Louie, "The Late Night Saga"

Continuity has never been a concern with Louie. His wife changed races this season. His manager has the same name, but is played by a completely new actor. The show almost feels like a cartoon set in the real world. Well, the world the way Louis C.K. views it. So its going to be a little strange.

And strange it is, that in the final run of its third season, continuity suddenly became important. During the three episode arc to finish the season, called “Late Night Saga”, Louie is up to replace a retiring David Letterman. But Louie is the cheap option. Jerry Seinfeld is the number one choice to replace Letterman. But he will cost CBS 13 million dollars. Chris Rock is up for the job as well. By putting himself against other big names in comedy he is able to set up a believable underdog story. It is a story that everyone can understand and sympathize with. Louie, the way he paints himself in the show, is past his prime and this Late Show job might be his last chance for glory. He even looks past his prime with his unshaven face, torn black shirt and sweatpants in his initial meeting with the CBS people. So they send to a man who can get him ready for the job.

David Lynch is not an actor...but he could of fooled me. As the man getting Louie ready for his test performance, David Lynch simply steals every scene he is in. He is Jack Dahl, a robotic, humorless executive who only has Johnny Carson cue cards from the 1980’s and a loaded revolver in his office. It is an absolute joy to watch David Lynch push Louie around. He forces him to read terrible, outdated jokes from the 80’s and get beat up at a boxing ring. In the shows funniest, and most awkward, scene Dahl has Louie practice doing celebrity interviews with a foreign cleaning lady who barely knows English. She is also depressed because some of her family recently died. She ends up crying and the practice interviews goes terribly. This scene is brutal. But it is also cringe comedy at its best.

"Tune in every night folks, Its the Crying Cleaning Lady show!" - Jack Dahl

Louie C.K. has written, directed, shot and edited every episode of Louie in the shows three season run. And he is also, clearly, the main character in his show. The actor Louis C.K. steps aside in these episodes so the cavalcade of guests stars can do their thing. But his confidence in front of and behind the camera is at an all time high. He has gotten a clear sense of the stories he wants to tell and he knows how to bring them to life. These episodes are no exception.

Random Thoughts:

-- We already talked about David Lynch, but there is about a million other guest stars in this episode. Paul Rudd, Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock, Susan Sarandon and Jay Leno. Louis C.K. must have a lot of good will in the industry to pull in all those big names.

-- We wont have any new episodes of Louie until late 2014 because of the stand up tour Louis C.K. is currently on.