3 out of 5

Created by: Louie C.K.

covers seasons 1 through 5

Comedian Louie C.K. landed a modest deal with FX which traded a bigger budget for a show with full creative freedom; the result was ‘Louie.’  Being created, written, directed, and primarily produced and edited by its star – plus that no-holds-barred contract guarantee – we can pretty much assume that the show is 100% what C.K. wants it to be, from top to bottom.  There are pros and cons to this, of course.  Which kept flitting through my thoughts as I went through the seasons.  The most general downside to the one-man act, in any medium, is a tendency for indulgence, and that’s certainly the case here.  Indulgence is something many comedians are familiar with in a sense, I’d say, as much of their material will often be gleaned from their lives – at least, this seems to be the case with observational comedians like Louie.  Then to vaguely base the show on your life – we get shots of stand-up cut together with divorced dad Louie putzing about town with fictionalized versions of his daughters, or girlfriends, or friends, or fellow comedians “playing” themselves – things are prone to dip into confessional versus comedy on occasion.  C.K. also has an obsession with the unfunny as funny: life’s tragedies and discomforts; and so those confessional moments can become especially murky, since we’re not sure if it’s intended to make us laugh or to be insightful.  …And if we continue on this exception after exception concept, the latter tag is hard to apply because poignancy isn’t C.K.’s forte.  He wins arguments by bowing out of them.  In a humorous context, this means he stutters until the other person arrives at their own conclusions.  In a dramatic context, this often means a scene just ends.  It reminded me a lot of the solo artist / writer autobiographical indie comic book scene, which is cluttered with people telling us their experiences and, seemingly, expecting us to find them fascinating.  …Or at least that’s the cynical take from a guy who doesn’t read those books.  From people who are looking for “someone like me in all my uniqueness!”, perhaps that scene has its merits.

Wrapping, rambly, around to why I dipped lower with my rating, starting in season 3, when Louie begins to have some primarily serious episodes (leading up to the almost somber season 4), it makes one cast a questioning eye on what’s come before.  And instead of seeing the goofiness, I started to see the set-up more as justification for some questionable behaviors.  It’s the man-child syndrome popularized by Apatow and the like, but skewed slightly older and more socially uncomfortable.  This does result in a lot of funny, but often the incompetence with which Louie handles any given situation makes me think of people I know who’d react the same, who might then look to the show as a reason for it being okay.  It… it is okay, of course; I can’t stand in judgement of that.  But the existence of the show isn’t what makes it okay.  It’s circuitous in that sense, and I’m full of shit for judging the show on something that it sounds like I’m admitting is illogical, and so when I review my reviews I’ll make sure to take that into account.

Look: Louie is funny.  And more often than not hilarious.  The guy lets his style drift into the ridiculous just enough that you never know what’s coming, and his bravery in presenting himself as so incompetent regarding social interactions is a gift to anyone who’s been in that same spot where they just have no idea what to do or say.  When the show leans more toward seriousness, it exposes some of the wish fulfillment the series portrays, but then again, C.K. is living his life as a comedian and gets to make a show about it, so maybe that wish is fulfilled after all.  But it also builds a slight barrier between viewers (like me, anyway) and the show, as it feels less like “we can all relate to this” and more like a personal vignette that I’m not sure adds to my appreciation of the surrounding jokes.