Be Nice…

After my showcase last weekend at a conference, my agent relayed something that was told to her by someone attending. Someone in the audience said they, “I liked Louie because he doesn’t make fun of anyone.“ This is 100% true, however people frequently misinterpret what I do as making fun of people. I never make … Continue reading “Be Nice…”

After my showcase last weekend at a conference, my agent relayed something that was told to her by someone attending. Someone in the audience said they, “I liked Louie because he doesn’t make fun of anyone.


This is 100% true, however people frequently misinterpret what I do as making fun of people. I never make fun of people, I make fun of situations. I may ask someone why they did something strange, or comment on something that they do, but I never “punch down” to them. I create situations and play within these situations.


That’s the key, is to not “bully” people, but to create situations where your personality can shine. If you are a bully or an a-hole and that’s your instinct, then it will come out and it’s probably something you need to work on internally.

Yesterday there was a folk duo at the fair I’m performing at, and we are on the same stage. In between shows, the lady commented that she likes how I ” randomly make fun of people“. I had to correct her, because that’s not what I do. Yes, I do make fun of people, but … Continue reading “”

Yesterday there was a folk duo at the fair I’m performing at, and we are on the same stage. In between shows, the lady commented that she likes how I ” randomly make fun of people“. I had to correct her, because that’s not what I do. Yes, I do make fun of people, but it’s not random.


I make fun of peoples actions, never on how they look or what they wear, and never out of the blue. There is always some choice that the person has made that will cause me to comment. It could be a teen texting in the audience, or whatever, but there’s always an action that causes it.


Currently our society really looks down on bullying, and randomly picking on people in a Don Rickles sort of way is a great way to alienate yourself from your audience.


Here’s an example of what I don’t do. Recently I saw the Lance Burton and Friends tour and Fielding West does a bit where he scares someone from the audience by asking them to touch something, then making a sudden loud noise and startling them. In my mind that’s an old school thing, that I think works with his character, but not some much with younger people. That sort of thing is considered inappropriate by most modern performers.


What I’m trying to convey is that it’s OK to comment and play, but not okay to bully.