Hard Work Wins

This is the story of the one. As a procurement manager for a hospital system, she keeps every facility in her network stocked and ready. That's why she counts on Grainger to be her single source for thousands of products, from disinfectants to lighting, air filters, and more. And with fast, dependable delivery, Grainger helps her keep every facility stocked, safe, and running smoothly. Call 1-800-GRANGER, click grainger.com, or just stop by. Granger, for the ones who get it done. Hey everybody, welcome to Dennis and Julie, which we are, I guess, temporarily renaming Sean and Julie.

No, we're not renaming anything.

I said temporarily.

How dare you?

How are you, Sean? Good to be with you.

I'm here. We are—

you're here.

You're finishing the year with a flurry.

Yes. Well, by the time this airs, it will be 2025. And, you know, on Timeless, I was just doing a rehash of 2024. And I think we say this about each year, every year, but this was a big one. Claudine Gay resigned as the president of Harvard University. The Gaza solidarity protests convulsed through US college campuses. I went over to Columbia in April of this year and, oh my gosh, saw the insanity that was there. Of course, Israel carried out the Pager attack, which will probably go down in history as the most efficient and shocking and perhaps brilliant mechanisms of war.

They found a use for pagers. Exactly.

Hassan Nasrallah and Sinwar were killed. The Assad regime fell. President Trump was convicted on all 34 felony counts of a bogus sham legal case. He was almost assassinated. In Butler, Pennsylvania, Russia. Joe Biden resigned. Ukraine invaded Russia.

Navalny.

Navalny.

China.

Well, nothing's really new with them. China. There was one other big one that we talked about. Oh, yeah. And Dennis Prager falling. Happy New Year. Well, It was a big, big year. How was this year for you?

It's been a very busy year, and I'm not complaining. It's a luxury to be as busy as I am and to be able to do something I love and be exhausted from it. I—

Do you love this?

Not complaining one bit. Yeah, I do. I might be a little sick, but I do.

What do you mean sick?

Well, most people would say you work too much. You don't take enough time for yourself.

Sean is a workaholic. I can relate though. I mean, we both have that gene.

I work hard online because I love what I do and I know not everyone loves what they do, so I don't take it for granted. But I don't think I'm the kind of person that could just clock in and clock out to make a check. And I know there are people that do that. Oh, there are probably the majority of people. So I feel lucky, I guess, and blessed in that way. I'm grateful that I get to do something I love doing.

I do think you need to slow down.

Fair point. I think, you know, in addition to the weight loss goal, uh, resolution for the new year, another one is to be able to take vacations, to be able to take time for myself, to be able to take the dog and the Jeep and disappear for a couple days.

Well, Sean, the wilderness has been telling me that he loves camping. And I have never gone camping, ever.

Yeah.

And so when he says this, I'm like, really? You want to go camping?

I think it's the greatest thing ever.

That's great.

Being in nature, being close. You don't understand it at all. You—

I don't.

Never been camping?

No, I'm stuck on one thing. And you know what that one thing is? Toileting oneself. Sean's like, it's such a small part of the day. I'm like, but ew, I'm, I'm sorry for TMI, but that would override the whole thing for me.

There are sanitary and humane ways to take care of business. And, uh, it is a small part of the benefit of being out in nature and away from the noise and the radiation and people, right? Uh, I don't know. I grew up camping and some of my favorite memories as a child are being in the Boy Scouts and camping. Uh, there's something—

you as a Boy Scout, that is so cute.

Yeah, yeah. I didn't quite make it to Eagle Scout. I think I stopped at First Class. Didn't quite— I kind of regret that, that I didn't make it all the way to Eagle Scout. Yeah, Cub Scout, Webelos, Boy Scout.

Well, I—

Scouts honor.

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Certainly hope that you can camp in 2025. You deserve it. As far as I'm concerned, you deserve a 6-month vacation from work with all that you do. You know, I'll tell you something that was transformative for me this year in 2024, and it was sort of similar. Traveling. I went on that enormous trip, did the Catholic spiritual boot camp in Italy. I went to Malta. I went to Ireland. I spoke at Oxford in England. I went to Denmark. I spoke in Romania and in Hungary. And Romania was really the big one for me because it was so far away. And I was traveling totally alone, by the way, for, for many weeks. And I was invited to speak at an anti-communist conference in Transylvania, Romania, which is up north in the country, close to Ukraine and bordering Ukraine. And it's in the mountains and it's very cloudy and it's like foresty and it is, you know, associated with Dracula. And there are all these like abandoned churches and it was, kind of a big deal for me to go there. And my parents understandably were really against me going because they were like, what are you doing as a 24-year-old girl traveling alone to Eastern Europe? And there were times that I was really afraid and I didn't feel well and I was questioning why I did that. And I suppose my parents, if they are listening right now, will be unhappy with what I'm about to say. But I am so glad I did it because now I feel like there's no place I can't go to. In Romania, I mean, Romania was, was lovely. It's a, it's recovering from the Soviet era and the communist dictatorship, and I learned so much about that, which was hugely life-enriching. But I just feel like in 2025, I, I mean, I know I'm gonna travel a lot and alone. And be in Eastern Europe. The only place I really wouldn't go to— the only 3 are Iran, China, and Russia. Besides that, who knows where I'll go this year.

You think that I will allow you to talk about Transylvania without doing your impression of Dracula?

Yeah. My phone. Yeah, we— it was— oh my gosh, he was 16 years old. He was speeding on, in Romania they have these one-lane highways and there's no divider in the middle and you're going up to Transylvania and the mountains and you're curving and it's very dramatic and there are these cliffs and, uh, it was, it started pouring rain and lightning and I was in the back of the car and Attila, every time a big bus would go by, he'd go, oh, oh, I was like, Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Hail Mary. I was, yeah. Saying my Hail Marys in the back.

