Peter Kay fiercely defended by Jason Manford as he sends clear message amid controversy to booting out hecklers
Jason Manford rushed to Peter Kay’s defence after the comedian spoke out about his decision to eject three “disruptive” hecklers from his Manchester show on Saturday.
Kay stood by his decision earlier this week, saying their behaviour made it “impossible to continue” with his performance.
The 51-year-old comedian addressed the incident, which occurred during his Better Late Than Never Again tour at the AO Arena.
Kay said he “did my best to address the situation and made light of it, as any comedian would, but unfortunately, their interruptions continued”.
He explained that he initially tried to ignore the disruptive audience members, hoping they would settle down.
When the disruption continued into the second half of the show, Kay asked nearby audience members if they were being bothered by the noise.
“They all shouted ‘yes,’ and when I asked for a show of hands, at least 40 people raised theirs,” Kay said.
“At that point, I had no choice but to take action,” the comedian added, noting he had only removed one other person in his previous 114 shows.
The evicted audience member has since demanded an apology from Kay for his treatment and the ordeal has sparked widespread debate about hecklers at comedy gigs and proportionate responses.
But one man who is firmly in Kay’s camp is comedian Manford who took to X to issue a handful of posts backing the award-winning comic.
Another comedian, Freddy Quinne, had posted: “The Peter Kay throwing a heckler out of his show thing. You cannot go to a comedy night and just shout shit out. Youll ruin the show. If youre too stupid to understand that, dont go.”
Manford reposted the statement with his own message: “Agreed! Especially in an arena where you cant even hear a heckle anyway! Deal with them a couple of times and then its bye-bye b***end,” followed by a laughing emoji.
Soon after, another X user typed: “Nothing worse than sitting near an unfunny piss head ruining the show. Ive paid to watch the comedian. (To be fair the robbed at the bar one from your show was funny).”
Manford again replied: “Oh yeah, haha classic! But that’s different, if a comic asks an audience member a question then that’s not heckling.
“Heckling is also fine, to a degree, but after its had attention, a funny line or two, its no longer the comics job to deal with drunkness or rudeness.”
The controversy surrounding Kay was heightened further when he compared one of the ejected audience members to actress Lisa Riley, which some interpreted as a derogatory comment about weight.
Kay defended his remark, stating: “The lady who was escorted out did bear a striking resemblance to Lisa Riley, though I don’t see how that’s an insult.”
Riley herself took to Instagram to defuse the situation, writing: “Please draw a line under this now, I am not offended, never was offended. I love Peter Kay to pieces. Laughter is my favourite medicine.”
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The incident began when a man repeatedly shouted Kay’s catchphrase “garlic bread” during the performance.
A woman then began shouting “We love you, Peter” and Kay’s name, leading to her removal after he asked the audience: “Is she a nightmare?”
According to the Daily Mail, another man was ejected after interrupting Kay’s routine about kidney stones three times, with four security guards carrying him out.