Heckler stories

[James Morris]

I've seen threads in the past about the ethics of hecklers and whatnot, but I don't remember ever seeing a thread where people just share their stories of going to a live comedy show and seeing someone interrupt the show in some fashion. If this has been a thread before, I apologize.

Anyway, I'll start. A couple of years ago I went to Charlie Goodnight's to see David Cross and when I got to the venue there was a big sign saying that Cross had canceled due to illness. Nick Swardson ended up being the headliner for the night, and he was very funny. There were two guys in the front row who had on Mr. Show shirts and one of them booed when Swardson was talking about the movie "Signs", so Swardson started talking to them. They were trying to be funny, but Swardson kept shutting them down and had the audience loving it. So they proceeded to walk out and and when they were at the exit door they kind of huddled together for a second like they were planning something really funny and then one of them just yelled out "You suck! David Cross is way funnier than you!".

The show was kind of disrupted, and maybe Swardson realized that there were some hardcore Cross fans so he went into how he's friends with David and the circumstances behind the cancellation and then told a cool anecdote about Cross that was really funny. All in all, a good show and it was fun to see him wipe the floor with those two clowns.

I haven't been to many comedy shows so I'm sure someone else has a way better story.

[scamboogah]

I went to a show once, and some guy yelled something, and then it totally threw off the comedian's timing and he had to start the joke over again. It was mildly annoying, but the comedian was good and things got back on track soon enough.

Probably not 'way' better, sorry.

[Chase Roper]

I saw Brian Regan this summer in Seattle. It was a big show out in a park and one old lady had a huge umbrella. She was also completely covered in clothes from head to toe. Looked like she had to protect herself from the sun. I remember thinking that just her presence alone in the first few rows was a heckle. Apparently, the staff thought the same thing and had her moved. If I was the performer, there would have no way that wouldn't have distracted me.

[KevinLee]

A friend of mine was on stage for the first or second time. He was finishing up a bit and said something along the lines of, "I just don't know what to do." Someone in the back of the room yelled, "KILL YOURSELF!"

[I love nny]

I saw seinfeld a while back, well after the show had been off the air and about 20 minutes before the end some dude kept yelling "NEUMAN!" over and over Seinfeld just stopped his set and said he would start again until he shut up. People were so pissed they may have killed him in the theater.

[Phil]

In Brian Regan's latest "Epitome of Hyperbole", some audience member yells out "the yellow one is the sun" referring back to a previous DVD of his. Funny as shit. But I can't imagine that guy was really heckling, I'm guessing it was planned? Any thoughts?

[crazysheet]

I saw seinfeld a while back, well after the show had been off the air and about 20 minutes before the end some dude kept yelling "NEUMAN!" over and over Seinfeld just stopped his set and said he would start again until he shut up. People were so pissed they may have killed him in the theater.

I was at this show too, and the heckler was Wayne Knight. Kinda crazy.

[ChrisCubasATX]

Maybe not exactly what you intended with this thread but here's mine.

One of the early shows I did was at what turned out to be a very scary redneck bar in the middle of nowhere NY. Before going to the show I watched a special on A&E on this crazy Puerto Rican biker gang called the Ching-a-Lings. When I got to the bar for the show there were 4 Ching-A-Lings in the parking lot. There were also a bunch of ATVs that people used to get there.

When the bartender announced that the show was going to start this giant 50 year old redneck yelled "LOCK AND LOAD BOYS!! These funny faggots are gonna try and make us laugh!" Then, once the show actually started, he decided to puncuate everyones jokes with a eerily accurate dolphin noise. It was the oddest heckle I've ever experienced.

[Harry Bongers]

In highschool the local watering hole hosted Yuk Yuk's on Wednesdays and featured really bad road comics. We'd go because we were 16 and they would serve pitchers of beer to us, no probs. There was no stage. The comics just stood in the middle of a small roadhouse on what also functioned as the dance floor. One comic was getting heckled by this really big, really drunk guy and decides to pull out the ol' "Come on pal, I don't come down to where you work and yell into the drive-thru mic."

This was a sensitive point with the heckler. He charged the stage, threw the comic to the ground and was laying on top of him repeatedly screaming "WHAT DO YOU MAKE! MINIMUM WAGE?!?!" The guy didn't even let go of the mic and it was pinned right between the heckler/attacker and the comic, so his insane screaming was being broadcast over the soundsystem.


(Maybe Berliner is right. I do sound like a dirtbag when I tell these childhood stories.)

[aenemaTron]

In Brian Regan's latest "Epitome of Hyperbole", some audience member yells out "the yellow one is the sun" referring back to a previous DVD of his. Funny as shit. But I can't imagine that guy was really heckling, I'm guessing it was planned? Any thoughts?

What was funny about it? And since he told they guy it was inappropriate, I don't think it was planned.

[ChrisCubasATX]

In highschool the local watering hole hosted Yuk Yuk's on Wednesdays and featured really bad road comics. We'd go because we were 16 and they would serve pitchers of beer to us, no probs. There was no stage. The comics just stood in the middle of a small roadhouse on what also functioned as the dance floor. One comic was getting heckled by this really big, really drunk guy and decides to pull out the ol' "Come on pal, I don't come down to where you work and yell into the drive-thru mic."

This was a sensitive point with the heckler. He charged the stage, threw the comic to the ground and was laying on top of him repeatedly screaming "WHAT DO YOU MAKE! MINIMUM WAGE?!?!" The guy didn't even let go of the mic and it was pinned right between the heckler/attacker and the comic, so his insane screaming was being broadcast over the soundsystem.


(Maybe Berliner is right. I do sound like a dirtbag when I tell these childhood stories.)

What Bongers is neglecting to mention is that said watering hole was located in the east wing of his family's palatial Canadian estate.

