you even saw that when Lou Reed got off drugs: very sane, hardworking. I’m trying to go for the people that you would think would be crazy. Debbie Harry of Blondie. BUCK SEXTON: Can I focus you in on Trump if I could, Penn? I’m sitting down with your former contestant and colleague, Omarosa Manigault, tomorrow for an at-length discussion. What can you tell me about Omarosa?
people around them did a lot of jiggling and nudging and manipulating to have them do what the employee thought was a better job. Having spent a lot of time around Trump, it is remarkable – I’ve never been around somebody who had no filter, no thinking, and no kind of sense of other people. It is really remarkable. Now, in a reality show and show-business environment, that’s completely acceptable. We have found a use in entertainment for mentally ill people. Not only do we have people who have serious psychological problems, but also we cultivate those. There’s no doubt that we as a culture drove Elvis and Frank Sinatra insane. And we were OK with that. What we got out of that was someone very entertaining who spoke to our hearts. And we’ve certainly seen that – I mean, you certainly saw that with Richard Pryor. Many, many of our geniuses – Lenny Bruce – were put in a role that drove them crazy. BUCK SEXTON: Is it fair to ask, Penn, if creativity has a bit too close a relationship with crazy? PENN JILLETTE: I don’t know about that. I’m always a little bit skeptical when somebody – and many people do – try to consider their lack of prudence and their capriciousness and self-centered qualities to be part of their genius. Because you do have people who are phenomenally talented and at the same time incredibly sane. I mean, Steve Martin comes to mind as somebody who is as sane as anybody you’re going to find and yet has a body of work as good as anybody you’re going to find. And
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Having spent a lot of time around Trump, it is
remarkable – I’ve never been around somebody who had no filter, no thinking, and no kind of sense of other people.
PENN JILLETTE: Well, she texts with my wife fairly often. She has a wonderful relationship with my wife. My contact with her was as somebody who was playing a role, you know? In wrestling it’s called the “heel.” You have the face and you have the heel in professional wrestling. And the face is the good guy and the heel is the bad guy. And Omarosa played a character with her own name that she considered to be a character that was a bad guy on reality shows. I have enough trouble just trying to present myself as honestly as I can that I’ve never been much of an actor. I’m not good at playing a role. So since she would say to me
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