Introduction

There are a number of factors, many of which are outside the control of the comedian that can have a direct affect on the level of performance they can deliver.

But before I jump into the meat of this lesson, let me say this:

• If your audience is attentive (regardless of size)
• If your audience is seated properly (regardless of size) and…
• If your material is funny and delivered professionally with confidence

You should do well to extremely well virtually every time you step on the stage.

There are two main reasons that I am providing the information in this lesson:

1. I want you to be fully aware of the factors — many of which are usually beyond your control — that can affect your performances, but more importantly…

2. I want you to be able to intelligently judge your performance levels and consistency relative to the audience factors and venue factors that can affect your performances.

This will become very important once you start engaging in performance benchmarking and improvement activities — which are critical to making rapid progress in your stand-up comedy adventures.

First, let’s start with some physical factors that can influence your performances…

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Physical Factors

One of the first things you should know is that there are physical factors in a show that can influence any audience and impact your performance.

These are:

1. Seating.  Believe it or not, seating plays a critical role in your ability to create big laughs with any audience.

If your audience is seated close together, no matter how small the audience may be, you will be able to generate much bigger laughs than if the audience members are spread out over the room.

The reason for this is simple…

Laughter is contagious.  The closer people sit together, the more contagious the laughter is.

So even if some people don’t really find your comedy material outrageously funny, they WILL laugh hard if the people sitting next to them are laughing hard.

This is one of the reasons why the tables are generally small in comedy clubs.  This allows for people to sit as close as possible for maximum laughter impact.

If the audience members are seated far apart or are spread out across a room, it becomes increasingly more difficult to generate big laughs or to “get on a roll” with your comedy material.

In the best comedy rooms, the ushers will ALWAYS seat the audience close together, even if there are only 10 or 20 people that actually made it to the show.

This way, the comedians that perform for these smaller audiences have the best possible conditions for the biggest laughs possible.

Another problem exists when the audience is far away from the performer.

If the audience is seated on the other side of a dance floor away from the stage, you simply won’t have the same laughter impact if the audience was seated right next to the stage.

Seating is a critical factor when it comes to reading an audience because if they are not seated properly, no matter how big or small the audience may be, you are simply NOT going to get the highest level of laughter response that you could if they were seated properly.

And it’s not the audience’s fault that they aren’t seated properly.

2. Ceiling height.  The height of the ceiling in a comedy room can actually affect the your perception of the intensity of the of laughter you get when you are performing or give you a false indication that you are not generating as much laughter as you actually are.

The reason for this is simple…

Audience laughter is sound.  That sound will bounce off of the ceiling (if it is low) and will be louder and stronger.

If the ceiling is high in the room…

The laughter generated by an audience has a tendency to appear to “evaporate” quickly into the air, creating the illusion that you may not be generating big laughs when you actually may be.

Again, you will find that most comedy clubs have a fairly low ceiling that allows for laughter to “bounce” off of it, which creates a condition for “bigger laughs”.

In outdoor events where there is no ceiling, you could actually be “killing” the audience and not be able to tell that you are doing very well at all — even with a very big audience.  Why?

Because the sound of the laughter appears to dissipate so quickly outside with no ceiling to bounce off of.

This is one of a number of reasons that you will want to record your shows.  Sometimes, you can be doing far better than it may seem while you are on stage.

3. The sound system.

This one is really easy…

If your audience can’t hear you, they’re not going to laugh no matter how big or small the audience may be.

The sound coming from the mic should be loud enough for everyone to hear what you are saying but not so loud that it’s disturbing.

This is usually not an issue in a comedy club where the sound systems are generally top notch.  But it can be an issue when performing outside comedy club venues.

There are 3 things you can do about this:

Simply have the volume of the mic turned up.  If you are watching another comedian perform and can see that the audience is having trouble hearing what is being said, ask to have the mic turned up.

Many times, you can actually hear one audience member tell another “I can’t hear what they are saying”.

You can also ask the audience if they can hear you.

You can hold the mic closer to your mouth.

You can bring your own sound system.  Many serious comedians (especially those working in venues and events outside the comedy club market) will make an investment in a portable PA system so that they are not dependent on the sound system in the venue.

This is especially useful when performing in hotel ballrooms and other venues that may have sub-standard sound system.

4. Lighting in the room.You will notice that comedy clubs are almost always very dark, outside the stage lights.  Why?

Because comedy clubs understand that adults will laugh harder, with their mouths wide open, in the dark — usually much more so than they will in a well lit room where every audience member can easily see one another.

No matter how big or small your audience may be, if the room is well lit, it can be just a bit more difficult to generate higher level laughs.

5. Room Temperature.  You will find that audiences will be far less attentive (and laugh less) if the room is warm.

This is one of the reason that David Letterman keeps his studio so cold (reportedly as low as 55 degrees F).  He knows that audiences will respond much better in a cooler environment than they will in a warm one.

