Louis C.K.: Chewed Up (2008)

You won't be disappointed!

So much average

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Louis is performing in Boston in 2006.I love him. I love his show. And I love his takes on risky subject matters. I'm not sure how he gets his material. He must take the word fagget as a dare and he has to make it funny as a straight man. It's always fascinating how his humor also makes the audience think. It's a different way to look at the n-word. I just love the way his comedic unconventional takes on certain things. Of course, he also does the more traditional jokes about him being fat, unhealthy and old as well as jokes about his kids and his incompetent sex life especially with a cat.

Let me say that this was my first experience listening to Louis C.K. He is clearly a very talented and charismatic comedian. But I don't think "Chewed up" was his best work.There were a few bits and pieces of outstanding material. But overall, Louis C.K. was too narrow focused: swear words (Fa-word, N-word, C-word), sex, masturbation, feces and vomit. It's as if Louis took down his pants and defecated on the entire audience.So if this is your idea of "great comedy", then by all means sit down underneath this sewer pipe and enjoy Louis C.K.'s performance. Just don't forget to bring your raincoat!

I rarely expend time in my life typing up any kind of internet commentary on any subject, whether I love it or hate it. I just find that most of the things people write are useless for almost anybody else in the world aside from themselves, self-serving exercises of opinion with no real consequence. With that being said I could not sit by silent after reading 'hawaiitude's' (respectfully) ridiculous and immature critique of Louis C.K.'s newest stand-up special 'Chewed Up.' First off, before I attack someone else's rightful opinion on the subject matter I will talk about the subject matter itself: Louis C.K. I have been a big fan of Louie's for a number of years now. I thought 'Shameless' was a terrific, brutally honest AND hilarious stand-up showcase. His follow-up 'Chewed Up,' trumps his last one by miles. It is a GREAT stand-up special so refreshingly real that, expectedly, there are folks out there that would callously toss it under the category of 'offensive,' and that the performer (to paraphrase) is 'leaving his prejudices naked for all to see.' When I hear phrases like this it turns my stomach. The idea of 'brutal honesty' has gotten so watered-down, so cavalierly tossed about when it doesn't apply (Carlos Mencia, Ron White,etc, etc) that when someone comes along and TRULY EXERCISES this idea people curl up into a ball and weep about the insensitivity of it. COMEDY DOESN'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT SENSITIVITY, NOR RESPECT, NOT CULTURAL AWARENESS. If a comedian chooses to worry and IS funny, more power to them, I'll laugh. But it is by no means a requisite. No means.The people that complain about this stuff claim they are not PC but in truth hide their PC-ness under a thin veil. PC doesn't only mean hyphens in between ethnic descriptions, PC is also the idea that if people use a particular set of words (i.e. 'faggot,' 'nigger,' 'cunt') that they of course, have to be, prejudiced, racist, bigoted. That kind of close-mindedness and lack of insight is the very definition of political correctness. And 'Hawaiitude,' the whole comment about the white coffeshop worker being in a place of 'servitude' is such a pile of overanalytical garbage that it belongs nowhere near comedic assessment.Louis C.K. leaves himself naked for us, that I will agree with, but in a vulgarly heroic way that brings a set of comfort to people who aren't afraid of every little aspect of the human condition, because a lot of it is ugly, even in the most righteous, virtuous souls.I recommend 'Chewed Up' for anyone who wants to laugh at someone whose acerbic, subversive, SELF-deprecating, downright profane comedy leads you into places within your own psyche that you otherwise would be afraid to face, but is nonetheless there. And it's there, because you're human.Anyway, that's my inconsequential polemic for the day (at the very least). Bye bye.

Many comics react against anything 'politically correct' to get us to titter nervously and to push boundaries. We enjoy feeling like adults in a world already jaded with everyday shocking behavior. Unfortunately, the spirit and meaning behind Louis C.K.'s material in this show belie the ugly underside of his prejudiced opinions. What's shocking is how naked he is with it. He starts off calling for a revival of the word 'faggot'. He likes its pejorative use and cites examples. This discourse is a silly gambit for him to scream the word out over and over. "Faggot! faggot! faggot!" He goes on to say he does not mean to use it as a slur towards gay men. Well, guess what? That's what it is - a slur used towards gay men. And he affirmatively approves using the word toward annoying, effeminate men. Is this a fair distinction for a straight, white guy to make? To cap it off, he adds that every time a person performs fellatio it must take something out of that person. His assurance of respecting gay men is weak as he laughs and shouts a slur he admits he feels holds validity. No respect there. He does, however, respect the butterfly beauty he sees in female genitalia. Okay we get it, Louis CK. You're straight. You're also homophobic. Next in the shocking-word-as-funny-gambit tirade is the big one . . . the "N" word. Like overuse of the word 'faggot', it's like a South Park episode where he seems intent on using it over and over as if he gets points each time he does. He goes on to tell a story about how a white guy makes him coffee and he thinks of the guy as a 'nigger' (and a good one no less). The problem is - despite the coffee making guy's being white, he is in a position of servitude. The "N" word applies to both black people and people of servitude interchangeably. That's the problem with it! (One of many actually) Duh. It is offensive because people of color and people in service positions are not interchangeable. Not realizing this is at the heart of racism. Thinking of anyone as 'nigger' in your head, as Louis CK says he does, is an ugly thing. Not funny. I think Louis CK has over shared. I do not like what I see - which is too much of his intolerance, lack of empathy, and inability to fully reason out his act. At best he has exploited words and concepts, which are shocking and taboo for a reason, just to get a few cheap laughs. I loved his short-lived sitcom, but this one act has permanently left me with an aversion to watching any of his future work.