The Understudies
November 2, 2019 4:37 AM Subscribe
Nige Tassell at The Guardian interviews a Formula One test driver, a warm-up comic, a second-choice goalkeeper, a guitar roadie, and an understudy about what it's like to work in someone else's shadow. "With standup, the crowd has come to see you, or at least a night you are part of. With warm-up, you’re not an expected part of the evening – you’re an appendix or footnote. It’s not the place to experiment with quirky material – the warm-up has to fit with the tone of the show."
Indispensable help comes in many forms, human or otherwise. From Stephen Hawking, Hawking Incorporated, and the Myth of the Lone Genius, Scientific American - Guest Blog, Hélène Mialet, December 31, 2014:posted by cenoxo at 7:15 AM on November 2, 2019 [6 favorites]
There’s truth in that although I’d say this is also what it looks like when we build a healthy amount of slack and excess capacity into our systems rather than running them at ultra-lean breakneck pace all the time (cf. automated scheduling systems for contract workers). It’s that slack that makes life liveable and helps introduce and train new people into roles.
posted by adrianhon at 7:15 AM on November 2, 2019 [8 favorites]
posted by adrianhon at 7:15 AM on November 2, 2019 [8 favorites]
Being a follower also gives you room to make mistakes and pursue other solutions, which in a sense lets you gain more experience than the leader (who is usually expected to be right all the time).
Unfortunately, as C&H said, There’s never enough time to do all the nothing you want.
posted by cenoxo at 7:53 AM on November 2, 2019
Unfortunately, as C&H said, There’s never enough time to do all the nothing you want.
posted by cenoxo at 7:53 AM on November 2, 2019
So many "leaders" are just partners that have taken the credit. It's frustrating.
posted by cowcowgrasstree at 8:31 AM on November 2, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by cowcowgrasstree at 8:31 AM on November 2, 2019 [2 favorites]
Speaking of slack time, it’s Saturday, so let’s take a related detour inside The Top Secret McLaren Simulator (with video).
posted by cenoxo at 8:42 AM on November 2, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by cenoxo at 8:42 AM on November 2, 2019 [1 favorite]
I worked in the shadow of a famous person once. It wasn't a bad gig, really. About the only thing you had to work on getting past was, when outsiders found out who you worked for, you kind of lost your personal identity, and became "mr. oh-you-work-for-so-and-so!" You get over it, though.
posted by Thorzdad at 12:14 PM on November 2, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by Thorzdad at 12:14 PM on November 2, 2019 [2 favorites]
The understudy's tale resonates with me.
I spent last summer as an opera understudy. An understudy's job is to be ready to go onstage at any time-- while simultaneously being aware that it will most likely not happen (especially with the low number of performances in opera). At the end of summer, I had to bid farewell to this character whom I'd spent so much time and work internalising without ever having played her.
posted by Pallas Athena at 5:15 PM on November 2, 2019 [4 favorites]
I spent last summer as an opera understudy. An understudy's job is to be ready to go onstage at any time-- while simultaneously being aware that it will most likely not happen (especially with the low number of performances in opera). At the end of summer, I had to bid farewell to this character whom I'd spent so much time and work internalising without ever having played her.
posted by Pallas Athena at 5:15 PM on November 2, 2019 [4 favorites]
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