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Heckler throws a full beer can at Stand Up Comic Ariel Elias; Her ‘flawless’ reaction prompts Jimmy Kimmel to book her on his show – Deadline

October 11, 2022

Stand-up comics have been frequently targeted onstage by uncontrollable onlookers in the months since Will Smith slapped Chris Rock at the Oscars. The latest incident came this weekend, when comedian Ariel Elias found herself literally under fire on stage in Point Pleasant Beach, NJ.

Elias was doing a Q&A with members of the public as part of his act when a woman in the audience asked, “Did you vote for Donald Trump?”

After trying to deflect, the comedian joked, “Why would you ask me that question when you know I’m the only Jew in the room? Are you trying to get me killed?

The woman turned to her.

“I can tell by your jokes that you voted for Biden,” she said.

This led Elias to remove the (verbal) gloves.

“I can tell by the fact that you’re still talking when no one wants you to vote for Trump,” the comedian replied to cheers from the audience.

Seconds later, a can of beer flew across the room and slammed into the wall behind Elias, whose jaw dropped. It’s what she did next that big-name comedians and others called her a “hero” and a “class actor.”

Jimmy Kimmel later said online he would let Elias make his late night debut on his show – Deadline confirmed Monday with a spokesperson for Jimmy Kimmel Live! that the producers are in contact and are trying to find him a date.

“As soon as I picked up the beer and felt there was still liquid in it,” Elias said. Newsweek today, “I knew I had to do without it. It was the only way to recover. Also, all of a sudden, I really needed a drink, so it really worked.

The Jersey crowd cheered, and since then Kimmel, Whitney Cummings, Patton Oswalt, Jim Gaffigan and many more have joined them. See their tweets below.

The club owner said it was not the woman who threw the beer, but her husband, who then gallantly got away.

“The club is filing a complaint against him,” said the comedian. “I’m not, because to do that I would have to go back to Point Pleasant Beach, and I don’t do that unless someone pays me.”

Comedians across the country expressed concern about copycats almost immediately after the Oscar slap in the face heard around the world.

“Now we all have to wonder who wants to be the next Will Smith in comedy clubs and theaters,” comedian Kathy Griffin said two days after Smith’s public assault on Rock.

The months that followed proved Griffin’s prescience as Dave Chappelle was physically assaulted at the Hollywood Bowl, TI stormed the Atlanta stage and grabbed the microphone from a comedian who was mocking him, and stand-up comedian Sampson McCormick was punched by an audience member during his show at the Win-River Resort & Casino in Redding.

When asked specifically if she thought her incident was the result of the Oscars slap, Elias hesitated, “No. I don’t think the reason people in this country are nervous and prone to violence has anything to do with a celebrity slapping another celebrity at an award show that hardly anyone ever looked. Just as Trump is a symptom, so was the slap. As a society, we are so deeply traumatized, from mass shootings to Covid to climate disasters, and we have very little access to mental health. We bury this stuff and then act impulsively, and look for the easy answer as to why the violence is happening when it’s so much messier than that.

Ariel wasn’t even making political material. The drunken rowdy craved what every MAGAt craves – grievance and revenge. And they will modify reality before their eyes to obtain it. “You SOUND like you voted for Biden.” https://t.co/rDCF9Cmoc1

— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) October 9, 2022

For anyone who wants to poke fun at the comics by saying we didn’t sign up to be physically attacked and put on a pedestal, take a little poop. @Ariel_Comedy you are a class act. https://t.co/dJSahKnJDL

—Whitney Cummings (@WhitneyCummings) October 9, 2022