"That was not scripted."
— Michael Scott, The Office (US)
"We don't make mistakes, just happy little accidents."
— Bob Ross, The Joy of Painting
"The funny thing about this scene is that Caine's eyes were just supposed to pop out of his head and-and that's it. I couldn't quite tell you what demonic force compelled me to create this monstrosity, but... now you have one eyeball playing hacky sack with the other. Also, his name is Jeffery, and this is canon now, so please draw fan art and make this a thing."
— Kevin Temmer when animating for The Amazing Digital Circus, "Digital Circus Trailer: Behind the Scenes -- Part 2
"
""Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep."
— Scott Adams, The Dilbert Principle
"You can fix it or you can feature it."
"NOT written by us, but brilliantly ad-libbed by Nathan Lane in rehearsal. Since it's gotten such a huge laugh at every show, we've taken full credit for it."
— Mel Brooks & Tom Meehan, annotation in The Producers: The Book, Lyrics, and Story Behind the Biggest Hit in Broadway History!
Michael Dupre: You made it into the frame near the end when you [were being attacked by a killer].
Jocelyn: I’m sorry. Did it ruin the scene? Can’t you cut that bit out?
Michael Dupre: Yes, we could. And I was going to. Until we saw the rushes. It was brilliant. Scariest thing in the entire scene. Made it look like there was something even worse in front of the kids. Like they were being herded toward it. I loved it. I’ve got writers working on the script. The thing is…the thing is, we’d sort of like to keep that scene.[…] We’ll pay you, of course. Double, in fact. We’ll even throw in a screen credit.
Jocelyn: I’m sorry. Did it ruin the scene? Can’t you cut that bit out?
Michael Dupre: Yes, we could. And I was going to. Until we saw the rushes. It was brilliant. Scariest thing in the entire scene. Made it look like there was something even worse in front of the kids. Like they were being herded toward it. I loved it. I’ve got writers working on the script. The thing is…the thing is, we’d sort of like to keep that scene.[…] We’ll pay you, of course. Double, in fact. We’ll even throw in a screen credit.
— The Jocelyn Shore Mysteries: Death Makes the Cut
"The animatic for Taski Maiden’s cutscene. During playtesting, people always laughed at the cut to the poorly-drawn ena, so it was naturally kept just like that for that one shot."
— JoelG, on the making of ENA: Dream BBQ
"The guitar sound in the middle section of 'Echoes' was created inadvertently by David plugging in a wah-wah pedal back to front. Sometimes great effects are the results of this kind of pure serendipity, and we were always prepared to see if something might work on a track. The grounding we'd received from Ron Geesinnote in going beyond the manual had left its mark."
— Nick Mason of Pink Floyd, on the making of "Echoes"
"I always wanted to play two bass drums but I always said to myself, 'No, I'm not gonna be one of these wankers who goes on stage and has two bass drums and never even fuckin' plays 'em'. Not until I can play 'em. So I got this other bass drum and I used to get to rehearsals a couple of hours before the other guys and just practice, you know, just sit there going like running, or something like that. I was actually playing that riff, just trying to get my coordination right, when Eddie and Lemmy walked in, and I was just about to stop and they went, 'No, don't stop! Keep going!' And that was how Overkill got written."
— Phil "Philthy Animal" Taylor on "Overkill" by Motörhead
"(stumbling over his words) Arin, that one-or-five things you said are all of my favorites. (looks at script) What- But should we first get back to doing Game Grumps first? (Beat, he bursts out laughing) Can we use that?"''
— Danny, Game Grumps Bishi Bashi Special
"Honor Your Mistakes as a Hidden Intention."
— Brian Eno, Oblique Strategies
"I used to fight with her on the phone, and they came out to be steps. I tripped once, and fell. You know what Millie said to me? 'Do it again!"
—Pedro "Cuban Pete" Aguilar, mambo dancer, on developing steps with his dance partner Millie Donay
"The funniest part is that the little egg/chicken fella under the hat that you've all seen was a complete and total misunderstanding.
My concept art had that picture of the egg-chicken on the top left with the arrow pointing at the hat. I meant for that to be the logo on Rooster's trucker hat which I wasn't entirely sure about keeping. I handed the sketch over to Isaiah to start animating the scenes he was in. When we got the shots back from him, we saw the shot where Rooster gets scared to the point of his hat flying off, upon which you can see the little egg fella under it, bugging out like Rooster is. I was like, "..wait no, that wasn't an actual chicken, that was just his hat logo."
Everyone just sort of looked at each other and I was like "...screw it, I like it better like this, let's roll with it."
My concept art had that picture of the egg-chicken on the top left with the arrow pointing at the hat. I meant for that to be the logo on Rooster's trucker hat which I wasn't entirely sure about keeping. I handed the sketch over to Isaiah to start animating the scenes he was in. When we got the shots back from him, we saw the shot where Rooster gets scared to the point of his hat flying off, upon which you can see the little egg fella under it, bugging out like Rooster is. I was like, "..wait no, that wasn't an actual chicken, that was just his hat logo."
Everyone just sort of looked at each other and I was like "...screw it, I like it better like this, let's roll with it."
— Mystery Ben on the creation of Lil' Sunny, Mystery Skulls Animated
of Lil' Sunny, Mystery Skulls Animated"There's that memorable scene at the end of Gyakuten Saiban 2, where [Franziska] cries, right? That scene wasn't actually in the original scenario. At the start of the development, when we came up with the necessary animations for all the characters, I had asked for one where she cried thinking I might need it. I figured she'd eventually cry, but then we were at the end of the game and she still hadn't. But the animation was good, and I knew Iwamoto here was going to cry if I left it unused, so I quickly added that scene at the end."
