American stand-up Kevin Meaney has been arrested following an airport scuffle.

The 45-year-old comic allegedly grabbed a National Guardsman's rifle and started shoving him after being asked to stop videotaping checkpoint security procedures.

Meaney is also said to have become verbally abusive when security staff at San Francisco asked to pat-search his wife.

Guardsman Robert Paoletti said: "The majority of the problem was based on his conduct - he was very loud and caused a disturbance at the checkpoint, yelling at the supervisors who were trying to calm him down and at the soldiers."

Meaney, whose act is mild-mannered observational material, appeared in the movie Big with Tom Hanks, and starred in the short-lived sitcom Uncle Buck, a spin-off from the movie of the same name.

He was not available for comment.