Furious comedian loses it with heckler then grabs his friend's phone to expose his text messages

A comedian lost her cool with a heckler at one of her shows, creating an iconic viral moment.

We've all seen crowd members taking it upon themselves to challenge comedians such as Jimmy Carr at their own shows, and it's fair to say that it's a massive risk to do so.

The very best comedy performers often use quick wit and their humour to come up with responses to heckles, but you can probably understand that there are times when they'd want to tell big-mouthed audience members to shut up. It's a rare occurrence, but we were treated to a heated exchange like this on social media this week.

Comedian Natalie Cuomo was closing out her weekend shows in Washington D.C. when someone in the front row decided to hit back at one of her jokes.

In a video that was posted to TikTok on 3 February, she can be seen joking with the crowd before someone she described as a 'little man' piped up after she'd suggested he was in a relationship with his friend.

He said: "It's not my fault that you don't have material. I can roast you too, you can't roast all of us and get nothing."

Cuomo stayed calm at first as the audience reacted to his comment, as she suggested that he was 'afraid' that she called him gay as a joke.

After he said he could take the mic, the comedian started to fly off the handle: “There's so many people coming together to be supportive and you’re putting negative,” before beginning to shout in the man's face: “No, look me in the eyes! You’re putting negative f***ing energy out there!

“This is the last show of my f***ing weekend, look me in the f***ing eyes! It’s a sold-out show and you want to say mean s*** to me? Don’t f***ing do that!”

Warning: explicit language

The crowd loved it, as Cuomo was clearly having none of it and drank some water as people chanted her name, before calmly telling the man: "You can leave."

That wasn't it though, as she spotted his friend messaging him, calling it 'cute', as he waved off her invite to leave if he wanted.

Cuomo then read the messages from the heckler to the audience: “Lol what a f***ing clown. I did warn you I would get kicked out. Man, she is sensitive, especially for a comedian.”

Naturally, she replied by sending a photo of her flipping him off. Fair enough.

She captioned the clip: "Right after I said how grateful I was for everyone being there and selling out the show, this little man in the front row decided to let his true colours shine. Always stand up for yourself!! And if you’re going to be rude, at least have the decency to LOOK ME IN THE EYES."

Despite the crowd loving the way she handled it, those online were split on how she dealt with the situation.

One commented on TikTok: "Comedians that can’t take a joke is actually so cringe," while another added: "Half of me loves this. The other half notices that other comedians use their quick wit and demolish hecklers with jokes. Not yelling at them," while another said that 'he won' through her reaction.

But a different user was on her side, writing: "Feminine rage is my jam!! I'm obsessed."

A fourth wrote: "U screaming at him to look u in the eyes just changed my brain chemistry."