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Original poster

Have you ever been singled out by a stand-up comic?

132 replies

Pickles89 · 03/02/2021 14:49

How did it go? What did they say to you? How did you feel about it? I would totally cringe myself to death I think, with the embarrassment of it!

OP posts:
Onetwothree456 · 03/02/2021 23:24

I had a horrendous experience many years ago. I had a visiting uncle from Aus who I hadn't since I was very young and who I barely knew. I was 24 and trying to be a good host by showing him around London. We stumbled on a small comedy show and the comedian kept asking if we were sleeping together and making comments about us throughout the show. We told him we were uncle and neice and my poor uncle started stuttering badly. Completely mortifying. And on top of that, after the show I caught the comedian slagging me off to another one. I've only seen that uncle a couple of times since and neither of us have mentioned it but the experience still gives me shivers!

covetingthepreciousthings · 03/02/2021 23:48

It was Ross Noble. Quite nice of him - added to the sentiment the first time I ever saw him live was me and dh's first date a few years previously!

That was nice of him. I've always liked Ross Noble, I've never been scared to sit near the front at his shows as he always seems like he'd never be mean. Or at least he hasn't been at any show I've been to.

He's the only comedian I've actually booked to see two nights in a row because
it's a complexly different show as he goes off on so many tangents.

FaLaLaLaLaLaLaLaBlah · 04/02/2021 00:08

Yup. This is outting but fuck it. Had tickets with a bunch of work friends to see a well known tv and radio comedian do a try out show of new material. The show was cancelled and rebooked for months later, after the radio series he’d been trying material for was finished. He opened the show with “well, I’m not going to lie to you - I’m a bit low on material considering this gig got pushed back. So we need something for this show to be about. You’ll do.” And proceeded to do an hour long set based entirely around me. It was HORRIFIC.

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covetingthepreciousthings · 04/02/2021 00:24

@FaLaLaLaLaLaLaLaBlah wow a whole set centred around you Shock
Can you give us anymore clues as to who it was..?

TheNationsFavourite · 04/02/2021 00:31

Your poor DH! I’ve seen Jason Byrne twice and he was very, very funny

My DH absolutely loved it!

And we saw Jason again at the same theatre a few years later and he mentioned the couple with the Scottish winter beach wedding! Turns out there were other people who had also been there that night too.

But he had been right- it was wild and windy!!

WFHWF · 04/02/2021 01:03

This reply has been withdrawn

This has been withdrawn by MNHQ for breaking our Talk Guidelines.

WTF0ver · 04/02/2021 01:07

Not a comedian as such but a drag artist. She said I looked like I wouldn't know a penis if I sat on one! Was mortified and cursing my innocent face.

IcedLimes · 04/02/2021 07:45

@:49Kljnmw3459 the worst ever audience participation bit I saw was when a comedian basically forced a random guy to go on his boxer shorts in front of the audience. it was dreadful
Could you explain "go on his boxer shorts?"

PurBal · 04/02/2021 07:48

Yes a couple of times. It was fine but I sat on the front row so I knew it was likely. A good comic won't insult or embarrass you if they're asking you questions. But if you heckle you probably deserve a rude reply, that's not fair on the performer.

HeronLanyon · 04/02/2021 08:07

Not a comedian but Ella Fitzgerald !! She was welcoming us all and saying ‘hello to london’ type things and spotted me and friend at front and pointed and said something like ‘jazz needs young people like you’. We were several decades younger than almost everyone in audience. Was time when classic/trad jazz was desperately ‘uncool’. Was so shocked and thrilled that E f’ing F had looked and spoken ‘to’ me. Didn’t care there was a lot of turning and looking etc. Wonderful treasured memory. GrinGrin

SydneyCarton · 04/02/2021 08:25

In a comedy club in New York about ten years ago. The comedian asked if DP and I were in an interracial relationship and then went on and on about it, how shocked my parents must’ve been etc. It was awful, I couldn’t believe this was supposed to be edgy big city comedy and it sounded like something from a 70s Jim Davidson night. I don’t think the audience were massively into it but it would never have gone down back in the U.K. Confused

FredaFox · 04/02/2021 08:26

We were late back from the bar so own fault at Mark Lamar in the 90s, he ripped us apart. I’ve never shimmied to a seat so quick

StormBaby · 04/02/2021 08:30

My ex husband did. I got up to go to the loo and the comedian saw me and proceeded to heckle the ex about him punching about his weight. I’m not exactly model material but he was defo punching.

