Billy bush george bush's cousin, The first time you see "Access Hollywood" star Billy Bush in person, you think, whoa, he really is a Bush. His mouth, nose and eyes look eerily similar to his first cousin's, George W. Bush's. Though Billy looks nothing like Uncle George H.W. Bush.
And despite his family's timetable to conquer Washington every other decade, this Bush has no plans to politick.
"Too many skeletons in this closet," he jokes, then says, "No. I'm so apolitical. I have respect for my uncle and my cousin, who have achieved great heights, but it's not for me. People don't even know how I vote."
He claims he's never exploited the presidential crest.
"If you latch on when they're 90 percent popular, then you're latched on when they're 19 (percent popular). You have to be yourself. I'm all about the Billy and nothing about the Bush."
Billy Bush was in Vegas on Monday to induct Bob Barker into the National Association of Broadcasters hall of fame. He also popped into a Vegas radio station to record a phone interview with Mariah Carey for his new syndicated radio show.
At a glance, Bush seems like many TV personality facades. He wore sunglasses in the hallway at the radio station. His stylishly messy mane bushed against a designer coat collar. Then someone brought him a cup of water.
"It's not out of the tap, is it?" he asked.
Uh oh, you think. He's polite, but is he a water prima donna? Ah, hell, who isn't, anymore?
Anyway, next to Nancy O'Dell, Bush, 36, is the male face of "Access Hollywood," having replaced the spectacular substance-descent of Pat O'Brien, who used to float preciously around Vegas red carpets as if his presence demanded a choir of gossamer cherubs feeding rose petals to his feet.
Now Mariah and media-paranoid celebrities have been turning to Bush because he broaches tougher topics with a kinder, gentler approach (some say softball). He doesn't mock stars, the way TMZ does, or lay cracks to their fragile egos, like Jay Leno does. This is probably why Madonna has two upcoming TV interviews scheduled: Matt Lauer and Bush.
"I say (to scandalized stars), 'You're probably going to want to say something here, and I will handle it correctly,' " Bush explains. "I'm very truthful. I have a lot of integrity. I don't have an agenda against anyone."
Bush almost went down a nastier road when he started at "Access Hollywood."
"One of the first interviews I ever had with a pop star, I asked if he was gay. He got very upset, like throw-the-mike-across-the-room upset. I kind of got up shellshocked. I thought: That wasn't any of my business. I really didn't need to do that. I hurt his feelings. I didn't mean to do that.
"So I went back in, and there were five handlers in the room, and I said, 'Can I have a moment here? I'm really sorry for that. That will never air.' And he said, 'Thank you for coming back in, that was great, you showed a lot of character.' "
Since Bush is voicing a syndicated radio show, he must convince stations to air it. On Monday, he walked into the program director's office at a local pop station and beckoned, "You've gotta put me on at night!"
I watched the exchange. Afterward, Bush said he learned to pitch himself during his first gig, selling ads for a tiny station in New Hampshire.
"I sold the crap out of that little station. I would say 60 percent of the billing for the whole station was me alone, going into True Value hardware, going into car dealerships," he said.
Suddenly, Bush didn't look like a George Bush so much as an intense salesman from "Glengarry Glen Ross" stressing, "ABC: Always be closing." Bush laughs at me for bringing this up, slaps my back and says, "I used that line on the plane yesterday!
"This woman was telling me, 'I'm a saleswoman for Quest Diagnostics' or something. I said, 'Really? ABC. Always be closing.' It's also a very true phrase when you're a single man."
A few minutes later, Bush stepped into a waiting Lincoln Town Car and repeated the mantra as a goodbye: "Always be closing, always be closing."
2 years ago
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