Whoopi Goldberg transcript

MICHAEL EISNER:
Well, you do something interesting. You are aggressive to try to get something that you want in the positive sense. Not in the-- the-- in the unpleasant sense. But according to Altman and the Player, which is a movie you wanted, he when he finally said, "Okay, okay, you can have it, you convinced me.

WHOOPI GOLDBERG:
Right.

MICHAEL EISNER:
He said you were fantastic. You brought-- I think you had a tampon.

WHOOPI GOLDBERG:
Yes.

MICHAEL EISNER:
--that you were swirling in the scene.

WHOOPI GOLDBERG:
It’s called pon…tampon.

MICHAEL EISNER:
But anyway, I'm a man.

WHOOPI GOLDBERG:
Yes, you are.

MICHAEL EISNER:
Anyway, you brought it to the set.

WHOOPI GOLDBERG:
Yes, I did.

MICHAEL EISNER:
And you were swinging it--

WHOOPI GOLDBERG:
Yes.

MICHAEL EISNER:
--at the homicide detective--

WHOOPI GOLDBERG:
Well, because he said…

MICHAEL EISNER:
He said that was brilliant.

WHOOPI GOLDBERG:
Well, he said here is a scene that is like a million scenes you've seen. What can you do that will make it different?

MICHAEL EISNER:
You could've had a harpoon. That would've worked too.

WHOOPI GOLDBERG:
That's true. But then I would've had to kill the guy.

MICHAEL EISNER:
(LAUGHS) Right.

WHOOPI GOLDBERG:
But the mere fact that he realized that there was something that was already cliché allowed me to just sort of go into my little box and say, "Well, can we do this? Can we try this?" Because if you were gonna intimidate somebody that's what you'd do. You would take them out of their comfort zone. If you're sitting, talking to somebody, and suddenly they pull out a giant, you know, massage thing and just put it on the table, you know, it would-- you'd be… they'd be thrown.

MICHAEL EISNER:
Right.

WHOOPI GOLDBERG:
So he said, "Okay, try it." So I did. And it worked.

MICHAEL EISNER:
Well, the thing that is interesting is which I've learned over the years and also learned in getting ready for this-- this-- this interview is you're multi-talented, yes. But the personality which everybody has to have to go with it has come together and made you a extremely hard worker doing very interesting things. Be-- obviously you're very intelligent. And you're not afraid to take a part that may or may be not such a great movie and in X movie you take a part, Academy Award winning movie. You're not afraid to not work. So many people who have a hit movie--

WHOOPI GOLDBERG:
Yeah.

MICHAEL EISNER:
--are paralyzed. And they just almost never work again.

WHOOPI GOLDBERG:

CNBC VIDEO Whoopi Goldberg interview, part 3 June 20: Whoopi Goldberg talks with ex-Disney CEO Michael Eisner about her personality, fame and new radio show. CNBC

Yeah. Well, you know, my life span and if I listened to people (CLEARS THROAT) cause apparently it was a shock to people that I was black. I guess they thought I didn't know. Cause people would say, "You know you're black and you're reading for this?" And I'd be like really?

MICHAEL EISNER:
Well, maybe-- maybe the Goldberg made it..

WHOOPI GOLDBERG:
I don't know. But it seemed like--

MICHAEL EISNER:
Is there really--

WHOOPI GOLDBERG:
… shocking.

MICHAEL EISNER:
--a little piece of Jewish blood in you?

WHOOPI GOLDBERG:
A tad.

MICHAEL EISNER:
So okay, wait a second. So you've got a-- you've got a tad of Jewishness which is where the Goldberg came from. And the Whoopi came from?

WHOOPI GOLDBERG:
Do you really want me to tell you?

MICHAEL EISNER:
Is it dirty?

WHOOPI GOLDBERG:
Well, some people would th-- he would think it was dirty. (LAUGHS) He would think…

MICHAEL EISNER:
But it can’t be that dirty.

WHOOPI GOLDBERG:
No. When you work in small, confined areas like theatres and things and-- and there's just a long distance to get to someplace and you're changing clothes, trying to do quick changes, you release air.

MICHAEL EISNER:
Oh.

WHOOPI GOLDBERG:
And you zoom back on stage. Now--

MICHAEL EISNER:
That’s what this is…

WHOOPI GOLDBERG:
Now if you're heard and not, you know, smelled, you would get the name like Whoopi. If you were smelling you'd get a name like Stinky. I was lucky. (LAUGHTER) I got the name Whoopi.

MICHAEL EISNER:
I see.

WHOOPI GOLDBERG:
Yes.

MICHAEL EISNER:
So you tied that to Goldberg.

WHOOPI GOLDBERG:
Yes.

MICHAEL EISNER:
So you're now embarking on a-- again, yet again, a new career.

WHOOPI GOLDBERG:
Yes.

MICHAEL EISNER:
Four hours a day beginning in July, radio.

WHOOPI GOLDBERG:
Yeah.

MICHAEL EISNER:
And even have your own point of view. You're not Howard Stern.

WHOOPI GOLDBERG:
No.

MICHAEL EISNER:
You're not John Cameron Swayze. What are you?

WHOOPI GOLDBERG:
I'm just good things in the morning. I'm gonna try to make an impression

MICHAEL EISNER:
Can you speak for four straight hours?

WHOOPI GOLDBERG:
Me? Oh, yeah. You should ask some of my husbands about that… (LAUGHTER) a lotta talk. So, yeah.

