For nearly two decades, Jim Cramer and his team of “Mad Money” researchers and producers have tried to break the “magician’s code” of Wall Street to help individual investors make money in the stock market. At the CNBC Investing Club’s recent 2024 Annual Meeting, Cramer and the show’s longtime executive producer, Regina Gilgan, pulled back the curtain on its origins. They talked about the days when Cramer was a crime reporter and lived in his car in California before eventually landing on Wall Street. They also discussed the process of putting together an episode each night. “You have to break through the clutter,” Cramer said. “To entertain is not what people think of” when they think of Wall Street, he added. Indeed, the concept behind “Mad Money” – a fun, but educational show about investing featuring calls from at-home viewers – had its doubters at the beginning, Cramer and Gilgan said on stage. But the official greenlight eventually came in early 2005. In fact, it was during Super Bowl 39, which featured Cramer’s beloved Philadelphia Eagles against the New England Patriots, he recalled. “On March 13, 2005, nobody knew what we were up to, and many people thought there’s no chance we made it past week one … including in our camp,” Gilgan said. Roughly a thousand weeks later, the show’s goal of democratizing the market, with the help of sound effects like boos and lightning strikes, has stayed the same, Gilgan said. “The CEOs love the sound board. It’s very funny,” Cramer added. Watch the video above to hear the full Cramer and Gilgan conversation moderated by CNBC’s Frank Holland.
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