good evening. two great interviews tonight with two fascinating people. first, tony robbins, who inspires millions. he's helped superstar celebrities and heads of state. and tonight he's talking about keeping america great with words of wisdom that could literally change your life. also, the hilarious julia louis-dreyfus. we watched her in nine seasons as elaine on "seinfeld." now she's playing the vice president on hbo's hit comedy "veep." a role that's changed her view on something important. >> i have more sympathy for all women in government. i think that being a woman in a position of power is tricky but important and crucial, actually. and i think the more women we have in power the better off our country will be. >> tonight, keeping america great with inspirational superstar tony robbins, author, entrepreneur, humanitarian. the list goes on and on. he's helped ceos and citizens from around the world. on tv you can see him in "breakthrough with tony robbins" and "life class," both on oprah winfrey's own network. tony joins me now. welcome. >> thank you. good to see you. >> i was looking at the list of people you've helped. never mind the international corporations and so. . bill clinton, princence diana, mikhail gorbachev, mother theresa, quincy jones. these are like the icons of my lifetime. all touched by the inspirational hand of tony robbins. >> i don't know about that. i've had a ticket to history. i've had a chance to be around some magnificent people and and learn from them along the way and in some indications be able to assist them as well. >> what is the common theme of anybody in their positions, where you get to be hugely famous with all the pressures that brings? what do they need from somebody like you? >> well, they all have something different. i get the phone call when the athlete's melting down in the middle of a sporting event, you've got to do something right now to turn him around. >> what do you say? when that specific thing is happening, what do you say? >> it's not a say. it's putting him back in state. you look at somebody like tiger woods. he has the same skills he always had. what he's lost is the state. he's lost that certainty. i'm sure you've seen a sporting event, any sporting event and you watch the person walking out on the field, go for a free throw, kick, and you know before they do it they're going to miss. you can see the certainty is missing. it's getting them back in that psychological emotional state where their best comes naturally. in that case. but i might get a phone call where a child is suicidal or the president of the united states calls and says you're they're going to impeach me in the morning. what should i do? >> did that actually happen? bill clinton called in 1998 and said tony they may be impaechl paechg me in the morn, what should i do? what an extraordinary position of responsibility. >> i'm sure i'm not the only person he called. >> you're one of the people he called. >> by any stretch. yes. >> step back for a moment. that moment, how did you feel? despite all these incredible things you've experienced, to have the president of your country call you in his great hour of need. >> well, you know, if you're thinking about yourself in a moment like that, you can't really serve. so then it would be all about you. what i felt was a sense of responsibility. and i also felt i needed to tell him straight what i really believed. i knew he was going to get different opinions. and i don't really talk about what i do with someone unless they speak about it. but i did speak at that point and said frankly, you're not going to be impeached in the morning. easy for me to say. i'm not in your position. just politically it's not going to happen. but you have to decide what your legacy's going to be, what's your outcome because you have to decide what you're going to be able to say that people at home can tell their children about. you have to look at what you can do legally. if i was you i'd be doing what's wright right and nothing less in that process because you want to look at yourself in the mirror. people know what's right. what happens is we get ourselves caught up in an environment where the environment starts to trigger us. we get them out of the triggers get them into something real. sometimes it's a strategy. sometimes it's changing their psychological state. sometimes it's helping them to break through some limiting belief. >> do you personally ever have crushing moments of self-doubt? >> self-doubt? as often as you do. >> that's not often. >> but it's not because i'm so great or brilliant. it's just like, you know, an athlete, when you build a muscle over and over in your life you do it. that doesn't mean i'm always right, either, by any stretch of the imagination. it's not crushing self-doubt. and if i had failures, challenges, i remember doctors coming to me and saying you've got a tumor in your brain, what are you going to do? you have to make