This story about comedians and Botoxed audiences reads like a piece from The Onion. It had a hard time accepting its veracity but figured there was some logic to the story so maybe its true.
“Comedy thrives on connection, and facial expressions play a huge part. We want people to laugh, cry, frown, sneer, but frozen faces from Botox impact the entire atmosphere.
“We hope trialling this ban will help move the needle and get facial reactions back into the room – for the benefit of our comedians and the audience.”
Andrew Mensah, one of the venue’s regular stand-up acts, added: “Performing to an audience with frozen faces can be incredibly tough.
“Comedy is a two-way street – we feed off the energy and reactions of the crowd. Mark and the team are always devising new ideas to support us comedians – this must be his best one yet.”
I have an interesting experience each time I am in my Pilates class. One of the women was a former client and I've known her for over twenty years now. Her Botox (and whatever else she has done to her face) job has left her with a permanent smile. Some days our instructor really pushes the class hard and we all struggle because this is not a class for the very young and very fit. The demographic is motivated but they can't always keep up.
We all look beat at some point but this lady has her smile on at all times, even though physically she is in about the same place as the rest of us. I am not sure if the perma-smile is any better than a frozen face socially. They both have the same effect in a sense - the person comes across as unsympathetic. This woman is about a decade older than me and has kept herself in fantastic shape. If she hadn't made the "improvements" to her face, I think she'd look even better.
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