Louis C.K.

Louis C.K.
Refer to caption
C.K. on Your Mom's House podcast in August 2022
Birth nameLouis Alfred Székely
Born (1967-09-12) September 12, 1967 (age 57)
Washington, D.C., U.S.
Medium
Nationality
Years active1984–present
Genres
Subject(s)
Spouse
Alix Bailey
​
​
(m. 1995; div. 2008)​
Children2
Websitelouisck.com

Louis Alfred Székely (/ˈluːi ˌseɪˈkeɪ/;[2] born September 12, 1967), known professionally as Louis C.K. (/ˈluːi ˌsiːˈkeɪ/),[a] is an American stand-up comedian, actor and filmmaker.[4][5] C.K. has won three Peabody Awards,[6] three Grammy Awards, six Primetime Emmy Awards,[7] and a Screen Actors Guild Award as well as numerous awards for The Chris Rock Show, Louie, and his stand-up specials Live at the Beacon Theater (2011) and Oh My God (2013).[8] In 2015, Rolling Stone ranked C.K.'s stand-up special Shameless number three on their "Divine Comedy: 25 Best Stand-Up Specials and Movies of All Time" list[9] and ranked him fourth on its 2017 list of the 50 best stand-up comics of all time.[10]

C.K. began his career in the 1990s writing for comedians including David Letterman, Conan O'Brien, Dana Carvey, Chris Rock, and Saturday Night Live.[11] He was also directing surreal short films and directed two features—Tomorrow Night (1998) and Pootie Tang (2001). In 2001, C.K. released his debut comedy album, Live in Houston, directly through his website and became among the first performers to offer direct-to-fan sales of tickets to his stand-up shows and DRM-free video concert downloads via his website.[12] He became prolific releasing nine comedy albums, often directing and editing his specials as well.[13] These specials include Shameless (2007), Chewed Up (2008), Hilarious (2010), and Oh My God (2013).

He gained prominence and widespread acclaim for his FX semi-autobiographical comedy-drama series Louie (2010–2015), which he created, directed and starred in. The series received numerous accolades with C.K. winning two Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series. In 2016, he created and starred in his self-funded web series Horace and Pete, and co-created the shows Baskets and Better Things for FX and voiced the protagonist Max in the animated film The Secret Life of Pets in the same year. During this time he also had supporting acting roles in films such as David O. Russell's American Hustle, Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine (both 2013), and the Hollywood blacklist drama Trumbo (2015).

In 2017, he admitted to several incidents of sexual misconduct following the release of an article in The New York Times. This resulted in widespread criticism and caused his 2017 film I Love You, Daddy to be pulled from distribution prior to its release. In 2018, he returned to stand-up comedy, and in 2019, he announced an international tour.[14][15] He has also released the specials Sincerely Louis CK (2020) and Sorry (2021) on his website, receiving a Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album for the former. C.K. also co-wrote and directed the film Fourth of July (2022).[16][17]

  1. ^ "Louis C.K." PBS. September 25, 2009. Archived from the original on March 11, 2011. Retrieved August 29, 2018.
  2. ^ Lais Jr., C.J. (August 18, 2006). "Louis C.K.: Home is where the angst is". The Times Union (Albany, New York). p. D1.
  3. ^ LaRue, William (June 11, 2006). "HBO's New Comedy: Swear Words and All: 'Lucky Louie' Feels Like a Good Bet for Its Producer from CNY". The Post-Standard (Syracuse, New York). p. H1.
  4. ^ Louis C.K.: Friday, 9/25. PBS. September 25, 2009. Event occurs at 07:41. Archived from the original on November 7, 2017. Retrieved November 9, 2017.
  5. ^ C.K., Louie; Rose, Lacey (April 8, 2015). "Louis C.K.'s Crabby, Epic Love Letter to NYC: "Everyone's Dealing with the Same S— … Elbow to Elbow"". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
  6. ^ "Louie (FX)". The Peabody Awards. Retrieved April 22, 2015.
  7. ^ "Louis C.K." Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Retrieved April 22, 2015.
  8. ^ "Louis C.K. – Awards". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved January 21, 2014.
  9. ^ Ciabattoni, Steve; Fear, David; Grierson, Tim; Love, Matthew; Murray, Noel; Tobias, Scott (July 29, 2015). "Divine Comedy: 25 Best Stand-up Specials and Movies". Rolling Stone. Retrieved September 30, 2015.
  10. ^ Love, Matthew (February 14, 2017). "50 Best Stand-Up Comics of All Time". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on December 11, 2017. Retrieved February 24, 2017.
  11. ^ "C.K. and 'SNL': Louie's 19-Year Backstory with the NBC Sketch Show". Vulture. October 22, 2012. Retrieved April 5, 2020.
  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference Slate-Hulu-CharlieRose-2014 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  13. ^ "Louis C.K. Reveals How to Write, Direct, Edit and Star in Every Episode of a Hit Show (and Not Go Crazy)". The Hollywood Report. May 13, 2014. Retrieved April 5, 2020.
  14. ^ "Protestors Turn Out for Louis C.K.'s First Publicized Comedy Cellar Set". IndieWire. October 30, 2018. Retrieved April 5, 2020.
  15. ^ "Louis C.K. announces new 14-city tour in email to fans". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved April 5, 2020.
  16. ^ "Louis C.K. Drops a Comeback Special". The New York Times. Retrieved April 4, 2020.
  17. ^ "Louis C.K. Drops Surprise Comedy Special on His Website". IndieWire. April 4, 2020. Retrieved April 5, 2020.


Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).