{"id":42163,"date":"2026-08-13T02:30:40","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T21:30:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=42163"},"modified":"2026-08-13T02:30:40","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T21:30:40","slug":"fears-for-forgotten-mean-girls-star-daniel-franzese-as-he-flops-during-star-studded-comedy-show-before-abruptly-fleeing-the-stage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=42163","title":{"rendered":"Fears for forgotten Mean Girls star Daniel Franzese as he flops during star-studded comedy show before abruptly FLEEING the stage"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div xmlns:default=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" itemprop=\"articleBody\">\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Mean Girls star Daniel Franzese sparked fan fears after fleeing a star-studded comedy show in the middle of his set on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">The actor, 48, who played high school student Damian in <a style=\"font-weight: bold;\" target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.com\/tvshowbiz\/tina-fey\/index.html\" id=\"mol-46988cb0-9687-11f1-b257-ef58a588a26b\">Tina Fey<\/a>&#8216;s hit 2004 comedy Mean Girls alongside <a style=\"font-weight: bold;\" target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.com\/tvshowbiz\/lindsay-lohan\/index.html\" id=\"mol-46872790-9687-11f1-b257-ef58a588a26b\">Lindsay Lohan<\/a>, was booked to perform at LA&#8217;s The Comedy Store alongside huge names including Arsenio Hall, <a style=\"font-weight: bold;\" target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.com\/tvshowbiz\/jay-leno\/index.html\" id=\"mol-46983e90-9687-11f1-b257-ef58a588a26b\">Jay Leno<\/a> and <a style=\"font-weight: bold;\" target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.com\/tvshowbiz\/chelsea-handler\/index.html\" id=\"mol-467c0400-9687-11f1-b257-ef58a588a26b\">Chelsea Handler<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">However, Franzese&#8217;s set fell completely flat, with the actor abruptly running off stage in the middle of his set and not returning, an insider exclusively revealed to The Daily Mail.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Franzese&#8217;s set started off strong with quips about <a style=\"font-weight: bold;\" target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.com\/tvshowbiz\/tom-cruise\/index.html\" id=\"mol-4694bc20-9687-11f1-b257-ef58a588a26b\">Tom Cruise<\/a> starring in a <a style=\"font-weight: bold;\" target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.com\/news\/scientology\/index.html\" id=\"mol-469f6a80-9687-11f1-b257-ef58a588a26b\">Scientology<\/a> movie and the actor claiming the &#8216;number one horror movie in West Hollywood right now is syphilis&#8217; \u2013 but the audience reaction quickly died off.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">The star quickly moved onto anecdotes of his mom&#8217;s recent and first trip to <a style=\"font-weight: bold;\" target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.com\/news\/california\/index.html\" id=\"mol-46a55df0-9687-11f1-b257-ef58a588a26b\">California<\/a>, his Italian roots and their experience seeing <a style=\"font-weight: bold;\" target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.com\/tvshowbiz\/ryan-gosling\/index.html\" id=\"mol-468b4640-9687-11f1-b257-ef58a588a26b\">Ryan Gosling<\/a> in a convertible in LA, yet failed to win over the crowd \u2013 with an attendee revealing Franzese was &#8216;painful&#8217; to watch and &#8216;dying onstage.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">During one excruciating moment, Franzese said he would &#8216;act out all of the Paranormal Activity&#8217; movies, saying &#8216;OK, and only to be fair, there&#8217;s 27 Paranormal Activities because they made them for $27 and they made $27 million.<\/p>\n<div class=\"artSplitter mol-img-group\" style=\"\">\n<div class=\"mol-img\">\n<div class=\"image-wrap\"> <img decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-8f4f76b8f0cb2218\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.com\/1s\/2026\/08\/12\/21\/110600737-16048211-Mean_Girls_star_Daniel_Franzese_sparked_fan_fears_after_fleeing_-a-2_1786566784641.jpg\" height=\"422\" width=\"634\" alt=\"Mean Girls star Daniel Franzese sparked fan fears after fleeing a star-studded comedy show in the middle of his set on Tuesday - pictured as Damian in the 2004 film with Lindsay Lohan\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" style=\"max-width:100%\" loading=\"lazy\" \/> <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">Mean Girls star Daniel Franzese sparked fan fears after fleeing a star-studded comedy show in the middle of his set on Tuesday &#8211; pictured as Damian in the 2004 film with Lindsay Lohan<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"artSplitter mol-img-group\" style=\"\">\n<div class=\"mol-img\">\n<div class=\"image-wrap\"> <img decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-73bb899187409cb5\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.com\/1s\/2026\/08\/12\/21\/110600733-16048211-The_actor_48_who_played_high_school_student_Damian_in_Tina_Fey_s-a-4_1786566784642.jpg\" height=\"953\" width=\"634\" alt=\"The actor, 48, who played high school student Damian in Tina Fey's hit 2004 comedy Mean Girls alongside Lindsay Lohan , was booked to perform at LA's The Comedy Store alongside huge names including Arsenio Hall, Jay Leno and Chelsea Handler\u00a0 - pictured 2024\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" style=\"max-width:100%\" loading=\"lazy\" \/> <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">The