Everyone's had one! The "obnoxious drunk" gets called up to the stage for his/her turn. Now he/she just starts shouting obscenities into the mike or just shouts or slurs through the entire song. How do you handle this situation? Do you cut the song? Do you cut the mike? Do you let the song finish and then attempt to get him/her off of the stage (assuming that they have made no attempt to leave)?

KJ Hostess Gerrie Woo: People can usually tell by my face that I am upset, what I do is cut the mike out, if the Jerk is using profanity. If he is just trying to sing, I turn up the reverb and the music and turn him way down or just try to have fun with it, which is really hard to do. It really all depends on the situation. I usually announce the name of the singer at the end of their song and applaud them, but when they are jerks, I don't do either. I just announce the next singer that is coming up to sing and completely ignore the obnoxious drunk/jerk. He doesn't deserve any kind of acknowledgement or respect. If I ever get a really bad drunk I would have to have management handle it.

KJ Host Wayne Powell: I don't think there is "right" one size fits all way to deal with this scenario. I think there are some best practices to use as guidelines. I believe that every response to a situation should be handled from a "what's best" for the overall show perspective. Many times these situations are few and far between occasions. It is rare that a "regular" would find themselves in this situation due to the routines that are adapted based on the culture of the individual bar. So , if we look at a potential outbreak scenario, a quick response from the KJ to reduce the gain on the mike would allow the KJ to hopefully communicate the unacceptable behavior while the song/show "goes on." A KJ should remain calm and professional , but firm on the point that is to be made.

Communication through eye contact, and listening skills allows Management of the bar to be particularly sensitive to what's taking place on the stage and should be poised to step in at any time. This is a tough task, but I've found that the Bartenders and Shift managers possess a talent of sensing a potential outbreak of a disruptive situation.

With all this going on hopefully, this will communicate a "under control" environment that echoes that this behavior is not acceptable at your particular Karaoke bar. A continued or challenged rebuttal should result in Management firmly stepping in to resolve. This allows the KJ to keep the show moving and away from policing the folks that take the show too far. Hope this helps.