Fuck Yeah, Louis C.K.

ABC2, Monday, 10pm

COMEDIAN Louis C.K. has developed a cult following in the US, where he has been described by Chris Rock as the ”greatest comic mind of the last quarter century” and by Ricky Gervais as the ”funniest stand-up working in America”. In 2006 he pioneered a raw and bluntly amusing series called Lucky Louie, which was, in fact, so raw and blunt that it was cancelled after just one season. But C.K. is nothing if not a fast learner. Here in this 13-part series he reprises much of the same territory - love, sex, relationships, parenting - with far funnier, not to mention warmer, results.

Filmed with one camera on the streets of New York, this series is a kind of comedy verite, a semi-autobiographical rummage around the everyday mortifications of life as a divorced single dad. (In life, as in the show, C.K. is divorced and shares custody of his two young children.) The show shares DNA with Ricky Gervais’ Extras (the creepy vulnerability, the frankness), Woody Allen (the self-absorption, the nuclear-powered neuroticism) and even Seinfeld (in the interspersing of his live performances), among other things. But it’s C.K.’s nihilism that sets him apart, his ability to let his pet subjects - materialism, selfishness, declining sexuality in the average male - slide right off him in lines that make you laugh despite yourself. His rant tonight about his utter indifference towards poverty is illustrative. It sounds revolting, and it is revolting, but it’s all true: in another life, C.K. would have been a philosopher or a preacher. Tonight’s episode begins in typically disastrous fashion, with Louie accompanying his daughter on a school excursion that goes seriously off the rails. We then sit in on a date that - you guessed it - goes off the rails. Louie spends the whole time looking morose and mopping his forehead, or sitting in the train in his bunched-up suit, while his date, a young spunky woman, sits there, wondering when it will end. This is a dark world; you might as well laugh.

• By Malcolm Fleschner

  For The Daily News

  Posted:   05/16/2012 11:05:15 PM PDT
  Updated:   05/17/2012 12:27:51 AM PDT

I was struck recently by a scene in an episode of the FX Network TV show “Louie,” when the title character, played by comedian Louis C.K., takes his two school-age daughters on a road trip to visit an elderly aunt he hasn’t seen in years. As the three of them are motoring along, The Who song “Who Are You?” comes on the radio, and Louie turns up the volume and starts to sing along. In fact, he belts out the whole 3½-minute tune, at points accompanying himself on air drums and guitar, or turning around to deliver more emphatic vocals to his daughters in the backseat — even the climactic “Who the #$%& are you?” part.

If you’ve seen “Louie,” you know it’s an unusual show — the kind of comedy that’s actually more depressing and unnerving to watch than most anything else on TV (except maybe the Grammy Awards). But the scene in the car struck me as remarkable for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that network television shows don’t typically burn more than three minutes of air time while someone on screen sings along, slightly off-key, to a recorded track (again, with the exception of the Grammys).

One thing I found particularly authentic about the scene was the daughters’ reaction. On a typical “family-friendly” sitcom, in a scene like this, the daughters would likely join in for a happy, heartfelt family moment. Or, if the show were a bit more snarky, the girls would cover their ears and beg the dad to stop. But on ”Louie,” as I have found to be the case in real life, the kids in the backseat are mostly indifferent, paying little attention to Dad’s singing, his excitement or his disregard of highway safety as he embraces his love of classic rock.

Not that the scene was 100 percent true to life. One big discrepancy I noticed is that Louie got to pick the radio station. Needless to say, this is not the case in my car. I don’t know when parents lost this privilege, but it must have happened after my childhood was over. My dad always insisted on listening to classical music when we drove which, while I didn’t appreciate it at the time, I later realized helped instill in me a lifelong love of not having to listen to classical music.

The other element of the scene that rang hollow was that Louie seemed to know all the song’s lyrics, which is rarely the case with me. Sometimes I’ll hear a song come on the radio and tell the kids, “Oh, I love this one!” and then fumble pathetically as I try to sing along. I guess I should really tell the kids, “Oh, I love this one — the chorus, anyway!”

But there is at least one song I do know all the way through, and that’s “Yesterday,” by The Beatles. It’s one of the songs I’ve always sung to my kids to put them to sleep, whether they wanted me to or not. But with “Yesterday,” I have the opposite problem — I know it too well. I’ve sung this song so many times that I can’t help but over-analyze the lyrics, especially the part where Paul McCartney famously sings of his lost lover, “Why she had to go, I don’t know, she wouldn’t say. I said something wrong, now I long for yesterday-ay-ay-ay.”

