It’s the way he sells ‘em

ONE of Britain’s best loved comedy stars and ex boxer Lee Evans has delivered a knock-out blow to Llanelli.

At short notice his comic show tickets went on sale and were wiped out in both Llanelli and Carmarthen.

Staff at Llanelli’s Ffwrnes and Carmarthen Lyric theatres were knocked off their feet and sold out in an astonishingly dizzy and record breaking 50-minutes flat.

Phones went into meltdown. British Telecom reported 31,OOO calls from 11am on Tuesday, 24-hours before the tickets went on sale.

On-line bookings were floored in just six minutes breaking all records for the 504-seater new theatre in Llanelli and the Lyric’s 665-seater capacity venue.

Off the Kerb booking agents only confirmed to theatre owners Carmarthenshire County Council on Friday that Lee Evans would perform his Work in Progress show in Llanelli on May 3 and Carmarthen, May 4.

Lee is one of the best-loved comedians in the country and a Hollywood star living up to his fast growing reputation of being able to able to sell out arenas and theatres in the blink of eye.

But he was not always such a roaring success.

The funny man is a one-time toilet cleaner and turkey plucker. He could never have imagined that one day he would be playing to thousands of adoring fans at the O2 Arena or full houses in Llanelli or Carmarthen.

Extra staff were called in to deal with the expected ticket rush crush at both Carmarthenshire venues on Wednesday. Ffwrnes business and marketing manager Nick Stevenson said: “There was a massive buzz about when the box offices opened and staff have been on a real high since. We were expecting it to be busy but it was like being hit by a train. The crowds were exceptionally well behaved but there have been a few complaints from people who failed to get tickets and were naturally disappointed.

“We let the tickets go in the fairest and most equitable way. We had short notice of the show ourselves so let people know through Facebook and Twitter, sent out 12,000 e-mails, contacted to our regulars and used our website.

One tweet read “Gr8 to see Ffwrnes getting the queues it deserves. It’s a top entertainment venue.”

To enable Carmarthenshire-wide opportunity tickets went on sale at 11am in Llanelli, Carmarthen; the Miners’ Theatre and Library, both in Ammanford. All seats were sold by 11.50am.

Some intrepid comedy fans were camped out outside Ffwrnes from 5am with folding chairs and flasks.

At one stage there was a queue of more than 250 stretching from Ffwrnes box office in Llanelli and alongside East Gate to James Street roundabout. the queue was 70 long wending out of the Lyric Theatre into King Street, Carmarthen.

Mr Stevenson said: “Llanelli folk certainly seem to have a massive sense of humour. We have a monthly comedy club that sells out two weeks in advance and we keep getting requests for top comedians from our regular patrons.

“We have got Rick Hall on April 26 and Josh Widdicombe there on May 30 and are hoping after this exceptional performance of ticket sales for Lee will be looked on favourably by agents Off the Kerb for possible performances from Lee Mack and Michael McIntyre.