Peter tended to handle narratives to the crowds because he was naturally endowed with a good speaking voice that drew people in to the story.  (And he liked hearing the sound of his own voice.)  He was naturally charismatic.  He had a good appearance.  The people would see him standing up front in performances talking to them, and as he was up front talking to THEM, he seemed like the star of the show (and this was the result of the way media had trained people, they'd tune in on the lead singer, the public speaker, the starring actor on the screen, the one who was paid the most was the one to be paid attention to, and they'd kind of gloss over the supporting cast or be unable to recognize this was an ensemble piece they were enjoying so much and all the actors and all the scripts went into the mix.  And in responding to that public trend, movie and tv scripts were written to show and point people to the star, who generally uttered platitudes, to my way of thinking.  The audience many times, because of their own shaping by their response to media, was just not overall sophisticated enough to really understand the puppet shows, but because of the way they were presented, just as they had been to the common peasants of the 14th century who were similarly "unlettered", people understood and responded to them just as the crowds did six centuries prior.  You see, commedia dell arte was still valid as an artform, and may be for quite some time into the future, as well.