Reason.com - Free Minds and Free Markets
Reason logo Reason logo
  • Latest
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Archives
    • Subscribe
    • Crossword
  • Video
  • Podcasts
    • All Shows
    • The Reason Roundtable
    • The Reason Interview With Nick Gillespie
    • The Soho Forum Debates
    • Just Asking Questions
    • The Best of Reason Magazine
    • Why We Can't Have Nice Things
  • Volokh
  • Newsletters
  • Donate
    • Donate Online
    • Donate Crypto
    • Ways To Give To Reason Foundation
    • Torchbearer Society
    • Planned Giving
  • Subscribe
    • Reason Plus Subscription
    • Print Subscription
    • Gift Subscriptions
    • Subscriber Support

Login Form

Create new account
Forgot password

Brickbats

Brickbat: Comedy Police

Charles Oliver | 4.10.2020 4:00 AM

Share on FacebookShare on XShare on RedditShare by emailPrint friendly versionCopy page URL
Media Contact & Reprint Requests
comedy_1161x653 | Konstantin Sutyagin / Dreamstime.com
(Konstantin Sutyagin / Dreamstime.com)

In Liverpool, England, about 20 police officers descended on the Hot Water Comedy Club to close down a show being held in violation of ban on large gatherings. They were surprised to find the club already closed. Paul Blair, one of the club's owners, says someone saw a Facebook video of a show taped two weeks earlier and, despite it being made clear a number of times in the broadcast that the show was taped, that person assumed it was live and reported the club to police.

Start your day with Reason. Get a daily brief of the most important stories and trends every weekday morning when you subscribe to Reason Roundup.

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

NEXT: OPEC and Russia Agree To Cut Oil Production To Boost Prices

Charles Oliver is a contributing editor at Reason.

BrickbatsComedyCoronavirusEnglandPolice
Share on FacebookShare on XShare on RedditShare by emailPrint friendly versionCopy page URL
Media Contact & Reprint Requests

Hide Comments (25)

Editor's Note: As of February 29, 2024, commenting privileges on reason.com posts are limited to Reason Plus subscribers. Past commenters are grandfathered in for a temporary period. Subscribe here to preserve your ability to comment. Your Reason Plus subscription also gives you an ad-free version of reason.com, along with full access to the digital edition and archives of Reason magazine. We request that comments be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment and ban commenters for any reason at any time. Comments may only be edited within 5 minutes of posting. Report abuses.

  1. Real Books   5 years ago

    Next they’ll be forbidding videos of large gatherings, putting them on a par with kiddie porn.

    1. Havana   5 years ago

      Change Your Life Right Now! Work From Comfort Of Your Home And Receive Your First Paycheck Within A Week. No Experience Needed, No Boss Over Your Shoulder… Say Goodbye To Your Old Job! Limited Number Of Spots Open…
      Find out how HERE……More here

    2. Havana   5 years ago

      Change Your Life Right Now! Work From Comfort Of Your Home And Receive Your First Paycheck Within A Week. No Experience Needed, No Boss Over Your Shoulder… FC,Say Goodbye To Your Old Job! Limited Number Of Spots Open…
      Find out how HERE……More here

  2. Verbum Vincet   5 years ago

    A heroic concerned citizen saw something and said something. There is no greater patriotic act! Huzzah!!!

    1. Brandybuck   5 years ago

      People who “see” something and then report it to the police are the absolute worst people on the planet. Scum of the earth.

      1. Wizard4169   5 years ago

        What if you see a real crime, such as a theft or murder? As little confidence as I have in the police, I’d probably still report that.

        Now, as for creeps who report petty “crimes” just for the sense of power, yeah, they’re pretty terrible.

  3. Adans smith   5 years ago

    What a wanker.

    1. SQRLSY One   5 years ago

      But was this wanker perhaps a swanker wanker?

      Well, it can always get worse!

      Recall the gay Canadian airline steward way back when, spread (just then “going viral” literally) AIDS all over the place? See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ga%C3%ABtan_Dugas … Kaposi’s sarcoma spread all over the place… (As a prominent sign of the new mystery disease).

      Well anyway, hopefully this swanker wanker will NOT be the starring attraction for a bunch of young fan boys, who might otherwise become the spreaders at the nexus of the next horror, known as SWANKER WANKER YANKER CHANCRE!!!

      Greedy capitalists as usual will crank out new drugs to cure it, at VASTLY inflated expenses, backed up by their bankers, so then we’ll have SWANKER WANKER YANKER CHANCRE drug-CRANKER BANKERS!!! Riots in the streets, from the anti-1% folks, I’m a-tellin’ ya!!!

