Hecklers......

frobisher

I have seen heckles I've enjoyed where it's a word or phrase that's relevant and the heckler just leaves it at that. But 99% of time it just gets in the way of a show. What is it that motivates heckler to shout out, especially when it's usually something crap?

Anyone here a serial heckler and willing to admit it?

ttm

frobisher wrote: »

What is it that motivates heckler to shout out, especially when it's usually something crap?

Drink?

frobisher

ttm wrote: »

Drink?

But everyone else is drinking too, and they're not heckling!

ttm

OK then too much Drink and a crowd of mates to impress?

Lets face it you couldn't be sober and rant on all night after paying (in one way or another) to see a gig.

Darksaga87

People who want to be acknowledged by the comedian on stage....most of the time these people are idiot's and the people they are with wish they didnt know them or bring them to the gig.

Ive seen some vey very bad hecklers

"I love you dessiiiiee!!!!"

"ok please, you are getting old now, please let the gig continue!.....so there I was.."

"dessi we would be great!!! ya big american dick!!"

"Ugh,.... secruity?"

Des Bishop last year.

waves

There are a few different reasons.

Firstly, there are those people who never really go to comedy (like at Des Bishop's gig that you mention). They turn go to a gig as it is an event, they sit and barely listen to the show. They are there to see someone famous and so they can tell their friends that they saw a big act at a gig. They shout up becuase they do not listen and because the comedy means nothing to them. I have sat in Vicar St for some gigs and people will talk throughout a gig, and when other people clap, they clap..... when people laugh, they wolf whistle (never understand that at a comedy gig) and they don't listen to material.

Then there are those whom a comedian has interacted with at the start of the show and they think that they are part of the show. So as a show progresses and the act moves on and ignores them, they start heckling/speaking up to re-involve themselves.

There are also very drunk people who will shout inane ****e up because they're extremely drunk.

There are those who see the show as an interactive thing - that heckling is demanded of the punter.... the best example of this was a girl at a gig who shouted up "that's not true" after an act made a comment about West Life...

There are those who disagree with an acts views, esp. if political and try to debate with an act.

And there are those who genuinely think that they are adding to the show for other people. They disrupt a show - they piss the rest of the audience off and then come up to the act to shake their hand at the end of a gig and say "that was great"......

I have heard some great heckles. When they work, they can really work but they are few and far between.

And, there are lots of really stupid people out there. They haven't the intelligience to sit and listen and laugh and learn.... they don't grasp the concept of something so instead of just listening to it, they get bored and try to make their own entertainment at a gig - chatting to friends and waiting for a moment to try to make their friend laugh and sometimes they try to do this by hackling/shouting ****....

At Russell Brand, people just kept shouting random stuff and catch phrases at him... it was relentless. It ruined an otherwise decent gig although seeing him deal with a female heckler was amazing. The vitriol and hatred towards her shut her up.

Darksaga87

You went to a russle brand gig????

frobisher

Darksaga87 wrote: »

You went to a russle brand gig????

A girl I know ended up back at party in his suite in the Clarence. She stuck her head upstairs to see what was going on in the jaccuzzi. It was him with 3 hot girls, bottle of champagne and 4 or 5 used condoms littering the ground. He asked he r to get in. She claims she didn''t :P Fair play Russel!!

Darksaga87

He's a nasty ugly little shíte!!!

not in a funny way either.

frobisher

His TV show made me laugh.

Darksaga87

The world's gone mad....

Gross Halfwit

Aaaanyway ... back to Hecklers ...

... I've found that it's usually the "funny" one in a large group of mates who want to yell stuff out to reassert their comedy dominance (if thats a thing?) so after the gig he can say "J'member when I said ...". And then all his friends laugh.

These are the people who come up to you in work or whatever & say "Hey, did you see Family Guy last night?" ... "Yes." ... "Did you see the bit where ...". FUPPING IDIOTS!

