I was wondering how you proffesionals out there deal with repeat customers.
Well, not only repeat customers but the type that announce to the rest of the crow what is going to happen before it happens, therefore spoiling the surprise factor, so much needed in our craft.

Your comments are greatly appreciate it.

it happens...but not much....you have to deal with things like that....you have NO control...thats the interesting thing about this...its not easy.....i have been in the state of maine and had people come up to me and say they saw mw at a festival in florida..or virginia...wherever...i get around...

but ususally they are respectful...but some people aren't...you finish your show and start another...thats all

koz

you go on with your routine unfortunately

I single the person out. I stop what I'm doing and play to that person. Sometimes they just want to look smart and I let them. That usually puffs them up and makes them like me. At that point they feel like they are "on the inside" of the show and to play into that I may even give them a knowing wink from time to time during the show.

Sometimes, I even use a turn around the old ‘do I come to your job?’ bit. Instead of insinuating that they have a bad job I make a remark that they have a real "smart person" type job. I work in Harvard Square, Harvard College is right here and I can throw rocks at MIT. The MIT guys think it’s funny to go to the diner and order a cup of coffee and a slice of 3.14159. I play into that.

“Hey buddy, you see me coming over to the jet propulsion laboratory and knocking over your test stand?” This often gets a huge laugh even from the heckler.

If a kid is doing it or a drunk you are really up against it. You cannot banter with a kid or a drunk the same way you can with an average person. Kids and drunks lack the two basic ingredients needed for persuasion, shame and reason.

When faced with bad kids I direct them as far away from the action as possible while I am managing the audience. That way, if they shout stuff I am usually able to drown them out and the only people who do hear them are from that back corner of the crowd. If you have Gazzo’s cups and balls videotape you can actually watch him do this and it is brilliant. He has a bunch of brats to camera left heckling the show and he pushes them to the back and quiets them down with really subtle audience management. If you’ve seen the tape you probably didn’t even notice it. Neither did the rest of his live audience.

Drunks are another story for me completely. I will try the ‘make them my pal’ approach sometimes this works. If they are just belligerent and nuts I fold up the show, wait for them to move on, and call another edge. I tell the audience why I am cutting the show short and do not pass the hat. I apologize for ‘my special guest’s’ drunken behavior and wish them a good day. A lot of times the crowd will disperse and hang back in the shadows. Because I have told them without ‘telling’ them that as soon as ‘captain liquor cabinet’ moves on I will start another show.

Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t but this is the best I’ve been able to come up with so far.

Best,

Dan-

You could always disappear. lol

It does get kinda irritatin when you do the trick over and over again to a same crowd, most of the time i just say no and find other unsuspecting ppl

I just light them on fire, drunks burn quicker than kids!

I see this with kids more often than not, at fairs where thay are stuck there because there parents are "working" the fair. If I know that there is no way arownd it, I stomp them, as harsh as I nead to to get them to leave. this may be bad for the hat THIS show but the kid will be bad for the hat of ALL the shows.

This is a last resort, (befor lighting them on fire ) and under the most extream situation, otherwise Just push thu. you live. then send them away.