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A heckler is a person who harasses and tries to disconcert others with questions, challenges, or gibes. Hecklers are often known to shout encouraging comments at a performance or event, or to interrupt set-piece speeches, with the intent of disturbing performers and/or participants.


Origin

Although the word ''heckler'', which originated from the textile trade, was first attested in the mid-15th century, the sense "person who harasses" was from 1885. To ''heckle'' was to tease or comb out
flax Flax, also known as common flax or linseed, is a flowering plant, ''Linum usitatissimum'', in the family Linaceae. It is cultivated as a food and fiber crop in regions of the world with temperate climates. Textiles made from flax are known in ...
or
hemp Hemp, or industrial hemp, is a botanical class of ''Cannabis sativa'' cultivars grown specifically for industrial or medicinal use. It can be used to make a wide range of products. Along with bamboo, hemp is among the fastest growing plants o ...
fibres. The additional meaning, to interrupt speakers with awkward or embarrassing questions, was added in Scotland, and specifically perhaps in early 19th century
Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...
, 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. Heckling was a major part of the vaudeville theater. Sometimes it was incorporated into the play.
Milton Berle Milton Berle (born Mendel Berlinger; ; July 12, 1908 – March 27, 2002) was an American actor and comedian. His career as an entertainer spanned over 80 years, first in silent films and on stage as a child actor, then in radio, movies and tel ...
's weekly TV variety series in the 1960s featured a heckler named Sidney Spritzer (German/
Yiddish Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ver ...
for '
squirter Female ejaculation is characterized as an expulsion of fluid from the Skene's gland at the lower end of the urethra during or before an orgasm. It is also known colloquially as squirting (or gushing), although research indicates that female eja ...
') played by Borscht Belt comic
Irving Benson Irving Benson (January 31, 1914 – May 19, 2016) was an American actor and comedian. He was one of the last survivors of the vaudeville era. Having enjoyed a long and successful run on the east coast American Burlesque circuit, Benson travelled w ...
. 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 comedy performances, to unsettle or compete with the performer.


Politics

Politicians speaking before live audiences have less latitude to deal with hecklers. In the early 1930s, before becoming
Premier of Ontario The premier of Ontario (french: premier ministre de l'Ontario) is the head of government of Ontario. Under the Westminster system, the premier governs with the Confidence and supply, confidence of a majority the elected Legislative Assembly of On ...
, Mitchell Hepburn stood on top of a manure spreader, apologizing to the crowd for speaking from a Tory platform, at which someone in the crowd shouted, "Well, wind 'er up Mitch, she's never carried a bigger load!" Legally, such conduct may constitute protected free speech. Strategically, coarse or belittling retorts to hecklers entail personal risk disproportionate to any gain. Some politicians, however, have been known to improvise a relevant and witty response despite these pitfalls. One acknowledged expert at this was
Harold Wilson James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, (11 March 1916 – 24 May 1995) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from October 1964 to June 1970, and again from March 1974 to April 1976. He ...
, 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. Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1963 "
I Have a Dream "I Have a Dream" is a public speech that was delivered by American civil rights activist and Baptist minister, Martin Luther King Jr., during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963. In the speech, King called ...
" speech was largely a response to supporter Mahalia Jackson interrupting his prepared speech to shout "Tell them about the dream, Martin". At that point, King stopped reading from his previously prepared speech and improvised the remainder of the speech - this improvised portion of the speech is the best-known part of the speech and frequently rated as one of the best of all time. During a campaign stop just before winning the Presidency in 1980,
Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
was heckled by an audience member who kept interrupting him during a speech. Reagan tried to go on with his speech three times, but after being interrupted yet again glared at the heckler and snapped "Aw, shut up!" The audience immediately gave him a standing ovation. In 1992, then-Presidential candidate Bill Clinton was interrupted by
Bob Rafsky Robert Alan Rafsky (July 22, 1945 – February 21, 1993) was an American writer, publicist, and HIV/AIDS activist. Early life and education Robert Alan Rafsky was born July 22, 1945 to civil servant William L. Rafsky of Łódź, Poland and Sel ...
, a member of the AIDS activism group
ACT UP AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) is an international, grassroots political group working to end the AIDS pandemic. The group works to improve the lives of people with AIDS through direct action, medical research, treatment and advocacy, ...
, who accused him of "dying of ambition to be president" during a rally. After becoming visibly agitated, Clinton took the microphone off the stand, pointed to the heckler and directly responded to him by saying, " ..I have treated you and all of the other people who have interrupted my rallies with a hell of a lot more respect than you treated me. And it's time to start thinking about that!" Clinton was then met with raucous applause. On 9 September 2009, Representative Joe Wilson (R-SC) shouted "You lie!" at President Barack Obama after President Obama stated that his health care plan would not subsidize coverage for undocumented noncitizens during a speech he was making to a joint session of Congress. Wilson later apologized for his outburst. On 25 November 2013, Ju Hong, a 24-year-old South Korean immigrant without legal documentation, shouted at Obama to use his executive power to stop deportation of unauthorized noncitizens. Obama said "If, in fact, I could solve all these problems without passing laws in Congress, then I would do so." "But we're also a nation of laws, that's part of our tradition," he continued. "And so the easy way out is to try to yell and pretend like I can do something by violating our laws. And what I'm proposing is the harder path, which is to use our democratic processes to achieve the same goal."