In the approximately 18 million times I’ve sung this song, I’ve come to wonder a few things. Like, who is this girlfriend who up and leaves Paul McCartney without a word of explanation? Does that sound like any woman you know? What, was she an intelligence operative about to go on a top-secret mission, but she didn’t want to jeopardize Paul’s safety by revealing any of the details? Probably not. Which is why I bet if you asked her, she’d have a different story to tell:

Paul’s Girlfriend: “‘she wouldn’t say?’ Is that what he tells people? Oh, I said, let me tell you, I said plenty. Maybe Paul should rewrite the lyrics to that song as, ‘Why she had to go I don’t know, I wouldn’t listen. Probably because I was too busy running around with that French trollop, Michelle.’”

So clearly, even a musical genius like Paul McCartney has lyrics-related problems. But no matter. Inspired by Louie’s rendition of “Who Are You?” I’m going to keep on singing along to the radio in the car with gusto, even if I don’t know the lyrics and I sound absolutely terrible. Then I’ll promise my kids I’ll stop if they let me pick the station.

Readers taking issue with Malcolm’s take on classical music, Beatles lyrics or proper parenting can email their dissatisfaction to Malcolm@CultureShlock.com.

• By DAVE ITZKOFF

Having shown that large numbers of people will seek out and pay for a stand-up comedy special that isn’t readily accessible on television, Louis C. K. is now bringing that special to television. FX, the cable channel that is home to Louis C. K.’s scripted comedy series, “Louie,” said Monday that it would broadcast his most recent stand-up concert film, “Live at the Beacon Theater,” starting on Saturday, following its successful run as an Internet-only download.

The special, which was filmed in November at the Beacon Theater in Manhattan, went on sale at the comedian’s Web site in December at a cost of $5. It rapidly sold more than 220,000 downloads and grossed more than $1.1 million, more than enough for Louis C. K. to cover his production costs, pay bonuses to his crew, donate $280,000 to charities and persuade comedians and broadcasters to take the online-only model much more seriously. The FX broadcasts of “Live at the Beacon Theater” and the coming third season of “Louie,” which begins June 28, are technically free, provided you pay your subscription fee to a cable or satellite service that offers FX.

Separately, Comedy Central said on Tuesday that it will start showing “Dangerously Delicious,” a stand-up comedy performance by the “Parks and Recreation” star Aziz Ansari, on May 20. That special had previously been sold as a $5 online download at Mr. Ansari’s Web site beginning in March.

• Patrick Kevin Day

The Webby Awards, honoring the best of the Web, announced the 2012 award winners Tuesday, with Louis C.K. grabbing person of the year.

The reason is the comedian’s self-distributed comedy special, “Louis C.K.: Live at the Beacon Theater,” which he released on his own website for $5 apiece. The comic is also the star of the critically acclaimed FX series “Louie.”

Louis CK: Live at the Beacon Theatre

Premieres on Saturday, May 12 at 10 PM ET/PT

Season 3 of FX’s Award-Winning Comedy Series Louie Debuts on June 28 at 10:30 PM ET/PT

LOS ANGELES, May 7 – FX, the home of Louis C.K.’s award-winning comedy series Louie,has reached an agreement to televise C.K.’s latest standup special, Louis C.K. Live At the Beacon Theatre. The special premieres this Saturday, May 12 at 10:00 PM ET/PT.

In a move that was hailed as groundbreaking and game-changing, C.K. released ‘Live At the Beacon Theatre’ directly to consumers through his website for $5 apiece. The strategy was hailed as groundbreaking and helped to catapult him onto TIME’s 2012 list of “100 Most Influential People in the World.”  Released on December 10, 2011, the one-hour special brought in over $1M in the 11 days after its release. C.K. donated a large portion of the proceeds to charity.

Louis C.K. serves as Executive Producer, Writer, Director and Editor of Louis C.K Live At the Beacon Theatre. Dave Becky is Executive Producer and M. Blair Breard is Producer. The special is produced by Pig Newton, Inc.

Season 3 of his acclaimed comedy series Louie debuts on Thursday, June 28 at 10:30 PM ET/PT.  TIME magazine name Louie the Best Television Show of 2011. FX has ordered 13 episodes for the third season.

Louis C.K. is one of the most honest and respected comedic voices of his generation, finding success in both television and film, as well as the live stage.  Currently he serves as executive producer, writer, director and editor onLouie. Louis was nominated for four 2011 Emmy^® Awards for Louie and his standup special Hilarious including “Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series”, “Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series”, “Outstanding Picture Editing For A Special” and “Outstanding Writing For A Variety, Music or Comedy Special”. He was honored as 2011 “Comedy Person of the Year” from the Just For Laughs Festival. C.K. was recently named one of TIME’s “100 Most Influential People in the World,” won four 2012 Comedy Awards, and was named as Variety’s 2011 “Comedy Person of the Year”. Louie was honored on many year-end top 10 lists including AFI, Time, Entertainment Weekly and dozens of others.  Hilarious was also honored with a 2012 Grammy for Best Comedy Album.

