Louis C.K. Is Back (Again) and Libs Are Mad (Always)
Louis C.K. Is Back (Again) and Libs Are Mad (Always)
Since when is a professional clown supposed to be a role model?
Comedian Louis Székely, AKA Louis C.K., premiered a new comedy special on his website this weekend, which I have now watched. Louis ejaculates words right in front of the viewer, whether you agree to it or not. It’s very funny, because he is a highly skilled stand-up comedian.
The special, his second since his career became part of the Great #MeTooing of 2017, is called Sorry. Clearly it’s meant to be ironic.
Louis’ material is edgy, as always. Some people don’t like it and never have. Other people used to like it and now pretend they hate it, because they don’t want their friends to know they still laugh at his jokes. They’re not mad at him because he’s changed. They’re mad at him because he hasn’t.
I’ve always liked his comedy, and I’m not going to pretend I don’t. Here’s one of his new bits, which is very offensive:
You might think that’s funny, you might not. I laughed. Because it’s a joke. That’s how jokes work.
And, also, in addition to that, Louis C.K. is a huge creep and I wouldn’t want him anywhere near any woman I care about. Both things are true. I can separate the art from the artist.
Not everybody can do that, or wants to. We call such people liberals. Here’s just one example of the prevailing sentiment:
Okay, then: If anyone actually thinks someone can be “assassinated,” just tell them Ronald Reagan lived to be 93.
If you try to kill somebody and he lives, you have not disproven the concept of murder. And if you try to ruin a comedian’s life and he keeps doing comedy anyway, that doesn’t mean you didn’t try to ruin his life. It just means you’re mad that you didn’t succeed.
Louis is releasing his comedy specials independently now. Every single company he’s ever worked for — Netflix, HBO, FX, Universal Pictures, Disney, etc. — has dropped him. Which seems fair to me. They don’t want to be associated with him, and I don’t blame them. So now he’s doing it himself and people are still paying to see him, because he’s freaking hilarious. That also seems fair to me. He’s very good at what he does, and he has the right to keep doing it for anyone who still wants to see it.
But he hasn’t killed himself or banished himself to a desert island, so somehow that proves there’s no such thing as cancel culture? Libs are stupid.
We’re also seeing this sort of attitude with Dave Chappelle, Jeff Garlin, and now even Jay Johnston from Mr. Show and Bob’s Burgers.1 I don’t know where we got this idea that comedians are supposed to be role models, and if they act like creeps and do stuff that makes us mad, they shouldn’t be allowed to work ever again.
They’re clowns. They’re jesters. Their job is to make you laugh. Either they succeed or they don’t. Laughing at their jokes doesn’t make you complicit in anything they do offstage.
What Louis C.K. did to those women was wrong. I’m not telling anybody to let it go. If you don’t want to watch him do stand-up comedy anymore, you shouldn’t. And, also, in addition to that, he’s one of the funniest humans alive and I reserve the right to laugh at whatever I want in the United States of America.
If you don’t like it, get over yourself. Or don’t. Either way is fine.
I really liked Spider-Man: No Way Home, and I also don’t know what I can say about it without spoiling anything. Here’s one general, non-spoilery thing: All the MCU Spider-Man movies have been about the idea of home: Homecoming, Far from Home, No Way Home. That’s what Peter Parker fights for: his home. In other words, his friends and family. He let them down once (Uncle Ben, R.I.P.), and he’s never going to do it again. This third movie really drives that point, er… home. Peter Parker is a fundamentally decent character, and I was really rooting for him.
Somehow I managed to avoid spoilers, and I don’t want to ruin it for you if you haven’t seen it yet. But if you want some major spoilers, I’ll ramble on about it at the footnote.2
Happy Monday or whatever. Just one more Monday to go, and then it’ll be 2022. Which will probably be even worse than 2021, which was even worse than 2020, which was way worse than 2019.
But maybe it won’t be?
Just FYI, Thursday will be my last post of 2021. I haven’t really taken a break for at least a year, and you’ll probably be too busy celebrating the holidays to read this newsletter anyway. Plus, I’ve got some medical stuff I need to deal with next week. Nothing major, I hope, but it’ll be time-consuming. So I’m just ready to call it a year and be done with it.
Now: If you want to keep reading this newsletter, you need to buy a subscription. I have to pay my bills in order to keep doing this. There’s no way around it. That’s how this works. Nobody else is paying me, so it’s up to you. Please stop being a cheapskate. Thanks in advance.
Jay Johnston was at the 1/6 riot and now he’s been fired from Bob’s Burgers. Both of those things are dumb for different reasons, and I’m just exhausted with everything and anyone.
