes. And I saw her for the first time at the Washington Correspondents Dinner maybe two years ago. And we had a normal conversation and I said, well, how's everything going besides that? I want to kill. And then she went off on Donald Trump.

She wants, he's trying to kill me and all this stuff. But she had a breakdown. But well, let's get back to you. You can't keep talking about other people. How do you know I haven't had a breakdown or two? Well, put it this way, it would have been on my notes because Pete, you would have put it on the notes, right?

Because you have correct people. Yeah, you would say, and Pete likes to ballpark the breakdowns too. He doesn't like the specifics.

He would say one or two. Kathie Lee Gifford's going to do something really cool on my favorite app, Fox Nation. It's called The Jesus I Know.

It plays off her book and she was talking about it, but not in person. The Jesus I Know, honest conversations and diverse opinions about who he is. Kathie Lee, welcome back. Good to see you since I saw you on Fox and Friends this morning. I've been wanting to do your radio show.

I have had a crush on you. You know this for a very long time. Frank used to say, there's your boyfriend. Really?

Yeah. Well, put it this way, I told you my one interaction with Frank Gifford. I had a chance to meet him in person and it was at the Thorpe Awards. I was at Los Angeles doing all sports radio out there. And sure enough, I'm at the Thorpe Awards, was short lived. And Joe DiMaggio was there.

Wow, this does a long time ago. And then and then Frank Gifford's there, right? So I'm going, OK, I got to get these guys. And worst comes to worst, they just tell me, no, Joe DiMaggio gives me gives me a few minutes. And then I said, I went to Frank and he gives me an interview. And he says, I said afterwards, I said, you know, Frank, is there a way I can get in touch with you? Because I do this show every weekend and I'm doing this. He goes, yeah, here's my number.

If you give it to anybody, I will break your legs. Both of them. I go, OK, it's a little violent. I just said, I would have just, I'm going to find my words. That Frank, right. So, you know, he kind of smiled after, but he had a stern look about him.

He was that was his nice way of saying I never would, but I don't want you to know it. Right. Yeah. But but he had the movie star looks his whole life. Is that unbelievable? I was married for 30 years to a man so much prettier than I am.

And that's not easy. But but, you know, but pretty yet could start an action movie like, you know, don't you think he was like cut out of stone, you know, that he was signed to Warner Brothers picture? No, I didn't know that.

Yeah. And his career, he was a stuntman at and more into Hollywood while he was off season at, well, actually, USC, because he would, you know, he's so athletic and then he would just he said that he'd made more money just jumping under tanks and jumping over things as a stunt guy. And then one day he was discovered that this man made Warren Beatty look awful. You know, he was so drop dead gorgeous.

And so he signed with Warner Brothers and he did a movie called I forget it was about Turnpike in New Jersey and Jack Warner sitting there in the screening room watching the dailies or whatever. And all these women are just going ape. They're going crazy. How old is he at this point? Oh, he's got to be late 20s. No, no, no. During football. Excuse me. It's a little warm in here.

It's because I'm with my guy. Right. Anyway, so Warner sitting there watching the screen, everything he says he's never going to be a movie star. And everybody goes, why is his eyes are too close together. People see the weirdest stuff.

He was no, I would say the reason he was not going to be a movie star is because he was the world's worst actor. Oh, yeah. Terrible.

I think it's so underappreciated. You see, you can do everything. You can sing, you can act, you can write and you can host. I am.

Right. I remember you. Did you the first thing was a singer, right? I was a singer first and then an actress. Could you dance? Yes.

Wow. Not I don't consider myself a dancer. But you had the coordination. No, in our business we say I'm an actress who can dance. You never say I'm a dancer if you're not a dancer because it's it's such a such an important.

It's so it's so difficult. I would never call myself a dancer. Yeah, because I think acting is so underappreciated because people so I guess some people are natural doing it.

But you have to be secure enough in your personality to act like something you're not right. It's a lot of fun, actually. Is it fun? I did my I haven't done a play in 20 years. And since Rupert Rupert Holmes wrote one for me years ago and I did it in down in Tennessee where I live.

