Boston Comic Assaulted

by Brian McKim & Traci Skene on November 15th, 2011

WCVB, Boston’s Channel 5, has an account of the arrest of Erica Porzio, a 24-year-old ball of fire from Revere who assaulted veteran Boston comic Steve Sweeney for remarks Sweeney made during his show Saturday night at the Giggles comedy club in Saugus.

Sweeney told police he was talking to friends between shows when a woman threw a glass of beer at him.

Police arrested Erica F. Porzio, 24, of Revere, who they charged not only with assaulting Sweeney, but also the club’s owner, Steven Castraberti, who suffered a broken finger when he said he tried to restrain her.

Sweeney said he was approached by Porzio who told him she was offended by a comment he made concerning her sexuality during the show.

Porzio’s father said Sweeney made derogatory remarks about her off stage, not during his comedy routine.

That last bit is probably horse manure– most likely Porzio’s father trying to throw gasoline on the fire. We believe Sweeney’s account. Porzio must have been hopping mad–she threw the entire drink, glass and all– not just the beer!

Audience members occasionally get steamed, but they rarely wait around and get physical. We’re kind of suprised it doesn’t happen more often. Usually, though, they just leave… or get tossed out.

The Female Half does a pre-emptive strike and tries to nip such behavior in the bud– at the end of her set (in which she often busts balls), she gets the audience to applaud for those whom she may have abused and says that taking a joke “is a sign of good character.” (Thereafter, anyone who chooses to jump bad is admitting that he has bad character… and who wants to do that?)

Of course, dealing with a heckler (or a drunken heckler) is a whole different ballgame… especially if the comic manages to get the better of the heckler– and get the entire room to laugh. Ouch! Every so often, that humiliation (abetted by alcohol) will elicit a response like the one above.

The most shocking part is that it happened “between shows!” It wasn’t even the second show! It’s unusual for someone to get that worked up on the first show Saturday!

It’s even more astonishing that anyone would tangle with a Boston comic! If she had done that in the 80s, she’d be in a full body cast right now.

H/T to Saad!

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