i-fave from the new york post coming up. "the book of mormon girl" about growing up in the mormon religion, she's married to a jew. >>warner: i don't know anything about her. that's good.

>>imus: the first thing i want to know, first, it's a fascinating religion and the arc of her life is interesting, particularly now they have kids raising in an interfaith household, which i always think is -- i actually think is good in many cases. i wonder if she's seen "the book of mormon." >>warner: good question. >>imus: because this is a serious book about the mormon religion, not nonsense. >>warner: my guess would be no. >>imus: what will you think if she's seen it and liked it? >>connell: he'll go -- >>warner: i think she has a diverse life. >>imus: i can't believe somebody as sophisticated as you are, i just don't get it, warner. it's very troubling. let's do some news. lou rufino is here, by the way, taking it all in,

happy to be here. bernard and carley, everybody else. nats is probably around, trevor playing who knows what. let's do this. >>connell: the campaign trail, the i-man talking about how it's too early to worry about polls, president obama with pretty good numbers over the last two days, leading mitt romney by 9 points in the fox new poll, 49-40 #-rbgs 52-45 in the cnn poll. president obama's latest ad questioning whether mitt romney paid taxes in the past, romney saying i don't know what the to hope and change. another person passed out in colorado springs in the middle of president president os speech. >> if you've been standing for a long time, bend your knees for a little bit. this happens every time we have a rally. they'll be okay --

>>imus: what a self-absorbed schmuck. thinks he's a rock star. >> people fainting all the time. all the time. >>imus: oh my god. >> just get used to it. >>imus: is there any possible way that he can resign between now and november? he's just a schmuck. >> give him a mop so he can help clean up this country. >>imus: come on, man. that's offensive. he just -- what a jerk. >>connell: moving right along. this has happened a few times. >> i'll be at the ritz opening up. >>imus: god, a jerk. >> quickly. get out there now. >>connell: happened in ohio last week. 20 people fainted in virginia earlier this summer in a speech they made. >>imus: you know where they're fainting and passing out is the unemployment line. >> where they can't believe

he's still in office. four more years? no! >>warner: unless they're paying them. professional fainter. >>imus: he may not be such a nice guy. he's an arrogant creep. the other guy is a suit dummy. that's what we're stuck with in this country: a suit dummy and arrogant jerk. by the way, romney keeps screaming about how offended he is. did he pay any taxes? >>connell: he hasn't released his -- he hasn't released his taxes. >>imus: is it one of these deals like rich people do where they don't pay any taxes, where they have all this offshore stuff, write-offs, whatever they do. like general electric, wind up paying no taxes. >>connell: legally take advantage of the loopholes you're talking about. >>imus: do we know that? >>connell: we don't know because he hasn't released -- >>imus: of course not. on one side you've got a lying suit dummy. on the other side you've

got an equally lying arrogant hollywood jerk. >>connell: good matchup. let's go to colorado -- >> you've ruined the country, that's what happened. >> look at all these people fainting right here. >>connell: the shooting suspect is mentally ill. they were in court yesterday demanding the prosecution hand over evidence that could address the depth of his mental illness-holmes. the guy is back in court with bright aerpbg hair -- bright orange hair. the victims were there. here is carley richards. >>imus: showing him looking like ronald mcdonald. >> that's a good point. they should shave his head. and have him show up with a black eye or two in court.

>>connell: he was there. he looks strange almost like he's half paying attention. >>imus: that's enough news. i apologize for the crude language. i'm so torqued off now. >>connell: what a start. >>imus: time for a little business news. here's one of my favorite parts of the program, the business report with dagen mcdowell. good morning, dagen. >>dagen: the average couple spends almost $27,000 on their weddings. that's only down about a grand before the financial crisis and a third of brides go over budget. i'll say this: your wedding will be tacky. you and all your brides maids will look fat, fat, fat, and everybody will talk about those very things behind your back. and your gifts will suck. >>imus: where's all the anger -- where's all the hate coming from? >>dagen: i don't care if you spend $150,000 on your

