Sick joke: Frankie Boyle shocked his audience by saying he understood why someone would want to shoot taxi drivers in the head

Comic Frankie Boyle shocked an audience by joking about the Cumbria massacre during a stand-up show just one day after the tragedy.

Boyle told his audience that after many conversations with taxi drivers, he 'could understand' why someone would want to shoot them in the head.

The previous day 12 people were shot dead by gunman Derrick Bird in Cumbria, including taxi driver Darren Rewcastle, 43, who was gunned down at the taxi rank in Whitehaven.

There was stunned silence as the audience at the Hammersmith Apollo in London realised Boyle was referring to the Cumbria tragedy.

‘I was shocked,’ said audience member Tim Weaver, 49. ‘I think most people were taken aback. It wasn’t at all funny.

‘The joke was something along the lines of, “I’ve had so many conversations with taxi drivers that I knew what it feels like to want to shoot them in the head”,’

‘There wasn’t much laughter – I think it took a few seconds for people to realise what he was talking about and most couldn’t quite believe it.’

Mr Weaver, a university lecturer from London, said that the joke about the massacre had ‘gone too far.’

‘Obviously we like his comedy which is why we bought tickets,’ he said.

‘But that was a very flippant way to speak about something that has been completely devastating for some people.’

The comic also made jokes about Baby P and Madeleine McCann – suggesting ‘there must be a part’ of Madeleine's father, Gerry McCann, that was pleased Madeleine had gone so he could use her room for a pool table.

Boyle, a former panellist on BBC quiz Mock The Week, even repeated his slur on Down's Syndrome sufferers which caused outrage earlier this year.

The comic was confronted by audience member Sharon Smith at a show in April after branding Down's Syndrome sufferers ‘mongoloids’ who were ‘headed for an early grave.’

Mrs Smith, whose five-year-old daughter Tanzie has Down's Syndrome, told him: 'My daughter has Down's syndrome and I'm very upset.'

Boyle's comments provoked outrage from disabled charities but the unrepentant comic told Mrs Smith: 'This is my last tour. I don't give a **** what people think.'

And in last week’s show, he repeated the jokes - and made light of the upset he had caused, saying he had feared being ‘hugged to death’ by Downs Syndrome children following the outcry.

Boyle has also been criticised before for bad taste jokes about the Queen, the Palestinian crisis and Olympic swimmer Rebecca Adlington.

He quit his job on Mock The Week after declaring the BBC trust was ‘taking comedy back 30 years' by insisting he avoid insensitive material.