Court Forbids Judge to Moonlight as Stand-Up Comic
NEW YORK — For years, Vince Sicari kept a secret from his family, friends, colleagues and clients.
By day, he practiced law. By night, he practiced laughs under his stage name, Vince August, building a reputation on the comedy club circuit. Over the years, he worked his way up to regular TV appearances, including Jon Stewart’s “The Daily Show” and ABC’s “What Would You Do?”
But Sicari this week became a victim of August’s success when New Jersey’s highest court ruled that he could either continue to serve in his part-time job as Municipal Court Judge Vincenzo A. Sicari or work as an on-stage comedian — but not both.
Performing stand-up comedy and portraying less-than-savory characters, including racist shopkeepers and homophobic bar patrons, is incompatible with the judicial code of conduct, the court ruled Thursday in a 7-0 decision.
“We cannot discount the possibility that a person who has attended a comedy club in New York City will find himself or herself before Judge Sicari in South Hackensack,” the court said.
At first I thought this guy was crazy. Then I read “Hours later, Sicari gave up his judge’s job, which paid $13,000 a year before taxes.”
No, I didn’t drop a zero from his salary.