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

Anti-cliche is just the pretentious form of cliche.

Sure, but Louis is always playing with and exploring expectations and pop cliche (another thing he's got in common with woody Allen). the story starts with him lusting after an unobtainable woman, who he talks to and it turns out the fantasy doesn't match h reality. Although PP is the "star" of that episode, its not really about her at all, but about Louis's changing expectations, no?

I think the usual MPDG takes pity and interest in the slubby dude and transforms him, which is almost the opposite of what happened in Louis.

http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2013/01/louis-ck-proust-questionnaire/_jcr_content/par/cn_contentwell/par-main/cn_pagination_contai/cn_image.size.lous-ck.gif

should at least share the link...

http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2013/01/louis-ck-proust-questionnaire

What is your motto?
Never, ever, ever again agree to do anything for any magazine ever.

cauldron

god, the eddie episode was brutal. I don't know if I can finish out the season. definitely not gonna start season 3.

That and "God" are the most depressing/intense episodes - don't think anything in S3 really approaches that.

man the USO episode made me tear up and cry a lil'.

USO episode is very life-affirming and really full of love (which isn't exactly what I go to this series for but of course louis it turns out does it better than anyone else).

^^ yes, totally. when the tim hetherington dedication came on at the end I lost it.

it's been such a tough week.

I just can't open the newtown thread anymore. I can't.

Lucky louie finally streaming on hbo go

Finally watching all of season 2. Jesus, this masturbation episode.

that's nothing compared to the Jesus masturbation episode in season 3.

wkiw ramon

that was probably my fav ep in a while

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cn5btfRC-r0
lol, this is my old gym

aero to thread

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wwM1ksmc_g

I continue to liveblog my watching of louie long after everybody else has finished

was disappointed with the posey episodes because the strength of the shoe really has been louie encapsulating 'real' people (or archetypes) into these little figurines in his episodes but I'm still not sure that manic pixie dream girls actually exist irl (also kinda my beef w/ chløē but I think louie was cutting more into the fantasy-realm part of the show with that ep)

feel like I have to acknowledge louie's wardrobe at this point too - I love that his jackets and shirts are so functional and basic and exactly the kind of clothes you would expect him to wear - like that big shapeless jacket he wears with the faux fur lining, the crew neck long sleeves always w/ that triangle stitched below the neck (what's the name for that kind of neck)?, dark colored t-shirts, never ever a collar

it's true, artistically this has been, as sullivan would say, a really big shoe

also i've been waiting for someone to make the standard wardrobe of fat white guys who don't care how they look seem noble and dignified, thank you from the bottom of my heart

seeing him tonight in baltimore. wonder if he'll do any newtown material?

finished season 3 - prob best scene I've seen recently that was set in china

i know a sorta WHERE THE PEOPLE ARE FRIENDLY AND PULL YOU INTO THEIR HOMES message is maybe a little pat, but i feel like the story had enough use for it that it worked

yeah, true, but feel the need to point out that there's also a gross underpinning to this, the power dynamic between the West and the rest of the world

also january in beijing be hella cold, 12 degrees in beijing right now ^_^

Louie: France *in Mandarin, pronounces it wrongly* [perhaps pronouncing it like 'melon'?]

louie pronounces it 'fǎ guā' iirc which kinda sounds like "shǎ guā" (傻瓜）which means 'idiot' (literally means 'stupid melon')

haven't seen the show, but i heard this guy has a pretty masterful sense of rhythm

he is very ratchet

Lady leads Louie into the house.
Somebody: Someone's here to eat.

he refers to louie as a '洋人'which means foreigner or more specifically a westerner

I'm still not sure that manic pixie dream girls actually exist irl

that ep reminded me a LOT of a girl i knew in new york, especially the exhaustion and actually-i-'m-not-that-into-your-manic-spontaneity aspect that can set in extremely quickly

but also the flip side, finding yourself climbing up stairwells in unlikely parts of town, this person being like a pass into a totally different city that exists right in the same city you thought you knew

yeah, true, but feel the need to point out that there's also a gross underpinning to this, the power dynamic between the West and the rest of the world

― 乒乓, Wednesday, January 2, 2013 1:24 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

right, yes. I could take a hysterical NYRB thinkpiece approach & claim that this is an intentional microcosm of insular western dependence, but it isn't anything I'd thought through or past. I do feel like, more generally in the show, money isn't really a factor but that there's an implied sense of ill-thought out profligacy to most all of Louie's behaviours. it comes up in stand up sometimes, his kind of blank, lazy hunger for just distraction.

yeah I can see that. I guess I just expected that a show that's known for exposing the dark, jerky side of otherwise seemingly innocuous interactions sort of missed the boat on an opportunity to also show that side for the white-person-in-china scenario, but I can understand wanting to end the season on a happy note

the next season is set in china, louie is navigating the complexities of western dependence on chinese welfare while maintaining a consciousness of that labour's catalystic effect on a radically different economy. otm anyway; i can feel demanding when asking extra of things that are already a lot, & it's only a ten minute segment, &c, but it's maybe too straightforwardly a white guy with mythical china at his disposal, sure.

His late show in London on Thursday night was the best stand-up I've ever seen.

It was great.

saw him at the O2 and he was great!

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/07/arts/for-louis-c-k-the-jokes-on-him.html?_r=0&pagewanted=all

good interview

Watched the first season last week and loved it, but actively rolled my eyes whenever Gervais's doctor character appeared onscreen because he managed to suck all the funny out of the thing for as long as he was onscreen.

I thought he was funny!! I like when they introduce characters who are totally at odds with the rest of the show.

I watched part of the first season on netflix. Someone had recommended it to me based on some post I had made about how miserable my life is. I got all the way up to where he calls some woman a cunt. Maybe this show works better for people with a different set of cultural touchstones or something.

what are your cultural touchstones?

I can't find the clip, but there's this great interview where he's talking about different network standards, and how on FX you can't show breasts, but there's an episode of The Shield where a police officer says "It appears he murdered her and then ejaculated on her stomach" and then they zoom in on jizz on a dead woman's stomach. So his friend suggested that they should censor women's breasts using an image of jizz on a dead woman's stomach.

I watched part of the first season on netflix. Someone had recommended it to me based on some post I had made about how miserable my life is. I got all the way up to where he calls some woman a cunt. Maybe this show works better for people with a different set of cultural touchstones or something.

― how's life, Friday, April 5, 2013 10:13 AM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

fwiw, I wasn't too comfortable with this scene either. I also found the one about hating his mother pretty offputting. He has a sometime tendency to wallow too much in the shit.

"As soon as you crack your knuckles and open up a comments page, you just canceled your subscription to being a good person."
should add this to the FAQ imo