Louie - General Discussion

[peeayebee]

I meant to mention one of my favorite parts of the ep was in Bobby's fake story, after Bobby gets in the paddy wagon, the policeman waves in a black man who just happens to be walking past.

[buttersister]

Oh yeah. So many great moments, that one was pure Louie. I think Louie's main concern is that the girls are all safe--after that, phone sex, group outings to the cop shop, late night ice cream--it's all good.

[Lone Wolf]

Louie goes on the road.

[Lone Wolf]

Mods (or whoever), feel free to fix the topic to E07 (first time I've ever started a topic).

Annywayy...

I was wondering why, at his level, Louie was in a dump (especially since a driver had been arranged - usually someone from the club picks the comic up), but they explained that well enough. I suspect that there will be shenanigans next week however, since his manager mentioned that the club owner's daughter will be meeting him at the airport for the next gig.

Jizzybun was a nod to one of Louis's standup routines: He talks about Cinnabon's frosting being elf cum, and how pathetic it is to be seen eating one in public. Also, I have no doubt that his packing routine is exactly what we saw - "Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, sweating." I'm certain that he's first-class (if not private) and 4-star all the way, however.

Not the strongest ep for me, however some of it may have been set up for Part Deux.

Edited May 23, 2015 by Lone Wolf

[scrb]

Was that really inside one of Jetblue's planes?

 

Looked very plush but maybe that was just business or first class.

[Soobs]

I'm starting to get a little turned off by the running theme that Louie is a victim of the world. In this episode it stood out a lot (the lost luggage, the lost child, the driver being a weirdo, the bad room). He's a successful, white man and yet nothing ever turns out his way and it's rarely because of him. As a premise, it's getting harder to buy into. At least when Larry David or Marc Maron do this, they make it known that the problems start with them and even if their characters don't see it that way, we do.

 

I still like the show but this has been bugging me a lot this season. Sometimes I think that he is so big and godlike now that there isn't anyone telling him that that some of his stuff isn't that great.

Edited May 23, 2015 by Soobs

[ganesh]

Oh, it's 2 parts. I was like, "what?" when it ended. 

 

I never ever use roller bags, strictly for that reason. I have a messenger bag that I cross over my shoulder and it stays there until I get on the plane.

[possibilities]

Heh, CK himself has a routine about how everything is amazing and yet no one is happy. Maybe he needs a little of his own medicine.

[bref]

I found this episode disturbingly repetitive of previous ones. Some examples:

 

The overbearing guy who just wants to be buddies.

An encounter with someone he doesn't share a language with. 

A child running away from him.

A series of unfortunate events emphasizing what a shlemiel he is.

 

It was all very deja vu. I didn't hate it but it certainly wasn't a particularly good episode.

Edited May 23, 2015 by bref

[DiabLOL]

I loved his expression of anger/disappointment/shame when the Jizzybuns girl told him the  pump the icing directly into your mouth option was just a joke.

[DiabLOL]

Wait, someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure the "Louie" he's portraying in the series is definitely not the Louie he is these days. He's playing a character based on his former pre-fame and riches self, so a not rich, not famous, single dad with a fair to middling standup career.

[Lone Wolf]

I'm starting to get a little turned off by the running theme that Louie is a victim of the world. In this episode it stood out a lot (the lost luggage, the lost child, the driver being a weirdo...

 

I actually meant to comment on that. The driver plot line seemed uncomfortably similar to the Seinfeld ep where they used Elaine's company's car service, and the driver was so chatty that they pretended to be deaf so they wouldn't have to talk to him. This driver even looked similar to the one on Seinfeld.

 

Wait, someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure the "Louie" he's portraying in the series is definitely not the Louie he is these days. He's playing a character based on his former pre-fame and riches self, so a not rich, not famous, single dad with a fair to middling standup career.

That's been my belief (Louie vs. Louis C.K.), but even so, for as long as Louie's been around and the mid-level success he's achieved (opening for Seinfeld in the Hamptons, being enough on the radar to be considered, even as a pawn, to replace Letterman, etc.) I don't see him staying in a Motel 86. And I think there's a significant amount of Louis's life that we're seeing Louie living.

