History Main / OneLineAnxiety

the area. And what do you know? One of the characters gets to have a small part. Nine times out of ten, they'll get a line or two. Despite having just one line, they'll angst over it quite a bit -- determined to get it right. This is almost always PlayedForLaughs -- and half the time the line will end up cut (either due to time or the character's comical overacting). Sometimes will result in SmallNameBigEgo if the character acts like a celebrity afterwards. Another variation involves characters with small parts in school plays or community theatre productions.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
** In "I Love Lisa", Milhouse is nervous about his part in the President's Day school play, where he plays Lincoln. Ms. Hoover is not remotely sympathetic to him.
-->'''Ms. Hoover:''' Milhouse, you have one line and then you're shot. Now get out there!
** In "Bart Gets Famous" Bart gets one line in Krusty's sketch (he is filling in for Sideshow Mel at the last minute) which goes, "I am waiting for a bus." As he begins to say the line, he accidentally knocks over the set and nervously blurts out, "I didn't do it." It becomes a catchphrase of his and trying to remember it becomes a little intimidating after a while, but luckily, it eventually grows stale.

* Olivia was on the other end when acting in a scene alongside Creator/LaurenceOlivier for ''The Last Days of Pompei''. He kept flubbing his line by saying "Olivia" instead of her character's name Ione.

* In a famous example from ''Film/TheGodfather'', Lenny Montana, a professional wrestler and real-life member of the Mob, showed up on set one day as the bodyguard for one of the mafiosos who, per agreement with Francis Ford Coppola, got to occasionally watch shooting and make sure nothing too offensive was being put into the movie. Coppola hired Montana on the spot to play gangster Luca Brasi, who ends up "sleeping with the fishes." Luca only speaks a few lines in his first scene, where he meets Don Vito Corleone, but Montana was so nervous about being in the same room as Creator/MarlonBrando that he endlessly practiced his dialogue for fear of messing it up. Coppola decided to [[ThrowItIn add this into the film]] -- when you see Luca muttering to himself in preparation for meeting Vito, it's actually Montana rehearsing his speech. Similarly, Montana ''did'' screw up his lines, but his genuinely flustered reaction [[EnforcedMethodActing was so perfect that Coppola didn't bother with a retake]].

* In Recap/AsterixAndTheCauldron, Asterix and Obelix are hired by a "New Drama Director" named [[Creator/LaurenceOlivier Laurensolivius]] in order to be actors in a Drama Play "with a message". Asterix and Obelix are to stand still while the actors prance around and [[TakeThatAudience mock the audience]] (with an actor named [[Creator/AlecGuinness Alecguinus]] acting as a [[TheHeckler heckler]] among the theatregoers to provoke a reaction) and at the end of the play, Obelix is to step at the center of the stage and deliver an improvised line. Obelix stresses too much about the "message" he is supposed to convey (even having an outburst at Asterix) and can't think of anything to say. When the time finally comes he defaults into his {{Catchphrase}}:'''"These Romans are crazy!"'''. The end result: [[spoiler:the Roman Prefect who watches the play gets angry and orders every actor and the director to be arrested. The actual audience [[AllPartOfTheShow is impressed by the play's high production values as everybody but Asterix and Obelix gets detained]]. Asterix later offers to bust [[Creator/LaurenceOlivier Laurensolivius]] out of prison but he is all too happy that he is going to be fed to the lions in the Colloseum, thinking that this is the highest production he was ever a part of]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/NinaNeedsToGo'', the episode "Play" has Nina cast as a talking rock in a play. She apparently has only one line but is nervous and doesn't know what she's meant to say. At the end of the episode, she just says her {{Catchphrase}} instead, so [[RiddleForTheAges we never find out her line]].

* While filming ''Film/TheRoom'', Tommy Wiseau took ages to do a scene where Johnny walks down two steps. Greg Sestero in ''Literature/TheDisasterArtist'' puts him in comparison to Carolyn Minnot who nailed a scene in a matter of minutes after ''fainting from heat stroke''.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': In "Bart Gets Famous" Bart gets one line in Krusty's sketch (he is filling in for Sideshow Mel at the last minute) which goes, "I am waiting for a bus." As he begins to say the line, he accidentally knocks over the set and nervously blurts out, "I didn't do it." It becomes a catchphrase of his and trying to remember it becomes a little intimidating after a while, but luckily, it eventually grows stale.

