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Jimmy Kimmel Live - Season 24 Episode 45 -
Miley Cyrus, Cameron Crowe, Rufus Wainwright
Miley Cyrus, Cameron Crowe, Rufus Wainwright
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00:00All right, Miley Cyrus, Cameron Crowe, and music from the Wainwrights with the Klee Tones.
00:08And now, Jimmy Kimmel!
00:26I appreciate that. Welcome, welcome, I'm Jimmy.
00:30I am the host of the show. Relax. Please, thanks for watching. Thank you for joining us in Hollywood on a special night.
00:37I know, on the off chance you looked up from your phones tonight, you may have noticed a super moon.
00:43A super moon is something that occurs when the moon is at its closest to the Earth.
00:47The moon appears to be huge. This is the third super moon in three months, which is unusual, right?
00:53It's not usually three months, three super... I'm starting to get the feeling the moon's worried about us.
00:57Like, you guys okay down there?
01:00You know, I was at Dry Bar this morning, getting a blowout. We have a party after the show.
01:05And I learned that, according to Google, for the year 2025, I was the third most trending person in the world.
01:13I'm not sure if it's an honor, because number one was a singer named David, who spells the name of the four instead of an A, who is a suspect in a murder, which I guess got him bumped up.
01:28Number two is Kendrick Lamar, who murdered Drake this year at halftime of the Super Bowl.
01:33And then it's me, even though I haven't been involved in any murder.
01:39And I just want to say, I just want to say, I couldn't have done this.
01:44None of this would ever have happened without the support of loyal viewers like President Trump,
01:48who has done so much this year to raise awareness of our show.
01:52So thank you, Mr. President, for making me number three in the world.
01:57Somehow, somehow I finished ahead of the Pope.
02:01Eat it, Leo!
02:03You know, I actually, I still, my cousin Sal showed me one of these websites where you can bet on anything.
02:08And they had me at even money, like two weeks ago, to finish in the top five, searched.
02:14And I was like, well, no way I'm going to be in the top five.
02:16So I bet against myself.
02:19And I bet a sizable amount of money, and I lost.
02:22So now when my kids don't get a go-kart for Christmas, I can say, it's not Santa's fault.
02:27It's Google's fault.
02:28It's your fault, really.
02:30But let that be a lesson to young people.
02:32Never bet against yourself.
02:33That's right.
02:34I think Diddy said that, right?
02:41Speaking of trends, there was, I beat Diddy!
02:43How did I beat Diddy this year?
02:45I don't know.
02:45It's crazy, Jimmy.
02:46It's crazy.
02:47Thank you, Guillermo.
02:49There's a big announcement today from Pantone headquarters in Karlstadt, New Jersey,
02:53where they revealed the color of the year for 2026.
02:56The color experts at Pantone have named 2026's official color of the year.
03:02It is called Cloud Dancer.
03:04Did you know that?
03:06Yes!
03:07Yeah!
03:08Yeah!
03:10Cloud Dancer!
03:15Oh, my God!
03:16Oh, yeah!
03:19Yeah!
03:21Yeah!
03:22Good job.
03:23Oh, my God.
03:25Oh, my goodness.
03:28Oh, goodness.
03:30Oh, goodness.
03:31Oh, wow.
03:32Oh, that's...
03:33Oh, my God.
03:35Oh, my God.
03:39I know.
03:40It's exciting.
03:41Can we cancel the guests?
03:43I mean...
03:43I feel...
03:44Good acting, everybody.
03:47Really good.
03:48Love it.
03:49Cloud Dancer is the color of the year.
03:51Also known as white.
03:53White is the color.
03:54Trump was pulling for orange, of course.
03:56He is...
03:57You know, we're all aware of how hungry for praise he is constantly, but I'm always surprised
04:01by how eager his suck-ups are to feed it to him.
04:04There is a nonpartisan agency called the U.S. Institute for Peace.
04:09And earlier this year, the Trump administration slashed their funding.
04:12They threatened to take over their building.
04:14But I guess in an effort to appease him, a compromise has been reached.
04:18And this is the compromise.
04:20This is the building, the United States Institute of Peace.
04:23It is now the Donald J. Trump United States Institute of Peace and Casino.
04:29They put his name on the building, and he let it remain.
04:33A White House spokesperson defended this renaming, kind of, claiming the organization was once
04:38a bloated, useless entity that blew $50 million per year while delivering no peace.
04:44So they named it after another bloated, useless entity that delivered no peace.
04:50Trump, of course, visited his new building this morning to take credit for his work bringing
04:56together the leaders of Rwanda and the Congo.
04:59I want to thank the two courageous leaders.
05:01They are courageous leaders.
05:03They really are courageous leaders.
05:04Great people.
05:06President Chiseki-Tegui.
05:09Perfect.
05:16Could we hear that again?
05:18Chiseki-Tegui.
05:22Now, the president's name is Chisekedi, President Chisekedi.
05:27From the Congo, they call it Congo.
05:29But don't interrupt Donald Trump when he's in the middle of a little stroke.
