"Buzy" “Retooling”?
New York, New York --
After being booed in Detroit last Saturday night, Charlie Sheen came prepared to his Chicago and New York gigs. This time bringing a little Hollywood magic to the stage: canned laughter.
"Not only that," said a stagehand on the tour. "Charlie hired one of the sound engineers from his show ‘Two and a Half Men’ to make some special modifications to it."
The device known in the TV industry as canned laughter (a simple recording of people laughing) has become an industry standard, queuing viewing audiences watching at home when to laugh. However, that was not enough for Charlie Sheen.
"He ordered the sound engineer to rig the canned laughter machine not only to drown out boos and catcalls," said the stagehand. "But to convert them into laughter."
"I just don’t get it," said Todd Johnson, 37. "All my friends and me were booing the whole time."
And the more Todd and his friends booed, the louder the laughter came from the crowd.
Finally, Todd and his friends gave up and waited out the show. Too afraid their walkout would anger the audience.
"Judging from the audience’s reaction last night," said Charlie Sheen in his typical arrogant manner at a press conference after the show in Chicago. "I’d say last night’s performance was f---king WINNING!!! Wouldn’t you? Loser! What? You’re not laughing? Wait, I can fix that. Hey, you in the back! Queue the God [BLEEP] machine, would you!"
Copyright © 2008-2011 by Robert W. Armijo. All rights reserved.
