Comedian Mark Normand escorted off stage at comedy club, denies prior knowledge of 'surprise'

A comedian was escorted off stage during a stand-up show in New York on Wednesday in a strange incident he now says was a planned "surprise" that he was not involved in.

Videos shared on social media showed comedian Mark Normand performing at the New York Comedy Club when he was interrupted by an unidentified man rushing on the stage. The video showed that Normand was subsequently escorted out of the room before a man, who comes to the microphone and identifies himself as "one of the producers of the show," tells audience members to slowly exit the building.

In a statement provided to USA TODAY, Normand said "no one was harmed or injured" during his performance and that "the disruption was part of a planned 'surprise' activity by show producers, HiHi." But Normand said he had "no prior knowledge that this was going to happen."

In an earlier post on his Instagram story, Normand said his team was "still trying to put together the details." He also apologized to his fans.

The New York Comedy Club said on Instagram that this disruption was "part of a filming by" HiHi, "the producers that rented out our venue for the night." The club also said anyone who was in attendance can return for "an ACTUAL show for FREE."

The comedy club's statement pointed to a mysterious Instagram account for HiHi, which asks followers to send a direct message if they would "risk it all to have it all." The account's Instagram story includes numerous clips of what appeared to be application videos.

Adding to the intrigue, Donald Glover shared several of HiHi's posts on his Instagram story, including a screenshot of a TMZ article about the Normand incident. "'Hi-Hi' available now," one of Glover's posts said. A Vanity Fair report published Thursday said Glover's upcoming show "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" features a mysterious entity nicknamed "Hihi."

USA TODAY reached out to representatives for Glover.

The HiHi Instagram account also shared videos of Tyra Banks being surrounded by two people in furry costumes at an NBA game this week, clips of which also went viral.

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