Reward Offered in Search for Man Who Hit Comic

The owners of a Santa Monica comedy club Friday offered a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the man who attacked a comedian in the club’s parking lot.

Michael Dugan was attacked Dec. 27 by a patron who apparently was offended by the comic’s wisecracks about surfers during his act at the Improv Comedy Club. Dugan was waiting for a valet to bring him his car outside the club at 321 Santa Monica Blvd. when he was assaulted, authorities said.

Witnesses told police that an angry exchange of words between the two quickly escalated into a fistfight, during which the assailant slammed Dugan’s head against the grill of a parked car. Dugan suffered a broken nose.

“In a country where free speech is guaranteed, no one has the right to hit somebody for what they say,” Improv co-owners Budd Friedman and Mark Lonow said in a joint statement.