Comedian Jim Jefferies Describes the Startling Moment He Was Attacked on Stage, in Wake of Dave Chappelle Incident

Comedian Jim Jefferies shares his startling tale of being attacked on stage in light of the Will Smith and Dave Chappelle incidents.

Speaking on the podcast Howie Mandel Does Stuff, the discussion turned to the Will Smith incident during the 2020 Oscars Ceremony.

Host Howie Mandel said, “That shook me to the core!”

“I’ve been hit on stage,” Jefferies said.

“You have?” Mandel asked.

“It was quite famous at the time,” Jefferies added.

Jefferies explained, “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.”

The two then pulled up the video footage from April 2007, as Jeffries was performing stand up at The Comedy Store in Manchester, UK. In it, a man is seen rushing the stage and repeatedly punching Jeffries, until the crowd tears him away.

“He gets arrested,” Jefferies adds.

“Where is this?” Mandel asks.

“This is the Manchester Comedy Store in England,” Jefferies replied. “I’d watched the footage and I remember I was just doing club gigs, doing small theaters and stuff. My tour was selling ok. And I look at the footage and I remember thinking, I’m gonna make a lot of money out of this! I put this on the internet right away.”

“Did you make a lot of money,” Mandel asked.

“My tour started selling out!” Jefferies laughed. “I said I wouldn’t press charges but the guy was a young Irish lad and was on a date. Allegedly the girl that he was with wasn’t enjoying the show, it was a joke that happened earlier on, allegedly. Once he finished his drink he thought ‘I’ll take care of this’ and he ran on the stage.”

“A lot of people when they watch the footage they go ‘Where is the security?’ Security can only work if there’s an interaction between you and the person where they can stop it before it happens,” Jefferies adds.

“He came up and you can notice the first thing I say when he walks on is ‘Hang on mate, you’re not allowed up here,'” Jefferies recalled, laughing.

Listen via Howie Mandel Does Stuff.