Crowd Work - The Final Frontier
August 23, 2007 · Print This Article
Brian welcomes nationally touring headliner Scotty Goff Behind The Bricks to discuss the art of working a crowd. Scotty talks about how he transitioned from performing his own material to letting the crowd dictate his show, and some of the advantages and dangers of this style of comedy.
Listener topics include, more tips on getting organized, cheat sheets, getting blasted before telling jokes, comics who suffer from depression and the material that comes from it. I’ll break your arm!
Email: brianmcomedy@gmail.com and give us a call on 206-203-4692
I like Scotty’s take on working a crowd. He said that he never makes fun of the crowd, instead he gets them to kind of laugh at themselves. I like what he said about letting the crowd having some of the spotlight too. Seems to me that this would not only take some practice, but you probably should only do this type of comedy if you are ready to take your act in this direction.
I think if you were a comedian that had trouble writing material, or wanted to experiment with something new this would be one way to go. But like Scotty said, once you open the door to the audience, then you can’t go back unless its right at the end of your set. Again, I like his advice, if I’m sitting in the crowd and I’m interacting with the comedian, I don’t want the crowd to laugh at me, I want them to laugh with me. Thats a fine line, that would take practice, but if done right it will lead to an enjoyable show for everyone.
Can’t wait for next week.
Brian - thanks for another great show!
I think sand makes glass… or something. I’m bad at math.
And as for last week - thanks for playing my Nicole Richie stuff - Gonna try the revised bit on stage Wednesday night. A good side effect of posting here is that you make friends with comics via this site and you get good feedback…
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It’s strange that the topic of what mindset for people is best got brought up, since I’m finding out that I’m really not that funny until after dark, and even though I haven’t performed yet, everything I’ve written or thpught of has come to me at about 11 at nite. Do you guys think this is a good or bad sign for my comedy career if I ever have one?
i write the best while driving. i have not wrecked yet.
Can’t be funny when it’s sunny. At least that’s what I tell myself after bombing during a daytime gig. Welcome Ben.
2nd open mic nite my “cheat sheet” went from a note book to a 3 x 5 card and i didn’t look at it. progress! I still forgot to look for that damn red light. i seen it when it was flashing like hell but before they turned the mic off.
On open mic night we have a couple that get drunk first. I don’t drink, eat, or sleep–but i smoke like Michael Jackson’s hair after a Pepsi comericial.
ben,
how old are you?
Oh my God, Brian. The mountain goat thing has happened to me sooooooo fucking many times. I blame my mediocrity on it.
I have pages of notes that I’m hoping will suddenly make sense one day.
Great cast man.
Sina.
Congrats on the progress Richie, but you must respect the light. That will delay you getting moved up worse than Nazi jokes. We’re doing a show on time in the very near future.
Sina, perfect example of why I write everything out, I had no idea what you were talking about with the mountain goat reference, and it was my own fucking reference!
Also, the only sense I could make of the sand into glass part of the show (the drunk open micer story you told) was that under high pressure and heat, sand turns to glass. I don’t know what he was trying to allude to with his ass creating high heat and pressure, but that’s where I think he was going with it.
Maybe he was trying to find a fetishist in the crowd.
Sina.
i do most of my writing when im doing something totally unrelated when i think up a joke. i’ll be taking a shower and i’ll think of a joke about the virgin mary being the ultimate MILF or something like that. it’s weird. i’ll write it on a notepad and then i’ll bang it out later. i have one strange mind i know. *sigh* i am so going to hell. Oh well at least i’ll know people there.
don’t feel bad BMo i had to go back and listen to the show again to figure out what sina was talking about. I thought i missed a goat sex joke.
Anyone still watching Last Comic Standing? I finally caught the last 2 on Tivo and was mortified. First off, the fact that they flew through the top 10 voting out 2 at a time proves that even they know the show is bad. I was watching the top 5 thinking, is there anyone at home that honestly believes these are the 5 best comics in the world? I guess I’m rooting for Jerry Dee because I like his style, but I’m disappointed with all of them. I think LaVelle Crawford gets by because he’s fun to watch on stage, but he has some of the worst material I’ve ever heard. My prediction at this point is that Ralph Harris will win. He’s been around a while, is non controversial, and he’s good looking which all make him marketable, and that’s really what this is all about.
I recently bought Jimmy Pardo’s new album, “Pompus Clown”, and he’s another comedian who does nothing but work the crowd. I really didn’t like it. Maybe it falls into the “I guess you had to be there” category, but in recorded form. I guess it’s hard to be “worked” when you’re not in the crowd. If I saw him live, I think I would’ve enjoyed it much more.
