History Main / TheShowMustGoOn

* This is the name of one of ''Music/{{Queen}}'' last songs, promptly titled: "The show must go on".

* Axl Rose recently did the same as the above-mentioned Dave Grohl when he broke a leg during a show. Instead of canceling the concert or the remainder of the tour, he just continued singing sitting down (Dave Grohl even lent him his throne for Guns N' Roses' 2016 Coachella performance).

* In the short sports film, ''WesternAnimation/LeMans1955", after his driver crashes into a spectator area and kills 80 spectators (and himself), Mercedes manager Alfred Neubauer refuses to withdraw the other car, saying that "The race Must go on!" However, later, he withdraws the other car from the race, saying that they proved what they wanted to prove, as said car had just taken the lead.

It must also be remembered that for live entertainers, not only is it about making sure people get their money's worth or ensuring a production continues, ''performing is something they've dedicated their lives to.'' It's not something they do, it's who they are, and it's a point of professional pride that no matter what, the show must go on. Even for those who take a less high-minded view, they are ''professionals'' after all-- meaning [[MoneyDearBoy if the show doesn't go on, nobody gets their paycheck]].

** He also managed to get through 20 out of 29 songs in a concert in Abu Dhabi in 2018 despite throwing up for five hours and needing to be on IVs just to replenish his fluids. Both Slash and Duff [=McKagan=] praised him for managing to get that far into the show.

* Music/{{Queen}} lead singer Freddie Mercury contracted AIDS and was in increasingly poor health through the last few years of his career. He kept recording though, as, well you know. The band lampshaded it with an absolute TearJerker of a song named, unsurprisingly, "The Show Must Go On". Also qualifies as a RealLife example.

* Comic [[http://red-skelton.info/biographies/red-skelton-biography/ Red Skelton]], on a live 1950s show, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeUNIp4vH7I was doing a sketch with a cow,]] [[NeverWorkWithChildrenOrAnimals which started defecating]], for a very long time. Needless to say, the audience was in stitches, and Red spent the interval pulling faces, holding his nose, and telling the cow "No ad-libbing!"

*** Another example is when Undertaker faced off with Wrestler/BrockLesnar in Wrestling/WrestleMania XXX. The match started out simple enough, until Lesnar slammed Taker's head against the floor outside the ring almost six minutes in, accidentally giving him a serious head concussion that lasted throughout the match. Both men continued wrestling, however, although Taker had to take a little longer than usual to get up due to his concussion on quite a few occasions. Yet that concussion didn't stop [[HandicappedBadass Taker]] from kicking some serious ass... and then eventually giving the ThroatSlittingGesture as a signal when it was time for Lesnar to finish him with a third F-5 and [[DefeatingTheUndefeatable end the Streak]] under Wrestling/VinceMcMahon's decision. And when the match was over, Taker was still able to get up after a few minutes and walk out toward the backstage room, where he would immediately be taken to a hospital for treatment.

** A specific example is Wrestling/TheUndertaker at the 2010 ''Elimination Chamber'' pay-per-view, who got ''set on fire'' during his entrance due to mistimed/misaligned pyrotechnics going off. Instead of going backstage to get the injury treated, he went down to the ring where he was in a pod for his cue, being handed bottles of water to douse himself with in the meantime.

** He also managed to get through 20 out of 29 songs in a concert in Abu Dhabi in 2018 despite throwing up for five hours and needing to be on IVs just to replenish his fluids. Both Slash and Duff McKagan praised him for managing to get that far into the show.

* In 2006 [[Music/PanicAtTheDisco Panic! At The Disco frontman Brendon Urie]] was knocked unconscious by a water bottle. After recovering enough to perform, he got back on stage and finished the set, [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome picking up from exactly where he was cut off.]]

* We'll say that professional wrestling is like this in general. As a ''Website/{{Cracked}}'' [[http://www.cracked.com/blog/5-reasons-pro-wrestlers-are-best-actors-in-world/ article put it]], a wrestler is supposed to stay in character no matter what happens. Your opponent is legitimately trying to injure you? Ignore it and stay in character. You tore your ACL? Broke your ribs? Don't break character. '''''[[FatalMethodActing One of the competitors died during the match]]''''', and you're being charged with manslaughter? You can't even let that break {{kayfabe}}.

However, in live entertainment, the show must go on at all costs - unlike with a movie or a TV show, a live performance has an audience of potentially ''tens of thousands'' of people, who have all ''paid'' to be there, and are rightfully expecting to get their money's worth. This forces the characters into crazy improvisations, costume changes, awkward stealth to avoid further disrupting the show and any number of disparate things to keep the show going.

* A few months after John Lennon's death, a fan jumped onto the stage during a live performance of the Rolling Stones and made straight for Mick Jagger, singing "I Can't Get No Satisfaction." Security was not there so Keith Richards hit the guy with his guitar while Mick carried on singing, then put it back on and returned to playing.

