But Martin Mor escapes unhurt

Stand-up Martin Mor has cheated death after wrecking his car in a high-speed motorway crash

He flipped his Honda Civic over on the M40 near Oxford on Saturday morning, after a clip with another car.

Luckily he escaped without injury, but the car was a write-off. He clambered out of the driver’s-side door with the help of police, who were surprised he wasn’t injured.

Then his comedian’s instincts kicked in and he asked, as he stood in the hard shoulder: ‘Is this free parking or pay and display?’

Writing on his blog, Mor said: ‘ I am very pleased to not be dead, but I really must have used up most of my nine lives by now.’

He explained: ‘I was driving home on the M40, quite happily listening to the radio and trying to decide which services I should stop at for lunch, when I suddenly found myself upside-down. Upside-down and careering across the road.’

‘Everyone was very nice and helpful, and I suspect more than slightly relieved that they were not scraping my internal organs off the inside of the car.

‘This incident also serves as a good illustration of how the comedian’s mind works; The moment that I realised I was not dead, before I even tried to get myself out of the crashed car, I thought to myself, I might get some good new jokes out of this.

His car was towed off to a scrapyard, and he continued his journey in a car supplied by his insurance company.

He told Chortle: 'All stand-ups are used to facing death on stage, but this was a whole new experience. After almost 30 years on the road as a performer, this was the first time I actually ended up on the road.

'I'm unhurt and will be back in my (new) car this weekend doing my gigs as usual.'

Published: 4 Feb 2013