Many performers who can happily play big characters in a scene become awkward and uncomfortable when they have to talk to an audience.
Sometimes, a shift in attitude can help.
When I was a kid, a man named Jack Hargreaves was a familiar face on British TV, usually talking about life in the country. He always seemed to have a natural, easygoing manner about him, as if some favourite uncle had dropped by.
Hargreaves looked as if he just had an innate gift for presenting, but there was no magic or mystery to his audience connection – it was mostly technique. The first time he’d been on live TV, he told the director that he felt nervous about talking to millions of people. The director replied that he shouldn’t look at it that way – instead, he should imagine he was talking to a couple of people in their living room. Hargreaves took the advice to heart. From then on, when he gazed into the camera lens, he pretended he was talking to a family in their home, and when people watched on TV, they felt a connection.
That method works well if a host is talking to a camera – from the viewer’s point of view, the host seems like they’re talking WITH you rather than AT you.
We can use a similar technique when we’re addressing an live audience. Although there may be a large number of people in a theatre, they are not a single unit. Some people arrived on their own, while others came in groups of twos or threes. Many are afraid they’ll be asked something or be pulled on stage. As you talk to the audience and look around the theatre, you are not trying to present to the entire crowd – you’re talking to those small groups, connecting with friends.
Like other aspects of improv, talking to audience is a performance. A performer using the right techniques will appear friendly and relaxed to an audience. Being “natural” doesn’t come naturally.