Karaoke Forums

How do you KJ hosts or participants deal with people who for some unknown reasoning think they can just come up and join you in mid song. They grab the extra mic and start singing with you announcing that this is their absolutely fave song or it has some arcane meaning to them. I've even had some cowboy with a harmonica come up and join in and it sounded like scalded cats. Some even ask, and when told no, they still grab the mic and sing. I have taken to just walking off stage and let the idiot fall on his own, because they usually can't sing anyway. One of the many reasons I quite going to clubs  and now I just sing at home or at private functions. These people are also the ones who would never sign up on their own to sing.

I escort any singer that helps themselves off the stage & talked to about not doing it again.  If they give me any flack about it I talk to the bartender, they are usually cut off & in extreme cases 86'd!

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LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

you should be able to have a word with your kj and ask them to prevent it happening heaven knows singers wait long enough for their turn to come around on busy nights, you shouldnt need to put up with it

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"Be who you are and say what you feel... Because those that matter... Don't mind...And those that mind... Don't matter."

Boozers are losers, to many drinks changes everyones moxie.

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Man Must Know His Limitations -Clint Eastwood

As a KJ if I AM THE ONE singing I'll usually let them sing along - AND if they are THAT BAD I will  walk away and let  them go SOLO      :D

AS a HOST if someone else is singing I will escort them AWAY from the mics and kindly tell them to pick out a song of your own !

If I'm the one that is singing I say to them and quite firmly, "You take the melody line."  If someone else is singing I head them off before they get anywhere near a microphone.  I will point to the mic and look the singer in the eye and point to the guy.  The singer ususally shakes his head and I explain to the interloper that the current singer desires no further acompaniment.

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Okay, who took my pants?

It's situational.  If I'm in a smartass mood, I might just give the real singer a heads up and mute the other mic, it ususally take only a minute for the 'other' to realize what an idiot they are and leave.  Otherwise if the singer isn't into it, I'll ask the other to vamoose!!!

The KJ should be controlling the situation !

As a KJ I ask the person if they have asked the singer if they could join them. When they say no, I tell them they must get down off the stage. Now If they try to ask the person as they are singing I tell them no - they need to ask before the song starts. Most singers are to nice to say no and instead of them looking like the bad guy for wanting to sing alone I take the initiative to try and stop it.

Just turning off their mic doesn't always cure the problem because the idiots don't realize it's off  LMAO At this point they are usually still annoying.

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[updown]~*~ MONKEY BUSINESS KARAOKE~*~ [/shadow][/updown][/glow]

Babs is correct. The KJ should be controlling the situation.  One, I generally head them off at the pass.  Two, I use the wireless and they are mounted in my gig rig.  They are on, but muted from the mixer.

Most of my crowd knows better, but on a rare occasion where someone new is singing and maybe I have to make a quick pee break; I have found someone else "new" trying to sing with one of the other mics.  They say."Hey, this isn't on."  I say, "It's not on because your not supposed to be singing, now get off the stage."

And as always, they try again, they don't sing.  One "strike" is all they get.  If the next one even looks like it's close to being "over the plate", they're OUT!

Kelly

Babs as usual nailed it...but to take it one step further- Ive seen KJ's that allowed and even encouraged behavior like this saying that "crowd participation" was "more fun for everyone" and when I made it clear that i did not want the person on stage they shrugged like "What can I do"When it was obvious that they wouldn't take action-- I stopped singing- reached over and yanked the mic from the interloper and handed it to the Kj. I told him"That;s what you can do" I then turned to the interloper and said over the mic..."I signed up for this and YOUR name was NOT on the slip- sit down!" This guy (who was a friend of the KJ) was infamous for butting in so the entire place cheered when I did that.

By the same token the same KJ was ALSO unbelieveably obnoxious about butting in himself. There was a bartender at the place who was a great singer--Everytime he got up to sing- the KJ would make it a duet. After watching the bartender just walk off the stage in disgust several times- the Kj even had the gall to taunt him for "not finishing the song" I went to the owner and  pointed out that business was going downhill because who wants to come sing in a place like that?? I had noticed the thinning crowds and probably wouldn't have gone to that show at all other than it was literally within walking distance from my house.

I also introduced the "bartender" to another friend of mine that runs awesoms shows. The bartender was hired as a KJ on the spot and within 1 month- the bartender had replaced the obnoxious KJ...I was there the night the original KJ was "let go" he gave me an evil look...I shrugged but I was thinking "Now THAT'S  what WE can do!" Business is booming again at this club on karaoke nights!

Now THAT is poetic justice!  

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I notice alot of hard and fast lines drawn with the some of your karaoke shows.  One warning and boom ... see ya!  Do you all work in the big cities where regular crowds don't mean much?

I so wish everybody would read the rules that are in every one of my books, but these are the same people that submit songs on the comment cards instead of song slips over and over again.  I mean, seriously, get a clue people.  :)  What is that saying about the crowd.  They don't give a shxt?  They're stupid?  They can't read or tell a square from a circle?  I don't talk down to them with my rules/guidelines, here are a few from my list:

I.  KARAOKE IS MORE FUN THAN SEX
Yeah, right!  Yet whether you’re into country, rock, blues, pop, soul, oldies or another equally righteous genre of music, karaoke offers something for all.  Karaoke combines professional, near original productions of your favorite songs, with your vocal talents.  Don’t be intimidated, karaoke is not just for people who can sing; it’s for everybody.  Just like sex!

