Stand-up comedians: reactions to feedback from the audience.

• Main Authors: Agravante, Christine Cecilia J., Aldaya, Amabel D., Cruz, Ma. Theresa B.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2002
• Subjects: Stand-up comedy; Comedians; Psychology
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_bachelors/10368
• Institution: De La Salle University

The stand-up comedian performs in front of a live audience, like in a theatre. There is an interaction between the performer and the audience. A comedian receives audience feedback, which he can classify as encouraging and / or discouraging. Based on related literature, when comedians receive encouraging feedback they are motivated to improve performance, and when they receive discouraging feedback they decrease effort in performance. The nature of material and effort in preparation determine the comedians performance, thus affecting the audience. Through the use of a sorting instrument and an in-depth interview, it was revealed that comedians are encouraged most by receiving compliments from the audience and a passive audience (no laughter or applause) was found to be most discouraging. The study shows encouraging and discouraging audience feedback both improve performance. Comedians who receive discouraging feedback do not decrease the quality of performance because they believe that they have a responsibility to the audience.