Techie sayings

What is the most common phrase one would say to techies before a show? I would guess not "good luck", but "break a leg" is only for actors, isn't it? Or maybe techies don't go for that sort of thing...I'm just looking to include everyone in pre-show well-wishing.
 
The one I'm most familiar with is
"Let's get this thing over so we can go grab a beer!"
Now I am not pushing under age drinking, I am just calling it like it is.
 
"Just use the handyman's secret weapon, duct tape."

A good part of the crew that I worked with are fans of the Red Green show on PBS. So one of his more famous sayings happens to be well followed.
 
"Just use the handyman's secret weapon, duct tape."
"if you screw up, then you'll get beaten up"

How about merging the two quotes.

"If you use duct tape, than you'll get beaten up."

Nasty stuff and banned for use in many places. Gaffers tape is much better to use for all but electrical things - not rated for electrical repair.
 
Unfortunately we dont get much financial help from the school so we end up using duct tape or no residue tape. Most of what we use tape for is keeping extension cords and sound cables from creating trip hazards.
 
"Just use the handyman's secret weapon, duct tape."

It is great running across fellow Red Green fans. Our PBS took it off the air a couple years back. But I still have a couple of videos in case I need a fix.
 
the preshow well wishing that i am most familiar with and have actually used for actors as well as tech ppl is:

just go out and have fun. and no matter what else happens...just don't suck.

that usually works for me
 
Another One to keep in mind: "Make sure you secure the set so you aren't accused of nearly beaning a Supreme Court Justice on the noggin!" :wink:
 
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Our td likes to call us back stage about 3 minutes to curtin to give us a "you are the magic "speech the upperclassman pretty much know it by hart something about its allwise been up to you guys and now lets tell the story like its never been told before but he draws it out to about 10 or 15 minutes and for those of you that passed high school math you can figure out why our shows never start on time. The closeing night is even better he give awards/gifts to everyone and says some stuff to the senoirs then we start close to 1/2 hour late.
 
We dont have much of a pre show saying but when we do something well be use "slicker than eel S**t" We also advise all our newbies "Screw fast, Drill slow"
 
haha... some very interesting sayings in there...

In australia we have our own version of 'break a leg' which is "chookas" usually before a show we just get wished "chookas" over the cans or whatever.... we also have the term slabbing which im sure is used all over the world!

forget to turn the mic on, one slab, forget to turn it off, two slabs.. pull the wrong fly line.. and your gone! haha...

One show i did, the opening had a scrim down on the procenium line, and dancers performed behind it casting huge shadows onto the scrim. the calls came over the cans "standby lx3, standby scrim up" "lx3 standing by" "scrim standing by" "scrim go" and me and another tech are sitting in the bio box watching the scrim go down... down... down... till the fly bar hit the stage... it was the funniest yet one of the worst things to happen on the opening of the show!! btw.. the show was JCS haha
 
My favorite is always "Tech or Die!!!!!"
 
In high school, we always had the "Welcome home, give 'em hell" speech. In college, we don't really have anything before the shows. After the shows......well, I won't get into that. My favorite saying has to be "If force doesn't work, you're not using enough." ---and that's coming from a sound guy.
 
Early seventies movie - Roadie - has my favorite tech saying: "Everything works if you let it." Everyone working the tech end of live shows, especially Rock and Roll, should see it.

-John
 
I got a whole list of them:

Quotes



"Actors are props with dialogue"

"Beat to fit, paint to match"

"If force doesn't work, you're not using enough"

"Done is best"

"An actor without techies is a naked person standing in the dark trying to emote. A techie without actors is a person with marketable skills."

"And on the first day the lord said. . . . . .LX1, GO! and there was light."

"It's kind of fun to do the impossible."

"EVERY theater company mirrors the muppet show, think about it."

"John Wilkes Boothe should have shot an actor. . ."

"Love-it, Lock-it, Leave-it, Next. . . ."

"Let the actors finish it"

"I don't make mistakes, I have unintentional improvisations."

"Hmmmm. What would a smart guy do."

"Our techies practice safe sets and Techies do it on cue."

"Work sucks. I'm going to the theatre."

"Life's a stage and were constantly changing the scenery."

"Extras are props that eat. . ."

"Umm, 'scuze me, your techies are showing. . ."

"If we could read minds, we wouldn't need headsets."

"Hey, I forgot my cue sheet, oh well, I'll make it up. I wonder if they'll notice?"

"All the girlies say He's pretty white for a Fly Guy."

"If I wanted to have people tell me what to do, I would have become an actor."

"Techies are those people least appreciated, most abused, hardest working, in the entire history of the theater."
 

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