BY MICHAEL GOODPASTER
(FOUR) POOTIE TANG
Louie’s history working with Chris Rock pretty much peaked with Pootie Tang. The long time Chris Rock Show sketch was turned into a movie in 2000. Little do most know that the movie was actually written and directed by Louis C.K. In a lot of circles this would be something to mock, but this movie is a cult classic and horribly awesome for all the right reasons.
(THREE) STAND UP
In 1984 a young Louis Szekely(his slave name) finally gained the courage to get on stage at an open mic. He went up there with a 5 minute slot but all he has was 2 minutes material. Needless to say, he bombed. He avoided the stage for two years before getting the balls to try again. He moved up the ladder from there. He gradually got into paid gigs, hosted clubs, and then moved to New York and blew up. He’d land spots on Letterman Conan, Lopez, Leno, and Kimmel. Along with that have had specials on both HBO and Showtime, a “Comedy Central Presents”, and a million more TV gigs.
(TWO) EMMY WINNING WRITER
Louis worked as a writer on a lot of TV shows before going off on his own. His resume includes Late Show with David Letterman, Lane Night with Conan O’Brien, The Dana Carvey Show, and the Chris Rock Show. His contributions on Chris Rock got him three Emmy nominations and one victory in 99 for Best Writing in a Variety or Comedy Series. He also had a nomination for his work on Conan and his own 2008 special “Chewed Up”. Lots of almost, but only one win. That’s still something very awesome to hang your hat on.
(ONE) JUST LIKE COSBY
In his time Bill Cosby had The Cosby Show, which rocked and was one of the most beloved television shows of all time. After that he had another show, which sucked and was one of the most shrug-worthy shows of all time. He named that show Cosby. Louis C.K. is another comedian who has had two separate sitcoms on TV with his name in the title. In 2006 HBO ran one season of “Lucky Louie”. It was a great vulgar little show that I wish had a chance to grow. It didn’t and we move on. In 2010, FX started airing a show simple called “Louie”. It’s a great show that ties in his stand up life with his “my kid says stupid things so I overanalyze and put a dick twist on it” routine. I say that and it sounds snarky, but the man is gold at this… Just like Cosby!
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