Louis CK Released a New Hour-Long Comedy Special

Photograph by AP Photo/Carlo Allegri

Louis CK released a brand new comedy special on his website today, and this time around, the special was filmed at a comedy club instead of a sit-down amphitheater.

Available right now on his website for just $5, the special was prefaced with a thoughtful 1,800-word e-mail that explains his long history with stand-up comedy. As most of us around here already know, Louis CK started his career in Boston before moving along to New York and then Los Angeles. He came back to Somerville in November to do four surprise comedy shows.

“I have always found the Comedy Store to be the most intimidating club of my life,” he says about the L.A. comedy club where he shot his special. “It is what I thought comedy clubs to be when I listened to Lenny Bruce records as a kid…The Comedy Store is really show biz.”

In his e-mail, he describes his time as a growing comedian in Boston:

I’ve been on comedy club stages probably more than I’ve stood on any other kind of spot in my entire life. I started in the Boston comedy scene, on ground that had been laid by great comedians like Steve Sweeney, Steven Wright, Barry Crimmins, Ron Lynch, Kevin Meany, Don Gavin, back in 1985 when I was 18 years old. I skipped college (still regret it), worked shitty jobs (will never regret that) and spent every single night at any comedy club in Boston I could finagle my way into. I would watch every single comedian and I would BEG to get on stage.

As he goes into more detail of his stand-up timeline, he asks himself why he made this particular special. “To this day, when I work at the Store, I feel there’s a one in three chance I might bomb. Like bomb hard. To a guy my age who has been doing it this long, that is exciting.”

CK’s full e-mail can be read at Vulture; Louis C.K. Live at the Comedy Store is available for purchase on louisck.net.