Sophia Michaels
Chris Redd talked in depth for the first time about the unprovoked attack outside New York’s Comedy Cellar that left him bloodied and hospitalized on Oct. 26.
In a preview of the comedian’s upcoming appearance on The Last Laugh podcast, Redd discussed the assault as well as fact-checked reports about what went down outside the venerable comedy venue.
“I was walking up to do a show. First of all, didn’t get out of a car, I just walked there like any New Yorker. They just added a lot of details,” Redd said. (He previously clarified that, despite reports, a chain he was wearing was not snatched in the incident.)
“This man hit me in the face with something metal. I thought it was brass knuckles because it cut my nose to the bone. I’ve been boxing for years, so first of all, I’ve taken a punch to the face before. It wasn’t terrifying, but what was worrisome is how much blood was coming out of my face.”
Redd added of the damage to his face, “I got two fractures in my nose and a fracture in my cheek. A fist don’t normally do all that at one time. It was said to assume he hit me with something. But dude just ran off. I fell down so fast, I didn’t even know I fell until I looked at the footage.”
No arrests have yet been made in the assault. “He hit me and he was gone,” Redd said. “I was just gushing blood so I couldn’t look around. It wasn’t really about the pain at that point, it was just so much blood. I was trying to figure out where he was and I couldn’t chase him down the street because there was blood.”
Redd was scheduled to perform a couple of shows that night at the Comedy Cellar and says he likely would have persevered through the night’s performances — joking he even attempted to enter the venue, post-attack — if not for the amount of blood.
“If we could have stopped the bleeding, I would have went on stage,” he told The Last Laugh. “I was like, ‘Oh, I can’t wait to talk about this shit.’ Now, I’m glad I waited, but that was my first thought. That’s why there’s blood on the Comedy Cellar stairs, ’cause I got hit, and I was like, ‘My set!’ That’s all I could think about!”
The assault will likely find its way into his routine in the future, he added. (Those jokes won’t feature in Redd’s new comedy special Why Am I Like This?, conveniently out today on HBO Max.)
Redd previously posted about the attack on Instagram, “I’ve been resting up like crazy but I want to say thank you thank you thank you for all the messages of love, the jokes, and the concern. I’m okay and healing fast!!”
