Stand-up shoots a pilot

Acclaimed American stand-up Louis C.K. is working on another autobiographical sitcom.

He has shot a half-hour pilot for the FX network, tentatively titled Louie, which mixes his stand-up routines with sketches about his life as a 41-year-old divorced father of two.

As well as writing and starring in the episode, the comedian also cast it, directed it and even edited it, on a $250,000 budget.

He told trade magazine Variety: ‘I said, wire me a quarter of a million dollars and I’ll give you a DVD in a month, and amazingly, they did. To them, it’s a low-risk thing, and for me, I was able to try different stuff.’

The pilot includes storylines about Louis volunteering on his children’s school trip, and about a terrible date. FX, which has been secretly working on a number of comedy pilots, is expected to make a decision on whether to pick up a series within the next ten days

Louis CK’s HBO sitcom Lucky Louie, about a struggling working class family, was axed after one series in 2006 after getting a lukewarm critical reaction.

CK is also about to join the cast of NBC sitcom Parks and Recreation as a recurring character, and is in the upcoming Ricky Gervais movie The Invention of Lying.

Published: 7 Aug 2009