Amy Schumer now has a lot more fans who can’t get enough of her.

Literally.

That’s because the raunchy comedian’s 7:30 p.m. performance Saturday at the Cross Insurance Arena in Portland ran only 35 to 45 minutes, according to various estimates, leaving lots of fans feeling shortchanged. Adding to the disappointment of the 7:30 p.m. crowd: Schumer did a 10:30 p.m. show Saturday that lasted about an hour.

Numerous fans took to social media with complaints. Dozens of comments on the Cross Insurance Arena Facebook page Monday included people saying they’d never go back to the venue, demanding refunds and lamenting what they saw as unfair treatment. With fees, the best tickets to Schumer’s show cost more than $80 at face value.

Matt Herpich, who manages the arena for Philadelphia-based Global Spectrum, said Monday there would be no refunds and that Schumer did “two full shows.” Herpich called the shows “awesome” and said Schumer “really connected” with her audience. When asked about the comments on social media from disappointed patrons, he said he did notice “some comments.”

Schumer, however, has acknowledged the early show was short and has said publicly she feels badly about it. She tweeted about the situation at least twice, saying she did a 47-minute set after the warm-up acts and that the show had to be rushed to move people out so that the audience for the second show could be seated.

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It was unclear why nearly two hours were needed between shows. Herpich would not say why the shows were scheduled that way or what specifically needed to be done between them.

In a phone interview Monday, Schumer told Portland TV station WCSH-6 that she felt “horrible” about fans feeling shortchanged, but the short show wasn’t a result of “laziness.” She called it a “rookie mistake” that is “heavy on my mind.”

“I really appreciate that people spend money and they choose to spend their time with me. It’ a really big deal to me,” she said.

But many fans still felt like they didn’t get what they paid for.

“If I had been told ahead of time that I would have to pay $80 for 35 minutes, I wouldn’t have done it,” said Richard Machlin, 63, of Portland, who was at the 7:30 p.m. show. He went to the arena box office Monday morning and asked for a full refund. He was told management would get back to him.

Ann Colbourn said she was upset by the unfairness of the situation. The sale of tickets for the 7:30 p.m. show was announced about five days before the second show was added. So she believes people who bought tickets for the early performance were essentially punished for being eager to see the show. She emailed the arena and asked for half of her $80 back.

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“When the lights went on, the whole arena was kind of stunned,” said Colbourn, 51, of Portland.

Schumer acknowledged the show’s brevity almost immediately. She commented in the second show that her contract required her only to perform for 45 minutes, but that she’d be nice and do an hour. In a Saturday night post to Twitter, she said:

In another tweet, she responded to a fan who said she was “a bit smug” for doing just a 40-minute set:

Schumer had two comedians open for her, and each did about 10 minutes.

Schumer is known for frank talk about sex in her stand-up act and on her cable TV show, “Inside Amy Schumer.” She also starred in the summer blockbuster comedy film “Trainwreck.”

How much time should a nationally known comedian give an audience? When Kathy Griffin played the State Theatre in Portland in August, the show was nearly two hours. When Jerry Seinfeld played Merrill Auditorium in 2014, his show ran 70 minutes.

“I saw Kathy Griffin, and she always does a nice long set, with no openers,” Colbourn said. “I just assumed this show would be the same.”

The Cross Insurance Arena was formerly called the Cumberland County Civic Center. It had been managed locally from its construction in 1977 until February of this year, when the county board overseeing the building approved a five-year management contract with Global Spectrum. Negotiations with Global Spectrum had begun in 2014.

 


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