DVD Review: "Louis C. K. CHEWED UP"

"Louis C.K. Chewed Up" was filmed at the Berkley Performance Center in Boston, Massachusetts last March and eventually released by Image Entertainment. Instead of opening with the obligatory salute to the location and the audience, the show opens up with how he misses the word "faggot" and how he used it as a kid and later. As he sees it, it never meant "gay" but how somebody acted. This leads into his observations on how he respects so much those males who can willingly perform a certain act on a man.

That leads into language and what words mean and how he doesn't see the negative connotations of certain words. Reminiscent of George Carlin's seven dirty words, Louis C.K. continues the theme in more graphic but unoriginal terms. This leads the 40 year old balding comic into various observations on daily life, family, and children, marriage etc.

Humor is subjective and based on the laugh track the audience thought he was absolutely hilarious. Unfortunately, I don't share that opinion. The humor seemed to consist primarily of obscenities and graphic commentary on bodily functions and simply just wasn't funny. Billed as a comedic talent who will "…create an atmosphere of fearless honesty on stage…" and a say anything style, I kept thinking how so many other comics had hit the same ideas and done them so much better. His work doesn't seem original and instead comes across as derivative and that the coarser the language the funnier the joke is. From the laugh track, it seemed that a number of folks approved. If I had been there, I would have been asking for a refund soon after the show started. I kept watching hoping I would get to the funny parts but I never did.

Dedicated to George Carlin, the show runs slightly longer than an hour though it seemed considerably longer. The only other feature on the disc is an interview with the comedian himself where he self interviews and answers questions that hade been provided to him. Almost as long as the show, the interview runs approximately 37 minutes and he explains how he got his start in Boston, the creation and evolution of this show which features totally different material than his 2007 show "Shameless," the fact that his comedy is mostly autobiographical, how he develops material and other topics. During the interview, he reiterates the point that his use of coarseness in language is the only way he knows how to be true to who he is.

If you are already a fan of his, then you will love this show and interview. If he is totally new to you, as he was to me, it will be an obscenity filled and graphic experience that may or may not work depending on your own sensibilities.


Louis C. K. Chewed Up
DVD
Image Entertainment
December, 2008
60 minutes (plus interview)


This material was provided to me by a publicist via BNN in exchange for my objective review.

Kevin R. Tipple © 2009