Mumteedum · 04/02/2021 08:35

Yep, bunch of friends in a small comedy club. There was an Aussie comedian trying out material as a warm up for Edinburgh festival. Poor guy was struggling with hecklers as most had strong local accents and he couldn't understand them. Anyway,he got to picking in our table. Can't quite remember the details, but he made a fatal error if saying to our friend "if you think you can do better..." And handing him the mic. Well, he was a very confident guy (who is now a TV reporter) and he did!

I actually felt sorry for the comic. He was sat next to me and the Oh shit vibe from him was palpable!

Moredrunkthanblessed · 04/02/2021 09:16

DH got singled out as a fellow ‘big faced’ person by a comedian doing a routine about having a big face... he took it well as he does have quite a big face!

LetItGoGo · 04/02/2021 09:18

Yes it was uncomfortable but I didn't respond with anything beyond a smile.

I was so boring he didn't come back to me in his second round!

Result!

AllMyPrettyOnes · 04/02/2021 09:26

This is made me rethink my Alan Carr tickets for November! Grin

Luckily, we're not near the front. I think i'd die if I got singled out.

bananamonkey · 04/02/2021 09:33

Yes at a weekly student comedy night, it was a small venue and we went often so were sat on a table near the front (group of 20 year old girls). Jim Jeffries was doing a joke about Helen Keller being raped and it went down like a lead balloon so he kept on about how our faces looked like we didn’t find it funny. TBH it was more cringe for him!

FaLaLaLaLaLaLaLaBlah · 04/02/2021 11:02

@covetingthepreciousthings what makes it all the odder is it’s really not a comedian who does the picking on the audience thing. He made the world ‘substantially better’ on Radio 4.

Kljnmw3459 · 04/02/2021 11:18

@IcedLimes

@:49Kljnmw3459 the worst ever audience participation bit I saw was when a comedian basically forced a random guy to go on his boxer shorts in front of the audience. it was dreadful Could you explain "go on his boxer shorts?"
I meant to undress so that he was just wearing his boxers.
Wearethetwirl · 04/02/2021 11:27

Some of these audience participation bits sound a lot like assault. I mean playing a stranger's testicles like a glockenspiel? Do that anywhere else and you're looking at a 6 month stretch.

GrouchyKiwi · 04/02/2021 11:33

Once at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Dude was a comedian magician mix and his final act was catching a paint ball pellet in his teeth.

He chose me from the audience as the skinniest whitest person there, and got a big surprise when he asked me if I'd ever shot a gun. I have gone out hunting wabbits in the past (pretty standard as a country girl from NZ). So I wasn't so much the butt of his jokes after that. Still got to shoot at him, though.

feimineach · 04/02/2021 11:35

A comic was doing the tired thing of asking various people in the audience where they're from, then taking the piss out of their regions and/or accents. When he asked me I said "Derry, Northern Ireland" (exaggerating my accent to make it very strong). He looked scared and moved on without another word. Grin

I know various people from home who have had similar experiences, so if a comic is tedious or you don't want to engage, learn to imitate a Northern Irish accent.

iklboo · 04/02/2021 11:40

Some of these audience participation bits sound a lot like assault. I mean playing a stranger's testicles like a glockenspiel? Do that anywhere else and you're looking at a 6 month stretch.

I took that to mean the comedian mimed / pretended to play the glockenspiel on testicles, rather than actually do it. Otherwise he'd have been knocked out. Grin

Yousexybugger · 04/02/2021 11:57

A couple of times, I was on a date with a new man I liked and the comic started asking questions about us, made the guy determine our exclusive relationship status in front of an audience Grin