Page 106 - Trump Never Give Up: How I Turned My Biggest Challenges into Success

trum_c19.qxd 11/30/07 3:59 PM Page 85

D ON ’ T L ET F EAR S TOP Y OU

fact that if the show was a disaster, millions of people would wit-
ness it, live, without edits. It was great opportunity to flop on a
huge level. The doubts swelled, and I knew I had to regroup.
The more I thought about it, I realized: the show is leg-
endary, I knew its creator, Lorne Michaels, and the writers are
fantastic. I knew I’d give it my best shot. As I’ve always said,
you’ve got to think big.
Anyway, the process of this live show was an incredible
experience. First, on Tuesday, I met with Lorne’s team of gifted
writers, led by Tina Fey. They asked questions and pitched a lot
of ideas. It was an intense and productive hour. By Thursday, we
were reading through the sketches with the members of the Sat-
urday Night Live team. They are pros but very amiable and help-
ful, so it was a pleasure and I felt some of my nervousness
vanishing. I knew I was facing some pretty big hurdles, and I
was wondering how it would all fall into place in the two days we
had. I was also wondering how I would remember everything.
I’m used to doing my own material, and as a public speaker, I’m
at ease. However, this was a different scenario entirely.
Our first full day was on Friday, where we did run-throughs
of the skits on the Saturday Night Live stage. The sets weren’t
finished, but the theatrical aspect of what I was getting into was
very apparent. There was so much going on around me that I
didn’t have time to take into account the fact that I was feeling
apprehensive—they had me in a lot of skits. I would be a hippie
in a business meeting, the author of a romance novel, a lawyer, a
character in The Prince and the Pauper along with Darrell Ham-
mond, a keyboard player, and more. In addition, the costume
changes had to be taken into consideration. There wasn’t much
time between skits, and one skit required a mid-skit costume
change. Fortunately, they have a wardrobe team that later takes
over and navigates you through the show. Since I’m a guy who
likes to know everything that’s going on, I will admit that a few
times I felt a bit overwhelmed.

85