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[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* In the ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' manga, during Turnabout Showtime, after Flip Chambers, who plays Twinklestar in the Sparklestar show for Sparkle Land, is stabbed inside his costume, he comes out on stage as scheduled before collapsing and dying. Toward the end of the trial, Phoenix speculates that "Maybe he thought the show must go on. Or maybe he was asking for help."
* ''Manga/{{Beastars}}'': Louis breaks his leg during a play rehearsal but is so determined to put on a good performance that he [[SecretStabWound hides it]], acting normally until he finally passes out from the pain the second the curtain finally falls on the first night. On the second night, Bill takes his place in the lead role and Legoshi take on Bill's former role but the play goes off the rails when Legoshi attacks Bill for real on stage and Louis has to intervene to get the play back on track without the audience noticing Bill and Legoshi are badly hurt from the fight and make it look like it was AllPartOfTheShow.
* ''Manga/TheIdolmaster2TheWorldIsAllOne'': It's [=SprouT=]'s first live concert, and halfway through the lights all go out. The girl's begin to panic but Azusa of fellow idol unit Ryuuguu Komachi immediately begins singing by herself to calm the audience down, followed by the rest of her unit putting on an improved show until everything can get fixed.
* ''Anime/{{Macross}}'' examples:
** In ''Anime/SuperDimensionFortressMacross'' Minmay wanted to interrupt a concert due a sudden Zentraedi attack (that, unbeknownst to her, had actually boarded the ship), but Kaifun convinced her to continue to prevent the fans from panicking... And, she continued ''even when a group of battlepods showed up and stopped to listen to her concert'' (she ''did'' stop for a moment in shock when they appeared, but as soon as she saw they were just standing there she resumed singing). It wasn't until more combative Zentraedi endangered the public that she stopped her concert.
** In ''Anime/MacrossFrontier'', the stunt extra aerobatic team messes up at Sheryl Nome's concert, causing [[TheHero Alto]] to [[WhatTheHellHero knock Sheryl off her several story high stage]]. Alto manages to recover and [[CatchAFallingStar catch her]], saving her from a fatal fall. Her reaction? Annoyance, and she tells him to get flying and make it look good while she continues singing, because the show must go on.
*** Later in the same concert, an air raid siren sounds ushering everyone to the nearest shelter. Sheryl's reaction: "But I'm not finished singing yet!" The trope is subverted, as Cathy drags her off stage.
* In one episode of ''Manga/MermaidMelodyPichiPichiPitch'', there is a play called "The Mermaid Princess", which is based on Creator/HansChristianAndersen's "Literature/TheLittleMermaid", took place in the school. Despite [[TheHero Lucia's]] clumsiness, and a (real) attack from the water demons, the show continues thanks to Rina's quick adlibbing. Since part of the ad lib involves the main trio transforming and making a performance (driving away the water demons), the rest of the play has to be improvised.
* ''VisualNovel/OtobokuMaidensAreFallingForMe'': When Takako's dress is being ripped off, Mizuho needs to improvise the way to cover her up, and ends up also kissing her.
* This trope is pretty much Rise's motivational speech when preparing for the concert in ''Anime/Persona4GoldenTheAnimation'' when she says that a real pro will always arrive to perform, no matter what. And, [[spoiler:even though she ends up arriving late to the show, Marie takes her words to heart and sings vocals until Rise makes it and they sing together]].
* ''Anime/SDGundamForce'': This is the reason why the [[ShowWithinAShow Zako Zako Hour]] is being held even though the ''Gundamusai'' is being pulled into a crack in the Minov Boundary Sea. The lead host even names this trope.
* In one episode of ''Anime/SpiderRiders'', Hunter Steele, Shadow and the Spider Riders end up staring in a play about a legendary hero. Due to a misunderstanding, the villain Grasshop assumed that Hunter and the others would only be observing the play. So he attempted to ambush the heroes, while they were right in the middle of preforming. Hunter decided to stay in character, so he improvised and the play continued.
* Thanks to this trope, in the ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}}'' universe it is assumed that anything that occurs on stage while a play is being performed is part of the play. That includes spontaneous script rewrites, duels with real swords, and massive explosions. Lina and Co. got an award for their ad-libbed play (which, while completely nonsensical, was much more entertaining than the original story they intended to perform).
* ''Anime/YesPrettyCure5'': Urara is chosen to be the MC for a kid's play, but it turns out that the actress playing the rabbit fell ill. Nozomi, not wanting her friend's big day ruined, takes up the role of the rabbit... despite Rin pointing out that she was ''banned'' from the Drama Club after only 3 days in. Despite this, they go with it and things start out alright... only for Girinma to arrive and summon the MonsterOfTheWeek. The girls are able to blind most everyone to transform and the audience is treated to a Pretty Cure fight... which is a big hit with the crowds. When Urara's manager approaches Urara once more and wants the same thing to happen, the poor girl's left in a bind, while her friends tell the audience their answer.
-->'''Nozomi, Rin, Komachi and Karen:''' Not going to happen.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* ''Film/TheAdventuresOfBaronMunchausen'': Early on a theater company struggles to put on a Baron Münchausen show due to the Turkish invasion that is going on outside. On a meta sense it's HarsherInHindsight given how it reflects the TroubledProduction that Creator/TerryGilliam had to endure while making the movie.
* ''Film/TheAdventureOfSherlockHolmesSmarterBrother'': Sigerson Holmes and Professor Moriarty (and their minions) engage in a secret contest behind the scenes of an opera performance to get some important papers. Their shenanigans include dropping sleeping pills into the cups the actors are drinking from, firing guns and breaking into song: the actors try desperately to keep the opera going despite the interruptions.
* ''Film/BemBom'': Lena's mother dies just before a show. Tozé wants to hide it from her so it doesn't affect her performance, but she overhears it and runs out onto the street to cry, with her bandmates following to comfort her. The show still happens and she gives it her all.
* ''Film/BewareOfTheCar'': Yuri is both a member of an amateur acting troupe, and an amateur car thief. What's more, Maxim, the detective who finally catches him, is a member of the same acting troupe. Eventually Yuri gets arrested, but Maxim has him taken to the theater, under police guard, so that the acting troupe can put on their production of ''Hamlet''.
* ''Film/BirdmanOrTheUnexpectedVirtueOfIgnorance'': Riggan gets locked outside the theater and his robe stuck on the door. In order to make it to his part in the play, he had to walk around Times Square in his underwear. Once he finally reaches inside the theater, he delivers his lines while in his underwear. The audience find it hilarious and his stint on Times Square becomes viral on the internet.
* ''Film/BlackAndTan'': "Keep the show on!", cries the MC after Fredi has a heart attack while dancing onstage. He hustles the dancing girls onstage, but the curtain falls soon after anyway.
* ''Film/GalaxyQuest'':
-->'''Jason Nesmith:''' You ''will'' go out there.\\
'''[[ClassicallyTrainedExtra Alexander Dane]]:''' I won't. And nothing you can say will make me.\\
'''Jason Nesmith:''' "The show must go on."\\
'''[[ConsummateProfessional Alexander Dane]]:''' ({{beat}}) Damn you. ''Damn you!''
* ''Film/TheGreatestShowman'': A more positive version happen at the end, when Barnum grant Philip control of the circus so that he can spend more time with is family.
-->'''Phillip''': What will you be doing?
-->'''Barnum''': Watching my girls grow up. [[PassingTheTorch The show must go on.]]
* ''Film/HenrysCrime'': Henry goes back on stage and continues his role as if nothing's wrong, immediately after [[spoiler: getting shot in the leg.]] Justified because if he hadn't, it would have aroused suspicion.
* ''Film/ALeagueOfTheirOwn'': A Western Union delivery man shows up at the door of the locker room right before a game with a telegram for [[spoiler:Betty]] informing her that her husband was killed in action in World War II. After the team chaperon takes her aside, Jimmy has to get the rest of the team to focus.
-->'''Jimmy''': ''[softly]'' Alright, we've still got a game to play.
* ''Film/MeetTheFeebles'': More and more of the muppet-like variety show's cast and crew end up missing, incapacitated, or dead on the night of their live TV debut, but the show lurches on even when performers accidentally die on stage. By the end the director is reduced to performing a musical number that he was expressly forbidden ever to do, ever, under an circumstances by the producer.
* ''Film/MoulinRouge'': Satine is dying from tuberculosis and everyone's hopes and dreams are falling apart, but they still manage to stage "Spectacular! Spectacular!" [[CoveredUp Guess]] [[Music/{{Queen}} what]] TheSongBeforeTheStorm [[TropeNamers is?]]
* The Creator/MarxBrothers ''Film/ANightAtTheOpera'' where the brothers throw an opera into total chaos and the theatre crew and police still bend over backwards to avoid disrupting the show themselves, even when things are bad enough that logically they might as well simply and openly march out on stage to grab the brothers since it would not make any difference.
* ''Film/RockStar'': In the very beginning of the first song in his first concert with [[FakeBand Steel Dragon]], [[AscendedFanboy Chris Cole]] slips and falls down the stairs (they were tring to do a GrandStaircaseEntrance). Despite a nasty head wound and possible concussion, Chris rallies and finishes the song and the concert.
* ''Film/ShakespeareInLove'':
** {{Lampshaded}}, as the movie is apparently set before the phrase was popularized:
--->'''Henslowe:''' The show must... you know...\\
'''Creator/WilliamShakespeare:''' ''[prompting him to continue]'' Go on!
** And played straight when, after the Rose Theater is ordered shut down by the Master of the Revels, rival theater manager Richard Burbage freely allows Shakespeare's company the use of his theater for the premiere of ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet''.
* ''Film/SinginInTheRain'':
** Cosmo invokes this trope for Don Lockwood before breaking into "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SND3v0i9uhE Make 'Em Laugh]]".
-->'''Cosmo''': "Come on now, snap out of it. You can't let a little thing like this get you down. Why, you're Don Lockwood, aren't you? And Don Lockwood's an actor, isn't he? Well, what's the first thing an actor learns? "The show must go on!" Come rain, come snow, come sleet, the show must go on!"
** Turning [[ShowWithinAShow the terrible movie "The Dueling Cavalier"]] into a musical ("The Dancing Cavalier") also qualifies for this trope.
* A more tragic case in ''Film/StageDoor''; on opening night of her debut, Terry finds out Kay, an actress she was friends with, had her heart set on the part Terry was about to play, and when she didn't get the part, [[spoiler:committed suicide]]. Upon hearing this, Terry is heartbroken and refuses to go on; Ann Luther, her acting coach, gives a variation of this speech to get Terry to perform.
* ''Film/TopsyTurvy'' opens with [[Creator/GilbertAndSullivan Arthur Sullivan]] suffering from painful kidney disease, only to pull himself out of bed and stagger off to the theatre to conduct the orchestra for the premiere of ''Theatre/PrincessIda''.

