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November 13, 2007
The Truth About Hecklers
By: Michael Showalter
The truth about hecklers is... that they're awesome. Hecklers are to comedy what garlic powder is to a slice of pizza. That is to say: not essential but it makes it taste a little better. In some cases, garlic powder actually transforms the slice of pizza into something more than "just a slice of pizza." If you haven't seen Bill Burr eviscerating an audience of hecklers in Philly, you'll know what I'm talking about. It is bar-none, the funniest thing I have ever seen. He unleashes a torrent of rage that goes on for ten minutes. It goes from being funny, to brilliant, to "I actually shit in my pants and cried."
Hecklers permit us to uncork our inner-demon and, to use a dance term, "work it out." Everytime I perform on the road I am heckled. It's rarely negative heckling. It's usually your typical, "Play Freebird!" type of heckler. Or to put it another way, it's your typical, "Hey look at me instead of the person we've all paid money to see" type of heckle. After the show people always come up to me and apologize on the heckler's behalf. They'll say, "We're not all like that here in (insert city name.)" And I say, "Don't worry about it. It's fine." And I say that not to be polite, I say it because it's true. Nothing makes me happier than to have the opportunity to uncork my anger and direct it at someone I've never met. It's rare in life that you get to tell someone to "suck your dick" and get applause for it. On my record, Sandwiches and Cats, I was heckled by two cats in the front row. Yes, cats. A woman decided that it would be a good idea to bring her cats with her to a live taping. It's hard to perform when there's cats meowing the whole time. So, instead of doing my material, I talked about the cats. It was a total garlic powder moment. In conclusion, heckle to your hearts content. We don't mind.
Michael is on a world blog tour all day today in support of his new album Sandwiches and Cats AVAILABLE NOW on JDub Records. A world blog tour is like a live tour except instead of greeting his fans at places like Camden, New Jersey and Gary, Indiana, he'll use virtual reality to receive them at sites like Brooklyn Vegan, Culture Bully, Jewschool, My Old KY Blog, Stereogum, Popwatch, and Deadspin.
Posted by The Apiary at November 13, 2007 12:53 PM
Comments
Michael how could you use a garlic powder pizza metaphor. You said pizza gives you heartburn and wouldn't eat it when i brought it to you when you hosted Culture Shock. Fucking mailbox head.
actually i could have dosed the pizza. so, good call.
Posted by: christina at February 12, 2008 12:22 PM
Michael how could you use a garlic powder pizza metaphor. You said pizza gives you heartburn and wouldn't eat it when i brought it to you when you hosted Culture Shock. Fucking mailbox head.
actually i could have dosed the pizza. so, good call.
Posted by: christina at February 12, 2008 12:22 PM