05:32This, and this conflict between Rwanda and the Congo, this has been going on for decades.
05:37Millions of people have been killed.
05:38They're still fighting as of today.
05:40But that didn't stop Dr. R to the deal from acting like he mediated a dispute between
05:45neighbors over a broken sprinkler head.
05:47I think they liked each other a lot.
05:49I spent time with them.
05:51I think they liked each other.
05:52Some people may be surprised.
05:54I really do.
05:55I think they spent a lot of time killing each other.
06:01And now they're going to spend a lot of time hugging, holding hands and taking advantage of the United
06:07States of America economically like every other country does.
06:11Look at them.
06:11Look at the way they love each other.
06:19Well, that doesn't look like love to me.
06:23That looks like Melania's version of love to me.
06:27Which leader was that again?
06:29And then it was time for the Nobel elephant in the room to take a well-deserved victory nap.
06:37One of many victory naps this week.
06:40These two great Africans who are at the beginning, who started the Rwanda and the Nairobi processes.
06:48And beyond them, I wish to thank also all of the African leaders who contributed.
06:56Look how sweet he is when he's sleeping, you know?
06:59Dozy Donald.
07:00Get that man on my pillow, will somebody?
07:03Meanwhile, we've got a big and not-so-welcome surprise coming next year.
07:07If Congress doesn't extend subsidies for the Affordable Care Act, Obamacare, millions of Americans
07:13will be shocked by how much more their health insurance costs.
07:15One in four of those covered by the Affordable Care Act say they may go without insurance
07:21altogether if their monthly premiums go up too much, which is the bad news.
07:25The good news is the Lincoln bathroom has a walk-in tub.
07:28So this is interesting.
07:30These are the states that will be hit the hardest.
07:33The top ten all-red states, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Georgia,
07:38West Virginia, Alabama, Kansas, Louisiana, and Montana.
07:41We're going from Obamacare to Trump doesn't.
07:45And people don't realize it.
07:47This is so crazy.
07:49Of all the things, I think this one might be the hardest to understand.
07:52How long has Trump been claiming to have a plan for health care?
07:55If you had an employee or, like, a contractor at your house who told you he was working on
08:00a project, something important, like your roof, and he told you during the interview,
08:04before you hired him, he's like, I have a plan for this roof.
08:07It's going to be a great plan.
08:08It's going to be an excellent roof.
08:09So you hire him.
08:10And some time goes by, and you're like, hey, where's the plan for the roof?
08:14And he's like, it's almost ready.
08:16Then a year later, you still don't have a roof.
08:19You're like, hey, what's up with the roof?
08:20He's like, it's coming soon.
08:22And that went on for four years until eventually you fire him.
08:27You give someone else the job.
08:28And then four years later, he comes back.
08:32He's like, that roof you have is terrible.
08:34I could build you a much better roof.
08:36And again, you fall for it.
08:37You hire him again.
08:39And again, nothing happens.
08:41Where's the roof?
08:42Three weeks.
08:43I'll have it in three weeks.
08:45Two months later, anywhere on the roof.
08:46I think it's going to rain.
08:47Funny you ask.
08:48I was just about to show you my plan for the roof.
08:50Imagine that this went on and on for 10 years, going on 11 now.
08:56You'd strangle that person, right?
08:58This is exactly what Trump has been doing with health care.
09:02We have no choice but to absolutely repeal, replace Obamacare.
09:07And we're going to come up with a much better plan.
09:09We're coming out with a health care plan that I think will be terrific.
09:13We're going to have a plan that is so much better than Obamacare.
09:17Secretary Alex Acosta just came up with a great health care plan.
09:21Secretary Azar coming out an additional plan in a very short period of time.
09:26Wait till you see the plans we have coming out, literally, over the next four weeks.
09:31We're signing a health care plan within two weeks.
09:35A full and complete health care plan.
09:37Just a yes or no, you still do not have a plan.
09:39I have concepts of a plan.
09:41First, I have to grab my P.F. Changs out of the microwave, and then I'll have the whole plan for you.
09:49He's been saying this since 2015.
09:52At what point are we the idiots?
09:54Speaking of idiots, Robert Kennedy Jr. and his anti-vax advisors at the CDC, a.k.a. Mumpsford & Sons, had a big meeting today.
10:06They're going to vote tomorrow on whether to change the recommendation for when to give babies the hepatitis B vaccine.
10:12The hepatitis B vaccination is recommended currently for children just after birth.
10:17Kennedy wants that delayed until after the baby's first brain worm.
10:22And the hepatitis B vaccine is one of the safest and most effective vaccines we have.
10:27Right?
10:28Right, Guillermo?
10:28Right, Jimmy, yeah.
10:29It has reduced childhood hepatitis by 99%.
10:37It has an excellent safety record, and it's cheap to make.
10:40Changing the recommendation, it's like telling kids to wash their hands before they poop.
10:44It makes no sense.
10:45And we're already seeing people, vaccination levels are going way down because the government isn't making people do this.
10:51And if RFK has its way, we could see all the old diseases making a comeback.
