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Well, that escalated quickly. American stand-up Michelle Wolf's London appearance last night was temporarily derailed when the set-up of a joke during her act included her declaring "Free Palestine". Disruptive shouts from the stalls were followed by a group walking out. It took all of Wolf's considerable skills to get proceedings back on track.
This literally showstopping moment was particularly unexpected because while Wolf made her name as an outspoken political comedian, famously skewering members of the Trump administration at the White House correspondents’ dinner in 2018, her latest set had, until that point, been low on current affairs and high on personal stories.
Her contentious satirical riff, joking about white women claiming credit for solving the Middle Eastern crisis, was a rare foray into the news headlines and this gig would have run more smoothly without it. But then Wolf does not seem to be a needy performer whose primary intention is to make everyone love her.
And the incident certainly lent the evening a frisson. Wolf was on a firmer footing before and afterwards though, chatting about subjects ranging from the sudden deluge making her hair frizzy to writing for the launch video to promote Kim Kardashian's faux nipple bra.
The Pennsylvanian, who currently lives in Barcelona, was at her surest talking about the travails of parenting, having explained that her baby was in a stroller parked backstage. This was much more relatable terrain, as she chatted about the fact that every minute onstage is a welcome break, feeling like a "tiny vacation". Little did she know that this brief break would encounter a large bump in the road.
But then again the stress of child-rearing can prepare one for anything she suggested, comparing motherhood to "being with an animal in a hot air balloon". Just because it can be done it does not mean that you will have a good time, you are always too busy trying to avoid a serious incident.
Elsewhere there were piercing quips about gender hypocrisy and the pressures on women to achieve so much that if they aren't like Erin Brockovich, being a good mother while simultaneously solving water pollution issues, they are considered a failure. Men, she argued, don't have to meet the same expectations – they don't even have to be able to find the fridge in their apartment.
Wolf is a special kind of comedian who can convey her fury about anything without simply flying into a rage. She definitely divides audiences, whether at correspondents' dinners or the Leicester Square Theatre. By the end of the show last night, however, it was clear that everyone who stayed was more firmly on her side than ever.