That’s a good point. I don’t really care for crowd work on a cd. Whenever I hear it, I think “why didn’t you edit this out?” I know why a comic wants to keep it, to show he’s quick on his feet etc, but it’s just bad radio (so to speak).
I don’t like when they do bits that need you to see them too. Like they are acting something out or making fun of what someone’s wearing etc.
It’s fun in person, but leave it off the cd.
Sina.
Great point NYC. Most of the time when a comic does crowd work or deals with hecklers on a cd, they don’t realize that the mic rarely picks up the audience members voice. So everyone in the room s having a great time with this inside joke that you at home are not in on.
I just found a video of Bill Hicks telling the Hell gig story Ron Shock told a couple of weeks ago. It’s not as funny as Ron’s version but it is interesting to hear it from a different perspective.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nc6yCinSlZk
One of my favorite Mitch Hedberg lines is about something like Brian’s mountain goat story:
“I sit at my hotel at night, I think of something that’s funny, then I go get a pen and I write it down. Or if the pen’s too far away, I have to convince myself that what I thought of ain’t funny.”
I’ve had that happen to me lots of times. Write something down and forget what it means, or if I think of a bit when I’m talking to my girlfriend, I forget to write it down and I ask her what it was. She doesn’t remember and naturally, it’s her fault.
I always brought a cheat sheet up with me, until the owner of the club saw I was doing it, and told me not to use it. Since, I’ve done better without it. It gives a false sense of security. It gave me a reason to look at the stool, and I wasn’t sly about it. So, it was distracting.
However, when I MC, I ALWAYS bring a sheet up with the person’s name and intro on it. I’d rather look as though I was reading it from a paper than screw their name up. Sometimes I’ll write their name out phonetically, if it’s hard.
That’s it. Peace.
~Charles from New Jersey
Well, you said you’d be discussing the Bob Saget HBO special, and I just watched it…
Ok, I’m not a guy who likes to watch things that I think will be a train wreck, and I’ve seen some Saget standup from many years ago and enjoyed it… but this was really terrible. It was actually kind of terrifying, and made me sad more than it made me laugh. Saget seems caught in a place where he knows that most of his audience will know him from Full House and Funniest Home Videos, and rather than just ignore all of that stuff and do a solid act he’s somewhere in between trying to overcompensate for his family-friendly image and playing to inside jokes with people who could only get what he’s talking about if they’re intimately familiar with those programs. I won’t lie, he delivered on a handful of one-liners that made me laugh out loud, but for most of it I just wished he’d stop relying on bad inuendo and name-checking Uncle Jesse and just do some solid standup. I was genuinely excited for this show and have to say I was really disappointed to see a standup and all-round showbiz vet literally floundering on stage for an hour. Let’s just say I Tivo’d it and didn’t think to pause for bathroom breaks.
You just gave me the EXACT same synopsis as my buddy who watched it as well.
Sina.
Good call on the Sagat special. He was always a dirty stand up, but after Full House and AFHV he seems to have gone over the top to prove he’s not that guy. Shocking can be funny every now and then, but not for an hour. I was disappointed as well. I was actually really looking forward to this special (what does that say about me?) We’re gonna have Mike on in a couple of weeks to review it.
I knew Bob Saget’s special would be craptastic when I saw that they were releasing it on DVD literally three days after the initial broadcast. If I can’t find a torrent of it, I’ll probably Netflix it just to see how awful it is.
Bri, I got the new Paton Osaalt cd on your recommandation, since I really liked the first one, and It was just awesome. highly recommended!
I watched about 30 seconds of Mind of Mencia last night and witnessed another one of Carlos’ brilliant parodies, “Are You Smarter Than A Wetback”. Hilarious. Not to be confused with “1 vs. 100 Webacks”, or “Wetback or No Wetback”. It’s the gift that keeps on giving!
I really enjoyed the Scotty Goff interview!
As far as the Bob Sagat show, I can’t wait. He is frigging hilarious, and was great in “Dumb and Dumberer”.
Have you guys seen the “Flight of the Conchords”? They are a New Zealand duo that, in my opinion, are great. They started out as a stand up act that has migrated to a show on HBO. You should check them out if you get a chance, I recomend them.
Good interview about working the crowd. I’ve always had some moderate success with that, but being a college professor by trade, I have to work a crowd three to four times a day. I think it’s a skill that takes a lot of development.
On the poll question, I didn’t really see a choice that fits me. I have done open mics in the past, and still do one or two a year, but I don’t perform every chance I get, nor am I someone who still hasn’t. However, whoever said your polls were scientific, right B-Mo?
