Give Anka a break. Those guys blew their performance. They were not doing what they should have been doing on stage. He chewed them out and they deserved it.
Nah, “Jeeze, guys, hit the cut-off” is a response to somebody missing a cue. That was your basic “I’m a big shot and you’re nothing” tantrum. Those guys usually ended up surrounded by the kind of people who couldn’t get jobs anyplace else. That, in turn produced more rants. It still worked until the big shot ended up with a crew that was so incompetent that even making them fear there own shadows didn’t get a decent job out of them, and often that took a long time. I watched one top director go from ‘A’ specials to directing kiddies shows in some backwater town in Canada because none of the competent Hollywood crews would work for him.
But, on the other hand, assuming you’ve heard the famous Casey Kasem rant, it’s never hurt him. He’s been able to carry the load himself and is still working. I also have a not-so-fond memory of being the target of a Bob Hope rant when he wandered into my room because his driver had taken him to the wrong facility and I (who’d never met him before) didn’t know where he was supposed to be. It’s just showbiz stuff.