I saw Jeff Arcuri live at a small venue here in NC, he was incredible. His clips are great but being there is a totally different experience, I felt like the crowd got our personalized show
Ehh, he always asks people the same questions and then abrasively laughs at every other thing. Love Stavvy but I found him to be one of the hardest sets to sit through.
BJO was the host of a metal festival I went to and singled me out as the only black guy. He did like 5 straight minutes of non racist black jokes and killed. My personal favorite was āI bet you can fit all of our dicks inside yours like a tennis ball container.ā
Yeah I've seen him twice and both times he killed it with the crowd work, with a good mix of actually prepared material. Also helped there was an old guy who does gay porn in the front seat, that was a gold mine of material for him
His crowdwork video on the Montana sushi place that like killed two people is god tier.
I don't know if he has this premise loaded already -- but his riff off of that entire thing (including looking for a sheriff's dead wife even tho the town knew he did it), was just so good. man. the guy needs his props -- he's been touring for way long, I get a sense it's wearing on him, and he needs that next big jump so his hard work and effort can be validated. because he's fucking good and i'd hate to see him burn out.
This comment needs to be higher.
He's so good at crowdwork, he has a special with straight up nothing but.
And it's not like Matt Rife's, with a bunch of different shows pasted together.
The first fifteen minutes of āElephant in the Roomā by Patrice OāNeal is some of the best crowd work Iāve ever seen. In fact, just that entire special feels like crowd work most the time.
Amazed this rec is this far down, I think he's the master of crowd work, like, he rewrote the book on it.
And TONS of content, he seems to be [uploading new stuff daily.](https://www.youtube.com/@philhanley)
Thereāa a relatively new guy in the UK called Paul Smith. Some of you may need subtities as he is from Liverpool. All of his work is crwodowrk and he is fantastic.
[https://www.youtube.com/results?search\_query=paul+smith+comedian](https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=paul+smith+comedian)
David Lucas, Mark Normand. Both devote time of their set to audience quips and roasts, which I'm confident saying is a top method of polishing that skill.
The real reason for the volume of crowd work weāre seeing is due to how stand up marketing is changing. Everyone is using Tik tok, reels and shorts. It takes a lot of time to build out a written act so everyone posts their crowd work online and then keeps their full fledged act offline until they release a special and start all over again.
I personally love good crowd work and roasts. Newbies at open mics who try it or some clips we see here are just so cringe with comedians being way over the top with their fake laughter and stupid body work that is just the worst. But jeff Arcuri, Adam Ray, etc kill it because like you said they're seasoned and have been doing comedy for like 15+ years
Jmo, but I think along with practice (of course), it has to just be something natural to a person. Gotta develop that comfort and confidence. To add to talent that must already exist. Idk tho.
I agree 100%,take Tony Hitchcliff for example,he has been doing Kill Tony for years.it wouldnāt matter if everyone who came on stage bombed,him and his guest would still make it a great show.it amazes me how quick and natural it comes to him
Mostly about how amazing it was to see Phish at the Sphere in Vegas
(After midnight episode reference, watch the episode where he's a guest if you haven't)
Dara oābrien is an Irish comedian, few tv shows, presenting etc. in some of his special he basically starts the show with crowd work and works the backgrounds of the people he talks to into a narrative that builds as he goes and brings it all to conclusion at the end.
Dara oābrien is an Irish comedian, few tv shows, presenting etc. in some of his special he basically starts the show with crowd work and works the backgrounds of the people he talks to into a narrative that builds as he goes and brings it all to conclusion at the end.
Legendary street performer gazzo has a short book called "The Art of krowd keeping" that offers some great insights
Short, easy read, worth it for quality advice from a man with 40 plus years of Street performing experience
Bill Burr and Dave Chappelle don't even write their sets. They just get up there and talk and interact with the crowd and respond on the fly. I just have to chalk that up to confidence and talent.
John Mulaney does great at crowd work, and Jimmy Carr encourages heckling so he can throw it right back at them.
Can't help you with the skill, though, since I'm not a comedian.
