Fuck Yeah, Louis C.K.

• by Kevin Naulls May 23, 2012 

Fans of Louis CK’sincredibly colourful (and hilarious) standup comedy will be excited to note that he’ll be headlining four shows in Toronto as part of the launch of JFL42, a festival put together by Just For Laughs and LiveNation. The festival runs for eight days from September 21 to 28, and will include, um, 42 acts from various disciplines, ranging from art to comedy, to choose from (a pass entitles the buyers to a reserved seat for a Louis CK show, and the choice of attending several other events). This isn’t your average comedy festival either, because JFL and LiveNation want the user to be involved in creating the schedule—festival passes can be purchased via smart phone, and the acts with the most interest will get the best time slots (the festival also recognizes that some acts may be too popular, and they have committed to setting up at bigger venues or adding extra performance dates and times where possible). Passes go on sale May 25 at 10 a.m. via Ticketmaster, and a full list of the performers will be revealed in June.

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.

• 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.”

• posted: Wednesday, May 2, 2012 4:17 pm

By the time Labor Day weekend rolls around, the third season of Louis C.K.’s ridiculously funny FX show “Louie” should be winding down. For a little taste of season three, which begins in June, check out this teaser.

And when Labor Day weekend rolls around, the sharp-witted funnyman will be coming to Mark G. Etess Arena at Trump Taj Mahal on Friday, September 1 for two shows: 7:00 p.m. and 10:30 p.m.

Tickets are on sale this Friday at noon. Get ‘em here.