Name: Simonetta Lein and Bob Discuss How Cheesesteaks and Influencers may Help Humanity
Uploaded: 2020-10-29T17:00:07.000Z
Description: Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Simonetta Lein and Bob Discuss How Cheesesteaks and Influencers may Help Humanity' from Bob Saget on Comedy Buff. Published 2020-10-29. Transcript available.

Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Simonetta Lein and Bob Discuss How Cheesesteaks and Influencers may Help Humanity' from Bob Saget on Comedy Buff. Published 2020-10-29. Transcript available.

Simonetta Lein and Bob Discuss How Cheesesteaks and Influencers may Help Humanity

Hey, everybody. It's just me, Bob here. And yes, yes, who knew? Everybody knew.
It's another
episode of Bob Saget's here for you. And you know it because I come out on Mondays
and Thursdays.
And when I say come out, I mean, hey, I'm admitting who I am. So this is a
podcast that
I've been loving doing. I hope you've been listening to it. If not, if this is
your first
one, because maybe my guest, Simonette Tallinn, I hope I'm saying it right,
Lynn. I, you know,
I'm really prepared. I know all my guests. I know all about her. You know, my
last name is
Sajay. I'm Robert Sajay. She is just fantastic. I did her show on Instagram.
And then I find out
it's like 17, 18 million people saw it. And it's a video show that she does.
And it's,
it's her show. And it's, she is so positive and so interesting. And Forbes
magazine just came out
with her as the number five biggest influencer in fashion online. And she is in
life as well. She's
originally from Milan. She's going to tell us about that. And she has wonderful
non-for-profit
skills and wonderful things she's trying to do out of Philadelphia, my hometown.
And so you're going to
want to hear this. And, and this will be one of your favorite episodes because
I, I don't think I'm
going to talk very much. She really goes off and just, and does her thing. And
it's quite charming
and effusive and spot on passionate. And she's very knowledgeable and has the
strength of that. I find
inspiring that you can do anything. Uh, she came here as an immigrant, um, just
not long ago, like six
years ago, five, six years ago, uh, from Milan. And here she is with this, this
empire that's growing.
And she is really listened to and regarded incredibly highly. So I'm very proud
to have her on and it
wouldn't, some people would go, Bob, why don't you have someone on? You can
curse with and stuff.
Just have one of your bros from comedy. I do. So this is, it's nice to talk to
all kinds of people
and she's wonderful. And you know, I don't know what you think, but we're all
immigrants. I know you
might take umbrage at that, but everybody in the United States, uh, except the
American native
and the North American native came from somewhere else, you know? So we're
talking Ireland, Dublin,
England, you know, history, I guess most people don't cause it's getting rewritten
as we speak,
but this whole country is founded on immigrants from the beginning. So yes, it's
from the very
beginning and it wasn't all pleasant. I don't know if you heard a couple of,
you know, wars
right here in the hometown of America. And we're hoping we don't have one again
because people need
to realize that we all can live together and let each other have different
opinions and also let
people have the same rights as each other. And, uh, loves the answer, but I can't
say that because
that makes people angry cause that's just so cynical. No, it's not their
response is cynical. Anyway,
this is a person that's full of love and I'm really happy she's here. Uh, you
know what to do. You do
all the stuff you do with the podcast and here comes Simonette.
Hi, Simonetta. How are you?
Very well. Thank you. And thank you for saying my name correctly.
I worked on it.
You rehearse, right?
Well, my wife is Sicilian, so I try to pick up little things, but I'm not very
good with languages,
but it's a beautiful name. Simonette. That's how they would say it, right?
But that sounds like really when my mother got, you know, mad at me. So I like
it more in the
American ways, like Simonetta. It's like sweeter. Oh, Simonetta. Just let it
roll.
Simonetta. Yes.
Right.
So people don't yell at me.
Well, you are in my hometown of Philly and I, I have so much love for that town.
And, um,
um, go Philly.
How long have you lived in Philly?
Almost five years. Believe it or not, I'm flying. I fell in love with the city.
The city really welcomed me.
Is there was really no particular reason why I stopped in Philly,
but love because we fell in love with the city. Honestly, I mean, people say,
why? Like I was, I was living in Milan, Italy. And people say, why Philadelphia?
I'm like, why not?
Philly just so awesome. Has so much art, much culture.
So it does. So you went from Milan to right to Philly.
It's right to Philly.
Not, not New York. Cause that would have been the fashion move.
Yes. Everyone tells me why you're not in New York. Why you're not in.
Well, right now we know nowhere is the right place to be.
Exactly.
Wherever you are is the right place to be.
Definitely. I mean, Philly, I have to say we're pretty lucky compared to, for
instance,
I mean, New York is desert right now. So Philly, you know, we, we are thriving.
We're surviving. People try to get by. And, you know, I try to support all my
local businesses.
I try to go to my local people and we're trying, you know, to, again, to
survive.
Philadelphians are resilient.
Very much so. Very much so. And I, I think for the most part, um, Americans are,
I mean,
I agree, human beings are, I mean, we, we are all trying to fail upward through
this thing so we can
get there and get past this. And that will be a lovely day, but we still have
to enjoy our time,
even in the difficulty somehow. And that's what I love about you. You're so
positive and you honored
me by having me on your Instagram podcast, uh, broadcast your show. And, and I
was familiar with
you. Cause I, I, I try to be a little fashion now and then, right. And then,
and then when I was asked
to be on your show, then I went, Oh my God, you're such a major influencer in
everything. You're one of
the top influencers period. You're the number one influencer on Instagram and
fashion. And, but, but
