Mad As Hell (2014) Movie Script

1
I don't know why,
but I've always had...
what I think other people
would call delusions of grandeur.
I always thought that if I'm
gonna be a talk show host,
of course I should be
the top talk show host.
I should be the biggest
talk show host in the country.
You could take
the so-called best host on TV,
and I don't view them
as competition. Um...
They don't do what I do.
The way I do it? I don't think
anyone else does it better.
I don't think
anyone's even close.
I am so mad
I could hardly see straight.
And I seem to be the only one.
I don't understand what the hell
people are thinking.
What's wrong
with the established system?
Fox News is propaganda
for the Republican Party,
MSNBC has become propaganda
for the Democratic Party...
and CNN is propaganda
for both of them.
What the audience was thirsting for was
somebody to come out and tell the truth.
We're supposed to challenge
the government.
That's the role of the media.
So why did we pick
the "Young Turks" name?
Because it meant
young progressives...
looking to overthrow
the established system,
and that's exactly what we've
been trying to do on this show,
no matter whether we're
on radio, online or on TV.
So good night, everybody.
The guy who sees things
that other people don't see,
who believes things
that no one else believes,
the guy who, some say,
talks too much.
The guy who has exasperated and
inspired me for 30 years, Cenk Uygur.
Today we are the largest
online news show in the world.
But I want to start
at the beginning.
This isn't just
a story about us.
It's a story
about what can be done.
That when somebody tells you that
something can't be done, it's not true.
Anything can be done.
Everyone had to do this?
God, it's miserable.
Fuck.
Cenk is a very smart,
opinionated, bombastic,
outgoing personality who has a lot of opinions
and wants to share them with the whole world.
Right away, um,
I knew he was different.
Most people
either love him or hate him.
And I didn't quite know where I fell
on that spectrum in the beginning.
I guess my first really formative memory
was that Cenk was just pretty annoying.
When I first met him, you know,
he was kind of, uh,
I kind of thought he was kind
of a loudmouth, uh, which he is.
Cenk likes to talk, and
back then, he liked to fight.
I don't know why, but
ever since I was a kid,
I've been obsessed
with injustice.
By the time Cenk was in college,
he was really into this politics thing.
My first impression of Cenk
was he was a complete jackass.
He was the one that made class
impossible to sit through sometimes,
because you knew
there was gonna be a fight,
and you knew there was
gonna be an argument,
and you knew it was gonna be
total nonsense.
I would say he identified
with the Republicans...
and called himself
a conservative,
even though I don't think he really
knew what he was talking about.
He was probably the most
conservative person I knew.
He used to laugh
at the bleeding-heart liberals.
He always liked arguing
conservative principles in class.
I actually didn't disagree with
some of the stuff he was saying.
But what I had a problem with was the way
in which he'd said it was so over the top,
so outrageous, so embarrassing.
He became kind of unbearable.
I mean, I didn't see it,
but he would tell the stories,
and the stories themselves
were unbearable.
I kept raising my hand
and raising my hand,
and in the lunch break, when
the girl sitting next to me said,
"Why do you
keep raising your hand?
Why do you think
you know something...
that you just need to share
with the rest of the class?"
I said, "Because I think I'm right,
and you guys need to hear it."
First time I was on national
television was on CNN.
It was a show hosted by Greta
Van Susteren, of all people.
They had actually called for my roommate,
because he was in Georgetown Law,
and they wanted people in the
back row who could contribute...
as they had their guests on
that were in law school.
Well, I said, "Oh, he's not in,
but I'm perfectly happy to do it."
They shouldn't be interested in just winning.
They should be interested in justice.
And-And so the-the guilty
are convicted,
and the innocent go free. Are you
interested in justice, Mr. Cochran?
I mean, you went in there. You
weren't a court-appointed lawyer.
You represented a person which a
majority of America thinks is guilty,
and you helped to set him free,
and you did it for money and fame.
Are you interested in justice?
I'm absolutely interested
in justice,
and perhaps I understand justice
a lot better than you do.
Justice in America is a strong
advocate on both sides...
doing their job, and...
It didn't have to be you.
And a jury decides that.
I never got back
on that show again.
He announced... because Cenk likes to
make pronouncements and announcements...
He announced that what he likes to do
is have opinions and think about things...
and then share them
with the rest of the world.
So what's the perfect job
for that kind of personality?
It's to be a talk show host.
How do you be a talk show host?
Well, you can get a start
on public access television.
Because it's public access,
they're obligated to give anybody in
the community a slot on their show.
Like, "Really? In America, they
have to give you your own TV show?"
For free.
It was the most amazing thing.
Young Turk
Hi, welcome to The Young Turk.
I'm your host, Cenk Uygur.
We're live on October 10, 1997.
I fear we have an extraordinary
show for you tonight.
And I remember walking off
that set thinking,
"That's it. This is what I'm
gonna do the rest of my life."
Who's the one politician
you'd most like to sleep with?
What... What kind
of TV station is this?
The wild and woolly
Young Turk.
When Cenk was doing his show, he
was also working as a corporate lawyer...
for a big firm in DC.
My job was to defend corporate
officers on their liability litigation.
So when a CEO
screwed someone over,
screwed their own company over,
screwed investors over,
we were there to help them.
I remember within a week, he was just calling
me and being like, "This job is the worst."
I felt dead when I was doing
that job.
When I do this job,
I feel alive!
I kept daydreaming about
how I could be a talk show host.
And eventually he decided that
he wanted to focus on that full time.
I said, "I got a great business
degree, I got a great law degree,
I got an idea.
Why don't I throw them
in the garbage...
and start a public access show?"
- "Cenk!"
- "Wh... What?"
"I heard about you! You better come in here
and we're gonna have a talk right now."
"So I heard you stopped being a
lawyer and now you're doing TV.
What the hell is TV?
TV ain't nothing!
TV's crap!
It's nonsense!"
We'd go to his house, and we'd
always be uncomfortable,
because he'd be like, "Kenan,
what do you think of this crazy Cenk?"
His plan was to basically live off of
money from his friends and family.
And I thought that
was so selfish.
I was, like, "Look, everyone
wants to be a rock star.
Everyone wants to be a
movie star. You want to do it?
Keep your day job. How much
more do you want from your parents?"
I thought, "What's the point of
living if you don't follow your passion?"
So I was not supportive at all.
In fact, I thought he would
kind of suck as a talk show host.
We do a show basically centered
around the news.
But it's a lot of BS.
The whole point is for me to yell
and scream and tell you what I think.
The show was... It was bad.
Uh, I just wanted to say
I don't like your attitude.
But, Norma, I love you,
you know that.
I hope it affects the issues. I
hope I get people to think like I do.
Okay, no, no, no. Now, you view
it as negative, I view it as positive.
Doesn't mean that I'm not
doing justice to the issue.
That's the beauty
of The Young Turk.
I'm getting the sense, Norma,
that you're gonna disagree with that.
Norma, I still love you!
You know that!
A nose job!
And he loved espousing his
conservative and Republican principles.
In particular, Cenk
just despised President Clinton.
Bill, that's it. That's enough.
Now, I'm looking for blood.
I hope they prosecute
your sorry ass...
for concealing
subpoenaed documents...
And then, when the Monica
Lewinsky scandal happened,
it was a hoot and a holler
and I was having a good time.
I did not have sexual relations
with that woman.
I just love the thought of Bill Clinton
sneaking out in the middle of the night...
as Hillary's sleeping...
I didn't have
any problem with it.
The guy's the president
of the United States.
He's the most powerful man
on Earth.
Can't he get a blow job
every once in a while?
But then I thought it was weird that the
Republicans were taking it so seriously.
And then they said they were going
to impeach him for it. I said, "What?"
You don't impeach a president
for having an affair.
He didn't like Clinton,
but he still defended Clinton...
because he thought
that the attacks were unfair.
So I started to get a little
disillusioned with the Republican Party...
because they didn't really
care about the principles.
