Louis CK announced that he’s taking a hiatus from hit FX show Louie in 2013. As a result, his new HBO special Oh My God is the only look into the man’s brilliance that you’ll get in 2013.
The old expression regarding pizza (“Even a bad slice of pizza is still a good slice of pizza”) could probably apply to anything involving Louis CK. Often hailed as one of the funniest and most insightful of the comedians in this generation, his rise to mainstream success wasn’t as much a surprise at it was an inevitability.
Whereas Louie provides a twisted yet lightly fictionalized view into CK’s life and many quirks, Louis CK’s special is a more honest look at both CK’s feelings and the world around him.
Louis CK grasps with age and advice he’d give himself — vis a vis all the “shapeless” and “unattractive” teens of the world — in the form of an “It Gets Better” commercial. He opines about how much better his divorced life is when compared to his married one. More than anything, Louis CK seems like a man at peace with his place in the world, in fame, and, most importantly, in his family.
There’s an overwhelming sense that Louis CK understands that people turn to him for how they should view the world. In particular, his take on Facebook seems to be less of a take singular to his experience but rather one that he knows the rest of the world should feel.
Even though Louis CK can’t go down the street without being recognized, he still understands the common man. There isn’t a paradigm shift in the stand-up material — similar to Dave Chappelle’s last special primarily coping with fame.
There’s just the world at large through Louis CK’s eyes. And, fortunately for Louis CK fans with nothing else to subsist on in 2013, those eyes remain as sharp as ever.
HBO airs Louis CK’s Oh My God on Saturday, April 13 at 10 p.m.