What Is the Difference Between an Artist and an Entertainer?

Jimmy Carr says the difference is what the person needs from the crowd. Robbie Williams told him he is an entertainer in the pure sense: if you do not love him, he does not love himself. Comics may be better at not caring what people think, because they are not entertainers in that pure sense.

An artist can be told the new record is loved and still treat the record as the point. Jimmy Carr puts Bob Dylan on that side. He writes the jokes, but he does not write the show. Joe Rogan calls the failure mode audience capture: if the work exists only to collect love and affection, the performer becomes a covers version of themselves, a hall of mirrors that reflects what the crowd is thought to want.

Saying thank you when someone loves an album is fine. Building the show around the best response is the trap.