saw the premiere of C.K.'s film Fourth of July, which he produced, directed, and co-wrote with fellow comedian Joe List. The film is a comedy drama that stars List as a recovering alcoholic jazz musician who confronts his emotionally abusive family. To promote the film, rather than using traditional talk shows, C.K. appeared on a number of well-known podcasts, such as The Joe Rogan Experience, Your Mom's House, Long Days with Yannis Pappas, Ari Shaffir's Skeptic Tank, Flagrant 2 and Are You Garbage?. On January 28, 2023, C.K. performed at a sold out performance at Madison Square Garden. The event was live recorded and aired on his website as the special, "Louis C.K.: Back to the Garden". Influences C.K. has cited many comedians who have had an influence on him, including George Carlin, Woody Allen, Larry David, Joan Rivers, Robin Williams, Steve Martin, Richard Pryor and Bill Cosby. Ticketing innovation C.K. innovated direct-to-consumer distribution in 2001 when he released his debut comedy album, Live in Houston, directly through his website. He became one of the first performers to use his website to offer direct-to-fan ticket sales for his shows, as well as DRM-free video concert downloads. In this way, C.K. sold tickets for his stand-up tour, circumventing large ticket outlets, bypassing their overhead and the venues they control. C.K. has said the ticket outlets create barriers to consumers, whereas direct distribution is easy—and has effectively "closed the gap between how easy it was to steal it [versus] how easy it was to buy it". The success of the special prompted other comedians, including Jim Gaffigan, Joe Rogan, and Aziz Ansari, to release their own specials with a similar business model. Personal life Marriage and relationships C.K. married artist Alix Bailey in 1995. Together, they have two daughters: Kitty Wees Székely (born 2002) and Mary Louise Székely (born 2005). The couple divorced in 2008. C.K.'s mother, Mary Louise Székely, died on June 3, 2019. C.K. had a brief relationship with musician Fiona Apple. C.K. confirmed he was dating Blanche Gardin in 2018. In August 2022, he mentioned that they had broken up. Political views About political partisanship, C.K. stated, "Some things I think are very conservative, or very liberal. I think when someone falls into one category for everything, I'm very suspicious. It doesn't make sense to me that you'd have the same solution to every issue." In March 2016, C.K.