“Saturday Night Live” alum Chris Redd spoke in detail to The Daily Beast about a violent attack that took place outside of the Comedy Cellar in New York City on Oct. 26. Redd was rushed to Bellevue Hospital after a 37-year-old man exited his vehicle and punched Redd in the face. The assailant fled the scene.
Redd told The Daily Beast he remains clueless as to why the man assaulted him, and he does not believe the incident was an attempted mugging.
“This man hit me in the face with something metal,” Redd said, noting that he was hit in the face as he was walking toward the doors of the Comedy Cellar. “I thought it was brass knuckles because of the way it cut my nose to the bone.”
Redd originally did not think the incident was that “terrifying” as he’s “taken a punch in the face before,” but he became concerned when he realized just “how much blood” was gushing from his face. Doctors at Bellevue Hospital treated the comedian for two fractures in his nose and another fracture in his cheek.
“A fist don’t normally do all of that at one time,” Redd said. “So it was safe to assume I was hit with something…But the dude just hit me and ran off. I fell down so fast. I didn’t even know I fell until I looked at the [surveillance] footage.”
Redd said his face was “gushing blood,” adding, “It wasn’t really about the pain at that point, it was just so much blood. [It wasn’t a good idea to] to chase him down the street with blood gushing out of my face.”
The “SNL” comedian was at the Comedy Cellar to perform a stand-up set. “If we could have stopped the bleeding, I would have went on stage,” he told The Daily Beast. “I was like, I can’t wait to talk about this shit. And I’m glad I waited, but that was my first thought.”
Redd said he already is planning some jokes to tell about the assault. The comedian left “SNL” at the end of the 2021-2022 season. He joined the NBC sketch comedy series in 2017 and won an Emmy for music and lyrics in 2018 for co-writing the “SNL” song “Come Back Barack.”
