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During the festive season, comedy clubs can be hijacked by drunk, obnoxious audiences. Dave Johns, Maff Brown and Jessica Fostekew recount their worst experiences
‘We would sometimes bet to see how long a comic would last on stage. We amused ourselves but they were never joyful – they were horrendous!” Dave Johns, standup and star of the film I, Daniel Blake, is detailing his experiences of a string of lucrative but excruciating shows at Christmas time. “The minute I went on, 300 drunk people started singing I Will Survive,” he adds. “I stood on stage. I never said a word. When they finished singing they started throwing sausage rolls. It was the last show of the Christmas period so I said: ‘I’ve been Dave Johns. You’ve been two weeks in the Maldives!’ And I went on my holidays.”
Christmas gigs are dreaded by many comedians. Earlier this week, Nish Kumar had to cut short his unpaid performance at a charity do after his jokes about Conservative politicians and Brexit drew heckles. I was a standup for several years and the festive period was one of the reasons I chose to stop performing as my diary seemed to be full of unplayable venues. The worst gig was at a golf club where a man in a Santa hat threw peas at me throughout my set. All comedians have stories such as this. Continue reading...