In a world filled with political correctness, comedian Louis CK offers a refreshing and much-needed reality check. “I talk about my kids and about being a person – it’s really a random bunch of shit,” he said.
CK is a simple family man with good intentions. He doesn’t ask for much, but it is usually the little things that bother him.
With a Joe-the-Plumber attitude, he examines everyday dilemmas we all face. Often at the expense of his own image, the crude-tongued CK does not sugar coat anything.
The ridiculous situations of CK’s life reveal how pitiful human beings can sometimes be with their hypocritical social constructs.
In one stand-up act, CK considers the uselessness of constantly weighing himself. “Why do I need to know exactly how big of a piece of shit I am?” he asks.
Listening to his older brother’s Bill Cosby records in the third grade, CK already knew he wanted to be a stand-up comedian. Later, he would find inspiration in Richard Pryor and Steve Martin.
At 17, CK went on stage for the first time at a comedy club in Boston. His act only lasted two minutes, but he remembers it as a “terrible experience.” It wasn’t until two years later that he decided to give it another shot.
In the meantime, CK fixed cars for a living. He never went to college, and he felt comedy was his only chance at success. Taken under the wing of bizarre Boston comedian D.J. Hazard, CK began performing a weekly show in Betwixt. Night after night, CK bombed his act.
“Sometimes you have to do a show when you don’t really want to do a show, but you still have to do a great show,” he said.
Slowly, he began making a name for himself in Boston’s comedy scene, and CK eventually moved to New York City, where he finally found success as a stand-up comedian, actor, writer and director.
CK has since received four Emmy nominations and an Emmy Award for best writing in 1999. He has written for the Conan O’Brien Show and the Late Show with David Letterman. In 2001, CK wrote “Pootie Tang,” starring a character he created on the Chris Rock Show. CK also starred in and created HBO’s sitcom “Lucky Louie.”
He believes comedy has come a long way. “In the ’80s it was a hot fad thing to do, and then it crashed in the ’90s, which was cool because then only the people who really liked comedy came out,” he said.
He now has a loyal fan base of “comedy nerds, stoned people and young couples.”
“People say there are a lot of hot girls. I don’t ever see them; I guess they don’t ever stick around after the show,” he said.
CK is presently touring with all new material, promoting his 2008 hour-long special, called “Louis CK: Chewed Up.” “It’s just about being 41,” he said simply.
CK said his philosophy examines family life and the difficulty of being a father. “I just talk on stage; you get used to this rhythm. Sometimes you get a subtle feeling and you change the direction you’re going,” he said.
CK often goes on hysterical rants about his manipulative four year old, whom he feels was put on Earth for the sole purpose of torturing him with an endless cycle of unanswerable questions. Always the victim, CK skeptically speculates about what his newborn is really thinking, and he entertains the idea of creating all-consonant names for his children.
In one of his most fall-down-laughing acts, CK complains that his snotty daughter “sucks” at hide and seek. As a result, CK has to pretend that she is invisible, and the game somehow leads to a quarrel with his wife. “Now we’re having a fight about where to look for this fucking kid who’s standing right there,” he says.
CK believes the hardest part about being a father is not the kids, but “being married to a mother.” He said the secret to keeping a family together is not love, but the ability to say “fuck it.”
At times CK’s statements might seem a tad brutal, but at least he is honest (not to mention hilarious). CK does not only push the envelope of what’s acceptable to say; he provides a genuine, realist look at family politics and life in general.
[email protected]