Louis Ck

Louis C.K., the star and creative force behind FX's "Louie," feels bad for his unlucky-in-love alter ego. "I don't know what's going to happen to that guy," the actor-comedian said when asked during a Television Critics' Assn. session to promote "Louie"  if the lead character would ever find a soul mate. Said C.K., "I've had so much better luck than him. I'm starting to feel a little bad for him. Maybe in Season 4 I'll park him with a girlfriend, let him fail at having a relationship.: FX announced that it had just renewed the series, which revolves around a hapless stand-up comic, for a fourth season.

It is heartening in a way that perhaps the biggest comic in America - in a sense of cultural import if not necessarily in income, though he is obviously doing well there too - is a doughy, bald man of 45. It's heartening both from the aspect of one's own advancing age and as notice that kids these days are not entirely consumed with things made in their own image. That experience counts for something is an explicitly stated theme of Louis C.K.'s new concert special, "Oh My God," which premieres Saturday on HBO: Real wisdom is a thing that only time can earn, he says.

The last time Louis C.K. was at the Emmys was over a decade ago, and even though he took home an award, he wasn't in the limelight. "I was a writer on 'The Chris Rock Show' ... and I was in this spot, behind 10 other people," the comedian said backstage in front of a room full of reporters after winning two awards -- one for comedy writing on "Louie" and the other for writing on his stand-up special. One of the backstage journalists asked Louis C.K. why he thinks his latest television show has resonated with viewers more than his previous efforts, including the short-lived "Lucky Louie.

"Louis C.K.: Oh My God" (premieres Saturday, HBO) . Funny, deep and unsparing of himself, Louis C.K. is arguably the most important comic going, both for his adventures in form -- his FX series "Louie," now on hiatus between its third and fourth seasons, grafts art film, standup and situation comedy -- and his experiments in business. He earned more than $1 million by selling unrestricted-use downloads of his 2011 "Live at the Beacon Theater" straight to fans at $5 a pop; similarly he sold tickets to the tour during which "Oh My God" was taped/filmed/recorded directly through his website, cutting out ticket agency fees and keeping prices low. (One hundred thousand tickets were sold, at $45 per, in 45 hours.)

Say what you will about Tim Heidecker's career - and many do - but predictable he isn't. For nearly a decade, the 36-year-old has been practicing his brand of anti-comedy on the Web, on Adult Swim ("Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job," with cohort Eric Wareham) and, lately, on the movie screen. For some, Heidecker's work is a brilliant deconstruction of comedy itself, every squirmy moment a wake-up call to a lazy late-night establishment. For others, the term anti-comedy is a little too true to its name.

In a strong episode hosted by comedian Louis C.K., “SNL” helped lighten the post-Sandy mood but without being too heavy-handed or comparing the storm to Sept. 11 (as Mayor Michael Bloomberg did, to some criticism, when attempting to keep the New York City marathon from being canceled). C.K. did address the seriousness of the storm damage, however, in a separate letter to his fans sent prior to the show. The cold open gently teased the mayor, played by Fred Armisen, as he addressed the city and pointed out that his ban on giant sugary sodas probably prevented the deaths of many obese New Yorkers who would have otherwise floated down the Hudson River.

NEW YORK--Lena Dunham found her show "Girls" under criticism earlier this year for an absence of minority characters. The controversy only mushroomed after, in an apparent bid to make light of the issue, "Girls" writer Lesley Arfin tweeted sarcastically that she didn't think "Precious" offered a representation of her either. At an event Sunday hosted by the New Yorker and its TV critic Emily Nussbaum, Dunham offered some context on the incident. After saying that Arfin had actually no longer worked on the show at the time she sent the tweet, Dunham elaborated on what was happening on the "Girls" set during the controversy.

The Directors Guild of America on Wednesday announced nominees in the television categories of the annual DGA Awards, recognizing the behind-the-scenes talent of shows including "Mad Men" and "Homeland" as well as familiar faces such as Lena Dunham, Louis C.K. and Bryan Cranston. In the drama category, two "Homeland" directors picked up nominations: Michael Cuesta for the second season finale and Leslie Linka Glatter for the episode "Q&A. " Jennifer Getzinger was nominated for "Mad Men's" fifth-season premiere, "A Little Kiss," while Rian Johnson and Greg Mottola -- both directors best known for their film work -- earned nods for "Breaking Bad" and "The Newsroom," respectively.

The Envelope's Gold Standard columnist Glenn Whipp is sweeping through Emmy categories this week, predicting the winners in the top categories. Having already looked at drama and comedy series, he turns his attention here to the lead actor races. LEAD ACTOR, DRAMA The nominees: Hugh Bonneville, “Downton Abbey” Steve Buscemi, “Boardwalk Empire” Bryan Cranston, “Breaking Bad” Michael C. Hall, “Dexter” Jon Hamm, “Mad Men” Damian Lewis, “Homeland” And the winner is … Cranston.

THE comedian Louis CK leans back in a chauffeured sedan inching along the Hollywood Freeway and watches the other cars stuck in neutral. He has just taped "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" and now, whiskey in hand, is trying to focus on the unthinkable. What if "Lucky Louie," the new HBO series the veteran comic considers the most important project of his life, stalls?

