Trevor Noah cancels Bengaluru shows, and the audience did not go ‘off the record’ on it

September 27 was a mad day for Bengaluru residents. A city-wide strike on the day before had lifted, forcing every office goer to reach their “tech parks”; the latent monsoon showers inundated a few parts of the city, and as usual, Bengaluru traffic had peaked, with the city’s Outer Ring Road coming to a standstill for over two hours.

Nonetheless, Bengaluru was prepared to travel a few hours to watch comedian Trevor Noah. Although a few fans had to sell their tickets at a discounted price on Twitter, an hour before the show, owing to the peak Bengaluru traffic, the Manpho Convention Centre in Hebbal was packed with hundreds of people who had come to watch the Emmy winner comedian. 

Andrea Pereira, along with her friends and family, had come all the way from Colombo, Sri Lanka, to watch Noah perform. They had bought tickets for September 27 immediately after it went live earlier in July, and this was their chance to see Noah perform. Like many in the audience, Pereira was aghast at how the organisers could not make better arrangements when they charged hefty amounts in tickets. 

Noah is visiting India on his Off The Record tour. After wrapping up his Delhi leg of the tour, he was in Bengaluru for two days to tickle the ribs of his fans and audiences. However, the show was cancelled due to technical difficulties—which Noah called “a first for him.” 

After apologising to his audience on stage at the venue, he took to X (formerly Twitter) to say, “Dear Bengaluru India, I was so looking forward to performing in your amazing city but due to technical issues we’ve been forced to cancel both shows. We tried everything but because the audience can’t hear the comedians on stage there’s literally no way to do a show. We’ll make sure all ticket holders receive a full refund and again I’m so sorry for both the inconvenience and disappointment this has never happened to us before.”

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The technical difficulties didn’t start from the stage but with the location of the show—a well-known comedian and Emmy Award winner did not deserve a wedding hall for his sold-out stand-up comedy act. People also complained that the venue did not provide proper parking or air conditioning.

“I left home at 5 PM, and I was looking forward to this for months, and the whole experience was horrible because we as a city can’t get our logistics right,” said Monica, an audience member.

“Trevor Noah was sweet enough to try and fix it, but what could he do? Right from the parking to the sound system to the seats, everything was bad. This is a marriage hall, not a venue for a show,” a disappointed Monica, who paid around Rs 8,000 for the tickets, expressed. 

“It was pretty disappointing because we know for a fact that there are much better venues out there. We went to watch (comedian) Varun Grover at Prestige Khoday Centre, and that was an excellent theatre, and we paid Rs 700 for tickets. And, it had an equal number of seats as here in Manpho,” said Anamika Awasthi, an engineer in Bengaluru who had come for the show.

The convention centre was no auditorium—there were no elevated seats, sound-proof walls, and no means for the audience sitting behind to even clearly hear the performer on stage. It was quite evident when New York-based comedian Wilner Sylvince, who marked the opening of the show, was inaudible to the audience seated at the back. 

“I felt really sad for the first comedian (Wilner) because everyone at the back was booing. We were in one of the back seats, and we honestly could not hear anything. The show also started about 35-40 minutes late,” said Guneet, an audience member and a Google employee.

There were several lacks on behalf of BookMyShow—the producer and promoter of Noah’s Off The Record tour. Audiences who paid a hefty amount between Rs 6,000 and Rs 8,000 for a ticket did not get their money’s worth. 

While no representatives from the ticket booking platform were available to address the concern at the venue, on September 28, BookMyShow posted on X, saying—"Bengaluru, we are extremely sorry for the inconvenience caused at Trevor Noah’s Off The Record show at Manpho Convention Centre on September 27th. The Bengaluru leg of the India Tour for both September 27th & 28th stands cancelled. All customers who purchased tickets for both shows will get a complete refund within 8-10 working days. We deeply regret this experience that our valuable customers faced and hope to be able to bring Trevor back to this amazing city at the earliest.”

But will a refund be enough for people who had taken out time on a Wednesday evening, bought tickets several months prior to the show, or had travelled from another country to just watch their favourite comedian on stage?

Fans do not think so. 

“This is a comedy show. If the volume is not good, if the speaker systems are not up to the mark, it’s not worth spending that much money,” Guneet added. 

While Noah’s fans seemed very disappointed at the event organising, they hoped their favourite comedian would come back to Bengaluru soon. 

“I really hope that he (Noah) comes back soon. We are all waiting for him to meet again. I hope the organisers just do a better job next time,” said Guneet. Some people also took to X to convey their messages to the comedian:

As for me, who was excited to attend her first-ever stand-up comedy act, and that, too, of Trevor Noah—disappointment cannot even begin to explain my feelings.

I did not get to hear any jokes related to India, Trump, or how Bengaluru is filled with engineers! All I did was travel for close to four hours, thinking that no matter what happened today, no matter how embarrassing it was, Noah would write jokes about this situation in a few months down the line.