[[folder:Literature]]
* The name of a chapter in a ''Literature/TheBerenstainBears'' book in which Brother and Sister bear attempt to help a horseback riding teacher save her building by means of a fundraiser to pay the mortgage. In the chapter, [[spoiler:the villains have been defeated and prevented from sabotaging the fundraiser in their bid to gain control of the building, but despite the problems they have, they still have to hold the event to get the necessary money]].
* In ''Literature/{{Maskerade}}'', this is the philosophy of the Ankh-Morpork Opera House, where a show cannot stop even if the lead singer is dead (they recruit another from the audience, or work the corpse via ventriloquism). When someone actually does stop a show (as it's Discworld) the resulting entropic shockwave physically flings Walter Plinge, a man truly in tune with opera, from his seated position.
* This is Rachel's motto in ''Literature/NoMoreDeadDogs'', even as early back as kindergarten. At the end of the book she convinces everyone to remain performing the play with these words after [[spoiler:the Old Shep dog is blown up with a cherry bomb.]]
* In the ''Literature/RainbowMagic'' series, this happens in Paige the Christmas Play Fairy's book. Jack Frost interfering with a performance of ''Cinderella'' forces the girls to improvise.
* Actor [[Literature/DoubleStar Lorenzo Smith's]] only real principle is this trope. As the plot thickens he sits down and thinks about ''why'' the show must go on ('because some shows are pretty awful') and realizes the basic principle is applicable to more than acting.

