Crowd work is the hottest thing in standup comedy – and not everybody is laughing | Brian Logan

Comedians are increasingly leaning on audience interaction to sell their shows - and changing the nature of the shows themselves

Crowd work. For some, it's the fun bit when standups cruise the front row asking: What do you do for a living?" For me, it's the scary bit where I avoid eye contact with said standups - because they don't want to hear, and I don't want to say, comedy critic". That terror aside, crowd work can be comedy gold in the hands of some acts, the most in-the-moment and authentic section of their whole show. Elsewhere, it's filler: so much so-so throat-clearing before the good gags, the ones the comic has bothered to write, begin.

That is how crowd work has always been considered - until now. In 2024, it's increasingly the main draw - for which we have social media to thank, or blame. If you've noticed your socials clogged these days with crowd-work clips - this or that standup engaging in oh-so-spontaneous bantz with someone in row C - you're not alone. And it's not happening by accident. Clipped-up crowd work is standup for sale to the TikTok generation, a phenomenon changing not only how comics tout their work, but the work itself - and the nature of live comedy.

Brian Logan is the Guardian's comedy critic

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