Comedian Ariel Elias gave the perfect response after a heckler threw a full can of beer at her — which narrowly missed her and exploded when it hit the brick wall behind her: she calmly picked it up and chugged what was left in the can.
Elias was in the middle of a set at Uncle Vinnie’s Comedy Club Point Pleasant Beach, New Jersey, when she paused to ask if anyone in the audience had any questions for her — and things quickly went south when someone asked her whether she had voted for former President Donald Trump.
Fellow stand-up comic Gianmarco Soresi shared the story on Twitter on Saturday, saying, “An audience member threw a full beer at @Ariel_comedy’s head mid-set and it was not fun in any way shape or form but she closed it out like a f***ing champ and that’s the only kind of actual brave I’ve ever seen a comedian be.”
An audience member threw a full beer at @Ariel_Comedy’s head mid-set and it was not fun in any way shape or form but she closed it out like a fucking champ and that’s the only kind of actual brave I’ve ever seen a comedian be pic.twitter.com/UKGlQXXuY0
— gianmarco (@GianmarcoSoresi) October 9, 2022
Elias responded to Soresi’s tweet by sharing the clip from her show.
WATCH:
Here's the clip pic.twitter.com/soeG3dixP4
— Ariel Elias (@Ariel_Comedy) October 9, 2022
“What’s your question?” Elias asked the audience member, who immediately asked whether she had voted for Trump.
“Did I vote for Donald Trump?” Elias repeated the question back, adding, “What do you think?”
“No!” the audience member shot back.
“Ok,” Elias replied. “Here’s a question for you? Why would you ask me that knowing I’m the only Jew in this room? Are you trying to get me killed? If it makes you feel any better, I vote in New York and my vote doesn’t matter there.”
Someone in the audience yelled out that votes didn’t matter in New Jersey, either.
“Guys, everybody vote for whoever you want to vote — I don’t care who you voted for,” Elias continued. “I’m just happy we’re all here together.”
“So you voted for Biden,” the audience member kept at it.
“I dunno, why does it matter?” Elias asked, and the audience member shot back.
“Yes you did … I could just tell by your jokes you voted for Biden.”
“All right,” Elias played along. “I can tell by the fact that you’re still talking when nobody wants you to that you voted for Trump.”
The audience exploded with cheers and laughter, but the woman complained that no one had actually asked her to stop talking.
“All right, make some noise if you want her to shut up,” Elias instructed the audience — which they did.
She was trying to get the set back on track when a beer can whizzed past her head and exploded against the wall. She stood there for a moment, a surprised look on her face, and then picked it up, chugging what remained in the can.