Bringing HUMANITY to the Practice of LAW!! | Bourbon of Proof vs. Kenny Berger

Bringing that humanity back into the practice of law, reminding people of the most valuable things that we have in this life is our health, is our family, is our freedom, remembering what it's all about and going back to those core values that formed our country and can bridge us going forward to make us a more perfect union. That's what I want to be a part of. And I'm willing to put everything I have for that. - I'll drink to that. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) - Hey, this is Bob Simon, the host of Urban Approof. This tour we couldn't do without our sponsors. Even up, Justice HQ, attorney share, move docs, coastal research, trio, Libra, legal ex, law pods, strategy and of course, law form rides, providing transportation for clients and lawyers nationwide. Even up is an artificial intelligence platform that automates a lot of the mundane tasks that lawyers and law firm staff do from demand letters to do running playbooks to opening up claims or in police reports and doing those so you can spend more quality time with your clients in the courtroom or in their living room. We also have attorney share. Attorney share is a product to be able to have lawyers find more cases in their wheelhouse to help clients without having to have the market spend that's out there and also tracking all of your referrals in one place. It integrates with all the major. Case management platforms and it allows lawyers to really better serve their clients. And also refer out clients and other jurisdictions and practice areas and be able to monetize all of that goodwill that they blame. - For other sponsors, Justice HQ, Justice HQ is a mobile app bringing together all the community in the legal field from vendors to staff to paralegals. They have own masterminds. They have our podcasts are on there, other lawyers podcasts are on there, on demand education, every event in the industry and you have direct access to the best of the best. And of course, coastal research, coastal research helps all of us injury lawyers find out the insurance limits to investigation. That's on the other side. Whether you know it or not, they're not required to in many states to tell you how much insurance is for the person that cash troughly harms your clients. But coastal research is able to do it very quickly and efficiently for you. They have an actual technology platform that's so easy to use and pushes the data back and forth. We only let people sponsor the show if we use their products and believe in them. - Welcome to this episode of Bourbon Approve where we interview those who have been both successful at law and life. And today we're very honored to have on Mr. South Carolina who probably won a pageant or six. Mr. Kenny Berger, how are you my friend? - Thank you for having me, doing great. And we also have Mara with the Howler, Mara the Howler. - How are we? - A Woga. - To watch you go listening to this, there were a third episode out of four. Mara and I are a little bit toasty. - Yes. - We actually drink on this show. - We do not pull punches nor props. But Kenny, we're blessed to be here at Charleston, South Carolina at Bourbon Bawls going, (cheering) - Yes, it's a little-- - Let's hear it. (cheering) - Look, while we're filming this show, we have a lot of, we have moved dogs here as a sponsor. We have sports and ortho as a sponsor. So we have a lot of medical doctors back here. So if anybody has a significant injury or has an injury from drinking too much, there's a specialist for you, Mara. - I have a pooled groin right now. Can you help me with that? - No. - Well, Kenny, long time coming. Tell us, for the past year in South Carolina, you have led the charge, the fight against tort reform and against Uber. How's that going? - Yeah, so it's been really a whole army, small army, an outnumbered, an outspent army, but not an outworked army of lawyers who decided to, in large part put their practices aside for the protection and the preservation of civil justice in our state. One of many, lots of great people, lots of great men, lots of great women who's been several months up at the state house and not up at the court house, which wasn't great in the immediate. But we fought real hard and ultimately a law passed that hurts victims that hurt civil justice, but it doesn't completely in civil justice in South Carolina, including against folks like Uber. Who the more we learn about, the more that curtain is pulled back, the scarier it really becomes in terms of the reality of what's going on. - Anybody, so I started to see the hearings that were on and Kenny's up there testifying, this guy's up there testifying. I was like, I know that guy. And calling out a lot of the bullshit that other people were saying. So what was that, how did you get to be the guy up at the hearings doing the shit? - Yeah, so basically what happened is, I'm sitting at the office one day and I get this call asking if I want to come and testify before the South Carolina Senate. And I thought, "Y'all go testify." And then apparently some of the senators liked what I had to say. They thought it was reasonable. They thought it was actually