What's so funny about Louis C.K.

One thing that changes as we get older is the idea of what makes us laugh. The only thing I laughed at when I was a kid that I still laugh at now is Warner Bros. cartoons. I didn't know back then that the opera singer in "Long-Haired Hare" is rehearsing a part from "The Barber of Seville." Or that Bugs Bunny does a spot-on impression of the conductor Leopold Stokowski. All I knew is that Bugs drives that fat opera singer crazy*, and the opera singer beats him up, and Bugs gets his revenge by making the guy sing one long note until he turns purple.

*What do they do in Mississippi... when skies are drippy...

That was funny when I was 6, and it's even funnier now, knowing what I know, understanding the little details as an adult. But most of the time, what's funny changes. You grow up, and you go through things, and you learn a few hard lessons, and maybe you start to understand Dave Barry's definition of a sense of humor: "A measurement of the extent to which we realize that we are trapped in a world almost totally devoid of reason. Laughter is how we express the anxiety we feel at this knowledge."

Which brings me to Louis C.K., who, at the moment, is the funniest person on the planet.

Last week he was on with Jay Leno. Here are three clips. They get better as they go.









If you go on YouTube you can find dozens of Louis C.K. clips. You should be warned of two things: One, they're full of extremely bad language, and two, if you start watching it might be hours before you stop.

Louis loves his kids but a lot of the time he doesn't like them. He understands exactly how lucky he is but he still complains. He longs for just a little real human connection but he's too awkward, or too lazy, or too numb, to make it.

Of course, in one sense, it's an act*. I don't know if any of the stories are true. It felt a little weird when I read an interview with him about this clip that went viral last year, and it turned out the guy complaining about wi-fi on the airplane wasn't another passenger -- it was Louis himself. That's a small thing, and I'm sure there's a good comedic reason for telling the story that way, but it makes him feel a touch less authentic.

*Speaking of an act -- go back and watch Jay Leno in those clips. Part of his job, of course, is to make the guest look good. But Jay is so awkward here -- he's got a really funny guy right next to him and he barely knows how to have a conversation. "So, hey, you're out on the road, right?" Jay Leno, when he was a regular guest on Letterman, was a great comedian. I don't know what part of himself he sold to get the Tonight Show and hold onto it. But it was too big a price.

The older I get, the more honesty matters. I don't want to get schmoozed by somebody who just wants to sell me something. I don't want people to tiptoe around what they're trying to say. I don't want melodrama or artifice. Just be real. What strikes me the most about Louis C.K. is that I'd still want to hang out with him even if he wasn't funny. He seems like a regular guy, in dumpy clothes, who has some interesting things to say about his life, and maybe yours.


What's funny as you get older, I think, depends on what you need. We watched "The Hangover" last night. Parts of it were really funny. But it wasn't as great as I'd heard. Probably because it wasn't the kind of funny I needed. Maybe you need something over-the-top and outrageous if you need to forget yourself awhile.

And maybe you need something like Louis C.K. if you need to remember -- remember that life sometimes sucks at the same time it's great, and everybody struggles with love and family and figuring out your place in the world, and it's OK to be honest about that, and laugh about it.