They just seemed to care
about vindictive politics.
That's a problem.
What's up, Norma?
Good. How are you?
It has. Norma, don't think
I've forgotten you.
Agreed. See, Norma, you thought that
there was nothing beautiful about me,
that there was probably nothing
you could agree with me on.
But you were wrong,
weren't you, Norma?
Thank you. Thank you.
I love to hear that.
In a strange way,
I kind of admire Cenk.
Even back then.
You know? He was going
to make his opinion.
He was gonna do
whatever he was gonna do.
He created quite a large, loyal, but very
local following there in Arlington, Virginia.
They actually were crazy enough
to write a Young Turk song.
And they are here
to perform it live.
It was right out of, like,
Wayne's World.
- Sing it for me.
-
This show is really... I mean, you're
intelligent, you're good on camera,
and the whole show,
I really like it.
You ought to try to get this on one of
the networks. Puts Oprah to shame.
Young Turk should be... You
guys gotta go syndicated here.
Absolutely.
Couldn't agree more.
I promise this show
will go national.
If it's the last thing I do,
this show will go national.
Those fans become
very loyal fans...
because they know
that even when he's saying...
something that you completely
and utterly disagree with,
you respect him because you
know that he's saying it from the heart.
At every point
in-in a show's history,
there comes a time
to take it to the next level.
One day, I read
in Broadcasting and Cable...
that there is some new shows
that they're trying...
at this station in Miami
called WAMi.
What?
What's a WAMi?
WAMi 69.
And then I found out one day...
that they were auditioning
for entertainment reporters...
on their main show called
The Times. I said, "That's it."
He got in his car
and drove down to Miami.
Show Time's now. Here's the new big
man on WAMi's campus, Cenk Uygur.
I had my first interview here
at The Times,
and it was with my favorite
female brad... broadcaster of all time.
The irrepressibly sexy
Connie Chung.
It's still
a male-dominated profession.
People like you.
He couldn't read the prompter.
He was sweating.
He was nervous.
And you know, it's like, it's not
normal sweat, it's Turkish sweat, right?
- Back to you, Ben.
- Thank you, Cenk. Welcome aboard.
Guys, excuse me.
Don't push me.
He was horrible on the air.
I mean, it was a train wreck.
Did you relate with Lester
Burnham at all, or did you...
Of course.
Mm-hmm. How about...
I think everyone
will relate to Lester Burnham.
Uh, what made you come out and
talk about the ridiculous rumors...
about your, uh...
About the-the gay situation?
I-I-I... You know, I've discussed
that about as much as I care to.
Everybody was
incredibly uncomfortable.
So let's kick him back to sales,
or we'll get rid of him.
That was the biggest gut punch I've
ever gotten in my career or in my life.
I was devastated that night.
I was...
Because I was, like, so hopeful!
I had finally made it on air, on
television, on this station that I liked.
And then it got yanked away
in a day and a half.
God, it hurt.
But you could see
it was well written.
He just had interesting opinions
on everything.
Really interesting opinions.
Different than other people.
I was like,
"No, let's just have him write."
So, uh,
I definitely owed Ben that job.
And we started
writing the show together.
And next thing you know,
I started producing the show.
Next thing you know, I started doing
on-air commentary on Friday about politics.
Here now, a man never lacking
for an opinion,
Times pundit... that's what
we're calling him... Cenk Uygur.
Cenk, we're going to start talking
about George Bush. Is it legit...
When I met him in 1999,
he said he was a Republican.
When Ben started
explaining to Cenk...
why some of his so-called Republican
conservative views were not quite right,
Cenk actually
listened to him.
Friends from New Jersey
were saying this to him for years,
but he... he didn't listen to them
as much as he listened to Ben.
I wanted to be
for Bush since I'm a Republican,
and I voted for John McCain during
the primaries in Florida, but he lost.
I think you have to be un-American
to vote against John McCain.
I thought, "This Bush guy
is just not that bright."
Expectations are so low,
all I had to do is say,
"Hi, I'm George W. Bush."
He was scared, because it was the first
time he was ever gonna vote for a Democrat.
And Ben was like, "I told you.
You're not a Republican."
If he hadn't done that, man, his credibility would
have been shot for so many years in the future.
I think it would have really
harmed him.
Uh-oh, something's happened.
George Bush is the
president-elect of the United States.
He has won the state of Florida,
according to our projections.
Vice President Al Gore
has called Governor Bush...
and retracted his concession.
Al Gore,
for the love of God, stop.
Bush won this election...
I mean stole this election, fair
and square. Let's be done with it.
I voted for Gore, but there comes a
time when you gotta bow graciously.
Otherwise, I think
you ruin your chances in 2004.
Our station has been purchased by
the Spanish-speaking network Univision.
Now to honor the...
Our new employers,
The Times has instituted a brand-new
tradition... the mid-show siesta.
Ah, que bueno.
Maybe this sale thing's
not so bad after all.
We didn't speak Spanish,
so we had to get a new job.
I thought, "I gotta go back
and get my own show."
Cenk came out to LA, and then he wanted
to set up this company, The Young Turks.
Problem is, again,
on a national level,
it's nearly impossible to get your
own TV show, so I had to go into radio.
Wouldn't it be great to hear
exactly what you want on radio?
I went and talked
to Sirius Satellite Radio,
and a guy there said, "Make a
couple of audition tapes, send it to us,
and if we like it,
we'll put you on the air."
And I did it by myself,
and it was pretty good.
So we're at the bar, and Cenk
says that he's done this show,
and it was okay, and "it was
a little tough to do on my own."
And I'm like, "Yeah, I'd
love to do a talk show."
And so I asked Ben, "Hey, do you
want to do a radio show together?"
We sent it to Sirius, and they said,
"All right. We're gonna put you on."
But if we went
to a radio station,
it was gonna cost so much
money, we couldn't afford it.
So we set it up
in my living room.
We brought in Jesus as an intern, but
he didn't know how to do anything either.
You have this idea that,
"I'm gonna do this internship.
It's gonna be at a studio.
It's gonna be fancy.
I'm gonna have to check in."
He says that when he walked in, he's
like, "This is some dude's living room."
I don't know how serious
this is. This can't be real.
I met Jill Pike
in 2001.
I thought she'd be perfect
for the show.
He started talking to me...
about this radio show
that he had created...
and he was hosting
and that it was big.
He was this big talk show host.
And I said, "Oh, really?"
'Cause when I thought radio
show, I thought, like, big studio,
and, you know,
major microphones.
It literally... It was almost
like two cans and a wire.
I actually was
a radio talk show fan.
I like talk radio.
When I saw that I had a job
that I hated...
and that he was starting up
and needed some help,
I decided, "You know what?
Let me take a chance."
I'll just quit my job,
drive out to LA,
help him do this
and help him start it up.
When I first met Dave,
I realized that he didn't know
more than I did.
Then you find out he has
a degree in geology,
and you're like, "Seriously?
Geology? And you brought him... ".
And he has, like, arguably the worst
people skills in America at various times.
"Your friend
seems a little weird."
And I said, "He is."
So when I moved to LA, I didn't
want any of this bullshit fooling around.
I want to work as much as possible so
that we can get this thing off the ground.
At some point,
someone at Sirius realizes,
"Oh, these guys have
a radio show on our station.
I wonder if we should pay them. I
wonder if we should keep them."
They agreed to give
The Young Turks...
a live daily show
on their political talk channel.
That was a big moment for us.
And so we moved from my
living room to a really small office,
and it was tiny,
but it got the job done.
I was brought on as an intern.
I was like, "Well, let's... any kind
of broadcast, let's see what it is.
It's political? Eh, I don't care about
politics, but let's see what happens."
Michael is a guy I've known
ever since I moved to LA.
We had fun. I enjoyed it.
But I didn't get it.
I didn't know what was going on.
I knew that I was going
over to talk on the radio...
and that this would somehow
segue into something for all of us.
