Back in 2005, I waitressed at the Comedy Cellar, a 150-seat comedy club in New York’s West Village, where a red-haired, goateed, portly comedian performed regularly. But thanks to belligerent customers and my poor serving skills, I hardly paid attention to his act. Well, the hefty ginger and I were reunited last night, along with 3,000 people, at the Sony Centre. But this time I did pay attention to Louis C.K.
Louis is older now from the last time I saw him on stage — he’s 45 years old, to be exact. And he’s a lot more successful. He has a hit television series on F/X and he just won a couple of Emmys.
However, Louis has carved a stand-up career around an unflinching portrait of a flawed father, husband and human being, who is both painfully funny and honest about his own faults and insecurities (his body, child-rearing skills and sex life are his go-to topics).
So how does the now-successful Louis tell his audience that his life still sucks? Well, he doesn’t. At least, not really.
He still poked fun at his physique (he likened an unmentionable body part to “a bag of leaves that’s been left open”) but, as he told the crowd, “I don’t want to lose weight anymore,” citing that “your target weight is what you feel like doing — it’s your nature.” So, if you want something delicious at 10 a.m., even after you’ve had your breakfast, “buy it with your money and put it in your mouth.”
This is a new Louis C.K. Sure, raising children still befuddles the single dad of two daughters (“If murder was legal, children would act different”) but it’s obvious he’s more comfortable with his lot in life, and it seems he wants to spread that newfound confidence around.
Regarding society’s obsession with youth, he said, “You’ve got a body. You get to walk around, you get to eat chocolate, you get to have a TV and watch some shit. You get to fuck people, you get to read To Kill a Mockingbird. This is just a small sample of getting to be a human being, but you can’t look 22 all time. No, that’s not part of the deal.”
Before you think Louis CK has detoured into Dr. Phil-territory, his stand-up is still as racy ever. His 60 minute act took a dark turn near the end with his “of course and maybe” belief system (“If kids have nut allergies, of course you have to be extra careful… but maybe if you touch a nut, you should die”) and his dislike for parents posting home videos on Facebook escalated into a filthy finale.
Louis C.K. proved he was worth the hype of headlining not just one, but four shows at JFL 42. To claim a comedian “says what we’re all thinking” is beyond a cliché, but his refusal to shy away from horrible and destructive thoughts that lurk in minds of many otherwise decent people has always been his greatest strength. This quietly more confident Louis just adds more depth to an already meaty show.
“It gets better. No one tells dudes like me that,” he griped early on in the show.
But, apparently, it does.