the.com/bombing
The silence after a joke dies, loud enough to hear your own regret.
means When a performance or attempt — usually a joke, a test, a pitch — fails so completely it crashes and burns in front of witnesses.
from From 'bomb,' a flop or disaster, which entered American theater and comedy slang in the 20th century as a metaphor for a performance detonating badly — all noise and wreckage, nothing landing right. The verb 'bombing' followed, turning the explosion into something happening to you in real time, on stage, under lights.
- origin
- stand-up slang from 1960s comedy clubs
- physiology
- flop sweat is real adrenaline, not metaphor
- comedian wisdom
- every legend bombed before they headlined
- silver lining
- bombing teaches timing faster than any laugh does