Louis C.K. performed his first stand-up set since he was accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women, Comedy Cellar owner Noam Dworman told TheWrap.
Dworman said that C.K. appeared at the Greenwich Village comedy club around 11 p.m. on Sunday night and did a 15-minute set.
The unannounced show was “typical Louis C.K. stuff” with jokes about racism, waitresses tips, parades, etc. according to Dworman. “It was very ordinary for him,” he said, describing the audience response as “sustained applause … It was a good reception. He went through an everyday list of jokes.”
Dworman said that no one at the Comedy Cellar knew that C.K. was going to take to the stage but that “he used to perform there regularly” before the #MeToo accusations.
Last November, C.K. was accused of sexual misconduct by five women. Among the accusers in the New York Times article were comedy duo Dana Min Goodman and Julia Wolov, who according to the Times piece were invited by the comedian to his hotel room after their show at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, Colorado, in 2002. According to the report, when they arrived at his room, C.K. asked Goodman and Wolov if he could take out his penis.
C.K. released a statement shortly after the story was published saying, “these stories are true. At the time, I said to myself that what I did was OK because I never showed a woman my d– without asking first, which is also true.”
Dworman told TheWrap that C.K. “didn’t address anything of what happened [on Sunday], which surprised me and many other people. I expect he will have to do that” at some point.
When asked about how he felt about C.K. making a surprise appearance at his club in the wake of the accusations, Dworman said: “This has been very hard for us. We know that it is not right that he shouldn’t be able to perform again, but there is no clear time to decide how long is appropriate. He showed up and now we’re thrown into it and we hope it turns out OK.”
The New York Times reported that fellow comic and Comedy Cellar performer Mo Amer described C.K.’s set as “like a wow moment” but classic Louis, really good.”
Dworman also told the Times that “it sounded just like he was trying to work out some new material, almost like any time of the last 10 years he would come in at the beginning of a new act.”
Shortly after the accusations came to light, The Orchard canceled the release of”I Love You, Daddy,” the film that C.K. directed, wrote and starred in. HBO and Netflix also cut ties with him.