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{{trope}}
{{quote|''"But you know, I miss live TV. It's like sex, you know. It's almost better when everything goes horribly wrong."''|'''Rosemary Howard'''
When the characters in a show put on a play, radio show or television show, and everything goes horribly wrong. [[The Show Must Go On]] until the management decides the production is truly beyond hope and closes it down. Usually used in comedies, and is sometimes a [[School Play]] thanks to lack of experience.
A subtrope of [[Show Within a Show]]. The inversion of this is [[Springtime for Hitler]].
{{examples}}▼
▲{{examples}}
== [[Comic Books]] ==
* ''[[De Cape et de Crocs]]'': The heroes are forced to put on a play or die. At first it seems they're going to manage but then some of their friends show up followed by evil mimes and it all goes horribly wrong. {{spoiler|The play becomes [[So Bad It's Good]] and everyone is spared.}}
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* The finale of ''[[The Muppet Movie]]'' is performed while their first attempt at filming goes ''epically'' awry.
== [[
* One of [[Gordon Korman]]'s books, [[Macdonald Hall|''Macdonald Hall Goes Hollywood'']], concerns a movie being filmed on a school campus. Bruno, a prankster, interferes with the filming. His attempts to befriend the movie star even get them stranded in the wilderness at one point.▼
* The [[School Play|Christmas play]] in ''Bless Me, Ultima''. Two of the kid actors got into a fight, another urinated himself, and in the commotion the baby Jesus was decapitated.▼
* [[Discworld]]:
** In ''[[
** The bledlows of Unseen University also determinedly follow their ancient and utterly meaningless rituals such as the Ceremony of the Keys (a simple exchange of keys added to over time until shouting "Oops! They were in my jacket pocket the whole time! Forget me own head next!" at the top of their lungs is an honored part of the procedure) while ignoring storm, [[Eldritch Abomination|great big things with tentacles]], harpies, dragons, and faculty members who scream at them things like "Keep it down! What's the bloody ''point''?".▼
* ''[[Frasier]]'' used this in the Mystery Theater episode. Frasier is reading a play for his radio show, and no one cooperates. Roz's can't speak properly because of Novocaine, Bulldog gets stage fright and can't talk, Gil gets arrogant and wants to tell a childhood story, and Niles gets fed up with everyone and "shoots" all of the characters (with the sound effects).
* Subverted in ''[[Seinfeld]]'' when Jerry and George film the pilot for their show. It looks like they're struggling and it's going absolutely nowhere, but they successfully make a pilot. The show is canceled because of George and Susan's failing relationship; the show has no problem in itself.
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* In ''[[Modern Family]]'', when Cam directs the school play, only one thing really goes badly wrong: the crane that's supposed to lift and lower Luke gets stuck with him at the top. Unfortunately, the premise is that Luke is flying around the world '''and landing''' in various places, and most scenes presuppose his return to the ground.
* ''[[Slings and Arrows]]''' third-season production of ''[[King Lear]]'' is like this. {{spoiler|It ends with the lead actor dying and everyone else involved in the production being fired.}}
▲== [[Literature]] ==
▲* One of [[Gordon Korman]]'s books, [[Macdonald Hall|''Macdonald Hall Goes Hollywood'']], concerns a movie being filmed on a school campus. Bruno, a prankster, interferes with the filming. His attempts to befriend the movie star even get them stranded in the wilderness at one point.
▲* The [[School Play|Christmas play]] in ''Bless Me, Ultima''. Two of the kid actors got into a fight, another urinated himself, and in the commotion the baby Jesus was decapitated.
▲* In ''[[Discworld/Maskerade|Maskerade]]'' this is the mantra of the Ankh-Morpork Opera House, holding to it when the lead singer dropped dead just before the first act, when a [[Discworld/Guards Guards|dragon]] was perching on the roof, during a civil war, as a mysterious Ghost murders people, and ignoring said Ghost being chased from one box via the chandelier by a cat transformed into a human, showering the audience with glass ornaments. It eventually stops when a hostage situation breaks out on stage, and even then the orchestra continues to provide musical stings.
▲** The bledlows of Unseen University also determinedly follow their ancient and utterly meaningless rituals such as the Ceremony of the Keys (a simple exchange of keys added to over time until shouting "Oops! They were in my jacket pocket the whole time! Forget me own head next!" at the top of their lungs is an honored part of the procedure) while ignoring storm, [[Eldritch Abomination|great big things with tentacles]], harpies, dragons, and faculty members who scream at them things like "Keep it down! What's the bloody ''point''?".
== [[Theatre]] ==
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== [[Web Original]] ==
* ''[[Homestar Runner]]'' has done this in "[
{{quote|'''Homestar:''' (While onstage) Wow. I can't believe the night of the big Decemberween pageant has finally arrived! After all the weeks and weeks of rehearsing and practicing and memorizing lines...
'''Marzipan:''' Homestar, I don't think those are your lines. }}
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Pages Needing Wicks]]
[[Category:Just for Pun]]
[[Category:Metafiction Demanded This Index]]
[[Category:Index Failure]]
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