Ben Stein may have tested out material for a new syndicated talk show Thursday night at Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. If the crowd’s reaction predicted how the show would do, start checking local listings now.
A Warner Brothers film crew and about 850 students watched Stein’s performance of comedy, personal stories and political commentary.
The Hillel Cultural Life-sponsored event ranged as widely in content as his career. Before acting in movies and television, the host of “Win Ben Stein’s Money” graduated at the top of his Yale Law School class and wrote speeches for several presidents.
Wearing a dark suit and light sneakers, Stein said he started the show as he would any speaking engagement.
“Unless you’re doing a eulogy – and even then – start with a few jokes,” he said.
When discussing his favorite moments working with President Nixon, for whom he had little but praise, Stein recalled Nixon’s reaction to a request to tell the truth.
“Honesty might not be the best policy, but it’s worth trying once in a while,” Stein said.
Stein discussed raising his 14-year-old son Tommy, “the laziest person on earth.” He made an example of allowing his son to become addicted to the computer game “EverQuest.”
“It’s the approximate equivalent of a child saying to his parent, ‘Do you mind if I start smoking crack?'” Stein said.
On his way to enrolling at a boarding school for bratty, spoiled rich kids – like many universities, Stein quipped – his son tried to crash the car on the way to the airport, Stein said.
“I’ll tell you something, child abuse gets a bad rap,” he said.
Stein’s performance included some serious discussion about anti-Semitism during his childhood. But he could not keep from joking, even when telling audience members to make loved ones the most meaningful part of their lives.
“In that way you become noble,” he said. “As noble as a pot-smoking prince.”
During the question-and-answer period at the end of the show, Stein preempted the audience on the most common question people ask.
“I’ll answer it right away by saying, ‘Bueller … Bueller,'” he said dryly, imitating his memorable role in “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.”
Several questions aimed to reconcile his political stance as a Republican and his commitment to the civil rights movement. Once while protesting for equal rights, a counter-protester pushed him onto the curb and cut a deep wound into his buttocks, he said.
“For anyone who can question my commitment to civil rights for African-Americans, they can kiss that scar anytime,” he said.
Stein also asked audience members history questions, but disallowed those answering correctly from challenging him on his TV show.
Weinberg freshman Jason Konik correctly identified the Battle of Tannenberg as part of World War I.
“I’d like to square off against Ben Stein,” Konik said. “It’s not my life’s goal, but I’d do it.”
Stein praised those who answered his questions, saying knowledge has allowed him to have the last laugh.
“The people I knew … who thought it was nerdy and ridiculous to know a lot are losers,” he said. “They’re the ones asking me for money.”
Interview with Ben Stein
Daily: So, have you ever approached the Diet Coke people about doing their commercials?
Stein: Usually, they approach you, but I’d be awfully happy to do it. I think it’s an incredibly great product.
Daily: How did you get into doing the Clear Eyes commercials?
Stein: They just called me almost nine years ago now. I had not had my quiz show yet. I had been on the “Wonder Years” and I had been in “Ferris Bueller,” and I’d done millions of other parts. They just called me and they told me, “This may run a lot longer than you think.” I said, “Maybe this will run three or four years.” But now it’s been nine years and, God willing, I see no sign of it stopping. They’re wonderful people to work with. They’re actually from the Midwest and really nice people. Really, really nice people.
Daily: How do you gain all the trivia knowledge to beat the people on your show?
Stein: I don’t consider it trivia. See, I’m not good at trivia. Like if you asked me, “Who is the most successful passing quarterback in the NFL?” I would have no idea. I’m going to guess Brett Favre, but I don’t know, have no idea for sure. No? Who is it?
Daily: What were you like in high school and college?
Stein: I was a fun-loving guy. I mean, I was a good student. There were others who were better students, but I was a fun-loving guy. I liked cars. I used to like to go to the drag races. In college, I drank entirely too much. I was a big partier. But I was a good student, especially in economics, I was an extremely good student. I was a happy guy. I mean, I wasn’t a happy guy until I got a girlfriend. Actually, my first really wonderful girlfriend was from the Chicagoland area. Her name was Mary Just, and she was from Oak Park, which has the most Frank Lloyd Wright houses of any town in America. And she was a wonderful woman; She just walks on water.
Daily: So can you tell us anything about this Warner Brothers thing?