I mean, that was the idea.
I met Wes Clark Jr. at a fund-raiser for
his dad when his dad was running in '04.
And then I said to him, "You
know what? You sound great.
So you want to come and guest
host our show once?" And he did.
I just remember thinking, "What
the fuck is this guy's name?"
Like, 'cause I... "Chink,"
"Jink," "Zinc," "Sync."
I mean, I didn't...
And your name is... Cenk Uygur.
Nicely done. I'm
sorry, Cenk. I'm sorry.
Cenk wanted to get on TV
so desperately.
Where was
the political bias?
Where was everybody screaming
about the political bias...
when they savaged Clinton over Whitewater,
which turned out to be fictional.
And I didn't see the conservatives
complaining about political bias then.
They went after for Clinton
for eight long years.
Clinton's a great guy. He never did
anything wrong. We apologize, um...
He got a surplus.
He got us a great government.
He didn't invade
countries illegally.
He just had sex.
And you know what?
I don't mind that.
I'll take that any day.
He's a good match
for you.
So after a couple years of doing the radio
show for Sirius, Cenk had yet another one...
in his series of epiphanies,
announcements and pronouncements.
The way to go is not TV, it's
not radio, it's video online.
I had this idea that I was positive
that the Internet and TV would merge,
and that when they did, that we
should be right in the middle of it.
If nobody's gonna put us on the
air, then we'll put ourselves on the air.
People weren't doing what Cenk
had envisioned at the time.
I was not part
of that conversation.
But I reacted to it like I
think a lot of people did.
Like, "No, you don't want to do
a show on the Internet.
That means you didn't succeed."
There's nobody, really,
who had an ego.
Well, there was Ben.
I thought, "Okay. I don't really
want to have to do anything for it."
I just wanted
to do the damn show.
I liked doing the show, but I didn't
like all the stuff that went with it...
and this constant sort of notion that
whatever we were doing was not enough.
My fellow citizens,
at this hour,
American and coalition forces are in
the early stages of military operations...
to disarm Iraq, to free its people, and
to defend the world from grave danger.
When he suggested
attacking Iraq,
when Iraq had nothing to do
with 9/11, I couldn't believe it.
It was the craziest thing
I'd ever heard.
Forty-three percent
of Americans...
believe that Saddam Hussein was
personally involved with 9/11.
That is the worst failure of the mainstream
press I have ever seen. Ever seen!
Our original idea was that we'd talk half
about politics, and half about J.Lo's ass.
That was what we always said.
That was our line.
And then we went to war.
Killed thousands
of American soldiers...
and hundreds of thousands
of... of Iraqis,
and, like, it seemed a little ridiculous
to spend half the show on J.Lo's ass.
It is inexcusable that the
people do not take these...
No, this...
Absolutely it is.
You know, your argument,
Michael, I mean, I hate to do this.
But it's so tired,
blaming the American people.
And the show became much more
heavily focused on politics.
We had, you know, I think what
we thought a higher purpose...
than just sort of, you know,
yammering on and on about,
you know, whatever
we wanted to talk about.
We really have to investigate
why isn't it a bold-face headline...
- on the cover of Time, Newsweek, New York Times, Washington Post?
- They don't do it!
You're talking about one story.
The stories that are in the article...
are never goddamn mentioned
in the goddamn headline!
You know, it's... it's impossible
to talk to you about it.
No, because...
Here, I'll show you.
I was always playing the straight
man to Cenk's over-the-top.
"USA Safer, Bush Says."
Okay...
USA Today, you suck balls!
Pretty hard to be the co-host
when one guy is at that decibel level.
But it was genuine.
He was mad.
Goddamn it, they've failed us!
And if you're not angry
about that, Michael,
and any of you out there,
then you're goddamn wrong!
'Cause you should be angry.
Young Turks.
When they started
torturing people,
it's like, "Oh, this party
has gone from bad to hideous."
Quickly thereafter, I was embarrassed
that I had ever been a Republican.
If you asked me to vote for a Republican,
I'd say, "Yeah. Yeah, that's a good one.
That's a good one."
Now Cenk was really obsessed with being
the mouthpiece for the liberal blogosphere.
Because you're
a Republican prick.
He would come in every day looking
for whatever crap he could say...
about abuses
that George W. Bush was doing.
Unitary executive doctrine,
uh, in its mildest form...
claims the president has the power to appoint,
control and remove executive officers...
and interpret the law
as it pertains to his office.
That means one ruler
to rule us all.
The whole fucking country
was designed to avoid that!
His sort of natural bigness, sort of... I
thought was sort of taking over the show.
And I'm a bad partner for that.
I sort of withdrew from his vitriol
when he was getting so angry.
Jill didn't, and they were
starting to bicker more.
I wanted Jill to focus on more
of the pop culture news...
and less of the hard-core
political news.
But his belief was that only a select few
of people are really interested in politics,
and you're gonna get a wider audience if you
start talking about some of the fun stuff.
And I just didn't trust
his vision.
You know, I thought
he was making a judgment on me.
You know, like, "You're not
smart enough to be on the show,
so we're gonna put you on some
of the more softer content."
She thought she would
rather do the whole show,
or, I think,
not the show at all.
I wanted to prove myself,
you know, that I... that I was
smart and that I could absolutely,
you know, fill a role
in the political conversation.
And so I decided to move to Washington,
DC, and just stick with politics.
So you're telling me that August
15, you're done. You're going to DC.
Moving to Washington. Mm-hmm.
Wow.
I'll be there.
I originally got hired
as a temp here at TYT.
Okay, sounds good. So
it's a win-win for everyone.
All right. I feel like
I'm in an episode of The Office.
Right around then,
Jill was leaving.
So we decided,
"You know what, Ana?
Why don't we try you on
the other side of the camera?"
This is Ana Kasparian, if you've
never met her before. Hello.
She wound up
becoming one of our co-hosts,
and as everybody knows, now is an
absolutely integral part of the show.
You may or may not
agree with that rundown,
but look at it and change the
order so I can let Jesus know.
Oh, you stole
one of my stories.
We'll see what happens.
Our contract with Sirius comes
up, and they love the show,
they're going to renew it, and they're
offering us a quarter of a million dollars,
which is fantastic, more than we've ever
gotten before, we were really excited about it.
At the very end of the contract
talks, they say, "Oh, one little thing.
You're not allowed
to do online video.
You're exclusive to us,
and obviously you'll stop that."
And I said,
"I don't want to stop that."
They said, "What are you gonna do?
Turn down a quarter of a million dollars?
You're gonna do
what we tell you to do."
I have never doubted somebody more
repeatedly through my life than Cenk.
And I turned it down.
All those years when we were
not paid or underpaid or lowly paid.
It was such a grind
working at TYT.
I always had those moments where
you feel like "What am I still doing here?"
Now, did we think he was crazy?
Not in year one.
Not in year two.
Maybe year five.
Year six, there started to be like,
"Wow, this is really gonna take a while."
Who can do that?
Who can just come
to this country and just say,
"You know, I'm going to be a talk
show host," and then just become one?
We didn't believe
in him.
It ain't easy, man.
And if you're ever pursuing your
dream, and it's against long odds,
there are going to be moments
where you feel alone.
And I guess the only way to get
beyond it is just to push forward.
How in the world am I gonna
do this without any money?
'Cause we had
to keep doing the show.
We were gonna sell clips of the show on
iTunes, we were gonna do merchandising.
All these things that never
wound up happening.
Instead, what wound up happening
was YouTube.
YouTube?
Who goes on YouTube?
Back in early '06, you know, video
streaming was just coming to birth,
and the view count
was horrendous initially.
But we had
nothing to compare it to.
The whole idea that we would do a show
and it would be cut up into YouTube clips,
I was a part of that when that
started happening on the show.
I wasn't involved in any of those
conversations, and I didn't buy it.
I didn't believe it.
I didn't care.
