(Transcript provided by TSCM)
Jimmy Kimmel Live
January 23rd, 2006
Kimmel: Our second guest this evening is a life-long friend of Michael Jackson; he's the ex-husband of Liza Minelli; he was vice-president of a major record label at age 20, and is one of the whitest people ever to receive an NAACP Image Award. This Thursday, he'll be producing the Dionne Warwick 45th anniversary spectacular across the street from us at the Kodak theatre. Please welcome the inimitable David Gest!
Kimmel: I think you might be the first guest we've ever had, who is actually named Gest -- so congratulations on that.
Gest: (Shrugging and grinning) I can't help that.
Kimmel: Why do you wear sunglasses indoors?
Gest: You don't read the tabloids?
Kimmel: No -- oh. Why?
Gest: I've had my eyes replaced.
(Laughter)
...
Kimmel: Now, you're friends with Michael Jackson. You guys were friends from -- how old were you guys when you guys lit up?
Gest: Like ten. Ten years old.
Kimmel: Ten years old, he lived next door to you?
Gest: Right. His brother, Tito, was one of my closest friends. I used to date his sister, LaToya.
Kimmel: You dated LaToya?!
Gest: Yeah, I dated LaToya.
Kimmel: Really?
Gest: Yeah.
Kimmel: How much -- is LaToya older?
Gest: No, younger.
Kimmel: She's younger?
Gest: Younger.
Kimmel: And what would you and Michael do when you were kids together, playing next door?
Gest: Playing next door?
Kimmel: No, I mean like really. What sort of things would you do -- Wiffle Ball, or...?
Gest: No. We used to -- everybody played Basketball. The whole, the whole group. But we'd go, you know, we'd go to see concerts and we'd go to see Al Green in concert. You know, we'd have to throw Janet and Randy in the back of the car at like sixteen or whatever the driving age was. And, we'd always go to DuPars to eat pancakes. And Michael would take a squirt gun and start shooting people in the back and they'd go like this and that (imitating someone getting squirt in back with water gun).
Kimmel: Really?
Gest: Yeah, he was -
Kimmel: He drove? He actually drove?
Gest: Yeah --
Kimmel: I don't know why I'm having a hard time imagining him driving.
Gest: No. No, no. He drove, he just always forgot to put gas in the car.
Kimmel: Oh, really?
Gest: So, we'd always be calling Triple A to come and we'd be stuck somewhere with this Rolls Royce.
(Laughter)
Kimmel: Really?!
Gest: Yeah, yeah.
Kimmel: Wow.
Gest: And he's not really like what people think. He's really a great guy. He talks like, "hey man, let's do this. And I mean now. And I blank mean now!" He doesn't talk like (imitating higher voice) "hi, how are you?"
Kimmel: Well, then why does he talk like in --
Gest: I have no idea. I've always told him. It's crazy, I mean I've always told him -- be yourself.
Kimmel: And he never gives you an explanation why -- why would he talk like that?
Gest: He gets nervous in front of people. He gets nervous. But in real life, I mean when he was doing Off The Wall and Bad, he would say, "I want this done. I want this campaign done now. I want them to advertise a hundred thousand on Billboards," and he'd be the one who really was responsible for making his career happen. And -
Kimmel: Wow.
Gest: It's just a sad thing this happened but you know what, once you go down you have no place to go but up!
Kimmel: Do you talk to him at all?
Gest: Yeah.
Kimmel: You do. When was the last time you spoke to him?
Gest: Right before the verdict in the trial.
Kimmel: Now, Michael was the best man at your wedding? (Showing picture)
Gest: Oh, yeah.
Kimmel: And there's his ex-wife, Liz Taylor.
(Laughter)
Gest: No, we're actually still married.
Kimmel: You and Liz Taylor?
Gest: No, me and Liza Minelli.
Kimmel: Oh, you and Liza Minelli.
Gest: But, we're getting divorced, it just hasn't gone through. We're still in -
Kimmel: You're still, oh, the divorce isn't over yet?
Gest: No, we got a while to go…
...
Kimmel: I would love to be involved in that. Let me tell you, any of this stuff; Michael Jackson, Liza, you name it -- I'm in for it.
Gest: Okay.
Kimmel: Yeah. We'll hang out, we'll do the whole thing.
Gest: The whole thing.
Kimmel: Dionne Warwick. Another person who seems like an odd person, right? I mean -
Gest: No, she's --
Kimmel: With the psychic friends and all that sort of thing?
