Comedian Mark Watson locked out of his own Bristol show - BBC News
Comedian Mark Watson was locked out of the Tobacco Factory where he was due to perform.
Comedian Mark Watson said he had been at the venue for about an hour but was still locked out of the venue 15 minutes before he was due to start

A comedian was late to his own show after being locked out of the venue with his audience.

A regular on QI and Taskmaster, Mark Watson was due to perform his The Search show at the Tobacco Factory in his home city of Bristol on Sunday.

However he found the theatre still locked 15 minutes before he was meant to start.

He told waiting audience members: "There's no other way to say it, I can't get in."

He said he had let staff know he was there an hour before finding the door still locked, but said: "It's no-one's fault."

On a video he posted on Instagram the comedian is seen in the theatre bar explaining the situation to his audience, who were also unable to get to their seats.

"We could do it here, but you paid for a seat and you paid to be in a room resembling a theatre so I just wanted you to know, in case it looks like I'm very complacent, just drinking at the bar, yes I am drinking at the bar, but I'm taking the situation as seriously as you are," he says.

"I've been here an hour ago to let them know I'm here and the aim of that was that everyone would relax but I say they've over relaxed."

The comedian explained he had arrived at the venue earlier in the day to complete sound checks and then had gone out for food.

He said: "I'd already been in to the venue a couple hours before, then gone out to lunch with family around the corner.

"So I'd done most of the set up but as a result when I came back it didn't seem like they were expecting me, the doors were locked which meant the audience couldn't get in but neither could I."

He added it was it was "quite panic inducing" to realise he had been locked out.

Mr Watson, who has appeared on Mock the Week, Would I Lie To You? and Have I Got News For You, also revealed it was not the first time that he had been unable to get into his own venue on his current tour.

The Bristol performance went ahead a little later than planned, after Mr Watson and his audience eventually managed to get into the venue.

A spokesperson for Tobacco Factory Theatres said: "We had two sold-out gigs one after the other for Mark yesterday (Sunday), Mark showed up an hour or so before the matinee to do his sound checks with our technical team, which all went well, he then left the building for food.

"Our front-of-house duty manager then went to do their building safety checks and seemingly, as the title of Mark's show suggests, they all had to search for each other afterwards to get him access to the space again.

"We're very grateful to both Mark and the audience for their good humour pre-show, we often open the house 10 minutes or so before the start time, so business as usual in that sense.

"We're very pleased that everyone enjoyed the performance in the auditorium and not in the bar."

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