In politics, you have your word and your friends; go back on either and you're dead.
Ignore the scale, and make the process your goal.
Don't treat your heart like an action figure wrapped in plastic and never used.
Be outrageous, ridicule the fraidy-cats, rejoice in all the oddities that freedom can produce.
I would always choose the script. You get more creative control that way. But, when you're in a situation like this, where everyone is really funny and you really want to do it, that's the chance of a lifetime, so you want to do it. But, a script has longer legs than a performance and, in the end, is more satisfying. It's harder, but it's more satisfying.
There's no one more obnoxious and self-righteous than the self-made man. And no one more admirable.