In the meantime, as I deal with a lot of family grieving right now as my dad slowly dies, I am also simultaneously fascinated by how much humor everyone is employing in the process. Everyone who has come to sit by his hospital bedside the past few days has had at least one funny story to tell about my dad. Isn’t it interesting how we use humor to counteract emotions that are painful and overwhelming?
Glad to see you again Grammar Nazi and my condolences about your father. I realize the poll question is not all inclusive, but I tried to hit the high points. No one wants a poll question with 45 choices, on being, “I’ve never thought of pursuing comedy professionally, but one time my mom made me stand up and tell a joke on Thanksgiving ‘89″.
Slight change in plans for this week’s show. Instead of hearing the second interview with Scotty Goff from a club owners point of view, we’re bringing back Mike, the Simon Cowell of stand up to review the roast of Flava Flave and the new Sagat HBO special. So if you have any questions/comments, post away.
I agree with Grammar Nazi in ways I can’t express through text. I cope with death (like many others) with humor. It’s a natural defense. Any actor or person who studies human interaction/psychology knows that we tend to express ourselves as well as cope through opposites. The first time I remember telling a joke (or try to make people laugh) on stage was at my best friend’s funeral while giving the eulogy. I laughed while carrying the casket. I laughed the whole week while with friends. I have never been through anything harder in my life than the deaths I’ve experienced from all of my childhood friends dying…but we always seem to laugh at the funerals.
Your mind protects you from feeling too much sorrow. Laughter is a psychological medicine. I write more material when I’m in my lowest parts of my life than any other time to take my mind off of the trauma. I find more humor in life when you become emotionally numb and just look at things subjectively.
Joe Rogan once wrote: To the man who lives his life by emotion, the world may appear to be a tragedy, but to the man who lives his life by logic and thinking, the world is the greatest comedy.
Another good quote from an interview with George Carlin was that studies should be conducted about the similarities between laughter and sorrow. You can laugh until you cry and you can cry until you start laughing. They seem like opposite emotions but they are so closely related that you sometimes can’t tell when someone is laughing or crying. The physical change one goes through during both are very similar with the nonrhythmic breathing, the flushed face, the tears etc.
My condolences to your father.
Hugs,
Sina.
I agree with Snappy, I’ve become a fan of Flight of the Conchords with their HBO series. Hilarious stuff, great dry humor and really the only “funny music” that I’ve ever enjoyed… mostly because the lyrics are cleverly written so that it’s not about punchlines that you can tell are coming by the rhyme scheme, and because half the joke is told through the music of whichever genre they’re tackling with the song. There have been a couple rough spots in the first season, but I really hope the show gets picked up for a second run because I have faith that now that they’ve got their feet wet the Conchords can put together a really, really tight show.
I’ve never seen their original HBO special (the live show), but if anyone has, would that count as standup? Or live sketch? Or a funny concert? I’m curious to see it…
I’ve been holding off on my Conchord take until we tackle musical comedy on the show, but I’m a big fan. I had never heard of them until I caught their HBO special a few years ago and became instantly obsessed. Not sure how to classify it, but I know what I like, and I too hope they get a shot at season 2. I’m extremely pissed at HBO because they used to be the place that would take a chance on a series and put out a quality product instead of something that’s commercially successful, but ever since The Sopranos exploded, they’ve become as bad as the networks.
I also like the flight of the concords. I would clissfy them as sort of a sketchy concert performance. but not stand up comedy. speaking of musical comedy, id just like to say tenacious d still rocks watchabone style.
I feel like LCS is really leaning toward pushing Amy to win… anyone with me? It’s almost painful to watch at this point. Mr. Crawford is doing what we talked about a few weeks ago - relying solely on weight jokes. But then again, they get 3 minute sets, tops, so I guess you can get away with it.
I’m a huge musical comedy fan - I’d love a show topic on that. Tenacious D are great, I agree with Smiley… But by far, my favoritest musical comic is Todd Yohn. They guy’s amazing. I think what sets him apart is that he’s an excellent musician as well as a great comic. And, on top of that, he was one of the nicest guys I’ve ever gotten to open for.
Though I’ve never gotten to open for Sina, so Todd may get demoted one day.
Oh, and join the BTB ning > http://behindthebricks.ning.com
Brian - re: HBO - What about Big Love? That’s quite a great show - and popular, yes - but I think the quality is great.
I was DEVASTATED when Carnivale got cut - that was a truly GREAT show that was cut off before it’s prime - probably because all the money was going to The Sopranos (I never liked that show)… Probably almost as devastated as I was when Firefly was crushed by Fox before it was even through season one - or when Showtime axed Dead Like Me.
