The audience is the best judge of anything. They cannot be lied to. Truth brings them closer. A moment that lags - they’re gonna cough.

Streisand frames performance as a truth-test administered in real time by the crowd. An audience may be polite, but it is ultimately involuntary in its reactions: attention, laughter, silence, restlessness. “They cannot be lied to” suggests that technical polish or showmanship can’t fully mask falseness; what persuades is emotional authenticity—“truth brings them closer.” The final image—“a moment that lags… they’re gonna cough”—captures how even tiny lapses in pacing or conviction break the spell and invite distraction. The quote elevates audience feedback from mere approval to a diagnostic tool: if the room drifts, the performer has lost the thread of truth, rhythm, or connection.