To feel embarrassed/mixed feelings about audience behaviour at comedy show?

[ComingUpTrumps]

Was out tonight with my family watching a comedy show in a fairly small theatre and two women, in the row behind us, were screaming with laughter after each joke.

There was a lot of laughter from the audience throughout the show, as you’d expect, but theirs was by far the loudest and it felt a bit disruptive.

I didn’t say anything about it, but one of my family members got quite irritated by it, so they decided to say something about it to the women. I found out at the end of the show that the family member had told the women to ‘shut up’, as one of the women came to us afterwards and said: ‘did you just tell us to shut up our laughter?’

I’ve got lots of mixed feelings about this (even though it’s a really small thing in the grand scheme of things).

On the one hand, I think it was a bit antisocial for the women to laugh so loudly. They were almost screaming with laughter, way louder than anyone else in the theatre, and it felt quite performative - almost as if they weee trying to prove what a good time they were having.

On the other hand, they’re free to enjoy the comedy as they wish and I wish my family member hadn’t told them to shut up - she’s normally very kind and polite, so this is quite out of character for her.

Thanks all.

Tks - must have missed that.

I still think it's out of order unless you literally can't hear whoever is on stage

This happened to me at a Sarah Millican show a few years ago. There was a guy behind us who slapped his thigh, banged his feet on the floor etc. after each joke. The woman in front of us kept looking over her shoulder, then only about 10 mins into it, after a particularly funny joke, the guy whistled - the finger and thumb in mouth whistle, then head down, banging feet, laughing loudly. The woman in front of us put her head in her hands and I realised she was wearing a hearing aid. We told him and he toned it down a bit, but not much. The woman and her partner left at the interval. He definitely ruined it a bit for us, too. You can still enjoy yourself and be considerate of others, and if you can't, then it should be you who stays in to watch it on the tv.

yeah I think 'telling people off for laughing too loudly at a comedy show' is a bit ott, sorry, no matter how annoying they might be. Some people are just naturally loud and don't realise it.

Like someone who is singing along at a gig (NOT at a musical, which is not appropriate!), or the women (sorry but it is always women) who do slow lengths at a pool with their head at an odd angle to stop it getting wet then tut at you when you splash them...

If you find people laughing annoying, then a comedy show is probably not the place for you.

Gosh I know I've one of those laughs and voices that irritates people. I've a loud voice. I'm acutely aware I I always try to moderate the tone. But sometimes it just gets away from me honestly. I'm not even conscious until I clock the odd eye roll or tut. Sorry.

If it was that loud and was annoying other people I don't think it's wrong to say something. We all should act with consideration to others even in comedy clubs. Saying "shut up" though was pretty rude, there were better ways they could have dealt with it.

That was a bit different to be fair. I have a friend who wears two hearing aids and she has dampened versions for when we go out to a show of any sort so they reduce audience noise but not the voice of the performer if that makes sense? Just saying that there are ways for people with hearing aids to enjoy shows - including high decibel concerts. Sad that they left in the interval, I would have hoped they might have spoken to a steward who could have reseated them.

Some people are naturally loud others quieter. Some are very high pitched others not.

While it can be annoying, they were there to have a good time too and in the context of a comedy show they did nothing wrong.

Oh I feel your pain @ComingUpTrumps I think I’ve been at various shows with those people in the audience. The performative laughing is really irritating but there’s not much you can do about it.

But audience behaviour is pretty rubbish nowadays- allowing people to take alcoholic drinks into the auditorium means people tend to behave rather badly sometimes.

@MasterBeth have you read the thread?

Yes, of course I have read the thread.