Comic Mark Little lost his temper and hurled abuse at a comedy night's audience in an angry tirade at hecklers.

When one member of the public stood up to challenge him, the furious comedian branded him a bigot.

The slanging match ended with special needs teacher Rob Gasson's chair being pulled away from him by someone in the crowd as he returned to his seat following a conversation with Little.

Mr Gasson was one of about 20 audience members who walked out in disgust following the outburst on stage at Komedia during the Boogie Woogie Beach Bum Bar event, compered by Little.

The incident has sparked more than 40 letters of complaint to bosses and has left a question mark over the comedian's future at the venue.

Mr Gasson, 30, confronted Little when he began swearing at the audience for not showing support for one of the acts.

He was trying to defend a woman in the crowd who was on the receiving end of Little's abuse.

Mr Gasson said: "He was completely out of order. We had paid to be entertained, not insulted. I couldn't believe what I was hearing so I stood up and told him so. You cannot get angry with an audience just because they don't like what they see on stage."

Another theatregoer, Alex Moore, 36, of Marine Square, Brighton, said: "It was disgusting.

"He was really attacking this woman on the front row and got so enraged he stumbled off the stage and came within inches of her.

"He was shouting down the microphone and it was very scary."

The performer who unwittingly sparked the ruckus was Brighton poet and artist Curtis Tappenden.

He painted a 16m watercolour of Brighton and Hove on the wall of the stage, which went down well with the crowd.

But when he returned on stage later to read his poetry, he was drowned out by hecklers, shouting at him to get off. It was then Mr Little launched his tirade.

The former soap star, who appeared in the Australian series Neighbours as Joe Mangel, told The Argus he had no regrets over his actions on Thursday night.

He said: "I felt so bad for Curtis. He was completely shattered. I could not stand by and let it happen so I gave the audience a dose of their own medicine.

"I got angry and I abused some people in the audience, I'll admit that, but it was in a theatrical way.

"In this Big Brother generation, with the attention span of a gold fish, the audience seemed to have forgotten Curtis had created this wonderful masterpiece in front of their very eyes. They were downright rude.

"I thought a Komedia audience could take a performance like Curtis's but it seems the mix of watercolours and political comment was just too volatile. People expected me to be Joe Mangel, the dumb Australian gardener but that is not who I am.

"My anger came from a deep place. It's called artistic integrity and it's a wild old place."

Mr Tappenden, 36, said: "Mark has my absolute respect and is a man of great integrity. He was venting righteous anger."

Komedia has apologised to customers offended by Mr Little and offered refunds to all visitors who complained.

A statement read: "We have received to date more than 40 written complaints clearly demonstrating that Mark Little, host of the Boogie Woogie Beach Bum Bar, behaved in an 'abusive and aggressive' manner towards our customers. We are taking this matter very seriously."

A spokeswoman said staff were discussing Mr Little's future at the venue.

Meanwhile, Mr Gasson is considering legal action following the chair incident, in which he says he injured his lower back.

Komedia director Mar-ina Kobler said: "I have spoken to the victim following his written complaint and apologised personally and on behalf of Komedia for this unacceptable act. It is very lucky Mr Gasson has not suffered more serious injuries."