A U.K. comedian announced a second show in Vancouver on Friday, blaming ticket-snatching bots for a shortage of available seats at the first.
In a profanity laced tweet, actor Ricky Gervais wrote the tickets to his Humanity tour sold out in the city "in one minute."
Seats went on sale at 10 a.m. Friday, but fans complained that none were available even though they were poised by their computers at the correct time.
A quick search on Ticketmaster on Friday morning showed only single seats were available to the Jan. 29, 2018 comedy show.
"So to f--k the touts I'll do a second show," he posted.
Several Twitter users wrote back to his message thanking him, and noting they'd seen tickets pop up on other reseller websites for prices as high as $300. Tickets through Ticketmaster ranged from $69.50 to $89.50 plus taxes and other fees.
Known for his roles in "The Office" and the Netflix show "Derek," Gervais is now also scheduled to perform at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on Jan. 30. However, a short time after his announcement there were already few tickets left.
Gervais blamed the speedy sellout of the first show on resellers, an issue another comedian took aim at last fall.
Famed funnyman Louis C.K. cautioned fans against resorting to reseller websites, saying his team takes "great efforts and (has) many methods" of finding out which tickets have been purchased on broker sites like Stubhub and Vivid Seats. In a message on his website he said those tickets would be invalidated, and the buyer may not get their money back.
Resellers have been known to use "bots," or automated computer programs, created specifically to buy mass quantities of tickets. The seats are then resold on other websites for prices higher than face-value.
Bots were blamed within the last year for sold out Vancouver shows including U2, Bruno Mars and The Tragically Hip.
Last year, an Insights West poll suggested the majority of concert-going Canadians think those using the bots should be fined or jailed. Insights West said 87 per cent of people polled said they supported tracking down ticket scalpers and punishing them in some form. One-third said they were in favour of going back to the old system of standing in line to pick up tickets for events.
