and lorne michaels came up to me and said, this is yaet.ou know, it won't always be like this, some day the ratings won't be good and nbc will call me and they'll say i'm sorry mr. trump but the ratings are no good, we're going to cancel the show. and he looked at me and he said, no, there's one thing wrong. they won't even bother to call. it's true. they won't even bother to call. and the apprentice was a tremendous hit. nbc renewed it. i may be like the only one or one of certainly like you can count them on your hand that turned down a major renewal. in fact, mark burnett said, you got to be kidding. you got to be kidding. you're turning down a major renewal. he called it is a renewal. he said, you're turning down a r renewal. nobody turns it down. i turned it down for many, many shows. you see the kind of money they paid me. you remember you had that certain anchor who said he didn't believe it, bah, bah, bah, then he had to take it back. we'll just call him steve, but he's a great guy. the head of nbc, the head of reality television. t

. >> lorne michaels called him infuriatingly talented. i thought offstage he was a different guy, but he was always on. >> yeah, that's the thing we noticed. chris farley was born chris farley. this is the chris farley from high school and college, second city, "snl," it's the same guy throughout. always the class clown, always the funny man. same guy. >> it was interesting to hear so many say he was not the writer but he was the guy everybody wanted to work with. what was it about him that made people at second city and "snl" and even movies loved working with him? >> i think it's those characters. >> look at those characters. matt foley, motivational speaker, chip n dales. these are iconic characters. guy. you think whatever you have on off that page. instincts. you could start with the idea it. as you learn with the writers in the film, yeah, just go for it. you're going to make it that magical thing by that comedic >> they would start something would know where to fix it. he couldn't just bring it out. he'd say, oh, that's needs this,

. >> lorne michaels, actually we go to tearfully say we're gonna quit and he fires us before we get ay. >> seth: you of course -- lorne would never fire you. you are two of the best writers in the history of "snl." you've written so many wonderful things. james, i will say this, i think that every writer at "snl" knows this, you write the greatest wig sketches in the history of "snl." you write great sketches about gay themes. one of my favorites, will you please tell me how you came up with the voicemail sketch for alec baldwin? >> when i first started at "snl," i had to set up my voice mail. and i don't know, i was just a little self-conscious about it. you know, i pressed the little thing and was like -- the little thing. it's a button, right? >> seth: yeah. [ light laughter ] >> it's a button. >> it's a button. and i was like, um -- james anderson. then it played back and it was a little femmy. it was like james anderson. [ laughter ] so, then i was like james anderson. [ laughter ] you have reached james anderson. and then it was like you have reached james anderson. [ laughter ]

which i never thought that was part of it until one time i was on "snl" and i was talking to lorne michaelse goes, that's part of the whole thing. the risk that you might bomb, so it keeps people laughing. that's part of the energy of the room. i'm saying i'm funny. charlie: they don't give up on you if you bomb. colin: no, the worst thing in audience could be is if they feel sorry for you. if they feel sorry for you, then you are dead. they are disgusted by the weakness, because they feel it. charlie: why did you turn to this type of thing? colin: some of it is storytelling. some of it is stand up. i could not even write this until i started doing a standup , because i was so spoiled from being a standup that i'm used to reacting. even a one-man show, until i perform i could not write the book because i'm so used to -- i'm spoiled and i'm used to getting reactions to what i say. when you are writing a book you are writing chapters -- i want to hear this every night from different people. charlie: tell me about this homage to new york. colin: i'm obsessed with old new york. i grew up with h

talking about, the number of media figures' names he dropped over the course of his speech, lawrence lorn michaels at "snl," he is focused on how the new york especially and now the political media cover him, interact with him. he wants to be something who's seen as a player, as seen as making a difference of being involved. to a certain extent, that requires courting people. he has relationships. he has personal private conversations with a lot of top media news figures. i think that's something that plays a huge role in how he's covered, discussed and treated. >> maria teresa, he has mentioned no one in the speech more than ann coulter who was in the audience and she has been really great at picking losing republican presidential candidates. >> i hope her streak continues. i think he left himself up to have a sit down with jorge ramos. if that happens everybody will be watching that interview. >> everyone stay with us. we will take a break here. coming up, we will look at donald trump's policies. he actually did discuss some policies tonight and one a very surprising liberal take on a major poli

it was lorne michael's brilliance that made -- and back in the day you couldn't match the writing of n zweibel. yourself, seth meyers. >> seth: thanks. >> no, you did all tina fey's stuff, man. >> seth: i did not. tina fey did all of tina fey's stuff. [ laughter ] every now and then i would transcribe something she said, but that was -- >> it's the hardest thing to do to write. so, yeah. >> seth: and it was full turnover. i think that's the important thing. everybody left and they started it over and that's never happened since then. >> and we were hired by a great lady, jean doumanian. you know, lorne's gal hired us and we went in. but it was like a no-win situation. but jean hired me, hired eddie. we had to work as hard as we possibly can. but it's new york city, man. it's nothing for nothing. and we weren't doing great. and there's no mercy in new york. >> seth: no. it was an institution. >> i felt we were ruining america's favorite television show, you know? >> seth: yeah. >> we weren't being malicious about it. so we'd be walking down the street and people would go, "hey, you're

. >> jimmy: i mean -- [ laughter ] >> i'm going to tell you, lorne michaels knows how to throw a party, they had that stage up there with all those instruments, and they just sat there and sat there. >> jimmy: yep. >> dan akroyd goes, "oh, we've got to get up there, jimmy. we got to get up there." and danny got up there and started and called me up and we did some blues. and then you came out. >> jimmy: yeah, and then all three. that's when we started -- everyone started getting up. >> paul mccartney came up. >> jimmy: did you sing with paul mccartney? and what was he saying to you there? do you remember? >> what key do you want to sing this in, jim? [ laughter ] >> jimmy: he was asking you what key. >> what key. and i said, "the beatles key." [ laughter ] >> jimmy: your key. you're paul mccartney. >> "when i did it with the rolling stones we did it in c." >> jimmy: it was fun. >> oh, yeah. >> jimmy: it got crazy. look at this one here. >> oh, yeah. >> jimmy: it was nuts. there's taylor swift, dan akroyd, elvis perkins. paul mccartney's drummer, al laboriel jr. and then you over there.

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