You said where you will not go. Do you have a place you want to go?

Hmm. I definitely want to go back to Ireland because I really connected with my people there and I had such a good time. I mean, they know how to have a good time out there. Uh, I definitely want to go back there. I would go back to Romania. I would love to do a travel show and go to parts, you know, these travel shows, first of all, a lot of them are very, let's get an ice cream cone and see this, you know, known place, the Eiffel Tower or this bridge or something. I want to go and talk to people and like go to true parts unknown. I want to go and, I mean, I remember I met somebody there in Romania. I've mentioned this before, but it made such an impression on me, who was this underground Christian artist. And he, the communists hammered his wrists when they found out that he was a subversive artist. I mean, just encountering people like that and passing in Romania, old abandoned nuclear Soviet plants, even going into the CVS in Romania, we played it on Dennis and Julie. It's so organized and so—

CVS?

Okay. The like equivalent of the CVS in Romania. I really want to go there and give the historical legacy look of a lot of these countries. I want to go to Greece. I've been when I was younger, but I want to go back. I would love to go to Turkey. I don't know if it's safe to. I've just read— I've done a lot of research. I've written articles on Turkey. And the final one— oh, duh! I forgot the greatest one. Poland. Ah, I'm definitely going to Poland in, uh, 2025. Yeah.

Wow.

What about you, Sean Bear? Where have you been?

I think you would be an excellent travel show host.

You just want to get me out of here?

No, not at all. I just want to watch the show.

Oh, you're sweet. Well, you can be my producer, or you can do Sean Z and Julie.

Uh, we're kind of different that way. I don't really want to travel.

I want to go—

I want to go You don't want to see the world? It's not that I don't want to see the world. Um, some of my favorite memories came from, uh, trips I've taken. Israel, Ireland, Scotland. When I was in Scotland, everyone was gracious, and when I was in Ireland, they all thought I was Scottish.

Yeah, yeah.

No, it's, uh, there are some places I would like to go, but I don't, I don't have any travel plans for next year. My goal is to take a little less time at work and spend a little more time getting out into nature.

That is wonderful.

And if I can accomplish that while you're bouncing around Eastern Europe, then life will be good.

I am dying to go to Poland because of its history. It was occupied by the Nazis, it was under a communist dictatorship, and of course, JP2, the magnificent Pope John Paul II is from Poland. I would love to go to the town where he was born and the church that he consecrated, defying the communists. He was amazing at establishing and continuing Catholicism during the communist dictatorship. And you know, they refer to Poland as the Christ of Nations.

No, I didn't know that.

Yep. They refer to Poland as the Christ of Nations, the nation that has to suffer so the rest of the world can be redeemed.

Wasn't Poland much larger? Wasn't occupied by Russia?

Yes, part of it was actually Ukraine, of all places. And of course, I would want to visit Auschwitz. Yeah, Poland. I'm going to give a lot of time to Poland. Okay. All right. That didn't convince you? JP2 sites.

It sounds lovely. I just want to sit on a rock under a tree.

See, like that to me, I can't. I would get so bored. You can be with yourself in silence. I can't be with myself in silence. You know, I watch 9/11 documentaries as I go to sleep because that, as horrible as it is, is more relaxing to me than being alone in my own thoughts. I'm dead serious. I watch like— I watched a Ted Bundy documentary. I will watch these heinous documentaries because I can't be alone in my own thoughts. Yeah. Well, as Dennis Prager said, if women spent one day in men's heads, they would realize that they really are thinking about nothing. If men spent one day in women's heads, they would blow their brains out.

Yes. While we're on the subject, would you like to give everyone an update?

I mean, sure, but I don't really have one. I mean, this, as we've talked about before, this injury that he has sustained is such that it's going to be weeks and weeks and weeks of no update as his body is recovering. It's just a long, long haul.

I know it. And everyone who's close to him is frustrated by that fact. And everyone out there who isn't close to him in proximity is frustrated by that fact. But I think the, the best takeaway that can be said right now going into the new year is that Dennis is there. Dennis's mind and his spirit, and as you said, his humor are intact. And if that exists, then we pray that the rest of him shall follow in suit and bring him back to the work that we all love and enjoy.

And, uh, well, in a way, his work may be just getting started because we all know how wise Dennis is and wise he has been, unburdened by what has been. Every time I hear has been and unburdened, I immediately think of her. She's ruined it. She's totally ruined it.

Well, you're helping.

I am helping. But seriously, as wise as he is, I can only imagine the wisdom that he has accumulated through this experience. And I said to him, I know I've told you, I was there the other day, and I said, I bet you have a lot of theories about why this is happening. And he goes, so much.

Yeah, I know everybody, uh, wants him back to his work. You know what I want? I want Dennis to be able to sit down and annoy you again and have a cigar.

Oh God.

And his Starbucks and listen to his stereo and just be able to be Dennis. You know, wish that for him.

