London comedy club bans guests with Botox from its venues in bid to improve atmosphere
6 March 2025, 10:32
One of London’s most popular comedy clubs has banned guests with Botox attending its venues in a bid to liven up the crowds.
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The Top Secret Comedy Club in Covent Garden, which has seen comedians including Jack Whitehall and Amy Schumer take to the stage, claims that “frozen faces from Botox impact the entire atmosphere”.
With an estimated 900,000 Botox injections being carried out in the UK each year, according to government figures, comedians are supposedly finding it more and more difficult to tell if their jokes are landing.
Top Secret’s owner Mark Rothman has said: "I've had numerous complaints from performers who find it increasingly challenging to gauge audience engagement and bounce off their reactions.”
The club says it has taken this measure as a “last resort” to help liven up the crowd.
“We hope trialing this ban will help move the needle and get facial reactions back into the room – for the benefit of our comedians and the audience,” Rothman added.
Botox temporarily reduces the appearance of wrinkles and fine lines in the face by blocking nerve signals to muscles but can leave people with a “frozen face”.
The move has received support from the venue's regular stand-up acts, including comedian Andrew Mensah.
"Performing to an audience with frozen faces can be incredibly tough. Comedy is a two-way street - we feed off the energy and reactions of the crowd,” he said
Meanwhile, Paul Chowdhry, who is performing at the club this month before a show at the O2 said: “My face barely moves on the stage – I wouldn’t want to see the same thing staring back at me.”
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As of Wednesday, audience members will be vetted on entry, with door staff trained to ID Check and “Expression Test” to detect Botox.
Rotham shut down suggestions it was a publicity stunt, saying: “We’re dead serious about the ban, and if you're surprised, we need to see that! We are looking forward to welcoming faces old and new, that can still move, in our venue soon.”