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* The entire show ''Series/DarkShadows''. What is that lurking in the dark shadows of Collinwood manor? Is it a ghost? A vampire? or is it just the sound man again?
* The British soap ''Crossroads''. Someone flub a line in dialogue? Did the other person flub a line right back? Did a piece of the ceiling fall down during a scene? Is that a boom microphone two inches from Sue Hanson's hair? There's no time for editing!
* ''Series/WhoseLineIsItAnyway'' of course typically plays through any missteps but the show also has a game built on this trope where the players are in a theater production and all but one of them (typically Colin) have dropped dead leaving the one living player desperately trying to continue the show dragging around the corpses of the other players.
** On the American edition, during a game of "Party Quirks", Ryan Stiles' character was "Carol Channing whose head keeps getting stuck to things", and towards the end of the game, Ryan was putting his head on Drew Carey's desk, but accidentally hit his head against the neon sign, breaking the glass. Drew tried to stop the game, but Ryan insisted Kathy Greenwood, who was playing party host, still try to guess who he was before ending the game.
--->'''Ryan:''' You wouldn't happen to have a suture around the house, would you?
--->'''Kathy''': Carol? It is Carol, right?
--->'''Ryan''': I used to be, [[EasyAmnesia I don't remember anymore]].
* ''Series/{{Frasier}}'':
** "Ham Radio", regarded as one of the funniest episodes, is all about this trope. Frasier tries to do a live radio drama, and his tyrannical direction leaves him with a cast of Bulldog, stricken with stage fright; Roz, who has an emergency root canal just before the performance; Gil, who is determined by hook or by crook to say his character's big speech when Frasier decides to cut it; Bulldog's dyslexic girlfriend; and Niles as the rest of the characters, which Frasier neglects to tell him until the show has already started. Add in some rather unfortunate sound effects and you've got one whopping SugarWiki/{{Funny Moment|s}}.
** In the episode 'The Show Must Go On', after various attempts by Frasier and Niles to stop the show because Jackson's a terrible actor, Jackson Headley does his one-man show even after falling hard and possibly breaking something.
* In the {{pilot}} of ''Series/ThirtyRock'', a ''[=TGS=]'' sketch went south while Liz was away meeting with Tracy. When they arrived in the middle of the fiasco, Liz told him to go onstage and talk about "anything", which he did.
* In ''Series/{{Glee}}'', during the sectionals, they find that someone leaked their setlist and that the other two teams, who were performing before them, had copied their songs. They realised that if they went with that setlist they'd be accused of cheating, so they end up having to pick, practice and choreograph four new songs in an hour. Of course, they still win.
* One story arc on ''Series/SchlossEinstein'' had the sixth-graders putting on a production of ''Die Räuber''. The kid who's playing Karl gets sick right before the performance, which leads to the brainstorming of increasingly ridiculous ideas to save the play (the replacement Karl has no time to learn the lines, so they try pinning a copy of the script to another kid's back, for instance). They finally realise that Lilly, the prompter, knows the entire text by heart, so she goes on as Karl and saves the play in spite of her incredible shyness.
** This was also subverted in a later episode. We don't get to see it, but apparently a similar thing happened at Liz and Annika's old school:
--->'''Feli:''' What's this [picture]?
--->'''Liz:''' A theatre performance. I was the circus princess.
--->'''Feli:''' And Annika?
--->'''Liz:''' The prompter. The clown had broken his leg. Annika was the only one who knew all his lines by heart.
--->'''Feli:''' So she took on the role and saved the performance!
--->'''Liz:''' (shakes head) She totally panicked. She actually got sick!
* In the ''Series/ParksAndRecreation'' episode "Telethon", [[AsHimself Detlef Schrempf]] was supposed to appear on a diabetes telethon, but he and Tom ended up getting sidetracked at a bar. Meanwhile, the rest of the gang had to come up with alternative forms of entertainment, which included Leslie performing a [[SarcasmMode riveting]] game of flip the coin:
-->'''Leslie''': Heads. Oh boy, what is going to happen ''next''?! (33 heads to 35 tails, later ''95 heads to 94 tails'')
* ''Series/TheDailyShow'':
** In a June 2011 episode of ''Series/TheDailyShowWithJonStewart'', Creator/JonStewart [[http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-june-7-2011/jon-stewart-press-conference accidentally cut his hand during a sketch]] (though not badly).
** Jon's successor, Trevor Noah, has shown similar dedication on ''Series/TheDailyShowWithTrevorNoah''. On November 4, 2015, he had to undergo an emergency appendectomy, so there was no show that day. But ''the very next day'', November 5, he was back on air, even though he'd been given as much time as he wanted to recover from Comedy Central. Trevor started that show [[GallowsHumor mocking the American healthcare system]].
* Creator/JimHenson had an American Bullfrog urinate on him during a ''Series/SesameStreet'' lecture. Jim was not unseated; he was controlling Kermit the Frog at the time, and only lost enough control of Kermit to make him snicker. Kermit said that the frog had "told a funny joke."
* In ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', Sunnydale High School holds a talent show...while a horrible demon looks for organs to become fully human. The curtain happens to open just after the demon is decapitated by a guillotine while the main characters are all gathered round. The crowd is dead silent...
-->'''Principal Snyder''': [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments I don't get it.]] What is it, Avant Garde?
* In ''Series/TheMaryTylerMooreShow'', the station pledges to do an all-nighter live broadcast about the mayoral election until the decision is made. Unfortunately, a blizzard cuts off their connection to the voting booths after the first set of numbers come in, leaving everyone to flounder desperately for something to do until they can somehow get word of who won. The best part comes when Ted completely runs out of ideas and just stands in the studio, doing and saying nothing. "I don't believe I've ever seen that before."
* ''Series/FamilyFeud'' host Richard Dawson said in an interview that he absolutely ''hated'' stopdowns, and would demand that the staff work around anything that they possibly could. This led to such oddities as the [[BonusRound Fast Money round]] being played on cue cards because the electronic board went on the fritz.
* A ''Series/{{Jeopardy}}'' contestant once fainted during Final Jeopardy! Because stopping tape might have affected the outcome of the game, the contestant was roused and asked to write down his response. The entire incident was left in. This did not end up affecting the outcome, as another contestant already had a "[[ForegoneConclusion lock]]" game and gave the correct response.
* Subverted by ''Series/WheelOfFortune'' on November 28, 2012. In previous cases, if a contestant spun the Wheel just as the Speed-Up bells sounded, they were allowed to complete their turn. In this case, a contestant began the round in this fashion, only to be interrupted by a 10-minute stopdown so that the Wheel can be reset for Pat to do the Final Spin.
* The 1990 revival of ''Series/ToTellTheTruth'' got hit hard with this. First, Creator/{{NBC}} accidentally aired the pilot, which was hosted by Richard Kline, on the East Coast instead of the true first episode. The show went to series with Gordon Elliott as host, but he got fired over a salary dispute, so Lynn Swann moved from the celebrity panel to the host's seat. However, Swann often had schedule conflicts, so he quit and Creator/AlexTrebek of ''Jeopardy!'' fame took over. Trebek then had to miss two episodes because his wife went into labor, so show creator Creator/MarkGoodson guest-hosted.
* ''Series/MatchGame'' on CBS had an incident where Joyce Bulifant's microphone stand broke. Instead of stopping tape to repair it, host Gene Rayburn called for a screwdriver as he repaired it right then and there.
* ''Series/{{Concentration}}'' was originally live on NBC, so whenever the board malfunctioned, the host had to do something to stall for time. [[WordOfGod Norm Blumenthal]], the producer even said that if a light blew, a tech would appear on camera with a ladder and repair it with no stoppage of tape (when the show went to tape) and he'd pop for the tech's appearance.
* In the school play episode of ''Series/NedsDeclassifiedSchoolSurvivalGuide'', Ned and Cookie attempt to sabotage the school production of Romeo and Juliet for different reasons: Ned doesn't want Seth (who's playing Romeo) kissing Susie (who's playing Juliet) despite being told that it's not a real kiss, while Cookie thinks he deserves to play the roll of Romeo despite bombing the audition. In the end, the boys end up destroying the set and Seth and Susie end up going to the hospital. As an act of revenge, Moze (who is acting as stage manager) forces Ned to be Romeo and Cookie to be Juliet. The audience roars with laughter as the boys are forced to do the kiss scene.
* A 1988 episode of ''Series/ThePriceIsRight'' was taped during a major storm in Los Angeles, so nearly 2/3 of the audience was empty. The cameramen did their best to show only the middle portion of the audience and give the impression that the studio was still full.
** The February 16, 1998 episode had one contestant, Scott, accidentally trip while walking onstage. But after losing his pricing game, he jumped in disappointment only to sprain his knee and couldn't stand up. During the Showcase Showdown, Scott sat in a swivel chair while Bob Barker spun the big wheel for him ([[SugarWiki/AwesomeMoments Scott would win the Showdown]]), and during the Showcase, Scott sat in a taller chair.
** A later episode with Drew Carey had a contestant who injured her leg during the Showcase Showdown. During the Showcase, she was given a chair to sit in. She didn't win, but Drew not only stayed with her post-reveal, he also made sure a doctor was called to tend to her injury.
** On the original show with Bill Cullen, the tote screens in front of the contestants would go crazy sometimes, showing some weird displays. Sometimes the tote screens would be out of order altogether so the models would write the contestants' bids on giant sketch pads behind them. Frozen bids were circled.
* In the sixth episode of ''Series/SaturdayNightLive's'' second season, Buck Henry and John Belushi were doing a sketch entitled "Samurai Stockbroker." Belushi's samurai sword was ''not'' a blunt prop but rather was an authentically sharp weapon. Henry was standing too close to Belushi when the latter was slashing at a wall, and Henry's forehead was opened up to the bone. Rather than stop the show, Henry stayed in character and finished the sketch, and later appeared in the show with a bandage over the wound.
** In fact, the entire cast wore bandaids on their foreheads for the rest of the show.
* In the Australian series ''Police Rescue'', a theatre group convinces the Police Rescue Squad to quietly retrieve an injured backstage crewmember on the lighting catwalk. The crewmember is also hiding the extent of his injuries. They have a reason for this, as a theatre critic is watching and they're worried if his review of their play is too harsh, the government will cancel their upcoming funding.
* Due to budget and time constraints, the Classic era of ''Series/DoctorWho'' is riddled with this, with individual mishaps ranging from Creator/WilliamHartnell flubbing his lines to Creator/TomBaker breaking his shoulder to Creator/SylvesterMcCoy [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome burning his back while]] [[UnflinchingWalk walking away from an explosion]].
** Re-takes in the 1960s were extremely rare. William Hartnell's advice to his co-stars was to swear if they wanted to force the director to start again. Which likely explains the existence of rather foul-mouthed bloopers involving some of his successors.
* British television channel Creator/{{ITV}} Play went on with the premiere of its topical [[PhoneInGameShows phone-in quiz show]] ''The Debbie King Show'', even though it was announced earlier in the day that the channel would be "suspended" (in reality, it was shut down permanently) as part of an audit over the broadcaster's use of premium-rate phone lines. It ended up becoming a OneEpisodeWonder.
* ''Series/TheMarvelousMrsMaisel'': In "Midnight at the Concord," Midge gets a gig booked at the Concord Resort Hotel. Midway through her gig, she's thrown off-guard by spotting her father in the audience. After a few moments of freezing up, DeerInTheHeadlights, she pulls herself together enough to power through the rest of her set.
* ''Series/TheGoldenGirls'' had a minor example in an episode where they hold a telethon. (It's the one with Creator/BobHope.) One of the auditioning acts is a pair of Polish brothers who juggle. However, only one shows up and says that his brother is still in Poland. After some encouragement, he performs anyway. Unfortunately, part of his act involves throwing the pins to his brother and they hit the wall instead. By the time of the telethon, his brother still hasn't gotten out of Poland, but he tries to perform anyway. He gets booed off the stage.
* ''Series/TheBrittasEmpire'': In the episode "Mums and Dads", the pianoist that had been meant to play has been knocked unconscious by a piano and they need to find another one in the next half hour to start the concert planned that night. Unfortunately, a poor choice of words by Laura leads [[DreadfulMusician Brittas]] to play the piano instead. Cue CringeComedy.
* ''Series/HaveIGotNewsForYou'' has had a few examples over the years:
** Politician Roy Hattersley pulled out of a 1993 episode at the last minute. There was no time to find a replacement, and as it was the third time he had cancelled on the show late in the day, they replaced him with [[CompanionCube a tub of lard]], making jokes about how the tub shared many qualities with Hattersley and was "liable to give much the same performance".
** Regular team captain Ian Hislop was suffering from appendicitis during the spring 1994 series, and checked himself out of hospital to film one episode because he was determined not to miss a recording. (He had to return to hospital the moment the recording was over for an intravenous injection followed by surgery.) He is noticeably more short-tempered than usual throughout the episode in question, at one point launching into a long rant about how horrible everyone involved in a story about a politician having affairs with a married woman and both of her daughters was, which was only stopped when the host pointed out that nobody had actually given the answer yet.
** Music/EltonJohn was due to appear in a 2001 episode, but pulled out at the last minute. With the show having received quite a bit of publicity from the news of John's appearance, he was replaced by Ray Johnson, a taxi driver who had a side earning as an Elton John lookalike and was introduced to the audience as if he really was Elton John. Johnson remained silent for the entire episode, and the only time the deception was admitted to was in onscreen captions between rounds, which praised Johnson whilst repeatedly referring to the real Elton John as a "bastard".
** Following multiple scandals about his private life, host Angus Deayton was sacked midway through a series, the day before the next episode was due to be recorded. The other team captain, Paul Merton, hosted the first episode following his dismissal, with the series then switching to [[GuestHost Guest Hosts]]. It was intended to be a temporary measure whilst they sought a permanent replacement, but it led to a boost in ratings and became a permanent element of the show.
** The Spring 2020 series still went ahead despite the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, by having all the panellists filmed from their homes and composited into a virtual set.
* In 2020 the COVID-19 pandemic forced the ''Series/EurovisionSongContest'' to cancel for the first time since its inception in 1956. The producers were determined that the show would not miss another year even if it meant having everyone perform remotely for safety. For the 2021 contest the EBU settled on "Scenario B", a near-perfect final with most of the contestants performing live[[note]]Australia's delegation were unable to travel to Europe due to restrictions and two members of the Iceland's [[Music/DadiFreyr Gagnamagnið]] tested positive for the virus forcing them to isolate. Pre-taped performances were shown for both acts[[/note]] and a reduced audience in the arena. Their efforts paid off with many fans declaring the resulting final one of the best in the Contest's history.