When I say this, I, I don't want to act like it's over, this, you know, this chapter of my life. But if I look back on these years with Dennis working in his orbit, and again, I hope— I don't think they're over, and I hope and pray that we have many more. But I've learned so much Obviously, through his wisdom, and he's elevated my character, he's elevated my intellect, he's made me take religion seriously. I mean, in every— I say to him, in every single realm of my life, I see your fingerprints on them. I've also learned just the way that I got into his life, I think, is really important to reflect on. I emailed him. I literally just emailed him. People say that and they think I'm joking. I'm like, no, I truly— it was a cold email. And all the time people say to me, I was just on the phone the other day with a friend and she was saying, oh, I really want to work at XYZ place. And I said, email the CEO. And she's like, I can't email the CEO. What am I going to say? And I said, of course you can. The worst thing that would happen, it would be a waste of your 30 minutes. You could never get those 30 minutes back. The worst that could happen is that they don't respond. People are so impressed by cold emails. I had someone write— I have people write in all the time to me, but I had someone write in and propose that I talk about his product on my show. And, you know, I'm considering it, but I really appreciated the, the forwardness. And it was certainly luck that he— Dennis Prager saw my email. I mean, when I ended up interning for him, I saw that it was luck, truly, because there are so many emails. Of course. But cold— I think a lesson is cold email people, offer your services in your usefulness. Like, I— when I met Dennis, the day after I met him here at the studio, I pitched to him being his intern. And I remember being very intimidated. I was on the phone with him, and he put me on speaker, and Alan and Sue were there. And again, they knew nothing about me. They didn't know me at all. And I said to him, I said, I want to be your summer intern. I will get your coffee. I will shine your shoes. I will get your dry cleaning. I don't care. I just want to be useful to you, and I want to be as physically close to you as possible. I want to observe the way you think, the way you interact with people. And that was another great lesson where I tell this to my friends all the time. My friend who wants to work for this company, I say, go to the chief of staff or go to the CEO or go to anybody and just pitch being their intern and make yourself indispensable to them. And so anyway, it's prompted some reflection and I've realized some of these gems of life advice that I want to amplify.

As you're talking, I'm thinking two things. A, that's very true. That's excellent advice. I think it's very hard for a lot of people to do that. They can get stuck in their ways. Certainly as they age, they can get stuck in their ways and they don't, I think it comes to you naturally.

I am very bold.

Yeah.

Like I will, I will ask things for things. I don't think it comes to everyone naturally, but you have to advocate for yourself in life. I mean, you, you, you do. No, I, everybody does. Everybody has to advocate for themself. May I tell a quick other story? I think this is important. Go.

Yeah. I'm not saying you shouldn't. I'm just saying it comes to you naturally to be that way. And I don't think it comes to the majority of human beings.

It may not. Naturally. It may not. But you nevertheless, I mean, there are things that don't come to me naturally that I've had to work on. This does happen to come to me naturally, but I think it's really important. I'll give you another example. I was on an extremely competitive swim team in high school and we had practice 6 days a week and meets all of the time. It was very rigorous. And I also played water polo and I went to my coach and I told him that 1 day a week I would have to go to my water polo practice. They're, you know, similar in that the better swimmer you are, the better water polo player you are. The opposite is not true. The better water polo player you are doesn't necessarily mean you're a better swimmer. Anyway, I was, I was, the schedule was working for both sports for me, but I had to miss some practice once a week for water polo practice. And I told my coach this, and I was going to be the team captain. And I don't mean this as a brag, but I was really popular on the team. I was a leader. All the girls loved me. You know, I, I was the kind of intuitive person to be the team captain.

Were you the best player?

I was.

Okay. Um, not, not sometimes the best player isn't always the leader on the team.

Totally.

The captain. But that's why I had to ask.

I was one of the best.

Okay.

And again, none of this is set as a brag. I'm trying to set the scene here. And I remember my coach said to me, he was not happy that I was gonna go once a week to be, uh, at water polo practice. And I remember he said to me, well, you may not be able to be team captain if you're not present. And you know what I said to him? I said, coach, I have more presence than anybody on this team.

You are bold.

Not in a— I, I didn't say it in a surly way or in a, in a, um, impertinent way or in a disrespectful way. No. But I said, I have more presence than anybody on this team and I want to be team captain. And I am basically the de facto team captain. And just because I'm going to be at water polo practice once a week, I mean, our heads are all in the pool anyway. I mean, we're all staring at the bottom of the pool. But I remember I had to push and advocate for myself, and it was uncomfortable, but I'm so glad I did it. And if I look back, so many of the things in my life that have worked out well for me, I had to push, I had to advocate, I had to take a risk. I mean, I remember being on the phone with Sue and Alan and Dennis, and they're— they're— now that I know them personally, they're very magnanimous people, but you know, they'll, they'll question you. And I was like, oh my gosh, they you know, this is scary. This is a huge figure, Dennis, and they don't know me, and they're— and you have to do it.

I think if Dennis were here, and I don't know if it's in the Torah or it's biblical, it's probably in the door, it is. But he would say— I know it is, I just don't know the quote, and I apologize for that— but in order to learn, in order to grow, you cannot be afraid of embarrassment.

Oh, I think I could write a book on that. I think you could, with Timeless. Yeah, when I started Timeless, I was stiff.

I mean, of all the people you've met in your life, have you met anyone as bold as yourself?

Sure, my mom is really bold.

Um, but the majority of people don't have that boldness. Where do you think it comes from?

My mom. I think it comes from my mom. My mom is very bold. I mean, she is a fearless woman.

And so therefore you have no shame in being embarrassed.

That was, that I've really just like, I realized from an early age, you know, Dennis references that aphorism from yeshiva, the easily embarrassed cannot learn.

Thank you.

