How would you deal with a heckler?

Question

How would you deal with a heckler?

On stand up comedy I mean.

Answer 1

I saw Bill Cosby in Vegas years ago. He commented about a woman (years earlier) had chimed in while he was talking about how the newest 747 jetplane could not back up, and stated that she hollered out "and it doesn't have a horn either".

The crowd laughed, and he followed with "so unless you can top that, please be quiet."

I have heckled a bad comic and the best he could do was to insult me. However, I was able to retaliate and get a bigger laugh out of the crowd.

The end result was that I (and the people at the table I was sitting) were immediately removed from the club by the bouncers.

On the way out, he said something like-you ain't so funny now are you.

I thought I was going to get arrested (I was banned from the club for a very long time).


This was in Lafayette LA around 1986 or so. The guy was not nearly as funny as he thought he was. I had seen him earlier in another town and he was using the same material. I finished one of his jokes for him and he was really upset.

Answer 2

The comedy clubs I went to years ago were about ppl getting drunk and the comedian making fun of the audience...like that Frankenstein dude on YouTube. If them drunks bother you too much, you can't do stand up, every job has ppl like that in one form or another.

Answer 3

Dear Comedian:

I think that being heckled goes with the profession, but the best thing to do is keep your cool, and maybe try to include him/her in on your act.

Answer 4

Make jokes about heckling.

Answer 5

have him escorted out