Early Look: Frustrating But Hilarious 'Louie' Delves Into the Bleak Worldview of Louis C.K.

If you've ever listened to the stand-up comedy of Louis C.K. -- or read the hilariously epic interview I did with him -- you know that he's not exactly the world's most happy-go-lucky guy. Sure, he loves his kids and feels like it's the manly thing to do to step up and be a parent instead of someone who takes orders from their mother. Sure, he enjoys the fruits of his success, even if he feels guilty about doing it. But he also knows that there's a lot about life that's fruitless and ultimately frustrating; he's "seen too much," in his words. Even if you find the love of your life and have a happy marriage, for instance, the relationship will end when one of you dies.

But it's that kind of worldview that makes C.K.'s new show, 'Louie,' so provocative. In the show, which debuts June 29 at 11PM ET on FX, we see all of his guilt about being wealthy, his discomfort with being newly-single in his forties, his curiosity about what's offensive and what's not these days. But the result of all that exploration is a maddeningly inconsistent ride that makes you long to hit up the comedy clubs of New York to see more of Louie's stand-up.

In the show, C.K. plays himself in just about every way: a 42-year-old divorced stand-up comedian with two daughters and a pretty decent career. The goal of the show is to follow Louie as he works on his stand-up routine at various clubs around New York -- stand-up scenes in the first four episodes were shot at the Comedy Cellar and Caroline's -- and then show his life off-stage. That off-stage time could be with his daughters, his sweatily fumbling attempts at dating, hanging out with other comedians, or

Of the four episodes FX sent for review, two of them were consistently funny, and two of them were more thought-provoking than laugh-provoking. The frustrating part is that the pilot, shot on a shoestring and released to critics at the beginning of the year, was probably the funniest of the bunch.

There, we see two vignettes of C.K.'s life interspersed with stand-up: how he deals with chaperoning his daughter's school trip when things go haywire, and a date that would make Michael Scott of 'The Office' squirm with discomfort. On the date, for instance, Louie is so eager to go out with his obviously much-younger date, he dresses in a suit and creepily smiles whenever she looks at him.



The next episode is in the less-funny, more-thoughtful vein. In an extended cold open, Louie is playing poker with some fellow comedians, including the always-caustic Nick DiPaolo and the always-filthy Jim Norton. The language -- a lot of it shocking, even for FX -- is flying, then the subject of the word "faggot" comes up, with a joke-stopping explanation of the word from comedian Rick Crom. The rest of the episode contains the newly-divorced Louie flashing back to an unfulfilled crush from his grade school days. Both stories were risky to tell in the second episode, and perhaps this story should have been left for later in the season, when the show had established its comedic cred up front.

Another interesting but less-funny episode explores Louie's complicated relationship with DiPaolo, whose just-to-the-right-of-Sarah-Palin views provoke strong feelings from Louie, even though the two are old friends. Again, it was well-done, with a surprisingly subtle performance from DiPaolo, but it kills the momentum built by the hilarious pilot.



If the lighter fourth episode, where Louie goes on a fun playdate, were positioned to air right after the pilot, viewers might be able to give 'Louie' a pass when it delves into more interesting but less funny territory. With two semi-serious episodes in a row, though, viewers may choose to tune out before giving the show a chance to grow on them.

Luckily for Louie, he's on a network that nurtures its shows, and he's in a very low-pressure timeslot. I can't see any reason for FX not to give a show a second season, something even Louie himself thinks most comedies need in order to find their footing. If there's anyone out there who can combine cynicism, despair, and nihilism and make it funny, it's Louis C.K. He just might need a little time to mix those things a little more consistently.

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