Bill Cosby Is Banned From at Least One Comedy Venue

Comedy Cellar owner Noam Dworman says Bill Cosby, who was released from prison last month after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court vacated his 2018 conviction, is banned from performing at his famed club.

That makes at least one comedy venue whose doors are closed to Cosby—though Dworman notoriously allowed Louis C.K. to return with a standup routine after he faced sexual harassment accusations, insisting he’d “heard accusations of worse things than Louis.” Dworman told the New York Post that Cosby’s case is different because he was charged with a crime.

Dworman’s comments arrive as Cosby’s spokesperson, Andrew Wyatt, begins to hype a comeback for his client, whom he says is planning to launch a speaking tour and return to the comedy circuit. Wyatt told TMZ that his team has already been in touch with multiple promoters and comedy clubs who told him they’ll consider letting Cosby take the stage at their venues.

Of course it behooves Wyatt to lie about people being amenable to his client performing again; it’s good press. And of course there are plenty of people who will unhesitatingly blacklist Cosby, if only due to the distinction Dworman has made. But it’s just as likely that someone—if not several people, as Wyatt claims—will lend Cosby a helping hand as he attempts to salvage his reputation and reclaim his standing as a beloved comic.

At the moment, the prospect of Cosby’s comeback tour still seems somewhat improbable: The sheer number of women he’s accused of assaulting and the fact that he has been tried, convicted, and sentenced for some of his crimes puts him at a disadvantage as compared to most other famous men who have attempted the same. But Cosby is already working on a five-part docuseries about his life and experience in prison, according to the Los Angeles Times. He’ll also be the subject of a book written by an author named Frederick Williams, who’s interviewing both Cosby and Wyatt about the civil and criminal trials and the legal strategies Cosby’s lawyers used to argue his case.

It has never been too difficult for accused men to recover at least a fraction of their career and success—if they ever lost it to begin with.