Louis CK Returns to Netflix With 'Ridiculous'
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- Louis CK released his new comedy special "Ridiculous" on Netflix, his first release on the platform since his 2017 hour titled "2017," which was his final pre-scandal special
- The special arrives nearly a decade after CK admitted guilt in sexual misconduct allegations, after which organizations severed ties and sent him into what proved to be brief exile
- Since the scandal, CK has toured extensively — often to crowds that the reviewer notes acted as if he were the wronged party — and self-released four other comedy specials
- Ridiculous earns praise for CK's structural comic mind, including a bit about hating to wake up on airplanes and an observational riff on the damp pad in packaged chicken breast that recalls Seinfeld pushed toward visceral weirdness
- The reviewer finds CK's self-deprecating framing rings hollow given his real-life failings, calling jokes about cremating his mother and a "scrambled eggs" pregnancy gag blunt-force mischief
- Netflix hosting the special is described as a full-circle moment for a comic whose career was reshaped by the 2017 scandal, framed as "less a triumphant return than a gradual slinking back"
Why it matters: CK's return to Netflix — the same platform that carried his last pre-scandal special — marks a notable platform-level rehabilitation nearly a decade after he admitted to sexual misconduct, even as the mixed review shows his material still carries the unresolved tension between his comic talent and his off-stage record.
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