I'm like, "Why clips?" And
then after the show, Cenk was...
Gathered everybody around,
talk about what clips to take.
And I'd be like, "Whatever." I
mean, I'm so... I'm such an idiot.
It's so great. I just...
The whole thing, I missed.
I mean, I was literally a part
of the YouTube revolution,
and I was totally out of it.
You know what you
start with online?
Zero viewers.
Flat-out zero.
You know what
your lead-in is? Zero.
You know what our marketing
budget was? Zero. Okay?
And we all we had
was the TYT army.
Our fans are really, really
supportive of what we do.
Almost to the point where you can call them
overzealous, and in a good way. In a good way.
When I heard you guys wanted us
to send videos, I was like,
"Of course! Of course
I need to send a video."
TYT reports the truth,
even if it's hard to stomach.
And I always felt like I was getting
the real story, a full-picture story.
For the first time,
politics, you know,
it-it clicked in a way
that it had never before.
They talk about the influence
of money on politics.
They talk about the actual
interests of the politicians themselves.
You guys care about the facts,
but you also just keep it real.
Cenk keeps it... nah...
Keeps it real...
whatever the hell that means.
Right now, I think the media is
fundamentally broken in this country...
'cause they don't
serve the audience.
They serve other constituencies, such as
advertisers, corporate interests, et cetera.
Hence, they're not being honest
with the audience.
This deficit commission,
I mean, it's beyond a joke.
It's a slap across the face to
middle-class Americans, saying,
"We don't give a damn about you.
We're coming for you."
This is class warfare.
You never hear people in the
regular media talk like that, do you?
Now we're gonna be
this much of a sucker...
that we're gonna sit here and let
them take more and more from us?
Oh, hell no!
This guy, on this little,
brand-new, rinky-dink
Web site called YouTube,
is speaking truth to power.
That is when The Young Turks
really start to gain...
that critical mass
of followers online.
This award is given to publicly
known figures who tell it like it is.
And is there anyone more deserving of the
Emperor Has No Clothes Award than Cenk Uygur?
So the TYT fan base
was growing very rapidly.
It got to a point where whenever Cenk and I went
out somewhere, someone would recognize Cenk.
Do you mind
if I get a picture?
No. I don't mind at all.
What's your name?
Sometimes they'll approach
and say, "Oh, uh, excuse me.
But are you Cenk Uygur,
The Young Turk?"
I'm like, "What?"
I had no idea
about what Cenk was up to...
after we finished that class.
Uh, he was somebody I
didn't really much think about...
until one day, randomly,
all of a sudden, there he is.
Is this some kind of joke?
This... This is
like the biggest scam.
I mean, this was somebody
who was a right-wing kook.
Now let's go
in the opposite direction...
and go to hate voice mails left on
The Young Turks answering machine.
Fuck you, son of a bitch,
motherfuckers, cocksuckers, fuck you.
Somebody ought
to torture your goddamn ass.
The things that Cenk
has said on the show...
seems to be more fueled by
passion than the facts sometimes.
My side is right.
The other side is wrong.
And it just was opinion.
I-I don't read
the YouTube comments,
and I never have,
and I never will.
And anybody who reads them and
bases any decision on them is a fool.
When you argue with people, and
you're against their beliefs, they get mad.
They don't suddenly say, "Oh, there's some
common ground here and we'll work it out."
They get pissed off.
That said, when I do read a
comment about me and it's positive,
I think that's awesome.
I think Cenk now is...
He's more entertaining to watch,
especially if you're on whatever
side he's on at the moment,
and he's your cheerleader,
then it's cool.
For years after I started at TYT,
we were like this happy little family,
and we did our thing every single day for,
I think, about three years after I started.
I need people to understand
what's going on.
Okay? Over the last couple
of weeks, for example,
we've been averaging
600,000 views a day.
Beating most of the cable shows
in America,
just on our YouTube channel.
When the YouTube money started
kicking in, we're like, "Oh, fantastic.
We can actually
grow the show now."
I could see Cenk's excitement and
enthusiasm, and I was very happy for him.
At the same time,
I wanted to be part of it.
Steve came on later as our,
uh, chief operating officer.
He needed someone to help handle
the business side of the business,
because Cenk did everything.
The network is growing.
There are more and more shows.
There are more
and more employees.
I'll say it's the same
from the YouTube perspective,
when I have to tag title
thumbnail clips,
and it's midnight
and 1:00 AM and stuff.
Like, I'm just trying
not to fall asleep, and, like...
It's just not as good work.
It's just not.
Yeah, I need you...
Everybody to buckle up, right?
Because it's gonna be
really hard either way.
And also with the members,
these are people who are paying.
They're paying because
they want to support us.
So maybe, you know, if we go
in a different direction,
I think that we
may lose some members.
If someone brings good evidence, I'm
the most open-minded man in America.
Cenk rides the line and goes back and
forth all the way in either direction...
of being very humble
and being very, uh, confident.
For the life of me,
I can't remember who said it,
but I was talking to a reporter,
and they said,
"So, uh, are you guys the largest
online news show in the world?"
And I was like,
"Oh, shit. We are." Okay?
And that's fucked up.
Okay?
That's awesome.
That's it.
We're the largest
online news show in the world.
So everybody can tell us
how our ass tastes.
Okay, we fuckin' rock. Okay?
Three hundred million fuckin'
people have watched our show,
which is
un-fucking-believable.
When you walked in that
living room, if they said to you,
"300 million people are going
to watch this show one day,"
would you have
believed it?
When Cenk makes a really big statement,
I really think he does believe it.
He needs that motivation, he
needs to give a football coach speech.
We are the largest
online news show...
in the fucking world, okay?
We're there right now, okay?
We are one of the largest...
online news commentary shows
on YouTube.
W-Would it have been
better if I came in and said,
"You know, golly gee, wouldn't it be great if
we were the 17th largest online news show?"
I mean, that would have been
absurd, right?
So we set a high standard,
and we met it.
We're gonna tell everybody...
until everybody writes, "Young Turks,
largest online news show in the world."
And I... Like, when I
say things like that,
I don't know whether to believe it
or not, except apparently it's true.
I don't really believe those speeches,
but he needs those speeches.
- He gives them all the time.
- I think that's what drives him.
Even though it's not always
true statements,
they're statements that keep him
going and keep him striving to be the best.
We've been
doing this show a long time...
Over six years now, from
Sirius Satellite Radio to YouTube.
And throughout, these Bush guys
scared the hell out of me.
We have made it.
America has survived.
Barack Obama...
is the next president
of the United States of America!
America,
it's good to have you back.
We were all just drunk with
happiness the night Barack Obama won.
We felt like
we had accomplished something.
And I'll never
forget that feeling.
It almost makes me well up
thinking about it now.
It was such
an exciting moment.
By people who waited three hours
and four hours...
because they believed that
this time must be different.
Barack Obama is going to agree
to do offshore drilling.
Why is this a terrible idea?
Since then,
what has happened?
The president
has already authorized...
10 more deep-water drilling
expeditions in the Gulf of Mexico.
Those wells are going
to continue straight ahead.
It isn't just
about offshore drilling.
It isn't about
any single issue.
It's about the fact
that you never fight.
And he's in the process,
actually,
of becoming
a puppet of big business.
This is not
the second or third compromise.
This is the 128th compromise.
In a row.
I have two words for you:
Predator drones.
You will never see it coming.
I... This is not
the Bush administration.
This is
the Obama administration.
It's not that Bush
didn't do this.
It's that Obama has expanded it.
"Change you can believe in."
It's mass murder when you say,
"We're going to bomb this area
because we believe a terrorist is there."
Twenty-one women
and 14 children.
Those people were murdered
by President Obama on his orders.
Look, the system is corrupt.
It has corrupted
the Democratic Party.
I'm... I'm not going
to support the Democrats.
If anything, I'm going to attack
the Democrats 10 times more.
