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“If Something is UNCOMFORTABLE, Go For IT!” – Louis C.K. – Top 10 Rules


I don’t think I can do this I think it’s
a great push for an artist this is gonna
be impossible if something is
uncomfortable in a place that makes
people uncomfortable
I want to go hey you got mad at me cuz I
said I introduced you and said he’s the
best comedian in the world hello bleep
nation its Evan my one word is believe
and I believe in people more than they
believe in themselves and my sincere
hope is that if you see in yourself what
I see in you you’ll be able to change
the planet so to help you on your
journey today we’re going to learn from
comedian actor and writer louis c.k and
my take on his top ten rules of success
volume two rule number seven is my
personal favorite and I’d love to know
which one that you guys like the best
also as you’re watching if you hear
something that really resonates with you
please leave it down in the comments
below and put quotes around it so other
people can be inspired by it as well and
if you leave it within the first couple
hours of this video going live you have
a chance to win one of two daily prizes
one finds oneself you know some
resistance an obstacle is always good
for art I think so it’s like if you have
a marble you know Michelangelo has this
big block of marble and he needs to dig
David out of there
right not only does he need to do you
know chip away just the right amount of
marble but he has to then you know find
this thing in there and then he has to
smooth that out make it perfect right if
they if David had if Michelangelo was
given a marble it just comes away
really would he have been better a
sculptor you know what I mean there’s
something about the having to navigate
the actual physical work of it or like
mental and emotional work yeah and just
being like I don’t think I can do this I
think it’s a great push for an artist
this is gonna be impossible when you
think about some a lot of the greatest
movies were made very much in the studio
system and they were made by people who
were faced with all kinds of fear and
myopia from their studios and they led
them out of it they they had I think
sometimes they can sharpen your vision
when you have to convince people but it
takes a while to make a comedian done it
yeah it takes a long long time I mean to
make a really thoroughly good you know
to a ripe baked ready for you know rated
they pull the bomb or whatever yeah yeah
ready to really actually look at from
all angles what does it take 90 yeah you
know it takes a stand alive through
living it and then being on stage know
an awful lot and not giving up that’s
all it’s just you know and being
prepared to fail oh yeah that’s really
the row the failures the road to being a
great comic I think so if you always
kind of back away from the tough things
and find easy routes you’ll do okay so
failure is what not being funny yeah
well not succeeding in the moment maybe
being funny but nobody got it or so
right if you don’t get a laugh or you
have a badge
or he’s starting to feel a little
uncomfortable there’s a comfort factor
that feels real good and it’s nice to
wear it once in a while but when you
stray off the road you know it’s like if
you’re on a vacation then you’re seeing
everything that was sort of laid out for
you where everybody else has been but if
you take a road off to the side and you
feel a little uncomfortable all of a
sudden you know what I mean there’s no
obvious tourist things and but you’re
seeing you’re learning an awful lot all
of a sudden but failure has been a
subject of viewers too I mean not just
yeah not just that they’ll you shapes
you but you talk about failure yeah it’s
a fascinating thing because most people
avoid it so if you can get to a place
where you kind of like it you know I
mean you like when you get out of it
then it’s its new territory can you tell
me about the edge in the edgy comedy
because you know you’re you’re really
cutting close to some some things within
the entertainment industry tell us a
little bit about you know why you wanted
to tell this story you know it’s just I
guess I’d like to go up to electric
fences and pee on them and Dhanam it I
just I find anything that’s I I guess
I’d have it that I have in stand-up and
in filmmaking or whatever is that if
something is uncomfortable in a place
that makes people uncomfortable
I want to go hate and they go uh you
know when I’m on stage and I start I
just raise a subject I always see people
go please don’t talk about this and I
just kind of go sorry it’s just just a
few ideas about it they go yeah but if
you can take people to that place and
then make them laugh and maybe
illuminate a few different points of
view in a circle and then they leave a
little less afraid of that area or a
little and also they just they’re a
little more confused I like I like to if
people feel like they know something
about something I think being if you go
from knowing to confused that means you
got educated that’s the way I feel
better I did lucky Louis which was an
HBO sitcom and HBO is great and they
kind of let you they they have they let
you do more things they let you do
things other people don’t
you do like curse and stuff but they do
have their taste and they do have their
you know and I had more of a committee
and I was also younger I wasn’t ready to
control what I did yet it wasn’t really
until I did Louie on an FX that I had
total control but I I don’t always look
at things like as is control I’ve look
at it as responsibility I like having
