Jim Jefferies Has Been Punched By Hecklers — Twice

It ain’t easy being a stand-up comic. Unruly audience members throw beer bottles at comedians. They challenge Mike Tyson to fights. They tackle Dave Chappelle. They even stomp onstage at the Oscars to deliver open-handed slaps. Jim Jefferies knows all about it — he’s been punched by a heckler. Twice.

“If you Google ‘Jim Jefferies punched’, you will see what people do with me when they heckle,” Jefferies told Australia’s Channel 7's Sunrise. Sure enough — slug those search terms into the ol’ Google machine and the mayhem is there for all to see. 

The scuffle that was caught on film went down in 2007. Chortle reported that the attacker, described by another audience member as “a hard little guy,” got bent out of shape when Jefferies clapped back at another heckler. The assailant reportedly didn’t know the woman, but Jefferies did go after her pretty hard, saying something along the lines of “I’ll leave you alone now, just like your dad did. Shame your grandfather didn’t.” Oof.

That earned an initial insult from Hard Little Guy, who stormed out to the bar where he presumably downed a shot of courage. A few minutes later, he stormed the stage, dealing a blow that left Jefferies with a black eye. Security quickly pounced and police hauled the heckler to the pokey. Jefferies literally had the last laugh, returning to the stage for an encore. 

Jefferies offered few details about Punch #2, only offering that he “isn’t the best” at dealing with hecklers. He never spoke to the 2007 attacker after the incident but perhaps he should have at least sent the guy a thank you note. After the YouTube video went viral, Jefferies says, his tour began selling out everywhere he went, making for one lucrative black eye. 

Speaking of disruptive audience members, Jefferies gave a spirited defense of fellow comedian Arj Barker, who made headlines earlier this year when he asked a nursing mother to take her disruptively noisy baby outside. 

“I couldn't believe this was even an argument that poor Arj Barker got in trouble because someone was breastfeeding in the show,” Jefferies said. “It's an adult show you are going to. It's not like if you went to a strip club. ‘I was trying to breastfeed me baby in the strip club and everyone got upset at me.’ No, of course you aren't meant to have kids there.”

Barker has reached out to the mother to make peace, suggesting they go 50-50 on the movie rights. He’s also offered the baby a comp ticket to a future stand-up show, “post-dated 2039.”

Any parents thinking about bringing their whinging babies to a Jefferies show, however, should think twice. “No children in my shows, I swear a lot!” the comic said, adding, “Of course, you're not meant to have babies.”