Louis C.K in Toronto- Beyond Funny

Louis C.K. is currently one of the world’s most popular stand-up comics. He’s not popular in the sense that people who are into the “indie” scene would say he’s overrated; he’s popular with good reason. He has been doing stand-up comedy for well over two decades, but has only recently shot to super-stardom in the past few years with his comedy specials and critically acclaimed television show Louie. He’s well respected in the comedy world, he’s clearly intelligent, and he’s a very rare creative talent that, when given creative control, can let loose and turn a television show such as Louie, or a comedy performance, into something magical.

Ok. So he’s also a sickly mental sociopath who would, under any normal circumstances, be committed to some type of hospital for the criminally insane. But he’s funny, right?

Well, here’s the thing. Louis C.K. has the tendency to be overly dramatic and use hyperbole to a great extent in his work. I’m going to do my best Louis C.K. impression here, in writing, and explain to you the two types of people in the world and how they view C.K. and his particular type of humour. The first, is someone who happens to find C.K. positively unbearable and hates him and everything he stands for with every fiber of their being. They find him abhorrently repulsive and they view the things that he passes off as jokes as vile and immoral. When C.K. jokes about his children getting eaten by bears and says that an Asian baby is among the weirdest types of baby, these aforementioned people would boil with contempt, rage, and pure hatred for Louis C.K. and anyone who is laughing at these so called jokes.

Then there’s another kind of people. There’s the type of people who revere Louis C.K. as a comedy God and respect the man and everything he stands for. They would see C.K.’s jokes about drowning a child and not letting Jews into a theatre as a welcome escape from their daily life, as well as an intense exaggeration by a very intelligent and highly creative person.

I happen to fall into the latter of the above categories, in that I admire and respect Louis C.K. himself, and find his comedy to be among the best of the best in terms of the stand-up legends of history. However, when it comes to Louis C.K., there are no in-between people. No one says “meh” to Louis C.K. You love him, you hate him, or quite possibly you live in a totally secluded world and/or don’t care one bit about comedy and have never heard of him. But that’s beside the point.

Anyways, I got ahead of myself. Louis C.K. came to Toronto on Saturday October 15^th and I had the great pleasure of attending his show. What’s clear is that after two shows in one night that sold out in a number of minutes, there’s at the very minimum 6000 people in Toronto alone who feel the way I do and were laughing about every three seconds for the duration of C.K.’s incredible 90 minute set.

After over two decades doing stand-up, three comedy specials, one concert movie/comedy special, a weekly television show, and countless TV appearances and other ventures, C.K. keeps coming up with new material. Aside from watching the same specials over and over again, I have never heard C.K. repeat a joke on the various platforms he has been on, and his show in Toronto was no different. He had all new material, and all of it killed. Whether it was talking about how “shitty human beings are,” or his days as “a little Mexican boy” with a Jewish father, there wasn’t a moment in his act that wasn’t just as good-if not better- than all of his previous work.

Louis C.K. works insanely hard, and is almost constantly busy. Between spending half of every week with his two daughters, age 6 and 9, he tours almost weekly and is regularly writing new material and improving on his act. Additionally, he writes, directs, and edits his weekly series Louie. My point here is- the man is talented, and it’s obvious that he deserves every ounce of respect and fandom that he is currently enjoying.

After the show ended at about 1am, not only did he do an encore for his audience giving him a standing ovation, but he also stuck around afterwards to take pictures and shake hands with his adoring fans. Again, I have a point with all of this. He didn’t have to do any of these things, but with this he proved that he is a nice guy, who while saying he wants to murder a child one minute, is willing to postpone going to bed after five hours of stand-up comedy to hang out with his fans the next minute. Louis C.K. isn’t a bad guy or a sociopath (well maybe he is a sociopath a little bit), but he instead plays one on stage and on screen for laughs.

He’s left Toronto now, but if his words about loving the city are true, and why not after two sold out shows, he will be back soon. I highly recommend seeing his stand-up specials, his pseudo-movie Hilarious, or his amazing television show Louie, going into its third season, which will air on FX Canada when the channel launches at the end of October. Also, see him on tour. If you are looking to see one of the world’s best comics at the top of their game, you need to see Louis C.K. live as soon as you get the chance.