Johnston was also in the “Indomitable Spirit” sketch on Mr. Show, which is where I cribbed the “And, also, in addition to that” bit. So it’s fitting when I say: Jay Johnston shouldn’t have participated in a riot. And, also, in addition to that, he’s a funny guy. The two things are not mutually exclusive.
Okay, here are the Spider-Man: No Way Home SPOILERS, so stop reading right now if you don’t want any SPOILERS.
Seriously, go away. SPOILERS!
Still scrolling? Okay…
The biggest spoiler is the one everybody suspected, and the one Marvel has blatantly lied about for years: Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield do indeed appear in this film. Because of course they did! When Doctor Strange waves his hands around and makes glowy runes in the air and whatnot, and the barriers between realities are shattered and a bunch of characters from the Sony movies show up, of course it includes the previous two Spider-Mans.
Spider-Men? Whatever.
I figured if the two of them popped up, it would be a jokey post-credits scene. Like, Peter is in a coffee shop and the barista yells out “Peter Parker” and all three of them turn around. Something like that. But no, the other two Peter Parkers are major characters in the second half of this movie. It’s a triple-sequel. Maguire and Garfield are integral to the plot, and the movie spends a lot of time re-establishing their characters and examining their relationship to each other.
And it’s great. Maguire and Garfield are older, obviously, but they can still fit into their Spidey-suits and they remind us why we loved those movies.
Well, okay, not everybody loved the Andrew Garfield ones. I really liked them, though, no matter what anybody said. I thought Garfield was a great Spider-Man, and he’s the MVP of this movie. There are lots of metatextual jokes about “Spider-Man #3” and his inferiority complex, which reflects the critical and popular drubbing Garfield has taken in real life.
At one point, the Maguire Spidey even tells the Garfield Spidey not to keep beating himself up: “You’re not a loser, okay? You’re amazing. I want to hear you say it. Amazing!” The MCU wants us to be nice to Andrew Garfield. He’s part of the club. He’s one of the boys.
#ArachnidLivesMatter!
The three Peter Parkers become Spider-Bros, and it’s a lot of fun watching them work together. The end credits song is even “The Magic Number” by De La Soul — three, get it? — which sent a jolt of endorphins through my Gen X, Yo! MTV Raps brain. I wore out my 3 Feet High and Rising CD in the summer of ‘89, and now that song takes on a whole new meaning.
Another nerdy prediction that came true: Matt Murdock does indeed show up as Parker’s lawyer. It’s just one scene, basically a cameo, but he gets to do some Daredevil stuff. Between this and Kingpin showing up on Hawkeye, the Marvel Netflix shows are now firmly established as part of the MCU. They’re not quarantined off in their own little corner anymore. So that’s a kick if you’re a huge dork.
Also, Aunt May dies. Like, dead for real. She’s with Uncle Ben now. Norman Osborn kills her because he’s evil, and more importantly, because Peter Parker #1 needs somebody to almost kill in the third act to remind us that he doesn’t kill.
Marissa Tomei has seemed ambivalent in interviews about playing the character, so now she doesn’t need to anymore. Unless Doctor Strange brings in another Aunt May from another dimension or something.
Oh, and they even managed to bring back Rhys Ifans as the Lizard. Ifans was very publicly dismissive of superhero movies and obviously hated being in the 2012 one, so I assumed he was done forever. But then Marvel cut him a big check. Who doesn’t like money?
Most of the major characters from the pre-MCU Spider-Man movies make an appearance, and each one gets a moment to shine. Yet it doesn’t feel overstuffed or belabored. It’s a pretty remarkable juggling act.
The movie ends the way all superhero movies end these days: a huge CGI fight. But I actually cared about all the characters, even the villains, so it wasn’t just empty, mind-numbing spectacle. (No offense, Shang-Chi!)
And now the whole world has forgotten who Peter Parker is, which was his sacrifice to save the multiverse. I was kinda hoping he would take on the alias Ben Reilly, but you can’t have everything.
So yeah, I loved it. Now I need to go back and watch all those Spider-Man movies again. What a great time to be a nerd.
Hope your medical stuff goes routine, and thank you for sticking the Spiderman spoilers in a footnote I can skip.
Good luck with the medical stuff, and I hope you have a Merry Christmas and a happy new year! Also, thanks for the Spiderman stuff. Next to Iron Man, he was always my favorite Marvel superhero - just this kid who suddenly gets superpowers but still has to deal with all the frustrations and craziness of being a high-school kid in New York. I liked that.