Q. Let’s talk about the moment on your special where you went topless and showed the crowd the scars from your double mastectomy. Was that something you planned to do?

A. Yes. Did it shock you? I decided to do it right when I got out of the hospital. I was so upset by my surgery. After a double mastectomy, it’s like a truck ran into your chest. It was swollen and bruised and stitched, and I had no nipples. And my friend was over at my house, and I was like, god, I have this thought that keeps coming up. What if I got so comfortable that I just did a set topless? Then when I went on tour, I kept thinking, I could just take my shirt off and watch people’s heads explode. And so I took it off at Largo, and everyone went nuts. Men, women, everybody.

And my point in doing it is I want to convey a message, but there is also a silliness to it. It’s like when I opened my Largo set, with, “Hello, I have cancer.” There’s a message there but also a silliness. “Is anybody drinking tonight? How’s everyone doing? Any birthdays? Y’all having fun? I have cancer. How are you? This is a great night!” I love silliness, it’s not that I just want to, you know, get a reaction.

What was the impetus for the new show you are working on with Louis C.K. and Diablo Cody?

A. Louis called me a couple years ago, and said, “Hey do you want to do a TV show together?” This was a year after the Largo set. And I said “No, thank you.” And he goes, “Oh, O.K. cool, I was just checking.” And I said: “Louis, I’m kidding, of course I want to do this. Yes, I want to make a television show with you.” He asked me to put together a list of five different writers I liked. I sent Louis that list, and he called and said, “I looked over your list and took initiative to pick one, and I set up a call with you and Diablo to see if she wants to write this with you.” This is an “inspired by” story. It’s not completely true. It’s going to take place in Mississippi. I’m not a stand-up in it. But it is inspired by me. It’s like “Louie,” but even less true to life. We are writing the season right now. My living room is our writer’s room. We are filming the pilot in Mississippi in a couple of weeks, and Louis is directing it.

One story line in the Netflix documentary was about how tough it was, after your cancer set, to come up with new material. You obviously did it, since you have this HBO special. What happened between then and now?