kind of balanced and wait for it, fair to citizens and with the safety and well-being of the state and mind versus insurance companies and huge out-of-state corporations. And so I got invited back a couple of times and a few more times and then all of a sudden we ended up being in smaller rooms, having discussions about what the state of law in South Carolina is gonna be. And then ultimately we got shut out of some of those rooms and they passed a law that I don't think any of us agreed with, but it at least allowed us to continue. - I'm a dialogue. - You were able to actually talk to people about the issues. - You know, Bob, if I testified in the front of the Senate, I would be like, "Mike of Corleone did this." "Mike of Corleone did that." - Yeah, I said, "Yeah." I don't know nothing about it. - Besides, Marrow, has anybody else had their offices rated by the FBI? - Marrow, it was not the FBI. It was the District Attorney's White Colored Crime Division. If you have to know. - So all I'm imagining is they bring in Marrow's brother from Sicily to sit in the back of the courtroom. - Yes, Frank Pantangely's. Frank you five angels. - So Marrow's Sicilian, his dad is Sicilian. My grandparents is Sicilian. My cousin Jason is here. His side is families also Sicilian with different side. It's the Irish side, like the Italians apparently. But my family's banned from Sicily. - They're banned. - They're banned. - But they let this guy in. - They love him. They let him in. My family's banned. - Yeah. - My side. - So the board is not that high, but Marrow's in the Simon's are out. - But it's actually the Penelos, my Italian side. Simon, and I told him, he was like, why have a different last name? They're like, you don't go. I was like, okay, we don't go. - Penelo? - Yeah. - Yeah, I've heard about them. - Oh yeah, I'm sure you did. The Fioris, what a name. - Yeah. - All right, I got a question for you guys. How did y'all first meet in a hot tub? - You met in a hot tub. - Yeah. - Like 20 years ago in Las Vegas. - This is actually true. - Yeah. - Was that a convention for lawyers, the Cala conventions? - Same work. - We don't go to the seminars. We were just hanging out at the hot tub of Gary Doritz Cabana, eating his food, drinking his things. And I have a Phoenix tattoo on my arm of the many tattoos that I have. He has a Phoenix tattoo, and he was wearing a Phoenix medallion. - I'm going to Big Metal, Phoenix Metal. - That he gave to me because we were drinking. We were like, oh my God, you're my new best friend. You're my best friend. - You still have the Phoenix medallion. It's not like one of those rope chains. It's like the cheap rope that has a-- - I bought it at a liquor store. It wasn't anything special. - That's not what you told me. - Do you sound like-- Anyway, he gives me this medallion, which I keep. He goes and plays the slot machines, but the fucker wins 25 grand. - I've played the Phoenix rises slot machine that day, and I won 25 grand. - Did you cut him in? - No. - No, he still owes me. - That sounds like at least 10%. The guy's not asking for a third. - Yeah. - This is why he was in the Senate. Look how reasonable he is. - I am very reasonable. - So can you tell us about your practice? What do you do? - Yeah, so we got our break within the plaintiffs bar with the Niche on traumatic brain injury cases. And the first TBI case we did, this was probably 15 years or so ago. And it was the first time I really looked at him, was like, you know, the human story. It was the heart of the legal case. It was more powerful than any legal argument. And it basically, you know, fallen in love with this guy's story, fallen in love with that area of law. We did a lot of TBI cases. It turns out a lot of TBI's were caused by trucks and caused by drugs, which led us to start to a more-- - Trucks and Drunks. - Trucks and Drunks. - I feel like that should be on a T-shirt. - Drunks and Hose. (laughing) - All available at your local liquor store along with Phoenix Medallions. - Apparently you asshole. He also gives me all that fireball whiskey. And apparently it's not whiskey either. - Yeah, it's like-- - Cheating me for years. - It's got like, it's just like, malt milk from aldehyde, I think. We actually had a brain injury case from a drunk driver who ran a lady over after drinking fireball on Christmas Eve. She was walking her dogs, you know, the first question everybody asks is, is the dog okay? Dogging it up being found lady not so much. But, you know, we learned that the tagline for fireball is tastes like heaven burns like hell. (laughing) - Okay, so speaking of fireball, and our Dungeons and Dragons game, there's a spell called fireball, right? So we always start with a shot of Sim and whiskey, the fireball, but you get to roll. And this is for Mar and I, if it's 11 to 20, I have to take a double a shot, which we're about to pour. - You better roll, high number. - You want to kill the first ball? - He's always fading. - Oh, there we go. - Oh! - Again. Oh, whiskey Somaliye, where is our local? We need a whiskey, who's back here, who's back here. Oh, here we go. - Yeah, look at this. I just got done watching some stuff on the Civil War. I feel like we're getting a poor from 1865. - We got