Louis C.K. says he's 'millions of dollars in debt' from making his latest show

Louis C.K. has a new show called "Horace and Pete," on which he and Steve Buscemi star as two owners of an Irish bar. If this is the first time you've heard about it, you're not alone: Many simply aren't watching. 

In fact, C.K., who created the show, which can only be seen on his website, says he's in the hole for millions because of the lack of viewers.

The comedian went on "The Howard Stern Show" on Monday to promote the show, and gave the details of his financial woes. 

He said he self-financed the first four episodes, which cost $2 million, in the hope that he'd make his money back after people started paying to watch them (the first episode costs $5, $2 for the second, then $3 for episodes 3-10). That didn't happen, so to finish the season of "Horace and Pete," C.K. had to take out a line of credit.

"I'm millions of dollars in debt," C.K. told Stern.

A big reason why "Horace and Pete" hasn't had the success of previous C.K. web ventures is that first, even making a barebones series costs significantly more than his stand-up specials, which he's released online. Second, he intentionally didn't promote the show.

"I got so excited by the idea of having a show appear from nothing," he told Stern.

Now he's going on Stern and other big outlets to get the word out about the show. His plan is to sell the show down the road to a cable network or a streaming entity.

To help make up the money he's lost, C.K. said he plans to go out on the road doing stand-up.

But for a guy who's currently out millions, he doesn't seem that down.

"No other way could have made a show that when you're watching it, you don't know what's going to happen, when you're going to see another one, you don't know who's in it," he said. "That was well worth it for me."

Listen to Louis C.K. on Howard Stern's show below: