The Ari Emanuel Experience

SPEAKER_1 (0:04)

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Matt Belloni (0:55)

It is Wednesday, September 30th.

Spend any time in Hollywood and you will quickly discover Ari Emanuel is one of the better arguers in town. I certainly had my share of arguments with him over the years, including on this show.

Now he is on a press tour because he just added author to his various titles. Remember, he is the executive chairman of WME Group, the talent agency where he still represents clients like Mark Wahlberg, and Tyler Perry, and Dwayne Johnson. He is also the CEO and executive chair of TKO Group, owner of the USC and World Wrestling Entertainment. And he is the founder and principal investor of Mari, an investment firm for live events that he started with his partner Mark Shapiro. Get it? Mark and Ari, Mari.

Ari is one of the few true characters left in Town. So much so that he still gets mileage out of Entourage, a show that he claims he hated when it aired, but admits it helped him get his calls returned. And now with Roll the Calls, his long-awaited and very good memoir that he co-wrote with JR. Mooringer. He's not holding back very much. He goes after moguls like Barry Diller and Jeffrey Katzenberg and his own former partner Patrick Whitesell, who he says he will never speak to again. Yesterday, I went over to the WME headquarters in Beverly Hills for my own private slice of the Ari Press Tour, and I found him typically in feisty form. He had some choice words for Bryan Lourd, his decades-long rival at CAA, who he says is a sociopath. CAA declined to comment on that one. As well as this moment in Hollywood, his former clients, David Ellison and Donald Trump, his buddy Elon, and of course, the future of entertainment, and of course, that time that he capitalized on David O. Russell calling CAA CANT in a phone call, and Ari put up billboards all over town with CANT as the CAA logo. That was a fun day when that happened. We also did a lightning round, some fun questions there. Usual disclosure when I talk about WME, the agency does represent PUC for various deals, they do not represent me personally. Okay, today it's a supersized episode, the Ari Emanuel book and the Ari Emanuel experience. From The Ringer and PUC, I'm Matt Belloni, and this is The Town.

All right, we are here with Ari Emanuel. I'm not gonna go through your titles.

Ari Emanuel (3:13)

Can I ask a question? Why when we talk in person is the voice here, and then we go on the podcast, it goes up?

Matt Belloni (3:19)

I don't know, it's not like I try.

Ari Emanuel (3:22)

You're, okay, go on.

Matt Belloni (3:23)

Why when you're talking to an executive on the phone, does your voice go to 11 when we are talking here? 11, it goes to 15 Exactly, we're gonna get to that.

Ari Emanuel (3:30)

Well, the Ritalin kicked in.

Matt Belloni (3:33)

Exactly, all right. So you have many titles, we're not gonna list them here. Perfect. You have written a very entertaining vanity memoir.

I read a lot of vanity memoirs. Your vanity memoir is very good. You've done a lot of media for this.

So a lot of people have asked you already why you wrote this book. And you have a nice answer about helping people who are coming out.

Ari Emanuel (3:56)

You just boot up negative.

Matt Belloni (3:58)

No, no, I'm not booting up negative.

Ari Emanuel (3:59)

Like I'm selling.

Matt Belloni (4:00)

No, no, okay, well, but there has been a reaction to your press tour within the community. And I think that, no, not necessarily. You're selling a book. But people have said that this, this creation, Ari the super agent, the guy who makes 300 phone calls a day, the guy who screams on the phone, this is a creation that you have essentially branded because it helps you. And that you, there's a million agents that make 300 phone calls a day.