Photo Credit: BBC Studios/NRK
Imagine going to a showcase with the top names in comedy and then being instructed not to laugh. That's the angle of NRK's recent series, Verdens verste publikum, "The World's Worst Audience." Not only are theatergoers trying to avoid cracking a smile; they are in fact awarded money for succeeding.
In each episode, a line-up of comics takes turns trying to break an audience of 40 people with an array of physical, sketch, absurdist, and potty humor. Violent off-key singing, pranks and improv also make appearances.
All of the audience members wear nametags and are scrutinized by the sharp eye of a laugh judge. The 200,000 kroner premiepott—roughly $21,300 in prize money—depletes a bit each time someone giggles or guffaws.
The production team also collects information on audience members to use against them. In one episode the producers trolled an unsuspecting Erlend Arnesen with a video of his parents Tord and Heidi dispensing embarrassing romantic advice to their son. Arnesen posted on Facebook that he had never been so flummoxed in his life, and that it still hadn't quite sunk in what happened.
But audience members also had their own counter tactics. Though good vibes mostly prevailed, Lise Mathisen stood out as the hardest nut to crack, according to comedian Henrik Fladseth. He said she appeared to have sunk into a stupor so deep that she wouldn't react at all. She told the newspaper Sandefjordsblad that she had almost fallen asleep and may have been the only audience member not to laugh at all.
Thankfully for contestants, there are frequent breaks where they can relax and chuckle. But bottling up their mirth has its rewards: at the end of each episode, the audience gets to split whatever money hasn't been laughed away.
Source:
https://www.nrk.no/nyheter/_verdens-verste-publikum_-er-nrks-nye-humorprogram-1.17694440