Guest Blog: Playing The Room and The Audience

By: Alfie Joey

Keynote Speaker | Speak Easy Guy

Every talk is different (or should be) because every room and audience is different. Even slightly. Treat every talk as your most important to date and don’t just go through the motions, just punching out the same info in exactly the same way.

Reading the Room: The Subtle Art of Comedy

Here is a story about a really good comedian, good enough to have once been a guest on the Michael Parkinson TV chat show (for decades the most popular talk show in the UK). I was on the same bill as this comedian for a Friday and Saturday in a large function room. It was not set out ideally for comedy, more like cabaret in a nightclub.

On the Friday night the act in question was a comedy juggernaut. Every gag landed, every observation was greeted with gales of laughter. I loved it, too. The next night, Saturday night, the bar staff who had loved it the night before, downed aprons and came out to watch him and enjoy him all over again.

He died. The act, every gesture and joke performed exactly the same as the night before, fell completely flat.

A bartender whispered to me, ’Why is he struggling. He did exactly the same as last Night?’

I replied that it was because he did EXACTLY the same that he struggled. It is quite subtle and can only be developed with experience but it is important to read the room. Do they want you to be louder or quieter, more expressive or less expressive. Another very famous act (who I’ve NEVER seen struggle) once told me, ‘Let them come to you. Don’t go chasing a response that just isn’t there.’

Top tips from me: 

Here are some tips, tools and tactics for playing the room and playing the audience:

• The great snooker champion Steve Davis said you must play the game as if it means nothing when it means everything. I apply the same to speaking . I give it everything but always make sure I don’t look like I am trying too hard. You want to please the audience but not look desperate. I look relaxed for the audience.

•  Be aware of the time you’re on and what that means for the audience. If you are on early in the morning, the audience may not be fully tuned in or awake. Be sensitive to that. The spot after lunch, the audience may need a siesta and you have to deliver your message to them. When I have done pantomime (and theatre in general), matinees & afternoon performances are NEVER as warm or as exciting as an evening show. Sunday nights are always slightly more subdued because psychologically, most people in the audience will be at work on the morning and that will be hanging over them. So long as you are aware of this you will be ready to adapt to their mood or get them to readjust into a slightly more alert. audience.

• Find out, if you can, who is in the audience. Did they come voluntarily, are they there because work told them to come, are they local, international…the more you know, the better you will read them

•  There’s no such thing as a bad audience. Well, of course there is but I like to use this mantra so I don’t use it as an excuse. Even on a tough day there will be someone in the line up who does well.

• Test yourself by going on first! If I am not compering, I often get asked to go on first. When I did my Ted X Talk to thousands of people at The Glasshouse Theatre I was on first at 10am in the morning. It can be a tough spot,

•  Test yourself by going on last. Having to follow everyone else means you really must deliver something special.

• Finally, enjoy the mic! Remind yourself, pressure is a privilege. I remind myself that speaking opportunities are a blessing and I am lucky to do what I do.

Final words

Practice, preparation and experience will come together to help you get to where you need to be.

I’ll leave the final words to Rob Brydon who said this recently on the Ros Atkins podcast.

‘You are always judging your audience against the best it has ever been. You have to

learn not to do that. And it can’t be like that. That is where professionalism comes in’.

By: Alfie Joey

#SpeakEasyGuy

Award Winning MC and Keynote Speaker

info@alfiejoey.com