Customized TV Listings are available here: www.latimes.com/tvtimes Click here to download TV listings for the week of April 7 -13, 2013 in PDF format This week's TV Movies       SUNDAY Yee-haw and amen! Blake Shelton and Luke Bryan host "The 48th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards" and Steve Harvey is master of ceremonies for "Celebration of Gospel 2013. " 8 p.m. CBS; 8 p.m. BET The ad men of "Mad Men" are back for a sixth season, but the bad men of "Shameless," "House of Lies" and "Californication" sign off for now with those series' respective season finales.

Veteran comedian David Steinberg, who has directed such hit TV comedies as "Curb Your Enthusiasm," "Mad About You" and "Seinfeld," returns to Showtime on Monday evening for the second season of his interview series, "Inside Comedy. " This season he turns his lens on Louis C.K., Tina Fey, Bob Newhart, Jim Carrey and more. Do you think comedy can be dissected? I don't really dissect comedy. Nothing kills off humor more than overanalyzing it. On our show, it's just a conversation that I don't prepare for at all. Usually I know everyone because I've been around a lot, but the idea is to get their feeling about what it is that they're doing, the start, the middle and where they are now. What you get is very, very funny people who aren't switched on as they usually are on a talk show in front of an audience, so you can see how naturally funny they are. PHOTOS: Celebrity portraits by The Times I thought it was interesting when Jim Carrey told you he thought that comics come from mothers with some form of mental illness.

The Directors Guild of America on Wednesday announced nominees in the television categories for its annual awards, recognizing the behind-the-scenes talent of shows including "Mad Men" and "Homeland" as well as familiar faces such as Lena Dunham, Louis C.K. and Bryan Cranston. In the drama category, two "Homeland" directors picked up nominations: Michael Cuesta for the second-season finale and Lesli Linka Glatter for the episode "Q&A. " Jennifer Getzinger was nominated for "Mad Men's" fifth-season premiere, "A Little Kiss," while Rian Johnson and Greg Mottola - both directors best known for their film work - earned nods for "Breaking Bad" and "The Newsroom," respectively.

The Directors Guild of America on Wednesday announced nominees in the television categories of the annual DGA Awards, recognizing the behind-the-scenes talent of shows including "Mad Men" and "Homeland" as well as familiar faces such as Lena Dunham, Louis C.K. and Bryan Cranston. In the drama category, two "Homeland" directors picked up nominations: Michael Cuesta for the second season finale and Leslie Linka Glatter for the episode "Q&A. " Jennifer Getzinger was nominated for "Mad Men's" fifth-season premiere, "A Little Kiss," while Rian Johnson and Greg Mottola -- both directors best known for their film work -- earned nods for "Breaking Bad" and "The Newsroom," respectively.

Say what you will about Tim Heidecker's career - and many do - but predictable he isn't. For nearly a decade, the 36-year-old has been practicing his brand of anti-comedy on the Web, on Adult Swim ("Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job," with cohort Eric Wareham) and, lately, on the movie screen. For some, Heidecker's work is a brilliant deconstruction of comedy itself, every squirmy moment a wake-up call to a lazy late-night establishment. For others, the term anti-comedy is a little too true to its name.

In a strong episode hosted by comedian Louis C.K., “SNL” helped lighten the post-Sandy mood but without being too heavy-handed or comparing the storm to Sept. 11 (as Mayor Michael Bloomberg did, to some criticism, when attempting to keep the New York City marathon from being canceled). C.K. did address the seriousness of the storm damage, however, in a separate letter to his fans sent prior to the show. The cold open gently teased the mayor, played by Fred Armisen, as he addressed the city and pointed out that his ban on giant sugary sodas probably prevented the deaths of many obese New Yorkers who would have otherwise floated down the Hudson River.

Louis C.K.(a transliteration of his Hungarian surname, Szekely), a divorced stand-up comedian with two daughters, recently returned to the small screen with the third season of the edgy eponymous FX comedy series he writes, stars in and directs. "Louie," also about a divorced stand-up comedian with two daughters, has been a critics' darling since its 2010 debut. Since "Louie" mines your life for material, I gather that one thing you're thinking a lot about these days is dating and gender roles.

When L.A. comedian Tig Notaro announced on the stage at Largo that she'd been diagnosed with breast cancer, she set the comedy world abuzz, notably  Louis C.K., who was in the audience that August night and called the set one of the most powerful he's seen in his career. Now Notaro has announced that the complete 30-minute performance will make up her second album, “Live,” and that C.K. will release it on his website Friday, Oct. 5 as a $5 download. During the Aug. 3 performance at Largo, Notaro told her audience that she'd been diagnosed with stage 2 bilateral breast cancer.

Comedian Tig Notaro's downtown Los Angeles loft is oddly intact considering she is moving across the country in the morning. She's about to start a new job with Comedy Central, she has a new book deal with Ecco, her debut comedy album, "Good One," is now No. 2 in its category on iTunes, and reporters from Vanity Fair and the New Yorker are calling later about a new comedy recording of hers on Louis C.K.'s website. Still, as she relaxes on the taupe couch that divides her industrial-modern kitchen and airy, sun-lit living room, Notaro seems utterly unflustered.

"Louie," FX's critically acclaimed comedy created and starring Louis C.K., will take an extended hiatus and will delay the scheduled launch of its fourth season from summer 2013 to spring 2014. "At the end of the third season, Louie asked if he could take an extended hiatus," FX President and General Manager John Landgraf said. "I agreed to give him whatever space he needs. " In addition to starring in the show, Louis C.K. is also writer, producer and editor, in addition to other duties.