Get ready to see this face often.
Louis C. K. is very funny, but he isn’t for everyone. His humor is based on failure and darkness, and this holds true for his new show on FX. He observes and reports terrible things about himself and the people around him, about the things life does to you, and about how what you plan for yourself – whether for tomorrow afternoon or for the rest of your life – sometimes catastrophically doesn’t work out. Incredibly, the end result is some genuine, solid comedy.
The premise of the show essentially mirrors the real life of its star: Louie lives in New York and works as a stand-up comedian, he has two daughters, and he’s recently divorced. Each episode centers on two or three short narrative vignettes intercut with related stand-up bits.
Some of the vignettes are just stories playing out simply enough. In one, while volunteering as a field trip chaperon so he can spend time with his girls, Louie agitates a terrible school bus driver so much the man quits after the bus breaks down in Harlem. In another, his divorce is finalized and, feeling lonely, Louie goes Facebooking. These start out funny enough and end up hilariously, whether they resolve or not. This is an example of the solid comic writing he’s capable of, chops he built while writing for Letterman and Conan and on plenty of other projects.
Other sequences wander into surrealism, exhibiting a brand of humor that shows up less in his stand-up and more in the movies he’s written and directed (Pootie Tang) and the short film work he’s done. He reportedly even edits this show, along with directing, writing, producing, and starring. He knows what he’s doing and exactly the kind of story he wants to tell, and the craft of the show feels both very solid and like nothing you see is an accident.
The best example of surrealism so far is the date he goes on in the pilot episode. Everything is terrible, the woman he’s with isn’t really willing to play ball, and he just can’t catch a break. As they sit on a park bench and communication breaks down entirely, a helicopter swoops in and his date makes a Navy Seals-esque escape. This is obviously not realistic, but the date was so terrible and uncomfortable that her extraction seems almost like the only logical progression.
Surreal and absurd comedy is a tough row to hoe, and Louis C. K. does it pretty well, even if the end product is more challenging than most shows and will ultimately turn some people off. It is a kind of humor that lends itself well to real world application, like The Office. Everyone has been in those uncomfortable workplace situations before, but no one has ever really literally had a boss like Michael Scott or a co-worker like Dwight Schrute, or if they have, the real-world doppelganger surely wasn’t around very long before HR had them forcibly removed.
That balance between the real and the unrealistic is what makes the absurd story elements work. In that, at least, Louie is similar The Office. Critical comparisons will no doubt be drawn, but Louis C. K.’s work here is fundamentally different.
The Office is successful because it is a spot-on reminder of the sometimes weird and often uncomfortable environment you work in. Louie works because it honestly and effectively acknowledges that, sometimes, you hate yourself and everyone around you just a little, and sometimes even that can be funny.
Louie is on FX, Tuesday nights at 11 EST / 10 CST.
Score: Louie gets a 4 out of 5.
