I keep getting this question: How do you feel when the audience is quiet?

Here’s a little secret…. Silence is not a bad thing. Most individuals are not great laughers. A lot of times, silence is not a reflection you but it’s just a quiet crowd. You have them. They love you. They just don’t let you know.

If you want great laughs pay more attention to how you seat the show. I like to seat my own shows and get that fun couple/group down front. In a small room you only need one guy or gal that will share audibly, how much fun they are having.

Folks talk about stage fright like they are not terrified to share how they feel from the shadows. Same crowd will be amazing or bad based on having that one laugher.

There is a difference between silence and crickets, meaning its not just quiet, it’s anxious. We hear shuffling, discomfort in their breathing, watch checking, text and email checking, etc.

Too often comics confuse the too. The audience is quiet but you have them UNTIL you start making them feel bad for being terrified of ridicule. Then they do turn on you. You walk off stage saying, SEE, TOLD YOU THIS CROWD SUCKS. Welcome to amateur night.

It’s far worse when the audience is talking, out right ignoring you. You will do a lot of corporate gigs where you leave thinking, I appreciate the gig but they should have booked a jazz piano or trio to play background music. That crowd WANTED to talk not watch a show.

Or you do a Bar Mitzvah, and while performing for 3/4 of the crowd you leave with a head, competing for attention with drunk uncles in the corner. They get louder. You get louder.

Or some crowd just want to be part of the show. Sometimes you let them. Half the time you don’t even need to make a wise crack to save the moment. A simple look out and the audience has your back. Start digging in and you can lose it quick.

Long story short if you keep following my #1 rule, HAVE FUN BUT NEVER AT ANOTHER’S EXPENSE! you can survive the worst of moments. Keep smiling. Get through it. Bring YOUR A-Game no matter what and NEVER blame the audience for a bad set. Too many comics do that then fail to learn from the experience because their ego and insecurity are the focus, not the material.