Why Louis CK is the best working comedian in the world

Ricky Gervais has called him “The funniest comedian working in America” – and if you spend any time in the world of stand-up comedy, you’ll find that’s pretty much a unanimous assessment. Last night I saw Louis CK in Vancouver for the second time in less than a year, doing a completely different hour than the flawless performance he gave last November, when he was prepping for his next special “Hilarious.” As always, the man was hysterical, and it was interesting to see him still working out the kinks on bits, as opposed to the already perfected and ready for recording material we saw last year. Certain parts of this material obviously weren’t completely fleshed out, he had to deal with some shouting from the crowd, and at one point a loud hissing sound of some sort of gas/air being released behind the curtains interrupted the routine, which Louis dealt with masterfully. It showed he is in fact human, and that the incredible finished product of an HBO special being written, developed, and recorded in a years time, doesn’t just happen. I won’t give away any of the material, but let’s just say this latest installment is vintage Louis, and any fan will be more than satisfied.

For me, the CK love affair started a few years ago, when I heard Graham Clark, one of Vancouvers best, being interviewed on the radio podcast “What’s So Funny.” When asked who his favorite comedian was, Graham said Louis CK and played a clip from shameless. I was amazed I’d never heard of this guy, and immediately got ahold of Shameless and his first HBO special “One Last Stand.” Me and my girlfriend watched them back to back, and at several points had to actually stop and rewind the video because we had been sent into uncontrollably outrageous fits of full body spasm laughter… literally falling off of the bed, rolling around on the ground, spitting liquid, every cliche in the book. Never before had we laughed so hard in our entire lives. His unique blend of terrific writing, a complete lack of censorship and a genuine delivery so real it hurts… was like nothing we’d ever seen. We looked online for his tour dates, and found out the closest he was coming our way was San Francisco. Without a moments hesitation we cleared our schedules, got the tickets and prepared for the drive down. Unfortunately, the show was cancelled, and we missed our chance to see the material that would become “Chewed Up” – his third special.

It was around this time I began to suspect that Louis was perhaps following the formula that George Carlin had developed in his later years. That of touring with a show, recording an HBO special and then tossing it out and starting on a new batch of material for the next special. Chewed Up and Shameless were such masterpieces, and they were released so close to one another… Could it be that we’d get to see new Louis every year?!?! A lot of really good, professional comedians will do two DVD worthy hours of comedy in their life… in their entire career. So to come out with such a plethora of dynamite comedy in such a short period of time, is truly incredible. Sure enough, I recently read this blog Louis wrote shortly after GC’s death about how much Carlin influenced him and revitalized his outlook on stand-up comedy. (A must read for anyone remotely interested in comedy.)

So it’s official, the torch has been passed. As Dave Chappelle says about Richard Pryor in his Inside the Actors Studio interview: “The true mark of greatness is when everything before you is obsolete, and everything after you bears your mark.” (Paraphrased, I can’t find the exact quote right now).

George Carlin was truly great, and without him, who knows if Louis would have ever become what he surely is… the best working comedian on the planet.

So what is it that makes Louis so great? To me, it’s all about his honesty. I believe that comedy is nothing more than the uncensored truth. The reality we all live, but are afraid to talk about, the thoughts we all have, but are afraid to admit. What separates Louis from the rest is that he is so painfully relatable. No matter what the subject matter is, you can’t ever get mad at him because he’s so real and genuine about it. He knows he’s not supposed to say what he’s saying, but he doesn’t care.

And he reaches across all generational lines, race, religion, and just says what we all wish we had the courage to say. I love this clip of him on Jay Leno, doing some of his signature material about his daughter… you can see the fake, awkward smile on the girl next to him, and Jay getting uncomfortable, and Louis just doesn’t care. He has a look on his face that’s a mixture of “I know I’m not supposed to say this, but I don’t care and fuck you, you know it’s true, at least I can admit it.”

The response from the crowd exemplifies what it feels like to be at a CK show. It’s an outburst of “Finally, somebody said it” mixed with “Oh my god, I can’t believe he actually said that!”

This level of unwavering honesty is what allows Louis to ‘get away with’ or talk about material that most comedians wouldn’t dare approach. Take for example this masterful breakdown of the three most controversial words in our society: Faggot, Cunt and Nigger.

With surgical precision, Louis bravely OPENS his routine by dissecting in detail three words that caucasian comedians avoid like the plague.   Louis isn’t afraid, because he knows how to tackle them intellectually and get beyond the surface to the deeper truths that most people are incapable of seeing.  He’s not afraid to call bullshit on us all, challenge our accepted viewpoint, because he has put the thought into crafting his side of the argument.  No one can deny that what he is saying is true, and that is what makes it undeniably hilarious.

When you combine the quality of his work, with his unrelenting drive to produce new material, it’s hard to dispute that Louis CK is the reigning king of stand-up comedy, and likely to remain so for a long time.

With the economy of the world spiraling into oblivion, the death of good music, rampant disease, natural disasters, and all the rest of revelations coming to fruition… there’s not a lot you can look forward to in this world.

But every year, you can count on Louis CK coming to town with a new hour of comedy gold.

- Danny Mendlow for TooFar.TV