While discussing the recent attack on Dave Chappelle during a performance at the Hollywood Bowl, which has dragged the Will Smith and Chris Rock slap back into the headlines, comedian Jim Jefferies has revealed that he was getting smacked on stage way before any of that. Jefferies opened up about the incident during a recent episode of Howie Mandel Does Stuff. However, unlike Mandel, Jeffries didn’t seem particularly concerned with a growing threat on comedians. In fact, Jefferies still finds his own onstage assault to be pretty funny.
“It was quite famous at the time,” Jefferies said via Mediaite. “I did not heckle. I did not speak to this guy, he was upset by a joke earlier on. We don’t know which joke. So there was no interaction with the audience member, he just walked up and hit me.”
According to Jeffries, he and his team later figured out that the young man, who was pulled off of the comedian by the audience, was on a date that wasn’t going so well. “Allegedly the girl that he was with wasn’t enjoying the show, it was a joke that happened earlier on, allegedly,” Jefferies said. “Once he finished his drink he thought ‘I’ll take care of this’ and he ran on the stage.”
The incident occurred all the way back in 2007, and Jefferies knew back then that you can’t buy this kind of publicity. “I put this on the internet right away,” he told Mandel with a laugh. “My tour started selling out!”
(Via Mediaite)
