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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