Unveiling the Unconventional: Lainie Speiser's Journey in Public Relations

Larry Samuels 0:02

Welcome to No Wrong Choices. Along with Larry Shay and Tushar Saxena, I'm Larry Samuels. This is a podcast about the adventures of life, where each episode features a person who had a dream or an idea, chased it, and got there or got pretty darn close. This time out, we're talking to publicist Lainey Spiser, who has a very unique background of supporting adult entertainment stars and controversial clients such as Roger Stone. We got to know Laney during her serious XM days and spent uh you know a fair amount of time with her. She's a a really, really nice, good, and interesting person. Tushar, do you deserve the credit for bringing Laney into our lives?

Tushar Saxena 0:43

Yes, uh, I did bring Laney into our lives. Um, and honestly, it was one of the one of the best things that I think we I've done because she's really cool. She's a really cool chick, as I, you know, as you always want to say about it. That one that one female friend that you have who is more like hanging out with one of the guys in a lot of sense, that's who Laney Spiser is. She's just a really cool chick. And, you know, you guys got to know her a bit on the air. I got to know her behind the scenes because when we get to where she used to be the person who handled all the bookings for when she was working at Penthouse uh magazine, she would handle all the bookings for the for the models. So if you wanted to get to them, you had to go through her and book and book uh book spots with them. So I got to get to know her a little bit more on a personal level. And I gotta tell you, like, I had been looking forward to this opportunity to speak to Laney. Now, you know, for us, we got to know Laney in the penthouse years. I am really looking forward to this because I don't know a lot of Laney's history prior to that. So it's kind of exciting to me to have the opportunity to find out, hey, how did she get into the business? How did she get into this? Get into what you know, I'll I'll even say that that during that during my own talks with her is that you know she really is a specialized type of she's got a s she's got a very special set of skills is the best way to put it. She's got a very special set of skills. And not a lot of people do what she does. And it's just real I think it's a really cool story, and I think I think you'll all enjoy it. That's that's the one thing I'll say is that you'll just enjoy s listening to Laney, hearing her story, and then just kind of learning about you know how she got into the business she gets into.

Larry Shea 2:25

Yeah, and hearing about publicity, PR. I mean, I think it's a very mysterious field. Like, what do you need to do? It's not really a nine to five. Do you clock in? How does this work? You know, you're just looking to what get your clients from point A to point B and get as much exposure as you possibly can. It's a fascinating, mysterious field, and and I think it's an important one in today's day and age. Um, full disclosure, Laney was, you know, I would often be on the air doing a show, and Laney would bring her guests in, penthouse pets or whatever they might be, and and then we would finish the segment, and Laney and the pets would be gone, and I would never even speak to Lainey, you know, even though she's the one who was, you know, bringing her guests in, uh etc. So sometimes, you know, I got to know Lainey over the years. We had her on so many times, her guests on so many times. But yeah, I don't know Laney's story. I don't know her background, where she came from, was this a dream job, how she got into this field. But I do know just from my experiences with her over the years, she's the best, the absolute best at what she does. And you could see that in the happiness of the people that she was with, right? That everybody always seemed very comfortable and happy, and she knew she was organized and she was in charge, and she was just so kind and so brilliant and always remembered you, you know, even those first couple meetings. Hey, Larry, you know, knew you, knew who you were. Just you could tell she's a people person, a relationship person. And I think these become key elements when you're talking about the PR world, the publicity world, and nobody, and I mean nobody does it better than Laney Spiser.

Larry Samuels 3:58

Yeah, and you know, and building upon that sentiment, it's it's not an easy job, you know, aside from trying to find opportunities for your clients. You also have to work with your clients and be a coach and be a cheerleader and in some ways, you know, manage conflict and manage difficult situations. And um, you know, as we'll discover, she has a very interesting roster of clients. She will spend a little bit of time talking about Roger Stone and and what that dynamic is like. So um, without a doubt, Lanny is a very interesting person with a unique background who has a lot to share. So, with all of that, here's Lanny Spiser. Lanny, thank you so much for joining us.

SPEAKER_01 4:40

Thank you guys for having me. I'm so excited to be here.

Tushar Saxena 4:43

You know, this is uh great to have you. I mean, look, for we haven't spoken to you in so long. I mean, this is kind of a reunion for all three of us. Um, for sure. The three of us got to know you oh during our days at Sirius. And it was such I mean, look, it was a it was such a great time to just to kind of get to know I mean you were one of the very first people who were who were so open to, you know, obviously getting your girls on or getting your girls on the air with just shows, and so open to like allowing us that opportunity to speak to them. Well, look, before we even get into like, you know, kind of that that aspect of your career, I want to ask a little bit that you really do have a very uh niche type of uh expertise, is the best way to put it. You have the very niche type of expertise. Um you know, tell us a little bit at the about the story of like how and why did you go in that direction in your in your career?

SPEAKER_01 5:35

Well, like everyone else, I think, or most people, you know, you start with one intention and you end up with something completely different. Um I uh graduated from School of Visual Arts with a BA in journalism, and you know, uh my dream was to be kind of like a gonzo journalist, like Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and you know, uh doing like rolling stuff.

Tushar Saxena 6:00

You want to be Hunter S. Thompson, the female version.

SPEAKER_01 6:03

Yeah, absolutely. That was what I wanted to be, like the female Hunter S. Thompson and do all the stuff, and I graduated and you know, I did my internships, and I uh I should have known it wasn't I was not gonna be what I expected because I hated all of my editorial internships like immediately. All of them. Uh I interned for Spin Magazine. Um, I hated that. Uh I interned for uh actually I did like the New York Press. I interned for them, they were very nice actually. Um, and uh, you know, and then you know you graduate, you look for work, and you know, come to realize that you know uh entry-level editorial is for you know trust fund kids basically, you know, people whose parents are helping them, which is nothing wrong with that, by the way. Um I just didn't have that. So, you know, the job I would get, you know, I'd go on job interviews for New York magazine and um, you know, book publishing companies like St. Martin's Press and stuff, and you know, uh the most of the salaries were like 16,000 a year. And you know, although this is the 90s, it's still pretty low if you want to live in the tri-state area, even with a roommate, etc. Um, and you're paying your student loans, and and besides that, I just I could tell by some of these interviews that I was just not going to fit in as editorial at all. I was way too friendly, and I smiled way too much, and everyone in editorial always looked like they wanted to shoot themselves in the head wherever I was at. You know, everyone was so like, why are you guys so upset for Jesus?

Larry Shea 7:40

You know, I endorsement for the field. At all. Go into that field.

SPEAKER_01 7:44

It really is. I gotta tell you, like, all these articles that people read are all written by musical pastors. That's true.

Larry Samuels 7:51

It's like it's a good thing that you did get it and you saw it early on.