And I knew it was there somewhere. Yes, yes. And I never, you know, studied aphorisms. I never had something like that kind of formally inculcated. But I remember when I was in college, I tried out for the improv team and miraculously I got on because I played my mother in every single scene. And in addition to being fearless and bold, she is hilarious. And so I played her in every scene. But anyway, I was not good at improv. I mean, I didn't know how to do improv. I truly skated through the tryouts by playing my mom. And when I got on the team, The thing about Harvard is it's so competitive to get in, and then when you're in, it's even more competitive to get into the clubs because everybody there is the best at it. So many of the people on the team, improv was their main thing in high school. I remember I would be embarrassed. I would, and I wouldn't get laughs all the time. I wouldn't know what to do. There were times I really wanted to quit, and I just told myself, I don't know where I got this conviction, but I just told myself, "You got to do this." You have to do this to learn. This is good for you. And when I started Timeless, I mean, things would go wrong all the time, all the time. I would look, my makeup would be horrible. I learned how to do makeup through having a show. I was very stiff at the beginning, really, really stiff. I was so afraid to make a mistake. There were times I would watch myself back and I would just, I would go, God, like, I don't think I'm very good. Or something with editing would go wrong and that's on the internet, you know, that's the— talk about embarrassing, putting yourself, putting your face on the internet. Didn't get many views. I mean, there were just things that I was embarrassed by. And for some reason, I got over that really fast. And I just realized, I just kind of like shut it, shut it off. And I thought, who, who at the beginning of their career is going to— can expect to be a massive success flawless with no embarrassment. I am going to put my head down and work so hard. I'm going to take so many risks. I'm going to make myself so versatile. And yeah, it's all going to be on the internet for everybody to see every mistake. But I hope and think it will pay dividends.

Hard work I can attest to. I have, as Larry always says, his father would say hard work wins. And I believe that to be true. If you have nothing else, Work hard, outwork.

It never fails. It never fails you. It never, ever fails you.

It will not. You can be a million messy things, but if you outwork the people around you, you will succeed. I was not as bold as you growing up. In fact, I think I developed my sense of humor out of fear of embarrassment. If I could be funnier, than you before you insult me, then I would be liked. Hmm. So do you have a desire to be liked?

No.

Obviously, because I remember those early days in the show and what you're saying is true. And I remember telling you early on, oh, how the tables have turned for, for you to just because you were so brilliant and bold in real life that you were insecure about doing the show and being on camera. You got over it very quickly. But, but now it's the other way around.

It's a very unnatural thing. It's a super— yes, I used to at the beginning, it was hard. I just, I just got over it. You, what was your question though?

I, to be liked.

That's right. No, I never, I never had that. Never had the desire to be liked. I think for me, I think my sister played such a big role. My sister Gina, as many of you know, has very severe autism. And growing up, I was constantly embarrassed. Constantly. I mean, we would, And I was like her little sidekick, her little, you know, 8 years younger, midget, loud sidekick, younger sister. And we would go into CVS and she would wig out sometimes. Or if she wasn't wigging out, she'd start dancing to the music. And she has this very like, you know, she throws her hands in the air and she would shake her hair and, you know, she would do these things and people would look like, what is going on? And suddenly she's echolalic and sometimes she'll go like, you know. And so constantly, constantly, I, I had people looking at us, people giving faces, and I think it made me immune. It was just par for the course. I was like, okay, of course I'm gonna, you know, go walk down the street and somebody's gonna look at me. And now that I'm older, I realize what a great blessing it was because I don't give a bleep. Like, I just don't care.

Whereas I, I think I was in my mid-40s before I started not giving a bleep. Truly and honestly, it's so, it's so fun to not give a bleep. It is. It's nice. I think part of it, um, as far as not caring about being liked, uh, or not being easily embarrassed, is also knowing yourself.

Yeah.

I think if you know yourself, you're not concerned with what outside forces may think of you.

I think also, and Dennis and I talk a lot about this, I've really internalized a, what I deem to be a deeply Christian worldview, which is life is going to give you persecution, especially if you're endeavoring to do something brave and bold and noble. It is a guarantee that you are going to get pushback. Look at Christ. He was the most perfect, loving, magnanimous, graceful human being to ever grace this earth, and he was put on a cross. And that shows something. I remember when I, my senior year, I published an article for the Wall Street Journal, which had a very subtle title, Harvard Students Are COVID Sheep. So, I wasn't exactly mincing it. They actually chose the title, but anyway, it's neither here nor there. I remember I was in the dining hall, And they put the article online and then they put it in print the next day. And so I got the email from the editor that it had been posted online. And I was sitting there with my bestie who you met, Adia. She came into the studio a few months ago. And I remember seeing that article and seeing my name on the Wall Street Journal website and going like, oh gosh. And I said to her, oh gosh, what have I done? And she said to me, If you don't ask that question, you're not doing anything bold in life. If you don't have any enemies, if you don't have any people who don't like you, you are living your life in such a safe way that it's almost not even worth living at all. MyPillow is excited to announce that their Christmas extravaganza is finally here. Get this season's flannel sheets for as low as $59.98. They won't last long, so get them while you can. Get their famous My slippers, I wear them. These haven't been on sale for over a year and they are regularly priced at $119.98, but for a limited time, wow, now they are only $59.98. And their 6-piece towel sets are back in stock with extremely limited quantities. I also use them, you can use them for only $29.98. With hundreds of MyPillow products, there's something for everyone on your Christmas list. From bathrobes, duvets, quilts, down comforters, and so much more. Go to mypillow.com or call 1-800-566-6745 and be sure to use the promo code Hartman, H-A-R-T-M-A-N, to save on all MyPillow products. That's the promo code Hartman for flannel sheets for as low as $59.98 or the 6-piece towel sets for just $29.98. But again, that's not all. They're extending their 60-day money-back guarantee until March 1st, 2025. Plus, all orders over $75 or more ship absolutely free. Go out and piss some people off.