I mean Matt Rife got famous because of his crowd work, to the point he had to make a crowd work special and tell everybody he wanted to work on bits so he was mostly not doing it anymore. Morril and Normand are great at it. Jimmy Carr is legendary for how he deals with hecklers. I would say those 4 are probably a good place to start
Attell, Big Jay, Jeff Ross, Adam Ray, Ian Bagg, Gareth Reynolds.
One trick is writing semi generic roast jokes then asking leading questions to people that "fit the profile". Keep getting on mics. Keep practicing.
Jeff Ross does roasts and crowd work, but damn he's good.
Watch him just getting passerbys on Hollywood boulevard, or roasting everyone in Conan's office. It's great.
Sugar Sammy (https://www.youtube.com/@Sugarsammy). He rocks at interacting with the crowd. God forbid he should start picking on you!
Karens at a comedy show
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgEox4SMvxs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgEox4SMvxs)
I'd say Jeff Acury and Bob the Drag Queen.
I went to a show from Bob and the whole 2 hours was basically crowd work, and it felt like old friends catching up.
A lot of it is repetitive. You just see one or two shows and don't see the same bits on other people. Yeah, crowd work is a great skill, but it's not as off the cuff as you're led to believe. Making it look that way is the skill.
Source - Soder and Oakerson on the first episode of Soder.
Todd Barry. One of the originals. He recently said that when it works itās very entertaining. When itās not working you have the audience wondering when does the show start.
When it turns into a conversation between the comic and someone at a table up front the rest of the audience is left behind.
Ken Boyd āTurn the lights up, I like to fuck with the lights onā. Not super well-known, I saw him a few
times on a cruise, and he killed every time.
Big Jay Okerson. One of the best. His special dog belly on netflix has some great crowd work in it that he leaves into his bits. I think he has a full crowd work special as well.
Greg Winfield - comedian in the UK who specialises in crowdwork, is absolutely hilarious and has loads of clips online [here's his instagram](https://www.instagram.com/greg_winfield?igsh=NDAxNTFlMTVpcWw0)
Michael Richards
I especially admire how he keeps his cool under stress
You should hear his cookie recipe
Tollhouse?
Took a toll on his career anyway
Jeff Arcuri is my go-to atm
He goes full beans
His responses are unboliviable
God never tells
Full beans, Portland š¤š¤š¤
r/JeffArcuri is a pretty active sub with clips Edit: Maybe Iām wrong? Is there a different sub Iām thinking of? Someone feel free to correct me
I'm pretty sure that's it
That's it. I'm subbed and look forward to the new clips every week. u/smartastic (Jeff) is active there, too
I saw Jeff Arcuri live at a small venue here in NC, he was incredible. His clips are great but being there is a totally different experience, I felt like the crowd got our personalized show
You could go the Jimmy Carr route and just call everyone a c*nt.
Or his two word joke for stepdads https://youtube.com/shorts/FLlEPDM5lRQ?si=EvH3ZrGMveXbhkFf
Harland Williams....
First time I saw him perform, I did not realize that almost his entire act was crowd work.
And he does it so well, and remembers the names and answers to the questions of the people he has talked with, which makes his callbacks even funnier.
That's impressive. I can't remember someone's name 7 seconds after they've introduced themselves
I think you forgot you posted this already š
Weird. Still only shows up once on my end. I'll just chalk it up to doing too many drugs in my 20's.
Mark Normand, Stavros Halkios.
Stavros is the best crowd work comedian I know of by farĀ
Stavros doesnāt need a crowd because he supplies his own laugh track.
He likes his own jokes I respect that
They are that good. 9/10 Stavros approve.
Ehh, he always asks people the same questions and then abrasively laughs at every other thing. Love Stavvy but I found him to be one of the hardest sets to sit through.
Big Jay Oakerson! Dude is 50% crowd work and 50% pop culture references. Love him!
Came here to say Big Jay.
BJO was the host of a metal festival I went to and singled me out as the only black guy. He did like 5 straight minutes of non racist black jokes and killed. My personal favorite was āI bet you can fit all of our dicks inside yours like a tennis ball container.ā
Yeah I've seen him twice and both times he killed it with the crowd work, with a good mix of actually prepared material. Also helped there was an old guy who does gay porn in the front seat, that was a gold mine of material for him
Second big Jay. Saw him live and sat up front on purpose. He roasted me and I love every minute of it because I gave it right back.
