Karaoke isn't very pleasant, but it is a reflection of the fact that people do like to stand up and sing - but and at the same time they feel very embarrassed at doing anything that isn't socially normative; for some reason the karaoke format seems to give a sort of permission to perform in public that we seem to need.

Folk clubs can do that also, but you have to be there in the first place. Sometimes sessions can do it too. But more often than not, even if they are welcoming to people who are already into folk music (in a way that I have generally found that they are, though Nicole has experienced it differently), non-folkies probably don't see it that way generally.

I wonder whether for some people karaoke has been their first step into standing up and singing in public? Any Mudcatters going to confess to that in their past?