Charges Sought Against Goldthwait for TV Stunt

Fire officials are seeking charges against comedian Bobcat Goldthwait, alleging he committed misdemeanors when he unexpectedly set his chair on fire during a May 6 taping of “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno.”

“In this case, there was no permit,” said Capt. Bob Reinhardt of the Burbank Fire Department. “No one knew he was going to do this. Jay Leno and the other guest, Lauren Hutton, could have been seriously injured.”

Goldthwait, a stand-up comedian who played a deranged cop in some of the “Police Academy” movies, was being interviewed by Leno when he suddenly stood up and set his chair afire using lighter fluid and a long-handled lighter.

A startled Leno and Hutton threw cups of water on the fire, and Goldthwait sat back down on the soaked chair.

“It was a stupid thing to do,” Leno said in an interview Friday before leaving for New York, where “The Tonight Show” will be taped next week. “I don’t think he meant any malice by it. I spoke to him afterward and he was very sorry.

“He did not understand the magnitude of what he’d done. It was something inappropriate getting out of hand.”

The show, including the incident, was aired the same night.

“We’re doing something about this because, normally, when we have a program with an audience of over 450 people and we have an open-flame device, we have stringent controls,” Reinhardt said.

Shortly after setting the chair afire, Reinhardt said, the comedian walked toward the audience with an open can of lighter fluid, but he slipped and fell before reaching them.

Fire officials are seeking two misdemeanor charges against Goldthwait for unlawfully causing a fire of property and possessing a flammable device with the intent to burn.

A videotape of the show was submitted as evidence to the district attorney’s office in Glendale Friday. Deputy Dist. Atty. Barbara Murphy said the case is still under investigation and charges, if any, will be filed by Monday.

Goldthwait has pulled unscripted stunts on late-night television shows before.

A week before his “Tonight Show” appearance, the New York-born comedian trashed the set of Arsenio Hall’s talk show and spray-painted the set’s backdrop with the words “Paramount Sucks” in a protest of the cancellation of Hall’s show.

Best known for his manic delivery and rasping intake of breath after each sentence, Goldthwait angered clowns nationwide with his 1992 movie “Shakes the Clown.”

Once, he appeared on stage in Oakland wearing nothing but angel wings, sneakers and a fur hat.

Goldthwait has declined to discuss “The Tonight Show” stunt, said Tim Anctil, a manager for the entertainer.

“We’re very sorry,” Anctil said. “Bobcat never meant to hurt anyone. He was trying to be funny. It’s not his way to be destructive and harmful. He felt he had to outdo what he did on the Arsenio Hall show.”

Leno said Friday that the incident would not keep him from inviting Goldthwait back to “The Tonight Show.”