Yeah, I think the more on target you can be with God, the more on target you can be with your politics, the more the demons are going to come at you. That you're gonna get people coming at you that just want to tear you down. Not necessarily pay attention to your point or whether you're right or wrong. They just want to tear you down because they can't be or do what you do.

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Totally. Also, I don't know about you, I have never in my life written or emailed a mean comment to someone. The people online—

I've never commented, period.

Totally. I've never even commented. I mean, on Instagram posts, I'll, you know, comment like hearts or something on my friends' posts, but I've never— have you ever gone to a public figure's Instagram account and just slimed that? I just have never done that. Even with the people I don't like. No, it's a very bizarre thing.

It seems like a weird, very weird thing I can't relate to.

Right.

That if somehow I say something mean or hurt you, then I'm— I feel value. I don't, I don't relate to that. And, uh, I, I hope I can go the rest of my life without ever commenting.

I think you will.

I think I will too.

Although your, your social media, your Instagram would be very funny, I think.

Yeah, I struggle with that.

Why?

Because I don't seek fame.

You're not a—

I don't want fame.

You know, I've, I've said this on D&J before, but when I was young, I really wanted to be famous. I think it was—

I think a lot of kids do.

Oh yeah, a lot of kids do. It's also very glorified in my generation. I also grew up in Los Angeles and was exposed to that. I can't tell you how much I don't want to be famous. Yeah, now that I'm potentially in a position to be, I don't care. It's a curse. It's truly a— people used to say that to me. I used to think they were so lying. Used to be like, oh right, okay, it's a curse, got it. It is a curse.

I guess it depends on what you're famous for. That plays a role into it. So you could argue Dennis is famous.

Yeah. What I love about Dennis though, he says this all the time, no one writes a Torah commentary to become famous. True.

Like, but what is he famous for? And he doesn't seek fame either. He never has.

He seeks influence. I do too.

To influence people to the good. Of course. That's been his life motivator. I, Yeah. Oh, that's what I was going to tell you. You know, little Easter egg behind me in the, in the shot that you see of me in my dungeon.

Did you just call yourself an Easter egg? No, no, that's what I thought you were saying.

If I were going to refer to myself as an egg, I would call myself Humpty Dumpty.

Okay, is there an Easter egg in the upper corner there?

You can see, maybe we'll add a picture to the podcast. I used to have a t-shirt up there that Officer Tatum made for me.

Tatum.

That said, let's get ready to mumble. And it's got a picture of Joe Biden, which I thought was hilarious. Since Dennis's injury, one of the Dennisisms is life is relentless. Whether you're out there fighting the good fight and being attacked by people, or you're just living your life, life is relentless. That is a truth you cannot escape. I got— I found a t-shirt that says, "Life is relentless," and I replaced the shirt in the background. That's the Easter egg. Wow. Not me, but thank you.

You're an Easter egg too.

For referring to me as an egg. You're welcome. Oh, have you ever reached a dead end on Dennis and Julie? No, I think we just have.

Really?

Yeah. What's next?

You know, it's funny. I was going to just come up with something, but then I told myself that I would just be silent and see what you could offer.

Well, if you're leaving it on me, we're in trouble. We could end up talking about all kinds of things.

Silence is such an amazing thing.

Silence is an amazing thing.

Yes. No, seriously, I am not just saying this to come up with a topic right now. I am trying to work on meditation and silence.

But you said you're really bad at that.

Yeah.

And knowing you, I know you're really bad at that.

Thanks a lot.

And I don't think you're alone. Thanks a lot. I think it's more difficult for women.

Oh, of course. Absolutely.

Yeah.

Well, that's what they say at the beginning of the Torah that Dennis Prager points out that the punishment, as it is typically referred to, for Adam and Eve's transgression is not so much a punishment as it is a description of consequences. I love the way that's identified, because that reminds me of Claudine Gay saying, "I didn't plagiarize, I duplicated language." But anyway, Dennis Prager says that, you know, for Adam, the consequences are more macro, like you're going to have to toil the fields, and the fields are always going to screw you over or whatever the Taurus says. Thou'st fields shall screw thy over for the rest of thy life. But then—

Screweth.

Screweth thy over. That's right. And then Eve's is more particular. It's about pain in childbirth and rearing children. And Dennis Prager says that shows the differences between men and women. Men are more concerned with the macro and women are more concerned with the micro. And I think you hit the nail on the head. I think women struggle with it more because they pay more attention to detail. I mean, I will replay conversations in my head constantly. I bet you don't even remember most of your damn conversations.

No. And I look forward to sitting in silence.

God, I'm always distracting myself.

I know, I know. To the point where you call me.

I do call Sean. I've been doing that a lot lately, actually.

And do you realize when you call me that you're interrupting my silence?

I'm not, because whenever I call and you put me on speaker, I hear the television in the background.

Well, there may be something on, but I'm not tuned into it. I'm certainly not watching murder documentaries or horrific world events.

By the way, especially because you grew up here in California, do you remember the Laci Peterson case?

Vaguely.

Her husband killed her and she was pregnant. I just watched the Netflix documentary of Laci Peterson. Oh my gosh, that's another thing.

Women really enjoy that genre.

Well, men love committing crime, women love watching crime.

Men love committing crime.

Well, okay, men are the primary committers of crime. I mean, my God, when there's a school shooting, it's more often than not men.

Do you think that's why women love that genre? Because I don't know, what does it do for you? Because you can't sit silent.

I think it's the micro. I think I love details and piecing together details and looking. I love watching when they're being interrogated and seeing their eye movements or their responses. I was speaking with a cop who said that women make fantastic detectives because they don't miss a damn thing.

