Comedian Nish Kumar says he has noticed a change in audience behaviour since the pandemic after facing a disruptive audience member in his show in Shrewsbury who later made a comment while leaving the show.
When the man was on his way out, he shouted, ‘To be completely honest with you, my friend bought these tickets, and I thought I had tickets to see Romesh [Ranganathan].”
He explained to the audience why the comment could be construed as racist and moved on.
The next night in Cheltenham after Kumar posted the incident on Instagram, someone called out “where’s Romesh?”. While he was trying to explain why that was not funny, another audience member told him to “stop being so sensitive”.
When he addressed her, the matter escalated and she later wrote a letter of complaint to Kumar’s agent.
“There’s something in the water,” said Kumar.
“I’ve had a few conversations with other comics and there’s a sense that something doesn’t quite feel right.”