actor, 48, who played high school student Damian in Tina Fey&#8217;s hit 2004 comedy Mean Girls alongside Lindsay Lohan , was booked to perform at LA&#8217;s The Comedy Store alongside huge names including Arsenio Hall, Jay Leno and Chelsea Handler\u00a0 &#8211; pictured 2024<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"artSplitter mol-img-group mol-hidden-caption\" style=\"\">\n<div class=\"mol-img\">\n<div class=\"image-wrap\"> <img decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-718ee2e01a9f055a\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.com\/1s\/2026\/08\/12\/21\/110600663-16048211-image-a-1_1786566784639.jpg\" height=\"646\" width=\"634\" alt=\"\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" style=\"max-width:100%\" loading=\"lazy\" \/> <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;This is like a poltergeist movie that they make and it&#8217;s made with GoPro. Does a GoPro here, here, here and here, OK.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">As the crowd grew silent, Franzese appeared flustered and stopped midway through his next anecdote and only 11 minutes into his 15-minute set, saying, &#8216;<span style=\"font-size: 16px;\">I recently came back from New York.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;I&#8217;d like to go to New York all the time because my family&#8217;s there, but I&#8217;m Italian and I&#8217;m from Brooklyn and&#8230; oh s**t.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;Hold on a second. I&#8217;m sorry.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">He then called for host Keenan, saying, &#8216;Jessica Keenan, can you come out here real quick? You guys give it up for Jessica Keenan. I&#8217;m sorry, I gotta go&#8217; \u2013 before running behind a curtain.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">An attendee told The Daily Mail: &#8216;It was painful to watch because he had just followed some legendary names. And his jokes about his mother just didn&#8217;t land with the audience.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;He was very nervous and there was a point where there was zero laughter from the audience. He seemed to be cuing up for a joke when he suddenly turned around and called into the back stage for the host, Jessica Keenan, to come back on stage.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;And then he just ran off back behind the curtain. Keenan came back into the stage and looked as shocked and perplexed as the members of the audience.<\/p>\n<div class=\"artSplitter mol-img-group\" style=\"\">\n<div class=\"mol-img\">\n<div class=\"image-wrap\"> <img decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-42391913755bb56b\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.com\/1s\/2026\/08\/12\/21\/110600665-16048211-However_Franzese_s_set_fell_completely_flat_with_the_actor_abrup-a-5_1786566784642.jpg\" height=\"1029\" width=\"634\" alt=\"However, Franzese's set fell completely flat, with the actor abruptly running off stage in the middle of his set and not returning, an insider exclusively revealed to The Daily Mail - pictured with Chelsea Handler and host Jessica Keenan ahead of the show\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" style=\"max-width:100%\" loading=\"lazy\" \/> <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">However, Franzese&#8217;s set fell completely flat, with the actor abruptly running off stage in the middle of his set and not returning, an insider exclusively revealed to The Daily Mail &#8211; pictured with Chelsea Handler and host Jessica Keenan ahead of the show<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"artSplitter mol-img-group\" style=\"\">\n<div class=\"mol-img\">\n<div class=\"image-wrap\"> <img decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-8ec5cbb76e9df863\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.com\/1s\/2026\/08\/12\/21\/110600735-16048211-As_the_crowd_grew_silent_Franzese_appeared_flustered_and_stopped-a-3_1786566784641.jpg\" height=\"413\" width=\"634\" alt=\"As the crowd grew silent, Franzese appeared flustered and stopped midway through his next anecdote and only 11 minutes into his 15 minute set, saying, 'oh s**t. 'Hold on a second. I'm sorry' - pictured with Lohan and Lizzy Caplan in Mean Girls\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" style=\"max-width:100%\" loading=\"lazy\" \/> <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">As the crowd grew silent, Franzese appeared flustered and stopped midway through his next anecdote and only 11 minutes into his 15 minute set, saying, &#8216;oh s**t. &#8216;Hold on a second. I&#8217;m sorry&#8217; &#8211; pictured with Lohan and Lizzy Caplan in Mean Girls<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"artSplitter mol-img-group\" style=\"\">\n<div class=\"mol-img\">\n<div class=\"image-wrap\"> <img decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-949351bb4ef82410\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.com\/1s\/2026\/08\/12\/21\/110600661-16048211-Franzese_did_not_address_the_stage_drama_later_that_night_as_he_-a-6_1786566784793.jpg\" height=\"1074\" width=\"634\" alt=\"Franzese did not address the stage drama later that night as he posted a selfie\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" style=\"max-width:100%\" loading=\"lazy\" \/> <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">Franzese did not address the stage drama later that night as he posted a selfie<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;I feel so bad for him. He had to follow some comedic legends- Damon Wayans, Deon Cole, Arsenio Hall, Chelsea Handler, Jay Leno! Even Pauly Shore killed it.