The Bridgetown Comedy fest is coming up, and every year at Bridgetown the crowds are a mixed bag of die-hard comedy fans and people who aren’t quite sure about this whole standup thing, but sure do like to drink. Sometimes those people who like to drink decide that because the show they are seeing is in a casual venue, like a bar, that the show must be interactive. And so, from a combination of booze + misunderstanding the context of the performance, a heckler is born.
Sure, watching a comedian respond to a heckler CAN provide moments of unscripted comedic brilliance, but most of the time it’s just incredibly uncomfortable for everyone in the room who isn’t wasted and/or an asshole. Hecklers are people who are convinced they are having smarter, funnier thoughts than they actually are. If you heckle at Bridgetown the comic you are heckling will probably be super mean to you, because you deserve it, and probably no one will share a lemon drop with you, unlike in this delightful Mitch Hedberg clip which this entire post is actually just a thinly veiled excuse to share:
Right? Delightful!
A heckler is at it’s heart an analog troll. Amusing in small doses. They’re the comedy version of the person who talks loudly all the way through a concert.
On the flip side of this — fuck you, comedians who call me out because I’m leaving the room (to get a beer, go to the bathroom, etc).
I really wish I had video of Kyle Kinane taking down and dismantling a heckler at the Hawthorne Theater two Bridgetowns ago. There is a video on youtube from another night in Chicago though:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOfPT48giJw
C&B: was that you at that stupid fucking Paula Poundstone thing at the Aladdin last year? I mean, she’s not even all that funny, and got way more mileage out of that than she deserved.
Which brings me to a corollary I need to add: usually hecklers are indeed nowhere near as funny or thoughtful as they think they are, but they are sometimes much funnier than who ever’s on stage. Most stand-up fails to be funny too, so even though you’re being a dick to someone who’s bombing, you may indeed be telling them something they need to hear.
Don’t forget the epic rant Bill Burr unleashed on Philadelphia a while back: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0S4nSzE4N-o