Louis C.K. appears at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party in 2016.Credit:Evan Agostini/Invision/AP
The “cancelled” Louis C.K. is right now performing seven Australian shows in seven days,four of which are sold out. Tickets for Friday and Saturday night’s show at the 2800-seat Palais Theatre in Melbourne could only be found on resale sites this week,where they were fetching as much as $700 a pop – around 10 times their face value.
What’s more,he has done it without any kind of publicity or advance notice beyond his own direct-to-fans channels. Requests for interviews or review tickets were declined,calls to his publicist have gone unanswered.
To put it simply,Louis C.K. hasn’t been cancelled,but he just might have cancelled everyone else.
For the uninitiated,the US comedian was ostensibly struck off everyone’s Christmas card list in 2017 after reports emerged that he hadmasturbated in front of a number of women in work-related environments.
Though he had reportedly let them know beforehand that he was planning to do it,as he eventually conceded ina written apology,“when you have power over another person,asking them to look at your dick isn’t a question. It’s a predicament for them. The power I had over these women is that they admired me. And I wielded that power irresponsibly.”
Before these incidents became public,C.K. was perhaps the most successful comedian in the world,withearnings estimated byForbes at $US52 million in 2017. He had a two-special Netflix deal,he’d just come off a five-season sitcom (Louie),and he enjoyed a reputation as a supporter of up-and-coming comedians – especially women.