[RegularKarate]

I was at the table with the heckler on Werewolves and Lollipops... that went on for a lot longer than on the album and included a lot of people heckling.

Once I was at a bar that was one half stage, the other half poker and sports bar. I was doing my set on the stage half and a drunk guy came over from the poker side obviously with the intent of heckling because he didn't even listen to any of my act, he just walked up and booed then said "I wish I had some tomatoes"... I didn't have a comeback for that other than "thank you, sir" because I thought it was really funny then he told the guy next to him "I would throw them".

[drieux]

One of the first times I ever got onstage was at a pretty awful, dirty little club in the middle of nowhere, Michigan. Included in the audience was a couple with a pretty cheerful wife and her husband, a sour-pussed, angry ex-Marine who did NOT want to be at this comedy club.

Instead of having a few beers and trying to enjoy himself, the Marine (who was still completely ripped and was wearing a super-tight t-shirt to let everybody know it) just crossed his arms and glared at each and every person to get onstage. Not exactly heckling, but I saw at least two performers lose their shit and just bail out onstage. I ended up looking to the other side of the room to get through.

About a year later in a different club in a different section of nowhere, Michigan, I was getting my first paying gigs opening at a club. I was really nervous and when I got out for the second show on Friday night to start up, some guy saw my knees shaking and yelled out in the middle of my first bit, "DON'T GET TOO NERVOUS, ROOKIE!!!"

I was going to start to respond to him, but the cable suddenly popped out of the microphone and dropped to the ground, and the whole crowd just erupted, laughing at me. One of the most awful moments of my life. I only did about five minutes instead of the regular 10 and didn't do any banter whatsoever the rest of the show. Luckily the other comics were awesome and handled them like pros.

Every show I do now is totally awesome and perfect.

[DOOM]

I've gotten heckled as an audience member randomly at a few shows here in tulsa. the first guy named "cowboy bill", noticed that i wasnt laughing,(and likely had a scowl on my face). so he decided to stop halfway through his 20 minute joke about getting a vasectomy, and accost me. he said random things like i should pull my pants down so everyone could have a laugh, and that i was 17 and should get why his joke was funny. anyway, he got a big laugh about it. but i just maintain that my obviously not having a good time made him so uncomfortable that he had to result to inane insults.

the 2nd time, i cant remember the comedian, he was mexican and not terrible, good at keeping the audience interested. anyway, i have sideburns and he decided to go "oh, extreme sideburns, extreme guy huh? extreme skateboarding" then goes "why dont you get an extreme job?". the joke was in reference to him being old and all the kids these days are lazy and he works so hard blah blah. the funny part though, is that i actually didnt have a job at the time. i almost yelled out that he was correct about that part. but i decided that that is what a retarded person would do, so i didnt.

[Gene George]

a sour-pussed, angry ex-Marine who did NOT want to be at this comedy club.

That would've been the time to pull out the jarhead jokes.

http://miljokes.com/mlitary-jokes-hu...g01/060801.htm

This one killed me:
Q: "What has an IQ of 42?"

Spoiler:  

A: "40 Marines plus their lieutenant"

[KevinLee]

You've done it Gene. I like you again!

[MarkAgee]

Hecking is something the audience does to a comic.

What you are talking about, Doom, is called "being an asshole."

[DiscoInferiorityComplex]

In Brian Regan's latest "Epitome of Hyperbole", some audience member yells out "the yellow one is the sun" referring back to a previous DVD of his. Funny as shit. But I can't imagine that guy was really heckling, I'm guessing it was planned? Any thoughts?

It stems from some of his late '90s-early 2000's appearances on Opie & Anthony. He commented that he doesn't fit very well with the show's standard "join in the conversation" format, so they took a call from a listener who set Brian up for one of his jokes in a very forced manner. Something like "So, Brian... Did you ever have to do a science project as a kid?" They proceeded to take call after call of forced Brian Regan joke setups. "I was wondering if Brian had any funny observations about Pop Tarts..." "Brian, have you ever had to deal with the phone company?" "Has Brian ever wondered how great it would be if he were one of the few people to walk on the moon?" Then Regan would proceed to tell his jokes.

Each appearance on the show would eventually devolve into this. His subsequent New York City live appearances also started to devolve into drunk O&A fans yelling out bit requests. He was selling out 3 shows a night at Carolines, with the late shows becoming somewhat infamous for the animalistic audiences. Through his retelling of these awful experiences, "The big yellow one's the sun" became the cliched heckle. Even today, the last 30 minutes of his shows can turn into drunk audience bit requests.

[Shane]

It stems from some of his late '90s-early 2000's appearances on Opie & Anthony. He commented that he doesn't fit very well with the show's standard "join in the conversation" format, so they took a call from a listener who set Brian up for one of his jokes in a very forced manner. Something like "So, Brian... Did you ever have to do a science project as a kid?" They proceeded to take call after call of forced Brian Regan joke setups. "I was wondering if Brian had any funny observations about Pop Tarts..." "Brian, have you ever had to deal with the phone company?" "Has Brian ever wondered how great it would be if he were one of the few people to walk on the moon?" Then Regan would proceed to tell his jokes.

Each appearance on the show would eventually devolve into this. His subsequent New York City live appearances also started to devolve into drunk O&A fans yelling out bit requests. He was selling out 3 shows a night at Carolines, with the late shows becoming somewhat infamous for the animalistic audiences. Through his retelling of these awful experiences, "The big yellow one's the sun" became the cliched heckle. Even today, the last 30 minutes of his shows can turn into drunk audience bit requests.

I feel like you had a flahlight pointing up at your face when you were typing this

[I love nny]

I feel like you had a flahlight pointing up at your face when you were typing this

...and the call was coming from inside the house.