Dealing with a Heckler During Your Performance

What's a heckler? That person in a crowd who can't help but interrupt a performer. These people come in many forms—they make comments, use abusive language, and get in the way of your audience having a good time. Dealing with a heckler can be tricky, even for the most experienced performers. Here are some tips to help you!

Firstly, don't engage with a heckler; try to let the comment(s) fall to the floor as if you did not hear it. Some of your audience may have paid attention to the heckling, but others might not. By not acknowledging the distraction in the room, they may be a one-time offender.

If comments from the heckler cannot be ignored, try to capitalize on the heckler to your advantage. Sometimes a comment is in the form of a question blurted out because of surprise during the magic show... remember, always be nice, but being nice doesn't mean you can't also be funny. This is why you need to know your magic well so that questions don't break your train of thought to the point that you lose track (control) of your train of thought. You may wrangle a laugh from it, but you'll need to pick up from where you left off without throwing yourself off the trick at hand.

My own experience has shown me that heckling rarely occurs if you're an upbeat, skillful performer. But it can happen, and I'm always ready with a cool head. For a magic show, audiences normally interact with you, and when they are filled with surprise, they typically respond with smiles, laughter, and happy remarks.

But when it happens, try not to enter into a “war of wits” with the heckler. Many books are written about “one-liners” (jokes) and retorts, and I recommend getting familiar with a few. If you get the heckler of all hecklers, you must navigate the situation carefully until the rest of the audience is sufficiently tired of the heckler's comments. Then, and only then, is the audience on your side enough to let you rail on them with sharp replies.