The James Altucher Show

I wish they'd send Joan to space. She's a real writer... who wrote about true things. I want her to describe the feeling and the wonderment of what life would be like. But they don't send writers to space. Only scientists (for now). Joan Didion pioneered a new genre in writing: "creative nonfiction." Before her, storytelling and nonfiction never touched. They were separate. She's one of my all time favorite writers. And I spoke to her nephew, Griffin Dunne, a filmmaker, director, producer, actor... And now, he's a documentarian. "Every family has it's tragedy," I said. "But not everybody dives into that tragedy decades later to re-explore it." The documentary is about his aunt Joan Didion. "Was it painful for you to go through every piece of tragedy in your life?" I asked. You don't usually see directors or documentary makers making a movie about somebody so personally close to them. "I think she knows that I love the people that we lost," Griffin said. "We're the last two standing in the family. I think when

It's Scott's 3rd time on the podcast. In the first interview, he was "the creator of Dilbert." A famous cartoonist. The second time he was still "the creator of Dilbert" and a hypnosis/persuasion student. Now (appearance #3), Scott Adams is something new. He's reinvented. And no longer standing on the footbridge between old self and new self. He's the author of "Win Bigly: Persuasion in a World Where Facts Don't Matter" and infamous for predicting Trump's win... two years before election day. His prediction was spot on. Before Trump raced Hillary. Before he beat Ted Cruz in the primaries. And before he beat 18 other "more experienced" Republican candidates (Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, Chris Christie, Ben Carson, and the ones who's names I can't remember.) Scott could name each persuasion trick Trump was using. His tone, the stories he told, the way he made you remember him, his thoughts, plans, policies, tweets. And how he's still doing it to us today. I wanted to know how he knew. But I also wanted to know how he

He was trying out a role built for him. The screenwriter wrote the script with John in mind. He wrote his name in the margin. "A John McGinley type." "Did that give you high confidence?" I asked him. "No, they made me audition 5 times for a John McGinley type!" So I wanted to know how he landed so many incredible roles. He told me the secret. We either poison ourselves. Or we thrive. It's our choice. We make it every day. And usually one is our habit. "Actors usually bring one of two things with them into a room," he said. "They usually either bring in 'pigpen,' which is this cloud of dust." He gave me an example: You walk into an audition or an interview. You say, 'My aunt died in Philadelphia last night so I had to take the train down there and I never got a chance to look at your script/proposal/offer."? ?That's pigpen. And you're out before you gave anyone the chance to give you a chance. ? I asked John why people do that. Why do we pick poison?? "Fear. We're afraid. We're afraid of our own shadows. Som

Bill Cartwright and I have nothing in common. He's from the west coast and I'm from the east coast. He's 7'1" and I'm not. When Bill got drafted to the NBA, they called him "Moses". He held every important basketball title in high school AND college. But being tall and having talent are two very different things. I wanted to know the evolution of becoming a peak performer. So I asked him, "What made you want to be good?" It was obvious he was working really hard from a young age. So what was that driving force that pushed him over the edge? "Everybody wants to be good at something," he said, "In sports everybody wants to be a good shooter. Or a great player. There are thousands of people who want to do that. So what's going to separate them?  Time.  The time you're willing to put in. It's the sacrifices you're willing to make." Then he told me his WHY.  "I liked it," he said. Thanks for reading! Make sure to check out the show notes here: https://jamesaltucher.com/2017/11/bill-cartwright/ And don't forget to

Before Sheila Nevins, no one cared about our human stories. "I felt that there could be performance in every man, that every man could perform his life or his situation or his trauma or his successes or his failure," Sheila said. She's a 26 Academy Award winning HBO producer. She birthed the modern documentary. 1,700 of them in total. "I think everyone has something to offer," Sheila said. But not everyone realizes it. "Sometimes you're so embittered by life that you never can tell your story," she said. "I think in the best of all worlds everybody would respect their own story. They would feel that their life was worthy... that they had done the best they could... that they were the victim either of circumstance or the recipient of good luck." She sees people as picture. To Sheila, all life is either film uncaptured or captured. "I walked home last night," she said. "There were a lot of bag people out. Madison Avenue... pretty ritzy block. Fancy stores and a guy collecting cans. No one who threw that can in

