The trial lawyer’s direct examination question was rather innocuous, but the witness’s answer wasn’t…. 

Q: Mr. Jones, please tell the jury who spoke to you after the crash.

A: Wow, there were a lot of people there.  I’m not sure I remember everyone who was there, but not because I was drunk or anything like that.  I know I used to drink but, I’ve cut down to one drink a day, but that reminds me of a story, back in 1978 I was a roadie in this rock-n-roll band, and one day we decided to have a little bit of fun, which wasn’t unusual, because we were always going out of our way to meet new and exciting people, which you know was something that not everybody did back then, and oh! I almost forgot, that was right around the time my uncle Morty was in the hospital because he had a problem with his gall bladder, but that really wasn’t the reason he was there, you see, because he was a notorious chain smoker and he needed to borrow a dollar fifty, which is what a pack of cigarettes used to cost in those days, back before the taxes started piling up, which I blame on the Democrats, but I’m getting by now and blah blah blah…

AAAAaaaarrrrrrgggghhhh!  What do you do when you lose control of your witness during direct examination?  Here are three quick tips you can use to regain control of the witness: Controlling the witness during direct examination