Most comedians are fine when folks laugh with them, and at them too for the most part. But after months of preparing for a stand-up set, the last thing a comedian wants to deal with is a heckler — especially one that doesn’t quite understand their role as collateral damage when sitting in the front row. Comedian Natalie Cuomo was rounding out a weekend of solo shows in Washington, D.C., when an audience heckler caused her to change the vibe from lots of laughs to lashing out.
Cuomo posted the footage of the incident across social media, including on TikTok, where the video has 874.8K views, 143.8K likes, and 4,612 comments, and on Instagram, where the video has over 1,619 comments.
“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 colors shine,” Cuomo wrote in the caption of her video. “Always stand up for yourself!! And if you’re going to be rude, at least have the decency to LOOK ME IN THE EYES.”
@nataliecuomo 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 colors 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 👀 ❤️
♬ original sound – Natalie
Why was Natalie Cuomo getting heckled?
It’s not uncommon for comedians to get heckled by audience members, and most feel equipped to deal with the situation in a way that is casual and funny. However, things started to get heated during Cuomo’s show on Feb. 1., 2025, when a heckler got out of hand.
Cuomo was excited about a pair of audience members who were sitting together in the front row. “What made you want to ask him?” she said at the beginning of the clip, presumably asking about why the two had come to her show together.
One of the unknown audience members felt offended by Cuomo’s “insinuation” that he and a friend were on a date.
“Why are you making it sound like we’re a couple?” the audience member declared. “It’s not my fault that you don’t have material.”
Cuomo responded with surprise and started to reply but was cut off when the same audience member added, “I can roast you too. You can’t roast all of us and get nothing.”
“I see,” Cuomo casually responded. “You were afraid because you felt like I was saying you’re gay…”
The audience member tried to out-joke the jokester, cutting her off again and stating, “I can take the mic.”
The heckling seemed to set Cuomo off, who stopped her planned material to personally respond to the audience member. She started out saying how people were at her show to come together and be supportive and that he was killing the vibe with his comments.
When she noticed he wasn’t reacting, she got down to eye-level with the heckler and shouted, “Look me in the eyes! You’re putting negative f*cking energy out here!”
“This is the last show of my f*cking weekend,” she continued, loudly and off-book. “Look me in the f*cking eyes! It’s a sold-out show and you want to say mean sh*t to me? Don’t f*cking do that!”
The rest of the audience broke out in cheers and applause, chanting Cuomo’s name after the takedown. She then tells the heckler he can leave, but he was still part of the comedian’s show even after he’d exited the theater.
What happened after the heckler left?
Cuomo was ready to continue her show but noticed the friend of the heckler was texting. After calling him out, it was revealed that the heckler was sending his friend comments about the comedian who kicked him out.
The friend gave Cuomo his phone to read the text messages, which she took as an opportunity to create impromptu material.
“‘LOL what a f*cking clown’” she read aloud. “‘I did warn you I would get kicked out. Man, she is sensitive especially for a comedian,’” to which the supportive crowd booed.
Cuomo is last seen sending a text back, taking a selfie holding up her middle finger.
To laugh or to cringe? Fans weigh in on Cuomo’s crash out
Cuomo’s clip went viral shortly after she posted it on her channels, with thousands of comments supporting her reaction.
“This is one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen,” wrote X user @TheMcKenziest, with the clip from Cuomo’s show. The post has over 51.3M views, 110K likes, 8.3K reshares and over 8.3K comments. Cuomo herself even reshared it and replied, “Thank you.”
X user @rasta_dad reshared @TheMcKenziest’s post, adding a meme screenshot of, “(Tearing up when it’s my turn to enter the rap battle) I hate you I hate you I hate you.”
“He was so embarrassed he couldn’t even look you in the eyes,” wrote TikTok user @theelevatorguy. “Then the calm collected ‘you can leave now’ love it.”
TikTok user @mirmarc5 was also impressed by the way the audience supported Cuomo’s response. “The men being your loudest supporters when you popped back at him is giving me LIIIIIIIFE I love seeing men support women like that.”
While the crowd and some social media fans were revved up by the removal of the heckler, Cuomo’s vivid reaction was chastised by others.
“I’ve never seen a comedian scream at an audience member because they’re being heckled,” wrote TikTok user @ianturley_art.
“Comedians that can’t take a joke is actually so cringe,” added TikTok user @kaelen_5.
“Half of me loves this,” TikTok user @ghop619 admitted. “The other half notices that other comedians use their quick wit and demolish hecklers with jokes. Not yelling at them.”
TikTok user @bageldave69 spoke up about what a comedian’s job is, in their opinion: “I love live comedy and fad around crowd work really does enable the worst kinda people. But honestly, a comdians one job is to be funny, so crashing out at your own show over a bad interaction really rubs me the wrong way.”
“Weird way to end your comedy career but alright,” posted X user @wyattsmetal in response to Cuomo’s X post of her video clip.
Who is Natalie Cuomo?
Cuomo grew up in Queens and began doing stand-up comedy around 2018, when she would hop around New York City in search of open-mic events. Currently she tours around the world and performs as part of big comedy events as well as solo shows.
In 2018 she released her debut album, “Shut Up You Loved It,” which included jokes related to her love life and adventures in dating, her personal eccentricities, stories about anxiety and living with OCD, and tattoos, of which she has so many, she’s lost track of how much.
While focused mainly on her stand-up career, Cuomo has also appeared on podcasts and TV shows. According to her website, she was “named a Finalist in New York Comedy Festival’s ‘New York’s Funniest’ Competition in 2024” and was “one of the festival’s ‘Comics To Watch’ in 2023.”
The Daily Dot reached out to Natalie Cuomo via the contact form on her website for comment.
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