Jason Manford says Michael McIntyre will have been thinking of paying customers, not himself

Jason Manford posted on Facebook earlier today: "Obviously most of (us) can't know what the exact circumstances were as we wasn't there, but I guess the fact that so many people who were there were apologetic to Michael on Twitter might show us that it was becoming so ridiculous that it was his only option.

"I mean somebody actually on their phone on the front row, was she making a call? Texting? Probably putting on Facebook that she was having a great time.

"What I suspect happened is that he dealt with her a number of times in a humorous way but then after 4 or 5 attempts to quieten her down he had no option but for security to step in. The fact that the audience were chanting for her to stop also tells me that she was the one being unreasonable.

"The problem is it's not that he couldn't handle a bothersome heckler (I've gigged with Michael at some of the toughest clubs in the country and he was always brilliant), I suspect he was thinking about the other people in the room who had also paid good money to see and listen to him and who were starting to get annoyed by this woman.

"It is always a comedians last option to get security but knowing Michael I reckon he realised she was going to ruin the show unless the theatre asked her to leave and that really isn't fair on Michael or the rest of the audience who had come to hear one of our best comedians not some drunk woman on the front row on her phone!"