Comedy Club Beer-Throwing Incident Draws Guilty Plea: Report

POINT PLEASANT BEACH, NJ — A Brick Township man has pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct in connection with the incident where a comedian chugged a beer thrown at her during an appearance at Uncle Vinnie's Comedy Club, according to a report.

Tyler Fischer, 29, was fined $508 after pleading guilty in Point Pleasant Beach Municipal Court, the Asbury Park Press reported, in the Oct. 8 incident while Ariel Elias was performing at the club on Arnold Avenue.

Fischer also was banned permanently from the club, the report said.

Fischer told the Asbury Park Press he was not the person who threw the beer during Elias's routine, but that he pleaded guilty because the cost of going to trial in municipal court was expensive.

"My friends sitting next to me know I didn’t do it, but no one saw who did. We were all watching the show," Fischer told the Asbury Park Press.

Elias was performing when a woman in the audience began heckling her, asking her if she voted for Donald Trump.

The question was part of a bit Elias does sometimes “as a fun Q and A, it can lead to new bits,” she wrote in a caption on the video that spread rapidly online.

The woman then pressed her on whether she voted for Biden, and Elias said she did. “Why does it matter?”

“I could just tell by your jokes that you voted for Biden,” the heckler said.

“I can tell by the fact that you’re still talking when nobody wants you to that you voted for Trump,” Elias retorted, drawing loud applause and cheers. The woman tried to respond that no one told her to be quiet, and Elias asked for applause if people wanted the woman to stop, again drawing loud cheers.

At that point, Elias moved on with her routine. As she started to tell the next joke, a beer can smashed against the wall behind her. After momentarily registering shock, she picked up the can and chugged what was left of the beer.

Dino Ibelli, one of the club’s co-owners, told Patch at the time that the incident happened about halfway through Elias’s performance. When Elias turned to change the topic, the woman who had been heckling her tried to continue and at that point he stepped in.

“I told her to calm down, that it wasn’t about her anymore, and she gets up and leaves,” Ibelli said at the time. As Ibelli turned away, the man flung the beer.

“He was sitting,” Ibelli said. “He swung the beer can from his seat.”

Ibelli said he stopped the man as he tried to leave, but the man refused to give his name. Ibelli was given Fischer's name by some of the other people who had been with the couple, he said, though he did not identify Fischer by name during the Patch interview.

While Elias declined to press charges, Ibelli, who filed the initial report with Point Pleasant Beach police, later filed charges against Fischer, which led to the municipal court case.

In addition to the fine, Fischer has been permanently banned from Uncle Vinnie's.

Elias later appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live to talk about the incident and tell jokes.