don't clear your throat

This advice was given to me when I was a young actor standing behind my first microphone. I was an actor at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland and I drove up to Medford and even though I’d been performing for 800 people a night, the mic scared the crap out of me. So here’s what I did...

I completely over prepared, I practically memorized the script and I sure as hell wasn’t breathing. So I got into the booth and the first thing I did was clear my throat. The engineer hit the button and said, “Don’t do that.”

I said, “What?

"Clear your throat," he said.

I said, “I’m about to perform so…”

“I don’t want you to perform,” he interrupted, “I want you to talk.”

He was absolutely right. Clearing your throat is your body telling you, “You’re about to perform and this is important so you have to be perfect and prepared.” Nobody clears their throat before they talk. They talk. And whatever throat-snotty imperfections pre-exist, they just work their way out. 

Just talk.