I am ecstatic for tonightâs series premiere of Louie on FX (11pm EST!), and not just because its star Louis C.K is hilarious. Or because the show is semi-autobiographical. Or because I laughed, out loud, at each of the showâs promo spots that have been running during the commercial blocks most people fast-forward through. Iâm most ecstatic because Louie and his straight friends are going to discuss the word âfaggotâ with their gay friend, and itâs going to provide me with enough fodder to do a follow-up post!
For the unaware, comedian Louis Szekely, a former late night writer, has been in the stand-up scene for a couple of decades. Heâs a regular Chris Rock collaborator, but his own attempts at television have been ⊠short lived; HBOâs Lucky Louie lasted only a season. But here comes his series on FX, which isnât afraid to use naughty words, which is good because Louis C.K. uses a lot of them.
The fortune teller TV critic at the Washington Post reveals:
One particularly moving scene, in the second episode, comes at Louieâs regular poker game with his comedian buddies. Here is a group of men each afflicted with that slouchy nastiness that seems standard issue to their ilk, having gross-out conversations that are deplorable and yet oddly poetic at the same time. And, being male comedians, the conversation easily turns to slurs about gay sex. The difference here is that one of them, Rick, played by Rick Crom, is gay.
âYou guys ask me [about this] every time Iâm here,â Rick says. âI talk about gay sex more with you guys than I do with any of my gay friends. Youâre obsessed.â This leads to something Iâve never seen on television â a brief etymological discussion of how âfaggotâ went from meaning a bundle of kindling wood to a word that âEvery gay man has had shouted at them while theyâre being beaten up. . . . So, when you say it, it sort of brings it all back,â Rick says.
âSo should I be using that word onstage?â asks Louie, who uses it all the time.
âBy all means say it, get your laughs,â Rick says. âBut now you know what it means.â
Surely they consulted with the fine folks at GLAAD, yes?
How about we take this to the next level?
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sharon falconer
F*ck that motherf*cker. I caught his bullsh*t act on tv and he’s a big f*cking homophobe.
HOPE HIS SHOW FAILS LIKE HE DOES.
FAIL, M*THERFUCKER, FAIL
Laurie
Louis C.K. is not a homophobe. Good grief.
Pitou
Inappropriate.
That is one of the most vile of words.
It’s as high up there with every other racial or ethnic slur used to degrade a group of people, whether via skin color, country of origin or cultural background, sex, religion, etc.
I absolutely hate when Gays use the word freely more then anything. It’s not taking the word back from the haters who use it to hate, it just creates a facade making it seem Ok to use it at all, which it isn’t. I may never understand why we allow it to be used at all, especially in a setting such as the garbage that is this show.
Call me a Fag/Faggot/Queer, etc. to my face and I’ll break your fucking jaw. I Promise!
Let’s see anyone of these morons who use this word freely use the N word or the like and see how far they get. It’s the same exact thing, so what makes the double standard Ok? ABC is just going down the shitter, fast. They’re leveling up to Faux and their shitty, hateful programming.
JP
I loved his quote in GQ about “there’s no parades for my way of having sex. which tells me gay people must really be enjoying themselves.”
VagrantMan
The word itself isn’t appropriate, but freaking out whenever someone in the media(tv, movies, print, etc) says it isn’t the most effective way of dealing with it. Ultimately you get a lame apology and the world moves on and forgets.
The hard truth is that people use “faggot/fag” all the time. Hell, people still say “nigger.” Heteros and Homos are both guilty of this. Most people hide behind the cover of “it’s just a word”, “my gay friend said he doesn’t care” or “I’m gay so it’s ok”. Every time someone falls back on those excuses it just goes to show that they have absolutely no understanding of what they’re saying.
The gay community has been good about wagging it’s finger whenever the word creeps up, but it’s failed to explain and make people understand why the word is inappropriate. Make the world understand why the word hurts, don’t just tell them it’s a “bad word”.
