Promoters MCD have announced an upcoming gig by US comedian Chris Rock is to be phone free.

Rock will play the 3Arena in Dublin on Saturday September 30th, but patrons will not be allowed to use their phones.

Everyone attending the event will have to place their phone in a Yondr Pouch for the duration of the show.

The pouch allows phone signals to get through, meaning someone can feel a phone vibrate when a message arrives.

But anyone who needs to access their phone during the show will have to leave the room, have the device unlocked and use the phone in the lobby or outside.

The inventor of the Yondr smartphone case, Graham Dugoni | Image: Soeren Stache/DPA/PA Images

MCD says it is "similar to the way smokers light up outside a non-smoking theatre."

The promoter says: "For any touring comedian, the increasing use of cell-phones at their live shows is becoming a major intrusion with the ringing, flashing lights, tweets, selfies etc affecting the quality of the performance.

"Some people spend the show posting the clips they record to You Tube rather than enjoying the actual live show they are attending.

"There is also the added problem for comedians who spend months polishing their performances to a high state of hilarity only to have their punchlines shared in advance by illegal recordings of their show."

Rock has urged his fans to "take one night off from being the Paparazzo of our own life".

"If you don’t want to surrender your phone to a Yondr pouch, then leave it a home, or in the car and rather than seeing it as an inconvenience - see it as liberating and enjoy the moment", MCD adds.