#hecklers

[tomorrowusa]

Donald Trump has a gag order placed on him by the judge in his Stormy Daniels hush money trial. So to get around the gag order various Trump lickspittles make pilgrimages to the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse to say stuff to the media which Trump himself is not allowed to say. Past Trump mouthpieces have included pseudo-hillbilly fascist Sen. J.D. Vance and House Speaker "MAGA Mike" Johnson.

Monday's Trump mouthpieces were a quintet of MAGA C-listers: Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA-09), ex-NYC police commissioner Bernie Kerik, South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson, Trump campaign aide Jason Miller (not related to Stephen Miller), and Kash Patel - a onetime deputy director of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

While Trump has been beseeching his followers to show up outside the courthouse to demonstrate support for their Dear Leader, on Monday it was pro-democracy Trump opponents who were there in greater numbers.

A cadre of MAGA loyalists who had gathered to show their support for Donald Trump during his hush-money trial was shouted down by a bevy of cowbell-clanging anti-Trump protesters on Monday when they tried to speak outside of a lower Manhattan courthouse. [ ... ] The group that flanked the twice-impeached ex-president this time around included South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson, former New York police commissioner Bernie Kerik, ex-Trump administration official Kash Patel, Trump senior advisor Jason Miller, and Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA). All but Patel, meanwhile, were customarily decked out in Trump’s standard red tie and navy suit combo.

Yep, four of the five designated Trump lickspittles were dressed in Trump uniforms. Did he dress them himself over at Trump Tower?

Alan Wilson got an earful when he tried to spew the Trump line.

With boos raining down on Wilson, one demonstrator could be heard shouting “go home you carpetbagging fools.” Another protester who camped out behind the pro-Trump speakers with a large “Bootlickers” sign relentlessly blew a whistle while ringing a cowbell. According to independent reporter Jacqueline Sweet, the man was given a citation by law enforcement for “too much cowbell.” Patel, who is expected to take a senior White House role if Trump returns to power, portrayed the ex-president as a victim of an “unconstitutional weaponization of justice.” It was difficult to hear what he had to say as the crowd chanted: “Kash Patel, Go To Hell!” Kerik was also subjected to targeted insults when he spoke, with protesters calling him a “bald-headed bigot” throughout his comments. According to New York Magazine correspondent Oliva Nuzzi, the Trump-hating crowd also took aim at the speakers for dressing just like the former president, prompting them to call the MAGA group “red tie terrorists.” She added that the demonstrators even got a laugh from Miller, who chuckled when one protester wondered if they had bought their suits at “Dictators R Us.”

To use a favorite Trump word, Monday's Trump mouthpieces were real losers.

Rep. Andrew Clyde's rise to fame in Georgia was as a prominent gun store owner. One wonders how many of his guns make it up to NYC to be used illegally.

Bernie Kerik is a convicted felon for tax fraud who was later pardoned by Trump. He served several years behind bars for his crimes.

Alan Wilson has made false election fraud claims even before the Trump presidency and is a serial litigator for far right causes.

Kash Patel once served as an aide to Devin Nunes – the former House member who unsuccessfully sued a cartoon cow.

Jason Miller admitted to hiring prostitutes and having extramarital affairs with two campaign staffers. Republican family values – just like Trump.

Meidas Touch has a video report on Monday's scene outside the courthouse. (never mind the plant commercial in the middle).

If you're anywhere near NYC, visit the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse area on a day that the hush money trial is in session. There's a lunch break starting roughly at 11:30 AM and court is recessed for the day in the afternoon before the building closes at 5:00 PM. Bring your own cow bell and sign.

Court is in session this week on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. Next Monday court is closed for Memorial Day but should be in session on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. The case may go to the jury sometime late next week.

The Manhattan courthouse is at 100 Centre Street; take the 4, 5, or 6 subway trains to the Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall station and walk about four blocks north. The crowds and the Trump bootlickers seem to be directly across the street from the courthouse at Collect Pond Park.

EDIT: If Trump toadies had a bad day outside the courtroom, the one and only defense witness for Trump seems to have had an even worse one in court.

