Louis C.K. Oh My God

Louis C.K. does his HBO special in Phoenix. The stage is 360. He does his highly inappropriate material as usual. He's a 45 divorced New Yorker father of two girls.

His brand of observational comedy is brilliant. He is lovable. The crowd is into it. It hits all of his various hot spots. He's growing breasts. There's a lot of jerking off, getting off of the food chain, dating and so on.

Comedy is always a matter of taste. No two people have the same funny bone. This is not for the easily offended. His fans will love this. It follows his many other specials.

Like most of the world, I love the comedy of Louis CK, even when his sitcom is difficult and not funny in the least, I am normally held by the ideas within the episodes. The third season perhaps didn't work quite as well for me as I would have liked but his standup remains consistently funny and clever and it remains so with this special/ Louis talks about aging, about living in the moment, about how great it is to simply be alive and off the food chain and several other topics. As subject they do rather fit within the subjects you would expect to hear from a standup, but Louis delivers them with a view and a conviction that leaves you in no doubt that he is speaking from his own experience and that this is more than just a funny bit.

This sense of honesty and realism helps a great deal to get into the material, because often you cannot help but agree, even when some of the things he says are pretty dark, it comes from a place of truth but not often spoken out loud. Of course this isn't enough on its own though and it helps that the things he put forward are delivered with imagination and timing, so the phrasing and delivering of the material is consistently funny. I wasn't sure what to expect when it came to the round stage but it works very well and the camera never loses Louis even though he keeps moving and engages well with the crowd – even sitting he is careful to talk over his shoulder at times. His easy delivery makes it look easy but of course it is not.

More accessible than his TV show, this special is dark, honest and very funny throughout.

It was only in the last few years that I learned of Louis C.K. Fortunately, I've seen some of his material, including "Louis C.K. Oh My God". In this special (also released as a comedy album) he discusses things like how lucky humans are to exist outside the food chain, and what would happen if murder were legal. I'd say that C.K.'s humor corroborates what Lenny Bruce, George Carlin and Richard Pryor proved: the problems in the world make for some great humor. Admittedly, C.K.'s humor isn't usually as edgy as Sarah Silverman's, but I've liked everything that I've heard from him.

In conclusion, I recommend the special. It deserved its Emmy win.

In 1987 George Carlin filmed his special at the exact same theater. When I watched Louis CK enter the stage, I had to think about Carlin's special and it felt in a way as if a part of George was still there. They even look a little bit alike.

Louis CK shows us in this amazing special that he is in every way worthy to carry on George's legacy. His jokes take you into the darkest places, and make you see the nonsense and humor behind it.

Louis is probably not even aware that he himself became an idol for a new generation of directors and artists, showing us with his special that even if the most horrible things take you down during your career, someday you will stand on your former hero's stage.

Thanks Louis!

The first third of this didn't seem to be as great as his other shows, but the last thirds, especially the last third, were pretty incredible and non-stop hilarious. I just have a blast hearing CK in pretty much everything he says, and this was no exception. And it's still sort of weird seeing him doing stand-up and seeing his brilliant, brilliant series, a series that is quite often melancholic and dark in its approach. Regardless, he is my favorite comedian at the moment and I don't see that changing anytime soon. Definitely a great show as expected and cannot wait to see what else he has in store for us later on in his career.