SPEAKER_01 7:55

I just I and I could tell they didn't like that in editorial. So, you know, I'm looking at it, uh, you know, temping and whatever in between. And uh I get a call from one of the many, many, many uh, you know, um job ads that I read in the New York Times. You know, all I want to do is work for a magazine. Um, and a magazine called me back uh for um called Gallery Magazine. And I was like, oh my god, that's so great. Like I'm thinking, Gallery Guide. I must have, I must have answered an ad for some art magazine. Great, you know, I didn't remember. And um, as we're talking, she says to me, Do you know what this is? And I said, Yeah, yeah, of course I know gallery guide very well. She's like, No, no, no, it's not that. She was like, Okay, what is it? And she said, It's immense sophisticated. And I said, like, Esquire? No. I was like, What is it? And she's like, I didn't know, like Playboy, and I was like, Oh, I said, That's okay, yeah, sure. She goes, You don't have a problem? I said, No, no, no, not at all. Okay, so um, I went to the interview, you know, they gave me the magazine. It was not quite like Playboy at all.

Larry Samuels 9:05

Um it was meaningful that was the G-rated version.

SPEAKER_01 9:09

It it yeah, it was, I would call it very much like the poor man's Midwestern Playboy. Like our big thing was um the girl next door of the month, like Playmate, like a Playboy Playmate of the Month. Except these were women from like all over the country sending in the like Polaroids, literally. This is before, you know, digital and all that stuff. We literally got you know tons of Polaroids in the mail. Like, I wish we had done a special on the ones we rejected to even publish because there were some really nasty ones. You know, I when I went on that interview, I remember I at the time I was living in Williamsburg with the guy who was living with him. I said to him, I'm getting this job. This is the one. I felt comfortable right away. They seemed to like me right away. Uh, I have zero um I had zero experience doing publicity. Did I just, you know, had no experience. The only experience I had is I took, uh, we had to take a mandatory PR class, our senior year of um college, and all of us journalism kids used to make fun of publicists and promo people all the time. We thought they were like scum. And yeah, I got the job, you know, I got a call literally the next day and said, if you want this job, it's yours. And I went at it and um I spent uh it was a whole porn company. It wasn't just gallery, it was this also this very, very um extreme magazine called Fox, very hardcore uh magazine uh called Fox. And I think we had a couple of specials also. So I ended up working for this company for 10 years.

Larry Shea 10:48

Laney, um let's take a pause there because you know you obviously are gonna move on and be a star in this kind of work, but you have this aspect of your family, right? So did you have to explain it to mom and dad and friends and family? How did they accept it? What was so at this point you get this amazing opportunity and you're gonna jump on it.

SPEAKER_01 11:10

But sure.

Larry Shea 11:11

So what are you thinking? I get this about that other aspect of like the relationships, and how am I gonna explain what I what I'm gonna try to do for a living to my family? I think it's a it's a pertinent thing.

SPEAKER_01 11:22

Well, it is, and first of all, it's hard to even describe to anyone what PR and publicity is, no matter what your product or person is. Period. People don't know what PR means. They're like, uh, what does that mean? Uh I I I promote you. Well, what does that mean? You know, that already is you know, people don't get it, and then to bring in porn in the middle. So I came, I wasn't living at home anymore, but I visited every week, and my parents are um, you know, they're not from this country. My mom's from Morocco. She came here when she was like almost 40. Um, my dad's from South America, you know, think them think of porn very differently there. And um, you know, they're also my mom is I was raised um, you know, a conservative religious Jew. You know, um, I wouldn't say all the way like religious, but definitely religious enough that I went to yeshiva, you know, uh we ate kept kosher, you know, we kept the Sabbath, and you know, religious enough. Bring this to my own.

Larry Samuels 12:23

That that sounds religious as an extreme reform Jew who hasn't stepped foot in a synagogue in decades. That sounds very religious enough, so to say, right?

SPEAKER_01 12:32

It was religious enough. Like when we were out of the house, we ate whatever we wanted. I admit that. Like, you know, if I wasn't home, my mom didn't kill me if I got a cheeseburger, but you know, but not in the house for sure. And you know, so I I brought the magazine, I brought gallery home. I did not bring, I was never gonna show them Fox ever, because it was just woof.

Larry Shea 12:52

A bridge too far, as they say. A bridge too far.

SPEAKER_01 12:55

Yeah, yeah. And I I explained this is where I work now, and my mom for like three months was convinced that this was some sort of weird way to try to get me in the magazine.

SPEAKER_02 13:06

Oh no, no.

SPEAKER_01 13:07

Which I was like, doesn't make sense. It's like, okay, so they're gonna go ahead and hire me and give me like you know, medical and dental and everything, just so I'm like nude. And I said, No, I said, mom, it's not like that. And but uh it was it was very they thought it, you know, my dad said, Okay, this is why I spent all this money on your education. I just remember that. That was what he had to say. And then he sees you know, my friends that he knew from that school uh working at the New York Times and working at PBS and all these great things, and you know, your daughter chose porn as you know, her thing. But you know what? Um they saw how happy I was right away, and my dad couldn't believe, you know, I actually stuck it out. Uh he I remember him saying, like six months in, he's like, How's the job going? My dad's a blue-collar dude, and he's like, How the job? I said, Good. And he said, Well, he goes, they've kept you, so I guess they like you. All right, that's cool.

SPEAKER_06 14:10

That's cool, dad, right there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:11

Yeah, so I guess they like you. And and you know, my mom, I did have my name in the magazine and the masthead, and you know, they definitely like that. And um, you know, they were they were pretty cool about it, I have to say, um, surprisingly so.

Larry Samuels 14:26

That is very, very cool. So you're in, and you know, you're now developing, you know, a new skill set, so to speak. So, what was your role at the magazine and and what did you learn from that? And how did you then leverage that into your next opportunities?

SPEAKER_01 14:43

Well, I mean, it's I the first few years was just me being an assistant and just doing grunty type work. Um, you know, uh, we had, let's say, um, you know, this is again the 90s, internet is still, it's there now, but it's not like the Google is still not there yet. You know, we're starting. So they had like, I had to do research for all the radio because that was where we mainly did our PR for especially Gallery Magazine, because uh they did, let's say they said Girl Next Door of the Month. Um, let's say it's Mary Jane from Cleveland, Ohio. So for that month, the guy above me would be pitching radio shows. You know, I would have to update their media lists, and you couldn't do that except by calling back then. And it was a huge job. They give me an old radio book that was like from four years ago. So every you know how you guys know more than anyone how you know names. Absolutely, absolutely.

SPEAKER_05 15:40

I know that I know that book.

SPEAKER_01 15:42

Yes, you know, BPI was it. It was called BPI. I remember that. The BPI book. I used to go through that BPI book, but my like like you know, state by state, city by city, and I had to find out who was their uh program director, who was the if did they have a morning show? Yes. Do you have guests? Yes, who's the booker or producer? I had to find, you know, same thing. Do you have a drive time show? I did this all day. Of course, I didn't say it was from Gallery Magazine. They never tell me. So I made up a company name. I said, this is uh Laney Spiser from NPC New York. I'm updating my media list, and I wanted to know is uh John Smith still the morning show producer? No?

