Police Investigate Gallagher Slap

Gallagher has one less gig and could face charges after slapping a fan upside the head during a performance in Laughlin, Nev.

The comedian apparently grew angry when William Edwin May III purchased a drink from a cocktail waitress in the last hour of a May 26th show at the Riverside Resort Hotel & Casino. Gallagher accused the two of disrupting his performance, then stepped onto May’s table and struck him on the side of the head, May said.

May filed a police report about two hours after the incident, according to the Las Vegas Sun.

Gallagher questioned May’s motives and denied he struck him with force.

“The slap didn’t bother him,” the comedian told the Sun. “Look at his behavior. He stayed the rest of the show. He laughed the loudest – then he got my T-shirts, and he was the last person to leave the showroom. He never mentioned a thing about the incident.”

Another source told the paper May left immediately after the slap and complained to security on his way out.

Gallagher told the Sun he suspects May’s wife prompted him to file the report. He said he considered May – who had joined the comedian on stage the night before – to be a part of his act.

Riverside Resort entertainment director Roy Jernigan told the Las Vegas Review-Journal Gallagher had been fired from the club, where he has performed about two weekends per year for more than a decade.

Jernigan said Gallagher was fired because he demanded that the casino stop selling drinks during his show. Gallagher said he quit.

“We had problems with him before but never this serious,” Jernigan said.

He said about 40 people got up and left after Gallagher slapped May.

“The customers were scared … [the waitress] started crying. He was totally out of control,” Jernigan told the Review-Journal.

Gallagher denied that 40 fans left, and said he is considering giving up his stage show because he can’t stand drunken hecklers.

“People (at shows) are getting worse in their behavior,” Gallagher told the Sun. “There are no boundaries anymore. Security guards don’t want to say anything. People are running around half-naked. I feel like the dad of the world.

“It’s really ironic that I am smart and I would make up such a crazy routine to draw such stupid people,” he said.

Police have recommended that prosecutors charge Gallagher with misdemeanor battery, according to the Review-Journal.