wedding, half a million, they all look the same. they are ridiculous and the food is terrible. >>bernie: and 75% of the people hate being there. >>connell: doing the chicken dance. >> and the couple never has a good time any way. >>imus: and they're divorced in two years. >>dagen: fellows, if you actually marry her, she gets to keep the ring if you break up. there you go. so don't spend a lot of money on the ring. >>imus: well, whatever. sorry you're so negative about all this. let's do a bernie briefing. here with that is bernard mcguirk. >>bernie: the trojan company in the city of new york trying to give away from hot dog carts -- get it -- vibrators. the front page of the new york post, the headline, bloomberg stopped it. the headline was called "buzz kill" in "the new york post." yesterday, though -- by the way, he almost caused the name of that aforementioned

ban was by doing so. in any case, yesterday according to "the new york post," city hall allowed the trojan company to hand out free sex toys yesterday. i'm reading from the new york post in where else? the meat-packing district. and believe it or not, they have pictures. the lines are actually way around the block. it's unbelievable. they're worth about $30, $40. this one lady "the new york post" quotes, rose moon of sunny side queens, she says, you go through the small cheap ones pretty quickly, moon said as she waited in line. i'm hoping that this one will be better than the ones i'm used to and i can keep it for life. >> all right. >>bernie: what the hell is this lady doing, man? >>imus: let's do a little sports. we don't have lot of time, warner. don't wear me out. here's sports with warner wolf. >>warner: good morning, i-man. you only heard it here. it's 90 feet or 27 meters

between the bases; right? if you base that on bolt's record of 9.58 for 100 meters, it means he could go from first to second in 2.8 seconds. and that's with no lead. you could never throw him out. there's no catcher in the world that could throw him out. all you'd have to do is teach him how to slide. that's it. >>bernie: he runs faster than dagen running for one of those free vibrators. >>dagen: pay up for the good stuff. >>warner: he has -- >> no pushing. i'm coming through. >>warner: he'd have the base stolen before the catcher got the ball -- >>imus: this is such a stupid idea that i just -- >>connell: dagen and the vibrator? >>imus: no. the usain stuff -- any way, people hate baseball. baseball sucks.

any way, so i watched -- man, yohan blake looked like charles barkley trying to beat usain bolt. >>connell: we have a good hour ahead here on "imus in the morning," including bob woodruff of abc news. the theater critic michael riedel and the author jo ann in a brooks. plus elvis. >> i don't understand why people responsible for one of the tasteiest sandwiches have taken such a negative position on the issue of gay marriage. they should be more concerned about whether or not their chickens are homosexual. homosexual. if you've got gay abigail higgins had... ...a tree that bore the most rare and magical fruit. which provided for their every financial need. and then, in one blinding blink of an eye, their tree had given its last. but with their raymond james financial advisor, they had prepared for even the unthinkable.

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>>imus: please welcome from abc news, bob woodruff. good morning, mr. woodruff. how are you? leigh's okay? >> she's great. she's got another book coming out in september. >>imus: good. she's welcome any time, as are you. >>guest: it would be wonderful. >>imus: we have a new abc web series that you're hosting called "standing up for heroes." tell me about that. >>guest: this is a new one. there's a lot that has not been talked about more is the long-term careers for those veterans when they come back from the wars. we concentrate a lot on those who come back, certainly those who have been injured, those who need jobs when they return, the unemployed. there is a bigger question about what's going to happen when so many retire now that the wars are winding down. we've got about 150,000, 180,000, i think, last year that retired. about 300,000 anticipate ford this year. so we have to try to get them on the road. we're trying to put

together -- a veteran when he comes back, tied up with a mentor and some sort of company, certain type of work to try to give them encouragement and information to get these connections to go into this world that they want to enter. >>imus: do you know bill white? the fallen heroes fund? >>guest: of course. >>imus: they have a program -- >>guest: he's a very good friend. >>imus: he's a great guy. they have a program trying to get people to employ veterans. just from the few folks i know who had experience with these various veterans administrations, it's not -- it's still not a pleasant deal. >>guest: it's hard. we try to figure out which companies want which kinds of veterans when they come back, which ones are they inspired by, what makes them more nervous. one thing about the guys when they come back, they're incredibly

