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Today in Focus

Why are British audiences suddenly so out of control?

Today in Focus

The Guardian

News, Daily News

4.65.9K Ratings

🗓️ 17 April 2023

⏱️ 28 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

From fights at the Bodyguard musical to wild drunken antics at comedy clubs and even heckling at the opera, performers and theatre staff say crowds are getting out of hand. What’s going on?. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/infocus

Transcript

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0:00.0

This is the Guardian.

0:10.4

Today, how have British people forgotten how to behave in public?

0:25.0

So I think if this was an opening scene ever movie, it would be the opening

0:28.6

of saving private Ryan. It's like that beach, but it said it's just a lot of drunk people at Comedy Club.

0:36.2

Kate Baron is a Canadian comedian and over the Easter weekend, she experienced the work day from

0:43.2

hell. She was booked to perform three different gigs in London, starting at 4pm, finishing at 1am.

0:50.8

Things went awry very early on. The first gig promised the audience an offer of bottomless boobs.

1:03.3

One of the groups was there for a birthday party.

1:09.3

There was the birthday girl screaming out at people, wanting it to be about her.

1:14.9

These drunk women interrupt every single comedian that's on the bill that night.

1:20.7

So by the time I get up there, I'm absolutely ready to go in on them.

1:32.0

It didn't stop there for Kate. Her second gig was at a club across London. Here, she was faced with Mary.

1:40.2

People kept telling her she needed to be quiet and her friends are surrounding her comforting

1:46.1

her saying, Mary, babe, you're amazing, you're funny, you were adding to the show and other women

1:51.8

are going, no, be quiet. Don't tell her she was being great. So she wouldn't stop crying,

1:56.9

ended up leaving every comedian who came before me, all had to have their sets ruined by this girl

2:03.0

and her group. By gig number three, Kate figured things couldn't get worse.

2:08.9

In the middle of this show, one of the comedians is on and he happened to tell a joke where a man

2:16.4

had a mouthful of beer, the guy laughed, choked and spit it all over the woman in front of him.

2:22.8

While this is happening, another audience member comes out, throws up on another audience member,

2:27.7

and then a third audience member comes out, starts getting naked in front of the staff

2:33.8

and the night just kept getting more and more ridiculous.

...

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