Patton Oswalt | A CLOSED LETTER TO MYSELF ABOUT THIEVERY, HECKLING AND RAPE JOKES: Except for the kid who’d been screaming at us. The Shouter. He got in my face and blocked my way up the aisle.
“Didn’t you hear the stuff I was yelling? You ignored me the whole time!”
I said, “I didn’t hear it.”
“Yes you did.”
His friend pulled him away. “Dude, let’s go. Be cool.”
He and his friend started walking up the aisle away from me. His friend gave me a, “Sorry about that" look over his shoulder. I shrugged.
Then the friend leaned into the Shouter, said, “Man, why’d you keep screaming at those guys?”
The Shouter said, “There’s no way they were just making jokes up that fast. I had to say something.”
I’ve never heard a more poignant rationalizing of heckling in my life, and I doubt I ever will.