[nachomori-3]

Make that man suffer mwednesday with my friend @gordoodlez's Culo

[Click for quality, closeups under cut because screenshotting on whiteboard is Not the best]

+ sketch as a bonus. Lyrics from Chelovek by GHOST and Pals

[sloppypears-ash-sg]

Hecklers, The Cherries On Top

Pun intended.

The Cherries from Shovelware's Brain Game! About time I drew them. They even have a phone!

Now they can heckle - uh-oh.

Assets! Second one is just the stem.

Their phone:

Icon based on the Squishy Cherries logo (BFDI)

[thephilfactor]

STOP THROWING THINGS AT PERFORMERS!

Pic from People Magazine online. Just the other day Harry Styles, a supremely talented performer, was hit by an object thrown by a fan. What is wrong with you people? I’d like to say this didn’t happen back in my day, but it did happen then as well. (Meat Loaf) As I was researching for this post, incident after incident came up. People who want to be part of the show are the dumbest people I’ve…

[thepradaenchilada]

A virtual stand-up comedy workshop

Stand-up comedy is serious business! Looking forward to presenting my virtual Stand-Up Comedy Workshop Wednesday, June 5 from 6:30-9:30 p.m. CST! Prepare for a productive evening exploring one of the world's most popular art forms.

Photo: James Cano

[thecomedybook]

Comedians Dealing With Hecklers

Hi Dave – How should a clean comic respond to hecklers? – A.B. Say something funny! Hey A.B. – Clean comics respond to hecklers with the same comedy voice (language and who they are on stage) they use in their sets. Don’t start dropping F-bombs, swearing or lowering yourself to their level – if their level is lower because they’re rude, using foul language, or might be drunk (hecklers usually…

[davidhohnillustration]

Doesn't seem to matter where you go or what you do -- there's always a peanut gallery waiting to offer their opinions.

[perfect-fourth]

🔥 A coward hiding being a mask who will never be remembered for anything because no one will ever care about the reasons behind what he did... and he wont even have the good taste to leave behind a mystery. Just a fallen body from a failed performance and a crowd of people wanting to spit on it.

"Tsk. As if I haven't heard that a million times before." He shook his head, swirling the ice around in his virgin cocktail.

"I don't have to justify myself to anyone."

[nachomori-3]

Since im posting again y'all get to see him <3

Culo belongs to @gordoodlez

[sumukhcomedy]

The Breaking of the Stand-Up Comedy Social Contract

                                          Photo by Nick Holmby

There is something special to being the only person standing on a stage with a microphone. There is certainly a power to it, even more so when that person holding the microphone has the confidence to command that stage. There is an attention that’s given by an audience. There’s a respect that’s given by an audience. And, presumably, if effective at the reasons as to why this person with a microphone has been granted that power, they can deliver on an extremely effective speech or performance for that audience.

There are rules to this concept and such rules established themselves within stand-up comedy over its history dating back to when Mark Twain toured the world giving humorous speeches. They have developed with the existence of every type of comedy venue from comedy clubs to breweries to living rooms. Silence your cell phones. No table talk. No heckling. The audience is here to enjoy a show. They are here to watch and be entertained by a person standing on a stage with a microphone. They are not here to take calls, to have a conversation, to shout whatever they please.

Whether stand-up comedians want to believe it or not, a majority of the public has never been to a live stand-up comedy show (my parents, for example, never would have gone if not for me). As a result, their perceptions either come from absolutely nothing or from what’s delivered to them via media. That can create a flurry of misconceptions of the rules from the whole idea of throwing tomatoes at stand-up comedians to the fearful question of “What do you do when there’s a heckler?” Nevertheless, television in fact brought an order and understanding of the rules of stand-up comedy for the audience from the 1980s through the 2000s from Rodney Dangerfield’s Young Comedians Special to the short vignettes at the beginning and end of Seinfeld to Comedy Central Presents being played in every college dorm room across the country. We were just viewers laughing and being entertained. It’s how we enjoyed and fell in love with stand-up comedy to begin with.