Or ... whats worse is women who take great offence to what you've just said about your fictional girlfriend & feel the need to tell you or tell all her mates at great volume. I was called a sexist cos I said my girlfriend wasn't all that bright ... long story short, the woman ended up crying in the toilets for about 25 minutes ... apparently.

I deal with heckler's on a case by case basis. Simple one timers get a little comedy put down & then I move on. Repeat offenders get venom injected directly into their brains.

Frank my Boy

At Bill Bailey,
Heckler(woman): I love you bill.
Bill: Em, not the hardest heckler I've ever had but thank you (continues)
After 5 minutes.
Heckler:I love you bill.
Bill: Alright no it's a bit creepy, like at any given moment I know the exact contents of your stomach.

reindeerarmy

Heckler: your useless
Stand up: Yes yes i will take any complaints at the end of the show. I will deal with you in alaphabetical order, is that alright Mr. Zebra?

krudler

One of my friends heckled Jason Byrne years ago, well not so much heckled as shot down an attempt by Byrne to pick on him . He was doing his usual "pick on the audience as I cant do any real comedy" shtick and asked why my friend looked so grumpy, to which he replied "Because I paid for a comedy show and havent heard a single joke since you came on" which got a bigger laugh than anything Byrne did that night, he swiftly shut up and moved onto another victim straight afterward, ginger prat

orestes

Had a drunk Scottish woman repeatedly yell at me in the middle of a set once that I was racist cos she didn't understand the concept of irony and had therefore misunderstood a joke about the holocaust. The German and the Israli guy in the audience had no problem with it though. Hecklers are usually just drunken idiots, or to be more corret idiots who are drunk. If a quick put-down doesn't work get the audience to shut them up by asking who wants the idiot to shut their mouth and stop ruining their night out, usualy does the trick. Worst comes to worst just have 'em chucked out.

waves

krudler wrote: »

He was doing his usual "pick on the audience as I cant do any real comedy" shtick and asked why my friend looked so grumpy, to which he replied "Because I paid for a comedy show and havent heard a single joke since you came on"

I just saw Jason in Edinburgh as part of his sell out show..... he sells the 1,000 seater across 30 nights (there or there abouts). If you go to hear "jokes", then maybe Jason isn;t for you.

Exclamation Marc

A good heckle isn't too bad, but a good heckle usually comes around once every 30 shows I go to. I find that most heckles are just abuse or some Irish-ism's that are overused (the amount of times I've heard a heckler put in their place by a comedian to be followed by Póg mo Thoin back to the usually foreign comedian to drunk cheers).

Jimmy Carr is brilliant for quietening the hecklers, always able to shut them up.

Do you think it's better for a comedian to retort or just ignore them?

Gross Halfwit

FireballPitcher wrote: »

Do you think it's better for a comedian to retort or just ignore them?

Depends on the heckle I reckon. If the heckle is a challenge or an insult then the comedian should respond, I would, just to regain control of the room.

If the heckle is just a stupid add on to the joke I just did & it gets a laugh I would sometimes ignore it or acknowledge it but not glorify it, if you catch my drift, but again it depends on a lot of factors. Crowd, location, length of gig, importance of gig, insistence of heckler etc.

If the heckle is funny & delivered in good spirit, which is rare, then I'd let them have their moment & move on.

krudler

waves wrote: »

I just saw Jason in Edinburgh as part of his sell out show..... he sells the 1,000 seater across 30 nights (there or there abouts). If you go to hear "jokes", then maybe Jason isn;t for you.

I know, I dont know what I was thinking, paying to see a comedian and hoping he'd make me laugh:rolleyes:

Jason Byrne is a cnut, that is all

waves

krudler wrote: »

I know, I dont know what I was thinking, paying to see a comedian and hoping he'd make me laugh:rolleyes:

Jason Byrne is a cnut, that is all

I always find it amazing that people take such a personal dislike to comedians more so than to any other form of artist.

Say that you don't find him funny is fine; but to call him (or any comedian) a "cnut" because you don't find funny is a bit extreme, no?

