The Comeback Chronicles Podcast

E! Entertainment Larry Namer's Remarkable Journey from Brooklyn to Media Mogul

• Terry L. Fossum

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This episode features an in-depth interview with Larry Namer, the visionary creator of E! Entertainment Television. Namer shares his remarkable story, from growing up in the rough Coney Island neighborhood of Brooklyn to becoming one of the most sought-after media pioneers in the world. Listeners will be inspired by Namer's perseverance, creativity, and unconventional path to success, as he shares valuable lessons on embracing the future, staying true to yourself, and finding happiness in life's journey.

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Voice Over:

If you've been stuck in fear, self-doubt, your past failures and you're ready to break through your comfort zones to finally reach the pinnacle of success in every area of your life, then this podcast is for you. Here's your host, Terry L Fossum.

Terry L. Fossum:

Hey, this is Terry L Fossum and welcome back to the Comeback Chronicles podcast. My guest today is Larry Namer. Larry created E Entertainment TV. He created names like Howard Stern and the Kardashians. He became the single most sought-after media visionary across the United States, canada, russia, china, pretty much everywhere. He didn't rub shoulders with the stars, they rubbed shoulders with him. He's the author of an amazing new book, offscript Recipes for Success. Very much recommend it. But that's not the way it always was. His story began in Coney Island, brooklyn back when it was a seriously rough, impoverished area, not a nice place necessarily to hang out. So you can imagine he had a lot of serious setbacks, numerous disappointments, sometimes some very dangerous situations. Here to tell you about his amazing journey and help you through your own, larry Namer, thank you so much for coming on to the show, terry. Good Thanks for having me. So you got a job as an assistant underground cable splicer. You went from that to everything else you've done. Talk to us from there.

Larry Namer:

Sure, you know family. You know we grew up in Coney Island. We didn't, we didn't know it was the hood growing up because we thought that's the way everybody lived and stuff like that. And Coney, you know, while Brooklyn has become very trendy, brooklyn, coney Island still hasn't been gentrified yet. So it's still a hood.

Larry Namer:

But you know, my parents' aspiration for their children was get a civil service job and be able to retire with security at 65 and do all of that. But for whatever reason I didn't pay attention. So I was the first kid to go to college. I graduated with a degree in economics and then quickly realized there weren't a lot of jobs for people with degrees in economics. So I took what I thought was going to be a kind of a temporary summer job. I got a job for this company called Sterling Manhattan Cable, at a time when nobody knew what cable was. But somebody we knew was in the electrician's union and they said we organized this thing, cable TV. We doubt whether anybody will ever pay for TV, but here, go see them and tell them the union sent you. So I went and they gave me a job literally as an assistant underground splicer. I wasn't even the splicer and you know it was $90 a week, um, and stuff. But I very quickly learned to use all the equipment and they were like amazed, going, hey kid, how did you learn how to use the equipment in just a week when it takes everybody else a year? And I was like, well, I read the instruction booklet, you know. I mean it wasn't rocket science. So I, I did that and then I became from the assistant splicer, I became the splicer and then I moved into construction and then service and installation and stuff.

Larry Namer:

And then what happened was Time Incorporated, which was then before Time Warner, basically was a publishing company. And they made a decision they want, you know, over 10 years, migrate from being publishing to being media. And so they bought this company. And here you had all the Harvard and the Yaleys trying to figure out like what is it those guys do when they go onto the streets every day? And you know, somebody in HR said wait a second, there's a guy with an economics degree, that's you know, and that does that and stuff. So I kind of became a translator, you know, for the two different worlds. And then, you know, they just kept saying to me, larry, we want you to come into management and I'm like no, I like my secure union job. And then finally, you know, they made me the offer I couldn't refuse. So I went into management and I think I was 25 when I became the director of operations for Manhattan Cable.

Terry L. Fossum:

So let's jump back real quick. 25, you became the director of ops. What were you doing, man? I mean, you're moving up the chain really quickly. What do you think it was? I mean, you're a smart guy. We got you know that's a given right and you'd read the instructions, but what do you think separated you from everybody else?