Edited May 23, 2015 by Lone Wolf

[ganesh]

Louie doesn't see himself staying at a Motel 86 either. He called his agent to complain about it. 

[Corgi-ears]

Was that really inside one of Jetblue's planes? Looked very plush but maybe that was just business or first class.

 

 

 

Yes. In Jetblue's business class, the cabin crew will only ram the service trolley into your foot with 85% force. God help you in economy, though.

[Milburn Stone]

It was still disrespectful to the actors and others in the theater to not be paying 100% attention.

 

If only more people (of all ages) understood this.

[Milburn Stone]

I meant to mention one of my favorite parts of the ep was in Bobby's fake story, after Bobby gets in the paddy wagon, the policeman waves in a black man who just happens to be walking past.

 

And then the black man calmly gets in.

 

In its way, it reminds me of the Warner Brothers cartoon with the sheepdog vs. the coyote. They both punch in at the beginning of the day and do their jobs.

Edited May 24, 2015 by Milburn Stone

[Never Again]

I see I'm in the very small minority but I enjoyed this show.. Come on of course it's based on a character similar to who he used to be, but it's not an exact clone. Obviously the real Louis does not stay In rooms like that, nor has a 12- year old agent, nor sits in coach. Nor goes through an airport unrecognized. It's a TV show. And I thought he captured perfectly the experience of a crummy airport day, and of the awkward situation when you just want to be left alone and a stranger wants to be too chummy. Lost luggage, garbled announcements, the whole thing was enjoyable for me. I like these slice of life episodes better than the violent ones or the dream/nightmare ones. I find them more relatable, and funnier

[DiabLOL]

Oh, I liked it just fine except for the lost luggage stuff at the end. 

[Lone Wolf]

I see I'm in the very small minority but I enjoyed this show.. Come on of course it's based on a character similar to who he used to be, but it's not an exact clone. Obviously the real Louis does not stay In rooms like that, nor has a 12- year old agent...

My take on the agent is that he's not really 12, but that's how Louie sees him, which is why he speaks in a grown man's voice. It used to freak me out to hear that voice coming out of that kid, but I'm guessing either he's significantly younger than Louie or is incompetent like a kid would be (e.g., the booking into a Motel 86), and Louis gave him that voice to contrast against those traits.

[CMH1981]

Well that was just depressing...

 

I don't like when Louie does episodes like this, where it gets real and very depressing.  

 

The best parts were Louie snarking at the club manager and the subplot w/the old time photo and when he was trying to pass it off as an actual historic photo to Jane...and she buying every thing he said. As they were going to take the photo I thought of how much Louie looks like he could have been a general/soldier in the Civil War.

 

I love Louie interacting w/ his daughters.  His daughters are so precocious and cute, I wish we could get some of them in every episode, but then again I know this isn't that type of tv show.

 

I wasn't sure if he was actually filming in OKC since I'm from there, but alas he did not.  From what they shot though it could pass for Oklahoma, except for the flea-market part...all our flea-markets are indoors.

 

The opener comic/condo-mate was a real piece.  I couldn't believe he was going to take a shit in the toilet tank while Louie was throwing up.  It still seems surreal that he ended up dead at the end of the episode.

[scrb]

Is that a real thing, people in OKC call Hispanics "sickies?"

[CMH1981]

 

Is that a real thing, people in OKC call Hispanics "sickies?"

 

No, it is most definitely not something we do.  That is where the show lost me, when the club owners daughter started talking about downtown OKC.  Downtown OKC is a very...how can I put this...white centric.  In fact that is where Louie would have been put up and probably been playing, one of the clubs downtown...or on NW side of OKC.  I know it's just a tv show, but I really wish a writer could do some research on the town if they aren't actually going to film there.

[Soobs]

My favorite part of this episode was Louie breaking down and crying because fart jokes are funny. I also liked the dead eyed, pretty daughter and the club owner exchanges and also how at the end of the photo dance number he was dancing with the photographer. Did not like the guy dying. It felt unrealistic and depressing.

[scrb]

I wonder if Jim Florentine's act is that hacky.

