The often misunderstood condition that killed Garry Shandling

When Prince took the stage, anything was possible—from feral, shirtless screaming to hall-of-fame guitar solos to the kind of destructive rock-star showmanship that few others would be willing to attempt. One of his signature moves was throwing his instrument—sometimes into the air, where, on one memorable occasion, it seemed to vanish completely; other times over to a technician waiting in the wings. Many of these guitars—including his "Cloud" axe, built by Dave Russan—suffered a fair amount of abuse. "He would always throw them to the roadie at the end of the show, and they weren’t always caught, so they’d have to be repaired often," Russan told Alternative Nation. "They were hard rock maple but couldn’t always stand up to that."

But that was Prince’s gear. Not the case in a case from 2013, when The Artist performed on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, having borrowed a guitar from "Captain" Kirk Douglas of house band The Roots. The wild promotional spot ended with a bold toss, a broken instrument, and a supremely bummed-out musician. But the story is even weirder than you might expect, and it led to a surprisingly happy ending.