      Conservative newscasters will take the side of the bankers… But one of these newscasters will be caught by a mob of angry anti-1% rioters, some of whom will proceed to PUNISH the newscasters… Said punishment-dishers-outers will be known as…
      SWANKER WANKER YANKER CHANCRE pro-drug-CRANKER-BANKER-ANCHOR SPANKERS!

      There will be those who are squeamish about personal punitive violence, but who still secretly support those with less such squeamishness. When no one is looking or listening, they will privately utter their support of the punitive ones. These more shy and secretive supporters of such things will be known as…

      SWANKER WANKER YANKER CHANCRE pro-drug-CRANKER-BANKER-ANCHOR SPANKER THANKERS!

      There will inevitably be those who will want to play gay hanky-panky with those who secretly oppose the bankers and anchors in this case, and make the often-mistaken assumption that those who merely sympathize with gays, must actually BE gay. Such prospective unwanted-gay-pass-makes will be known as “hanker-pankers”. The recipients of such unwanted passes will be temped to SPANK the makers of unwanted passes! They will be known as…

      SWANKER WANKER YANKER CHANCRE pro-drug-CRANKER-BANKER-ANCHOR SPANKER THANKER HANKER-PANKER SPANKERS!

  4. Rat on a train (non donor)   5 years ago

    20 police officers
    So there was a gathering of more than 10.

    1. Unicorn Abattoir   5 years ago

      Gatherings of more than 10 people, not cops. Totally different.

      1. Rat on a train (non donor)   5 years ago

        True. I assume they can also get haircuts.

  5. darkflame   5 years ago

    Snitches skip the stitches and go straight into the ditches.

  6. Fist of Etiquette   5 years ago

    The club shared CCTV footage showing the confused officers gathered outside the empty club.

    The club’s followup live comedy stream.

  7. Ride 'Em   5 years ago

    How dumb are the police? No, don’t answer that question, it is British police. They could have sent one officer to check it out or even just called to see if the club was open by requesting a table for twenty.

    1. Shandower   5 years ago

      Why bother making a minimal effort phone call when you can send 20 guys to administer a stern talking to?

  8. AlmightyJB   5 years ago

    Gute kleine Nazis!

    1. Dillinger   5 years ago

      wort.

  9. Earth Skeptic   5 years ago

    Police then arrested Blair for acting independently and defying their expectations of wrong-doing and depriving them of a chance to push people around.

    1. Agammamon   5 years ago

      ‘Wasting Police Time’.

  10. Unicorn Abattoir   5 years ago

    Retroactive law enforcement!

    1. Dillinger   5 years ago

      Monday Morning Minority Report.

  11. Quo Usque Tandem   5 years ago

    We all laugh at Garbage Island antics, but all I see are cautionary tales.

    I hope for four more years and at least a hundred new [originalist] judges. At least it might stave it off in my lifetime.

  12. D-Pizzle   5 years ago

    I hope someone calls the police on the person who reported this. Good and hard.

    1. Bacon-Munching Infidel   5 years ago

      He could get in real hot water over it.

  13. macsnafu   5 years ago

    Busybodies are bad enough; it’s worse when they misunderstand the situation.

Please log in to post comments

Mute this user?

  • Mute User
  • Cancel

Ban this user?

  • Ban User
  • Cancel

Un-ban this user?

  • Un-ban User
  • Cancel

Nuke this user?

  • Nuke User
  • Cancel

Un-nuke this user?

  • Un-nuke User
  • Cancel

Flag this comment?

  • Flag Comment
  • Cancel

Un-flag this comment?

  • Un-flag Comment
  • Cancel

Latest

How Tariffs Are Breaking the Manufacturing Industries Trump Says He Wants To Protect

Eric Boehm | From the July 2025 issue

The Latest Escalation Between Russia and Ukraine Isn't Changing the Course of the War

Matthew Petti | 6.6.2025 4:28 PM

Marsha Blackburn Wants Secret Police

C.J. Ciaramella | 6.6.2025 3:55 PM

This Small Business Is in Limbo As Owner Sues To Stop Trump's Tariffs

Eric Boehm | 6.6.2025 3:30 PM

A Runner Was Prosecuted for Unapproved Trail Use After the Referring Agency Called It 'Overcriminalization'

Jacob Sullum | 6.6.2025 2:50 PM

Recommended

  • About
  • Browse Topics
  • Events
  • Staff
  • Jobs
  • Donate
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe
  • Contact
  • Media
  • Shop
  • Amazon
Reason Facebook@reason on XReason InstagramReason TikTokReason YoutubeApple PodcastsReason on FlipboardReason RSS

© 2024 Reason Foundation | Accessibility | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

r

Do you care about free minds and free markets? Sign up to get the biggest stories from Reason in your inbox every afternoon.

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

This modal will close in 10

Reason Plus

Special Offer!

  • Full digital edition access
  • No ads
  • Commenting privileges

Just $25 per year

Join Today!