Buster

Audience Member Assaults Comedian During Open Mic Show In San Francisco

A comedian at a small San Francisco venue was attacked by an audience member who was told to “stop talking” during the victim’s performance Saturday afternoon.

As seen above, the July 27 assault was recorded by a camera inside Mutiny Radio, a performance space in the city’s Mission district that also houses a community radio station that broadcasts online.

At the close of a two-hour open mic session, the comedian Capital Pilcrow was on stage when he briefly exchanged words with an audience member seated in the storefront space (seen below).

The comedian told the man--who appeared to have been conversing with a female acquaintance during Pilcrow’s set--“I do know who you are, so shut, stop talking.”

The audience member then jumped out of his chair and attacked Pilcrow, who was knocked off stage and punched several times. While being restrained by other patrons, the man yelled at Pilcrow, “You wanna act like you’re black? Where you from?”

As the attacker was being shoved out the front door, he broke a window that will cost $500 to replace, according to a Mutiny Radio administrator. Pilcrow, pictured at left, and others injured during the melee have, so far, declined to press charges against the assailant.

The patron seen rushing the stage is Geoffrey Decarlo Harris, an Oakland resident whose web sites describe him as a “video editor/producer” and “all around good dude.” The 34-year-old Harris, who has hosted stand-up and sketch comedy events at another San Francisco venue, has not responded to TSG e-mails seeking comment about his attack on Pilcrow.

Harris appears to have moved west from Orlando, Florida, where he was arrested for resisting a policeman without violence (2010) and failing to appear in court (2011). A court filing indicates that Harris was busted for “failing to comply with the lawful commands” of an Orlando cop or “struggling with the application of handcuffs.”

After initially being rejected for admission to a pretrial diversion program, Harris was accepted into the program, which he successfully completed. As a result, prosecutors in 2012 dismissed the misdemeanor criminal case against him, records show.

Harris, seen at right, today stripped his Facebook page of photos of himself and changed the account name to “Murray Palmer.” The page, however, continues to contain "geoff.decarlo" in its url. While Harris's personal web site (geoffdecarlo.com) was deleted today, his Tumblr and Vimeo pages still exist.

[8/2 UDATE: Harris’s Facebook page has been removed and his Vimeo page has been stripped of its videos.]