American stand-up comedian, actor, writer and filmmaker Louis C.K. began his career performing stand-up while simultaneously making short films. When he was 17, he directed a comedic short film titled Trash Day (1984). His third short film, Ice Cream, won the grand prize at the Aspen Shortsfest in 1993. In the same year, he began writing for Late Night with Conan O'Brien before leaving the next year. His next writing job was on Late Show with David Letterman in 1995, and directed a series of shorts for Howie Mandel's Sunny Skies on television, followed by acting as head writer for The Dana Carvey Show (1997) and a writer on The Chris Rock Show (1997–1999). He voiced a fictional version of himself on four episodes of Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist from 1996 to 2002. He directed his first feature, Tomorrow Night, in 1998, which failed to attract any distributors and was later re-released by C.K. on his website in 2014.
In the early 2000s, he continued to collaborate with actor-comedian Chris Rock. They co-wrote Down to Earth in 2001 and C.K. wrote and directed Pootie Tang (which C.K. was fired from during editing) later that year – both featured Rock in acting roles. In 2002, he voiced Brendon Small's estranged father, Andrew Small, in Home Movies. His first leading role was the one-season HBO sitcom Lucky Louie, which he also wrote, in 2006. He worked again with Rock as a writer again with the comedy I Think I Love My Wife (2007). After performing stand-up on several television shows from the late 1980s, he released his first stand-up special, Shameless, in 2007. In 2008, he wrote, performed in, directed, executive produced, and edited Chewed Up, and acted in Diminished Capacity, Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins, and Role Models (all 2008). His next film role was in The Invention of Lying (2009).
Since 2010, C.K. has starred in, written, directed, edited, and produced the comedy-drama series Louie on FX. He stars as a fictionalized version of himself, a divorced father and comedian. The series has garnered critical acclaim and has won numerous awards. In 2010, his stand-up film Hilarious premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. His next special was Live at the Beacon Theater (2011). He first hosted Saturday Night Live in November 2012, and subsequently hosted it on three more occasions in 2014, 2015, and 2017. He played a love interest in Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine and an FBI agent's boss in David O. Russell's American Hustle (2013). C.K.'s next specials were Oh My God (2013) and Live at the Comedy Store (2015). He co-created, co-writes and executive produces FX's Baskets and wrote, directed, produced, and co-starred in the comedy-drama series Horace and Pete, which was released unexpectedly to his website in 2016. He played the lead voice role in The Secret Life of Pets in the same year.
In 2017 Ck directed, produced, edited, and starred in the unreleased seriocomic film I Love You, Daddy.
For his work performing stand-up, writing, acting, directing, producing and editing, C.K. has received several awards and nominations. Among them are 39 Emmy Award nominations, with six wins. +Key Denotes works that have not yet been released
Film Year Title Director Writer Producer Editor Actor Role Notes 1984 Trash Day Short film 1990 Caesar's Salad Short film 1993 Ice Cream Flower Vendor Short film 1995 The Legend of Willie Brown Short film 1995 The Letter V Short film 1995 Highjacker Short film 1995 Hello There Man on Street / Voice on Tape Short film 1995 Brunch Short film 1995 Guess Which Person is Crazy Short film 1996 Searching for Nixon Man in Richard Nixon Mask Short film 1998 Tomorrow Night Man squirting people with hose 1999 Persona Ne'll Aqua Short film 2000 Ugly Revenge Narrator Short film 2000 Tuna Clint 2001 Short Films by Louis C.K. Various Short film DVD collection 2001 Down to Earth Co-wrote with Chris Rock, Lance Crouther, and Ali LeRoi 2001 Pootie Tang 2005 London Therapist 2007 I Think I Love My Wife Co-wrote with Chris Rock 2008 Diminished Capacity Stan 2008 Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins Marty 2008 Role Models Security Guard 2009 The Invention of Lying Greg Kleinschmidt2010Hilarious Himself Stand-up special; limited theatrical release 2013 Blue Jasmine Al Munsinger 2013 American Hustle Stoddard Thorsen 2014 The Angriest Man in Brooklyn Dr. Fielding 2015 Trumbo Arlen Hird 2016 The Secret Life of Pets Max (voice) 2017 I Love You, Daddy Glen Topher Co-wrote the film's story with Vernon Chatman 2022 Fourth of July Therapist Co-wrote with Joe List