 

The until he hit the head, the scene was funny, with Louis over the toilet bowl and the guy was going to go in the tank.

 

Louie should have gotten out of there once the other guy started lowering his pants.  Go look for a bowl or something.

[ganesh]

I wonder if Jim Florentine's act is that hacky.

 

I thought maybe he started out with that kind of act, so he was sending himself up. 

 

I would have just gone and thrown up in the sink at that point though. I know you can get too sick to move, but I would have had the motivation.

 

I didn't really find the episode depressing because it was meant to be surreal. 

 

I don't think Louie is an asshole because he didn't want to party with the condo-mate either. Sometimes people like doing stuff on their own. There's no rule that you have to be friends with whom you're sharing living quarters. 

 

I didn't think Jane was buying the story, but playing along to get Louie to spin it. "He died in the *last* battle of the civil war." "Oh, Appomattox?" Good job, Jane. It struck me as something they do. 

Edited May 29, 2015 by ganesh

[bref]

Oh wheatthins, did you watch the standup special that followed the show? He's still on his game at the mic. But other than his daughters, whom i cannot resist, the show is kind of losing me. 

 

The photo session scene was lovely, though, and I did enjoy him crying while talking about fart jokes. I just feel like there's something I'm not getting. 

[Fisher King]

The back-in-time dancing scenes were great. That's one side of "asshole Louie" that the fart-joke comedian didn't get to see.

 

And come on - nobody takes a crap in the tank part of the toilet.  That was stupid.

 

I also loved the fiddle playing man at the street fair.

 

The club owner was a dick.

[zxy556575]

I didn't understand the point of the photography scenes but was relieved that he didn't end up banging the mother or daughter or both.

[Corgi-ears]

 

I didn't understand the point of the photography scenes but was relieved that he didn't end up banging the mother or daughter or both.

 

Part of Louie's* nostalgia -- if not a misogynistic nostalgia, then at least a rather conservative one -- for a simpler time, when men were men, when his middle-aged white masculinity didn't feel so besieged? He certainly ends up happier when women "force" him into male drag than he was when women (say, Pamela) get him to be in female drag, as they did in earlier episodes. I'M JUST SPITBALLING.

 

*Louie the character

Edited May 30, 2015 by Corgi-ears

[benteen]

I didn't think this episode was depressing.  I thought it was funny and the end ludicrously so.

 

I've listened to Jim Florentine for years on Opie and Anthony (now Opie and Jimmy).  I've never heard his act before but I know what was on Louie isn't that.  He's very funny with rants about what he thinks is cool or not or mocking certain things.  In any event, he was great tonight.  Very funny.

[possibilities]

I was tense every time a woman appeared on camera, thinking any second we'd see Louie fucking her. Notably, he wanted to chat with the sullen female driver, while he was annoyed by the chatty male driver from part 1. Also, notably, the opener didn't wear a suit either. Isn't a dress code something that would be in a contract? I dunno. I just feel that the only thing I can stomach anymore is him with his kids. Maybe the rumors about his personal conduct are affecting me, but week after week I'm feeling more and more impatient and bored, and less and less amused or inspired. And my waning joy in the show started well before the rumors, so maybe it's just time to quit.

Edited May 30, 2015 by possibilities

[zxy556575]

I didn't think this episode was depressing. I thought it was funny and the end ludicrously so.

 

Can you help me get it? I'm asking sincerely. Did the other comic's drinking and womanizing and fart/racist jokes make people laugh? Was Louie's discomfort with it funny, in a meta way? What about his eventual acceptance, and tears? Is it amusing to watch someone have a deliberately dreary and miserable life? Is it that I simply don't appreciate absurdest humor?

 

I've spent a lot of time watching and trying to understand and like this show and have no idea why. I am able to differentiate between Louie the character and Louis CK the person but I don't know why CK would put this out there as a weak, depressing doppelganger of himself. Does he find it funny or is it therapy? I kind of tend towards the latter and am uncomfortable being privy to that.

 

I tried to watch the Louis CK stand-up special and only got through about 8 minutes before deleting it.

