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Comedian chugs beer after man hurls can at stage following politically charged heckling

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A comedian had the last laugh after almost getting pelted by a beer can while performing.

Ariel Elias was on stage at comedy club in New Jersey on Oct. 8 when a heckler demanded to know who she voted for in the 2020 U.S. presidential election.

"I can just tell by your jokes you voted for Biden," the heckler said with scorn.

"All right, I can tell by the fact that you're still talking when nobody wants you to, that you voted for Trump," Elias retorted to laughter.

"It was chaos in the room," Elias recalled in an interview with CTV National News on Tuesday. "Everybody was looking at what was happening. Nobody was paying attention to what was on stage."

The woman heckling Elias was soon kicked out of the venue, but moments later, the man sitting next to her hurled a can of beer, which narrowly missed Elias before crashing against a wall.

Captured in a now-viral video, Elias barely misses a beat as she grabs the beer from the ground, smiles and chugs it to an eruption of applause.

"I do remember thinking, like, would it be funny if I drank this?" Elias said. "I still had five minutes left, so it was just like, how do I get the focus back to the stage?"

From Chris Rock to Dave Chappelle, there have been several recent high-profile attacks on comedians.

Elias is being praised for her grace under pressure, and is already getting booked for spots on late-night TV. She won't be pressing charges.

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