Extreme measures: throwing hecklers out

Standup comedians deal with some of the same audience difficulties as public speakers. One difference is that comedians can be saddled with evening audiences containing inebriated hecklers.

 

On July 29, 2019 there was an article by Michael Deeds in the Idaho Statesman titled After 9 hecklers get tossed from Boise show, comedian posts video: 260,000 views so far. That 11-minute YouTube video (shown above) was posted on June 24, 2019 by Steve Hofstetter. The comedian preceding him was heckled, so he began by reading the Riot Act:

“I’m going to start this show in a way I’ve never had to start a show before, which is to thank the people who came to see a show and who have been attentive thus far. I appreciate – some of you guys have been really wonderful. Some of you guys I think stumbled in from the prom next door. I don’t know what the f*ck is happening. But some of you all have been acting like you’ve never seen alcohol before, and you took one sip and lost your f*cking mind.

This is live entertainment. We can see you all, we can hear you all. You are ruining it for other people. Normally when you talk at a show, there is a warning, and then if you violate that warning, you get kicked out. Everybody here now has that warning. We’re going to warn all of you at the same f*cking time. It happens again, one time, you’re f*cking gone ‘cause I want to do the best show I possibly can for the folks who actually give a sh#t. So that’s what I’m gonna do tonight. Okay? And for those that ruin this, I wish you luck on your long drive back to Eagle.”

Those in the audience who chose to mess with Steve clearly were unaware of his Wikipedia page which notes:

“Hofstetter's had a career as a comedian in Los Angeles, and also owned comedy clubs in Louisville and Indianapolis. He gained a reputation by responding to hecklers and posting those on YouTube, which garnered so many views that Fox Television offered him a series called Laughs, a half-hour showcase for standup comedians, which debuted in August 2014.”

You can watch another seven-minute Steve Hofstetter video from January 28, 2017 titled Dirtbag hecklers go too far.

Throwing people out a window is a specific kind of ejection called defenestration, as illustrated in part of a Puck cartoon from 1893 I found at the Library of Congress.