Thanks for asking this! You know, this is a great topic for standup comedians who tour regularly too. So I'd encourage imps to grab their standup friends and link them to this discussion.
Standup comedians are going to have experience with this kind of venue.
These kinds of venues are not ideal. The problem is what I call "buying in". Obviously this is not the sacred theater space where people respectfully buy their tickets and sit quietly, happily suspending disbelief. In fact, this is the exact opposite. This person never bought in. They just came to their neighborhood bar to chat or maybe even listen to loud music.
"What the bleep are these people doing onstage?"
I'd like to say that this can happen in any city. Austin has venues that are like this. Ever try to perform improv at Mohawks? Cheer Ups? The Music Hall in San Marcos? People will talk throughout your whole show.
You can't cure this 100%. But what you can try to do is earn their respect at the very top. Ask for folks to move to the front of the space and encourage each other to buy in.
You might even *confidently* say, "Hey guys we got some awesome guys putting on a show for you here. Realize this is a tough venue for this type of show so do your best to pretend like this is a theater and encourage the person to your right to leave the bar for a few minutes and come right up to the stage to enjoy this and support our performers."
In other words, don't just barge into it pretending like this a sacred theater space. You might even walk around 5 minutes before the show and personally "invite" people to the vibe of the show. Get them engaged and out of their weekly bar routine.
Now that's a pretty specific way to try to earn an audience's respect. Another way would be to have some balls and talk to the crowd with the gusto of Bill Murray or someone else very funny. Size them up. Demand respect without excluding them. Once you tip over into the "fuck these guys" mentality you've lost your confidence and you will never win them back.
C[hris] G[ethard] wrote a pretty decent article on a similar experience. I'm still up in the air on what he concluded about the entire city of Philadelphia. I'll have to see it for myself. But it's still a good read:
http://www.vice.com/read/philadelphia-i ... orm-comedyBut my biggest piece of advice is to somehow "break the routine" of the regular bar crowd and include them especially. Walk around before the show and start conversations with as many of them as you can. Genuinely. Defuse the bomb beforehand and come up with a method to win the audience over.
There are still some formats, no matter what, which won't go over well in this kind of space. It's why New Movement has never performed any longform at Fun Fun Fun Fest. There are other show formats which fit this "chatty crowd" vibe without crushing our souls as performers.
Air Sex and Vanessa's
One Night Stand continually include the crowd on a moment to moment basis. So the
vibe these shows encourage just work better than what I consider to be our bread and butter. I'd love to see the Megaphone up there one day-- however I can't imagine being an audience member wandering in from the edge of the yellow tent (15 minutes after the beginning). So the show's just not doable at that venue.
Changing your format only applies during extreme cases. But always work with the crowd and win their respect.