How to deal with hecklers, from a comic 14 years in: Jesse Pimpinella befriends them first, then lets the whole room turn on them.
Jesse's real first mic was at 18, in the back of a Belleria pizza shop in Cornersburg — the Youngstown Comedy Syndicate, one show a week, Fridays only. Bomb in Columbus on a Monday and you fix it Tuesday. Bomb in Youngstown on a Friday and you wear it for seven days. Before that it was an eighth-grade talent show, a high school lock-in, and a punishment stoop at Catholic school recess where a kid who'd taped a Ron White special worked out a tight five on a captive audience.
Fourteen years on he has two specials streaming on Roku, two albums that hit #1 on Amazon, and the story of phoning Amazon to report the chart as broken. He also made zero dollars the night he filmed — camera crew paid, lights paid, curtain guys paid, club paid, ticket money kept by everyone but him.
His advice for anyone circling their first open mic: write down on notebook paper why you're doing this, and keep that paper for the rest of your life.
Recorded at Rehab Tavern in Columbus, Ohio, one week before Jesse plays the Columbus Comedy Festival.
What's the best heckler handle you've ever watched live? Drop it in the comments — Jesse said he's answering every one.
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🔗 First Mic is one of the shows under the Indie Comedy Collective banner:
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