Welcome to Nobody Told Me. I'm Laura Owens. And I'm Jan Black. As two-generational mother-daughter

podcast hosts, we've often talked about relationships between mothers and daughters on our show.

On this episode, we'll put the spotlight on fathers and sons.

And joining us is Rich Cohen, a New York Times bestselling author whose newest book is called

The Adventures of Herbie Cohen, World's Greatest Negotiator.

Herbie Cohen is Rich's dad, and the book is a completely original guide to life, in a sense,

through the eyes of Rich and his father.

Rich, we thank you so much for joining us.

Thanks for having me.

You are, as I mentioned, a bestselling author.

You've been a contributing editor at Vanity Fair and Rolling Stone.

Why did you decide to write a book about your dad?

Well, if I'm sitting down having dinner with you, I'm just telling stories about my dad all

the time without even meaning to because he's unbelievably great material. He's very funny.

And I would say he's like a mix between Mel Brooks and the Dalai Lama.

It's kind of a lot of schick, a lot of Brooklyn

stick, but also he's very wise. And he lives by a kind of, or tries to live by a kind of

philosophy, which you probably've heard. It was, it animated his book, you can go shoot anything,

which is a huge hit when I was a kid. And that is the key to a good life is to care, but not that much. So I said he was like a Jewish Buddha preaching detachment.

It was just the best subject I've ever had. And even stories that I've done, like I wrote a book with Jerry Weintraub, who's a big movie producer and produced Oceans 11, 12, and 13. And I felt like I could do that because I met Jerry and I'm like, oh, Jerry's just like Herbie. It's like my father. That's why I can do it. You know, so he's just a very animating force in my life. Did you feel like there was any chance that you weren't going to be a great negotiator when you were growing up with your dad.

I'm wondering what the pressure must have been like. People must have had such high expectations

for you. I never, I knew I was not a good negotiator. I'm not a good negotiator. I never tried to be a

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