Tiffany Haddish worked on New Year’s Eve, like many comedians. I think NYE is probably a pretty good night for comedians, as many hotels and theaters probably want to book a combination of entertainers, from comedians to musical acts. Still, it probably sucks to have to work on NYE, right? Well, it seems like Tiffany was just having a bad night, or maybe 2018 was utter garbage for her too and this was just the last gasp of the dumpster fire year. Tiffany performed in Miami, at the James L. Knight Center, and it did not go well.
Comedian Tiffany Haddish started off the New Year with a bomb, not a bang. Haddish was hired to do stand-up at Miami’s James L. Knight Center, but the performance didn’t go off so well, according to The Root. Her routine included jokes about her mom getting out of a mental institution and gripes about her family asking her for money, according to TMZ.
Witnesses said Haddish forgot some of her jokes and the ones she did remember weren’t getting the laughs she expected. Folks at the show also expressed their opinions on Twitter. The comedian apparently suspected things weren’t going well when she saw fans heading for the exit.
“This is weird for me,” Haddish said, according to The Root. “This is going to be on TMZ or whatever.” She then opened a bottle of Ciroc and started drinking with the audience.
The Root also says that she started reading some of her jokes from her iPad, and that after so many people left, Tiff just cut her set short and started drinking with the fans who remained. I imagine that happens to comedians from time to time – their timing might be off, or they just can’t remember their jokes or transitions, and so it goes. Tiffany seemed to acknowledge it for what it was: a bad night, a bad gig, a bad job on her part. It happens.
Yes this happened. I wish it was better Miami. I prayed on it and I have a strong feeling this will never happened again. Tiffany Haddish Bombs, Drinks with Fans Instead https://t.co/4QxPn0j0xc via @TheRoot
— Tiffany Haddish (@TiffanyHaddish) January 1, 2019
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Not understanding what the big deal is. Comics bomb all the time but this particular time it was caught on video. Sounds like she was just having a bad night. maybe it was a last minute gig and she wasn’t prepared??? Or she was not as prepared as she thought she was.
Or trying new material 🤷♀️ Shitty gigs happen to all entertainers, she’ll move on and kill it next time.
I mostly agree, but man. How sucky would it be to bomb on NYE for everyone involved. And I think reading the jokes from the iPad adds a different level of ‘bombed’, honestly. I think there’s ways to play off a situation when you mess up your jokes, or if you are trying out new material that isn’t going well. But having to READ your jokes to the audience is really amateur hour – go back to a more comfortable joke that you can pull off, make a joke about how you messed up, whatever.
Standup comedy is hard
this right here!
It’s kind of weird that it’s all over the internet because I assumed this was par for the course for comedians. Sometimes you bomb. Does it happen less often for big comedians? I honestly am not aware. Maybe they always have but in the age of smartphones you have to fail in front of the entire world?
I also wonder if it’s her punishing schedule. She is in EVERYTHING right now so maybe shes kind of run herself into the ground? Whatever, as far as comedians go, her bombing a set is the least offensive thing going on.
“Whatever, as far as comedians go, her bombing a set is the least offensive thing going on.”
Excellent point!
Everyone has an off day (or night). I’m a runner and once in awhile I experience a day that is so difficult, for no treason. I pray it doesn’t happen on the day of a big race but it did once. I felt terrible from the first mile of a marathon, and it never got better. I yelled to some spectators around mile 17 that I would like one of their beers, and they all laughed. I was serious. I kind of love that she tried her best, owned the bomb and tried to make up for it by having a drink with her fans.
I like this analogy a lot. Some days you just don’t have it.
And sometimes you know exactly how/why a race went wrong and other times, you have no idea why–you prepared for months and you felt completely ready then…bleh.
I really like the way she handled this like “hey guys, I admit I had a bad night. I’m human, so what?”
Just one bad night that happens to all comedians. *shrugs*
LOL, the no “TREASON” autocorrect is a sign of the times, no?
LOLs I know! When I saw the autocorrect I was like “I suspect Tw has some sh*t some to say about Trump..”
As long as she isn’t mocking transgender people or parkland students, she is going to be fine. Bar has been set low. Keep going, Tiffany.
Unfortunately, she is a woman and a woman of color, so she will be judged more harshly.
I think it’s nice you’re cutting her some slack. But I’m not sure it’s completely deserved. No one should try out a huge portion of their set with new untested material on NYE; the audience is being charged 3x a normal ticket cost so you should have the well tested set.
If this is the tested material, joking about mental health and the old-humble-brag about being rich and family coming out of the woodwork, well it’s a deserved sad 2019 welcome.
She should be cut some slack by the people who weren’t there and didn’t pay to see her. Those that attended walked out, expressed outrage, and will likely not see her again. That’s the appropriate level of “punishment” for a bad night. The rest of us, who had nothing to do with it, don’t need to pile on.
and they will probably be refunded
@molly exactly! jeez with everything going on with other comedians and in general, it sounds like the perfect end to a rough year
Professional comedians do not bomb like this! This is what happens to amateurs.
They do, Dave Chapelle bombed and he is not an amateur, it happens to the best
All comedians bomb at times, it just (probably) happens less with established ones, because they’re usually better and the audience are fans (so people who appreciate that comedian’s humour). But bombing happens – sometimes it’s the comedian’s fault, sometimes the audience can be rough.
That being said, she admitted it was indeed her fault (most comedians try to blame it on the crowd) and will probably fix the problem. No need for this being in the news.
Yea it’s one thing to bomb a joke, another to FORGET your jokes and read off an ipad. Unprofessional, I certainly wouldn’t pay money to see her.
When she starts hiding in her room tweeting humorless, racist drivel in ALL CAPS to an audience of millions, maybe I’ll start to worry. Until then, I respect the heck out of her for getting up there, doing her set honestly, and pushing into 2019 with head held high. Happy New Year, Tiffany!
I really appreciate that many established and professional comedians showed her support on Twitter. In one’s career, every single one of us have had off days or never get their bearings on a project eventually. Most of us don’t have our bad days broadcast publicly.
I was a performer years ago and sometimes you just bomb. You can prepare, practice, prepare some more and bomb like it was your first time in front of an audience. Sometimes the muse isn’t there. What matters is what she does next. She’s a pro so she picked herself up, dusted herself off, and is getting on with it.
If I had paid big bucks to see her and she was bombing, I wouldn’t leave. Why? Because I got to see Tiffany Haddish bomb and then drink with her. Not the experience planned, but a great experience nonetheless!
Especially in a job that depends so heavily on the audience’s energy. I imagine that if they aren’t feeling it and it starts to go downhill, it starts to affect your delivery too.
Oh, man, the audience’s energy can *kill* you. Former dancer and performer here and the same show on different nights can be an entirely different experience depending on who’s sitting in the front row. One night you’re on and killing it, the next…you’re counting down the minutes until it’s over. Some performers, especially, really feed off that energy. And when it’s bad…Ugh. I feel for her.
Yeah, who honestly has never messed up a presentation at school or work at least? I envy you if that applies, but most people have bombed in their lives. That said, she absolutely should refund the people who walked out.
This!
Didn’t she admit that she’d been out partying the night before and had returned at 7 am? If that’s true and she was tired, that isn’t exactly professional behavior.
I saw Sandra Bernhard recently and she kept stopping to look at her notes. It was kind of annoying because I could tell she didn’t have a firm grasp of her set and those constant pauses kept interrupting the flow.
This! I appreciate cutting her slack & don’t think this should define her, it’s just one day, BUT she posted herself wasted hours before & admitted to parting HARD and was going to keep going cuz Vegas. I saw Chelsea Handler once- got a hotel room, a babysitter, a dinner out with my husband, and she was wasted drunk, bombed, said racist crap and was terrible. I guess her first set (before a break of vodka which she admitted) was okay but mine was terrible and started over an hour late. Comics are not rock stars or maybe rock stars shouldn’t even do this. People pay lots of money to see you & move around their lives—-just don’t be so wasted that you can’t preform. She deserves a little crap for this one.
Yes, the partying until 7 a.m. and ending the show by drinking with the audience make me worry a little. Tiffany had seemed to me to be too smart and effective for that kind of unprofessionalism.
Yep, I saw her post on Insta on NYE and I had a bad feeling about it. IMO she’s been on a downward trajectory for a while…love her in interviews(so funny!) but everything scripted I’ve seen her in has been a struggle.
I’m in sales…the other day, I presented a prospect with a proposal…and gave the client MY costs, and then (even worse) gave them THEIR costs, exposing my company’s mark up. I did my very best to honour the error without making them think I’m a total chump (said I was offering cost plus 10% as an option vs our regular ‘commercial’ rates as they are a residence, and I had offered to take them to the place we shop at wholesale so they could choose the product themselves and they would see my costs there, anyway). It was just before Christmas and they were going away, so it’s been on hold for 2 weeks and I have to call them later today. I’ll find out if I’ve totally lost the job due to my incompetence, or if they are willing to go ahead, and my company will absorb the much, much smaller profit margin. Bad days, distractions, whatever happens to EVERYONE. Ya gotta own it as best you can, shake it off and move forward. It’s not the first time I’ve made a sales mistake, and likely won’t be the last. Sigh…….
I’m pulling for you Thirsty Hirsty. I hope everything goes ok……
From one sales lady to another, my fingers are crossed for you! Give us an update if you feel like it 🙂
I guess I didn’t realize she was such a big deal in the comedy world? Only thing I know her from was hosting SNL and IMO she was TERRIBLE. All she did was talk about the expensive dress she was wearing, and did the same stupid dance move over and over in all the sketches. No versatility or unique humor. I don’t know much about her, but perhaps she’s just been overrated in 2018?
