Though Louis C.K. received a standing ovation when he made a surprise appearance at a comedy club on Sunday night, some of his jokes left female audience members feeling ‘uncomfortable’.
The comedian performed a 15-minute set for an audience of around 115 people at the Comedy Cellar in New York City’s Greenwich Village – his first since admitting to sexual misconduct allegations against him.
Two women in the audience told Vulture his set included a joke with the phrase ‘clean as a whistle’, which built up to a joke about how rape whistles are not clean.
‘When he said ‘rape whistle’ people were laughing, and I was just sitting there like ”oh my f***.” This is so uncomfortable and so disgusting. Everyone around me was laughing. That was just depressing,’ one woman said.
Louis C.K. received a standing ovation when he made a surprise appearance at a New York City comedy club on Sunday night. The comedian is pictured performing in 2016
The comedian appeared at around 11pm and dressed in a black V-neck shirt and gray pants, performed a set of ‘typical Louis C.K stuff,’ including racism, tipping waitresses and parades, Noam Dworman, the owner of the Comedy Cellar, told the New York Times.
Two women, who prefer to remain anonymous, told Vulture that Louis C.K,’s surprise performance ‘felt like he was being thrust upon the audience without telling them.’
Two women in the audience said his surprise appearance was ‘uncomfortable’ as he made a joke about how ‘rape whistles aren’t clean’
However, she said the audience was ‘very loud’ when he appeared and were ‘clearly supportive’.
But there appeared to be a divide in the audience, according to one of the women.
‘There were at least four to five females that I could see, and three or four of them were not having it. They were just looking at him, deadpan, straight, not having it.’
Louis C.K. became one of the dozens of men who have been disgraced by allegations of sexual misconduct amid the rise of the #MeToo movement.
In November, five women came forward to the New York Times with allegations of inappropriate behavior by Louis C.K. in November.
Their allegations included numerous instances where he masturbated in front of them.
In a statement shortly after the report was published, he expressed remorse and admitted: ‘These stories are true.’
FX Networks cancelled its deal with the comedian, Netflix scrapped plans for an upcoming stand-up special and HBO removed his work from its on demand video streaming service.
The release of C.K.’s feature film ‘I Love You, Daddy’ – which he wrote, directed and starred in – was shelved. The movie featured scenes that were a reflection of his inappropriate behavior.
The comedian performed a 15-minute set for an audience of around 115 people at the Comedy Cellar (above, file photo) in New York City’s Greenwich Village
Dworman, the club owner, wasn’t at the venue – which is well-known as one where famous comic appear to perform surprise sets – on Sunday night.
But he said his staff messaged him about Louis C.K.’s appearance and he watched a tape of it.
It appeared to be his first performance since he admitted to sexual misconduct
He said the sold-out crowd at the club gave him a standing ovation before he even began his set.
Dworman said the comedian was ‘very relaxed,’ adding: ‘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.’
He said that only one man who was in the audience called the club on Monday to complain about the comedian’s surprise appearance.
But he said a number of others responded to the club’s routine follow-up email to say they were glad they caught the set.
Although Dworman said he cares about ‘doing the right thing,’ he believes he is in a difficult position.
‘There can’t be a permanent life sentence on someone who does something wrong,’ he said.
But he also said he was surprise at how quickly Louis C.K. has decided to start performing again.
‘I had thought that the first time he’d go on would be in a more controlled environment. But he decided to just rip the Band-Aid off.’