TRANSCRIPT:
Adam Hildebrandt: Hey everybody, I'm Adam Hildebrand. Happy to be joined by Willie Robertson who is here to speak with the speakers board today and has been kind enough to give us some time as well, so we can have a little bit of a conversation and learn not only a little bit about why you're here but about your life and the things that you've been able to accomplish over time. But let's start with why you're here. What brings you to campus here?

Willie Robertson: Well, I wanted to see how long your beard had gotten and I'm thoroughly disappointed in that. So next time I come back, let's make sure we make it longer.

Adam Hildebrandt: I apologize. I have failed you twice. I also thought about bringing my duck calls and have you critique me, but I chose not to.

Willie Robertson: I don't know with that look you got.

Adam Hildebrandt: The microphones might have been having an issue with that too. Well, yeah, we're excited to have you on.

Willie Robertson: You ask me, what am I doing here?

Adam Hildebrandt: Yeah, what are you doing here?

Willie Robertson: I didn't know until I was coming up here and apparently I'm gonnanswer a lot of questions. So, hopefully it can be entertaining. Yeah, and I thought, I always love a chance to come to colleges and talk to kids and so most of my kids are kind of at that age and so I feel like while I'm while I have that good vibe going of experience, I'm trying to tell them what to, you know, help them along the way, maybe I can help share some things.

Adam Hildebrandt: You are credited with kind of taking the small family business with with Duck Commander and growing that into this powerhouse. It's Buck Commander. It became a reality TV show. You guys have, I don't even know how many arms and legs of this thing at this point that that the Robertson family is involved with. So... let's kind of rewind back to the beginning. Your dad starts making duck calls back in the day. What kind of foundation did he lay that allowed this thing to to grow to where it is today?

Willie Robertson: Well, I think he did all the real heavy lifting to really start a business. I think it's hard to get something started and so he started the business. He had a passion and a dream and he had a vision even though, he was probably the only guy who saw it at the time really of how big he thought it would happen and it could get big. And we were kids, he used to tell us like, we'd be sitting around the dinner table. It's funny, it's the same dinner table that we ended up shooting the Duck Dynasty on with this big family at, but back then it was just a small little table and he'd say "Boys, we're going to sell a million dollars worth these things one day" and we would all be sitting there and I was like, "How would we ever sell a million?" Like it just didn't make sense. 'Cause mostly we were making a living commercial fishing. Dad was fishing the Washaw River and so most of the money that we got was from that. And this duck call idea was kind of something he wanted to do, and he loved duck hunting. And I think he really just wanted a job where he got to do exactly what he wanted to do, which was hunting and, he did all the heavy lifting and really did that. And so I kind of when I left, I never dreamed I would be back working with the family business. I was like, I'm out of here. I'm never doing this again. And, and then end up circling back coming back when I was about 30. And from there I kind of saw it from afar, which was good because I thought, man, I think there's something here. And then that's when my wife and I jumped in and we kind of took over the business and, you know, kind of took it to where it is now. But it's a group effort, it wasn't just me. It was really all of us working together and I think, knowing everybody because it was a family business. So I knew everybody and kind of knew what everybody was looking for and, really just in life and it's not always money. It's other things too that people are looking for in their job or vocation. And so I was able to kind of do that and then you just you have some breaks along the way and that's when television came along, and we jumped into that and here we go. Yeah, it's been a it's been a wild ride. No playbook. didn't learn a lot of this in school. You had to kind of learn it out there. But I did learn a lot in school at least, you know, about business, which is kind of what moved me I guess to be the guy to kind of run it because I had went to school and you know and learned some basics of business. And, also my wife's family were very successful business people as well. That was helpful a lot because they had run big giant retail business and so yeah, I picked picked their brain a lot. And a lot of what I picked up, I just picked up from other people. And then when we started working with other marketing companies because they wanted to show us to help sell their products in the hunting industry and I picked up a lot of knowledge from them how to market, how to do that. And TV came pretty natural because we had been making these little videos of our hunts. And so probably this is, you know, way pre-YouTube and all that, but it's kind of the same concept of us. So we kind of gotten used to cameras and I always felt like we were really good storytellers. And I don't know why, I mean, some of it had to do because we just didn't have anything. We were pretty poor. We didn't really watch TV. We didn't have computers or phones. And so story time was just really how we entertained around the table and learned to tell good stories. And so, that was very helpful. because a TV show, a TV show is just telling stories. That's all it is, just doing it with video camera.

