Joey Bear.

Rolling Stone released a list of “The 50 Funniest People Now” which isn’t bad but isn’t great. A ton of egregious omissions but wuddyagunnado?

A Review of Tig Notaro’s new album which I guess is called ‘Live’

I’ve never reviewed a comedy album and, truthfully, this isn’t a review. This is just a post telling everyone to just go to Louis CK’s web site and buy Tig Notaro’s show where she discusses being diagnosed with cancer just a few days prior. She’s 100% in it when the thing was recorded (it was never intended to be an album) and the rawness of the event would be remarkable even if the show wasn’t, impossibly, hilarious. If you have $5 and an internet connection, you should probably just go buy this thing.

That’s all I’ve got.

Thoughts on Season 3 of ‘Louie’

1.  After 3 seasons, when I go onto the Louie IMDb page, I’m told that Louis CK has appeared in 39 episodes and no other actor has appeared in more than 17 episodes (Hadley Delany, his eldest daughter on the show). Outside of his daughters, Nick Dipaolo’s 6 appearances are the most. That’s out of the ordinary. For a show that has made “not average television” it’s calling card, this is pretty strange. No other show episodic television show that I can think of has ever revolved around one person so tightly. There’s no wife or best friend who appears each week to get into hijinks. It’s always a new, thoughtful, endeavor that centers around Louis and sometimes we see people we recognize. The closest comparison to Louie on TV today has to be Girls over on HBO, where Lena Dunham writes, directs, and stars in most if not all episodes of her show, but there she has her supporting cast. She’s made herself the center but the center of an ensemble. Louis’ show really is about Louis.

2.  Somehow, this season found a way to be more conventional and less conventional at the same time. We had more one-story episodes than the past, relying less and less on CK stand-up interspersed throughout the show to break up narratives. This season also saw what the first multi-part episodes with Daddy’s Girlfriend and the 3-part season finale Late Show. Both could be considered more traditional story arcs. Meanwhile, the show became increasingly surreal. Louis avoided his father by speeding away on a motorcycle and seemingly stealing a speed boat that he took into the middle of nowhere and then did nothing. Mellissa Leo put his head through the window of her pickup truck as coercion to perform cunnilingus. In the very first episode, almost as warning that this season was going to get weird, Louis stared up and NY parking signs that just didn’t make any sense (hilariously didn’t make any sense). Then, of course, there was the inclusion of David Lynch.

3. The Primetime Emmy Awards are this sunday. Louis CK is up for 3 awards (Best Writing, Best Directing, Best Lead Actor) for Season 2 of Louie. Season 3 should garner a bunch of the same if there is any sense to the organization. The show also deserves some kind of “Best Show” award but it’s hard to nail down which category. It doesn’t feel like any of comedy on tv. It feels much closer to a drama that leans heavy on humor. But it’s also a show ran by a stand-up comedian and yes, it does make you laugh (ok, it makes me laugh. Who knows what you laugh at). So I suppose it has to be a comedy. I’d rather they just invent a specialty award. Best thing being broadcast over traditional television. Louis CK get it.