Louis C.k. Doubles down on the Value of Saying the Wrong Thing

By Jason Zinoman
New York Times
November 8, 2019

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/04/arts/television/louis-ck-tour-review.html?te=1&nl=morning-briefing&emc=edit_NN_p_20191105§ion=whatElse?campaign_id=9&instance_id=13608&segment_id=18517&user_id=da83167374ac1d85438aa0e49dc46430®i_id=98983641ion=whatElse

On his first tour since admitting misconduct, the comedian’s theme was the cathartic release of transgression as he delivered bits about his mother’s death and religion.

On Saturday, under a candy-colored proscenium arch, Louis C.K. told a story about the day he learned “all the bad words.” He was 7 when an elderly stranger with one dark tooth approached him and listed obscenities like a fairy-tale version of George Carlin.

Louis C.K. described vibrating with excitement. Then he went to school and put this information to work, cursing at his teacher. She cried and the students laughed. “I liked both,” he said, with a half-embarrassed shrug.

In the context of the return of Louis C.K., this anecdote has the feel of a twisted origin story. And this defiantly perverse new set, whose jokes come with so much baggage they threaten to obscure the performer, will inspire heated, divisive reactions.