I stayed up until midnight last night to watch Louis C.K.'s new show on FX called, appropriately enough, Louie. For me, staying up past 10:30 is damn near sacrilegious, but I've been looking forward to Louie ever since I saw the first promo for it.
I'd seen a few episodes on HBO of his first sitcom, Lucky Louis, and it was pretty funny. Unfortunately it only lasted one season, so I was happy to see Louis get another go around. Plus, I wanted to see how someone who uses the word "fuck" as a conjunction would manage on basic cable. Just to clarify, I am NOT one of those people who think comedians who can be funny without swearing are inherently better than comedians who do swear. And to be honest, people who make that point make me want to punch their dick out the back of their fucking ass. Unless your audience is a group of 4 year olds, who gives a rat's ass if you can be clean or not? Funny is funny, no matter how you get there. But I would like to see how many takes Louis ruined by using one of his favorite words, which let's just say rhymes with "runt."
So last night's premier was a back to back event, giving us not one but two episodes on it's very first night. The premise is fairly straight forward, with clips of Louis' stand up paving the way for a segment associated with the stand-up bit. In the pilot, this made the show seem a bit slapped together, which I didn't really dig until this morning when I read that Louis did with The A.V. Club where he explains that was pretty much his intention. He's not going for a real story arc that you find in most sitcoms, but rather putting together strings of short set pieces. In the second episode, he sticks with the set piece mentality but begins to string things together just a bit more. Looking back on the show after reading the interview, I think I can appreciate Louis' premise a bit more and I'm interested to see how it pans out in the future.
If nothing else, I can recommend this show to people who are already familiar with his stand-up work. The only warning I'll give is that while Louis C.K. does a really good job at finding humor in bleak situations in his stand up, you may find the dark nature of his material a bit more pronounced when you see it acted out. But, on the bright side, last night he capped the premier with a stand up bit about putting his dog to sleep as a kid, and then having a dream where the dog came back to life and came home, only to have to be put back to sleep. Yay! Seriously, though, it's a hell of a lot funnier than it sounds when I explain it. For a great example of Louis at his best, watch the clip below as he talks about his kids, and if you like it then you'll probably like the show.
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