Larry Namer:

Well, I mean number one, having the educational background, but number two, you know, really coming from. You know this family of immigrant stock and we were working since I'm 12. Dad drove a Pepsi Cola truck and delivered soda to restaurants and supermarkets, and mom worked for Department of Social Services and literally was working since I'm 12. Kids and mom worked for department of social services and literally was working since I'm 12, you know, and if I would have weekends off or summers off, my dad wasn't letting me just sit around. Um, so it was a lot of work, ethic related stuff and and just this, for whatever reason, is thirst for knowledge. So I kept reading everything you know and even though I was more on the technical side of cable, I was like reading everything you know. And even though I was more on the technical side of cable, I was like reading everything and watching everything and trying to learn programming and finance, and you know government relations and you know all of those kind of things and why?

Terry L. Fossum:

why do you think I mean you're curious, but I mean work ethic is fantastic. That's one of the most important things of everything, but the curiosity. Why do you think you're doing all this man?

Larry Namer:

You know, that's the one we can't figure out, you know and people laugh at this when I say it, but I think it's a little bit true when I was one year old, my mother dropped me on my head literally, you know. She put me on the kitchen table to change my clothes and the phone rang and she went hey, stay there. And I literally fell off the table and broke my arm and my head and stuff like that. But there's no logical explanation for it. But you know one of the interesting things that I've learned over time. So I ended up going to this high school in Brooklyn called Abraham Lincoln High School, which really served lower lower class and middle lower class and upper lower class as a public school. Nothing stood out, but to this day there are more Nobel Prize winners that have come from this high school than any other high school in America.

Larry Namer:

There's so much to unpack in that statement right there, man Isn't that fantastic yeah it's like third in the world, first in the US and still, and then it's turned out a disproportionate number of NBA players at the same time. I mean, I think like number seven high school in America turning out NBA professional basketball players, which is really a dichotomy. I mean, you know, from the educational side to the athletic side. But there was just something about growing up in that neighborhood and that environment that made us all strivers. We were all typically children of immigrants who were dedicated to seeing that their kids will have a better life than they had, even if they had to beat it into us. Yeah, yeah, yeah, and sometimes they did.

Terry L. Fossum:

Well, you know, I'm always looking for lessons to share with the audience, obviously, and I'm hearing several Number one doesn't matter where you come from. You know to hear those kind of statistics is amazing, so don't use that as an excuse. Work harder than everybody else which is what I did in the military and then be curious, learn more than you have to.

Larry Namer:

Yeah, yeah, I mean I still. You know people say well, how do you come up with all these crazy ideas? I probably still read 50 magazines a month Now. I read them on my iPad. I don't read them in hard copy. I probably read four books a month.

Terry L. Fossum:

What kind of books, what kind of magazines?

Larry Namer:

Everything from things business related to. I read stuff on knitting and sewing and guns and ammo and stuff like that, even though I'm not into those. I just want to understand what people who are into them like what goes through their mind. What is it that interests them? Because that helps me. You know, if I'm programming something is to understand who I'm programming to makes a huge difference.

Terry L. Fossum:

Fascinating and, of course, cooking shows. I know that's right.

Larry Namer:

Oh yeah, oh yeah.

Terry L. Fossum:

We'll get into that near to the end of the uh the podcast for sure, because I'm going to be. I told my son today we're going to be doing some of those recipes. So what gave what gave you? The question was going to be what gave you the dream to do what you did from where you came from? But it's almost like you just got to work. You, you put your nose to the grindstone, learned everything you could and just kept doing it.

Larry Namer:

Yeah, well, you know what happened was. So here I was director of operations in Manhattan, 25 years old, 300-something people reporting to me, most of which were older, which created an interesting situation. But what happened was, all of a sudden big cities began to realize that cable was more than just good reception and they all wanted cable in their cities, but most of them, you know, up until then cable was basically rural, it was on telephone poles or whatever. But big cities didn't want unsightly wires running on telephone poles because most of them didn't have poles anymore and they wanted everything to go underground. So there was a Canadian company that won the franchise for los angeles, the san fernando valley, and it was going to be the the first two-way interactive 61 channel cable system in the country. And um or they had to go underground.

