#tetrarchangel

Isn’t one of Clarky’s jokes what will end the universe?

An Oxford psychologist and a fashion major discuss Louie S01E03 - Dr. Ben/Nick

Synopsis: In the first half of the episode, Louie goes to the doctor, an old high school friend. In the second half, he has a fight with fellow comedian Nick DiPaolo.

Tetrarchangel: My first thoughts: NO COLD OPEN! I have a real thing against Cold Opens for no adequately explored reasons, so when this goes straight for Louie Louie Louie Louie, I'm very happy.

So I didn't have high hopes for this episode - the first stand up bit was not that novel, and I'd forgotten that Ricky Gervais was in this episode, so when he appeared, my heart sunk, because I hate Ricky Gervais. I think he's both unfunny and obnoxious and not worthy of being near Louis CK. But I wondered if Louis is using him because he's hateable, or are we supposed to find the doctor charmingly terrible?

Kaffeemaedl: I'm gonna rewatch the ep tomorrow and answer you then, but wow I was surprised to find out you don't like Ricky Gervais! Mostly because you're British I guess, and my dumb brain just figured British people liked him but yeah, I was surprised. His character IS a huge douchebag though, so, while I think he and Louie get along IRL, his character in Louie is pretty much everything you described.

One last thing for now, readers will know which half of us is the psychologist because only a psychologist would say they don't like something and then add that the reason for it isn't "adequately explored" yet.

Tetrarchangel: I think the phrase is used in Douglas Adams or similar, so yes, British comedy nerd and psychologist! (Checked, it is a reference to how Disaster Area songs work in Restaurant At The End of The Universe) I think Stephen Merchant is funny, but I've never watched the UK Office for more than a scene, and I've seen a little of Extras before running away with pain and anguish.

Kaffeemaedl: Haha I´m still really surprised at your hatred of Ricky Gervais, but ok, I believe you. :) Well, I think I said this before, but having re-watched the ep, I am pretty sure his character really was meant to be an unbearable ass. Ricky and Louie may be friends but the doctor within the show is just plain awful. Watching this ep I also remembered Louis saying (in an interview or maybe on the commentary track, can´t remember which) that he likes giving his character in the show these self-righteous speeches, but then I thought "um, well, I kinda agree with self-righteous Louie. Like, every time." so I guess I´m what americans call a bleeding heart liberal... I've also watched a bit of his stand up today, more specifically the Beacon Street show, and he does a bit about his beliefs that he continuously explores on the show, how he has these wonderful, ethical beliefs, but never actually acts upon them. You'll get to them eventually :)

Tetrarchangel: So yes, to continue on Episode 3, I guess the issues with Ricky Gervais are his reflexive antitheism, which is a movement that gets a lot of deserved stick from religious people and secular people alike for its methods, poor discourse, issues with race and gender, as well as his strident use of ableist language as comedy in itself, which he was fought back against by for example Richard Herring http://www.richardherring.com/warmingup/10/10/2011/index.html So I guess this ties to the self-righteous speeches - we do ourselves in knots over language, but there are definite problems when we don't and we don't ask why, and Gervais is definitely in that zone.

More comedically, given his antitheism, having the Michelangelo detail in the doctor's office seems deliberate and ironic and funny.

I must say, that even when it's not strictly funny to me, the insight that Louie has is what makes him so compelling: "I reload the program of misery." The poetry in that line is more profound that much poetry, and it's said in the context of stand-up. Some people blur that boundary to great effect and Louie is one. The ideas that those six words evoke are so sprawling, of the computerisation, the cognitive modularity of self, that you nevertheless have no choice but to, in order to have an identity, reload the program of misery again and again and again.

Louie, to continue his theme of self-righteous speeches, talks about Native American representation - one of our Overthinking It community friends writes very much from the inside of that perspective http://americandramedy.blogspot.co.uk/search?q=%22native+american%22 Believe it or not, but this has become a much more substantial issue in my life since moving from Central England (The romantically-named Midlands) to the South-West (aka The West Country). Either though coincidence or some other unknown cultural force, there are many uses in this part of England of Native American mascots - the name of the local Rugby team (the most successful sport team (or franchise to use the horrendous American word)) is the Exeter Chiefs, and their logo and stadium sections, their team chant and their fanwear is themed around the culturally stereotypical homogenised description of Native Americans. The cafe in my town's train station is called Geronimo's and has a strange sculpture presumably meant to be him. What we don't have in the UK is a substantial community speaking out against these things, and yet they're just as culturally appropriative as in the USA. So maybe I need to share the Louie clip to give people the picture!

Kaffeemaedl: I'm a little ashamed to say that Ricky Gervais's anti-theism never bothered me much, and I'm also not aware of what you mean by the issues with race and gender related to that. Any examples?

I was watching the ep again with the commentary track a couple days ago, and Louie also commented on the odd coincidence of the Michelangelo (the fingers touching) during a scene where a prostate exam is being executed. Another way to look at it, I guess...

About the reloading of the program of misery, I'm gonna have to rewatch the ep once again and get back to you. I honestly can't remember that line and I don't think I fully understand what it means by what you've said. Once again, slightly embarrassed. The way you talk about it though, and how his insights make the show compelling, I agree with 100%. Louie is wonderful because of those, and the plots to me are just a way to get those across and in a format that's fit for TV. Or not. Not sure where I'm getting with this, but yes, I do love how his view of things comes through throughout the show.

Tetrarchangel: Okay, so on Louie: The Richard Dawkins centred movement has had a lot of criticism from all sides for example: (New Statesman article) and (Guardian article)

The Michelangelo prostate exam thing is very clever, I'm guessing no-one got it until hearing the commentary track!

I'm sure, as you've rewatched it a number of times, you can tell me the many benefits of multiple viewings.

