All Topics  
Peanut gallery

 

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Peanut gallery
 
 
  Topics Peanut gallery Topic Home

A peanut gallery is an audience that heckles
Heckler

A heckler is a person who shouts a disparaging comment at a performance or event, or interrupting set-piece speeches, for example at a political meeting....
 the performer. The term originated in the days of vaudeville
Vaudeville

Vaudeville was a genre of a variety show prevalent on the theatre in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. It developed from many sources, including the concert saloon, minstrel show, freak shows, dime museums, and literary burlesque....
 as a nickname for the cheapest (and ostensibly rowdiest) seats in the theater; the cheapest snack served at the theater would often be peanut
Peanut

The peanut, or groundnut , is a species in the legume Fabaceae native to South America, Mexico and Central America. It is an annual plant herbaceous plant growing to 30 to 50 cm tall....
s, which the patrons would sometimes throw at the performers on stage to show their disapproval. The phrases "no comments from the peanut gallery" or "quiet in the peanut gallery" are extensions of the name.

In the late 1940s the Howdy Doody
Howdy Doody

Howdy Doody is a Children's television series that was broadcast on NBC in the United States from 1947 until 1960. It was a pioneer in children's programming and set the pattern for many similar shows....
 show adopted the name to represent their audience of 40 kids.








Discussion
Ask a question about 'Peanut gallery'
Start a new discussion about 'Peanut gallery'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


A peanut gallery is an audience that heckles
Heckler

A heckler is a person who shouts a disparaging comment at a performance or event, or interrupting set-piece speeches, for example at a political meeting....
 the performer. The term originated in the days of vaudeville
Vaudeville

Vaudeville was a genre of a variety show prevalent on the theatre in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. It developed from many sources, including the concert saloon, minstrel show, freak shows, dime museums, and literary burlesque....
 as a nickname for the cheapest (and ostensibly rowdiest) seats in the theater; the cheapest snack served at the theater would often be peanut
Peanut

The peanut, or groundnut , is a species in the legume Fabaceae native to South America, Mexico and Central America. It is an annual plant herbaceous plant growing to 30 to 50 cm tall....
s, which the patrons would sometimes throw at the performers on stage to show their disapproval. The phrases "no comments from the peanut gallery" or "quiet in the peanut gallery" are extensions of the name.

In the late 1940s the Howdy Doody
Howdy Doody

Howdy Doody is a Children's television series that was broadcast on NBC in the United States from 1947 until 1960. It was a pioneer in children's programming and set the pattern for many similar shows....
 show adopted the name to represent their audience of 40 kids.

Related terms

  • In Europe the claque
    Claque

    Claque is, in its origin, a term which refers to an organized body of professional applause in France theatres and opera houses. Members of a claque are called claqueurs....
     at many opera houses and theatres were an organized group who would (and in Italy still may) cheer performances hysterically or boo and cat-call, depending on the outcome of financial negotiations between their leader and the lead performers' agents.
  • Similar seats in British theatres are often called "the gods
    The gods

    The gods is a theatrical term, common in Britain, referring to the highest areas of a theatre such as the upper balconies. These are generally the cheapest seats....
    " because of the seats' higher elevation (e.g., "We've got seats in the gods for the play tonight").
  • Similar seats in French theatres were called "le paradis" (from which came the title of the movie "Les Enfants du Paradis") because of the seats' higher elevation. Another common name was "le poulailler" (the henhouse) because the population of the section was very noisy.
  • In the US and Canada, especially at sporting events and concerts, the more elevated seats are often referred to as "the nosebleeds
    Nosebleed section

    The phrase nosebleed section is applied tongue-in-cheek to those seats of a public arena, usually an athletic stadium or gymnasium, that are highest and, usually, farthest from the desired activity....
    ", alluding to the altitude.
  • During the Jim Crow
    Jim Crow laws

    The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws in the United States enacted between 1876 and 1965. They mandated de jure Racial segregation in the United States in all public facilities, with a "separate but equal" status for black Americans and members of other non-white racial groups....
     era and in segregated parts of the United States, "nigger
    Nigger

    Nigger is a noun in the English language, most notable as a pejorative term and common ethnic slur for black people, and also as an informal slang term, among other contexts....
     heaven" was often used to refer to the balcony of a movie theater
    Movie theater

    A movie theater, movie theatre, picture theatre, film theater or cinema is a venue, usually a building, for viewing film ....
     where blacks sat.
  • The orange-colored seats in the upper decks of Three Rivers Stadium
    Three Rivers Stadium

    Three Rivers Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from 1970 to 2000. It was home to the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Pittsburgh Steelers, the city's Major League Baseball franchise and National Football League franchise respectively....
     in Pittsburgh
    Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

    Pittsburgh is the second largest city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania with a population of 312,819. The population of the seven-county metropolitan area is 2,462,571....
     were often referred to by local patrons as "Peanut Heaven."
  • A section of elevated seats at Miller Park in Milwaukee, Wisconsin are referred to as "Uecker
    Bob Uecker

    Robert George "Bob" Uecker is an United States former Major League Baseball player, later an award-winning sportscaster, comedian and actor. Uecker was given the title of "Mr....
     Seats."


External links