Was Lewis Howes a bully? Is it possible? He set up the situation: When you're young, you're told to be kind, open, loving, helpful and generous. When you stand up to the bullies for treating someone badly, what happens? They shove you in a locker. Your mindset changes. And then you realize... maybe it doesn't feel good to be open, kind and generous. So we put on these masks. We try to fit in. We try to protect ourselves. Lewis walked me through the masks: The athletic mask The material mask The sexual mask The know it all mask (and so on.) He writes about each one in his new book, "The Mask of Masculinity: How Men Can Embrace Vulnerability, Create Strong Relationships, and Live Their Fullest Lives." And he gives a real-life example for each mask. I'm in the book. He put me in as the example for the "know it all mask." So I asked him, "Why did include me in your book?" "Well, as I was writing it, I was trying to think of examples of men in my life who are a good representation of these masks," he said. "For ex

Dan Lyons is kind of infamous. He was a journalist who loved his job and got fired when he was 52. "I loved what I did," he said. And that's rare. "I loved meeting people, talking to them, interviewing them, trying to figure out what's a good story."   And then it was taken away from him. I feel like 52 would be the worst time to get fired. He moved to San Francisco and got a job at Hubspot, which lead to his book, "Disrupted." He exposes the company. And exposes Silicon Valley.   And then the TV writers for "Silicon Valley" invited him to write for their show. I wanted to know all about it. What's it like on set? How much input did you give? And did they take? And then what happened when you went back to your job at Hubspot?   That's sort of where Dan's story begins. Because as he shares in his book, "Disrupted" they started to push him out. Like high school kids bullying a kid out of their clique.   I wanted to know how he survived. How he coped... And how he got back with his bestselling book. ------------

"[President Obama] knew who I was, but he knew who a lot of people were," David Litt, a former speechwriter for the president, told me in this podcast. He wrote speeches for the president. Now he writes for "Funny or Die". And before the White House, David wrote for "The Onion". His style is satirical, humorous and self-deprecating. When Obama made you laugh, there's a chance it was really David Litt. So I asked him, "What's the funniest thing you wrote that you were happy the president said?" "Oh man, it doesn't sound that funny when I say it, but, it got at a truth about politics that we probably could have expressed otherwise," he said. The joke was told at the 2013 Correspondents dinner. Obama said, 'I know Republicans are still sorting out what happened in 2012, but one thing they all agree on is they need to do a better job reaching out to minorities. And look, call me self-centered, but I can think of one minority they could start with." Humor helps us tell the truth. And it helps us remember the truth

Sir Richard Branson. End of notes. Enjoy. Just kidding. The advice from Richard is priceless. He's a self-made billionaire (BILLION!) who windsurfed across the English Channel with his kids, biked from Northern Italy to Southern italy with his whole family (they rode 100 miles a day). He's active everyday. Active in life, active in fatherhood, active in business. "My slogan is 'Screw it, just do it.' Why not just try these things? You may fall flat on your face," he said, "but you'll have fun." That's part of "find your virginity." (The slogan based on his new book "Finding My Virginity: The New Autobiography") Then he told me how he applies this to Virgin, the multi-billion dollar empire he started on a whim... "A business is simply coming up with an idea that's going to make people's lives better," he said. That's why he's been in business for over 50 years. "If I hadn't reinvented myself I wouldn't be in business," he said. "And if I see a situation where people's lives are not as good as they could be, we

I've never been a vampire. But Kellan has. He got his big break in "Twilight." This was an epic. Five movies back to back. It was a supernatural role in this made up fantasy world. And that's where he found his freedom. "With Sci-Fi, you have this freedom to create whatever world, whatever rules, you want. There's nothing tell you what you can and cannot do," he said. "We're playing these vampires that don't breathe, don't eat, so trying to portray human qualities was interesting." But now he's done with that series. He's taking on more challenging characters. And contributing his fame to charities he cares about deeply. He came to New York to support the Geoffrey Beene Foundation. (He's the brand ambassador for them). They had an event in New York, "Frame This Revelation." It's aimed "to uncovers the truth of cancer's ruthless and vicious assault by showcasing the work of artists who are battling this insidious disease - either for themselves or their loved ones." The campaign is raising awareness for new c

