Man Sued His Friend Just So He Could Appear On Court TV

Comedian Ben Palmer is a huge fan of Court TV and thought it would be fun to appear on the network. Figuring out how to get on there, however, was another matter. Palmer wasn’t a criminal, so his chances seemed pretty slim. Then he realized he could make his dreams come true by filing a lawsuit against his friend.

  1. Palmer’s friend sued him back. To increase Ben Palmer’s chances of making it onto Court TV, his friend countersued him. This made it seem like the two were at loggerheads, and ultimately, it was enough to make it work. He recounted his experience in a recent stand-up special, which was later posted on YouTube.
  2. Palmer was eventually a witness on “Judge Alex.” From watching the clip, it seems hilariously clear that he thought the whole thing was a joke and the case wasn’t genuine. At the end of the show, he bragged that he was “just glad we got this money, I needed the money so bad I’m broke.” He went on to say he only had “three frozen hamburgers at home” and that he couldn’t “afford to buy toothpaste.”
  3. That was only Palmer’s first appearance on the show. The next time, he was a defendant on “Judge Alex,” and he acted like such an idiot that the eponymous judge couldn’t help but notice. Needless to say, he and his friend had a ton of fun.
  4. However, his tenure on Court TV wasn’t over yet. Later, Palmer pretended to sue a performer for breach of contract on “Judge Joe Brown.” That appearance was equally as entertaining and just as fake. Plus, the shows are a whole lot of fun, since they don’t actually mean much. According to Palmer, the show “‘pays whoever wins and it doesn’t go on anybody’s record.”

It’s unclear whether or not producers ever realized that Palmer and his friends were trolls, or if they even cared.

Jennifer has been the managing editor of Bolde since its launch in 2014. Before that, she was the founding editor of HelloGiggles and also worked as an entertainment writer for Bustle and Digital Spy. Her work has been published in Bon Appetit, Decider, Vanity Fair, The New York TImes, and many more.