There were a few empty seats at Thursday’s “undercard” debate. (Photo: Andrew Harnik/AP)



The seven Republican candidates relegated to Thursday’s “Happy Hour Debate” on Fox News took the stage at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland armed with talking points and crowd-pleasing one-liners — but there was almost no one in the audience to hear them.



While the primetime debate is open to the public, the audience for the 5 p.m. “undercard” event at the 20,000-seat arena was limited to friends, family and credentialed reporters. Photos taken by journalists on the scene showed a sparse number of attendees.

For those watching the debates on television, the near-empty room looked — and sounded — pretty odd.

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Fox News happy hour debate has an embarrassingly empty audience. — Garance Franke-Ruta (@thegarance) August 6, 2015

A massive crowd of tens of people! pic.twitter.com/risgPsPoTx — Andrew Kaczynski (@BuzzFeedAndrew) August 6, 2015

Zingers without an audience are not zingers. #ProTip #GOPDebate — Lizz Winstead (@lizzwinstead) August 6, 2015

Someone should tell these guys that applause lines only work when there is an audience that can applaud. #FoxKiddieDebate — David Corn (@DavidCornDC) August 6, 2015

is anybody in the audience? #GOPDebate — Azi (@Azi) August 6, 2015

I think there are more people in my house than in the “Happy Hour” debate audience. I guess they all went to Happy Hour. — Taft Matney (@taftmatney) August 6, 2015

Not very many people in the audience for the undercard candidate #GOPDebate in Cleveland: pic.twitter.com/mXcmBtNaL2 — Frank Thorp V (@frankthorpNBC) August 6, 2015

Who’s that one guy in the audience? — Blake Hounshell (@blakehounshell) August 6, 2015

I know politicians have major egos, but it has to be pretty crushing to look out and see this audience. (NYT photo). pic.twitter.com/0FRHs7g7Or — Eric Berger (@chronsciguy) August 6, 2015

It even caught Fox News’ Howard Kurtz and Greg Gutfeld by surprise.

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Tiny audience for 5 pm debate. No attempt to invite one, but man it’s quiet in there #GOPDebate pic.twitter.com/a21yRGJrFZ — HowardKurtz (@HowardKurtz) August 6, 2015

is there no one in the audience? that’s got to be creepy. Like a stripper in a dive bar dancing to the jukebox. — GregGutfeld (@greggutfeld) August 6, 2015

Not to worry. According to organizers, all 4,500 tickets to the primetime debate have been distributed, and they expect a packed house — one that will reportedly include Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler.