Burns gets high...

Outspoken stand-up Brendon Burns threw himself from marquee scaffolding while high on magic mushrooms during his Glastonbury gig last night.

The Australian comic had previously handed out free samples of the hallucinogenic fungi to some of the hundreds of people in the festival’s cabaret tent,  then admitted he’d just taken some, too.

Spotting the scaffolding, which also doubled as lighting rig, he said: ‘I’m climbing that’ – getting about 10ft up before deciding to plunge into the audience, who were waiting to catch him.

Burns’s exploits were filmed by fellow comic Paul Provenza, whose recent movie The Aristocrats – featuring a parade of famous comics trying to outdo each other in the world’s filthiest jokes – has been causing a stir on the festival circuit.

The pair have been working on film based on the beneficial effects of laughter – and the handing out of free magic mushrooms designed to enhance the experience was all part of that experiment.

The movie will chart Burns’s recovery from the heartbreak of splitting up with the girlfriend he thought was the love of his life at last year’s Glastonbury. During last night’s gig, Burns tried to call her to make his peace – but she had blocked his number. Instead the comic read out a poem about his experiences, and closed his set by saying: ‘My name’s Brendon … and sometimes I can be quite self-indulgent.’

Burns and Provenza had to smuggle the mushrooms into the festival even though they are currently legal in the UK and openly on sale throughout the site.

However,  in three weeks time,  the Drugs Act 2005 will come into force, classifying cultivated mushrooms as Class A substances, alongside heroin and crack cocaine. Burns has been among those campaigning against the change in the law.

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Published: 27 Jun 2005