THOUSANDS of comedy fans have today been left disappointed and frustrated in trying to buy tickets for the Michael McIntyre gigs at Winchester Theatre Royal.

The Box Office phone lines jammed and the website crashed despite the creation on an ‘online waiting room’ this morning.

The comedy star is trialling new material in Happy and Glorious at the venue on October 27 and 28.

The theatre tweeted that the show’s more than 800 tickets were sold out at 11.55am today only some two hours after they went on sale.