Louis C.K.’s Life Update: Art Projects, Two Novels, and Directing Comedian Pal’s New Netflix Special
Louis C.K. is back with an update on his life.
The comedian sent an email blast to fans on Tuesday afternoon, his first in nearly a year. “For those of you wondering what I’ve been doing: I’ve taken up sculpture (clay and stone) and drawing with charcoal. I’ve written a novel and I’m working on a second. That about wraps it up on me,” wrote the stand-up star, writer and filmmaker in the opening lines.
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He didn’t offer additional details about the books or art exercises. But he did dedicate the rest of the correspondence to Adrienne Iapalucci, whom he referred to as “truly one of my favorite comedians.” C.K. directed his pal’s new stand-up special, The Dark Queen, which premiered Tuesday on Netflix.
The move puts C.K. back in the Netflix fold seven years after he faced allegations of sexual misconduct detailed in a New York Times investigation. Multiple female comedians came forward with accounts that C.K. had exposed himself to them. Amid the #MeToo reckoning, C.K., who admitted to the conduct, faced career setbacks and was dropped by FX, Netflix, 3Arts and his publicity team.
In more recent years, he’s made a comeback by touring the globe and winning two Grammys for his comedy albums. He has also focused on his personal platform by communicating directly with his fans (like the email Tuesday) and self-distributing his work.
Filmmakers Caroline Suh and Cara Mones investigated C.K.’s trajectory in the Times-produced documentary Sorry/Not Sorry, which premiered at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival. It’s unclear if Iapalucci’s Dark Queen was acquired by Netflix as a finished film or if the streamer was involved in its development in collaboration with C.K. His previous specials, Hilarious, Live at the Comedy Store and 2017, are all streaming now on Netflix.
Back to the email. C.K. noted that he landed in inboxes to promote Iapalucci’s first stand-up special, which he directed last December. “You might remember Adrienne if you came to see me on tour in the past three years. And she opened for me at Madison Square Garden in January of 2023 as part of my Back to The Garden livestream special,” he explained. “Adrienne was astonishing on that show. I have heard far more people comment on how hilarious and unique and compelling she was than anything about myself. And for good reason. The crowd at The Garden loved Adrienne, who has had little to no notoriety, who is a humble-to-a-fault selfantrope, who has a granite-real genuinity and a sharp, guttural hysterically funny comedic voice.”
C.K. then detailed the creative process for taping the special, which went down at New York’s Comedy Cellar as part of a three-show outing on the same night. “The first show was horrible. I mean, it was one of the worst shows I’ve ever seen. It wasn’t a horrible performance, Adrienne was great. But something happened with that audience. They were NOT into it. The production team and I watched incredulously as Adrienne hung in there and did her very best for an entire hour of hostile silence. She stayed in her act, in her self, and she took incredible punishment. That first crowd never gave, never cracked. They left the room as miserably as they had entered it,” he explained.
She apparently spent the hour between the first two shows by steeling her resolve and coming back to nail the next one. “Adrienne met that second crowd with a determination that said, ‘I finally have a chance to do something this world has told me over and over again I’m not cool enough to do. And whoever you fucking people are, You are not taking this away from me,'” he wrote. “This gorgeous resolve, happily, joyfully, was met by a willing, giving, cheerful bunch of people who, like anyone who sees Adrienne’s true self, fell in love with her and enjoyed every single joke, story and observation she shared. She delivered a great fucking show. And it’s on Netflix now.”
He floats by the current divided political landscape by praising Iapalucci as someone who is not trying to “sway an election or perform a moral correctitude.” He added: “She is just fucking funny and she has only one point of view: You are all full of shit. And we are. I certainly am. And so are you. WE ARE ALL FULL OF SHIT. If there is one thing the human race is learning at a geometric rate, it’s that we kind of really suck. All of us. No one is better than anyone. We are all Byzantine Baboons, shitting into our hands and throwing it into each others sanctimonious faces.”
C.K. writes that he is “hugely encouraged” by Netflix having bought the special and commends them for it, especially as the special centers “an anti-algorythmic woman” from the Bronx. “I hope that you all remember to question what is being fed to you, into your screen in your palm, without your input. Work around the algorithm. Go looking for what it isn’t showing you, and share it with your friends. That is so much better than being shared with by a robot.”
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