The first “go around” forced him into exile at the peak of his career. I haven’t seen anyone who thinks what he did was ok, and of course it matters if he continues with this behavior in the future. These are not arguments that anybody is making. And again has nothing to do with the point I was making.
If part of the mental calculus was “We can’t announce a show ahead of time because it would be massively unpopular and overtaken by protests,” then maybe it’s a sign that having a show at all was a bad idea.
I’ve been to a few comedy shows in my time and all of them have been offensive in some way, shape or form.
So maybe all comedians should just go die somewhere alone and out of sight?
I saw some Eddy Murphy stuff from the 80s. Raw, edgy, even now, especially the sexual infidelity routines he was running.
Plus he mentions several times, in the routines, getting women to sleep with him because he’s famous. Actions that today would fall under the #me too umbrella.
Personally speaking, I think my night would have been more ruined by the media circus than by Louis showing up unannounced.
Since most of the folks there enjoyed it, I suspect that it’s not a sign of that at all.
Just the funny ones.
I think “overtaken by protests” and “massively unpopular” are not necessarily the same thing (c.f., Trump rallies). But again, sticking the question of whether or not he SHOULD step back into the limelight aside, this was a smart way of doing it. Here’s how I reckon his plan goes:
He has - for whatever reason - decided that he has spent enough time out in the cold and wants to try and reclaim his own name. He knows that he can’t re-enter his chosen career path at the same level that he left it – he’s not going to get a Netflix special or a run on HBO or even get any of his previous series re-started with him involved; he’s just too damaged and the stain doesn’t seem to be going away with time.
He could probably have gotten a decent-sized venue to host him for a “comeback” show or even gotten a bunch of them for a “comeback” tour – there are plenty of hungry clubs and/or auditoriums that would have relished the business and noteriety. BUT that approach would have meant a media circus of titanic proportions: protests, news coverage, and lots of cameras focused not on him and his material, but on the people that have come out to yell at him. Worse, the chances of actually doing any comedy or saying anything of note would be slim – the audience would be sprinkled with hecklers whose only purpose is to shout him out of the building.
So he takes the long(er) road. He pops up at an obscure comedy club and does a set. Lots of newspaper articles, blog post and long-winded forum discussion about him and whether it’s too soon or not. But no pictures of angry crowds and few if any hecklers shouting down his every word.
Sometime in the next couple months, he’ll pop up somewhere else – also unheralded – and do it again. Then the next month he’ll pop up twice in two separate cities. He keeps doing this for a year or so - guerrilla comedy as comeback - and his appearances will cease to be “news” outside of dedicated fan sites. Thus will he normalize himself.
Eventually, he’ll do an interview (probably also unannounced) to a lower-rated news show. He may then start to do some announced shows and deal with the (probably lessened) hecklers. Maybe a book. At that point he can start the climb back to relevance if he’s still got some juice.
I think the clearest path to a comeback would be to do a comedy special and call it “Would you like to watch me jerk off for 60 minutes?”, then just have him jerk off in front of a camera for an hour run-time, pausing as necessary. This would attract the sort of fans that he’s interested in.
Do you think people are upset because of an offensive comedy routine, rather than being upset about the fact that a sexual predator is doing that comedy routine?
It is one thing to be offended by a comedians humor, although you really should know his type of material before you see him, it’s another thing to be offended by the comedian himself.
As an aside, CNN runs a series on the History of Comedy Sunday nights, and a week or two ago ran an episode on the use of offensive material. Pretty interesting. Guys like Tim Allen and Bob Saget led wholesome TV lives while doing pretty raunchy material live.
Well if he is going around making surprise visits, the audience can’t know and can’t make a decision to avoid him. He’s forcing them to either leave suddenly, or sit there uncomfortably. This has little to nothing to do with his type of humor and everything to do with his sexual predation.
I don’t see what the big deal is here. You pay for a comedy show, he’s a comedian, what did you expect to see?
If you don’t like the comedian then you get up and leave. The end.
EDIT: I’m using the word “you” to represent the audience - not a specific poster here :)
But their night would be ruined!
This strikes me as a pretty insignificant tangent, to be honest.
It’s pretty clear that a number of you don’t get it, and I guess never will. Not all surprises are good, especially from the guy that likes to surprise women with the sudden appearance of his dick.
I’ve been to many comedy shows with acts I don’t like. It’s fine.
Luckily, I’ve never had to consider what might happen when an admitted sexual predator who ruined careers shows up. But I know it would’ve ruined my night.
So many men here commenting about how a woman should feel when a known sexually aggressive offender suddenly shows up on stage, unannounced.
So many men here commenting about every topic. There are message boards with more women that are having a healthier discussion about this subject, I’m sure. There are also loads of great female comics who deserve your financial support. That’s one way to try to balance this injustice. Or donate to a worthy cause. Why wait for Louis to do it? Channel the frustration into positive change.
I’m sorry but I feel that’s an absurd statement.
I don’t think being a woman gives any kind of “extra weight” to whatever opinion you might hold on the subject.
It could just have easily been men that Louis CK enjoyed flashing his bits at.
I could possibly understand that previous victims of sexual assault may well have very strong feelings about suddenly seeing him appear on stage but that’s a different matter entirely.
Sure, we’re mostly men here, but I’m specifically talking about men saying how women should just deal with it, leave the show they paid for, etc, when an asshole like Louis CK decides he’s been out of the spotlight long enough. No one saying that is a female survivor of sexual abuse and also has nowhere near the perspective to say how that would affect an abused woman in that situation. I’m almost positive that one thing an abuse survivor doesn’t want is to be surprised like that.
Well yeah, hello, did he screen the crowd first to make sure no victims were in the audience? Or did he not give a shit?
I don’t think it’s his job to give a shit. They are the general public. You don’t need to take any kind of assessment to buy tickets to a comedy show.