Comedian Mark Little is looking for a new venue for his regular show after he hurled abuse at hecklers in his audience.

The performer claims he has been dumped by Komedia after the incident, in which he shouted and swore at the crowd for not supporting another act.

The Australian launched into the tirade against his audience during Boogie Woogie Beach Bum Bar on Thursday night.

The outburst prompted 40 letters of complaint, causing a rift between the comedian and Komedia bosses.

Mr Little has now confirmed he will not be hosting a show at the venue in the future.

He said: "Komedia has dumped me but the support for me is great. I am looking for another venue."

A spokeswoman for Komedia said: "I can confirm the next two Mark Little Boogie Woogie Beach Bum Bars on July 10 and 24 will not take place."

Mr Little lost his temper with the crowd because they heckled performance poet Curtis Tappenden, 36, from Brighton.

He branded one man who challenged him a bigot.

But Mr Little, from Hove, has stood by his actions, saying he was angry the audience did not embrace the eccentricity of his show.

He said: "This was my ninth Boogie Woogie Beach Bum Bar and I thought the audience could take this sort of performance. Obviously not.

"I don't regret what I did. There was a bit of anger but nobody got hurt. Most of the audience were drunk and got angry with Curtis but couldn't take it when it came back at them.

"With hecklers, if you give them an inch they take a mile. During my nights I like to give the audience that inch and see where they go with it but on this occasion I overestimated them.

"Komedia gave me no support. Certain people in the audience should have been evicted earlier but weren't. I thought Brighton and Hove was the place you could experiment with new things but I was wrong."

More than 20 people walked out of the venue in disgust.

Among them was Rob Gasson, 30, a special needs headteacher at Crawley Pupil Referral Unit.

He said: "Mark's attitude was, find me funny or feel my wrath. Komedia has done absolutely the right thing in my opinion. It is a brave decision but I don't think they had any choice."