Amy Schumer's stand-up comedy set in Portland, ME, on Saturday wasn't quite a trainwreck, but some audience members were left disappointed and demanded refunds. Fans complained on social media that Schumer's first set of the night at Portland's Cross Insurance Arena felt rushed and not worth the hefty ticket price. They estimated that the 7:30 p.m. show ran roughly half an hour to make time for a later 10:30 set that had been added to the bill to meet customer demand.
"That was horrible, worst show ever, and she lasted 26 minutes, not cool," one attendee posted on Cross Insurance Arena's Facebook page.
"I attended the first show and tweeted my disappointment at the brevity of the show as well," echoed another customer. "After she (or her team) responded, she BLOCKED me. I can't believe that someone as outspoken as Amy Schumer would block someone who challenged the length of her show."
In an interview with local station WCSH6, Schumer explained what prompted the short set.
"That seemed short to me. So I said right before, I went up to Bill (the guy who runs the show), it says 45 minutes, is that right? And he said, 'Yep, that's it,'" Schumer told the station. "This is my first experience [with an arena], I didn't have anybody with me to tell me any different, so I did what I was told to do.
"While I was on stage, it was a great show, and the crowd was awesome," she added. "I love performing, and I'm not like, 'Alright well, that's all.' So it felt very weird to me to get off stage, and then I looked at Twitter, and people were like 'That's it?' And I was like, 'I knew it felt like that.'"
She explained that her agent later told her she should have ignored the time limit and pushed on.
"It was a rookie mistake, but I was following directions," she admitted. "I feel horrible about it, but I promise it wasn't laziness, or that I didn't respect the crowd enough to be out there, it was strictly a rookie mistake, and I'm sorry that they had to pay for it."
The arena is not offering any refunds, but Schumer has vowed to perform for two hours should she be invited back to Portland. Friends again?