Comedian Luke Mockridge launched his new solo show with a defiant apology. At the start of the first tour appearance in Vienna, he once again distanced himself from his comments on disabled sports, which had brought him massive criticism and cancellations. At the same time, he complained that he had received threats and that an apology was apparently “no longer worth anything”.
“It’s crazy that we’re sold out, even though it’s written in no uncertain terms that I’m the worst person in the world,” said the 35-year-old in front of around 500 people in a nearly full venue in the Austrian capital. The show was met with much applause and no protests.
Comedy tour overshadowed by cancellations
The tour, entitled “Funny Times,” was actually supposed to have started a few days earlier in Bünde in East Westphalia. But the premiere and the next performance in Paderborn were canceled. The reason: Towards the end of the Paralympic Games in Paris, excerpts from a podcast were released in which Mockridge and the two podcast hosts had made jokes about disabled athletes that were criticized by para-athletes and many other people as being derogatory. Mockridge immediately apologized. But several tour appearances were canceled, and the TV station Sat.1 took a planned new quiz show with the 35-year-old off the program. Mockridge lost his German management, and his agency in Austria also announced that it would no longer work with him after this tour.
Criticism of the German cultural sector
In the premiere of his new solo program, Mockridge stayed away from potentially sensitive topics such as disability, flooding or war. He told stories about his parents’ sex and his own first time, and he delighted the audience with musical parodies on the piano. Towards the end of the evening, the controversy did come up again.
“The German cultural scene is like a room with lots of buttons that say: Do not touch,” said Mockridge. “I like incorrect jokes,” he said, before throwing out sayings like “Tom Kaulitz is the best-paid geriatric nurse in the world.”
The audience in Vienna showed a lot of sympathy for Mockridge. “I’m just an asshole sometimes and otherwise I’m actually a nice guy,” he said at the end. “We know that!” shouted a fan in the hall.
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