I woke to find myself in a dark wood,
for I had wandered off from the straight path.”
― Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy
Not long after the Orpheum reopened, my wife and I went to see a night of comedy performances. The Orpheum wasn't trying to bring big-name entertainment to Phoenix. It was giving local talent a chance and giving audiences something different than touring Broadway shows that headlined at the Gammage Auditorium at ASU. You might even say the Orpheum was giving the old folks performances they could hear. Between the spectacular sound mixing acoustics Frank Lloyd Wright designed for symphony performances (not Broadway shows) and the bad voices of touring companies, the voices at Gammage are almost unintelligible.
That night at the Orpheum the first comedians got a few laughs. Then it was a local Mexican's turn. He got about five minutes into his act, which was all "white" people jokes, and wasn't getting any laughs. Just silence. You could see the air go out of him as he realized that he was telling nasty "white" people jokes to a room full of "white" people.
Some of the audience may have been thinking is this what the Mexicans think of us? Is this what the Mexicans think is funny? I was an old management consultant. I was thinking: hmmm, the same principles that apply to consulting apply to comedy. Know your audience. Never bad mouth the customers or tell a joke at the customers' expense. They have a sixth sense that picks up on it even when you do it behind their backs.
Delivering bad news is an art. It takes a great artist to move an audience. Sometimes it's ritual "suicide" preparing the way for the next act the gods planned all along.
