Arj Barker addressed the backlash around him by kicking a breastfeeding woman off his comedy show as he returned to the stage for the first time since the furor.
The 49-year-old American comedian sparked controversy when he asked mother-of-three Trish Faranda and her baby Clara to leave his show at the Melbourne Comedy Festival for being disruptive.
Amid the backlash, Arj stood by his actions, explaining that his comedy show was only for those over 15 and that a baby shouldn’t have been there in the first place.
Today he pokes fun at the online storm by returning to the stage at Melbourne’s Comics Lounge Comedy Club for his first stand-up set since the incident.
Arj admitted the fury had been “intense” before jokingly complaining that an audience member had disrupted him with her breathing in a funny moment.
Arj Barker (pictured) addressed the backlash around him by kicking a breastfeeding woman off his comedy show as he returned to the stage for the first time since the furor
“It’s all been a bit intense,” he admitted, not shying away from addressing the elephant in the room.
The comedian then pretended to kick random audience members out of his show while cherry-picking people in the crowd to jokingly complain about.
“I hear someone’s stomach gurgling. I just want you to know that this is your last warning,” he said.
“About 12 seats back there is a gentleman in his thirties, when you inhale you hear a slight whistling sound from his nose. Get the fuck out.’
Arj then admitted he had been hit with “hate” messages amid backlash online, but also thanked his fans for their support.
The 49-year-old comedian mocked the online storm as he returned to the stage at Melbourne’s Comics Lounge Comedy Club for his first stand-up set since the incident.
“I have to go home because I still have about 2,400 unread emails in my hate mailbox, but also a lot of supportive emails,” he said. I’m grateful, I didn’t come here to try to change anyone’s mind.
San Francisco native Arj also vowed to continue his tour of Australia as he gushed about how much he loves the country.
Earlier this week, Arj responded to backlash over breastfeeding mother Trish Faranda’s expulsion from his show at the Melbourne Comedy Festival last weekend.
Ms Faranda claimed she was humiliated and reduced to tears when she and her seven-month-old daughter Clara were kicked out of the theatre.
She claimed Clara “whined a bit” before giving her food, with Arj asking her to leave about 15 minutes into the concert because they were “disrupting her show”.
Arj said baby Clara shouldn’t have been at his over-15s show in the first place, but he also apologized to Ms Faranda for the embarrassment caused.
Arj (pictured in 2001) sparked controversy when he asked mother-of-three Trish Faranda and her baby Clara to leave his show at the Melbourne Comedy Festival for being disruptive.
“I hope you’re well. I’m sorry this is a difficult situation and I would like to make peace,” he told Sunrise on Tuesday.
“I would like to meet her and have a serious discussion about selling the film rights and a 50-50 ratio.”
“Also, to the beautiful baby who I have nothing against, I want to offer this little child a ticket to my post-date 2039 show.”
“I’m not going to hide because I want people to know the truth about what happened, at least from my perspective,” he continued. “The wife and I were put in a position whereWe shouldn’t have been there.
Arj insisted he had no problem with breastfeeding in public, which he described as perfectly natural, and said he didn’t know that was what she was doing at home. ‘era.
“I couldn’t see her well enough to know if she was breastfeeding or not – it was something I only heard about two days after the incident,” he continued.
Trish Faranda (pictured) claimed she was humiliated and reduced to tears when she and her seven-month-old daughter Clara were kicked out of the theater.
“I want to make this very clear because it’s been mentioned so much, and if she was, I wouldn’t care.”
He also acknowledged that the baby was not screaming but that his “cute” noises were distracting the audience.
“It’s about the crowd having an immersive experience watching a comedy show with timing and pauses and getting drawn into the show,” he explained.
“As a performer, I have the right to ask a disruptive audience member to leave the show.
“Unfortunately, he was a cute little baby at the time and it had nothing to do with the mom or the gender of the parent. If it was a dad, I would have said the exact same thing.
Arj (pictured in 2013) said baby Clara should not have attended his over-15s show, but he also apologized to Ms Faranda for the embarrassment caused.
“From where I’m standing on stage, I’m just trying to create a nice environment to present my show.”
Amidst the controversy, Australian comedian Ethan Marrell, better known as Ozzy Man Reviews, came to Arj’s defense this week.
The YouTube star, 38, insisted Arj was a “top guy” with no “ego” and raved about how the star made him feel welcome on the comedy circuit in the mid-2000s .
He recalled how Arj once spoke to himself and other nervous new comedians before a big show to make sure his material didn’t overlap with theirs, and changed parts of his set to not not “step on their shoes”.
According to news.com.au, Arj shared: “[Arj] would edit his material 30 minutes before the show and make sure not to step on the toes of competing aspiring comics. Isn’t that really adorable?’
Amid the controversy, Australian comedian Ethan Marrell (pictured), better known as Ozzy Man Reviews, came to Arj’s defense this week, calling him a “top-notch guy” with no “ego”.
“My whole point is… this guy has no ego, and I learned from a very young age how cool and nice that was,” he continued.
“He went out of his way to make sure he didn’t take all the glory as MC on a night that was probably going to be memorable for a lot of us newbies.
“It may not seem like much, but it was a pretty big national competition in the early 2000s, so I always appreciated and remembered its integrity.”
Ethan also spoke about the furor over the breastfeeding mother’s expulsion, insisting Arj should never have had to talk about it on stage in the first place.