* In Recap/AsterixAndTheCauldron, Asterix and Obelix are hired by a "New Drama Director" named [[Creator/LaurenceOlivier Laurensolivius]] in order to be actors in a Drama Play "with a message". Asterix and Obelix are to stand still while the actors prance around and [[TakeThatAudience mock the audience]] (with an actor named [[Creator/AlecGuinness Alecguinus]] acting as a [[TheHeckler heckler]] among the theatre goers to provoke a reaction) and at the end of the play Obelix is to step at the center of the stage and deliver an improvised line. Obelix stresses too much about the "message" he is supposed to convey (even having an outburst at Asterix) and can't think of anything to say. When the time finally comes he defaults into his {{Catchphrase}}:'''"These Romans are crazy!"'''. The end result: [[spoiler:the Roman Prefect who watches the play gets angry and orders every actor and the director to be arrested. The actual audience [[AllPartOfTheShow is impressed by the play's high production values as everybody but Asterix and Obelix gets detained]]. Asterix later offers to bust [[Creator/LaurenceOlivier Laurensolivius]] out of prison but he is all too happy that he is going to be fed to the lions in the Colloseum, thinking that this is the highest production he was ever a part of]].

* ''Series/EightSimpleRules'': An episode involving a school play has supporting character Lacey grumbling that Bridget got the lead in ''Literature/TheDiaryOfAnneFrank'' over her. She's in the small role of Miep Gies, and has just two lines (which she grumbles about). Bridget pushes her BerserkButton in rehearsal by giving her a sarcastic thumbs up after she says one of the lines.

* In a late episode of ''Series/NightCourt'' a crew shoots a TV pilot in the court house. To get Judge Harry Stone to agree to their using his courtroom, they give him a bit part as a bailiff. Unfortunately he can’t manage to say the line “All rise” in a remotely natural way.
* Doubly done in the Klugman/Randall ''Series/{{The Odd Couple|1970}}''. Sportwriter Oscar is given a brief movie role as a sports reporter, whose only line is "Tell us about your career, Slugger." He flubs take after take, to the point where the director is ready to call in a real actor. If that weren't embarrassing enough, Felix jumps in to take over the part. But he overacts mightily with elaborate improvisations until *he* is fired too. But it's a subversion: He only did it to waste time, so that the director would be forced to use Oscar instead calling in the other actor. But it backfires: the director gives the role to the guy who'd been operating the clapboard, who nails the line in one take.

* In one episode of ''Series/ToastOfLondon'', the titular Toast has a bit part as a butler whose only line is offering the lead actor a drink. Toast is unable to get the character's name right, and in fact says a different, increasingly bizzare variation of the name with every single flubbed take.

* There's a joke about one man who, seeking his big break, mnanages to get a small role in a play. The only thing he has to do is enter the scene and yell "Good heavens, a corpse!". He spends every day counting down to his big day repeating the line "Good heavens, a corpse!" When the big day finally comes, he is taken backstage and then enters the scene. When he sees an actor in the floor with a bloody knife he yells "Holy shit, a dead guy!"

* ''Film/ShakespeareInLove'' has the financer being given the small role of the Apothecary in ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet''. He spends ages memorising his brief bit of dialogue.

* * In ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'', Calvin's class puts on a play about the food groups. Calvin's role is to enter dressed as an onion and deliver an {{Expospeak}} line about the nutritional value of vegetables. Despite only having one line, Calvin, lazy as always, drags his feet memorizing it and plays it off as being a temperamental actor. On the night of the play, Calvin is supposed to go on stage, but he's stuck in the bathroom changing his costume due to a snagged pants zipper. Realizing he's going to miss his cue, [[TheShowMustGoOn Calvin passionately cries his line at the top of his lungs, loud enough for all to hear.]] After it's all over he recounts to Hobbes that yes, he missed his cue, yes, they had to stop the play, and yes, it took three people to free him from his costume, but he did ''not'' forget his line.