That I believe. That I believe. That I believe.

Oh God.

Yeah, but I have no desire to watch those kind of documentaries.

What do you watch?

None.

Sports. What do men love about sports?

I love the competition. I love the storylines of the competition and the history of the teams and seeing physical feats be performed. I don't know. Now, I was much more into sports as a kid, uh, collecting baseball cards, playing sports, everything. And as you age, I think there's a finite amount of room in your brain for information. And stuff like remembering statistical batting averages or how many points this guy scored in a season or who holds the record for the most assists in a game gets replaced with things in life that you have to remember.

You know, my roommate and I last night, as we often do, were watching Real Housewives. It's our nightly routine. And we were starting Real Housewives of Atlanta because I've introduced her to Salt Lake City, Orange County, Beverly Hills. I am a Bravo fiend. I am a Real Housewives fiend. You give me any housewife except for Potomac— I don't watch Potomac— I can— I will know everything. And so we were starting Atlanta And I was truly alarmed by how much I knew because it means that I have so much brain space devoted to these shows. And so she was going, who's that? And I go, that's Portia. She was married to Cordell, who was a football player. They got divorced. Then she became pregnant by a guy named Dennis McKinley. Then they had Pilar as their baby. And then she was dating Simon Guadoba and then they got married and then they got divorced after 15 months. Her mother's name Diane, her sister's name is Lauren, her grandfather is Hosea Williams. No, literally. Oh, that's just one. I could give you Nene Leakes.

I believe you.

Okay, I was sitting and like, literally a random person, like a background character, somebody's assistant, will come on. I go, oh, that's sweetie, that was— she worked for Kim for years and then she got fired. And I mean, I was, I was an encyclopedia for this show, and I was like, Julie, this is crazy. You could be filling your brain with different stuff.

Yes. And I believe as you age, you will put more importance on that fact because you realize there's a finite amount of room in your—

I feel like I do a good job though of, you know, I think filling my brain with good information in general.

People in general.

Okay, I'm gonna rapid-fire question you because I'm in a silly mood. And I want a rapid-fire question before we move on.

I just want to say, what's, what's so different between you knowing the backstory of everybody's pregnancy in the Potomac versus me knowing somebody's batting average?

I told you it's not Potomac, it's everything else except for Potomac.

See how I was, I was this close to silence.

No, see, that's the male and female stuff on display because he didn't pay attention to details.

Rapid-fire questions.

Okay, ready? 1, 2, 3. What was your favorite Timeless episode? Or like, what are some of the favorite topics?

Are these all gonna be questions about you?

No, I had a next question prepared that nothing—

I just, in recent memory, uh, your interview with Rabbi—

oh, come on, dude, that was like a week ago. Go back. We've done— we've done FBI, we've done CIA, we've done Spencer Klaven, we've done history, we've done magicians, we've done religion, we've done everything, and you come up with— and I love Rabbi Lena, do not get me wrong, that was one of the best Timeless episodes— but you can only come up with something in the past week?

You just said it was one of the best Timeless episodes.

It absolutely was.

Okay, so it's in my recent memory.

You know what I'm trying to— because he doesn't remember any of them.

That's not true, I remember a lot of them.

Give one more.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1. The magician.

It's okay, I gave that to you. All right, that's question number 1.

Question number 2: how many episodes you've done?

Yeah, I do. Oh yeah, 100.

Nope.

Okay, whatever.

You're, you're into like the 200 or 300.

That's amazing. Anyways, by the way, you're really seeing what our phone conversations look like. Oh, I have to scoot forward to get more in the camera line.

Yeah.

Yes. All right, next question. What was your favorite episode or like topic that we discussed on Dennis and Julie? 5, 4, 3.

Judaism and Christianity.

See, that's— no, see, that is one that we re-aired recently. Come on.

Are you picking up on a theme here?

Yeah, that you do not have recall.

One and done. Yes, exactly. It's a blessing.

Okay. Name your biggest fear. 5, 4.

We've discussed this. Uh, my fear is that I will die overweight and unhealthy.

Name your greatest accomplishment in life.

And alone.

5. You're never alone because you have me. 4.

I missed the question.

3.

Because I was self-deprecating.

Biggest accomplishment. 5, 4.

Biggest accomplishment.

3.

2, 1. I don't— that's a good one. I don't know. I don't know what my biggest accomplishment is. Your beloved dog and a stranger are both drowning. You can only save one. Who do you save? Every time Dennis Prager asks that question, his audience The audience splits 3 ways: 1/3 chooses the dog, 1/3 chooses the stranger, and 1/3 aren't sure.

Why?

Because we live in an age where increasingly feelings define right and wrong. But if morality is based on emotion, then murder, rape, and theft are just opinions. And if people feel justified, why is rioting or destruction wrong at all? In his new book, If There Is No God, Dennis Prager explains why. Why civilizations cannot survive without objective morality, and why Judeo-Christian values shape the moral foundations of the free world.

If you claim that certain things are good, certain things are evil, independent of how you feel about it, you are in effect affirming God.

If There Is No God by Dennis Prager, available now at PragerStore.com. That's PragerStore.com.

If you weren't doing this as your career, what would you be doing? 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Were all the questions about me?

I don't know. When I was growing up, I wanted to be a sportscaster.

Oh my gosh.

So if I wasn't doing this, maybe I'd be doing that. But it's— you're asking me questions that I can't really answer because I am doing what I believe God has purposed me to do. Therefore, I don't think about what I would be doing if I wasn't doing this. Okay. And biggest accomplishment? I'm not big on inflating my ego. I've accomplished some things, like, like, uh, you know, the things.

