For family man Louis CK, Valentine's Day will be spent dwelling on the thorns.
In place of dinner reservations and ros?(c) sweaters, the comedian will be venting his frustrations to a Buffalo crowd at the Center for the Arts Thursday night, with his new stand-up routine Chewed Up.
After co-creating and starring in Lucky Louie, the first live studio audience sitcom to graze HBO, CK upheld his status as a gut-busting comic with his DVD special, Shameless, in 2007.
Known for his cordial crankiness and vulgar storytelling, the NYC Emmy Award winning performer talked with The Spectrum about walking the line of a 40-year-old father and his upcoming trip to UB.
Spectrum: How are you feeling about Valentine's Day in Buffalo?
Louis CK: "You know, I might as well spend it anywhere; it's always been a vague holiday for me. And I've been married now for a lot of years and I've got some kids so we don't go in for that kind of thing very much. So I'm happy to spend it with it with a bunch of happy couples, or whoever's coming."
S: What's your wife's take on it?
LCK: "She'll be in New York. She'll be with the kids, she ain't gonna come with me for sure. You know once you have kids, Valentine's Day of all things, is actually more for the kids. They make you little cards and it's nice."
S: Are you fond of the city?
LCK: "I remember liking it actually. It was cold the last time there too. I don't remember what section I was walking through but I remember liking it. I've never been there in a warm season and I know McKinley was shot there, but I don't blame that on anybody who is still there."
S: Will any jokes be making their stage debut V-day night?
LCK: "A lot. But you have to come to the show to hear them. All of the material I'll be doing in Buffalo is new. Anything you've seen on Shameless, anything I've done before has been retired and this is all new material."
S: Who in your family do you get that red hair from, and how long have you had that go-tee of yours?
LCK: "Both of my grandfathers had red hair, one was Irish and one was Hungarian. I think I've had the go-tee since '95 maybe, so thirteen years approximately."
S: Do you consider yourself a moustache enthusiast?
LCK: "No. I don't even know what that would mean, but I certainly wouldn't call myself that, no."
S: Your co-star from Lucky Louie, Jim Norton, came through UB last semester. How close of friends are you guys?
LCK: "Really great buddies, he's my pal, he's a great guy. We were on the radio together this morning with Opie and Anthony; I do that show quite a bit so I always see him when I do that. We were friends before that show (Lucky Louie) and that show made us better friends."
S: Comedians like Norton, Opie and Anthony: are they as awesome and cynical off the air as they are on the show?
LCK: "They're kind of regular guys off the air, you know? Yeah, they're just sort of normal people."
S: What about your own frustration-fueled stand up act? How much is true to life?
LCK: "Everything I say onstage I relate to and everything I say onstage comes from a real place. Sometimes I don't tell the truth about what happens (laughs) I'll change details of a story because that's just part of writing. That's the liberty I'm allowed to take. I can lie- who cares? But the way I feel about stuff, what I talk about and say is usually pretty honest. It's a distilled honesty. There's a lot of nice feelings I have about being a dad, but those aren't funny. So I just leave those out."
S: You rip on your family so much. Do you ever fear that when your kids grow up, they're going to watch some old footage and be a little hurt?
LCK: "I'm pretty ready for that conversation. If I was lying, if I was pretending to be frustrated and sleepless, that would be one thing. But I think I can defend these words to my daughter when she grows up. She knows me. If I was a sh**ty father, I'd say I have something to worry about. But I'm a pretty good dad (laughs), so I think she'll know. I don't think it will suddenly crush her world. I'm sure I was a pain in my parents' ass- and who knows what they said about me? They just didn't have microphone."
Tickets to tomorrow night's show are $28.50 for the public, $25 for students, available at the CFA box office. The show starts at 8 p.m.
