I'll never forget the first time I saw Louis C.K. perform stand-up. I was on this terrible double date with a friend of mine and the two girls we were with wanted to go to the Laugh Factory in Hollywood to see Dane Cook, a comedian I had never heard of at the time. This was back in 2003 or 2004, before either C.K. or Cook had become household names. These two girls just kept talking about how funny Cook was. How he was just the most hilarious comedian around.
Cook was the headliner that night, so I got to see a handful of comedians perform before he came onstage. One of those comedians was C.K., a bald guy with a bit of a gut and a red goatee. I proceeded to laugh my ass off during C.K.'s set. Cook came onstage afterward and I thought, "Really, this guy's the headliner? The guy doing the bad Jim Carrey impression?" Louis C.K. was the comedian whose comedy stuck with me that night.
After I met my wife (and co-blogger), I found out she also shared an affection for C.K.'s stand-up, so imagine our surprise when we found out he had his own show on HBO. That show was Lucky Louie and it aired for one season before it was summarily canceled, with good reason: the show just wasn't very good. Lucky Louie was an attempt by C.K. to put his own stamp on a sitcom about working class people filmed in front of a live studio audience on a set (The Honeymooners for the 21st century, if you will). By all rights, the show should have worked. It was on HBO, letting C.K. mine adult themes and use all the profanity he wanted, but ultimately it just wasn't very funny. Luckily, he didn't let his experience defeat him and he was able to find success on FX with Louie, which airs its Season Two finale tomorrow night.
Louie has evolved quite a bit from Season One to Season Two. The first season was quite good and extremely funny. C.K.'s humor is very dark, and the show would mine that dark humor for as many laughs as it could muster. (C.K. writes, directs and edits every episode). C.K. is a 42 year old divorcee and the show is partially autobiographical, so Season One contained more than its fair share of awkward dates and even more awkward sexual encounters. I enjoyed Season One quite a bit and was looking forward to Season Two. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that C.K. had transformed a very good, dark, half-hour comedy series into the best show on TV.
Season Two of Louie retains C.K.'s brand of dark, awkward humor, but it also isn't afraid to venture into more serious territory. Not that being "serious" equals being better, but I just never feel like C.K. feels obliged to insert laughs into an episode just to keep the viewer hooked. He's content to let scenes play out the way he wants them to, and sometimes, there are just no laughs to be had. The Season Two premiere ended with a fart joke, the episode two weeks ago followed C.K. on a USO tour to Afghanistan where he found a duckling stowed in his backpack. Continuity does not exist in the world of Louie and C.K. is able to take advantage of that to tell whatever story he feels like.
The reason I love watching Louie is because I am always surprised and usually thrilled in the directions it takes me. I never know what to expect episode to episode, or even moment to moment. Louie is just a great show and it's got one hell of a theme song.
PS: If you watch and love Louie like I do, Nathan Rabin's recaps for the show over at The AV Club are essential reading.
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