Time limit

I like to observe how different timed events handle people who go over time. At Carapace, tellers are alerted that they are over time, but the new flashing light makes it harder for the audience to notice that a teller has gone over. I haven’t seen someone strongly urged to get off stage even when they have gone over by more than a minute. At the November Moth, a storyteller went way over after they MC had said they were running short on time as a movie was going to be screened in the theater after they left:

After the 5 and 6 minute warning, the producer kept making noises until he [Keith] looked over at the MC who told him he had to stop (apologetically).

This is the most forceful removal of a storyteller I’ve seen (at an open mic show). It was actually still pretty gentle, but they clearly wanted him to stop.

Another interesting piece of this particular story, is that even though Keith was egregiously over, some audience members desperately wanted to hear the end his story:

As he left the stage, some audience members asked if the ended up having a baby and he said yes, 2 months later. I was curious about how the story ended, too, but he was so over time and they said they had to get out for the movie.

I was more upset by the violation of the rules than I was curious, personally. But obviously others were more curious.