Have you been thrown out of Lee Hurst's comedy club?

[*Bob*]

A number of years back a large group of us went to the Backyard, or whatever it's called now.

To cut a long story short - because of the 'disinterested' behaviour of a couple of members of the group (not me.. I listened politely like a good boy) the house lights were turned-on and we (the whole group) were expelled en masse.

A year or so later, someone I was doing some work for said she'd been chucked-out of Backyard with a group she was with.

And then, over the weekend, someone phoned BBC London - again, thrown-out of Backyard.

Anyone else had a similar experience?

[Narnia]

Yeah, I was sort of thrown out of a thread recently!

[legalbeagle]

Narnia Wrote:

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> Yeah, I was sort of thrown out of a thread

> recently!

Well if you promise to play nicely you can get off the naughty step now.

[????]

I know someone who got thrown out quite a few years back, in a way they deserved it.

This was early 1990s

LH - "I mean is anyone in this room actually going to vote Tory?"

Big, non-pc aquaintance: "I am"

LH: "Why the f*ck are you doing that?"

Big, non-pc aquaintance: "Because there isn't a BNP candidate in my constituency"

To be fair I don't *think* this was the real reason but he was just bored with LH's political ranting

[Horsebox]

No but me and a mate were out drinking in the west end, in the late 90's.

Lee Hurst was also in the bar, and my mate, being an annoying student approached him and the following exchange took place:

Mate (hand outstretched): Hello, Lee Hurst?

Lee Hurst: Yes. Hello.

They shake hands

Mate: I'm a big fan of yours and wonder if I give you a fiver would you buy me a beer so I can tell all my mates that Lee Hurst bought me a beer?

LH: No. Have a nice evening.

Make what you will of that.

[woofmarkthedog]

Well...

The opposite happened to me

"I was thrown into his club , then made to sit there & laugh at his comedy"

( I'd only gone out for a pint of milk )

Most bizarre

W**F

[*Bob*]

woofmarkthedog Wrote:

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> "I was .. made to sit

> there & laugh at his comedy"

Must be a new policy. Hardly anyone made me laugh when I was there.

[PeckhamRose]

pines for the magical days of the Tunnel Club Greenwich.

You really had to be sharp. The audience were the stars.

Well apart from those on the stage.

Bring back the Swede.

[*Bob*]

I can appreciate that most comedians would prefer to be able to ply their trade without some tiresome knob (who thinks he ought to be the one on stage) grunting and screeching from seven rows back every two minutes.

But on the other hand, comedians (and comedy venues) usually tend to attract the type of audience they (largely) deserve - so shouldn't the person on stage be able (within reason) to handle that audience - assuming they're any good?

[HonaloochieB]

*Bob* Wrote:

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> I can appreciate that most comedians would prefer

> to be able to ply their trade without some

> tiresome knob (who thinks he ought to be the one

> on stage) grunting and screeching from seven rows

> back every two minutes.

>

> But on the other hand, comedians (and comedy

> venues) usually tend to attract the type of

> audience they (largely) deserve - so shouldn't the

> person on stage be able (within reason) to handle

> that audience - assuming they're any good?

YOUR MUM!

So, if Thatcher and Nick Griffin had a kid, would Richard Littlejohn be the godfather?

Or Kelvin McKenzie?

Or the Hitchens brother who tips up on any and every talk/discussion show, looking and (I imagine) sounding like a defensive, frightened and aggresive vole?

Or Melanie Phillips?

[Andystar]

HonaloochieB Wrote:

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>

> So, if Thatcher and Nick Griffin had a kid, would

> Richard Littlejohn be the godfather?

> Or Kelvin McKenzie?

Oh crumbs, I'm going to have nightmares thinking about the neo-nazi lovechild ( should that be hate child?!? )

http://www.stomptokyo.com/otf/Dead-Alive/Dead-babylaugh.JPG

I'm definately sleeping with the lights on tonight.

[SteveT]

I have had more laughs from the usual suspects on this forum than from any 'professional' comedian.

[HonaloochieB]

PeckhamRose Wrote:

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> pines for the magical days of the Tunnel Club

> Greenwich.

> You really had to be sharp. The audience were the

> stars.

> Well apart from those on the stage.

> Bring back the Swede.

Aaah, but what of Chris The Piss, a man who decided that clutching a lit firework in his arse cheeks would amuse an audience.

An audience largely comprised of driters, stumblers, drunks and football fans.

He was right, it amused us to the point of choking on our beer.

We will not see his like again.

And that's fine.

[Huggers]

chris the piss is alive and well and has been using his real name of Chris Lynham for a number of years. When he is not running the Popcorn Club or touring with that famous Russian clown, he is doing gigs sometimes even with the firework.

