City Files Charges Against Goldthwait Over Fire Antic : Burbank: Comedian faces up to six months in jail, $1,000 fine for igniting his chair during ‘Tonight Show’ taping.

The city attorney’s office filed two misdemeanor charges Friday against comedian Bobcat Goldthwait, who unexpectedly set his chair on fire during a May 6 taping of “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.”

The charges of unlawfully causing a fire and possession of a flammable substance or device with the intent to burn property are misdemeanors, punishable by six months in jail, a maximum fine of $1,000, or both.

“They’re making a mountain out of a molehill,” said Ron Stone, one of the comedian’s managers. “It’s one of the few times that the cliche fits. This blaze was put out by half a cup of water. The interpretation of this as a fire is sort of an exaggeration.”

Public safety officials in Burbank disagreed.

“When you have someone in the public eye waving a red flag like this saying, ‘Look what I did,’ and you let it go by, it gets worse and worse,” said Fire Marshal Darryl Forbes. “What he did was extremely dangerous.”

Fire officials initially sent the case to the district attorney’s office in Glendale. But when it was determined that felony charges would not be filed, the Burbank city attorney’s office took over.

Pat Schultz, a spokeswoman for NBC, said she could not recall another instance when a guest on “The Tonight Show” has been charged with a crime committed on the air.

An arraignment has been scheduled for June 23 at Burbank Municipal Court.

For such a stunt, Goldthwait would have needed a permit. But fire officials said no permit would have been issued because of the potential danger to Leno, actress Lauren Hutton and the studio audience.