{"id":2664,"date":"2025-03-26T15:16:04","date_gmt":"2025-03-26T16:16:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pilotshopworld.com\/?p=2664"},"modified":"2025-03-26T18:40:15","modified_gmt":"2025-03-26T18:40:15","slug":"comedy-festival-cancelled-on-opening-night-after-audience-member-dies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.pilotshopworld.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/26\/comedy-festival-cancelled-on-opening-night-after-audience-member-dies\/","title":{"rendered":"Comedy festival cancelled on opening night after audience member dies"},"content":{"rendered":"
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An audience member has died while attending the Melbourne International Comedy Festival (Picture: Supplied to Daily Mail Australia)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The opening night of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival has been cancelled after the death of an audience member.<\/p>\n

The largest comedy<\/a> festival in the world, the event takes place over a month in the Australian city after first being held in 1987.<\/p>\n

It kicks off each year with the Allstars Gala, which features a star-studded line-up of household names. This year\u2019s event was hosted by comedian Michael Hing at the Palais Theatre in St Kilda.<\/p>\n

It is understood the man in question suffered a suspected heart attack early in the show.<\/p>\n

Other ticketholders alerted ushers to the medical emergency, with members of the public initially administering CPR in the dark while waiting for paramedics to arrive.<\/p>\n

They said Hing continued his performance, unaware of what was happening in the audience.<\/p>\n

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A post shared by Melbourne Int. Comedy Festival (@melbcomedyfestival)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

One told the Daily Mail <\/a>patrons had to then start yelling out and tell him to stop, with people leaving ‘in tears’ once realising what had happened.<\/p>\n

The event\u2019s official page shared a statement announcing the cancellation of the event soon after.<\/p>\n

\u2018Melbourne International Comedy Festival regrets to confirm that there was a medical emergency while the Opening Night Allstars Supershow was taking place this evening at the Palais Theatre,\u2019 it posted on Instagram.<\/p>\n

\u2018The show was stopped and cancelled. The Festival will be in touch with all ticket holders tomorrow.\u2019<\/p>\n

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The opening night was being hosted by comedian Michael Hing (Picture: Marc Grimwade\/ WireImage)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Victoria Police confirmed to The Age<\/a> that a man died at the scene at the Palais Theatre.<\/p>\n

\u2018Police will prepare a report for the Coroner following the death of a man in St Kilda on Wednesday, 26 March,\u2019 a spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

\u2018Emergency services were called to a theatre on Lower Esplanade about 9pm. A man, who is yet to be formally identified, died at the scene.\u2019<\/p>\n

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Dave Hughes was one of many people to pay tribute following the man’s death (Picture: Dave Hughes\/ Instagram)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After the tragic news broke, comedian Dave Hughes paid tribute.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll performers\u2019 thoughts are with the family affected,’ he commented on Instagram. <\/p>\n

Others who were in the audience also sent their well-wishes, with one also saying they were \u2018still shaking\u2019 after witnessing what unfolded.<\/p>\n

\u2018It was all so sad. Our prayers and thoughts are with those affected,\u2019 they added.<\/p>\n

Got a story?<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk<\/a> entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff<\/a> page – we\u2019d love to hear from you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An audience member has died while attending the Melbourne International Comedy Festival (Picture: Supplied to Daily Mail Australia) The opening night of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival has been cancelled<\/p>\n

Continue reading <\/use> <\/svg>Comedy festival cancelled on opening night after audience member dies<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":777,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.pilotshopworld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2664"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.pilotshopworld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.pilotshopworld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.pilotshopworld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.pilotshopworld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2664"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.pilotshopworld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2664\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2669,"href":"http:\/\/www.pilotshopworld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2664\/revisions\/2669"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.pilotshopworld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.pilotshopworld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.pilotshopworld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.pilotshopworld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}