Heckler Throws Full Can of Beer at Stand-up Comedian Who Chugs the Whole Thing in Viral Video

Comedian Arial Elias may have just joined the unsavory roster of comedians whose stage has become the source of not-so-funny incidents, but she at least got a free can of beer out of it. Elias is now the subject of a new viral video after her show at Uncle Vinnie’s Comedy Club in Point Pleasant Beach, New Jersey on Saturday, Oct. 8 was briefly halted when a heckler in the audience threw a can of beer at her.

The incident took place as Elias was doing a Q&A with audience members as part of her set, though things went wrong when one woman in the audience asked, “Did you vote for Donald Trump?” After attempting to deflect the question, Elias eventually quipped, “Why would you ask me that question when you know I’m the only Jew in the room? Are you trying to get me killed?” After a bit of back-and-forth, the woman could be heard saying, “I could just tell by your jokes you voted for Biden,” with Elias hitting back to a round of applause with, “I can tell by the fact that you’re still talking when nobody wants you to that you voted for Trump.”

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Although Elias attempted to move on with her set, things took a scary turn for the worse when, just seconds later, a beer can was thrown at her head by the heckler’s male partner, per BuzzFeed News. While the can missed, it hit the wall behind her, spraying before falling to the floor. Elias didn’t miss a beat, though, and her only reaction to the scary situation was to reach down, pick up the beer, and chug it, eliciting cheers from the crowd.

Speaking with CNN about the moment, Elias recalled, “I remember thinking, ‘Don’t let the adrenaline win. Take a sip. Be brave.’ When I thought that there was still beer in there, I thought, you know what? I’d never needed a drink more in my life. And I think this is kind of the only way to get out of this because I still have five minutes left of my set.” She went on to joke that while she knows she could have stepped off the stage and “nobody would’ve been mad at me… I sell merch after the show, and my best-selling sticker is based on my closing joke. I was like, ‘Well, I have to do the joke if I want people to come and buy stickers afterwards.’”

As for the beer thrower? Elias said, per Deadline, “the club is pressing charges against him. I’m not, because in order to do that, I would have to return to Point Pleasant Beach, and I’m not doing that unless someone pays me to.”