He thought he was going to be one of the lucky ones. "I knew statistically... and intellectually that every once in awhile an artist has a hit song. And they're lucky... they're even luckier if they get two. I felt like, I was different. My first song was a hit," he said. "So I thought all all of mine will be hits..." But he was wrong. "Each song I put out after that was progressively less and less popular. And I became progressively less and less popular, until I was left alone in a million dollar house in LA with an empty schedule and nothing to do," Mike told me. He felt pathetic. And need to escape. He realized fame wasn't the "magic bullet." So he set out to find it. And his comeback story began... This podcast is that story. Make sure to read the full show notes here: https://jamesaltucher.com/2017/10/mike-posner/ And don't forget to subscribe to "The James Altucher Show" on Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcasts! ------------What do YOU think of the show? Head to JamesAltucherShow.com/lis

Playboy wasn't part of the plan. "It wasn't on my list of things to do in life," Amanda said. "What did you want to do?" I said. "Acting." But everyone told her "no." They told her "You're branded as a playmate, so that's what you are." She could've given up. She didn't. "One person says "no," then another person says "no"... but eventually, there's that one person who believes in you and that can be yourself." In this interview, Amanda tells me her secrets to becoming a social media influencer and the actor she's always wanted to be. She taught me how you can choose yourself.  You can read my show notes here: https://jamesaltucher.com/2017/10/amanda-cerny/ And don't forget to subscribe to "The James Altucher Show" on Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcasts!  ------------What do YOU think of the show? Head to JamesAltucherShow.com/listeners and fill out a short survey that will help us better tailor the podcast to our audience!Are you interested in getting direct answers from James about you

The FBI went to his high school when the 15-year-old Mr. X hacked into the largest Internet company in the world and stole 90 million credit card numbers.  "You are going to jail for a long time," they told him.  The day after he stole them he sent them back to the company and explained what their cybersecurity flaws were.  He thought they would thank him.  The FBI came to arrest him. "I was scared to death," he told me when we first met.  The head of the school, a three-star general, told them, "You guys better get out of here if you aren't writing this boy a check and saying thank you."  They left.  Then.  Two years later when Mr. X graduated he got "the call". The call that meant he wouldn't go to college.  The call that meant he would parachute into enemy fire, hack foreign governments, hack our own computers. "I've done so many things," he once told me. "You can't imagine."  The call from a three initial agency. More than one.  We met at a dinner. We were both obsessed with hacking and the lat

"Everyone has their own talent," Erika said. "And my talent is expressing through writing songs and from singing them." She wrote "Despacito" - the fastest song to hit 3 billion downloads in the history of music. Now it's past 4 billion. That's half the planet.  I asked how she did it. "Let's say I want to write a song that gets 4 billion views," I said. "What should my first few steps be?" "You know what..." she said. "I don't think about the numbers. I think the main thing is for you to connect with the world." She has a beautiful way of thinking. And it bleeds into her art. Often, my mind is full of fears and it clouds my creativity. So I asked if she's afraid of losing. Or not topping herself. What if "Despacito" was it? Her peak?  "Everyone asks me that," she said. "People are always asking, 'Do you feel pressure? What are you going to do next?' And I say, "You know what... this is such a gift. I'm not putting any pressure on myself because I think doing that is seeing life from the ego eyes. I'm not t

Comedy is brutal. If the audience doesn't know you, they WILL judge you. That's true for most things (you can't walk down the sidewalk in New York City without being judged at least a hundred times). Bonnie said you have to know your audience. I wondered "how though?" I gave an example, "Okay so do you try to figure out how old the audience is, what gender they are, sexual orientation, race, how much they drank or didn't drink, etc.?" "No, I usually just think, 'Okay, blue collar, I'll do my marriage stuff." It was that easy. That's professionalism. That's professional judgement. That's comedy. And the path to likability. Bonnie has a joke about using the GPS. "In Brooklyn I'm not going to do driving material. I have a really funny GPS joke that I can't do in the city because nobody drives. "I'm so immature about it," she said. She makes fun of the audience... They didn't ALWAYS live in the city. "Sometimes it irritates me. I'm like I know you understand what GPS is, if you saw this in a movie you'd get

