In March of 2010, the New York Public Library hosted a tribute to George Carlin. One of the speakers asked to pay tribute to Carlin that night was Louis C.K., and for some reason video of that speech just recently surfaced on YouTube, and it is, as just about everything Louis C.K.-related, kind of great.
Specifically, C.K. talks about how he started doing standup right out of college and how for years he was a crap comedian stuck in a rut, doing the same act over and over for crowds who didn’t care about him or what he had to say.
“I was in a really bad place. I hated my act. I’d been doing the same hour of comedy for 15 years and it was sh*t, I promise you,” C.K. said. “And I was working places like Chinese restaurants … I’d do a show in a Chinese restaurant where they didn’t even know a show was going to happen.”
C.K. said that it was after doing a show in a Chinese restaurant in Boston that he listened to a CD of Carlin discussing the art of creating good stand-up comedy, and it inspired him to make some changes in his act that resulted in the genius we all know today. All jokes aside, the whole thing is actually pretty inspiring and in the last minute or so of the speech you get the feeling that C.K.’s doing everything he can to not break down and cry. I’ve never really been all that big of a fan of George Carlin, but if the man is partly responsible for giving us the Louis C.K. we all now know and love today, then I’m for putting the guy on Mt. Rushmore as a national treasure.
Seriously, watch this…it’s good.
(HT: The Daily What)