Audience control

One modern political approach to discourage heckling is to ensure that major events are given before a "tame" audience of sympathizers, or conducted to allow restrictions on who may remain on the premises (see also, ''
astroturfing Astroturfing is the practice of masking the sponsors of a message or organization (e.g., political, advertising, religious or public relations) to make it appear as though it originates from and is supported by grassroots participants. It is a p ...
''). The downside is this may make heckling incidents even more 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. In 2004, American Vice President
Dick Cheney Richard Bruce Cheney ( ; born January 30, 1941) is an American politician and businessman who served as the 46th vice president of the United States from 2001 to 2009 under President George W. Bush. He is currently the oldest living former U ...
was interrupted mid-speech by Perry Patterson, a middle-aged mother in a pre-screened rally audience. After various supportive outbursts that were permitted ("Four more years", "Go Bush!"), Patterson uttered "No, no, no, no" and was removed from the speech area and told to leave. She refused, and was arrested for criminal trespass. Later, in 2005, Cheney received some heckling that was broadcast during his trip to New Orleans, after
Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cost ...
ravaged the city. The heckling occurred during a press conference in Gulfport, Mississippi, in an area that was cordoned off for public safety reasons, and then further secured for the press conference. Nevertheless, emergency room physician Ben Marble got close enough to the proceedings and could be heard yelling, "Go fuck yourself, Mr. Cheney". Cheney laughed it off and continued speaking. The heckle was a reference to Cheney's use of the phrase the previous year, when during a heated exchange with Senator Patrick Joseph Leahy, Vermont, he said "fuck yourself" on the floor of the senate. On 15 October 2005, '' The Scotsman'' reported "Iranian ambassador Dr Seyed Mohammed Hossein Adeli... speaking at the annual Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament conference... During his speech to the CND several people were told to leave the room following protests at Iran's human rights record. Several protesters shouted "Fascists" at the ambassador and the organisers of the conference.
Walter Wolfgang Walter Jakob Wolfgang (23 June 1923 – 28 May 2019) was a German-born British socialist and peace activist. Up to the time of his death, he was Vice-President of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and Vice Chair oLabour CND a caucus of CND m ...
, the 82-year-old peace campaigner who was forced out of the Labour Party conference last month, was in the audience." On Thursday, 20 April 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 Hu Jintao (born 21 December 1942) is a Chinese politician who served as the 16–17th general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 2002 to 2012, the 6th president of the People's Republic of China (PRC) from 2003 to 2013, an ...
. Moments into Mr Hu's speech at the event,
Wang Wenyi Dr. Wang Wenyi (; born 26 October 1958 in Changchun, Jilin, China) is a pathologist who once worked as a journalist for ''The Epoch Times''. She is known for having confronted Jiang Zemin, General Secretary of the Communist Party of China in 20 ...
, perched on the top tier of the stands reserved for the press, began screaming in English and Chinese: "President
Bush Bush commonly refers to: * Shrub, a small or medium woody plant Bush, Bushes, or the bush may also refer to: People * Bush (surname), including any of several people with that name **Bush family, a prominent American family that includes: *** ...
stop him. Stop this visit. Stop the killing and torture." President Bush later apologised to his guest. Medea Benjamin of Code Pink repeatedly interrupted a major speech by President Barack Obama regarding United States policy in the War on Terror at the National Defense University on May 23, 2013.


