“Sometimes you can feel the audience get tense.” Great! Laughter is tension released so you’re already part of the way to your goal. In truth, the worst thing you can get from an audience is apathy. A little discomfort up top means they’re engaged. The trick is to make sure you convert the tension into laughs. Watch the clip for my entire spiel.
Had a deep convo with cartoonist
And here’s an example of ratcheting up the tension in the setup (“yikes 😳”) and then paying it off with the punchline (“oh, phew 😅”).
Below: Bill Burr and George Carlin explain how they approach tension and provocation…
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