10:56Measles, whooping cough, chicken pox, rubella, diphtheria, and maybe worst of all...
11:01Chiseki thing?
11:04And we don't want that.
11:06We do not want it.
11:08I know I don't want it.
11:12We're going to be seeing a lot of that in the months to come.
11:14One more thing before we forge ahead.
11:18It's Thursday night.
11:18That means it's time to bleep and blur the big TV moments of the week, whether they need it or not.
11:22It is this week in Unnecessary Censorship.
11:29Governors don't get to just f*** theoretically.
11:32We have to f***.
11:33And I will note, it's not just Somalis.
11:36I'm a pretty hard f***er.
11:37I'll f*** 100, 110 hours a week.
11:39He out f***s me.
11:40He's the first person I've ever known that f***s harder than I do.
11:42All right, we're gorillas at the San Antonio Zoo just in time for the big grand opening of Cock F*** Falls,
11:47which is now less than two weeks away.
11:49We now have hard d*** for Black F*** Day and even for Saturday.
11:54So back in the day, the bigger the d***, the more money you have.
11:57So you get a little tiny d*** and you don't have that much money.
12:00Just for the record, Congressman, do you like c***?
12:04I love c***.
12:05I love Nashville.
12:06I've got my wife on Broadway.
12:08Dusty, I think I've got to go.
12:09So?
12:10Yeah, you have a minute.
12:11I mean, you can go, though.
12:12Yeah, you can f*** me again or you can go.
12:14Well, I do f*** you all the time.
12:17When the f*** turns hard like that, it does a lot of damage to people's f***s.
12:23Care Bears, welcome.
12:24Name's Buddy.
12:25I f*** your f***, but, well, I don't have any hands.
12:28Feel free to f*** my tongue, though.
12:30Go on.
12:31F*** it.
12:32No thanks, Buddy.
12:33We've got a good show for tonight.
12:36Cameron Crowe is here.
12:38We have music from the Wainwrights, and we'll be back with Miley Cyrus.
12:41Let's stick around.
12:42Well, hi, and welcome back to the show.
12:54Tonight, he is an Oscar-winning writer, director.
12:56His best-selling memoir is called The Uncool.
12:59Cameron Crowe is with us tonight.
13:01And then later, their Parade for Holidays concert featuring Lucy Dacus, Beck, Annie Lennox, and
13:09more happens this Saturday at the Saban Theater here in L.A.
13:12You can get tickets at cancercanrock.org.
13:16Proceeds go to Cancer Research Music from the Wainwrights tonight.
13:20That is Rufus, Loudon, Martha, and Lucy.
13:23Next week, we have got shows.
13:25New shows, once again, with a rock-solid lineup of guests, including Matthew McConaughey,
13:30Quinta Brunson, Jamie Lee Curtis, Rachel Sennett, Deanna Taylor, Regina Hall, Pete Buttigieg,
13:35and David Letterman will be here with music from Howard Jones, The Pretty Reckless, Tasha
13:40Cobbs Howard, and John Legend, too.
13:42So please join us for all that.
13:43Our first guest tonight is a multi-platinum-selling, multi-Grammy-winning, multi-faceted Miley with
13:50a new song called Dream As One.
13:52It is featured in the new movie, Avatar, Fire, and Ash.
13:55Please welcome Miley Cyrus.
13:57I got it.
14:17I got it.
14:22How are you?
14:24Everyone is here.
14:25Look at you.
14:25You're all so lovely.
14:27Thank you for having me tonight, Kevin.
14:29You look great.
14:29You smell like leather.
14:31That's nice.
14:31Thank you very much.
14:33Yeah, it's perforated leather.
14:34Perforated leather.
14:35Yeah, I smell like perforated leather.
14:35The best kind of leather.
14:36Yeah.
14:37And congratulations on your engagement.
14:39Thank you very much.
14:39I see your ring there.
14:43Exciting.
14:44Your fiance, I wonder if he realizes, Max, he's your fiance, that if he'd waited like three
14:50weeks, he wouldn't have to come up with a Christmas gift.
14:52This was Black Friday deal, baby.
14:54Oh, I see.
14:55It wasn't.
14:56But he was smart that way.
14:57It might have been.
14:58I'm not sure.
14:59It better not have been.
15:00What does one get, Miley Cyrus, as if there are more than one of you for Christmas?
15:04That seems like an impossible task.
15:07Well, Christmas, I'm known as a little bit of a Grinch because I have a qualm with Christmas.
15:12What is it?
15:13I hate paper.
15:15Like, looking at that makes me want to vomit.
15:18Don't even do it.
15:19Should I move it away?
15:20That's worse.
15:21Moving it is worse?
15:22And then the real problem for me with paper is when people have dry hands and they touch
15:31paper and then it's Christmas and it's cold and everyone's hands are dry and they're all
15:35touching paper.
15:35Oh, I was going to moisturize.
15:37Oh, my God.
15:37Don't even start.
15:38I see stationary.
15:39I was just going to moisturize, but I don't have any.
15:41No, like, when someone sends me, like, a lovely letter, I just don't even open it.
15:44Really?