SlimJ

krudler wrote: »

I know, I dont know what I was thinking, paying to see a comedian and hoping he'd make me laugh:rolleyes:
Jason Byrne is a cnut, that is all

I think what Waves was getting at is that Jason Byrne's act is predominantly made up of crowd work.

Edgehead

waves wrote: »

I always find it amazing that people take such a personal dislike to comedians more so than to any other form of artist.

Say that you don't find him funny is fine; but to call him (or any comedian) a "cnut" because you don't find funny is a bit extreme, no?

It happens in all forms of celebrity.

Cristiano Ronaldo is a cnut. Fern Britton is a cnut.

dlofnep

It's funny watching Heckler's being ripped apart

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IU_3b2_33vI

Mr.Nice Guy

This is my favourite heckler put-down ever (Warning - NSFW):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=it9kpZHXhxI

Edgehead

Celebrity hecklers

jesusbuddha

Some audience interaction is good but it is important that it is not taken too far. I think in general it is ok to interact with the mc, but when a comedian is on stage he/ she is doing a set a show, and they should be given respect... unless of course they are asking for it.

I have seen open mics, guys who are new to comedy stand on stage, (which takes guts), and then some drunken weasel at the back shows off to his mates by shouting random comments at the comedian. Of course the comedian will learn from this.... but I think that it is not cool to heckle.

Aidan

Denisejcc

krudler wrote: »

One of my friends heckled Jason Byrne years ago, well not so much heckled as shot down an attempt by Byrne to pick on him . He was doing his usual "pick on the audience as I cant do any real comedy" shtick and asked why my friend looked so grumpy, to which he replied "Because I paid for a comedy show and havent heard a single joke since you came on" which got a bigger laugh than anything Byrne did that night, he swiftly shut up and moved onto another victim straight afterward, ginger prat

Ha ha ha, love it! cant stand Jason Byrne , he must be the worst 'comedian' ever,HES JUST NOT FUNNY!! :rolleyes: Muppet!

Ash.J.Williams

I go to a lot of comedy shows and i must say i think Irish hecklers are the unfunniest people on the planet.

For example if you are the guy who shouted "relegation" at Ross Noble, thinking that becuause Newcastle were relegated you had contributed to the show...you are a twat. The main other thing you hear shouted as mentioned earlier are stupid unfunny local irishisms that make no sense in any other part of the world.

jesusbuddha

I concur.

I go to comedy at least twice a week, and in fairness, I think Irish people don't seem to heckle too much, but when they do, it is usually cringe worthy.

And it's unusual becuase Irish people are funny, but I think in general hecklers lack the funny bone. As a rue of thumb the ones that heckle are usually hammered and have no idea that their own friends are even embarrassed.

One more thing, on stage I have mostly had female hecklers... maybe that's because they get drunk easily, not sure, but I have had 4 female hecklers too 1 male... is that just my experience ???

frobisher

For my first show ever I had 2 hecklers from the same group. I couldn't believe it. I even said to the 1st guy that this was my first ever live comedy set and could he leave it out, I did it in a funny way and the room smiled and I just continued. Then his mate chimed in a few minutes later so I hit him with a one liner (he was a ginger so it was like shooting goldfish in a barrel). The room loved it. I got an applause and continued, then the 1st guy came back in and I actually got very f**king fed up as these suit-and-tie-saps were eating into an 8 minute set that I had put a huge amount of work into. I tried to ignore and play to the room and not him, but he was ramping it up so I just went to town on him. Again the room loved it and it got a lot of laughs and an applause. A mate of mine reckoned what I'd said to him was kinda nasty but, while my set lost 2 minutes (and I had to cut some of my best jokes), the room loved it every bit of it so they kind of did me a favour. But I'd personally like them to STF up but in that case it helped in its own way. I still hope I don't get anymore for quite a while.

thorbarry

I cant remember the comedian, I seen it on TV a few years ago, but, someone was heckling him, he just turned to him and said "people say, you are what you eat. Well you must have eaten a big fat Cúnt for breakfast"
Classic

jesusbuddha

that sucks, hecklers on first time.. my guess is that is bad mc'ing... Were you put on later in the night? If so that is when people are drunker, mc's fault (most likely).

