Not a dog’s life at all for Louis CK

Louis CK. PHOTO BY RUBEN V. NEPALES

LOS ANGELES—Louis CK is the first comedian to sell out the famed Madison Square Garden thrice in a single tour in 2015. He is a critically acclaimed comedian, actor, writer, director and producer who has won multiple Emmy Awards. But Louis CK isn’t a household name yet.

Not that Louis cares about being a popular name—he’s not the type. “I never choose work in terms of shaping a career or trying to reach out more,” said the star of critics’ favorite, “Louie,” and now the web miniseries, “Horace and Pete,” in a recent interview at the Conrad Hotel in New York.

That Louis is breaking out into the mainstream—and internationally—can be gleaned from the fact that he’s in the cast of an animated film for the first time in his career. In Illumination Entertainment’s “The Secret Life of Pets,” Louis is the voice of Max, a woman’s favorite dog in an entertaining tale about what pets do when their owners leave for work, errands or appointments.

Also in the cast, playing various pet animals, in director Chris Renaud’s movie are Kevin Hart (as the voice of Snowball), Eric Stonestreet (Duke), Lake Bell (Chloe), and Albert Brooks (Tiberius).

As with most comedians, Louis in person is not a laugh-a-second riot of an interviewee. Instead, the 48-year-old brilliant comic mind is calm and quiet. Wearing a blue pinstriped suit, he often clasped his hands.

Excerpts from our chat:

What is your relationship with dogs?

I have had three dogs in my life. Dogs are very transparent emotionally. They show you what they’re feeling all the time. When they are happy, they don’t believe that they will ever be unhappy again, which is heartbreaking.

Then, in the same sense, when they are unhappy, they have no hope. So a lot of it is heavy, high-velocity feelings. So that’s why I like dogs and why I empathize with them.

I have a dog, a girl who is a rescue from Puerto Rico. She used to live in a cemetery with her puppy sister. She had a traumatic childhood, which she can’t tell anybody about—and she’s a bit neurotic.

Which pet in the movie do you sympathize with?

I get the dog’s life, wanting to keep things the way they are. That makes a lot of sense to me. I feel bad for Duke, the big dog, because he has little control. I sympathize with the dog characters more than the other animals.

Are you also someone who always shows his emotions?

On and off. It depends on who I am around. Certain people, I shut them down, and others, I let them in. Sometimes, I don’t have a choice.

Did you discover your inner dog, so to speak, as a result of this movie?

We share more with other species than we think we do. There’s not that much difference between people and dogs, except that they don’t have languages and stuff—but that sometimes gets in the way.

Yeah, in some ways, I am doglike. I’m not particularly loyal (laughs), but I do hang onto one thing for a while and hope that when something makes me happy, it keeps doing it, which is a lost cause. I probably have the maturity of a dog. I am messy, and I don’t think ahead very well.

Could a dog person like you ever fall in love with a cat person?

I will fall in love with any kind of person who is lovable, but I hate every cat alive. I don’t transfer that hate to anybody who loves cats. I don’t want to yuk your yum if you love cats.

How was the challenge of acting in a movie where you’re only able to use your voice?

It’s both liberating and difficult, because you can’t see it. When you act, you’re usually looking at the other person and you forget about yourself.

But in this, you have to make it all up in your brain. It’s freeing because your imagination can decide how it’s going to go.

You humor is very adult—were you surprised when you were offered this role? Do you think this could open up a new generation of audience for you?

I never choose work in terms of shaping a career or trying to reach out more.  I chose this because I liked this movie, and what their intentions were.

I guess they wanted me because I’m a known comedic voice. The kids aren’t there to see me. This is an Illumination movie, and that’s what they’re coming to see.

I don’t have a goofy voice. I have a very dead, flat voice. Hopefully, it worked for this movie, but I don’t expect to get a whole bunch of animation movies after this.

What is your process when you write your comedy material?

I don’t sit down and work on it. It’s all stuff that cracks in my head; it just happens. I will be walking down the street. I will be having a thought or conversation with somebody. The thing I have learned over the years is when to recognize when a thought that has popped into my head is worth taking to the stage.

Then, I go onstage with a raw sense of what the thing is. I try it on an audience, and they help me guide it to where it needs to go. That is all the writing I do—I do it onstage.

What do you like to do when you aren’t working?

I like to observe. I listen pretty well to people. I like to walk around New York and take the subway. I like to be as normal a person as possible.

My favorite thing is just feeling normal, taking my daughters to school every day, making them lunch, grinding through their homework, and waiting in line at the airport.

How did being a father change you?

You love to be of use to somebody else. It’s a great feeling. When you are obsessed with your own life and desires and what you are going to do every day, that’s a hard thing to get satisfaction from. [Fatherhood] has made my life the second most important thing—and that has made my life better.

Why did you decide to change your last name to CK?

Szekely is pronounced “CK.” It’s Hungarian (his father is Hungarian and Mexican; his mother is Irish). My Mexican family call themselves “Sekalee,” because you aren’t going to get a Mexican to look at that name and say, “CK.” It’s not going to happen.

But when we moved to America after living in Mexico, my dad said, “We are CK.” It’s more like “Say K,” but mine became “See K.”

I ended up sticking with that because when you start doing standup comedy or amateur night, you just write your name on a chalkboard, and you come up when you are called. That is what it was like when I started. I just wrote “Louis CK,” so he would say it right.

Is there such a thing as inappropriate humor?

You can have fun with anything, but it’s up to the person who’s listening. Some humor is inappropriate for some people. I can’t even think of one where I have been like, “You shouldn’t have done that.”

You shouldn’t make jokes if they’ve been repeated many times, if they’re obvious or cheap. It’s all about taste. But no, I don’t think anyone can say, “This is the line.” Some people live their lives that way. I don’t.

Do you get sentimental about the hard times that you have been through?

Yeah, I miss them. You can’t get those back—the tough years.

What do you remember about them?

It’s nice that you had a hard time, and you overcame it. Everything that is hard has a happy side to it. And vice versa.

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