THE excellent comedian Louis C. K. does a routine which will be familiar to many about the way he behaves in his car bears utterly no resemblance to how he goes about the rest of his life.

For example, he admitted to shouting at strangers of both sexes that he hoped they died after being cut off, an outburst which would, quite rightly, land him in a spot of bother if he had acted in such an aggressive manner while walking down on a street.

We’ve all been there. We shout and scream behind a wheel at someone else’s driving in a way none of us would dream of if, say, someone bumped into you in Markies.

And for driving read watching football, especially in this country. Something odd happens to even the most mild-mannered of folk once they hear that click of a turnstile behind them. Mr Average turns into Mr Angry for 90 minutes plus injury time.

This is hardly revelatory, but I was reminded of this Jekyll and Hyde transformation while at St Mirren Park on Saturday when a gentleman of a certain age took umbrage at Hibernian’s Liam Henderson, the game’s best performer, and called him out for “play-acting” which he wasn’t and “a bloody has-been”. The lad is 19-years-old.

It is literally impossible for Henderson to have had enough time to achieve something and then fail in order for him to become a has-been. The Hibs man laughed at the guy which only got him angrier.

Now here’s a thing. Would that bloke, who was well into his sixties, have abused a stranger in such a hostile way if he were not as a football match, and is it okay to do so because that’s what you do at the footie?

No and not really, are the answers.

As long as football has been played, those who watch it believe they are well within their rights to shout whatever they want at the players, no matter how cruel and personal.

I’ve heard Craig Levein called a “bed wetter” by a Hibs fan who never revealed how he came across such delicate information. In the 1980s, Davie Dodds couldn’t get through a game without openly and loudly being called the Elephant Man.

A couple of days after Neil Lennon pulled out of playing for Northern Ireland because he was issued with a death threat, Celtic were at Firhill and the Partick Thistle fans delighted in calling him a “s****bag.”

And on Sunday, some Celtic supporters disrupted the minute’s silence on Remembrance Day. This has become an annual event and one I have never got my head around. If wearing a poppy is not your thing then fine, but booing actually takes effort.

As political protests in sport go, it’s not quite Tommie Smith and John Carlos making the black power salute at the 1968 Olympics.

While those who choose not to stand in silence in Dingwall will claim their actions were right, they would never dream of trying anything similar outside a football ground. As if anyone else at a game is interested in what they think.

At an Old Firm game at Ibrox, I’ve heard Darren O’Dea being told to “f** off back to Rome.” He’s Irish. Shunsuke Nakamura was also called a Chinkie. He is Japanese. If you are going to make racial slurs then, please, at least make them accurate.

I wish those who indulge in such behaviour would look in the mirror and ask themselves; “Why do I act like this at the match?”

Paul Lambert once mused that those who indulge in such ‘banter’ probably aren’t allowed to say a word at home and the only time they can feel like, cough, real men is when they get out to the game.

There are an awful lot of hen-pecked men in Scotland.