As a filmmaker, Louis is best known for his cult classic Blaxploitation spoof, Pootie Tang, which he wrote and directed.  Louis’ first feature film, Tomorrow Night, an independent film that he produced, wrote, and directed, premiered at The Sundance Film Festival in 1998.  He also created the short film, Ice Cream, which screened at Sundance and as part of the “New Directors, New Films” series at MOMA in 1994.

• Posted September 09th, 2010, 11:09 AM by Alison Willmore

If you’ve been watching Louis C.K.’s phenomenal new show “Louie,” which just wrapped an against-expectations successful season on FX, you might, on seeing the man live, feel a strong urge to give him a hug. He seems like he could use one. C.K., who brought his stand-up concert doc “Louis C.K.: Hilarious,” shot at a 2009 performance in Milwaukee, to NYC’s IFC Center last night and tonight, is a maestro of his own misery, using breathtakingly profane comedy to chronicle his recent divorce, his reentry into the dating scene, his experiences caring for his two daughters, aging, his looks and, overall, the ever-more-real threat of mortality. There have always been comics who’ve traded on failure and self-loathing, but there’s a warmth to “Louie” that belies its notably dark territory.

Whether being bullied by a teenager, discussing gay slurs over poker or looking up an old crush on Facebook, C.K. embodies a practically spiritual belief in the power of unswerving honesty. That inability to disassemble, seen in both the variation on himself he plays and in the characters he encounters, leads to excruciatingly awkward scenes (“Its easier to masturbate if I use this lubricant,” he explains to a TSA worker in episode five) but also moments of blindsiding humanity and connection that are all the more powerful for coming out of such unsentimental situations.

“Louis C.K.: Hilarious,” which had its premiere as the first stand-up concert film to screen at Sundance earlier this year, is, like “Louie,” written and directed by C.K. The film’s playing in eights cities before heading to a TV premiere on Epix on the 18th and, eventually, DVD. “Hilarious” differs from typical comedy specials by being shot up close and personal on the RED, with a jib and a Steadicam on stage — C.K. said in the Q&A after the screening that he was inspired by Led Zeppelin concert film “The Song Remains the Same.”

The results are mixed — there’s an intimacy that you can’t get from a camera mounted in the back of the room, but the relentless lean in can start to seem a little claustrophobic, skipping larger movement (a bit about taking the jerk-off gesture to its conclusion loses something when, initially, the gesture takes place out of frame) in favor of watching the sweat bead on C.K.’s forehead.

But it’s engrossing to see the progress of C.K.’s material, which he breaks down as evolving over about a year, starting with formative gigs in NYC comedy clubs, leading to first 20, then 45 minutes of material that becomes a headline tour show and ultimately a special or, this year, the series. “Hilarious” covers plenty of C.K.’s (and “Louie”‘s) favorite themes, and has some obvious through lines, from his compulsive solitary consumption of ice cream to being told by a doctor “you’re only cosmetically overweight” to a trip to a nightclub to a tale of childcare disaster and epiphany that echoes the final show in the series. Other segments are consistent in sentiment, from a bit on the “white person problems” Americans complain about (uncaring about the far more serious issues plenty of people in the rest of the world face) to hyperbole in word choice — “we go right to the top shelf with words these days” — leading to the film’s title.

Answering questions after the screening, C.K. addressed the show (FX doesn’t give notes until a full episode is delivered) and its renewal (called in for a meeting, he expected problems with the just finished “God” episode, and instead was told season two was a go). He also discussed last week’s drunken Twitter tirade, during which he took shots at Sarah Palin (who he described as “a beautiful villain”), only to end up guesting on “The Tonight Show” with her daughter Bristol the next day. “It was weird to sit next Hitler’s daughter, who’s famous for having a baby too young,” he noted, but in characteristic fashion, the anecdote ended with his realizing she was terrified and nervous, and telling her she’d done a good job: “She’s just a person.

The third season of “Louie” is coming to FX on June 28, and a trailer hyping the show was released Wednesday. The black-and-white teaser does not appear to include any footage from upcoming episodes, but instead pays homage to Woody Allen’s “Manhattan” with black and white photography of New York City and a sprawling classical soundtrack.

And the similarities don’t end there. C.K.’s career has many parallells with Allen’s — both made their name as stand-up comedians before become auteurs in the medium of film (Allen) and TV (C.K.), eventually writing, directing and starring in vehicles that are simultaneously screamingly funny and enormously heartfelt.

Although this trailer uses Rachmaninoff and not Gershwin, FX obviously wants us to know that New York is Louis C.K.’s town, and it always will be.