Russell Howard storms out of comedy gig after five minutes because of woman filming him

Comedian told audience member they had ‘ruined’ his gig

Russell Howard had an on-stage dispute with a woman who was filming him on her phone during a comedy gig in Bristol.

According to BristolLive, the comedian was around five minutes into his set last night (12 August) on the outdoor terrace of the Bambalan venue when he noticed an audience member in the front row pointing her phone at him.

Howard told the woman that filming him was ”literally the worst thing you can do” and suggested she try to ”live in the moment”.

He then proceeded to ask her how she would like it if someone filmed her at work, before mimicking her by aiming his phone camera at her.

The stand-up reportedly said comedians are a “dying breed” because they are worried about people filming sets where they test out new material and uploading them to YouTube for all to see.

Russell Howard on ‘Sunday Brunch’

(Rex Features)

He left the stage, telling the woman she had “ruined” the evening and apologising to the crowd.

A spokesperson for told BristolLive: “Any comedian whose set is being recorded at a new material night would find it distracting.

“The beauty of live performance particularly at this strange time is it’s intended for the room only.”

There has been a mixed response on Twitter, with one user writing: “While I agree, I also think that as a seasoned pro he could’ve dealt with it much better. Nobody had been told not to take photos & videos, so of course one or two people were going to be keen to get a snap of him.”

Another said: “Yeah the communication could have been better on phones/videos, but that’s not really the performer’s responsibility. It’s more the logic of going to an event and then filming it which baffles me. Very different to taking a quick pic.”