Comedian Mark Little went over the top when he appeared at the Komedia in Brighton.

Audiences at the Brighton venue tend to be famously cool and liberal-minded so it must have taken a lot to annoy them.

More than 20 people walked out halfway through the comedian's show.

Some of them claim they felt threatened when he started swearing at them for not supporting another act in the show.

Komedia is now considering the future of Mark Little as a regular at comedy nights.

It is fine to invite audience reaction and to tease some of the punters.

It is quite another to be so abusive that many of them walk out in disgust.

The comedian appears to have overstepped the dividing line between engaging the audience and abusing the public.

Mark Little was annoyed at the reaction of the audience towards the other act and was entitled to say his piece.

He has made a valid point that he is a radical political comedian whose stock-in-trade is saying what he thinks.

But he is also an entertainer who is paid to be funny. If he is ever invited back and repeats this kind of performance, he will be banned and rightly so.

Other venues may also be reluctant to hire a man who is capable of tirades that anger and scare the paying public.