Frank Chimero on why Louis C.K. hits home so hard, so well:
I’ve been thinking about Louis CK lately... [on] why he has blown up in popularity in the past couple years, and why his comedy seems to resonate with these times. It always feels like there’s a comedian willing to address contemporary concerns with insight and honesty for each moment in time. All the greats had their focus: Richard Pryor and Chris Rock had race, George Carlin had absurdity, and I think Louis has hit on some sort of subterranean undercurrent of emotion that I didn’t realize might be swelling until I listened more closely: shame.
It’s a pretty shallow insight to say that a comedian who has a special named Shameless creates his comedy about shame, but I never noticed. Louis CK has jokes because he is ashamed of his body, ashamed of his thoughts, his culture, his whiteness, whatever. Every joke seems to be about shame in some way. Ashamed of the things he doesn’t do that he knows he should. Ashamed of the things that he does do that he knows he shouldn’t. Ashamed of his privilege, and ashamed of how he doesn’t do anything to help others who don’t have it. All of these things are about the way Louis lives his life (or the stories he tells about how he does), but they’re also about the lines we draw, the tension of those meeting points of acceptable, common, and desirable behavior, and when our thoughts or actions only meet a couple of those qualifications. For instance, in his newest special, Louis talks about how mind-numbingly boring it is to play board games with his daughter and how much he wants to yell at her for it. Common impulse? Yes. Desirable? Probably, on a very base level to diffuse frustration. Acceptable? Nope...
...And this is why Louis CK’s comedy is dirty: the thoughts, as dark and natural as they may be, are put out of place. The secrets are told on stage in front of others, but it’s through that vocalization that we begin to understand ourselves and our relationship to the world we live in. Shame is diffused through its publication and distribution. Shame is reduced through its sharing. By pointing out the dirt, and realizing that the things themselves aren’t dirty but just out of place, we begin to see that the lines can be redrawn and order rethought. By voicing that shame, it allows one to assess if his or her thoughts or actions are worthy of that judgement, or if it is merely a casualty—dirt created by an ill-fitting standard. Articulating our impulses is dirty business, and maybe this is why Louis’ been able to tread in a territory others haven’t been able to navigate.
As Fran Lebowitz said, “If you’re going to tell the truth, you better be funny. Otherwise, they will kill you.”
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pintotowncar, are you Frank Chimero? If not, do you have any opinion on Louis C.K. other than, you know, "Frank Chimero on why Louis C.K. hits home so hard, so well..."
i'm a fan of louis CK and am in agreement with chimero's observations. i thought his piece said it very well, would be interesting to a fellow LCK fan who hadn't seen it. next time i can add a few lines. thank you for the suggestion.
It takes a special kind of guy to stand up and vocalize all that shame. Thank the world for Louis C.K.
I'm a big fan of his also. He also seems to be a savvy businessman
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/19/business/media/louis-ck-plays-a-serious-joke-on-tv-the-media-equation.html?pagewanted=all.