The ‘Little Rascals’ question guy at the Cavalcante news conference was actually a Delco comedian

Following the capture of escaped murderer Danelo Cavalcante on Wednesday, authorities held a news conference to detail his apprehension, mark the end of a two-week manhunt, and take questions from the media.

And while the briefing was mostly what you would expect, there was at least one unanticipated question about Cavalcante for Pennsylvania State Police Lt. Col. George Bivens.

“Sir, was there any concern he would team up with another small man to step inside of a trench coat, Little Rascals-style?” one person, presumed to be a reporter, asked Bivens.

“No,” Bivens responded.

Clips of the exchange quickly went viral online, noted on outlets ranging from the Huffington Post to Forbes. But, as it turns out, that question didn’t come from a reporter, exactly.

Instead, it came from Mike Rainey, a Philadelphia-area comedian known for his podcasts Lil Stinkers and Dad Meat. The Delco-based comic discussed the question in a livestreamed episode of the Lil Stinkers podcast, which typically features an irreverent take on true crime stories, on Wednesday night.

Rainey says in the episode that he had initially planned to go to Chester County on Wednesday in hopes of running across Cavalcante himself. But before he got on the road, Cavalcante’s capture was announced, so he changed plans to attend the news conference instead.

When he arrived at the Kennett Square fire station, no one stopped him from entering, he said.

“I see a dog there, and I’m like, ‘All right, if they’re letting this ... dog hang out here, I could probably get in,” Rainey said.

After waiting around for a while, Rainey said that he decided to ask a question, and the Little Rascals-themed one that came out popped into his head on the spot. The idea, he said on Lil Stinkers, was to mock Cavalcante, who is 5 feet tall and 120 pounds, for “being so small.”

After asking the question, Rainey said, he “got knocked over with hatred.”

“The vibe in the room definitely shifted as soon as the words left my mouth,” Rainey said. “And I felt everyone’s hatred.”

While not asked directly to leave the news conference, Rainey said that someone from the state police asked him to “step back,” and pointed toward the exit.

Bivens and other news conference attendees were “as nice as could be in that situation,” Rainey said. But backlash has emerged online, with some viewers taking offense to the lack of reverence in Rainey’s question. On his show, Rainey said that he doesn’t “understand why you would be reverent” in a situation such as a news conference, and through projects like Lil Stinkers, works to find lighthearted moments in dark situations.

But that didn’t keep him from feeling the heat in the room — though, as a comic, that’s something he’s used to, he said.

“From bombing so often during performing standup comedy, I know the feeling of a room full of people needing me to leave in order to feel good again,” Rainey said. “So, I was prepared for that to happen, and boy, did that ever.”