Danny Baker received a standing ovation at his first live show since being sacked by the BBC, on Sunday night.
The 61-year-old comedian brought his Good Time Charlie’s Back stand-up show to the Nottingham Theatre Royal and arriving on stage, he admitted: “I genuinely didn’t know what the atmosphere would be like tonight.”
“You wouldn’t believe how I was feeling 20 minutes ago but I’m so pleased so let’s do this,” Baker said.
The show marked the end of an eventful week for Baker, who was sacked by BBC 5Live after a controversial tweet about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s newborn son.
The post included a photo of a well-dressed man and woman holding hands with a suited chimpanzee on Twitter, which he captioned: “Royal baby leaves hospital.”
Criticism soon rolled in and Baker deleted the post but the following morning, on Thursday, he announced he had been fired by 5Live.
In the days that followed, he apologised for the joke and admitted to seeing how it had caused offence, while also defending himself and accusing the BBC of throwing him “under the bus”.
At Sunday’s live show, he told fans: “When life deals you lemons, you chuck them at the people calling you racist.”
He also joked: “If anyone does want to rush the stage, I’m a Millwall fan with a snooker cue.”
Opening the second half of his performance, Baker added: “I’ve never been a sentimental sort. But I’m numb with gratitude tonight, I caught my wife in the break and you reduced her to a pile of tears.”
And at the end, he was met with a standing ovation after telling the audience: “I do want to say this and I’m not milking it but it’s been one of the best nights of my career tonight.
“It really has.”
Baker’s show came just one day after police confirmed they were investigating his tweet, after receiving an allegation related to it.
After his sacking, Baker’s name remained a trending topic on Twitter for hours, but not everyone agreed with the BBC’s decision to sack him.
Mock The Week host Dara Ó Briain weighed in last week, writing: “What? Danny Baker got fired? But he immediately apologised and deleted the tweet! I mean, literally, in the event of mistakenly causing offence, what else can you do? Genuinely amazed by that.”
After engaging in direct conversation with many of the people who had tweeted him, Ó Briain posted a clarification, adding: “Also amazed by how many thought that by posting this, I was excusing the original tweet. Of course I wasn’t.
“The Irish had a century of that monkey shit too, y’know (cf Punch magazine). Ultimately, though, I’d like that to hope if/when I fuck up, you might accept an apology…”