* On an episode of ''Series/{{MASH}}'', a USO comedian enlists Klinger's help putting on a skit for the patients in Post-op. Klinger's one line is "It hurts when I do this."[note]the punchline being "Then don't do that!"[/note] Unfortunately, he's so overwhelmed by stage fright come performance time that all he can manage is "My arm hurts," completely blowing the joke.

* In Recap/AsterixAndTheCauldron, Asterix and Obelix are hired by a "New Drama Director" named [[Creator/LaurenceOlivier Laurensolivius]] in order to be actors in a Drama Play "with a message". Asterix and Obelix are to stand still while the actors prance around and [[TakeThatAudience mock the audience]] (with an actor named [[Creator/AlecGuinness Alecguinus]] acting as a [[TheHeckler heckler]] among the theatre goers to provoke a reaction) and at the end of the play Obelix is to step at the center of the stage and deliver an improvised line. Obelix stresses too much about the "message" he is supposed to convey (even having an outburst at Asterix) and can't think of anything to say. When the time finally comes he defaults into his {{Catchphrase}}:'''"These Romans are crazy!"'''. The end result: [[spoiler: the Roman Prefect who watches the play gets angry and orders every actor and the director to be arrested. The actual audience [[AllPartOfTheShow is impressed by the play's high production values as everybody but Asterix and Obelix gets detained]]. Asterix later offers to bust [[Creator/LaurenceOlivier Laurensolivius]] out of prison but he is all too happy that he is going to be fed to the lions in the Colloseum, thinking that this is the highest production he was ever a part of]].

* In Recap/AsterixAndTheCauldron, Asterix and Obelix are hired by a "New Drama Director" named [[Creator/LaurenceOlivier Laurensolivius]] in order to be actors in a Drama Play "with a message". Asterix and Obelix are to stand still while the actors prance around and mock the audience (with an actor named [[Creator/AlecGuinness Alecguinus]] acting as a [[TheHeckler heckler]] among the audience to provoke a reaction) and at the end of the play Obelix is to step at the center of the stage and deliver an improvised line. Obelix stresses too much about the "message" he is supposed to convey (even having an outburst at Asterix) and can't think of anything to say. When the time finally comes he defaults into his {{Catchphrase}}:'''"These Romans are crazy!"'''. The end result: [[spoiler: the Roman Prefect who watches the play gets angry and orders every actor and the director to be arrested. The actual audience is by the play's high production values as everybody but Asterix and Obelix gets detained. Asterix later offers to bust [[Creator/LaurenceOlivier Laurensolivius]] out of prison but he is all too happy that he is going to be fed to the lions in the Colloseum, thinking that this is the highest production he was ever a part of]].

* In Recap/AsterixAndTheCauldron, Asterix and Obelix are hired by a "New Drama Director" named [[Creator/LaurenceOlivier Laurensolivius]] in order to be actors in a Drama Play "with a message". Asterix and Obelix are to stand still while the actors prance around and mock the audience (with one of the actors acting as a [[TheHeckler heckler]] to provoke a reaction) and at the end of the play Obelix is to step at the center of the stage and deliver an improvised line. Obelix stresses too much about the "message" he is supposed to convey (even having an outburst) at Asterix and can't think of anything. When the time finally comes he defaults into his {{Catchphrase}}:'''"These Romans are crazy!"'''. The end result: [[spoiler: the Roman Prefect who watches the play gets angry and orders every actor and the director to be arrested. The actual audience is by the play's high production values as everybody but Asterix and Obelix gets arrested. Asterix later offers to bust [[Creator/LaurenceOlivier Laurensolivius]] out of prison but he is all too happy that he is going to be fed to the lions in the Colloseum, thinking that this is the highest production he was ever a part of]].