15:45No.
15:46Wow.
15:46I just don't even worry.
15:48That's interesting.
15:49I love text message.
15:49No paper.
15:50Email.
15:51No paper.
15:51Phone call.
15:52No paper.
15:53It's the paper.
15:54I can't even talk about it.
15:56Can you read the newspaper?
15:58That?
15:58No.
16:00Oh, wow.
16:01You're really just hearing about it.
16:02Yeah.
16:03It's a phobia.
16:05And I need help.
16:05What about rolling papers?
16:06I think you're probably okay with those, right?
16:08First of all, my hands aren't dry, okay?
16:16And neither are the papers, because I know you know you have to lick the paper.
16:20That was a very professional...
16:22Yeah, it was.
16:23It was a good lick.
16:23I've done that before.
16:24Big paper, also.
16:26Yeah.
16:27Your imaginary joints are huge.
16:29Yeah.
16:30Has it been your whole life have you suffered with this?
16:33It's been getting worse, and so there does need to be some sort of intervention, and I
16:38am going to look into some sort of maybe EMDR, being hypnotized about it, because it
16:42is affecting my everyday life.
16:44It is?
16:45It is affecting my...
16:45You can't get away from it.
16:46Like, okay, like, someone gets an Amazon box, I'm sick, because the cardboard is the
16:51worst of it all.
16:52Oh, really?
16:53Yeah.
16:53It's extra dry, and there's packaging within it, so I go outside.
16:58That's the best part.
16:58That's really why I got engaged, is because I just make my fiancé open all the packages
17:01outside.
17:03Yeah, I think, like, the first year anniversary is paper or something.
17:06Not here.
17:07Yeah, you're not going to go traditional with that.
17:09Absolutely not.
17:10Will you even sign the marriage certificate, or will somebody have to do that for you?
17:15Okay, here's my one.
17:15This is the thing, is waxed paper.
17:18Like, anything that's got, like, a smooth surface, that's better.
17:22And from the last marriage, I think I remember that the paper is waxed.
17:26It's not waxed.
17:26But I had smoked one of those imaginary joints, so I can't really remember.
17:31You think you signed waxed paper?
17:34I'm pretty sure.
17:35I think you may have been making cookies, is what happened.
17:41Since you were how old did you have this?
17:43So my brothers used to traumatize me.
17:46And, yeah, I'm looking at them, because they used to.
17:48Okay, so my mom, at one point, wanted to be a flight attendant, but then she got another
17:52phobia, kind of like this.
17:53She hates to fly.
17:54That's a more typical phobia.
17:56So then, she made us drive everywhere.
17:59And my dad worked in Canada.
18:00So every weekend, from Nashville, Tennessee, we would drive to Toronto, Canada.
18:05Like, 14 hours, and there's five kids all in the car and a German Shepherd.
18:08So my brothers, like, you know, my mom would be driving, and it would be complete chaos,
18:12because all of us would fight for the entire 14 hours.
18:15And then to really torture me, they would rub paper together while I was in the backseat.
18:19Oh, what happened if you get lost, and you have to unfold that map?
18:22There was a map.
18:23There was a time, like, my mother was driving across country with these children with a map.
18:28I always think about that, when I can just go anywhere on my phone now.
18:31Yes, that's how it was.
18:32We had an actual map from Tennessee to Canada.
18:35Yeah, I know.
18:36I'm old.
18:37I know.
18:38Yeah.
18:38I mean, I had those maps.
18:40Yeah.
18:40You know, yeah.
18:41And there was a book called The Thomas Guide, which was, are books, can you read books?
18:45Okay, so books, again, I was so happy when they had a Kindle, when the Kindle was invented,
18:52because that solved a lot of problems for me.
18:54Wow.
18:54The iPad solved a lot of problems for me.
18:57But again, as long as they're not dry, which, when I write my book, wax paper.
19:02And you can take one page out, and I won't be offended.
19:07A book you can read?
19:08Yeah, I write it on rolling paper.
19:11Can I make a suggestion?
19:12I would suggest that it's possible that technology is actually making this phobia worse,
19:17because you are now creating a world in which you have less exposure to this product that
19:22you don't care for.
19:23I agree with that.
19:24And now it's becoming even scarier to you.
19:27Uh-huh.
19:27Like, that book is, like, giving me hell right now.
19:30Yeah, the book.
19:30Cameron.
19:32Yeah, it's like in Jaws, where you just barely ever see the shark.
19:35That's it.
19:35You know, that's you.
19:36I've been kind of like...
19:37With the paper.
19:38Uh-huh.
19:38Yeah, you gotta do something about that.
19:40I know.
19:40I'm working on it.
19:42I'm working on it.
19:42Yeah, okay, good.
19:43All right, good.
19:43I'm glad you're working on it.
19:44All right.
19:45You know what?
19:45You've started now.
19:46What?
19:47We've just started.
19:47Yeah, we just started.
19:48Even talking about it.
19:49Well, you know what?
19:50Let's take a break now, and I will keep...
19:52What a fulfilling segment we've done.
