Maybe someone should explain to Robert Iler's real-life bodyguard that the "A.J. Soprano" character Iler plays on The Sopranos is only a TV role. The diminutive Iler was a guest of BLISS nightclub in Clifton, New Jersey, on Friday night (May 4th). Seated at his VIP table onstage next to the DJ booth and enjoying his bottle service, Iler was seen chatting amiably for an hour or so with Sopranos fans who greeted him.

As word spread that A.J. was in the club, a gaggle of scantily-clad ladies made their way onto the stage to be nearer to him. Iler has male admirers, too, and the club's owner and his friends soon hopped onstage to join in the festivities.

The party almost came to a screeching halt, however, when Iler's steroid-enhanced, eyebrow-threaded bodyguard suddenly became overly aggressive and started menacing guests, bellowing, "It makes me nervous when I see so many people around [Iler]! I don't know these people!"

When the club's owner tried to explain that Iler was the club's guest-of-honor, Iler's hyper-manicured bouncer threatened to start throwing punches. In the end, peace was restored when Iler told his bodyguard to relax, and Iler was soon spotted posing for photos in the DJ booth playfully wearing DJ AsTa's headphones. (See pic below.)

Said one eyewitness who was on the stage, "Rob Iler was totally a nice guy, and there was no reason his bouncer should've been so aggressive. Nobody was in Iler's face. Anyway, it's hard to take a bouncer seriously when he's wearing eyeliner."