Jamie Kennedy – Heckler

Heckler
Jamie Kennedy, Lewis Black, Flip Schultz
Dave Attell, Louis Anderson, David Cross
Directed by Michael Addis
Produced by Jamie Kennedy
Documentary DVD
Echo Bridge Home Entertainment 2008
73 minutes

Heckler is at first a great documentary DVD about comedy club hecklers and how comics react to them. After that it is an only interesting documentary about critics and reviewers in general.

Producer Jamie Kennedy had enough of being heckled on stage. Once, for noticing that country music is always about losing your wife or your car, was certainly warranted. His other clips however prove hecklers are just a disruptive pain in the ass.

Kennedy has various stand-up comics like Joe Rogan, Greg Fitzsimmons, Bobby Slayton comment on hecklers. Others comedians like David Cross and Adam Ferarra tell the story of their worst moment being heckled. A few stand-ups like Flip Schultz even share footage of such a moment.

Great heckler footage include James Inman being punched by a woman, Bill Hicks’ reaction to a heckle, a really scary bit with an Alberta woman hitting on the comic and then hitting her boyfriend, and footage of the now legendary moment when Kenny Moore smashed his guitar on a heckler’s head.

This is when Heckler is great. This, unfortunately, stops at the 25 minute mark.

The last two thirds of this production are fairly interesting but not more. The documentary then takes on critics (reviewers) in general –in part because Jamie Kennedy did not like the reviews for Malibu’s Most Wanted and Son of the Mask. The false reasoning that sets up the last two thirds of this DVD is critics are just hecklers in print or on the net.

A few artists like Bill Maher or Arsenio Hall make the point a critic is just someone who voices an opinion but too many of the comics and artists in Heckler give critics and review websites a hell of a lot more power than we have.

Echo Bridge Home Entertainment sent us an advance copy of this documentary because we run a big ass comedy website and a review will give this DVD some exposure before and, this being the internet, way after its release date.

Will this comedy website review change Jamie Kennedy’s life or sell a million copies of Heckler? No. But  you click the pic and buy Heckler on Amazon I get 12 cents.

 

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