Sometimes...it IS the audience
Bad crowds can still be fun, but for a different reason
I’ve been a stand-up comedian for over 20 years at this point. Which is still crazy to me. I remember when I first started and meeting legends who were in their “20th year” and I was like, “Wow…one day.” Well, here I am! Definitely not a legend but I made it to 20 years (it’ll already be 21 in November).
I’ve heard countless times from comics, “Oh man this crowd sucks” only to go up there myself or see another comic get up there and do a great job and make the crowd laugh. Most of the time, it isn’t the crowd. But sometimes, like my show last night, it is.
No comic WANTS to perform for a bad crowd. But also, experienced and veteran comics still get them. It’s unavoidable. There will be times when I’m up there and it’s a mediocre crowd and I think to myself that even after 20 years, sometimes it just comes with the territory. There’s no real reason for it. Sometimes people just don’t know how to act. Sometimes they’re too shy to laugh. Sometimes they’re just bored or checked out or 100 other reason.
I was hosting a show last night at Goodnights Comedy Club here in Raleigh for Derek Humphrey and Josh Bates. We had a real fun show Saturday night. Packed, sold out, fun crowd. Lots of “hey thanks, you did great!” afterwards, etc. You know, how it should be. The stuff that makes you go home and feel good about what you’re doing. But last night…woof. It was a small crowd, which I will scream DOESN’T DICTATE IF THEY WILL BE A GOOD OR BAD CROWD. SIZE DOESN’T MATTER (in this scenario). I’ve had shows with 10 people that were amazing. I’ve had shows for 100+ that sucked. If they came for a good time, they’ll be a good crowd. Now obviously we’d rather a bigger crowd, but sometimes that just isn’t the case. I don’t know what this crowd’s deal was last night.
And when I say crowd, there was about 15 people there, nowhere close to the 75 we had Saturday night. That’s another thing. This was a Sunday 7:30pm show, which while isn’t all that rare or unusual, it’s usually not ideal. You never know what you’re going to get with a Sunday night crowd. But I was ready to give them a great show. I take a lot of pride in being a good host and find it a very satisfying job when it’s done right. You know something is off when I, as the MC/host, said, “Hello everybody. How are you?” and get absolute silence as a response. With all the stupid crowd work tiktok videos lately, it’s shocking when you do get a well behaved crowd, but this wasn’t it. They weren’t being polite. They were just QUIET. I try to warm them up a little bit, telling them about the show and I was greeted with a few silent nods. OK…
I do a little crowd work and try talking to them, as the MC. I’m trying to break the ice or the tension (why is there even tension?) but nothing was working. There was one table of 6 “old” people who sorta dictated the vibe for some reason. The other few tables were all couples but this group of 6 that were proudly “friends since 2nd grade!” were weird.
So after a few minutes of getting nowhere with talking to them, I decide to go into some jokes. I do a few quick ones that usually work up front. They didn’t. I try a few more. Eh. Then I try a few bangers that work 10/10 times. Hardly anything. So at that point, not that you give up as a comic, but you realize it’s not you, it’s them. There’s just something preventing them from enjoying this show or letting loose and laughing out loud.
Some people were having fun. I could see it and hear the muffled laughs (again, only 15 people there). But they almost felt weird to laugh out loud (again, I think because of that party of 6 for some reason). Even the answers I was getting from them while talking to them were either weird or super short and not interesting answers. It was just ‘one of those nights.’
We gave out 2 guests spots to other comics, since we knew it was a small show anyway. At first I almost felt bad having them even waste their time, but you know what? Sometimes these shows can make you better. Not as a joke writer obviously, but they make you stronger and you get into that ‘water off a duck’s back’ mode where nothing really bothers you. I’m proud that at this point in my career, it really didn’t bother me at all. I find it amusing that NOTHING I said worked on them. That is in no means to say “i don’t care if you laugh or not”. Quite the opposite. That’s literally all I want people to do when I’m up on stage. But if they don’t, and I tried my best and it still didn’t work? Oh well. You can’t dwell on it. It was also interesting to see how the other comics handled it too. All with grace and ‘whateverness’. Everyone got a few chuckles throughout the night, but they were few and far between. You can sorta tell if it’s a bad host and maybe the crowd wants to laugh but they just don’t find the host funny. I truly hope that wasn’t the case last night, but I think the other comics knew it wasn’t and it was going to be a struggle no matter what.
I wouldn’t even say I bombed. I’d own if it I did. Yes that still happens too after 20 years. This was just one of those weird shows where everything felt a little off right from the get go. Got a few more shows this week to redeem myself and justify two decades of doing this silly little job. Hopefully they all come to laugh this time instead of judging quietly in the dark while eating chicken fingers.
For any comics reading this or any other type of performer, if you can relate to this please share a story or any insight you have if it’s happened to you or if you’ve seen this.