Weirdest Audience Reactions

[Moonlight]

I’m not sure if such a thread exists and I’m too lazy to check, but has any audience reaction sat very wrong with you?

For example, 

this line getting a laugh always annoys me because I think it’s very poetic and also obviously not a joke. It’s not structured like a joke nor does it have delivery of a joke. It just feels like it’s killing the moment to laugh at it for no reason.

There’s zero reaction whatsoever to Mechocracy’s “Lister, has your brain gone 404?”, which is a great line, when meanwhile for absolutely no reason there’s a massive belly laugh in response to Lister being sucked out of an airlock in Fathers & Suns. This is also not a joke, and the only angle from which I can even picture it getting a laugh is the cheesy appearance of the effect. But I sincerely do not want to be laughing at Red Dwarf for looking shitty.

Topic

[Stephen Abootman]

No thread AFAIK but there is one 7 years in the making:

[Rudolph]

The guy who tries to start a round of applause on the “d’you think Wilma’s sexy?” line in Backwards.

[Flap Jack]

Every laugh in Krytie TV.

[Flap Jack]

Actually, now that I think about it some more, maybe “spitonawrist” getting a laugh should be the representative of all of the “bad joke getting a good audience reaction” instances.

[Warbodog]

“That’s not a man – that’s Lister!” in Fathers & Suns is a clearly delivered, traditional Red Dwarf joke that gets no reaction.

Some of the laughter when Lister’s getting tortured in Demons & Angels doesn’t feel especially appropriate to what’s on screen, but it might be weirder without it.

I used to think the US audience was going inexplicably crazy for a Skutter close-up because the first version of the pilot I saw was too poor quality to make out that it was giving the finger.

[GlenTokyo]

The most obvious one was people laughing at that giant floppy disc instead of booing and throwing tomatoes.

[Stabbim the Skutter]

Ugh, a big problem with the Red Dwarf fandom IMO is that people seem to forget it’s a comedy show and treat it like a serious sci-fi drama, demanding every joke be scientifically accurate. The floppy disc is good clean fun, and I don’t give a shit if that’s not how floppy discs work in real life.

It’s like, imagine if Futurama fans got angry every time Bender said he’s 40% this or that. “I don’t care if it’s a joke, they need to be consistent about his physical makeup! That would be MUCH funnier!”

Anyway, to get back on topic I have to bring up the annoying man in the Series III audience who goes “TUHUHUHUHUH”. I swear, he’s in every episode and always overreacts to lines like “This is a scalpel”. They actually removed him from the re-mastered episodes, which is a change I can get behind.

[International Debris]

My problem with the floppy disk joke is that I don’t find it remotely funny. Nothing to do with science, I just think it’s trying to do too many jokes in one, with the silliness of the size overriding a potentially funnier and (slightly) subtler gag of Holly fitting on a genuine 3.5″ floppy, which I think would be brilliant.

Audience overreaction is a real issue in the Dave era, and my least favourite is the Scottish mars bar line which is worth a smile at best, and somehow gets a round of applause.

[Formica]

The most obvious one was people laughing at that giant floppy disc instead of booing and throwing tomatoes.

I generally find laughing to be an appropriate reaction to a good joke.

[Formica]

Audience overreaction is a real issue in the Dave era, and my least favourite is the Scottish mars bar line which is worth a smile at best, and somehow gets a round of applause.

This one definitely seems timed such that the round of applause is shared with the effects sequence, which earns it for sure.

[Frank Smeghammer]

The audience cheering like a football crowd when Norman Lovett appears in Nanarchy.

And when they do it again in Skipper.

And when they do it again in The Promised Land

We’re all pleased to see him but it takes you right out of it. And more importantly, I think it makes the show seem a bit closed off. Like Dwarf is being made for a dwindling number of Dwarfers. It may well be true but I don’t like to think of the show as having diminishing returns, played out for a diminishing audience. 

[Stephen Abootman]

And when they do it again in Skipper. 

I was in it for that. If I had my time over, I’d do it again.

[clem]

“Eric Van Lustbader” gets laughs from a couple of audience members. Almost certainly just an overenthusiastic reaction to the next thing in a funny list, but I like to imagine they made the same laboured connection as Lister. 

[Jonathan Capps]

No thread AFAIK but there is one 7 years in the making:

Going to guess this won’t be written on G&T, but maybe Dirty Feed.

