David Culver of WAVY

Anderson Cooper - unedited interview

David Culver goes one-on-one with Anderson Cooper

Updated: Tuesday, 15 Nov 2011, 6:23 AM EST
Published : Monday, 14 Nov 2011, 11:35 AM EST
David Culver
Anchor/Reporter

NEW YORK, NY (WAVY) - 10 On Your Side's David Culver sits down for a one-on-one interview with Anderson Cooper on the set of his new daytime talk show, "Anderson".

Transcript below:

DC: "I almost feel bad doing this interview."
AC: "Why"

DC: "Because you've been through two shows, and your workday is not over yet."
AC: "Yeah, you know. It's fun though, it's nice. It beats a real job. I mean I'm having fun, I'm talking to really interesting people and learning new things, so it doesn't feel like work."

DC: "It's got to be exhausting though too. I mean the reality is you're on. I mean you're not only on when the camera's on you're also on during the commercial breaks, you're greeting people as they've kind of taken time out of the day to be here."
AC: "It's tiring some days, it's a lot of hours, but you know I've gone out with the Marines in Helmand province in southern Afghanistan and that's real hard work, that's tiring, what they're doing over there. This is a blessing. I feel very privileged to be in the position where I can meet all these people and learn all these new things. It's fun."

DC: "How's the show going? You're two months in, are you comfortable with it? I've seen everything from polygamists to psychics, celebrities to germs."
AC: "It's interesting, I wanted to do a show that covered a variety of issues and a variety of topics and some things I totally don't believe in, but I find kind of interesting, like some of the psychic shows we've done. But it's, it's... I'm happy with it, you know. I think a show is always changing and always growing and evolving, but you know we've gotten a really good response, people seem to really like it and it's been great so far."

DC: "You're coming into this daytime talk world, so to speak, at a time when someone just said her goodbyes, and that's Oprah. Do you feel the pressure ever to live up to the standards that she set during the daytime?"
AC: "You know I think Oprah's still around and she's not going anywhere, she's still doing remarkable work. So, I'm not trying to follow in any one person's footsteps, I'm just trying to be myself and do the best show I can. And, I'm hoping to learn something new everyday. And I want my viewers to learn something they can use in their own life every day. And that's what makes the show kind of fun and gives the show a purpose and I certainly hope it lasts and hope that it's around for a fraction of the time Oprah was on the air. But it's a fun process. It's totally different from what I've done, I've been a reporter for 20 years, and I'm continuing to report at night, but it's nice to be able to do different things."

DC: "I guess when I ask the Oprah question what I'm really asking is, 'Are you going to give away cars?'"
AC: "Am I going to give away cars? I don't think we have the budget to give away cars at this point. But we give away stuff to people in the audience, smaller things! Like gift certificates and stuff like that. So maybe some day some cars, we'll see."

DC: "You mention the reporting, do you miss it? I mean you're here a good amount of the time and you got to be here studio for a good amount of the time."
AC: "Yeah, you know I haven't missed out on any big stories, though it's really important to me to still continue to travel and to still cover big breaking stories. And I still continue to do that. We'll have enough shows on tape that I'll be able to still go somewhere if news breaks, and so far we've been able to cover everything we want to."

DC: "We asked some of our WAVY Facebook fans, we have some 70-thousand WAVY Facebook fans..."
AC: "Wow! That's huge. That's great."

DC: "Yeah, for Hampton Roads we're happy with that. And a lot of them were wondering for you, is it always going to be... are you always going to be juggling all of these things? Are you going to be the two shows and AC360?"
AC: "You know I like doing a lot of different jobs. You know for years I've had several... I've been working for 60 Minutes in addition to CNN and now I have this daytime show, I wrote a book a couple of years ago. I find I'm happiest when I have a lot of stuff going on and I'm busy, and I'm learning new things and in every interview I do I'm learning something new and different techniques and stuff. I feel very blest if this is able to continue and I'm able to continue doing all these different things, because they are all interesting, and for me they're all really educational and informative."

DC: "Another question from our WAVY Facebook fan is, 'Who do you most want to interview?"
AC: "Who do I most want to interview? You know, it's interesting, I never... there's not like big celebrities I really want to, I've been able to interview some... you know I interviewed Lady Gaga and Eminem for 60 Minutes and a number of big names on this show, already Jerry Seinfeld has been on. But to me, what's really... the people I really learn from and am inspired by are people who are facing an obstacle in their life, facing a crisis in their life or situation in their life and figuring out how to live a life with dignity or live a life holding their head up high even despite the struggles and obstacles they're facing. And those are the people I really learn from the most. And so they're not famous people or anything, but they're real people who are facing real life challenges. And those are the people I like interviewing the most."