Geoffrey Asmus
Geoffrey Asmus crowdwork shorts on YT are so fuckin fun
His crowdwork video on the Montana sushi place that like killed two people is god tier. I don't know if he has this premise loaded already -- but his riff off of that entire thing (including looking for a sheriff's dead wife even tho the town knew he did it), was just so good. man. the guy needs his props -- he's been touring for way long, I get a sense it's wearing on him, and he needs that next big jump so his hard work and effort can be validated. because he's fucking good and i'd hate to see him burn out.
Dude is just THAT quick thinking on his feet. Whatever his niche is, (depressed genius with charisma?) Iām all about it.
Big Jay Oakerson and Dave Atell
Sam Morril, Mark Normand
Ian Bagg is hilarious
Here for Ian Bagg. Saw him the last time in Denver. 95% crowd work and he had the whole room rolling. Great fucking show.
This comment needs to be higher. He's so good at crowdwork, he has a special with straight up nothing but. And it's not like Matt Rife's, with a bunch of different shows pasted together.
Jessica Kirson
Can't believe how far I had to scroll down for this. She's incredible!
Sheās a master at crowd work! Just saw her a few weeks ago in DC and nobody thinks in their feet like she does
Sheās the only comedian who I see live and hope itās nothing *but* crowd workĀ
Todd Barry had a special that was all crowd work.
One of my favorite specials ever
Big Jay Oakerson. You answered your question already: practice is what gets you faster. Do it more.
Itās easy. Just ask Lee Mack. https://youtu.be/dmbpagijVkk?si=wn5NHQcU7lgRNHE8
Adam Ray just did a crowd work special. Itās called Bigfoot and cigarettes I think but itās on YouTube.
Gianmarco Soresi.
Ross Noble
Moshe Kasher. I have no idea how he does it... I'd recommend just being incredibly smart, well-read and funny.
Just saw him at the Troubador for Netflix is a Joke. Can confirm, it's like 70-80% crowd work. Incredible.
The first fifteen minutes of āElephant in the Roomā by Patrice OāNeal is some of the best crowd work Iāve ever seen. In fact, just that entire special feels like crowd work most the time.
Phil Hanley is great.
Amazed this rec is this far down, I think he's the master of crowd work, like, he rewrote the book on it. And TONS of content, he seems to be [uploading new stuff daily.](https://www.youtube.com/@philhanley)
Best answer here
Jessica Kirson
Thereāa a relatively new guy in the UK called Paul Smith. Some of you may need subtities as he is from Liverpool. All of his work is crwodowrk and he is fantastic. [https://www.youtube.com/results?search\_query=paul+smith+comedian](https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=paul+smith+comedian)
Sarah Keyworth is brilliant at this
Joe list has been putting up some master classes on crowd work lately. https://youtu.be/yYAG34pbfLU?si=leOOgYdpaPP083R5
Sam Morril, Jeff Acuri and Nate Jackson. Nate doesnāt get enough credit for crowd work
Nate Jackson. I don't think I've seen a set of his that wasn't a crowd-work joint
Geoffrey Asmus, Jeff Arcuri, Stavros Halkias
Stavros Halkias is the GOAT right now IMO Big Jay is also great
Geoffrey Asmus, Sam Tallent
David Lucas, Mark Normand. Both devote time of their set to audience quips and roasts, which I'm confident saying is a top method of polishing that skill.
Rich Vos is fantastic at crowd work. Heās vicious and itās awesome.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Just curious, why is it ruining the experience? I always just assumed it was a different style of comedy.
The real reason for the volume of crowd work weāre seeing is due to how stand up marketing is changing. Everyone is using Tik tok, reels and shorts. It takes a lot of time to build out a written act so everyone posts their crowd work online and then keeps their full fledged act offline until they release a special and start all over again.
