Newest Weapon in New York's War on Nightclub Smoking: 'Hipper-looking' Inspectors
In the cat-and-mouse game that is New York's smoking ban, the cat just got a sweet new asymmetrical haircut. The Health Department is deploying "younger and hipper-looking" inspectors to snitch on New York's coolest clubs. The sketch comedy potential!
According to the Times, undercover Health Department inspectors were having the same problem anyone faces at clubs like M2 UltraLounge and the Box: They couldn't get in:
[Inspectors] have had difficulty gaining access to the clubs when patrons are actually smoking.
"Some of the clubs where smoking is going on tend to be very, very cool clubs, and a bunch of guys showing up in jackets tend to be very, very uncool," said Thomas Merrill, general counsel for the health department.
"Uh, yeah, I know I'm wearing a $75 Haggar suit to one of New York's hottest nightspots but... my friend's in there?" MAKEOVER!
So in recent months, the department has deputized a team of inspectors - many of them younger and hipper-looking than the stereotypical bureaucrat - to work into the wee hours, posing as patrons and hunting for tolerance of smoking by clubs' employees.
In the movie Undercover Hipsters, Andy Samberg and Wyatt Cenac will star as a pair of nerdy Health Department inspectors transferred to this "cool unit". After a series of misadventures, they overcome their awkwardness with the help of a hot female colleague (Jessica Alba) and become cool. Too cool, in fact, as they are seduced by the party scene and start indulging in the superhip underground smoking scene they had sworn to stop. There will be a poignant scene where the chief makes them hand over their badges, guns and Health Department-issue shutter shades. Damn, that's actually pretty good, right? Screw this blog game—I'm going to Hollywood.