here, this is our bourbon steward. His name's James. - What? - Well, well, well. - Yeah, it's close. - Whiskey's Doord will. - So this is the Blood Oath Pact 11. So this is the newest Blood Pact from Blood Oath. They do every year what they call a Blood Pact. It's a different blend, different finish. Is what they're coming out of the whiskey. Newest one here, this one, I was a little apprehensive before it came out. Not a huge fan of bourbons that are finished into Kila Barrels. They just don't for some reason mesh well. This absolutely blew me away. If you drank this, if I drank this rather, and he didn't tell me it was whiskey, I would have never thought this was whiskey. - Really? - It just tastes like tequila, which I'm not a big tequila guy, but it is very, very tasty. You're only looking at 98 proofs, so not a crazy proof for you either. So not a lot of bite out of that as well. - So Mar and I, we do the bourbon approved talk show. What are wives are on? They released it this week. They called it tequila my husbands. So that's their show. - All right, so let's do a quick cheers. - To you, I'd cheer as you say. - To you, sir. - I drink to you, sir. - Oh, that's good. It's a strange mix between tequila and bourbon. It's pretty amazing. So I can. - This, this, this blood oath, and I didn't know who's gonna pour this, we're gonna tie it back to you. Our friend Nick Rally, last time he was at my house, he doesn't really drink anymore. In fact, he chastises borrow an eye for, for not. Last time his at my house, he drank whiskey, and it was a blood oath. I think it was a blood oath nine that Nick Rally had at my house. - Really? - Yes, he did. - You need to have a drink. - I get at least two texts a week from Nick. Stop eating all that shit and drinking booze. You need to start working out at five AM, I said, Nick, whatever, man. (laughing) I'm fine. - But when, actually, one of the doctors he used on a case was with Nick Rally. Probably one of the big, I mean, I remember reading about that case, what is Kenny's? Remember the unfortunate situation where a kid drowned in a pool in South Carolina? That was Kenny's case, he did with Nick. - Chemical burn case. - Chemical burn. So those burns from a pool, like, is that? - Yeah, it turns out the chlorine in this pool was literally off the charts. And you don't really think about how bad chlorine is until you remember that chlorine gas was the original gas used in World War I. And once you start really putting it in perspective, like anything else, if the dose is just too high and the concentration is too high, anything can become a poison. In this case, the chlorine is literally off the charts. And it's off the charts because they've been falsifying the pool chemical records for three and a half years. When we end up taking the deposition of this department head, he starts pleading the fifth amendment, the pool operator who was in charge of the chlorine levels, who was falsifying it for some years, he ends up going to jail, ultimately. - Was this the case you had with Nick? - This is the case that we were working on, and we met Brian Ward, who's a phenomenal warrior. Brian asked our work on the case together. Brian mentions the case to Nick. Nick sees a video of our little boy. - I remember you talking to Nick about this. - Screaming an agony as soon as Nick sees the video, Nick is in the case, and then tonight, for the first time since that case ended, I got to meet one of my dear friends who was the child's treating burn doctor. He's here. He's here. An amazing guy named Steve Khan, who God bless Dr. Khan, the head of MUSC's burn unit. - He's here. Dr. Khan is here. - Yeah, there he is right there. - Right here. - This is the treating doctor. I mean, crazy. - Look at this. - Look at this. - This is the man right here. This is the guy when they were trying to minimize and downplay the more that they inflicted upon this child through their recklessness and criminality. Dr. Khan's the one who held up the photos and said, "Look, this is horrific. Look at what you did to this child's private areas." Your client did this, quit acting like it's not a big deal and throws down the photo. That's this guy. - My kind of man, that's my man right here. - It kind of sounds like one of those courtroom dramas when it plays out that way, but it really, it's a job of the treating physician or the expert physician to truly talk about the damages from the pain, suffering, what the patient experiences and help everybody understand whether it's a jury, whether it's the people that are consulting you as the expert or whether it's the opposing counsel, really what the person with a catastrophic injury goes through. And that's just what we do. It's all about patient advocacy in the backdrop of conveying an accurate picture, which sometimes can be horrific. So Dr. Conn runs the Burns Center right here. - At the Medical University of South Carolina. - And anybody that does burn injury cases, it's horrific. I mean, is some of the most painful things you'll ever see or work on. Do you work, one of our sponsors is Move Docs. Do you know Move Docs at all? - I'm familiar with it, but not too well. - So like one of the great things that they do with their