MICHAEL EISNER:
Would you have a co-host?

WHOOPI GOLDBERG:
Yeah, I have another-- a young man called Cubby.

MICHAEL EISNER:
Is he funny? Or is he gonna be the straight man?

WHOOPI GOLDBERG:
Well, he-- he's funny and he's also the straight man and doesn't quite realize it. Which is wonderful.

MICHAEL EISNER:
Have you worked with him before?

WHOOPI GOLDBERG:
No. This is our first time out. But he's very, very, very good at doing the radio stuff.

MICHAEL EISNER:
What-- what are you doing? You do the music, weather? What are you doing?

WHOOPI GOLDBERG:
We're doing music and really my-- my intent is to wake people up with something good. Just some good news. Just to have good things during the course of the day. During the course of this show you will hear 40 good things that are-- that are going on. And things that you can do yourself at home. Little dopey recipes you can make, things you can do with the kids, things that you can do for, you know, Father's Day. Things that-- just things that people can do to make the day better. Cause that's what I want when I wake up. I want some good news.

MICHAEL EISNER:
Well, I think when you look at all—look at for instance, your Academy Awards, not the ones you've won, the fact that you've done four times you've hosted the Academy Awards. And that is miraculous.

WHOOPI GOLDBERG:
Yes.

MICHAEL EISNER:
Are you the first woman that ever--

WHOOPI GOLDBERG:
I think so. Yeah.

MICHAEL EISNER:
You're the only woman that's ever done it alone.

WHOOPI GOLDBERG:
Well, alone, yes. Yes. And I-- I, you know, I had a great time. I, you know, one of the things that I learned and-- and when people do it and they call and say, "What-- gimme some insight as to what's going on," the thing you can never do is read the papers. Because the papers have already decided whether you're gonna be any good or not. And they-- they keep it going every day, every day. So that the day before you're really gonna be terrible. And the day after you made it last hours. (LAUGHS) Everyone forgets.

MICHAEL EISNER:
You wouldn't have done it four times if you weren't extraordinary.

WHOOPI GOLDBERG:
I had a great time. I loved-- look, I love the Academy Awards. I mean I-- I grew up with them. And they-- they mean a great deal. I look at my Oscar. And I think, you know, that number 2,114 I think is the number on mine, says I'm the two thousandth 114th person to have gotten it. When you look at all of the actors who have come before me, how many brilliant actors don't have them. It’s extraordinary.

MICHAEL EISNER:
But you've gotten it on Broadway. You've gotten it on television. You've gotten in the record business. You've gotten it at the Academy Awards. You really are probably amongst the most known people in the world.

WHOOPI GOLDBERG:
Yes, that is the funny thing. Because, look, before Pope John Paul passed and before Princess Di passed, it was Mickey, Princess Di,

MICHAEL EISNER:
Mickey Mouse?

WHOOPI GOLDBERG:
Yes. Pope John…

MICHAEL EISNER:
Well, thank you.

WHOOPI GOLDBERG:
Yes, yes. Whoopi. I think I'm number five. I can't remember who number four was.

MICHAEL EISNER:
Christ probably.

WHOOPI GOLDBERG:
Probably, you know. But you see-- you see this face and you know who it is. You see me from behind, you don't even have to see my face, and you know who it is. It's a wonderful thing. It doesn't necessarily translate into work. But there's something very wonderful in knowing that I've had an impact and nothing that anyone does or says can ever erase that. That I was here. I mean look at what you guys did for me. Let's just talk for a second. In California adventure (LAUGHS) there-- there are two 50-foot pillars of my face.

MICHAEL EISNER:
Absolutely.

WHOOPI GOLDBERG:
That's wonderful. My grandkids when they were little they saw it. But you know, now that the youngest is seven and the oldest is 16. They were-- the ten year old and the seven-year old were there. And that-- it was like, "Granny, You’re.."

MICHAEL EISNER:
The statue.

WHOOPI GOLDBERG:
… and you talked. You're in Disneyland. My ten-year old granddaughter says, "Granny, this is the happiest place on earth."

MICHAEL EISNER:
And is that more impressive to her than Sister Act?

WHOOPI GOLDBERG:
Oh, yes. Much more impressive. More than anything she was impressed that I knew the Disney princesses. Well, yeah, that-- cause that's-- she is a princess. And that's how I've treated her. And so for us, I mean, I-- I know that-- I don't know what if you're-- how you're associated with them still, if at all, but I must tell you that during the time you were there and during the time I was there what you allowed my family to do and to go and you were always-- the company was always really welcoming. And so my grandkids belief about what he initially wanted to do, what Walt initially wanted to do, that's what they have in them.

MICHAEL EISNER:
You know something interesting? We treat everybody that way.

WHOOPI GOLDBERG:
No. But my relationship with them is the way it was because of how you brought me in. That-- and that's what I have to tell you, you know. We-- we have spent years together doing different things. And-- and I just-- and a huge part of my life.

MICHAEL EISNER:
Well, you've been a huge part of everybody's lives. And the great thing is you say what you think and you say it with such intelligence. And you shoot what you wanna shoot. And you push to get the right parts. You're almost always right. And I just love having you on this show. And I--

WHOOPI GOLDBERG:
Thanks for having me.

MICHAEL EISNER:
I thank you for coming. Thank you.

WHOOPI GOLDBERG:
Good to see you.

MICHAEL EISNER:
Good to see you.

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