How do you deal with hecklers?

Josh Goguen: It really depends. I'm not an aggressive person, so I don't want to yell at someone and ruin the mood I've created with everything prior to it.


Also, a lot of hecklers think they're helping. I've been amazed at how many times after a show, someone will come up and say, "Hey, I was the guy who was shouting stuff out. I thought you were funny, I just wanted to give you something to work with." I don't want to rip into someone who thinks they're helping. It's like yelling at a retarded boy for trying to clean windows with dog shit. His heart was in the right place and I have to at least appreciate that.

What I tend to do is acknowledge them, try to rebut in a funny way, and then say something along the lines of, "Okay, we're done. I've got stuff to do." One of the more memorable exchanges was this chick in the front row started talking. I had just finished talking about how I love smokers and she said something:

Me - What was that?
Chick - Nothing.
Me - No, seriously, what's going on?
Chick - You don't like me because I smoke.
Me - I don't like you because you smoke? No, sweetheart. I said I LIKE smokers...I don't like you because clearly you don't listen.

The crowd laughed, and I moved on.

There have been other times where I let it go because it's not worth stopping the show for something the majority of the crowd didn't even hear. Those are the ones I stew and get angry about later.

Abbi Crutchfield: I often mistake friendly interaction or polite table whispers as heckling, so I make a habit of avoiding it. When it's so loud it's unavoidable (or heaven forbid it gets a laugh), I have to bring the crowd's focus back to me. I find shooting a gun in the air works best. Sometimes I use the time while the crowd is distracted to go to the bathroom or get a sandwich. When I get back on stage, the drunken heckler has run out of ideas. Or the club gives him my paycheck.

Mick Diflo: I haven't had many, and most of them shut up after a simple, "OK; I'll take it from here." If they keep it up, you can try to get the audience with you by saying, "How many paid to see this guy?" or something like that. If the audience can't hear them, just ignore them, or go with the old, "Come on - I don't come down to YOUR job and smack the dick outta your mouth."

It's a shame that a comedy club is one of the few entertainment places you can go and have to even hear these assholes - they'd get thrown out of a movie, a play, a concert, but we have to find clever ways to deal with them. I'll probably get better at it in time, but probably because my mind is always thinking of how much time I have on stage, honestly - I like clubs (like Gotham) who just throw them out. Maybe when I'm not rushing through my allotted 7 to 10 minutes I'll take time to do the whole back-and-forth thing. If I'm making enough money I can see about having them killed. Just kidding. Not really.

Phil O'Reily: I've quoted an old Steve Martin line that seems to work-His response to the heckler was-"Oh yeah. I remember the first time I got drunk, too."