A gag built around a dripping wig turned a bad song into comedy

Evidence

Then, just as I was about to step out on to the stage, I dipped my Aqua Net lacquered wig into a bucket of water and put it back on my head. The music was cued up and as I stood there singing the lyrics, “It’s raining on prom night, my hair is a mess. It’s running all over my taffeta dress.” My fabulous wig dripped throughout the verse, wrecking my heavily made up black cat eyes which then spilled on to my dress. — Dolores DeLuce, Blow Jobs, 20

Categorization

• STORYSTEM: A performer whose actual, unscripted physical mishap is indistinguishable from her planned act — the prop failure becoming the comedy — is a colorful comic set piece usable in fiction about performers.
• XREF: connects to: The $1.98 Beauty Show deliberately staged amateurish acts for comedy — Dolores DeLuce, Blow Jobs: A Guide to Making It in Show…, 19; Clinging to a youthful self-image produces a grotesque public parody — Naomi Klein, Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror…, 580

Related

• The $1.98 Beauty Show deliberately staged amateurish acts for comedy (similarity 0.80)

Broader Connections

• Clinging to a youthful self-image produces a grotesque public parody #exemplifies (0.85) — Naomi Klein, Doppelganger, 580