Stein: It won’t be on the WB. It would be a syndicated thing. If it gets done, which is a big, big if, it would be made by Warner Telepictures, and it would be a first-run syndication talk show with some angle, which I don’t think I’m allowed to say. But I had a talk show on Comedy Central for three years. I think they felt it was not skewing young enough. They wanted to reach a really young audience and mine was reaching more of a, say, 25-40-year-old range instead of 15-25. It would be one that we would hope would be a successful daytime talk show, but not like the usual ones where people say, “You’re a ho. You stole my woman. You a bitch. You stole my man.” It wouldn’t be that. It would be a more serious show.
Daily: Why do you think you’re able to connect to that younger demographic?
Stein: Cause I’m a young guy mentally. Here’s the difference, here’s why: Because I think that I can empathize with people at every age group. I believe that working at empathy is probably the most important, valuable work you can do. I can vividly remember when I was a college student and what my preoccupations were. When I was right out of college … I can vividly remember when I was a junior high school student what my preoccupations were. I can assume that young people’s preoccupations are the same and, therefore, I can empathize with them.
Daily: Do you feel that you can empathize with your son?
Stein: I empathize with him, but I … That is a very, very, very good question. I empathize with him, but I have done a very bad job of imposing limits on him. I understand his desire to not work. I understand his desire to be surly and difficult. I understand his desire to put his thumb in my eye and in my wife’s eye, but I do not approve of it, and it’s unacceptable. But I cannot communicate to him without hitting him, and I vowed to not hit him. So, it’s a big problem. I can empathize with him, but I don’t allow (his behavior). I can empathize with a person who commits murder because I sometimes feel so angry I feel like committing murder, but it’s not acceptable. So, I empathize with him, but it’s not acceptable.
Daily: Presidential biographer Richard Reeves came to campus last quarter, and he just recently put out a book about Nixon. He characterized Nixon as this sort of tortured man – very introverted – who would have liked to have been a popular president like Kennedy, but wasn’t able to be …
Stein: Well, I think there’s a lot to that. Nixon was tortur
ed in many, many ways. I think he was a very shy person who tried to be an introvert. I think he was basically a very intellectual person who tried to be a politician, and politicians are not intellectuals. I think he was a person who had a lot of anger and wasn’t allowed to show it. But I think he had a really serious goal of being a peacemaker. He was a Quaker. His mother, whom he idolized, was a Quaker and she always taught him, above everything else, blessed are the peacemakers. His greatest achievement in life was starting the Middle East down the road toward peace – which it has completely gone off now – and also, starting the process of ending the Cold War. He was the one who started the strategic arms limitations. I vividly remember something about Nixon in the last days of his career. There was a senator from Nebraska named Carl Curtis, who was a devout Nixon fan, and someone said to him, “If you were the last vote for Nixon in the Senate, would you still vote for him?” And he said, “I will never turn my back on Richard Nixon, the peacemaker.” That is what I feel: that blessed are the peacemakers, and I will never turn my back on Richard Nixon.
Daily: This is the last question, and it’s a tough one. Do you see a resolution within your lifetime to the problems in the Middle East?
Stein: No, I don’t. It’s a terribly sad thing. A young woman, very beautiful and very tall, came up to me tonight in tears because of the comments that I made about the Arab states being humiliated in the wars against Israel. She was so upset by that. I tried to explain to her that when I said humiliated I meant beaten decisively, not any kind of psychological condition. It’s just like when I say Miami humiliated Nebraska in the (Rose Bowl), but she couldn’t seem to get past that. She didn’t seem to realize it’s a phrase that’s used commonly in contests, and she was very upset. I think the Arabs feel genuinely humiliated, having lost so many times to Israel and the West, and I think they will continue fighting and dying, trying to repair that humiliation. They don’t realize – at least some of them don’t realize – that the way to repair that humiliation is not to blow yourself and other people up, but to work constructively for peace. There are plenty of Arabs who do realize that, but unfortunately they’re not making the decisions right now. And it is a tragedy because Arabs historically are a hardworking, brave, disciplined people across much of what we know as civilization and the world. If they could work together with the Israelis and try to create a unit, from Egypt into Lebanon and Jordan, of hardworking Jews and Arabs working together, they could create one of the economic powerhouses of the world and live together peacefully. It’s heartbreaking that the voices of hate have taken over from the voices of peace and prosperity … And as a Jew, to see Jews being killed because they are Jews so soon after the Holocaust is just maddening beyond words. I would have thought as a young person that nothing like that could ever happen again. But it’s happening, and it’s just horrifying. Now I wish that the voices of peace and reason would predominate, but it’s so long away from that.
