TITLE: Louis C.K. on Teaching
AUTHOR: Eugene Wallingford
DATE: June 20, 2016  3:45 PM
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When I read 
<A HREF="http://www.vulture.com/2016/06/louis-ck-horace-and-pete-c-v-r.html">
   this interview with Louis C.K.</A>
last week, the following response spoke to me as a college
professor, not as a stand-up comedian:

<BLOCKQUOTE><EM>
 <B>Can you explain the difference, practically, between
 the stand-up you were doing at your peak and what you're
 doing now</B>?
</EM></BLOCKQUOTE>

<BLOCKQUOTE><EM>
 I think I'm a better comedian overall than I was back
 then, but back then I was better at performing.  When
 you're that greased up onstage, you just have a higher
 comedy IQ.  It's the ability to go on any stage in the
 country and be perfectly present and able to maneuver
 the set and have great timing.  Some of it is being in
 physical shape.  When you're under pressure or strain,
 you get dumb, you know?  It's why I started working out
 in boxing gyms, because you watch a guy who's fighting,
 he's in a terribly arduous moment and he's making
 intelligent choices.  So to me that's when you're 55
 minutes deep into your sixth show of the week, in your
 fifth city of the week.  You have to be able to be
 great right in that moment.  You have to be, "You're
 not going to believe what I'm going to do next."  The
 audience is tired, and you have to have more energy than
 anyone in the room.  You have to be able to control the
 pace.  At my show last night, I was talking to myself a
 little bit while my mouth was moving delivering material.
 I was thinking, <B>You're going too fast.  Cool it.  You
 have plenty of time and loads ... to say</B>.
</EM></BLOCKQUOTE>

It's funny how so many of us, doing so many different
things, experience so many of the same ups and downs in our
professions.  With a few changes to the surface of this story,
it sounds like something a college instructor might say ten
years on.  I've even reached a point where I can talk to
myself in an analytical way during a class session or a
presentation.  I was never as good in 2004 as Louis was, but
I feel the same evolution in how I feel about my work in the
classroom.

One thing I haven't tried is boxing.  (Perhaps that is one of
my more intelligent choices.)  I have had to make some tough
decisions under grueling conditions while running marathons,
but those tend to unfold at a slower pace than in the ring.
"Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face."

Like Louis, I'm always trying to get better at teaching in
first gear.  He is probably more natural than I am in an
amped-up state, too.  Both are a challenge for me.
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