Comedy, New York
Dear Louis CK, I’m Sorry…
Danielle Johnsen :: Friday, November 6th, 2009 7:03 pm
New York is easily the epicenter of comedy, with hundreds of one liners being delivered to drunk crowds on a nightly basis. And this city becomes a comedy lovers’ wet dream this weekend with the annual New York Comedy Festival. There are over 100 performances this weekend, from the big names like Tracy Morgan, Patton Oswalt and Dane Cook, to small troops from the UCB and PIT theaters taking advantage of the hype and hoping this will be their last small gig. The highlight of the festival will obviously be Louis CK’s performance at Carolines on B’way this Sunday evening. His brash, witty and dark humor are a perfect fit for the times we are in and he has an awkward ease that works both during his live stand up and his time on screen. The epitome of a New York comic, CK manages to bring light and humor to some of the most gnarly topics, like divorce, unemployment and even kidnapping. This is why I owe the comic an apology.
While I have always considered myself a fan of the newly declared IT comedian, I have sort of been hating on him recently. No, this isn’t one of those sell out rants, because personally I like when entertainers I appreciate can become household names. It means I know when somethings good and that the rest of America doesn’t need their comedy spoon fed by a ventriloquist dummy. I have spent countless hours listening to his stand up albums, watching him poke jokes about his kids, his belly and his inability to say no to donuts. So it was surprising to me that I would ever end up owing Louis CK an apology, but I do.
Earlier this year at one of Louis CK’s surprise NYC gigs, I sort of heckled him. And this led to a loud conversation with him where I critiqued his set, mocked the audience and ended up putting down one of my favorite comedians - to his face. At the end of the hazy seven minute “interaction”, we agreed to disagree and I left the Bell House knowing my only communication with one of my favorite comedians was a fight. This disagreement, as I will put it nicely, was over a joke which I deemed a bit offensive, but the rest of the audience loved. In essence, Louis CK thought that if child molestation wasn’t so illegal, then kids wouldn’t be kidnapped or killed. His delivery had humor in it and looking back it was a funny joke - I’m sure if you see him this weekend, you’ll get to hear it in person. But unfortunately, I had just spent way too much time in Tribeca documentary land, as well as I had quite the buzz on, to find any humor in it. So I decided to boo him, yes BOO him. This apparently wasn’t enough for me, cause after I rattled my favorite comedian, who I had been pleasantly surprised by at this show, I decided to go on a personal attack. It was Father’s Day, no time for kiddie porn jokes in my humble opinion, and so I decided to let Louis CK know this. And because apparently being heckled and booed at wouldn’t be enough warning for him, I pulled him aside after his set and began chastising him, in front of the audience and other comedians. At first, it was a conversation between a drunk girl and a comedian, not the first and definitely not the last, but it became a fight between a hurt fan and an angry entertainer. Nothing he could say to me would make me move on and nothing I could say would have him understand where I was coming from, probably because debate is not a drunks’ best friend. After yelling at each other for a few moments, I wished him a Happy Father’s Day and he wished me a safe trip home. My friends were embarrassed, he was shocked and a handful of other comedians quickly ushered him into another room. All in all, it sucked and I was left harboring an odd resentment towards the man. Its been months and I’m sure he hasn’t thought twice about it, but I really want him to make me laugh again. With his recent appearance on “Parks and Recreation”, I was reminded of how freaking hilarious he is and how sometimes, you don’t need to always get the joke.
So here I am Louis CK, publicly apologizing for yelling at you a few months back. Hopefully, we can go back to our successful relationship of entertainer and fan, with no ill feelings. And I promise that the next time I don’t like a joke or simply don’t get it, I will not attack you personally because of it. I will do what normal people do, talk shit about you on the interwebs.
Wow… very big of you to write this. I really h*** he reads it — should be good therapy for everyone involved.
Posted by: Tim November 7th, 2009 at 2:48 pm
I really like your writing style, its not generic and extremly long and tedious like a lot of blog posts I read, you get to the point and I really enjoy reading your articles! Oh, and merry Christmas!
Posted by: vps hosting December 23rd, 2009 at 1:59 am