Louie (Louis C.K.'s show on FX)

Not surprised coming from a guy that seems compelled to categorize anyone that does the same thing at least three other similar people are already doing.

hahaha

https://twitter.com/fakelouieeps/status/251785857151942656

https://twitter.com/fakelouieeps/status/252451019986976768

ideas for ilx tv show:

man consumes media. judges it. vomits on internet.

I only enjoy pointing out how typical a group of people or TV shows are so I can than summarize it back to them so I seem superior for being more self-aware. Google analytics data should be only used to make people feel like sheep. Ask your doctor if ilx is right for you.

The doll-fixing scene may have been the best goddamn-frustrating-fucking-piece-of-junk scene I've seen since Unfaithfully Yours. That was spectacular.

three eyeballs was all time

three eyeballs was amazing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPHEUb-Q-Aw

On extended hiatus. Will be back in Spring 2014.

D:

Dude needs some time. Fair enough, I say. Will miss it next year though.

yeah I'm sure the show will be better for it. In the meantime we have Maron on IFC to look forward to.

I don't get IFC, but I get torrents!

yeah that one

it's a good call I think. he could use a minute to reload.

In the meantime we have Maron on IFC to look forward to.

I hope he doesn't wear the jean shorts.

i've been pummeled here before for being down on season 3...much preferred the first two seasons. it seems as if there were fewer and fewer comments here after each week's episode this season, which to me suggests people might feel the same even though they stan just as hard if you dare criticize it. the vociferousness(sp?) and ultra-protectiveness is kinda like the fans of "girls", come to think of it!

were you "pummeled" or did people just disagree with you

well people came down pretty hard on me...it's all upthread. (crosses fingers that i am not just misremembering being "pummeled" ha ha!)

i personally just lost the will to keep saying "it isn't about whether or not it's funny" after each "this wasn't funny" post, but everyone elses' mileage may vary. inasmuch as i'm 'protective' or w/e, it was just lots of the criticism seeming invalid, rather than particularly jarring or eyeopening, &c, because as a thing it seemed like it was being just as interesting & vital & engaging as it ever was, albeit in different ways, & probably at the expense of its previous virtues. this season it was more cinematic, more thoughtful & more incisive, partic on stuff like relationships & impulses. & yeah it probably wasn't as funny (like: basically no stand up, to start) but that isn't any kind of failure imo. it is a v moving show to me.

break is cool, i imagine he has some other shit happening (there was a mention of an animation project in a trailer for some animated charlie kaufman thing) & might get back in step w/his productive tour/special/tour/series rhythm. has anyone seen him this time out?

i'm seeing him in about two weeks.

oh ha same
i think we always coincide at his shows

Seeing him mid-November.

Possible lack of show posts by people like me, who don't have cable and wait for each season to end before watching them all via extra-legal measures.

i personally just lost the will to keep saying "it isn't about whether or not it's funny" after each "this wasn't funny" post, but everyone elses' mileage may vary.

This and also I don't usually watch them until well after they have been aired.

I think one of the things I like about Louie is that it sort of has the feel of a comedian trying out new material. It isn't always funny, and sometimes it doesn't work. It isn't carefully diagrammed. A roomful of writers didn't workshop to decide which version of the same joke is the funniest. It's incredibly personal and specific, and that makes it unusual and fearless, but also messy.

I saw him just this past Friday!

i'm going tomorrow, any good?

yeah how was it? i only caught yr pre-show panic
you could maybe speak only in the broad-brush language of enthusiasm or disappointment, what w/us all waiting to catch him

I think my problem is less that it isn't "funny" and more that i find that his self-degradation/victimization/martyrdom less edgy than everyone else and more a sort of humble brag...it always feels like underneath he's saying, "aren't I coming off well?" I can see why he thinks Lena Dunham is so great, she does the same thing...this veneer of warts-and-all self-debasement that is actually kind of a roundabout patting onesself on the back.

i dont think its really about 'i'm bad (but actually im good)'

like the dad episode for instance which just did an amazing end-run around anything you could possibly expect from a 'louie confronts his dad' episode

it seems as if there were fewer and fewer comments here after each week's episode this season, which to me suggests people might feel the same even though they stan just as hard if you dare criticize it. the vociferousness(sp?) and ultra-protectiveness is kinda like the fans of "girls", come to think of it!

There was actually talk of a Girls-Louie crossover episode happening, like the Flinstones-Jetsons. Louie takes his daughters to an XX concert, trying to be a "coo dad," and meets Lena Dunham's character.

the show was...good!

I think my problem is less that it isn't "funny" and more that i find that his self-degradation/victimization/martyrdom less edgy than everyone else and more a sort of humble brag...it always feels like underneath he's saying, "aren't I coming off well?" I can see why he thinks Lena Dunham is so great, she does the same thing...this veneer of warts-and-all self-debasement that is actually kind of a roundabout patting onesself on the back.

the woody allen comparisons just don't stop.

