This Thursday you can heckle comedians—and they’ll welcome the harassment. The Heckler’s Ball at O’Sullivan’s Irish Pub in Arlington encourages guests to ridicule comics without worrying about your karma, because proceeds will go to the group Stand Up to Cancer.
Alexandria-based comedian Jon Yeager, founder of Callback Comedy, organizes the event with Callback co-producers Adrian Russell, Anna Huntley, and Karmen Fox. Yeager hosts heckling nights for charity at O’Sullivan’s on the last Thursday of each month, with a different crew of comedians each time. “We like this because we can promote stand-up comedy as an art form that can be used for good,” Yeager says.
During the show, fellow comedians or select audience members stand behind performers, lifting signs to cue when the crowd can begin heckling. Thursday’s show will feature ten comics from the area, including Yeager. People who win “best comic,” “best heckler,” or “best line of the night,” will receive appropriate gifts. “Not to brag, but last week we gave out a prize of Marmaduke on DVD,” Yeager says.
“I know there’s been lots of times where you’re watching a show when you wanted to say something, but you didn’t because you were a good human,” Yeager says. “This is a good time to kind of let that go. Knowing it’s for a wonderful cause should probably make people feel better about being well, just awful people.”
Yeager encourages guests to purchase a minimum of two items from O’Sullivan’s during the show. Tickets are $15. Door tickets are expected to sell out before the event. Early tickets are available for purchase here.