I think 8 mins is too much for a first time. There is a thing in Ireland, the 7min set, that is what you need to aim for after a while, but I think 3-5 mins is enough starting, until you build confidence. At Anseo you can do a 5 min set if you like. I think Peter at Bankers has an open night on Thursdays too, and he would be cool with less time rather than more (I think).

Anyway hecklers or no hecklers, it is important to just keep learning from every set we do.... an kill the hecklers

frobisher

jesusbuddha wrote: »

that sucks, hecklers on first time.. my guess is that is bad mc'ing... Were you put on later in the night? If so that is when people are drunker, mc's fault (most likely).

I think 8 mins is too much for a first time. There is a thing in Ireland, the 7min set, that is what you need to aim for after a while, but I think 3-5 mins is enough starting, until you build confidence. At Anseo you can do a 5 min set if you like. I think Peter at Bankers has an open night on Thursdays too, and he would be cool with less time rather than more (I think).

Anyway hecklers or no hecklers, it is important to just keep learning from every set we do.... an kill the hecklers

8 minutes was fine. I'd take longer if I could get it. I've been singing and presenting a live music night for a while, it's a completely different thing to comedy (which is MUCH harder!), but I'm used to being on a mic in front of a crowd so it helps. I've done 8 minutes in Anseo, and will be back on Monday 21st, maybe boards.ie's own Jesusbuddha will let me do a little more this time :-) I think if you work on your material you can get 8 minutes to work, even as a beginner. While you're up there it feels like 8 seconds anyway!

Ash.J.Williams

Jimmy Carr has the heckling down to an art!!

"oh it's you......your mother told me you were going to be here" and then demonstrates how the hecklers mother explained what was going to happen from the doggy position with jimmy and his entire crew backstage!

I would agree a comedian should be armed with a few killer comebacks but ejection should be the 3rd course of action.

Incidently the guy who attacked Jim Jeffries was Irish. I genuinely do think we are a wittier funnier nation than most. The root of it all is we are unafraid to take the piss out of ourselves as well as others, but there is a minority who believe this is a god given right, ususally the type of Irish you meet abroad who are messy drunk with their arm around some reluctant foreigner telling them how funny and great the Irish before spewing on the bar.

IanPerth

jesusbuddha wrote: »

that sucks, hecklers on first time.. my guess is that is bad mc'ing... Were you put on later in the night? If so that is when people are drunker, mc's fault (most likely).

I think 8 mins is too much for a first time. There is a thing in Ireland, the 7min set, that is what you need to aim for after a while, but I think 3-5 mins is enough starting, until you build confidence. At Anseo you can do a 5 min set if you like. I think Peter at Bankers has an open night on Thursdays too, and he would be cool with less time rather than more (I think).

Anyway hecklers or no hecklers, it is important to just keep learning from every set we do.... an kill the hecklers

Anseo is great, and always has a nice ''non heckler''/friendly audience! . . . maybe its the location/clientèle or maybe its the top class MC' Ing ! ! ! :-).

I did a gig last night in the ha'penny & although it went really well & I enjoy the venue ! ... there was a group intent on putting the acts off ! ... One Guy was ''FAKE LAUGHING'' at the wrong time to put acts off, another guy seemed to be coughing on purpose at inappropriate times to amuse his friends.

I did the best I could ! and tried not to show I was too annoyed !

It was an essential learning experience !

Eric Shantz was on straight after me,,, and man did he know how to put those guys in their place! . . . He seems to engage an audience so well that he can make a heckler VERY unpopular VERY quickly ! . . . . a great skill !

You cant learn that stuff in front of the mirror with a remote control in your hand !