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Videos: Louis CK's Short Films From The 1990s
By
Jen Carlson
Published Apr 19, 2013
Modified Apr 19, 2013
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Apr 19, 2013
Modified Apr 19, 2013
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We could probably all use a little Louis CK right now, because, this fucking week. These shorts were written and directed by the comedian in the 1990s, and show glimpses of what we see in his current show, Louie, with plenty of both brutal and humorous moments, and the perfect amount of awkwardness hanging in the air. Also: realness. This film was at Sundance, the MOMA New Directors New Films fest in 1994, and won the grand prize at the Aspen short fest—it also aired on IFC:
In an interview in 2010, Louis CK spoke about the above short, "Ice Cream," saying:
"It was so different then, because I shot those on 16 mm film, like with real film crews, and they cost more than they do now to make those things. But at the time there wasn’t an Internet, and there wasn’t... When I made that thing, you had to actually write to a film festival. Like you had to go to the library and get a book that has all the film festival addresses in it. You had to write to film festivals and say, 'Can you please send me an application.' And all these film festivals would send you applications and then you make VHS copies of all your stuff, of your film, and send it in and hope you get in. That’s what I did with 'Ice Cream.' I got into Sundance, I got really lucky. It was like the biggest deal of my life when I got that. Ice Cream started getting known... 'Ice Cream' ended up being what got me the Conan show job."
And this subway intro looks familiar:
There are a lot more on his YouTube page, and if you need some vintage CK laughs check out this video from a Caroline's set he did in the 1990s. And for something more modern you can still watch his new special on HBO, and who knows, maybe he'll send out one of his emails today to, you know, comfort us with a curse-laden message sharing our confusion on the terrible things that happen in this world sometimes. [via Open Culture, and Splitsider has more on the history of shorts]
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1990s
louis c.k.
short films
Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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