Larry Namer:

So the canadian company that won tried to recruit me to come out there and I was like no, I'm not doing that. I said I'm, you know, a Brooklyn kid. I don't, you know, I'm not going to La La Land. And finally they made me an offer. I couldn't refuse. And when they finally said to me, they said well, what would it take to get you to move? I basically named four times my salary. I used to see on the front of entertainment tonight. They used to show Liberace's house with the piano shaped swimming pool. I said I want you to rent that house for me. It was even before cell phones. I said I want a car with a mobile phone, on and on and on, and they just told me you're out of your mind. But then they finally came back and said what you asked for is crazy, but okay. And then I hadn't put my mouth. I had no choice but to do it. But you know, I come out to California and there are very few cities of size in America that are dedicated to a single industry. I mean we have. Detroit is the automotive industry, la is all about media and entertainment. I mean, it's just that, and you know. So here you are a Brooklyn kid and all your friends and neighbors are going to parties and premieres and doing all of that.

Larry Namer:

So I called up the studios and I said, hey, put me on those lists. And they went oh, you're like the gas company, you're a utility. No, we're not putting you on the list. And then finally I ended up getting someone in marketing I think it was Paramount and Universal, I'm sorry. And I said, hey, you know, the most effective marketing vehicle that you have is the two-minute movie trailer. I said but yet I only see the movie trailer when I'm in the movies. I said isn't that backwards? Don't you want me to see that when I'm in my house, to make me want to go to the movies? And they said, yeah, but we can't afford it. They go okay, tell you what. You give me those movie trailers, I'll put them on TV for free. You put me on those lists and they said, yeah, sure, we'll do that.

Larry Namer:

So you know, I hired a kid to edit them together and you know we made a loop and but we started doing surveys, audience surveys. What's your favorite channel? You know people go, oh, I love cnn, I love mtv, I love that trailer channel and I'm going wait a second. I mean, I get the best two minutes of a 50 million dollar movie. Then movies are only 50 and people love it. And I just filed it in the back of my head.

Larry Namer:

But then what happened was the company that I worked for sold out and they were going back to Canada. And they were like, all right, larry, you're going to join us in Toronto, right? And I'm like no, I said I'm done with cold. I said I didn't go from New York to LA to go live in Toronto and so I stayed there and my friend Alan and I were kicking around. We said we've got to come up with ideas to keep me in LA. I said I don't want to go back to Brooklyn and I don't want to go to Toronto. Alan goes well, you know I've been playing around with this idea. You know MTV and the movies. And I said wait a second. I said at that time MTV actually showed music videos and they would stand a host in front of a green screen and go and Madonna has a new video. I said I could get these movie trailers and we could stand a host in front of a green screen and go and Schwarzenegger has a new movie. Yeah, and it's essentially the same arm movement.

Larry Namer:

So we thought we were really smart. We wrote a business plan and you know by that we were talking about becoming, uh, entertainment tonight 24 hours a day, because if you follow the model that you know, you just have the news on at six o'clock and 11 o'clock at night. And then cnn came along and it was news 24 hours a day and the svm sports 24 hours a day and the weather channel 24 hours a day. We said, why not? You know hollywood entertainment 24 hours a day. And so we wrote the plan. We thought we were really smart and at that time the cost of starting a TV network was somewhere between $60 and $100 million. Three and a half years of not raising one dime. And people you know people always say you know, people don't start TV networks, only big media companies start TV networks. What you're doing is an interesting idea, but you're not Rupert Murdoch and you're not Time Warner and you can't do it.

Terry L. Fossum:

But then, finally, we met a guy I want to jump in real quick on there too, man, because that's again fantastic. First of all, two and a half years Is that what you said? Two and a half years, Three and a half years, three and a half, three, three and a half years of getting shut down. Three and a half years, no, no, no. Door slammed in your face. You got nosebleeds, you got people telling you you're not good enough, you're not rupert murdoch, you're not good enough, you're not smart enough, you're not the guy. And yet what kept you going? You're going.

Larry Namer:

No, no, I am the guy, and this is the idea I, you know some people call it stupidity or naivete, but we just knew it made all the sense in the world. I mean, if you really looked at cable world back then, we said cable is an electronic newspaper, you know. That's where we went from the print newspaper to the electronic newspaper. We said, ok, cnn is the headline pages, espn is the sports you got the Weather Channel. Espn is the sports, you got the Weather Channel.

Larry Namer:

We said what's conspicuously absent is the second most read part of every Sunday newspaper and that was the entertainment pages. So we knew we were on it. We said, you know, and plus, it's one of the few subject matters that we said traveled locally. People around the world love Hollywood and love Hollywood celebrities and you know. So you know, if you're the Weather Channel, nobody cares about the weather in any place. But where they live News people tend to. You know they don't care about the news in London, they care about the news in the United States. We said this is a subject that everybody wants to know more about celebrities and what's happening in the media world.

