Hey y’all, I did not realize that FX was running new episodes of Louie back-to-back last night so I figured I would re-watch the second episode and write it up this morning. I apologize for the lateness.
In my last post, I wrote that each new episode of Louie is radically different than the last. That’s certainly true of this episode, which opens with some of the frankest talk about massive moving gay circle jerks in the history of basic cable. Scratch that: I’m pretty sure that this episode of Louie features the only frank talk about massive moving gay circle jerks in the history of basic cable, unless there’s an unusually explicit episode of The Suite Life Life Of Zack & Cody I’m unfamiliar with.
The first short film elevated the bawdy guy talk-talk of Tough Crowd With Colin Quinn to the level of art. It took the form of a poker game that quickly turns into a game of comic one-upmanship that climaxes with C.K giving a lengthy, hilariously deadpan explanation of how exactly a mother’s ass could be jammed so full of cocks she found in the dumpster that the respective cocks compress to form sort of a pink diamond.
This leads to a graphic discussion of gay sex and anonymous circle jerks that segues into an unexpectedly moving and insightful exploration of the nature and history of homophobia and the power of words to hurt. That’s part of the genius of Louie: C.K has figured out a way to shift gears radically without his show becoming tonally incoherent. It moves from quiet moments of human connection to bawdy irreverence seamlessly and effortlessly. That’s pretty remarkable.