Louie

great show

So what do you guys think of the "South" episode? Is he gay or not?
I couldn't believe he actually did that.

And I think Lucky Louie was funnier than this show, but this one is really interesting to watch, too. This one is more realistic. The only Louie episode I don't really like is the first one. It's so poorly shot and obviously tightly budgeted.

I liked the "South" episode. But I thought him making his way there was the best part.

I get what you're saying about the first episode. Fortunately, when the first episode aired, the second episode followed right after. I still like the first episode though. I like them all.

In all honesty, I was annoyed by the commercials and it just looked really un-funny to me. I watched it and thought it was alright, albeit I only saw one episode.

I just saw the south episode on hulu, this show is still stuck in dullville.

This week's episode had potential, but just kind of crumbled into nothing. I thought the writing on it was poor except for a few bright spots, like his "acting" with Broderick. They could have gone a much funnier route with the cop uniform, but I guess that would have been too predictable.

The show is interesting from a writing stand point, but its not funny for the most part. Seriously, the stand up portions need to go, because they just arent "hitting" like his actual routines. I understand why, as I am sure they are mostly throw-away jokes or shit that he had to write on the spot. But still...why water it down?

Lucky Louie FTW

The first half of the last episode was better than the second half. The "South" episode, on the other hand, I thought was one of the best. I still think this show is light-years better than Lucky Louie. All the parts that were funny in Lucky Louie are from his stand-up, and they were funnier in the stand-up routine. In other words, Lucky Louie was really only somewhat funny because it reminded me of his stand-up bits.

Most of the stand-up in Louie is great. This last episode was different in the sense that it was more about him responding to a heckler than doing his own material. But it was still hilarious.

The difference is, Lucky Louie could stand up on it's own, whether you knew about his comedy or not. Anyone unfamiliar with this show, I doubt would give it a second glance.

Lucky Louie > Louie

IMO

His new show is more or less in the same light as Sienfeld, in that he does some stand up, and the "skits" revolve around what he just talked about. So in a sense, BOTH shows have are based off his stand-up. Not sure why you keep insisting that only Lucky Louie was based on stand-up, when this new show clearly is as well.

You HONESTLY think the stand-up in this show is "great"? Really???

I feel like you WANT to like the show because you really like Louis CK, so there's some cognitive dissonance going on. But hey, thats just me.

I guess I've been spoiled by his stand-up because I can't imagine myself caring much for Lucky Louie if I weren't familiar with him as a stand-up comedian. I'll admit that I like Louie more because I am familiar with his stand-up (other than the stand-up on his show), but I think that if I knew nothing about his stand-up career before watching Louie, the show would at least get me interested enough to look him up on Youtube or wherever.

So, yeah... we all have our opinions. I just have to totally disagree with you. I feel Louie stands more on its own than Lucky Louie.

Lucky Louie is closer in format to Seinfeld, sans the stand-up. Louie doesn't necessarily have a single topic throughout any one episode, and it has a more raw feel to it. There isn't a live audience laughing during the show either. Lucky Louie just feels a lot more like Seinfeld except that it doesn't have stand-up.

I'm not insisting that Louie isn't based off his stand-up. I'm just saying that Lucky Louie isn't as funny as the stand-up it's based off. What Louie has going for it is that even when it isn't laugh-out-loud funny, it's often still making interesting observations. Lucky Louie wasn't really interesting to me at all. It was standard formula sitcom + vulgarity. And sometimes the show had the opposite effect on me than was intended. For example, the episode where his daughter is being a total asshole wasn't funny to me. It was actually depressing. But when Louis CK talks about his daughter being an asshole in his HBO stand-up special, it's hilarious.


Most of it, yes. And even when it isn't great, it's definitely not bad. I also think that a lot of what we see is supposed to be him trying out new material in a smaller comedy club. So, I tend to see the stand-up in that light. The stand-up, like the show overall, isn't polished. And that's what makes it so great. In fact, that's what makes Louis CK's comedy so great. He is a more raw, off-the-cuff sort of comic. A lot of comics seem too polished; their comedy seems to streamlined and scripted. There is an old stand-up video on youtube from like 5 years ago or so where Louis CK does a bit and then comments on it by saying it was sort of Seinfeld-y but told more clumsily. This same sense of "clumsily" is what makes Louie better than Lucky Louie, for me. Here's that stand-up:



This video has some of my favorite material from him. I don't think the stuff on Louie is as funny, but then, I don't think the stuff on his HBO and Showtime specials are as funny either. Fortunately or unfortunately Louis CK retires his jokes after a year or so and starts again with new material. It's sort of a double-edged sword.


I'll say this: I only started watching the show because I really like Louis CK. If I didn't know about him or didn't care for his stand-up, I probably wouldn't watch the show. An example of this is that show Bill Engval has/had on... I think it was TBS. I hate his stand-up. He is absolutely not funny at all, ever. Consequently, I have less than zero desire to watch his sitcom.

I'm not being a blind fanboy about Louie. It is still very much a mixed bag for me, comedically. Some parts are great and some parts are not so great. The thing is that, as a whole, I think the show works well. And I think what makes it work is that it doesn't have that forced or contrived sense of comedy that we get from standard sitcoms. So, the show seems to me to have a bit more freedom as an experimental work. We're seeing the evolution of his comedy and his insights on life in this show. It's probably pointless for me to try and pitch the show to you. All I can say is that my liking Louie has nothing to do with whether I want to like it or not.

I just saw the heckler episode, best one so far with that whole cunt bit.

The last episode seemed WAAAAAY out of place from the rest of series. Not sure how to feel about it, but it DID have the least amount of standup yet.

A second season is confirmed.

Last two episodes needed more comedy, shits just been depressing. They did weed dirty too

still better than anything else on at that time though

The "Bully" episode had less comedy, but was still a brilliant episode. The "weed" episode had its moments, but I feel was overall weaker (despite that it had more comedy.)

"Bully" felt Larry David-ish, in that he did what most people WANT to do in that situation, but dont.

Overall, it was definitely "darker" than all the other episodes.

I'm actually surprised that you think most people don't do what Louie does in this episode.

I think it is the exact opposite of what you say. Imagining the scenario, I think most people would like to think that they'd stand up for themselves and, if not fight, at least not succumb to the bully's threats by politely asking not to be beat up. But when most people are in that situation, it's scary and they freeze. Most people don't like confrontation.

I had a similar situation happen to me a few years back. But the whole group of guys came to my table and one was showing off his knife. I wasn't on a date, and they didn't make me ask for them to not beat me up. They just threatened me and left. Sure, in my head I'm Steven Seagal. But in reality, I freeze up like most people in that situation.

I was referring to Louie stalking the kid, seeing where he lived (which apparently wasn't very accessible), and confronting his parents. No, most people would NOT do that, although I think many WOULD like to (see WHY he is like that).

Even with that said, I think most people DO avoid conflict...its human nature. And while "flight-or-flight" is a human reaction, "flight" tends to take precedence over "fight", especially when outnumbered.

These two sentences contradict one another. Because he obviously DID confront him...and in fact, did it TWICE (although the second time was indirectly). And the "bully" also confronted Louie, which would also defeat your observation.

You can say what you want, but that was just a very non-comedic way of looking at a social situation in which people would LIKE to do and just dont have the balls or even time to do. Like Larry David, he portrays MANY social situations in the same fashion, only it IS in a very comedic way.