Terry L. Fossum:

So you believed in the project more than you believed in their opinion.

Larry Namer:

Yeah, absolutely. You know. We just realized that. One of the things when you tell people something and this has stuck with me forever when you have to start your conversation with, just imagine you've lost them, they're gone. People don't, you know, know they can't imagine they don't have what you've got. You know well whether my mother dropped me on my head or something else.

Larry Namer:

There's something that goes on in the brain that the people don't relate to yeah, yeah so, um, so you know, finally, after three and a half years and over 100 pitch meetings, I mean we were rejected over 100 times. 100 times the first investor we ever got who put a little bit of money in, who committed. We had this meeting and we were waiting in the conference room and the guy was like an hour late to come in and we were just sitting there like it was just going how rude is this? And he just sat there. The guy comes in the room with the business plan in his hand and then you had to print out business plans. It was, you know, not electronic. I mean, this is a 200 page document, spiral, bound and whatever. And he just looks at us and he goes who was the one who had the nerve to send me this piece of garbage? Oh my god. And I I went.

Larry Namer:

Uh, he takes the plan and throws it at my head larry, that's amazing that's amazing and, being a brooklyn kid, I go okay, this guy obviously is not inventing, but nobody throws business plans at my head. So we just went 15 minutes back and forth. You know this is garbage, you know that. How are you going to do that? How would you do that? Why would you give me something like this and that? And we just went back and forth, back and forth. And then he he just looked at us and we had an investment banker with us at the time and he just said you know, I love it, I'm in.

Terry L. Fossum:

And he walks out of the room but you didn't take the no, you didn't take him derating you and your plan and throwing it across the table. This crap and all this you fought back. You believe again, you believed in your cause, you believed in it.

Larry Namer:

Yeah, that that was. So. That was kind of the start. And then once we had one, and you know, we managed. So after three and a half years we we ended up putting together a small little group led by this investment bank and um, uh, you know, and they said, well, we're only able to put together two and a half million dollars. And we were like, no, we were hoping for the hundred million, but minimum is 60. And the guy said, well, we're only allowed to sign for two and a half. So I'm like, what am I going to do with two and a half? And finally Alan and I just looked at each other and said, you know what? Yeah, we'll do it. Two and a half million. We took the two and a half million.

Larry Namer:

I had a friend that was teaching radio, television film at University of Texas in Austin and I called him up and said, brian, do you have kids that need intern jobs? And he said, yeah, we had trouble placing them. So I said, send me, send me them all. So he literally sent us 31 interns from UT, texas radio television film program and, um, and people don't realize, because he is a monster, today he is, in 142 countries, arguably the biggest influence of pop culture in the world, and so people think it came from some big company and stuff. But no, it was 11 employees and 31 interns.

Terry L. Fossum:

I love it. Well, you made it happen. You didn't. Oh, we can't do it, then Two and a half isn't going to do it. No, no, no, you made it. You found a way. There's always a way. Yep, that we did. So you've got some recipes for success that you put in your book and I'd love to talk about some of those, because some of them, I thought, hit well. They all hit home really well. Some of them really hit me big time and that I really wanted the audience to make sure and hear those especially like don't let yesterday take up too much of today. Can you talk more about that?

Larry Namer:

yeah, I mean I've always been you know person. I mean I have a lot of friends that are still stuck on 80s music. I'm always, for whatever reason, saying I don't really. I mean I could appreciate what was and I could learn from what was, but I want to know what's next. I don't want to be what was, I want to be what will be. You know everything I could possibly study, and particularly new technology and how all this new technology fundamentally changes the business of media. Um, I mean now we're into nfts and crypto and blockchain and all of that stuff. It's not here today, but it's going to be whether we like it or not. Technology marches on everybody.

Larry Namer:

Everybody's so worried about AI and I'm going this is one of the greatest tools for a creator that's out there. I mean, in the example I give, like if you were to say to me, larry, could you design a TV series about spoons Not that it would ever hold up, but it would take me five days of doing the research and writing it up and going what are the episodes and you know what's the financial forecast and stuff. But now I mean I've been using AI literally from even before GBT and for what used to take me five days. I put it in, it takes me 30 seconds and then I got to clean it up. It's never 100%, so in one hour I'm getting done what used to take me five days. And I try to explain to people I go.

