Adam Kay has become the second comedian this week to disrupt his own set and shame an audience member at his sold-out comedy show.
The British comedian, 43, followed in the footsteps of comedian Arj Barker on Monday night when he brought his Sydney show to a halt due to a disruptive fan who continued to use his phone.
He lost his cool at the sold-out Enmore Theater and ended his set by yelling at an audience member after joking that he would also kick out a mother and her baby, as Barker, 49, did this weekend, he reported. news.com.au.
A fan in the front row angered the former doctor when they repeatedly used their phones during the set, despite being told not to.
The author of the best-selling book This is Going to Hurt reached his breaking point toward the end of the night after asking the fan several times to put his phone away.
Adam Kay, 43, (pictured) this week became the second comedian to disrupt his own set and shame an audience member at his sold-out comedy show
Despite warnings from the comic and a message before the performance stating that the use of telephones was strictly prohibited, the patron continued to use their device.
Kay ended their hilarious show with a moving anecdote about the struggles he faced as an NHS doctor in Britain when tensions came to a head.
Emotional over the touching message he shared with the public to inquire about the mental health of their friends, who may be nurses and doctors, Kay became frustrated when the disruptive patron grabbed their phone again.
‘Put down. Your. Damn king. Telephone. Away!’ Kay shouted at the fan sitting in the front row.
Kay immediately ended his show saying, “You were a great audience… except for one person who really finished me off.
“Seriously, don’t go to the theater,” he told the patron.
The British comedian followed in the footsteps of 49-year-old comedian Arj Barker (pictured) on Monday evening when he brought his show in Sydney to an abrupt halt due to a disruptive fan who continued to use his phone.
Moments earlier, Kay poked fun at fellow comedian Barker who made headlines on Saturday night when he pulled a breastfeeding mother from his show during the Melbourne Comedy Festival.
When Kay saw a mother with her baby in the crowd, the cartoon character pointed them out and asked how old her child was.
‘Three months? Awww,” he said. “If I were Arj Barker, you’d get out of here.”
Melbourne mother-of-three Trish Faranda and her seven-month-old baby, Clara, were kicked out of Barker’s show this weekend, sparking intense debate about the American comic’s actions.
Faranda told The Project on Monday that she had “no idea things would turn out like this” when little Clara started crying moments later, prompting Faranda to breastfeed her during the live interview.
He lost his cool at the sold-out Enmore Theater and ended his set by shouting at an audience member after joking that he would also kick out a mother and her baby, as Barker did this weekend, news.com.au reported
As the little one’s tears continued, host Sarah Harris asked, “Maybe she can go see daddy for a bit?”
Faranda went on to say that she had already planned to leave the comedy show she had booked a month in advance when Clara started crying, but that she did not like the way Barker handled the situation.
“I thought it would be really fun to do something I hadn’t done in a while and get back to my pre-baby self,” she said.
“He could have said off the microphone, ‘It really bothers me, do you mind?’ and I would have happily packed up and gone.
“Then he asked for support from the crowd, basically telling me to leave, and they argued a bit as we left.”
Melbourne mother-of-three Trish Faranda and her seven-month-old baby Clara (both pictured) were kicked out of Barker’s show this weekend. She appeared on The Project to condemn Barker’s decision, but struggled to keep her child quiet during the interview
Barker, who was only 15 minutes into his set when the drama unfolded, said in a statement that the show is strictly 15 and over and this is clearly stated on the ticket site.
“On behalf of the other 700 people who paid to see the performance, I politely told her the baby couldn’t stay,” he previously explained.
“She thought I was joking, which made the exchange a little awkward. I felt bad about the whole situation and said this more than once that night.
“I offered her a refund. The theater staff shouldn’t have put a baby in my audience in the first place.’
A spokesperson for the Melbourne International Comedy Festival said: ‘Arj is produced independently and in a venue not operated by the festival, but any interaction between performers and their audiences requires sensitivity and respect.
‘At our festival-run venues, arms-in-arms are generally allowed, but we do ask people to sit with their child on their back so they can leave quickly and easily if the baby gets noisy, and the performer and do not disturb other customers.’