I couldn’t agree more. I’ve never heard a funny remark from her, not ever. She’s cringe worthy.
She made a splash in one movie, but has fizzled ever since. I don’t get the appeal.
She had a bad day at work. It happens to all of us, unfortunately hers is a headline. Every comedian bombs at some point.
I can’t imagine that feeling though, when you know you still have a lot of time to go, and it’s going so poorly!
Yep- I had bad days at work when I showed up drunk too.
Uhm,Never round her funny in the first place I just don’t get the appeal whatsoever.
Everybody makes mistakes. She needs to fulfill her obligations/contracts, and take a much-needed break, and stop trying to be everywhere, all the time. I believe that she is a good actor; and it would help if she would stop playing the SAME old hoodrat/ghetto/funny Black girl in every movie that she’s in. And, her ‘job’ is to get a check for entertaining people who pay to see her. She didn’t do her job in Miami; therefore, she should do the right thing, and refund the ticket monies to the people who spent their hard-earned dollars to see her do her job.
This sometimes happens when people get rich and famous. They stop working as hard as they used to…the drive or motivation isn’t always there. This might be the “push” she needed to get back on track. Also, it must be hard to be a comedian now a days because you don’t want to offend anyone and in the process kill your own career.
Many years ago, Faizon Love, a.k.a. Big Worm a la “Friday”, was the headlining act in a huge comedy show in my country. First few minutes was okay with a dancing bit then he attempted to tell jokes only to remember that public swearing is illegal in our country. He was off the stage 30 seconds later. My point, sh*t happens, and often beyond your control. Unlike Love, Tiffany had the guts to keep trying until she hung out with the crowd, and she owned her bad performance. Good for her.
I have friends in a band that had a show in Cuba, and they were required by the government to submit their lyrics ahead of time! I was stunned, but I guess that’s the rule for everyone.
Tiffany is amazing.
I saw her live a couple of years ago and I laughed non-stop, she is very talented.
She had a bad night, unfortunately it’s in the public eye. She’s probably exhausted! She’ll be fine.
XO
Sorry, can’t stand her. She’s screeching.
Tiffany seems very talented and capable to me, I wish her the best.
Only thing that bothers me is that she should have been more professional, she accepted the work, so she should have come prepared and ready to work and not party all night before hand.
We all make mistakes, I hope it doesn’t impact her future employment opportunities.
Interesting. Louis CK is a disgusting creep who is repugnant in a hundred different ways, but THIS is alllll over the internet and people are being NASTY about it. We all mess up, we all makes mistakes, have bad days at work…sometimes we even do stupid, stupid things. But sure, let’s envelope Louis CK is worldwide hugs of forgiveness and minimization while we treat this woman like she’s done something truly awful that can never be forgiven. The cognitive dissonance is real.
And you know what? Ok, fine–she was drunk, a hot mess, and having a bad, bad night. But she stood up there and faced the audience anyway, admitted she was really down the rabbit hole of messing her performance up, and actually has handled all of it (the actual event and the fallout) with a lot of grace and humility.
I agree with you about Louis CK being a worse person than Tiffany and he should have been cancelled completely.
However, apples and oranges.
Louis CK’s audience are mostly people who dig his humour. I guess you could say they’re as bad as he is, but that is irrelevant, they’re the paying audience that keeps his career afloat. To them, his routine is great. So he is doing his job right. And his fans will be back to bring him more money.
Tiffany here, on the other hand, let down her paying audience. They won’t be back.
Its one thing to have a bad day but its another thing to be wholly unprepared for your job. If she went out partying till 7am and continued drinking throughout the show what did she expect? People should be held accountable for their actions and not just given passes because they are the current in thing. Im not saying she should be cancelled can we be more aware of how we are so ready to ignore bad behaviour from people we currently like. Just because she’s not out there spewing hate doesn’t make this okay. Not for the people who spent money to go see her.
She didn’t drink throughout the show. She had drinks with fans after she shut the show down. She probably should have realized she was too tired and canceled, but she thought she could go on.
She’s not perfect. At least she’s not sexually assaulting people.
I’m not ignoring bad behavior (Louis CK’s fans have that covered). I’m just seeing such a difference between how people treat her vs him. It’s a serious double standard.
Is the bar set so low that as long as you are not sexual assaulting people anything goes? My comment has nothing to do with CK. He is doing bad all by himself. So as long as you are not as bad as the worst people in the community you are fine? I have my standards you are entitled to yours.
“Woman of color makes a mistake common to all professionals in her industry, will for some inexplicable reason be treated to a deluge of criticism and commentary about how she was never worth anything anyway.” —- fixed the TMZ headline