Larry Namer:

How do you not love this? I mean, we're all basically human beings, you know, with some deviation. We all have the same amount of time on this planet and the most valuable thing we have is our time. I said so. I could take those. I could either do more of these kinds of projects and make more money, or I could spend more time with my little grandkid, or I could learn how to speak Spanish, or I could go on a cruise. I've reclaimed the most valuable thing that we as human beings have and that's our time.

Larry Namer:

And how do you not love it? I mean, if you go back and you look at, you know, late 1800s, you know horse ranchers were not real happy when henry ford decided to build cars, you know, and they were like, no, we're not going to let that happen. We're not going to let that happen. And I say to people I go, look out the window and tell me how many cars you see versus how many horse and buggies. I said, technology marches on, whether you like it or not. Yes, there are opportunity for bad people to do bad things and you need to put in those safeguards that at least provide a deterrent. But how do you not love something that's an incredibly valuable tool? I mean even now with the book, which is interesting.

Larry Namer:

I've never written a book before. I knew nothing about book marketing, but I know how to use AI really well, and so we launched the book and in three days we were bestseller in four different categories, and the entire social media program was designed by ChatGBT4. Just wrote everything, separated out the potential audiences and stuff, and we hit. We were in the top 1% of sales literally three days after we launched the book.

Terry L. Fossum:

I love it and I extrapolated the. Don't let yesterday take too much of today, not just from the technology standpoint and the advancement of many industries, but also for ourselves. Too often we get stuck in our past and bad things that have happened to us and we keep muddling in the mass of mediocrity and just can't let go of that stuff. Nah, you know what. It's time to let it go. Don't let it take up too much of today.

Larry Namer:

Yeah, no, we totally agree. I mean, what happened in the past happened in the past and we can't change that. We can impact what's going to be in front of us and another one I really wanted to hit on again.

Terry L. Fossum:

I love so many of them. Let yourself be who you really are. Yeah, talk to that man. Talk to that. You know I've got.

Larry Namer:

You know, I've done a lot of stuff in the fashion world. I mean, we're really the first ones and people never realized because it was fairly subtle. We looked at the entertainment world not being film, not being television, not being music, but really being all of those. We said music is part of it, fashion is part of it, film is part, television is part, and I did a lot of fashion shows. You know, in E we did fashion and police and we were the first ones on the runway to ask people about what they're wearing, versus, like, what their next project is, because we knew that was much more interesting to people. And you know I mean, so you know we did that and we just kept, you know, reinventing the things that were. You know, given people that this is the way you do it, we just said, no, that's, that's the wrong way to do it. And you know we turned out to be right.

Terry L. Fossum:

You know, on most of that stuff, Well, if you keep following the crowd, you're going to be in the crowd. You've got to get away from the crowd. Yeah, but also with the let yourself, be who you really are. A lot of us, me included, a lot of times we don't want to show who we really are. When I get around, I'm a scout, I'm a scout leader. When I get around the kids, I'm goofy, I'm energetic, I'm jumping up and down, screaming and yelling, and a lot of times you get into a professional environment. Well, you don't want to show that you're a real person. Be who you really are. Be a real person. Does that make sense?

Larry Namer:

Yeah, and that's absolutely true, but I think it was like being very intimately involved with the fashion world. The fashion world is fairly heavily gay or whatever, and we found the most well-adjusted people were, you know, regardless, gay, straight, whatever were people who just accepted who they were and were not afraid to be that person. Yeah, and those are the most fun people to be around.

Terry L. Fossum:

they had the less issues yeah, yeah, and I did a little bit of acting and in there in those classes I touched. Be yourself. You are good enough as you are and I want the listeners to understand that Be yourself. You are good enough in whatever you're doing. If they don't like it, you got the wrong crowd. You got the wrong people. Go around the people that can accept you as your true self, because that's going to be your true friends. Okay, the most important thing in life is to be happy. The next one, talk. Here you are. I mean, you're doing pretty well financially. You've done some amazing things right, but you're saying the most important thing in the world is to be happy. Talk about that, please.

