Louis CK Hosting Benefit Standup Shows For Staten Island Storm Relief

Comedian Louis CK has announced a series of comedy shows to raise money for victims of Hurricane Sandy on Staten Island, New York City.

CK will hold the two shows at St. George’s Theater on Staten Island on Nov. 17, at 7 and 9 p.m.

As he has done for his latest tour and comedy specials, CK will sell the tickets exclusively at his website, LouisCK.net. The first block of 250 tickets will be auctioned off to the highest bidder, while the second block of 500 tickets will sell for $90. The final 500 will sell for only $45.

According to Silve.com, several guest performers are expected to make surprise appearances, with potential names including Leonardo DiCaprio and the 1980s hair metal act Twisted Sister.

CK moved to Manhattan in 1989 and has resided in the borough ever since. Much of his work is focused around his life as a New Yorker, including a moving scene in an episode of “Louie” where he recounts watching the fall of the Twin Towers from his balcony.

Last Saturday night, CK hosted “Saturday Night Live” for the first time. The episode focused strongly on post-Sandy New York City, and before the show went live, CK sent out a special email to his list focusing on the episode and on Sandy.

“And here we are in the middle of New York City, which was just slammed by a hurricane, leaving behind so much trouble, so much difficulty and trauma, which everyone here is still dealing with every day,” the email read.

“Last night we shot some pre-tape segments in Greenwich Village, which was pitch black dark for blocks and blocks, as it has been for a week now.  

“It's pretty impossible to describe walking through these city streets in total darkness. It can't even be called a trip through time, because as long as New York has lived, it's been lit. By electricity, gas lamps, candlelight, kerosene. But this was pitch black, street after street, corner round corner. And for me, the Village being the very place that made me into a comedian and a man, to walk through the heart of it and feel like, in a way, it was dead. I can't tell you how that felt. This is how a lot of the city is still. I know people in Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Island, New Jersey, all over, are not normal yet.  And not normal is hard.”