“I did some jokes in Israel and they loved me. Same jokes in Palestine – nothing!” Jackie Mason
The vast majority of acts are thoroughly professional and are quite capable of dealing with normal interruptions. Mild comments from audience members, people going to the toilet in the middle of their act and waiting staff refilling coffee cups: all these they should be able to take in their stride. There are certain interruptions though that any act might have problems with.
Drink
It is virtually impossible for anybody to entertain an audience who have had too much to drink. Most people in an organisation are sensible and do not drink to excess. The best way of dealing with this is to try and anticipate if there could be a problem. For instance an all day free bar is probably not recommended.
Distractions
It is only fair to the act that there are as little distractions for the audience as possible; so they can concentrate their attentions on the act. If there is a bar at the back of the room, this should be closed whilst the act is on. At Christmas parties try to ensure that the crackers, flying balloons and party poppers have been fully pulled, flown and popped. On no account should anybody be still eating their main meal when the entertainment begins. Disco lights and other lit up areas which are not directly relevant to the act should be extinguished.
Heckling
Heckler to multi-instrumentalist: “Is there no end to his man’s versatility?"
It does happen from time to time that somebody at the event will decide to heckle aggressively. An act can be expected to take only so much abuse. If it gets too much some acts might even leave the stage and refuse to continue.
It is possible that the heckling might arise because the act is not going well: in show business this is known as ‘dying’. Rest assured this is a far more unpleasant experience for the act than it is for the audience. In all probability an act will cut their expected performing time.
However if you have followed all the advice in this report, this should not happen!
