I have a very small public.
If I could make the same amount of money doing standup it would be no contest. The problem is that if you do make that kind of money doing standup, it's not in clubs, it's in big auditoriums and large venues, and I really think something is lost when you do standup for a big crowd.
I'd rather work on my radio show, which no one hears but I put about eight hours of programming and writing into it for those 30 people who do tune in.
I've been at this for 40 years. And, as an academic, I've been content with relatively small audiences, with the thought that the audience I long for will find its way eventually to what I have written, provided that what I have written is good enough.
We opened a theater in 2006 called Loft Ensemble in Sherman Oaks. And we write our own plays and do goofy characters and pack a whopping 20 people per night to watch our work.
I played shows in front of like 25, 50 people, and it's a lot harder to do your thing in front of a crowd that's small.
First paying gig, I got 20 bucks. I played at some really weird venue. I don't remember the venue; I just remember it was the last stop on the A train. It was, like, the Far Rockaways, Queens, and it was an audience of, like, three people.
I've been friends with madonna for ever. In fact she was at my 3rd solo performance in 1990, and there were only 10 people in the audience.
If it weren't for this, I'd probably be working a normal job and playing on the weekends for 10 people at the Irvine Spectrum.
It is a really bizarre feeling to perform for, like, five people. You get so much energy from an audience, and when it's just five quiet people at a table, that's not the same.
In September 1968, Rush played for around 20 people at a small hall in a church basement. We played songs like 'Spoonful,' 'Fire' and 'Born Under a Bad Sign,' and got paid $10. Then we went to a nearby deli and ordered Cokes and French fries and started planning our future.
I'm more comfortable performing in front of 50,000 people than five people - it's easier. When there's that many people, I feel like I'm alone. When I perform in front of only a few people, it's scary.
I remember a Q&A I did in Wales where there were five people in the auditorium.
If my music career was my golf game, I'd be playing for about 26 people tonight somewhere.
When I first created the world of 'Mr. Robot,' I thought it would be a niche television series with a small, cult following.
If they're working in a workshop somewhere, where there is, let's say, uh... only twenty people, or something like that, that's still, when they work and do a scene, that's still working in front of somebody.
I wrestled Tyler Breeze one time when there was, like, 20 people at the show.
I've got a small, loyal audience, which is great. And I appreciate that. They're there for me every time.
The thing that I love about television there are no more than two or three people watching you at a time. If there are more than two or three people in a room they're talking to each other, they're not listening to you.
I kind of miss that whole NXT thing. When I was there, it was Florida Championship Wrestling with Seth Rollins and the other guys who were there. I wrestled on, like, local-access Florida TV in front of 30 people. It was a tiny little situation.
I write for myself, and perhaps for half a dozen friends. And that should be enough. And that might improve the quality of my writing. But if I were writing for thousands of people, then I would write what might please them. And as I know nothing about them, and maybe I'd have a rather low opinion of them, I don't think that would do any good to my work.
I came from the independent scene, and I've wrestled in front of a crowd of four people in a car lot in 104 degrees in Fayetteville, North Carolina.
Performance art can involve the audience with taste, smell and sounds not available with electronic media and not practical with conventional theater. This is due to the usually small audience.
When I first started, I'd play to a few people. My mum would invite everyone she knew and the venue was filled.
As far as my solo record, I don't want a gold record or anything, I'm happy to be small and to have the people appreciate the music who really like me for being me.
