Modified On December 14, 2006
Check out Elayne Boosler‘s reasoned rejoinder to the nonsense that’s pooled around our ankles since the Kramer Meltdown.
The rule about heckling is this: you fire at a cop, get ready to die. Yelling “you’re not funny” at a comic is firing with an AK. Hurt your feelings? Tough. Anything goes for hecklers, including excessive force. I lay myself bare up here, at my most vulnerable you shoot me in the chest, I will kill you if I can. You know why Richards looked so shell shocked at his own outburst? Because he’s not a racist, he was simply in the zone. Comedy clubs are like Indian reservations. They are their own country. I don’t think he should have apologized. You pay your money and you take your chances, step right up.
It’s got references to Bernie Mac, Chris Rock, Marsha Warfield, Lenny Bruce, Richard Pryor and lots more. At times, it veers dangerously close to a “In my day, comics would never…” screed, but it always swings back into a focused, final word on the insanity that followed the famous freakout. It’s worth reading to the end and there’s really not a word wasted. We just wished she’d have sent it to us first.