Yesterday, during a script workshop, my dramaturge made me cut the "soylent green" joke in my piece because he said that only he and I would get it. The actor, an intelligent, well-read woman in her forties, had never heard of it.
I was shocked. Do we not all know about soylent green?? I must know!
I haven't decided if I'm going to cut it. It's my experience that when you make a more obscure joke, maybe 1/3 of the audience gets it - but that 1/3 of the audience immediately become rabid fans because they sense in you a fellow geek.
If you're curious about the outcome of this decision, drag your Easter Creme egg-filled guts down to Solo Flights on Monday, April 13 for a night of wine, cheese and monologues! It's pay-what-you-can and chocolate WILL be accepted. By me.
UPDATE: Well, I kept the joke in and the actor (Jan Derbyshire, who was hilarious and brilliant) ad-libbed something about Charlton Heston, which got a WAAAY bigger laugh than the original joke. I then went on to claim credit for the ad-lib, because I was the writer. So in the end, all were satisfied. Thanks to Solo Collective for the opportunity and thanks to everyone who came out!