# Put some liquid in the cup. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 8, 2009, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/put-some-liquid-in-the-cup/484890 "2009-02-08T04:34:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/put-some-liquid-in-the-cup/484890/41 "2014-11-18T19:30:12Z")
> [@Batfish](#): > > Are they afraid the idiot actors can’t manage a beverage container with actual liquid? Can they not SEE how odd it looks? Am I the only person in the world that notices or is bothered by it? > > Please tell me I’m not alone. You are not alone. It bugs the shit out of me. Especially when they show the person “drinking” from it and they can’t even pretend to be swallowing, and there is nothing about their face that shows they just drank something. Just leave it out. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/put-some-liquid-in-the-cup/484890/42 "2014-11-18T19:46:35Z")
Hi my name is **Zebra** and I run a small theater company. I know you’re talking about TV but I work with lots of stage actors with various levels of experience and different training. Yes, they are idiots who can not handle having real liquid in the cup. Strange but true. You’ve had glasses in just about every rehearsal and when you add the liquid, some of them FREAK OUT. They act like they have never drank water before in their lives. They can’t have water or food and concentrate on their performance. Only some actors are like that. Pity me. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/put-some-liquid-in-the-cup/484890/43 "2014-11-18T20:11:20Z")
> [@GrumpyBunny](#): > > I love Graham Norton because on his show, the guests are often drinking wine or liquor, in proper glasses. None of this bullshit of “coffee” for them. Liquor! 😃 On Jackie Gleason’s variety show in the '60s, he had a regular shtick of sipping booze from a coffee cup and rolling his eyes and uttering “Wowwww!” after taking a belt. One time a guest–it might have been Milton Berle–made an entrance, grabbed Gleason’s cup, took a slug, and exclaimed, “You fraud! There’s \*coffee \*in that cup!” ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/put-some-liquid-in-the-cup/484890/44 "2014-11-18T20:20:35Z")
Enough about just cups. Have you ever noticed how nobody ever really eats a bite during the communal meals on The Big Bang Theory? Oh, well, I’ve heard all the reasons. I used to act (poorly, no doubt) in community theater. I know about the stage hand screwing with the comestibles- once, she put mayo on my ham sandwich! We did, however, have cold, unopened beers to pop and guzzle (play was the The Odd Couple, dinner theater at a country club) and our exit from the stage was the door into the bar. Good times. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/put-some-liquid-in-the-cup/484890/45 "2014-11-18T20:20:42Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > On Jackie Gleason’s variety show in the '60s, he had a regular shtick of sipping booze from a coffee cup and rolling his eyes and uttering “Wowwww!” after taking a belt. One time a guest–it might have been Milton Berle–made an entrance, grabbed Gleason’s cup, took a slug, and exclaimed, “You fraud! There’s \*coffee \*in that cup!” Once on _ **The Tonight Show** _, Carol Wayne (Johnny’s late “Matinee Lady”) took a sip out of Carson’s coffee mug and exclaimed “Oh! There’s _whiskey_ in there!” Ray “My Favorite Martian” Walston was working with Dean Martin on the set of _ **Kiss Me, Stupid!** _ and thought his whole I-always-have-a-drink-in-my-hand shtick was a bunch of BS … until he tasted it one day and realized “It _was_ scotch!” ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/put-some-liquid-in-the-cup/484890/46 "2014-11-18T20:30:36Z")
> [@california\_jobcase](#): > > Enough about just cups. Have you ever noticed how nobody ever really eats a bite during the communal meals on The Big Bang Theory? In soap operas, the actors always have plates of food in front of them whenever they sit down in the kitchen to exchange some expository dialogue, and they never take a bite of it. After two or three minutes, the SO gets up, takes the plates off the table, and puts them in the sink, but never ever scrapes the food off or washes them. Basically the same thing happens whenever they’re in a restaurant, except then the waiter or waitress comes by and removes the plates. I never really thought much about this until my mother pointed it out to me one day. Now I can never watch such scenes without thinking about it, and it’s as annoying as hell! ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/put-some-liquid-in-the-cup/484890/47 "2014-11-18T20:35:34Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > Yes, they are idiots who can not handle having real liquid in the cup. Strange but true. You’ve had glasses in just about every rehearsal and when you add the liquid, some of them FREAK OUT. They act like they have never drank water before in their lives. They can’t have water or food and concentrate on their performance. True. I had a friend in college fond of saying, “Tape a line on a stage and dancers will trip on it. Paint a line on a stage and the actors will.” If in doubt, keep whatever it is away from the actors. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/put-some-liquid-in-the-cup/484890.md?page=2)