Who's Managing Chris D'Elia?
Dropped by three powerhouse firms, the disgraced comic turned to a boutique provider.
When comedian and podcaster Chris D’Elia was accused in June 2020 of sexually harassing and grooming numerous underage girls, his representatives at CAA, WME, and 3 Arts dropped him within a week. His return to live performance last year, a return that began with spots at clubs around Los Angeles and has since evolved into a full-blown national tour, raises at least one obvious question. Who, if anyone, represents D'Elia now?
I’ll tell you. According to documents obtained via public records requests to some of the venues in D’Elia’s current tour, comedy promoter Icon Concerts is working with D’Elia in multiple capacities. On March 15th, Carolyn Gitomer—a Los Angeles-based producer and booker who works in the office of Icon’s president, Paul Meloche—contacted the Colorado Convention Center asking if it could hold several dates in its Bellco Theatre for D’Elia. She CC’d another Icon representative, Enrique Salazar, identifying him as both D’Elia’s manager and his tour manager. (These are different jobs.) Salazar then chimed in to ask if November 5th was available. It was; tickets are on sale now.
Documents I obtained from the Cheyenne Civic Center in Wyoming corroborate D’Elia’s relationship with Icon and Salazar. On March 23rd, Salazar emailed the theater himself: “I am working with Paul Meloche and Mike Bernal at Icon Concerts,” he wrote (clarifying a few emails later that he was inquiring on D’Elia’s behalf). “Can you send me avails for Cheyenne Civic Center For Sept-December please. Looking forward to hearing from you.” The show is set for November 6th.
Notably, Enrique Salazar is also the name of an executive at the Hollywood Laugh Factory, one of the first venues to welcome D’Elia back earlier this year. As of November 2021, he was the club’s Vice President of Development. It’s unclear from publicly available information whether these are the same person. Messages I left for him with the Laugh Factory went unreturned; when I posed the question to a marketing staffer at Icon Concerts, she told me Icon isn’t interested in commenting and hung up.