Adam Hildebrandt: Absolutely. You know, you said family business and you guys are are the definition of a family business. Like everybody's involved. That's a great thing in a lot of ways. I'm sure it comes with some challenges in some ways as well, but again, you I go back to the foundation of Phil and Miss Kay. If you don't start from a family dynamic to begin with, it's hard to grow into a family business. So what what were those early days like with your brothers as you guys were growing up that that kind of set the table to be able to work together long term?

Willie Robertson: Well, probably working together came from our faith. I mean, the faith is what really kept us all together. It had fundamentally changed our entire family literally. because Kay and Phil were separated and they weren't, the marriage looked doomed for sure. We made a movie last year about that. Put it out about kind of their faith walk and how that looked. And so were it not for the gospel and for faith, the marriage would not have stayed together. Now, if that happens, my whole life looks completely different, right? I mean, there's no Duck Commander. There's no, dad, you know. I mean, he was good grief, he was being chased by police officers like and that's how we ended up in Louisiana was really just trying to get away from him. So when the faith component happened, when dad changed his life, the marriage stayed together. Those were those big foundational things and that dude went from literally from darkness to light. I mean, he just was like a completely different person after that happened. So there was such and he had such a hunger for faith and teaching others and trying to help people who were kind of wavered like he was. And so I had watched that. So that foundation of that came from that. So staying together, there was a lot of things that were, you know, the principles of the Bible or the Ten Commandments, all these things were just incorporated into our life, which really helped us with our relationships with each other to forgive each other and to, all these kind of foundations. But there was always kind of this humorous thing that we had that again back to storytelling and dad's a great storyteller and my uncles were and just listen to him telling stories and there was a thing about making fun of each other and so we would always just like you rag each other. They kind of kept it real, because there was no like phoniness and so we always kind of had that as well. And so that combination of all that kind of came together of the foundation and then and literally not knowing what would happen. But there was a certain amount of being content where dad was super content. You know, we were poor but we didn't really realize we were poor because we were so happy. It was like, we felt like we got to do everything in life we wanted to do. We could run around without our shoes and fish all the time and grow our beard. It was just like there was no corporate it was just like out in the woods and just a fun life and a fun way to grow up, you know. And, and so all that kind of came together and then when the business was going, then when we took it over and then we had these opportunities, there was a great foundation that we could build off of having that. But even once you, you know, once you get in the spotlight, it's hard, you know, it's hard to stay together there and there are, you know, the highs are highs and the lows are lows and you got to go through them together. So there are times you're like, oh, you know, it's kind of because you couldn't fire, it's hard to fire a family, it's hard to fire my brother. So knowing that, you know, you didn't do that, but you just you kind of figured out and worked together and everybody kind of found their gifts of where they were good at. And I guess mine was to organize that and try to help us, you know, create vision and say, "Let's keep going and we can do this." And then, and now everyone has so many other businesses that they do, you know, other things, the platform once it got big and they were able to take that and do a lot of wonderful things too in my kids and you know, they've taken that, been able to do a lot of good things with it.

Adam Hildebrandt: I know, you know, it's obviously not just your brothers. Your wife Korie has been heavily involved and I know for me, my wife and I have have done some business things together and our faith has certainly been a bedrock of that. How would you describe...

Willie Robertson: Was it hard for you and your wife to do business things together?

Adam Hildebrandt: Sometimes, but a lot of the time she's kind of the visionary. and then that helps me kind of go get and sets me on the right direction, which I need sometimes to be fair. So...

