Are Entertainers Crazy

Does it happen in other professions?

A few months ago I heard a CD playing at Indigo Books at Yonge and Steeles. It was really good so on my way out I wandered over to the music department and asked who it was. It was Amy Winehouse. I bought her CD but now I read that just as she's hitting the top of the charts her behaviour at work is collapsing.

"Reports say Amy appeared to be in tears while onstage, hitting herself on the head with a microphone in frustration when she forgot the words to her songs, and a fan said she finished by spitting into the crowd....

"The gig became absolutely awful. Members of her entourage were coming on to the stage, obviously worried she couldn't go on, and she would just shout "f*** off" at them. Everyone in the crowd just felt sorry for her."

"Amy has blamed her constant touring for her health worries, but it seems more likely that it's the result of her hard-partying lifestyle. "

Note: she's on her honeymoon. (Go to the article for the pictures)

See also: Britney hits the beach

Comments

[Colin Kingsbury]

The difference between entertainers and accountants is (1) you need to be a little more out there to get up on stage and sing and (2) there are relatively few good entertainers, and relatively many good accountants, so Amy, Britt, and co. can get away with bad behavior for a lot longer than Harold in finance. Imperious and destructive behaviors can be found anywhere, but creative professions afford them a lot more leeway.

[Chris Taylor]

That and your clients would be appalled if you forgot, say, PCAOB regulations in the middle of your audit, and then freaked out and dropped the F-bomb on the junior associates who tried to help you out.

[Recruiting Animal]

What about this? Entertainers are different than other people. They have fewer internal, psychological constraints. That's what gives them the willingness to put themselves in the spotlight. But it not only extends their range of behaviour in a positive way but also removes contraints on irrational behaviour.

I can see you saying in response: No, extroverts exist everywhere. The only difference between an entertainer and the talkative guy in Audit is the ability to sing (which provides an audience) and the constraints of the job (strong or lax external constraints).

[Chris Taylor]

Lax, very lax external constraints. We expect businesspeople to be well-behaved. We also expect performers to be total flakes incapable of demonstrating the self-restraint a 12-year-old would take for granted.

Not sure how we got to that point, but I am not a believer in the "artistic temperament". There are plenty of performers from ages past who were also extremely well-mannered. =)