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Quint loves the comedy concert flick LOUIS C.K.: HILARIOUS from Sundance 2010!
Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with my brief thoughts on LOUIS C.K.’s concert film, subtitled “Hilarious,” which is the first of its type to ever be programmed at Sundance.
And they couldn’t have started with a better comedian.
Going into this movie you have to understand that I’m a pretty massive Louis C.K. fan. In fact, I saw him when toured through Austin last year practicing the material that is covered in this concert film… and this is a concert film, not a documentary.
So, I was pretty much already on board just because it is Louis C.K., but I think the fact that this movie had me howling with laughter (not an exaggeration, just ask the poor bastards sitting within a 10 foot radius of me at the premiere) after already being familiar with 90% of the material says a lot about just how great Louis C.K.’s stuff is.
If you’ve ever listened to any of his previous albums or caught some of his now cancelled show on HBO (Lucky Louis) you know just how far Louis is willing to go… or at least you think you do. He covers a variety of topics here, everything from have sex with a dead kid (which he says is a victimless crime… he wouldn’t kill a kid, but if he just stumbled across one in a field somewhere…) to our disappreciation of the wonders of modern technology (he makes the point that people complain about sitting on a plane on a runway for 40 minutes… but that we’re still sitting in a chair that flies up into the sky! We’re Greek Myths!) to arguing Fig Newtons vs. Pig Newtons with his 3 year old daughter.
Yeah, he’s offensive to delicate ears, but so was every single great comedian of the last 50 years. George Carlin, Lenny Bruce, Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphy, Don Rickles… even Bill Cosby.
Speaking of all those guys, they’re probably the reason I love Stand Up Concert films… I watched Bill Cosby’s Himself on a loop as a kid. I don’t have any desire to be a stand up comedian, but as a kid I memorized Cosby’s work there and George Carlin’s late ‘80s/early ‘90s and used to “perform” them to my neighborhood friends.
Louis produced this concert film himself and I would love to see a decent sized studio pick it up and really put it out there… 2,000 screens, big marketing push… Ultimately, I’d be over the moon if we see a series of comedy concert films kicked off by this movie. Yes, that’s because I love them, but I also noticed something interesting tonight… The way they shot this film they didn’t really cut out to the audience much. You were either on stage with Louis or in the audience, complete with the silhouettes of the heads in front of you, bottom of the screen, so it almost felt like a virtual reality version of attending this concert.
I saw laughs start with the audience in the film and roll past the screen and into our audience, just like it would if it were a live concert. The audience’s laughter has always been a part of these concert films, but by not showing the audience much at all it created an illusion of being there.
Sure, it’s great having Comedy Central and HBO Specials, but there’s something about being in a 200-300 member strong audience hysterically laughing that you can never replicate at home… I think that, more than anything else, is why I’d love to see a resurgence of these kinds of movies playing multiplexes across the country.
Sorry if I hijacked this review, but it’s almost pointless to review a comedy concert film in any great detail… I mean, what do I say? It’s all about Louis’ timing, the high quality of his material and the funny. All are top notch and saying any more would be a disservice, possibly evening ruining some of the jokes.
So, what I will say is that Louis C.K. is one of our best working comedians at the moment and this concert film was just as funny as I hoped it would be.
I’m actually interviewing the guy tomorrow and am a bit nervous. Hopefully I won’t make a blubbering fool out of myself (which usually tends to happen).
If you guys need a sampling of Louis C.K.’s work, I’ll embed a few things below to get you started… first off is Louis and Ricky Gervais on what they think might be a doomed private jet flight… not comedy material, but still hilarious.
Now here are a couple of clips of his stand-up before I sign off…
And this is the short that played before the film tonight where Louis explores… well, career opportunities, let’s put it that way.
Okay, now time for some sleep. You can follow me on Twitter if you’d like to follow along on my Park City Adventure and get as-it-happens updates from the fest!
-Quint
quint@aintitcool.com
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then you dont find that dead-kid-joke funny... sorry dude.