disciplined and they have seen parts of the world no one else has seen, at least most people in our country haven't. there's also concerns about ptsd when they come back. >>imus: those initials, what do they stand for? >>guest: post traumatic stress disorder. are you testing me? >>imus: no. you're talking to an idiot. >>guest: you've been living with this forever. you helped completely build the hospital out there in san antonio. i should always say that. post-traufplt stress disorder. -- post traumatic stress disorder. i've been living with this so long, i don't explain what they are. >>imus: talk w-g bob woodruff, abc news. you sound great. >>guest: every time i get on i speak a little more english. i'm sure it was pretty difficult in the beginning. >>imus: in the beginning

we didn't know if you were going to make it. i guess you did. >>guest: i didn't know. i was asleep. certainly you and everyone else had some worries about it. but you were there. >>imus: you've got one of the great wives on the planet, man. >>guest: she's not left me. >>imus: that's a good egg there. more bad news out of afghanistan this morning. >>guest: that's the other thing. we need to do so much more coverage of the wars than we're doing. there's things like that, a day like that and nobody really knows much about what's happening. everyone assumes the war is coming to an end. iraq is over-ish, but these guys are still serving over there and we're not telling enough about what's happening over there, what they're accomplishing and what's going on in the war. >>imus: the big debate continues to be, at least in my mind, is what the hell are we doing there.

>>guest: that's filled with all sorts of questions about that. you can hear from various generals one way or the other whether it was worth it to start with. some feel very strongly that it is and some want to continue it longer. some want to cut it off right now. i think it's really split. it would be interesting to see what happens by the end of 2014 when we're going to pull out of afghanistan. >>imus: what are some of the greater hurdles these veterans face other than the ones you just mentioned? >>guest: i think when we talk about this mentorship, this idea of putting mentors together with -- for example, we talked to george lucas participating in this too, he got together with one of the veterans. these are not young necessarily. i think a lot of people have the assumption that the ones looking for work or looking for a career are 24, 25 years old, coming back after their four years

serving. a lot of the ones we're talking about that are leaving have been there for 20 years, some longer. some groups have been dealing with this kind of mentorship and averaged 33 years old. there's a lot that nobody even knows about that needs some kind of help when they come back for this transition. transition is the word. don't forget only about 1% of the people serving in our country, citizens actually serve in this war. there is this huge wall between their life and our civilian life. that's the one we've got to connect together. in many ways that's one of the big concerns. how did we get us together, relating to each other? >>imus: one would think perhaps naively, but one would think, at least i would, that most employers would want to hire veterans, as you mentioned in the beginning of our conversation, they're disciplined, patriotic, hard-working. >>guest: i think every

corporation talks about it now, but the big thing is to actually make it happen. it's a great, wonderful thing to say. and i really deeply believe the ones that do announce they're going to hire a lot of veterans, i think they feel in their heart that they want to do that. but as you said, the more confusing one is how do they interview them? what's the resume that they're getting? what are the worries? i know studies have shown that they are concerned a little bit how long they will stick around in the town they have been hired because they have been wandering for so many years and moving from base to base one town to another, not used to living in one spot. some are worried a little bit about what they're going to be like mentally in that transition from a very different world to our world. >>imus: what can -- i'm sorry. >>guest: you mentioned too the discipline. they're not going to go out and do something -- they will follow your orders, let's put it that way.

>>imus: they will show up on time. what can somebody who wants to help do to help? >>guest: that's the other thing, we're putting together on abc.com, we're going to give you some direction of who to contact. a, we want to show you what it's like. we just had a piece on two nights ago on ""world news tonight"" about what a mentor and a mentee do and how it would work. abc.com will give you various organizations that are doing this sort of thing. our bigger goal in many ways is if we can get the stuff out and the word out and more companies and corporations and local towns will help those that live in those communities to try to mentor them as well. i think for now there's get into abcnews.com and get into the standing for

heroes section and we'll give you some examples of what's being done and where you can contact people to try to find others that you can mentor. >>imus: i and a lot of other people in this country are happy you're doing well, man. thank you very much. >>guest: all right, imus. thanks so much for your support. >>imus: you're a good american. bob woodruff, abc news. >>connell: keep it right here. coming up next, a great appearance by the theater critic michael riedel who gets a little carried away. kiss today goodbye ♪ ♪ and point me toward ♪ tomorrow >>imus: that will be fine. >>guest: we're having >>guest: we're having marvin hamwe have big dreams. one is for a clean, domestic energy future that puts us in control. our abundant natural gas is already saving us money, producing cleaner electricity, putting us to work here in america and supporting wind and solar. though all energy development comes with some risk,

