Louis C.K. is all 'Chewed Up'

Louis C.K. (Credit: Randy Tepper)

Some may call it presumptuous for a comic to title his or her latest stand-up tour "Hilarious." However, in the case of Emmy-winning writer, funnyman and filmmaker Louis C.K., the billing is wholly appropriate.

A former writer for programs such as "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" and "The Chris Rock Show," the latter of which won him an Emmy in 1999, Louis C.K. will be bringing his "Hilarious" tour to Red Bank's Count Basie Theatre on Friday (Feb. 20).

The comic, who released his latest special, "Chewed Up," on CD and DVD last December, revealed what audiences can expect from "Hilarious."

"I still talk about having kids," he said. "Now, I'm actually divorced, and we share custody of our kids, so I have my kids by myself for half of every week. I'm not one of those dads (who) does visits with his kids: I have them for half the week, I take them to school every day and do their homework with them, so that's a whole other level of parenthood that I'm experiencing. My kids are older and they're real people, so I have a totally different relationship with them, so it's changed in that sense.

"But I also talk a lot about the world right now and how it's changing and the low quality of human beings and a little bit of nostalgia and stuff like that, and there's still some self-hate in there that I always have in these specials, too."

The comic recently spoke with Metromix Jersey Shore.

To start off, let's talk a bit about "Chewed Up." You spend the first part of the special talking about the words that can and can't be said these days. As someone who's been in stand-up for about 20 years now, how do you think sensitivities have changed over time?
Well, I tend to think of everything as cyclical. I think people go through times where things get really conservative and people get really worried about what they're saying, and then it just kind of goes away because everyone realizes that it's not that big of a deal, you know what I mean?

And it's funny because it comes from both sides. We have a right wing wave of censorship occasionally and then a left wing. You know the (parental advisory) album cover stickers? That was Al Gore's wife; that was Tipper Gore (who) did that. That's why I didn't vote for Al Gore -- actually, I did.

So, that stuff comes and goes. It's hard to say whether it's different now than when I was younger because it's gone up and down and around the cycle a few times.

Yeah. Another thing I noticed about "Chewed Up" was it was the first special you edited yourself. You do have a background in film, but what was it like being in the editing room with footage of yourself, getting to pace the special in the cutting of it?
Well, it was fun to cut that myself. It's frustrating -- I've been there for the editing of every special I've done, but I've been over somebody's shoulder trying to explain what I want, and it's a little frustrating and it just takes a little longer. I know how to run those machines. I'm pretty technically adept, so it was just easier to just be by myself and just run it. Looking at your own face talking for like 10 days is pretty horrible; you get pretty tired of your own s---, you know?

Another thing I've wanted to ask you about is your time on "The Dana Carvey Show." You were the head writer on that staff, which also included Stephen Colbert, Steve Carell and Charlie Kaufman. What was it like to have all your personalities in the same room?
Well, at the time it wasn't like Charlie's sitting there with his Oscar and Stephen with his own show; everybody was just a young upstart and we were all just getting to know each other and it was a really great group. It was a weird group; it was strangely thrown together.

Steve Carell and Colbert, we called them "the Steves," and they started to emerge as a team because they both kind of came out of a Chicago-y scene, and Charlie was kind of an odd fit because he had very strange sketches, and it was kind of a battle on that show between stuff that was really odd and stuff that was coming down the pike. I mean, in the end Dana was an impressionist doing Ross Perot and whoever. ... I don't remember much about "The Dana Carvey Show," to tell you the truth.

Something else I wanted to ask you about is, are you still into boxing?
Yes, I am. I'm in terrible shape right now, but I have my next special lined up, I'm shooting in March, so now that the date is set that means in my mind the fight is set, I'm gonna get back in the gym this week and start kicking ass again.

Can you tell me a bit about why you decided to get into boxing? What, if any, connection do you think that has to do with getting ready for the stage?
Well, a comedy tour takes a huge amount of stamina, being on tour all year and having every show be a high-caliber show, a show that is emulating and developing into the next (special). The only thing that keeps you from doing what I'm doing, which is doing a different hour of comedy every year and doing a different special every year, is that you give up because you get tired.

Physical stamina is a huge part of mental drive and even creativity, and there just isn't a better workout than boxing. I used to run a lot, but it f---- with your legs and all kinds of things. With boxing actually, you don't get injured much, weirdly. You build very evenly your body and it takes you to these limits where you really want to throw up and it's really, really hard.

The idea with boxing is to train you to the point where you can be in a boxing ring, which is the highest stress and the highest output of energy that you can ever have, if you can get through some rounds of that without giving up. To get to that point you have to really, really train. So, to get to that level, as a stand-up I just think it's good for you.

And also, for the special I like to be on the balls of my feet, I like to move around and even if I'm sort of standing there (I like to) be just present and in good shape. I don't care how I look -- I could care less, but I really enjoy (boxing), too. It's a kind of working out that I can do without giving up on it. I like running, but I do get bored of it, and like I said, it can f--- with my legs. I cannot run on the treadmill, I can't do it, I go crazy, and all these other futile gym things, I can't take. When I'm in a yoga pose and they're playing that bulls--- music, I want to kill somebody. But, I really enjoy learning how to box, so that kind of keeps me going.