At first glance you might think the “off stage comedian” sitcom is one that has been done already, and extraordinarily well at that in the form of Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm, so why do we need another? There’s something about Louie that puts it in a whole other place to Seinfeld or Curb.
This isn’t to say it’s better, it’s probably on the same fantastic level, but it’s something different. This might come down to the fact Louis CK does have this creative autonomy and a low budget which means he is answerable to no-one. Producers don’t want to look over scripts so there are no restraints on what the show does. There are often times where things just get quite surreal yet are not even questioned. Louie’s agent, for instance, is a teenager. In one excellently odd scene, Louie has a masturbatory fantasy in a lift that is interrupted by a Chinese man with a literal bag of dicks.
But alongside this inconspicuous surrealism is some true heart. The majority of the show is focused on the life of Louis’ on screen persona who is much like himself, a single dad of two. The show is at its greatest when focused on his relationship with his two daughters. He’s well-meaning but sometimes his daughters have the propensity to be really annoying, often seeing Louie flip the bird at his daughter behind his back. Yet you can still tell he loves these girls more than life. It knows when to be serious, and boy does it get a bit dark in places, and it knows when it can make a load of fart jokes. Mixing dates gone wrong escaping via a helicopter in the middle of the street with sentimental late night chats with his daughters, it shouldn’t work but it does and it does it well. It’s this fine high wire act that gives Louie that amazing appeal that is generational, much like Seinfeld.