Television Year Title Creator Director Writer Producer Editor Actor Role Notes 1993–94 Late Night with Conan O'Brien Various 291 episodes 1995 Late Show with David Letterman 11 episodes 1995 Saturday Night Live Escaped Prisoner Episode: "Season 21 Episode 02" 1995 Howie Mandel's Sunny Skies Various characters 1996 The Dana Carvey Show Various characters 8 episodes 1996 HBO Comedy Half-Hour Himself Stand-up special 1996–2002 Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist Louis Voice; 4 episodes 1997 Oddville, MTV David Cross 1 episode 1997–99 The Chris Rock Show Various characters 28 episodes 1997–2007 Saturday Night Live "Saturday TV Funhouse" segments 1999 Louis C.K.'s Filthy Stupid Talent Show Himself Television special 2000 ShortCuts Host 10 episodes 2001 Comedy Central Presents Himself Stand-up special 2002 Home Movies Andrew Small Voice; 5 episodes 2002–03 Cedric the Entertainer Presents 16 episodes 2005 One Night Stand Himself Stand-up special 2006 Lucky Louie Louie 13 episodes 2007 Shameless Himself Stand-up special 2008 Chewed Up Himself Stand-up special 2009–12 Parks and Recreation Dave Sanderson 6 episodes 2010–15 Louie Louie C.K. 61 episodes 2011 Talking Funny Himself Television special, HBO 2012–17 Saturday Night Live Host 4 episodes 2013 Oh My God Himself Stand-up special2014 Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee HimselfEpisode: Comedy, Sex, and the Blue Numbers2015 Saturday Night Live 40th Anniversary SpecialHimselfTV special 2015–16 Gravity Falls The Horrifying Sweaty One-Armed Monstrosity Voice; 2 episodes 2015–17 One Mississippi 2016 Portlandia Himself Episode: "Family Emergency" 2016–17 Baskets 2016–22 Better Things 2017 Family Guy Himself (voice) Episode: "Emmy-Winning Episode"2017Louis C.K.: 2017 Himself Stand-up special2020The Comedy Store Himself
Standup specials Year Title Notes 1996 HBO Comedy Half-Hour HBO 2001 Comedy Central Presents Comedy Central 2001 Live in Houston louisck.com 2003 Just for Laughs JFL 2005 One Night Stand HBO 2007 Shameless HBO/louisck.com 2008 Chewed Up Showtime/Image Entertainment/louisck.com 2010 Hilarious Epix/Comedy Central/louisck.com 2011 Live at the Beacon Theater louisck.com/FX 2012 Word: Live at Carnegie Hall louisck.com 2013 Just for Laughs JFL 2013 Oh My God HBO/louisck.com 2015 Live at the Comedy Store louisck.com/FX 2015 Live at Madison Square Garden louisck.com 2017 2017 Netflix/louisck.com 2020 Sincerely Louis CK louisck.com 2021 Sorry louisck.com 2023Back to the Garden louisck.com 2023Louis C.K. at The Dolby louisck.com 2026Ridiculous Netflix
Web releases Year Title Director Writer Producer Editor Actor Role Notes Ref. 2006 Jimmy Carter builds a house Jimmy Carter Video short 2007 Louis C.K. learns about the Catholic Church Himself Video short 2007 Louis C.K. and a child Himself Video short 2007 Louis C.K. animation short Himself (voice) Video short 2007 Louis C.K. airline safety video Video short 2008 I Say the Darndest Things to Kids Himself Video short 2009 Louis C.K.’s Last Chance Himself Video short 2011 Live at the Beacon Theater Himself Stand-up special 2012 Word: Live at Carnegie Hall Himself Stand-up album 2014 Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee Himself (guest) Web series 2014 Todd Barry: The Crowd Work Tour Stand-up special 2015 Live at the Comedy Store Himself Stand-up special 2015 Live at Madison Square Garden Himself Stand-up album 2016 Horace and Pete Horace Wittel VIII Web series 2016 Barry Crimmins: Whatever Threatens You Himself, introduction Stand-up special 2020 Sincerely Louis CK Himself Stand-up special 2020 Long-Distance Relationship Himself Podcast series with Blanche Gardin 2021Sorry Himself Stand-up special 2023Robert Kelly Kill Box Stand-up special 2023Louis C.K.: Back at the Garden Himself Online stand-up live special 2023Louis C.K. at The Dolby Himself Stand-up special
Documentary appearances Year Title Role Notes Ref.2006 Maxed OutHimselfDocumentary film2007 Assume the Position 201 with Mr. WuhlHimselfDocumentary, HBO2010 I Am ComicHimselfDocumentary2011 Talking FunnyHimselfTelevision special, HBO2016 Thank You, Del: The Story of the Del Close MarathonHimself2017Too Funny to FailHimself (archived footage)Documentary film, Hulu2017The History of ComedyHimselfDocumentary series, CNN2017 Oh, Rick!HimselfDocumentary film2020 Live at the Comedy StoreHimselfDocumentary series, Showtime2023Sorry/Not SorryHimself (archived footage)Documentary film
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