company expert pays is they allow people that are injured to find the specialist. Because burn, it's a specialty that they're not doing like, they're not like doing the chiropractic care cases. They're a specialist. They'll find the specialist, make sure that they direct access to medical care and that they integrate with all the platforms so we can just help the clients in the courtroom because we want you to be practicing medicine helping people. We want us guys in the living room helping our clients in the courtroom and all the other stuff taken out. So shout, you should move docs and expert pays. It's a great resource for all the lawyers here, but also medical doctors to make sure we have true access to justice for that reason. Because you're a treating doctor helping somebody that got catastrophically injured. - That sounds like a great resource. And burns in particular really is a subspecialty niche. There's only about 150, maybe 200, at most. Prax and burn surgeons in the United States. And only maybe 20, 25% of them really are interested in participating in illegal work. So there's not a ton of folks around the country. So these services that can connect experts with the people that need their services, particularly when it comes to that whole thing that we're here for, helping people, patient advocacy. That's what we do. That's what you do. Someone's in a tough spot. We work together as a team to get them better. - So doc, let me ask you a question. You're a James Bond fan. - You were looking at my watch. - Wait, how did you know that? - He's wearing the Omega James Bond. Now this watch is so fucking rare. I heard Daniel Craig calls it the Omega. Daniel Craig says Omega. - Omega, well Omega, but he's wearing a super rare James Bond Omega. This is the 60th anniversary of James Bond Omega. - Not as a famous. - Omega James Bond, sick watch. - You have a remarkable knowledge of not only bourbons, but watches and the money on heart. - That's a really sick watch. That's a James Bond, that's a rare watch. - This is actually a cheap replica that I got for 55 bucks in New York City. - Oh, so. - Gotcha. - We have, I actually have a movie poster think of all the James bonds with all the actors that signed their movie posters. But who are your top, who are the top James Bond actors? Can you rate your top one through five? - I grew up with Roger Moore as James Bond, who did like five or six, but he was, I thought he was an octopus-y and gold finger, two of my favorites. - I can't with this guy. - Counselor, I respectfully disagree. - Yeah, I agree, I disagree as well. - Let me hear the original Sean Connery. - You can't find that. - Although, that being said, Daniel Craig, he's pretty darn cool. You know, can I say damn, can I cut something on this? - Of course you fucking damn. - Don't show it to my wife. My wife will get mad at me for using profanity. - Don't show them that. - She's pretty damn cool. - Now there was. - She's done it in her algorithm. - There was a real, you know, usually they don't fuck around when they pick a James Bond, right? So they pick a guy that usually run with him. But in the 80s, they picked a guy that was a real donkey. - Roger Horn's assistant. - No, Timothy Dalton. - He's the worst. - He did like one movie and he was so bad. - He did more than one, but it was bad. (guns firing) (upbeat music) - Dog! - We've nothing to declare! - That's the tello! (crowd cheering) - They got rid of him. So it was Timothy Dalton for a little while, but he was really bad. Pierce Brosnan was okay. We should talk about him for a second. One really good movie, good actor, the persona, it's there, the look is there, the delivery is there, but the writing got so bad in those last few movies. When you've got like a 50 year old James Bond, Pierce Brosnan, excuse me, James Bond, surfing on a tidal wave, you know, with a kite. (crowd laughing) And it's just an invisible car. It doesn't track, you know, it doesn't track. - But the answer is Sean Connery was the best James Bond. - That's the right answer. - John, Roger Moore. - So what about the next James Bond? Who's it gonna be? - I want Edris Alba, right? - That's what I want, that's what they said. - He's awesome, but he's getting kind of up there, you know, to run a franchise. - I mean. - It's gonna be James Bond and a nursing home in 10 years. - Where's my friend Bryce? We all know, black don't crack brother. - What about a female James Bond? - No. - What if they go female? - I'm not gonna participate in this conversation. (laughing) - No, but on it, Sean Connery's won. - Timothy Dalton's the end of the last. - If you have a-- - Connery's gotta be one, right? - No. - I mean, this guy. Where are you on Daniel Craig? He was, I like, what was that? Casino Royals, one of my favorites. Skyfall was damn good. - He's a solid too. When I came out, I was like, how could they pick this Bond here, blue eye guy? He's number two for me now. - He crushed it. - He crushed it. All right, well Dr. Con, thanks for coming on brother. We appreciate all the doctors. - You work with always and forever. Kenny, we're going back to the OG of the SC. How the fuck did you end up being a trial lawyer? I mean, did you always know that you wanted