SPEAKER_00 16:25

Oh, who is it's legwork.

Larry Samuels 16:26

That's a lot of legwork right there.

Tushar Saxena 16:28

Yeah, that's a lot of that's a lot of grunt work.

Larry Samuels 16:30

Yeah. Do you remember what the acronym stood for? NPC?

SPEAKER_01 16:34

No, I just made no NPC.

Larry Samuels 16:37

So there wasn't a hidden meeting attached to it.

SPEAKER_01 16:40

It had no meeting. I just thought it was NPC. And not a single radio station ever asked me, hey, what is NPC closing for? A couple of times someone go, You're from where? And I'd be like, I'm from NPC in New York, and we're a media company.

SPEAKER_02 16:52

No people clothed.

SPEAKER_01 16:54

Yeah, yeah, I didn't say it was from and back then, you know, so I had to do that. And I swear to this day, I know every area code by heart because of doing this. Like 717, that's Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. 818 is Los Angeles. 310 is also Los Angeles. I mean, I know it all by heart. Uh, you know, it's engraved. I don't remember anything I learned in school. Of course.

Tushar Saxena 17:18

How long were you over at Gallery for?

SPEAKER_01 17:20

I worked for that company working for Gallery and Fox for 10 years. And then, you know, by uh, you know, eventually like the guy above me is leaving. So my boss, who's uh it was like a director, a manager, and an assistant, me, and the director then decides, okay, um, I want to put you on the phones now and have you start pitching, you know, these, you know, to have the girls on the show. And, you know, that was again no emailing, no texting. I had to call, or I would fax, you know, press release with a picture, and then I would follow it up with a phone call and say, hey, this is Laney from gallery. Did you get my fax? And sometimes I got a nasty fax back that said you should be ashamed of yourself.

Larry Samuels 18:05

Oh, geez.

SPEAKER_01 18:06

Uh that happened a few times, but people were starting going, oh, yeah, yeah. And then I started meeting real radio people that people know, like now, even like Bubba the Love Sponge. I was booking on his show since the 90s. Wow. Um, I remember getting friendly with them. Um uh when Opie and Anthony were still in Boston, wow, I booked on their show all the way back there. Um, you know, Howard Stern, you know, obviously, you know, that was the you know, holy grail at the time at the time. But uh I think I started booking with them from starting like I'd say the late. Because there's the fellas never never make that list. I every time we have these conversations, the fellas never makes this list. No, that was that was after I got, you know, once I I became something, then I met you guys. I you wouldn't have even looked already. Please, are you kidding me?

Larry Samuels 18:55

Like I don't know about that.

SPEAKER_01 18:57

You would have been like, gallery, what the hell's that? Facts.

Larry Samuels 19:00

What the hell is a fact? So, Lady, as you're booking these people on the shows, like like what is your role? What is your interaction? Are you going into the studios? And did you then have to manage like some complicated situations? Like, how does all of that stuff work?

SPEAKER_01 19:18

I I definitely start working more with the center folds directly. And at the time, you know, it's funny, you st I started out being I was younger than some of them in the beginning, and then you know, we're about the same age, and you go from being called the babysitter to eventually being called like the the mama bear eventually and all that. But, you know, I started um, you know, the girls would fly in, and of course, there was always like if there was a a change in planes or you know, uh a flight delay or anything, some of these girls would call just scared out of their minds because they never like some of them never even been on a plane, never left home. I remember one girl, she was lost in um uh her flight was delayed, so the car that we had to pick her up, I guess it left, and she called in a panic from a payphone, you know, didn't have any cell phones. And I said, Okay, someone from the company's on their way, you know, to pick you up. Just tell me where you're at. So when they call me, I'll tell them. And you just stay there. I said, So where are you? And this one girl, very beautiful girl, Debbie. I remember she's like, I don't know, I don't know. And I said, It's okay, Debbie, just you know, I'll just put me, I'm gonna be on hold, turn around and ask someone where you are, okay? And she was like, Okay, hold on. And I just hear him yell, Where am I? That's it, dude.

SPEAKER_06 20:36

Screaming out loud, dude, anyone who would listen. Oh my god. That's hilarious.

SPEAKER_01 20:43

Like stuff like that. Um, you know, uh, I've had some girls where they like night before the shoot, uh, maybe they got nervous and you know, took a like a Xanax or two with some like, you know, uh some you know white wine and I wouldn't open their door, and I had to like call security to come and open it, and I had lied and said it was the sister or something, and you know, had to like, you know, wake her up and like, no, you're you're you're getting up. We have to be at the shoot in an hour, like dragging them to a shower and putting on cold water and you know, making sure she gets to that shoot.

Larry Shea 21:20

This is see, this is the laney we experienced, is this, you know, you kind of shepherd them through this process, right? You do you're there to protect them and get them through and and keep their confidence up and make them happy and everything. Do you think that has to be instinctual to a PR position? Is that part of the job requirement? Or, you know, we know you and uh it just feels like you are mother hand when you go above and beyond the call of duty. Is it essential to be in in PR, I guess?

SPEAKER_01 21:48

I I I definitely do. I mean, it doesn't matter, even if you're not uh repping porn stars, what you don't think actors and writers and all those people, every especially when a lot of people you know, they they're doing publicity because their their publishing company is making them, their record label is making them, whatever, you know, and a lot of them don't even want to do it. And you gotta kind of psych them up to do it and do a good job. And it is kind of like, you know, semi, you know, mother, uh, friend, auntie, teacher, whatever, you know, in each situation works. You kind of have to, you know, um, you have to make it like this is going to be a lot of fun. You know, you want them to know like we're gonna have a great time. We're gonna run around the city together, you know, we'll we'll get some we'll get some lunch, we'll go meet these people, it'll be so good and and all that. You kind of have to be a little cheerleader, otherwise like, you know, they won't care because a lot of people who are doing it, even if their company is making them do it, let's say most people are not getting paid to go out and do this. You know, most writers, they're publishing companies and saying we're gonna pay you to do a publicity tour. They just say get your ass out there we want to see books. You know, as a publicity tour. So I I think you do. I I definitely think you do. And I think that's why there are I'd say probably more female publicists and PR people than men because I just think it's more of a a a woman's job and I have no problem being sexist and saying that. I even even if a guy is a gay guy, I don't even think it's for a gay guy. I think it's just best for I think women do it.

Larry Shea 23:28

Is that why you think just because I was going to ask you to expound on that you think it's the patience that allows them to handle it.

SPEAKER_01 23:35

It's definitely the patience.

Larry Shea 23:36

Interesting.

SPEAKER_01 23:37

Yeah yeah you gotta have a lot of patience and hey it's not like I have endless amounts of patience you know uh I can go from zero to like a thousand very quickly if you you've been trying my nerves and you know all this stuff like I'll you know I'll definitely I I I can uh I definitely have a cap on my patience but I think women as a rule and you know I obviously there are examples of that that say I'm wrong but I think women as a rule are more patient than men.

