How to Deal With Drunk People as a DJ: The Complete Guide to Handling Intoxicated Guests

Every DJ who plays live events will eventually deal with drunk guests. It's not a matter of if — it's a matter of when. Whether you're playing a wedding, a club, a corporate event, or a private party, intoxicated guests will approach your booth, make requests, and sometimes create situations that test your patience and professionalism.

The good news? Handling drunk people is a skill you can learn. And once you master it, you'll not only avoid drama — you'll earn more bookings, protect your gear, and build a reputation as a DJ who can handle anything.

This guide combines hard-won experience from two decades behind the decks into one complete playbook for every drunk-guest scenario you'll ever face.

The Golden Rule: Never Call Someone Drunk

This is the most important rule in this entire guide, and it's one that many DJs — especially those without much drinking experience — consistently get wrong.

Do not ever, under any circumstance, point out that the drunk person is drunk. Don't say the word drunk. Don't say "hey you've had too much to drink." Just nothing. Don't do it.

It's the worst thing you can do. Even the most experienced drinkers in the world don't like to be called drunk. That is literally fighting words for a lot of drunk people, and it's going to escalate the situation immediately.

Pretend like they're the most sober person you've ever met in your life.

Pro tip: If you need to remember one thing from this guide, let it be this. Calling someone out for being drunk will never, ever make a situation better. It will always make it worse.

The Three Types of Drunk Song Requesters

Most DJ harassment at events comes down to song requests. Drunk guests who make them fall into three clear categories. Understanding which type you're dealing with is half the battle.

1. The Classic Drunk

The classic drunk is the easiest one to handle. They stumble over, ask for some abstract weird song, and they're going to forget about it two seconds later.

If you're a DJ and you just want to get rid of this person, the best thing you can do is be really pumped up and enthusiastic about the song they've asked for. "Yeah, great idea, that's a really good one actually, I'll put that one on in a bit, I'm going to put it on real soon." They walk away head high, feel good about themselves, they don't come back — they're drunk, they forgot they even asked you.

Don't get into a discussion with them. They're drunk, they're not right in the head. Just say good one and move on.

2. The Nag

The nag is a real pain. They keep coming over, they want that song played, and they'll start reaching over the DJ decks. They think they run the show, and because you're not playing their song at that exact time, you're ruining their individual night.

There's no real easy way to deal with these people. The best way to do it is when the dance floor starts to die down — like if you're at a wedding and the food's just been announced — play their song at that exact moment when they've just sat down to have their food. Play it, it's done, move on.

Or if they're really nagging you, you could potentially go and speak to management or security and say that they're bothering you. That's the worst case depending on how bad it gets.

3. The Briber

The briber comes over and offers you something to bump their song up. They come over and they're kind of like, "hey do you want a drink?" or they offer you money. I've been offered cocaine before to change songs — literally. They come over just thinking, what's it going to take?

And honestly, it's your call how you handle it.

They come over and offer you ten pounds. Think about how bad they want to be played and how much money they've offered you. You could potentially say, "well double it and I'll definitely play it" — you're a jobbing DJ, you want a bit of dough.

Or if they've offered you a good amount of cash, you could just take the money and put it on. Or you could say no, don't worry about the money, I'll definitely put it on later — and then not play it. Completely your choice.

How to Respond Without Escalating

Don't Take Anything Personally

Remember — they're drunk. They're not thinking clearly, they're having a great time, and they're wilding out.

Maybe you're at a wedding and it's their best friend who just got married, and they're drunker than they've ever been and don't really know how to handle it. Maybe this is the first time they've been drunk since college, or maybe this is the first time they've ever been drunk, or they're straight up alcoholics and they're drunk all the time and it shows.

Regardless, you don't want to take things personally. They may insult you or come at you the wrong way, and you just got to remind yourself that they're drunk.

If you get upset or offended at someone, no matter how sideways they come at you, it's just going to make things worse because you're dealing with a drunk person. You just got to shove it down. I'm guilty of it — there's been a drunk person or two grinding my gears where I'm thinking, alright, do I got to smack this guy? But don't do it. Just push it down and keep it pushing.

Dress Up Your No — Respond Positively

This takes a little practice, but it's worth it, because a lot of DJs get this wrong when dealing with drunk people.

You want to respond to them in the right way. You want to respond positively. You don't want to come at them crazy or just give them a hard no.

