639: peanut gallery Sep 7, 2016

The peanut gallery is a term that emerged from the days of Vaudeville meaning the cheapest seats with the rowdiest people. Also the cheapest in those theaters were the peanuts, which would be, for bad shows, thrown at the performers in outrage. The term was used in the days of Vaudeville, but then repopularized by Howdy Doody in the '40's when it was a radio and then later TV program as a term for the children in the audience.