BEHIND THE CURTAIN BEHIND THE CURTAIN BEHIND THE CURTAIN by Dave Berg

take them to the show to meet Robin the night he came on to promote the film. When Robin saw the little ones, he bent down to their level and asked them if they had any questions. My four-year-old son, David, wanted to know how he could fly. Without missing a beat, Robin replied: “A little magic and very tight pants.” Both the kids and the adults laughed, but for different reasons!
    During another guest spot some years later, Robin “killed” as usual with a variety of antics. After the taping, Robin and the other guests joined Jay to shoot a quick promotion that would be aired that night on local NBC stations. Such promos were routine, but what happened next wasn’t. Robin tripped over an audio speaker and fell onto the hard studio floor, injuring his arm. The audience laughed, thinking he was just doing another pratfall. Ever the performer, he made the accident look like a stunt, as he clutched his arm and let out exaggerated howls of agony. In fact, though, he was feeling severe pain and was immediately taken to a hospital in Burbank where doctors determined he had dislocated his shoulder.
    Lucy Lawless
    Lucy Lawless, star of the hit television series Xena : Warrior Princess , performed most of the stunts on her show without any major injuries. But the plucky New Zealand native wasn’t so lucky at Tonight, where she was seriously injured while doing a routine stunt for a taped comedy sketch in October 1996. She was riding a horse that slipped on the studio parking lot tarmac and fell on her, fracturing her pelvis. I was in my office at the time, but a colleague who witnessed the mishap said it happened in the blink of an eye. All of a sudden, Lucy was on the ground, crying out in excruciating pain. Someone called 911 and Jay immediately ran out of the studio, got down on the ground next to her, and took her hand in an effort to comfort her. He assured her she didn’t have to worry because the show would take care of everything. And he told her a joke, saying “We’ll even re-book you.” That got a smile out of her. Ever the gracious guest, Lucy blamed herself for the accident and said she hoped it didn’t ruin the show that night.
    Paramedics quickly arrived and transported her to the hospital, where she was listed in stable condition. Everyone was grateful her injury wasn’t worse. Still, it was the most severe injury sustained by a guest at the show. Jay said on the air that night how sorry he was and that he wanted Lucy back as soon as possible. In the days that followed, he sent bouquets of flowers to her hospital room, visited her, and called her. Miraculously, Lucy was able to return to the show in only twenty-two days, only this time she wasn’t riding a horse. She was carried on stage by two very muscular men dressed in loincloths, an entrance befitting a warrior princess. She assured everyone she was all right, although she had not fully recovered. Then she related an anecdote about a mysterious visit she had recently made to a fortune teller while vacationing in Turkey. The clairvoyant had warned her: “You are going to get very, very hurt, and a man will fall into your eyes, and he has got a very big chin.” The fortune teller described the man’s hair as long and grey. Lucy said she was lying in a fetal position after the accident and remembered seeing Jay come into her vision just as the fortune teller had predicted. Was she telling the truth or just a tall tale? I worked with Lucy for almost a decade, and she was always a straight shooter. But you never know!
    Shirley MacLaine
    The 1994 Northridge earthquake in Southern California was one of the worst disasters ever to hit North America. While seismologists attributed the cause to a previously unknown fault nine miles beneath the earth, actress Shirley MacLaine had a different take. She told an audience in Kansas City the quake happened because Mother Nature was sending a message that “she” wasn’t happy with the way we humans were