Comedian Chris Redd believes his recent assault outside a New York City comedy club was planned by his attacker. The former Saturday Night Live star was punched in the face outside the Comedy Cellar in Greenwich Village on Oct. 26. Redd, 37, suffered two fractures in his nose and a fracture in his cheek.
“People called it a random attack. I don’t believe that,” Redd told The Bennington Show host Ron Bennington on Tuesday. “I watched the footage. He waited for me an hour before I got there. He was on the phone, he had a lookout dude and everything.”
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Redd believes it was planned because, in his experience, it has never taken him an hour to randomly do something. “It was a planned situation,” Redd insisted. “That’s what I feel in my heart and soul. That’s what I saw in the footage.”
The comedian joked that he might release the footage and “do a voiceover thing.” As for the case, he said police are not close to solving it. The “cold case got lukewarm real quick,” Redd said, adding that he was “ghosted” by the “chief of police.”
During an episode of The Last Laugh podcast, Redd described the assault as a “surprise party of one fist.” He said the man punched him in the face as he walked up to the Comedy Cellar. Redd is sure the man had something metal in his first because whatever it was cut his nose “to the bone.” The scariest part was the blood gushing from his face.
“I got two fractures in my nose and a fracture in my cheek, but you know, a fist don’t normally do all of that at one time,” Redd explained, via PEOPLE. “So, it was safe to assume I was hit with something. The dude who hit me ran off. I was just sitting there, I fell down so fast I didn’t even know I fell until I looked at the footage.”
Redd was among the many Saturday Night Live stars who left the sketch comedy series before Season 48 began. He excelled at impressions on the show and shared an Emmy Award for the classic sketch “Come Back, Barack” with Kenan Thompson. He also released a comedy special, Why Am I Like This?, on HBO Max last month. During his interview with Bennington, Redd joked that no one knew anything about his special until his assault.
“Being a part of SNL has been the experience of a lifetime,” Redd said in September. “Five years ago, I walked into 30 Rock knowing that this was an amazing opportunity for growth. Now, with friends who have become family and memories I will cherish forever, I’m grateful to Lorne Michaels and to the entire SNL organization. From the bottom of my heart, I can’t thank you all enough.”