19:54Uh, listen...
19:55James Cameron is gonna be so happy with the therapy.
19:57I gotta tell you something.
19:59We just learned a lot about you.
20:00Yeah, we really did.
20:01We need to go to Pandora and skip the paper.
20:04We're gonna go to Pandora when we come back.
20:05Miley Cyrus is here.
20:07We're back with Miley Cyrus, which rhymes with papyrus.
20:22Yeah.
20:23You've written a song for this huge motion picture.
20:29We know it's gonna be huge.
20:30We know before it even comes out, this Avatar, Fire and Ash.
20:33You've written a song called Dream as One, right?
20:37Dream as One, yeah.
20:38Dream as One.
20:38And I'm curious about that process, because when you write...
20:42You have a director like Jim Cameron, who's obviously very hands-on.
20:47It takes him, like, 30 years to make a movie.
20:49Yeah.
20:49How do you...
20:51Does he call you and say, would you write a song?
20:53So, like the qualm with Christmas, I have one with James Cameron.
20:56Because he's been working on this movie for 20 years.
20:59Right.
21:00And he just remembered two months before it came out that there was no song for the credits.
21:05Really?
21:05Like, just a last minute, like, oopsie.
21:07Like, a 20-year-in-the-making oopsie.
21:10And so I, to rub it in, if you remember, I'm a Disney legend.
21:14Yeah, you are a Disney legend.
21:16I know, I am not a Disney legend.
21:19So, and this is going to make you even more sick, because last year, I believe I came
21:25here and I had just done the song with Jamie Lee Curtis for Pamela Anderson's movie, which
21:29I met her at the Disney Legends event, because I said, if you ever need anything, let me know.
21:33And then I got a Golden Globe nomination.
21:35And then this time, James Cameron was there.
21:39And I said, well, you know, let me know what you're working on.
21:41I knew what he was working on, but I was just trying to kind of wiggle myself into the
21:45Avatar universe.
21:46Right.
21:46And so I said, if you ever need a song, let me know.
21:48And then he needed a song.
21:49And he calls us legends in law.
21:52One day, you'll join the band.
21:53I don't know.
21:54I don't know.
21:55I don't think I will.
21:56I think I'm permanent.
21:57I will never be a Disney legend.
21:59I figured it out.
22:00No one has cost this company more money in the history.
22:02Yeah, you might have botched it.
22:04Yeah, yeah.
22:04You were on your way.
22:05But you know what?
22:06You might be right, because speaking of the rolling papers, I smoked a joint when I had
22:10a Walmart deal, and I thought they would come crawling back, and they never did.
22:13I never worked with them again.
22:14They don't like that.
22:15But Disney did pretty good.
22:16You're back.
22:18So you get this call.
22:20We're happy he's back.
22:21And he says, I need this song.
22:24I've got two months.
22:25I need this song.
22:26Yeah.
22:26Does he say, does he tell you what kind of song he wants?
22:30Well, Dream is One is a very kind of massive and very global title, and Avatar is loved all
22:37around the world.
22:38And when I think of we, I think of all of us.
22:41I think of, you know, that's me kind of talking to the world and creating us, you know, to all
22:45unify.
22:46And he also wanted the song to feel intimate and personal and emotional, which a title
22:52like We Dream is One, to me, felt so massive that it was really kind of a challenge to songwrite
22:58in something that I could make feel small, because the instinct is to kind of go toe
23:02to toe with Avatar.
23:04But what I chose to do, which is I like to contradict everything and do the opposite of what you're
23:09supposed to do, was actually surrender to the scale of the film and make it something
23:13small, because at the heart of James Cameron movies, it's really about relationships.
23:17And then when you are finished with the song, you have to, do you go and play it for him?
23:22Do you send it to him?
23:23And are you nervous at that point?
23:25You know what?
23:26I wasn't nervous because I felt confident in what I had created.
23:30And I felt that with Avatar, Fire, and Ash, I've had my own experience with Fire, losing
23:35my home, rebuilding again, starting over.
23:37I felt like I could, you know, really kind of use this song as a journal entry, but also
23:43be inspired by the movie, which I had seen and was very cool, because I got the film actually
23:49projected into the studio.
23:51So I was recording in Pandora.
23:54I had all of the world actually immersed, so I could really see all the colors and the
23:59creatures and be inspired by that.
24:01Are you sure it was projected or maybe you were rolling?
24:04Yeah.
24:04Yeah.
24:05Or I had ripped a page out of my memoir.
24:10Have you ever thought about recording a Christmas album?
24:12So, funny you should ask, I've never done an album.
24:15I did write a song one time, and it was very niche.
24:19It was called A Sad Christmas Song.
24:21It was about being very sad on Christmas, which I think people lean more into the merry,
24:27joyful, bright, and gay.
24:29You think so?
24:29I don't know.
24:30Well, the fact you've asked me if I have a Christmas song, I know, like, it's niche.
24:33Like, no one knows I have a Christmas song.
24:35Okay.
24:36And, yeah, it didn't go, it didn't, it wasn't that hot.
24:40I think I got to do another round.
