A couple of years ago, I gave my boyfriend, an aspiring stand-up comic in New York City, tickets to the Madison Square Garden show of an apparently prominent comedian whose name I clicked on after a cursory search on Ticketmaster. Although I love to laugh, I was clueless about the comedy ecosystem aside from maybe Jerry Seinfeld and other Boomer legends. My funny valentine waited until we were seated to reveal that I had taken him to see a scandal-stricken figure of notorious degeneracy. The comedian in question was Louis C.K.
C.K. proceeded to perform jokes that were as provocative and vulgar as the accusations against him. The show started with casual talk of fecal matter and ended with him reading Scripture on a barstool. I had no idea what I’d signed up for, but I fully admit, I was wheezing with laughter the whole time. And it did strike me that, in the year of our Lord 2023, a canceled comedian had sold out one of the most prestigious performing venues in America.
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