Ray Liotta certainly found Joe Pesci to be “a funny guy” in 1990’s Goodfellas—not funny like a clown, or like he was here to amuse him funny, just funny. On the other hand, apparently Pesci does not find the way Louis CK tells a story to be all that hilarious, as the comedian revealed on Conan last night.
As CK tells it, Pesci once told the five-time Emmy nominee for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series, “The first thing I saw was some stand-up, and I’ll tell you right now, quit that, you’re no good at that,” in a phone call. (Louis CK had written a part for Pesci in his project Horace & Pete; the role eventually went to Alan Alda after Pesci turned it down.)
While CK’s stand-up did not amuse Pesci, or make him laugh for that matter, the actor did tell CK that his acting was “okay,” and agreed to take a look at the script. Nobody got whacked—except maybe CK’s ego—and while Pesci apparently thinks CK “sucks,” the pragmatic CK says “that’s his prerogative,” and that Pesci is a “sweet guy.” Unfortunately, the conversation between the two actors is not peppered with expletives in CK’s telling, which is kind of like finding out there is no Santa Claus.