to help the underdog? - Yeah, so here's how it went down. So growing up, my dad beat into my head basically, Dr. Lawyer, Dr. Lawyer, Dr. Lawyer, which isn't that different for like a Jewish kid. They're just aren't as many of us in South Carolina. There's maybe in California. - So we're filming during high holidays, - We are filming during the high. - That's why you're drinking water. - It was Yom Kippur. - Russia Shana. - Yom Kippur is coming up. - So, but he gets beaten in my head. - You wonder the other, you know? - It's always one or the other. We're either celebrating or fasting. Celebrating or fasting. We're celebrating the fact that we don't have to fast or we're fasting, it's been celebrating. So basically, to get beaten in my head, it's one or the other. I go to this ninth grade biology class. And the truth is, it was ninth grade biology, but it was right after lunch. And when I was in the ninth grade, you could still leave school for lunch. So we leave, and I've pression says, whatever. We leave, we get high as shit. And then we have to come back to this biology class. I'm like, "Ballagy sucks, man." - Look at her. - I'm looking around, I'm like, I'm like, "Man, I guess it's not gonna be science. I guess I ain't gonna be a doctor." You know, so I'm like, the stone out of my mind, 15 year old, give me like, "I guess I'm gonna be a lawyer." (laughing) That's how it happened. - That's quite literally how that happened. - That is not the origin story that I expected. We need a refresher. Where's our brown waters? Oh, here, by the way, hey, cheers. If you guys are not part of the brown waters aside here in Charleston, talk to this dude, because this poor has been a fucking plus. Cheers over here. - Cheers over here. - Man, all right, let's go. - So this is from Highwire 2, like the first one that I did. This is one that we made specifically with the, it was put in the barrel of 2014. It's a bottle and bond at 2019. It's a mixture between, right, weak and corn. We basically say if you liked some of the first one we had, and you trust my judgment, you'll like this one. This is one of our special bottles. We keep a few of it behind three of the vents like this. And we sold the rest to our members. So this is, I actually looked on the back. This is bottle number one out of 153. So this is the first one that came out of this barrel, right? That is correct here. Woo! So usually, so when you do a barrel of whiskey, if it's a young one that's not aged, they don't take that angel share, you're gonna pull 220 bottles out of it. When they age stuff, you lose, 'cause it evaporates. You get 153 bottles. That means this was aged very well, right? That is correct, yep. I just wanna verify that I know my shit a little bit. I know my shit a little bit. Oh man. Mazotop, Mazotop. Mazotop. Mazotop. - It's hype. - Raqueloimni-shpototi. That's the only Hebrew I know. It means only God will judge me. Maro actually has Hebrew tattooed onto his forearm. - Do you really? - I got a bunch of tattoos. - No, I don't like this one. - Was this Hebrew on the forearm when you all first met in the hot tub? Was this hot tub Hebrew? - You didn't have it yet. - No. He didn't have a lot of tattoos, but you don't have that one yet. - You know how to read Hebrew? - A little bit. - Okay, I'm gonna show it to you. - I'm gonna show it to you. I was gonna show it to you. - No, no, it's on his stomach. Oh! - It is kidding. There's Bryce. Hey, guys, shout out to Bryce. Law firm, Bryce. Bryce came all the way from LA. The fucking hangout. Look at this. Yeah? You missed it, he was gonna take off his pants, Bryce. - We got the bells and everything. Nice. What's the translation? - Only God will judge you. - That's the true. Beautiful. I love it. - You can't be buried in a Jewish cemetery. - You can't be a tattooist. - But it's a salient with Hebrew tattoos. I think that's almost like an elevated status. - They must call that a pizza bagel. - Man, that was a quick joke. I went to George Washington for undergrad. We had a lot of pizza bagels. - I know, I'm going to George Washington. - There you go. - There you go. - And, Maro, I like your dimples. It's the first time I really got to go to the lighting. Your dimples really pop. No edits. First edit of the day. So Kenny, how closely are you to Charleston? Where's family? - Where's the home? - Yeah, so going all the way back, our family came in through Charleston and then kind of spread out through different parts of South Carolina. But this goes all the way back to like the 1840s. Our family got here, came over from Eastern Europe, was in Charleston for a while. In fact, one of our way back relatives was the first Jewish physician in Charleston. But we ended up having different people in different parts of the state. Ultimately, my family was in Columbia. I went undergrad down here, had a great time. But then Columbia's always been home. Columbia's about an hour and a half up the road. So we're based in Columbia, but it's right in the middle of the state, which allows us to be statewide. Myrtle Beach is a crazy, insane place. Which can also make for good plaintiff's venues. We opened up a second office in Myrtle Beach, but still get to spend a lot of time in