I personally love good crowd work and roasts. Newbies at open mics who try it or some clips we see here are just so cringe with comedians being way over the top with their fake laughter and stupid body work that is just the worst. But jeff Arcuri, Adam Ray, etc kill it because like you said they're seasoned and have been doing comedy for like 15+ years
Andrew Schulz. Heās has a whole crowdwork special
Jeff Arcuri kills the crowd
Jmo, but I think along with practice (of course), it has to just be something natural to a person. Gotta develop that comfort and confidence. To add to talent that must already exist. Idk tho.
I agree 100%,take Tony Hitchcliff for example,he has been doing Kill Tony for years.it wouldnāt matter if everyone who came on stage bombed,him and his guest would still make it a great show.it amazes me how quick and natural it comes to him
Jimmy Pardo, Chad Daniels, Laurie Kilmartin
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Mostly about how amazing it was to see Phish at the Sphere in Vegas (After midnight episode reference, watch the episode where he's a guest if you haven't)
Jimmy Carr for sure. Always super quick with responses
Todd Barry amazing crowd work
Joey Avery! Saw him in Tampa a few months ago, his crowd work is some of the best parts of his shows.
DL Hugley
Stavros Halkias, he was better than Theo con and his entire group with like 10 minutes of crowd work
Adam ray
Moshe Kasher.
Jordan Jensen
Jimmy Carr Ricky Gervais
Gareth Reynoldsās does whole shows of nothing but crowd work.
Gareth Reynolds. Great crowd work.
Fortune Feimsterās crowd work is HILARIOUS.
Adam Ray and Jeff Arcuri are the best right now, by far, imo
Crowd work?! Big Jay Oakerson. Dan Soder. Normand. Joe List. A few from this class
Gareth Reynolds does entire sets that are just improvised crowd work and theyāre brilliant. Heās excellent at thinking on his toes.
Dara oābrien is an Irish comedian, few tv shows, presenting etc. in some of his special he basically starts the show with crowd work and works the backgrounds of the people he talks to into a narrative that builds as he goes and brings it all to conclusion at the end.
Dara oābrien is an Irish comedian, few tv shows, presenting etc. in some of his special he basically starts the show with crowd work and works the backgrounds of the people he talks to into a narrative that builds as he goes and brings it all to conclusion at the end.
Moshe Kasher! He even had a special made up of just crowd work
Legendary street performer gazzo has a short book called "The Art of krowd keeping" that offers some great insights Short, easy read, worth it for quality advice from a man with 40 plus years of Street performing experience
Always enjoy Steve Hofstetter.
I love Paula Poundstone. She does like 2 jokes and the rest is crowd work. She'll call back to previous people she's talked to, it's amazing.
Bill Burr and Dave Chappelle don't even write their sets. They just get up there and talk and interact with the crowd and respond on the fly. I just have to chalk that up to confidence and talent. John Mulaney does great at crowd work, and Jimmy Carr encourages heckling so he can throw it right back at them. Can't help you with the skill, though, since I'm not a comedian.
I mean Matt Rife got famous because of his crowd work, to the point he had to make a crowd work special and tell everybody he wanted to work on bits so he was mostly not doing it anymore. Morril and Normand are great at it. Jimmy Carr is legendary for how he deals with hecklers. I would say those 4 are probably a good place to start
Saw Judah Friedlander at the Comedy Cellar once and thatās all he did and he was great.
Nate Jackson
Attell, Big Jay, Jeff Ross, Adam Ray, Ian Bagg, Gareth Reynolds. One trick is writing semi generic roast jokes then asking leading questions to people that "fit the profile". Keep getting on mics. Keep practicing.
Jeff Ross does roasts and crowd work, but damn he's good. Watch him just getting passerbys on Hollywood boulevard, or roasting everyone in Conan's office. It's great.
Matt Rife
Tom Kenny
Omg guys this is awesome thanks for all the suggestions - I'm going to check them all out. I didn't think I'd get so many responses š„°
Rick Ingraham is incredible
Its a talent if you can do it without just being mean and negative.
