Like talking to a brick wall

Gene Weingarten writes a lifestyle column in the Washington Post. Yesterday he  described his worst speaking engagement. Gene was keynote speaker at a gala event honoring an animal rescue organization.

Before his speech there was an open bar, so much of the audience was inebriated and noisy. He might as well have been talking to a brick wall. The only reason he kept going was that the text of his speech was going to appear in the newspaper (and had been printed in advance).

Then he discussed another speech that went much better - even though he was ”dying.”