Larry Namer:

Yeah, I think that's what we all ultimately strive for. Well, no matter where we are, no matter what country I go to, 80% of what people feel inside they're just common goals. I mean we strive for happiness, for security, you know, for well-being of our families and our kids and stuff like that. And I used to have this debate with my mom all the time because my daughter was as she was getting a little bit older and she'd go out with a guy. My mom would say, you know she was getting a little bit older and she'd go out with a guy. My mom would say, you know, it was Nicole Sirius with the guy. I go, what do you mean, sirius? I mean they like each other, they're good and she'd go. Well, are they going to get married? And I just said, you know what?

Larry Namer:

My wishes for my children are not to be married. My wish for my children is to be happy. If being married is part of it, that's great. But if it's not part of it, that's great too. If the kids are happy or I'm happy, that's really what we need to be Like. I've been single in LA for God knows how long now and people say, well, don't you feel bad that you're alone and I'm going. No, I'm not alone, I'm really happy with me.

Terry L. Fossum:

Yeah, yeah. Well, I told my boy I married into three teenage and preteen boys and I told him as they grew up look, I don't care if you're famous or unknown, rich or poor, those things don't matter to me, they're not important. I demand you're honorable. You will be honorable, and I want you to be happy, whatever that means for you. And being happy means a different thing for different people, doesn't it? Yeah, absolutely. And being happy means a different thing for different people, doesn't it?

Larry Namer:

Yeah, absolutely. I think we all have the right to follow our path to what makes us happy and sometimes, you know, you may not agree with it. Like I say, from the fashion world, I made friends with a lot of people who are part of the LBGQI plus community and stuff and you know, I realized that, realized that you know, other than sexual orientation, I mean, we're basically the same. We're all looking to be ourselves and we're all looking to be happy it, and that's any country you're in, no matter what the culture is.

Terry L. Fossum:

There's cultural differences, but everybody feels the same way, don't they?

Larry Namer:

yeah, like I say well, no matter. People ask how have you been successful? I had the number one TV show in Russia for 10 years in Russian. I had the number one comedy in China in Mandarin. It has to do with upbringing. I learned to be respectful of being. As my mother used to say you're a guest in my house. You have to live by my rules or go somewhere else. And that's the way I approach these other countries is. I'm not there to change the government or, you know, overthrow whatever. I'm there to give people a smile on their face before they go to sleep and know tomorrow is going to be better than today.

Terry L. Fossum:

Yeah, and everybody cares about their kid, everybody cares about their spouse, everybody cares about the same things we all care about. It's understanding that? No, we really are the same. We've been brought up differently in a lot of cases, but internally we're the same.

Larry Namer:

We just want to be happy we want a roof over their head. So, like I said, no matter where I go, no matter what people I meet, 80% is common among every place I go and every people, 20% is cultural upbringing and stuff like that, but for the most part we're the same.

Terry L. Fossum:

Yeah, yeah. And therefore, to everybody listening, also understand that about each other, but also about yourself. Too often, we strive for success. We strive for success. You know what. Don't strive for success. Strive for what makes you happy. That's going to end up being the most important thing, and success may not make you happy. Do what makes sense, which leads to the next one that I love, and this is going to be countercultural, which I really love. Following your passion is a road to starving. I love that. Talk about that.

Larry Namer:

Well, I meet entrepreneurs all the time and I'm asked to coach people and stuff like that. And people come up with, like I'm passionate about knitting and I'm going, yeah, that's very nice, you're passionate about knitting, but what are you going to do with it At the end of the day? Yeah, that's very nice, you're passionate about knitting, but like, what are you gonna do with it at the end of the day? We all have these common things we have to deal with, where we gotta eat, we gotta pay the rent, we gotta educate our kids and whatever.

Larry Namer:

So, even if your passion is there, most people hold on to it too long is you start something? Go? Well, I'm passionate about and I have to do it. Even you know it could be that the passion was not something that could lead to a successful you know financial being to begin with, but it could also be. Technology has changed, the environment has changed, geopolitics has changed and people are afraid to move out of that. No, I have to do it because I'm passionate about it and stuff like that. I've always said the smartest advice I could give to people is you know, find something that you're good at, work your butt off and become great at it, and then that will become your passion, and then the things that were your passion become like your sidelines, because now you have the opportunity to pursue those, but you've got the rent covered.

