Crowd Work tips
Last night we did the first session in the latest run of the Writing Stand-up course on Zoom. Here are some crowd work tips from the session:
Audience and Crowd Work Insights
• Know Your Audience: Be aware of the typical audience mix (e.g., local vs. international, age demographics) as this informs your material.
• Crowd Work as Material: Actively try to get humour and material from the fact of who is in the room.
• Language and Pace: If performing to an audience where English is a second language, slowing down your speech can improve comprehension and overall performance. And this can also be beneficial with a native English speaking audience.
• Performing to Comedians: Be aware that performing primarily to other comedians can create different standards for laughter (e.g., favouring more extreme or "meta" humour) which may not translate well to a regular paying audience.
• Connecting Across Ages: If facing a much younger crowd, try to find out their attitudes (e.g., toward marriage) before sharing your own experiences (as warnings perhaps) to bridge the generational gap.
Here's the course. New dates to be announced soon.