I wasn’t a big fan of Louis CK back when he was adored for his sensitivity toward fat women. I’m no more a fan of his today. If someone gave me free tickets to a Louis CK show, I would thank them for their generosity but decline. He’s not my flavor of comedy, but for an entirely different reason than Matthew Dessem.
Comedian Louis C.K., who admitted to repeatedly exposing himself and masturbating in front of unwilling women in Nov. of 2017, said at the time he was going to “step back and take a long time to listen.” Less than a year later, he returned to the stage at the Comedy Cellar to perform an unannounced set. Although the way he came back didn’t inspire much confidence that he’d learned anything during his time in the wilderness, it was still possible, if you leaned way back and squinted, to speculate that his decision to return without any fanfare was a mistake.
When a video appeared of a December 16th set, however, there was no longer a question in the minds of the Overseers of Shame.
It is not possible to believe that anymore. Bootleg audio from one of his shows . . . has been uploaded to YouTube, giving those of us who weren’t lucky enough to be in the audience for a surprise Louis C.K. appearance a chance to hear what he’s been up to. And what he’s been up to, judging from the material, is bemoaning the money he lost, fuming over young people and political correctness, and writing some really killer jokes about the respective penis sizes of various ethnic groups. It’s not just that it’s not funny: it’s positively sickening.
I haven’t watched the video, and don’t link to it here. You can do so if you please, but it’s no more interesting to me now than it would have been otherwise. But the fact that Louis CK, regardless of his masturbatory inclinations at the expense of female comedians in need of his juice, decided to come out of hiding and to step back on stage was a rejection of the pontifications of the woke: that he was awful, should spend his time reflecting on his awfulness and, once suitably repentant, confess his shame and make amends. Not that it would suffice for him to be again worthy of public acclaim, but he would then be allowed to spend the rest of his life in a monastery somewhere unmolested by the arrows of outrage.
Instead, Louis CK decided to live shamelessly. And it was “positively sickening.”
Dessem says it wasn’t funny. How would he know what’s funny to me, or you, or anyone other than him? Who cares what he finds funny? Is he your “funny guru”? For that matter, who cares what he finds “sickening”? If you care enough to listen to Louis CK, you can decide for yourself whether you find it funny or sickening. Why would anyone care a whit what this guy feels?
To prove his righteousness, Dessem recounts one of Louis CK’s bits, in which he offends because of his rampant use of the word “retarded.”
But we started to feel shitty about it, so we changed it to “intellectually challenged.” What the fuck, it’s—don’t name the kid a thing he can’t say out loud. An intellectual challenge is can you translate Shakespeare into Latin and make it rhyme. These kids are not intellectually challenged, they’re intellectually fuckin’ done. They are! It’s not their sport! But we decided we didn’t want to call them retarded because we call each other that, so we went back to Nelson and we said, “Listen, Nelson, I have something to tell you. You’re not retarded anymore.”
“You mean I’m cured?”
“No, not at all. We just don’t call you that, ’cause it’s a terrible thing to call somebody.”
“But you called me that with—”
“Yes, but not anymore, because we shouldn’t.”
As it happens, I don’t care for the word “retarded” outside of clinical use as it’s mean-spirited toward people who did nothing to deserve ridicule. But I also don’t care for the phrase “intellectually challenged,” as it’s not a substitute for retarded and is uninformative. It tells me there’s a problem without telling me what the problem might be.
Did I find the routine funny? No. But it’s an apt metaphor for 2018. Dessem’s conclusion?
Louis C.K. is clearly unwilling to reckon with what he’s done, but unfortunately, he seems to know exactly what he’s doing: There are a lot of people out there just waiting for permission from an authority figure to become more bestial and brutish.
He’s completely wrong, of course. Louis CK reckoned with what he’s done and refuses to spend the rest of his life in a saffron robe contemplating the failures of his existence. He’s unwilling to live the way Dessem believes he should, and so Dessem shames him. Louis CK refuses to be shamed.
Last year was the Year of the Smushed Rat. If you want “bestial and brutish,” Huffington Post editor Emily McCombs feeling empowered to twit about sending her ex-boyfriend a picture of a “smushed dead rat” pretty much takes the cake. Yet, the woke didn’t shame her, and she felt no shame in coming out publicly as a lunatic, even though anyone less “oppressed” would have been excoriated for such a twit. With damn good reason.
Fear of shame has been a driving force for many, and entitlement to shame has empowered scolds to dictate what you’re allowed to say and think, at least outside of a small circle of friends. Louis CK may not be any funnier now than he was before, and no one can force you to listen to him or laugh at his bits. But he won’t hide. He won’t repent his sins. He won’t be silent, as the scolds demand. Louis CK refuses to be banished from society.
Thomas Hobbes, speaking of life outside of society, wrote “the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short.” If Louis CK’s act sickens you, don’t watch it. If you find the word “retarded” sickening, don’t say it, and if someone says it to you, tell them why you hate the word. Then move on.
But don’t let your choices, your voice, be dictated by fear of shame by people of no consequence in your life. They’re going to hate you for it, but the alternative is to hate yourself for not living your own life. We’ve had enough of the scolds shaming people into submission. If something makes you feel shameful, don’t do it. But if you fear doing something, saying something, because someone else might shame you for it, then you’ve been defeated. Live your own life. Live shamelessly.
Happy New Year.
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If one purpose of comedy is to make the establishment uncomfortable, and Dessem, whoever the hell he is, represents the pulse of the ascendant SJW establishment, then Louie is doing his fucking job. Even better, he’s doing it in a manner reminiscent of the lottery — you and I aren’t footing the bill.
Absolutely, and the fact that he makes this Dessem’s head explode almost makes Louie tolerable.