The reason I bring up these issues first is so that you will understand that there are physical factors that can significantly affect your audiences and ultimately, the laughter response that they give you when you are on stage.

These factors may be completely beyond your control and can dramatically affect the laughter impact you have with an audience when you are performing.

More importantly, you don’t want to “beat yourself up” for a performance, especially when these factors come into play and do affect your show.

You need to be able to determine the difference between factors that are beyond your control and factors are completely within your control to change and improve.  Why?

Because you don’t want to make unnecessary changes to your comedy material just because a single performance that didn’t go so great in front of an audience that wasn’t seated properly, or the sound system sucked or whatever the case may be.

It can be extremely difficult to make intelligent changes to your act in an efficient and methodical way if you are changing your act for every single show without regard to the factors over which you have NO CONTROL (like the ones I just covered).

One of the big keys to rapid progression as a comedian is being able to quickly identify the things in your act that you can improve.

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Audience Demographics

Now let’s talk a little bit about some different audience demographics that can influence your performances.

You are going to find that the BEST audiences have a tendency to be mixed (meaning they are comprised of both men and women) and usually are in the age range of 25-55 years of age.

Here are some audience types that can possibly cause you difficulty in getting a big laughter response when performing your stand-up comedy material:

1. Young adults.  High school kids and even college aged people can be very cocky.  They know everything and can be a difficult audience to get laughs from.

2. Old adults.  Older folks (65 and older) have a range of issues that “younger” comedians simply don’t talk about much.

Plus, many of these folks may expect a more “old school”, one liner type of comedy because that’s the kind of comedy they grew up with.  These folks can be difficult to please.

3. All male audiences.  When you get a group that is comprised of entirely men, the testosterone level shoots through the room and there is a automatically a general resistance to laughing at a comedian, basically because these folks collectively don’t want to be seen as “un-cool” by laughing in front of their friends.

An all male audience can be difficult when it comes to generating big laughs.

4. Analytical types.  If you perform for a group comprised solely of folks that are highly analytical in their occupations — engineers, accountants, etc. — you can find that these folks have an overall tendency not to laugh out loud.

That doesn’t mean you can’t do well with them.  But what it does mean is that as a general rule, don’t expect the higher laugh levels you would with other mixed groups of folks.

5. Bar room crowds.  The reason for this should be obvious…

Bar room crowds have a tendency to drink more heavily.  So they can be obnoxious and much harder to entertain.

6. Corporate audiences.  These folks can be somewhat “stiff” and difficult to energize with laughter, especially if the company president or CEO is in the room.

However, corporate audiences can be fantastic audiences, provided your comedy material is clean, appropriate and most of all — funny.

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Small Audiences vs. Large Audiences

Now, let’s talk about the size of the audience and how the audience size can impact your act.

As a general rule, the bigger an audience is, the less material you will need to perform.

You are going to find that you will go through much more comedy material with a small audience than you will with a big one.

The reason for this is simple…

Bigger audiences will laugh longer if you are funny.

But one of the big mistakes many comedians make is to talk faster to get to the punchlines quicker when performing for small audiences.

Unfortunately, this has a tendency to reduce the laughter that they could actually generate to an even lower level.

No matter what size audience you are performing for, you should always deliver your comedy material at your own natural speaking rate.

You will always get the best laughter impact when you do this, no matter what size audience you are performing for.

Just realize that you aren’t generally going to generate the super big laughs from a smaller audience that you would from a larger one.  It’s a matter of simple physics.

But I will tell you this — if you are able generate big laughs from smaller audiences, you are going to be recognized very quickly as a high level comedy performer.  This is because most comedians don’t generally to do that well with smaller audiences.

One of the real secrets of stand-up comedy is this…

If you are able to make small audiences laugh hard, you will almost ALWAYS kill a bigger audience.  However, this same rule doesn’t necessarily work the other way around.

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Your Overall Performance Strategy

No matter what audience type or size you are performing for, there are some basic strategies you may want to embrace in order to ensure you get the biggest and best laughs possible from your show:

1. Have a wide variety of well-rehearsed comedy material that you can present to an audience.

By having a number of topics or bits that you can talk about on stage, you can much more easily “jump” into another bit if one is not working.

This is especially useful if you have identified one of the difficult audience types described above.

It also allows you to “choose” what material you are ultimately going to present to your audience BEFORE you hit the stage.  In other words…

If you are able “read” your audience accurately before you get on stage using the information in this lesson, you can select the best possible comedy material that you have for that particular audience.

You can also avoid comedy material that simply won’t go over well for the audience that is there.

Having a large quantity of comedy material should be fairly easy for you if you are using the comedy material development techniques provided in this course.

2. If you are working outside the comedy club market, have a number of well-rehearsed and tested street jokes that you can use at will.

