How to Respond to a Heckler When Performing Onstage

If you spend enough time performing onstage, either as a professional or as an amateur, it is inevitable that you will be heckled. Knowing how to respond to a heckler is a skill every performer needs before taking the stage. Responding to a heckler is an art form that is best served by experience and having a few tricks up your sleeve. Here are some tips for the performing artist--stage actors, singers and stand up comedians alike--for dealing with hecklers, as well as some classic comeback lines to work with.

Things You'll Need

• Your wits about you.
• A good sense of comedic timing.
• The ability to improvise.

Instructions

1. Take cues from the masters of the art form. They are mostly stand up comedians, but they can also be stage actors and singers too. Who are your heroes? Listen to how they respond to hecklers. The late Andy Kaufman was so concerned, or perhaps intrigued, by the possibility of hecklers that he planted them in his audience so he could control the situation. Steve Martin studied the ways of old vaudeville comics, the dynamics of modern nightclubs and came up with his own comebacks, some of which are now classics. And there is the apocryphal tale of a great Shakespearean actor who, after delivering the famous line "A horse! a horse! My kingdom for a horse!" from Richard III heard a whinnying sound from the audience. The actor paused, looked towards the section of the audience from whence the whinnying sound came and improvised the line "Forget the horse! Saddle yonder braying ass!" Which was a perfectly appropriate response to a heckler of Shakespeare.

2. Understand the importance of comedic timing. If your timing is off the heckler wins and you're backpedaling to get through your set. Always make a heckler's comment work to your advantage. If you're a singer or an actor you might think comedic timing doesn't apply to you, but it does. See the example from the Shakespearean actor in Step 1. In the most serious of moments this actor made the audience laugh, got the play back on track and put the heckler in his place. If the heckler gets a laugh you need to get a bigger laugh or, better yet, a round of applause.

3. Have a stash of great comebacks and know how to improvise on them to fit the situation so it seems like you just made it up. "This is why cousins shouldn't marry" is the oldest comeback in the book and shouldn't be used anymore. Maybe you could say, "Hey pal, listen, I don't come to where you work and complain about how cold the fries are." This is an improvised variation of the old "I don't come to where you work..." routine. Steve Martin's "I remember when I had my first beer" bit still works, but you must deliver every comeback line in a way that seems fresh and spontaneous, not just a pat, rehearsed response.If someone yells out "You suck!" you could respond "Yeah, that's what I told your mother when I left her room last night." Again, another improvised variation of an oft used line. Many of the best responses to hecklers are often very crude in nature. If some one yells out, "Don't quit your day job!" you could respond "My day job is finding men for your sister," or your own variation thereof.

4. There's always the straight-ahead method. Call the person out for interrupting you, tell them they are rude and then let the bouncer do what he's paid to do. This method is best used for a drunk who won't shut-up and keeps interrupting you. Most people will never say anything after the first outburst. And you should be putting the heckler in his place after the first outburst anyway, but when worse comes to worse there's always the bouncer or door guy.

Tips & Warnings

• Timing, experience and being able to improvise are the most important facets in responding to a heckler.

• Listen to the masters of stand up comedy, memorize classic comeback lines and improvise on them to fit your situation.

• For singers: if someone yells out a song request as a joke, such as"Freebird!", you could respond by saying something like "That guy comes to every show."

• Be extra careful when responding to a child heckler. A response to the parents might be more appropriate in many situations.