What’s The Deal With Louis CK?
The answer really isn’t complicated
I worked for a late-night television comedy show many years ago where Louis CK was a frequent, and beloved, guest. My job was on the show’s website. To people who work in television, the internet is like a horribly deformed sibling who lives under the stairs.
There were whispers that Louis CK wasn’t who he was on-air but I ignored the rumors because the politics of a late-night comedy show are courtly. The host is a king or queen, of sorts, and their subjects spend their days sucking up and nights talking shit.
I have a managerial theory that the amount of gossip in an organization is directly connected to how much work is, or isn’t, being done. Busy people don’t chatter so much. That comedy show was stressful at times but for the most part cushy so there was plenty of gossiping. My policy in such situations is to listen to all of it and none of it at the same time.
Whenever Louis was on, however, I knew that traffic would be strong. He was one of the very few celebrities that I knew would drive clicks. At the time, his weary, enlightened, vaguely feminist everyman routine was very popular. He’d come on, make jokes about parenthood or, you know, what’s the deal with smartphones? He spoke from the heart about his insecurities as a man. He was a benevolent…