Tushar Saxena 24:06

Alright so I mean look we've you've kind of covered a a a ton and I think the one thing I want to get an impression because it sounds like you had a I mean a lot of fun. It sounds like you had a lot of fun. It was especially in especially in the early part of the career especially the early part of the career it sounds like it was a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_01 24:22

Oh it was so much fun like I remember when once I was really you know eventually after I eventually the last position I had at this company was as a director and it was great you know I was ordering merch I was going to uh spring break with with you know uh the centerfolds I was going to um uh what's the motorcycle one Sturgis uh in August Sturgis I'd gone to Sturgis for years I go to Sturgis with the girls these are high these places where like not just play yeah Playboy and Penthouse used to go and even Maxim used to go for Super Bowl that was a big deal but I go on then I went on my first you know the porn convention in Vegas that I started going to that was like wild the first time I went there and um it we have it still but they have all these rules now but back in the 90s like it was Sodom and Gomorrah at that that trade show the porn trade seriously it was like wild the girls are at their you know booths it was just crazy I'd be staying at the Hard Rock Hotel but you know that job eventually you know magazines as they start to get into trouble especially you know uh during like towards 2000 now everyone's starting to watch their porn you know more online and magazines are starting to fall off and the company was getting into trouble with financially and you know PR is one of the first things that goes because it's a luxury it's considered a luxury uh job so to speak you know you can put out a magazine without a PR person. So I got let go and I remember the day they let me go I said can I just stay the day uh just so I can um you know cancel all the stuff I had going on and and the the the owner who was very nice to me always he's like oh he goes if you want to do that sure I said great and I I every with every phone call I said hey I gotta cancel uh this is also my last day if you know any good porn jobs behind the scenes like please please refer refer refer I did this with every single one until the producer of the Man Cow show which I'm sure you guys sure heard of yeah shout out in Chicago absolutely yeah right uh the producer of Man Cow this great guy Ken Smith he called Penthouse and because he remembered that the the guy that he was his contact said he was looking for someone a few days a week to just do a media book relationships it's all about relationships right exactly and that's um because through the years at the first job I kind of started cutting out this niche of being a media booker because that's what I like doing the best was what year was that Laney what year was that roughly uh when I when I l when I started working yeah when you made the money was uh two it was um my first day there was November 1st of 2001 and so I uh I get hired there it started out as three days a week and um you know just all that but this was a dream come true for me because I always loved even when I was a little kid you know in my day you could sneak in the back of the newsstand and look at porn mags until the guy saw you and showed you away but that was that was mine. I like Penthouse because it had guys and girls in it I got to see people actually having sex which I was curious about but it was very pretty and high end and you know the women were like hair and makeup was just amazing like out of Vogue magazine and so I was when I got that in I remember that my an ex-boyfriend of mine had been working there and he was really annoyed that I was there and he came to my uh cubicle I started out in a cubicle I started all over again basically and he said uh he goes don't don't uh start walking around like you own the place this job is temporary and I said to him oh yeah I said in a year from now you're gonna come over to this area and beg me to get you in a party and I'm gonna remember what you said right now and I'm gonna tell you to go fuck yourself. I said just remember that and I happily did that six months later I was you know um Bob uh he was an amazing man and he saw my work and he fired the guy who hired me as a freelancer and gave me Bob I'm assuming you're saying is Bob Guccioni right Bob Guccioni yeah and Bob like who does that nowadays? Who does that? Nobody knows that anymore very few. And Bob even though he wasn't actually at our offices day to day he did everything from his mansion in the Upper East Side but he knew every single thing that happened in that office. He knew what everybody did he knew everything and he just um liked my work and thought like why am I spending all this money doing he he used to also use an outside agency for years he let them go as well and said to saw that you know this chick can do all that why am I paying all these idiots all this money you know so I that's when I started and I got to do PR for Bob you know the la the first two years of my working there was a lot of uh stuff to do with Bob and um he was just an awesome person.

Larry Samuels 29:44

So Landy did that create did that create an opportunity for you to sort of branch out a little bit so if you were doing stuff for Bob what was it just about the magazine or were there other projects other initiatives where you were able to sort of expand your foundation a little bit?

SPEAKER_01 30:00

Oh yeah I mean you know getting the job at Penthouse is like a baseball player getting a job in the big leagues. It's everyone like all these media contacts that I had you know back then it was a lot of clear channel this is pre-serious exame and a lot of them wanted to work with me. They were like Laney I like you I want to work with you but like gallery's just not a big enough name to do something great with you. Once I got to Penthouse you know that's when they were like I I came up with this radio contest called Rock the Penthouse with Clear Channel that was nationwide I got to work with New York magazine they put Bob on the cover of New York magazine I got to work with Rolling Stone I got to work with all these people that I just did not I I had I knew people there but I just did not have the product and finally I did and you know back in the you know early to mid-aughts like Penthouse and Playboy were still nothing to sneeze at. You know they were still you know big people and the magazines were you know there was still they were still porn magazines and men's magazines and it it really brought me into like a whole other league um I started booking on Howard Stern at least once a month at least when they were at K Rock and then you know when they moved to Sirius XM and it was just it was great. It was it was so much fun and um I had a ball it was a lot of work but it was fun work and and it was just so great. It was wonderful.

Tushar Saxena 31:35

Alright so I actually I kind of want to touch on that a little bit because obviously you said you did all the legwork when you did when you're talking about doing the clear channel stations and having to do travel in that in that sense. So how much did the job change and let's say the industry as a whole change when satellite radio came along obviously with XM and with Sirius you're located in the city at this point so Sirius is right by you. So how much did that did the did the job change once satellite radio came along? Oh my God then that came along it was just so wonderful it was the it was like a playground you guys remember that like I was you know not just you know how even before Howard got there I was already booking on it I was booking with you guys you were having fun booking with you know yeah booking with Derek and Romaine and booking on Raw Dogs you know the comedy channels and um you know the gay channel and sports and all of that it was just so much fun I oh there was another show I booked on a lot the remember the wise all right for those let me just interrupt so so like both the for those who don't know uh Sirius is on one floor right for those who've never been to Sirius before all these stations were all essentially on one floor. So it's a lot like going to your local mall. So uh you know right next to the right next to you know out queue is the sports studio which is right next to where the wise guys are which is right down the hall from the Stern Studios. So you know you could essentially do like as you would say like you would have to do an entire you know uh uh you know you're doing like an entire uh uh media a media blitz but you're all doing it on one floor you're not you're not running all over New York City you're just doing it on one floor so you could cover like you know thousands and thousands and hundreds of thousands of people in like three hours in yeah in glass studios so you could see everybody too right you know who's in everywhere yeah oh it was so fun that's when I got into um that's also when I realized how uh the urban markets and the hip hop channels like Shade 45 for instance I realized what buying power those audiences had over even Howard you know um and they still do quite frankly but yeah um re just discovering that and then as you guys remember from working there the coolest part was you'd be walking down the hallway and some rock star in his PR person would be you know someone like a Keith Richards would be like walking the hallway I remember seeing Robert Plant one day I'm like where am I? Robert Plant Ringo Star you know all like they I remember all I remember even with sports stuff like I ran into Jerry Cooney I think he just started his own sports the best Jerry Jerry's the best guy too what a great oh my god what a great guy he's such a nice guy and everybody also it wasn't just that you guys were all there everybody's attitude was so friendly and open the place really lent itself to make you feel that way so nobody was being snotty to everyone you could walk right up to anyone and go like oh my god Jerry Cooney I love the champ we all called him the champ anywhere you went the champ and that was totally the way it was everyone was everyone was pulling in the same direction so the energy was very positive and it was very much like that it was a very much of a family and can I just give an image here sports Laney this is what I always used to see.

