Comments on: Back On The Stand-up Comedy Stage After 7 Years And…

By: David

David — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 18:33:22 +0000

Thanks. I just read the article you suggested. I found this quote particularly revealing:

“•As a general rule, comedians who are able to generate substantial laughter with smaller audiences tend to generate a far greater laughter response with bigger audiences.”

Most people might equate larger audiences with “success” — but it seems that a developing performer might be better served to concentrate on work with smaller audiences so that future performance before larger crowds will be even stronger! This idea makes sense. I really hadn’t thought of it in those terms before; I was one of those who saw the “small” audience as a negative thing. Now I see how I can use it to help me improve the quality of my performances.

By: Steve Roye

Steve Roye — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 15:46:21 +0000

In reply to David. Provided the comedy material is funny, audience size primarily extends laughter duration collectively. Audience seating is more important overall. Related article: Comedy Audience Factors

By: David

David — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 13:34:24 +0000

Interesting to hear our mentor’s experience, Steve. Thanks for sharing. I am always surprised to see or hear of such small audiences – around 60. I’ve read of people performing to groups of 20 and less. As an “older newbie” I imagine “regular comedians” (is that two oxymoron’s in one sentence??) performing to audiences of 100+ — perhaps because that’s what we see on TV. It’s oddly comforting to see that established performers still have smaller audiences sometimes.

While on the subject of smaller audiences, I find that every audience has its own ‘personality’ — but I find the smaller the audience, the more difficult it is to relate or connect to that personality. Does everyone find it easier to perform for larger audiences than smaller ones? My theory is that with the smaller audience, you tend to see the individual audience members.) Thoughts?