Bill Burr and taking a punch

With great tension comes great opportunity.

How to Take a Punch (To Minimize Its Damage):

Keep your head steady (by strengthening your neck muscles). The thing that causes knockout punches to the head isn’t usually the punch itself. Instead, it’s the force of its impact whipping your head to the side and causing your brain to slam against the inside of your skull. 

To reduce the whiplash from a punch, you need to reduce the amount of movement that happens to your head after the punch. One way to do this is to strengthen your neck muscles so that you can hold your head steady when it takes a hit. 

Feels like a similar thing in standup. You tell a joke that makes the crowd flinch, groan, or otherwise “back up.” It’s not necessarily that bad. Yet some comics will sink in that moment: “Oh man, you guys really hated that. I shouldn’t have gone there.” Or something similar that might save the vibe but often just cements your in-the-ditch status.

Another way to respond, though, is to enjoy the tension. You wanted to be a provocateur and now they’re provoked. Congratulations, you did it! With great tension comes great opportunity. You just need to release it and keep ‘em on your side at the same time.

Bill Burr loves playing in this territory and clearly know how to take a punch. Here’s a great example: