Ever since Dane Cook appeared on "Louie" in August to dramatize a resolution to the real-life tension between himself and Louis C.K., the genesis of the episode has been unknown. Now, in a lengthy interview with The A.V. Club, C.K. reveals what happened behind the scenes.
The "Louie" creator and star, who was nominated for a Best Actor Emmy this year, originally intended the episode "Oh Louie/Tickets" to revolve around Lady Gaga, whom C.K. admires ("I think she’s an artist"). However, he was unable to get through to Gaga.
But perhaps this was for the better, as it allowed C.K. to focus on the controversy between himself and Cook in real life that stems from accusations that Cook stole material from C.K's stand-up act.
He told The A.V. Club:
Last year I had Robert Kelly on the show playing my brother. Robert and Dane are very close friends, and he was opening for Dane somewhere on the road when I asked him to come and shoot a scene with me. So he told Dane he needed to leave his tour. I think he just told him he was going to be on TV, and Dane said, "Ooh, what show?" and he told me that Dane looked a little sad and that Dane said, "You know, the sad part is that I’d like to be in a TV show with Louie. I like him." So when I heard that, it kind of stuck with me and I thought, "Why not put Dane in the show? How do I put Dane Cook on this show?"
Both Cook and C.K. were willing to confront the tension head-on, and Louis wrote the scene himself, attempting to take the point of view of Cook. However, Cook wanted to bring more levity to the scene where the two discuss the plagiarism accusations -- which C.K. refused.
...I wrote him back and said, “No to all of that, I have no interest as portraying you as a level-headed person, not at all interesting to me.” I said, "This is really about you and me having this moment, and it’s going to be really interesting to people the way it’s written."
Cook acquiesced immediately, and "nailed it."
However, the one suggestion that C.K. did take from Cook was to place the scene at Madison Square Garden instead of at the New York comedy club Caroline's. At first C.K. balked, but when he realized the comedic potential of an ominous place like MSG, he ended up using a room in the massive arena as the setting for the scene.
Be sure to read the highly entertaining and informative A.V. Club interview with C.K., in which he discusses the second season of "Louie" at length. The Dane Cook story is found in part 3, but click over to part 1 and part 2 for surprisingly detailed accounts of each episode.
WATCH: Cook's appearance on "Louie."