While telling a signature story in my “Riot in the Garden” program, a growing carrot normally says “Go away all you pesky bugs and you yucky fungi. Go pick on some sickly plant, not me.” Well, somehow the Devil got my tongue and out came an inadvertent spoonerism, totally unfit for family consumption. And it was definitely a family audience at Maine’s Common Ground Fair at which I’d performed at least a dozen times over the years. Everyone clearly heard the gaff and I feared that my family festival days were over in one foul swoop.
I don’t remember if I stayed in character and apologized, or threatened to wash the filthy carrot’s mouth out with soap, but I immediately sputtered some sort of apology, back-pedaled, and un-spoonerized the offensive phrase, then went on with my otherwise very family-friendly show. The audience was comprised of organic gardening types and fortunately for me they gracefully allowed the dirty word to be composted and the carrot to continue on its life journey. And if the carrot didn’t come out smelling exactly like an innocent daisy, at least I wasn’t reported to the authorities.
No slip like that ever happened in my career before, or since. Nonetheless, I changed the phrase to “yicky fungi” just to be on the safe side and to help prevent any future wirty dords.
Author Information:
Name: Jackson Evan Gillman
Website: http://www.storyteller.net/tellers/jgillman The contents expressed in any article on Storyteller.net are solely the opinion of author.
