Quote

We seem to have set up some very arcane rules as to when it is actually OK to applaud.

There's nothing more instructive than the immediate response of an audience.

Applause should be an emotional response to the music, rather than a regulated social duty.

I don't think one should be comfortable standing on a stage with people applauding and laughing at every stupid thing you say.

But if applause throws off your timing, then you're not the kind of comedian I would like to see. All you have to do is stand there and take it.

I had no fear 'cause it seemed everyone in the audience always applauded whatever I did. Course, maybe it was because I always seemed to know everyone in the audience.

Applause that comes thundering with such force you might think the audience merely suffers the music as an excuse for its ovations.

I'd get more applause than some because I was just seventeen. If they didn't clap at the end of my act I would limp off stage and boy would they feel guilty. They would all burst into tremendous applause as they saw this poor cripple kid walking off.

When I hear people clapping at the wrong times, I think that's great. We have got a listener that's not used to going to - we have got a new listener.