Sit down, shut up

With the welcome return of live music has come the unwelcome return of chatting gig wankers, and restaurants have also been plagued by no-shows since the various lockdowns have been lifted. According to Bristol-based comedian/compere Dani Johns, bad behaviour is also increasingly blighting the stand-up scene.

Some may dismiss her complaints on the grounds that punters showing signs of positive engagement, at least, should surely be considered acceptable. Others might go further, suggesting that Johns is being overly precious and insisting that stand-up is an inherently interactive type of performance. Should artists be able to dictate the "right" way to respond to their work? However, the sort of behaviour that Johns describes - aggressive verbal intrusions, uninvited physical manhandling and general disrespect - clearly oversteps the mark.

Seeking reasons for the rise in such incidents, she points the finger at a loss of social etiquette due to lockdown and expectations of gladiatorial combat raised by the countless YouTube clips of comedians locking horns with hecklers. Another factor, I'd suggest, is that particularly contemporary sense of entitlement that leads some boorish individuals to believe they should be able to behave however they like, with impunity, once they've paid.

Such conduct is not to be tolerated, and not only for the safety and wellbeing of the stand-ups themselves; audiences suffer too, the minority ruining the experience for the majority. As Johns puts it, "it's like reading a book and ripping out half the pages, except it's a library book and now no one else can fully enjoy it".

Here's hoping that Johns' plea for common courtesy and respect doesn't fall on deaf ears.