[Moonlight]

I unlisted this because I felt people were taking it to mean the audience was fake, but there is this really fucking stupid stock laugh you hear added as sweetening across VII, VIII, and even Remastered. I’ve also heard it in Bottom. It sounds terrible, it’s way too unique to not be noticed when it’s used EVERYWHERE, and it’s very frequently following a line or moment that is clearly not intended to be humorous – the very second laugh of Tikka is this fake laugh laughing at the non-joke of Lister picking up a camera. Look! He picked up a camera that he’s using to film himself! He–he–he PICKS, right, HE PICKS UP the CAMERA! HAHAHAHSIK;&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&8+*(#&*$)(*$()@#%)($#%&*()

I sincerely apologize for anyone who intends to rewatch VII soon and hasn’t noticed this before because it will drive you insane. I remember noticing this in my youth, and interpreting the VIII DVD booklet referring to hearing Andrew Ellard’s uproarious laugh in the audience to mean that Andrew Ellard was the man with the confusingly identical reaction.

I’d make a supercut of every instance but I don’t feel like watching VII / VIII / Remastered all the way through just for that.

[GlenTokyo]

Ugh, a big problem with the Red Dwarf fandom IMO is that people seem to forget it’s a comedy show and treat it like a serious sci-fi drama, demanding every joke be scientifically accurate. The floppy disc is good clean fun, and I don’t give a shit if that’s not how floppy discs work in real life.

It’s like, imagine if Futurama fans got angry every time Bender said he’s 40% this or that. “I don’t care if it’s a joke, they need to be consistent about his physical makeup! That would be MUCH funnier!”

Anyway, to get back on topic I have to bring up the annoying man in the Series III audience who goes “TUHUHUHUHUH”. I swear, he’s in every episode and always overreacts to lines like “This is a scalpel”. They actually removed him from the re-mastered episodes, which is a change I can get behind.

It’s not that it’s not scientifically accurate, it’s that it’s not Red Dwarf accurate. It’s a scifi sitcom, it’s nice when they stick to the scifi situation and the comedy, they’ve done it plenty of times.

And even as a joke in another show with a less grounded universe it’s a chuckle at best.

[Nick R]

One of the only individual audience member reactions that’s ever really stuck out to me is in Tikka to Ride. When Lister suggests to JFK that he should be the gunman on the grassy knoll, someone lets out a delighted “oh-ho!” 

I wouldn’t describe it a weird reaction though. It’s unusual because they’re the only person who reacts like that at that moment, and because they’re heard so clearly. But it’s not an unnatural sound to make when you realise that a story has just introduced a clever twist.

Maybe you could accuse it of being performative – as if that person wanted to show off that they instantly recognised this plot twist, and how it fits into history and conspiracy theories. But who knows? It could just as easily have been an involuntary reaction.

[RunawayTrain]

But it’s not an unnatural sound to make when you realise that a story has just introduced a clever twist.

Maybe you could accuse it of being performative – as if that person wanted to show off that they instantly recognised this plot twist, and how it fits into history and conspiracy theories. But who knows? It could just as easily have been an involuntary reaction.

I find myself having reactions like that, at home and during (mostly radio) recordings.  They are indeed involuntary, and I find myself quite self-conscious during recordings.  I try to hold them in, with varying degrees of success.

[loadoftottnumb]

I think the phrase ‘each to their own’ comes to mind when a reaction is weird, as shown by this thread. 

One thing you have to remember is the studio audience is given instruction and direction. When I saw Officer Rimmer recorded Craig Charles asked for a bigger laugh on a line that simply wasn’t a gag, it was mid-bicker with Rimmer. The whole sequence was binned in the end anyway. 

[RunawayTrain]

I think the phrase ‘each to their own’ comes to mind when a reaction is weird, as shown by this thread. 
One thing you have to remember is the studio audience is given instruction and direction. When I saw Officer Rimmer recorded Craig Charles asked for a bigger laugh on a line that simply wasn’t a gag, it was mid-bicker with Rimmer. The whole sequence was binned in the end anyway. 

Okay, that is weird.

[Moonlight]

He should have asked the “Ha hA HA Ha” guy. Non-gags are his favorite to laugh at.

[loadoftottnumb]

Ha. I’ll try to put it into context as best I remember. 

It was the opening scene, Lister had forgotten to do the MOT on the Ramscope, he and Rimmer were arguing about it, Rimsy saying he should have made a to-do list last week (I think this is referenced in the final scene) and Lister said something like ‘I didn’t know you were going to ask me to do it then’ which is what he requested a bigger laugh for. 

