After Jerusalem tickets snatched up, Louis C.K. adds a show

Comedian Louis C.K. on Tuesday added a second performance in Jerusalem this summer after tickets to his first performance sold out within hours on Monday night.

The second performance will be held on the same day as the first, August 18, and at the same venue, the Pais Arena.

Tickets to the first show, ranging in price from NIS 280 ($73) to NIS 730 ($191), went on sale at 6 p.m. Monday, but a rush by fans caused the site to crash. An apology was posted on a Facebook page set up for the Israel shows in which organizers explained the problem.

“Despite the expectation and the increased preparations with the ticket selling site in advance, we discovered that the number of ticket buyers surpassed all expectations, and the site crashed,” organizers wrote.

After ticketing was moved to another website, 9,000 seats were quickly snapped up, prompting organizers to schedule the second show. Tickets were scheduled to go on sale at 7 p.m. Tuesday evening.

C.K. sent out an email to his fan list about the ticketing problems.

“I heard that the site in Israel crashed and nobody can get tickets. Please be patient as we work on this,” he wrote.

The provocative comedian is known for not shying away from any subject, be it sex, religion, pedophilia, politics, incest and other controversial topics. He writes, directs, edits, and produces the acclaimed semi-autobiographical comedy drama show “Louie,” which has run for five seasons with a sixth expected. He was a writer for comedian Conan O’Brien and “The Chris Rock Show” (for which he won an Emmy as part of the writing team).

In April, C.K. told radio shock jock Howard Stern that he would come to Israel to perform in a large venue such as a soccer stadium to “get as much money over there as I would here at home.” According to several recent news pieces about the comedian, he’s broke because “Horace and Pete,” his self-financed TV show, distributed on his own website, has not earned what he expected.

C.K. told Stern that his plan was to spend two million dollars of his own money on the first four episodes before financing the remaining six with profits made from the first episodes.

C.K.’s shows in Jerusalem are a big deal for the municipality, which built the Payis Arena at a cost of $111 million to bring big-name acts to the capital.

The arena has 11,600 seats, as well as 18 seating galleries and 16 executive boxes, and is “the most advanced, state-of-the-art venue of its kind in the Middle East,” Mayor Nir Barkat said when it opened.

Jessica Steinberg contributed to this report.