Author Topic: Louie (Read 10731 times) Tweet Share

chocolateboy · « **Reply #30 on:** July 08, 2010, 11:55:12 pm »

Quote from: amputeeporn on July 08, 2010, 11:41:06 pm

Gervais was terrible

This bollocks again? Gervais wasn't terrible. Gervais was Gervais - a limited actor, who can pretty much only play himself/David Brent, which was exactly what he was required to do.

Y'all do realize that Louis CK writes (and directs) every single episode, right? Gervais turned up, read his Gervais lines (tailored for his limited palette like the Jim Norton &c. lines were) and fucked off back to Hampstead.

I dislike Gervais the marketeer as much as the next unthinking, brainwashed, sex-doll 'whore. But give it a fucking rest. Maybe Gervais was shit: if so, Louis CK was shit for not giving him anything better than entry-level AIDS 'n' arse jokes.

NoSleep · « **Reply #31 on:** July 09, 2010, 08:36:28 am »

I agree that this isn't Gervais' fault here. Given the some of the other laugh-free scenes in the series so far, I don't think Gervais can be seen to have failed on this count; he's meant to be annoying here; and unfunny. And, in the other major scene this week, Louis gets in a fight after trying to wind somebody else up in a similar way.

naniwaelegy · « **Reply #32 on:** July 09, 2010, 09:07:18 am »

The Letter C gag - which I wasn't expecting and the Homeless routine at the end were both really great. It's such a charming show.

DuncanC · « **Reply #33 on:** July 09, 2010, 09:53:50 am »

It's mentioned at the start the reason Louie and Gervais' character know each other is they'd gone to school together, and it got me wondering if that was an attempt to contextualise Gervais' standard "schoolyard" schtick. It's not spelled out in the show but it would make kind of a sense that he was a school bully who was exactly the same back then, and Louie feels forced into relying on their "friendship" for cheap medical care because he can't afford a proper plan (or however it works in America).

chocky909 · « **Reply #34 on:** July 10, 2010, 01:06:05 am »

I quite enjoyed Gervais' turn on this actually. I don't really want to try and explain why in too much detail but it's probably partly down to his ~~fucking annoying~~ infectious laugh, low expectations and perhaps railing against the hatred on this forum even though I have contributed to that and also agreed with many of the points and criticism made. I still think the man can be funny if you don't let all that cloud your experience. He was a lot funnier in this than that Simpsons episode, any of his film performances or anything else I've seen him in in the last few years. I think CK used him well.

I wouldn't care if I never saw him on my TV ever again either though.

Little Hoover · « **Reply #35 on:** July 10, 2010, 01:34:23 pm »

More than Gervais, I disliked his right wing friend comedian, who was just a complete dick, is that his actual act? This was the worst of the three, this show really isn't doing much for me so far, and this whole episode left an unpleasent taste.

mr. logic · « **Reply #36 on:** July 10, 2010, 02:55:14 pm »

Quote from: Little Hoover on July 10, 2010, 01:34:23 pm

More than Gervais, I disliked his right wing friend comedian, who was just a complete dick, is that his actual act? This was the worst of the three, this show really isn't doing much for me so far, and this whole episode left an unpleasent taste.

I agree. His mate was the same one in the second episode being homophobic at the poker game and appears to be an absolute twat. Forgive me if I've failed to consider the layers of irony.

Gavin · « **Reply #37 on:** July 10, 2010, 03:16:19 pm »

Quote from: mr. logic on July 10, 2010, 02:55:14 pm

I agree. His mate was the same one in the second episode being homophobic at the poker game and appears to be an absolute twat. Forgive me if I've failed to consider the layers of irony.

He's also in Lucky Louie. He takes Louie's door away after his wife has her bag stolen.

Artemis · « **Reply #38 on:** July 11, 2010, 12:38:39 am »

Quote from: chocolateboy on July 08, 2010, 11:55:12 pm

Gervais wasn't terrible. Gervais was Gervais - a limited actor, who can pretty much only play himself/David Brent, which was exactly what he was required to do.

This bollocks again? Nobody expects Gervais to up the average acting ability in the scene. It's widely acknowledged that he isn't a particularly good actor. However, bringing a level of comedic quality to the role he plays, regardless of whether he wrote it, is a reasonable expectation, especially given how quick he is to remind us of just how brilliant he is. On watching Gervais in this, I got the impression there was ample room for him to ad-lib, mess around with and play fast and loose with the script. Gervais instead chose to stick with his trademark 'point and laugh' playground level humour, and actually managed to make an episode which wasn't very good even worse.

