I had a difficult time working out how to write a fair review of Jimmy Carr at the Hammersmith Apollo at the weekend. I'm not the biggest fan of Carr's sometimes brutal one-liners but I thought he was pretty good. The trouble is that it is hard to say the show was an unqualified success for me when the person three seats down was shouting "Dirty Bitch" at the stage.

This insult was initially part of the show, with Carr encouraging people to shout it out during a spoof sitcom sketch, but the neanderthal near me clearly liked the phrase so much they kept repeating it. I was in the balcony so Carr might not have picked up on it from the stage, but it did not do much for my enjoyment. Carr's current tour is celeverly called Gagging Order – I think it was part of the audience that needed gagging at times in Hammersmith.

Those shouts were not the only ones. As the evening wore on there were frequent audience contributions, culminating in one disruptive "fan" who yelled "boring" when Carr tried to tell a longer joke that did not have a punchline in the first five seconds. Carr's brutal put-downs did the trick, but I can't help think the gig would have been better if he hadn't had to juggle his scripted material and crowd-control.

So how does a critic review this? If I'm reviewing the specific evening I have to take this into account and it meant Carr did not receive as good a review as he might have. Maybe some people present will disagree. Maybe they could not hear the fan shouting "dirty bitch" as if they were suffering from some kind of stand-up-induced Tourettes Syndrome. Likewise the people around me had a tough time at Harry Hill's recent Hammersmith gig where the sight lines for those on one side were fine but not so fine on the other. 

This is a difficult predicament for the critic. If one is seeing Macbeth and an actor forgets their lines do you go "Well, he will know them by tomorrow, so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt". If they fluff their lines or garble their words do you excuse them and hope it won't happen again even if it has spoilt your fun on the night?

The issue was further complicated on this occasion but the fact that I don't think it was entirely an accident that this happened with Carr. There is something about the type of banter that he indulges in that might possibly contribute to this. Dara O'Briain likes to chat with his fans, but they usually seem to appreciate when to shut up and listen. Al Murray attracts a small potentially boorish element as well as a literate, liberal element, but on the times I have seen him they have been a pretty well-behaved boorish element. 

In Carr's case one of his techniques for involving the audience was to solicit answers from the entire room – what was their worst present for instance? Different suggestions would be shouted out and Carr would have fun with them before trumping them with something even funnier. But somehow this invitation to yell seemed to make people think they could do it at any time.

Carr is so quick-witted he was able to deal with most of the intrusive remarks, but it did affect the flow of what was otherwise a very slick show. I think when you review a show you have to review the experience you've had. OK, maybe having an uncomfortable seat is no fault of the performer and should not have a bearing on how good the review is. Likewise if it is raining or you had difficulties parking or you had a cold. Or, for that matter if the PR provides a sedan chair to get you there and a buffet trolley during the gig.

But anything that has an effect on the performance has to count. Carr would have run much smoother without the unnecessary cameos from his fan club. It didn't ruin the night by any means – in fact the gig was being recorded for DVD and I suspect the editing will make it seamless. But I left Hammersmith thinking how much better the show would have been if people had had to pass IQ tests before being allowed to buy tickets for comedy gigs.