Does it matter that what you’ve achieved, with your online special and your tour can’t be replicated by other performers who don’t have the visibility or fan base that you do?

Why do you think those people don’t have the same resources that I have, the same visibility or relationship? What’s different between me and them?

You have the platform. You have the level of recognition.

So why do I have the platform and the recognition?

At this point you’ve put in the time.

There you go. There’s no way around that. There’s people that say: “It’s not fair. You have all that stuff.” I wasn’t born with it. It was a horrible process to get to this. It took me my whole life. If you’re new at this — and by “new at it,” I mean 15 years in, or even 20 — you’re just starting to get traction. Young musicians believe they should be able to throw a band together and be famous, and anything that’s in their way is unfair and evil. What are you, in your 20s, you picked up a guitar? Give it a minute.

cf. Steve Albini lays it out for a failed X-Factor contestant

Amazingly, season 3 of Louie has been better than the last two. This interview is a month old, but it’s so full of good stuff.

On curiosity:

It’s all so goddamn interesting. It really is. I love knowing why I was able to sell out in one town, and why I wasn’t in another town. I love knowing what goes into everything—the economics, the technical aspect, and how to create the ideas in the show. It’s great. If you can have access to all of that, why the fuck would you not want to know? I just love learning. I think learning is how you live. The verb of my life is learning.

I love what he says here about learning the technical parts of the filmmaking trade:

My biggest advice to people would be key on the technical. If you learn how to use these machines—cameras and editing systems and stuff like that—then you will have the tools to do stuff creatively. There’s some people who turn up their nose to the technical side of production. It’s the dumbest thing that people do, because then you need to get permission and crews to shoot for you.

It reminds me of the 3 1/2 years I spent as a web designer — I really think my main medium is the net, and it has all paid off so well, being able to manipulate my own site with my own skills.

Finally, I really like what he says here about keeping up your energy:

I had to put some time and effort into figuring out how to manage energy and time and brain effort and all that stuff. I’ve got a bunch of different things I do. I learned that sharks sleep parts of their brain, like rolling blackouts; they can’t fall asleep because they can’t stop moving or they’ll suffocate. So they sleep sections of their brain at a time. So I do kind of a version of that, where I shut down brain centers. I literally tell myself, “Don’t logistically problem-solve for the next three hours, but you can talk to folks. Driving my kid home from school—don’t think about all the professional things you have to do.”

Another great interview with Louis CK. Also don’t miss his Fresh Air interview where he “cried like a little bitch.”

Really great list. Some excerpts:

…No one arrives instantly formed…

…It’s easy to be famous. It’s hard to have fans…

…Publicity is a byproduct, it comes after the fact…

…You just do the work, you never know what will happen…

…A good marketing plan is irrelevant if the product sucks…

…A great artist doesn’t repeat what someone else has already done but tweaks it, improves it, makes it his own…

Read the whole thing