I just did love letters, which has been done forever with Patrick Cassidy of the Cassidy family. And I just had a ball. I had to go from a seven year old little girl to a woman in her 60s, which is hard for me because I'm nowhere near, you know, my six seven.

I'm nowhere near seven. Yes. That's what I'm going to go with. Yes. And it was great fun. I thought, you know, I don't use my acting chops. I made a film a couple of years ago that I wrote for Craig Ferguson and my enemy to do.

And we'd shot that in the highlands of Scotland. He is one of my favorite human beings on the face of the earth. He's my favorite agnostic in the whole world. And you got put to put together with him because of hosting. Right.

Yes. Well, I've known him since the Drew Carey show years before. That's when we first met and I just loved him. And then Hoda was on maternity leave and he was there for five days with me.

And I've done a very, very successful, thank you, Lord, television, daily television with Regis for 15 years and 11 years with Hoda. But I've never had more explosive five days in my life. Well, there was that time. No, I'm just kidding. With with Craig, with Craig.

And it's funny. We went to lunch afterwards. He was going to get on a plane. Did he feel the same way, by the way? Did he tell you?

Yes. Because we went to lunch on Friday when it was all over and we go to lunch and he says, like, I'm going to, you can't, I'm going to bleep him out. Okay. He said, you know, Kathy, we were trying to harness, what do we do next? You know, Kathy, if we wait for our agents, our agents to get us a job on television, we're going to die waiting. And I said, oh, you're right. Why don't we write a movie together?

I said, fantastic idea. Okay. He got on a plane. I went to Connecticut, two o'clock in the morning. I wake up, bing. I go, oh my gosh, I think I know what the movie is. I go downstairs. I light the fire.

I got the puppies with me. I start writing at noon that day. I call him up and I go, hi Craig. He goes, yeah, what?

Yeah, it's just, you know that movie that we, we were going to, and he says, yeah, yeah. I said, I think I just wrote it. He said, Kathy, I've landed my Scottish back down into home and you've written it. What are you talking about? And I said, yeah, I've written six scenes. I think I know what the character should be and what should happen in Scotland. He goes, well, send it to me. And that's why I sent it to him, calls me the next day and he goes, Kathy, this is your baby.

I stand ready to serve. So we shot it in, we shot it in Scotland and it was one of the great experiences of my, of my whole life. And what was the name of the movie? Then Came You. So you can still, you can still watch it.

Oh, you could, I think it's like Prime Video or Hulu or those things never die. And I, I co-wrote all the, the entire soundtrack with a brilliant writer in Nashville named Brett James and Seven, Seven Songs. And it, it just was a, that's actually what got me to, to move to Nashville, the area, because I was coming back and forth working with Brett for a year. And every time I'd get on the plane to come home, I honestly, Brian, I was just like heartsick. I was just, why am I so happy here? And it wasn't because I didn't love the people that I work with at the Today Show. I do.

And I did. Hoda's still a very dear friend of mine, but it's the culture there. And I said, why am I so joyful here? Because New York, as good as this town has been to me, and I've lived here for 40 years, it's the culture here has changed completely since I moved here. You mean in our business or walking the streets?

Everything. There are wonderful people here in New York and New Jersey and, and this whole area there, there are, they are, I'm talking about, it's a culture though of chaos now to me. And I flew in, I was going to Nashville and down in South and every time, that's a culture of kindness there.

Right. People are just sweet and it's not put on. I'm sure there are a lot of jerks.

I just have never met them. Just like, you know, there's super, super good, great people up here. It's the, I noticed it, that it's the, it's the quality of life eroding and that sort of thing. So I made the move.

There's a line in my movie that says, she says to her dead husband, she says, you know, Fred, I love you, but I got to, I got to make new memories that the old ones are going to kill me and I'm not ready to die. Wow. That's sad though. Yeah. I know what you're saying. But it's the truth.

I've been, well, Frank's been gone almost seven years, so. Wow. It is the truth.