Gest: I never looked at that part of it. I mean, I know her --
Kimmel: Yeah, you should. It's interesting.
(Laughter)
Gest: (Laughing) No, I mean I never talked to that about -- you know, she's got such a great voice and such a great --
Kimmel: She does have an amazing voice. Yeah.
Gest: You know, great, great repertoire of the like 50 hits, 80 hits, and it's about time she got her just do with the big salute. We've got Stevie coming, Gladys Knight, Olivia Newton John, Sir Cliff Richard, it goes on and on.
Kimmel: Wow.
Gest: Then we've got a party afterwards at the Palladium. Gonna be a great show.
Kimmel: And people can go to this big --
Gest: Everybody. The public. Come on over!
Kimmel: Wow, and is there any chance Michael Jackson will be at this?
Gest: (Shrugging) Well, I'm trying to get him to fly in.
Kimmel: That would be wonderful. And tell me what this is because I just received this just before the program. This is your new book? "The Gest List From A to Z."
Gest: Yeah.
Kimmel: And you can see that on the list there, we've got Michael Jackson, Elizabeth Taylor, Luther Vandross, Bette Davis, Whitney Houston, Bobby Brown, Liza Minnelli, Liam Neeson, and King Douglas. How did Liam Neeson get in this list by the way?
(Laughter)
Gest: He was my neighbor, he's a good friend.
Kimmel: Really?
Gest: Yeah, he's a great guy. Great personality and you know there's a lot of good stories about a lot of -- you know, funny stories about Michael and what people don't know is like, we used to go to this place called DuPars on Ventura --
Kimmel: Right, the pie place.
Gest: Right, the pie place.
Kimmel: Yeah.
Gest: And get pancakes. And this time it was closed, so we went to Sambos Pancake House in Ventura. And we used to play a lot of jokes and we walked in, and the waitress didn't know who either of us was -- especially me but, Michael, no. We sat down, it was like one in the morning and she said, "what do you want?" I went, "[Gibberish Words]" and Michael started laughing. And she slaaapped him across the face and said, "don't you make fun of him, he's from a foreign country! He's probably from Iraq, and you don't make fun of these people!"
(Laughter)
...
Kimmel: David gest, you've gotta come back when the book comes out. When does the book come out?
Gest: Next year. Early next year.
Jimmy Kimmel Live
January 23rd, 2006
Kimmel: Our second guest this evening is a life-long friend of Michael Jackson; he's the ex-husband of Liza Minelli; he was vice-president of a major record label at age 20, and is one of the whitest people ever to receive an NAACP Image Award. This Thursday, he'll be producing the Dionne Warwick 45th anniversary spectacular across the street from us at the Kodak theatre. Please welcome the inimitable David Gest!
Kimmel: I think you might be the first guest we've ever had, who is actually named Gest -- so congratulations on that.
Gest: (Shrugging and grinning) I can't help that.
Kimmel: Why do you wear sunglasses indoors?
Gest: You don't read the tabloids?
Kimmel: No -- oh. Why?
Gest: I've had my eyes replaced.
(Laughter)
...
Kimmel: Now, you're friends with Michael Jackson. You guys were friends from -- how old were you guys when you guys lit up?
Gest: Like ten. Ten years old.
Kimmel: Ten years old, he lived next door to you?
Gest: Right. His brother, Tito, was one of my closest friends. I used to date his sister, LaToya.
Kimmel: You dated LaToya?!
Gest: Yeah, I dated LaToya.
Kimmel: Really?
Gest: Yeah.
Kimmel: How much -- is LaToya older?
Gest: No, younger.
Kimmel: She's younger?
Gest: Younger.
Kimmel: And what would you and Michael do when you were kids together, playing next door?
Gest: Playing next door?
Kimmel: No, I mean like really. What sort of things would you do -- Wiffle Ball, or...?
Gest: No. We used to -- everybody played Basketball. The whole, the whole group. But we'd go, you know, we'd go to see concerts and we'd go to see Al Green in concert. You know, we'd have to throw Janet and Randy in the back of the car at like sixteen or whatever the driving age was. And, we'd always go to DuPars to eat pancakes. And Michael would take a squirt gun and start shooting people in the back and they'd go like this and that (imitating someone getting squirt in back with water gun).
Kimmel: Really?
Gest: Yeah, he was -
Kimmel: He drove? He actually drove?
Gest: Yeah --
Kimmel: I don't know why I'm having a hard time imagining him driving.
Gest: No. No, no. He drove, he just always forgot to put gas in the car.