AJ's about to launch a TV show. A few months ago he started a podcast. He's 49 years old. And it all started because he decided to write a book on a weird idea he had. "I wonder what it would be like to live the Bible." It's especially weird if you consider the fact that he's Jewish. AJ is a living example that anyone at age 49 could've decided to do this idea. Anyone at ANY age could've done this idea. He told me to be curious about everything. "Even things you're not curious about." That didn't make sense to me. How do you do that?  "Read books you don't think are interesting," he said. Explore new podcasts, watch old movies. Then observe yourself. One of the original Saturday Night Live writers, Alan Zweibel, said you need to have two heads. "The head that's having an experience and the head that's observing." That's how you find your next big idea or small step forward in your life. You peel back the layers crusted on top of yourself. You dig into fresh layers and discover something new. AJ calls is "Fun-

"If you do not do what you love, that's on you," Gary said. Years ago, no one believed you could choose yourself. You needed gatekeepers. Now we have YouTube, Instagram. "Now it's the standard," Gary said. If you cut out all the reason why you can't do something, then you cut out all the infrastructural and financial problems stopping you. "The only thing left is your f-cking head." Gary set up this example (and this podcast is full of them):   Pokemon. Imagine this is your passion. First, you blog. Then it becomes a video blog. Then a podcast. "Let's say you become the foremost Pokemon gal, 'Sally the Pokemon Gal.' You're owning it. You go to Comic-Con, you get random sponsorships on your blog. You're getting by. And then, Pokemon-GO comes out. Now you're on CNN and FOX. You're getting paid $5,000 to give a talk. The world has just walked in to you." That's key. "Everybody who's listening right now is looking for trends. They're trying to walk to where the world is now and by the time they get there, the wor

"Life is inherently risky. We make up all of these rules in life about what's gonna keep us safe," Amy Morin told me. She's the author "13 Things Mentally Strong People Don't Do." It was originally just a list she wrote for herself. Her husband died suddenly. Just after the three-year anniversary of her mom's death. "I thought my mission in life was to teach people how to be mentally strong, and I didn't realize how much I was going to need mental strength," she said. This podcast teaches you the skills to become mentally strong. To practice every day.  Make sure to read the full show notes here: https://jamesaltucher.com/2017/10/amy-morin/ And don't forget to subscribe to "The James Altucher Show" on Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcasts! ------------What do YOU think of the show? Head to JamesAltucherShow.com/listeners and fill out a short survey that will help us better tailor the podcast to our audience!Are you interested in getting direct answers from James about your question on a po

To me, Nancy Cartwright is the most unknown famous person. She's the voice of Bart Simpson. "When I went in for "The Simpsons", the audition pieces of Bart and Lisa were sitting right next to each other. Hers said 8-year-old middle child. His a ten-year-old, school-hating underachiever, and proud of it." Nancy's instict kicked in. "I'm like 'Oh bam bam that's it.'" She tried out for Bart. And got it. Her whole career is based off of instinct. "I read this book about writing and producing," she said. "It was an awesome book written a number of years ago. It said, 'Ride the horse in the direction that it's going.'" Her career as a voice actor became real acting and she landed roles in "Cheers," "Richie Rich," "Twilight Zone." Now she has her own production company, "Spotted Cow." ANd just released "In Search of Fellini," a beautiful film about her search for the most influential artist in her heart. "This film was probably 75-85 percent true," she said. "It's mostly true." In this podcast, Nancy tells us how sh

"Life is tough...and it's also miraculous." T-Boz and TLC sold 70 million albums, becoming the bestselling girl band ever in America. Along the way they declared bankruptcy, she battled sickle-cell anemia, the death of one of their bandmates and best friends, a brain tumor, everything. She's 47 today and beat two life sentences the doctors declared on her. People say, "Well, she sold 70 million albums! That's success!" When you do your absolute best today, even though you know tomorrow everything can change - that's success. I had T-Boz on the podcast to celebrate the release of her new memoir, "A Sick Life" which I highly recommend. REINVENTION IS EVERY DAY TLC sold 70 million albums and is the #1 selling girl band in America. But to stay creative, T-Boz and her bandmates, Left-eye, and Chili had to constantly develop music that stayed fresh and relevant. 15 years after they started, they released their 5th album REMEMBERING THE ABOVE I always say "Reinvention is every day" ever since my book, "Reinvent Your