[[folder:Music]]
* PlayedForLaughs by Music/PDQBach. Many compositions include something going very wrong (The bassoonist's accompanist is running late! The trumpeter is missing most of their instrument! The lead females are cattily trying to one-up each other!) and then continuing anyhow.
* ''Music/TheWall'' has a song by this name, where Pink, after having a long personal journey through is past is injected with drugs and forced onstage, despite not being sure if he would even remember the songs. This goes badly, with him emerging as a neo-Nazi when the show goes on.
* "The Show Must Go On", a song first written and performed by Leo Sayer, then covered by Three Dog Night, is all about this.
* The world is about to be destroyed by a mysterious NegativeSpaceWedgie! What so you do? [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L051v3NC0F4 Have a cello concert, that's what!]] And even if the whole concert hall is crumbling and everyone's running for their lives, just keep playing and take a bow even if only the birds are still listening.
* This is brought up in the Music/IrvingBerlin song, "There's No Business Like Show Business".
-->'''You get word before the show has started,\\
That your favorite uncle died at dawn.\\
On top of that, your pa and ma have parted.\\
You're brokenhearted,\\
But you go on.''
* The concept gets roasted by Creator/NoelCoward in "Why Must The Show Go On?"
--> Why must the show go on?\\
It can't be all that indispensable,\\
To me it really isn't sensible\\
On the whole\\
To play a leading role\\
While fighting those tears you can't control\\

