Category: Videos

Dealing with Hecklers

For whatever reason, people (on the internet, especially) are obsessed with comedians interacting with hecklers. They love seeing a comic take hecklers down. Which I think actually kind of hurts the comedy experience. It’s a negative feedback loop where people see comics dealing with hecklers and think, “that’s hilarious! I want to heckle so that the show is funnier.” But the show is the funniest when the comic is doing his material and no one interrupts.

However, I thought I’d share this video because it shows a lot of creative ways of dealing with hecklers that I admire. It takes a lot of talent to deal with a heckler in a new creative way. Here are some great comedians doing that.

If You Appreciate Sports and Comedy…

Check out Bill Simmons’ old podcast, The B.S. Report. Bill Simmons is the former ESPN analyst, journalist, and founder of Grantland who was fired from ESPN last spring for “no one really knows why.”

I’m a huge fan of his, mostly because he’s interested in a lot of the same things I’m interested in: sports, film, and comedy.

His old podcast is mostly interviews with sports figures, but it’s also many other things. My favorite interviews are those with comedians, of which he has a decent number. And they’re all top notch comedians and writers who he invites on the show because he personally likes them, not because they’re promoting something. Bill Burr, Louis C.K., Jimmy Kimmel, Lena Dunham, etc. He also knows a surprising amount about comedy for not being a comedian and does a lot of great research for the show. He asks interesting questions that aren’t always about comedy, which is also a nice change of pace from the typical comedian interview.

You can find The B.S. Report on Youtube here and his new podcast, which I have not had the pleasure of hearing yet, here. I particularly like Simmons’ interview with Larry David, head writer of Seinfeld.

Joe Rogan’s Thoughts on P.C. and Caitlyn Jenner

Joe Rogan is not only a great comic, but he strikes me as a great guy. If you don’t know, he’s the guy who first confronted Carlos Mencia for joke stealing before joke stealing was ever talked about.

I just saw this video on Reddit and I can’t help but agree with him on his views about how we currently treat transgender people in society. His views are very similar to my own views on P.C.. A fascinating listen whether you agree with him or not.

The Comedy on Vinyl Podcast is Great

I’ve been trying to get more and more into podcasts lately, listening to them on the go whenever i can remember to bring my headphones. As popular as podcasts are nowadays, it always surprises me how some people have absolutely no idea what they are or why you would ever listen to something like that.

I found the Comedy on Vinyl podcast on iTunes and I really like the concept. Basically, the guy (Jason Klamm) invites a guest who chooses a favorite or most influential comedy album to talk about for an entire episode. Klamm is an actor/writer, not a comic, but he can still have an opinion! He also brings in all types of guests, including comedians.

I appreciate that the podcast exists, but I also hate that it exists because I think it’s such a great idea. I’m a huge fan of old comedy albums and sometimes the only real way to get a good hold of the old albums is on vinyl. Talking old comedy is fun. Humor definitely changes over time and so a lot of the stuff might be funny in a different kind of way.

You can find out more about the podcast on its website. I’ve placed the first episode about Weird Al’s album In 3D here. If you don’t “get” podcasts…this might be a bad place to start. But if you like comedy albums it is not.

Comedy Magic That I Like

I’m a huge fan of magic but I just hate when people do comedy magic. Usually, the comedy is low quality and the magic is low quality. Which makes me mad. Putting two mediocre things together just makes the whole thing mediocre.

However, Piff the Magic Dragon is an exception. He’s a weird act that I first saw on Penn and Teller’s show Fool Us a few years back. And he’s great. Funny and good magic.

Apparently he’s on to other things. He’s on this season of America’s Got Talent and already made it to the final round because of some gold buzzer or something (I don’t know the silly rules!!!) He deserves it. He has a fantastic resume and he’s been around for a while.

Just saw this interview from Mr. Piff and it’s fun. A short and snarky read.

There’s a video of his America’s Got Talent performance on the interview link. But, he did the same trick on Fool Us and I think he performed it better the first time. Here’s the old video.