It’s that time again as a new cast of stars will endure the daunting challenge of working together on weekly business tasks and ultimately facing Donald Trump in the boardroom in the hopes of becoming the next Celebrity Apprentice. Comedian-actor Tom Green is one of 16 celebrities along with fellow comedians Andrew Dice Clay and Joan Rivers competing for the coveted title in season two of The Celebrity Apprentice premiering Sunday, March 1 on NBC. STAGE TIME caught up with Green, star of the Web show Tom Green Live!, to discuss his appearance on the show and to seek advice for aspiring comedians.
How did you get the opportunity to do The Celebrity Apprentice and why did you decide to do the show?
I got a call early on in the process. They called me up and asked me to do it. I’ve seen every episode of The Apprentice, even the first seasons before Celebrity Apprentice. I love the show. I thought it would be fun to do, because I am a businessman myself. I run my own television network on the Internet. I figured that I had a good shot.
What can you tell us about your experience on the show?
It was a very challenging and fun experience. I think that it was great for me to kind of do some fun, goofy stuff that I like to do when I am on television.
It’s a goofy environment that you have crossed into because you are with a bunch of celebrities, and so they are usually not into being in a situation where people argue with them. It was a lot of people arguing and freaking out on one another, which I thought very interesting and entertaining. I think this show is probably going to be the best season of any reality show ever. If you like drama and seeing celebrities screaming at each other, you’re going to love this show.
What was your experience facing Donald Trump in the boardroom?
I had a great time. Donald Trump is just a real cool character. I find him great to watch on television, so it was very fun to be in the boardroom every week and just sort of watching the human action.
Were you nervous?
It was exciting to me. First of all, I am a huge fan of television and I’ve never been on one of these big reality shows before, so it was interesting just to watch the process, seeing all the cameras seated behind the mirror, and all that kind of stuff. The crew and everybody working on the show were really cool.
I have a few things to say about some of the other cast members, but I don’t think I am allowed to say that right now. Honestly, there were a few times on the show where I don’t think I’ve never been so flustered in my life and I don’t get flustered easily.
What do you think were your greatest strengths during the competition?
I am an organized guy and very detail-oriented. I don’t think people would expect that from me, but I’ve always been kind of the center of doing my Web show and my television show that I’ve started on public access. I’ve directed films and I like to take an idea and see it through beginning to end, and the jobs like that often involved delegating assignments. When you direct a movie, for instance, you have to delegate all the different jobs to people, oversee it and manage it, and that’s essentially what the job was. The competition is managing so I was ready to play.
What is the most valuable lesson that you learned on the show?
Basically, the thing that I’ve learned is that seven out of ten people are pricks. You have to choose your friends wisely, and I am sort of making a joke, but the thing that I am saying is that it is almost an experiment in human social skills. It reminds me of the prisoner experiments where they locked up a bunch of students. Some were guards and some were prisoners, and the guards were beaten everyone up, because they thought they were powerful all of a sudden. It’s kind of like that. People behave strangely when they are put into a closed environment, forced to work together, and under a microscope on television.
I was just amazed by the whole process of watching the way people act on the show. I’ve done so much TV in the past few years, probably more than some of the people on the show, that sometimes I just felt like I was almost observing it.
It was interesting watching people freak out. A lot of people freak out on the show and there are some really shocking moments on the show this year. I think it’s going to be probably the biggest year ever for The Apprentice. When you watch the season premiere, you are going to say, “Oh my God! This is going to be the biggest reality show in the history of reality TV.” You’re not going to believe what is going to happen in the first episode. It’s insanity.
What can you tell us about the charity you’re playing for on the show and your work with them?
I’m playing for the [Butch Walts and] Donald Skinner Urologic Cancer Research Foundation which does research on testicular cancer. Donald Skinner is also the doctor that actually saved my life. I had testicular cancer seven or eight years ago, and so I definitely wanted to help out that charity. I think it’s great to raise awareness as well.
What advice do you have for future contestants of The Celebrity Apprentice?
Don’t do the show! I’m just joking. I would say that make sure that you watch every other season of The Apprentice, which you think would be an obvious thing. I was surprised by how many people on the show have never seen it before. What kind of preparation is that? These celebrities just walk in and they think they don’t even have to do their homework. That’s the thing about celebrities.
I was lucky enough to run into [The Celebrity Apprentice winner] Piers Morgan. We had a good conversation and he gave me a few tips. I think the real advice is that people should really try to have fun. I think it was hard for people to do that on the show this year because they were caught off guard at times, that they were forgetting to have fun. A future “Celebrity Apprentice” might want to relax, have fun, and not scream their head off at everybody. Try not to care so much. If you really don’t care as much, then it’s easier to just relax. I think that’s something people forget. It’s nothing that can really be considered the end of the world. It’s a game show.
What advice would you pass on to stand-up comedians, especially for new talent and aspiring comedians?
This is going to sound like a cheap plug, and that’s because it is; but I have a lot of stand-up comedians, some of the best working standups working today like Dave Attell, Pauly Shore and Norm MacDonald come on my Web show and I always like to talk to them about their craft. Certainly, I would say if you’re a stand-up comedian, go to my Web site, TomGreen.com and watch those shows and listen to what they have to say. My personal advice is to be yourself. Don’t go onstage and try to replicate some sort of style that you saw someone else do. Try to figure out what your sense of humor is, and what it is that you do that makes people laugh and stay true to that.
