8. Louie – Louis C.K. is one of the best stand-up comics in the business. Outside of supporting roles (Officer Dave on Parks and Recreation), he hasn’t made much of an impact on TV. His HBO series, Lucky Louie, was well intentioned, but never quite clicked. And so, nobody was prepared for just how good his new FX series turned out to be. Describing it as the Louis C.K. version of Curb Your Enthusiasm is a convenient shorthand, but there’s so much more happening here. Most of the episodes consist of a couple of short vignettes (Louie plays poker, Louie acts in a movie, Louie get molested by his dentist) connected with some of Louis’ stand-up. (And yes, the man’s name is “Louis” but the title of the show spells it “Louie”. I can never decide how to refer to the character.) Since Louis’ stand-up routine is bitterly honest and usually filthy, it’s a far cry from Jerry Seinfeld talking about the differences between men and women. The shorter stories are often interesting and consistently hilarious – Louis blowing his lines in a remake of The Godfather directed by Matthew Broderick is one of the funniest scenes of the year. But the episodes that present one longer story are often stunning. In one, Louis examined his relationship with his mother, and in another a flashback showed young Louie being forced to reenact crucifixion after acting up in his Catholic school. “Bully” was one of the best episodes of anything all year, as Louie is humiliated in front of his date by some high school kids. Then he follows one of the kids home to complain to the parents and everything goes horribly wrong. And then the season finale, “Night Out”, was a beautiful piece about a guy discovering what really matters. Of course, this being Louie, he realizes “There are two things in this world that I’m good at. Taking care of my daughters and masturbating. And I know it’s not nice to say those in the same sentence…” Some of the best moments of the year came from Louis C.K., and it’s really a thrill to see him doing something that really shows off the talent that comedy nerds have seen for years.
While I stand by my Top 10, I actually feel bad about Eastbound & Down and Louie not being on it! They are both so fabulous. And I know how much I’m missing out by not watching Breaking Bad…I will just have to hibernate with the DVDs one of these days, although it sounds like I may end up suffering from clinical depression if I do that.