When Will & Grace came back to NBC last fall after an 11-year absence, creators Max Mutchnick and David Kohan did not waste any time in cracking jokes at the expense of President Donald Trump: Even the premiere episode presented interior designer Grace (Debra Messing) with an opportunity to redecorate Trump’s Oval Office, and while trying to imagine the best curtains to go with Trump’s coloring, she held up a Cheetos bag.
But as it turns out, Mutchnick and Kohan have experience not only writing jokes that involve Trump, but for Trump.
At the 1994 ESPYs, Trump appeared on the Madison Square Garden stage with then-wife Marla Maples to present the award for Outstanding Team, a trophy that went to the Dallas Cowboys. But not before a little back-and-forth banter between the couple.
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After being introduced as a “couple for the ages” by host Dennis Miller, Trump noted that “nothing symbolizes the greatness of a team like a championship ring.” Maples replied, “You’re right, Donald. I love rings,” to which her future presidential husband said, “By the way, she likes big rings.”
The quip generated some chuckles from the crowd — per a clip on YouTube — but it was nothing compared to Messing’s booming laugh at last month’s Will & Grace FYC event inside Harmony Gold Theatre in L.A. when Mutchnick revealed that news that he and Kohan wrote the bit back in the day while working on the ESPYs.
“I know we’re not supposed to talk about this,” Mutchnick offered as he defied the night’s directive from NBC brass not to discuss Trump. “But we were backstage when Donald Trump and Marla Maples came [back], and David and I had to write rap for everybody. My job as a scrappy little guy, I had to pitch the jokes. I went up to Marla and I pitched her the joke — the setup and the punchline. She was so catatonic from the relationship, and she looked at me and froze and said, ‘I’m not having a very good day.’ That was my interaction with her.”
The ESPYs take place in Los Angeles on July 18 and Trump is not scheduled to attend.
A version of this story first appeared in the July 18 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.
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