A video has surfaced showing comedian Corey Holcomb allegedly assaulting fellow comic Cristina Payne.
As TMZ reports, in the surveillance footage, released December 2024, the two comedians appear to be engaged in a confrontation outside of the Hollywood Improv in California.
Holcomb can be seen seemingly throwing a right-handed punch in Payne’s face.
One bystander then rushed at Holcomb, inciting a scuffle.
Payne filed a battery report with the Los Angeles Police Department following the attack, but authorities never arrested Holcomb, TMZ reported. The incident stemmed from a months-long dispute between the two comedians, according to law enforcement sources familiar with the case.
“I feel like Cory’s like threatened or tried to silence me or like where it’s like I’ve been in fear for my life, literally. I’m not able to leave the house sometimes.” Payne said in a tear-filled eight-minute interview. “It’s horrible the way he treats women, the way he talks about us, and then to the point where it’s like, really, you’re going to hit me because I’m telling you about God, and you need to change your ways. It’s just horrible, and I’m just disappointed in how nothing was done.”
She added, “That video really needs to start from when I walk out there initially instead of right there, because there’s a gun involved that he passed off to another female comedian and was like ‘Oh go put that up for me before he hit me.’”
Two months after the December confrontation, Holcomb attempted to obtain a temporary restraining order against Payne through the court system. His petition claimed that Payne initiated physical contact while his back was turned, presenting a dramatically different version of events than what the surveillance video reveals.
In court documents filed as part of his unsuccessful restraining order request, Holcomb accused Payne of hurling personal insults at him during their confrontation. He alleged she made derogatory comments about his mother and made crude remarks about his anatomy, suggesting these verbal attacks provoked his response.