Edited May 31, 2015 by lordonia

[benteen]

Sometimes it's just not taking thing seriously.  I found it funny.  I can understand being increasingly turned off by Louie's artsy and absurdist storytelling.  And I think Louie has some definite issues.  But storytelling wise, I just don't take things seriously and try to enjoy it.

 

Louie physically seems to look more and more like a wreck with every episode.

[ganesh]

The show certainly isn't for everyone. Sometimes, there's nothing to actually get. And there shouldn't have to be. I'd go nuts if I had to find meaning in every show I watch.

[hoodooznoodooz]

I was tense every time a woman appeared on camera, thinking any second we'd see Louie fucking her. Notably, he wanted to chat with the sullen female driver, while he was annoyed by the chatty male driver from part 1. Also, notably, the opener didn't wear a suit either. Isn't a dress code something that would be in a contract? I dunno. I just feel that the only thing I can stomach anymore is him with his kids.

Good catches. He did NOT want to chitchat with the man who drove him, but tried to engage the club owner's daughter. I really enjoy Louie with the daughters. Although I didn't love the scene a few episodes ago in which he really needed to defecate--hey, was Louie the writer trying to amuse us with that scene, even though Louie the character claimed he was above fart jokes? Edited May 30, 2015 by hoodooznoodooz

[scrb]

There isn't the whimsy like smuggling in the duck to Afghanistan.

 

Since the acclaim from earlier seasons, he decided to take an extended break, because he wasn't making a lot of money from the show.

 

Instead, the acclaim probably helped him book more lucrative standup tours and also get him roles like the one in Blue Jasmine.

 

Still he has certain cineaste aspirations so you can see the way it's filmed and scored.  That might be his main motivations, to learn a certain way of storytelling, to better master the medium.

 

Maybe that doesn't lead to as many heartwarming plots ...

[Lemons]

. Did not like the guy dying. It felt unrealistic and depressing.

 

I know.  What is it about this season's depressing stories?  There are enough bleak dramas out there.  I used to like laughing when I watched this show.

I finally laughed out loud with the other comic trying to come in and poop while Louie was throwing up.  And then they kill him.  Just stupid.  Trying too hard.

[Lemons]

Still he has certain cineaste aspirations so you can see the way it's filmed and scored.  That might be his main motivations, to learn a certain way of storytelling, to better master the medium.

 

Maybe that doesn't lead to as many heartwarming plots ...

The problem is, he is Louie CK.  I'm not sure too many people are interested in his "cineaste aspirations."  

[ganesh]

So what if they aren't? FX seems fine with the show. It's not like Louie is forcing the network to keep the show on the air.

 

Prior seasons have had stories where Louie follows a kid home and watches his dad slap him around, Louie gets sexually assaulted by Melissa Leo, Mark Macon tells him off and calls him a bad person, Judy Gold screams at him in public in the hospital while about a hair's breadth away from beating her gf, Parker Posey died. I mean, it's not like all of a sudden the stories are morose. The show's been surreal and absurd from the first episode, where Louie's date runs into a helicopter to get away from him. 

 

In the last episode though, Louie was trying to talk with the girl because she was on her phone while driving and it was making him nervous. Given how much he didn't want to talk to the driver before, I think it underscored how uncomfortable he was.

 

The club owner also said that he wants the "headliner" to wear a suit and not swear. JF was the warm up act. 

[Fisher King]

Anyone who calls me an asshole for not joining him in his party-modes, then makes me feel bad about it enough to cry and then drink til I puke, then tries to take a dump in the toilet while I'm puking my guts out deserves to die.

Didn't bother me a bit.

[scrb]

A lot of well respected actors and celebrities are appearing on his show -- and they're also going on Amy Shumer's show too.

 

He's like a younger Woody Allen in that respect and he probably wouldn't mind having a similar career trajectory.

[divaTy]

I don't think he was trying to chitchat with the girl, he was trying to keep her eyes in the road.

[Lemons]

So what if they aren't? FX seems fine with the show. It's not like Louie is forcing the network to keep the show on the air.

 

 

 

I don't know why this season seems different and not as entertaining.  The episode where the cop who was desperate to have a friend was just depressing.  And I love bleak dark dramas. 

