The comedian/cab driver who scared the living sh*t out of people with a 10-foot snake in his taxi has been suspended from driving the cars for two years.
Comedian Jimmy Failla told The Huffington Post he was summoned to meet with prosecutors from the Taxi and Limousine Commission in lower Manhattan on Wednesday for a "settlement conference."
"They were threatening me with a $3,200 fine, and I said I would do whatever I could do avoid that," Failla said over the phone Thursday.
The now-former cab driver agreed to have his license revoked for two years.
Failla said he didn't want to bring any more negative attention to the Taxi and Limousine Commission. "This could have reflected negatively on them, and I didn't want that to happen," he said.
A representative for the Taxi and Limousine Commission told HuffPost, "In the understanding that we were going to seek revocation of his license, Mr. Failla voluntarily surrendered it."
Failla is a comedian now, but for two years he says he was a full-time cab driver in New York City. On March 8, he hired a snake handler to ride around with him in a very real-looking yellow cab. When unsuspecting customers got in the cab and saw a large albino python, they freaked out. Their reactions were captured by hidden cameras.
The stunt, which subsequently went viral, was done partly to promote Failla's new book, Follow That Car! A Cabbie's Guide To Conquering Fears, Achieving Dreams And Finding A Public Restroom, which he says is about his experience as a New York taxi driver.
Failla assured HuffPost that everyone in the video signed a release. He said he opted not to scare some older passengers he gave rides to that day. "We didn't want anyone to have a heart attack," he said.