Mr. Enemabag Jones
Straights always do whatever they want, because they are the majority, and no one cares if we get hurt in the process. Until hets learn to fear us–like they fear blacks–we will never have real equality. Next time a gay basher gets a light sentence, we should riot like motherfuckers.
Hets will always use anti-gay slurs and will continue to do so. Until enough of them get beaten up by us, it will never stop.
whatever
He’s a great comedian–side splittingly funny.
He has a hysterical bit on how awesome it is to be white in this society.
Black B.
My ex justified “taking it back” by saying: “Straight people took ‘gay.’ It means ‘retarded.’ So ‘faggot’ is all we have left.”
I told him I’d always preferred ‘queer.’
He said that wasn’t specific enough.
Anecdotes aside, anything can be explored in a comedic manner. It sounds as if the scene in question is innocent and even educational.
There are a million more things to worry about than comedians being irreverent.
jason
Something about this show reeks “retarded suburban meatheads”. Oh, and they’ve got the token gay guy to add so-called “balance”.
Fuck off, FX.
Jamie
Louis C.K. is not homophobic. Here’s a great bit he did on gay marriage:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPvVnrV1tow
MS
Louis CK isn’t a homophobe. Many comedians are but this guy isn’t. He explores the word nigger as well and as a black person I’m not at all offended. In fact, I think he’s one of the best standups working today.
Dboy
Great that there was some education on the show about the term, but they missed a key point: Why is a term for a bundle of sticks used to describe a gay man? Because a bundle of sticks was used to burn gay men at the stake a la the execution of witches. I would hope the term becomes less funny after knowing that…
Black B.
Um. It’s never funny.
The headline for this article seems misleading, because I’m still having trouble finding the part where we’re supposed to laugh. Maybe you had to be there.
Scrufff
@DBoy. Yes they did exactly that, the gay comedian explained where term faggots came from and then some. I didn’t even know this — because homosexuals were considered so deplorable, we weren’t burnt at the stake like witches (it would be a waste of wood) but just thrown in a stack of kindling aka “faggots”. Don’t know how true this is, but that’s how it was explained on the show.
Darwin
For the record Louis CK uses the “n-word” all the time and does just fine.
@Pitou:
Joshua
@Pitou: I think you missed the point.
reginaphalange
I have to admit, I’m torn on this one. I love Louis CK – I think he is brilliant. I laughed at the faggot-bit in his stand-up (though I’ve always wondered if I should). After watching this episode I’m even more torn. I actually didn’t know the origin of the word and now that I do, I’m having a hard time finding any humor or dignity in its usage. It is a seriously depressing history, you know?
On the other hand, the show Louie is kind of dark — really dark actually — more than I expected, and this scene was certainly no exception. I’ve got to hand it to him for taking it on. He could have done a version of the stand-up bit which is basically just silly and harmless and pretty funny. Instead he chose to make it personal, and educational, and really a buzz kill — not at all where I thought it was going.
I agree with others that (it seems) that the show is not exactly targeting the most enlightened demographic. But there have only been two episodes and I don’t think that (so far) the show has really done justice to how smart Louis’ comedy is — and maybe that is why this scene just seems so uncomfortable, it stands out from everything else so far, which I think has been kinda dumb. The best parts of the show are his stand-up routines, hands down, the scripted stuff hasn’t really impressed me yet.
So, like I said, I’m torn. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to laugh at the faggot-bit the same way. Maybe that was his point? I still think he’s a smart guy and a brilliant comic, I have a hard time believing he’d make this kind of statement just to be a dick.
Stacy Shaw
@Dboy:
Actually, if you watch the show, they do mention that. It was eye-opening. I’m not gay, so I don’t pretend to know how you all feel, and I think people shouldn’t use the word. However, if a comedian does use the word, it’s nice that he addressed the issue about it.
lol
sounds like this was written by a faggot.
Rob
@Pitou: Fuck you nigger faggot! Come break my jaw đ
Superstarseven
@sharon falconer:
Shut up you uninformed idiot. Going into it’s third season now more critically acclaimed than ever, How’s them apples?