How Louie C.K. Got a Pearl Necklace on Late Night
Louis C.K. used to write for the the Late Show when Conan was the host, and last night he was back as a guest with Seth Meyers. He talked about being a writer, letting Seth know that the writers, who are all in the twenties, hate him.
C.K. said when you’re a writer, you care about one thing and one thing only— getting your stuff on the show. Now, he said he realizes that when when someone hires you, and they pay you, you really should want to do what they need. But at the time, he didn’t believe that at all. One of the things you do when you’re a writer determined to getting your work on the show, is look for ways around the formal approval process, and one of the ways Louis found was through Conan’s announcer, Joel. “He would make a little joke before he said Conan’s name– like a little offside name,” Louis said, “So me and my friend Dino realized nobody checks those. You just write them and you hand them to the guy.” So one night Louis handed him a joke, and it got on the show. The joke was to say “Last night the missus gave me a pearl necklace.”
Of course the announcer didn’t get the joke. Even the head writer didn’t get the joke. And Louis didn’t get in trouble.