24:42You recorded it, and you're like, I'm not going to, no, I'm not going to release it.
24:44Well, I put it out, and the fact that no one here was like, yay, we love that song.
24:49That shows.
24:50I see.
24:51It was very niche.
24:52I think it has, like, 909 listens on YouTube.
24:56Well, maybe we'll have a, you know, resurgence.
24:59This is it.
24:59Yeah, hopefully.
25:00As a result of this, but, you know, you never know.
25:03The flop.
25:03The Christmas flop.
25:04You want to do a more upbeat Christmas song.
25:06I think that's more what people are looking for at the holiday time.
25:09Okay, all right.
25:10What would Jim Cameron want from you, a Christmas song?
25:13Would he?
25:13Well, we'll know in 20 years when we're finished making it, because I'm sure he'll go down to
25:18the bottom of the ocean, find some inspiration, and come back with hopefully some nice waxed
25:23Christmas paper.
25:24One more question.
25:25What is the greatest original song ever written for a film?
25:29This one.
25:30For a film.
25:31Okay, yours is a style.
25:32Okay, but this one doesn't count, because the one I'm going to pick.
25:34I don't believe.
25:35Well, I know it's not written for a film, but it's so iconic in a film, which is I Will
25:38Always Love You.
25:39Oh, yeah.
25:39Which is Whitney Houston.
25:40And you love Dolly Parton.
25:41She wrote that song.
25:42And I thought of that song so much as I was writing this, because I love when a film and
25:48a song can be embedded in that way.
25:50You can't have one without the other.
25:51Right.
25:52That's a great answer.
25:53The correct answer is Power of Love by Huey Lewis and the New.
25:57Yours was really good.
25:58Top three, for sure.
26:00Definitely.
26:00Great to see you.
26:01Thank you, Jimmy.
26:02Good to see you.
26:02Listen to the song.
26:03It's called Dream As One.
26:04You can download it.
26:05You can buy it.
26:06You can listen to it.
26:07And Avatar Fire and Ash comes out in the theaters on December 19th.
26:11Miley Cyrus, everybody.
26:13We'll be back with Cameron Crowe.
26:20Welcome back.
26:21Cameron Crowe and the Wainwrights are coming.
26:23But first, the holidays are on the way, and that means another season of boring office parties.
26:28Thankfully, Guillermo and our friends at Bailey's have a big idea to save you from small talk.
26:36This party's mid.
26:38Major mid.
26:39It does not slay the house down boot.
26:41It's, I don't know what that means, but I agree.
26:45Cheer up, buddy, people.
26:47It's me, Guillermo.
26:50The Bailey's bovine.
26:52Who am I to the cow?
26:53Luther, he's my brother for another otter.
26:56Otter?
26:58I'm going to turn this lame office party around with the Moo Holiday Tradition.
27:03Good luck.
27:05We don't need luck.
27:05We got cookies and cream.
27:09A Bailey's hot chocolate.
27:11A Bailey's chocolate martini.
27:13And this cookie is a slam dunk.
27:19That's delicious.
27:20Thanks, Guillermo.
27:21Dunking is way more fun than talking.
27:24I'm Susan from HR.
27:25Oh, HR.
27:26I need to speak with you right now.
27:29About?
27:29About getting more Bailey's and cookies so this could be our yearly tradition.
27:34You saved this party for being a cow-tastrophe.
27:39Dunk your way into the holidays with Bailey's.
27:42All right, welcome back to the show.
27:49We have music from the Wainwrights on the way.
27:51Our next guest was interviewing rock stars for Rolling Stone while his mom was still packing
27:55his lunch.
27:56He has given us many gifts since, including Show Me the Money, Almost Famous, and Jeff Spicoli.
28:01This is his memoir.
28:03It's called The Uncool.
28:04Please welcome Cameron Crowe.
28:06I'm really happy to have you here.
28:22I'm like, I'm about halfway through the book so far, and I love it.
28:25It's so much fun to read.
28:27You write so well.
28:28And what a life you've had.
28:30It's really remarkable.
28:31Well, tell everyone how old you were when you started as a published music writer.
28:3716.
28:3816 years old.
28:39It was a joyful journey that started early because I loved music.
28:47You love music, and you happen to be a terrific writer, really a child prodigy.
28:52I mean, I think I was like putting quarters into a Donkey Kong machine at that time.
28:57And you are traveling all over the world with these famous musicians, people you admire,
29:04people you don't admire as much.
29:06You are with your mom, who sounds like she was an amazing person, really.
29:11Like, your mom was incredible.
29:13Like a big character.
29:15Yeah.
29:15You know, in the family.
29:16And she was a very strict, passionate school teacher.
29:20And she just felt very simply that rock music was going to be the end of civilization.
29:25Now, did she, I'm curious, because did you think, did she feel like it was going to be
29:29the end of civilization, or was she just worried about her son getting involved in it and getting
29:34involved in sex, drugs, and all that kind of stuff?
29:36Definitely that.
29:37Yeah.
29:38Brain cells.
29:39This was her issue.
