4/10/2008

Famous Johnny's #7

Well, another decent crowd means that we are still slowly growing the audience on Wednesday nights at Famous Johnny's. There were about 30-40 people in the crowd again this week, which is definitely our best 3 crowds in a row at Famous Johnny's. However, this audience was very stoic. This isn't to say that they didn't have a good time. (We had a lot of congratulations on a good show afterwards) In fact, I had a blast, and we all had lots of energy, but the audience just wanted to sit there and be entertained. Every week seems to be a different type of crowd at Famous Johnny's, which is a good thing, I think. We have to stay on our toes, we can't expect anything from this crowd.

Afterwards we all discussed how, in a way, these are like rehearsals with a live audience. We get to see what works, what doesn't work, all with an actual response. You can get a laugh from your friends at rehearsal, but it doesn't mean it was a good scene. With an audience, you really start to learn what works and what doesn't. This was the seventh show we have done at Famous Johnny's and my overall review so far would be "Great short form improv with slow growing audience."

4 comments:

Jared Brustad said...

Wow, seven already! That's awesome. I think the biggest positive is that you've have three good-sized audiences in a row in Johnson County. Now that's saying something.

Scott said...

Crowds at Famous Johnnys remind me of Trish's blog post from today:

"throw troupes down a comedy black hole: Make them start from the bottom with a bad audience, weird energy, technical difficulties and all the things that can suck the life out of a show. And make them fight their way out using only their character, relationship and scenework skills."
http://kcimprovgeek.blogspot.com/2008/04/day-four-oh-this-is-not-fair.html

That is exactly what we're doing there week after week.

Anonymous said...

Builds character, man. Nothing seasons players like doing regular shows.

Clay said...

Kudos to you guys for drawing a decent crowd.
Be careful about "Rehearsing in front of the audience."

That is what ComedyCity has been doing for six years. See how well that's working?
I guess it is a warning, just keep rehearsing to work out the stuff you learn from performances. Don't stop honing your craft and rely on your weekly performances to get you through. But of course, you already know this...