Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
PSNI probe Joe over ‘offensive’ joke claim
Comic laughs off show complaint
COMEDIAN Joe Lycett has revealed that a member of the audience at one of his Belfast shows reported a joke he told to the PSNI.
The Birmingham-born funnyman performed in Belfast’s Waterfront Hall on June 8 and following the gig he was reported to the police.
Outlining the incident in a statement on his social media he said: “So someone came to my show a few weeks ago and was offended by one of the jokes.
He recalled: “And their perfectly understandable response to this was to call the f ***** g police.
“To be fair to them the fuzz were very nice about it all but felt they had a duty to investigate. This involved me writing a statement explaining the context of the joke for them; I particularly enjoyed putting the words ‘giant donkey d***’ into a message to a police detective. Charmed, and hopefully amused, the rozzers have decided to since close the matter.
“You’ll be pleased to know that the joke, which I consider to be one of the best I’ve ever written, remains firmly and proudly in the show. The tour continues til September unless I am jailed.”
The PSNI said: “Police received one complaint following a show in Belfast. Enquiries were made and no offences were detected.”
A Twitter user called David replied: “Hahahahahaha! People are wild!” Another named Tash said: “In fairness, the coppers were more than likely stoked to meet you, and it would have been the most amusing investigation they’ve been involved in!”
The comic, who has appeared on comedy shows including Taskmaster and QI, has been behind several public stunts in recent years.
He previously attempted to raise awareness of single-use plastics by storming off a TV programme after the host pointed out a photo of him using a plastic bottle, despite him claiming to have given up using them.
Lycett also made headlines in March 2020 when he temporarily changed his name to Hugo Boss, after the luxury designer used trademark claims to target small businesses and charities who use “boss” in their branding.
To be fair the fuzz were very nice about it all JOE LYCETT ON PSNI CHECKING COMPLAINT