29:40Because rock music, drugs, promiscuous lifestyle stuff is like, ultimately, it's going to destroy
29:46brain cells, which is an attack against learning and intelligence, you know?
29:50So I was supposed to be a lawyer.
29:52My great-grandfather was like one of the oldest practicing lawyers in the country, and I was
29:58supposed to be part of that tradition.
30:00But I started wandering backstage and interviewing musicians, and this was like my passion, because
30:05it was such a joyful thing.
30:07And ultimately, your mother surrendered to that.
30:11In fact, one of the things she said that I thought was just unbelievable is after you'd gone
30:15to a bunch of concerts with her, because you were just a kid, you had to go with your mom.
30:19Yeah.
30:19She said something to the effect of you, that your music is better than ours.
30:26Yeah.
30:26It was an incredible victory, Jimmy, because I had won tickets to a couple of concerts that
30:32were in town.
30:33Calling a radio station.
30:34Calling a radio station.
30:35Making calls that I made sure would get through on the right number of callers in, and I would
30:41like set it up so that the calls would happen in time, and I would win these contests.
30:45So I could not buy tickets to go to the concerts, because that was, you know, that was too dramatic
30:50for our family.
30:51So I would win tickets.
30:52I won tickets to go see Elvis, and also Eric Clapton, Derek and the Dominoes, the same week.
31:00And your mom...
31:01Was my date.
31:02...loved Eric Clapton, as I recall.
31:04We went to see Elvis, who was kind of, like, crazily out of his mind in San Diego at this
31:11concert.
31:11He was doing...
31:12Your description of that concert is just...
31:14How old were you at that time?
31:16Uh, 13.
31:17The amount of detail that you describe, it's really...
31:22How did you remember the set list, what he was wearing, the things he said?
31:27How do you remember all that stuff?
31:29Well, I just kept everything and made notes always as I was growing up about everything.
31:35And Elvis's concert was wild, because he was barely singing, you know?
31:40He would be like, catch Obama, and then he would, like, sell scarves, kind of, you know?
31:46And then, at one point, though, he did Bridge Over Troubled Water, and it was, like, a moment
31:52where you saw the genius of Elvis.
31:54And it was kind of, like, there for a moment, glimmering, and then gone.
31:57Later that week, we went to see Eric Clapton, and my mom was with me, my date.
32:03And a guy in the audience actually offered her cocaine.
32:07And she kind of pleasantly turned it down.
32:10But it was this kind of really powerful, passionate concert.
32:14There were people rioting outside.
32:17And when it was over, we were walking in the parking lot, and she said,
32:21I like your music better.
32:22Your music is better than ours.
32:23Are you sure she didn't take the cocaine?
32:25She might have.
32:25She might have when I turned away.
32:28You mentioned Bridge Over Troubled Water, but your parents did not...
32:32You saw Simon Garfield go on television with your parents, and they didn't like it,
32:36which is hard to believe for me, because they seem like a very parent-friendly band.
32:41Well, they were doing Mrs. Robinson.
32:45And Paul Simon was singing the lyrics, you know,
32:49Jesus loves you more than you will know.
32:51And my mom got it in her head that this was sacrilegious.
32:55And so she wrote a letter to the head of CBS and said, this is really out of line.
33:01This shouldn't be happening.
33:02This kind of music should not be on TV.
33:04And they wrote a letter back saying, we got your feedback.
33:07And for a while, my sister Cindy and I realized that there was no rock on TV,
33:12no rock on CBS, and no rock on the Smothers Brothers show.
33:15And we were convinced that, like, my mother had stopped rock throughout the country as well.
33:20So this was something we had to...
33:22I like the idea of an executive reading a piece of paper,
33:25someone's complaining that the artist's saying,
33:27Jesus loves you more than you will know.
33:29I mean, that seems pretty positive to me, I guess.
33:32True.
33:33Were the artists that you interviewed tickled by the idea that you're a kid?
33:38Do you feel like that's part of why they agreed to talk to you?
33:41A little bit.
33:42You know, I was so interested in their music, you know.
33:44So they could tell that at a time when a lot of the older journalists didn't really know the music,
33:50I did.
33:51So they would talk to me and just spill their hearts out, you know.
33:55How long did you spend with David Bowie?
33:56David Bowie was really kind to me, and I was a young writer.
34:01And he said, look, I want you to learn how to be an artist as a writer.
34:07So hang around with me.
34:08Ask me whatever you want.
34:10Be with me in the studio and going to Soul Train and all that stuff.
34:14And at some point, you're going to hold up a mirror to me with your article that you write,
34:19and you're going to show me what you saw.
34:21And we spent a lot of time together.
34:23It was a wild time for him.
34:24He was kind of loose in L.A. and exploring different versions of satanic worship and things
34:32like that, which was a wild thing to see up close.
34:35But he also was a guy who would give me a ride home or to where I was staying because
34:42I didn't have a driver's license and would be driving through the streets of L.A.
34:46in a yellow VW bug early in the morning after a session.
34:51And I'd look around and I'd see mothers bringing their kids to school and stuff.
