How do you deal with hecklers?

I usually ignore them and then have them individually murdered later on that night by a team of Navy Seals.  That’s right, I know a guy.

I think that everyone is quick to use the word “heckler.”  It has a negative connotation that goes along with it.  Comics say, “I got heckled.” much in the same manner they would say, “I got mugged.”  In reality, I don’t consider hecklers to be a threat. At the level I am at, I welcome it.  If they are talking to me, it means they are paying attention.  And let’s face it, these people want to be part of the show.  They want to BE me.  There’s a power in that and a responsibility to conduct the show.  It only becomes bad and ruined if you let it get to that point.  Give a talker a min to see what he or she can add to your show and to your skillset.  Don’t be so fast to shut them down and go back to your material.  

Shitty comics don’t get heckled.  It’s a privilege when people want to talk to you.  Your’e standing above them and your voice is amplified.  You are metaphorically a god and they are your disciples.  Okay, that may be dramatic but when you throw the word “metaphorically”  in there, you pretty much have clearance to be absurd.   The thing is, it looks to them like you don’t have any sort of skillset.  Especially if they’ve had a few.  You’re basically just making sounds with your mouth and they can do that too, or so they think.  Let them come after you.  Let them try to steal the spotlight.  Come up with something real fast that gets the audience on your side and destroy the room even harder than you were before you were interrupted.  I see it as a level up or an achievement unlocked.

The other side of that is letting it get to you.  Yeah, you wrote all those jokes and have taken the time to prepare them and perfect them and this person has the audacity to cut you off or talk over you or steal the spotlight.  Well here’s something that is never funny………becoming mad on stage.  The crowd paid good money to forget their problems and have a little laugh to take off the edge of life.  Instead, the person on stage reminds them more of their boss than an untouchable god.  Reminds them more of their nagging wife than a clown.  If you let it get to this point you have failed.  The hole is dug and you should lay down and take the first shovel of dirt right over your mouth.  It’s a privilege to be in front of the crowd, never the other way around.