Watch the GOP debate's painfully and hilariously awkward start

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Why am I starting to think of Chauncey Gardner lately?

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“Dr. Ben Carson. Paging Dr. Carson. GET YOUR ASS OUT HERE, CARSON.”

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I can’t stop laughing, it’s so sad, but funny!

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They may well be, but this looks to me more like bad stage management; they should never have been put in that position. I’m half laughing hysterically and half wincing in sympathy for whoever was supposed to be organising and cueing this.

On the other hand… some of it may be down to the candidates. I’ve been in the position of Telling The Important Person Exactly What To Do On Stage [and if ever I do it these days, which is rare, I tell them EVERYTHING, prefacing it with something polite but firm which means “I know you know this, but I’m going to tell you anyway”], only to see them go off and do whatever gets into their sweet heads.

I remember hearing somebody who was running a big fundraiser for Bill Clinton: it was big, and busy, and chaotic backstage. They were waiting for the candidate to turn up, when she got the “He’s ready” cue in her headset. So she cued the big music, the followspots, the lasers, the curtains to open… and there on stage was Kenny G.

So shit happens: at the time it’s mortifying, twenty years later it’s a hilarious war story. In this case, for us it’s just hilarious!

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Dr. Howard, Dr. Fine, Dr. Howard!

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don’t insult chauncey gardner!

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Did he “not hear” his cue, or did he and Trump just get in a pissing match about who had to go first?

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That’s what it looked like when he waved off the assistant that was gesturing for him to go at 0:32 right before Trump was introduced. What was he saying to her?

I know someone here has the protools skillz to isolate that track…

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Oh crap, I just gained one iota of respect for Trump.

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I think Trump - mister Television - saw Carson’ miscue and was like… “I’m not here to shit on Ben Carson tonight, I’m going to stand here so it looks like a failure of the producers instead of this nice misguided dude who just didn’t hear his name called”

Pretty sure that was Trumps hand waving at him to get goin, before Trump was called, too. Maybe Cruz?

The “waver” had a badge swinging from their neck, a checked shirt, and no suit coat, so I assumed it was a PA. It sounded like Carson’s mic picked up their back and forth.

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I only saw an arm at some point. Saw that PA too, yeah. Looked like a suitcoated arm waved at him.

Trump, fwiw, totally was pulling a power move. Saw an opening to stand out, I suspect.

Any iotas I speak of are dwarfed by the massive dislike I have for his platform.

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It looked to me like Carson missed hearing his cue and Trump assumed he was grandstanding and didn’t want to be left out.

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It looks to me like Carson got told several times what to do and for some inexplicable reason just refused to do it, which lead Trump to not understand what was going on either.

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What’s the opposite of a power move? John Kasich.

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Needs more Yakety Sax…

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… and cowbell.

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