Larry Shea 34:53

I always used to get up from my desk and come out into the lobby and I'd see you sitting there with like four beautiful women next to a priest and four nuns and I'd be like this is where I was this is a joke.

SPEAKER_06 35:04

I don't know what the joke seriously serious satellite radio in a nutshell right here.

SPEAKER_01 35:08

Remember there who was that nice priest that had a show there was a priest yes he was in the he was in the Irishman by the way he was in the movie The Irishman by the way I saw that and I didn't even he was so nice to us too by the way he was no sweetheart of a guy looking at us like we were devil's song yeah that so that's my image of Sirius that's serious to a T right there that's serious to a T right there.

SPEAKER_00 35:37

It was and I felt like the good humor lady that's the only way I can describe it.

Larry Samuels 35:42

Bringing pet house pets from you know from station to station what good humor you bring and cheer of course I felt like these girls were like you know bomb pops and you know banana splits and I had those like my little truck and come around to each you know did it did it those interviews those interviews were always so funny. I used to get the heads up hey we've got you know the 2004 2005 and 2006 Pet House Pets coming out I'd be like great what am I gonna ask them I used to always struggle with those interviews they were so funny.

SPEAKER_01 36:15

How do you prepare for this guys were so much fun later we had a lot of fun I think we used to hang out with you guys a lot of people don't don't get it don't get it twisted you know I'm making fun of myself in this because he had a tough time just because he had a tough time doesn't mean we didn't Morell was great yeah remember yeah as well oh my god and and sweet Lou was Pellegrinos Brad Swead who ended up boinking one or two of my girls he was in a book right he was yes yes he Brad Swead posed for my uh threesomes book it was uh the first book I had out and it was basically a a how-to manual for uh vanilla type couples who were just curious and the books came with color pictures that were not um you know they didn't show any genitalia they were kind of like uh almost like romance cover type of you know uh of erotica and I was told that I could direct my own shoots in the New York part part of the shoot and I could also they let me hire the penthouse pets as the women in the books and but I needed two dudes and they were much more open about like they didn't have to be models as long as they were on the young side not be very young but youngish with a nice body so I had Krista Ann as you guys remember I'm sure well Krista Ann beautiful little Italian girl from uh Staten Island she was dating a very uh handsome young man and he was down when I explained and you know we're gonna get paid and I don't know how it happened somehow Brad like volunteered I think volunteered what a what a good guy oh my goodness he did he volunteered I got to see Brad's ass nude uh in the shower scene and where they had to put socks on their on their on their disks you know they put socks on their thing and yes it was very much like and yeah Brad and I remember soon after that uh photo shoot I was boarding a plane for a business trip with Penthouse and he was texting me he's like how did it turn out what did they think and I said Brad you know what I said no news is good news they only only be happy they they paid you it's in it great you know I said you're gonna be in the book it's gonna be wonderful so how did you how how long were you at Penthouse and what gave you the courage to go on your own is really what what are what we want to know. Well I was there for about 10 years and um you know I went I was so lucky because that magazine that company went through so many changes I saw a lot of great people get laid off and I was luckily able to skirt it each time um uh I got like Bob eventually you know he went bank we went the company went bankrupt it was a total mess um even as a publicist I had to take calls constantly from New York press about the bankruptcy all the time and then we got um and you guys remember the new owner that came in Mark Bell then who was like as different as Bob I kinda remember not much I kind of remember yeah he he he kind of was like he he he looked more like a guy who would own uh Facebook than a guy who would own Petra well he definitely didn't have the personality of Gucci that's for sure yeah oh no he had not I mean the guy God bless you Mark you kept me on so I appreciate you but it was very he was much more like the f let's just say our the first he you know he buys the company with his investors and partners and it and then the pet of the year party is happening and I convinced him not to cancel it. I said if we cancel the party it's gonna look like this magazine is really in the shitter you know we need to do it and I convinced him fine. I hired Gilbert Godfrey as um you guys might have been there. I hired Gilbert as the the comedian to host quote unquote you know it's basically 10 minutes worth of work we always hired a comedian he's on there the late great Gilbert uh he goes starts doing his comedy and the owners of Penthouse oh my god they were not ready for Gilbert at all so we're all standing there the owners and their wives they're also their wives are there these are like all from Boca Ratan it's a totally different feel everything Gilbert goes on and his joke is like a 10-year-old kid goes up to his father and says Dad can I have 50 bucks for a blowjob and the father says I don't know it's like I hear behind me the owner going what the But this was a penthouse party right what did they expect at a at a penthouse club at a high end gentleman's club I had to convince him for oh it took me a week to convince him to pay for the rest of the were they expecting cellos I don't know but that's what I had to go up against. But believe me in three years in two years time that owner got divorced he suddenly was like a totally different guy you know in like the span of two years he got really into owning the magazine and into the lifestyle. Yeah and all that um but yeah it was you know they did things a little differently but you know they kept me on and um you know I was doing you know going on business trips you know uh Florida for spring break and uh you know all these kind you know um like I said sturgis all this stuff uh but again you know magazines are not doing well and um you know finally I got laid off you know with a bunch of people that day and I actually was thinking to myself uh when I got home I thought to myself you know what maybe I'm just gonna like live off unemployment they gave me a decent severance I'm gonna try to go back to my roots and be a a full-time writer and you know give this a shot you know fine let me let's you know maybe this happened for a reason. I'm thinking that but the day after I get laid off at least three penthouse pets who are also porn stars said hey I heard you got laid off does that mean I can hire you now?

Tushar Saxena 42:37

Alright that's so interesting so this is the next step. Obviously this leads right to the next question.

SPEAKER_01 42:42

So was that the moment you said okay I'm gonna put out my own shingle I was like you know what am I gonna turn down this how many people are so lucky that they just got laid off a job and they're getting you're getting offered jobs you know freelance and I decided you know what I'm gonna keep this train rolling and I just yeah the girls you know they I you know when you do the same thing for 20 years people you hope people will know that's what you do you know that's you're known as doing this so you know people came out of the woodwork and started hiring me and what I thought was going to be temporary just you know 10 years later grew to something totally different where I wasn't now I I I I started I started uh started repping people that had nothing to do with porn whatsoever.

