Comic finds little funny in TSA watch list

Being a comic, Tom Irwin can find humor in almost any situation. But a not-so-funny thing happened, Irwin says, after he began performing a one-man show two years ago about his experiences entertaining U.S. troops.

Shortly after opening his stage show “25 Days in Iraq,” the 40-year-old Los Feliz resident and U.S. Army veteran says, airline travel was suddenly a hassle. When he tried to use self-ticketing booths at airports, he was always directed to an agent. When he showed his identification at ticket counters, he was asked to wait while an agent or security official picked up a telephone -- or stepped away from the counter -- to make inquiries.

The annoying delays continued trip after trip. And they became all the more perplexing this summer when Irwin was cleared to perform his show at the White House for about 120 staffers.

In August, just weeks after that show, Irwin encountered another delay, this time at Reagan National Airport. Exasperated, he said, he asked an Alaska Airlines ticket agent, “Why am I always getting stopped before flights?”

The agent handed him the answer: a form letter from the Transportation Security Administration.

“As part of the security administered at airports,” it read, “TSA prepares and maintains watch lists of persons who are known to pose, or are suspected of posing, a threat to civil aviation or national security.

“TSA recognizes that some people have been subjected to frustrating delays at airports as a result of being mistaken for an individual who, in fact, is on a watch list,” the letter adds, outlining a procedure to expedite the airport screening process.

When he first received the letter, Irwin recalls, he was surprised and angry. “It was so enigmatic,” he said. “It was like saying you are in trouble but not telling you why.”

In a recent interview, TSA spokeswoman Amy von Walter said she could not address the specifics of Irwin’s case or confirm if a person is on the watch list. But those who are allowed to board planes -- like Irwin -- are clearly not on a “no fly” roster kept by the government, she said.

“We do know there are passengers with name matches or name similarities” to those actually barred from flights, Von Walter said. And just as the form letter indicates, she said, those passengers are encouraged to contact the TSA to clear up the confusion.

To date, Irwin said, he has not done that. But the notion that he could travel with the U.S. military, perform at the White House and yet still be stopped before flying to comedy appearances stuns him, he said. During the last two years, he noted, he has been vetted by the Defense Department and the U.S. Secret Service. Flying to combat zones, he said, he was issued a performer’s military ID that is the traveling equivalent of a VIP pass.

Performing four and sometimes five shows a day, Irwin said, he and other comics with the Michigan-based Comics on Duty visited such places as huge Army bases in Baghdad, military hospitals in Bagram, Afghanistan, and units near the border of Iran. He used those experiences for his hourlong stage show, which opened in November 2004 in Los Angeles. Sometimes dark in its humor, it is ultimately a somber tribute to the sacrifice of troops in wartime.

Indeed, one White House staffer who helped arrange Irwin’s Washington, D.C., performance in August raved about the show: “Thank you for bringing these wonderful soldiers to life for us,” she wrote in an e-mail posted on Irwin’s website. “You made each one of us conscious of their patriotism, sacrifices and uniqueness.”

Given such reactions, Irwin said, he has a hard time believing there is any connection between the show and what has happened to him at airports.

Then again, he says, none of this happened before his show.

Said Irwin: “If you put a gun to my head, I couldn’t answer why I am on the list.”

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greg.krikorian@latimes.com