A comedian called out her headliner for being rude and disrespectful on top of allegedly being late to his own show. He responded with receipts to show that wasn’t what happened.
While TikTok user and comedian Katie Kusiciel (@katiekcomedy) kept the comic and club’s name to herself, fellow comedian Dyon Brooks (@mojobrookzz) made a reply video that puts Kusiciel’s version of events into question.
“I am gonna tell you something egregious that happened to me last night at a show,” Kusiciel said in her original video.
In the TikTok, which has more than 1.8 million views and thousands of comments, Kusiciel explained that she was the opening act for a popular comedian and claimed he showed up almost 30 minutes late and in the middle of her act.
Despite this, Kusiciel said she gave him a good intro and hyped the crowd. Kusiciel also specified that she was sure she hadn’t bombed and that the crowd was having a good time. She continued saying Brooks didn’t look her in the eyes, shake her hand, or say thank you when he came on set.
Immediately when he got on stage, she said he started ripping Kusiciel to shreds for the first five to 10 minutes of his set, saying she shouldn’t have been his opener, that she didn’t belong or fit in with his crowd, and called her a “substitute teacher.”
@katiekcomedy People like this give stand up comics a bad name. #comedy #standupcomedian ♬ original sound – KatieKComedy
Kusiciel claims that the comic specifically said her material should have included “ratchet shit.”
“I don’t really even know what that is supposed to mean because that’s not authentic or genuine to me, and I’m not going to try to pander to an audience just because we come from different backgrounds,” Kusiciel said.
Kusiciel told the club what happened and left. Instead of her closing out the show, they told her they’d do it “however he saw fit.”
“People like this give stand up comics a bad name,” Kusiciel said.
However, Brooks presented a different version of that night. He addressed Kusiciel’s video point-by-point and had screenshots and a video of the set to back up his version.
@mojobrookzz For the record Im the bigges female comedy supporter! Ive taken several on the road with me over my 10 year career! I requested a female feature that night! It just wasnt her night that night but I couldnt ignore the elphant in the room! I even had the crowd clap it up for her! Wish her the best in her career but Mam Be honest!! To my fans I aologize that they bothering us but we aint going nowhere let em cry 😂😂😂😂😂
♬ original sound – Dyon Brooks
First, he said that he wasn’t late to his own show. Because it was a sold-out event, the start time was pushed from 7 to 7:30 to ensure everybody was in their seats on time. Brooks said he was in the green room before Kusiciel went on stage.
Then, he addressed how her jokes landed with the crowd. Despite her perception, he thought the crowd was lukewarm before he came out and showed a video of Kusiciel appearing to try to get their energy up.
“Yea bro, room was hella silent,” an unnamed person wrote in a text to Brooks.
He went on to explain that because the crowd wasn’t hyped by her performance or intro, he had to introduce himself and get the crowd’s energy up. He started off with a few jokes about Kusiciel’s set, pointing out how strange it was for her to tell a crowd of Black people to get “buck wild,” making a joke about how he wasn’t giving refunds, and referred to her as a substitute teacher.
Watch the videos for yourself, and you decide: Was Brooks out of pocket, or was he trying to make the best out of an uncomfortable situation?
The Daily Dot reached out to Kusiciel and Brooks for comment via email.