Where Larry King Learned to Talk the Talk

Gleason became like a mentor of mine. I had Gleason helping me on television, Godfrey on radio. -Larry King

Who said it

Larry King is a famous and award-winning television and radio host, known for his show “Larry King Live.” King is well-known for his numerous interviews with famous people across all spectrums: celebrities, athletes, politicians and anyone else you can think of. King has under his belt an Emmy, two Peabody Awards and ten Cable ACE Awards as proof of his excellence as a host and as an interviewer. The selling point of King is his unique interview style, which is direct and frank yet non-aggressive. It is this style that gained King the trust of both his audience and the interviewees themselves.

What it means

No matter how great a person might become, everyone starts out as an amateur. Only a few of us are already born great without any need for learning or mentoring. And as this quote points out, Larry King was not one of those few. The best thing about this quote is that Larry King is just like us all; he also had to learn the ropes and get some help to get to where he is today. This shows how important having a good mentor or example is; having the right mentor can sometimes mean the difference between failure and success. In this quote, King gives credit to Jackie Gleason, another TV legend, for showing him the way to succeed in television.