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In Christopher Guest’s deadpan mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap (1984), heavy metal front man Nigel Tufnel (Guest) comes close to meltdown in the dressing room of a university auditorium when he can’t understand the food.

It’s the miniature bread that throws the long-haired, leather-pant-wearing headbanger, and the frustration of the whole thing nearly brings him to tears. You see, while the cold cuts are all regular scale, the bread’s the size of crackers. Sandwiches just don’t work.

“I’ve been working with this now for about half an hour. I can’t figure it out,” he tells band manager, Ian Faith (Tony Hendra), a wobble in his voice.

When Ian suggests he fold it, Nigel loses it. “No, then it’s half the size,” he says, bending the bread until it crumbles in his hands and falls to the floor.
“Not the bread,” Ian explains carefully, “You could fold the meat.”

But Nigel’s inconsolable: “If you keep folding it, it keeps breaking…and then…everything has to be folded, and then it’s THIS and I don’t want THIS. I want large bread!”

Ian promises it won’t happen again and hopes it doesn’t affect Nigel’s performance.

“I’ll rise above it,” Nigel says putting on his bravest face. “I’m a professional, right?”

- Nora