There should be a Louie/Gilligan's Island/Harlem Globetrotters episode. Or a half-animated Scooby Doo crossover. (Thinking ahead to season 15)

the show was...good!

― well if it isn't old 11 cameras simon (gbx), Tuesday, October 9, 2012 6:54 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

PSYCHED

this veneer of warts-and-all self-debasement that is actually kind of a roundabout patting onesself on the back.

ha i don't think we need further interrogation of girls itt but i can't really even see how this is a criticism of that show - like you either think she's unsympathetic & you don't give a shit or you think she's unsympathetic & you relate, but i don't think any of her like, overtly presented personality traits or failings are perceived as secretly awesome

i think sad-sack louie may have been played up this season cuz show actually felt need to address it this season (sad-sack aspect obv there before but not quite such a defining characteristic, sorta relegated to money and love/pussy woes), much more continuity and overall arc than prior seasons and the two big storylines - parker posey and talk show - both about facing paralyzing terror in the face of opportunity (for money and love/pussy lol), finale dealt w/ the crash of both those dreams - talk show and posey dead - and w/ the crippling loneliness louie feels and probably has felt since the divorce, the type of loneliness that leads him to stay in miami longer just cuz he enjoyed hanging out w/ some dude he met. first instinct is to crawl into ball, eat in bed and watch tv, but he's grown enough to snap out of it and decide to spend time w/ his family over the holidays and then to go further and go to china and try to find the yangtze river, something that for the louie presented this season is pretty bold. now whether louie's preference to spend the holidays w/ strangers who speak a language he doesn't over spending time w/ his family is healthy or represents real growth is very debatable and louie has always been willing to seek connections w/ strangers (i know 'lol look at this white guy trying to talk to ppl who aren't even white wtf' is one of the things some morons like to point at as rmde liberal about the show but i really admire and enjoy that usually duck accompanied generous humane curiosity) while having much more trouble maintaining or building connections (unless they're comedians ie as fucked up as he is) but i think there's a change or the possibility of epiphany here, he seems to recognize the fear and determined to face it. now it could end up being nothing - woody allen had his doppelganger have epiphanies all the time and then next movie it's alvy singer back at square one only the name and formal dressing has changed, some real sisyphus shit - or it could end up that louie on the show becomes more like the louis who makes it, the type of guy who could face an offer from a network for a show and counteroffer something like 'louie'. i'm not sure which option i prefer tbh. continuing the woody allen comparisons (and as somewhat unthinkable as something like woody allen in current american movies is, something like woody allen in tv is damn near a miracle) i like to think of curb yr enthusiasm as sleeper (looser and rougher than prior comedies, not quite as big a break w/ what came before as it's heirs but partly cuz it's sole focus is laughs, any innovations are beside the point), louie as annie hall (much much more overt formal daring, more attn to character and moments, willingness to forgo a laff while enough of a standup mentality still existing to devote bits that are entirely setup->joke), girls as hannah and her sisters (previous innovations now status quo, female characters suddenly have agency, laffs are there but not labored over or cherished).

i think reading proust has become a bad influence on your post lengths

neo-ILX posting length, mordy

killer post

the tig notaro thing that louis has been promoting points to louis being interested in uncomfortable situations rather than self-flagellation, it's just that self-flagellation is a means to get there?

The self-deprecation helps deflate criticism that the show, or Louie (or Lena Dunham [or Louie Dunham]) is narcissistic, self-absorbed and too self-conscious. It's a way of saying "I'm aware that I have a problem...now if you'll excuse me," and then doing what you want to do without criticism. You control the debate by pointing out your own flaws, getting that out of the way, and maybe you can distract from other weaknesses by harping on your own smaller ones again and again.

Also many comedians base their entire careers on self-depreciation.

I've known egomaniacs who manipulate people by shrinking, and being coy, and being self-deprecating whenever they think someone might call them out on selfish behavior. It's like a possum playing dead.

*haven't seen Girls or more than one episode of Louie btw, but self-deprecation can be a device hiding wickedness so you all know. xpost

Rodney Dangerfield to thread

charges of narcissism, egomania etc... is a weird criticism to defend against considering the show is named louie.

self deprecation so not what girls is about (cf how louie and lena deal w/ body image), in girls the jokes about hannah's irresponsiblity, fecklessness, narcissism, and spoiled nature are more the wisdom a twentysomething has about a slightly younger twentysomething, usual commenting on personality traits that frankly are the common defining characteristics of a young adult, esp a young adult who fancies him/herself creative. no more self deprecating than (HEY MORDY WATCH THIS) joyce's portrait of the artist as a young man.

like i don't think TNG was motivated to go for human drama because they were defensive about space laser criticism

has anyone seen the tig notaro thing btw? it's been built up so much i'm scared to see it now, feel like i won't be open to it and w/ comedy you usually have to be willing to meet it halfway for it to work.