[[folder:Professional Wrestling]]
* [[Wrestling/{{WWE}} The World Wrestling Federation]] suffered this trope in 1999 during their ''Over The Edge'' pay-per-view event, due to the death of Wrestling/OwenHart happening as he was making his ring entrance. Fortunately, the incident occurred while viewers were watching a pre-recorded segment, so they never saw it; when the live broadcast resumed, all they saw were the ring announcers discussing what had happened. After a brief delay, the broadcast continued, which garnered the organization some criticism later.
* This actually happens often in professional wrestling (though fortunately rarely to the same degree as Owen Hart). The most common causes are legit injuries and/or botched moves, or in rarer cases, botched use of props, weapons or equipment.
* We'll say that professional wrestling is like this in general. As a ''Website/{{Cracked}}'' [[http://www.cracked.com/blog/5-reasons-pro-wrestlers-are-best-actors-in-world/ article put it]], a wrestler is supposed to stay in character no matter what happens. Your opponent is legitimately trying to injure you? Ignore it and stay in character. You tore your ACL? Broke your ribs? Don't break character. '''''[[FatalMethodActing One of the competitors died during the match]]''''', and you're being charged with manslaughter? You can't even let that break {{kayfabe}}.
** A specific example is Wrestling/TheUndertaker at the 2010 ''Elimination Chamber'' pay-per-view, who got ''set on fire'' during his entrance due to mistimed/misaligned pyrotechnics going off. Instead of going backstage to get the injury treated, he went down to the ring where he was in a pod for his cue, being handed bottles of water to douse himself with in the meantime.
* This happened on Raw once with Wrestling/JerryLawler, who, in the middle of a tag team match he was calling, suffered a heart attack. There were several things amiss. The commentary had fallen silent, the crowd (along with one Wrestling/{{Kane}}, one of the wrestlers involved in the tag team match and the referee) was looking at the announce table and something was clearly happening. The heart attack was later announced by Wrestling/MichaelCole, who seemed visibly shaken up. The show continued, but there was no commentary throughout the rest of the show, other than Cole providing updates on his condition. The rest of the show felt so... cold after this.
* [=LuFisto=] had to compete for the Wrestling/{{WSU}} Championship after the former holder Jessicka Havok was banned([[WorkedShoot read]], working for [[Wrestling/ImpactWrestling TNA]]) from the promotion even though she had food poisoning. They had to give her the strap because [[Wrestling/EmberMoon Athena]] got a concussion the very same night.
* The WWE continued to create ''WWE Raw'' and ''[=SmackDown=]'' during the 2020 coronavirus outbreak, holding all their events at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, all without an audience.
** Wrestling/WrestleMania 36 was initially scheduled to take place at the Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida. The logo for the even is even similar to the logo of [[UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeague the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the local NFL team]]. But the coronavirus outbreak put a stop to those plans, moving instead to the WWE Performance Center as well. It was the first WWE pay-per-view without a live audience.

[[folder:Puppet Shows]]
* A standard trope in ''Series/TheMuppetShow'', whether using a turned-to-stone Miss Piggy as a prop or shoving a wardrobe on stage with the guest star, Chris Langham, trapped inside to sing "Hawaiian Cowboy" (complete with a cowboy hat on top of the wardrobe).
** One exception is when during the Glenda Jackson episode when Kermit can't take anymore and goes on stage to say "They say the show must go on, but they never explain why. The show's been taken over by pirates, the theater's sailing out to sea and ''I'm losing my mind''..."

