I went to a live taping for a popular talk show host and was surprised to see how much they prodded the audience into cheering at the correct times for the hosts's jokes. I always knew that some of it was fake, but they really, really worked hard to make sure the audience applauded at the right time and for the correct length of time.

It left a sour taste in my mouth because I genuinely think the audience would have cheered for most or all of it anyhow, but knowing how it was forced really ruined it for me.

> Those cries of “Bravo!” that ring out after a spectacular pas de deux? It may be that the audience is genuinely electrified. Or it may be the sound of a very elegant theatrical protection racket.

I’m more and more convinced every day that the ability to detect fake signals of quality is becoming an essential life skill that should be taught in school or something. From fake reviews on Amazon and Yelp to PR masquerading as news to payola on the radio, to web site SEO / search rank manipulation, phony followers on Twitter accounts, you can’t seem to rely on anything as an impartial measure of quality. There’s no way to tell what’s any good anymore without observing yourself. It’s all fake!

Reminds me of perhaps the world's sleeziest use of claqueurs: Tony Robbins conferences. At some cheap local weekend event, when Tony presents his coming attraction, the more expensive week long conference, the crowd goes wild. People jumping up and down and cheering. Your fellow attendees shouting to you, "Wow! I HAVE to go to that!"

Then you sign up and find out 2 weeks later that your fellow attendees at the loss-leader conference are your trainers at the big gig.

At least it looks like the claquers are paid.

The NFL one the other hand doesn't generally pay the people who it signs up to be "enthusiastic" about the half-time performance.

http://www.espn.com/espnmag/story?id=3883771

Sometimes the half-time show can be a dud, but it looks good on TV due to them focusing on the "enthusiastic" volunteers.

https://www.businessinsider.com/crowd-quiet-justin-timberlak...

This is the most entertaining (false) stereotype that I've seen in some time. Those artists with their big egos and weak constitutions! Makes me nostalgic.

“Artists have very fine and delicate natures, they have a very delicate nervous system, and, unfortunately, all of them have a strongly inflated self-image,”

David Levine's Some of the People, All of the Time in the most recent issue of N+1 Magazine is a fantastic short story that revolves around claqueurs.

https://nplusonemag.com/issue-32/fiction-drama/some-of-the-p...

I went to a Wheel of Fortune taping. Steve Harvey did his own warmup and when people didn’t laugh, he coached people to laugh and said most of the time you have to pay $x to see his stand up and we were getting in for free.

Is there any documentation on what feels like paid applause at Apple product reveals? It always feels like there are a ton of employees in the front rows who are told to gasp and cheer for really benign feature demos.