Great show, shame about the audience. I've thought it a few times recently, particularly at big theatre shows. At arena gigs a few idiots would have to be particularly disruptive to spoil the night for the majority, while at a club gig the comedian can often address the issue and diffuse the situation or make it part of the event.

But at Sean Lock's show at the Hammersmith Apollo on Friday night there was a bit of a problem with people getting up and going to the toilet and, I suspect, the bar. Another comedian might have tackled them. Lee Mack, for example, is brilliant with a ruthless put-down, but Lock is not that kind of banter merchant, instead he simply ploughed on through his act and overcame the problem by ignoring it. 

The following night, however, Twitter comments suggested that the audience for his Saturday gig was a bit "livelier". I don't know how Lock coped with it then, but I'll have a chance to find out as that gig was being filmed for a DVD release.

Comedy shows - even big, slick tours – can be different every night, depending on the mood of the crowd, so there is a risk involved when filming a show for DVD. Some comedians shoot two nights, which gives them a safety net, but if you film a one-off then everything is riding on that single performance

I'll be interested to see how Jimmy Carr's DVD turns out as I was at his Apollo gig earlier this year that was being filmed for release. At times the crowd was so noisy that it felt like he was firefighting or handling a classroom of hyperactive toddlers rather than doing stand-up. He would no sooner shut someone up on one side of the room than someone would flare up on the other. He dealt with it fantastically well but I did keep wondering if he would have preferred it if the gobby punters had not been there in the first place.

A lot of gigs are filmed for Christmas DVD release at Hammersmith Apollo, which presents the comedian doing a long run with a dilemma. Do you film the weekend gig which could be a better one but could potentially be more rowdy or the midweek gig which could potentially be a bit flat if people are tired after a long day at work? 

Likewise there's the alcohol dilemma. If it was decreed that no alcohol could be taken into the auditorium during the filming of a gig fans might be less likely to get up and go to the toilet in the middle of a show. Then again, fans might be less likely to leave the bar and go into the show in the first place so you end up having to deal with late arrivals who always seem to have tickets for the front row or put up with empty seats (fans can be moved forward to fill gaps, but this can delay the start and put the audience in an initial disgruntled mood that may not look good on camera).

I'm not sure what the perfect solution is. Film a few gigs and glue the best bits together? Breathalyse the audience as they go in? Remove disruptive fans and ban them in the same way football hooligans are banned from certain grounds? How about filming a live gig with no audience at all? Interestingly when Live at the Apollo is filmed in the same venue I get the impression that there are less interruptions. Tickets are free for that, so maybe that's the key - it's as if when people pay for their tickets they psychologically feel that they have a right to pipe up, while when it is a BBC show they are in some way more instinctively respectful and are on their best behaviour.

I'm not sure what the solution is. It is easy to say that noisy audiences are all part of the rough and tumble of stand-up comedy and there is undeniably a thrill when seeing a comedian slam an irritating fan. But it also puts me on edge when the gig is being filmed. When the cameras roll I'd rather see an actual gig.