those decisions when you have total uncertainty in your life, and it helps if you've trained yourself to be able to make decisions in those moments. >> oprah winfrey called you the energizer bunny on steroids. now, be honest. when you first heard that, what was your reaction? >> that was pretty horrific. but she came to my event and, you know, for years she's known about me, not had me on for whatever reason. she thought these commercials i was, you know, commercial of some sort, not spiritual. and she came and said i'm only coming for two hours, i can't do more than that. and she stayed for 12. and it changed her life. she said literally on her air it was one of the most experiences of her life. and we're doing these specials, these live class that's are really fun. >> i've watched you do some of your live performing on television, 15,000 people going crazy you custom in like a rock star you're up and you're pumping you've got this big grin on your face and you're like boom. and i thought, what is the secret? and now i've met you. one, you're massive. you're absolutely massive. >> but i'm not in a crowd of 10,000 people. >> he can't be as big as he seems. but you are. you're physically very imposing. how helpful is that to exuding the kind of inner self-belief that you clearly have? >> well, clearly it's not just about inner self-belief. it's really about people getting to the truth. i believe people -- i'm not into positive thinking. i'm not about to say go to your garden and chant there's no weeds, there's no weeds. i'm going to say here's the weeds, here's how you're going to pull them out. i'm much more of a strategist. but to answer your question deliberately i was 5'1" sophomore year in high school. i was student body president and i wasn't a popular kid. i had this drive and this hunger to serve. i ran a real political campaign. i went to each group and said what do you need? i'll come back and tell you if i can do it or not my belief. i interviewed people. and i won not as the popular kid but the kid that -- raw and real, believed what i could do and i really delivered. i was there every single day in the summer. so it started back in high school when i was mr. solution for people regardless of my size. >> like many people who become very successful, you had a really traumatic upbringing. your father left when you were very young. your mother brought you up but was really fairly chaotic from all accounts. >> yes. >> and had a number of substance issues and so on and so on. and at 17 she throws you out of the home. what did all that do to you as a young man when you're coming out of your teens, you've gone through this hideous time, you haven't really experienced i guess real love from either parent? >> i don't think that's true. i had four fathers. so who i got to know at different levels. my mother ket changing in that area. my mom made me feel loved. she also was abusive and i never talked about that until oprah -- >> did she ever tell you she loved you? >> absolutely. she was physically loving but she would also go to the other side because she had substance challenges. and what it made me was a practical psychologist. i had to be able to read her, what was really going on, could i anticipate what's going to happen and that gave me i think skill sets in life that allowed me to read almost anybody in the future because it was life and death in some -- >> it was so unpredictable. >> exactly right. >> so you had to literally roll with the raves. >> and i know what suffering feels like and that gives you a hunger to make sure other people don't suffer. i love to see people lit up -- >> it can go the other way. people who are abused in that way can often become abusers. how did you avoid that trap? >> some of it is grace. and some of it is just i love people. i hated to see suffering before i even suffered. and when i had enough suffering i just wanted to end it. my mom, they were doing my biography and they interviewed her. and they said has he always been like this? she said well, when he was fine i was preg nnt wa his brother and we had no money, we were very poor and i sent him next door to get milk and peanut butter and i came home without those things. and she said where is it? i said there was a poor boy there, i gave him my money. she said, well, we're poor. so i've always had that connection to people and love for people but i think the pain gave me a hunger and drive to say i've got to conquer myself, it's never going to happen to my family, never going to happen to anybody i can have influence with. and fortunately that's reached millions of people around the world. >> how did your relationship with your mother evolve after she'd thrown you out? >> once we were separated i think it allowed her to -- i was her support system for everything. i have a younger brother, younger sister. and i went to the store on my bicycle, bought the meals, made the maelsz. he should never came out of her