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I dont and I did.
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and Louis CK is the greatest stand up comedian of all time!
Now go suck a bag of dicks! -
I had a kid this morning. And we both thought it was hilarious.
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Did you buy him dinner first? ZING!
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Maybe Adzon is no fun. This isn't to say that having sex with dead kid's IS fun, mind you, but you know what I mean...
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Thanks for stepping on the joke.
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I was married. I have a 10 yr old daughter. I saw Shameless a few days after I was divorced, when my daughter was 7 or so. It instantly rocketed to one of my top comedy performances of ALL TIME. I can see why someone may not like Louis, but personally, he is pure gold. I saw this tour in Knoxville a year or so ago and can't wait to see this footage. I hope he knows that he is appreciated. (ps, the Louis CKs last chance promo is hilarious, and it shows he's still got it!)
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My beautiful 10 year old daughter is my pride and joy, but I think actually HAVING kids makes the joke even funnier. Take your Baptist puritanical ass and go watch Sinbad or Jay Leno. The key word here is JOKE. Said events in joke never actually occur. Perhaps Jerry Lewis is more your style.
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... neighborhood friends..." So Quint, you were that kid at the bus stop that got beat up and had his lunch money stolen on a daily basis?
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So to help tell his story we hired that "Bag of Dicks" Guy from a Comedy Club...
(OK, I fibbed a little. Eric did extra work in a few films. So have I, but I dont think of myself as an actor. So....) -
too bad it's such a blur. I remember one show started with him waking up in bed in the middle of the night all freaked out that about his mortality and dying. He woke up his wife, and of course she's not happy about it. The whole whats wrong crap happens. He tells her. So she starts jerking him off and she asks him if he still afraid of dying and he responds with something like "Strangley, no... not anymore". So simple and yet funny as fuck.
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Crazy idea, but why not go to a comedy club?
(May be biased since I'm a comic, but still...we could use the business.) -
One of the funniest stand ups around.
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Ted Sheckler is the shit, anyone who doesn't think so can suck a frunkiss
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and i even refused to write "first", sweethearts!
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haha. hahaha. hahahahaaaa. oh buddy... haha.
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Fucking dead kids joke=Hilarious!
Nothing is off limits in comedy. -
Absolutely, seeing a live show can not be topped, but this is the closest I've seen to matching that energy. Encouraging a wide release of comedy concert films can only help attendance at the real thing, don't you think?
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I was maybe 9 and 10 years old when I did that and it was just a way to show off for my friends, make them laugh. Yeah, I was an extra, too, but I never harbored any desire or dream to be an actor. I was an extra as a teenager so I could see how movies worked, spend time on movie sets. Yeah, it's cool to see yourself on screen sometimes, I guess, but before the set visit stuff on AICN really took off that was my best way to see the inner workings of movies.
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babies with AIDS.
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Lucky Louie was awesome it had a lot of episodes based on his stand-up material.it was HBO's first and only sitcom. was a really cool idea.. an R-rated, foul-mouthed, adult sitcom.
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Chewed Up.
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Jan 27, 2010 1:32:05 PM CST
Does liking Louis C.K. make you an eletist?
by battle_royale_with_cheese
If so, yeah, hand me the gold plated quill. Love this guy.
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going to a comedy club is obviously the best route to take. BUT, unless you're in a very large city you don't get the big names in clubs, you get them in a theater or arena, one night only. So a concert movie is more accessible (and cheaper) than a live show. And with most people, enjoying their favorite comedians on the screen leads eventually to catching them live.
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That's the same reason I did the extra stuff. Funny how the fans and spectators are always upbeat and excited about the process. Many of them willing to do anything to witness what happening to be involved somehow, and then there's always a crew member who seems to hate the job. I would do what some of those "I hate this" folks do for free. No ill will ment by me Quint. I realized at the end of my Geico pun that you were in films so the "Not an Actor" bit was wrong to some extent. Your cool in my book always have been.
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