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.
I may be a burglar...but I'm an honest one, I hope, more or less.
I'm an actor who they said was wrinkled and balding and everything else when I was in my early 30's. Most of the people who wrote that who thought they were younger than me are now bald and wrinkled.
When someone asks you, A penny for your thoughts, and you put your two cents in, what happens to the other penny?
The English country-gentleman galloping after a fox — the unspeakable in full pursuit of the uneatable.
My character is self-important, poorly informed, well-intentioned but an idiot. So we said, `Let's give him a promotion.'
I ain't no movie star, man. I'm a booty star.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.