Louis C.K.'s Netflix Special is Hilariously Grim

Louis C.K.’s new special 2017 begins with the closest thing the stripped-down comedian can get to visual spectacle: the sight of him in a suit. Throughout his stratospheric rise as a stand-up, C.K. has always taken the stage in a black T-shirt and jeans, a workmanlike uniform for someone who thrives on a universal (if profane and often bleak) approach to his mostly observational comedy. In 2017, C.K. wants to make clear that he’s changed in some way. He takes the stage dressed formally, looking more like a funeral-home director than a blue-collar worker. Then, in another departure, he launches into some very prepared material.

C.K. has never been particularly interested in properly opening or closing his comedy sets. At the beginning of 2010’s Louis C.K.:Hilarious, arguably the apex of his stand-up career, he takes the stage unceremoniously and opens with, “hello, everybody,” then spends two minutes deconstructing the pointlessness of the term “everybody.” In 2011’s Live at the Beacon Theatre, he demands that the cheering audience sit down and says, “There’s no opening act, fuck it. Let’s just start.” But in 2017, C.K. begins as uncomfortably as he possibly can. “So I think abortion is, um, here’s what I think,” he says to an awkward laugh from the audience. “I think you should not get an abortion unless you need one. In which case, you better get one!”

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