Punter almost chokes to death at Scott Bennett gig

Stand-up Scott Bennett has told how he ‘nearly killed’ a punter at a comedy gig by making him laugh so much. 

An ambulance was called when a man started severely choking, and it was only the quick-thinking actions of another audience member who performed the Heimlich manoeuvre that saved the day.

In a video posted on Facebook on the way home from Friday night’s gig near Chesterfield in Derbyshire, the comic explained: ‘He started to choke. I don’t know what's happening. 

‘It looked like he was having some sort of heart attack, or he choked on a peanut. I'm stood on stage, and sort of commentating on this emergency. 

‘His sister, who was sat near him, just starts – you can tell this real sibling rivalry, because she's going, "he always does this. He's dramatic. He always does this. This is his attention seeking." 

‘Imagine being there at the funeral, doing the eulogy and she says "he always does this" It was insane!

‘So the whole place stops, right? Someone rings an ambulance, and then this guy steams over and does a Heimlich manoeuvre, and he's  salivating, and there's nothing coming out. 

‘I think he laughed so hard he sucked his drink in and it went into his lungs. So I can officially say I've nearly killed someone with my humour. 

‘I was panicked then, because you don't want that as an act, you know, you can't really use it. Killing audience members…And so, I made sure he was allright. It was really frightening because I thought I can't continue. You can't just keep doing stand up when a man's struggling to breathe. 

‘Eventually he started talking, and then he calmed down, and his sister went "you see…" And they got him a drink of water and he recovered.

‘So I'm glad he's fine. And if you come to my gigs and come to the tour, just a word of warning, there is a possibility I will kill you laughing, you might not make it, which is a great disclaimer to put on the posters.’

A reviewer who was at the show at The Shinnon in North Wingfield, near Chesterfield, also commented on the incident. 

A report on the Notts Comedy Review website commented: ‘This guy who was laughing really hard at what Scott was saying began to choke. Not just a little "clear-your-throat" choke, but a full-on "couldn’t breathe" episode. 

‘People next to him began to slap, then pound on his back, one lady started phoning an ambulance, people dragged him upright and someone began to do the Heimlich manoeuvre on him. It was all looking very grim. 

‘Fortunately, he then started breathing again. It’s rare that someone is laughing so hard that they come close to needing an ambulance, or possibly even dying. Scott, very understandably was shaken by it all, as was everyone else in the room, but he dealt well with it.’

Bennett had previously engaged with the punter who got in trouble as, bizarrely, he had been shouting ‘backhander’ at the comic during his set, promoting som crowd work about how he may have been a ‘traumatised tennis star’ suffering an odd memory regression.

After the man recovered, Bennett said: ‘Can we have a round of applause for the man who stepped in to do the Heimlich manoeuvre? Wonderful, although I think a backhander would have been more effective.’

In the subsequent video, the stand-up said: ‘I'm proud of myself doing this, but not proud of myself for doing this, but this is the comic’s brain.’

Published: 15 Sep 2024