Louis C.K. Shares the Good and Bad of Doing Comedy in Arenas
Louis CK has been breaking records, selling out four nights at Madison Square Garden. Last night David Letterman asked Louis CK a good question– how do you create an atmosphere that’s good for comedy, when you’re playing an arena. Louis said it can be unnerving. “If you go see a concert like a rock band, everybody’s going wooooo, but that’s not really appropriate during comedy because you’re supposed to just listen, politely,” C.K. said. “So it is a weird feeling that there’s 15,000 people and they’re just sitting there listening.”
Now that he’s done this a few times, Louis has a few thoughts on the experience. First, it feels great making them all laugh at once. But then there’s the downside– there’s at least 1,000 people who are disappointed, and for some reason he can always spot each and every unhappy person in the crowd.
Louis says its simple math- the more people you reach and the more people that see you the more people that are going to think you suck. That’s just a law of Mathematics. Why do they come? According to C.K., “they’re just miserable pricks.”
Louie and Dave also talked about the legend of The Comedy Store, where Louis recently taped his new special. Louis talked about having to audition at The Store, even after he was already famous and had already been on Letterman. It didn’t go well. World famous owner of The Store, Mitzi Shore didn’t like him, giving him “the light” after only a few seconds. Guess it all worked out though, CK will be releasing his special, taped in The Main Room at the Store, soon.
