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HBO:
Tell us a little about your show (for) One Night Stand?
Louis CK:
Well, I talk about my family, my wife and my kid, and the difficulty of being a father. The hard part of being a father is not having a kid, it's being married to a mother. That's very difficult. I'm doing it, but it's hard. So I get to say how hard it is. It's f***ing really hard, man.
HBO:
That is absolutely true. So what was life like before you were a father and before you were doing comedy full time - what did you do?
Louis CK:
Well, a lot. I used to fix cars for a living. [SMACKS LIPS] And I used to sit around a lot and smoke a lot of marijuana. And I used to do other drugs and drink. I started right in high school, doing stand-up. So I had a lot of years, while I was not a good comedian, that I used to fix cars for a living. Then at night I would go to clubs and bomb every night.
HBO:
What do you think it was that got you to go onstage the first time?
Louis CK:
[SIGHS] F***, I don't know. I just always loved comedy and I really wanted to be good at it. And it was heartbreaking, 'cause I started and I wasn't good at it. I was only 17-years-old, so I had a lot to learn about life in general.
But I just kept on trying. I was young enough and stupid enough and I had no other choice. I had nothing else I was good at - I wasn't even good at fixing cars. I kind of sucked at that. That's really hard to be bad at. I was bad at it. And I knew I wasn't going to go to college. So the only alternative I had was to keep trying and trying. That was 20 years ago. I've been doing stand-up comedy for 20 years now, and nobody knows who I am. So this special is gonna change that, because I'm going to kill somebody onstage [HAND SLAP] and that's going to make the news. You'll know who I am after I murder some motherf***er right there in the first row.
[LAUGHTER]
HBO:
There must have been some comedian who you watched as a kid that gave you the idea to become one?
Louis CK:
Oh, yeah. Well, Richard Pryor's probably my favorite overall guy. But I was very inspired by Cosby when I was a little kid. When I was in third grade, I wanted to be a stand-up comedian 'cause I listened to Bill Cosby records --Why Is There Air? -- that my brother Russell played. And Steve Martin. When I was about nine years old, Steve Martin just blew my mind wide open. I loved his stuff. But Richard Pryor was the one who was always there as an inspiration to me. He's the guy I really wanted to be. I also liked Lenny Bruce later in life, and Woody Allen's stand-up album stands right up there. It's a classic. I've really studied it.
And once I started doing stand-up in Boston, it was really local Boston guys who inspired me: Lenny Clark, Steve Sweeny, Don Gavin and all these guys.
HBO:
Were you ever taken under somebody's wing and shown the ropes?
Louis CK:
There was a guy named D.J. Hazard who was just the weirdest comedian. He had this cult following, and he was really mysterious and interesting. I just worshipped the guy, and he took me under his wing. He used to let me do a set on his show every Thursday night at this place called Play It Again, Sam's. I would have to run the tech stuff for him and help him a little bit, and then he'd put me on the stage. I'd bomb every night, but he didn't mind. I was f***ing up his show, and he was like, 'just keep trying'. So I owe a lot to that guy.
HBO:
That's great. You do a lot of writing, or have done a lot of writing, for late night talk show hosts. Is it a different kind of challenge? And are you still doing it?
Louis CK:
Not anymore. I'm too old for that sh**. It's five nights a week when you do shows like that. I wrote for Conan, and that was great. Conan is a great guy and I really enjoyed that. It was a good experience. Letterman - kinda boring. Chris Rock was great 'cause it was HBO and it was only once a week. So that was a lot of fun. But I don't like knowing what's going on in the news. Every time I see the Michael Jackson crap and all that stuff, I'm so glad that I don't have the responsibility to turn that into comedy fodder. That's a rotten job.
HBO:
Yeah, I hadn't thought about that, that you're really a slave to the news when you're a writer on a talk show.
Louis CK:
Yeah, you gotta know everything. And you're like, Oh good, Martha Stewart's in jail. I don't care about those things, and I hate that America cares about them. I don't even think Americans care about it, but they're forced to listen to that sh** over and over again during the day on Extra and all those shows, and then at night on Letterman and Conan. Who cares? So I'm glad I'm out of that.
HBO:
So who are your favorite comedians these days? Who do you look around at?
Louis CK:
Dave Attell is a great comic. Mitch Headberg, who died recently, was one of the best joke writers I've ever seen. Great, great guy. And Chris Rock is sort of the standard bearer right now. I think he's sort of the pace car for the rest of us.
Who else that's out there? There's a guy named J.B. Smooth, who's probably the funniest guy I've ever seen. He makes me laugh harder than anybody. And there are some women out there, like Laura Kightlinger, who's a great comedian.
HBO:
Do you have any TV shows that you watch religiously?
Louis CK:
Not really. The Simpsons has been my favorite show since it went on the air. Nobody touches that show. I like watching baseball and The Simpsons and then some crappy things, like Project Runway. I liked that. But other than that, nothing.
HBO:
Do you listen to a lot of music?
Louis CK:
Yeah, when I can, I listen to all kinds of music. I like John Prine and country music sometimes, but then I'll listen to the soundtrack to Rocky. And there's a band called The Brian Jonestown Massacre that's about ten years old - I like them a lot. That's about it.
HBO:
It must be hard to go to see music when you're a dad and you're also working all the time.
Louis CK:
Oh yeah, I don't go out. Go see music? No. No. Download it and listen, that's about it.
HBO:
What about movies?
Louis CK:
No. If I have extra time I'm sleeping, that's what I'm doing. Sleeping and eating. And then the rest of it is sh** I have to do.
HBO:
What about for a show like One Night Stand - do you have any pre-show ritual?
Louis CK:
I just sit around. I try to contain myself and stay in one place, 'cause otherwise I'd go walking all over the place. But that's burning energy. I hate waiting. I want to get onstage, badly, especially at this f**king place, on this stage. I've been all over the country training for this show. I've been ready for this show for a while. I started in July of last year, and I've been in every city in America practically, Cincinnati, Peoria, Kansas City, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Anchorage, Fairbanks, Vancouver, San Francisco, Tempe, Arizona. Every city in Florida. I played, Jesus, Seattle and Boston and New York and L.A. So I've been all over the place canvassing and getting ready for this, refining the material. And now that I'm here I just want to get on stage. I hate staying in my room. I hate doing this - I hate all of it. I just want to get onstage. But what I've learned to do is contain that. I gotta go in my room and I'm going to want to walk around. [HAND SLAP] But I'm going to be miserable. It's already starting. I'm being rude to people. I'm not a nice person. And once I got offstage, it's a different story. It's like sex that way. Like, with my wife, we fight and we fight, and if she just kind of sits on me for five minutes, then for a month I'm the best guy in the world. I'm the nicest guy in the world. Somebody please explain that to her, how little it takes. And I'll wash her car. F***, she doesn't even have one but I'll buy one and I'll wash it for her.
HBO:
Great. This is her chance.
Louis CK:
Yeah.
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