Dave Hughes responds to claim by NZ comic Melanie Bracewell he urinated in her glass at comedy show

A hilarious comedy beef is playing out between The Cheap Seats host Melanie Bracewell and Aussie comic Dave Hughes, with a glass full of Hughes’ alleged urine at the centre of it.

You read that right. But how did we get here?

Bracewell, a New Zealand comic with no social media filter, has been poking fun at Hughes’ outspoken views towards taxes and politics, suggesting maybe he isn’t as in touch with the common man as he presents.

On Sunday, she shared Hughes’ reaction to an X post in which she joked: “You gotta feel for Hughesy, he’s living from his tenants’ paycheck to tenants’ paycheck.”

Hughes responded he’s trying to stick up for the “honest people” and that she was doing the “less fortunate a disservice by attacking people who speak out against corruption”.

He then sent her extensive reading on the matter, to which Bracewell replied it was her birthday and that she was not going to do so.

Under the TikTok video where this story was unravelling, Bracewell then dropped a p-bomb regarding Hughes’ supposed history of urination at comedy shows.

“Btw the first time we met he peed in one of my glasses I use for stage bc he couldn’t go out to the bathroom, he does this regularly and wait staff have to clean it up 💕,” Bracewell commented.

It must be said, Hughes has been a good sport about the public commentary surrounding this, and provided further context to Daily Mail where he did not dispute the claim.

Hardly some sick ploy to assert dominance over his more junior comics, the comic suggested he had been forced into it out of necessity, and that it wasn’t the only instance.

“I’ve done it maybe four times in my life before solo shows when the backstage had no toilet . . . I didn’t want to wet myself onstage,” he told the publication.

“Absolutely never when anyone else was around, that would be terrible! I certainly don’t look for glasses to pee in as a way to pass time.”

Hughes admitted Bracewell was not his first contemporary to confront him about such behaviour.

“Peter Helliar had a go at me about it once and I think Mel was in the same venue. I asked her to come on my radio show and roast me about it, she did, we all laughed a lot,” Hughes continued.

“I had no idea she was so aghast, she did a great job in joining in on the group ridicule of me, and then we gave her tour and TV show a big plug. I don’t want to feud with another comic over things we laughed about.

“What if no one ever invited me anywhere anymore because they think I’m gonna wee in their finest glassware. I promise I won’t. And that’s a real promise, not an Albo promise, I won’t change my position.”

Bracewell has enjoyed a largely positive response to the mockery that is the pair’s faux-feud.

“I was already a huge fan of you but this has made me absolutely love you!” one person wrote.

Another said: “This is so great. More people should be calling out Hughesy’s absolutely COOKED behaviour. 😆”

Unfortunately, the reception didn’t get much better for Hughes upon arriving in San Francisco early this week, with the Aussie prohibited from boarding his flight to Canada because he did not carry an ESTA visa.

Hughes said he was unaware he required the $50 visa just to travel through the US via air, and was forced to return to Melbourne.

He was later able to catch a flight from Sydney straight to Canada, to perform at Just for Laughs in Montreal later on Tuesday.