Every Which Way But Scripted

Well, at least one important question has been answered. Clint Eastwood didn't know what he was going to say at the Republican National Convention until just before he went on.

“They vett most of the people, but I told them, ‘You can’t do that with me, because I don’t know what I’m going to say,’” Eastwood recalled. [ snip]

It was only after a quick nap in his hotel room a few blocks from the convention site, Eastwood said, that he mapped out his remarks — starting with his observation about politics in Hollywood, then challenging the president about the failure of his economic policies, and wrapping up by telling the public “they don’t have to worship politicians, like they were royalty or something.”

But even then, with just an hour before he appeared on stage, it still hadn’t occurred to Eastwood to use an empty chair as a stand-in for the president.

It's a tribute to the esteem with which we hold Hollywood actors and stars like Clint Eastwood in particular that we're never sure that their improv hemming-and-hawing is "real" or part of the act. (Example: one of the most well-received movies of the past 30 years, My Dinner with Andre--two men having what appears to be a casual, wide-ranging conversation over dinner--was very carefully plotted out.)

Despite the mixed initial reactions, I suspect that Clint Eastwood's "empty chair" bit is the moment that we'll remember from both conventions decades from now. (H/T Glenn Reynolds) © 2012 Stephen Yuen

Conventional Wisdom

Like many Americans, your humble observer pays some attention to politics--it's hard to avoid the subject because of news coverage and biennial political commercials--but hardly spends any time on explicit "political" activities. I vote regularly but only rarely attend City Council meetings or write letters to officials. Only once have I made a political contribution (and continue to pay for that lapse in judgment by fielding a daily tidal wave of phone calls and junk mail).

Make no mistake: I happen to believe that it will make a big difference who wins in November. But I already know whom I will vote for, and whether I spend four hours or none each day following the campaigns my ballot will look the same. Unlike school, there's no extra credit for showing the work.

For the national political conventions I only read the transcripts and watch snippets of the major speeches (just to check out how potential leaders sound and look). More time spent would not be personally efficacious. The conventions are a scripted show  where the outcome is known in advance. Little need to watch....it ain't Shakespeare.

That's why Clint Eastwood's speech and its reverberations are fascinating. The speech wasn't scripted in the sense that the Republican planners had no idea how it would fit into the final night's progression toward the Mitt Romney climax.

He indeed might have written and/or rehearsed it, but Clint Eastwood made his bit look like improv.  The very first thing he did was plunge expectations. Uh-oh, here's an 82-year-old man, voice quavering. Hope he can make it through without embarrassing himself. And then it got better. In the middle, as it looked like he was drifting off to an old-person's reverie, he recovered (or was the drifting part of the script?). A bad first impression, followed by an extended bit with an empty chair and one-liners ("we own this country" "we've got to let 'em go") that have legs that could last to November.

Here's the transcript. Here's the video.



[Update - 8/31: Bill Maher suspends his partisanship for a moment and comments as a practitioner of stand-up:

” he did a ten-minute bit with an empty chair and “killed.”.... 

Maher said that people normally complain about how scripted the conventions are, and wondered why everyone would be so upset over an unscripted, genuine moment. ]

© 2012 Stephen Yuen