Later in the episode Louie tries to fight generalisations and I got the feeling this is a theme that will repeat and repeat.

The next note I wrote simply read OLD WHITE GUY DISCOURSE FIGHT Not merely the name of my next band, following on from classic beat combos like The Falling In Love With Aubrey Plaza Social Democratic Movement, We're Not Going To Talk About Annihilationism Until After We're Dating, and Not A Kristen Schaal Episode, but an image I think being parodied by Louie with old white liberal arguing with old white conservative, pointlessly and within their own ballpark. See also, all contemporary mainstream political discourse. Of course, we know, that they're effectively the same person.

So when it comes to the homelessness stuff I almost feel that Louie doesn't punch them hard enough, but it still has a point: America happened. I also wrote down 'the New York correction' but I don't remember what that means

So so curious about what I’d be. And so ignorant to not get the reference.

We need live blogging

At least that wasn’t how she explained autism

An Oxford psychologist and a fashion major discuss Louie S01E02 - Poker/Divorce

Synopsis: The conversation during a poker game becomes an intense exploration of gay culture. In the second segment, after Louie's brother depresses him about the finality of his divorce, Louie reminisces about a high school crush subsequently looking her up on Facebook. 

Kaffeemaedl: After we published the first post in this series, I realized we forgot to explain the setup here. I, Kaffeemaedl/Amanda, am a big fan of Louie and have seen all three seasons. Tetrarchangel/Tim has just started and we’re writing these as he watches. After watching Poker/Divorce, Tim emailed me his notes. I’m posting them here, interspersed with my comments on what he had to say and on the show overall.

Tetrarchangel: I watched the next episode and made some notes. This is very much an Overthinking It thing to do, just as I did watching Misfits for their delightful TFT Podcast.

The use of music in the poker scene to reflect the group emotions of the gathered comedians was striking - music in sitcoms is either not really used or used in such an unsubtle way as to not really be funny.

In that selfsame scene, the “faggot” discussion is so not sitcom - it’s a very real comedians’ discussion, with that mix of serious self-reflection and the desire to make the punchline even if it’s socially costly, and goes on past the joke, if there is one, and I admired it greatly for that.

K: I discovered Louie about 2 years ago, and I remember watching the first few episodes to find out if I liked the show or whether I’d quit after a few. After watching the poker scene I knew I’d keep watching. Rick explaning what the word “faggot” actually means is what did it. It was a very serious and emotional subject, and it was approached in such a thoughtful manner. As you said, very much not like a typical sitcom. After that I knew this was a show worth following.

T: I love Louie’s eyes. He has terrific eyes for acting. Especially in the title sequence, they capture so much in a few movements.

I wondered about the divorce life parallel - but I haven’t gone to Wikipedia and looked it up, though I heard on the very good Laughter Therapy podcast where they include an excerpt of Louis CK’s standup that he did get divorced much as the character of Louie did. I think I prefer to stick with the fictionalised for now - this IS his exploration of his divorce. The facts don’t matter.

To take that point further, the surreal elements of the show illuminate the all too real. With Tammy, this is especially the case, with Louie journeying in his mind to this bizarre experience of the alienation between teenage boys and girls, an alienation he has resumed through his divorce. 

"That’s why you’re Facebooking. Playing could’ve been." This is probably the quote of the episode, again, it’s so true to what I hear life is like at that stage, and yet so surreal at the same time, with the death themes, the memories, the fantasies, and the brilliant payoff which I won’t spoil since the scene was in that way so dramatically tense and then untense and then tense again. 

Finally, a little interesting note, Netflix bleeping the profanity in a specific and detailed routine about bestiality. Maybe there are better ways to manage content - if we can handle the routine, we can handle the words!

K: I love what you said about his eyes, and it reminded me of this.

Something Louie does as a comedian and within the show that I really appreciate is how often his jokes are about empathy or a lack thereof. He’ll make jokes about what an awful person he is, how he doesn’t give up his seat to a soldier, or sell his car, buy a cheaper one and donate the money left over, among others. And even as he’s making jokes about how selfish he is, he’s still phrasing it in a way that makes sure we see the people he’s talking about, and think about them for a second, when we otherwise wouldn’t give them any thought. Other occasions include a joke and a situation in a third season episode regarding a homeless person. He takes these subjects and people that humans in general tend to look away from or try not to think about, whether it’s because we don’t have the power to do anything about it, or because we’re comfortable and don’t want to jeopardize that in an attempt to help someone else who is obviously not. But regardless of our reasons, we do tend to act as if these situations aren’t there, and I think pointing them out, and pointing out our attitudes towards them, is important and Louie often does it.

An Oxford psychologist and a fashion major discuss Louie S01E01 - Pilot

Synopsis: Louie chaperones his daughter's field trip/Louie goes on a date

Kaffeemaedl: First episode, what are your impressions:

Tetrarchangel: I was scared of hype. Louis CK is supposed to be the best, the American Stewart Lee or whatever, so I was aware that I didn't want to be underwhelmed. But I was definitely laughing frequently by the second half, especially combined with sadly saying 'Louie' when he did something foolish. That's a real sign that I'm instantly connecting with Louie as a character, as a human I care about whether he does something that's bad for him or not. It's worth noting that I'm a total rookie - my only Louis CK exposure is a couple of tumblr image posts and his appearances on Parks and Recreation. So yes, I laughed at it, more the 'sitcom' than the 'standup' but I definitely liked it - and now I'm going to leave in an inexplicable helicopter.

K: As a non-British person, I haven't heard of Stewart Lee before. Why would you say Brits think of Louis CK as the American Stewart Lee? Can you link to a video that illustrates that?

the classic asexualist one - that you must be broken. Sad times.