Matthew Hart Comedy: WORK: The Crowd

WORK: The Crowd

By Matthew L. Hart

Humor Writer/Comedian

Author of:

Uncle Matty's Halloween: Jokes, Bits & Anecdotes

What's on your 'Bucket List'?

Great question!

I've been accumulating this list of amazing places I hear about from talking to people and from watching documentaries.

I call it my, 'Real Magic' tour.

The theme of this list showcases some natural wonders that seem like real magic in the real world.

I'll give you a few on the list, but you'll get the idea.

1) The Great Smoky Mountains National Park

From late May to early June, this is the best place in the world to see Synchronous Fireflies.

There are at least nineteen different species of fireflies that live in the Great Smokey Mountains National Park. But, the Synchronous Fireflies are the only ones which will synchronize their flashes with each other.

The visual effect is like flipping the switch on and off for a bunch of Christmas lights hanging throughout the forest.

2) Sand Mountain - about sixteen miles southeast of Fallon, Nevada.

This is one of the best places in the western United States to observe Booming Dunes.

Climb to the 390 foot summit of these two massive 'seif' dunes and slide down the steep slip face. The grains of sand in these dunes are all about the same size and density. The goal is to create an avalanche to get the sand grains to vibrate.

This creates an acoustic effect that sound like a low-flying B-29 bomber.

3) The Maldives

Located in the Indian Ocean, these coral islands are one of the best spots in the world to see Glittering Beaches.

The shrimps in these waters maintain their glow for longer than most other bioluminescent animals. They not only fill the crashing waves with beautiful blue light, they will also scatter on the beach. You can also swim in these waters at night.

The visual effect is like walking through the constellations of the stars or swimming through the galaxy.

Please, if you know of a place with some 'real magic', please, please, please! Throw it in the Comments. I'm always up for an adventure!

ASA IPAD MINI 2 / 3 KNEEBOARD

WITH FRONT HOLDING CLIP

"I did stand-up comedy for 18 years. Ten of those years were spent learning, four years were spent refining, and four years were spent in wild success. I was seeking comic originality, and fame fell on me as a byproduct. The course was more plodding than heroic."

- Steve Martin

WORK: The Crowd

In this blog, we're shaking off the stigma of crowd work!

WE'LL BE ADDRESSING A TECHNIQUE I FOUND IN THIS BOOK:

Mastering Stand-Up

Some people say that Crowd Work is a crutch for Comics with bad timing. I hope to prove to you that by using Crowd Work strategically, it will become an essential skill for you, and worth mastering.

In the blog, FIND: Your Truth and Pain we briefly touched upon dealing with hecklers.

While dealing with hecklers is considered a form of Crowd Work, you can read the blurb there so I won't have to repeat myself as the subject of hecklers will also require it's own dedicated blog.

For now, a quick definition of Crowd Work will help us.

Crowd Work is what happens when a performer, i.e. a Comedian/Comic, appears to go 'off script' and engages in a conversation with an audience member, to create a spontaneous and entertaining effect.

Granted, this is my definition, because there's a couple of things I'd like to point out:

"appears to go 'off script' - Never forget you are doing a show. As a Comedian, your job should be to entertain and delight with laughter. But, you are the one with the microphone, so it's your responsibility.

Does this mean you have to wing-it when it comes to doing your Crowd Work?

Absolutely not!

In fact, you might be surprised that during those big, expensive, one hour specials, that audience member the Comic is talking to, has actually been planted there and their conversation is scripted.

With so much at stake, as little as possible is left to chance.

This type of Crowd Work is more advanced, as you will need a trustworthy partner that's in on the gig. But, when it's done well, the audience will never know for sure.

"create a spontaneous and entertaining effect." - This refers to the risk associated with Crowd Work. The audience came for a reason. If you can't get them to laugh, you'd better be entertaining.

Nobody wants to sit through a boring conversation they could easily have on their own at the bar. So, challenge yourself to make your Crowd Work funny or at least entertaining.

When you're first using this technique, you'll use broad questions.

"What's your name?"

"Where are you from?"

"What do you do for work?"

But, these types of questions are done to death. Unless the guy has a funny name, lives in a unique place, or has a strange job, you might land flat for a response.

Asking these kinds of questions are novice.

But, if you've never done Crowd Work before, there's a reason they're novice! Try them out and get some experience. And, if you're really lucky, you'll get some experience falling flat, and you'll understand what I'm talking about.

When I'm building a show to be recorded, I like to make my jokes general enough that they will be evergreen.

This means, they will be based on some truth that's going to be true 20 years from now, as well as today.

But, it doesn't mean I don't do current topical humor. It means, Crowd Work is where I prefer to use it.

So, with some experience under your belt, you can start asking more advanced questions, like in this example:

Works for 'Yes' or 'No' answer.
He's most likely not going to say anything,
just laugh uncomfortably.

In this advanced example I wrote, you might be saying, "How is this Crowd Work?"

First, it's prepared and Second, it doesn't seem to matter if the audience member says, 'yes' or 'no' if anything at all?

To that, I say, "Exactly!" All I need is a man in an ugly sweater. It doesn't even matter if he has a date. I'll just assume it's the person next to him.

The audience can't see, so they're dependent on you for information. I can give them whatever I want!

I might even have the MC give out an ugly sweater, as a gift before the show. My kind of 'Thank you' for being part of the show.

Speaking of which, if you do any Crowd Work in a club, you can tell the waitress you'll buy a drink for whomever you talk with. It's a great way to develop a personal relationship with your audience.

Personally, I'd rather have an audience member approach me after the show to say, 'Thank you' than confront me for embarrassing them during the show.

So, in this way, no matter what the random audience member says, I am guaranteed to be entertaining, because it appears spontaneous, and it gets laughs, because the topic was all over the news at the time, which means the audience is in on the joke.

There is a place for improv, like when you're building and testing your show. And, this will provide great material for you. But, when the audience is buying a ticket to see a performance, I prefer to leave nothing to chance.

Now, let's take a look at the technique I found in this book:

Stephen Rosenfield gives us a great four-step strategy for performing Improv Crowd Work.

1. Ask a simple question that can be answered in a word or two.

2. Listen to the reply.

3. Repeat or paraphrase the answer.

4. Then,...(Sorry, I can't give away the farm. It's best to leave that up to Stephen.)

Since this is only a simple review, I can't go into detail about the theory or the why and how of each step. But, I will tell you, out of all the resources I've read on the topic, I think that he covers it the best.

He provides enough detail to get you motivated and want to get started right away!

After reading his chapter on Crowd Work, you will probably lose your fear of interacting with the audience and start looking for excuses to use this technique.