True Life: There’s A Heckler in My Audience

OK.

It may be your first time, it may not be, but if you are onstage, solo or duet, doing stand up or as an emcee, it can be extremely intimidating.

So you’re up there, getting more and more confident as your time onstage goes on, when all of the sudden…a voice arises from the crowd.

Maybe it is male, perhaps female. Maybe it’s sober, most likely it is not. Maybe the comment is angry, maybe it’s smart-assy, perhaps an attempt to be funny. Whatever the circumstance, it has happened.

SO WHAT NOW?!

Well, if you too are not sober and not a professional, there is no positive end. The two or few of you shall go back and forth unnecessarily for far too long resulting in happiness for the both of you and an annoyed audience.

If you are non-professional you best be sober or you’ll be lost.

So, what not to do. If it gets you angry, which is understandable, Louis C.K. does so everyone else is allowed to, don’t freak out at the audience member. It makes the rest of the evening sooooo uncomfortable and awkward. No one will want to be there anymore. If it upsets you, simply say something along the lines of, “If you want your own show book it another night, tonight the stage is mine.” It will get a chuckle, some applause and most likely they’ll stop.

Don’t say nothing! It’s only encouraging…they’ll do it more.

DO NOT, focus on the heckler for too long. If you’re a comedian, address the issue with a joke, maybe two, you can refer back to them later in the set, but NO LONGER. It’s not funny anymore. There was a Conan episode (the one with Cristela Alonzo!!) where an audience member brought a Conan puppet. Everything that followed out of his mouth after noticing this puppet was in reference to it. It was absurd.

This guy does a pretty decent job shutting down a smart ass heckler. Lasts the length of a Dane Cook joke so it got old, but he did well.

The best way to handle a heckler is to turn it around on them. Make them look like the idiot, as they more than likely are, and that will shut them up quick.

IN THE BEST SITUATION, you are Bill Clinton and security takes care of it, which is good because your comebacks, while sassy, don’t make sense.

So in conclusion;

Newbies, be sober. If you’re upset, don’t scream. If you’re funny, don’t be longwinded. If you’re not funny….have back up.

@InstaRamSU