Because there was the faction within
the progressive movement that said,
"No, no, no, play nice.
Uh, they will deliver and they'll win,
and they'll do this and they'll do that."
Well, they didn't,
and they lost.
Now I can't have you
sitting there going,
"Oh, he doesn't like the Democrats.
He must like the Republicans."
No. That doesn't make any sense.
We have to start
doing it on our own.
And if any politician doesn't
agree with that, rip them down, man!
Rip them down! And I don't
care what party they're in.
But if you're hoping against hope
that Obama will do the right thing...
and the Democratic Party
will do the right thing,
well, that hope
got extinguished tonight.
It's over.
So we had elected
President Obama for change,
and we were so frustrated
that we didn't get that change.
And apparently
he didn't hear us.
So we've got to get to the place
where he actually hears us.
And what does he watch?
What do all the politicians
in Washington watch?
They watch cable news.
Now Cenk had another one
of his series...
of big announcements,
pronouncements and epiphanies.
And now he said, "Well, the
evolution from being an online video...
is to make a TV show.
How are we gonna get a TV show?
We're gonna get on MSNBC."
It went all around back to 1996 when he thought
that he was going to go straight onto TV.
MSNBC has opened up
its 10:00 time slot.
They are looking for a new host
in that time slot,
and they say they do not have
any leading contenders.
I would like to officially announce
my candidacy for that spot.
His idea was to make a grassroots
effort to get all of our loyal fans...
to pressure MSNBC to hire Cenk.
This is our moment.
They sent in e-mails, they sent in pictures
of them holding TYT and MSNBC signs.
Eventually Phil Griffin, who's the head
of MSNBC, called Cenk for a meeting.
Phil wanted to get Cenk on the
air and try him out as a guest host.
Participating with us tonight,
Cenk Uygur,
the host of the progressive
talk show, The Young Turks.
Good evening to you both.
Thanks for trying this.
Thank you.
Bring in our panel, blogger, host
of The Young Turks, Cenk Uygur.
Cenk, I always have
a hard time with your last name.
One of these times,
I'll get it right.
The biggest reason that Cenk,
I believe, is where he is today...
is because the audience knows
how authentic and sincere...
his commitment
to actually pursuing...
an agenda that moves
this country forward is.
It gives me
great pleasure, Cenk,
to introduce to America
the Youngest Turk,
Prometheus Maximus Uygur,
ladies and gentlemen.
- Anyway, congratulations.
- Congratulations.
Thank you so much.
Pro's brought me a lot of luck,
'cause ever since he was born,
a lot of great things
have happened in my career.
Dylan called to see if Cenk
would fill in for him...
while he was out on vacation.
In America Today, Wall Street is exacting
its own revenge on the Democrats...
by withholding
campaign donations.
After that, Cenk started
filling in for Ed Schultz as well.
Welcome back to The Ed Show.
I'm Cenk Uygur, The Young Turk,
sitting in for Ed Schultz.
He'd fill in
for whoever was not there.
Cenk was doing great
as a fill-in host,
but it doesn't really count unless you have
a contract, and he didn't have a contract.
He was not getting paid, and it
just dragged on and on and on.
Our show and MSNBC.
That's the only game in town.
Wow! No one has offended the 9/11
victims' families more than Glenn Beck has.
And so, you know what?
Ground Zero is hallowed ground.
I'm sure conservatives
would agree.
Now normally that fill-in
thing takes a lot longer,
except we're
murdering it, right?
Like normally, they'd want to
try somebody out forever...
Oh, I see.
To feel comfortable, right?
But they feel a hell
of lot more comfortable...
when you're tripling
CNN's ratings as a fill-in.
Okay? So, we'd have
to fuck it up somehow,
which is entirely possible,
but given this trajectory,
it's the sound
of inevitability.
Right.
Okay.
Cenk, did you see that
hilarious headline? No. What?
"Ed Schultz Drowns
In Turkish Bath."
Oh, for fuck's sake!
Who wrote that?
Do you get why that Politico
article is so damaging?
Do you really think
it's that damaging? No.
It's not damaging. It's
awesome. No, no, no, listen.
Come on, guys.
Think about it. If...
Is Ed Schultz gonna
want me to fill in for him...
if there's articles about how I
did better than him in the ratings?
That's why I told everybody, "Do not
compare me to any other MSNBC host."
That's
a terrible idea.
All that's gonna do
is piss off MSNBC.
Because that's not an interesting
lead that I beat Ed Schultz.
What's interesting is I beat
CNN and Headline News combined.
A fill-in host beats CNN
and Headline News combined.
That's fucking interesting,
right?
Anyway, all right,
we gotta get started.
Would you define Hamas
as a terrorist organization,
or is everyone on the side of
these guys, supporting terrorism?
Okay, hold on, Jordan.
Let me answer, right?
Ahmadinejad was elected too.
Is he great?
What am I gonna do?
First of all, he cheated. No.
And it was... That doesn't mean
they're not a terrorist organization.
Oh, for the love of Christ. Is this
guy ever gonna let somebody answer?
Our government, my government,
your government.
No, no, no.
Shut up. Shut up. Okay.
Listen. You asked me
a question 28 times.
I'm in the middle of answering and, "Blah,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah!"
We're worried about
what MSNBC is gonna think...
because of the way Cenk
handled that interview.
That's the only thing
I'm concerned about.
Because when you, as a host, tell
someone you're interviewing to shut up...
I mean, of course, if you're the head of a
major network, that's gonna raise a red flag.
My opinion is that guy needed a
tall glass of shut-up juice, okay?
And I have zero problems with
telling him to shut the fuck up.
Because he wouldn't
shut the fuck up.
I started with trying to have a
real conversation with him, right?
And he wouldn't do it
'cause he's a fucking dick.
In real life
what I would do is say,
"Now shut the fuck up, and I'm
gonna tell you what it's about."
They don't do that on television,
and that's why television is boring.
Okay? And Bill O'Reilly
does do it,
and you might think he's a dick, but
he's also number one on television.
We're just worried because
we're slight pussies, right?
And we're worried about
MSNBC. Am I right or wrong?
Can I say one more thing?
Do you think "shut up" is fine?
One thing that I noticed is he
was really good at playing the...
- "- I'm a calm, levelheaded individual.
- Yes, yes.
And this individual over here is
getting outraged and going crazy.
Look at how unreasonable and
illogical he is." Exactly, exactly.
Right. Now, people
do that trick all the time.
That was a trap. Right,
that's a right-wing trick, right?
I don't think it's that big a deal
to lose your temper over that.
Like, do people consider it
quote, unquote "unprofessional"?
Because that's just what
we're used to on television.
For everybody... For all the
hosts to be fucking milquetoast.
To say, "Oh, yes, well, then
let's be very calm and quiet...
and I'll let you roll over me
with a fucking steamroller,
because you
won't shut the fuck up."
And you know, "Blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah," and tell all your points, okay?
All your points that you keep repeating
without answering the fucking question.
Well, then I'm gonna
steamroll your fuckin' ass.
Everybody, earmuff the kids.
Go take your bullshit, wrap it
up and put it back up your ass!
Sick, sadist fuck!
So over the years, Cenk has
said many things on video that are,
to put it lightly,
controversial.
Did we lick your ass enough?
Then we're gonna ask you have
you had it in the mouth, and then...
Aw, come on.
I'm totally turned on.
I can't believe you said...
I can't believe I said that.
He would rip anyone,
anyone that he thought
was selling out,
anyone that he thought
was being unfair or unjust.
Our media sucks balls.
They take two giant balls.
As much as you... And put 'em
inside their mouths at the same time.
And some of those people who were
attacked were people who worked at MSNBC.
By the way, I spent all of yesterday
trying to avoid Chris Matthews.
Every time I saw
him, I was like... Why?
There's a great chance
he saw one of our clips on him,
which were horrible, right?
We're going to destroy
Chris Matthews.
