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There are some matches made in heaven like peanut butter and chocolate and then there are some matches that aren't so heavenly like stand-up comedians performing at venues. The first match is perfect while the latter could result in a lot of problems, like hecklers. Ah, yes, the heckler: a stand-up comedian's best friend or worst enemy and on some nights they can be both.
No matter the venue, be it a wedding, a dive bar, Oshawa homes or comedy clubs one of the top fears most stand-up comedians have is encountering a heckler during their set. Whether you're a stand-up comedian yourself or been to a stand-up show where you saw a heckler lay into a stand-up comedian because they didn't like their performance or felt they could do a better job on the microphone then you know how uncomfortable it can be when you're in the presence of a heckler.
A lot of the times stand-up comedians know how to deal with hecklers and usually take the polite route and ask the heckler to stop or ignore them until they stop heckling. There are extreme cases when a heckler won't stop talking about how bad the show they're seeing is and how'd they rather be at home cleaning or some nonsense like that. When heckling goes that far it makes the audience members feel a little uneasy and they just want it to stop.
Then there are those brilliant but rare moments where stand-up comedians, usually the ones at the top of their game like Louis C.K., can take the heckling and turn it around to their advantage and use it against the heckler. If you've never seen a stand-up comedian masterfully go one-on-one with a heckler then you need to spend a few minutes on YouTube searching stand-up comedy hecklers; you're bound to come across some pretty awesome stuff.
Yet, those moments where stand-up comedians stand up for themselves are few and far between because they don't want to cross a line and offend hecklers. That might seem weird to you because you would think it would be the stand-up comedian who might be offended but they're used to it by now. No, the real danger is blowing up on stage due to heckling because that could lead to losing out on gigs because you would get labeled as hotheaded.
That's the real reason most stand-ups are afraid of hecklers and will gladly stand there listening to someone heckle them as they try to finish their joke about ridiculously overpriced properties on the market; it's either that or look for a new line of work.
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