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covered broadway for 20 years, ten with the new york post. he's cohost of theater talk

on pbs. do you still do that? >>guest: i certainly do. still do theater talk, 20 years on pbs now. >>imus: he's on some tv show on nbc, i think? >>guest: it's a show called "smash" probably the most popular show in the history of television shows. >>imus: please welcome michael riedel. >>guest: i finished the second season of "smash" not long ago. i had three lines. i nailed each one. >>imus: that is very good because initially they were going to kick you out of the show. >>guest: they did but you came to my rescue. i panned some plays they invested in. they said we can't have this guy on the show. he destroyed our investments on broadway. i had a little item on page 6, the same day i got on your show and talked about it. that afternoon the casting director said you're back on "smash." i have you to think for my

television career. >>imus: i'll take whatever. i have this woman coming on this morning. she was on with jon stewart. i'm always interested in various people's religions because i think they're all valid where i'm coming from. i don't think there's one way to get -- if heaven is the goal -- let's assume that is for the sake of this conversation -- i don't think there is just one way to get there. i was having a conversation with that fat, phony -- >>guest: why are you being so cruel? >>imus: i don't know. with former governor mike huckabee, who is an ordained minister. i said do you believe there's only one way to get to heaven, that you have to accept jesus christ as your personal savior and yada? he said we were sitting in the studio where you are. he said if you want to get

to central park, you walk out here and walk up the street. i said that's not the only way to get to central park. >>guest: you can take a cab. >>imus: you can go in another direction was the point. this may be a little above where -- that was my point. not that you could take a cab, stupid -- >>guest: if i'm going to go to heaven, i'm going to make sure i have house seats. >>imus: i meant you could walk the other way and still get to central park. you could walk any way and get to -- that had not occurred to him. any way, she's got a book called the book of mormon girl. >>guest: she's kind of capitalizing on the success of the smash broadway show. >>imus: why not? it's a serious book about growing up in the mormon church. and she married -- you don't care about this at all, do you? >>guest: it's fascinating. >>imus: you son of a bitch. i hope you're out of that show by noon today.

have you seen this mike tyson thing? >>guest: i did. i was here last year singing the praises of hugh jackman's one man show. he doesn't have a patch on mike tyson. you may have surmised i'm not up on boxing and the history of boxing, so i went in thinking this is going to be dreadful and terrible. tyson is terrific. he's a fantastic mimic. he does great impressions of don king and mitch green, that guy he clocked in harlem in the 80's. and a brilliant, brilliant imitation of robin givens. he said i'm going to use her phony white voice now. this show you would love it because he uses the show to settle scores and attack the people he hates. he flattens robin givens and don king. he's charismatic, moves very well. he can't pronounce big words but he speaks words you can't say on theadio with the conviction of a great method actor. >>imus: what does he have to say with the various

women he raped? >>guest: he does deal with one that sent him to jail, very briefly. he says he was railroaded. but he says when he went to jail he discovered islam and it changed his life. >>imus: doesn't this thing close on sunday? >>guest: it does. i would urge your listeners to get there. it was terrific. >>imus: it runs two hours? >>guest: about two hours. it's up to mike. it goes where he wants to go. it doesn't start on time. you can get there at 8:30 and it starts then. you can drink during the show, which i recommend. people drink quite a bit. in new york a guy went on twitter and threatened to shoot the people up in the theater. i did reporting on that. what happened was the guy was bombed out of his mind during the show and they evicted him. because he was so angry, he tried to get revenge by sending this idiotic tweet. >>imus: we're talking

with mike riedel who is providing a rave review for mike tyson's one-man show. >>guest: i know warner won't go to the book of mormon but i bet i can get warner to go to mike tyson. >>imus: will you go, warner? >>warner: no. i saw warrior class. i thought that was great. >>guest: why won't you go to mike tyson, warner? >>warner: not interested. i've interviewed him a thousand times. i read his jokes. no. >>imus: here's the thing about warner. warner's a buttoned-up, cynical old fool. why he won't go see "the book of mormon" is inexplicable. >>imus: every time i come -- >>guest: every time i come on here, i keep inviting you to the book of mormon. >>imus: i'm very disappointed in warner, a sophisticated warner. lived here and washington, d.c. all his life, and he goes to see everything. sits in the handicapped -- by the way -- >>warner: no, no.

