The Thirst Games
The Louie Drinking Game
Something strange happens to my brain every time I finish an episode of Louie. It’s a combination of confusion, dumb apish anger, awe, and bewilderment. I don’t know what the hell I just saw, but I know I have just seen something important.
Has mixed emotions after this week's Louie
The show defies the comedy genre by dealing with really intense subject matter, which in itself isn’t all that revolutionary for a comedy, but the way it presents the subject matter in a serious, non-satirical, non-farcical real-world manner that really dices up my mind into little pieces. In one episode Louie is on a date in a diner and this obnoxious douche nozzle in a letter jacket starts bullying Louie and ruins his date. Okay, so that’s the set up, Louie is on what looks like a date going well and his completely emasculated by some punk. Ha, ha? Right? Poor loser Louie. The punch line will melt your brain. By the end of the episode Louie follows this kid home, knocks on the door and speaks to the kids parents to inform them of what their little shit of a son did, and you watch his dad start to smack him around. It’s hard to watch. Louie reacts and kind of acts as the audiences’ mouth piece when he expresses outrage to the dad, asking how he could wonder how his kid could turn out to be a bully when he beats him and teaches him to hit people. Now remember, this is a comedy. The show is riddled with hysterical moments to remind you that yes, this is supposed to be funny, this season a kid Louie was watching diarrhead in the tub while taking a bath, and Louie just hovers over him not knowing what to do because nothing in his life had prepared him for that moment.
It's always impossible what's going to happen next
But it’s almost as if Louis CK is trying to teach us something about life through his intensely dark-sense of humor. It reminds me of a joke my dad once told me about the card game Solitaire. He use to play it on the computer all the time. He said that he liked Solitaire because it’s just like life in that you only win about 3% of the time. Was it an intense thing to say to an 11 year old? Maybe, but I think he was trying to make a point to me. Life sucks. It’s full of pain, you have to work really hard at a job you hate to live in a crappy neighborhood and drive a Dodge Neon. People you love die, white-collar criminals steal millions of dollars from poor old ladies and live in luxury. Crack-babies are born every day while your sister has a miscarriage. Life can be so tragically awful that it’s kind of funny. This is the kind of humor that reveals a deeper truth about the human condition. Sometimes jokes can do that, they have to be marvelously well constructed and dance on that line of holy-shit-this-isn’t-funny-it’s-just-sad, and this show does that better and with more focus that anything I have ever seen come before it. I considered the fact that a Louie drinking game is a very bad idea. That watching this show while drinking is a recipe for a depressing night. But I said to myself, fuck that. The world might need a little dark humor to real align itself with reality. And if you get a little too in touch with reality, well, that’s what the alcohol is for. So here are your rules:
Take a drink when:
Louie is doing stand up
You hear the word “fat†in connection with Louie’s body
Another comedian comes on screen, take a sip for each one if more than one are in a shot
Louie has an awkward moment with a lady
Louie wears a black shirt
His daughters say the word, “Daddyâ€
Louie goes to his kid’s school
Take a shot when:
A woman acts crazy
An old person comes on screen