Chris Redd admits the whole getting-punched-in-the-face thing was pretty good promo

After being attacked on the way to New York's Comedy Cellar in October, Chris Redd got a boost in awareness for his HBO Max special Why Am I Like This?

By Mary Kate Carr  |  December 15, 2022 | 3:02pm
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Chris Redd admits the whole getting-punched-in-the-face thing was pretty good promo
Chris Redd Photo: Rob Kim

We wouldn’t want to encourage comedians into thinking they’re an endangered species, but it has been a banner year for high-profile attacks on stand-up comics. Beginning with Will Smith slapping Chris Rock, to Dave Chappelle being tackled on the stage of the Hollywood Bowl, to Chris Redd getting punched on his way to the Comedy Cellar. Redd addressed the latter in a new interview with SiriusXM’s The Bennington Show, and said if nothing else, the situation “did wonders” to elevate his new HBO Max special Why Am I Like This?

“No promotion was better than getting knocked in the fucking face,” he said. “People didn’t even know I had a special out and they were like, ‘Aw, hope he’s okay! What special?’”

Chris Redd Believes His Assault Was ‘Planned’

Redd teased that he’ll “probably release the footage” of the moment he got clocked “and do a voice-over thing.” But in all seriousness, he has his suspicions about the attack: “I would say it was a planned situation. That’s what I feel in my heart.”

“People called it a random attack. I don’t believe that,” the SNL alum said. “He waited for me for an hour before I got there. He was on the phone. He had a lookout dude and everything. All I’m saying is this: I’ve never done nothing random where it took me an hour to do it.”

As far as whether authorities are any closer to apprehending the attacker, Redd joked that his “cold case got lukewarm real quick.” He compared the initial enthusiasm for catching the perpetrator to Law & Order or Minority Report (“‘He walked a couple blocks, we’re following him through cameras!’”). However, as time went on, the cops got less responsive—in fact, Redd claimed he got “ghosted by the chief of police.”

In Redd’s own words, he “can’t take shit seriously, even my own—violence against myself.” As such, you can expect him to make comedy out of the whole scenario in the future. If Chris Rock can get a ticket boost out of his attack, why shouldn’t Chris Redd?

 
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