Nish Kumar gig in Brighton turns ‘ugly and hostile’ as hecklers disrupt performance

The Live at Brighton Dome event starred a lineup of comedians including Simon Munnery, Shappi Khorsandi, Fin Taylor and was hosted by Angela Barnes.

Mr Kumar was the headline act and the first half of his performance went into great detail about the recent “bread roll incident” – which saw the political comedian being booed and heckled and eventually a bread roll thrown at the stage at the Lord Taverner’s charity event earlier this month.

But towards the end of the Brighton set, The Mash Report presenter was interrupted by a number of hecklers.

One repeatedly shouted at him not to talk about the election, another simply shouted “bread roll” and told him to tell a joke, and another made remarks about minorities.

However, the majority of the audience were supportive of the comedian, and he received a standing ovation at the end of the show.

Brighton Dome wrote on Twitter: “We’re pleased to confirm that no bread rolls were thrown in tonight’s post-election Live at Brighton Dome with @MrNiskKumar (maybe just a few heckles).”

But some Twitter users were not satisfied with this response. One wrote: “Think this misses the mark.

“This was ugly and hostile (albeit by a very small minority), and not handled well by the venue. Making light of it doesn’t make it any better.”

Another responded: “Totally agree – the venue security let Nish and thousands of customers down tonight by letting the prats continue their attempts to derail the show. Nish looked visibly upset.”

Another audience member said the atmosphere felt “almost chaotic”. They said: “He was already trying to make the best of a bad situation discussing his prior ‘bread roll’ incident and then it all kicks off again.”

A spokesperson for Brighton Dome said in a statement: “Brighton Dome takes unnecessary or abusive heckling very seriously and our front of house staff are trained to eject anyone who causes offence or disrupts a performance.

“Several members of the audience were asked to stop heckling during the end of Nish Kumar’s set and the evening ended with a standing ovation for the comedian.”

They said and members of the audience who want to contact the Dome with their feedback can email [email protected]