the responsibility and that’s why I like
to pay for stuff when I can and not even
have a financier because it’s I’m
responsible I don’t want to drag it I
have really sometimes what I think all
right some pretty bad ideas and I mean
bad meaning not likely to pay off right
and I don’t want to drag on anybody else
into it so it’s kind of I think it was
platoon maybe some movie where guys you
know they’re there they’re coming in
over the wire with war things yeah and
the guy wants to he it’s so bad that he
wants them to drop napalm on him and all
its soldiers right so that whatever the
colonel says like this is my just said
I’m is my call so I want to be able to
always be able to do that drop napalm on
yourself that’s right on myself another
self love is a good thing but
self-awareness is more important you
need to once in a while ago I’m kind of
an asshole you have to have that thought
once in a while or you’re a psychopath
you know like what you say to a friend
of yours
you’re being an asshole they’re like no
I’m not well it’s not up to you
if you’re an asshole or not that’s up to
everybody else you don’t get to say no
to that you’re an asshole
no I’m not oh sorry I thought okay I’m
glad I checked I guess you’re not if
somebody tells you you’re you’re an
asshole you should go wash alright what
happened how did I get here
it’s like somebody saying you know you
got some on your face no I don’t yeah
stand up is unlike any other art form in
that way that you you can do you like if
you’re a musician you’re gonna be pretty
exact every time you perform but but you
look back on shows and you go I messed
all that up that was I I had I was
driven by fear and instead of by I mean
I didn’t tell with fear more viscerally
at almost anyone I mean yeah the if you
feel the audience’s fear your own fear
the whole show is about quelling fear
when and and that’s what you’re talking
about when you have a bit that you
really are confident in and you know the
end of its really strong and the
audience feels your fear level go down
yeah and they relaxed and they go oh he
seems to be very confident in this one
yep how do you balance your life as a
father and your professional pursuits
well I put the kids first the kids are
there they get first crack at me and I
make work with what’s left of my time so
um divorce which really helps that it
does because I get I share custody of my
children I get them half the time
roughly half so it means there’s a clear
divide between my time with my kids not
so basically what I do is when I’m with
my kids I’d really put my time into the
minute it’s evolved over the years
because when I started doing that having
the kids half the time they were very
little one of them wasn’t even in school
so I didn’t work when I had the kids
ever but since they’re in school and now
even they can get home on their own it’s
crazy how much they can do by themselves
and don’t want I mean I’ve always asked
my daughter like maybe I come by at
school and walk you home no don’t do
that
not interested so I have more time now
to work when I’m with them but I don’t
do any production or and I certainly I
don’t go away I I mean I’ve just told
myself someday if I’m still doing this
when my kids grow up I’ll go do
something like go to Africa and make a
movie you know what I mean ever be in
another country but until they grow up I
just can’t I got to do something I can
do for half the week in New York when I
made Louie it was very expensive because
that was a series and I should have been
shooting five days like 12-hour days for
five days but that doesn’t fit my
parenting schedule so I shot three days
a week and the third day was like a half
day and the other days I made use of I
would add it or do pre-production yeah
but I we’ve made it work if you do if
you have to do it you’ll do it and look
I’m very lucky I got FX to agree to let
me do Louie but it’s not only luck I was
offered a lot of movie and TV parts and
TV writing jobs before Louie that I said
no to because he didn’t fit that
criteria and I just stayed on the road
and I stayed obscure for longer than I
probably would have until somebody said
you could do it any way you want so and
the kids putting my kids first led to
that discipline and it led to the best
job I ever ever had so and now everybody
just knows that I do that so it would be
absurd to most crews that were shooting
something with a crane and the million
extras or whatever and I go I got to go
because I got to make carrot sticks and
pick her up yeah yeah stage presents
comes pretty quickly depending on who
you are how to write jokes and how to
generate material and know what’s gonna
work that sort of comes you know first
ten years you’re building the skills
yeah the basic skills are white timing
delivery and timing and delivery and
material and material that works
generating the jokes because most
comedians you know you write your own
stuff you come up with your own thing
connecting with an audience and then
there’s all sorts of other things that
happen you know that your top your best
show keeps getting higher and higher
that’s the first thing
good you can do keeps increasing but
then the really important thing is how
bad your worst show starts coming up
that’s that I think that’s for any
performer you know yours we’re worse
show needs to come up close to the best
show so that even on your worst night of
your best show shouldn’t the the worst
show should be be much closer margin
should be like that yes right yeah so
yeah yeah how does that happen
well the experience is just experience
