[IMG:L]Anyone who’s ever paid good money to see a stand-up comic has been subjected to hecklers. Besides insulting the performer, these loud mouths are a distraction to the audience who would rather hear the act than some drunk in the corner. Professional comics are prepared for such incidents anyway, so it rarely ends well for the heckler.
However, filmmaker Michael Addis posited the idea that internet film criticism has become far more insulting than heckling a stand-up show. His documentary Heckler interviews comedians about how they deal with hecklers, focusing on Jamie Kennedy. Kennedy himself confronted film critics who have posted viciously negative reviews of his feature film work, forcing them to back up their words in person.
Along the way, Addis also included a psychological perspective from USC professor Mark Young, who researches celebrity personality and celebrity narcissism with Dr. Drew Pinsky. He came up with a few explanations for heckling and criticism. At the AFI premiere of Heckler, Addis, Kennedy, Young and comedians featured in the film discussed why people heckle, and how they should be handled.
[IMG:R]Reason #1: Audience Participation
The most positive explanation for heckling is simply that the audience wants to be part of the show. Even Kennedy has witnessed some kindly hecklers. “Most of them actually want to help,” he said. “There’s only a few mean ones. Most of them are drunk ladies or dudes trying to help, then it gets like that.”
If the heckler actually is clever, some comedians will be receptive. Andy Milonakis, whose sketch comedy show airs on MTV, only occasionally meets hecklers in his travels, but hopes for some creativity.
“It’s funny because when people insult me in a smart and funny way, I always like it,” said Milonakis. “No matter how hardcore the dis is, I’ll always like it if it’s done in a funny, smart way. When people are stupid and fourth grade about it, it’s annoying. When it’s not creative, it doesn’t deserve my response but at the same time it makes me more mad that they’re such idiots.”
[IMG:R]Reason #2: Attention
Professor Young believes that in the last 10 years, the growth of such internet culture as YouTube and MySpace has empowered audiences to feel like it is their right to heckle. If the internet has made them a star, certainly they should have the spotlight in a public show.
“I think you’ll see a lot of people in the audience heckling other people because they see it as part of the process,” said Young. “They can get instant notoriety heckling an artist. They may want to put some people down but they want to participate and they want to get noticed for participating. Sometimes people heckle and say the most outrageous things so that the camera will turn to them and they’ll get the spotlight.”
Whether they make it on camera or not, the heckler usually gets the attention of the comic, who is prepared with putdowns of his own. Try to heckle Andrew “Dice” Clay and you’ll get a vulgar and obscene retaliation true to his character.
“I just think that every comic has their own way,” said Clay. “As long as they’re staying in the framework of who they are as a performer, that’s how a heckler should be handled. Jamie wouldn’t handle a heckler the same way I would.”
[IMG:R]Reason #3: Alcohol
Clay believes the psychological explanations overcomplicate the issue. “[They heckle] because they’re drunk,” said Clay. “It’s alcohol. That’s all it’s about. Alcohol and the drugs they do before they come in the club. If you want me to tell you the truth, that’s the truth. You’re never going to see a straight person [disrupt the show]. I’ve never been heckled by a person that’s got their head together. It’s not happening.”
A 20-year veteran of the stand-up circuit, Clay has come up with fun ways to turn drunk hecklers into part of the show. “I just think they’re drunks that should first verbally be torn apart and then physically removed from whatever venue it is. That’s how I feel about it. Sometimes I actually have them, if I think they’re just a little drunk, I’ll have them stand in the back of the room and face the wall for 10 minutes, that kind of thing. If they think they can behave, they’re brought back in. If not, tossed, which makes me happy.”
[IMG:R]Reason #4: Jealousy
Where heckling evolves into film criticism, the motivation for nastiness becomes even more deep-rooted. Addis discovered the truth in his interviews and encounters with real bloggers.
“Nowadays we’re finding that heckling and criticism is coming out of this angry, jealous place,” said Addis. “People are feeling like they deserve to be famous and those people up there who are famous don’t, so they’re angry at them. Instead of being impressed by people who are artists, now they’re just angry.”
Kennedy confronted some of his most vicious bloggers and found most of them were sensitive that their reviews upset him. “They talk about something in the third person like it doesn’t exist,” said Kennedy. “If you don’t know Andrew except from movies and TV, you just think he’s an object. But when you meet him, then you have to deal with what you’re talking about. People really don’t look at it like that. Then when you meet him it’s a different thing. Usually they back down or usually they talk about why they did it.”
Most of the bloggers Addis asked were game to let Kennedy confront them. Their interviews ended with sympathy. Only one got ugly. “Peter Grumbine is a blogger who also is sort of an open mic standup comic,” said Addis. “He was the only guy that we interviewed who was very happy that Jamie was upset. As Jamie was getting really bothered by the things he said, it was just sort of a meltdown. He was just an evil guy. He was very pleased that Jamie was torn up about it.”
[IMG:R]Reason #5: Insecurity
Taking the analysis one step further, the root of most jealousy is one’s own insecurity. Professor Young explained the fine line between genuine criticism and bullying.
“Source credibility is very important here because with credentials, film critics typically are able to analyze a film or analyze someone’s performance and come up with probably a more cogent explanation for why it was a good or bad film,” said Young. “I think as the kind of comments that are made become very personal, then I think you have a real problem because critiquing the person’s act not being funny, that’s one thing. If you start making racial slurs or comments about the person’s physical characteristics, then I think you have a big problem.”
Sketch comedian Milonakis agreed. “The biggest flaw in the world is insecurity and a lot of crazy stuff stems from insecurity,” he said. “It’s like the great great great great grandmother on the family tree, then all the other branches stem from insecurity.”
