Comedian Ian Cognito has died.
Beyond The Joke has heard that he became ill onstage in Bicester on Thursday night where he was performing at the Lone Wolf Comedy Club. Paramedics were called but he was pronounced dead. Reports say he had been taking medication for a heart condition.
Cognito was one of the most controversial, confrontational, uncompromising acts on the circuit for over two decades. He was certainly not a politically correct performer and would often spend part of his time onstage insulting his audience. But beyond the dark, warped, unforgiving, fearless approach, he was also an extremely skilful comedian and won the Time Out Stand Up Comedy Performance Award in 1999. In some ways he predated the risky, brutal humour of the likes of Jimmy Carr and Frankie Boyle.
While he was widely admired in the comedy world his style did not suit the TV world at the time and he once said of the television industry: "The trouble with a moustache is that you can taste what you been eating, I got fed up of mine tasting of TV producers arseholes."
Reginald D Hunter is reported to have said of Cognito many years ago: "'First time I saw Cognito I was blown away. I was blown away the second time too. Third time I thought I could do that."
Brendan Burns said he "changed the face of this circuit single handedly. He was rallying against political correctness before it even had a name. I also love it when he pisses in my mouth."
Cognito himself once said: "One day the world will be a better place, we will love each other and share things together. It won't be a something for nothing world or everything for some, but fair shares for all. We will live in a world where there is nothing to be gained from making people look small and putting others down, and when that day comes, I'm fucked."
