Whoops-a-Daisy: THE Improv Tip We Can Glean from the Oscars Debacle

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Oscar momentsNow that the shock has worn off and we’ve focused on who to blame we’re ready to admit that we would have survived if “La La Land” had, in fact, won the big prize of the night…

(I was a “Lion” gal myself), let’s see what we can learn from this mother of all whoops-a-daisy Oscar moments.

If You See Something, Say Something

When all else fails, there’s always Murphy’s Law: If it can go wrong, it will go wrong. And so wouldn’t it have been just glorious if instead of handing over that “Best Actress” card to Faye Dunaway, Warren Beatty looked wistfully into Faye’s eyes and said:

“You know what you done there? You told my story, you told my whole story right there, right there. One time, I told you I was gonna make you somebody. That’s what you done for me. You made me somebody they’re gonna remember.”

Reenacting this “Bonnie and Clyde” moment would have been the perfect stall…and with waves of cheering and clapping, perhaps it could have even given the backstage crew enough time to get their sh!t together. Who knows. The point is, there will always be Oscar moments where you’ve got to roll with it during your events. Be ready. You won’t be ready for it; there’s no way you can be. After all, it’s impossible for us mere mortals (you know, those of us who didn’t get the memo on quantum mechanics) to devise all scenarios in all situations where something could go wrong. You can’t possibly know. You’re not supposed to know. But be ready, nevertheless.

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