Entertainment pros call people out. We don’t need to call them out to shame them ( I think shame is useless ), but we call them out so the crowd knows the mission. It’s extreme, it’s disruptive, and it takes responsibility.
Scot Nery’s Boobietrap has a tradition of throwing snacks to the audience. One night there was a grumpy couple in the crowd. I told them to open up and have fun. Someone told me the woman got hit in the face with snacks and she was upset (everyone gets hit in the face with snacks).
To make it fun, we offered them prosecco and more snacks. They did not cheer up.
After the next act, I told them they were welcome to leave.
The man said “No, we’re here to see Josh.”
I replied, “Well, you’re in luck because Josh is next! Josh can you go next?”
Josh performed, did great. They clapped and cheered up, then I told them it was time to go and leave the rest of the show to the rest of us.
They mumbled, picked up their motorcycle helmets and walked out. Told me I wasn’t funny and the show sucked. I pointed out that nobody else agreed. The crowd roared. I had the ticket person meet with them on the way out and hand them their money back and they loudly complained to her so the whole audience could hear. I shouted after them, “You were the only ones here with helmets! You should have worn them!”
The point: I did it for everyone else
I didn’t call them out for
- vengence
- validation
- to get a quick laugh out of an awkward situation
I called them out for the rest of the audience. Anyone that was brought down by their attitude needed to know that this behaviour was not in line with our party. Anyone that was questioning, “Should I choose to be a bummer also?” needed to know you’re either with us or against us. Entertainment works with tribal unity. If someone breaks the rules of the tribe (which are not hard to follow) they are an outsider.
At every stage, we were working it for the rest of the crowd and making it obvious that there was an invitation to come back into the tribe. I was not a tyrant, I was a shepherd. When one of my sheep was a wolf, I had to get them out of the herd.
I was surprised that they would be so difficult. That’s very unusual and the vibe of Boobietrap is ridiculously amazing. We don’t really have issues with the audience. Still, even with a great audience, certain behaviours might need to be called out so that everyone has an equally good time, and so we can all go somewhere magical together.
Crowd workers take heed
Sometimes comedians attack the crowd. This is not cool. The comedian is in a leadership position and so the signals sent by the leader are meant to be directions for those they are leading. Random hostility toward an audience is not about a laugh, it’s about something being wrong. Destabilization without benevolent guidance is completely counterproductive to getting an audience in flow.