While using street jokes is not generally the “accepted” means of generating laughter in a comedy club venue, street jokes can be very powerful tools when performing in venues outside the traditional comedy club environments.

Note: There are several independent lessons involving using street jokes in a stand-up comedy routine in the complete online course at Killerstandup.com.

3. Make sure you perform to your entire audience.  Many new comedians will tend to focus on presenting their comedy material to the people that they can see — which are the people closest to the stage.

This is due to the bright lights shining in the comedian’s eyes that can obscure seeing the rest of the audience.

Every audience member wants to “feel” that they are being talked to directly during a show.

The best way to do this is to look into areas of the room where you can’t see the audience — but you know where they are because you evaluated where the audience was seated before you took the stage.

There is one exception to this…

Let’s say that most of the audience is seated in a group on one side of the room (this happens on occasion).  In that case, I will focus my attention on that side of the room.  Don’t get me wrong…

I will certainly look over at the few people on the other side of the room from time to time.

However, I am going to spend most of my attention on the group of people sitting together.  Why? Because that’s where I’m going to generate the most laughter response.

The absolute best way to know if you are addressing your entire audience is to record a video your performances, especially in the beginning.

This way, you can evaluate your act and correct any problems you may actually be causing for yourself in the process of delivering your comedy material on stage.

4. Make sure you give your small audiences the same enthusiastic show you give to the bigger audiences.

Probably the most common mistake most comedians make when they are faced with a small crowd is that they automatically assume that the audience is not a good one.

Subsequently, when they see a small audience, they give a halfhearted show, virtually eliminating ANY chance of generating laughter at all.

Not only that, but they will ridicule the audience for being so small.  The problem with that is that no audience wants to be ridiculed.

Not only that…

Just like you had no control over the audience size (unless you promoted the show), the audience has no control over who is there and who isn’t.

No matter what size audience you are performing for, you must realize that an audience is just a group of people who want to be entertained.

Embrace your small audiences, realizing that…

If you can make a small audience laugh, you are truly a very skilled comedian.

5. Set out with a goal to have fun, no matter what audience type or size you are performing for.

When an audience sees that you are enjoying yourself on stage, they will enjoy you, even if you don’t generate the super big laughs.

The energy and enthusiasm generated by a comedian on stage has a tremendous affect on an audience, even if the audience is small.  Why?

Because when you are on stage, you are the leader.  Audiences follow the leader.

If you know not to expect big laughs from small audiences or audiences that are seated poorly, you shouldn’t be disappointed with your performance because of factors you recognize that are simply beyond your control.

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Wrap Up

No matter how well you develop your ability to “read” an audience, you will only be able to assess the potential level of difficulty that you may encounter during your performance for that audience.

As you may have noticed, most of the factors presented in this section are almost completely beyond your control.

But you do have complete control over 3 critical factors when it comes to performing stand-up comedy for ANY audience that can make a tremendous difference between an average show and a killer show.

Specifically these are:

1. Your level of confidence and comfort on stage.

You simply cannot have enough confidence when you set foot on stage.

An audience can easily determine if you are comfortable when you are performing and you will almost always produce bigger laughs the more comfortable you are on stage.

You may be under the impression that confidence is only gained with experience.

While experience is certainly a very significant factor in confidence building, there are now many highly effective techniques available that can really help you build your confidence to maximum levels — before you ever hit the stage.

2. The comedy material you present to your audience and your level of preparation before you perform.

You have complete control over the comedy material you present to any audience no matter what audience it is.

You also have complete control over how well prepared you are to entertain an audience BEFORE you ever get to the stage.

If your material isn’t giving you the results you want — change it, edit it or simply throw it out and try new material.

Comedy material is not like fine wine that necessarily gets better with age.  Don’t waste your time on comedy material that may never give you the laughter results you want — no matter what other factors can influence your performances.

There are too many things you can talk about on stage that will entertain your audiences and get you the big laughs you want.

Plus, if you are performing outside comedy club venues, you can almost always supplement your act with properly edited and refined street jokes that will get you laughs.

3. Your ability to evaluate your act objectively and make critical changes that are needed to help you increase your laughter response the next time you perform — no matter what type of audience you are performing for.

I can only recommend that you at least make an audio recording of every show that you do until you are killing at a high level almost every show you do.

Even better, get a video recording of every show. Constantly review your act.

Continue to make adjustments as needed to “squeeze out” every single laugh you can from your material using the information in the Training Module on performance benchmarking and improvement.

Shorten your set-up lines.  Add more punchlines. Be on a constant look out for anything you can do that will boost your laughter rate.

You have complete control over reviewing your comedy material for improvement and making intelligent changes to your act to make it better.

Use your smaller audiences to gauge your comedy ability.

Like I said before, if you can make small audiences laugh loud, you will have no problem with the bigger ones.

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