A 60-year old stand-up comedian has died on stage, with his audience thinking he was pulling a stunt.

British comedian Ian Cognito died in a club in Bicester, in southern England, on Thursday night.

Show organiser Andrew Bird tsaid that when the 60-year-old Cognito sat down and fell silent during his session, “everyone in the crowd, me included, thought he was joking.”

Cognito, whose real name was Paul Barbieri, never achieved wide fame but was highly respected among fellow comedians.

Entertainer Jimmy Carr praised Cognito’s kindness toward him when he was starting out in the business and tweeted, “He died with his boots on.”

“Little Britain” star Matt Lucas tweeted: “He was always kind to me when I started out, and brilliant and provocative and entirely original onstage. What a loss.” — BBC