Instead of being short with them — saying "okay I'll try" or "maybe" or just "no" — dress things up. Say something like, "Oh great song, love that song, I'll get it on as soon as I can." Or, "You know what, I'm saving that song for the right moment a little later because that's a banger — I definitely got you." If you're just not going to play it, say "I'm sorry, I can't play that tonight, it's just not going to fit with the vibe."

Be nice. Dress it up. Think about it — you go to a restaurant, you've got a server, and you request something from them. What if they just hit you with a hard no? Even if it's something they genuinely can't do, they would never say it like that. They're in the hospitality business. They're going to say "oh I'm sorry sir, but right now..." and they're going to dress it up.

If you're firm and stern with them, it's just going to cause a problem. Either they're going to be butt hurt and go away and complain later, or they're an aggressive drunk. Or you're going to trigger an emotion from back in the day — they remember their dads being mean to them, and it comes up, and it's like "I'm an adult, I'm not going to let this happen no more," and all of a sudden you've got somebody swinging on you while you're DJing.

I know that's an extreme situation, but stuff like this happens. And I know DJs are guilty of it because a lot of DJs when they're DJing don't like to be bothered — they're in the zone, that's it, don't bother me. We all concentrate differently, but you've got to try and be able to multitask a little bit. Beat mix the song while you're swerving a drunk person. It takes practice, but it pays dividends in the long run.

Just Ignore and Don't Engage

This is the simplest tool in your arsenal, and one of the most effective.

If someone's coming over and complaining at that moment, what is the point in actually getting into any kind of dialogue with them? They're just venting. You are going to have people come over and tell you that you're a rubbish DJ, that you don't know what you're doing, asking if you've ever DJed before.

You never actually get it off the people who employ you — you get it off random guests who feel really entitled.

The best thing to do is straight-up ignore them. Just kind of smile and nod — "okay, yeah, okay okay" — and if they keep coming over, just keep ignoring them. If it's escalating, that takes you straight on to involving security.

Handling Specific Situations

Always Confirm the Exact Song Before You Play It

This is something I learned recently — I really messed this one up a couple of weeks ago, and I've been doing this 20 years.

If a drunk person — or any person — asks for a song you're not familiar with, make sure you ask them specifically: what are you talking about, what artist? If they don't know, make them go look it up themselves. Say, "Hey listen, if you can't tell me, go look it up, bring it back to me, or ask a friend — that way I know I'm playing the correct song."

I had a drunk guy come up to me bothering me for a song all night. It was some Rolling Stones something — I forget — but it ended up not even being by the Rolling Stones. I Googled it, some other song came up, and I thought, alright, this has to be it. He kept bothering me, so eventually I let him come up two or three more times. I didn't want to play it, but if he kept bothering me, fine, I'll figure it out. It was a good crowd, I thought I could make it work.

I finally played it. He comes up and goes, "Dude, when are you going to play my song?" I said, "Dude, I just played it." He goes, "No, no, that wasn't it — it's this one," and he actually showed me on his phone. It was a completely different version. It was the same song but by a different artist — a completely different feel. And at that point I'm not playing the same song twice. I just can't do it.

So not only did I risk it for the biscuit for the dance floor and play something I never would have played and didn't want to play just to make him happy — it wasn't even the right song. The guy still walked away mad. If you're going to take that risk, you've got to make sure you've got the right song.

Never again. I said to myself, no matter what, if I'm not sure what they're requesting, I'm going to make them show me. You've got to go look it up yourself. You've got to ask a friend. You've got to phone your mom. You've got to figure it out before I risk it for the biscuit and play it live. Always triple check you've got the right song request.

Guests Behind the DJ Booth

Girls — and sometimes guys — coming behind the booth wanting to put your headphones on and mess with your decks is something you will definitely encounter.

Something about it is very intoxicating and it's like, yeah, of course I want them to do that. But here's the thing — ultimately it only ever causes problems. Like, there's never been a good time where girls have come behind the booth and it resulted in something fun. Most of the time it's just stressful as hell.

They start scratching DJ decks and flicking things around. What the hell are you doing — what do you actually want to achieve from that? And at that point you can't have a conversation with them, they're drunk, they don't care.

