In November 2017, as the #metoo movement gathered momentum, the comedian Louis C.K. confirmed that accusations of sexual misconduct made against him by five women in the New York Times were in fact true. He admitted that he masturbated in front of the women either in person or on the phone. “Now I’m aware of the extent of the impact of my actions,” he wrote in a public statement in which he acknowledged what he had done.

In 2026, Louis C.K. is playing a sold-out show at Edinburgh's Usher Hall on February 3 as part of a tour that takes him all round Europe and Asia over the next couple of months. You can also rent his stand-up specials online. Oh, and he won a Grammy for best comedy album in 2022 for his show Sincerely Louis C.K. which dealt with his “cancellation”.

In 2017 there were immediate consequences to his actions including cancelled production and management deals. But in 2026 he’s back in the game.

“I just haven’t seen a comedian be truly, actually cancelled,” the Scottish comedian Daniel Sloss told me back in 2022. “Jimmy Carr is on tour, Louis CK is on tour. Bill Cosby is not in jail.”

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Four years on, Louis C.K. is still on tour. Carr has been able to turn his involvement in a tax avoidance scheme - for which he later apologised and repaid the taxes owed -........

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