[[folder:Theatre]]
* This is the entire plot of ''Theatre/NoisesOff''.
* The plot of ''Theatre/{{Curtains}}'' kicks off when the star of a [[ShowWithinAShow musical in tryouts]] in Boston is murdered after a performance. The rest of the cast plan to go back to New York, and one of the producers tries to get them to stay for the rest of the preview period by singing "The Show Must Go On," but the actors are not convinced. It isn't until the [[AscendedFanboy detective on the case]] reminds them that they're "Show People" that they decide to stay (not to mention the detective sequestered the building so they couldn't leave anyway).
* Defied in ''Theatre/{{Pippin}}''. When Pippin refuses to perform the final scene of the show (which has NoFourthWall), the Players try to exhort him to continue, with remarks like, "Hey, you're not going to disappoint all these people at $25 a seat, are you?" But when they see that Pippin is firmly determined [[spoiler: not to commit Self Immolation]], they retaliate by taking away the lights, costumes, and makeup. The Leading Player apologizes to the audience that the promised finale cannot be presented, offers the part to anyone in the audience, and then orders everybody out, including the orchestra, leaving Pippin, Catherine and Theo to end the show on a denuded dark stage.
* Molière's last performance was the leading role for ''Theatre/TheImaginaryInvalid''. He incorporated a coughing fit and hemorrhage into his performance, and managed to complete the play before collapsing and dieing hours later.
* The climax of the first act of ''Theatre/LaCageAuxFolles'' emerges from this trope. Backstage, professional DragQueen Albin has just been told by his partner Georges that he must not be around when their "son" Jean-Michel's prospective and highly conservative in-laws come to dinner tomorrow night, as Jean-Michel has lied to them and claimed he comes from a "normal" family. Albin tries to be casual in the face of rejection as he heads out on stage as his alter ego Zaza to perform the evening's finale, but then he almost breaks down in tears...before pulling himself together and delivering a dazzling, emotionally-charged performance via one of the most famous Act One finales in Broadway history, "IAmWhatIAm".
* This is what triggers the climax in ''{{Theatre/Pagliacci}}'', as the first act concludes with Canio having to prepare to put on the show ''just'' after finding out about his wife's affair, and eventually devolves into AllPartOfTheShow when he can no longer contain himself.
* ''Theatre/ThePlayThatGoesWrong'' and its spiritual successor ''Theatre/PeterPanGoesWrong'' can be considered homages to this trope. Lines are fluffed, cues are missed, props are destroyed, the lighting fails and the wrong music plays, but the (fictional) cast and crew soldier on to the end as the set collapses around them.
* ''Theatre/AnnieGetYourGun'': Referenced in "There's No Business Like Show Business"
-->''You get word before the show has started\\
That your favorite uncle died at dawn\\
And top of that, your pa and ma have parted\\
You're broken-hearted, but you go on''
* ''Theatre/TheGuyWhoDidntLikeMusicals'' has a variant, as the HiveMind will always prioritize musical numbers before capturing non-infected humans. This makes it relatively easy for the heroes to get out of a trap, since the infected soldiers surrounding them move predictably with the beat. It also becomes rather hillarious when uninfected [[spoiler:Professor Hidgens]] starts performing a musical number he wrote himself, causing the hive mind to immediately cast two random people to star as his backup dancers, and only infecting him once the number is finished.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* The opera in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'' gets completely derailed when the party and an enemy end up crashing down on it from above. They end up improvising completely non sequitur roles on the spot. HilarityEnsues when the theater owner decides to ThrowItIn and has the orchestra cue up the appropriate music.
** By completely derailing, we mean a [[InsistentTerminology treasure hunter]] and two companions which may include the king, a [[WildChild feral teenager]], a ninja, and a samurai, fighting an octopus, using powers believed to have vanished a thousand years ago, in the middle of a tragic love story, concluding with the female lead (played by a general of a rival nation's army) being abducted by the pilot of a zeppelin.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX'' features a circumstance VERY similar to the FFVI example above in the opening sequence, when the main character's Thieves' Guild disguise themselves as an acting troupe performing the most popular play in the world as a guise to kidnap Princess Garnet. When Zidane, Garnet, and Captain of the Guard Steiner find themselves on stage in the midst of the production, HilarityEnsues as they take the plot OffTheRails entirely in their bid to escape. And the Queen still loves it!
** And then in the finale, the same play is performed a year later, with the script divergence being [[spoiler:the narrator casting off his cloak to reveal he's the thought-missing Zidane, and Queen Dagger leaving her booth to rush out on stage to embrace him.]]
* ''VideoGame/BaldursGate2'' featured the start of a character recruitment quest happen at a theater where a recruitable NPC was kidnapped prior to the show. True to the trope, Biff the Understudy steps up to fill the role and delivers a [[BadBadActing wooden, stuttering, uninspired and all-around dreadful performance]].
* ''VideoGame/TrueCrimeNewYorkCity'' has a level appropiately named Bullet Opera. Marcus, chasing Teresa down, goes on a rampage against her goons to the sound of a [[SoundtrackDissonance peaceful sounding opera]], complete with a singing fat lady. Also, [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential if you shoot her]], the music keeps going!
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Visual Novels]]
* In ''VisualNovel/{{Melody}}'', even after the power cuts out at the title character's concert (thanks to Steve, with Bethany's help), Melody still has to put on an enjoyable performance, especially because it's her first concert of this magnitude. She manages to hold her own with an audience participation song until the problem is fixed.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* In ''Webcomic/DavyJonesDayOff'', the crew of the ''FlyingDutchman'' slaughter the cast of ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet'' to sabotage the play that Davy Jones and Ella Devylinn were going to see. The stage manager furiously declares that "THE SHOW MUST GO ON!!" and forces the ''Dutchman'' crew to perform the play themselves.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Videos]]
* In a PublicServiceAnnouncement [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPsTqR31bWc about stroke symptoms]] parodying the hit song "I Can't Feel My Face" by Music/TheWeeknd, Dr. Zubin Damania (better known as WebVideo/{{ZDoggMD}}) plays the role of a performer at a nightclub who has a stroke while on stage. The performer has no idea what's happening to him [[note]] Many people are not educated about stroke symptoms, or they associate strokes only with the elderly, not realizing that ''anyone'' can have one. [[/note]], or why he can't move one of his arms, but because of this trope, he tries to cover up the fact that anything's wrong and continue the performance. The audience can tell something's up, though they aren't sure what, and fortunately for the performer, a bunch of paramedics happened to be in the VIP lounge.
* ''WebVideo/SortedFood'': Ben is baking a cake for Barry's wedding, on-site and on the day of the wedding. He realizes far too late that he has forgotten the oranges, whose juice and zest are a key component in one of the cakes, at home. So what does he do? Steals a carton of OJ from the bar and two clementines from the florist's lunchbox, and gets back to work as if nothing happened. And manages to produce a good cake.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* Played for laughs in the ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'' episode where Bobby inherits a famous ventriloquist's dummy that was modeled after a stereotypical football-playing high school A-student... only to become dismayed when his father likes the dummy's "antics" more than Bobby's own. Bobby grows to hate this new attention, but mutters "the show must go on" when he realizes that being at the edge of the spotlight is better than not having attention at all. (Happily, things work out in the end: after the dummy is destroyed, Hank gets a WhatTheHellHero speech from his wife and realizes what he'd been doing, making amends by building a new dummy that looks like Bobby.)
* Happens a few times in ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'':
** In the episode "The Show Stoppers", even though the show is falling apart, the CMC continue the show.
** During the episode "Filli Vanilli", Big Mac loses his voice, and Fluttershy, whos' terrified of singing publically, decides to down a potion made from poison joke to make her have a deep baritone, and sing his lines backstage while he lip-synchs, just so the Ponytones will sing at her fundraiser.
** Coloratura says this word-for-word after her manager quits in "The Mane Attraction". [[GilliganCut The next shot is her pacing and panicking while Rarity tries to get her dressed for the show.]]
* In the AnimatedAdaptation of ''Madeline and the Gypsies'', this is the reason the Gypsy Mama gives for putting Madeline and Pepito in a lion costume (as the real lion is sick). There's even a ''song'' using the trope name!
-->''The Show Must Go On,\\
The show must go on,\\
We can't desert the ship\\
When the lion gets the grip!''
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': In "Million Dollar Maybe", Marge and Homer are supposed to perform a singing toast at her cousin's wedding. When Homer doesn't show at the wedding reception because he is buying a lottery ticket, Marge attempts to perform the toast on her own, despite the fact that it is a duet.
* This trope is prevalent in the WesternAnimation/ClassicDisneyShorts "WesternAnimation/TheBandConcert" and "WesternAnimation/SymphonyHour". No matter what's going on, WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse does his gosh-darn best to keep the music playing, even ''pulling a gun on'' WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck when he tries to [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere bail out of the latter short]] when things keep going wrong.
* Quoted by Robin in ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'', while the team is infiltrating a circus where everyone is coming down with a particularly debilitating flu and he's the latest victim. He insists on performing a difficult trapeze routine that involves dodging hazards in mid-air, all without a safety net. What he doesn't tell his friends is that he grew up performing in the same circus.
* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/DrDimensionpants'', the director of a school play a Kyle's school has this attitude. Not even the fact that the whole stage gets transported to a slimy dimension and the actors get eaten by giant snails will stop him from continuing the show. He even forces both Kyle and his enemy Glass Skull to step in as understudies for the lead roles after the main actors are taken out.
* Part of the core conceit to ''WesternAnimation/TheMrPeabodyAndShermanShow'', as it's a variety show that the duo are recording live from their apartment, things almost never go as planned but the duo press on, even through things like a black hole opening on set or a flu outbreak causing the set to be quarantined.
* A 1962 Paramount cartoon called "The Shoe Must Go On" dealt with a symphony orchestra rehearsal being disrupted by a blacksmith next door hammering a horseshoe on an anvil. After numerous attempts to stop the blacksmith, the orchestra manager simply [[ThrowItIn has the blacksmith and his hammering in the show as part of the orchestra.]]
* In the ''WesternAnimation/MiloMurphysLaw'' episode "[[Recap/MiloMurphysLawS1E08SmoothOperator Smooth Opera-tor]]," [[BornUnlucky Milo]] says this early on, and then spends most of the episode trying to keep [[TheJinx his]] [[HereditaryCurse curse]] from ruining the opera, especially since his crush really wants to see it. Naturally this leads to him [[PushedInFrontOfTheAudience taking the place]] of one of the performers.
-->'''Opera Singer:''' ''I believe we've gone off-book, now/I believe this scene we're botching!''\\
'''Milo:''' ''But I feel we should go on/Because there's all these people watching!'' (motions to audience with forced smile)
* In the ''WesternAnimation/ReadyJetGo'' episode "Holidays in Boxwood Terrace", Sean gets PerformanceAnxiety right before he sings his big finale song, but Mitchell takes over for him and the pageant continues.
[[/folder]]

