Michael, one of our loyal Figarists, wrote us about Kim Delaney’s incoherent speech, which she delivered after her teleprompter went on the fritz. “Cicero is turning in his grave moaning O tempora! O mores!” Michael wrote.
It’s true that memorization was once considered an essential skill of oratory (along with invention, arrangement, style, and delivery). With our new book coming out, we’re giving a lot more speeches ourselves lately, and we try to deliver them without notes. How? By memorizing a few key lines and winging the rest. It takes practice. Which poor, beautiful Kim Delaney clearly hasn’t had.
“It was different in Charlie’s day,” Michael said, and he included this video. It sure was different. Back then, if you forgot your words, you simply switched to Foreign!