Comedy is all about talking, right? Wrong.
The more I learn, the more I realise that good comedy is all about listening.
It’s not only listening to other comedians – although that’s hugely educational both in teaching us what we should and what we shouldn’t be doing and in sparking new ideas.
It’s not only listening to comedy teachers at workshops – although they are invaluable.
It’s not only listening to the conversations on the street, the train or at the motorway service station – although thank you so much Great Western Trains for your fabulous trolley attendant who fell asleep in the food intolerances video they showed him for training and consequently had no idea whether anything he sold was gluten free. That’s given me a great gag.
It’s listening to yourself.
And to your audience.
Firstly, we must listen to ourselves if we want to be good comedians. We have to watch our videos over and over and listen to our jokes again and again. And again. Only then can we find out where our timing is good and where it isn’t, where a joke needs to be expanded and where it needs to be cut. We can discover if we sound engaged with the audience or remote and whether we are enunciating clearly or if we are losing our punch lines with the wrong intonation.
And secondly, we must listen to our audience. Not only to when and where they laugh but how they laugh. Where are they tittering? Where are they guffawing? Where are they laughing nervously? Sometimes the answer can be really surprising. The joke you think is hilarious may only get a titter and one you don’t really rate is a winner every time. And even more than that, we must listen to the audience when they are quiet.
The quiet moments will tell you the most important thing of all. It will tell you whether they are interested in you.
If you have their interest, you don’t even have to be that funny; you don’t need a gag every fifteen seconds, you can take them on flights of fantasy and build them up for a twist or a big finish and keep them with you every step of the way.
If they’re interested, their silence is quieter and filled with energy. If they’re not interested, it is empty and fidgety. Truly, you can learn to sense the difference. And if you can hold their interest, then you are a true performer.
Listening is also useful with hecklers. If you have the audience engaged and a heckler sticks their voice in, then the audience will be more interested in the rest of your show than in seeing you being challenged. They may even come to your aid if the heckler is persistent. Usually, however, all you need to do is listen to what the heckler says (and it’s useful to ask him or her to repeat it too because it’s generally a lot less effective the second time). Then repeat it back slowly. That gives you time to come up with a smart answer if necessary and it’s not usually that hard. A heckler is someone who thinks they too are a comedian and is after a cheap laugh so they’ll usually offer you a soft ball to hit.
Sometimes a heckler can give you a good joke as well. My favourite came during my first ever gig in London where I wondered out loud what it is that atheists say at the moment of orgasm. One guy shouted out ‘you’re shit!’
All I had to do was repeat the query and his comment: ‘What do atheists say at orgasm? You’re shit?’ and the rest of the joke came naturally. ‘I’m not a relationships expert but I wouldn’t think saying “you’re shit” at orgasm would get you a second date’ and the audience were on side with a really encouraging laugh.
That was a gift from the Muse but it could only come because I listened. At the time, I only listened because I was too paralyzed with fear to know what else to do but I guess that’s how we all learn the best lessons: on the job and flying by the seat of our pants.
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