room. we had a 1200-square-foot house but she had her room. what happened is she had to adapt and eventually she was very proud of me. we had a very beautiful relationship. she's since passed. and i adore her. i wouldn't be here today without my mother and i wouldn't be who i am without the pieces inside me that i brought to the table as well. >> let's take a short break. when we come back i want you to put your hat on and fix america in about six minutes. >> okay. perfect. sounds like perfect television. >> i can't think of anybody else who can actually do this. but you might be able to. >> okay. thank you. this man is about to be the millionth customer. would you mind if i go ahead of you? instead we had someone go ahead of him and win fifty thousand dollars. congratulations you are our one millionth customer. people don't like to miss out on money that should have been theirs. that's why at ally we have the raise your rate 2-year cd. you can get a one-time rate increase if our two-year rate goes up. if your bank makes you miss out, you need an ally. ally bank. no nonsense. just people sense. yoyou u wawalklk i intna coconvnvenentitiononalal ms ststorore,e, i it't's s rert ababouout t yoyou.u. ththeyey s sayay, , "w"weleu wawantnteded a a f firirm m bebn lilie e onon o onene o of " wewe p prorovividede t thet inindidivividudualalizizatat yoyourur b bodody y neneede. ohoh, , wowow!w! ththatat f feeeelsls r reae. itit's's a aboboutut s supuppope yoyou u fifindnd i it t momost. toto c celelebebraratete 2 25 5f bebetttterer s sleleepep-f-forof yoyou u - - slsleeeep p nr inintrtrododucuceses t ther ededititioion n bebed d st inincrcrededibiblele s savf $1$1,0,00000 f foror a a l li. ononlyly a at t ththe e slsleeer ststorore,e, w wheherere n make your move, scream yes. as hard and strong as you can. >> yes! >> you got it! go! >> yes! >> whoo! >> tony robbins. that was oprah demonstrating the famous fire walk during the multiday seminar. unleash the power within. i mean, you could have nearly killed oprah winfrey. if she'd fallen into your fire -- she'd be lying there in flames and you're watching $3 billion worth of talent going up all down to you. that takes confidence. shoving oprah winfrey onto your fire walk. >> no, what takes confidence we did our breakthrough show and i took a man, i wanted to do this show where i have the opportunity to get people who are facing the worst environments. you know, today you look around, piers, and you see people, 63% of the country now says their best days are behind us. that the future for their kids and their self will be far less than what they've experienced. i said what's the best way to do? you can tell people all day long it's going to be better and that's not going to do anything. we have to make it better. i thought if i took a show where people had extreme problems, extreme stress and showed them turn around in 30 days. i'll tell you what the goal of more courage was. give me some examples. and we found a man and his wife who were literally getting married in mexico. he jumps into a swimming pool and he becomes a quadriplegic instantly. he's now in a little room in l.a. he can't move. his wife is never going to be able to have a child with him. she's his caretaker. what can we do to change his life in 30 days? i said i can do this, and not just be uplifting but make it real and have it last. in essence i had to figure out how to shift his story of what's possible in his life because you and i both know people who have a great life and are miserable. >> let's have a clip from that very moment. watch this. >> whoo! you okay? >> yeah, i'm great. this is amazing. amazing. >> the man is a quadriplegic physically. jumping out of an airplane seems a little insane to most people. but so much of our life is on automatic pilot that we don't even see it anymore. he was able to not only do this but really, really enjoy it. >> you see, that is obviously great television, but it's also a profoundly moving thing to watch. >> it was unbelievable to experience. >> to see that man's face. feeling like he was alive again. >> he couldn't -- he said he couldn't leave the house. and i took him to fiji, which was a trip by itself, i won't waste your time but they dropped him if you can imagine. i got him skydiving in a few days. i separated him from his wife who said it couldn't happen and for ten days taught him murderball which if you've ever seen it looks like mad max, rugby for quadriplegics, transformed his idea, had him build a truck that he couldn't build when he was able-bodied and went 100 miles an hour, he drof it with his elbows. all this. he calls me out camping. his wife got cancer after the show. brain cancer. everybody said it couldn't be done. he took charge, made it happen. the man changed his life. because i always say that talking is wonderful but an experience is much more powerful than a belief. so i give people experiences that help them to change. >> do