Tushar Saxena 43:31

And that was what 2010 you're talking about?

SPEAKER_01 43:34

No this was I would say um in 2012 I started getting other types of people because um one of my clients was a porn star who retired and moved to New York to do stand up comedy full time. And uh she hired me to do her PR and the other comedians now are seeing like oh this chick is walking getting this girl this person who Just started in comedy on all these shows. Imagine what she could do for me. You know, so then they started hiring me. Um, the Roger Stone thing actually started. That's where 2010. Roger. Um, I met Roger Stone in 2010 through uh the Manhattan Madam uh Kristen Davis, who hired me to ghostwrite her memoirs right after she got out of Rikers. For um, she's the one who had uh Spitzer's girl client number nine and all this stuff. And um when she was, you know, we're doing PR, and she was, you know, she we had a section of the book I wrote in Penthouse, you know, as a as a preview, and she meets Roger Stone in one of these news shows in the green room. They hit it off and he convinces her to run for governor in 2010. So I do her PR for this, and I'm I bring, you know, Penthouse Pets. I was still working at Penthouse full-time and all that stuff, and uh fast forward to afterwards where Roger, you know, has put out quite a bit of books. He's he's a very prolific writer, and he started hiring me to promote his books, and we start, you know, again, doing media tours, running around the city together, and that also widens my uh PR base because now I'm at Fox News, now I'm at C um, you know, all all the news channels, you know, CNN, uh HLLN, all that stuff with Roger. So I start collecting those, you know, the just a bigger Rolodex just happening. Yes, all on my phone.

Larry Samuels 45:41

So I managing somebody or being the publicist for somebody like Roger Stone, without getting into his politics and everything else, that has to be a very complicated set of circumstances, I would imagine. Like, what is it like managing that dynamic?

SPEAKER_01 46:00

Well, I mean, well, it was first of all one of the first times my father actually got excited about something I was doing with work, because my dad's an old Republican talk radio dude, you know, uh, and he loves Roger. And he, you know, so um I was just scared because I knew I could book him on shows and all this stuff, but I really was like, you know, part of being a publicist is you need to be able to talk to anybody and everybody, no matter what they do. You know, you need to have that, you know, gift of gab. And I was so nervous that we'd have nothing to talk about in between shows that it was gonna be awkward. And that was a big concern of mine. But as it turns out, like Roger's actually a hoot to be around. He's he's really funny. Um, he's very open about his life and about obviously his opinions on people. I remember um he always liked to take me to Del Frisco's for lunch where we worked together and get like Kobe cheeseburgers. And I I forgot what we were talking about, but somehow Barbara Bush came up and and I said that I actually liked her because she did this great reading program at one point. And he said, Ah, he kind of waved away. He goes, Laney, she's just she's a mean old alcohol. I was like, really? And he goes, Oh yeah, he goes, she's despicable, Laney. And you know, you'd figure, you know, Republican, like he so Roger's an equal opportunity uh person to like he he doesn't just love you because you're a Republican or a Democrat or a libertarian or anything like that. He he says what he feels, he judges people individually, and what I really uh look, I'll be honest with you, a lot of people stop talking to me when they start seeing me posting that I'm you know taking pictures with. I think not that long ago I posted a photo of me and Roger somewhere, and I got such horrible feedback from people I know, like what the hell's wrong with you? How could you shield for this person? And you know, why? And don't you have any self-respect or what all this stuff? And I was like, this is my aid, my job. Um, you know, it's not like I'm running around town with like a known sexual predator, you know, child molester, predator, or whatever. Um, and I what I explained to them, what I loved about Roger is I said, people like Roger don't usually hire people like me because of the porn stuff. And uh he's just a really cool guy, you know. He did write by me. Um, you know, before the shit really hit the fan with him. He was generous, he gave me very nice Christmas bonuses. Um, you know, when we negotiated uh my fee, you know, for the month, I gave him a number and he actually says, Laney, we can do a little better than that. You know, I'll pay you this. And I was like, wow, you know, it was he's just a really nice guy. Do I agree with everything he says or acts? Absolutely not. And you know, there's more than one time I I texted Roger and I was like, man, tone it down on that Twitter, Roger.

Larry Samuels 49:01

Jesus. That's that's where I was headed. Like, how do you manage conflict? Like, is the role of a publicist to say, hey, you might want to turn this a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 49:11

It is. You can look, I did I talk to him the way I talk to, you know, a penthouse pet or a porn star? Absolutely not. No, of course not. I don't talk to him.

Tushar Saxena 49:20

So you're talking a mama barrel guy like that, right? I mean, you got you have to manage that person.

SPEAKER_01 49:26

You do. And, you know, what I would say to him was, you know, he'd kind of when he'd get kicked off, you know, social media before he was kicked off for good, he would come to me and say, like, fix this. And I'd say to him, Roger, I can only fix, I can't fix what you do. Like, you need to tone it down, and you need to stop insulting people and calling, you know, you big fat pig or your whatever, like, you know, you you gotta tone it down. And then he'd say it wasn't him, it was someone else who did it on his team.

Larry Samuels 49:56

That feels familiar.

SPEAKER_01 49:58

Yeah, and I would, you know, saying, Well, whoever's doing it, you know, get control of what goes on.

Larry Shea 50:04

They need to tone it down. Uh, is it I'd be so remiss if I didn't ask this question because I'm learning a lot about PR and publicity with this conversation. Is it true that all publicity is good publicity?

SPEAKER_01 50:20

I want to say yes. I do. I want to say yes, although that's not always the case, but by and large it is the case because if nobody's talking about you, you don't exist.

Larry Shea 50:32

Interesting. Very interesting.

SPEAKER_01 50:34

I wish that wasn't the case, but it really is. And honestly, bad publicity, people don't want to hear a great heartwarming story. If I had a heartwarming story that Roger uh turns out, um, you know, helped raise a bunch of inner city kids that he gave money to, let's say. I'm making up the, you know, if I had a beautiful story with evidence that he did these wonderful things, nobody would care. It wouldn't hit the papers. It wouldn't. Um, when I helped raise when he needed money for lawyers and I helped him raise funds by booking him at a bunch of strip clubs across the country, then I wasn't rolling stone ball.

Larry Shea 51:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 51:15

There you go. You know, people don't I got that.

Tushar Saxena 51:19

So have you become have you become far more selective now when it comes to your clientele as to who you're gonna rep? Um look, obviously, you know, you want to get as many folks on your roster as possible, but you know, let's just say for sake of argument, you said yourself that you got a lot of blowback for for uh for Stone when you post it up on your own social media. Does it is it more advantageous for you then to say, okay, I'm gonna try and have less controversial clientele?

