"Know your audience & adapt"

By Bob Abdou

I remember some years ago in Atlanta, I did a library show and in the show I did a joke about tacos. When nobody laughed, it kind of took me back a bit because it was a really funny joke. After the show I asked the librarian why the audience had not laughed at my joke. She told me that the audience was made up of all Jewish children and they don't eat tacos as tacos are not kosher.

WOW - that was a learning experience! From that point on, I have made it a point to "know my audience" and use material that is suited for their taste. Now, when I have a Jewish audience, I just replace the word "taco" with "pizza" and it works!

Here is another way of knowing your audience. I have three different puppets that use the SAME material. One puppet is designed for the 3-6 year olds, another is for the 7-10 year olds and yet another puppet is used for teens - same material - but three different puppets. It works, and that is simply a part of "knowing your audience".

Newsy Vents 11/2005