Among the many running themes in Louis CK’s comedy, along with dating, aging, and fatherhood, are the problems that cell phones are inflicting on a generation. “It’s amazing,” he says about the devices we now carry on our person for every action of our life, “and it’s wasted on the shittiest generation.”
In a new supercut by Luís Azevedo of stand-up bits, late-show appearances, and scenes from the hit FX series Louie, the comedian tackles a number of angles that make cell phones both remarkable and terrible. Hitting home most is an appearance on Conan, in which CK discusses how cell phones fill the time people would normally spend alone, facing their existential demons, an important part of life that young people can now simply avoid. “Life is tremendously sad, just by being in it,” he notes, “and that’s why people text and drive… people are willing to take a life and ruin their own because they don’t want to be alone for a second.”
Like the best of Louis CK’s comedy, it balances the laughs with a dark honesty, all centered around a tool you’re likely using to read this article.