How Embarrassing!

There’s a scene in the rom-com Notting Hill where, at a small gathering, one friend is introduced to another friend’s date. Casual banter ensues with the others looking on, waiting for the friend to realize he’s talking to mega star Anna Scott (Julia Roberts). He asks what she does (“I’m an actress”) and continues to expound on how many actors barely scrape by. He then asks, “Last film you did. What did you get paid?”  We wait for it... wait for it... “Fifteen million dollars.” Later, when he finds out who she is, it gets even more embarrassing. (You can watch the initial scene here.)

For me, that brand of embarrassment happened when I was a few years out of college and found myself involved in a wonderful philanthropic organization that was hosting a prominent speaker. I was asked to write an article about her for the newsletter. The organization’s president beckoned me forward so I could meet the women. I shook her hand (or so I thought) and told her how she’s made difference, blah, blah, blah. Turns out, I'd addressed my attention to the vice president of the organization; not the national speaker who was standing right beside her. Gracefully, the president smoothed it over, but an air of awkwardness remained, at least for me.

My embarrassment, my humiliation, my utter mortification—that specific experience—might not be direct fodder for humor in movies or books but, what would, is the emotion behind it. That’s what still makes the Notting Hill scene so funny, memorable, and cringe-worthy.

When we, as writers, can foist a universal experience onto a character who readers may love (or loathe), the relatability of it all brings out the humor. 

I completely understand that but skillfully putting it into practice..."
You know? I should try. It may work. Then again, I might embarrass myself.

Jody Feldman has suffered her share of embarrassing situations, some of which have found their ways into the pages of her books. Which ones? She’ll never tell…