When the Republicans were in power,
Chris Matthews sucked up to them.
Now when the Democrats are
in power, he sucks up to them!
No, you idiot, you're
a tool. You child!
I didn't want to destroy Chris
Matthews. He made me do it.
So our concern
was that if MSNBC brass...
ever came across
these videos,
that Cenk's tenure at MSNBC
would be over in a heartbeat.
Assuming that there were no floating
time bombs on the Internet about me.
Right.
Then, yeah, I would get hired, because
I am gonna get good ratings next week,
and that's how it works,
and you get hired.
I'm not trying to, like,
be humble or anything.
I'm saying,
there's a million land mines.
They're gonna go off
at some point,
and TV's gonna
get scared, right?
All the shit we've said?
It's fun. It's good.
It's good television.
So television will be scared.
You're not gonna give it back
to the American people, are you?
They put it every year. Every single
year that comes out of our paycheck!
We put it in, and you're
saying we were suckers!
He wants to talk to you?
Yeah.
Is there any chance
you'll ever do Olbermann?
I'd be kinda scared to fill in for Olbermann.
I know that's a funny thing to say.
Even though it has
light parts of the show,
it's so serious,
I'd be afraid of screwing it up.
Maybe I'm intimidated by Olbermann,
and I'm afraid that if I do his show,
he's gonna look at it
and go...
Good evening from New York.
I'm Cenk Uygur.
Keith Olbermann
has the night off.
You tried to reach out to Republicans
and didn't really fight back...
on some of these issues that you
think you should have gotten credit for.
Or maybe we just need more people
listening to your radio show, Cenk,
and they'd get the...
They'd get the true facts.
Look, I...
They wanted me to rip his
fucking mustache off of him.
And they're right.
We're in a new stage, Dave. We're building
bridges as opposed to burning them.
But don't worry.
Once we build them...
All I'm saying is that's all Obama
and all those guys are saying. No, no.
Then in early 2011,
Keith Olbermann leaves MSNBC.
This is the last edition of
Countdown. Good night, and good luck.
From the moment Keith Olbermann
started, we were on his side.
So I feel good that we have done our job
in supporting others. Now it's our time.
Our prime time schedule here at MSNBC
has been rejiggered to take account...
of Keith Olbermann ending his run
on Countdown this past Friday night.
Olbermann was
a five-tool player:
Rage, ego, wit, scholarship
and, most of all, bombast!
Is there no one on MSNBC that
can shoulder this Olber-burden?
Then in the middle of January, I
got a call from Phil Griffin saying,
"Hey, listen, I need you to be ready
to go on the air fairly consistently."
They say at the beginning of the year at
some point, they want to give me a show.
Oh, wow.
It looks like this move to New York...
is inevitable, right?
- It's a matter of when.
- If I get a show,
we're definitely moving,
like, all you guys.
Is there anybody
who wants to stay in LA?
It was a lot for me
to think about.
I'm married. I have a house.
I have all my family here.
The upside is, if I get a show,
we're not gonna run out of money.
Hey, hey, be cool.
All right?
So, I'm just
concerned that, you know,
we're gonna rely
on MSNBC stuff,
we're gonna do less TYT stuff, and
our audience is gonna dwindle down.
We have to be like De Niro in
Heat... walk away in 30 seconds.
If we go to MSNBC, we
never lose track that we're TYT.
- That won't be us.
- That won't be us.
He sees TV as... making it.
Like, if you're in TV,
that's the end-all, be-all.
And I think that online
kind of has the stigma...
of not being credible,
and he wants to be credible.
How do you feel now that
you're kind of at the verge...
of having this dream come true?
I always think
of that scene in Miracle,
that goofy hockey movie
where Kurt Russell's the coach,
and he works so hard, et cetera, and
when they finally beat the Russians,
he goes off by himself in
a hallway and is just, like,
"Yes!"
Right?
And I've always dreamed
of that moment.
If we get a big fat TV contract, and we
think that's gonna be great in a lot of ways,
that'll definitely be a bit of a,
you know, Kurt Russell moment.
And I'm telling you,
before you know it,
I'll be back on your TV
doing a national show.
I guarantee it!
He goes to New York
to do a show every day.
Being with MSNBC
was good and bad.
We wanted to give Cenk
more credibility,
have his name
be more well recognized.
Yay!
There it was.
The downside is he had to film
out of New York City.
Hello, hello.
What's going on?
Let's hope a good show.
Fifteen seconds.
- Stand by.
- That's Hardball for now.
More politics ahead
with Cenk Uygur.
Three, two, one.
Fade up, mike cue.
Welcome to the show. I'm Cenk
Uygur, and I've got news for you.
I was very excited because...
he's on television,
you know,
instead of me
going home and be, like,
"Oh, yeah, I work for The Young
Turks, you know, uh, Cenk Uygur is a..."
And they're like, "Who's that?"
And I'm, like, "He's on MSNBC."
He's been doing the 6:00 PM
Eastern time slot.
So it's been awesome because it's
getting TYT a little more exposure,
and... that's a good thing.
And you can catch Ana and I
on theyoungturks.com at any time.
Thank you
for watching this show.
And Hardball, which is
excellent, starts right now.
Good show. All right,
have a great weekend.
The advantages of
old-school media are awesome.
Yeah.
Like flying business class.
Uh, getting driven
to places you want.
Our fans felt that,
you know, MSNBC was number one,
and TYT was number two, and Cenk was
not giving our show enough time and effort.
And it was true.
By the time that his show
ended, he had to just haul ass,
set the equipment up,
and then, you know,
dial in and work with Ana, and just
chemistry was just not quite there.
It just sucked.
It was not a good show at all.
A lot of our members
dropped out.
It was a really bad time,
in my opinion.
Guys, I know some of you are
frustrated members and stuff.
Believe me,
we're busting our ass over here.
Thank you so much
for your patience.
The longer he's in New York,
the more we're thinking, "What's
gonna happen to our online show?"
All they need is Cenk.
They don't need us.
Are we gonna move? And if
so, when are we gonna move?
When should we start
looking for places?
Let me preface this by saying
there's a lot of good news/bad news.
Phil Griffin,
he seems pretty intent on, uh,
having me in New York
in the long run.
I guess that's good news in that I
am much more likely to be hired.
Like, always mysterious.
Always cryptic.
We never know
what's happening.
All right, here's the
sense I'm getting,
uh, from the LA studio.
This news
is not well received.
I have to believe
that Cenk was biased,
because he was getting paid by
MSNBC for the first time in his career,
and without MSNBC, he
was back to his tiny little salary.
You know, now he's married,
and, you know,
he has a child
and he needs that money.
I felt that he was making
excuses to stay at MSNBC.
How do you like New York?
Living here.
If I had time to breathe, I'd rather
enjoy it. Doing both shows is tiring.
We moved The Young Turks
to the morning.
So far that's worked out
pretty good,
because then I get more
energized and excited...
about doing the show.
And... Oh, God.
The level of stress on him during
that period of time, from what I saw,
was beyond the amount that any
normal person should ever agree to endure.
I don't have any time to read.
I gotta read these e-mails.
I gotta read these texts. I
gotta listen to the voice mail.
I think the executive producer is
outside the door. I gotta talk to him.
And I was supposed to read
all these articles.
And then there's another text.
What am I supposed to do? Right?
I'm very worried about him,
to tell you the truth.
Because he's a man
in his 40s now,
and I think he's got
an incredibly stressful job.
Because he takes it
so to the heart.
This is his life. He lives
this from morning till night.
I spend about five minutes a day
in here when I'm not working.
So...
If that's the dream, I'm not
sure it's that great a dream.
I wish he could
have his family with him,
but it's just the way things
are that they can't be.
Hello!
Hey, baboo!
He can't crawl forward,
but he crawls backwards.
Maybe he's already
a Democrat.
So he sits there and
watches me when I'm on.
But Wendy says that when other
hosts are on, he's, like, "Mmm."
