Last week, by way of a client video we did at VVI, I had the privilege of “meeting” Mr. Newt Gingrich. I use the term “meet” very loosely since we never got to exchange pleasantries. He came into our interview room, we mic’d him up and immediately was in place answering his questions. Once his interview was done and we had the footage we needed, out the door he went for his next meeting. Total time: 7 minutes.
While our time together was brief and will no doubt be remembered by him for all time, I must say that he was very well spoken and made for an excellent interviewee.
Now, for those of you (like me) who don’t really know who Newt Gingrich is, he was elected has the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives for 4 years (‘95-‘99). I learned in my citizenship test that he would have become President if the President and VP were to die (or otherwise be removed from office – [wiki]).
But, since I’m being totally honest with you, all I really could think of was this snippet from the British TV show: Ali G:
As I was setting up the room for the next interview, Nate calls me and asks me to run a mic downstairs for Newt’s next meeting. Knowing there was only a small window before he spoke, I quickly raced downstairs to deliver the equipment. I flew down the last set of stairs and opened the door. There stood Newt just as I heard him declare “These guys don’t have a clue what they’re doing!”. My heart nearly skipped a beat until I realized he wasn’t talking about us, but was arguing with someone on the phone, no doubt over some huge global matter. Phew! The video guys were off the hook.
And so ends my favorite (and only) memory of meeting Mr. Newt Gingrich.