DC: "Of all the stories you've covered, have you ever gotten too close to a story? Too close to maybe some characters?"
AC: "I don't think I have gotten too close. I mean I do believe in experiencing this for real. The whole idea of just like dropping in on people's lives and being dispassionate and being the all-knowing, all-seeing anchor, reporter/anchor. I think it's kind of a false thing. I was in Haiti a couple of years back and was in a riot and there was a kid in trouble who had been hit with a cinder block and was in-and-out of consciousness and I took him out of the crowd and I got some flack for that for kind of crossing a line, but you know for me that's a no-brainer. I mean if there's a child who's hurt and no one else is helping this child a picture's not that important."

DC: "What's the last thing you watched - again from one of our WAVY Facebook viewers - that brought you to tears on TV?"
AC: "The last thing that I watched that brought me to tears, actually the last time was probably on my own show. We've had a couple things that have been incredibly emotional and my mom was on and she surprised me actually by doing an interview and talking about my dad who passed away when I was 10. And it was a show about my brother who committed suicide, so that was actually incredibly for me, very emotional. And you know I'm not a big crier, even publicly or even privately, but that I was totally caught by surprise."

DC: "You almost choked up at one point, and kind of just stopped, and your mom picked right up in...
AC: "Yeah, I noticed that too. I thought that was interesting..."

DC: "And it's like she knew, the show must go one... life must go on... I thought that was amazing."
AC: "Yeah it was, that was interesting that you caught that because I wasn't didn't know if other people noticed that, but yeah I found that really surprising too. My mom's really cool. I mean she's 87 she's in great health and she's lived this extraordinary life, kind of multiple lives - my mom's Gloria Vanderbilt for those who don't know. You know, it's interesting, early on in my career I never wanted people to know who my mom was, because I never wanted people to think that I somehow got in the job, or created a career based on who she was, not that she has any input in the news world, but I just didn't want people kind of associating her with me, because I wanted to forge, make a name for myself. So it's only in the last year or two that I've suddenly become more comfortable with people knowing who she is and, you know, I have her on the show a bunch and she's... I feel very blessed to have her in my life."

DC: "You going to have her in the show some more often?"
AC: "Yeah, I think so! She likes it, it seems. And I think she likes the free hair and makeup that we give her. But she's great to have around and she's always interesting."

DC: "Hampton Roads is a huge military town, we have Naval Station Norfolk right there... Would you be able to serve in the military today?"
AC: "Would I be able to? I don't know what the cutoff is age-wise. I'm 44 now, but you know I embed a lot with the military. I started out of college making a , a friend made a fake press pass for me, and I started going to wars and with a home video camera. And I worked a lot in wars in Africa and obviously in Iraq and Afghanistan over the last 10 years or so. So to me, I look at what those men and women do and I just find it amazing... I've gone out on patrols, as I've said, recently about a year ago, year and a half ago, with Marines in Helmand province. You know it's a 110 degrees out, they've got huge packs on and just day in and day out dealing with the heat and the dust I have such respect and aspiration I don't think I could do it. I don't think, I'm 44 and I work out a lot but I don't think I'm in good enough shape. But I have huge admiration for our fighting men and women."

DC: "I want to ask you just six words, I'm going to mention them, kind of rapid-fire, you give me the first thing that comes to mind. Alright?"
AC: "Alright."

DC: "Depardieu"
AC: "Gerard Depardieu. Urine and giggling. He peed on a plane and it made me giggle and I lost total control."

DC: "Politics"
AC: "Partisanship, just the divisions that are in this country and it becomes particularly noticeable during an election cycle."

DC: "Your mom."
AC: "My mom... just an original. An original I would say. There's really no one like her."

DC: "US Military."
AC: Pride. I mean it sounds cheesy to say, but, I guess maybe to some people, but I just... you know every time I spend time with the military, embed with them, work with them in Iraq and Afghanistan. I don't think a lot of people understand the level of sacrifice that military families make, not just the member who's serving oversees but the family members back home to me it's an extraordinary sacrifice of the entire family."

DC: "Alright I'll let you go, I know you got to go to AC360, thanks so much we really appreciate it."
AC: "Thanks."

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David Culver THRS one-on-one with Anderson Cooper

Duration: 06:21 min.

From: wavy

Added: Nov 14, 2011

Description: David Culver THRS one-on-one with Anderson Cooper

URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMM-glulAW4

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One-on-one with Anderson Cooper

Duration: 04:37 min.

From: wavy

Added: Nov 14, 2011

Description: 10 On Your Side's David Culver goes behind the scenes of the daytime talk show "Anderson". He sits down for a one-on-one with Anderson Cooper.

URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oM8sMkFAyoU