behind. >>imus: behind the handicapped. whatever. >>guest: go early to get the infrared hearing system before the line of the old people up there. >>imus: exactly right, michael. i'll bet this woman, joanna brooks, i bet she's seen "the book of mormon." >>guest: if she hasn't, i can set her up with tickets while she's in town. i had friends from salt lake city in town. i thought they would be offended. they adored it. >>imus: you would think, if you read it in the paper, you would think oh my god. but there -- any way, there is a doctor here at the ranch who volunteers here at the ranch, dr. jim smith from -- where are you from? do you know where you're from? he's not a bright man.

are you on -- will you prescribe stuff to yourself? any way, he's from ohio. but he volunteered for years here at the ranch. several years. he's going to new york. he wants to see "rock of ages" and asked me how that was. i said it was okay. >>guest: yeah. frankly, i think there are better things to see. >>imus: what can we get him to see? >>guest: spiderman. maybe something will fall on his head. >>imus: have you seen book of more -- mormon, doc? you should see that. do you have kids? how old are your kids? >> 1. >>imus: i took wyatt when he was 13. i've seen it twice with wyatt. it's a scream. can you get him tickets to "the book of mormon"? >>guest: absolutely. >>imus: don't say yeah because meghan will call you off the air and have

you produce the tickets. aoeup happy to pay for them -- i'm happy to pay for them. >>guest: give me your credit card information -- >>imus: i'm not going to do that but we're happy to pay for the tickets. what else in the great white way? >>guest: the great come poe -- the great composer marvin hamlisch died. i wrote a piece for him for the newspaper. if you're a certain age, he provided the soundtrack for our lives. >>imus: you didn't just say that? you are just so lame. the soundtrack to our lives. >>guest: i thought that was a pretty good line. >>imus: no, it's not. any way, go ahead. >>guest: the entertainer from "the sting" all that joplin stuff. memories ♪ ♪ like the corners ♪ of my mind >>imus: sounds pretty good. >>guest: also the greatest musical of all

time "the chorus line" it opened in the middle of the 70's when the city was bankrupt, times square was dangerous, out of nowhere comes this show called broadway gypsies that lasted 15 years and lifted the fortunes of the city. i think that is marvin's contribution to broadway and new york. >>imus: it is not clear why he died. had he been ill? >>guest: it is my understanding he had kidney problems. he had a kidney surgery that didn't go well. he went into a coma and didn't come out of it. we all loved "a chorus line." that is the great broadway show. if you want, i'll sing a little now for you. >>imus: go ahead. >>guest: ♪ kiss today goodbye ♪ ♪ and point me ♪ toward tomorrow >>imus: that will be fine. >>guest: bernie, we're having marvin hamlisch night in the village.

>>imus: book you at bill white's apartment. thanks for reminding us of the soundtrack of our lives. i actually thought it was frank zappa but apparently not. marvin hamlisch. >>connell: joanna brooks is next talking about "the book of mormon girls." then inspiring words. >> anybody sitting down there is not afraid of what life has in store. you thought walking on hot coals is a challenge, travis has that piece of silly putty stuck to the sunday funnies. he was going to have a pretty painful looking

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>>imus: joanna brooks has written a number of books. one of her newest is called "the book of mormon girl: the memoir of an american faith." please welcome to the "imus in the morning" program joanna brooks. good morning, miss brooks. >>guest: thank you for having me, don. great to be here. >>imus: how are you? >>guest: i'm good. it's a muggy day in new york. i'm sure it beautiful in new mexico. i'm partial to the west. >>imus: are you from salt lake? >>guest: no. i grew up in southern california. >>imus: where in california? >>guest: santa ana. orange county. >>imus: i grew up in riverside. >>guest: that's what i read. >>imus: you didn't google me, did you? >>guest: i googled you. >>imus: that's too bad. >>guest: you come up just

