I was at a hosting audition today and was paired up with a cute guy as my co-host. FUN! The problem was that the poor guy was visibly nervous (ugh, don’t you hate those days!), so when he began performing the copy he did not seem to be on his “A” game.
Take #1: The pressure he had put upon himself to have the script memorized sunk his ship! Rather than him spend the time delivering the copy in a relaxed, engaging way, he was struggling with not allowing himself to look at the copy. Remember, it’s not a memorization contest (unless you’re specifically told that you cannot hold the copy).
My heart went out to my cute co-host as he fumbled over the words, his cheeks trembled and he seemed a million miles away. Like I said, we’ve all had those days.
Then it was my turn to do the heavy lifting and he could coast through with just a few interjections.
Take #2: Since I had only gotten the copy about an hour before the audition, I didn’t even pretend to be familiar with it. I read straight from the paper. Problem solved.
My cute guy had the first sentence which unfortunately he fumbled by saying, “blah blah blah 2001” when the copy should have read “blah blah blah 2011.” Me, being the listener that I am, I corrected him during the take. I said, “You mean 2011.”
Well, the room gasped and I felt like a jerk.
I corrected him because he misspoke (it happens all the time in life), but not on camera? It was the reality of the situation. If I hadn’t corrected him I would not have been listening and isn’t that the first rule of improv?
Regardless, I felt bad that I called him out, but if I hadn’t I would have been doing a disservice to myself by letting it slide.
Bottom line, he was having a bad day and I think I only added to it. Sometimes it doesn’t matter if YOU do a good job, you can still leave an audition feeling down.
In the infamous words of my husband, Marty Metro, “Good luck and be yourself!”