The Boy With Tape On His Face considers himself to follow the conventions of any Stand-Up comic but without talking. He takes Audience Participation to extremes and in an interview talks about being aware that audience interaction is the big fear members of the public have over watching, or having to take part in, Stand-Up comedy shows.

The Boy With Tape On His Face’s performance style is an energetic mix of music, physical performance, props and audience recognized media in the form of parody.

The uniqueness of his performance is the restrictions he places on his ability to talk but it is also that the set up to his jokes are often getting audience members on stage and setting them the challenge of working out his intentions for a performance, with the punch line nearly always being the individuals reaction and the inability to perform and understand the simplest pieces of communication when struck with the fear of being watched.

Nina Conti also takes audience participation to the extreme by using a variety of ventriloquist dummies to mask, or make more acceptable, her presentation of the Stand-Up comic conventions of interviewing the audience.

Nina Conti also questions the audience performer relationship when she gets an audience member onto the stage, as The Boy With Tape On His Face has removed his ability to speak, Nina removes the audience members ability to talk. Maintinaing control of the direction of the act.

Personally, I have an aversion to interviewing audience members and using there responses, or often personal lives,  as the subject matter for a collectives enjoyment because it can make the individual uncomfortable and has been expressed to me by several people as the principle reason they would chose not to attend a Stand-Up comedy show. Having said that, I do feel that audience participation is carried out expertly by The Boy With Tape On His Face and Nina Conti. If I were to interact with the audience during a show I would not want it to follow the conventions of Stand-Up comedy but find some way of subverting those expectations that is fitting for the performance style I am developing.