After he complains about their staff

Jim Davidson has been banned from performing at another venue after having a run-in with staff.

The controversial comic has been told he is not welcome at the Assembly Halls in Tunbridge Wells after an argument with the lighting technician on Friday.

He said he was forced to perform most of his stand-up show Charlton Nil in the dark, then with the lights too bright for both himself and the audience.

But he says that criticising the ‘arrogant’ staff was what led to the ban.

‘Outrageous,’ he said on his blog. ‘Banned from the venue for slagging it off!

‘I knew it, in fact I told the audience that is what would happen.

‘I stood in the dark for most of the performance while the lighting girl had a strop, she then put all the lights on and blinded me and the audience, and refused to turn them down for 10 minutes. The stage manager sent me on while the house lights were up and then vanished.

‘I never spoke to one person from the management from the minute I got there to the moment I left.

‘The audience loved the show and when I asked for a show of hands to ask if the audience believed the theatre staff were taking the piss they all put their hands up!’

He followed it up by complaining about the ‘apathy’ of council-run theatres, slating: ‘No posters, no management and an arrogance that needs to be seen to be believed. ‘

Theatre director Brian McAteer confirmed Davidson wouldn't be back – but mainly because he didn't pring in enough money.

In a statement, he said: 'The Assembly Hall Theatre is a professional venue that hosts sell-out gigs for some of the best known names in comedy.

‘Irrespective of Jim Davidson’s rudeness to the theatre staff and negative comments about the venue, for commercial reasons it is unlikely the theatre management would have booked him for future dates.’

When asked about Davidson's complaints about the professionalism of staff, the theatre management declined to comment further.

One audience member mentioned the incident on Twitter. Emily Sheppard tweeted to Davidson: ’We had a fab night watching you in the dark at T-Wells.’

Davidson has a track record of clashing with theatre staff. Norwich’s Theatre Royal banned him as long ago as 2004 claiming was ‘very rude to staff’ and made ‘personal comments that are not acceptable’.

In March this year, the Pavilion Theatre in Glasgow pulled three performances of his Sinderella 2 pantomime claiming he was abusive to staff, which he denied. And earlier in the year, the comedian pulled a gig at the Regal Theatre in Evesham with an hour’s notice after he found the stage too high.

Last year he slated Horsham’s Capitol Theatre online for their technical failings,

Earlier in this tour he criticised the staff at Preston Guild Hall for not publicising his appearance properly, and said of the city: ‘Preston looked boarded up. There were more people of Asian appearance than white people. I found the gig. It looked like a Russian fall out shelter.’

In 2011, the Marlowe Theatre in Canterbury banned the comic over his offensive material.

Published: 3 Nov 2015