Questions on stage

I'm going to start with a quick little piece of advice that I heard another comic tell me recently.  I was hosting a show for a crowd of about 180 and this man was the headliner.  He's been to several comedy festivals and even made a couple national television appearances.  He was funny, but more importantly, he was very humble and wise.

When the show was over, obviously I complimented him on the "good job" that he did (and he really did).  He thanked me for the kind words, but immediately pointed out the faults in the show.  I was a little surprised since I thought the audience loved him and I would have been thrilled to have such a great set.  But I also thought it was very smart to analyze the show carefully and find areas of improvement.  Too often in comedy, we see comedians wearing blinders, who always think they have a great show, and therefore, repeat their sets, word for word, show after show.  These are the comedians you never see improve.  These are NOT the comedians you see on the Tonight Show.  The fact that this comedian was focused on the negative is another sign of why he was so successful.  Though the show went well, he wanted to do better.

After the show, the two of us talked for a while about the crowd.  This crowd in particular was responsive to the questions we asked.  Meaning, we would start a joke with, "Have you ever done this?" and someone in the audience would respond.  This sparked a discussion about questions in one's material.  We agreed that sometimes, asking questions makes you as a comedian seem weak.  You sound uncertain of yourself.  You don't sound confident.  You can, at times, almost sound like you're searching for material.  Questions naturally have an upward inflection, which is where the sound of uncertainty comes from.

While we also agreed that asking questions in your material isn't necessarily wrong or against the rules, this comedian did have this to add: if you're going to ask a question to your audience, be prepared for an answer.  If a joke contains a question mark, don't be surprised if someone replies.  We also mentioned that sometimes, asking a question is a good way to determine how a joke will go.  If your joke is sports related and you ask, "Who here is a football fan?" and you hear silence, you're in trouble.  In my estimation, there's nothing wrong with skipping that joke completely.  Or better yet, write the joke in such a way that you can understand it even if you're not a fan.  At times, I've even asked for a round of applause.  "Round of applause, how many of you are hockey fans?"  Usually, audiences are smart enough to either applaud or not rather than verbally say something.  This is just another way to ask a question without getting yourself into trouble.

I'll also add that questions can be a good way to force yourself into crowd work.  I've been trying to get better at improv and crowd work and one way to do that is ask a question.  Asking the person in the front row what they do for a living forces you to think of an answer on your feet.  One of my favorite questions to ask is who's been married a long time, then following that up with, "What's the secret to a happy marriage?"  Often times, their response is comedy enough.