Got it.

But I don't, I don't, I wouldn't be me if I spent time thinking about that kind of stuff.

You're very humble.

I don't know if I'm humble, but I don't, I don't spend time thinking about my accomplishments. I think about what I have to do, what I have to get done so that I can get home and sit in silence.

Only to have me call you.

Which is, yes.

What is it like working with Larry Elder?

Man, there, uh, you talk about Dennis being one of a kind. Larry Elder is also one of a kind. I think you were probably one of a kind as well.

Probably.

You are one of a kind. I'm one of a kind. Uh, working with Larry is— he's so good. He's so good that you forget how demanding it is. To work with him. He's got a mind like a steel trap. He remembers everything that happened and all the points that bring it together. And he, and he, when he gets on something, he's like a, like a pit bull on a bone. And just like, uh, the other day he, he went off the day after Jimmy Carter died. He went off on Jimmy Carter for, for an hour straight to the point where people were calling and going, And now I'm a Christian and I don't think it's a good idea to be speaking ill of the dead. And Larry's like going into break going, I got more. I got, you know, and, and so, well, Jimmy Carter just kind of have a laundry list of, but Larry is bad policy. He's really smart.

He's so smart.

He's very accomplished.

Very.

He is, um, funny. He's very funny and he's a great storyteller. I think those are a lot of the same traits that Dennis has. They're just in a different way. Oh, you asked me what one of my biggest accomplishments is? Putting out the new Larry Elder podcast. I'm proud of that. I'm also proud of working with you on Timeless. I'm proud of the tenure I've had with Dennis and the career I've built for myself. That's my biggest accomplishment, doing what I love doing and being paid for it. That's my biggest accomplishment. Yeah. And then Fergus. Taking care of Fergus, my spirit animal.

Fergus is his dog.

My ride or die.

Who, um, what kind of dog is it?

The best. Okay.

This is what I deal with, ladies and gentlemen.

He is a boxer slash American Bulldog. Rescue. And he is— well, I've told you this before, I was at a time in my life when I could have been depressed, uh, and, and not found a way out of it. And I think getting Fergus, having something outside of myself to take care of, having that undying love and attention and affection pulled me out of that. By the way, so who rescued who, Julie?

That is so corny. I forgot what I was gonna say about dogs. Dogs. Oh, dogs are a great way if you're single to meet people. You just troll those streets, you find your man, you have your dog go loose on your man. And you go, oh yeah, I'm so sorry, baby, I was biting you. Hi.

It's also a good way to interact with the neighborhood by going out and walking with the neighbors. No, but it's important because people get so restricted in their, their lives.

So this, this is a question, you know, this— I love asking random people random questions. You know, our phone conversations, you don't say, when they get into a realm of total, like, silly and sleepy time, I start asking you crazy, crazy questions.

Like, we'll be having a nice conversation and then you'll just turn to me and go, do you want me to eulogize you when you die?

I did say that.

Part of my brain goes, am I gonna die soon?

No.

Or B, does she think that's insulting? No, or change.

Remember, I was like, do you believe in Jesus Christ?

And I feel like I'm, I'm like, what did I ask you today? In the backseat of the car asking me how much the human head weighs.

If you knew what banana bread was.

Yeah, of course I know what banana bread— and we have an argument here because I don't like banana bread with chocolate chips.

You are so bizarre for that.

Do not belong in banana bread.

Oh my God. Oh my God, I actually got shudders down my, my core. Okay, whatever, back to the questions. This, Sean, this is really important. This is really interesting.

I hope.

What? Sometimes when we're together, we descend into like brother and sister. Very fair BS. Anyway, question for you.

But we have a good relationship.

Do we?

And even though you interrupt my silence, I do appreciate your presence in my life. I do think we make each other better.

For sure. Yeah. At least one of us makes the other better. I don't know about the other one making the other better. Anyway, what— you are 48 years old.

49. 75. 49. I'm one year away from being so old.

Okay. You're 49 years old, Sean. Yeah. What in your lifetime was the biggest change that you saw? In America?

That's another one of my accomplishments, having a full head of red hair at the age of 49. The biggest change in America, it's got to be the advent of the internet.

Okay. How did that change things?

It turned everybody into Productions.

That's my line. Everybody's a brand to be marketed. That's, that's what I say all the time.

Um, and I think it was, it was unleashed on society not maliciously, but without any thought of the consequences it may have on the human psyche. And I don't think those consequences have been Oh, we're the guinea pigs. Good.

Yeah.

I think there's a lot of bad things that have come along with the ability to be in touch with family and friends and have lightning-quick transfer of information and having everything at your fingertips on a, on a cell phone. You want to know something? You Google it, as Eric Adams would say, you Google it. You know, I remember when I was growing up before the internet, You had to go to a rack of encyclopedias and look things up, and if it wasn't in there, guess what? You were screw with. Maybe you go down to the library and see if there's a book on it, but you had to actually go seek that information out and research it. Now everything is at your fingertips, so you don't really need to retain anything because you can Google it. And I don't know that that's a great thing. It's good and it's bad. It's a gift and a curse. I think it's fantastic that everyone has access to information immediately, lickety-split, right? That's great. But what are we doing with it? We seem to just be perpetually moving forward without any forethought as to what— how we could organize things and make life better for everyone with this technology. Am I boring you?

You're not. Just as he was talking, I was trying to throw him off.

So the camera wasn't on me, but I was going, oh, they didn't know that. Now they know.

Yeah, and Sean was so professional. He was just talking and I was trying to throw him off.

And you didn't?

No, it's, it's a great point.

