10 Embarrassing Anonymous Audition Stories

We all have an audition horror story. Here are 10 embarrassing anonymous audition stories as told by my favorite Office gifs.

(Making actors feel better about themselves one gif at a time.)

1. "At an audition o' mine, I was asked if I knew 'American Pie.' A normal request. I didn't have it in my book, but everyone knows the song and they just wanted to hear me sing that song a cappella. I said I knew it, began to sing, and realized that I hadn't actually listened to anything except the Weird Al Yankovic cover of the song. I realized that I knew the tune, but not the real lyrics.

The people behind the table got a large dose of Star Wars themed lyrics."

2. "I auditioned for Annie when I was in 8th grade. I was cold reading with a girl who was probably in 3rd grade. She was in the middle of her line, stopped and said, 'Oh no. This isn't good.' and ran offstage. I was confused, stepped forward and stepped in something.

She wet herself onstage."

3. "I was probably pushing 17 when my agent called me in for a Nintendo DS commercial audition. While I sat in the holding room, I slowly began to realize what I was in for. Surrounding me was a plethora of pre-teens, toddlers and anxious stage moms prepping their precious stars for their big moment.

I hadn't played a DS since I was 10. I was more into texting my friends on my killer Android than wasting my time playing Mario Cart.

The audition was average, the auditors were underwhelmed... and then they asked me my favorite movie.

For whatever reason, I quickly responded The Notebook. I knew in my heart of hearts that Mean Girls was and will forever be my favorite movie, but something inside me said that Mean Girls was much too old for a kid playing their Nintendo DS. Come on.

Still trying to figure out why The Notebook was more PG in my mind.

The auditor asked me why The Notebook was my favorite.

I had never seen The Notebook before.

After attempting to make up some fake story about my fake favorite movie I had never seen, I broke out into a fake coughing fit. My face turned beat red and after a brief moment of silence, I confessed I actually hadn't seen the movie.

The auditors thanked me and promptly escorted me out of the room."

4. "I farted in the middle of the big note in Gimme Gimme. It was tragic.

5. "I went to the original Newsies call. It was not only my first Paper Mill Playhouse audition, but my first professional audition... period. I met a nice guy in the holding room who was the only person to stand up when I jokingly said, "will the real Slim Shady please stand up."

I had my songbook and I was ready to roll.

It was a dance call.

So we were walking into the room to learn a "Seize the Day" combination, taught by Tony Award winning choreographer, Christopher Gattelli. Director Jeff Calhounwas also in the room.

I knew from the second-eight count that I was doomed. I ended up doing spins on the floor to cover up the fact that I fell trying to complete a double turn. Thankfully, everyone laughed with me.

In the next group was none other than Slim Shady. When the double turn came up, Slim Shady fit eight turns and landed it while staying within the eight-count.

Turns out, our Slim Shady is Evan Kasprzak, second runner up on So You Think You Can Dance.

Needless to say, I did not get a callback, and Evan ended up in the Original Broadway Cast of Newsies."

6. "Normally it's safe to say if you walk into an audition room with a cut that's a LITTLE too long, no one will notice. Well... I walked into an audition recently and showed the pianist my cut. He immediately called me on the length and had me start a few bars into my cut. I thought "this is fine!" And started to sing it, only to realize I was singing the words of where the new cut started to the melody of where the old cut started.

I got back on and then I couldn't figure out why it was all feeling and sounding so high to me. After I left the audition room, I realized I had printed my old version of that music and it was, not exaggerating, 4 whole steps higher than the key I'd been practicing in... yep. That was an audition from hell!!"

7. "I was auditioning for a college and went in to do my songs. After I finished singing, they said 'thank you Jenny'! Except for the thing is my name isn't Jenny. So I said 'oh wait ha my name isn't Jenny'. They said, 'We know, we were thanking the pianist', (cue pianist leaving the room)."

8. "As an auditor, you see all kinds of shenanigans. One of my favorites was a girl who slated by saying "Good afternoon, my name is _______ __________ and I will be performing a monologue from Barefoot in the Park by Samuel French."

9. "During a callback for a national tour I was given sides for a role that I prepared for, for days. When I got in the room , they asked me to sing two songs that I've never seen before. They were in a different packet that my agent never attached in my email. I didn't know the songs because it was for a completely different character. I did my best to sight read it. After a few bars I started monologuing the song and running around the room. The creatives were sitting there with their mouths open, cracking up. I think they were in shock. Everyone should know these classic MT songs but I had no idea.

I made a choice. Safe to say I will never go in for this tour again. "

10. "In high school, while auditioning for the Pirate King, I stepped backwards into the orchestra pit and fell 8 feet onto solid concrete. Booked it."

---

Find this helpful? Be sure to check out the Actor Aesthetic podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Play Music, Spotify, Stitcher, and more. New episodes every Monday!