LOUIE - "Pilot" and "Poker/Divorce"

I am a bit of a comedy nerd. Not Judd-Apatow-cold-calling-comedians-in-high-school nerdy, but I have my comedians I have become obsessed with and devour as much of their material as possible. Louis C.K. is one of them. I came to the C.K. fan club a little later but I adore the guy and everything I've seen of his (though I skipped LUCKY LOUIE, because it was supposedly awful and I didn't want to see him in something awful). I was thrilled to learn he was getting his own show on FX, which could use a comedy hit besides SUNNY (Don't say THE LEAGUE. It sucks.) So is LOUIE everything I wanted and so much more? Uh yeah, pretty much.

I'm not gonna lie, I was a little worried after the pilot. It was fitfully funny but not quite what I wanted. Expectations probably had something to do with that, sure, but the pilot definitely had some issues. It felt a bit like 2 extended sketches starring the same character mashed together and the bus bit barely got a chuckle from me. Louie's awkward date was definitely funny, but still a little too familiar. But the fact that there was a scene where C.K talked about his daughters "infected vagina" and made it funny? That ain't no small feet.

"Poker/Divorce", on the other hand, was excellent from start to finish. The poker scene was not only hilarious, it was oddly moving. The comedians joke about their gay friend, and when he gives them a genuine, heartfelt answer about the term "faggot", they take it in... and then joke about it. That's as real a moment I've seen on a comedy this year. And this is episode 2. The rest of the episode was equally as good, as Louie looks far back into his past after he signs his divorce papers. His encounter with an old high school friend was awkward, real and funny; which is a difficult balance to strike.

As you can tell from these descriptions, the show isn't just a joke machine. It's trying for relatable (often painfully relatable) comedy, and it scores a bulls-eye. The stand-up routines serve as the culmination of his awkward/painful experiences and how he gets his comedy and they manage to be funny without feeling extraneous (if you compare it to SEINFELD, you're right and oh so wrong). I don't know if I've ever seen a sitcom quite this dark, while also being so very, very funny. And that's meant as a big compliment. LOUIE stings as it makes you laugh; what more could a comedy nerd ask for.

Pilot: B
Poker/Divorce: A-