* In Recap/AsterixAndTheCauldron, Asterix and Obelix are hired by a "New Drama Director" named [[Creator/LaurenceOlivier Laurensolivius]] in order to be actors in a Drama Play "with a message". Asterix and Obelix are to stand still while the actors prance around and mock the audience (with one of the actors acting as a [[TheHeckler heckler]] to provoke a reaction) and at the end of the play Obelix is to step at the center of the stage and deliver an improvised line. Obelix stresses too much about the "message" he is supposed to convey (even having an outburst) at Asterix and can't think of anything. When the time finally comes he defaults into his {{Catchphrase}}:"These Romans are crazy!". The end result: [[spoiler: the Roman Prefect who watches the play gets angry and orders every actor and the director to be arrested. The actual audience was impressed by the plays high production values as everybody but Asterix and Obelix gets arrested. Asterix later offers to bust [[Creator/LaurenceOlivier Laurensolivius]] out of prison but he is all too happy that he is going to be fed to the lions in the Colloseum, thinking that this is the highest production he was ever a part of]].

* In Calvin's class puts on a play about the food groups. Calvin's role is to enter dressed as an onion and deliver an {{Expospeak}} line about the nutritional value of vegetables. Despite only having one line, Calvin, lazy as always, drags his feet memorizing it and plays it off as being a temperamental actor. On the night of the play, Calvin is supposed to go on stage, but he's stuck in the bathroom changing his costume due to a snagged pants zipper. Realizing he's going to miss his cue, [[TheShowMustGoOn Calvin passionately cries his line at the top of his lungs, loud enough for all to hear.]] After it's all over he recounts to Hobbes that yes, he missed his cue, yes, they had to stop the play, and yes, it took three people to free him from his costume, but he did ''not'' forget his line.

* In ''A'', Calvin's class puts on a play about the food groups. Calvin's role is to enter dressed as an onion and deliver an {{Expospeak}} line about the nutritional value of vegetables. Despite only having one line, Calvin, lazy as always, drags his feet memorizing it and plays it off as being a temperamental actor. On the night of the play, Calvin is supposed to go on stage, but he's stuck in the bathroom changing his costume due to a snagged pants zipper. Realizing he's going to miss his cue, [[TheShowMustGoOn Calvin passionately cries his line at the top of his lungs, loud enough for all to hear.]] After it's all over he recounts to Hobbes that yes, he missed his cue, yes, they had to stop the play, and yes, it took three people to free him from his costume, but he did ''not'' forget his line.
* ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'':
** In an arc, Sally is nervous about her one line in the Christmas pageant: "I say 'Hark!' and then Harold Angel starts to sing." The others [[TheMalaproper don't think she has the line quite right]]. Finally, stricken with PerformanceAnxiety, she blurts out, "Hockey Stick!" The kicker: the next day, a kid named Harold Angel shows up to complain.
** Her big brother Charlie Brown suffers it too. On Violet's birthday, gift in hand as he walks toward her house, he practices his line over and over. "This is for you, Violet. Happy birthday." When the moment comes, he blurts out, "This is for you, Violet. Merry Christmas." Last panel, he's banging his head on a tree.

* In Recap/AsterixAndTheCauldron, Asterix and Obelix are hired by a "New Drama Director" named [[Creator/LaurenceOlivier Laurensolivius]] in order to be actors in a Drama Play "with a message". Asterix and Obelix are to stand still while the actors prance around and mock the audience (with one of the actors acting as a [[TheHeckler heckler]] to provoke a reaction) and at the end of the play Obelix is to step at the center of the stage and deliver an improvised line. Obelix stresses too much about the "message" he is supposed to convey (even having an outburst) at Asterix and can't think of anything. When the time finally comes he defaults into his {{Catchphrase}}:"These Romans are crazy!". The end result: [[spoiler: the Roman Prefect who watches the play gets angry and orders every actor and the director to be arrested. The actual audience was impressed by the plays high production values as everybody but Asterix and Obelix gets arrested. Asterix later offers to bust [[Creator/LaurenceOlivier Laurensolivius]] out of prison but he is all too happy that he is going to be fed to the lions in the Colloseum, thinking that this is the highest production he was ever a part of]].