34:55And I'd be like, look, it's David Bowie in this VW.
34:57But he was so wonderful.
35:01And I even met someone, a nurse, who I told him, like, I'm going to go out on a date with
35:07this person.
35:08And he said, bring her here.
35:10Let's spend some time with her.
35:11And he was very charming.
35:13He had some strange symbols on the curtains.
35:16And, you know, the house was a little bit forbidding in a way.
35:20And he was very charming and really talked me up to this, to this, my date.
35:27But I never heard from her again.
35:29Really?
35:30Yeah.
35:31Wow, she was not impressed by David Bowie.
35:33It was not her world.
35:35It was not her world.
35:36You were offered drugs.
35:38I mean, I'm, you know, I'm in the book and you've already been offered drugs by various
35:43rock stars like 25 times.
35:45You never got into any of that stuff.
35:47Why?
35:47What was it that?
35:48I went with the brain cells thing.
35:51And also, it's like, if you're trying to, like, party with the bands and the people that
35:55you're interviewing, you don't get any work done.
35:58So I would collect these interviews and go back and just transcribe them and stuff.
36:03And I didn't take, I didn't, their offers of drugs I didn't go for.
36:08Because also, it just, you're crossing the line and you're not really doing your job.
36:13Yeah, right.
36:14And they like you for not taking their drugs, too.
36:16Yeah, right.
36:17I guess that would make sense.
36:18Wasn't it?
36:19You become very popular.
36:20You wrote and direct many, many films, but among them, Almost Famous, which is one of the
36:26all-time greats, Jerry Maguire.
36:28And you wrote, you wrote one of the best comedies of all, Fast Times at Ridgemont High.
36:37When you were, how old were you when you actually wrote that?
36:40Twenty-two.
36:42Twenty-two years old.
36:43You put that together, which is mind-boggling.
36:45Your pal, Sean Penn.
36:46Yeah.
36:47Well, Sean Penn, was he what you imagined Spicoli would be?
36:53That and more.
36:54He really, he really just got deeply into portraying a guy that he knew from the beaches of Malibu.
37:01I thought when I wrote it, there weren't any kind of stoners that you'd really seen in culture.
37:06You'd see them in life.
37:07Yeah.
37:08But writing it, I thought, well, you know, maybe you just get somebody that doesn't get
37:12the joke.
37:14And, but then Sean came along, who was this brilliant young actor who knew what to do.
37:19And he stayed in character the whole movie, asked us to call him Jeff.
37:23And then, and then on the last day, he showed up in this corduroy jacket and said, I'm Sean.
37:27It was nice to meet you and great to meet you.
37:29And he had left this performance, Jimmy, that was just hilarious.
37:34It's one of the all-time great performances.
37:35Yeah, yeah.
37:36And you brought something along, which I can't even believe this.
37:41Just tell us what this is, right?
37:42I know exactly what it is, but explain to the audience what this is.
37:45Well, because I keep everything, I wanted to show you that I also kept the cue card
37:50from the fake interview in Fast Times at Ridgemont High that he does where, uh...
37:55With Stu Nahan.
37:56With Stu Nahan.
37:57Yeah.
37:57That's right.
37:57Right.
37:58And, uh, you know...
37:59And he used cue cards, huh?
38:01He did.
38:01They were right there by the camera, and he did it, but it was completely in Spicoli mode.
38:06And, uh, you know...
38:08Danger is his business.
38:09Danger is his business.
38:10Yeah.
38:11Wow, that's unbelievable.
38:12Well, the book is unbelievable.
38:13There's so many great stories.
38:15I mean, I...
38:16What a life.
38:18That's it.
38:18The Uncool by Cameron Crowe.
38:20It is out now.
38:21Thank you so much for being here, guys.
38:24We'll be back with the Wainwrights.
38:26I want to thank Miley Cyrus and Cameron Crowe.
38:35I want to apologize to Matt Damon.
38:36We ran out of time for him.
38:37Nightline is set for first.
38:39Tickets for their Hooray for Holidays benefit concert are on sale now.
38:43It is Saturday night.
38:44Here with the song,
38:45If we make it through December,
38:47The Wainwrights.
38:49If we make it through December,
38:58Everything's gonna be alright, I know.
39:03It's the coldest time of winter And I shiver when I see the falling snow
39:15If we make it through December Got plans to be in a warmer town come summertime
39:26Maybe even California
39:32If we make it through December If we make it through December, we'll be fine
39:40Got laid off down at the factory And their timing's not the greatest in the world
39:53Heaven knows I've been working hard Wanted Christmas to be right for daddy's girl
40:06I don't mean to hate December It's meant to be the happy time of year
40:17And my little girl don't understand Why daddy can't afford to have no Christmas here
40:30If we make it through December, everything's gonna be alright, I know
40:44It's the coldest time of winter And I shiver when I see the falling snow
40:56If we make it through December Got plans to be in a warmer town come summertime
41:08Baby even California If we make it through December, we'll be fine
41:27We'll be fine
41:34We'll be fine
41:40We'll be fine
41:42We'll be fine
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