5 comics who were arrested for what they said onstage

Until the Supreme Court changed the legal standard for obscenity in the early 1970s, comedians routinely faced the threat of arrest over raunchy material performed onstage.

Even afterward, comics could still face harassment by police on disorderly conduct charges. Andrew Dice Clay narrowly avoided arrest in Texas in 1990, opting to cancel his Dallas concert rather than risk violating the state's strict anti-obscenity laws.

"The Texas district attorney said, 'If you come to perform in Dallas, you will be arrested for obscenity,'" said former comic and