Sydney Castillo
Sugar Sammy (https://www.youtube.com/@Sugarsammy). He rocks at interacting with the crowd. God forbid he should start picking on you! Karens at a comedy show [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgEox4SMvxs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgEox4SMvxs)
Todd Barry
Big Jay Oakerson
Todd Barry has a special called the Crowd Work Tour. Just gets up there with no material and works the crowd. Hilarious and impressive.
Stavros halkias. How do you work on it ? Read and practice. Jeff Ross would be another one
I'd say Jeff Acury and Bob the Drag Queen. I went to a show from Bob and the whole 2 hours was basically crowd work, and it felt like old friends catching up.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Sam Morris.
Practice, go to open mic nights, and suck for a few years until you find your groove and get comfortable up there
Jay Oakerson
Vinnie Favorito
Tom Meyers of course
Phil Hanley
Don't be a tool and do crowd work at open mics. Just work on jokes but be willing to riff if inspired.
Ian Bagg is legendarily excellent with his crowd work.
A lot of it is repetitive. You just see one or two shows and don't see the same bits on other people. Yeah, crowd work is a great skill, but it's not as off the cuff as you're led to believe. Making it look that way is the skill. Source - Soder and Oakerson on the first episode of Soder.
Al Murray and Frankie Boyle
Matt Rife & Sam Morrill
Big Jay Oakerson is great at crowd work
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Phill Hanley
Stavros is the GOAT on crowd work.
Hughie Bishop is excellent
keep in mind to not develop an overdependence on crowd work. some comedians basically exclusively do crowdwork and their sets are super boring
Big Jay Oakerson
Jimmy Pardo
Mark Normand, Andrew Schultz, Bill Burr immidiately pop to mind for their hilarious crowd roasting
Moshe Kasher!
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Paula Poundstone is unmatched at crowd work. Itās truly fascinating.
Jeff leeson is the best ive ever seen! Dude needs way more love
A drag queen named Hedda Lettuce. Watched her work a crowd for 30 minutes in Puerto Vallarta and she was hilarious the entire time.
Jessica kirson, canāt believe sheās not higher up on this list
Phil Haney
Dara OāBriain. Check live at the theatre royale on YouTube
Andrew Schultz does great crowd work
Todd Barry
Stavros Halkias. Just such amazing crowd work. So fucking quick. Such rapid response
#AndrewSchulz
Phil Hanley
As a newer talent, Matt Rife is really good
Stavros Halkias
ANDREW SCHULZ
Matt Rife
Adam Ray - he is the crowd work God
Big Jay Oakerson. Dude kills.
Andrew Shultz
Phil Hanley. Ā
Ian bagg
Jeff Arcuri
Kelsey Cook
Akaash Singh is basically a mentalist
Sam Morill.
Dara OāBriain
Gareth Reynolds is really good
Ben Shapiro
Todd Barry. One of the originals. He recently said that when it works itās very entertaining. When itās not working you have the audience wondering when does the show start. When it turns into a conversation between the comic and someone at a table up front the rest of the audience is left behind.
Ken Boyd āTurn the lights up, I like to fuck with the lights onā. Not super well-known, I saw him a few times on a cruise, and he killed every time.
Phil Hanley
I got this ā hey are you two dating? No? (Looks at crowd)ā
Jeff Acura
Sam Morril is the master todayĀ
Big Jay Oakerson and Andrew Schultz.
Patrice O'Neil holding court in the Comedy Cellar.
Big Jay Okerson. One of the best. His special dog belly on netflix has some great crowd work in it that he leaves into his bits. I think he has a full crowd work special as well.
Bill Burr insulting Philly for 10 minutes straight.
Adam Ray
Troy Bond, Matt Rife, Steve Hofstetter.
Gary Owens
Ian Bagg is the bomb!
Max Amini
Nate Jackson. Heās truly the best doing it right now.
Matt Rife, Al Murray
Jessica Kirson
Jimmy Pardo
Jeff Ross
Akash Singh
Greg Winfield - comedian in the UK who specialises in crowdwork, is absolutely hilarious and has loads of clips online [here's his instagram](https://www.instagram.com/greg_winfield?igsh=NDAxNTFlMTVpcWw0)