Louie

Over the last five years Louis CK has firmly yanked the coveted Best Stand Up Comedian crown from Chris Rock and run with it. Now he's threatening to toss in Funniest Show On TV honors to boot with his second and far funnier show Louie.

So few comedians are able to mine their own work so effectively and produce a great sitcom. Seinfeld and Bill Cosby are really the only two that come to mind (screw off Rosanne fans, that show wasn't that great). Considering both Seinfeld and The Cosby Show rate in my top ten of all-time I'd say this bodes well for Louie.

Is the show funny?  Absolutely.  What I did not expect was the sincerity.  Louis CK explores his humanity on TV for us on a weekly basis. He tackles racial issues better than any show since The Wire. Week in and week out we get a stark appraisal of the life of a father in a broken home that is equal parts heartwarming and heartbreaking.

And maybe its cheating, but the decision to insert clips of him doing his amazing stand up is brilliant.  As great as the show is, I still look forward to that moment in the show when he's standing in front of the brick wall in some comedy dungeon going on a brilliant jag about Mark Twain.

More than any comedian I've ever seen I feel like the pain he is going through fuels his comedy. I feel guilty watching this show sometimes because I know that I'm being given joy directly from his most painful experiences. It's like I am some sort of TV vampire feeding off watching him spew his pain onto the screen for me week by week. But fuck it, here's hoping he gets cancer or something because I know that shit will be HILARIOUS.

* Louie can be seen every Thursday at 10:30 PM on FX.