The behaviour of a ”knuckle-dragger” who ruined an Angus warm-up gig by comic Kevin Bridges has been described as ”absolutely scandalous.”
Arbroath councillor David Fairweather who was among the shocked 600-strong crowd is to contact the director of neighbourhood services asking the council to personally apologise to the 25-year-old funnyman.
Tuesday night’s warm-up gig at the Webster Memorial Theatre in Arbroath his second in two nights was spoiled for many fans after the comedian was verbally threatened on stage during his Work in Progress show.
A member of the audience began heckling Bridges about his weight before the atmosphere turned sour. The shaven-headed heckler then progressed to more personal insults before threatening to take the comic ”outside and kick his head in.”
Bridges looked visibly shaken on stage and the exchange threw him off his routine and unfortunately he never recovered after a promising start.
The heckler was shouted down by other members of the crowd before he eventually got up and left the venue towards the end of the sneak preview gig.
Bridges told the crowd: ”I’m only here to tell jokes and have a bit of fun there’s no need for that. That goes beyond heckling.”
He called the heckler a ”knuckle-dragger” as he exited the venue.
Bridges later apologised to the crowd some of whom had paid over £120 for a pair of tickets on eBay for his performance and Mr Fairweather fears he won’t be back in a hurry.
He said: ”It was absolutely scandalous and I’ve no doubt drink played a part. I just felt the guy got personal and I felt it rattled Kevin.
”He tried to say he was only here to tell jokes and have a bit of fun, but the guy was completely and totally out of order.
”Kevin Bridges is a young man who is now internationally known, and for him to come to a town like Arbroath was fantastic, but I have got my doubts if he will come back.
”The crowd was tremendous and were quick to say, ‘get him out’ and were booing the chap.
”I’ll be contacting the director of neighbourhood services to ask him to apologise personally to Kevin on behalf of Angus Council.
”I thought Kevin handled it very well, but it’s just a shame that one person spoiled it for everyone else.”
Bridges’s set finished just before 10pm after an hour on stage, but some fans said that was cut short compared to Monday’s show.
The incident sparked fury among fans.
Audience member Gary Cavanagh posted on Facebook: ”He started calling him a fat b****** and progressed to threatening to take him outside and kick his head in.
”The audience were shouting their disapproval, but he kept on slagging him and other people in the audience until he took hold of his senses and left.
”It threw Kevin right off and you felt it in the atmosphere. There’s heckling then there’s borderline abuse!”
Photo by Ian West/PA Wire