And when I'm on,
he's like...
All right. Good night,
baboo. Good night, Papa!
Good night, baboo.
I get a call from Cenk.
He says to me, "You won't
believe the meeting that I just had."
Hey, how are you?
Hey!
Welcome home! How's it
going? How was your day?
Good. It was an
interesting day. Yeah?
Yeah. What made
it so interesting?
Well, I had a meeting
with, uh, the head of MSNBC,
one that has
some interesting ramifications.
Anyway, bottom line is,
Monday I'm back in the studio.
You guys fucked up.
I'm coming for ya.
How does it feel
to be back in the LA studio?
Yeah, fucking awesome.
Is there gonna be any interesting
announcement or anything today?
We do have
traumatic news today.
First of all,
let me tell you something...
that will not go out
for a long time.
Monday...
Okay, this is totally
confidential.
It goes nowhere, okay?
Uh, the head of MSNBC...
talked to me and said,
uh, he heard from Washington
that I'm being too harsh.
He talked about how,
uh, outsiders are cool...
and they wear leather jackets
and they ride bikes and,
uh, he'd love to be an outsider,
"But, Cenk, the reality is we're not.
We're insiders.
We're part of the establishment.
And you gotta start
acting like one."
I couldn't quite believe it.
I sat back thinking,
"This is like out of a movie.
Who says this stuff?"
Honestly, the thing
that they hate the most...
is when I keep saying
all the politicians are corrupt.
Right? They're all bought. They're
all bought. They fucking hate that.
They're Team Obama, man.
So they hate it when I
criticize Obama. Hate it.
He started to get that look, the
same look that he had at the law firms...
where I knew
he couldn't bear it anymore.
And I said, "Oh, my
gosh. He's gonna quit."
They hired him
for who he was,
but if you're not gonna let him be
who he is and tell the truth, fuck 'em.
Instead of quitting, he said, "That's it.
I'm just gonna do the show my way."
I'm not gonna listen to this. I'm
gonna go balls to the wall. Okay?
But what he did was he started
attacking the president...
much more than MSNBC
was comfortable doing.
If President Obama
is doing the wrong thing,
I'm not gonna tell you that he's doing the
right thing, so I can, quote, "Support him."
Please, no more half measures.
This country elected you because
you ran on the message of "Change."
Instead we got pocket change.
Now if it's not good enough
to pull us out of this rut,
then they're gonna say,
"Progressive ideas didn't work."
Have the courage to give the American
people the change you promised them.
When it came time
to make a decision...
on who was gonna get
the 6:00 show,
Phil called me in and said, "Hey, Cenk,
we're gonna go in a different direction."
And they're gonna move him to the
weekend and give that spot to Al Sharpton.
But resist we much...
We must,
and we will much...
about... that...
be committed.
They offered him some bullshit, early weekend
morning spot, but actually at double the pay.
Over a million dollars over
a three-year contract at MSNBC.
But I viewed that as a demotion
when it was totally not warranted.
He didn't get what he wanted, and he thought
that that would sort of tarnish him...
as sort of losing the 6:00 slot and
being banished to the weekends.
He knew that the MSNBC
opportunity was an experiment.
I said to him, "It's a lot of money.
There's no shame in taking it.
Okay? You worked so hard
to get here. You're here.
The other thing
you can do is to say,
'Take your money and take your bullshit
weekend spot and stick it up your ass.'"
Burn this bridge.
Build new ones.
I thought
that if I went on MSNBC...
and we were in that little box
in the Oval Office,
and in all
the congressional offices,
that we could make
a difference.
But what I didn't realize
at the time was...
those decision-makers
don't give a damn.
Interesting news. Here it is.
I am out at MSNBC.
Cenk took
an incredible risk.
Cenk walked away from
guaranteed dollars at a cable network.
I wouldn't have done
what he did.
A lot of people, when you're presented
with, you know, the money on the one hand,
and, you know, "You'll have money, you'll
be treated well, you'll have access,"
and then to give it up because they're
douche bags, I think is phenomenal.
You know?
'Cause so few people do it.
In this fickle world of,
uh, of television,
any sort of change
in the hierarchy at MSNBC...
could have brought him
back into favor quickly.
If I take the money
and I get a reduced role...
and I just, you know,
do whatever I do with it,
and maybe I even rise up in the
ranks again, what's the point, man?
They offered you more than you
were currently making for a smaller role.
Yeah. You know,
that's an interesting point.
It's like hush money to shut you up
and keep you off the prime-time airwaves.
Watching Cenk do his MSNBC
exit speech of why he left,
and it reminded me of Network
and Howard Beale's famous speech.
And Cenk's not a lunatic,
but he was crazy enough...
to turn down a million dollars to keep
on saying exactly what he wanted to say.
That was the moment that I realized
that I wanted to be a part of TYT...
and that Cenk is like a leader
that I have never encountered.
The point of the show
was truth telling.
That's what we're supposed to do, and
we're supposed to challenge the government.
That's the role
of the media.
He has been part of MSNBC's nightly
lineup since the beginning of the year,
trying out for a permanent slot.
Cenk Uygur, known online
as one of The Young Turks,
is a two-fisted liberal who isn't
afraid to throw some punches.
Those are the guys
that are sucking off of you.
So here's something else
they should suck on:
Our rage!
When Cenk left MSNBC,
MSNBC said the reason why...
they did not give him a full-time contract
was because of his style and his tone.
Cenk said
it was the substance.
"Cenk's claims
are completely baseless.
We did have numerous conversations
with Cenk about his style, not substance.
It's unfortunate that he's decided
to depart in such a negative fashion."
I don't want to work
for an organization that says,
"Hey, take it easy on Washington."
You have made that clear.
That's the opposite of
what we do on The Young Turks.
Don't your employers, if you're
gonna work for an MSNBC,
have every right to say your
style needs some adjustment?
Why does that
tick you off so much?
Howard, if I thought
it was about style,
I'm not turning down
the money!
It was about substance.
They say, "Be the establishment."
I can't be the establishment.
I gotta tell people the truth, which is
that the Democrats and the Republicans...
are here to screw you!
They're about to cut Social Security.
They're about to cut taxes on the rich.
It's insanity,
and who on the air is saying it?
When Cenk went to the press,
it got a lot of attention.
Current came calling
very soon thereafter.
Former host on our rival
cable news network MSNBC...
claims he was told he had to have
more Republicans on his program...
and that he lost his nightly slot and
was offered only a weekend role instead.
We're joined on his first night
freed from the mainstream media.
Good evening, Cenk, and
welcome to the alumni association.
Thank you, Keith.
I appreciate it.
Many of Current's fans
and employees...
were suggesting very loudly...
that Current
go out and grab Cenk.
It's not right. Can you imagine
this? I actually have to cut you off.
I don't know why this all seems
so familiar to me.
Great, thanks. Good
luck. We'll be in touch.
All right.
Another fun day.
So Current called Cenk, and they
went through the negotiations,
and that proceeded in a way
that the MSNBC didn't.
MSNBC was obviously
giving him a runaround.
Current was obviously
serious about it.
When Cenk first told me
about this Current opportunity,
my first reaction was,
"No way. Don't do it.
We just got through
this MSNBC debacle,
and I don't want you to join another
media company where they're full of shit,
and they're gonna stick you in
a box where you can't succeed.
Don't do it."
Welcome to
Current TV, Cenk.
I've been waiting to call you
my president for a long time.
That's not
how you do it, dude!
That's how
you do it, okay?
Television, we're coming!
Uh... Look at this prima donna.
It's alcohol.
Current set up a whole studio...
in Los Angeles.
No, get together.
What do you three think
about this studio space here?
It's all right.
All right.
Three minutes out.
Our first TV show.
That's The Young Turks, okay?
Not some Cenk Uygur show
on MSNBC.
This is The Young Turks.
It's coming in two minutes.
T minus two to launch.
That's a good sign.
