What was Joe Lycett’s joke about? Police investigation into Birmingham comedian’s ‘offensive’ joke explained

Birmingham-born comedian Joe Lycett had a visit from the Police Service for Northern Ireland (PSNI) this week, after someone in the audience was so offended by one of the comedian’s jokes that they telephoned the police.

The comedian, 33, had a visit from the police following complaints about a joke made during a stand up show in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Here’s what we know about the police incident, including what the joke was and why the complaint from the gig goer was made.

What was the joke about?

The joke that led to Joe Lycett being reported to the police involved a line about ‘a giant donkey d***’ and is one that Lycett later claimed was one of his better jokes.

The joke was made during Lycett’s ongoing tour ‘ More, More, More! How Do You Lycett? How Do You Lycett?’.

The tour has been ongoing since march, and Lycett has played shows in Plymouth, Bournemouth, Edinburgh, York, Hull, Ipswich, Sheffield, Glasgow, Stockton, Newcastle, Cambridge, Stockport, Liverpool, Northampton, Birmingham, Belfast, and Cardiff so far.

Lycett did not say which of  the shows the police complaint was made after.

What did Joe Lycett say about the incident?

The comedian took to social media to let fans know about the incident, and why he received contact from the police about the joke.

He said: “So someone came to my tour show a few weeks back and was offended by one of the jokes.

“And their perfectly understandable response to this was… to call the f****** police.

“To be fair to them the fuzz were very nice about it all but felt they had a duty to investigate.”

He added that the matter has now closed, and Lycett spoke about the interesting message he sent to a member of the police.

He continued: “This involved me writing a statement explaining the context of the joke for them; I particularly enjoyed putting the words into a message to a police detective.

“Charmed, and hopefully amused, the rozzers have since closed the matter.”

Joe Lycett added: “You’ll be pleased to know that the joke – which I consider to be one of the best I’ve ever written – remains firmly and proudly in the show.

“The tour continues until September, unless I am jailed.”

Lycett also shared the email he received from the police following the incident, in which the investigating officer announced that the case had been closed.

Who is Joe Lycett?

Joe Lycett was born in Hall Green, Birmingham on 5 July 1988.

He has become known for his stand-up routines where he would recall his humorous email exchanges when handling issues such as parking fines and scammers.

Lycett has appeared in several comedy programmes including Celebrity Juice, 8 out of 10 Cats, QI and Have I Got News For You.

He has also toured with various UK tours, including his most recent tour which has led to him being reported to the police.

In 2015, while performing in York, Lycett was given a parking ticket for parking illegally in a taxi rank. The tense and often humorous trail of correspondence, between him and City of York Council, soon became the basis for one of his stand-up routines