She also did the same with Dennis too. He'd be doing a read and she'd be acting the fool right next to him.

Acting a fool. Yeah, I would. I would.

Like crazy fool.

I would. No, but it's—

And he never broke.

He never broke. Oh, you know what Dennis did to me, which was so rude, so rude? He called MyPillow Mipillow.

Yes.

And so I would be looking there reading the ad, and every time I would see the words MyPillow, I would hear Mipillow in my head. Oh, gosh. No, but you are— let's see if I can get through this with a straight face. You are— your analysis is 100% right that we have paralysis. Too much information. Too much to do.

Yeah. And it's not, it's not like—

I'm so silly right now.

You are silly.

I am so silly.

Have you ever—

okay, so I've never dialed it in on, on the air. Never. You know this. You have been working with me for years. I am always—

I think one time. I think you dialed it in one time.

That— there was one. There actually was one episode and afterwards I was like, that was awful. I can't believe I just dialed that in. One episode.

And I gave you credit. I said, if even for dialing it in, you pulled it off.

Yeah, it was one that—

what you say is true.

I—

you, you work very hard and you don't— you do not—

I do remember that episode. I just like couldn't that day, right? Got no sleep. I just couldn't. Anyway, um, what was I saying? Oh, thank you. You just looked at me and I got it. Dennis one time told me— or no, sorry, Dennis's friends, because I'm friends with Dennis's friends. They one time told me a story that early on in Dennis's radio career, he had nothing to talk about in a segment. And he was so silly that day. And he was so tired. And he was just like, so done that he pulled a peach out of his lunchbox, came in from the break, bit into the peach, and asked the listeners to call in and guess guess based on the sound of the bite what fruit it was.

Nice. I mean, a peach has a distinct—

it does. If you think about it, it's actually kind of brilliant because biting into an apple versus a peach versus a pear versus a banana versus a cherry, I don't know if it— they're all different.

It meanders into the world of brilliance, but it is fun.

What is the craziest—

you know, Alan's longest-running joke?

Silliest. Sorry, what the craziest? No, what is that?

Alan's longest-running joke is that Dennis could, could open up a phone book and turn to a page and just read the phone book and it would be interesting.

It's true. Yeah, he actually would, because he would make something of the names. He would— all that stuff. What is the silliest thing you've ever witnessed Dennis Prager do on the air?

I can't share that. I've seen so much silly Dennis from Dennis Prager on the air. And I believe in the dignity of Dennis Prager that I would not share that.

Come on, say one thing he's done on the air. That's silly that the audience wouldn't know.

During COVID he would often use his yarmulke as a mask.

I do remember that. That's when I first came into his life.

Yeah. As a joke. Nothing.

He also, like, during commercial, he'll point, he'll go to that camera and he'll take a rubber band. And aim it and hit the camera, and then Sean ducks and covers.

Pretty silly. We have a running list of fictitious names.

Yeah, well, this is—

Dennis would just make up names and, and, and tell me, well, he is, he is a word on the microphone to write the name down and, and ask me if so-and-so was coming in.

Nephagent.

Nephagent was a made-up word. Yes.

What was the latest one? The name? It was so good.

I have it on a Post-it note at my desk. I don't remember. In fact, you can see the Post-it note right there. Well, you can at home, but I don't know. But Teflix Wattish was one of them. He just loved goofy names and still Probably loves— remember I told you to take it in and say it to him. Did you do that? No.

He does ask how you are though.

Is it hard for women to be silly?

Clearly not. Oh my God. You know what I used to do when I would swim? I would be so silly. I'd— team captain— I would dive under the water and I would like butterfly kick into somebody else's lane, look up at them, like do peace signs or do somersaults so they'd get all like distracted and then butterfly kick back to my lane and keep swimming.

During a race or during practice?

Honey, during a race, I was cooking with gas in one direction before I hit the flip turn. Then I went in the other direction and cooked with gas. Then I'd hit the flip turn, then go in the other direction.

So as a successful swimmer, do you enjoy watching swimming?

Yeah, I do. I do.

At the Olympic level?

Oh wait, no, that's the Paramount thing. Sorry, I thought that was the Olympic game song.

Yeah, I do. It's not the Olympics. Yes, it is.

No, it's not.

Google it.

Google yourself.

My Lord, people.

Anyway.

I feel like we've hit a new low for Dennis and Julie, and it's mostly Julie's fault.

No, I just, I truly, like, about 15 minutes ago, hit this silliness realm. Yeah, that I cannot get out of.

Well, Dennis would always say the insane keeps him sane.

What is your favorite food?

Oh, that's a very tough call.

Oh please, I don't want a long answer to this. You know when people like give you their whole life story about— they're like, I used to like pasta, but I don't want to hear it, just give me a food.

The potato.

Okay, thank you. You know when people do that It's so like, my grandma used to make the best casserole, and then I decided that I like chicken. It's like, we don't care. We just don't care.

Now you know what a man feels like every time he talks to a woman.

Okay, I'll end on this. I sent Sean and Rick a tweet the other day, and it said, why do they evacuate women and children first and, uh, from, you know, danger sites? And then the answer was to have to, to allow the men to think in silence about their solution. On that note, Sean, how can you reach us? Uh, by listening to me.

You, you can email Julie at julie-hartman.

Nope.

Dot— I— TikTok tube? It's julie@julie-hartman.com. And your Instagram is Julie R. Hartman.

What's my middle name?

Ruth.

You do know me. And you can follow Sean nowhere. Bye everyone. Happy New Year.

I will enjoy the silence. I'm looking forward to it.

It's been fun to be with you.

Please have a blessed New Year.

Bye everyone. Take care.

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