Price$30.00
Media TypeBook
CategoryGeneral, Stage, Mentalism, Clowning, Juggling, Comedy, Philosophy, Hypnotism
Date AddedJan 29, 2011
How To Handle Hecklers
Keith Fields
(Based on 1 review)
Will you know what to do?
Keith Fields new book will teach you the art of self-defense against hecklers.
‘Since turning professional 25 years ago Keith Fields has worked more comedy clubs than just about any other magician in the country, with hundreds and hundreds of performances at the Comedy Store in London’s West End, Jongleurs night clubs across the UK, and perhaps the toughest club of them all, the infamous Tunnel Palladium.
How to Handle Hecklers takes all that hard-won audience experience and packs it into 120 brilliant pages of solid advice, notes, and killer put-downs (over 200!). You’ll learn how to turn imminent disaster into instant success.’
120 pages, 25 years of experience, over 200 put down lines and why you should be very careful about using them!
‘…If you perform in front of an audience of strangers, it is likely that, at some point in your career, you will be heckled. How you handle this situation will, in some degree, determine your success as a performer. Conventional wisdom says to fire back with your best heckler stopper. The brilliance of Mr Fields book is that this is not his suggested course of action. In fact, he offers several strategies, the first of which is: ignore and carry on.
Not every heckler situation is the same and Mr Fields analyzes many different ones. Studying these scenarios will provide a performer with many more tools for their audience-interaction toolbox. Remember: If your only tool is the hammer (the heckle stopper), then you will see every problem as a nail. And there are many times that bringing down that big hammer is not the judicious thing to do.
…you should buy this book because it contains some of the best advice ever offered on audience control and management’
Reviews
(Top ▲)
Every once and a while, a book comes along that I have to add to my personal list of ‘must reads.’ This is a list of books that I not only recommend to other performers, but I regularly sit down and re read every couple months. This book is the latest addition to that list.
I bought this book from Lee Asher after his lecture. I figured if he didn’t write it, and he was still selling it, it must be pretty worthwhile. I was right. Though the price may seem a little steep, the information between these covers is priceless!
Keith Fields does a fantastic job breaking down the various kinds of hecklers, and heckling situations. He also gives strategies for dealing with the hecklers, and lines to use in those ‘worst case scenario’ situations. The book is packed with information, and yet is quite an easy read. I finished it in just two evenings.
This book is not for the beginner, or amateur. It’s for the professional performer who is working regularly in stand up situations. While he does address heckling in close up situations, the main focus of the book is how to handle heckling in stand up shows.
The book is written for magicians, although it’s still useful for comedians, mentalists, jugglers, hypnotists, or just about any type of stand up performer!
While the book advertises “Over 200 Put-Downs” the book teaches you techniques so that you will rarely ever need them. However, if those techniques don’t work, the book explains what is happening, and which lines you should use that will put control of the room back in your hands. These aren’t always put down lines, but they communicate that you are steering the ship, and no one is going to take the wheel from you!
It’s simple. If you stand in front of people and perform, you will eventually be heckled. This book will tell you why you are being heckled, how to process it, and how to deal with it. In my book, that information is truly priceless!
I bought this book from Lee Asher after his lecture. I figured if he didn’t write it, and he was still selling it, it must be pretty worthwhile. I was right. Though the price may seem a little steep, the information between these covers is priceless!
Keith Fields does a fantastic job breaking down the various kinds of hecklers, and heckling situations. He also gives strategies for dealing with the hecklers, and lines to use in those ‘worst case scenario’ situations. The book is packed with information, and yet is quite an easy read. I finished it in just two evenings.
This book is not for the beginner, or amateur. It’s for the professional performer who is working regularly in stand up situations. While he does address heckling in close up situations, the main focus of the book is how to handle heckling in stand up shows.
The book is written for magicians, although it’s still useful for comedians, mentalists, jugglers, hypnotists, or just about any type of stand up performer!
While the book advertises “Over 200 Put-Downs” the book teaches you techniques so that you will rarely ever need them. However, if those techniques don’t work, the book explains what is happening, and which lines you should use that will put control of the room back in your hands. These aren’t always put down lines, but they communicate that you are steering the ship, and no one is going to take the wheel from you!
It’s simple. If you stand in front of people and perform, you will eventually be heckled. This book will tell you why you are being heckled, how to process it, and how to deal with it. In my book, that information is truly priceless!