I’m reminded of a British comedy show called My Hero. (If you want to find it, you’re better off googling “Thermoman”) It is a show about an alien who comes to Earth and is basically a superhero with heat-based powers, but is also a bit of a doof. The show is actually kind of a rom-com as it focuses on his alter ego coming to terms with living among humans.

At one point, his girlfriends’ parents are in a community theater production, and George (Thermoman’s mild mannered alter ego) acts very inappropriately, trying to interact with the play etc. Because he had only been introduced to Christmas Pantomime* and wasn’t aware there were different kinds of theater.

Getting mad at shit is like, my whole comedy persona or whatever, but I struggle to get mad at this. Maybe we should name it as a genre or something the way the British did with “Pantomime” versus other productions you’re supposed to take more seriously. Even more “normal” comedies where you’re allowed to laugh at jokes but are otherwise not supposed to try to contribute.

So…let’s do it. Let’s make audience participation cinema. I’ve read about a Taylor Swift movie where tween girls were singing along and dancing in the aisles. If the kids are enjoying it, who goddamn cares?

*This isn’t really a thing in America, not sure about the rest of the English speaking world. It’s a theater performance often done around Christmastime that has some comedy, some slapstick, some bawdy jokes, some audience participation, and the general idea seems to be “let’s not take it so seriously and just have some fun” kind of theater.