Sure, there’s a lot of swagu associated with being a stand-up taking on a heckler. Still, I can’t imagine that bone-chilling moment when an audience member asks you, “Why don’t you have a red dot on your forehead?” Which, of course, is what happened to Aziz Ansari while having a little Q&A at Tig Notaro’s show in L.A. In response, Aziz tried to open up the intercultural dialogue by asking why the heckler didn’t have the word “c— on her forehead,” before lamenting that there are still “racist” people in the world. Of course, that is the risk you run when you decide to take questions from the audience, especially when a someone in your audience happens to have learned everything she knows about the world from a joke her uncle told when he was drunk.
