Who is Christopher LaVoie? Man behind ‘4 Days’ reality shows has history of run-ins with police, dubious business ventures and a $2 million lawsuit. We checked in with LaVoie who says he’s not a scam artist
By Rachel LeBourdais
Christopher LaVoie
He was the man behind the camera during four days of “4 Days” in the mid-1990s. He was also the man behind what many fans consider to be his most notorious moment.
A few years back, he became the subject of a class action lawsuit after a judge determined that LaVoie’s time on the series was “for profit.” But he insists he’s not a scam artist.
In his own words: “I’ve never been a scam artist. What I’ve done, I’ve gone to jail for. It’s not how I make a living.”
He was born Christopher George LaVoie in 1973 in Queens, New York. He moved with his mother to Long Island and enrolled in the Suffolk County School system.
In August, LaVoie says he started doing standup comedy, working regularly in clubs such as the Palace in Huntington and the Gotham Comedy Club.
He says he was doing this from the back of a cab and that his first public appearance was in 1993, at the U.S. Comedy Arts Association awards show.
He says he was offered some $250 to perform in the New York City area, including performances at the Comedy Works Theater in Manhattan. He thought he was going to do stand up and would perform three or four shows a week, six nights a week – if the shows were well attended.
But he was offered a higher commission (10 to 20 percent in exchange for performing stand up and doing the comedy).
He says he wanted to give back to the comedy community and did a one-month show as part of that.
“I did $150 per show,” he says. “You get $200 for one show. So I did 150 shows.”
He says he later wrote a check from his own pocket to the Comedy Works Theater but they refused to reimburse him. When he protested and asked for