Louis C.K.: "I have an insane amount of power over the audience"

"Stand up is crazy because I know what I'm going to say, and they don't know," he said in an interview for Elvis Mitchell's "The Treatment" Wednesday on Los Angeles station KCRW. "They are just sitting there, listening. So I can take a second because I know I'm about to ruin your life with this material."

He said he performs the same trick on "Louie," which he writes, directs and stars in. One of the show's trademarks is its willingness to go for long stretches without jokes.

"If I'm slowing things up a little bit, it's because I know the next scene is going to be an assault on your senses," he said.

Louis C.K.: "I have an insane amount of power over the audience" / August 22, 2012 / by Tim Molloy