The best thing to do — and this is what I've learned from experience — is you just have to say no. Sorry, you just can't come behind here. That's it. Because if they come in they're gonna touch stuff. Sometimes they lean right over the booth with their drinks, which is really bad.

At that point be really freaking serious. If they think oh, that guy's no fun — great, you've achieved what you wanted to achieve. You just come across like a not-fun DJ at that point and they will leave, because why would they want to be around a miserable guy? Unfortunately sometimes you've just got to play that character.

The "One More Song" Situation at the End of the Night

At the end of your shift, the whole crowd chanting "one more song" is one of the most common things event DJs face.

Humans have got this weird thing where they don't dance until the last song. It's like, oh come on, it's the last song, let's go and have a dance — they realise how much fun they could have been having all evening. Then there's that FOMO moment where they want the evening to continue.

I've had this so badly before. One time there was like 150 people, it's a big wedding, and everyone was screaming — people were up on the tables, the whole place was going crazy. The management had come over and told me at one o'clock the music is shut off, no exceptions.

At that moment where it's like one more song and everyone's going crazy, she comes back over and says do not play another song. What did I do? I played five more songs. Why? Because I wasn't employed by her — I was employed by the bride and groom. Everyone went absolutely ballistic, and I got so many bookings off the back of that gig.

If you're having a really good night, everybody's loving it, and they go one more song — you can do it. The chances are you're employed by them, not by the management, and if you turn up to do another gig at that place they're not going to turn you away.

However, if it's been dead all evening, you've been playing all the bangers, you can't get a single one of them on the dance floor, and then in the last three songs they suddenly all get up and have a jig and start screaming one more song — it's no. You've had your time and you didn't take it.

Here's what you do. Halfway through that last song, you turn all your lighting off. I don't know why, but it works — drunk people's heads are like, it's definitely home time now. Turn the main lights on in the room so everything's bright, turn off the disco lights, turn off all the up lighters.

As that song comes to an end, you're pulling the plug out the speakers and taking them off. It's far harder for them to come over and bother you about one more song when you've got a big speaker system in your hand and you're walking out the door.

Handling Straight-Up Abuse

You are going to have people come over and tell you that you're a rubbish DJ, that you don't know what you're doing, asking if you've ever DJed before.

You never actually get it off the people who employ you — you get it off random guests who feel really entitled. Here's the thing: I have dealt with so many drunk people, I've seen it all.

The thing I've learned is just don't get into a dialogue with them. If someone's coming over and complaining at that moment, what is the point in actually getting into any kind of dialogue with them? They're just venting.

The best thing to do is straight-up ignore them. Just kind of smile and nod — okay, yeah, okay okay — and if they keep coming over, just keep ignoring them. If it's escalating, that takes you straight on to the next section.

When to Involve Management or Security

If you ever feel unsafe, or feel like your equipment is in danger, don't try to handle it alone.

It's just not worth it — you're never going to get that money off them if they break any of your equipment. If you feel like you're being hassled, things are escalating, your equipment's going to get damaged, or you are in any way unsafe, the best thing to do is go and inform management. Go and inform security. Just tell them to deal with it.

The other thing you can do — and I've had to do this once or twice — is just bring the music to a stop and make an announcement. Say "guys, you're not allowed up here, you're not allowed to touch my stuff. If that continues I will stop playing music and I'll leave."

This very rarely happens, but sometimes things escalate and everyone's drunk, so it's worth knowing.

Pro tip: If you ever have to make an announcement like this, do it with confidence and calm. Don't shout or sound panicked. A firm, collected statement carries far more weight than an aggressive one.

Use Your Gut — Remember Who Employed You

As a DJ, use your gut feeling and generally just have fun — but always remember who's paying you and what they're paying you to do.

Have I ever as a DJ done something that could be deemed as unprofessional? Yes, I have. I've done lots of things that could be deemed as unprofessional. DJs have a bit of a reputation, and if you are a DJ you should be upholding that reputation by having a bit of fun sometimes.

It's kind of like our god-given right as DJs to be a little bit mischievous. Don't stress out about it too much — always remember who's the person that's employed you and what are they paying you to do. Just remember those things, and you can have as much fun as you want within the confines of that.

The bottom line: your job is to read the room, keep the energy flowing, and make the people who hired you look good. Everything else — including drunk guest management — is in service of that goal.

Summary: The Complete Drunk Guest Playbook