Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Comic tells crowd of robbery ordeal
COMEDIAN Michael McIntyre has thanked his “amazingly supportive” fans during his first show since being robbed by hammer-wielding thieves on mopeds.
The funnyman, 42, said it had been “touch and go” whether to take to the stage so soon after he was targeted on Monday while he waited to pick up his children from school.
The windows of his black Range Rover were smashed and he was forced to hand over a Rolex watch. He entertained a sold-out 3Arena in Dublin on Thursday evening and relived the moment with what he said was his favourite crowd.
“It was not so much the fast and the furious as stationary and panicking. I could not get it started. It was fight or flight.”
McIntyre was waiting in his car to collect his sons in Golders Green, north London when he was attacked by two males. He raised the subject at the start of his first Irish show, part of a world tour.
“Everyone has been amazingly supportive to me,” he said, adding: “It was touch and go whether I came here. It is my favourite gig, it is my favourite arena.” McIntyre confirmed his valuable Rolex was taken and said if he had been wearing a cheaper one the thieves would have left it.
He quipped: “They say time is the healer. I have lost my watch, how is time going to heal? I have no idea what time it is.” McIntyre admitted it had not been a great week.
He said: “I am OK, we are OK. I could have done with you, 9,000 Dubliners, ‘We have got your back, coming out of the trees, who do you think you are?’ Unfortunately I had to fend for myself and it did not go well. Think the film Taken, with Liam Neeson.”
Taken featured a retired CIA agent travelling across Europe and relying on his old skills to save his estranged daughter. Witnesses reported that McIntyre tried to comfort his shaken sons after the attack.
One onlooker said of the incident: “The guy at the front of the moped started to hit the driver’s window about 10 to 15 times and it eventually just cracked.
“He opens the door and gets Michael McIntyre out of the car. Michael fell but he was still trying to put up a fight.
“I just remember one of the bikers trying to get something. I don’t know what the guy was trying to get – a watch, a wallet, maybe?”
The Metropolitan Police said they were called to North End Road just before 2pm on Monday.