SPEAKER_00 51:48

No, I mean, like it you you know, people are funny.

SPEAKER_01 51:51

The people that you think a lot of times are gonna be the most difficult people are honestly usually the most easygoing people, and the people that you think would be so grateful to you and the job you're doing for them are the people who think they deserve to be on the tonight show. You know, they do. It's it's very interesting. Um, I I'm only selective because I don't have I am a one-woman show. I've hired assistants here and there in the past, and honestly, um it really didn't work out. It almost gave me more work because I'd have to like explain that you know what I mean, and that and it was just easier for me to do everything by myself. So I I don't want I can't take on 50 clients. It just it's not possible. Uh I wouldn't have any kind of life otherwise. So I am selective that I usually have like about 15, 15 to 20 people, no more than that. And um, you know, if I see it's not working out with someone, I will say now. I, you know, in the beginning, you know, when you're working as you know, freelancer, you say yes to everyone because you don't know when your key check is coming a lot. But at this point now, I've learned to like say, hey, if you're not happy, you know, what what's the point of working for yourself if you can't do the things you want to do and do work for people you can't stand? So, you know, a few times I have said, like, look, man, this not working out. Um, you know, good luck to you, you know, no hard feelings, but I just don't feel like I feel like we have maybe a conflict of personalities or we see things differently, and you know, every so often they'll come back and try to hire you again. And you know, what I'll do in that situation is I usually bump up the range. So they they say no, so they're like, oh, you know, like I did that, you know, not that long ago with someone who wasn't in the adult industry, and uh he he knew what I was doing. He got them.

Larry Samuels 53:51

That's very funny, you know.

SPEAKER_01 53:52

He definitely knew, but you know, I I would say, yeah, I I want to work with people who really want to do this and are committed, whether you're, you know, a rock star or a porn star, or you know, I like recently last year during the pandemic, I started getting an influx of a lot of clients because of only clients. And it was a really hot thing, and all these women were like, they heard about me, oh, I want to hire you, da-da-da. And half those women, it was not a good experience because they it in a way it wasn't their fault, they didn't really realize what publicity would be, and they weren't ready to commit their time, you know, especially uh clients who, you know, some of these women live, you know, in Arkansas or whatever, in a small town, and uh they might not be comfortable just you know doing a bunch of radio shows. A lot of them just want the you know, get me one really good article that goes viral, and that's it. You know, that's like, you know, um, as I tell all of them, like we're growing together. Like, I work for you, but this is teamwork, and if I do well, you do well, and vice versa. But if you don't, if you're gonna not take this seriously and not show up, you know, to a Zoom call or not do that, you know, you're just making me look bad and nobody's happy. You're not getting what you want. Um I've had girls hire me, pay me, and disappear. Like I did one thing for them, they paid me, and then they weren't available for anything else, and I felt like I took like three months' worth of money for I know some people would think that's great, but it is kind of an issue.

Larry Samuels 55:31

You know, while we're on the the advice uh subject or in that area, you know, young people who want to, I mean, obviously you've taken a very atypical path to get where you are, but for young people who would like to get into the publicity game, um, you know, uh what what would you advise them to do? What path should they take?

SPEAKER_01 55:52

I mean, um that is a good question, actually. There look, I would say if if you're interested in doing that, um, I would say, you know, see about doing some publicity um on spec for some people so you can like show someone that what you can do. You know, uh when I was at Gallery Magazine, sometimes I would do some stuff for free here and there that came across my you know my desk. Like um there was like a urban, there was this band called Urban Art Tribe that did this multi-level music dance art kind of thing. And uh I, you know, I was asked, could I help? You know, obviously they're star, they're free, they're artists, and you know, I wanted to see what I could do, so I, you know, started sending in press releases to Timeout New York and you know, and they got covered. Well, you know, and and I was thrilled. I remember being so thrilled because it was the first really mainstream thing I had done on the sly. Like when I called the the guy that I did this for, I was practically hyperventilating. I was so excited, you know, it was a it was a big deal to me. But of course, he the person didn't care less, which happens a lot, you know. Um, but I would say, like, you know, uh, you want to show that you have some connections, you know, start you can make them on your own, you know. Start if you know someone who's a model or a writer, and that you see, like, oh, do you need you need to get, you know, you need some publicity, let me help. And it's, you know, this is the long game. So it's totally fine to take work for free, to sort of build up, um, uh also build up a footprint online. You know, right now, being online, you know, social media is so it's I wish it wasn't as important as it is, but it really, really is so, you know, even if you're just a publicist, like you gotta you gotta really pay attention to your social media and give the impression that you're moving and doing stuff. And you know, like I say, I take pictures, as you guys know, everywhere I go. You know, take pictures of the girls here or the there.

Larry Samuels 57:57

We've started to do that F2R to promote our promote our show. We take pictures of them everywhere. Yes, he's very post him all over the place.

SPEAKER_00 58:03

I I I know I have pictures of the three of you guys.

Tushar Saxena 58:06

Most of them are just here in my apartment, but okay, whatever.

SPEAKER_01 58:09

Yeah.

Larry Shea 58:10

I'd love to see those laney, actually. That would be fun.

SPEAKER_01 58:13

I I have to dig them up. I know I have at least a couple. I have to with with all that stuff. You know, during the time of like Jamie Lynn, I'd say like 2006, 2005, 2005. The pinnacle. Let's go back to the pinnacle.

SPEAKER_02 58:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 58:27

That's right. Yeah, the pinnacle.

SPEAKER_05 58:29

The fun news, the really fun news, sure.

SPEAKER_01 58:32

It was so much fun. The girls loved you all. We had a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_03 58:35

So we had a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_01 58:37

So And you let them make fun of you. You let them tease you, and you took like a little abuse. Oh, for sure. Really beautiful women are talking to me?

SPEAKER_03 58:47

Yes.

Larry Samuels 58:49

Very, very, very fun day. So, Laney, if anybody um wants to uh I I guess uh hire you or or find you or learn more about you or read your books, um, what would you recommend they do?

SPEAKER_01 59:04

Um, I would say go on uh I I this is some more advice to the little publicists out there. I used to have a website, huge waste of money. Huge waste of money. Um if you want to do one because you just want to, great. But honestly, it's like a pain in the ass to maintain. And it's a very, it's a very fast-paced kind of business. So people sometimes don't even want to go look at your website. They they just meet so I'd say social media, social media. So anyone who's interested in me can you know you can plainly see my work on social media and on Twitter and Instagram. I'm at Miss Laney, which is M-I-S-S-L-A-I-N-I-E. And um, if you want to uh peruse any of my I have six books out all about sex, uh all geared mainly towards couples who are bored. And you don't you you know I have a book about role play, I have a book about threesomes that I mentioned, um, uh I have a book about uh oral sex, uh all that stuff. So all you do is go on Amazon under my name Laney Spiser. That's L-A-I-N-I-E. Last name is S-P E I S E R. Uh put that on Amazon and you'll see all my books.