it’s just say you know there’s hardly
any situation that I that I haven’t seen
so you know when I feel an audience you
get an instinct for things once you get
really good at the skills and your
bottom comes up you’re able to go try
stuff that’s probably not gonna work and
that’s where you find that’s where you
get more that’s where you get better and
more interesting when you’re you know
the good comics do that in there when I
was like 19 or 20 I got to open for
Jerry at the Paradise in Boston this is
before you had your show it’s the first
time I opened for you big Club it was
like it was a rock club that they did
comedy with bigger acts right and I got
to open for you and you got mad at me
cuz I said I introduced you and said
he’s the best comedian in the world and
you did your set and it must have never
left your brain because the second you
got offstage you found me and said don’t
put pressure on a person like that you
don’t say that when you bring somebody
on stage it’s a stupid thing it must
have been the whole like you’re taking
that kid I know but Tom Papa did the
same thing to me about three months ago
yeah and I went right in the toy that
what a benefit you know it’s not it was
dope the audience just went oh really
I know over I was nineteen years old but
anyway so you could a December me but
anyway but then he invited me to a bunch
of shows with him so we did up some big
theatres and I had never done big
theaters and people applauded jokes in
big theaters so they did then they don’t
applause breaks for such an 80s thing
and so I would I’m opening for Jerry in
front of like twelve hundred or twenty
twenty-five hundred people and people
are applauding bits and I had never
encountered that I didn’t know how to
handle it
just standing there waiting for people
to stop laughting yeah and I do I bow or
do I say thank you so I asked Jerry what
to do and he said you stay in the bit
you stay in the bit that they’re
reacting to you don’t go hey people
people are plotting if you’re angry and
that’s why they’re applauding you stay
in that energy yeah or if you’re
perplexed you stay you keep in it by the
way at a length it keeps them excited
about it it keeps them and that changed
a lot for me it made me more about the
way I was already do that being as a
person I remember one time I was with a
friend of mine who lives in New York
also we went to pick up his cousin she
lives on a farm in New Hampshire her
whole life her family is this weird
family they kept her kids on the farm
anyway parents finally died so she got
to leave and so she came down to visit
her cousin my friend in the city and so
we picked her up at Port Authority bus
station she had never been to any city
before and we’re picking her up at the
Port Authority that’s smelly hole of a
place and we pick her up there and she’s
just freaking out
at New York she’s never seen anything
like it and we passed this homeless guy
and she sees him I mean we all passed
him but she saw him
she’s the only one who actually saw him
we didn’t mean there because we’re like
this so he’s supposed to be there so
it’s it’s a perfectly good reason why
that’s not me and that’s him is he all
the right people always win I’m sure of
it but so there he is and this dude was
particularly homeless he was one of
those high-octane homeless smelly just
his smell the unbelievable piss smell
just say he was pissed
he didn’t just smell like this he was
when you piss he comes out that’s when
that’s how much it’s this dude with
garbage all over I don’t know he
gathered it for warmth or folks just
went is all day
[Applause]
any inch red locks not hacky-sack
cool-guy medical marijuana dreadlocks
just human neglect twelve of hair
a clump of hair for every year that no
one knew his name or care yeah that’s
what you’ve been laughing at for the
last 10 minutes
that’s how bad it was and again me and
my friend were just like cool in his
cousin immediately just gets she’s like
oh my god she takes a knee that’s how I
mean I’m not even taking their real knee
now that’s how little I give it about
the guy he’s not even here and I’m still
like this
she goes oh my god sir are you okay what
happens what happens America happens
what do you mean what happened
so she’s down there sir can we call
someone and me and my friend were from
the art district race apart we
immediately got her oh no no no honey
don’t we start correcting her behavior
like she’s doing something wrong
she’s like why is he okay no no he needs
you desperately that’s not the point we
just don’t do that here silly country
girl
thank you guys so much for watching I
made this video because Arlington
guitarist asked me to if there’s someone
you like me to profile in their future
top ten please check out the link down
in the description below and you can
cast your vote on who we should do next
I also want to give a quick shout out to
don Robertson Don thank you so much for
picking up a copy of my book your one
word and posting that awesome picture
with the camping gear to Twitter I think
it’s great camping reading I hope you I
hope you had a fantastic camping trip
and learn some new things about yourself
and are applying some of the lessons
inside thank you thank you thank you so
much again for sharing I really
appreciate your support thank you guys
again for watching I believe in you I
hope you continue to believe in yourself
and whatever your one word is much love
I’ll see you soon
when I started I just I just devoured
comedy I went to clubs every night even
if I wasn’t I’d be on stage maybe twice
