ABSTRACT
Years before he became a presidential candidate, Donald Trump was a rich source of humor, both within New York City and for the country as a whole. This chapter examines the pre-2016 intersections of Trump and the mass media. Starting with his days as a publicity-hungry Manhattan developer and recounting his frequent use of news and entertainment media to draw more attention to himself, this chapter examines how Trump built a public brand that relied in no small part on late night comedy. The chapter explores how Trump used and was used by entertainment media during the years before his presidential campaign, when he was a guest host on Saturday Night Live (and a frequent target of the show), and how he regularly appeared on late night comedy programs and talk shows long before he became host of The Apprentice, a popular reality television show that further established his national reputation.