Larry Samuels 1:00:22

And we can promise you, all three of us, that uh Laney is very entertaining and and very good at what she does and a really good person.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:30

Thank you guys. She's the best. As are you guys. I want to bring the I'm glad the band's back together.

Larry Samuels 1:00:36

We're having fun with this for sure. So hopefully we we might need a publicist soon to uh you know find ways to get Touchar's picture out on the internet. That's right. We might need girls.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:46

We might need some girls on your show. Oh my God. We're bringing the band back to you.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:50

You just said something right. I'll send Touchar my list of clients, you know, with uh with links, you know. Uh feel free to peruse. But um, uh you guys are were always so great. Nothing good memories, not one complaint from any of the girls about you guys.

Larry Samuels 1:01:08

Not really we were well behaved guys.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:10

Way to be good boys.

Larry Samuels 1:01:12

We were very good.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:13

Well behaved. You talk to them like real people, and you let them be themselves, and you guys were always so good to them. So I wish you guys the best of luck. I think this is a great idea for a show.

Larry Samuels 1:01:25

Wow. What what an incredible conversation. It certainly lived up to all of my expectations. And um, you know, leading into our outro, I I do need to share that I was so proud of a question that I had put down for this interview that I didn't get to ask. How did you cross into the world of psychics? And more importantly, were they expecting you? I'm really bummed that we didn't get to ask that question. I was so proud of my comedy writing. Anyway, what a great discussion. Larry Shea, well, what are your thoughts?

Larry Shea 1:01:57

Yeah, I think I think Laney offers tremendous insight into a world uh and a career that for me is very mysterious. I mean, there's still so many questions I wanted to ask her about, you know, and she she touched on a lot of them, but we we could go another hour with her, honestly. You know, how do you get paid? Is it a contract? How do you negotiate these fees? Is it hourly? I mean, you're talking about a field PR where you're with the client at a venue and you're taking them to a million different places, you're entertaining them, winning, and dining them. I mean, there's a lot to this job, and I I'm so curious about so much more of it. But I think she offered some great insight into how to get started, what to do, kind of the um the grassroots approach. I mean, there's these are things that people can do now to get into the world of publicity, you know, just represent a band that needs to be pushed a little bit or something like that. But the big theme above all, and we hit it almost on every show, is relationships. She has this digital Rolodex that is probably the most important thing to her field, which is connections, people will so-and-so pick up my call. Can I get so-and-so on this show or that show? And Laney's just the best at it, and it just proven with this in it.

Tushar Saxena 1:03:07

Look, I uh unlike you guys, and she talked about it a lot, uh, she said it as well. I got to know the good humor lady. So it was pretty cool, right? I got to know the I got to get to know the good humor lady, right? I got to know her. That's all.

Larry Shea 1:03:19

Um, and the other The Good Humor Lady used to leave before I got to say hello to her. She would take the take the uh ice cream. Exactly.

Tushar Saxena 1:03:26

I got to I got to know the good humor lady pretty well. So she's in my um my electronic world X. Um so I mean it's not just it's not just a matter of contacts, right? I mean, it's always it's always a yes, relationships is obviously an enormous part, an enormous part of what we're doing here. Obviously, it's an enormous part of what we do here. But the other part is you gotta love what you do. And that's what she does. She loves what she does. And if you if you put that kind of passion into the work that you do, well then you know what it doesn't feel like work at all. And we talk about it all the time. Like if you don't love what you do, then you really are working for a living. And if you love what you do, then it never feels like work, and you want to continue to do it all the time.

Larry Samuels 1:04:05

Yeah, and you know, one of the things that you talked about towards the beginning of the interview that that I was very curious to hear her address was the the idea of stepping into the adult entertainment world and what the reaction of her family was going to be. And I found it very interesting that they wound up being supportive and that she had the self-confidence in a way to just keep going. This is my life, this is what I'm doing, I love it, I'm happy, here we go. And there was no looking back, and that really stood out to me.

Larry Shea 1:04:40

Yeah, I'm glad you just said that. Courageousness, right? I mean, she was so courageous into sticking to her guns, and she she the way she tells the story, she says it with such ease, nonchalant, nonchalant. You know, right. But honestly, when you look at these these types of careers, when you think about explaining that to your family or your friends, um, and and then later representing someone like Roger Stone and losing friends because you have that representation of somebody who honestly, you know, she's just putting a roof over her head, she's putting food on her table. Like that's a job. Like you don't have to be politically bound to a person to represent them and have you know a PR campaign for them. And I think she put those things so well. And I just I thank you, Sam, for for bringing that up because courageousness really just strikes me with how she stuck to her guns and was like, this is who I am, this is what I'm doing, and I love it. And that's yeah, awesome to to you hear it, right, when she's telling those stories.

Larry Samuels 1:05:38

Yeah, for sure. You know, I also found it very interesting how she she handled the Roger Stone portion of our conversation, and um very positive, uh, very direct, very honest, um, and um very smooth. Uh you you can tell that she's very good at what she does because she just went right through that entire story and it felt uplifting and and and and great and insightful. So I I just thought that was uh that that stood out to me as well.

Tushar Saxena 1:06:08

Um you know before we had before we did this interview, obviously we had I had to contact her. And the one thing I had the one thing I had not done is spoken to Laney. I gotta say, I haven't I don't think I've spoken to Laney prior to this interview in probably 10 years. Which is, you know, obviously it's a long time for folks. But when Laney and I connected on the phone, it was like not a day had passed. I can tell you that I can tell you that when we were when I got her on the phone for that first time, we spoke for about an hour and a half. As if as if no time had passed whatsoever.

Larry Samuels 1:06:43

That's how which is really good news when considering that we're gonna be hiring her very soon to do some publicity work for us, uh, which is all about getting Tushar Saxeda blasted all throughout the digital universe.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:59

I'm more than capable of doing that all on my own. Oh my god.

Tushar Saxena 1:07:03

But no, I mean but I'm sorry, but you know, the but that's who Lanny is. Like, I mean she never forgets, and she it truly is all about like she and you said it before, Shay, is that she always remembers, she always remembers the people who were good to her, and she treats them with the same type of dignity and respect always. And and that's why she's so great to she's so great to work with, and she and look, at the end of the day, she's not just a great person to work with, she's a really good friend as well. She's a good friend of this program, she's a good friend of mine personally.

Larry Samuels 1:07:33

Yeah, and she was very good to us over the years. So um we we thank Laney Spicer for joining this episode of No Wrong Choices. Be sure to look for her on Twitter and Instagram at Miss Laney or in the Amazon bookstore. We also thank you for joining this episode of No Wrong Choices. We post about once a week, so please follow us here, or check out our website at NoWrongChoices.com. You can also find us on social media. Our handles on Twitter and Instagram are thefellasNWC. At Facebook, you can find us at No Wrong Choices. On behalf of Larry Shea and Touchar Saxena, I am Larry Samuels, and we are the Fellas.