Charleston, which is fantastic. Great city. - My cousin, Jason's here. - Jason, Jason, come here for a minute. It's, um, awesome, Jason. So Jason is the oldest of all of our cousins. This was, he was the, Jay Bird, the coolest of the cool. And we used to go to Myrtle Beach every summer. We would take Pittsburgh, we would get in our van, and Jason would come with us, and we would drive our big converter van. My dad put beds in the back, like not legal, like not at all. And we would drive down to Myrtle Beach every year. It's a big bump. We'll talk about Big Bob. - All right, now, did y'all have a spot in Myrtle Beach? - The Gowl into our van. - The sea master. - Oh, the sea master. - Hi, two weeks. - Two weeks we did, the sea master. - Oh, uh. - And some shitty, like, roadside motel or what? - No, it's at the beach, right? - Yeah, no, this was solid. It was a good place to stay. And then you'd get a girlfriend the first week. And so Jay, eventually, even you get a girlfriend the second week. - So Jay, you're probably, what, three years, four years older than me, how much? - 50, this year. - Wow. - And five years older than me. And Jayse was always like the cool older cousin. So he's always dating the new girl of the week. He would pick up the new girl at the sea master. And sometimes find a local that wanted to be at the pool, which was always very cool for us. - This is my sweetheart. - This is a sweetheart. But we would go down and take our family converter van down. And my little brother, Brandon, one year, Jayse, who was with us, started just biting him. - Do you remember this? - Biting him? - He was biting him. Do you remember this? - Yeah, I remember your dad pulled him on the side of the road and spun him around. It was like early child abuse. - I like that. That sounds like Big Bob. - Isn't that just like parenting me in the 80s? - Either that or Brandon was so smart, he was like, oh yeah, don't spin me. - No, he's, so my little brother now is terrified of roller coasters and all these things. It was because he bit Jayse in on the, kept biting him on the drive down to Myrtle Beach. My dad pulled him, he's like, you better stop bringing up, pulling over. I'm gonna spin you around. Brandon's like, no, I'm gonna do it. I gotta ask, when you all were come down to Myrtle Beach, would you all ever stop at South of the border with all the signs, the stop for patience? - No, no, no, no, it was straight through. Yeah, 11 hours. We don't stop, you gotta pee, you gotta in a bottle. Keep going. We pee in Maryland and we stop at Myrtle Beach. But every summer, we would go to South Carolina. - Yeah, it was a good time. - Great memories. Lots of putt putt, lots of chasing girls on the beach. - Oh yeah, oh yeah. Lot of putt putt. - Lot of putt putt. - Water parks. - And then, - Leave markets. - Not water parks. You're talking about Myrtle Beach waves. - Yeah, that's right. I think that's the first time I got syphilis. - The first time. - Yeah, the first time. - Yeah, it was that joke, it was kill them. I got them. - No, no, no, no. - We all grand pre guys too, did yoga race at the grand pre? - Oh, we did the grand pre. - If you all come back, you can actually do a helicopter tour. - I don't get on, no. - The helicopter's a millionaire killer's bro, we don't get on those. Jason, what's your favorite memory of Myrtle Beach? - Gosh, I don't know, man. - Are you allowed to say your name? - My dad like holding a Roman candle and shooting cousins with a fireworks. - Did you all ever find your way into the pink pony? Or the-- - I know where the pink pony is, 100%. And when they, that new song goes, pink pony, - I don't know, I don't know the pink one. - No, it was up where, it's on the main road by Willards. It was a strip club, it was the pink pony, and we laugh every single time. - Well, I wasn't going there when I was 12. No cousin of mine. - I'd been. - Jason Simon, so we have a special forum with Jason on the next episode, but-- - Thanks man. - I enjoyed it. I'm glad you called on Myrtle Beach because every summer we would go there for two weeks, bask in the sun in the 95 degree water. - Yeah, California, it's 70 on a good day. - Mara, you spending time in Myrtle Beach yet? - No, I never, I've never been down there. I'd like to go play golf. - I was gonna say, you golf. - At least five of you. - I told you to bring your clubs, man. - You did ask, you did tell me that. You did tell me that. - Come back, we'll play. - Will you play tomorrow with him? - I would love to, but you know, he's got no clubs. I've got a two year old, I'm supposed to be home. Next time? - I'll play in the morning. - It's a good excuse to come back. - So, Mara-- - We're up in a ripet. We can find you a game. - I bet you Mara would beat everybody in this room. - Maybe. Normally I can beat most like regular guys, but yes, last night in Savannah, there was a guy used to be a professional that works for Brett Tirmble. - Reggie. I couldn't fuck with but most mortals I can deal I can fucking be I don't I play once a year I had to go up to beat Maro at Braimor Country Club two weeks ago. Yeah Maro tell him what happened Tell him what happened. Well, say it. Bob happened to be out in the area where in the Valley in LA We call