God I watch too much TV.
aK - and visit http://behindthebricks.ning.com
Grammar Nazi - so true about death and humor. I lost my best friend in Jan of 06 - she was so young, and I had to handle everything as her family and her were estranged - and things happened so quick - and she was living with us - and…
Without my blog, where I could vent and find something funny about the entire situation and to tell about all the funny things about Marla, I wouldn’t have come out of it as well as I have. Now, when I think back, and even look back at those entries - I have, in a way, committed those humorous experiences at least to virtual memory. I can look back now and laugh at a lot of it - and at the time, it was maddening.
death and humor,
When i was in high school my best friend’s dad lost a long battle with cancer. The family was having a hard time dealing with it. My friend was in my car as the procession entered the graveyard. There was a “round a bout” everyone was slowling going around it to the right. I went left. After the service back at the house we all laughed about it. A little joke is just what the family needed.
Brian, Loved the Abbot and Costello in your last show. Also one of my favorites. It brings up a few questions.
You said it was one of the top three bits in history. How about a top five or ten comedy bits of all time?
Duos: Are there any stand up duos currently working, other than Penn and Teller, which is not really stand up?
Sports: I have heard a lot of Caliendo lately with the start of football season approaching. He is known as a sports comic because of his Madden impression. John Caponera has a cd about sports, which I must confess I have not heard, plus he does a lot of sports in his stand up not only because of his impression of Harry Caray, but also he talks about athletes and sports. Are there any other comedians who use sports as a big part of their act?
And another thing, congrats on being a daddy to be. My best wishes to you and Mrs. B’Mo.
Good call on Carnivale Amelia. That may have been my favorite HBO series and they cut it short. I think Big Love is a solid show but doesn’t have the same art value Carnivale did. I was getting into John from Cincinnati as well, but that was canceled after the first season.
Welcome Buckeye. I’ve been thinking a lot about your question and I managed to pick my top 3 comedy bits of all time which I’ll reveal on Thursday’s show. I’d love to hear all of your takes on favorite bits.
Off the top of my head, I think of Carlin’s difference between baseball and football and the 7 words; I Robert Klein has some good ones, none of which I can think of at this time; Steve Martin’s routines were too disjointed to really have bits, but his “I made a million dollars and paid no taxes” cracks me up; Mel Brook and Carl Reiner and the thousand (million?) year old man though that one turned into more than a bit? Never a big Pryor or Murphy fan so not sure about their work. Bobby Collins “you can’t feed a dog salsa”
Murphy’s “The Barbecue,” or his impressions of certain celebrities as homosexuals would be worthy of nomination.
Although Pryor’s not a favorite, his most famous character was Mudbone. So I guess that may qualify.
Chris Rock’s “black people vs. niggers” and “toss salad man” are his staples.
Of course, Gaffigan’s “Hot Pockets,” Carlin’s “Seven Dirty Words” and “Baseball vs. Football” (although he had a plethora of notable bits), Robin Williams’ “Death of a Sperm,” Ellen DeGeneres’s “Conversation With God,” or Lenny Bruce’s “‘To’ is a Preposition, ‘Come’ is a Verb” (although I don’t consider it very funny, it certainly is famous).
Another nomination: Billy Cosby’s “Noah” bits.
A few of my personal favorites that aren’t considerably famous or great are Brian Regan’s “Donut Lady,” “Pop Tarts,” and “Stupid in School,” Jim Gaffigan’s “Cake,” Norm MacDonald’s dog stuff, Louis CK’s bit on being broke and having wealth, and Chris Rock’s “Rich vs. Wealth.”
I find it interesting how guys who do one-liners are considered to have jokes, and not necessarily bits.
Joel, It’s funny you mention the Brian Regan “Bits”… on his new DVD, in the Bonus footage, he does an encore and, like a rock star taking requests from the audience, he did a few of his classic routines.
Also, when I saw Cosby a few years ago, for an encore he did the Dentist routine. Man, that was such an awesome fucking show. The man was on stage for two and a half hours, and had the audience in the palm of his hands the entire time. And except for the Dentist bit, it was all new material, no lame-ass “greatest hits”.
Buck, a long time ago Comedy Central had a show on called “The Real Deal”, which was essentially four or five comedians together in Vegas, getting very drunk and playing poker, telling jokes and cracking each other up.
I remember John Caponera was in it, and he was doing the Harry Caray bit, and he made Kevin Pollack practically spit out his scotch with laughter. By this time they were all pretty drunk off their asses, but I remember that Harry Caray bit was pretty hilarious.
The CD you’re thinking of is called “Comedy Comin’ At Ya”. It’s got a 6 minute bit of him doing the impersonation. Pretty good stuff!