{154} Audience as Instrument

Oct 6

“The thing I like about comedy is that, if it works, the audience makes this noise with their mouth, and if they don’t make the noise, you know you have to work harder. Whereas, if you do the show without an audience, . . . it felt to me [during the pandemic shows] like reading sheet music in an empty room. In some ways, this is the other partner in the scene; that’s the sort of instrument you’re playing—you want to hear that sound and get that energy.” — Stephen Colbert