I can't quite put my finger on quite why this show isn't working. For me, I think a lot of it is that I need a point of reference. A bunch of people playing over-stated exagerrations isn't going to work for me. There needs to be somebody to ground it, so that I have a reference point for the level at which we're expected to accept is normality. Louis tries to pull this off with his looks of disappointment as his friend dishes out a (deliberately?) shit stand up routine. But it doesn't work. In his own stand up, Louis establishes himself as standing apart from normality with his insights and draws us in while he's on stage with how his distance from What People Do illuminates the very thing he's describing. He can't just come off stage and 'become normal' again, as if he inhabits what it is to be everyone. If Louis had sold himself as Average Joe convincingly, his scenes with Gervais would have been funnier, but I don't buy it that C.K. is 'just like any of us' because his stand up is so effective at persuading me of the opposite. His persona off-stage doesn't draw me in enough. Gah. Hopefully that makes some kind of sense - it's hard to describe.

Essentially, the only way Gervais' character could have been funny in this episode is if it was at contrast with a character that was believably normal. Louis was not such a character, hence it was Gervais playing a guy being horrible to somebody who should have understood and at least laughed along. The moments between them were utterly void of any friendship or care. It made them crap. To a large extent it wasn't the fault of Gervais, but he was shit anyway, substituting delivery and subtlety for what he must have intended to be an Infectious Cackle. Laughter can be infectious, but not when it's forced and used to try to drive home material that wasn't very good to begin with (Louis' fault) and with which the actor failed to do anything but laugh at himself (the fault of Gervais).

I can imagine Gervais (or his sycophants) reading this, rejecting the criticism as a 'comedy geek who analysis the funny out of what is naturally hilarious'. Well, no, you cunt. I'm analysing the fact that it's becoming increasingly obvious that you're not very good at comedy. Don't let the fact you got it right once with The Office lead you into believing you can get away with this kind of lazy, 'Listen To My Outrageousness' bollocks.

Quote

Louis CK was shit for not giving him anything better than entry-level AIDS 'n' arse jokes.

Agreed. This episode particularly was not just unfunny (even the fantastic letter 'c' gag and the final homelessness joke felt out of place and climsy) but badly written and performed. I hate to say that about C.K. because I rate his stand up as highly as any stand up I've seen. Seriously - he's up there with Bruce, Hicks, Carlin or Rock, for me. The guy is literally a genius at writing and performing stand up. The only moments this show has worked however have been the moments he just does normal stuff. My favourite moment? The end of episode one when he just takes his kids and walks with them. It grounded the whole thing and was touching. You need that if you're being asked to invest in a character. I find myself unable to invest in Louis in this show, which for me - I think - is why it doesn't work. It could also be that he's using a lot of his current stage set in this show, either on stage in the show or acted out in the scenes. The stage show was so good though, that the re-enactment doesn't live up to it.

session9 · « **Reply #39 on:** July 11, 2010, 01:19:00 am »

I could probably reverse-engineer funny, label and pin it under pane of death, but I wouldn't want to do so for fear of spoiling the effect. Very few people tickle my jaded funnybone and I don't want to start intentionally reducing that number. I've loved the shows so far, every second of them. And if I didn't, I still wouldn't be taking a big sour-faced shit (yes shit) on it, because I want to see more of Louis CK's work on TV. Lucky Louie was also great, and also got shat on and ignored by people for no good reason. I don't see this problem that some people seem to have with him or his shows, because they are both (to me anyway) consistently funny. Why that is, I don't much care, but however Louis CK does what he does, it works 100% for me, so good luck with the dissection, and have fun people. I'll just laugh along and wait for it to be cancelled.

thugler · « **Reply #40 on:** July 11, 2010, 02:58:09 am »

Gervais was fine. Just because it's gervais everyone has to make out it's a fucking crime. It was funny, particularly the very last bit of the episode.

Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth · « **Reply #41 on:** July 14, 2010, 03:31:50 pm »

This week's was the best episode so far, I thought. It managed to work in the character bits without sacrificing laughs like last week's latter half did.

amputeeporn · « **Reply #42 on:** July 17, 2010, 10:35:14 pm »

Here here! Just caught up and really enjoyed episode four; lots of quoteable lines

"School sucks..."

"Her kid's a piece of shit."
"Well he did come out of an asshole."

"I know, but let me talk to you for a minute..."

Everything here worked - the therapist was funny, and I loved the 'douchebag' parents at the PTA meeting - particularly the hand-wringing one who pronounced her surname differently for her son. I think generally the casting/acting has been wonderful.

Big Jack McBastard · « **Reply #43 on:** July 18, 2010, 05:13:01 am »

Cheers Claude didn't notice his till now, once again you fuckers are on the button while I indolently snooze.

chocolateboy · « **Reply #44 on:** July 18, 2010, 06:07:28 am »

I thought it was really meh.

The above-quoted highlights are rubbish.

Quote from: amputeeporn on July 17, 2010, 10:35:14 pm

"I know, but let me talk to you for a minute..."

