After the comedian Joel Kim Booster performed recently at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., he posted about an interaction he had with a heckler, who was standing up and motioning a thumbs-down at Booster.
Writing about the episode on social media, Booster, 36, remarked, “The fact that I have to deal with this,” adding an expletive, “at the Kennedy Center of all places.”
Though it looked like the type of confrontation that is becoming more common at stand-up shows, those in the audience knew better: The heckling was staged, and Booster had invited the audience member to take part. A separate video that surfaced the next day confirmed as much.
That exchange is indicative of one major way stand-up comedy has changed in recent years: Comedians, particularly younger ones, are increasingly using crowd work — the spontaneous conversations they have with audience members — in their performances in lieu of prepared material. In turn, audiences are making themselves increasingly heard at stand-up shows, often in disruptive ways.
It’s now a ubiquitous practice for comedians to share crowd work moments on TikTok and Instagram, edited into short, digestible clips to attract new fans without burning their prepared material.
“There’s room in stand-up for some spontaneity and improvisation,” Booster said. “I think that in order for it to be stand-up at the end of the day, you should still be resting more on the writing than on spontaneous moments in your set. I think people want to feel like you are in control.”