However, a new generation and even our very own and older now interact with stand-up comedy in a different way. While television and streaming services still present stand-up via late night sets or specials, many turn to one-minute clips of stand-up via Tiktok and Instagram Reels. It is, in fact, the ideal way for stand-up comedians to gain further exposure for themselves from the public. With that, the fixation has shifted the weight to now being about the consumer more than about the comedian (or shall I say “content creator”?).

This has in turn created the rise of heckler videos, a concept that had mostly been squared around one particular comedian who seemed to thrive off being that without any concept of any actual written material but then spurned into the comedy community’s realization that such videos were actually what the public was interested in. The culture and consumers are now more reactionary. What is appealing now is what goes “viral” as opposed to what is “art.” The crowd is more important than the comedian.

As a result, we see a rise in Tiktok and Reels in these “heckler videos” or videos with interactions with the crowd members. It makes sense in a way. It allows the audience member at home watching to feel more comfortable and brought into the live experience while also seeing what feels like an organic moment (who knows if it is?) and talent from a comedian. However, in the process, the rise of these videos is slowly tearing apart the social contract of live stand-up comedy. It’s slowly giving the perception to the audience that the violation of the rules is the norm. Not only can I talk at the show, I should talk at the show, and maybe even I’ll end up on the Tiktok of this comedian. No longer am I an audience member, I am now the show.

When I was in college, one of my closest friends (and still one of my closest friends) was from Sri Lanka. Some of his co-workers were going to take him to a Cincinnati Reds game which he had never been to an American baseball game. I was sitting with them at his apartment when they jokingly said to him that at random times the players would pick people from the crowd to come on the field and play. My friend was mortified at the thought. We laughed when telling him the truth but it was an understandable reaction. The idea was absurd and the notion of as an audience member becoming part of the entertainment was so out of line with the social contract that we understand of sports around the world.

Yet, in stand-up comedy, unlike any other realm involving a stage or entertainment, we continue to undermine that social contract ourselves. Recently, a friend of mine discussed with me about the heckler videos he watched knowing I was a stand-up comedian. I explained to him the very notions I’m bringing up in this essay. He said to me, “Oh, I didn’t think about it in that way but now I see what you mean.” This is an intelligent, artistic individual who enjoys comedy and pop culture but not a performer and it still didn’t resonate to him until I explained it. So, imagine for the average audience member. I enjoy watching symphonies, but if Tiktok suddenly had a majority of conductors just interacting with the audience and requesting of them to play the violin, I would be wondering what the hell is going on in live classical music.

I don’t write this as an indictment of my fellow comedians. Times change. The business changes. In both cases, it’s clear the public and the industry want these videos because, as mentioned, the shock and the upheaval of the rules draws more attention. I don’t fault my fellow comedians for following this path if it can get them regular work and income in our field. However, it no doubt has the possibility of changing the social contract as we had all once understood stand-up comedy to be and ultimately that change is being done by the very comedians who request such rules and social contract to remain in place. You can’t expect a crowd to stay quiet for you when all their awareness is that stand-up comedy involves the comedian talking personally to them or “taking down” hecklers.

I personally don’t care. I understand what my audience (a limited one at that which I’m happy with) is and it’s introverts and oddballs who come to the show to not have the comedian talk to them personally at all from the stage and just be able to laugh at their well-constructed material. The rules remain in place at my shows and I exude those rules even in my social media presence. My shows are not a party. I can take down a heckler but don’t want to because you shouldn’t be heckling to begin with. I won’t talk to you personally from the stage. Depending upon who you are, I’m not sure I even want to talk to you personally offstage. I accept that and am comfortable.

So, I don’t write this out of anger with the change. I write it just so stand-up comedians have awareness and understanding of the change. As long as these videos persist either via the desire of the public or the industry, with it, we are handing over the rules and social contract of stand-up comedy to the public and the industry. We are actively breaking the contract. We are slowly changing what stand-up comedy is about.

Well, have fun with the bachelorette parties.

[shushmal]

Robin has a love-hate relationship with Steve-and-Eddie. Love, because those are her best friends and her best friends are in love with each other and they never leave her out of anything. Hate, because sometimes she wishes they would because she keeps accidentally third-wheeling herself.

She doesn't hate it that much though, if she's honest. It's just fun to complain, especially because it riles the both of them up.

