Every great performance hinges on understanding your audience, but one comedian misread the room spectacularly.

When a stand-up comedian targeted the “student” collecting glasses, he didn’t realize she was actually the manager of the bar – and she held the keys to his next booking.

You’ll want to read on for this one!

Performer didn’t realise I was the manager

Some years ago, my partner and I managed a bar and we had live acts every Friday night.

We had inherited a few bookings from the previous managers, but we honoured the bookings.

One night, we had a comedian who before us had performed regularly at the bar.

She didn’t exactly look the part of a typical manager.

Anyway, at the time, I dressed like a student and had long, dyed hair.

The regulars all knew I was the manager and had no problems with my appearance.

But the comedian had never seen her before, so she soon found herself at the center of his act.

The comedian starts his act and spots me collecting glasses and proceeds to complain about students, how lazy they are, look at this one, can’t get a “proper” job, what’s with her hair, etc. no laughter, so he carries on laying into me.

I smile and continue working.

After the set, I walk over to give him his cash and he’s already got more dates to book with us.

You can imagine what’s coming next….

The joy as I said, “No thanks, I’m the manager and I will never book you again.”

Watching his face fall was beautiful.

Turns out, the joke was on him!

What did Reddit think?

This commenter doesn’t trust this comedian’s idea of “hard work”.

Isn’t this material a little played out anyway?

A more talented comedian could have turned this situation around.

Sounds like he has a long way to go with his crowd work skills.

By the time the comedian realized his mistake, it was too late to save face – or his booking.

He doesn’t sound like he’s in the right line of work anyway.

Thought that was satisfying? Check out what this employee did when their manager refused to pay for their time while they were traveling for business.