A heckler threw a beer can at her. But comedian Ariel Elias got the last laugh -- and sip - CNN

CNN  — 

In her 11 years of doing standup, this was by acold the worst heckler Ariel Elias had ever encountered.

The comedian’s gig astatine the Uncle Vinnie’s Comedy Club successful Point Pleasant Beach, New Jersey connected Oct. 8 started similar immoderate other, truthful she ne'er anticipated becoming the taxable of a viral video and the latest illustration of the drama signifier becoming the country of an unsettling incident.

Elias had spent the bulk of her 20-minute acceptable talking astir pistillate assemblage representation earlier launching into a pre-planned question-and-answer information of her set. A gag she ends connected appears connected immoderate merchandise she sells aft the show.

That’s erstwhile a pistillate successful the audience, seated astatine a ample array of radical attending a raucous day party, yelled to her connected stage: “Did you ballot for Trump?”

“I wasn’t talking astir politics,” she tells CNN. “I deliberation I was honestly talking astir my period. It conscionable felt similar she was looking for a fight, and I truly don’t deliberation I did thing to similar elicit that.”

The pistillate was kicked out. Then the antheral seated adjacent to her hurled a brew tin – accelerated – astatine Elias’ head.

In the aforementioned video of the moment, galore successful the assemblage respond with shock.

Elias says she didn’t spot the brew alert by her head, but she heard it loudly thump down her.

“I conscionable similar heard it against the partition and past I felt the backmost of my legs were wet, and I was trying to fig retired what happened,” she says. “And past I looked down and I saw the brew tin and enactment it unneurotic and radical were furious that that had happened, which was nice. So I’m gladsome a mob mentality didn’t instrumentality implicit against me.”

In the moment, she picked the tin up and recovered it was inactive dense with beer.

“I retrieve thinking, ‘Don’t fto the adrenaline win. Take a sip. Be brave,’” she says. “When I thought that determination was inactive brew successful there, I thought, you cognize what? I’d ne'er needed a portion much successful my life. And I deliberation this is benignant of the lone mode to get retired of this due to the fact that I inactive person 5 minutes near of my set.”

She knows that she had the enactment to measurement distant from the signifier and that “nobody would’ve been huffy astatine me.” But, she thought, what astir her stickers?

“I merchantability merch aft the show, and my my best-selling sticker is based connected my closing joke. I was like, ‘Well, I person to bash the gag if I privation radical to travel and bargain stickers afterwards.’”

So she finished.

Later, Elias says, “it was overmuch scarier erstwhile I got home.” She had to ticker the video to recognize however hard and accelerated the brew had been thrown.

“To beryllium honest, I’m not the champion astatine processing my emotions. So I deliberation astir apt conscionable similar successful six days I’ll outcry portion watching ‘Man vs. Food,’” she says, laughing.

Her friends and household person been supportive; her parents told her they were arrogant and her chap comics support checking successful connected her.

“Last night, I did a mates of spots successful the metropolis and everybody asked like, ‘Are you okay?’ Which I deliberation is precise overmuch the question that I request to beryllium asked,” she says. “Because the reply is, I don’t cognize yet.”

While Elias has decided not to property charges, the drama nine is. And though she doesn’t privation to backmost to the municipality wherever it happened, Elias says she perfectly loves doing standup and volition proceed on.

“Please don’t propulsion things astatine me,” she says. “I emotion basal up truthful much. It’s my favourite happening successful the world. I emotion traveling and being successful beforehand of radical who are antithetic from me.”