British comedian Ian Cognito died performing a stand-up routine Thursday at the Atic bar in Bicester, England; however, according to those present at the show, the audience assumed it was all part of Cognito’s act.
Andrew Bird, the host for the night’s performances, told the BBC that Cognito, who was 60, had been feeling unwell before going onstage. However, he perked up once he began telling jokes.
“He was like his old self, his voice was loud. I was thinking, ‘He’s having such a good gig,’” Bird said.
Cognito, whose real name was Paul Barbieri, was halfway through his set when he sat down on a stool, at first breathing heavily, and then falling silent.
Atic owner Ryan Mold told CNN that Cognito “sat down, put his head and arms back; his shoulders were twitching.” Mold added that Cognito had a “flamboyant character on stage,” which made it difficult to tell something was wrong.
In fact, Cognito had joked about possibly dying in front of the audience just moments before it happened, saying, “Imagine if I died in front of you lot here.” He spoke about having a stroke or a heart attack.
When it became clear that Cognito was not OK, Bird and then others rushed the stage and tried to revive him with CPR. They called an ambulance, which arrived just after 10 p.m. Cognito died at the scene.
“Everyone in the crowd, me included, thought he was joking,” Bird said. “Even when I walked on stage and touched his arm I was expecting him to say, ‘Boo.’”
Audience member John Ostojak said the audience was horrified.
not so good—>
We’re waiting for hillsry clinton to repeat this routine. It’d be a treasured vidoe, and would be absolutley hilarious.
Pelosi could also take a cue.
When the mic dropped, so did he. Ba da tssssh.
But I gotta give him credit. It’d be a great way to go doing what you loved. Even if you weren’t that great and no one could understand a damn word you were saying.
From the looks of the video clip this guy had been dying onstage for many years.
Remember Dick Shawn ?
On April 17, 1987, during a performance at University of California, San Diego’s Mandeville Hall—which included his portrayal of a politician reciting such campaign clichés as “If elected, I will not lay down on the job”—Shawn suffered a fatal heart attack and collapsed face-down on the stage. The audience initially assumed that it was part of his act; but after he had remained motionless on the stage for several minutes, a stage hand examined him and asked if a physician was present.[7]
After CPR had been initiated, the audience was asked to leave the auditorium, but most remained, still assuming that it was all part of Shawn’s act. Many began leaving—still unsure of what they had witnessed—only after paramedics arrived.[8] A notice in the following day’s San Diego Union newspaper announced that Shawn had indeed died during the performance.[9]He was 63 years old. Shawn was interred at Hillside Memorial Park, a Jewish cemetery in Culver City, California.[10]
Having never (yet) died, that seems a good way to go.
RIP
How could anyone ever forget Shawn who played the hilarious Sylvester in It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World?”
“That’s why you had me, Momma, so I could save ya!”
Didn’t Dick Shawn play the crazy beatnik who portrayed adolph hitler in ‘springtime for hitler’ in ‘the producers’?
Bicester?
So that’s where in Jolly Olde Englande girls will be boys and boys will be girls.