| Louie
Anderson's Emmy Award Winning road
to success has not been free of
obstacles. On October 19, 1978, young
Louie Anderson, from humble origins,
jumped on stage for the first time in a
50-seat comedy club in Minneapolis,
Minnesota. The debut was the result of a
dare from a coworker at a children’s
home where Louie worked as a counselor
for abused children. "The first time I
was on stage I wasn’t as nervous as you
might expect." Louie Anderson
recollects. "I remember that whatever
jitters I felt were overwhelmed by the
exciting prospect of all the attention
and love seated in front of me. With the
first laugh, I knew I was hooked, a
junkie for life."
Louie Anderson has a compulsive
personality in need of more laughs and
bigger audiences. It did not take the
fledgling comedian long to become a big
fish in that little club. At first,
Anderson drew on his obvious obesity for
laughs. "My first words were ‘Seconds,
please,’ Most kids in kindergarten
napped on a little rug. I had a braided
9 by 12." By accident, he discovered his
large family (Louie is tenth of eleven
children) to be another gold mine of
material. "My dad never hit us when I
was a kid. He carried a gun." The jokes
just kept flowing.
In 1981, Louie Anderson was named a
winner as the St. Louis Comedy
Competition, where he met Henny Youngman
and began to write jokes for the King of
one-liners. The next year, acting on the
encouragement of friends, Louie headed
for the bigger pastures of Los Angeles.
Leaving home in his 1976 Malibu Classic
with $800.00 in his pocket and a full
tank of gas, Louie was headed for the
big time.
In 1985, unsuccessful at landing a
deal with a network, Anderson went back
to Minneapolis and with the support of
his hometown, produced his own comedy
special which was later sold to
SHOWTIME. Proving his widespread appeal,
it became the highest rated program that
month on the cable network.
Louie Anderson moved on to countless
appearances with JAY LENO, DAVID
LETTERMAN, ARSENIO HALL, PAT SAJAK, JOAN
RIVERS, and on "COMIC RELIEF." He even
co-starred in such television shows as
"GRACE UNDER FIRE", "REMINGTON STEELE,"
and the feature films "QUICKSILVER,"
"COMING TO AMERICA" and the animated
feature film, "BEBE’S KIDS," in which
Louie Anderson's voice is that of a lead
character, in a 1988 People Magazine
article, Anderson allowed one of the
letters to be published. Overwhelming
response from fans persuaded Louie
Anderson to publish the letters as a
book, which resulted in the national
best seller, Dear Dad - Letters From An
Adult Child.
Mirroring millions of other adult
children of alcoholics, the book
depicted Louie’s often painful and
always touching relationship with his
alcoholic father. In 1990, Anderson’s
mother, a source of much of his comedy
material, died suddenly. As with his
fathers death, the loss had a profound
effect on Louie. Having already done
three comedy specials for SHOWTIME and
HBO, Louie took some time to examine his
life, fame, success and family. Three
years later with the painstaking
experience of self-evaluation behind
him-Louie penned a second book.
"Good-Bye Jumbo. Hello Cruel World,"
which was published by Viking. His
fourth comedy special "Louie in St.
Louie," which many called his best ever,
aired on the SHOWTIME network that same
year.
In recent years, Louie Anderson has
performed throughout America to sold out
audiences in concert halls and comedy
clubs. Additionally, he is a frequent
featured performer at Bally’s Celebrity
Room in Las Vegas.
Louie Anderson now brings to
television his stand-up comedic talent
that has entertained audiences for
seventeen years through an animated
series entitled "Life with Louie" for
the Fox Children’s Network, which the
co-created with Matt O’Callaghan. The
series highlights Anderson’s writing and
voice-over talents as the narrator,
Little Louie and Little Louie’s dad.
After a debut as a Christmas special in
1994, the series began in the fall of
1995 and has since climbed to the
position of #1 animated show on
Saturdays. In 1997, "Life with Louie"
received The Humanities Prize for
children’s animation writing for the
second year in a row. and the Genesis
Award for it’s ethical treatment of
animals. In addition, in 1997 "Life with
Louie" was awarded an Emmy Award. |
