What you shouldn’t do is exactly what they want

James Acaster: “Audiences are the worst part of this job.”

NYC: One final 2024 Misguided Meditation show in Soho tonight (Wednesday 12/18). Come through. 🎟️ $5 off with promo code BREATHE5 here.

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“Audiences are the worst part of this job”

James Acaster talks to Vulture about crowds:

“Audiences are the worst part of this job,” he says at one point in the special. “Night after night, I’m the one out of everyone in the room who knows the most about comedy, and I’ve got to win your approval.”

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On the value of surprise:

You know that what you shouldn’t do — and this is probably true for anyone doing anything creative — is exactly what they want, because actually, they don’t want that. They might think that they do, but if you just go, Here is exactly what you had in your head when you left the house to come see me today, they won’t be surprised.

Illustration: Brian Lutz

Also, he’s got a new special:

He briefly considered quitting stand-up, but then he created the conceit of Hecklers Welcome as a last-ditch effort to try to manifest these breakthroughs onstage, too.

Ya ever notice how all these people who talk about quitting standup never seem quite able to do it? 😜

P.S. Wrote a bunch about Luigi, the CEO, and the reaction over at the Rubesletter recently. Check ‘em out: "Murder" is the new inflation word and Social media is a machine that destroys empathy.