This is Later with Lee Matthews, the Lee Matthews Podcast. More what you
hear Weekday Afternoon is on the Drive. Don Mischner is a renowned producer who is a visionary work that has left an indelible mark on the world of entertainment, with a career spanning six decades as a producer and director, including credits of the Oscars, the Obama Inaugural Celebration, Lincoln Memorial, the Kennedy Center Honors, and he's written all about it too, by the way, in a great new book, Ten Seconds to Air, My Life in the Director's
Chair. Don Mischer Great to have you along today. Thank you a very happy to be with you. And as I have learned and many in our industry have learned, it doesn't matter how much you prepare. When the on air light goes on and the shooting starts, everything changes. That's it. That's what makes it fun. It's like being in a damn rodeo at times.
I do think that the more you prepare, the more you do your homework, the better you are to handle it if it all falls apart, and if the script gets changed because you studied it and did your homer you're going to do a better job of what we call winging it. You know, So anyway, I'll let you continue. Well, I was just going to say that, Yeah, that's in life, and that's in everything. I had a peer of mine at one point say, preparation breeds luck.
There is no such thing as luck. As long as you're prepared, you'll be lucky. That's a great quote. I love that. I'm going to remember that. I love it well. In ten seconds to air, you talk about also your first hand collaborations with some of the bigs in our industry, some of the bigs in entertainment like Willie Nelson and Michael Jackson. Yep, Michael and Willie, they're not They're just unique talents. I mean, Michael was so quiet. If you brought Michael into a room, he would
go over in the corner and just quietly sit there. But when Michael stepped on a stage, he took over, he took control. He had a tremendous artistic ability to impress you and to do something that you couldn't take your eyes off of. Willi was the exact opposite. WILLI was easy going. I grew up in Texas, so WILLI was someone that I admired. I used to play in a countryman. I remember when we gave Willy the Kennedys Entter Honors. He would just as soon talk to an elevator operator at the
White House then he would to the President. He's just Willie was interested and is interested people, and he's unpretentious, ready to sign anything you ever put in front of him, Talk to you. You, he looks you in the eyes when you're talking to him, and it's just you know, they're
two different people, but both extremely successful. We're talking to Don Mischer, who is a renowned producer of such programs as the one hundredth anniversary of Carnegie Hall, Motown's twenty five Super Bowl halftime shows, as well along the lines of dealing with this talent when you are getting ready for these broadcasts, are they by and large willing to go through some rehearsals or are some of them more apt to pull a fast one on you when the cameras start rolling.
No, I got to tell you the reason these artists are successful is because they do want the rehearsal. Generally, they want more rehearsal, and you can afford to give him. I mean, Prince For example, we had one one rehearsal on the field for that Super Bowl show, and it was the Thursday night. I got the stadium for two hours. The super Bowl wasn't until Sunday, you know, But you value those rehearsals, and when you have so few of them, you really make use of them. You
don't waste you know, waste your time. But you know, he was I was really worried about Prince the night before the Super Bowl because we knew it was going to rain. And the stage came out and like twenty eight pieces, it weighed like thirteen tons and had a little dressing room for Prince, and it was slippery in general, and when it started to rain, it was treacherous. And the whole night before I kept saying, what's going to happen with this guy and breaks away or one of his dancers falls of
what do we do? Do we just just he had they were twin dancers. I said, we just go on dancing with one twin? How odd would that be? You know? And uh. But then, but like many artists, here goes to the occasion. So the first half it rained. Then we're all set up for the halftime show and We're counting down from thirty seconds to go on the air, and it was like a squall hit us in a dead huge and I said to Prince Man, I just got to give your heads up. It's really really coming down harder now. And
he said to me, can you make it rain harder? And that always stuns me, And he was motivated. The rain motivated Prince to deliver a show that is one of the best performances that he ever did, you know, because he was challenged by the rain and made a decision I'm going to deal with it and I'm going to overcome it. And that's what you love to see in an artist. I mean, that makes a big difference in the performances. Don Mischer renowned producer. His works include many of the big
television productions we see. And that's another thing too, Don. The more you add to a live performance, the more complicated it becomes, and the more chances there are that something bad will happen. What's about the worst thing that has happened to you right before a broadcast? God, I'm trying to think. I've had people drop out of the show. We were doing a live in artical broadcast once and a female singer, very popular name, refused to go on stage because she didn't like the as she was in. I
remember Frank Sinatra one on the end Inaugirls. He was aging and kind of got lost and just stood there for a period of like fifteen to seventeen seconds. He'd kind of lost his place. I know now because that happens to me. Okay, but you have to just go with these things. You can't cover them up. You have to be honest with people and show them what's happening. And that's the best way to handle it. Ten seconds to air My life in the Director's Chair. Don Micheer, thanks for joining us
today. Thanks for listening to Later with Lee Matthews, the Lee Matthews Podcast, and remember to listen to The Drive Live weekday afternoons from five to seven and Iheartsmedia Presentation