Willie Robertson: Now I'm running the interview. [chuckle] But it is, I think some people think about being in business with their family, it sounds like a nightmare, you know, and it can be. I mean it, you know, you really have to find out where that, even Korie and I to this day, you know, maybe not today because of my birthday, she gave me a break today, but yesterday, you know, there's things that you still have to go like, ah, is this are you doing this or am I doing this or who, you know, and you have to share that and it's a constant, you have to constantly maintain that and make sure because you'll get off, you know, and when you get off, there you know it comes back to the principle. So we live by this principle of like our faith is number one, our family is second, and then business is third. And it's in that order. And so what happens is the faith component helps the family stay together. And those are those elements of, you know, forgiveness and trust and love and all these elements of faith... that's going to help that family stay together. Whether the family stay together will help with the business. So you just, I tell you this, you try having a knockdown dragout with your wife or your kids or everything's falling apart and tell me how the next day at work goes, you know? I mean, it goes together when that's a problem. It's going to happen there. And so as this thing, 'cause what'll happen is they'll start getting out of balance even for us, you know, constantly. You're like, I've let this slide up to the top or that's where I'm spending most of my time. And so we have to kind of check ourselves and go, "Ah, and the family can help you with that". Who else can tell you that better than your family, you know? I mean, heck, my family will tell me anything where a lot of other people won't, you know, they'll be like, "Ah." especially people that work for you and they're like, I can't say anything, he's the boss, but I guarantee you my wife or my brother or somebody, they'll let you know, you know, like, hey, I don't know who you think you are, but let me remind you, which is helpful as well.

Adam Hildebrandt: Well, and as you mentioned, the eventually the cameras turned on and you guys let producers and cameramen in into your lives on a regular basis. You've now gone and produced a movie together as well, but what was that like getting into that process and saying, "Hey, here's kind of what's what's going on here and who we are?".

Willie Robertson: Well, it's when you're going to put something out, it's a big production and everybody's got their jobs to do. Now you got to remember this about reality TV. It's like true reality TV is a hidden camera. That would be reality. So there's cameras everywhere here, I'm very aware that they're here and you know, and that's the way it is with reality TV, you're aware. It's not like there's, you know, I wake up and there's a camera in my face, so you're kind of aware of what that is and you're, you know, you get used to you get really used to that being part of, you know, your journey and your life and knowing that that's what you're trying to portray and share the stories that you're telling and the stuff that you're putting out. So, and yeah, and it be, you know, becomes you work together with production and just like we work with our family and you become, you know, close to some and friendships and we're all on the same team, you know, we're all trying to put out something that's great. with a network or with a streamer or whoever, did you know, they're wanting the product to be good, you're willing to ultimately put it out for people. And when you can do that and really, you know, perhaps in some way affect culture and affect people's lives and make people feel better, then it's amazing, you know, it really is. I mean, it's amazing that, I mean, you don't know how many people like thousands of people have come to me and just told me stories of, you know, like when my papa was dying, you know, and we turned on your show. It was the last thing we watched for the last two weeks of his life. It was the only thing we could watch together and laugh at. And so, you know, all these stories or or what I didn't have in my family, I was able to be a part of that and to show that there was hope and show that there was, you know, something bigger. And so yeah, these are, you know, and so therefore with with cameras and I think you have, you know, I think God's given us things to to be able to put that out and you know, and as I look at Hollywood and other things, you you know, you were there wasn't a lot of things that were kind of light like that, you know, a lot of things were dark and things have been heavy. But but you see that and then you start seeing things move another way and people start you know, opening their minds up to other thing with movies and with television shows and, I mean even the other night I watched American Idol and the whole night was faith night and it just blew me away. I just could not believe, I couldn't believe what I was and I know a lot of the people on that show and but just watching I was like this is completely, I never would have thought this could have happened. And I actually thought the same thing about Duck Dynasty like if you would have told me there's a show, it's going to come out, it's a reality show, it's going to be about a family. I mean automatically you're thinking, oh, it's going to be a train wreck, right? You know, this is going to be like, you know, but there's going to be no fighting, no cursing, no nudity, people are going to get along, you're going to have you know, mom and dad and kids and it's going to end with a prayer. I mean that was not, that was so foreign at the time, you know, like of normal reality shows. And so you're even, I think the network was like, we don't know if this is going to work. And it's the most watched unscripted show in the history of cable television.