That's a good sign.
Yeah, I'm ready.
We've been doing this for years.
TV, Internet,
doesn't make a difference.
You get in front of the camera
and the microphone and you talk.
Five.
Welcome to The Young Turks. We've
got an awesome show for you tonight!
Who are we? Well, we are proud
and progressive.
There's no question about that.
And we are here to punch
the establishment in the mouth.
I realized after a while
that the media...
is only successful
if they're on the side of money.
If they're not on the side of
money, all of a sudden, look at that.
Shows wind up disappearing
from MSNBC.
So what's
more important...
is actually affecting
the outcome.
This one right here.
This one right here?
Yep.
All right. Okay.
Because the corporations...
control everything.
Money decides everything, right?
What about the...
I know. What's above
the Supreme Court?
The Constitution.
You have to get
an amendment. Okay.
Sounds really,
really hard. I know.
The advantage
of the amendment...
is that you can go
state by state.
You have to get three-quarters
of the states, right? Okay.
You just start,
and you build momentum.
I am.
Okay.
That's it.
I have an announcement.
I have an announcement.
Our politicians are bought!
Our politicians are bought!
Who bought them?
Who bought them?
The corporations did!
The corporations did!
When the Occupy movement
came around,
we decided that we were
gonna launch WolfPAC.
The goal of WolfPAC is to vote
for a Constitutional amendment...
that says that corporations are not people,
that they cannot buy our politicians.
Super PACS are political
action committees, right?
And when you think of PAC,
I think of wolf pack, right?
I wanted people to know how
aggressive we were gonna be.
The founding fathers put it
in Article V of the Constitution,
because they said at some point, the
federal government will get too corrupt.
The states have a right, if two-thirds
of them get together and say,
"Hey, we want a convention
to get an amendment...
to fix what's happening
in Washington."
This is the way.
- We can fight back!
- We can fight back!
- We will fight back!
- We will fight back!
And we will win!
And we will win!
I used to watch him on TV
every day, and he was so cool.
I said, "How's this guy be on TV?"
I knew they was gonna get you.
I knew it! And then
they took him off the air.
And then they put
Al Sharpton, man!
I mean, come on, man!
I think most people realize...
there's something deeply, fundamentally
wrong with the current system.
I think that it is
the right time,
and if we do it together,
it's definitely doable.
And we are gonna do it.
God, I hope, I hope WolfPAC takes
off and they pass that amendment.
I really do.
I hope so.
I-I think...
No.
I'm a firm believer
that any real progressive...
or radical change always comes
from below, not from above.
Great job. Great job.
I'm just so proud
that the kind of message...
that you guys are putting out there
so effectively is being put out there.
It's great.
This is a lovely house
with a lovely backyard,
and I enjoy it every day,
'cause I think,
"It could be gone tomorrow,
the minute I burn the next bridge."
Is this the first time
you've ever owned a house?
No, no. We don't even
own it. We're just renting.
My career is way too unstable
to ever own a house.
Like, we might one day,
but if I actually buy a house,
then, uh, apparently we've reached
some stability at The Young Turks...
that seemed
previously unimaginable.
We had, oh, interesting news
at The Young Turks.
Uh, Current Television,
for which we have a TV show,
has been sold.
Going once, going twice,
sold to... Al Jazeera English.
You sold Current TV,
the network that you cofounded,
to Al Jazeera
for an estimated $500 million.
Was that always
just an investment to you?
Maybe I was naive.
Oh, no, no, no.
I thought it was something that
you had an ideological interest in.
Absolutely.
As an independent network,
the only independent
news and information network,
we found it difficult to compete
in this age of conglomerates.
So today was the last show for
The Young Turks on Current TV.
Bye-bye!
Obviously what'll happen
is an interesting question...
and one that
I do not have the answer to.
But I-I'm happy
that we're now moving on.
This sad and depressing cave
is the former studios...
of The Young Turks
on Current.
After the sale of Current TV, we needed to get
out of there, we needed to find a facility.
We went to this gorgeous studio that
YouTube set up here in Los Angeles...
while we built out our own
studio back in Culver City.
All right.
What's up, what's up, what's up?
Cenk, we've got
the perfect line for you.
Then more prep,
more prep, more panic.
We do one more dry run,
and then...
showtime's at 6:00...
We go nuts.
While we were at YouTube Space LA,
we wound up crossing over a billion views.
So we had
this big party...
because that just feels
like a number that's undeniable.
That we reached people.
We actually reached them.
Two, one.
Wait a minute! Where are we?
This isn't our regular studio!
Because we're celebrating
our one billionth view.
I gotta be honest with you,
I'm a little amazed by that.
Our story in a lot of ways
is the story of online media.
Uh, we've kind of
grown up together.
As we've found success, I think
online media has found success.
I think it's
a symbiotic relationship.
What people can't wrap
their heads around...
is that online
is now bigger than TV.
Yeah,
of the one billion views,
I think my family was only
980 million of those.
So we really couldn't have done it
without you guys. All right, we love you.
We got a show for you
tomorrow. We'll see you then.
The Young Turk Show
- All right.
- All right.
Could I conceive of working
for, like, a CNN?
No. I have no interest in that.
Because when you're on TV, you
have to be fake. They make you fake.
There's 28 different notes
from producers, from management,
from corporate parents,
from advertisers.
I got no interest in that. Like,
my long-term goal is to beat CNN.
We're-We're gonna be
larger than CNN.
I'm not worried about the resources.
We're gonna get resources as we grow.
And eventually they're gonna have to
take them out on an ambulance like that.
The guy who has exasperated...
and inspired me
for 30 years, Cenk Uygur.
The answer isn't, honestly,
the strength of our personalities
or even the strength of our shows.
It's the strength
of the idea.
The idea that you could serve the
audience and be honest with them.
And we can change the media
in that way.
I don't view
this billion views...
as a culmination,
as the end.
It's a great moment,
but we're just getting started.
Here's to TYT,
and here's to the next billion.
Moving into the new place
was rough, of course,
'cause we're The Young Turks,
and we always start out slow.
But the upsides are huge.
I love being in our own place.
I love that we've got
this new home.
I'd like it to stay the same.
You think, "Oh, it'd be great
if we were huge"...
and everything else, but then we'd
just become a bunch of assholes.
I think that his priorities
have changed from...
him being The Young Turk
to The Young Turks.
That he has a family.
He has a company.
He has a lot of other people that
he has to think about, not just himself.
I definitely miss The Young
Turks from 2003-2004...
when, to me,
it was in its glory days.
But our situation now is,
of course, much better.
We have technology. We have experience,
we have a staff, we have resources.
It's the same guy,
just a lot more polished,
but a little more to lose.
If Cenk's career goal...
is ultimately
to be relevant and impactful...
as a national
broadcast identity,
I believe every decision that
he's made up to this point...
continues to make him
more relevant in that way.
I don't know if Cenk
has made a difference. I don't.
I don't know if talk show hosts
can make a difference.
They generally preach
to the choir.
Yeah, you'll get a couple of people
who accidentally come across and they go,
"I agree with what
he has to say."
But in the end, who's gonna watch it
anyway? It's gonna be people who agree.
All my life,
people have been telling me...
how I can't do things.
It turns out
they've been wrong all along.
I'll tell you
what I dream about.
I dream about sitting on a
porch with Pro. He's all grown up.
We're talking about politics
like my dad and I do,
and we got
the amendment passed...
and hopefully it set the country
on a little better path.
And to be able to be proud
of my career...
and proud of our audience that
we did all of this together with.
If we can get that done,
I can't ask for anything more.
The Young Turks
just seemed like an accident.
Now it's this...
Now it's an accident...
that sort of just, you know,
turned Cenk into this
really vital, important voice...
in this country.
You guys ready?
Welcome to The Young Turks.
I'm your host, Cenk Uygur.
Guess what kind of show
we have for you today.
An awesome show.
Closed-Captioned by