I wonder what Lenny Bruce would say?
Pretty much any Lenny Bruce, George Carlin or Richard Pryor vid would work, but they’re a bit obvious (if you catch my drift).
SHG,
Best New Year’s resolution ever, that is, “Live shamelessly.”
All the best.
RGK
Happy new year, Judge. You write upside down really well.
Wait, am I supposed to live shamelessly, or am I supposed to empty and reload the dishwasher and finish clearing up after last night’s party? Lately, this blog is giving me mixed messages.
Fortunately, noticing this conundrum has given me an opportunity to rectify a serious omission from my last comment, and join in wishing all the very best New Year.
Funny how “progressives” seem to want to bring back the pillory and the creepy chair (or maybe they don’t realize it isn’t new).
Happy new year, one and all.
“his masturbatory inclinations at the expense of female comedians in need of his juice”
Good line.
Already got a few emails about that line. It appears to have confused some folks as to what exactly I’m trying to say. It was a great line.
Scott – going to break my rule and comment here…
“He’s completely wrong, of course. Louis CK reckoned with what he’s done and refuses to spend the rest of his life in a saffron robe contemplating the failures of his existence. He’s unwilling to live the way Dessem believes he should, and so Dessem shames him. Louis CK refuses to be shamed.”
Thank you for saying that. I am sick and bloody tired of the ‘woke’ and the endless supply of bovine waste that pours from their mouths. Ugh.
Happy New Year.
Best of the new year to all in this here hotel and everybody else too. Don’t be afraid to celebrate twice.
On Tuesday, 5 February 2019, the Year of the Dog is done, and the Year of the Pig begins.
Dog, pig, they still pass around those little red envelopes for cash in Chinatown, but the dim sum is delicious.
Wonderful concept, I think that phrase is going to be my new email sig.
A happy new year to you, as well. Tummy rubs for putting up with we band of merry loons!
Also, I think “Live Shamelessly”, but in Latin, would make for an amazing family motto.
This might be one of those rare times that Latin doesn’t significantly improve the words: Indiscrete vivunt.
Happy New Year, Scott!
I guess Louis CK’s failure to kiss the ring by repenting and renouncing the comedic stylings that made him successful was unfathomable to the self-appointed arbiters of woke taste.
Is “taste” a requirement for the position of Inquisitor?
Yes, but the Inquisitors get to decide what constitutes good taste. As with most things these days, the woke get to write their own job descriptions.
Maybe I’m prejudiced by my belief that “Louis CK Learns About The Catholic Church” is the greatest comedy video ever made by anyone, but I don’t get the whole Louis CK horrorfest. It seems mildly creepy that he asked some friends if he could masturbate in front of them, and when they said yes, he did it, but not such a huge deal. Presumably those who said no did not get masturbated in front of, and those who said yes… said yes. I wouldn’t want to watch him masturbate, but I still think LCKLATCC is the greatest comedy video ever made, and the fact that the comedian who made it acts weird to his personal friends doesn’t really have an impact on my enjoyment of his work.
“Mildly”? To each his own, I guess, but this is something very foreign to me.
Well, they consented THEN. But then they changed their mind and decided they were sexually abused. How can you question the Victim, you shitlord. 🙂
I haven’t felt shame since I walked naked from the Swamp into the lobby of this here Hotel. Shit, I didn’t feel shame then. From then until I croak–fuck ’em.
Happy New Year to all Hotelians and those who will be.
Explains the roadkill souffle. Happy New Year, Skink.
As usual, thanks to Firemans’ scheduling*, I’m late to the party, and this is entirely off-topic. However, as someone who plays drums, you may appreciate a bizarre documentary from 2012, called “Beware of Mr. Baker”, about Cream drummer Ginger Baker. It’s quite entertaining. (Plenty of historical clips and interviews). And while not intended as such, it’s an interesting study in comorbid personality disorders.
As regards the video you posted, if we can momentarily play a variation of “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon”, as you may know, the four layered viola parts that make up the intro to White Room were played by Cream’s producer (and Mountain bass player), the late Felix Pappalardi, who was shot and killed in 1983, by his wife, Gail Collins.** Collins, a lyricist, had some type of close affiliation with a well-known music Publisher, ostensibly, as a song writer.
It seems that this music Publisher employed some “creative” business practices. As I understand it, the Publisher used some type of contractual arrangement that put various third-party works-for-hire in Ms. Collins name, for copyright and other legal purposes. Unfortunately, shortly prior to Felix’s demise, the Publisher’s failure to pay even the agreed upon de minimis amount, to one particularly volatile third-party, led that party to holding one of the Publisher’s senior executives out of a tenth floor window of the Brill building.
Long story short, the police managed to resolve the situation, all without anyone getting harmed. The volatile third-party was subsequently delivered to the ‘rest spa’, and no one was ever charged. It seems the Publisher would not cooperate with the DA’s office, and somehow convinced them that charges were “not appropriate”.
I can say with a reasonable degree of medical certainty that the volatile third-party was in no way suffering from any discernible mental disease or defect. The then accounting practices, of this particular music Publisher, I was not quite as sure about.
As an aside, the fact that the cops were called, and no one was physically harmed (or even charged), seems like an impossibility in the present environment.
Happy New Year!
*You put out one fire, and have just enough time to get to the next one, hopefully before everything burns to the ground.
**She was acquitted of second degree murder and manslaughter, but found guilty of criminally negligent homicide. She served two years of a four-year sentence.
Pappalardi, Gail
DoB: Feb. 2, 1941
DoD: Dec. 6, 2013
NYS DoC DIN: 83G0335
Some won’t get the connection here. Some will.