it the Valley Sin Fernando where they film all the porn. It's in the Valley So my my I'm a member of a country club out in the Valley called Braimor. It's where they film Kirby enthusiasm Yeah, Kirby enthusiasm. They film it. They film all the golf scenes there Look, I was hit the ball that far you've never hit the ball that far in your life I was there at the club the day while I watched the filming when they did the weatherman episode when Larry But David's like you mother fucker weatherman. It's 80 degrees. There is no fucking rain. You wanted the course to yourself Why you said it was gonna rain? You're fucking here playing golf. I watched some film that episode It was on the ninth green and Braimor I was watching, but that's my club. That's also that's a black swan Yeah, that's amazing. So Bob happened to be out in the Valley So Bob came to meet up with me and my group to play We got Bob his own golf cart. You drove out to meet us. Yeah Bob doesn't play golf By the way, I when I pull up on the ninth a ball rolls on to the green and people are watching and they're like I was like well that I mean that's a good shot They're like the guys like this a par four somebody teed off. I Drown the green like I had like 20 feet free. I drove the green on nine Bob was like that must that must have been your boss. Yeah, I was mine. I three put it for par to Antichlomatically I three put it for par but so Bob comes and plays a dental with us and Bob says it's a hundred and like 40 yard par three Bob says give me a five wood I was like five wood just a hundred and forty. You fuck in the yard. Just gonna play a high cut. Yeah, so Cut Bob plays a cut in my if I play cut of my cut like four yards Bob played the ball like 70 yards left and I don't know how it goes up and Then it comes down soft like the biggest banana you've seen like had a shock too and it hit it rolled up this hill And rolled down almost went the whole almost made a hole in one and then he had like 15 feet left and he just stands up He looks at it and he fucking knocked it in for birdie like nothing. It's the salmon the salmon slice I hand them in the club was like guys. He's like playing this game your old fucking life. That's how he's like I'm done He birdied the one how we played at some days, but I know if I played another hole I would have shot like a 12 so yeah to and done to the two other guys like what the fuck is going on like what is happening He's a beautiful. Yeah, I was amazing golfer. I'm amazing. That's what you play college golf. Yeah, I played it at junior college I played at college at the desert. I'm bomb springs His degrees in golf course course management, right? Yeah, I have an AA degree only degree I have besides my law degree I skipped a BA part in California you don't have a have a badger's degree to go to law school. I got an AA degree in a JD I missed the BA Well, we're doing the ABV so so Kenny now. I mean you're a leader here in South Carolina for access to justice Every single person here knows you are they came to see you What's next for Kenny Berger? I mean honestly bro like I feel like you've won in the courtroom You've now been testifying in front of like congressional hearings here in South Carolina change law Where's your heart? Other than your family. I know that's gonna be your answer. Yeah, so I'd say Any way I can figure out we've got a two-girl little girl named Goldie anything that we can do To make South Carolina a better place for her to live and to grow up and to one day raise a family from generation to generation That's what we want to do right now. I think we've been very blessed To reintroduce again, this goes right in line with what what you doing what Mara does with Nick teaches But bringing that humanity back into the practice of law Reminding people the most valuable things that we have in this life is our health is our family is our freedom Is our independence and that those things if not priceless or the number of imagined closest to priceless The more we can get people in communities in court rooms and legislatures and beyond Remembering what it's all about and going back to those core values that formed our country and can bridge us going forward to make us a more Perfect union. Oh, that's what I want to be a part of because ultimately at some point I'm gonna be gone my child's gonna be here and I want this world and this community to be better for her Than it's been for me and again, I've been blessed to know people like you and Morrow my dear friend Mark Bringardner Nick and so if I can just play a little part in that I feel like ultimately My life exists to serve something higher and better and I'm willing to put everything I have for that That's I'll drink to that. Fuck. I mean we're out of booze, but so there's Do you know this gentleman? Yes, amazing. So where's he? I mean you were talking about generational like I just learned this story that his granddad He has a statue over here from the courthouse. You're grandfather? Not my grandfather. My grandfather helped In the east over South Carolina with getting people to have shirts on their backs, but nothing to do with the law He's a big dude with a mustache rich get me Talk about generational South Carolina's