The problem might be that if enough people aren't fine with the show and don't watch it, FX will cancel it. 

Anyone who calls me an asshole for not joining him in his party-modes, then makes me feel bad about it enough to cry and then drink til I puke, then tries to take a dump in the toilet while I'm puking my guts out deserves to die.

Didn't bother me a bit.

They guy was annoying, true, but he then made some valid points that Louie was just as annoying on the other extreme.

[Fisher King]

They guy was annoying, true, but he then made some valid points that Louie was just as annoying on the other extreme.

 

Absolutely valid but, for me, all those points he drove into Louie flew out the window when he went from fart-guy to the one-who-shits-in-the-toilet-tank. Just a dumb move.

 

He could have just written Louie off as depressed, left him alone and went on his merry way. But no. He kept partying and acting stupid til he died.

[ganesh]

What valid points did he make about Louie? Their comedy styles were different, and Louie was right; JF's were more lowest common denominator. Just because Louie didn't want to party with him, he got all honked off about it. Louie wasn't telling him not to party, he wasn't complaining about the noise or anything. There's no rule that says you have to be friends with the people you cohabitate with. Louie wanted to be left alone. JF thought Louie was being condescending. That's not on Louie. 

 

Not for nothing, the guy went on stage and did a set basically insulting Louie. The fact Louie didn't take the JD bottle and wrap it around his head says more about Louie I think. 

[peeayebee]

Although I was on Louie's side when he didn't want to eat, drink, or party with the other guy, and when Louie was dismissive of the guy's standup, I do think the guy had a point about Louie being so anti-social. Sure Louie had every right to keep to himself. But look at the great time he had with the two women doing the old timey photograph. I'm not sure what the ep was trying to say, but sometimes it's a good thing to open up to others.

 

On the other hand, when Louie finally started partying with the guy, it ended up with the dude's death. But maybe you could say that the guy wouldn't have died if Louie had just stepped aside so he could use the toilet.

 

 

There was that earlier ep when Louie was having nightmares until he decided to help the woman with the fish tank and so forth. There was the other ep when the annoying cop where Louie ended up helping him. I don't know, maybe the theme of the season was something to do with interacting with others vs being a selfish loner.

[Fisher King]

I've pretty much enjoyed this short season even though it's seemed very disjointed, not quite as thought out, maybe to the point of obligatory renderings, and less focus on humor. Louie obviously gets much leeway, which we've witnessed. I'm glad of that.

I try not to read too much into the meaning of every detail of every segment. That's too much of a headache and detracts from the simple enjoyment of just watching to see what kind of weirdness is next.

 

[Franklin Mac]

What an absolutely magnificent episode.  Jim Florentine and Louie have great chemistry.  I was thinking that when Jim fell off the toilet and was lying there with his pants down below his butt, Louie was going to roll him over and make love to him. But the mood abruptly changed when it was revealed that he was hurt badly.  The show is so masterful at playing with audience expectations.

[hoodooznoodooz]

Oops!! Thanks to the posters for reminding me that the daughter was staring at the phone instead of focusing on her driving.

If I were Louie, I'm not sure how open to JF I would be after my first impression. JF said some horrible things to the daughter.

[Irlandesa]

There isn't the whimsy like smuggling in the duck to Afghanistan.

 

Since the acclaim from earlier seasons, he decided to take an extended break, because he wasn't making a lot of money from the show.

I thought he took his break because it was such a toll on him considering he wrote, directed and for a while, edited every single episode of the series. 

 

Still he has certain cineaste aspirations so you can see the way it's filmed and scored.  That might be his main motivations, to learn a certain way of storytelling, to better master the medium.

I get that he has cineast aspirations.  He has had them from the beginning.  But he managed to marry those aspirations with more interesting storytelling in earlier seasons.

 

I didn't like this season as much either.  Some of the stuff I just found boring.  That would be the last two episodes.  Some other stuff felt repetitive (oh look, so many random women want to fuck him).  It's not about needing to fully understand everything but, in the past, he did a better job of bringing me into a world I want to visit.  I'm feeling less inclined to want to do that and have been for a while.