Hilarious.

Is the whole season gonna be an elaborate ruse in which the real Louis C. K. tries to get off (again) with the titchy-but-gorgeous Pamela Adlon? Do we really need to be present while that pans out? The titchy are a notoriously proud people. Look at Kylie Minogue and Tom Cruise fer Crissakes. Cokey Smurf (Californication) don't play dat.

By all means laugh at me still enjoying and hurrying to watch this show without actually loving it (yet). I am being that sex-doll fanboi.

I give it about 386,000 episodes. Tops. After that, I'm out.

non capisco · « **Reply #45 on:** July 18, 2010, 10:58:27 am »

I find the stand-up bits laugh out loud funny and the main body of the sitcom mildly entertaining. It's like an inverse 'Seinfeld'.

DuncanC · « **Reply #46 on:** July 18, 2010, 01:04:49 pm »

I find it interesting that Louis edits the show himself. I've never really thought about it, but how common is it for the creator of a show to do that? I know Armando edits The Thick of It, I remember him talking about it as he was doing it on Twitter.

amputeeporn · « **Reply #47 on:** July 18, 2010, 08:40:12 pm »

Drinking last night chocolateboy?

chocolateboy · « **Reply #48 on:** July 18, 2010, 08:48:07 pm »

Quote from: amputeeporn on July 18, 2010, 08:40:12 pm

Drinking last night chocolateboy?

With a zinger like that, I can see why you found the episode hilarious.

MALCOLM · « **Reply #49 on:** July 19, 2010, 01:36:24 pm »

Quote from: chocolateboy on July 18, 2010, 06:07:28 am

I thought it was really meh.

The above-quoted highlights are rubbish.

Hilarious.

Is the whole season gonna be an elaborate ruse in which the real Louis C. K. tries to get off (again) with the titchy-but-gorgeous Pamela Adlon? Do we really need to be present while that pans out? The titchy are a notoriously proud people. Look at Kylie Minogue and Tom Cruise fer Crissakes. Cokey Smurf (Californication) don't play dat.

By all means laugh at me still enjoying and hurrying to watch this show without actually loving it (yet). I am being that sex-doll fanboi.

I give it about 386,000 episodes. Tops. After that, I'm out.

Pretty much exactly how I feel about this show

grimoald · « **Reply #50 on:** July 19, 2010, 02:25:49 pm »

I like it a lot more than I find it funny. There is something about CK's sensibility and world-view that really connects with me, so I really don't mind when there are stretches with wry observations and character studies instead of punchlines. Which is weird, when I am a happily cohabitating 25 year old without any kids.

Big Jack McBastard · « **Reply #51 on:** July 20, 2010, 09:52:51 pm »

This really is great, even Gervais was tolerable, pigs take flight, a month of Sundays have occurred etc...

grimoald · « **Reply #52 on:** July 21, 2010, 06:42:53 pm »

The pilot voice was amazing.

Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth · « **Reply #53 on:** July 21, 2010, 07:05:23 pm »

Again, that one felt very gag packed*. Somewhat clichéd material perhaps, but CK managed to put some fun twists on it. I particularly enjoyed his unfazed reactions to the taxi war and having to explain the lube (I can imagine what a meal more naturalistic comedies would have made of such a scene) and the sight of him drinking from a thimble sized glass.

*Though having said that last week, I did upon rewatching realise that much of the playdate bit was fairly joke free.

Father O`Blivion · « **Reply #54 on:** July 21, 2010, 10:56:07 pm »

Quote from: Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth on July 21, 2010, 07:05:23 pm

the sight of him drinking from a thimble sized glass.

I thought it was a really nice touch to make it last for three sips.
I wasn't sure about Louie at first but it's been getting better with each episode.

DuncanC · « **Reply #55 on:** July 22, 2010, 01:40:10 am »

It's interesting that it feels like it keeps setting up devices that could easily be threaded throughout every episode - like talking to his psychiatrist and playing poker with his friends and going on disastrous blind dates - but they aren't used that way. The only thing that's running throughout all the episodes so far is the standup segments, otherwise the show seems to be trying different things and changing rhythms each episode.

Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth · « **Reply #56 on:** July 22, 2010, 02:00:17 am »

I was thinking the same of the more overtly surreal aspects in the first episode. I guess we saw a little more of that in this episode with the thimble glass and such, and they probably couldn't afford helicopters every week.

Lfbarfe · « **Reply #57 on:** July 22, 2010, 03:08:31 am »

I keep seeing this thread title and thinking you're all discussing this.

Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth · « **Reply #58 on:** July 22, 2010, 03:22:05 am »

I think you've just hit on an excellent idea for CaB TV.

kalb · « **Reply #59 on:** July 22, 2010, 10:20:42 am »

(Spam removed - Neil)