Comedian Laura Lexx is a very savvy Internet user. After an exchange with an apparently drunk male audience member during a recent stand-up performance in Brighton, England, Lexx posted a video of the altercation on YouTube under the vague title “Comedian Destroys Sexist Heckler”—knowing, apparently, that social media users prefer viral videos that feature archetypes and hyperbole. Lexx’s video got traction on Reddit, where a top commenter proclaimed it “quality,” before getting picked up by the Daily Mail and Uproxx. And now Slate! We love feminists “destroying” patriarchy as much as the next website.
Lexx’s cool, collected demeanor as she cuts the heckler down to size is truly a sight to behold. Other comedians, take notes: Lexx turns the tables on the heckler by patronizingly calling him “my darling” and “sweetheart,” and uses a tone of voice that conveys pity and mild confusion that someone would choose to be as boneheaded and rude as the heckler. Best of all, she cuts to the heart of his childish, antisocial behavior, suggesting that someone give him crayons to help quell his tantrum, and patiently explaining, “Just because your parents didn’t give you attention doesn’t mean I’ve got time to make up for that now.” (The only disappointing bit is a mildly homophobic gibe about his sex life, but considering that Lexx ad-libbed everything, I think we should be willing to look past a single mangled punch line.)
Of course, Lexx shouldn’t have been on her own to deal with the heckler. All women, including performers, have the right to work without being sexually harassed, and that means that the institutions they work for and with need to take harassment seriously. (The staff eventually escorted the heckler out, but only after he was allowed to interrupt Lexx several times.) Ideally, women in comedy wouldn’t have to put up with a culture that tolerates sexist hecklers. But as long as they do, they should take a few pages out of Lexx’s book.
