Happy Accidents by Karah Britton

To me luck has always been either fantastical circumstances or an unfortunate incident of being down on my luck. They seem to go hand in hand. Sometimes you get the fun, colorful marshmallows and sometimes life gives you the slightly healthier part of dry, lightly frosted oat cereal. Well, it certainly does not involve a leprechaun who is trying to run away from children because they are always after his lucky charms which are strangely still kind of magically delicious to a woman in her thirties. I have moments of out of this world experiences that give me wondrous stories to recall. But I also get those hard, painful predicaments that usually provide a lesson leading to personal growth. 

Here’s an example of a moment I felt that occurrence of luck and unluck hitting me at once in a tidal wave of a very unexpected event. For legal reasons I probably can’t say the television show or the host this involved, so I will censor the names for this piece. I was always a big fan of this show and the talented comedian/actor who was the host for many years. I even went to three other tapings after moving here. I used to watch this show when I was a teenager before moving out to Los Angeles from Colorado. I can remember laughing at him doing sketches as the Queen of England. Making her talk about her corgis, while drinking gin from a flask, which the dogs weren’t even visible in the scene. Don’t even get me started on his impression of Prince Charles with these gigantic prosthetic ears, bubba teeth, and comb over bald cap. It all made me laugh out loud. I can still remember laughing and watching this on my little VHS player TV in my bedroom. My fandom for this show stemmed not only from the host's unique style of comedy, but he did everything different from the other shows. He was brilliant, funny, and not afraid to get personal in his opening monologues.

That day of the fourth taping I attended felt like one of the most surreal moments of my life. I was seeing the show with my friend and we were seated in the third row. My hair was extra bright red from a fresh salon visit and I was wearing a black and white polka dotted dress. Ironically the late night host was wearing a black and white polka dotted tie as well. We were matchies! He did his opening monologue and we all laughed and cheered. Before the commercial break he had to do his cold open which involved pulling someone from the audience. Sure enough he looked over at me and said, “Okay, Red get up here.”

I was shocked and was looking around to make sure he was talking to me and not someone else who could be called Red for obvious hair reasons. Then he insisted I come up so I walked up as they parted the set dividing the audience and stage. I was getting the mic put on me, a nervous wreck. The host shook my hand, said hi, and asked if I had seen the show before. I, of course, informed him yes and the many years I had been watching. He then said with a grin and a let's-see-what-you've-got-kid kind of tone, “Oh, great then you know what the fuck you’re in for!” He swiftly walked to the opposite side of the set. I looked back at him certain with a look of what?!? I turned toward the sudden rush of live television coming at me. The crew announced they were starting back up in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 and I felt like a deer in the headlights. As cameras were zooming in, lights shining down on me, an entire audience of people watching and waiting. It was extremely intimidating and yet as a natural born performer I also felt at home. I took a deep breath thinking about how much I needed to heighten my game to match his amazing comedic timing. This was seriously happening right now and somehow I had to figure out how I was going to step up to the entertainment plate. Bring it on TV man! My right leg was containing all my nervous energy because it was the only part of my body shaking like a leaf. I decided since I had no idea what to do with this moment I would use this nervous personae I was already channeling and played it up a notch for the audience.

When the recording began, he walked around me like a detective in an interrogation and my eyes were wide eyed staring straight ahead. Immediately the audience began to laugh as he asked me to state my name for the camera. With my saucer eyed stare into the camera I faintly said my first name. He then insisted I say the full name which I did as if recalling oh yes I do have a full name. Oh yeah! The audience continued laughing as he circled me and asked his questions. Throwing comical jabs at me and me answering back with equal silliness. It was one of the coolest, most magical moments I ever had. I felt all my improv training and skills were riding on an electric slide. In my mind I took on a female Don Knotts persona but also being myself. I played up being a nervous wreck as I was being circled by one of my favorite people in the entertainment industry. I was up for the challenges he would throw my way. Jokes and innuendos and I played along all my wit. The adrenaline was pumping through my veins, my heart was racing and I felt my thoughts were firing off like fireworks in my brain. My words are perfectly in sync with my mind. My responses to his jokes and jabs felt perfectly timed.  I don’t think he was expecting it quite honestly. Not to toot my own horn but I could tell he was expecting me to just blush and giggle in embarrassment on stage. I stayed there right with him the whole way through. The audience continued laughing at our comedy spar off. We talked about my hair’s reddish hue, my home state of Colorado, and my terrible British accent delivery when he asked if I could do that kind of dialect. It really was rubbish at the time. 

After that few minute intro was done and they were moving on to the interviews, the cameras stopped rolling and were being moved to the interview desk. He shook my hand, told me I did a great job, wished me luck with everything, and kissed my cheek. I thanked him and took my exit off stage. Suddenly all the adrenaline from my nerves hitting me on the inside like a tsunami. I crawled my way up the audience back to my seat where my friend was ecstatically excited to tell me how fun it was to watch. It was fun and throughout the show little jokes from the intro were reappearing with guests. I was thrilled, but to this day I consider it a fluke. Perhaps a stroke of luck. Definitely a happy accident.

Now for the unlucky part. The day the show was taped to air was the exact day of the Aurora, Colorado movie theater shooting. Absolutely scary and tragic. I received a phone call from the show’s producer that unfortunately because we referenced Colorado so much in the intro and the host had joked about the movie in the monologue, both segments had to be scrapped and reshot. I was also told that according to the television lawyers I couldn’t get any of the footage, not even a still of the comedic fun moment occurring. I was bummed for so many reasons, I also felt guilty for being upset when people lost loved ones and lives in that tragic shooting. Way more important than my comedy kismet moment. Once I saw the new intro the host shot I realized he made the right decision to reshoot that introduction. It was very honorable and I respect him greatly for it. I mean, it really was just a fluke anyways. That’s what I always tell myself and one hell of a story to retell. What a fun experience it was and that feeling of being in front of that audience and making them laugh with him I am seriously grateful for that memory. I will treasure it forever. I later did a stand-up show with a bunch of Colorado comic friends to raise money for another Colorado Native comic’s hospital bills. It felt good to be part of a group of people helping out one of the shooter’s victims and families.
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I’m sure my future out here will continue to have moments like this of luck and unluck. The ups and downs of the difficult business of being an actor with those few exhilarating happy accidents from being at the right place at the right time. My ambitions are like the Lucky Charms Leprechaun. I am one of the kids chasing him for the opportunity. Who knew my life could relate so much to that silly cereal cartoon fella. I think I will always chase after these dreams and why not because, after all, they are magically delicious.

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