CHAPTER 196

Days before, Louis sits at the back table of the Olive Tree, Noam’s Middle Eastern restaurant on MacDougal Street in Greenwich Village. The Comedy Cellar is in the basement downstairs. There are steps down to the Cellar from the street or from inside the Olive Tree. The back table of the Olive Tree is a kind of green room for the comedians at night. A sign on the table says,

This table is reserved for Comedy Cellar comedians only. Thank you.

Louis is at the table having lunch with Noam. Louis asked for a meeting. It’s the first time they’ve spoken in person since the story in the New York Times last year.

The author asks Noam about the meeting,

Noam: I don’t want to talk about the meeting, but no he was not angry, he was just clearly overwrought.

Author: Because of what was happening to you or the club or because of what his life was?

Noam: I just think I really don’t want this personal meeting between me and Louis being described in any way other than when I saw him it was clear to me that he had been through a lot, that’s it.