Thread: How to deal with heckles?

and there is, very occasionally, such a thing as a good heckle - one that adds to the show and gives you something to spark off. i think sometimes the bad heckles are the price we have to pay for interactive nature of cabaret.

There was such a thing at a show I did last weekend... Most of us that had already performed managed to run out into the audience to watch the truly amazing Miss Alexandra Hoftgartner/Miss Hot Garter. She is absolutely mesmerising to watch, and usually audiences are quite awed and quiet as it's one of those routines where you're not quite sure if you should break the spell by whooping. Then all of a sudden someone could contain themselves no longer, and as she flashed a little leg the audience member exclaimed "I love yout legs!!" with an almost heartbreaking sincerity.

The entire audience laughed, in a nice way. It was really quite sweet.

I did tell Alex after that it had happened, as I thought if she hadn't heard the comment and thought people were nasty heckling it would be a bit of a downer. But she had heard the comment - I think it made her smile.

And it's true. She does have lovely legs!

Originally Posted by DustyLimits

my lovely friend Taylor Mac quote Flawless Mother Sabrina, who said: 'people who heckle just want to be part of the show'.

it's a dangerous strategy but it can be very effective. the sheer weight of an entire audience can be turned against a heckler very effectively.

i once had a very drunk woman who talked loudly through a lot of acts and heckled a few times. i finally stopped the show, pointed out that she clearly wanted to be on stage, dragged her up, gave her the microphone, stepped back and watched her get redder and redder and redder with everyone laughing at her.

brutal, but effective.

i also had two drunk Polish girls, who spoke hardly any english, at a show in Plymouth, talking loudly all the way through. nobody in the very repressed, British audience did much to discourage them although there was a tiny bit of 'ssssshing'. they were oblivious (drunks as lords). i did eventually point out that people had paid good money to listen to me, not to them, and that seemed to galvanise the audience. being reminded that they'd paid for a show and it was being ruined was enough to make them more interventionist. the girls were eventually kicked out of the theatre, but it was a long lull in the show.

the CRUCIAL thing is - never ever let them get to you. never show that you're pissed off. hecklers are dumb fucks who revel in negative attention, so if they see they've got a rise out of you, they'll feel like they've achieved something.

and there is, very occasionally, such a thing as a good heckle - one that adds to the show and gives you something to spark off. i think sometimes the bad heckles are the price we have to pay for interactive nature of cabaret.

Thanks for the advice Dusty

It seems to me that compere's and comedians are more likely to get heckles than dancers in my experience , I have heard a couple of fairly cruel heckles of dancers but as people have said generally the audience will police this. I am a compere and I can honestly say that the only heckle I have received to date was from my Dad!

I think you have to try to choose your venues and therefore clientelle as carefully as you can because I think most people on the burlesque /caberet scene are generally more respectful.

I'm luck that the show I compere has a very theatre audience vibe and they seem to buy into the whole experience and our regulars know not just to expect loads of boobs!

In general though, I would say sod em, I'd like to see them have a go... or perhaps not.

xx

Barbara knows how to sort it,
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izF5Z-l-FOM]YouTube - barbra streisand, cursing nyc fan[/ame]
Way to go!

Originally Posted by DustyLimits

the CRUCIAL thing is - never ever let them get to you. never show that you're pissed off. hecklers are dumb fucks who revel in negative attention, so if they see they've got a rise out of you, they'll feel like they've achieved something.

Advice that I'll keep close to my bosom from now on whenever I perform, thanks Dusty.

x