Hecklers are a part of comedy. Anytime you mix alcohol and a fun performance there is a chance that it will become a free for all and people think they are as funny or funnier than the comedian on stage. While heckling is often rare there are some people who seem to want to input their two cents even when it’s not asked.
Hecklers often think they are making the show better or think they are funnier than the comedian. Often the best course of action is to ignore them. If that doesn’t work you can ask them to be quiet and stop talking, should that not work you can turn the crowd on them, make fun of them, or just turn the heckler into part of the show, this is a great tactic often used by comedians and is a great way to win the audience over, and keep the show rolling.
Ignore Them
Take yourself for instance, when someone tries to ignore you deliberately in front of someone, would you make a second move and try again to get yourself in the spotlight? Hecklers are people like us, all normal but a little rude to always keep probing a person who didn’t ask for it.
What if someone starts talking about you when you are performing calmly on a stage and making people laugh? Keep talking, and making people laugh! It may take a few seconds, for him to know that he or she is being ignored and the best part is, most of the audience won’t even notice him. By making the heckler feel as if he is invisible, and that he is interrupting the show, he may look like a brutal party and guess what? By doing this trick, they will stop nine out of ten times.
As you are doing your set, pay attention to the rest of the audience except the heckler. Make eye contact with everyone except him and voila, this will eliminate any future interruptions. from them or other wannabe hecklers.
Ask Them To Be Quiet
Some hecklers are there just because they want to be heard. I know it is probably the most annoying thing when you get interrupted, but now that they have interrupted you, you might as well listen to them and try to reply to them graciously. Note that the audience paid to see you be funny, not watch you be rude and ruin your own show with your mood.
Being a therapist towards hecklers can do wonders. Talk compassionately and help solve their problems by saying “You seem upset, and I know this isn’t what you wanted to have happen tonight. Let’s talk about your problems.” Being this way, your flow of comedy remains constant and you aren’t being aggressively rude to your dear heckler.
Seeing this treatment from the performer, the heckler might shorten his speech or just stop saying anything at all – so it is a win-win situation for you anyway. This also stops any further interruptions because no one wants to be the reason to cause a roar of laughter by being embarrassed by someone on the stage.
Get The Crowd On Your Side
The best way to turn around the confidence of a heckler is by leaving it up to the audience. No one should ever underestimate the power of the crowd, your audience. Ask your audience whether they want you to continue making them laugh or do they want to hear more from the heckler? They obviously paid to see the comedian doing his stand-up comedy, not the person who is interrupting the comedian. Just imagine and tell if you think the heckler would keep talking if he felt a social pressure of thousands of people asking him to shut up? Most likely they will just get back into their chair mumbling.
Once you give the crowd the upper hand, you might face silence for a few seconds, but in most cases, the crowd will say they want to hear you (because they paid to see you as we talked about it earlier). They will cheer you up with loud noises because they are as fed up with the heckler as the performer is. It is so rare that a heckler would continue talking after this sort of embracement from the whole crowd.
However, if they still continue, a persuasive method is to remind them and the audience that they do not intend to hear stupid people having garbage flowing through their mouths. This will let you be the dominant one and continue with the rest of the show.
Make Fun Of Them
The ignoring trick we talked about earlier might be enough to get the heckler to shut his mouth, but if you want them to have a taste of their own medicine, why not do something interesting? It is easy to be in the audience and say stuff to mock or embarrass the performer, but when you are on the stage, it isn’t easy anymore. Calling them out and asking them to repeat their words might make them shut up, but it might also make them brazen.
What some comedians do when it comes to dealing with hecklers is that they will call them up on the stage and ask them to say all that they have to say. It might be a good approach to make your heckler feel how difficult it is to be the person on stage and then too, get embarrassed by people just being themselves.
By calling them out and offering them a chance to say their piece of stage they will often bail. Remember that public speaking is one of the largest fears. While this may backfire on beginners, I would only recommend this if the heckler won’t shut up and your responses are no longer making the audience laugh. Turn the tables for those hecklers and make them see for themselves how hard it is to be on stage.
Make It Part of The Show
If nothing has ever worked in your court and you see that your shows are getting filled by hecklers, then nothing would hurt trying out this trick. Can you fake cry? Or at least make that face? If yes, then you are good to go. The good old act of Andy Kaufman crying after he responded to a Heckler by saying “If you want to Heckle me, you win” is the best way to turn down a Heckler.
It is a mockery of the inverse scenario getting what a heckler wants you to feel. This might get the audience a bit heated up, even when they all know its all just a show and guess what? That heckler will be left upset, feeling guilty for causing all this (the weird stares from the entire audience, just rolling their eyes at him) and for not getting a reaction out of you.
While this can be over the top if you find that you are constantly getting heckled, think of ways to work a bit into your routine. Comedian Steve Hofstetter has worked handling hecklers into his routine and even gone viral from some of his responses to hecklers. Knowing that heckling will most likely happen has allowed Hffstetter to be able to handle and make a routine out of the situations Check out his videos on YouTube for some of the best ways he has responded to hecklers.
The truth is that no matter how you handle the heckler it will not be easy. As the saying goes “dying is easy; comedy is hard”. So no matter the outcome it is always great for a comedian to know how to control the stage and the audience. Keep in mind that the show must go on so if all the above steps fail, feel free to have them kicked out and keep on with the show. Hecklers are a part of comedy but they shouldn’t be the reason you have a bad set.