(Don’t try this at home).
I’ll never forget the day one of my mentors (the oldest living sword swallower in the world) taught me how to fire an audience. We were in Key West on Mallory Square, and he was showing me the ropes for performing at the nightly Sunset Celebration on the pier.
“I’m probably going to have to fire this audience,” he told me as a quiet, uptight looking crowd trickled in to see his show.
“What do you mean?”
“Haven’t you ever fired an audience before?”
“No, actually. I’ve always done the show to completion, even if it’s a…