fine. look at all the wonderful things you're doing with your ranch. it's beautiful. >>imus: particularly with romney running, do you like him? >>guest: i'm a life long democrat. there's a few of us in the world of mormonism. not a lot. it is a great time. the human side of mormonism needs to come out. romney gets picked on for his faith. someone needs to tell the human story because he's a little shy to tell it. >>imus: it seems like he's terrified. i support him -- not that it means anything. i'm not one of those people who hates the president, by the way. i think he's fine. but romney seems to me as though he's just, he's afraid he's going to say something wrong. back to this. so christians believe, the ones i know that you have to accept jesus christ as your personal savior, so on, to wind up in heaven.

everybody has their own guy, a crude way to put it. they have buddha, allah. jesus. >>guest: in the book i talk about being saved. i talk about the customs of mormonism, growing up in a warm household in california, i learned to serve other people to feel life was important, my life had meaning and the meaning of life was to learn, have experiences and return to god. we're christians. >>imus: this is the same jesus christ that one could read about in, for example, the new testament? >>guest: mormons read the new testament as scripture. that's our jesus too. in the book i talk about growing standing tensions between some evangelical christians and mormons, experiencing those as a girl and i never understood

the beef. i think there's enough good to be done, all of us, to where people of faith can pitch in. all our guys, as you say. >>imus: i was talking to mike huckabee. he's really not a bad guy actually. i say hideous things about him and i probably shouldn't. he's a baptist minister, and they'll do anything as long as the shades are down. i was having an argument -- not an argument. a discussion with him, because i believe, not that anybody asked me, but there's more than one way to go -- let's just say for the sake of this discussion that heaven is the goal. i think there are a lot of different answers. i think your husband, who is jewish and his religion, i think his answer and his path is as valid as, for example, yours. perhaps you do too. >>guest: i was taught to be loving, kind, to serve others. it's hard for me to find in my heart a place to say someone else isn't going to

heaven because they don't believe this. i leave that to god. god's job. >>imus: i agree. i had this conversation with old huck. we were sitting in the studio you're sitting in now. he said there's only one way to get to central park. he was the governor of arkansas, which may explain that observation. i said no, there's not. there's a lot of ways. you can walk the other way and get to central park. he hadn't considered that. >>guest: governor huckabee is a man of strong faith. i don't begrudge anyone who supports and advocates their faith. there are so many different paths people of faith have. i think we all have a role about which direction our country should take and how to live a good life, how to be in service to others. >>imus: we're talking with joanna brooks whose book "the book of mormon girl: the memoir of an american faith," you originally self-published this and then free press picked it up? >>guest: yes. >>imus: good for you.

what's the biggest misconception about -- i mean, what do all of us need to know about mormonism that we don't know that we think we do. >>guest: i think your listeners are probably keyed in than the rest of the world. mormons don't practice polygamy. that's the big misconception. a lot of people assume mormons are all alike. there's different shades and flavors. there are african-american mormons, gay mormons, mormons like me who are democrat. we learn to love one another across our differences in the faith. >>imus: you attended brigham young university? >>guest: i did. i'm a cougar. >>imus: you're getting all liberal at brigham young. i'm more liberal than i am whatever. but any way, i kind of support gay marriage. in fact, i'm a universal life church minister. >>guest: google told me

that. google told me about your ministerial career. want me to call you reverend? >>imus: you can. that's not what most people call me. i'm drinking coffee this morning. i was thinking about whether i should, whether it would be appropriate or respectful for me to drink coffee while you were on. >>guest: i have my tea, my herbal tea. >>imus: why are christians, a lot of them -- because you explained it's the same jesus. i wonder where this hostility comes? it's a misunderstanding? >>guest: during the late 1970's mormons left the united states. we moved to utah to start our own society. there were so many stereotypes and misunderstandings. the federal government marched on utah. during the 20th century, most of us absorbed. in the late 20 24* --

