Minnesota comic Nick Swardson responds to being booted off Colorado stage for intoxication

Nick Swardson, one of the more popular comedians to ever come out of Minnesota, responded Wednesday to reports that he was too drunk to perform last weekend.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, the 47-year-old stand-up was pulled off the stage at the Vilar Performing Arts Center in Beaver Creek, Colo., Sunday after struggling through a bit about Jason Statham. After many in the crowd began to boo, his microphone was cut and he was escorted to the wings. A stage manager then apologized to the audience and told the crowd that refunds would be offered.

On Wednesday, the Minneapolis native blamed his behavior on a bad combination of edibles and alcohol on the plane. He confirmed that he went onstage Tuesday in Aspen, Colo.

“Literally killed two shows last night,” he said in a text to the Star Tribune. “This is the dumbest non-story ever.”

Swardson also addressed the incident Tuesday in a post on X.

“Just casually woke up on TMZ,” he wrote. “Travel tip: don’t drink and take edibles in high altitude. [Expletive] brain diarrhea. I’ll make it up to you Beaver Creek!”

Swardson developed his comedy chops at Twin Cities clubs before moving to Los Angeles, where he befriended Adam Sandler and began popping up in the superstar’s movies on a regular basis. He has played a flamboyant stooge on “Reno 911!” and headlined his own projects, including “Grandma’s Boy” and Comedy Central’s “Nick Swardson’s Pretend Time.”

In a Star Tribune interview from December 2019, Swardson said he had been sober for months and recognized that he had overdone it in the past.

“If there was a vodka hall of fame, my jersey would be in the rafters,” he said. “My fans were kind of worried about me. They were posting online that I should dial it down a little. Not that I live and die by their comments, but I would look at pictures of me trashed at bars. I thought it was kind of funny for a while. But I looked horrible.”

In the fall of 2019, he spent nearly three weeks in a Denver hospital for, among other things, pneumonia and alcohol poisoning.

“My body just shut down,” he said. “That’s when I realized, ‘Oh, you’re not a superhero.’”

Swardson is scheduled to appear in Greenwood Village, Colo., Thursday through Saturday and in Denver on Sunday.