[[folder:Comic Strips]]
* In ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'', Calvin's class puts on a play about the food groups. Calvin's role is to enter dressed as an onion and deliver an {{Expospeak}} line about the nutritional value of vegetables. Despite only having one line, Calvin, lazy as always, drags his feet memorizing it and plays it off as being a temperamental actor. On the night of the play, Calvin is supposed to go on stage, but he's stuck in the bathroom changing his costume due to a snagged pants zipper. Realizing he's going to miss his cue, [[TheShowMustGoOn Calvin passionately cries his line at the top of his lungs, loud enough for all to hear.]] After it's all over he recounts to Hobbes that yes, he missed his cue, yes, they had to stop the play, and yes, it took three people to free him from his costume, but he did ''not'' forget his line.

the area. And what do you know? One of the characters gets to have a small part. Nine times out of ten, they'll get a line or two. Despite having just one line, they'll angst over it quite a bit - determined to get it right. This is almost always PlayedForLaughs - and half the time the line will end up cut (either due to time or the character's comical overacting). Sometimes will result in SmallNameBigEgo if the character acts like a celebrity afterwards. Another variation involves characters with small parts in school plays or community theatre productions.

* One episode of ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'' sees [[CloudCuckoolander Kramer]] wrangling an appearance in a new Creator/WoodyAllen movie. He even gets a single line-- "These pretzels are makin' me thirsty." Naturally, he completely botches it.

** An episode with a talent show has Lor constantly bumbling singing "Home on the Range" - specifically because she keeps getting the lyric "where the deer and the antelope play" as "deer and ''cantaloupe''" (which Tish kicks off at her for eventually).

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* In an arc in ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'', Sally is nervous about her one line in the Christmas pageant: "I say 'Hark!' and then Harold Angel starts to sing." The others [[TheMalaproper don't think she has the line quite right]]. Finally, stricken with PerformanceAnxiety, she blurts out, "Hockey Stick!" The kicker: the next day, a kid named Harold Angel shows up to complain.
** Her big brother Charlie Brown suffered it too. On Violet’s birthday, gift in hand as he walked toward her house, he practiced his line over and over. “This is for you, Violet. Happy birthday.” When the moment came, he blurted out, “This is for you, Violet. Merry Christmas.” Last panel, he’s banging his head on a tree.

* ''Film/SunshineCleaning'' has a back story where the girls' mother was a featured extra in a movie of the week. She played a waitress who recommended the pecan pie, and it's a RunningGag of the girls scanning the TV any time a diner scene comes on in the hopes that it's hers.
* ''Film/ShakespeareInLove'' has the financer being given the small role of the Apothecary in ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet''. He spends ages memorising his brief bit of dialogue.
* ''Film/ICouldNeverBeYourWoman'' uses this as a revenge subplot. Rosie's assistant Jeannie gets a line on her sitcom but, due to nerves, the line is seen as too suggestive by the censors and ends up cut. Jeannie tries to get revenge on Rosie by [[RelationshipSabotage sabotaging her budding relationship with Adam]].
* ''Film/HailCaesar'' has singing cowboy star Hobie Doyle being cast in a romantic drama, causing a lot of hassle for the director when he tries to say the line "would that it were so simple?" although it's partly because [[spoiler:he actually wears dentures]]. When we see the finished scene, the line is just changed to "it's complicated".

* ''Series/EightSimpleRules'' - an episode involving a school play has supporting character Lacey grumbling that Bridget got the lead in ''Literature/TheDiaryOfAnneFrank'' over her. She's in the small role of Miep Gies, and has just two lines (which she grumbles about). Bridget pushes her BerserkButton in rehearsal by giving her a sarcastic thumbs up after she says one of the lines.

** He also gets fired from his job as Al Pacino's 'butt-double' in a shower scene for overacting in a simple shot.

* ''[[Music/SClub7 Miami 7]]'' has a sci-fi film being shot at Howard's hotel, with the group all playing extras. Hannah is given the line "look out" and a jealous Rachel tries to throw her off when they come to film it. It ends up cut.
-->'''Hannah:''' But the film won't make sense without 'look out'!
* ''Series/TheBrothersGarcia'' has an episode where Lorena wins a contest to have a walk-in part on her favourite telenovella. The show's star decides to ad-lib a lengthy hammy monologue, preventing Lorena from saying her line. She's not pleased when Lorena finally interrupts her, and throws a tantrum.

