Stand-up comedian jokes about friend's embarrassing experience while they were in the audience, friend walks out in the middle of the set: ‘Everyone was laughing at me’

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Bar Mor Hazut • Senior Editor
Aug 8, 2026 2:00 PM EDT

Once you share a funny story about yourself, you never know where it could go…

We all love telling our friends and family about funny experiences that happened to us. Sharing moments from our lives is how we connect, and who doesn't love making their friends laugh from something silly they faced?

Many times, when we hear a funny story, we spread it even more by telling other groups all about it: "Hey, do you want to hear a funny story that happened to a friend of mine?" is how we would go about it, and before we know it, the story gets legs of its own. 

When the story is embarrassing or contains too many personal details, we might need to think twice before we tell it to someone else. Even if the person who told it would never know that you decided to share the story with someone else, they should still get to decide whether or not they want strangers to know about that experience. And if they eventually decide against it, a decent friend would respect that decision and not tell the story to others.

Apparently, if you have a friend who also happens to be a stand-up comedian, your stories are at risk of being heard by a lot more people than just a few strangers. Decent comedians will ask for your permission to use a story of yours, but not all. One day, you can tell a comedian friend of yours about an embarrassing experience in confidence, and the next day they will be telling a whole comedy club all about it. Sure, they might change your name or a few details here and there, but their decision to take something that's not theirs and turn it into a public joke is not okay. Which is why the person that this happened to decided to get up and leave the venue instead of keep listening to their story being told to countless strangers…

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    Woman Performing Stand-up Comedy on Stage with Microphone
    via dragonimages

    Woman Performing Stand-up Comedy on Stage with Microphone.

    Subject is a model.

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    AITA for just walking out during my friend’s comedy set?

    One of my close friends has been doing open mic nights for a few months, and I've gone to most of them. Last week she told a story on
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    stage about someone getting locked in a restaurant bathroom and trying to climb out through the small window. It happened to me last year, and I'd only told a
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    few friends because I was embarrassed. She changed the restaurant name, but kept enough details that the people we came with immediately knew it was me.
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    Everyone was laughing and one friend kept looking over at me, so I got up and left. Afterward she texted saying I made it obvious the joke was
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    about me and made her look bad by walking out in the middle of her set. I told her she shouldn't use things I tell her privately as material, and
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    she said comedians talk about real life all the time and nobody outside our group knew. We haven't spoken since. AITA?
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    Laugh Neon-light Signage Turned on.
    via Tim Mossholder

    Laugh Neon-light Signage Turned on.

  • 09
    rheannahh NTA but also I feel like you're overreacting a bit.
    via rheannahh
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    OmegaSusan NTA I'm a stand-up (semi-pro, not new to open mic) and what your friend did was shy. It wasn't her story to tell.
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    While comedians do use stories from real life all the time, we tend to ask permission from the person it happened to, and respect their answer; we also change details both to protect the person and to make it funnier. A
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    common trick is to make yourself the bot of the joke, so she could easily have used your experience as the foundation of a story where she got stuck in a bathroom instead.
    via OmegaSusan
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    In short: my advice to your friend would be that she should write some actual material, rather than just recounting something that happened to someone else.
    via OmegaSusan
  • 14
    Urbanyeti0 ESH, imo if you're friend is actually your friend they'd have given you a heads up But storming off 100% confirmed you were the subject of the joke
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    Ryuuji-Akiyama NTA. She made you feel bad by doing that. If she was going to use your life as material, she should've asked first.
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    Remarkable-Train8231 NTA. Her first reaction should be "Sorry if it made you feel uncomfortable" not "You made me look bad", this clearly shows she cares more about her image than your feelings.
    via Remarkable-Train8231
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    EntertainmentFast497 These are the kind of things you have to lean into. Don't take it so seriously. Life is full of unexpected funny moments.
    via EntertainmentFast497
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    illmatic2112 Just know you can't trust this person anymore as they will use their friends and family for material
    via illmatic2112

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friendship job jokes embarrassing friends stand up comedy comedy club funny comedian
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