Louis C.K. really wants us to locate that woman he had a one night stand with...
The Season Five finale of Louis C.K.'s critically-acclaimed comedy "Louie" aired this past Thursday on FX. The entire episode was set in Oklahoma City. You can watch it online here. Before you do, let me warn you.
1. The episode wasn't filmed in Oklahoma City. Don't expect to see any passing shots of the Devon Tower, Gold Dome or Plaza District. We also missed out on the potential comedy gold of Louis complaining about eating a Gobble Gobble at your neighborhood Louie's.
2. It's not a very flattering portrayal of the 405. The show follows conventional stereotypes and portrays Oklahoma City locals as two-dimensional, simpleton, racist idiots. This shouldn't be a shock. As we've documented in the past, Louis C.K. gets a kick out of making fun of our town's culture, tragedies and easy woman.
Anyway, I figured it would be fun to write a little recap / synopsis of the episode. As with all other TV recaps on the Internet right now, I should point out I've never read the Game of Thrones books and don't plan on doing so. I'm choosing to enjoy Louie the TV show as a TV show. I don't care about what happens to Louis in the books. No spoilers please.
Here's the basic set-up. Louie is depressed and not having fun with life, so he goes on a tour. His next stop is Joker's Comedy Club in Oklahoma City. For those who don't know, Joker's was Oklahoma City's premier comedy venue during the stand-up craze of the 1980s and 1990s. Unlike the Looney Bin, the club brought in national acts you'd actually like to see. It was cool.
The episode begins with Louie being picked up at the airport by the owner's hot white trash daughter. She's obsessed with her phone like most stereotypical hot girls. Funny, huh? She's also a racist, and I shit you not, tells Louie she doesn't like to party in Downtown OKC because of the "sickies," which apparently is redneck Oklahoma white girl code for "Mexicans."
Listen, you can have some legitimate complaints about Downtown Oklahoma City. Decent parking is hard to find, there's always construction, and having Steve Lackmeyer following you around with a magnifying glass gets old fast, but I've never heard anyone – from the raciest racist to our very own Louis Fowler – complain about too many Mexicans in Downtown. Do you think the Chamber of Commerce would really allow something like that to happen? No way.
So, the girl drives Louie to the condo that Joker's provides to road comics. It looks like a simple two bedroom in Hefner Village. His roommate for the week is Kenny, another road comedian performing at the club. Kenny is a loudmouthed, wise cracking, fart-joke-telling womanizer who probably eats at Twin Peaks, which makes him a lot more enjoyable and relatable than Droopy-impersonator Louie.
When the two perform at the club that night, Kenny kills it. The stupid Oklahoma audience loves his simpleton humor and jokes about farts, tits, and masturbation. It was a TLO Trivia Night crowd if I've ever seen one! But when Louie goes on stage and performs his act, he receives a tepid response. The dumb Oklahomans are not smart or sophisticated enough to comprehend Louie's depressing, observational humor about aging and getting fat.
The following morning, Louie wakes up to see that his roommate Kenny had a threesome with two middle-aged groupies from Baker Street. Frustrated, Louie decides to go for a walk and stumbles into a pop-up parking lot flea market located behind one of OKC's favorite corporations – Swiss Airlines...
This is when the episode begins to fall apart and lose credibility. First of all, are we really supposed to believe that someone went for a walk in Oklahoma City? This town is about as walkable as the moon. We consider sidewalk installation to be an overreaching arm of the federal government. Two, I've never seen a parking lot flea market in Oklahoma City. Sadly, our flea markets are found in permanent structures. We do have parking lot carnivals, tough. Those are fun if you like to live dangerously.
While Louie is at this stupid flea market, he stumbles into a large tent where they shoot those old-timey western photos like the one your in-laws got in Branson in 1998. The tent is about 10 times the size of your typical Walmart Portrait Studio. Inside, Louie gets roped into dressing up like a civil war soldier and posing with a couple of women. Following the session, they all dance like they're in a Ted Turner-produced Civil War film.
I guess that scene was supposed to show us that Louie longs for an escape to a simpler time or something, but the scene is so cheesy it loses its impact. That night, history repeats itself at the club. Kenny kills it. Louie bombs. The Jokers owner then demotes Louie, and to add insult to injury, Kenny does a spot on impersonation of Louie to end the night. It was probably the funniest part of the show:
The next morning, Kenny calls out Louie for being a pretentious comedy snob and major league asshole, and Louie calls Kenny a talentless hack, moron and a disgrace to the art of comedy. They argue a bit, but then bond when Louie breaks down in tears while admitting that he loves fart jokes. It was sweet. They decide to get drunk together, but then...
Well, the episode kind of has a surprise ending that I won't spoil. I honestly thought it would end with Louie finding the hot girl he had a one-night stand with during the 1980s, but I guess that was too conventional for a comedy snob like Louis C.K. He went a different direction.
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Anyway, the episode really wasn't all that bad. Obviously, my biggest complaint is how Louis portrayed Oklahoma Citians like we're all a bunch of dim-witted, racists simpletons who don't appreciate good comedy. I forget sometimes how the truth can be so painful. But in all seriousness, you'd think a smart comedian like Louis CK could do better than rely upon common stereotypes and clichés to build a plot and get a laugh. That woman who slept with him must have really broke his heart, and now we're dealing with a repercussions.
In all honesty, the reinforcement of negative stereotypes and clichés wasn't all that hurtful. Dating back to the Grapes of Wrath, it's something Oklahomans have learned to deal with. We just roll with the punches, laugh it off, and in our case, partake in it. Plus, whether it's positive or negative, it's always fun to see Oklahoma City portrayed on television and it not have anything to do with street racers or a 50-something police detective who solves murders and crimes with the help of an angel. Now who wants to go meet a the flea market and buy some pirated Larry the Cable Guy DVDs? Hopefully we don't see any sickies.
