june-2011

LOUIS, LOUIS From
left, a scene from
Louis C.K.'s defunct
HBO sitcom Lucky
Louie; proud father out
strolling with the kids;
and onstage and in his
element
48 JUNE 2011 • HEMISPHERESMAGAZINE.COM
THE HEMI Q&A: Louis C.K.
HERE’S THE FUNNIEST THING about Louis C.K., the scabrous
comedian who makes family life sound like a chamber of
horrors: He actually goes kind of gooey and sweet when he
talks about his kids—two daughters, 6 and 9.
Gooey and sweet aren’t a big part of his blockbuster
standup performances, but a dose of that sentiment has
trickled into Louie, his brilliant and at times disarmingly
tender show on FX, now in its second season. On the show,
which mixes standup and absurdist dramatic vigne es, he
riff s on the indignities and peculiarities of everyday life,
off ering a rolling interrogation of why things are the way
they are from the perspective of a comedian turned loving
single father. It’s the brainchild of a walking hyphenate and
control freak: C.K. writes, directs, produces, acts, edits and
supervises the show’s music.
The son of a Mexican father and an Irish mother, he
grew up in Mexico City and moved to the Boston area at 10.
A er a slow start in comedy, the onetime auto mechanic
moved to New York in 1989 and started working his way up.
Now, with two lauded standup specials, a couple of
feature fi lms, one short-lived HBO sitcom (Lucky Louie)
and a stint writing for the hugely infl uential Dana Carvey
Show under his belt, C.K. has become one of the biggest
comics in the land. In April, his concert fi lm Hilarious won
the prize for best standup special at Comedy Central’s
comedy awards.
When we talk over the phone, there is a lot of noise in
the background. A er a bit of prodding, C.K. admits that
he’s out in his neighborhood in Lower Manha an buying
scooters for his kids. What a so ie.
HEMISPHERES: I did standup three
times. The fi rst was a gimme: I
MC’d an event with a lot of funny
people. The second time I did a
decent 20 minutes and got some
laughs. The third time, I walked out,
died and never recovered. It was the
worst 20 minutes of my life, and I
never did it again.
C.K.: That span pre y much
describes the comedy experience.
I went through them all,
except that each one lasted
years. I’ve had a couple of years
where I wasn’t ge ing any
laughs. But there was a feeling
I got from hi ing the dirt that
hard, knowing that I was still
functioning and that my limbs
would regenerate. A er a while, I
was ready to try it again.
HEMISPHERES: It’s hard not to
panic, yet you never seem to, like
when things get a little quiet on
your Tonight Show appearances.
C.K.: What happens on the
Tonight Show is that Jay always
gives me the fi rst slot, even
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FROM LEFT, PHOTOGRAPHS BY RANDY TEPPER /HBO/EVERETT COLLECTION, BY SPLASH NEWS/NEWSCOM, BY BARRY BRECHEISEN/WIREIMAGE