III.  “HELP, I’VE FALLEN AND I CAN’T GET UP”
To submit a song:  write your name, song title, and artist on a slip of paper.  If you verbally request your song and you don’t get called up, understand it’s a natural human condition to sometimes forget.  To ensure your place in the rotation write down your song and bring it up.  If you need assistance please come up and see me.  Additionally, if I call your name and you don’t come up, I will move you down in the rotation to keep the rotation moving.  Many thanks.

V.  ARETHA FRANKLIN CAN SPELL
R E S P E C T.  Karaoke is serious fun for a lot of us.  When singers have the microphone respect their space, try not to walk between a singer and the TV monitor on the stage.  Do not assist singers unless invited to do so.

I've been on this kick lately about mic talk and what we KJs use it for.  Seems not many of us do, yet we still ponder the same old ... what do we do with the Mic Hogs, etc.?  If you tell them throughout the nigh not to walk in front of the singers, not to join in unless invited, don't scream into the mics, etc.  you get a lot less of it.  I hear people write in these posts ... but the singers don't like the excess blah, blah, blah, and I say I don't like people screaming in my mics or annoying the crap out of the show when its in progress ... I'm getting true, proven results by verbally engaging the crowd with more than "Nice job, Bob" and "Clap, you idiots".  It really does work (at least in my town) ... and on top of it, my shows aren't experiencing fall out from it, they're exploding beyond my ability to accommodate all the singers.  

Are KJs supposed to be robotic, and if so is that how we want to be perceived?  Are we just so tired of the same drunk axxes that come into the bar that we've become desensitized?  Control?  If KJs were in control, these dunces wouldn't be pulling the same crap again and again and again to the point where it's one and done.  

Some people don't know the etiquette and a lot of people who hang out in bars have social issues beyond drinking too much.  It's our jobs as KJs to teach them what is right and just, no?  Ever heard of the three learning styles ... Visual, Auditory and Kinesthetic?  Some people read the rules, some people need to hear them, and some people need a good knock up long side the head once in a while.

As I read you post my eyes grew wide and my mouth went dry thinking of what would have happened at about half of the venues I played.  As you turned back to the interloper to make your comment you probably would have been introduced to the questionable art of the B@@ch Slap.  People are dangerous.  If the KJ didn't do anything about it I have to suspect that there was probably a good reason.

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Okay, who took my pants?

Are you kidding me, somebody slaps a hottie like Paula at one of my gigs and they wouldn't even make it off the stage before 10 guys beat 'em to a pulp.  :)

A large city yes.  Don't worry about regular crowds?  I rely on my regulars & funny thing is they come back because of many of our rules that other companies don't do.  Ours is a karaoke club for 15 years now 7 nights a week, not just a karaoke night(s) on occasion or once a week or every other week or????  so many of our singers are typically better than average & they come in because they know that they aren't going to have jerks jumping in on their songs, or drunken screamers dropping f-bombs on the mic every song (another rule imposed by the bar itself).

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LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

If the kj didn't do anything, the reason was probably lack of kj skills IMO!  No one should jump up uninvited to anyone elses song!

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LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

Pretty much!

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LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

True enough.  But things can go to pot on you before you can react.  In certain segments of society confrontation of any kind demands a response and usually a violent one.

In an ideal world the unused mics should have been dead, the KJ should have been on his feet and near enough to the singer to intervene at all times, and the interloper should have had a triple digit IQ but this is not an ideal world.  If the KJ had been me this would have been the case except for the triple digit thing, nothing I can do about that.  Confrontation promotes violence in my experience and voilence is not a good thing.  It's only karaoke after all.

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Okay, who took my pants?

Never had a problem with asking anyone off the stage that wasn't invited.  Most understand, but have yet to have a confrontation over it.  
The only mic available on stage at any given time in my show is the singer that is supposed to be up.  If someone grabs a mic at my show, they have to get into my booth to do it.

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LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

The way you describe your show I honestly would make a point to avoid it.  You don't adjust for your singers, afraid to tell a jumper to get off the mic, talked like your singers are generally drunken losers...at least that's the impression I get.

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[shadow=deepskyblue]I'm impressed, I've never met such a small mind inside such a big head before.[/shadow]

Yep, you nailed it.  Drunken losers drink a lot and tip the bartender well, so the bar people are happy.  The jumper never would have gotten to the stage becasue I would have spotted him and gestured that his actions were unaceptable.  A wave of the hands is not confrontational.  I don't adjust for each singer for several reasons.  First, being behind and to one side of the singer I can't hear the house mix and I know I can't hear the house mix and I'm sure everyone will agree that you can't properly adjust a mix you can't hear.  I do go out front periodically and have a listen.  Second, if you know how to sing and use a microphone you end up doing that little dance with the sound man who twiddles knobs as when someone is walking towards you and you both adjust to get out of each other's way.  If you can't sing, no amount of reverb or EQ is going to cure that.  Lastly, you're right.  I didn't want "Singers" at my shows (Singer: A person who goes to a karaoke bar to stay sober and impress people with the vocal talent.)  I wanted people who came to play with the group and loosen up a bit, okay, a lot, long past legal on several levels in fact.  It was fun.

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Okay, who took my pants?