‘Not All Cops Are Bad’

These are tough times to be a cop, with the media and government officials from President Obama on down fanning the flames over the controversial shootings of African-American men and with police officers killed in rampages in Dallas, Baton Rouge, and Kansas City.

But Los Angeles-based comic actor and writer George McAuliffe has come up with an ingenious and funny way to create more understanding for police — while also acknowledging the unfortunate violence that sometimes occurs on the beat.

It’s a multimedia, audience interactive show that operates like an actual town hall meeting.

He has performed his hour-long, one-man comedy show “Not All Cops Are Bad” in Boston, St. Louis, Chicago, New Orleans, Austin, and San Diego, but McAuliffe is taking things to a higher level this Saturday night at the ImprovOlymic West Theatre in Hollywood.

His performance will raise money for causes that donate money to victims of police brutality, as well as to organizations that are raising money for the families of the recently slain police in Dallas and Baton Rouge. It will also serve as the final show in Los Angeles for awhile, as McAuliffe is bringing it to the New York Fringe Festival throughout the month of August.

The show features McAuliffe portraying a police officer named Scott Baker hosting a town hall with concerned citizens in a fictional Middle-American city — as he tries to help his police department regain the city’s trust after a series of scandalous “viral videos” featuring law enforcement surface.

Along the way, Baker attempts to save face and prove that “Not All Cops Are Bad” by detailing his tragic home life, reminding the audience of post-9/11 glory, taking selfies with audience members, and rationalizing mortifying iPhone videos that have gone viral.

“Not All Cops Are Bad” is a multimedia, audience-interactive show that operates like an actual town hall meeting.

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“I grew up in St. Louis and watching the interactions there and in Ferguson, Missouri, from the outside while living in LA, I knew that this is how people are treated and it bubbled up, and I drew inspiration from that,” says McAuliffe. “I’ve been doing comedy for 10 years starting in Chicago, and this is a combination of satire and my own experiences observing.”

While McAuliffe acknowledges that Baker’s goofily clueless persona makes the show appear to be slanted “70/30” against cops, the humor in last Saturday night’s performance was nearly all good-natured and hardly mean-spirited. The overall effect was of a 21st-century Barney Fife, albeit with occasionally risqué moments both in Baker’s own recountings and in scripted audience interactions.

When the show reveals Baker’s deep-seated frustrations with the job, the result also doesn’t appear to be hateful — but instead is sympathetic to the extreme stresses of being a cop and always being expected to be right in countless difficult situations. By show’s end, it’s clear that McAuliffe has succeeded in a truly daring — yet highly entertaining — act of theatrical tightrope-walking.

Related: Pushing Back on Police Vilification

“I try to get the audience to know the human being who just happens to have a career in law enforcement,” says McAuliffe. “I show some videos, but not of super-violent shootings, but some inappropriate singalongs cops got caught in, and doctor them up to make them a little lighter before asking: Are all cops racist? We show of course not, and while we make jokes about the cops and their behavior, we also show how hard their job is.”

“People think I’m just knocking cops at first, but then I surprise you by taking their side in particular instances,” he continues. “I’d say it’s also about making fun of outrage culture on social media, and people not giving enough credit to the good that cops do. I also look at the masculinity crisis in law enforcement — but overall it’s pretty silly compared to how dark the subject could get.”

The “Not All Cops Are Bad” fundraiser is July 30, at the iO West Theater in Los Angeles. The show will also appear throughout the New York Fringe Festival.