The comedian Corey Holcomb was accused by a female comic of punching her in the face in late 2024 — and newly unearthed video appears to finally depict the shocking altercation.
Surveillance camera video released by The Bizi Room on Thursday allegedly shows Holcomb, 56, punching his fellow stand-up Cristina Payne in the face amid a group of friends and colleagues outside of a Hollywood Improv comedy club on December 10, 2024.
While the alleged assault was first reported on back in December 2024, this is the first time that video depicting the encounter has been revealed.
On Friday, Payne appeared in an interview with TMZ in which she teared up in response to questions about the video, and she claimed that she is afraid to leave her home because Holcomb has allegedly been harassing her in the months since he assaulted her.
Payne also claimed that the assault was particularly terrifying because she saw Holcomb carrying a gun, which she first mentioned in a restraining order request from just weeks after the alleged fight that was obtained by The Daily Mail.
The Daily Mail has reached out to Payne and Holcomb’s representatives for comment but has not yet received a response.
The comedian Corey Holcomb, 56, was accused in December 2024 of punching fellow comic Cristina Payne in the face outside the Hollywood Improv, and newly released video obtained by The Bizi Room appears to show the alleged altercation; Holcomb is pictured in May 2024 in LA
Following the alleged assault, both Payne and Holcomb filed for temporary restraining orders against each other.
In Payne’s request, which was obtained by the Daily Mail, she wrote that she had been standing outside of the Improv in Hollywood when she noticed Holcomb looking in her direction.
She claimed that as soon as he saw her notice him, he asked, ‘What the f*** are you looking at b****?’
Payne, who claimed Holcomb had previously threatened to ‘super sock’ her in July 2024, said he began cursing at her and patted a handgun in his pants pocket, then continued cursing at her.
Payne wrote that others outside the club tried to separate the two, including a security guard for the Improv, but Holcomb allegedly got around the person separating them and punched her in the face.
‘The impact caused me to stumble,’ she claimed in her restraining order request. ‘It would have knocked me down had others not been there to help.’
Payne then claimed that a friend stepped in to protect her, but they were allegedly attacked by Holcomb and several other comedians, who kicked and punched her friend on the ground.
That account appears to match the video, which seems to show Holcomb and Payne arguing on the sidewalk, before he lunges forward and lobs a punch at her face.
The video appears to show Holcomb (pictured here in 2013 in Miami) strutting up to Payne and punching her in the face unexpectedly. Then a man intercedes and hits Holcomb, before Holcomb and other male comedians wrestle the man to the ground and appear to punch and kick him repeatedly
She stumbles back before another man jumps in front of her and pulls Holcomb into the street before seemingly punching the comic in the face.
But then Holcomb appears to punch the man and wrestles him to the ground, and several other men surround the man and appear to punch and kick him, though he is partially obscured by their bodies.
But in a response filed on February 3, 2025, Holcomb told a strikingly different story.
He wrote that Payne ‘began yelling at me so I told her to just leave me alone.’
Holcomb claimed that she taunted him with insults, including, ‘Your momma should have left you alone!’ and ‘Your d*** ain’t s***. That’s why your wrist got broke. Your mother is a b****!.’
He denied that he stepped toward her, claiming instead that ‘she was the one who stepped against me.’
Holcomb said that he pushed Payne back, and he claimed that he ‘never punched her in the face.’
Instead, Holcomb alleged that Payne hit him while his back was turned, and then other comedians had to pull him off her.
Dual restraint order filings obtained by the Daily Mail showed Payne describing events similar to the surveillance cam video, while Holcomb denied punching her and claimed that she was the aggressor; Holcomb is pictured in June 2024 in Inglewood, Calif.
That portrait doesn’t appear to match the newly released video, which clearly shows a figure that appears to be Holcomb stepping from the street onto the sidewalk and getting in Payne’s face before punching her, while she appears to remain in place.
After Holcomb and others appear to pull the man who interceded to the ground and attack him, Payne does seem to follow the group, but it’s unclear if she swipes at Holcomb while he and the other men are attacking her defender on the ground, as an awning blocked part of the security footage.
However, a person can be seen stepping in to push her back from the fight.
In her interview with TMZ, Payne said that police didn’t follow up on her report about the alleged assault.
When she was asked if she would follow up with the authorities now that she had video of the alleged assault, Payne teared up and had trouble getting any words out.
‘I feel like Corey has threatened or tried to silence me. I’ve been in fear for my life, literally. Not able to leave the house sometimes.
Both she and Holcomb received temporary restraining orders against each other, and both orders continue through April of this year.
In her interview, Payne said Holcomb had ‘confused the judge’ to get his restraining order, and she said she only got a copy of the surveillance video on the day after their hearing.
In an interview on Friday with TMZ, Payne teared up and claimed she was too scared to leave her home some days because Holcomb was allegedly harassing her. She said she’d seen him pass a gun to a female comedian the night of the alleged assault, and she first mentioned seeing him with a gun in her restraining order filing; he’s pictured in 2015 in NYC
Payne teared up again as she claimed Holcomb had previously threatened her in June 2024, which made her particularly frightened to see him in December of that year.
She also claimed that her attorney ‘gave up’ after the hearing because of critical statements Holcomb allegedly made about her.
Payne now claimed that she and Holcomb had been ‘roasting’ each other outside of the Improv, a common post-show tradition among comedians.
She said it had been going on ‘every Monday for the past 30 years.’
Payne also alleged that the video didn’t show Holcomb passing his gun to another female comedian, which happened prior to when it starts.
She said that the copy of the video given to her attorney was clipped after Holcomb allegedly passed the gun, and she hoped a longer version was out there.
