And Here Comes The NSA-Themed Ransomware

Judge Steps Down, Chooses Comedy

from the what-a-joke dept

Fri, Sep 20th 2013 3:44pm — Timothy Geigner

Well, here's some unfortunate, but expected, news. Vince Sicari, the jokester judge with dual part-time jobs as New Jersey traffic court justice and comedic actor has chosen not to continue seeking redress from his legal-y masters. After being told he had to choose between his judgeship or being funny, he decided to continue to be funny. That isn't to say he isn't disappointed, of course.

Sicari said he had hoped for a different decision, but was braced for the court's interpretation.

"I was beyond proud to be a judge and I consider myself lucky to have done two jobs I loved," said Sicari. "But, I respect the court's decision."

If this story didn't have enough funny details already, consider that the court that made this ruling dedicated time during the trial to sit and watch several examples of Sicari's routine. A group of supreme court justices, sitting together, watching comedy routines of another judge as part of trial. You can't make this stuff up.

It's a damn shame that Sicari can't serve the public as a judge, part-time mind you, earning roughly $13,000 a year with no beneifts for his service, while also pursuing comedy and acting gigs. In fact, as commenters on the original article noted, it sure sounds like this ruling might butt up against that pesky First Amendment that causes so many problems these days. Unfortunately, Sicari is quitting the fight, leaving the latest ruling unchallenged. For those of us that have both common sense and a sense of humor, we lost a friend in the legal system...for now.

"As long as this is a rule, I won't sit on the bench again in New Jersey. That is, unless someone wants to offer me a judge TV show."

Dear comedy gods, please make this happen, like, yesterday.

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: comedy, free speech, new jersey, stand up, vince august, vince sicari

13 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

BentFranklin (profile), 20 Sep 2013 @ 2:55pm

Humor should not only be allowed in all situations, it should be mandatory. If you hate terrorism, then you should love humor, because humor is the diametrical opposite of terrorism. Terrorism is attempting to change policy through violence, so attempting to change policy through laughter is the antidote.

Also, I find this very illuminating:
http://tomveatch.com/else/humor/paper/
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
OldGeezer (profile), 20 Sep 2013 @ 4:15pm

I don't think it was just the fact that he was doing comedy, it was the content of his act. Even the appearance of racism in the courtroom is a problem. If you were a minority and thought this judge treated you unfairly you could have a pretty good appeal.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Mark D. (profile), 20 Sep 2013 @ 4:50pm
  
  Re:
  Right, because it is so difficult to understand the complex and difficult subject of...I hope I'm spelling this right...
  something called "acting". Anyone who cannot distinguish between fantasy and reality is not fit to be a judge.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - OldGeezer (profile), 20 Sep 2013 @ 5:43pm
    
    Re: Re:
    Regardless of someone's racial opinions, it is not a far leap when you hear them make racist comments that they may be bigoted. A judge must avoid even the appearance of impropriety. It's what is called being held to a higher standard. Verdicts have been overturned on less.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - Anonymous Coward, 20 Sep 2013 @ 5:46pm
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      But should that only apply when he's in the court, or should it also apply forever?
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
      - OldGeezer (profile), 20 Sep 2013 @ 6:45pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re:
        Just look at the O.J. trial. Mark Furman used racist language previously and the defense was able to play this that because O.J. was black he must have wanted to frame him. You and I both know that was a big stretch but as I said, in court it is a matter of perception. If this guy's comedy had not involved such potentially offensive racial material I doubt it would have ever even have come up. A judge must appear 100% unbiased.
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Arthur Moore (profile), 20 Sep 2013 @ 4:16pm

Sad
It's sad that he's not fighting this ruling. If only because now we have yet another ruling on the books that limits free speech.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Atkray (profile), 20 Sep 2013 @ 6:34pm
  
  Re: Sad
  ^this :(
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 20 Sep 2013 @ 9:31pm

Yeah this guy needs his own show because he's actually very funny. I can't say the same about Judge Alex, Judy,and the black one. Well that comes off as racist, I should have just Googled his name, but I'll leave it.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
David Heti (profile), 22 Sep 2013 @ 9:18am

the same thing happened to me!
I was doing stand-up while was practicing law at the Dept. of Justice Canada. Apparently people at work told HR and then Ottawa determined it was a conflict of interest. They made me choose between no longer using "a certain type of material," specifically, "for example, sexual abuse of children, abortion, violence against women and war crimes," or my job.

I'm still doing stand-up. Here's the story:

http://davidheti.com/2013/03/12/post-fiat-set-number-one-2/
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Michael, 23 Sep 2013 @ 1:27pm
  
  Re: the same thing happened to me!
  Really? Sexual abuse of children was in your stand-up routine?
  
  You Canadians really know how to laugh it up.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Ninja (profile), 23 Sep 2013 @ 4:53am

Lack of sense of humor and extreme fear of everything is what's driving society towards totalitarianism.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
xofer marlow, 23 Sep 2013 @ 7:23am

typo alert
"no beneifts" for "no benefits"
[ link to this | view in chronology ]