But right now, she's being quiet so she can witness one of her secretly-favorite Steve-and-Eddie rituals—of which there are many, but this one is silly and endearing.

It starts like this:

The waitress sets down their drinks, lemonade for Robin, coca-cola for Steve, and a cherry soda for Eddie.

"Don't you dare," Eddie says, even as Steve reaches for Eddie's drink, slipping his straw in next to Eddie's and slurping obnoxiously. Eddie doesn't even pretend to stop him anymore. "Unbelievable."

"I just want to taste it!"

"You could just get a whole glass of it! All for yourself!!"

"It's too sweet, I don't want a whole glass."

"What, so you think you can just help yourself to mine?"

Steve's grin is far too smug, even for Robin, even when Steve slides it to her so she can take a sip. Steve is right, it is really too sweet and she wrinkles her nose, but it's worth it for the offended gasp Eddie makes when she slides it back to him.

The diner is their favorite, because everyone who works there has given up on understanding their weird dynamic: Robin and Steve squished into on side of the booth while Eddie's spread out on the other, Robin making gagging noises whenever Steve brushes against her, even though they never sit in any other configuration. The staff has long since stopped asking which of them was her boyfriend, and that's perfect for her.

Besides, she knows that under the table, Steve and Eddie have their ankles locked together like the disgusting love-sick dorks that they are.

The Steve-and-Eddie show continues when their meals come out. Chicken fingers and fries for Steve because he's an actual child, and breakfast for dinner for Eddie because he likes to be contrary. And then the real performance begins.

They "fight" over the ketchup bottle, which really means that Eddie picks it up and Steve snatches it out of his hands—only for Steve to spread it over Eddie's scrambled eggs (gross) for him before he adds a disgusting amount to his own basket.

Eddie makes a game of stealing Steve's fries when he thinks he isn't looking (Steve is, he's tallying each one up in his head, Robin knows this because she's doing it too), and when he finally "catches" Eddie in the act, he steals Eddie's last piece of bacon—the one that's sat untouched for the last five minutes for this very reason.

Then, Eddie's "forcing" Steve to try his grits, like he does every time, and game eats a spoonful of it, every time, and then complains at length how much he hates it (and he actually does hate it, the texture is just not for him, Robin knows because it's the same for her too).

And then they do the worst, most disgusting thing ever: they split the pancake in half. Without fail. Without argument. Every time.

Robin, slurping on her strawberry milk shake that she will NEVER share with anyone ever, thinks that stupid pancake is like the symbol of their love or something. Sh's sure if they weren't in public, they'd be feeding it to each other.

"What?" They say it in unison, and Robin hates when they do that to her.

(Eddie complains about it right back at her, because she and Steve do the same thing to him all the time. They should blame Steve, since he's the common denominator, but he just looks so pleased about them both that they can't rag on him for it, so Eddie remains Robin's sworn enemy and vice versa.)

"What what?" she sneers at them, voice quiet. "You two are disgusting, it's like you're making out right in front of me right now."

"What are you, homophobic?" Eddie hisses back, just as quiet. "I'm in love with your best friend, Buckley. I'm making out with him in front of you for the rest of your life."

"Ugh! I hate you so much."

"Right back at you."

And then they start kicking at each other beneath the table, no doubt catching Steve's ankles in the crossfire. He doesn't tell them to stop though, and Robin can see that pleased, sappy smile on his stupid face out of the corner of her eye, so she lands an exceptionally harsh blow to Eddie's shin in retaliation for making her best friend so happy. He digs his heel into her toes in return.

[grahamstoney]

Suicide Joke Gets Heckled at the Local Open Mic Night

New Post has been published on https://grahamstoney.com/anger/suicide-joke-gets-heckled-at-the-local-open-mic-night

Suicide Joke Gets Heckled at the Local Open Mic Night

I went to a local open mic comedy night here in Sydney on Wednesday night, to get up and do a four minute set.

