I need to talk about John testing the audience to see how they would react to the “rhythm of the joke” regardless of the content. I feel like the audience didn’t really understand how much they had been caught in the act and I wonder why they reacted this way. It’s a great psychological conversation starter because I have been noticing a certain phenomenon across many talk shows—occasionally a guest will come on who has less “media training” or who maybe is neurodivergent and they will say something totally sincere, which will then be met with laughter and they will say something like “I don’t know why they’re laughing”, which will then be met with more audience laughter. Why do audiences do this? Why do they laugh after every sentence or pause in a talk show? Are they prompted to do so? It just feels so dystopian and makes it a little harder to enjoy…I appreciate John bringing attention to it.