you. you also give people advice. there are businessmen in this country who are rumored to pay you $1 million a year to give them advice. >> i have one client who's one of the top ten financial traders in the world, he's been my client for 20 years that way. >> why are you worth that kind of money to somebody -- >> because i'm not coming to inspire him. he doesn't need any inspiration. >> what does he need? >> i'm a strategist. what he needs is modeling. i came in when he lost money. he hasn't lost money for the 20 years i worked with him. he gives me that seven figures plus a piece of the up side full. when i come in every single time or in the course of three or four times a year i will come in and help him improve his strategy. the markets are changing. what do we need to do in this system to get the result? so most people think of me as the positive thinking guy because i do believe in passion and enji and i believe in an inspired life and the other choice is the bad life. so i bring energy but the strategy is what makes it work. >> let me give you a scenario. i am the patient and i am america incorporated. >> yes. >> now, there are clearly fundamental problems with america right now and yet i like to call this segment keeping america great because it remains a great country. >> i agree. >> i imagine it plays perfectly to your constant air of positivity. but what is the solution to the american current malaise, do you think? >> in one minute or two. >> yes. >> i think there's five areas i look at personally and i look at them in how i can make a difference in my time and investments and money there. i look at energy because right now we're continuing to pollute the environment and we're sending our money overseas and we've got wars funded to a great extent to try to protect our oil. and it's an old technology and it's out, and we know that there's other technology available, and so when there's guys like, you know, elan musk that built tesla and they built a car that can go zero to 60 in 2 1/2 seconds and 2 mile range on the thing. t. boone pickens is a friend of mine. he's got a plan that can take 8 million trucks and wipe out about 60% of our use of foreign oil just by getting us to convert like we did from gasoline to diesel, making that conversion now to natural gas, which we have plenty of. and he lost by six votes in the senate and he's going to get it done i'm helping him. energy is one place. cheap natural energy and energy that hopesfully gets us away from polluting. second piece for me really is education. we all know it's antiquated, it's insane, and there are lots of great people that are creating breakthroughs but the institution keeps stopping it. there are a few people that are doing breakthroughs like the khan institute but now teachers are starting to actually do homework with kids in class, have them watch the class at home, be in class where i can interact with you and actually teach you and see dramatic changes in that area. so that things can be done. and i work in that area. third to me i look at employment. we have to retool. if you look at the last -- since 1960 there have been eight recessions. every time we expand unemployment and the most we've ever done on average in the past is 52 weeks. and i totally believe in supporting -- personally my foundation, we feed 2 million people. i was fed when i was a kid. i fed 250,000 people last week in new york as a gift that i did at one of my events. so i believe in that. i'm not pumping my word. i just want you to know. when you believe in that. when you give people 99 sxwiekz don't retool them where they're literally tore two years not working and we operate from a belief that these low-skill, low knowledge jobs are ever going to come back even if apple like you talk about brought it back, it's not -- it's like saying bring farming back from a century ago. we were 80% farmers. now we're 2%. we have to retool. i say give them the money they need but they've got to do something for it and they've got to be retooled for it to match where the economy is going in reality. >> my argument with apple is that the jobs that they're outsourcing to china in vast numbers, those very same jobs could be done in america. >> did you see -- >> and it costs them more money but where's the sense of national -- >> you've been talking about this. i watch your show. but i don't know if you saw, their biggest distributor is opening up plants here in the midwest. >> i did see that. >> and they're bringing all that business here. maybe they're listening to you. >> i like the howard schultz interview. the starbucks guy. who talks about moral capitalism. >> i agree. >> that has to be the way for america. doesn't it? >> i agree 100%. and you and i can't control that. so that's the next piece. it's really developing emotional strength or emotional fitness, psychological strength within our culture. if you looked at a generation that was around -- born in 1910, you