So, I watched the other night on HBO Louis CK’s latest special “OMG”. I’ve been somewhat not totally impressed - previous specials and the self-titled show left me with a sense of 50/50 hit/miss ratio. Has some interesting (read: “innovative”) points but overall nothing really so extraordinary you hear/read media critics are touting about.
/* even though both of these critics are not falling over themselves in praise I still think they value him a bit more than I would
Part that left me kinda wondering “WTF?” is the part about “if murder was legal first to use that would be parents to murder their kids” intro that led to some really weird and crazy “innovative” scheme for making people laugh.
We didn’t laugh - mostly looking at each other like “WTF” - is this supposed to be funny? I think to myself, stick long enough there’s a payoff but, no, no payoff. Just long winded set of examples one weirder than previous.
Then I recall that he has a subset of jokes - series of jokes, in fact - where he mentioned his kids and other people kids and, seriously, it’s not funny. At moments his punchlines are tethering on the edge of creepy. But, most importantly… not funny.
I watch lots of stand up comedians and I get hilarious laughter not even 5 minutes into the show - Pablo Francisco, Chris Rock, Joe Rogan, late Bill Hicks and George Carlin.
So… am I missing something? Do I need a hipster hat or some such inducement? Did you like “OMG!”?
I haven’t seen OMG yet, but for me it’s been a 100/0 hit/miss ratio with Louis CK and the creepiest, most subversive of his jokes are the ones that I love the most. I’ll report back when I’ve seen this particular set.
Saw it in person (not in Phoenix, but four months earlier) and on HBO - I think he is the funniest Comic around today.
Love his humor - not sure how I feel about this versus the other shows. I think seeing it in person was better than the HBO special - except for the kid joke in bags at the end (wasn’t there four months ago).
I thought the kid joke at the end was hilarious. Not everyone can laugh at these, but they are funny to many people.
I saw this tour in NYC that the special was based on. A lot of the bits were longer and several were cut out all together but I still enjoyed the special.
I just saw OMG last night, as someone else said, it wasn’t my favorite, but it was still pretty good. And yes, it is a very specific style of humor and it does require you to remove yourself from any kind of compassion (is that the right word). The joke about not letting the living kid play in the dead kid bag because he’ll suffocate (in which case you can just leave him in it) was pretty funny. I have a kid and his whole “Kids are shitty” schtick is IMHO funny.
I also really liked the park bench joke.
I can very much understand people finding his jokes creepy, morally decrepit or just plain wrong, but that just means he’s not for you.
I went in wondering if this would be another hit, and it was. I am an extremely avid fan of Louis CK. I was initially a bit tepid - it took about 5 minutes to get rolling. And the hit/miss ratio was only about 80/20 this time. But I give it a solid B+.
I think it was the build-up–everything I had read about him, his show, how brilliant he is, etc. I watched OMG last night. It was fine. He’s clearly an intelligent guy. I laughed out loud a couple of times. I got all the jokes. But when all was said and done, it just seemed…okay. Fine, I guess. If I had stumbled across this special with no knowledge of the comic, not sure I would have stuck with it the whole program. I didn’t detect the genius, I guess.
I think it is typical - I think some of his other stuff is a bit better, but I think the best of his stuff in that special - is probably close to his other stuff.
There are at least two specials on Netflix and at least one on his website for $5.00.
Also highly recommend “Louie” on FX - at least first season in available on Netflix.
The special was in a different order (somewhat) than live. In person - believe it or not - the shark joke was the turning point (which was farther into it I believe). It was much better live, loner, and funnier. I wasn’t the only one that felt that way - it killed. I don’t think I laughed out loud once (I was amused) for the first half of his live show. The rest I just loved.
I think you probably need to watch “Louie” and watch his older stuff (which in my opinion is “smarter” - he makes himself out to be much more average now) to appreciate his genius.
He also writes totally new stuff each year. I have seen/heard at least six full shows full shows - watched two seasons of Louie - and didn’t see anything I didn’t think was completely new in his show.
HBO on demand also has one of his older shows - which is great to see how he has evolved (didn’t strike me as very funny though) - also neat to see how THIN he used to be. Looks completely different. His whole act about him having this 45 year old body his whole life - is an act.
I liked it a lot, but I felt that it was a bit below average for him, IMO.
I very much enjoy his style of humor as a standup; in fact I tend to like comedians that go to similarly dark places, but much further.
One thing that occurs to me is that he has done variations on the “my kids are assholes!” bit for years, and the jokes he’s doing now that are along those lines will probably feel lacking or abrupt to the uninitiated. Same for other “dark” kinds of jokes he does. Those of us who have been following him a while don’t need much of a setup to be led to a place where those kinds of jokes are funny to us. And I think he’d be the first person to say that not everyone wants to be led there at all, and that’s fine.
Also, at this point in his career, I think it’s impossible for him not to be overrated. I mean, he’s touted as the greatest comedy of a generation of blah blah, ever to do a thing on a thing. There’s no way anyone can consistently live up to that.
It’s more or less on par with his older stuff. It’s hard to say if it’s not quite as funny or if some of the shock value has worn off because we know what to expect out of him.
My favorite was the one where he talked about the gay guy wearing the commando boots, guys touching dicks while he was trying to eat his cereal and the ‘kids are shitty’ thing. I think that where the ‘go suck a bad of dicks’ line came from as well. But that special was really my big introduction to him, so, like I said, there was still some shock value to it. As funny as OMG was (and it was), it was ‘more of the same’. To make an analogy…someone seeing Jeff Dunham for the first time today, might fall on the floor laughing, but someone that’s been watching him since he first showed up with Peanut on Stand Up Spotlight has a pretty good idea of what’s going to happen. Not that it’s not funny, but it’s more of the same.
This was my least favorite of his specials, but I still enjoyed the shit out of it. If him talking about kids with nut allergies deserving to die or parents murdering their kids was enough to put you off you might not want to watch all his other stuff.
Hipster hat? CK is about as far from hipster as you can possibly be. I haven’t seen this one yet but I think Louis CK is in the top three best comics today.
Haven’t seen OMG yet, but anticipate it with the self-loathing of a thousand Cinnabons.
He especially captures the dichotomy of loving and “hating” your kids.
I was talking about CK with a friend of mine, and he mentioned how he’s one of those comedians whose material hits a little too close to home, so it comes off as uncomfortable to some (as he does if watching with his wife), which I can see.
I totally would kill my kids if I didn’t love em so damn much. The little shits!