Adam Hildebrandt: I know that we enjoyed every aspect from the simple idea of a family gathering around the dinner table. That's something that we try to do every night if we can to the hilarity of God when we get in a hot tub and how much that episode has stuck with my family over the course of.

Willie Robertson: I forgot about that episode! That's one I have not thought about.

Adam Hildebrandt: It's one of our absolute. I cannot tell you how many, how often my, somebody in my family just at random says, "A hot tub!"

[Reference clip]: "I'm going to get me a hot tub!" "What?" "A hot tub!"

Adam Hildebrandt: It's all the time. One more and then we'll get you out of here. and this is a little bit of a question so I can learn from you a little bit. You've got kids that are are grown now and you've still got some that are that they're growing up. You've got kids that are grown and have gone out into the world, made you a grandparent. What's that been like seeing kind of the next generation start to to go out and make their own lives, make their own impact on the world?

Willie Robertson: It's been amazing. It's been just this great circle of life. And, speaking of foundations and what you pour into them and what you're hoping, you know, they'll be and probably the best thing Korie and I have ever done, well, one is adoption because I think when you bring other kids into your life, that's a huge thing, but having my kids at all live beside me. And I think it's such a it's a testimony because, you know, to have your kids want to be around you, you know, because a lot of times they don't, you know, they're like, you know, I want to live somewhere not by you or not by you two. And so having them where they actually had the desire to say we want to be right beside each other. And so we have this really close relationship, I see them every day. I mean, every day they're over at my house or they're at, you know, and so we all do that. We're filming a new show now just about that and kind of the next generation and how that goes on and how we've been able to carry that on. And so yeah, I think that's, you know, just seeing that has been awesome and seeing them now back in TV to some extent. because it's more now, now they're more and they know more now than they did even when they were teenagers. but seeing their spouses on, you know, getting the TV for the first time and my grandkids, I mean, they're like the star of the show. They really are. It's and I keep getting to work with them. they the production company loves me and the grandkids together and I've got eight of them, so it's a bunch of them. And, but it's so fun. It's just these fun memories I know that they're going to be able to have and now that we'll be able to capture the same memories that we captured, you know. Oh, we were talking about actually just last night, we were talking about how just the special moments, you know, 'cause my mom and my dad actually both have Alzheimer's right now. So it's it's sad, but yet I'm so glad we got, we're able to capture these moments, you know, with them and these fun times that and we were able to do that because of a TV show. So it actually was like kind of gave it some meaning and purpose and yeah, but just capturing that is is something that they're going to be tickled to death when they get older and be like, "Ah there." And now this hasn't happened is that they're like four and five and six, you know, and so John Luke and Sadie and they were teenagers whenever the show, Bell and Will were a little bit younger, but we haven't done this particular thing quite yet. Yeah, we were I was talking one of my grandkids is in kindergarten. So we're meeting with the school because of because he has to miss some, you know, and he was going over his days because we have to film and so they're meeting with the school board and saying, "Hey, we need to" so the guy at the school board is like, "So how is is he in high school?" And they're like, "He's in kindergarten." They were like, "Kindergarten! We got him in kindergarten saying, hey, we've got to adjust our schedules because we have to be on a television show" and they've been very helpful. So all the schools around there have been helpful and they're proud as well. I mean where we're from is proud and I think I think people are I mean like yourself, we're at impaction. So you know, you want to be able to root for that, root for people with the same values and say, "Hey, we want to, you know, see that as an option, you know, in entertainment". And Korie and I don't take that lightly, which is why we started a production company, which is why we put out movies, help other people with shows to put out stuff that's positive that everybody can, you know, watch and have fun together.

Adam Hildebrandt: Willie Robertson, orange bandana and all, here to speak on campus today. Willie, thanks so much for giving us some time. Really appreciate it.

Willie Robertson: Thank you, buddy.

Adam Hildebrandt: We'll talk to you all next time. Thanks for tuning in.

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