2:49 PM PT -- As it turns out, we were all duped by whatever happened at Mark Normand's set last night -- 'cause now the comedy club itself is saying it was all a staged stunt.

The New York Comedy Club posted a statement to their IG page apologizing for causing the panic, but noting that there was some filming going on ... and that it was all part of some production. They're offering a free show to those who got the boot -- so that's that.

Mark Normand was whisked away in the middle of his stand-up show this week -- and it made for a scary moment ... because the audience was eventually asked to GTFO, too.

The comedian was in the middle of a set Wednesday night at the famed New York Comedy Club, when all of a sudden ... there was some frantic activity out in the crowd -- which wasn't all that big, making the commotion very noticeable and suspicious.

Mark noticed it too ... and he awkwardly tried figuring out what was going on from the mic -- cracking jokes/attempting to keep things light, that is ... until he was asked to bounce, too.

It's pretty freaky ... and you can tell the audience started panicking, because nobody was saying what was happening and if anyone was in danger. Eventually, they were asked to leave by the producer of the show ... although, no proper explanation was given for why.

People started getting up from their seats and filing out, and while the producer asked them to keep calm -- it's hard to say if they actually did or not. Super weird, and very concerning.

Even more bizarre is the fact that Mark himself has been tweeting Thursday morning as if nothing happened -- although, he did hop on IG to somewhat address what the deal was.

He wrote, "Some s*** went down tonight my team is still trying to put together the details, sorry to the fans." On its face, it sounds like not even he knows why this unfolded. Some have suspected this was some kind of stunt -- in line with MN's humor -- but it ain't.

We've reached out to Mark's team and the club itself for clarification ... so far, no word back.