You’ve probably seen this clip, but also check out this interview in Time magazine.

It’s funny how many different ways you can react to that clip. I even read something by a marketing expert who said, “Louis CK is on to something. We have to figure out how we can to get consumers to really appreciate our product; there’s no brand value anymore.” Does that surprise you? That even the marketing industry’s like: “Yes!”

Conservatives too. There was an AM radio guy, he said, “Yes, this guy’s right. He’s right that Obama and the leftist media are trying to make you feel like things are worse than they really are. He’s right that Obama needs to stop with the stimulus package.” It’s not at all what I meant. But he grabbed onto it and so did all these other conservatives and some websites, saying this guy has to be a conservative. This is a conservative point of view.

I guess I don’t look at it that way. Maybe it is, I don’t know. I’ve also had some anarchist kids saying “Yeah, he’s saying, “Screw capitalism. Screw the government!” I like that a lot of people have different views of this. I think it’s great. I read the comments on the YouTube because it’s fascinating to me. I don’t think anyone who’s written a comment has really understood what I meant by the whole thing.

What message did you want to convey?

You know what’s interesting about that clip to me? It’s really about me, it’s not about other people. Like the story I tell Conan about the guy sitting next to me on the airplane when the Internet shuts down suddenly, and he says, “This is bulls—,” and I go,”How can you be angry? People owe you something that existed a minute ago?” There wasn’t anybody next to me on the plane, that was me. People don’t talk to me on airplanes. [Laughs] Anytime you see a bit where some stranger does something to me, it’s me.

The fact is, I was really upset that the Internet shut down. I was livid. Then I caught myself — wait a minute, what are you upset about? This was incredible that it was possible even. It was like an epiphany to me, I started seeing things differently. “Take a breath and calm down, this is as good as they make these right now. This is as good as it is, and it’s pretty goddamn great.” And the same thing with the planes, they’re hurling tons of metal with people in it all over the earth, all day, every day, 24 hours a day, safely. It’s because these people are dedicated geniuses that we’re all landing safely but somehow it doesn’t make us happy. Too bad.