Comedian Louis Szekely (better known as Louis C.K.) first rose to prominence as a writer, penning bits for “The Late Show With David Letterman” and “The Dana Carvey Show,” then winning Emmys for his work on “The Chris Rock Show” and “Late...

Some comedians build their careers on their successes, others their failures. Louis C.K. belongs to the later camp, having piloted two notorious flops that only furthered endeared him to a growing cult audience: He wrote and directed 2001’s Pootie Tang, which Roger Ebert in half-star review likened to “one of those lab experiments where the room smells like swamp gas and all the mice are dead,” and he conceived HBO’s “Lucky Louie,” an homage to working-class sitcoms so critically reviled that, despite passable ratings, the network canceled it to...

Although some of his creations have found cult notoriety, Louis C.K.’s resume is filled with commercial flops like “The Dana Carvey Show,” Pootie Tang and, most recently, “Lucky Louie,” the HBO sitcom that, despite its conventionality, viewers could never figure out. The stand-up comedy circuit . . .

Daniel Johnston @ Turner Hall Ballroom, 8 p.m. Equal parts visionary and maniac, Daniel Johnston has seen his fame skyrocket since the 2005 release of The Devil and Daniel Johnston, a documentary detailing his struggles with mental illness.