Former ‘Saturday Night Live’ star Chris Redd was punched in the face outside a famous New York comedy club and hospitalized in what police described as an unprovoked attack.
The attack happened just after 9:30 p.m. Wednesday night outside the Comedy Cellar, where Redd was scheduled to perform that night, in the 100 block of MacDougal Street in Manhattan, according to the New York Police Department.
Redd, 37, had just exited a vehicle outside the club when an unidentified man approached and punched him, police said.
Authorities said the individual attacked the comedian “without prior conversation or provocation.”
The assailant fled after hitting the victim and Redd was found by officers who responded with a laceration to the face.
Emergency services responded to the scene and took the victim to NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue, where he was treated and released.
NBC News has reached out to representatives for the comedian for comment.
Surveillance video of a nearby restaurant obtained by NBC New York shows Redd seemingly walking towards the club when suddenly an unseen person punches him and throws him to the ground.
Fabrizio Cavallacci, the owner of Caffe Reggio, which is next to the comedy club and whose cameras recorded the attack, said there was a “huge pool of blood” on the floor.
“That poor guy was bleeding. The director was trying to stop the bleeding,” he told the station.
Comedy Cellar owner Noam Dworman told NBC New York that they are “deeply upset by what happened and we hope he is okay. We want him back as soon as possible.
He called Redd a member of the club’s family.
“Day to day, we hear stories that are senseless, disturbing and violent incidents,” Dworman said.
Redd, cast member of “Saturday Night Live” for five seasons, announced in September he would not return for the 48th season in the fall.
CORRECTION (October 28, 2022, 2:25 p.m. ET): A previous version of this article misspelled the name of a business neighboring a comedy club. It’s Caffe Reggio, not Café Reggio.
