Speechwriting Survivor

A veteran speechwriter wrote to say he was fascinated by our item on “speech karaoke,” but didn’t think the idea went far enough.

“Why stop at karaoke?” he asked (rhetorically):

This could evolve into the next big thing in reality TV. Think about it. There’s a competition where you bring in speechwriters to write under pressure. Little input. Unreasonable deadlines. Unclear purpose. Then they turn it over to a partner they’ve never spoken to who has to stand in front of a live audience—without practicing!—and deliver it. Will the audience cheer? Go to sleep? Start checking their smart phones? Which speechwriter will be voted off the literary island, their thesaurus confiscated, their “Mark Twain Overused Quotations for all Occasions” book turned into confetti?

Oh wait. Come to think of it, that’s not reality TV at all. That’s reality reality. Sounds more like a slasher film, doesn’t it?

I’d tell you the name of the speechwriter who wrote that rant—but does it even matter?