20th century a lot of christians taught mormonism something we need to battle as something dangerous. my friends grew up watching films about mormons in church that made us out to be very strange cult members. on the other hand, donnie and marie osmond are on tv. >>imus: you like them? >>guest: march reosmond -- marie osmond was my hero. >>imus: she's got a screwed-up life. >>guest: no comment. i have a soft spot for her. >>guest: so many husbands. getting fat -- >>guest: when i was growing up, there were no

mormons on tv. >>imus: what did your dad say when you brought this jewish man home and said i'm going to marry him? >>guest: that was difficult. marrying inside the faith plays a big role in mormon belief. very observant mormons believe marrying another mormon is the way to get to the best kind of heaven. i happened to find heaven on earth with someone i really love. my dad over time grew to accept my husband, which was important. mormons take the view things are going to work out. >>imus: have you seen "the book of mormon" on broadway? >>guest: i have. >>imus: and? >>guest: i laughed through 75% of it. there were parts that made me cringe. >>imus: there were parts that made you cringe? >>guest: yeah, a few. >>imus: i guess if you read it -- i agree. there's a couple places -- one song that's a little over the top.

but i was curious as to whether you had. and you had. if you laughed through 75% of it, that's not too bad, is it? >>guest: it's a little uncomfortable being in a theater with strangers laughing at your religion but there's so much that the book of mormon authors get right. mormons come through as people who like to serve. that comes through. the warm-hearted goodness of the community i grew up in, they got that right. that was nice to see. their message overall was all religions are a little ridiculous. so you believe. >>imus: you're very charming and i hope your book does well. i think it's enormously important. i really do. >>connell: a quick break but don't go anywhere. fat elvis is next. >> i never did pay no never mind to two people of the same sex who wanted to share a nest especially if they were a couple of hot chicks, you know what i'm saying? hello darling. i don't mean to crow about

i don't mean to crow about it but i ain't no chicken hmm, it says here that cheerios helps lower cholesterol as part of a heart healthy diet. that's true. ...but you still have to go to the gym. ♪ the one and only, cheerios

>>imus: spent a lot of the week talking about country singer randy travis. here with thoughts on that reaching out to randy, here's tony robbins. good morning, mr. robbins. >> good morning, imus. my client randy travis was having a life crisis. he lives his life with passion. anybody that risks sitting down on his naked yam bag while getting into a hot trans am in august is not afraid of what life has in store. travis's nugget pouch was like silly putty stuck to the sunday funnies. instead of a picture of dick tracy he was going to have a painful looking picture of a fire bird. that's awesome. travis took the road less

traveled. unfortunately, that road was a highway. not many people travel there. randy travis challenged himself to walk into a convenience store butt naked to purchase smokes without money or a place to hold a lighter. randy didn't have a lighter but as naked as he was he could have flicked his bic. he didn't get the cigarettes. success sofpb buried on the other side of rejection. what travis wanted wasn't cigarettes but the opportunity to sing again and have thousands holding up their lighters. after our meeting he got that chance. he will sing in the bandit reboot. the bandit is back and this time it's successful. success is to te massive determined action and hope the cops don't show. >>imus: tony robbins on the "imus in the morning" program. i would point out that tony is a motivational speaker, not necessarily a comedian.

good morning, fat. >> thank you very much. ♪ oh, lets them be ♪ now chick-fil-a ♪ why do you care ♪ who gets hitched ♪ even if they're gay ♪ let them be ♪ chick-fil-a i don't understand why the people responsible for one of the tasteiest sandwiches outside of fried peanut butter and banana have taken a stand on gay marriage. they should be concerned on whether or not their chickens are homosexual. seeing how you need baby chicks to grow up to be chicken sandwiches you should focus on them eggs being laid rather than the people. it depends on which end you're on the which came first. i'm used to being the rooster in the hen house but i never did pay never mind to two people of the same sex who wanted to share a nest especially if they were a couple of hot

chicks. you know what i mean? hello darling. i don't mean to crow about it but i ain't no chicken little. that is chick-fil-a's problem. they ain't getting laid enough themselves. maybe they should think about relieving stress because ♪ there ain't nobody choke choking ♪ ♪ their chickens ♪ they took a stand ♪ and made a fuss ♪ because some people ♪ don't act like us ♪ turn your cheek ♪ the other way ♪ and stop with ♪ all the hating ♪ them poor old gays ♪ it's finger lickin' ♪ but ain't nobody ♪ choking ♪ their chickens >>connell: the "imus in the morning" program on the fox business network. giving you the power to