And sometimes you've got to take a very brave leap and go someplace else. I'm sure you've talked to Elizabeth Hasselbeck since you've been down there. I did. I've been together with her a couple of times, but she's, I adored, I adore her.

I sat. She just had to get out of New York and Connecticut and she wanted to go. And she did, she did write for her family. Yeah. Yep.

Yep. That's like I, when I left the show with Regis, I left it to do right by my family. Regis was, you know, he understood.

I just had to get my family off the, off the rags, you know, off the newspaper covers. You know what's also good is that you actually told them ahead of time, right? So you told them and you knew about it.

So you know how to land the plane. Well, Regis was one of my closest friends. Yeah.

And, and, and we never had a harsh word in 15 years. And we became even closer friends after I, I left in 2000 and he died just a year ago, a year and a half ago now. And your spouses were tight too, right? Yep.

So when you guys went out, it was. Oh, but you know, it's, you know, Regis, we'd try to make plans for a nice quiet dinner, the four of us or something like at Val Bella or one of those places in, in, in Greenwich. We'd walk in, we'd have a quiet little table set aside and Regis walks in and he goes, hello, it's Regis.

That's right. Look at, look at me, everybody. Yeah, Regis is here. And look, look, she won't leave me alone. And he'd point to me.

It's, it's Kathie Lee. And I'm going, here we go. Every single table he would go to and say hello to everybody. Yeah. He was so beloved.

There was nobody in the world like Regis. Yeah. My first big interview, I was in college doing college radio and I, and they always say success leaves clues.

So what do you want to do? I love Letterman and I love Regis. Right. So I interviewed them both in college. Very different men. Yes, but they liked each other. Oh, they were, yes, yes. And they're also, I think they're both very curious by nature, unbelievably talented.

I think obviously Regis more diverse. He could sing, he could do everything, I thought. Let's not go that far.

You don't think so? Well, I mean, he kind of talked it through. You know what Frank used to say about Regis' singing? Oh, he did a great show. He would stand up and he would do a little shtick and all that stuff.

We did it together for years. Frank once said to me, you know, Regis is not a bad singer, but he can't finish a song because he could never hit the big note. He says he just can't finish the song. Wow. But he, I always thought he was so, so interesting, so engaged, every, everything that, that first 20 minutes that you guys would do. 23 minutes ago. Excuse me, on my fault.

I stand corrected. We started out at like six and then went to commercial break. Very soon it became 23 minutes. And how long would you talk before you? Not, never said a word to each other, never even said good morning, just kept it really fresh. So he would come out and talk about what he did last night? Yes. Would you see his notes or anything?

We didn't have notes. He would sometimes have what we call elements and, you know, had he, say he'd been to a Broadway show, he'd have the playbill or, and we always had the newspapers. Right.

And it's interesting. We made a pact when we started, we were a local show for three years and we, we had both been, done national stuff and, but, but he was well known for his local show in Los Angeles. And so I joined him in New York and I left Good Morning America, actually. I was in line to take Joan Lunden's place and I didn't want to. I wanted to have fun. I didn't want to read a teleprompter.

I wanted to be with Mac. You didn't want to get up at two, three in the morning. It wasn't that. It wasn't that.

I get up that early anyway. It, it was that I didn't want to read, back then it was all teleprompted and I just thought, I'm an actress. I'm an entertainer.

I'm a singer. I'm not going to be happy doing this. So I said, I'll go for a year.

And I was trying, I was getting a divorce in LA and I said, it'll be a good year for me to get away. So anyway, what would you, what did you ask me about Regis? I was saying when you first went to Regis, you wanted to be with him because you didn't want to do the Good Morning America.

There is a reason for it. Anyway, I'm, I'm, you know, I'm 68, so forgive me. Well. Something about Regis, I'd, oh.

Newspapers? Yes. Oh, this, thank you for, thank you for, you actually, you're a good host cause you actually remember this.

Right. I'm not that good a host. I told you to rap.

No! We have to talk about my doodah for goodness sakes. No, no, we have another segment.

