Louis CK as Philosopher: The King and His Fall

Abstract

In 2014, Louis CK was unquestionably the philosopher king of comedy, a commercial, cultural, and creative icon who dared to explore the most vulnerable parts of society, culture, and himself. His jokes raised philosophical issues in epistemology and mirrored the philosophy of some of the greats: Quine, Augustine, Aristotle, Schopenhauer, and Buddha just to name a few. Then, with the revelation of sexual misconduct in 2017, CK was dethroned overnight. Many were shocked, confused, and angry that CK, whom they had come to know as an advocate for women, a loving father, and a thoughtful ally to the feminist movement, would abuse his position of power for sexual gratification. Many believed that CK’s actions forfeit his access to the cultural marketplace – the only way to truly show disgust and disapproval of CK would be to ban him from comedy clubs, remove him from creative roles, cancel the release of his films, and strip his work from streaming archives.

There is stark disagreement on what has been, and ought to be, done with Louis CK. Some comedians and commentators have understood CK as a sexual predator whose continued presence in the comedy world would only serve to reinforce rape culture, effectively telling victims that they don’t matter and men that assault is forgivable. Other comedians and comedy audiences rejoice at the return of CK, believing that his comedy remains entertaining and worthwhile despite his behavior.

There are several philosophical layers of this case to unravel, but after exploring the ways in which CK was the philosopher king of comedy before his fall, the present study focuses on the following two questions: (1) was the industry response to CK’s actions the correct one? and (2) should CK be allowed to return to comedy?