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If people are choosing to watch Katie Hopkins on stage for their weekend entertainment night out, things are not going well, says Peter Kelly…

In July, I got the train up to Great Yarmouth to do a comedy gig that was headlined by Joe Pasquale.

Pasquale has had a wonderful comedy career. At one time, he was a household name, regularly appearing on TV throughout the 1990s and 2000s. In 2004, he won I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here! 

I had never been to Great Yarmouth, so I decided to get there a few hours before the show kicked off to have a look around. The beach is genuinely stunning. It’s a sandy beach, the water is calm and tranquil, I saw amazing vistas of lights reflecting off the waves. It was beautiful.

I had a walk along the main promenade. Lots of fish and chips and arcades and a couple of pubs. What really struck me was it just seemed so quiet. It did not feel like a summer Friday evening. It felt more like a weekday morning. I thought the economy of this town was tired. Now, I had never been here before, so I didn’t know if this was a recent thing or not.

I know from other comedy promoters in London and other cities, they tell me, that Friday night business has dropped a lot. British people, and I include myself here, love to drink and socialise at the weekend. We almost live for it. For my money, if people are not out socialising, there is only one reason for it – money or a lack thereof.

I get to the theatre early. It’s a stunning room at the end of a pleasure pier. I do my usual thing. I chat to the ushers and find out what tickets sales are like. Busy rooms are much easier to play. We were around the 300 to 400-mark, which was news to my ears as I did not see that many people during my entire walk along the promenade.

I then ask what the capacity is. I’m told 1,200. I’m actually stunned, so I take another look at the room. And it is so well designed. What you want in a theatre, particularly for comedy, is lots of comfortable seats as close together as possible and this room has this.

The backstage area is covered in posters of previous shows here. Jimmy Carr, Bobby Davro, Eric and Ernie, they have all been here. Loads of previous posters of Pasquale shows as well. I assume the only reason we were not sold out was because of the local economy. I mention this to an usher and he corrects me. 'We were sold out last weekend', he says.

Who was here last weekend, I ask? 'Katie Hopkins.' Katie Hopkins is described on Wikipedia as an English media personality, far-right political commentator and former columnist and businesswoman. This really stopped me in my tracks.

There is an old saying in politics – when things are going well, people have no interest in politics. By this logic, I think it is a very bad sign that when looking for a night of entertainment, more people want to buy tickets to see a political commentator than a seasoned, world class entertainer.

That is too much interest in politics. And I personally think it’s a very bad omen for things to come.

I opened the show and had time to run and get the train back to London but I decided to stay over as I was keen to watch Pasquale perform. I remember watching him on TV during my childhood. I can’t remember any specific joke he did but I remember the squeaky voice and a sense that he was fun to watch.

He did not disappoint on the night. I met him in the green room before the show and found him warm and chatty and really good company. Before he was due on, I snuck out a fire exit and came back in the front entrance to watch his act.

He was scheduled to do a standard club set of 20 minutes and did about 50. It was a tour de force. Jokes, impressions (an amazing impression of a penguin), songs and stories. I think the audience got a great show.

I have not seen Katie Hopkins’ show but I do know she has not spent years on the comedy circuit honing a show and I know how hard it is to write and deliver good comedic material. I could be wrong but I don’t think people are attending her show because she wrote a classic bit like Mickey Flanagan’s ‘out out’ and they now think she is the funniest person alive.

They are buying tickets because they like her and her political views. It's comedy/political rally or political rally/comedy.

If people are choosing that for their weekend entertainment night out, things are not going well.

Peter Kelly is a pharmacist based in London and a stand-up comedian.