Oh, rap I think. Okay. All right. So we're going to talk about. I'm going to forget about what I was. No, no, I'm going to, that's why I'm here.

The Jesus I Know is on Fox News. You're going to come back with a few more minutes. We're going to play a cut from it to bump in and make sure everyone clicks on it. It is a, it is a great special host by Kathie Lee. Back in a moment.

No! Educating, entertaining, enlightening. You're with Brian Kilmeade from the Fox News Podcasts Network. I'm Ben Domenech, Fox News contributor and editor of the transom.com daily newsletter. And I'm inviting you to join a conversation every week. It's the Ben Domenech Podcast. Subscribe and listen now by going to Fox News Podcasts.com. The fastest three hours in radio.

You're with Brian Kilmeade. This is the brilliant password player and talented writing and broadcasting star, Frank Gifford. The password is diaper. 10 points.

Give me the game. Absorbent. Diapers. Yeah. Frank Gifford on password with Alan Ludden.

You know what? He was a champion. I mean, a lot of the time he just loved Betty. He and Betty White were good pals.

People think that, that, you know, cause he's gorgeous and he was a football player. He was stupid. You know, he was not stupid.

He was a really, really bright man. And well, Cosell said so, remember? Oh yeah. Yeah. And who did, who did Cosell call when he was on his deathbed?

The Gifford. He did. Oh boy. They made up at the end? Well, he was never Frank's enemy. Frank doesn't have an enemy, but, but you know, he was just, Howard was a troubled man and he was jealous.

He was jealous. I never played the game. Well, you know, then don't talk about it.

Like, you know it, like people that played the game. That's not a compliment. I know. He didn't want, he didn't think athletes belonged in the booth, let alone play by play. Oh my God. And he was so, you know, and I, one, when he was dying, we were in the car driving and Frank called him and he said, he said, Howard, I just want you to know that Kathy and I are praying for you. And, and he goes, well, I appreciate that.

I can't do a good Howard. And, and he said, and Frank said, well, I didn't say which way we were praying. Oh, that's awesome. He just teased him.

Frank was a beautiful man. I agree. I could do a whole hour, but I want to make sure you get, everyone knows about your special.

Okay. So it was on Sunday, right? It premiered last night. And I think it just streams now.

Now it streams. So go to Fox nation and it's the Jesus I know. And you wanted, if you've been doing it, that title means something. It means that I'm not telling you how to view Jesus. I want to know what you think Jesus is.

Yes. I know the Jesus that I know. What I'm interested in is this Jesus that you know.

And even if you don't believe in him, what is your, your, your preconceptions or what are your, do you believe he was even a historical, truly historical person or do you think, whatever you think I find fascinating. And, um, I've always felt like I'm not a fan of religion. I'm a fan of relationship with the living God. I don't believe it's, uh, that, that, that entity, that, that being that is, uh, is somebody that we're supposed to go and visit once a week. And, you know, you know, maybe pray, you know, here and there, that's supposed to be the center of our life is our relationship with the living God. And so, um, but, but that's me and I study rabbinically and I'm, I take it very, very seriously, but there are 25 stories in this book of people who are completely different from me.

And actually the reason I wrote the book, I had no intention of writing this book, but very, very good literary agent here. And he's, he could not be further from, than me in terms of, you wouldn't think that, that a gay, uh, Asian, uh, Buddhist male would, would be any similar at all to me, you know? And that's the problem with our world today.

We want everybody to be exactly the same. I love, true diversity is, is finding people like that, that you think, what would we have in common? And then you discover lots. We have a lot in common.

Is that, is that your music? I knew you were going to pick up on that. You always pick up on this book about that.

Those are my favorite stories you ever write. How do we get the book? It's here.

It's been out since, you know what? I was on with you. You are busted. I was on with you in December when it came out. Oh, come on.

That is not true. I need that. From the Fox news podcasts network, subscribe and listen to the Trey Gowdy podcast. Former federal prosecutor and four term U S Congressman from South Carolina brings you a one of a kind podcast. Subscribe and listen now by going to foxnewspodcasts.com.