You don't know what a rough crowd is. If all I have to do is go make people laugh, that's nothing. Let me tell you what a tough crowd is. A tough crowd is going to a morning service and you got six people there and you gotta pay your house payment. That's a tough crowd.
Interpretation
Performing for a tough audience requires more skill than merely making people laugh.
Sam Kinison highlights the challenges comedians face, illustrating that performing in front of a small, unresponsive audience is significantly more difficult than entertaining a large, enthusiastic crowd. This quote emphasizes the pressures of livelihood and the art of comedy, suggesting that true mastery lies in connecting with those who are not easily amused.
In practice
During a comedy show, a performer may reference this quote when discussing the difficulties of engaging an indifferent crowd.
It was great to be the rock comic, the shock comic. But after you've played Giants Stadium with Bon Jovi in front of 82,000 people, after you've done the 'Wild Thing' video with Jessica Hahn and every rock band from hell, you're not gonna top that.
The whole world is tense. Everybody gets the international news. Theres been no American comedy at all that even remotely addresses the subject in any way. My goal isnt to solve the worlds problems. My character wasnt even able to do his assignment. But the premise of wanting to find out about somebody -- other than the stuff that the CIA will tell you -- theres no hope unless we do that.
I was an ugly kid; when I was born, after the doctor cut the cord, he hung himself.
Comedy is tragedy plus time, but the time is different for everybody.
Tell the cook of this restaurant with my compliments that these are the very worst sandwiches in the whole world, and that, when I ask for a watercress sandwich, I do not mean a loaf with a field in the middle of it.
It's not a good idea to take a forecast from someone wearing a tie. If possible, tease people who take themselves and their knowledge too seriously.
I was so ugly that my parents sent my picture to 'ripley's believe it or not' - they sent it back and said, "we don't believe it."
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