‘The Morning Show’ Star Once Suffered ‘Full-Blown Panic Attack’ While Performing

Even the greats make mistakes. Just ask Billy Crudup, two-time Emmy winner and four-time Tony nominee.

In a new episode of the podcast Off Camera With Kelly Ripa, the 57-year-old actor described a time when he had a “full-blown panic attack” on stage during a theatrical performance.

He had signed on to perform David Cale’s play Harry Clarke, a one-man show that is 48 pages of dialogue. “What made me think I could do it? I have no idea,” he told Ripa.

Initially, the lengthy script turned the Morning Show actor off from the role, until he took the memorization as a challenge.

“Who is going to try to memorize a 48-page monologue? This is an idiotic idea. So I was like, ‘No, I’m definitely not gonna do that,’” Crudup said. “And then I wake up that night and — it must be because I have two brothers — I feel pretty competitive. And I thought, ‘What, you can’t do this? You can’t get off your a– and do something like this? Somebody thinks you can do it. You should get off your a– and do it.’” 

And then the first week of performance happened, where Crudup made a fatal error.

“About three minutes in, I can’t remember my lines,” Crudup said. “I started to have a full-blown panic attack. I get tunnel vision. My heart’s going outta my chest. I can’t breathe. And I call for line — and I have never called for line before, so we didn’t have any systems set in place — and so the poor stage manager from the booth [makes muffled noises].” 

Crudup then realized he was “on my own” and had to fake his way through the rest of the show.

“That show came in at about 55 minutes because I dropped about 20 pages. Nobody understood s—,” he said. “And so afterwards the director [Leigh Silverman] comes up and hugs me and I’m just, like, absolutely mortified. I feel terrible for the playwright. I feel terrible for the theater. All the people that were there.” 

Crudup later told the story to friends of his wife, fellow actor Naomi Watts, when he noticed one of her friends—a director named Gabby—had suspiciously stopped talking. She then revealed she was at the performance.

“She goes, ‘The worst theatrical experience of my life.’ And I was like, ‘Gabby, what about for me?!’” he said.

Crudup’s latest role is in Noah Baumbach’s 2025 comedy-drama Jay Kelly, where he stars opposite George Clooney. The film is currently streaming on Netflix.