If there’s a human being on this planet who should probably never “surprise release” anything ever again, it’s almost certainly got to be Louis CK, the noted stand-up comic, TV creator, and admitted sexual harasser. And yet here we are, just a few weeks into the international quarantine, and that’s exactly what CK has done: Released a stand-up special out into the streaming world, barging his way back into our collective lives. Titled Sincerely Louis CK, the special is selling for $7.99 on CK’s website, which, if you want the link, well, you can go ahead and Google that one yourself.
CK hasn’t released a special since 2017, i.e., back when his habit of masturbating in front of young female comics was only a very loudly whispered rumor, and not an admitted fact and matter of public record. CK has spent the intervening years as a sort of unwelcome spirit haunting the comedy world, popping into clubs, avoiding the limelight, but never quite allowing himself to fully fade out of view. Now, he’s apparently felt a great and insistent need to bring laughter back into the world, with an accompanying press release (per THR) laying out his desire to soothe the spirits of “those who need to laugh” in shitty times, like a global pandemic, or after one of the world’s most powerful and respected comedians suddenly commits an act of sexual misconduct against you out of the blue.
Anyway, it’s out there, if it’s something you’re interested in seeing. (Meanwhile, we can’t help but notice that CK’s philanthropic spirit has as yet not extended itself to his sexual misconduct-focused feature film I Love You, Daddy, despite the fact that he reportedly re-acquired the rights to it after its aggressively aborted release. Weird!)