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;By the time Daniel got on stage, a third of the audience had already left, but even that couldn&#8217;t save his set.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">The Daily Mail has contacted representatives for Franzese and The Comedy Store for comment and has yet to hear back.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Franzese is best known for his fan favorite character Damian, who is best friends with Kady (Lindsay Lohan) and joins her in plotting to take Regina George (Rachel McAdams) down.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">In 2024 he reflected on filming the now-iconic 2004 movie, and revealed which famous lines he improvised on set.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;I&#8217;m an improv guy, I had a little bit of freedom. The &#8220;I want my pink shirt back&#8221; line was improvised on set and was something I was allowed to do&#8221;,&#8217; he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;[Tina] allowed us to do some things. I think in the script I think it was my grandma takes her wig off when she&#8217;s drunk, but I mentioned my Nana in all my films so she allowed to change that to Nana.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Speaking about nabbing the iconic role, the actor admitted he was quite &#8216;awkward&#8217; during the audition process but revealed exactly how he won Tina and the producers over.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;I met Tina in the lobby and Amanda was there and she was choosing between two shirts, like the maroon and tan shirt. She was like &#8220;I don&#8217;t know which one I should go to&#8221; and I was like, &#8220;I&#8217;d go with the Merlot&#8221; and she was like &#8220;oh!&#8221;.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;[Tina] was like &#8220;oh I thought you just worked here, I didn&#8217;t know you were auditioning, now I&#8217;m excited, go!&#8221;. I had a really good opening walking in the door. This has just been the gift that keeps on giving, it&#8217;s amazing that everyone still identifies with this movie so many years later.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">In April 2014, Franzese publicly came out in an open letter to his Mean Girls character that he shared to mark the 10th anniversary of the film&#8217;s release.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">He said that he was inspired to come out after reading a touching note from a fan who thanked him for his positive portrayal of a LGBTQ character in the film.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;And to me, that was really impactful because that&#8217;s all I was missing,&#8217; Daniel said. &#8216;Like, I was just missing one person that told me that I could do that. I could be who I want to be and do what I want to do.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">In 2022, Franzese revealed he had put himself into gay conversion therapy with the goal of changing his sexual orientation from homosexual to heterosexual.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">The comedian recalled that there were gay and lesbian members in his Catholic and Pentecostal Christian family and that homosexuality was &#8216;lovingly tolerated.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">However, he admitted that &#8216;it was the world around&#8217; him and growing up around people from less tolerant families that &#8216;made me feel that being gay was not OK.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">The performer told the outlet that he sought help from his grandmother who consulted her pastor.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;I needed help. I didn&#8217;t want to be gay. I didn&#8217;t know what to do,&#8217; he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">He was eventually connected with a conversion therapist who he met for six months.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;I went to one-on-one therapy sessions with a person who was trying to change me straight and make me pray the gay away and alienate all my allies,&#8217; he explained.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">The New York City native said that he felt &#8216;brainwashed&#8217; into cutting off ties with his supportive mother during the process.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Years later, the actor was cast as openly gay high school student Damian.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mean Girls star Daniel Franzese sparked fan fears after fleeing a star-studded comedy show in the middle of his set on Tuesday. The actor, 48, who played high school student Damian in Tina Fey&#8216;s hit 2004 comedy Mean Girls alongside Lindsay Lohan, was booked to perform at LA&#8217;s The Comedy Store alongside huge names including&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":42164,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.dailymail.com\/1s\/2026\/08\/12\/21\/110600737-16048211-Mean_Girls_star_Daniel_Franzese_sparked_fan_fears_after_fleeing_-a-2_1786566784641.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42163","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrity-gossip"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42163","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=42163"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42163\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/42164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=42163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=42163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=42163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}