Hecklers

When I was a teenager, I was a restaurant magician. Back then I was obsessed with practicing sleights and moves. Though I was making pretty good money, I was still addicted to learning new sleights and taking the time to practice them.

One of the habits I got into was I felt the faster I did the moves and got through the tricks, the more amazing the magic was going to be. This was an error in my young thinking. I would go through routines so fast my audiences weren’t really entertained, they were more shell shocked.

During these times, every once in a while I would get in my audience what I considered at the time a heckler. They would interrupt my break neck speed of going through the routine to make some kind of comment. Back then I was too young, too cocky, too arrogant and had too big of ego to see the problem wasn’t that my audiences were jerks, but instead, I was just a poor performer.

When I was a kid, I performed to show people how skilled, clever and witty I was. I really could care less about pleasing the audience because I believed if they were watching me, than they had to be enjoying my show.

But as time went by, I realized I was performing slower. I was starting to find out how to make my show better. I started to become concerned about the audience. When that happened, it became clear to my audience I was performing for their entertainment instead of boosting my ego.

Honestly, I don’t know which part of me, the performer part or the man, matured enough to make the change happen and it really doesn’t matter. The important thing is that the change took place.

What I found when I didn’t bring the wrong attitude was the hecklers seemed to disappear. But I don’t think that is a true statement because I don’t really believe they disappeared. I think what truly happened was I stopped labeling the people who would make a funny comment or ask a question I’ve heard a million times before right in the middle of a routine, hecklers. Instead, they were just people wanting to be a part of the show and were showing they were having a good time.

Sometimes you get more rapport with people than you may want. But they are enjoying you so much, they feel like they can joke around with you and have a good time.

Now don’t get me wrong. There are people out there who are insecure and the only way for them to have a good time is at other people’s expense. They are there to ruin the show. Sometimes alcohol is involved and there really is nothing you can do about it. But in my experience, I have found these occurrences are incredibly rare.

My show is so tight with lines and with jokes and with action, there really isn’t a chance for people to get a word in when they are not suppose to. They are being entertained. This has happened because of the years of listening to the crowd, getting the material, so now I say things the audience is thinking and sometimes before they even think of it. In a way, maybe I’m heckling myself.

In conclusion, the best way to handle hecklers is to examine how you are handling yourself as an entertainer, and handling your audience before the hecklers even decide to strike.

Always wishing the best,
Adam White

Ebook