Comedian Dan Nainan was reportedly arrested at a Washington DC improv event late Wednesday for allegedly punching a journalist you heckled him on Twitter as he performed.
Josh Rogin, a correspondent for the Daily Beast, was live tweeting the event at a Dupont Circle comedy club while Nainan took the stage. Nainan has toured with Jerry Seinfeld, Garry Shandling and others, but Rogin was not impressed by the performance, notes USA Today.
“Dan Nainan was funny until he dusted off his 2005 Katrina jokes in a gratingly bad GWB impression. #DCImprov,” wrote in his first Tweet during the show. “Dan Nainan makes his umpteenth joke about how Asians cant distinguish between letters "L" and "R". Election, erection, we get it. #DCImprov,” he continued.
Then, just 10 minutes later, Rogin wrote that Nainan has just punched him in the face. “Not a joke,” he wrote, adding, “We are calling the police on Dan Nainan who just punched me twice in front of several witnesses.” He then reported that police arrested the comedian and thanked his followers for their support. Rogin said that he is “physically fine.”
A Washington Post report also detailed the incident, noting that both men were interviewed by police. Nainan was arrested for simple assault.
While Nainan has not tweeted about the incident, he did send a statement to the Post, claiming that other eyewitness accounts were wrong and that he was just standing up for other performers.