a week but I was at Club seven nights a
week I’d watch every comedian I could
good or bad friend or foe didn’t matter
I just watched and and just loaded it
into my system as well I’m the same way
about enter no I mean just wanna see how
they do it are they doing if you’re in
London watch everybody you can see right
are they doing it differently is there
is there a style that’s interesting yeah
because you’re in the end you have to be
yourself you have to find your own sense
but there’s always something to learn
about the approach that somebody maze
well whether it’s a baseball player
watch you another baseball player right
because the baseball player is watching
another player but he’s watching
baseball he’s watching this they’re all
doing the same game you know so the game
is so the same in stand-up that whatever
the comic is doing is not in a vacuum
you’re watching stand-up happen you’re
watching and how audiences are reacting
and the audience is such a mysterious
animal to us you know so you’re always
kept guessing there’s some nights you go
to a club and you’re like you know I
feel good I’m ready to do have a good
show but the audience has a strange
unanimous grumpy feeling to them or
something and how did the all these
people they’re all strangers to each
other
but they’ve they’re all see there we
hate this show like how is this
happening
oh yes I’m Colin spuds yes oh I’ll never
see enough shows to go OK I get this
yeah you know so it’s an in an
unquenchable thirst how important is it
to make things with people you generally
genuinely enjoy being around that’s
really it’s very important when you’ve
been doing this for a while there’s this
thing that I’ve had been in a lot of
meetings like casting meetings or
meetings where we’re trying to decide
who’s gonna take what role in it in a
project and you name all these terrific
talented people and there’s somebody in
the room always that goes life’s too
short
you know so you know Oh what about what
you know somebody award Academy Award
winner blah blah blah somebody who works
with those life’s too short
so as good as they might be we’re not
gonna spend a month with this person so
I mean I still have energy to spend time
with people if he’ll do good work I
really will
I’ve done
before I’ve done things with people that
are like we’re at wall-to-wall nightmare
yeah and I’m really proud of the work
that we did together and I would do it
again it’s fun it’s kind of like you
know an animal that you have to wrangle
yeah they just throw whoa hey and they
tear up you get a little scars but they
feel they heal that’s exactly it
that’s right the de-stress from working
with people heals and if they leave
behind good footage it was worth it I
mean we introduce to the world is
meaning white people because I really
think the white people are from the
Lincoln on the planet because we like we
came to America it was so nice it was
just Indians and there weren’t even
Indians we called them that by accident
like we do when a month but it was an
Indians
we never practiced
we came here they’re like hi we’re like
hey your Indians right and they’re like
no not the city right no it’s not at all
totally on the place you’re know ah here
it is
here and these for hundreds of years
after
we ruined everything here this was the
great it was just coast to coast green
brown and beautiful and and all the
humans were just walking around with
pinion faces just walking and they’d be
like oh that looks yummy and they just
eat from the ground and then they’d
sleep on the grass and they’d wake up
and they did and then they go for a swim
and do a little dance that was the whole
continent was just folks doing that I
mean there’s people in Mexico cutting
off kids heads and rolling down the
pyramid stairs I mean that’s that’s
gonna that’s always going on what are
you know you can
yes you can you can’t do a whole lot
about that but I think we came from
another planet and the reason is because
we don’t like it here
I mean why if we’re from here if we
belong on earth why aren’t we
comfortable on earth and all we’ve nice
smooth surfaces and right angles and we
need it to be cool and not just like why
wouldn’t when it’s hot why wouldn’t we
just yeah why wouldn’t we be like that
if we belong here and it’s weird because
people people that are whatever you call
the you know there’s environmentalists
and then there’s people who or whatever
they just are in hate environments but
that’s when people get angry
environmentalists because they think
it’s very slowing down the economy and
creating restrictions and a lot of these
people are Christian a lot of these
people are very devout Christians and
that’s such a confusing thing to me that
if you believe that God gave you the
earth that God created the earth for you
why would you not be has to look after
it why would you not think that when he
came back he wouldn’t go what did you do
Brown what is she
the polar bears
did you scroll over every poll what is
who did it who spilled this who’s felt
this come over he did you know this what
is that is the oil it’s just some oil I
didn’t mean this why did you take
because they wouldn’t go faster fast
enough and I was cold Wilkinson what is
the job what is explaining me what’s up
John you will go like you work at a
place and when people call when their
game doesn’t work and you help them
figure it out what do you do for money
[Music]
we rather make some bread were you doing
yeah but it doesn’t it doesn’t have like
bacon around it and like make a bacon on
it
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