Terry L. Fossum:

Please repeat that again, to the best of your ability, what you just said, because it's so critical to everybody listening.

Larry Namer:

Please repeat that again, if you can you know, I always tell people find something you're good at, work your butt off and become great at it, and typically it will. It will become your passion. It'll provide you with the fuel of life, which is the ability to pay the rent and eat and educate the kids and all of that, and then you have time to spend on those things that we're passionate about. You're not depending on those to provide the financial wherewithal for you to live the life you want to live. I mean, for me it's real simple.

Larry Namer:

My passion is the people always crack up when I say this my passion has been cooking since I'm 12 years old and you know, if I followed my passion, I'd be like probably cleaning pots and pans in the back of a restaurant now. Or, you know, at best I would be a sous chef or something like that. But because I got very good at this other thing now, you know, I said, okay, I'm good at television, now I want to be great at what do I need to do to become great at television? So, but when you achieve that, you then give yourself the freedom uh, emotionally and financially. So now I, I love cooking and I read cookbooks. And you know I don't, I'm not one of the Hollywood people who goes to a psychiatrist or psychologist and when I have a stressed out day I go in the kitchen and cook and I'm good.

Terry L. Fossum:

And you can see Larry's recipes in his book that we'll talk about in just a second here, where you can get that and everything, because he got his actual recipes in there, which I thought was extremely cool. Okay, One of the last ones here. Don't take yourself too seriously. And now you could get caught in this trap. You know again who you are and everybody's sucking up to you in Hollywood and everything else. Don't take yourself too seriously. Please talk about that.

Larry Namer:

Yeah, and you know I say never believe what people write about you or whether it's good or bad, it's how do you feel about yourself. And if I feel good about myself, I don't care if you say bad stuff about my shows or say good stuff. It doesn't make a difference. But you know some of the stuff that really made E stand out. And again, we were, you know, this little TV network at one point and like I say, 11 employees and 31 interns. But my sensibility is silly and I've never let that go, even though I was supposed to be like more serious business guy and whatever I mean. You look at, the first show on E that cut through was Talk Soup. I went and told the crew I said listen, I want to do a TV show that makes fun of TV shows. People just looked at me and they said Larry, that's crazy. You know well, talksoup ran 26 years, you know. And then I met this guy in an elevator in New York and he was telling us that he's a radio host and stuff. And we're like yeah, yeah, yeah, ok. He says no, you got to come and see my show. And you know we did that. And you know I said you know what this is actually interesting. And I went back and told the crew I want to put cameras in this guy's radio studio. And they're like Larry, we thought talk soup was dumb. But you know, radio has been dead for 40 years.

Larry Namer:

Well, you and make believe it's rocket science and that's kind of what drew us out. I mean, even I think I mentioned it in the book, but I'm not sure we applied when we started the network. We applied for credentials to go cover the Academy Awards and we got rejected and they were ah, you're some dumb little cable network. No, we're not letting you in. So we literally climbed over the fence and we're on the red carpet. We made it about a half an hour before security caught us. That's hilarious, but it was interesting because we were more interested in where Tom Cruise had his suit made than what his next project was. And then, when people began to watch it, they were like, oh my God, that was amazing. We thought we were seeing something we're not supposed to and we're like, yeah, you weren't supposed to. No, seriously, you weren't, you know. But a lot of that just comes from, you know, the be yourself. You know, don't let other people's opinion of you or your ideas make you rethink them. If you believe in them, just stick with it.

Terry L. Fossum:

Absolutely.

Larry Namer:

Especially now in today's world, you know, with Gen Z's people looking for authenticity more than anything else.

Terry L. Fossum:

Yeah, and and that's that's very refreshing, since, again, we're all real people, we have real problems, real challenges, everybody that you see on TV. Again, we're all real people. We have real problems, real challenges, everybody that you see on TV, movies, this podcast, everything else. We're all real people with our real challenges, and it's okay to be that, it's okay to be human these days, which is kind of nice, isn't it? It is indeed so the final one. The future belongs to those who prepare for it today.

Larry Namer:

Yeah, again, we're great believers in where are we going versus where we've been. We jump into stuff early. I mean now our recent thing is I've gotten heavy into the podcast world because I think podcasts are the future of niche media, where you could have smaller audience but who are passionate. You can be, you can do what I call super serving, no matter what the subject matter is. It's a good example, because if you look at podcasts now, no offense, but people typically are kind of at the lower end of the production cycle. Yeah, most people, they get a 40 camera, they put it in their bedroom and they have a lamp right and any new technology.