* The ''Series/{{Frasier}}'' episode "Ham Radio" features the titular character directing a classic episode of a radio theatre mystery program. It's a comedy of errors, not the least of which is Bulldog insisting that his latest girlfriend get to participate. Frasier relents and gives her a single line as the first victim--only to discover too late that she's dyslexic: "Look out! He's got a ''nug!''"
* One episode of ''Series/{{Roseanne}}'', "Communicable Theatre", has Jackie getting to appear in a single scene of a community theatre production of ''Theatre/CyranoDeBergerac.'' Despite her literally having one line -- "TUH-REEEEN OF BEEF!", she [[SmallNameBigEgo acts like she's the star of the show]]. Things get messy when the actress for Roxanne gets sick and understudy Jackie has to fill in, despite never reading the whole text or even watching the scenes that she wasn't in (as in, the ''entire rest of the play''). Roseanne ends up saving the day by hiding backstage and feeding her the lines.
* Lampshaded in a few episodes of ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'' by having Creator/TerryGilliam or [[SixthRanger Carol]] [[MsFanservice Cleveland]] saying some variation of "This is my only line."
* In a late episode of ''Series/NightCourt'' a crew shoots a TV pilot in the court house. To get Judge Harry Stone to agree to their using his courtroom, they give him a bit part as a bailiff. Unfortunately he can’t manage to say the line “All rise” in a remotely natural way.
* Mary from ''Series/TwoTwoSeven'' gets a part in a movie where she tells a cop "Officer, he went that way!" But the stress of delivering this one line causes her back to stiffen to the point where she can't stand straight up. She eventually manages to straighten up, but now she can't bend over. Unfortunately, she has to lean over the victim when the shot begins and she's forced back into being bent over. After she delivers the line, the stress disappears and her back issue is resolved.
* On ''Series/TheBradyBunch'' Jan and Peter were cast as palace guards in "Romeo and Juliet" and had one line each.
-->'''Alice:''' Romeo and Juliet's such a sad play.\\
'''Carol Brady:''' Yeah.\\
'''Mike Brady:''' It's no musical comedy.\\
'''Carol Brady:''' Alice, which part did you think was the saddest?\\
'''Alice Nelson:''' Well, the part where Romeo dies is sad. But where Juliet died is sad too. But I think the saddest part of all is when Jan said "Who goes there" before Peter said "Hark".
* Doubly done in the Klugman/Randall [[Series/TheOddCouple1970 The Odd Couple]]. Sportwriter Oscar is given a brief movie role as a sports reporter, whose only line is "Tell us about your career, Slugger." He flubs take after take, to the point where the director is ready to call in a real actor. If that weren't embarrassing enough, Felix jumps in to take over the part. But he overacts mightily with elaborate improvisations until *he* is fired too. But it's a subversion: He only did it to waste time, so that the director would be forced to use Oscar instead calling in the other actor. But it backfires: the director gives the role to the guy who'd been operating the clapboard, who nails the line in one take.
* In the ''Series/SavedByTheBellTheNewClass'' episode "Highs and Lows", Liz obsessively frets about getting her one line in the stage production right, to the point that she rambles on to Ryan for hours about how best to do it (including the idea of trying out with various accents), until Ryan shows that he has had enough by snapping at her with: "It's only one line. Eight words. Just do it!" While Liz is initially affronted at Ryan's expression, she nevertheless takes it to heart by dropping any attempt to "polish" her line, and her performance ends up better as a result.

