What Do I Do When I Lose the Audience?
Thursday, January 10, 2008 at 09:41AM I have been performing on stage for money and crowds of people since about 1963. Some of the shows have gone unbelieveably well. Sometimes I can plug into the magic interchange between performer and audience, where each feeds the other until an amazing synergy takes place; when every person in the audience is completely engaged and I as the performer am completely connected and aware of each one of them. I keep doing shows trying to get that to happen again. Most of the time, there is a rewarding interchange but once in a while there is that magic. And once in a while, nothing goes right. You can’t connect with them; they wouldn’t pee on you if you were on fire. Sometimes the show is going great and you say one thing and the entire audience recoils and you’ve lost them. Let’s talk about those days.
Usually I don’t lose an audience while I’m singing, it’s while I’m talking to them that I might say something that could inadvertently alienate someone. I remember doing a show with Peter Tork (www.petertork.com) in Ann Arbor, Michigan. We were doing a Martin Briley song called Milkshake, and there’s a line about “that great soda jerk in the sky”. Every line is a satirical look at a musician in a late night restaurant interacting with a saucy waitress. The whole song is funny and people laugh throughout. At the end of the riotous applause, a woman stood up and yelled, “YOU CAN’T CALL MY GOD A JERK!”, and stormed out. The entire audience was stunned until I relieved the pressure by saying, “Well, I guess that shows us!” Everyone laughed and on went the show. I am sure that you realize that no one was denigrating her mythology. She took the offense on herself. We were just singing a funny song. What can you do about that?
Well that’s the tricky thing about comedy. It has the power to offend and that’s the chance that you take when you do it. Sometimes you can tell when something is going to offend someone and you can make the choice then to do it or not, but sometimes it comes out of the blue. Suddenly they turn on you and if you’re not really quick that’s the end of the show for you. No applause, no “great show” s, no CD sales, no late dinner with bright funny people, no sex…nothing.
The most efficacious way to get out of that situation is to simply cop to it. I have been completely enthralling an audience and then say something about, say, cancer, and awaaaaaaaaay they go. What I do is to simply say, “did you see that?” The audience immediately wants to know what they missed, even tho they hate me for the moment. Then I say, “for a moment there, I had you all in the palm of my hand, and then poof. One bad joke and it all turned to caca.”
The audience immediately recognizes the complete truth of the matter and the boldness of my copping to it and they start laughing and then they all climb back in my hand. Copping to what’s going on is always a good choice.
If the audience is not in the mood for comedy, I sing and I try to pay attention to which songs they are responding to and do more of my songs that fill that bill. If they don’t like the songs, I may put more comedy in there than I normally do. I guess what I ‘m saying here is that you have to tailor each show to each audience and do it on the fly. I have never liked doing the same show twice. I guess that’s why I’m a solo performer. With a band or group, you must do what you rehearsed. My final arbiter is entertainment. When I’m on stage, it has to be entertaining. You can play music for yourself in your room. If you get on stage, you have a responsibility to be entertaining. And when you lose the audience, as you will from time to time, you have to be prepared for that. Usually the truth of the situation works for me. Admit it and move on. They’ll thank you for it.
Reader Comments (8)
That woman obviously had no idea that there is a differenciation(is that a word...it is now I guess)...between a Jerk which is a direct insult tho rather innocuous...and a soda jerk...which is also rather innocuous...and a job I have held and people can get very serious about their ice cream...especially when you are doing witty banter and singing The Trolley Song...but I digress...
i have always thought of being onstage like a slow motion experience...its like being high on pot...or so I hear thats what being high is like...
That is the cadences are so wide (not necesarily musically speaking just time in general)...you can spell out what you are doing really big and really slow....choosing from a million diferent turns and intonations....or be very subtle ...which can get a bigger response because its delayed...the tought thing is when one-specifically me when my eyes dont adjust to the bright stage lights and the acoustics are such that you are kind of in a void so you cant HEAR the audiences responses...which if you arent prepared for that you end up like a dear in the headlights...but being solitary as I am it's for me like playing dress up alone ad a kid...in fact thats EXACTLY what its like...and it gives me more room to just go off guided by my only by my instincts cos i dont know if I have lost thhe audience of if they are just responding quietly or playing poker or have fallen asleep...and perform like i am all alone and the audience is secretly watching and I dont know it...on the other hand looking directly into someones eyes and playing to specific people who you can hear laugh or see tears...that connection...wow you could let an elephant walk a tight rope across it...well I've gone on long enough Mr Stanley
adieu for now
Hi James,
This is what makes you so good at what you do. You make it seem so easy to get up there and sing and tell stories while the mere thought of it would make me ill. Dealing with a nice audience is one thing but dealing with rude people while continuing to perform is another thing. You have a gift for sure but that's what makes life interesting. You can have the stage and I'll stick to behind the scenes work. Also loved the bathroom story the other day. Makes me miss seeing you in person.
Always,
Diane
bobby, thanks for the thoughtful response based upon your own experiencee in the spotlight and diane thanks for the kind words.
i know that some performers close their eyes and go off into their own land, but for me, that's just ignoring the audience and hoping your talent will engage them anywhow. i like looking in their eyes and faces and connecting with them. i like hearing them laugh, seeing them smile, seeing them respond when i touch them. that is enormously rewarding for me and hopefully them as well.
another thing. when you can't hear or see the audience that can be almost impossible to overcome, as bobby suggested. not seeing or hearing the audience properly and trying to connect with them won't work because you can't tell when you ARE connecting with them. i like to be close to the audience, the farther away they are, the less i like it. try making love to someone you can't hear or see. what a minute, that sounds like something the preacher would frown on.
Dear James, here's a great "cop to it" story. Back in the earliest days of The Kingston Trio they were booked to play the last night of the famous "Monterey Jazz Festival" in Monterey, California. People were puzzled. What was a folk group doing at a Jazz festival, anyway? they took the stand and sang some songs, then the leader, Dave Guard said, We know your puzzled but we are here to promote next weeks Folk Music Festival at which we will be doing our Thelonius Monk and Duke Ellington arrangements. Even the jazz crowd liked them after that.
milton, great story and one i didn't know. thanks for posting it and for checking in on the blog. for those of you who don't know, milton was in the jazz vocal group, the axidentals, doing four freshman type harmonies and doing two albums for one of the major labels (i'm sure he can tell us). he was also the bass player in the capitol records group, the gateway trio (founded by jerry walters, it also included the delightful betty mann). milton went on to be a part of the fabled smothers brothers comedy hour as a singer in the jimmy joyce singers. he's co written songs with the great and the near great and...(fanfare)...he taught me to fingerpick the guitar and ruined my life. i could have been a doctor.
dear james lee, thanks for your response to my kingston Trio "cop to it" story. By now we know that John Stewart, who replaced Dave Guard in the Trio passed away in San Diego. Only 68, sadly, it is hard to "let the tree fall" some sadness must stay with us awhile, meanwhile I look forward, as always, to your next CD. milton chapman
milton, thanks for the kind words and yes, we are all sorry to see John Stewart check out so soon. A reminder that if I am going to make another recording, I better do it soon.