Mediaite Interviews Fox News’ Liberal Host Bob Beckel About Being In The ‘Belly Of The Beast’

Yeah, correct me if I’m wrong. I think, I’m trying to find the post we did, I think a month before it started it may have been you who kind of didn’t seem sure it was going to work. (EDITOR’S NOTE: I was thinking of these comments)

Oh, I didn’t. Listen, when we started out, you gotta remember that, first of all, this started out as an idea for a Sunday night talk show and then it decided to have a summer replacement for the Beck hour and it was something that Roger Ailes created in a very short period of time, because he’d done theater in the round before and he had this idea.

Now the “Five” was never meant to be the 5 o’clock hour. It was always the five, the five people, and he had this sort of vision about five different characters in a play and he wrote it in a short period of time and that’s how he created it. But I thought it was going to be on just for the summer and then somebody else was going to take the slot after Labor Day. But the thing took off and continued to take off and so, after Labor Day, Fox decided to make it a permanent show. However, I still dont live here. When I started, I stayed in a hotel for the summer and went through their room service 15 or so times. Now I’ve got an apartment for the week but I commute back home.

The New York Times quoted Roger Ailes saying that he got the idea from watching The View, of having five people that argued but all liked each other.

Yeah, I don’t remember that part in the Times but it occurs to me that he talked about this. He had done theater before both in the United States and, I believe, in Europe. This is a guy who’s got a broad amount of experience. Not just television but in theater and all kinds of things. Whatever the mix was, yeah, the idea was that he was going to have a group of people around a table that were all going to have a conversation, not always agreeing with each other but never talking over each other. And liking each other. And having good chemistry. And that’s the way it’s worked out.

I’ve been on television for 15 years in one capacity or another and I can go into an airport and people will look at me and say, “Is that the plumber who screwed up my toilet?”…Now, I go in and it’s “The Five” “The Five” “The Five.”

I’ve asked people. I’ve traveled around the country the few days I get off. And I ask people, “What is it about The Five?” Because people come up to you all the time. I’ve been on television for 15 years in one capacity or another and I can go into an airport and people will look at me and say, “Is that the plumber who screwed up my toilet?” And then maybe a small percentage were following politics and would know who I was. Now, I go in and it’s “The Five” “The Five” “The Five.” So I did a little focus group of my own. “Why do you like The Five?” And people say because it’s like watching a family sitting down at Thanksgiving, arguing different topics. But you know they love each other and then they bring the crazy uncle up from the basement. That’d be me. So it works out.

But, I tell you, it’s been amazing. People come up to me and say “Remember that episode where you and Eric said such and such” and I can’t remember for the life of me. But they have that kind of memory of it so there are obviously loyal viewers and it’s growing.

It’s been great. It’s the best single job I’ve ever had and it came to me at a kind of unusual time. I’d gotten out of politics and was doing TV part time and lots of speeches and teaching. I was actually thinking of one more thing to do, y’know, before I went fishing and, all of a sudden, this came along. And it’s been, for me, just magnificent. I’ve got two teenagers at home. They’re frankly not that interested in watching movies with me at 17 and 18 so it’s ok. We get along fine.

Out of all the shows you’ve done on Fox News, Red Eye, Hannity, would you say that doing The Five is your favorite?

Oh, by far, yeah. And I say that only because, in all of the other ones that I’ve done – with the exception of Red Eye which is a little different – but, for the six or seven years that I’ve been here, I’d be on the air for four minutes with a conservative and we’d be arguing. Back and forth. Back and forth. And you never had a chance to show any other dimension of yourself at all. And, when you have an hour a day, it gives you a chance to express yourself in lots of different ways and people get to know you better. And, for me, that’s been the best part of it, that I don’t have to rush through and be – I mean, I’m partisan, there’s no question in that. But I don’t have to be as partisan as I was before where I felt the necessity of getting my points in in a short period of time. So, yeah, it’s been wonderful. Absolutely wonderful.

Were you familiar with all the regulars before the show started?

Yeah, I didn’t know Greg very well but Andrea and I had been doing America’s Newsroom every Monday for five years and Kimberly and I had done a number of different shows together and I used to be a guest on Bolling’s former show. And Dana and I knew each other because of the Washington connection. I knew them all. Not nearly as well as I know them now.

I think the way Roger made his choice – this is a guy who’s been around and knows the importance of chemistry and, frankly, I think he made the right choices. I mean, I don’t know what he said about me, but these other four.

Is there anyone in the group that you think is the toughest to debate with?

Well, my little brother Eric can be an unmitigated pain in the ass but I love him. You know, he saved my life, he and Ailes, from choking to death so I owe Eric anyway. We’re probably the furthest the part ideologically but, in many ways, very close personally.

And I was blown away by Gutfeld. You talk about a talent. His writing and his delivery just never ceases to amaze me. Then, of course, if it was just Greg and I, we’d probably get hauled off to jail. Dana’s there to kind of keep us in line. And either Andrea or Kimberly are on the other side from me ideologically but we get along.

I think the important thing is, unlike Crossfire which I used to do for CNN, this is not about yelling at each other. It’s about trying to persuade and, if you disagree, to do so agreeably. And I think that’s worked. You don’t hear much crosstalk on The Five. When you try to make a point, the other person will back off. They may not agree with it but…

People will say to me, “How is it to be outnumbered four to one?” and some days it’s harder than others when I’m the only one defending Obama. But the whole show is not built around politics. Yes, there are political segments to it. But it branches far and wide into lots of topics and that makes it a lot better from my standpoint. I don’t know if I’d like to do politics for an hour straight. That would be a little tough.

NEXT>>>> Beckel on ferrets, swearing on TV, and failed attempts to study People Magazine