Sport

Hecklers can also appear at sporting events, 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 and subsequently throwing snowballs at a performer dressed as
Santa Claus Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Kris Kringle, or simply Santa, is a Legend, legendary figure originating in Western Christianity, Western Christian culture who is said to Christmas gift-bringer, bring ...
in a halftime show in 1968, and cheering at the career-ending injury of visiting team player Michael Irvin in 1999. Often, sports heckling will also involve throwing objects onto the field; this has led most sports stadiums to ban glass containers and bottlecaps. Another famous heckler is
Robert Szasz Robert Szasz, also known as The Happy Heckler, is a real estate developer and has been a well-known heckler at Tampa Bay Rays baseball games for several seasons. A native of Toronto, Ontario, Szasz relocated to Florida in 1984 and resides in Clea ...
, who regularly attends Tampa Bay Rays baseball games and is known for loudly heckling one opposing player per game or series. 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. In English and Scottish
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
, heckling and swearing from the stands, and football chants such as
who ate all the pies? "Who Ate All the Pies?" is a football chant sung by fans in the UK. It is usually sung to the tune of "Knees Up Mother Brown" and is aimed at overweight footballers, officials or other supporters. Background and origin The chant was first sung i ...
are common. Australian sporting audiences are known for creative heckling. Perhaps the most famous is
Yabba Stephen Harold Gascoigne, better known as Yabba, (19 March 1878 – 8 January 1942) was an Australian sports fan, remembered as a heckler at Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) cricket and rugby league games in the early part of the 20th century. ''Y ...
who had a grandstand at the
Sydney Cricket Ground The Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) is a sports stadium in Sydney, Australia. It is used for Test cricket, Test, One Day International and Twenty20 cricket, as well as, Australian rules football and occasionally for rugby league, rugby union and as ...
named after him, and now a statue. The sport of
cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...
is particularly notorious for heckling between the teams themselves, which is known as sledging. At the NBA Drafts of recent years, many fans have gone with heckling ESPN
NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...
analyst and host of, Quite Frankly with Stephen A. Smith,
Stephen A. Smith Stephen Anthony Smith (born ) is an American sports television personality, sports radio host, and sports journalist. He is a commentator on ESPN's ''First Take'', where he appears with Molly Qerim. He also makes frequent appearances as an N ...
. Most notably, The Stephen A. Smith Heckling Society of Gentlemen heckles him with a sock puppet dubbed as Stephen A. himself. Tennis fans are also fairly noted for heckling. Some may call out during a service point to distract either player. Another common heckle from tennis fans is cheering after a service fault, which is considered to be rude and unsporting. In 2009, then Toronto Blue Jays outfielder
Alex Ríos Alexis Israel Ríos (born February 18, 1981) is an American former professional baseball right fielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Toronto Blue Jays, Chicago White Sox, Texas Rangers, and Kansas City Royals. A World Seri ...
was a victim of a heckling incident outside after a fund-raising event. The incident occurred after Rios declined to sign an autograph for a young fan, the same day he went 0 for 5 with 5 strikeouts in a game against the Los Angeles Angels. An older man yelled "The way you played today Alex, you should be lucky someone wants your autograph." Rios then replied with "Who gives a fuck", repeating it until being ushered into a vehicle. Rios did apologize the next day, but was eventually placed on waivers and claimed by the Chicago White Sox later that year.


Music

The heckling of Bob Dylan at the Manchester Free Trade Hall in 1966 is one of the most famous examples in music history. During a quiet moment in between songs, an audience member shouts very loudly and clearly, "Judas!" referencing Dylan's so-called betrayal of folk music by "going electric". Dylan replied: "I don't believe you, you're a liar!" before telling his band to "Play it fucking loud!" They played an acidic version of " Like a Rolling Stone". This incident was captured on tape and the full concert was released as volume four of Dylan's ''Live Bootleg Series''.


Stand-up comedy

In
stand-up comedy Stand-up comedy is a comedy, comedic performance to a live audience in which the performer addresses the audience directly from the stage. The performer is known as a comedian, a comic or a stand-up. Stand-up comedy consists of One-line joke ...
, a heckler is what separates the medium from theatre; at any time during the show (either indirectly or directly), a heckler may interrupt a comedian's set. Hecklers want the stand-up to break the fourth wall. Most sources claim that heckling is uncommon. Heckling is more likely to occur at
open stage In theatre, a thrust stage (also known as a platform stage or open stage) is one that extends into the audience on three sides and is connected to the backstage area by its upstage end. A thrust has the benefit of greater intimacy between performe ...
performances and performances where alcoholic beverages are being consumed; it is regarded as a sign of audience members becoming impatient with what they regard as a low-quality performance. New comics are often underprepared to handle hecklers properly. In addition, live comedy venues tend to discourage heckling via signage and admissions policy, but tend to tolerate it as it creates customer loyalty. The etiquette of exactly how much heckling is tolerated differs immensely from venue to venue, however, but is generally more likely to be tolerated in blue-collar or working-class venues. Comedians generally dislike heckling. Hecklers may rarely threaten or physically assault comedians. Even more rarely, comedians may receive death threats.


