When NPR's own Trey Graham directed me to this fantastic and quite well-known clip of Leslie Uggams doing her best to perform "June Is Bustin' Out All Over," in spite of forgetting the words or not having the teleprompter or entering a fugue state or whatever happened to her, it seemed kind of mean.

And then it started to seem heroic.

(And in fairness to Leslie Uggams, her words aren't that much more ridiculous than the real words. And she's kind of close...up to a point.)

This is the kind of disaster that only a true professional can withstand without simply running off the stage. Think of Mike Myers trying to figure out what to do after Kanye West came up with "George Bush doesn't care about black people." (Not because of the politics, but because it clearly was not what Mike Myers thought was going to happen.)

It takes me back to "Fiasco!", my favorite-ever episode of This American Life, which I have listened to at least ten times, linked to repeatedly and played for almost everyone I know, because if you can get through the first twenty minutes of that show and not collapse into giggles over the stories of the disastrous performance of Peter Pan, you are a much stronger person than I am.

(I just stopped to listen to it again. I love it that much.)

So I present it as an open question: Who are your favorite mishap survivors? I'm not talking about real trainwrecks where something honestly terrible happens; I'm talking about the people who soldier on no matter what. They fall off the stage; they get back on.

Because they are professionals, people.