Heckler

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A heckler is a person who shouts an uninvited comment, usually disparaging, at a performance or event, or interrupting set-piece speeches, for example at a political meeting. A heckler is almost always regarded as unwelcome by the person with justifiable claim to be the centre of attention. The audience too may find the interruption an unwanted distraction; however they may sometimes find the interjection amusing or apposite.

1 Origin
2 Comedy
3 Sport
4 Politics
5 Notes and sources

[edit] Origin

The term originates from the textile trade, where to heckle was to tease or comb out flax or hemp fibres. The additional meaning, to interrupt speakers with awkward or embarrassing questions, was added in Scotland, and specifically perhaps in early nineteenth century Dundee, a famously radical town where the hecklers who combed the flax had established a reputation as the most radical and belligerent element in the workforce. In the heckling factory, one heckler would read out the day's news while the others worked, to the accompaniment of interruptions and furious debate.^[1]

Heckling was a major part of the vaudeville theater. Sometimes it was incorporated into the play. Milton Berle's weekly TV variety series in the 1960s featured a heckler named Sidney Spritzer (German/Yiddish for "Squirter") played by Borscht Belt comic Irving Benson. In the 1970s and 1980s, The Muppet Show, which was also built around a vaudeville theme, featured two hecklers, Statler & Waldorf (two old men named after famous hotels). Heckles are now particularly likely to be heard at stand-up comedy performances, to unsettle or compete with the performer.

[edit] Comedy

Many stand-up comedians devise a strategy for quashing such outbursts, usually by having a store of retorts on hand, such as "this is what happens when cousins marry" or "Dear God, don't let anyone in the crowd yell out tonight [yell from crowdmember], and punish those who do!" The idea is to get the audience laughing at the interruption.

A common but rarely-enacted threat from comedians is to attend the heckler's workplace and heckle them in return. In "The Fire", an episode of the sitcom Seinfeld, Jerry Seinfeld actually carries out the threat, showing up at a heckler's office and shouting insults at her.

In Britain, Malcolm Hardee's legendarily dangerous Tunnel Club in Greenwich was famed for the sharp heckling of its regulars. On one occasion, comic Jim Tavare went on stage with the opening line, "I'm a schizophrenic..." to which someone immediately replied, "Fuck off then—both of you."^[2] Another infamous heckle came when Jo Brand, a comedienne not renowned for her looks, went onstage to be greeted by a man shouting "Don't show us your tits."

Comedian Dane Cook was heckled during the recording of his Retaliation album, threatened to throw him out, and eventually made a joke out of the awkward silence following the incident, saying "It's like Daddy just hit Mommy at the dinner table and everybody's trying to eat." When the heckler resumed a few minutes later, Cook challenged the man and said the fight had "only begun."

English comedian Julian Clary has said that he was so scared of hecklers he used to pick on his audience using putdowns like "Men like you don't grow on trees, they swing from them." Bill Hicks was also famous for his "take-no-prisoners" approach to hecklers. On one occasion he demanded that a drunken heckler be taken out of the audience shouting "You drunk cunt!" at her.

Comedian George Carlin has been known to be very rough on hecklers. In one of his most famous responses to a heckler, Carlin stopped his joke and went on with a long series of vulgar insults.

When Michael Richards was heckled during a stage performance, he responded by shouting a 3-minute speech containing many racial slurs, for which he apologized.

Andy Kaufman's personae were often heckled both by genuinely angry audience members and staged audience members further confusing what was and was not part of his act.

One time a heckler called out to Rodney Dangerfield, "Hey Rodney, what do you do for a living?" Rodney replied, "I find men for your sister!", implying that the sister was a prostitute.

[edit] Sport

Hecklers can also appear at sporting events, most notably baseball games, and usually (but not always) direct their taunts at a visiting team. Fans of the Philadelphia Eagles American football team are notorious for heckling; among the most infamous incidents were booing a performer dressed as Santa Claus in a halftime show in 1968, and cheering at the career-ending injury of opposing player Michael Irvin in 1999, as well as routinely booing the Eagles themselves if they do not perform up to expectations. Often, sports heckling will also involve throwing objects onto the field; this has led most sports stadia to ban glass containers and bottlecaps. Another famous heckler is Robert Szasz, who regularly attends Tampa Bay Devil Rays baseball games. Former Yugoslav football star Dejan Savićević is involved in an infamous incident with a heckler in which during an interview, a man on the street is heard shouting off-camera: "You're a piece of shit!" Dejan berated the man, and went on to finish the interview, without missing a beat.

Australian sporting audiences are known for creative heckling. Perhaps the most famous is Yabba who has a grandstand at the Sydney Cricket Ground named after him.

The sport of cricket is particularly notorious for heckling between the teams themselves, which is known as sledging.

[edit] Politics

Politicians speaking before live audiences have less latitude to deal with hecklers. They cannot use coarse or belittling humor without great personal risk disproportionate to any gain, and prefer to improvise a relevant and witty response. One acknowledged expert at this was Harold Wilson, British Prime Minister in the 1960s:

Heckler: (interrupting a passage in a Wilson speech about Labour's spending plans) What about Vietnam?

Wilson: The government has no plans to increase public expenditure in Vietnam.

Heckler: Rubbish!

Wilson: I'll come to your special interest in a minute, sir.^[1]

In an era when it was not uncommon for rotten fruit and vegetables thrown at speakers, Australian Prime Minister Ben Chifley once exhorted his audience to lend him their ears, paraphrasing Mark Antony. Immediately, a large cabbage landed on the stage. Chifley replied "I said your ears, Sir, not your head".

The modern political approach to heckling is to ensure that major "live" speeches are given before a "tame" audience of sympathizers (an arrangement dubbed astroturfing with the sense of "fake grass roots"). The downside is then that heckling may be deemed newsworthy. This happened to Tony Blair during a photo op visit to a hospital during the 2001 general election campaign, and again in 2003 during a speech.^[3]

American Vice President Dick Cheney received some on-air heckling during his trip to New Orleans, after Hurricane Katrina ravaged the area. During a press conference in Gulfport, Mississippi, emergency room physician Ben Marble can be heard yelling, "Go fuck yourself, Mr. Cheney." Cheney laughed it off and went about his business.^[4]

In a more infamous episode, during a speech by Jack Straw at the 2005 Labour Party conference, 87-year old anti-war protestor Walter Wolfgang was forcefully ejected from the audience after yelling during Straw's speech. His security pass confiscated by stewards, Wolfgang was arrested under the Terrorism Act when trying to re-enter the conference. After significant criticism from the media and other politicians, Tony Blair and Labour party officials apologized for the event and Wolfgang received a hero's welcome on returning to the conference.

On Thursday, April 20, 2006, a heckler from the Falun Gong spiritual movement entered the US White House grounds as a reporter and interrupted a formal arrival ceremony for Chinese President Hu Jintao. Moments into Mr Hu's speech at the event, Wang Wenyi, perched on the top tier of the stands reserved for the press, began screaming in English and Chinese: "President Bush stop him. Stop this visit. Stop the killing and torture." The heckler was allowed to continue for several minutes despite the heavy presence of security personnel typical of such high level meeting of officials, prompting speculation that the incident was planned with the tacit cooperation of the White House in order to embarrass the Chinese president, hence possibly making this heckling incident one which was found justified by its audience.^[5] President Bush later apologised to his guest.^[6]