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.
CK is not a newly minted “IT”comic. He’s been that for well over 10 years.
Thanks for stopping by Suzy.
Louis CK has definitely been a darling,not to sound too cheesy,on the comedy scene for a decade now,but he has yet to reach that household name status until now. I think with the new show and his appearances this year,as well as the awesome feedback he gets for his live shows,he will be the next George Carlin.
[...] Draft Last year I turned to this site to offer an apology to the brash comedian and now I’m here promoting his new TV series “Louie“,which premiered last night [...]
[...] you might ask why this hits home with me? Well,sometime last year I was the young blonde girl who made it my business to comment on Louis C.K.’s standup routine. And while I can only imagine he’s dealt with a few hecklers in his time,there were a few [...]
Wow…you chewed out a comedian. That takes balls.
I have to say,George Carlin made more than a few off-color suggestions in his time,but of course his were parts of larger comedy arcs in his performances. My wife never liked him,considering him too negative,but the fact is,he told the truth,and rarely does the truth ever sound good to us. I’m not sure Louis CK will ever quite reach that height,but you never know.
[...] Comedy Gets Personal…. So last year I said I was sorry to Louis C.K. about an outburst that led to a heated argument with the curmudgeon comedian at a show in Brooklyn. [...]
I know you said you were sorry in this post,but the fact that you did this to him makes you infinitely repulsive. And clearly it touched a nerve with him,from the recent Louie episode on FX.
I hope you listened to his words closely in that scene,and heard that,deep in your soul,you are not a good person. Good people don’t pull sh!t like that.
Well as this is my official first “you are a bad person”comment,I just want to say thanks. I think this means Im doing something right. Sorry that after reading both posts about my interaction with Louis C.K. that you still think me standing up,after the show was complete and far away from the rest of the audience,and telling a father that it might not be appropriate to discuss the “hilarity”of pedophiles on Father’s Day,that I am not a good person. But,I guess what I said resonated with him,and with you,and I hope I continue to resonate with people. Hopefully,you find something redeemable here. Thanks again!
Thanks for the reply. I guess if “doing something right”means being hypocritical and judgemental,then yes,you’re doing something right.
And you being “far away from the rest of the audience when the show was complete”was not as you described it above,to quote “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.”Try to get your stories straight.
You laughed at most of his set,and the one joke you deemed at the time to be “offensive”to you prompted you to chirp up and intefere with his performance. The gall and arrogance are appalling,and I speak not just of you,but anyone who decides to do this to a comedian. Next time you don’t like something a comedian says,walk out. That’s your option,not participation.
i don’t think your a bad person. ur just stupid,petty,obnoxious and loud. there are a hundred million people out there just like you. i seriously doubt that the joke offended u in any real way,indignation was simply the excuse u used to start talking and focusing the attention of the room on yourself. i also doubt it was ur brilliant drunken argument that resonated with louie,the scene is about showing the frustration people like you cause when u take time away from a talented comedian,and the supreme sense of entitlement that you all seem to posses. The apology is somewhat redeeming i’ll admit.
You definitely got the loud part correct,but if I’m not sure its stupid to try and explain to a father how inappropriate it might be to poke fun of the kidnapping and sexual abuse epidemic in America on Father’s Day. The situation was different from the one on the show,which was probably a compilation of many moments of his career,but I find it strange you don’t believe it resonated and yet you seem to so angry at some stranger on the internet over this situation.
I do thank you for the traffic and UR honest opinion of me based on a two minute read.
Again,it was after the entire show,not in the midst of a set.
Two minor points. When did Father’s Day become an emotional holiday with special considerations? Also,Epidemic? Is there a stranger rape kidnapping epidemic that I slept through?
Epidemic might be the incorrect word to use here,I’ll grant you that,but sexual abuse affects 1 in 4 children in the US. This is something that should bother anybody,not just parents on special Hallmark holidays.
Just finding this a long time after its posting. The other folks who are calling you “stupid”and “petty”and “arrogant”may sound angry but those descriptions,albeit for a moment of your life,are somewhat accurate. I felt a twinge of anger reading this because I’ve been to dozens of comedy shows,and every time the talented comedian gets heckled,I know everybody else in the audience wants to wring the girl’s throat (it is always a girl and they are always somewhat pretty,like a 6 or a 7,dressed to impress,and had a few too many) because they probably paid to be there and were enjoying themselves until somebody took the time to interrupt. They never say anything remotely relevant or important. The proper analogy is to stop a movie that everybody is really into in order for you to answer your cell phone.
Now,comedians usually handle it in stride because it’s not the first or the tenth or the last time,and their responses are usually as awesome as they are (or as terrible,as Kramer has shown us),and I am positive that he put you in your place.
If you were a concerned father,which is what I thought when I first opened this page searching for the actual joke that you expressed your mock outrage on,then I would listen intently. But you just want attention. I hope it tasted good,and I hope you figure out a better way to do it in the future than trying to ruin the performance for a room full of people.
Not sure why I would have to be a father to find it offensive to giggle and joke about pedophilia legality. And quite honestly,there was no heckling as in the episode,but an actual attempt at a conversation after the show,which Louis CK was at a loss for words. But I am glad that you were able to find my site and read throughout the entire story and still miss the whole point.