We began our on the Consumer Electronics Show by mentioning film director Michael Bay鈥檚 onstage meltdown at the show.
He said later in an email that he鈥檇 been so excited he鈥檇 jumped off his script, and that confused the poor teleprompter operator, who鈥檇 jumped ahead.
Who has not been there?
It reminded me of a stint on The Today Show a million years ago, sitting in for Jane Pauley. I was so excited because I鈥檇 written a pretty good piece and breezed through it 鈥� only to look up and see words fly like little birds, up and off the teleprompter screen, until none were left.
I froze. The kind floor director began whispering, 鈥淲att!鈥�
鈥淲hat?鈥� I said. 鈥淲att,鈥� he said.
鈥淲丑补迟??鈥�
Unbeknownst to me, then-Secretary of the Interior James Watt was pictured in a little box next to my head, with the words 鈥淯p Next: James Watt.鈥�
Finally, the floor director said, 鈥淭his is today on NBC,鈥� and I dutifully repeated, 鈥淭his is Today on NBC.鈥�
So we鈥檙e not making fun of Michael Bay, we鈥檙e sympathizing. Thank goodness we don鈥檛 depend on that technology in radio. (Okay鈥� where鈥檚 my script?)
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