congresswoman alexandria ocasio-cortez. one of the leaders of progressive democrats. she reacts to this week s midterm election and in a raw conversation tells how our polarized politics has led to some frightening threats. i m absolutely i ve felt my life has been in danger since the moment that i won my primary election. then, the fonz is in the building. beloved actor henry winkler tells how he got the iconic happy days role and he reveals the biggest mistake of his career. are you a damn fool? yes, i am. later rising rock star and author michelle zauner on her rare accomplishment. she s had a book on the new york times best seller list for more than a year. it s a mother and daughter story. it s a coming of age story.
could i not find work, but i was sitting at my desk at paramount. i had an office. i literally thought will i ever have anything with as much impact as the fonz. will anyone ever ask me? i m not getting any offers. that s when i started to produce. you do get offered a part. you get offered the lead in grease before john travolta. before john travolta. and you turn it down. i did. are you a damn fool? yes. i only realized years afterwards i thought i played the fonz. i don t want to do it again. it s already happened. i m already type cast. i should have just shut up and had a good time making that movie. right. now, i go home. i say no and i have a diet coke.
character. i m telling you that it s just magnificent. you got the role at 72. you got the role of the fonz at age 27. amazing. here s the question, here you are as jewish upper middle class kid from manhattan. we lived above our means. i want you to know that. that s okay. still counts. riddled with insecurity and you get the role of the leather jacket wearing, tough aitalian street kid. let s look back at you as the fonz. i m the fonz. that s it? you re the fonz? that s it. i snap my fingers. girls come running. whoa.
figured out that there is an emotional component missing when you have some sort of learning challenge. you have such a little sense of self and that very fact helped me deal with what other people were saying. they couldn t possibly know what they were talking about. i am this person who is totally without self, without you didn t get swept away by it is what you re saying? i was not allowed to be swept away. i couldn t buy in that this is me. i want to talk let s go back to the fonz and the 70s. i want to talk about a scene where you were challenged to water ski over a shark penned in next to the beach. let s take a look back.
aye. aye. aye. i love watching you watching that. how does that happen that henry winkler from manhattan becomes the fonz, the epitome of cool? because i trained for many, many years to be an actor and i got to play somebody i wasn t, somebody who i wanted to be. it was so much fun. they are still my family, all of the people who are who have survived are still very, very close. we are incredibly friendly. i understand it s acting. but it would strike me that an insecure kid from manhattan to play the fonz is it was shocking to me. they wanted a taller, italian