— Shu Takumi
"There wasn't a scripted laugh for Carolina before she hits Caboose. I wrote in another heavy sigh, so seeing that change was a really fun surprise for me when I saw the cut. It's so good and so satisfying! I love that they made that change. It works so much better.
— Joshua Kazemi's post-release notes for Red vs. Blue: QvsA, "Caboose vs Carolina, Who Would Win?"''
for Red vs. Blue: QvsA, "Caboose vs Carolina, Who Would Win?"''"When I wrote The Atlantis Chronicles . . . in the first issue I decided to have it be that the reason Atlantis sank was because of a meteor strike - which a number Atlantean scholars believe is what happened - so I described that the meteor was drawing closer and closer. And at one point, around page 30, I said "Panel 1: the meteor has drawn closer and for the first time we can now see the face of the meteor - its craggy surface and exterior." Now when I said 'face' I meant front/surface. We got the pages back, and to my astonishment, Esteban Maroto had drawn a death's head skull face onto the meteor. And I'm looking and going "Holy crap there's an actual face!" and the closer it got, the more clearer it was that there was this giant death's head skull coming at you. And Bob Greenberger, who was my editor on it, said "do you want me to have art corrections change it?" and I looked at it and said "No,... y'know what? I like it" . . . And so we left the death's head skull in there."
"On the first episode, Michael had to take me aside to talk to me. On the recording, it was the first time that he did that bit of business of clearing his throat but not spitting. Michael got a huge laugh, as did I because I couldn't help reacting to it. I had never seen it before! He was clever. He knew to save it for the actual take. I almost wanted to turn to the audience and say, 'He didn't do that in rehearsal!'."
"Once, he and Patricia Routledge, who had replaced Gwendolyn Watts, ad-libbed for about five minutes, right away from the script. I remember one of the blokes, I can't remember who, tearing away in the middle of it; one of the commissionaires told me afterwards that the man had actually wet himself laughing so much!"
— John Fawcett Wilson
"It's vital to get the accent right before you begin to learn the words. Then if you dry up on stage, you can at least ad-lib in the same accent."
"One night, I offended Miriam Karlin by bending down and showing my bum to the audience to get a cheap laugh while she was singing. I did it deliberately. Joan had told us if we fancied doing something, we should go ahead, and I fancied it. It was unfair, though, and Miriam was less than pleased. She called me to her number one dressing room after the show and said, 'I'm going to point out something to you, Barbara. One day, you will be the leading lady, doing your best, and someone behind you will be trying to get a cheap laugh. It won't be nice. And it wasn't nice for me'. It was a right bollocking, but it was a lesson, too, and one I never forgot."
"One of her ploys was to bring her naughty terrier, Foxy, onto the set, and keep him with her, yapping, generally distracting everyone and drawing attention to Irene. Of course, if you went near her, Foxy would try and have your hand off, or at least a finger or two, providing a few more amazing ad-libs for Irene."
"That was pretty funny! I liked the 'leedle leedle'! Just keep doing the 'leedle leedle'; that was good!"
"We had a marvellous time; he was in a world of his own, Clive, he was so eccentric. He never really, really knew his lines terribly well, but what he said, not even knowing his lines, was funny. Funnier probably than the lines we ever gave him to say."
— Roy Hudd
"Joe Baker and I, as young men, appeared at Butlin's in Clacton. I used to play the character of Alf, but without the twitch. I played a conjuror and asked for someone in the audience to come up and help, which was Joe's cue, dressed as a little boy, to come up on stage. One evening, with about 1,500 people in the audience, the theatre doors were locked by the Redcoats because it was full. Unfortunately, Joe couldn't get in, so I was left with a twenty-minute slot to fill. My brain was working at seventy miles an hour, and I picked up a tray and put on bits of junk. I happened to look to my right and noticed Eric Winston, the famous band leader, who had a little twitch. So, in desperation, I said, 'I shall now make these articles disappear...'. Then I did my twitch and threw them up in the air. They fell on the floor, and I just picked them up, ignoring what had happened. Luckily, by this time Joe had got in and came down to the front of the house, only to hear all these people falling apart from laughing — and I was supposed to be the straight one."
"I thought my dialogue sounded boring, so added the words 'Drinky, drinky' while trying to encourage Sid's character to taste the love potion I was selling. Sid James liked it and so did Gerald. He said, 'Where did that come from? Keep it in!'. We did another take, and it worked fine."
"I also remember at the end of the film that I ad-libbed. It is the scene where the new young lady employee walks around the corner looking for directions. Looking at her chest as I escorted her in, I said, 'Oh, yes, we have a lovely pair of canteens 'ere'. I just said it, and it was kept in!"
"The following week, I blundered again during Murder at the Vicarage, in which Richard played The Vicar. I was sitting backstage and was so besotted with Richard that I didn't realise I'd failed to ring the telephone bell at the appropriate time. Richard ad-libbed for a bit and then decided to just pick up the receiver and start talking. It was at this point that I woke up and finally rang the bell, which was a bit embarrassing for Richard as he was already speaking on the phone. 'Good Lord, Marjorie', he improvised. 'There must be some sort of fault on the line. Can you hear ringing?'"
"I think I made all that up on the day, too. All that 'like a bantha', that wasn't even in the script. I just thought 'hey, you fellows ride the motorbike, okay? Like a bantha!' And I was only joking! Next minute, it's been the most popular phrase that I've had to sign."
— Temuera Morrison explaining how he improvised the "Like a bantha!" scene from The Book of Boba Fett
how he improvised the "Like a bantha!" scene from The Book of Boba Fett