Larry Namer:

If you just study this, you realize that when something is new, people are very forgiving of production quality, but over time they be their their eye and their brain begins to expect more and more and more. So we could have started. We just started this one called Stall Talk, which is a women's empowerment podcast doing very well, but rather than start it at the low end economically with the camera, we're shooting it for cameras, 4k, audio engineer, lighting designer and stuff. So when you look at it, it looks like a TV talk show, right, right, um, it's just a whole different level, so we know that's where it's going. So, rather than you know, start off low and eventually get there. We just said we're going to start off where we know it's all going and we kind of apply that to everything.

Terry L. Fossum:

Right on, right on, and I think for anybody what you want your future to be, whatever you are envisioning, you got to get working on it right now. You can't wait for it to just happen. It will not on its own. You've got to prepare for it today. Yeah, I want to. Before we close talk more about this book Now. Do you want to? Before we close talk more about this book Now. Do you want to disclose why you actually wrote this book on the podcast, or let them figure that out? It was hilarious.

Larry Namer:

No, I've refused to do the book for like 20 years. People have been after it because my stories are a little bit crazy. Most people who read the book go this can't be true. But everything in that book is true and I've left out most of the really weird stuff. But my daughter had a baby who's now one year.

Larry Namer:

So I got little grandbaby and I just said you know what, I want them to understand who grandpa really was. You know, after I'm gone, I want them to understand who grandpa is and was. And you know all the things that I went through that you know. So I I said I got a memorial license so I I've always resisted doing the book. But then finally I said, okay, I'll do it. But if you look at my life pretty much you could break it up into like seven or eight year little segments. So there's my brooklyn years, my manhattan years, my Manhattan cable years, my Valley cable years, my E years, my China years, my Russia years, my post COVID years. I almost become a different person and I said I could break my life up in that way and I could do anecdotes of the stories that happened during those times and I can match it with the recipes that inspired me during that time. So the book is unusual and that's somewhere between a bio and a cookbook.

Terry L. Fossum:

Right, right. I love what you said in there about you wanted to get out a cookbook, but nobody would buy it, so you put your memoirs together.

Larry Namer:

Yeah, that's it. And like I say, people still read it and they call me they go Larry. This can't be true. And I'm like, yeah, it was, I go Larry.

Terry L. Fossum:

This can't be true. And I'm like, yeah, it was. And for those that are listening to the audio again, it is Offscript Recipes for Success by Larry J Namer. Larry, what words of advice, encouragement, anything that you'd like to leave for the viewers and listeners.

Larry Namer:

Well, I think you know, if you've got the passion, the brainpower and the work ethic because a lot of people think that there's a shortcut to it and there really is no shortcut to it you know, and they look at me and they go you know you must have had rich parents or something. I didn't have any of that. I was a straight C student in school. I was rejected by more colleges than I got into. Straight C student in school, I was rejected by more colleges than I got into. So I think I'm a good example of you know, if you put all the right ingredients together, you can do. Whatever it is that you're, whatever it's going to make you happy, you can get there. But you know you got to work for it.

Terry L. Fossum:

You got to work for it. You got to be curious. You got to keep on reading. You got to keep learning. You got to look into the future, not today, but tomorrow. Serious you got to keep on reading. You got to keep learning. You got to look into the future, not today, but tomorrow. And the most important thing in your life is to be happy. Larry, thank you so much for joining me today. I seriously appreciate it. For all of the listeners, I really really recommend go back with a pen and paper or computer screen, however you do it, re-listen to this podcast and start writing down the lessons learned from there, because they are many and varied and then apply them to your own life. Don't just go. That was really nifty, that was fun. Apply them to your own life and then you can have your own Comeback Chronicle.

Voice Over:

So that's it for today's episode of the Comeback Chronicles. Head on over to Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen and subscribe to the show. One lucky listener every single week that posts a review on Apple Podcasts will win a chance in the grand prize drawing to win a $25,000 private VIP date with Terry O Fossum himself. Be sure to head on over to ComebackChroniclesPodcastcom and pick up a free copy of Terry's gift and join us on the next episode.