"Failure's the road to being a good comic," Louie said in an interview with Charlie Rose.
He should know.
He left "Late Night" to write on "The Dana Carvey Show."
His big-screen directoral debut was Pootie Tang.
The first two shows based on his life failed after a pilot and one season, respectively.
His marriage fell apart.
He even, at times, thought his stand-up career was over.
Louie watched it all fall to pieces time and time again.
But, as Batman's dad says, "Why do we fall? So we can learn how to get back up."
Louie learned how telvision networks and film studios work, even if it was the hard way. He developed a thicker skin. He learned professional dettachment while working on terribly personal projects.
While waiting to find out if "Lucky Louie" would catch fire on HBO (it didn't), he fell back in love with stand-up and came up with the material for "Shameless," his first hour-long special (he'd done four half-hour specials for HBO and Comedy Central and self-released one CD, Live in Houston).
"Shameless" was the turning-point in his career, when he created his new work ethic—a diligence that would usher in what Patton Oswalt calls "The Age of Louie."
Louie needed that failure. Or he explained:
"Whenever you leave behind failure that means you're doing better. If you think everything you've done has been great you're probably dumb."
George Carlin recorded albums (and later corresponding HBO specials) at the breakneck pace of every other year for nearly four decades.
That's a tough legacy to match, let alone beat.
Louie was greatly influenced by Carlin's process after hearing the disc George on George.
"He talked about his work ethic and how, rather than just compiling material and shooting the best of what he had, he spent the year developing material specifically for the special. In other words, thinking of it as writing one special, like a novel."
Louie may never catch up to Carlin's numbers. (He could get hit by a truck tomorrow.)
But when Louie doubled-down on his stand-up career, he helped set a new standard for writing material.
Not only that, he's openly stated his intent to do so, throwing down the proverbial gauntlet.
If you're thinking, 'wait—but there are years without a Louie special,' consider this:
"(Hour) number four was... cut into pieces for (season one of) 'Louie.' I can't do a special and have the same material in a show. I think that's ripping people off."
(And "Louie" just wrapped season four.) He did, however, record that canibilized hour into an album, Word, which he later released on his site for $5.
Sheer quantity isn't the only way Louie ups the ante, either.
"Once I have the hour, I take my big finish and move it to the beginning so I have to come up with another big finish."
He even, at times, thought his stand-up career was over. 
George Carlin recorded albums (and later corresponding HBO specials) at the breakneck pace of every other year for nearly four decades.