STAGE FRIGHT!

By Frank Ciccone

I’ve looked after some of the biggest celebrities in the world. I’ve been thrown into situations where I’ve needed to style hair last minute backstage at major events. But…. to stand up on stage in front of hundreds of industry peers at the AMBAs (Australian Modern Barber Awards) was the most stressful and nerve-racking gig I’ve ever experienced.

HERE’S HOW IT ALL UNFOLDED:

I get a call from the big boss, Linda Woodhead, who asks me if I would like to host the AMBAs.

My reply without any hesitation was “Of course, anything for you guys. It would be an honour.” I didn’t even think twice.

Fast forward to a few weeks later and I see a bunch of marketing and PR come out about me hosting. I froze, I started sweating and feeling nervous.

THE BIG DAY ARRIVES...

At this point, I’m absolutely terrified and there’s still a few hours to go, then I see Linda, Louise and Jarred and some other Mocha Group legends. I feel a little less nervous.

I wait until Kellie Woodhead, my rock, beacon, saviour and co host, arrived and we start our rehearsal.

Now, I do need to mention something here, I’ve never read off a teleprompter before. You know, that little glass screen in front of you that scrolls through the script as you speak.

I struggled big time. I was reading off it like I was literally just reading. I had no emotion, I didn’t look up and as the nerves and sweats kicked in, I thought “I’ve bit off way more than I could chew. What have I done”?!

Then, Linda comes up to and whispers “when there is a comma take breath. When there is a full stop, look up, smile and pause”. That saved me.

We did a second rehearsal; Kellie was guiding me and gave me heaps of professional advice.

Backstage there was a stage technician, Natalie, who was in charge of the teleprompter. She was awesome and helped me so much throughout the night.

She made sure the teleprompter scrolled according to my reading speed.

Ten minutes until the show starts, my nerves are all over the place. Kellie brings in two glasses of sparkling wine to help calm the nerves. It worked, for now!

The show starts and there’s some technical issue with the opening act. I didn’t see it happen, but I heard Jarred Stedman entertaining the audience while they were sorting out the microphone issues. He is an absolute natural with the crowd and I’m here backstage sweating in my suit.

Shortly, our names are called out: “Frank Ciccone & Kellie Woodhead”. There was a massive round of applause, my nerves were magically gone, and I look at the teleprompter, ready to take this on, only to discover that the teleprompter has scrolled to the end of the show!!

I pause, waiting for some sort of fix or signal, but there was nothing. I look at Kellie and she is completely calm, waiting for the prompter to go back to the start. There is still nothing and I’m dying on the inside. As I am mentally crying, someone in the crowd yells out “come on, Frankie, you can do it!” and people clapped in support, assuming I was nervous and couldn’t do it!

But no. I wasn’t choking on my words or nervously frozen, it was THE TELEPROMPTER’s FAULT!!

You could hear crickets. That’s how it felt onstage. I turned to the curtain that was on the side stage, and I yell out “ ummm Natalie?”. There’s a bit of laughter from the audience and I am relieved that they no longer assume I was frozen with nerves. Then I look back at the teleprompter and, sure enough, Natalie had come in clutch and the prompter was back to the beginning!!

YES! We are back! I wipe the sweat from my forehead, and I start the proceedings of the night.

Kellie and Natalie were both incredible the entire event, guiding me on when to go back on and off stage and making sure I was thoroughly prepared for each segment.

I saw so many of my amazing friends and peers come up on stage to accept their well-deserved awards. I was even recognised on stage by some winners who acknowledged me as their mentor, which was a career defining moment for me.

When the amazing Claire Castles was inducted into the Hall of Fame, a life changing award I was presented with last year, I was emotional backstage as I started reflecting on my own award acceptance. Yes, there were some tears. I told my children and wife that there were onions being peeled backstage. Don’t tell them that I lied.

Once Jarred ended the night, announcing the Australian Barber of the Year, they then organised the winners group photo. It was at this moment that I knew I had survived the night.

As this was happening, I yelled out to Kellie…”we did it !!”

I co hosted one of Australia’s best and most prestigious awards ceremonies. I was trusted by the amazing team over at Mocha Group to fly the flag for them.

I hope I made the Mocha group proud that night and I hope those of you reading this that attended the night enjoyed it.

Until next time

Frank Ciccone

@_frankciccone_