Emmys Shocks & Ari Emanuel’s Burn Book

Matt Belloni (0:00)

And Ari, then, who was probably in his early 30s, if not 30, went into Ovitz's office and not just told him off and said, are you threatening me? I will destroy this motherfucking office. He picked up a chair and threatened to throw it against one of Ovitz's priceless paintings on the wall.

Peter Hamby (0:23)

Welcome to The Powers That Be Daily, Puck's podcast focused on the intersection of Wall Street, Washington, Silicon Valley, and Hollywood and the players who run it all. I'm Peter Hamby.

It's Wednesday, September 16th. Today, I'm joined by Matt Belloni, who got his hands on Ari Emanuel's hotly anticipated new memoir, Roll the Calls. The big themes, rage and some myth making. As Ari calls out his enemies, hypes his rise to Hollywood power, and reveals how he used Entourage and Ari Gold to boost his fame. I also get Matt's takeaways from the Emmy Awards and how Apple won big with Widows Bay. We'll discuss all that and much more on today's episode of The Powers That Be.

Happy Wednesday, everybody, and welcome to The Powers That Be. Joining me today, the illustrious and talented Matt Belloni. He's going to review a big night at the Emmys. We'll see if it's going to be a big night in the TV ratings. Probably not. Big night for Apple, big night for Widows Bay. I'm going to get Matt to give me his highlights. We're also, Matt, going to start the show today by talking about Ari Emanuel's new book which you got your hands on. It's called Roll the Calls. Everyone in Hollywood has been waiting for this book. I interviewed Rahm Emanuel for my new podcast, Matt, a few weeks ago, The Making of a President, and we were just chit-chatting beforehand. I was like, have you seen your brother's book? He was like, not yet. This one has been under lock and key.

Matt Belloni (2:00)

Well, first of all, that's interesting. Because Rahm is not portrayed in the most positive light in that book. There are a number of anecdotes where Ari essentially shows how he's been treated by his brothers and how they condescend to him. In public speeches, Rahm has used Ari as the butt of jokes, especially during the entourage era when he was being parodied on television every week.

And it just exposes all of this fuel that has made Ari Emanuel who he is, has come from first of all being dyslexic as a child and having trouble reading and always fighting back, but also being a part of that overperforming family. You know, where Zeke is a world famous doctor, Rom is Obama's chief of staff and a big political figure and the mayor of Chicago and his parents are hugely successful. And he's just had this fire in himself from a young age.

Peter Hamby (3:04)

I mean, that is interesting. They're also still bros. I mean, they went to the Knicks game together, but it does seem clear that they have kind of a complicated relationship. I do want to read a line from your piece.

Actually, let me just read the open. From the beginning of my career, if not my life, I've come at things differently. Rage first, ask questions later. That's been my philosophy. That's in the book. And then you write. For those of us who have been on the receiving end of an Ari Emanuel tirade or a 4 a.m. phone call, or one of his relentless, expletive filled mercenary campaigns to get what he wants, via the rhetorical equivalent of blunt force trauma, his new memoir Roll the Calls will trigger major PTSD. Reading this book is like getting screamed at for 417 pages. There's not an index in this book. You read all 417 pages.

But speaking of index, I mean, I'm sure people in LA are hungry to see if they're mentioned in this book. Who stood out to you? Like who was mentioned? Which rivalries? Who was on the receiving end of the rage that Ari writes about?

Matt Belloni (4:09)

Well, there are two categories here. There are the people who are mentioned, and then there are the people who are conspicuously not mentioned or minimized. Because those coming to this book and looking for insights into Ari's relationship with Donald Trump will be disappointed. Because there are a couple of references and he talks about how he represented him during the apprentice era and got a call from Donald Trump one day saying, you represented Conan O'Brien when he left NBC. You did a nice job. I'm having problems with NBC on The Apprentice. I need you to represent me.

Ari said fine. But then the day that Trump won the presidency in 2016, they talked and Ari essentially fired him and said, I no longer represent you. By the way, I didn't vote for you either.