Avoiding the 14 year old laugh

[fbhjr]

Last week we did a review for the fights we’re going to put on in Pensacola next month. The results surprised a lot of folks. Folks I didn’t think would do well did great. Folks I thought would do great didn’t.

But, this is why we have the reviews. What looks good to us is not what the audience always likes.

And, we want to avoid the 14 year old laugh.

A few years ago (2005) we were doing one of these shows in Pensacola. It was the last year we had any sort of real script, characters or plot. It was the year that 90% of the folks there didn’t care about those things. And, we could play to the 10% who liked it, but the other 90% would walk away from our shows.
At that show there was an awful joke about the princess at the start of one of the fight acts. When it was proposed, I said I was unsure about it. But, some of the folks really thought it would go well with that crowd.

So, at the start of the act, one of our people turned towards the other:
“What is the difference between a pirate ship’s hold and the princess?” he asked.
“I don’t know, what?”
“Not everyone has been in the hold of a pirate ship!”

Silence. Several hundred bible belt folks looked down at us from the stands with either looks of confusion or annoyance.
Then, a 14 year old boy in the front row let out a loud laugh.
“I get it! That’s funny,” he shouted.
He was the only one who thought so.

It can be very easy working on Sunday afternoons in a garage (or, the back of an archery range or wherever else we practice) to convince yourself that what you’re going to do is entertaining. A lot of the folks in the troupe have similar tastes in entertainment, that’s why we got into this.
So, the rest of us aren’t a good judge of it.

That’s why we bring in other people. If we wanted to see if people are doing technically correct sword stances, moves, or techniques, we’d bring in our sword teachers. And, once past the big show, we hope to do that to raise everyone’s level a bit.
But, the folks who pay to see us for the most part get their knowledge of our sword of stuff from TV and movies. They don’t know what weapons Fiore used or why he hated the dagger. They don’t know that Meyer said not to use thrusts. They don’t care why Silver hated the rapier. They know what was done on Highlander, in Star Wars or in the Musketeers movies. They want something like that.

So, we bring in people to see if we put on a good show. I’d like it to be a show with good sword work, don’t get me wrong. But, we are being paid to do acts of entertainment. We need to make sure what we’re doing is entertaining no matter how good or bad it is technically.

Folks who scored low (I would have only earned a grade of a B myself) need to say “how can I be more entertaining while I do this?” “How do I get the audience to care what I’m doing?”
And: “Is only one kid watching going to like this?”