I mean Other than what's the guy that worthy he was a game cock coach. There was an offensive genius Spurrier Steve Spurrier other than Steve Spurrier. He is the most famous family in South Carolina. He tells about this I don't know about that. Didn't you thank you. That was a good joke. Tell us about your dad in your great Coach, so my granddaddy started practicing law in Charleston when he got back from World War 2 He started our firm in 1937 and he was Prior to starting zone from he was solicitor here in Charleston County, so he was doing all the prosecute of My granddaddy his brother and his other brother were all lawyers and then almost all of their children were lawyers My daddy his brother both his brothers and my aunt were all lawyers and There's a bus of my grandfather and from the courthouse here in Charleston They put up about 20 years ago and my daddy's line was always they don't give you a bus for being a good lawyer They give you a bus for being a good guy My grandfather and my grandmother were real involved in the civil rights movement here in Charleston when that was a tough thing to do and Those values got passed down to my daddy. Wow my daddy passed away this year in March was about 50 years and he Started off doing criminal work and segwayed into civil and did some impressive things He sued the co-score and sued the FBI on cases that everybody else said were impossible and Had a great career and I think forced himself a reputation for being a good lawyer and a good guy And your grandfather was a hell of a storyteller was he? Yes, he was he was I mean Very prominent storyteller this I mean I'm not a pro As a best storyteller is always but it just fascinates me because I mean to do civil rights when it was unpopular in South Carolina Did it did it cause a strain with you guys in the community at that time? I think it was tough on my granddaddy a little bit because he was very involved in politics at that time But my grandmother Mary Bell She was just she said you want horns, but you're going to die both headed She wasn't going back down it was she was the one who really drove that fight for the family She was helping organize integration of schools She was very involved in the rural mission on John's Island She's taken my dad and his siblings to John's Island They take the ferry from James Island to John's Island to give deep warming shots to migrant kids It was her passion was to fight the civil rights and help me more Mary But so but here here in South Carolina. This is the deep South where the deep South Yeah, and for your family to lead that charge here in Charleston It's very important and I'm man. I'm blessed to be what's it like now because like listen I'm I'm born and raised in Los Angeles, but on the drive up here we came from Savannah this morning I saw some big-ass stars and bars flying on the side of the road stars and bars Confederate flag So there's still flying that flag out here There's a lot of people a lot of people have different beliefs and I don't know that all of them are rooted in hate I tell you I'm probably not the best person to speak about it. I don't know the most about it My thing would be it's better than it used to be but it's probably still a way to go. Yeah I mean here's the interesting thing what an answer You know, I mean the really interesting thing about South Carolina and before I say that you know I'm not sure if getting he knows this but his dad is one of the reasons I became a plaintiff's lawyer I went all the way through law school not knowing a thing about plaintiffs law Now I saw a getting his father speak and it was a 45 minute take presentation I learned more about the practice of law and representing human beings and caring about people in those 45 minutes that I'm right in three years of law school. Can we do a taste of your dad or toast to your daddy? March of this year to pass. Absolutely. Yes, sir. What was his fate? Did he did he drink bourbon or whiskey? Did he? He didn't drink anything. He was not a good one. Well drink on his behalf about this. He would appreciate that. So did you some publicist book? This book is about my granddaddy and my dad and my aunt a couple years after he passed away went through Went around town and this book is a collection of stories about and my granddaddy used to tell And they collected it from all the old lawyers in Charleston and my daddy published it Man, I got I got to read this book. I love a good story Hey everybody. We're gonna do a toast to close out this show for Kenny Berger who's carrying the torch for social justice here in South Carolina to the OG family that started the movement back in 1937. Yes, sir. Amazing story. So a generational, I like how he measures it out. I'll take it. The fourth. Wow. Hey, do you have a nickname then? They used to call me Little Gatney, but I don't make a little Gatney anymore. That's a rodeo anymore. And it's okay. I'm little Bob in my house, right Jason? I'm Little Bobby. My dad's big Bob. This is to South Carolina, royalty, and you guys change along made it a place a better place to be and to live and to carry that torch, Kenny. Thank you everybody that's here. Cheers to you all. Yeah, dear Danny, to Big Gatney. [Music]