* In ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsMagicalMovieNight'' the protagonists get to be extras in the ''Daring Do'' movie. Rainbow Dash keeps messing up her one part of throwing the rope to Daring Do because she's too busy {{Squee}}ing over how fun the scene is.
* Minor character [[SmallNameBigEgo Charlton "Baynarts" Woodchucks]] from ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'' was the center of a short wherein he left his rural home for stardom in Hollywood. After a bumpy start, he manages to land an audition for a new nature show, only to become so intimidated by actually having to perform, he can't manage the single line of dialogue he's been rehearsing throughout the short without literal butterflies in his stomach. Fortunately the director, tired of fake "acting" woodchucks, took this as a sign of Charlton's inherent "realness" and gave him the part. This being ''Animaniacs'', you can guess how well that went for the guy.
* ''WesternAnimation/CampLazlo'': In "7 Deadly Sandwiches", Scoutmaster Lumpus tries to impress Jane Doe by signing up to appear in Lazlo's play. However, he's gets cast as a rock with one line ("Did somebody order a pizza?"), which he ends up delivering in a furious rage. Not wanting to be upstaged, Lumpus resorts to loudly parroting everyone else's lines in order to get noticed.
-->'''Lumpus:''' THAT'S IT?! ''"DID SOMEBODY ORDER A PIZZA?!"''
* In ''WesternAnimation/NinaNeedsToGo'', the episode "Play" has Nina cast as a talking rock in a play. She apparently has only one line but is nervous and doesn't know what she's meant to say. At the end of the episode, she just says her {{Catchphrase}} instead, so [[RiddleForTheAges we never find out her line]].

* Creator/IreneBedard recalls having to be brought in for an additional recording session for ''{{WesternAnimation/Pocahontas}}'' because they just wanted to change ''one word'', deciding Pocahontas had said "path" too many times in the film (they changed it to "way").
* Creator/JohnCarpenter has just two lines in ''Film/TheFog1980'' but he was so appalled by his delivery that he never acted in his films again.

the area. And what do you know? One of the characters gets to have a small part. Nine times out of ten, they'll get a line or two. Despite having just one line, they'll
angst over it quite a bit - determined to get it right. This is almost always PlayedForLaughs - and half the time the line will end up cut (either due to time or the
character's comical overacting). Sometimes will result in SmallNameBigEgo if the character acts like a celebrity afterwards. Another variation involves characters with small parts in school plays or community theatre productions.

* In ''LightNovel/ThereWasNoSecretEvilFightingOrganization'', Sago (who has never acted before) gets nervous about whether he'll remember his scripted dialogue, and hurries to make cue cards. It's only revealed a chapter later that this dialogue was ''three words''.

* Lampshaded in a few episodes of ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'' by having Creator/TerryGilliam or [[SixthRanger Carol]] [[MissFanservice Cleveland]] saying some variation of "This is my only line."

* Creator/JohnCarpenter has just two lines in ''Film/TheFog'' but he was so appalled by his delivery that he never acted in his films again.

* ''Film/HailCaesar'' has singing cowboy star Hobie Doyle being cast in a romantic drama, causing a lot of hassle for the director when he tries to say the line "would that it were so simple?" although it's partly because [[spoiler: he actually wears dentures]]. When we see the finished scene, the line is just changed to "it's complicated".

--> '''Alice''': Romeo and Juliet's such a sad play.
--> '''Carol Brady''': Yeah.
--> '''Mike Brady''': It's no musical comedy.
--> '''Carol Brady''': Alice, which part did you think was the saddest?
--> '''Alice Nelson''':Well, the part where Romeo dies is sad. But where Juliet died is sad too. But I think the saddest part of all is when Jan said "Who goes there" before Peter said "Hark".

* In a famous example from ''Film/TheGodfather'', Lenny Montana, a professional wrestler and real-life member of the Mob, showed up on set one day as the bodyguard for one of the mafiosos who, per agreement with Francis Ford Coppola, got to occasionally watch shooting and make sure nothing too offensive was being put into the movie. Coppola hired Montana on the spot to play gangster Luca Brasi, who ends up "sleeping with the fishes." Luca only speaks a few lines in his first scene, where he meets Don Vito Corleone, but Montana was so nervous about being in the same room as Creator/MarlonBrando that he endlessly practiced his dialogue for fear of messing it up. Coppola decided to [[ThrowItIn add this into the film]] -- when you see Luca muttering to himself in preparation for meeting Vito, it's actually Montana rehearsing his speech. Similarly, Montana ''did'' screw up his lines, but his genuinely flustered reaction was so perfect that Coppola [[ThrowItIn didn't bother with a retake]].