AN AUSTRALIAN comedian learned of Prince Philip’s death while cracking jokes about his age on stage — before making a string of tasteless quips.
In a case of poor comic timing, Lewis Spears was interrupted by a member of his audience at a club in Melbourne who informed him the Duke of Edinburgh had died.
Read our live blog for the very latest news on Prince Philip’s death…
During his set, Spears joked about recent headlines made by the royal family, saying: “I saw one headline that was like, ‘Has the royal family lost touch with the commoners?’
“Yes! What gave it away, was it The Crown? Was it the cape, the throne, or was it when they invented the term commoner?”
Spears then turned his attention to Prince Philip, prompting awkward laughter from the audience as he joked that the royal was so old he had “invented racism”.
But just as he did this an audience member then showed him a news article announcing Philip’s death and the comedian read the statement Buckingham Palace released just after midday on Friday.
Yet after reading the news, Spears he then read it aloud before crackign on with his routine.
Lewis added: “I have to say… it’s been overdue.
“Are we sure he died today?
“I reckon he died 10 years ago and they wheel him out attached to strings at special events!”
The video was uploaded to the comedian’s YouTube channel with the caption “I think I cursed him. Sorry guys” and had almost 700.000 views.
The clip fell flat for some on social media.
One said: “Lewis roasted him so hard that he died of embarrassment before the joke was even told.”
Another added: “Here folks, we have what is quite possibly the greatest example of comedic timing in the history of comedy.”
