Rob's Comedy Playhouse was packed Tuesday night for a comedy show. It was a sold-out house for the comic Louis CK. The comedian is attempting to restore his career after a series of indiscretions halted his career during the #MeToo movement.The comic was a star of stand-up, TV and movies. That was until his alleged sexual misconduct blew it all up, losing jobs and having a production company stop release of a movie. A series of women made allegations against him and CK did apologize.
After leaving the stage for a while, he has been rebuilding his career with events like the one Tuesday in Amherst. His fans have stuck with him. A series of interviews outside suggested some don't believe the allegations and others think he has done penance for what he did.
"I don't care about that," said Anne Doerfler, who said she just expected CK to be funny.
Seton McDuffie said he does not know if there is a process for redemption in these cases.
"Honestly, I don't know. He sat back for, what, a couple of years now and hasn't done anything. He's done a couple of spots this year, this past year," McDuffie said. "I'm not completely sure what you do, besides take time off if you need to get some help depending on what exactly happened. I don't know if we know what exactly happened. I don't know. I'm not sure."
Others going to the hour-long performance said he is funny and should catch a break now. Adam said this tour should give CK that chance to redeem himself.
"Hopefully, they can use this as like a launching point as to how to react to something like this, instead of denying it or not acting the right way," Adam said. "I think that people in comedy have an important part in what we see on TV, in the writing and all these things, and he deserves a chance to continue to be a person that makes people happy."
Another attendee named Elizabeth also was there to give him a chance.
"He's an entertainer and I think that he has a role to play in society and we pay for entertainment and it's part of what makes for a good life," she said. "It will be interesting to see if I, pretty ardent feminist, can put aside what happened and see if he's still funny."
