[Image: Camden Comedy Club]
Described as a “last resort” to prevent losing comedians, one of the UK’s top comedy clubs has taken the drastic step of banning audience members with Botox after numerous complaints from comedians that they are unable to deal with “reactionless” faces.
Top Secret Comedy Club has hosted some of the biggest names in comedy, with star acts Jack Whitehall, Amy Schumer and Dave Chappelle, but numerous stand-up acts have shared concerns that audience members with frozen faces aren’t reacting to their jokes.
Mark Rothman, the Top Secret Comedy Club owner, claimed the eyebrow-raising decision to ban guests “up to their eyeballs” in botox was the “last resort” to prevent losing talent who perform at the club.
“I’ve had numerous complaints from performers who find it increasingly challenging to gauge audience engagement and bounce off their reactions,” Rothman told The Independent.
“Our incredibly talented comedians are fed up with performing to reactionless faces.”
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Botox is a neuromodulator, a type of injectable that temporarily disrupts the nerve signals to the muscles, which prevents them from contracting and reduces the appearance of wrinkles. An estimated 1 million injections are done in the UK every year.
“Comedy thrives on connection, and facial expressions play a huge part. We want people to laugh, cry, frown, sneer, but frozen faces from Botox impact the entire atmosphere.”
One of the venue’s regular stand-up acts, Andrew Mensah, says: “Comedy is a two-way street – we feed off the energy and reactions of the crowd. Performing to an audience with frozen faces can be incredibly tough.”
The club has come up with a rather dubious ‘test’ to see which audience members will be allowed inside the venue. Door staff are said to have been trained to carry out ” expression tests” designed to detect the Botox.
For a comedy club, they seem dead serious about the ban. “If you’re surprised, we need to see that! We are looking forward to welcoming faces old and new, that can still move, in our venue soon.”
[Source: Independent]