There is plenty of angst on display by the comedians on the night for the audience’s entertainment. The MC leads the charge with a series of acrostic poems clearly displaying his disdain and resentment towards his stepfather. I didn’t even know what an acrostic poem was, so it turned out both enlightening and educational. He also does several bits in between other comedian’s sets, about his experience of depression, and of ironic conversations with his therapist.

Comedians Feel Like This about Hecklers and Step-Fathers Sometimes.

Several other comedians also speak about being depressed, taking antidepressants, seeing psychiatrists, psychologists, counsellors or therapists. Most of the stories sound funny, most of the time. But these people are clearly suffering.

I get a strong sense that a lot of comedians, deep down, are very angry. We’re putting on a brave face, smiling and joking around about some pretty serious issues. I sense that there’s a lot of primal rage going on, that we’ve been taught to suppress. We are using comedy to express that rage; or perhaps to mask it. Maybe both.

When it’s my turn, I get up and do a set about anger, focusing on my recent experience learning Tai Chi: the teacher who did more talking than teaching, and the woman that hassled me about the way I spoke one day after my practice down at the local beach. The stories I tell our literally true, but the deeper truth is that I’m not nearly as angry at my Tai Chi teacher as I am at, say, my mother. But I’m not ready to talk about that on stage; it’s still too painful for me to see the comic side of yet.

The other comedians are pushing boundaries when they start doing suicide jokes. They’re talking about their own potential suicides, and most of them are doing it in a way that is making us laugh. You’ve got to wonder what it is about human nature that make something like that funny. Actually, I know what it is: laughter is a stress relief. We laugh because we’re vicariously experiencing someone else’s pain, and the stress relief comes when our conscious mind realises that it’s not ours.

But the audience is not always laughing tonight. A female comedian ends her set by saying that since nobody finds her funny, she is leaving Australia to go to Europe where she can kill herself in a place where her mother won’t find her body. Part of me thinks she could well be serious; I don’t think anybody has laughed at any of her material tonight. I’ve heard her before, and I didn’t find her funny then either. Apparently that’s important if you want to be a comedian.

What to do? Tell her to call Lifeline? Call an ambulance and get them to come and pick her up as she comes off stage? Confiscate her passport? Or remind myself that the stories that most comedians tell onstage are distorted versions of the truth, exaggerated for our entertainment. I placate my discomfort by leaning to the attractive woman seated on my left in the audience and saying “Well, that was awkward!” to which she replies: “I know!”

I never did end up getting her number. The attractive woman beside me in the audience that is, not the suicidal comedian. Well, actually I didn’t get either of their numbers.

The MC gets back on and starts doing a suicide joke of his own, which prompts a middle aged woman seated in the centre of the audience to yell “Not funny!”

I have no idea what is going on for her; she looks old enough to have lost a son to suicide. Who knows.

The comedian launches into an angry tirade towards the heckler: “You have no right to judge me, or my suicide joke!” He starts yelling back at her.

I think “Wow, this guy is clearly in a lot of pain.” He’s reacting like a tiger with a thorn lodged deep in its paw.

Now most comedians hate hecklers, especially up-and-coming comedians who go to open mic nights like this. We don’t have the experience to handle heckling in a way that’s fun and engaging for everyone, we get triggered by the interruption, and it’s easy to lose track of where you’re at in your material.

Plus, maybe this guy is like me, and has a history of being criticised by older women when he is speaking his truth as best he knows how. Perhaps his suicide joke is an unconscious cry for help, and it hurts to get that met with criticism. Or maybe I’m just projecting myself into his situation, when really it’s completely different. Who knows.

Down the track, I suspect that dealing with hecklers just becomes part of the fun of it all. But when you are still new at this game and the heckler hits one of your hot buttons; that’s no fun for anyone.

My set tonight gets a few laughs, and certainly holds the audience’s attention. I feel heard. I also feel proud of myself for getting over my initial fear of even getting up on stage in the first place. I don’t really end with a bang; my final punchline doesn’t get any laughs at all. Which leads me to finish with a statement of fact that does get a laugh: “Well, I can see that wasn’t a really great ending.”

A bit like this post, actually.

[legendoflozer]

Legend and Sky as a duo is so funny to me!!

Red to the last pic

[futurafont]

why isn’t tumblr more obsessed with him