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Louis, Louis, oh, oh, me gotta go…

Actually, I won’t be going to see Louis C.K. this time around, but he sent this message announcing some upcoming appearances:

Dear getter of this.

Hi. It’s Louis CK writing you. Do you remember me? I’m a professional standup comedian. Today I am writing you because I’m going to do some shows in January to wrap up this year’s touring schedule before I begin production on season five of my series.

Here’s where I’ll be playing…. (I put those three dots in to give you a minute to collect yourself before you read this list of 3 cities)

Chicago Theater (January 5th and 6th)
New York MSG (January 7th)
LA (January 11th)

https://louisck.net/tour-dates

Tickets are as always 45 dollars all in. Except at MSG we have some tickets for 25 and a few for 65.

New York State has laws which prohibit us from forcing out of town ticket buyers to pick up their tickets in person which is something we do in order to reduce scalping and price gouging. Therefore If you are trying to buy tickets to the MSG shows and you are outside of a 200 mile radius, you won’t be able to. This is because we think you might be buying the tickets just to resell them. If you are a fan from out of town who is getting lost in the cracks of this system please email tickets@louisck.net and we will try to help you get tickets.

I hope you make it to one of the shows.
Happy new year. Happy holidays. Happy life. Happy family. Happy pets. Happy elephants.

Louis ck.

If you have never seen an episode of “Louis” watch “New Year’s Eve” from a couple of a years ago. It’s one of the finest half hours of television I have ever seen. It starts with some great comedic slapstick, as shown in this excerpt, but then it takes some amazing twists and turns. Caution: here there be bad language.

P.S. Another message from Louis came in one minute ago (Can you tell I’m not at work this week?):

Hello many people mostly concentrated around the New York area. How’s that for personal? Actually that’s how I greet everyone I say hi to even in person. Better to be correct than accurate, I never say.

Well. Here I am writing you again because after I put a show on sale at Madison Square Garden yesterday, darn it to heck if it didn’t go and sell out in one day.
So I’m adding a second show on the next date they had available which is one week after, January 14th.
You can buy tickets to that show now. Here.

http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/1D004D96F1F88394

Most tickets are 45 dollars but we have some for 25 and 65 also. With no additional fees.

As with the Jan 7th show, if you are outside a 200 mile radius- you will not be able to purchase tickets. We do this as one of many methods to monitor and prevent scalpers. Out of state people can email tickets@louisck.net and have a chance to still get a ticket.

We have implemented several scalper prevention methods, and have and will invalidate tickets if it fits into criteria that is usually associated with scalpers- so anyone buying from a scalper site, be wary as those tickets can be invalidated at any point.

Well that’s about it. I wish you a very happy new year. Sincerely. It’s too bad people have to add sincerely when they say nice things. But really, sincerely, happy new year.

Louis ck

Comedy Central Casting

I don’t have to post all of the screen grabs I made with great effort from Colbert’s finale, because Josh Marshall’s site Talking Points Memo has their own, and they identify everybody. TPM also embeds the video, and I will too.

I knew Emily Bazelon would make an appearance. Colbert often had her on the show as a “guest at the desk.” Besides being an excellent reference source, it was obvious Stephen was smitten with Emily, but his wife Evelyn is also on stage, so no worries.

Desperately seeking CK

Somerville Theatre stage, Massachusetts
Somerville (MA) Theatre stage, post-Louis C.K.

Thursday, I received this message. The reason why is explained in the message.

Hello. Louis CK here. You are getting this because a. you bought something from my website and b. you live somewhere around Somerville, Mass. C. I’m doing 3 shows at the Somerville Theater this weekend (November 22nd and 23rd) 2 shows on Saturday and 1 show on Sunday. Please go to one of these shows. Here are links to buy tickets…

Saturday November 22, 2014 – 7:00PM
http://www.etix.com/…performance_id=4124684

Saturday, November 22, 2014 – 10:00PM
http://www.etix.com/…performance_id=7530226

Sunday November 23, 2014 – 7:00PM
http://www.etix.com/…performance_id=3613757

that’s it really. Except I hope you are doing ok. Stay warm. Wear a sweater.

Regards,

Louis CK

The tickets were a flat $30, with no add-on fees. I acted the moment I saw the message, and still ended up with two seats in the nose-bleed section of the Somerville Theatre, against the back wall and next to the spotlight, which has a much louder fan than my video projector at home. But I was lucky to get the tickets, because it was purely by chance that I had checked my mail. Louis C.K.’s fans are mostly young and, as I pointed out recently, I don’t have a smart phone. Yet many fans missed out, despite Louis adding a fourth show, and they were desperate to get tickets.

I was also lucky to find a parking space in a city lot. As Louis suggested I wore a sweater, but it turned out to be a warm night and the theater was even warmer. As this review on Boston.com points out, the audience skewed heavily with a late 20’s-to-early 30’s demographic. Everywhere I looked, we were by far the oldest members of the audience. The fact is that I became familiar with Louis’ work because he has an apartment next door to some people I know, but I am now a genuine fan, so I watch his FX series and I enjoyed seeing him in “American Hustle”.

It was a very funny 75-minute set, with only a few brief transitions that felt flat. Louis anticipated and deflected them easily. I loved his bit about Victor Fleming directing Ray Bolger in the scene from “The Wizard of OZ” where the flying monkeys rip the scarecrow apart. Later he seemed to make another nod at the classic movie by describing a time when he was spooked and declared that immediately he believed in witches. Earlier in his routine Louis pointed out that being funny doesn’t, by itself, have to be a job. You could, for example, be a mechanic and be funny. I don’t know if that was a sly tribute to the Car Talk Guys, but it would be nice if it were.

Robert Douglas Hunter, the Master of Still Life

Painting by Robert Douglas Hunter
Painting by Robert Douglas Hunter

I am much too late in noting the passing of the superb Boston artist Robert Douglas Hunter. I suppose he may have had an equal somewhere in the genre of still life painting, but no one could have been better than Hunter, who complemented the solidity of his objects with a uniquely delicate sheen. Unlike others who specialize in still life paintings, Hunter’s arrangements, his perfect highlights in the otherwise subdued lighting, and that unmistakable patina, are instantly recognizable to anyone with even a casual familiarity with his work.