* Creator/BettyWhite was to have [[https://www.fathomevents.com/events/Betty-White-100-Years-Young an 100th birthday event]] released in theaters on January 17, 2022. However, she died on December 31, 2021. Despite this, Fathom Events, who hosted the event, plans to hold it as scheduled, but with a different title.
* On the second day of the first [[Anime/LoveLiveSunshine Aqours]] concert, ''Step! Zero To One'', there was an incident in which Rikako Aida messed up her piano solo during "Omoi Yo Hitotsu Ni Nare", causing her to break down into tears. She eventually continued the performance with no issue after the other members of Aqours and the audience calmed her down by cheering her name.

* A standard trope in ''Series/TheMuppetShow'' whether it is using a petrified Ms. Piggy as a prop or shoving a wardrobe on stage with the guest star, Chris Langham, trapped inside to sing "Hawaiian Cowboy" (complete with a cowboy hat on top of the wardrobe).
** One exception is when during the Glenda Jackson episode when Kermit can't take anymore and goes on stage to say "They say the show must go on, but they never explain why. The show's been taken over by pirates, the theater's sailing out to sea and ''I'm losing my mind''..."

-->'''Barnum''': Watching my girls grow up. [[TheShowMustGoOn The show]] [[PassingTheTorch must go on.]]

* While on tour to promote the band's latest album, ''Music/{{Animals}}'', Music/PinkFloyd's Music/RogerWaters was suffering from what he though was stomach cramps (it later turned out to be hepatitis), so the band doctor injected him with a powerful muscle relaxant so he could go onstage. He said that he could have played through the pain, but whatever the doctor injected him with caused him to be barely able to lift his arm, causing him to go through "the longest two hours of my life" playing that concert. This experience inspired the classic song [[Music/TheWall "Comfortably Numb."]]

[[MurphysLaw Accidents happen]]. Sometimes, a catastrophe occurs during the production of a creative work that forces it to a halt - the writer quits, the union goes on strike, or an actor gets injured or [[DiedDuringProduction suffers critical existence failure.]] In recorded works intended for later consumption, this can be remedied relatively easily - scenes can be rewritten or reshot, actors can be replaced, shooting can be put on hiatus.

* Music/WeirdAlYankovic was on tour when he heard that his both parents were found dead from carbon-monoxide poisoning. He continued with the tour, later commenting that doing that (along with the support he received from fans) helped him to get through it.