The comedian died on the stage, and the audience decided that this was part of the number.

60-year-old British stand-up comedian Paul Barbieri, known under the pseudonym Jan Cognito, died on stage during his performance. He suffered a heart attack after a joke about a stroke, writes New York Post.

Fideo: Youtube screenshot iancognito11

The actor sat down on a stool, breathing heavily and fell silent for five minutes. The audience did not immediately understand what had happened, but continued to laugh, thinking that it was part of the show, noted Andrew Bird, organizer of the Lone Wolf Comedy Club.

According to him, the humorist was bad before the start of filming, but he decided not to cancel the performance and went on stage.

“He behaved as usual, spoke loudly. I thought he had a great gig today,” Byrd recalls.

At some point, Byrd became suspicious and went on stage to check on Cognito.

“Everyone in the audience, including me, thought he was joking. Even when I walked on stage and touched his hand, I expected him to say “BOO,” Byrd says.

But it turned out that this is not a joke. Two nurses and police officers began to provide first aid to a comedian, someone called an ambulance.

The show organizer recalls that Congito even joked about his death from the stage. He said, “Imagine if I died here right in front of you.”

One of the viewers, John Ostoyok, recalls that Cognito was joking about a stroke for 10 minutes before his death.

“He said, 'Imagine I have a stroke and when I wake up I speak Welsh,'” Ostojak recalls.

“We left feeling depressed. We just sat for 5 minutes, watched him and laughed,” says the viewer.

Cognito (real name Paul Barbieri) was born in London in 1958 and has been performing since the mid-1980s. Fellow stage performers described Cognito as a "first-class comedian" and respected his support of young artists. Many fellow artists paid tribute to the artist by writing kind words on social media.

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