If you gig for Donald Trump…
…get the check beforehand.
Anyone catch The Apprentice last week? The teams were tasked with entertaining a bunch of car dealers in a daytime event. One of them got the bright idea of hiring a comedian. Okay. Cool. They got Corey Kahaney. Okay. Cool. The gig didn’t go great (or at least that’s what the editors wanted us to think… we’re not sure exactly how it went, but that’s not the issue here).
What was disturbing was the post-mortem, where these chuckleheads dissected the event and tried to figure out what went wrong. The idiots on the team that lost tried to blame their failure on the comedian (of course!) complaining that she was coarse, vulgar. Odlly, when they were pushed, they had to admit that she was funny.
Trump was a douchebag. He asked if she was paid before the gig or after– Implying that, had they waited until after the gig to pay her, they would have had the option to not pay her! Nice!
Trump also appeared shocked at the price tag for Kahaney– $1,700. He said that maybe they could’ve saved that much just by putting one of the team members up there to entertain. (Yeah, right– Jerry the Russian guy is a real scream. We would’ve loved to be present for that meltdown.)
Trump displayed a total disregard for the artist, a total lack of respect for what it is we do. And a total failure to grasp just how hard standup is and how much experience and expertise Kahaney and other professional comics bring to the table. Shame on Trump for being such a lunkhead and for being so… unbusinesslike.
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Reply to: If you gig for Donald Trump…
First, what can you expect from somebody with hair like Trump’s? And how many times has Trump declared bankruptcy and been dumped by his trophy wife now? I’ve been seeing this ad for Trump to speak with other so-called financial experts to speak at the LA convention center–for 99 dollars a pop. And the other “experts”? None other than that mogul of Wall Street Magic Johnson. . . . That’s a joke, all right, but if it’s worth 99 bucks, Corey’s worth 17 usand, not 17 hundred.
well look ive done over a thousand corps. and if the client thinks you suck …. guess what you suck… if you dont know how to work corp. clean you should not accept it… talking about morning erections in a corp. environment is innept and quite hacky. maybe she was made to look bad by the editing but from what i heard she got what she deserved…. and 1700 to do a local gig for 20 min. thats premium money… especially for someone who obviously has very little corp. experience. i refuse to act like the client is always wrong sometimes you just make bad choices on material or even selecting gigs… ive turned down gigs for corps that paid alot more than 1700 and it was because most of the audience didnt speak english… what cory did to corporate bookings for the good acts is what bush is doing for U.S. foreign relations… corporates will think twice before hiring a comic… and sadly will probably pass on females. thinking they will be as unprofessional as cory.
You make some good points, Corpmonster (if that is your real name). We tend to agree with you on most of them.However, as we stated in the post, our gripe wasn’t with whether or not the gig went well, or if it was cut to make the comic look bad.We took issue with Trump’s position that Kahaney <>shouldn’t have been paid.<>That’s just creepy. The “producers” of the gig wanted Kahaney. They hired her. Bad move? Maybe. They probably watched a tape, or a DVD, or set up a showcase at Caroline’s. They knew what they were buying. They made the decision. For Trump to quiz them after the fact and suggest that maybe they shouldn’t have paid her is just plain bogus.How many corporate gigs have been televised? We’ll answer that: None. Will this have an effect on your livelihood (or on the livelihood of female corp comics)? Probably not.The spectacle of Trump considering withholding a paycheck from an artist however will affect all of us, regardless of the finer distinctions made in your post.