...at a gig greeted by protests and a scuffle

Louis CK has addressed his sexual misconduct in his act for the first time.

The comic reportedly introduced himself to his sold-out audience in San Jose, California, last night by saying: ‘I like to jerk off, and I don’t like being alone.’

In an exclusive report from the show, website The Daily Beast said the line – said without apology – got a laugh.

CK went on to say: ‘You’ve read the worst possible things you could read about a person, about me, and you’re here.’

The comment about ‘things you read’ appeared to be an attempt to put distance between the reports and the things he actually did: masturbate in front of female colleagues. He admitted his behaviour only after it was exposed by the New York Times.

A group of around 30 people, mostly women, had gathered outside the Improv Comedy Club to complain his booking. It has been reported that one male protester was punched by a fan in a scuffle.

© Michele Dauber/Twitter

As punters entered the show, the crowd chanted slogans such as ‘Shame!’ and ‘Louis CK has got to go!’

The Improv said giving him a platform was a free speech issue, saying: ‘We don't censor artists. We want them to perform without scrutiny. We trust that our audiences can decided for themselves what their limits are.’

But campaign organiser Michele Dauber, a Stanford law professor, said: ’We are not protesting his comedy, we are protesting his actions.’ 

CK was also keen to shift the focus on to a debate about taste in comedy and away from his own behaviour. He told the audience: ‘The whole point of comedy is to say things that you shouldn’t say. That’s the entire point.’

He then likened comedy to porn, The Daily Beast reports, arguing that it keeps men from molesting their colleagues at work.

CK also referred to a scandal that broke over the new year, when he made jokes about the Parkland school shooting.

‘If you ever need people to forget that you jerked off, what you do is you make a joke about kids that got shot,’ he said

Here’s a local TV report about the protests: 

Published: 17 Jan 2019