Whatchu Laffin At?

There are spots in one of our gags where I do some small scale goofiness that came out of the moment earlier on in my time here. One of the joys of what I do is when I'm doing one of these goofy things just because something has to be done in that empty space. When I look at my "dirty" hands in disgust and then wipe them on the railing in between me and some of the audience, that usually gets a small laugh. There's another part where I take the torn paper and fold it back up neatly, only to throw it on the ground. When that gets a laugh, I think that feels the best.

Those unexpected laughs let me know that people are paying attention. It's the same with this Music Box gag we do, which is a classic gag that can be done well, or it can be trite, emotionally manipulative treacle. Some people might not like it when the audience is laughing when I'm getting angry and ultimately destroy the music box. When that happens, the point to me is that the audience members laughing are identifying with the fact that the person with the music box is obviously interrupting the other person. Eventually, the interrupted person gets so frustrated that they destroy the music box. When the audience laughs, I feel that they are recognizing the times that they've felt like that in their lives and have wanted to do such a thing. To get all psychological, I'm acting on an impulse they've had and the laugh comes from the recognition. The audience is laughing and we struck something personal. I'm not a touchy, feely clown person, but I think that's one for the win column!