jokes_nycf2_r13

16844829Christian Finnegan said in an interview recently, "Claiming to be influenced by Louis C.K. is a lot like saying 'I like beer.'" Writing about Louis C.K. is no different. "Have you guys heard of beer? It's basically the greatest substance known to man, right? You should try it cold, it's ten times better!" But it is easy to forget that unlike beer, there are a lot of people who haven't heard of Louis C.K.

But I think they will soon. He's had two brilliant specials, a criminally underrated sitcom and has an upcoming television show on FX. And his comedy is in no way niche. Seeing him live as part of The New York Comedy Festival, I was struck by how universal his comedy is. I don't have kids. I am not divorced. But somehow, Louis C.K.'s frustrations are my own and the audience's own.

I arrived at Carolines knowing I was in for something special. I didn't know who would be opening and middling for C.K., but it was a treat to discover that two of my favorite New York comedians, Hannibal Buress and Kumail Nanjiani, would be handling the respective duties.

I already mentioned Hannibal Buress in the Andy Samberg and Friends report, but I didn't talk about how great he is. He's really great. From Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, here's the stand-up set that landed him a job on SNL.

And then Kumail Nanjiani performed. He's also really great. Did you guy's know he's going to be doing stand-up on Late Show with David Letterman tonight? Since Late Show's Friday episode tapes Thursday night, he actually already filmed the set. I heard he did a great job! If it pops up online, I'll be sure to let you guys know.

Okay, on to Louis C.K. He obviously blew me away. He talked about raising his daughters post-divorce, dealing with being alone and had an extended bit about airplanes.

Some of C.K.'s airplane material has made its way online and on talk shows, but he mostly did jokes I hadn't heard. Presumably, the airplane bit in its entirety will be on his upcoming special Hilarious.

What's interesting is how doing "airplane material" is often (lazily) equated with hackery, yet C.K. really attacked it in a new way. It's strange to cut off an entire subject matter simply because other comedians used it poorly. Everyone goes on airplanes, everyone hates them. Why not make the audience see another aspect of it that they never considered? (Louis C.K. elaborated on some of these ideas himself here).

By far, my favorite thing C.K. performed that night had to be his bit about how a relationship is basically a promise between two people that something terrible is going to happen. I could go into explaining exactly what he talked about, but I think it's the kind of thing you just have to experience. This might sound crazy, but it kind of reminded me of the first ten minutes of Pixar's Up (yeah, that is a crazy thing to say. Take me away, crazy police!)

Anyway, it's rare that a stand-up is able to take audiences to places as emotionally honest and dark as that bit. If the punchlines hadn't hit exactly when they did, it would have fallen apart on its own weight, but it snapped back just in time. It was brilliant. I think it's destined to be a classic once it finds its way on to a special.

So that was the end of the New York Comedy Festival. What an amazing night to end on, right?!

Thanks to everyone from Carolines (check out their NYCF coverage too!) and the New York Comedy Festival who helped us along the way.

Right now, it's Friday, it's late in the afternoon, and I've just finished up the coverage, wrapping up with this Louis C.K. post. The thing I want most right now in the world is a nice cold beer. You guy's have heard of beer, right?