it's true. And, and then I went and found out, Oh, Bob, by the way, uh, with
Simonette, uh, your,
your, uh, your podcast, uh, your episode with her, it was like 18 million
people, uh, saw it. So you,
you are seen all over the world. Forbes just, uh, did a list. They put me as
one of the top five
in the world. So, you know, being named by Forbes is kind of a big deal. That's
slightly large and top
five is. Yeah. I'm number. I'm a freaking immigrant. I just want to say, I came
to this country with
nothing and Forbes USA put me as one of the top five. So I'm so proud because
it really shows that,
you know, people can do whatever they want if they set up their minds,
especially in America.
And I have to say, I love this country. This country gave me a lot of
opportunity. Uh,
Philadelphia gave me a lot of opportunity. So I'm a freaking immigrant and I
did it.
You are, you are a Testament. It is what this country is and what it's supposed
to be about.
And it's beautiful to see that reinforced because it does create miracles for
people.
Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. Actually, America taught me how to believe in
miracles. I have to be honest,
because when I came to Philly, the city actually believed in me. I came here
with an idea for my
non-for-profit and actually a consultant, Mark Squilla is an Italian America.
He believed in me and he said,
look at this Italian lady. She has, you know, these ideas. Let me back her and
the city put together an
event. And that's actually how my non-for-profit also started. So I always say
America inspired me a lot.
And it's the same non-for-profit that I'm lucky enough to do something for.
Yes, of course. Yeah.
So I, before we mentioned that, cause I want to talk about it a lot. So in
Milan, were you in the
fashion industry? Were you, you were modeling? You, you did a lot.
Modeling? Yes. And also I was always in the entertainment in general. So I
really started as a
young model and a young actress. I wanted to be an actress when I was 16, 17. I
studied with the
Actors Studio. I actually was paying all of my lessons with the actors of the
Actors Studio, literally
translating because they were speaking in English and Italians don't speak
usually good English.
So I was translating for them and then cleaning the bathrooms, doing whatever,
you know, it take
to pay my tuition. And that's what I wanted to do. And then for some reason, I
started to be also good
in television. So I was also starting to pay my bills as a regular actress. I
was doing commercials
and all of that. And then what happened is that I wrote a book. And I, even
that I, sometimes I say,
I had always a goal, but I always say to people when they ask me, having a goal
is very, very important,
but be ready to kind of go, you know, with the ride, because my goal was to
really be an artist.
But for instance, the book came kind of unexpected because it was a friend of
mine
who told me, why don't you come to India with me? And I just went, you know,
just out of curiosity.
And that actually gave me a lot of inspiration. I put down much of my personal
story. And then from
that, I really didn't know that a big editor would have liked it and then
published it. It's actually,
it's called Mondador. It's like Penguin. It's one of the biggest one in the
world.
So even that was a surprise. And then another surprise came when Vanity Fair
Italy actually
saw that my book was going very well. It was very inspiring for people because
it's
kind of a little bit of my story, but you know, half an F I would say, and it
is about the power of
dreams. And so that, that actually inspired Vanity Fair and said, Oh my
goodness, can we ask this to
celebrities and all the people that we, you know, usually interview, try to go
a little bit deeper
and not just superficial. And that is another, you know, that came into my
career. So I always say to
people, sometimes, you know, things happen, you know, not in the precise way as
you imagine them.
Often not in the precise way. Yeah. I've had the same kind of career where
doors would open that
I didn't expect. I didn't think I'd be on Full House. I, I got fired from
another show on CBS
that was nationwide, but they fired me. And then I got the America's Funniest
Home Videos. And I know
there was a version in Italy with an Italian host and it might've been a team.
Was it, it was an
Italian, was it two people or one? I don't remember, but I remember that it was
kind of a similar thing.
So you were already becoming successful in Milan. It was already happening. So
what made the jump?
Cause you could have been the number one person in all of Italy, which is
incredibly prestigious and
romantic and beautiful. Cause Italy is. And so did you want to come to America
just to take it to
another level? Was that the idea? Yeah. So there are two reasons. One reason I
was still maybe young
enough to, I always spelled in my soul needed more space. And that is what I
always say to Americans.
I'm an American now. So I actually recently became a citizen. Congratulations.
Thank you. But I also,
but again, I will never forget my roots. And I always say to Americans who for,
I have a feeling that they
forget very often how great America is. I remember the very first time when I
came to New York, I was
mesmerized by the fact that I saw people of whatever, you know, color, race,
religion, and they were
Americans. You know, it's something that for us as Americans is just normal,
but for a European to see
a black American, Asian American, um, whatever, you know, race and don't think,
oh, it's Asian. No,
it's American. That is a concept for European. It was like, wow. And that, you
know, made my soul,
you know, so big. And I said, I want to be here because it's, it's, it's, it's
a dream. You know,
it's, it's not just a nationality. It's really an idea. And that actually, you
know, that was my
first inspiration. And then the second inspiration was, again, we were still
young enough, my husband
and I, at that time we weren't married yet. And we said, let's, let's try. He's
originally from
America. We lived actually together in Italy for 10 years. Italy was not doing
so great as far as
economy. And it's still not so great. Unfortunately, our recession is real,
especially when I left the
youth unemployment was around 60%. It was very, very, very, very nic