Comedian Bert Kreischer revealed Sunday that he suffered a scare when his tour bus caught on fire.
The 53-year-old stand-up star — who's famous for ripping off his shirt during his stand-up sets — revealed the scene of the frightening blaze in an Instagram photo showing the burned-out hulk of a black tour bus.
'We are all safe but my bus is gone — God works in mysterious ways,' Kreischer captioned his photo.
A representative for Kreischer revealed to the Daily Mail that the fire took the bus's drivers by surprise, and it was only thanks to smart planning that Kreischer and his fellow comedians weren't in danger.
According to Kreischer's representative, the fire was set off when, around midnight on the drive from Fargo, North Dakota, to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the front right tire of the bus had a blow-out that caused the rim to rip off.
Kreischer, his fellow comedians on the tour and his crew are spread out among three buses while traveling, so the comics were able to spread out on the remaining two buses and continue to Cedar Rapids while the damaged bus's driver waited until the morning for a new tire to be delivered.
Comedian Bert Kreischer revealed Sunday that he suffered a scare when his tour bus caught on fire. The 53-year-old stand-up star revealed the scene of the frightening blaze in an Instagram photo showing the burned-out hulk of a black tour bus; pictured with Guy Fieri (L) on February 20 in Miami Beach, Florida
His rep revealed to the Daily Mail that a
According to the comedian's rep, the bus driver heard a loud popping sound around 11 a.m. the next morning, and within seconds, the bus began to fill up with thick smoke.
He said the driver rushed off the bus, but he wasn't able to get back on because flames had already begun to spread.
The driver shared that the blaze had completely destroyed the front half of the tour bus, though the back half appeared to have only suffered smoke damage.
Kreischer's representative added that the comedians were blessed to have continued on to their destination on the other buses, because they might otherwise have been sleeping on the bus when it was engulfed in flames if they had decided to just wait for the replacement tire to arrive.
He also stressed that the blow-out was a complete accident, and the bus drivers didn't appear to have done anything to cause it.
The comic's photo showed the bus parked on the side of Interstate 94, about an hour outside of Fargo.
The picture appeared to confirm that the most serious damage happened to the front of the bus.
The grill was severely charred, and the windshield had been blown out, while the door to the vehicle hung ajar, as if it had been opened to let passengers off.
Despite the shakeup in Kreischer's transportation, there wasn't any major effect on his next comedy show, as he performed on Sunday night at Alliant Energy Powerhouse in Cedar Rapids; pictured in November in Nashville, Tenn.
The blaze had eaten away at the roof of the bus, leaving only a few crisscrossing metal supports, and the windows on the side opposite the driver had also been destroyed.
Several of the comments on Kreischer's post expressed condolences and shock, while multiple comedians and fans tried to riff on the burned-out bus despite the serious tone of Kreischer's post.
Despite the shakeup in Kreischer's transportation, there wasn't any major effect on his next comedy show, as he performed on Sunday night at Alliant Energy Powerhouse in Cedar Rapids.
Kreischer's remaining tour dates will take him across the Midwest before heading to Ontario, Canada, followed by multiple East Coast shows.
He's set to wrap up his world tour with multiple stops in California and the Southwest in May and June of this year.
Even before he became known for his stand-up comedy, Kreischer became famous for his partying after being described by Rolling Stone as 'the top partyer at the Number One Party School in the country' in a 1997 article highlighting his time at Florida State University.
The article later inspired the Ryan Reynolds–starring comedy National Lampoon's Van Wilder, but Kreischer revealed in 2014 that he had no connection to the film beyond the article, and he added that he had never even watched the movie.
Kreischer, who also goes by 'The Machine,' is known for the wild tales that animate his comedy shows, including a story about how he was unknowingly conscripted into assisting the Russian mafia during a train robbery while he was visiting Russia during his university days.