Kimmel: Oh, really?
Gest: So, we'd always be calling Triple A to come and we'd be stuck somewhere with this Rolls Royce.
(Laughter)
Kimmel: Really?!
Gest: Yeah, yeah.
Kimmel: Wow.
Gest: And he's not really like what people think. He's really a great guy. He talks like, "hey man, let's do this. And I mean now. And I blank mean now!" He doesn't talk like (imitating higher voice) "hi, how are you?"
Kimmel: Well, then why does he talk like in --
Gest: I have no idea. I've always told him. It's crazy, I mean I've always told him -- be yourself.
Kimmel: And he never gives you an explanation why -- why would he talk like that?
Gest: He gets nervous in front of people. He gets nervous. But in real life, I mean when he was doing Off The Wall and Bad, he would say, "I want this done. I want this campaign done now. I want them to advertise a hundred thousand on Billboards," and he'd be the one who really was responsible for making his career happen. And -
Kimmel: Wow.
Gest: It's just a sad thing this happened but you know what, once you go down you have no place to go but up!
Kimmel: Do you talk to him at all?
Gest: Yeah.
Kimmel: You do. When was the last time you spoke to him?
Gest: Right before the verdict in the trial.
Kimmel: Now, Michael was the best man at your wedding? (Showing picture)
Gest: Oh, yeah.
Kimmel: And there's his ex-wife, Liz Taylor.
(Laughter)
Gest: No, we're actually still married.
Kimmel: You and Liz Taylor?
Gest: No, me and Liza Minelli.
Kimmel: Oh, you and Liza Minelli.
Gest: But, we're getting divorced, it just hasn't gone through. We're still in -
Kimmel: You're still, oh, the divorce isn't over yet?
Gest: No, we got a while to go…
...
Kimmel: I would love to be involved in that. Let me tell you, any of this stuff; Michael Jackson, Liza, you name it -- I'm in for it.
Gest: Okay.
Kimmel: Yeah. We'll hang out, we'll do the whole thing.
Gest: The whole thing.
Kimmel: Dionne Warwick. Another person who seems like an odd person, right? I mean -
Gest: No, she's --
Kimmel: With the psychic friends and all that sort of thing?
Gest: I never looked at that part of it. I mean, I know her --
Kimmel: Yeah, you should. It's interesting.
(Laughter)
Gest: (Laughing) No, I mean I never talked to that about -- you know, she's got such a great voice and such a great --
Kimmel: She does have an amazing voice. Yeah.
Gest: You know, great, great repertoire of the like 50 hits, 80 hits, and it's about time she got her just do with the big salute. We've got Stevie coming, Gladys Knight, Olivia Newton John, Sir Cliff Richard, it goes on and on.
Kimmel: Wow.
Gest: Then we've got a party afterwards at the Palladium. Gonna be a great show.
Kimmel: And people can go to this big --
Gest: Everybody. The public. Come on over!
Kimmel: Wow, and is there any chance Michael Jackson will be at this?
Gest: (Shrugging) Well, I'm trying to get him to fly in.
Kimmel: That would be wonderful. And tell me what this is because I just received this just before the program. This is your new book? "The Gest List From A to Z."
Gest: Yeah.
Kimmel: And you can see that on the list there, we've got Michael Jackson, Elizabeth Taylor, Luther Vandross, Bette Davis, Whitney Houston, Bobby Brown, Liza Minnelli, Liam Neeson, and King Douglas. How did Liam Neeson get in this list by the way?
(Laughter)
Gest: He was my neighbor, he's a good friend.
Kimmel: Really?
Gest: Yeah, he's a great guy. Great personality and you know there's a lot of good stories about a lot of -- you know, funny stories about Michael and what people don't know is like, we used to go to this place called DuPars on Ventura --
Kimmel: Right, the pie place.
Gest: Right, the pie place.
Kimmel: Yeah.
Gest: And get pancakes. And this time it was closed, so we went to Sambos Pancake House in Ventura. And we used to play a lot of jokes and we walked in, and the waitress didn't know who either of us was -- especially me but, Michael, no. We sat down, it was like one in the morning and she said, "what do you want?" I went, "[Gibberish Words]" and Michael started laughing. And she slaaapped him across the face and said, "don't you make fun of him, he's from a foreign country! He's probably from Iraq, and you don't make fun of these people!"
(Laughter)
...
Kimmel: David gest, you've gotta come back when the book comes out. When does the book come out?
Gest: Next year. Early next year.