By: David Benoit
Published: December 4, 2015

Wait a minute. T. Boone Pickens has a podcast?

And Carl Icahn was just on it?

It’s true. In a nearly 30-minute episode released this week, the 87-year-old Mr. Pickens and nearly-80-year old Mr. Icahn sat in front of a camera and a microphone of questionable ability and just talked. About the old days. About famed lawyer Joe Flom. About oil prices. And how they don’t ever want to retire.

They may as well have been sitting at the bar.

That these two men who made their mark in the 1980s are communicating these days through Tweets and podcasts is only part of the fun. If you’ve got a slow Friday afternoon, watch or listen to the whole thing. (Come on, it starts with Mr. Icahn talking about being confused for Sean Connery.) If you can’t enjoy it right away, we’ve pulled out our favorite moments below.

1. Who’s the best?

Mr. Pickens: “Let’s go back Carl, way back, and you would agree that I was the number one corporate raider, wouldn’t you? And that you were number two.”

Mr. Icahn: “Yeah. I think you were number one. I think you are. You were really good. You went after it pretty good.”

2. Phillips Petroleum. In the 1980s Mr. Pickens made his name fighting oil companies where he argued the stocks were undervalued compared to the oil they had in the ground. One of the biggest was Phillips Petroleum and after the company bought his stock back and announced a restructuring to do it, Mr. Icahn swooped in to fight for a better shareholder payout. Both made millions. In the podcast, Mr. Icahn tells a long folksy story, including using an Oklahoma accent, about how he had to pay a local lawyer $5 million for helping him. And Mr. Pickens says he recently met with all his old advisors and they determined he could have taken over Phillips if he hadn’t been so afraid of running a proxy fight at the time. But he also admits “it was unfair” of him to criticize Phillips for its costs of production, because they were trying to explore and he was critical of it.

3. Oil prices: Their one discussion of current market conditions is about oil prices. Both Mr. Pickens and Icahn say they are somewhat bullish on oil prices. Mr. Pickens predicts oil supply will go down, promising to get to his point quickly “because you’re an impatient guy.” Mr. Pickens says oil can get to $70 a barrel in six months, but Mr. Icahn seems unconvinced. Mr. Icahn says he’s “stuck in a couple” of investments but thinks it will eventually get better.

4. Picking the broad market: In a moment of investing wisdom, Mr. Icahn says picking the whole market, like oil instead of picking a couple of stocks, is impossible. Mr. Icahn says he’s “never met a guy” who can do it, despite all the pontifications. “It’s like going to the roulette wheel. You hit three in a row … and you’re a genius. Until you lose three in a row and then all of a sudden you’re a bum.”

5. Getting old

Mr. Pickens: You’re not going to retire, are you?

Mr. Icahn: No, I don’t know what I’d do with myself.

Mr. Pickens: Me either.

[Interlude of a long discussion on politics]

Mr. Icahn: What else would I do, play shuffleboard? I can’t even play tennis anymore. I still play chess.

Mr. Pickens [Pointing to his head]: But there’s one thing you can do: Make money.

[Interlude where Mr. Pickens talks about his friend and Kansas State football coach Bill Synder.]

Mr. Pickens: I hadn’t seen you in a long time, and today I thought ‘I wonder how Carl would be.’ … You were just how I thought you’d be. Yeah, you’re a few years older, but you’re still enjoying life and everything else. And how did you find me?

Mr. Icahn.: I think you’ve improved. You’re sort of easier going.

Mr. Pickens: Well, I’m on my fifth wife.

Read this article on wsj.com: T. Boone Pickens and Carl Icahn Walk Into a Podcast…