Top London comedy club makes bold decision to ban people with Botox

• A top UK comedy club has become the first in the world to ban people with Botox.
• The Top Secret Comedy Club in London has received ‘numerous complaints’ from performers about motionless faces in the audience.
• Audience members will now need to take part in an ‘expression test’ at the door.

A London comedy club has made the bold decision to ban audience members with Botox.

The Top Secret Comedy Club in Drury Lane, Covent Garden has claimed comedians find it “difficult to perform for an audience with reactionless faces.”

It is the first comedy club in the world to make the move, which will see audience members take part in an “expression test” on the door.

Mark Rothman, owner of The Top Secret Comedy Club, claims the eyebrow-raising ban, which is now in effect, was the “last resort” to help liven up the crowd or risk losing comedians performing at the club.

He said: “Our incredibly talented comedians are fed up with performing to reactionless faces. I’ve had numerous complaints from performers who find it increasingly challenging to gauge audience engagement and bounce off their reactions.

“Comedy thrives on connection, and facial expressions play a huge part. We want people to laugh, cry, frown, sneer, but frozen faces from Botox impact the entire atmosphere. We hope trialling this ban will help move the needle and get facial reactions back into the room – for the benefit of our comedians and the audience.”

According to The Independent the top UK comedy club received “numerous complaints” from performers, who were thrown off by frozen faces.

Botox works by temporarily blocking the nerve signals that cause muscles to contract. When injected into specific muscles, it relaxes them — which is why it’s so popular for smoothing out wrinkles and fine lines on the face.

Comedian Paul Chowdhry, who is set to perform at the club this month, said: “My face barely moves on the stage – I wouldn’t want to see the same thing staring back at me.”

Many top comedians including Michael McIntyre, Jack Whitehall and Amy Schumer have performed at The Top Secret Comedy club.

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