As a heckle, it takes some beating…

Kiwi stand-up Melanie Bracewell was midway through her show at the New Zealand Comedy Festival last night when a punter started vomiting over his fellow audience members. And quite profusely.

She told the New Zealand Herald: ‘At first I thought he was just spilling a drink, then the spilling of the drink went on for a while.

‘It turned out that he was just very, very sick and there was a lot of chundering involved.’

She stopped the show in Aukland, called the man an ambulance and started cleaning  up.

The 22-year-old offered people the chance to leave given that ‘it smelt a bit’, and about a third did. The few remaining unvommited-upon chairs were huddled round the stage allowing Bracewell to continue, although she acknowledged it was ‘weird’.

‘He wasn't drunk or anything,’ she insisted. ‘He was just a guy who wanted to come out for the night and had some sort of stomach flu. I hope he didn't pass it around.’