Countering

Comedians counter hecklers by controlling the flow of conversation. A comedian cannot completely ignore a heckler without undermining the performance. Comedians devise a strategy for quashing such outbursts, usually by having a repertoire of comebacks for hecklers—known as ''savers'', ''heckler lines'', ''squelchers'', or '' squelches''—on hand; those who handle the moment in an off-the-cuff manner do so by giving the heckler "enough rope to hang themselves". Stewart Lee treats heckles as genuine inquiries.
Jerry Seinfeld Jerome Allen Seinfeld ( ; born April 29, 1954) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and producer. He is best known for playing a Jerry Seinfeld (character), semi-fictionalized version of himself in the sitcom ''Seinfeld'', which he ...
is a "Heckle Therapist", who verbally sympathizes with the heckler to confuse the heckler and win the audience over. Some comedians will get hecklers to repeat themselves to take away the momentum and laughter from the heckle. Phyllis Diller would have her light technician shine a spotlight on hecklers to make them feel intimidated.


Controversies

Bill Burr's ''Philadelphia Incident'' was performed in Camden, New Jersey, where he reprimanded an audience of over ten thousand people.
Michael Richards Michael Anthony Richards (born July 24, 1949) is an American actor, writer, television producer, and comedian best known for playing Cosmo Kramer on the television sitcom '' Seinfeld''. He began his career as a stand-up comedian, first enterin ...
became upset with hecklers and called them the N-word several times. When a female audience member claimed that rape jokes are never funny, Daniel Tosh allegedly made an off-the-cuff retort that it would be funny if she were to be immediately raped.


Other comedy mediums

The comedy TV series '' The Muppet Show'' featured a pair of hecklers named
Statler and Waldorf Statler and Waldorf are a pair of Muppet characters best known for their cantankerous opinions and shared penchant for heckling. The two elderly men first appeared in ''The Muppet Show'' in 1975, where they consistently jeered the entirety of ...
. These characters created a kind of meta-comedy act in which the show's official comedian, Fozzie Bear, acted as their usual foil, although they occasionally made jokes at other characters as well. Another notable use of heckling in comedy is in the cult favorite series ''
Mystery Science Theater 3000 ''Mystery Science Theater 3000'' (abbreviated as ''MST3K'') is an American science fiction comedy film review television series created by Joel Hodgson. The show premiered on KTMA-TV (now WUCW) in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on November 24, 1988. ...
''. The series involves a man (either Joel Robinson or Mike Nelson) and two robots (Tom Servo and Crow T. Robot) sitting in a theater mocking bad B-movies. This style of comedy, coined as riffing, is continued with commentary-based series such as Rifftrax and Cinematic Titanic. In one of
Rowan Atkinson Rowan Sebastian Atkinson (born 6 January 1955) is an English actor, comedian and writer. He played the title roles on the sitcoms '' Blackadder'' (1983–1989) and ''Mr. Bean'' (1990–1995), and the film series ''Johnny English'' (2003–201 ...
's plays "The School Master", a heckler interrupted his play by shouting "Here!" after Atkinson had read out an amusing name on his register. Atkinson incorporated it into his act by saying "I have a detention book..."


See also

*
Applause Applause (Latin ''applaudere,'' to strike upon, clap) is primarily a form of ovation or praise expressed by the act of clapping, or striking the palms of the hands together, in order to create noise. Audiences usually applaud after a performance ...
*
Audience participation An audience is a group of people who participate in a show or encounter a work of art, literature (in which they are called "readers"), theatre, music (in which they are called "listeners"), video games (in which they are called "players"), or ...
* Booing *
Internet troll In slang, a troll is a person who posts or makes inflammatory, insincere, digressive, extraneous, or off-topic messages online (such as in social media, a newsgroup, a forum, a chat room, a online video game), or in real life, with the int ...
*
Mystery Science Theater 3000 ''Mystery Science Theater 3000'' (abbreviated as ''MST3K'') is an American science fiction comedy film review television series created by Joel Hodgson. The show premiered on KTMA-TV (now WUCW) in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on November 24, 1988. ...
, a TV show built on humorous heckling


References

{{Censorship Human communication Comedy Show business terms Stand-up comedy