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James Acaster, the British comedian who is set to tour the UK and Ireland from July onwards, has become embroiled in the latest chapter of a ticketing debacle, this time in the UK.
The new Hecklers Welcome 2023 tour will be the comedian's first since his 2019 Cold Lasagne Hate Myself 1999 tour. However, fans were met with multiple crashed sites while buying tickets, as the vendors were unable to keep up with the demand for tickets generated by the tour.
One netizen summed up the chaotic and stressful experience of trying to buy tickets for the tour aptly with a tweet:
James Acaster tour sold out
The demand for the comedian's tour has been so high that most tickets for the show, which were available at https://www.jamesacaster.com/gigs/, have sold out, despite many vendor sites crashing.
Netizens reacted to this with a wide variety of comments. One referred to the comedian's appearance on The Great Celebrity Bake Off. Another compared it to having the most difficult experience of their life:
The James Acaster ticketing debacle comes at a time when ticketing vendors, especially Ticketmaster and its parent company Live Nation, are facing increasing scrutiny due to their failure to meet public demands.
There has also been scrutiny due to dubious practices such as high service charges, which can often make getting tickets at reasonable prices nearly impossible. The Taylor Swift concert last year, as well as the Cure concert ticketing outrage, are notable events in the growing controversy.
James Acaster has won several awards over the last decade
James William Acaster was born on 9 January 1985 in Kettering, England, and attended music classes at Northampton College, before working as a teaching assistant at a school for autistic children.
It was during his time as a teaching assistant that he began practicing stand-up comedy as a hobby in his free time. He also began playing drums in the band The Wow! Scenario as well as the band Capri-Sun Quartet, under the stage name Sir William Strawberry.
In 2009, James Acaster had his first major comedy performance, playing at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe alongside Josh Widdicombe and Nick Helm. The performance led to his first supporting act, with comedians Josie Long and Milton Jones in 2010 and 2011 respectively.
The comedian's first major domestic breakthrough came with his 2012 Edinburgh Festival Fringe show, Prompt, which was nominated for best comedy show at the festival by the Edinburgh Comedy Awards. His first international breakthrough was when he won the best international act award at the New Zealand Comedy Guild.
With his 2014 show, Recognise, the comedian started to be recognized as a rising star in the UK and Commonwealth countries. The show was nominated at the Edinburgh Comedy Awards and won the Best Show and Breakthrough Act awards at the 2015 Chortle Awards.
Following a series of stand-up shows in the following years, the comedian collaborated with the streaming giant Netflix to release his stand-up comedy special, Repertoire, in 2018.
James Acaster released his next standup show, titled Cold Lasagne Hate Myself 1999, in 2019. The show was critically acclaimed, winning the comedian a second Best Show award at the 2019 Chortle Awards.
Aside from his comedy standups and shows, James Acaster has also released three non-fiction books, the first of which was nominated for a Chortle Award. The comedian also founded a music collective, Temps, who will release their debut album, Party Gator Purgatory, on May 19, 2023.