[Podey]

Not really an audience reaction at all (I think?) but I was always confused by a moment in Back In The Red Part 1 when Lister is first detained and taken to his quarters, 30 seconds or so before the Rimmer reveal happens you hear a very clear laugh that sounds like Chris Barrie, but it sounds like it is a deliberate inclusion rather than something caught off-camera. An odd choice considering he hasn’t been seen at that point. 

(this is from memory so I may have gotten the placement of the laugh wrong but I think that’s right)

[Rudolph]

I always thought that was Mr Thornton as he’s walking out the door.

[Ridley]

Okay, that is weird.

Enjoy it or I will have you killed.

[Nick R]

Okay, that is weird.

Too weird for words.

[si]

I always thought that was Mr Thornton as he’s walking out the door.

That makes sense, although I always thought it sounded a bit like Chris as well. 

[Niki Hutchinson]

One odd audience reaction I can talk about is the

Response from Krysis. As you can just hear a particular Woo during it.

That Woo happens to belong to me !

But it wasn’t for The Cat’s entrance !!!

Later on there was little Smeg-up moment of Chris doing a “Oh Matron, Yes” bit, in the Science Room. (Which for whatever reason didn’t end up on the Smeg-Up’s compilation for that series) Which did get a big reaction from the audience, especially from me ;)

So they clearly edited in that response for Danny’s first appearance, since the actual one was more a quick “Ah-Ha” moment. Though given we ended up seeing this bit (And the preserving breakfast cloche set-up) kept on repeating itself to us a few times, seeing how Robert was really struggling with his lines that night.

It was my first experience of how a sit-com audience can have there laugher moved about for the finished show.

[Jimboid]

The audience reaction to the reveal of the black-hole-or-whatever-it-is when Ackerman’s eye used to be – i.e. laughing rather than being completely bemused.

[Warbodog]

The audience reaction to the reveal of the black-hole-or-whatever-it-is when Ackerman’s eye used to be – i.e. laughing rather than being completely bemused.

It does look eye-socket-like in shape, but clearly some strapless eyepatch. Like the Klingon one in Star Trek VI, except presumably some kind of adhesive rather than implicitly nailed to his face.

[Future Producer of Series IX – aaaaany day now]

Or like Kovarian’s eye-drive.

[John Hoare]

Going to guess this won’t be written on G&T, but maybe Dirty Feed.

As I recall, I started planning that piece, and then stopped because I *couldn’t* bloody hear the repeated bits of sweetened laughter. It’s not that I didn’t think they existed – Moonlight’s video proves that – just that I couldn’t hear them.

Because of that, I lost confidence I could ever write it properly, and gave up. Don’t think I’ve changed my opinion on that in seven years, either…

[Stilianides]

I’m not sure it’s necessarily a weird reaction, but the first thing that came to mind when reading the OP was the  moment in Marooned when Lister looks in the chest and asks, “What the smeg is this?”

That line leads the audience to believe that they will see something weird or embarrassing and there is a laugh of expectation. Then you have the slight disappointment of seeing that it’s only money.

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

I’m not sure it’s necessarily a weird reaction, but the first thing that came to mind when reading the OP was the  moment in Marooned when Lister looks in the chest and asks, “What the smeg is this?”
That line leads the audience to believe that they will see something weird or embarrassing and there is a laugh of expectation. Then you have the slight disappointment of seeing that it’s only money.

They’re laughing because he said smeg

[Jonathan Capps]

Going to guess this won’t be written on G&T, but maybe Dirty Feed.
As I recall, I started planning that piece, and then stopped because I *couldn’t* bloody hear the repeated bits of sweetened laughter. It’s not that I didn’t think they existed – Moonlight’s video proves that – just that I couldn’t hear them.
Because of that, I lost confidence I could ever write it properly, and gave up. Don’t think I’ve changed my opinion on that in seven years, either…

I imagine it’s the sort of thing that could drive you very quickly mad, too.

[Frank Smeghammer]

Going to guess this won’t be written on G&T, but maybe Dirty Feed.
As I recall, I started planning that piece, and then stopped because I *couldn’t* bloody hear the repeated bits of sweetened laughter. It’s not that I didn’t think they existed – Moonlight’s video proves that – just that I couldn’t hear them.
Because of that, I lost confidence I could ever write it properly, and gave up. Don’t think I’ve changed my opinion on that in seven years, either…

I imagine it’s the sort of thing that could drive you very quickly mad, too.

[Ridley]

It was my first experience of how a sit-com audience can have there laugher moved about for the finished show.

No, that was air escaping from a showing of The Cat.

[Author]

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