[david_carnell]

I vaguely remember a story of someone literally dying at a Lee Hurst gig once.

Choked to death due to laughing so much.

I can't find any reference to it online though.....

....and it would imply someone finding Lee Hurst funny which is quite unlikely.

[*Bob*]

It was all thoroughly mediocre, in that tired-Jongleurs-circuit-filler way. In my opinion, of course.

But that's beside the point.

I've been to all sorts of comedy venues, from Dodgy old dives with sticky carpets and plastic pint pots through to all-seated affairs in posh theatres with a tub of strawberry Haagen-Daz.

At most of them them, to varying degrees, there were 'crowd control' issues (although the Jerry Sadowitz audience were particularly well-behaved, I remember) but they were always dealt with by a combination of the person on stage and the crowd themselves - not by men dressed in black with earpieces and walkie-talkies asking you to leave.

[Loz]

I went to Jongleurs in Clapham many years ago and a fellow on the next table was asked to leave for heckling. Shame really, as he was really funny and the bloke on stage was severely dying on his a***. Some sort of comedy-magic act. Minus the comedy. And the magic was crap, too.

[Jah Lush]

If you're a comedian and you can't handle the hecklers with witty ripostes then you shouldn't be on the stage.

[Huggers]

ah Jah, but if the heckler in question, despite being wittily reposted, doesnt shut the **** up, as some who love the sound of their own drunken/insane/narcissistic voices won't, there comes a point where they are disrupting the evening to the detriment of everyone else.

After all the audience has paid money to see/hear the people on the bill, not the lonely alchoholic in the front row.

I would say if a heckler can't handle being put down, he shouldnt be in the audience.

[Jah Lush]

Good point Huggers and I'm inclined to agree with you but a good comedian will embarress the heckler so much he'll soon pipe down but if he doesn't and it has become detrimental to the audience's enjoyment then yes he should be ejected.

[Sue]

*Bob* Wrote:

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the Jerry

> Sadowitz audience were particularly well-behaved,

> I remember

xxxxxxx

Probably too stunned to speak.

I saw him in Exeter in the eighties.

Was uncharacteristically silenced.

Especially when he brought a friend on stage to demonstrate his (friend's) unfeasibly large balls.

:))

[HonaloochieB]

Loz Wrote:

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> I went to Jongleurs in Clapham many years ago and

> a fellow on the next table was asked to leave for

> heckling. Shame really, as he was really funny

> and the bloke on stage was severely dying on his

> a***. Some sort of comedy-magic act. Minus the

> comedy. And the magic was crap, too.

If this was early 1984, then it could well have been me. I lived in the area and me and my butties would always complete a Friday evening's carousing with a couple of bottles at Jongleurs.

I was asked to leave on several occasions, for this and that, mostly unfunny hecklage. There was one memorable time when I was besting the featured comic and was escorted from the premises, and this sounds as if it could be that time.

Happy days. Wait, have you seen my Fonz, impression..? No really..wait...

[katie1997]

*Bob* Wrote:

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>

> At most of them them, to varying degrees, there

> were 'crowd control' issues (although the Jerry

> Sadowitz audience were particularly well-behaved,

> I remember) but they were always dealt with by a

> combination of the person on stage and the crowd

> themselves - not by men dressed in black with

> earpieces and walkie-talkies asking you to leave.

I *think* it may have been LH who jumped off the stage in a fit of anger to snatch a mobile phone from a member of the audience. He then proceeded to rant on stage that he despised people filming him on to post on You-Tube (td)

[*Bob*]

That was him.. he was up before the magistrate and received a small fine. He was concerned about having his material stolen by wicked television-scripting joke thieves, or having his material blabbed on the www, thus ruining the joke.

It's actually quite an interesting debate (which I hadn't really thought much about much) - if you're interested in comedy. Good piece by David Schneider on the subject here (which I won't plagiarise).

Stewart Lee also confiscated someone's mobile phone after it persistently rang during his gig.

He threw it half-heartedly on the floor and it happened to smash. When the punter got angry and demanded cash for a new phone, he said "I'm not paying for that - it's broken".

[HonaloochieB]

*Bob* Wrote:

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>

> Stewart Lee also confiscated someone's mobile

> phone after it persistently rang during his gig.

> He threw it half-heartedly on the floor and it

> happened to smash. When the punter got angry and

> demanded cash for a new phone, he said "I'm not

> paying for that - it's broken".

'Confiscated' threw 'half-heartedly' 'happened to smash', could Stewart have been any more camp?

And as for the punchline it's straight up Piggly out of 'Jakers'. It is, so it is.

Dopey hoor.