Louis CK played 3 shows @ The Bell House (pics & review from the late, late show)

photos by David Andrako, words by Klaus Kinski

And the winner of the Klaus Kinski Are You Out of Your Fucking Mind? Award goes to Anonymous October 1, 2011 2:53 PM. Congrats! Please enjoy the dramatic eye-roll and annoyed sigh care of yours truly. The reason I am being such a jerk, 2:53PM, is because I am the KING of thinking things are a waste of time. I am a wretch, I am difficult to please, I am fussy, my personal comfort is paramount, and I don’t go a single day without saying “This is such a waste of time” at least 10 times by lunchtime. If I am not out of the house and doing something by 8:00pm on a Friday night, the chances of me having the strength to leave my house at 10:30pm to haul my half-asleep ass in the pouring rain to Gowanus for an 11:30pm show where there is no chance my lazy ass will get a seat is about as close to 0% as you can get. Did it suck standing in the rain at the back of a line that wrapped around and up 2nd Ave? Yes. Did it suck to be that far back before someone from the Bell House bothered to announce that we needed to get a hand-stamp inside the venue and then get back in line? Yes. Did it suck that after I got my stamp about 35 more people had gotten in line, pushing me even further back? Yes. Did it suck making my way through the packed front room while drunken revelers shook their booties to an 80s cover band tearing it up on stage? Yes. All that shit totally sucked. And it almost broke me. But, man, the second I had a Red Stripe in my guts and Louis took the stage and the room erupted, I knew all of that prior bullshit wasn’t actually such a big deal.

I was able to catch Louis CK’s 11:30pm show, the third of three shows performed on Friday September 30th, 2011 at The Bell House. Louis has three shows coming up at the Beacon Theater in NYC on November 10th (two shows) and November 12th. The Beacon Theater shows are part of the New York Comedy Festival and are being taped for a Comedy Central special. The purpose of these three Bell House shows was two fold; to workshop new material and to give Brooklyn three cheap Louis CK shows. He did warn everyone that he’d have his notebook out which he admits is completely rude and inappropriate to do to an audience (sorry Janeane Garofalo). He also started off by explaining that the weird onsale arrangements were an effort to circumvent a whole shitload of scalper nonsense. He also elaborated on the confusing and frustrating economics regarding scalping and how they relate to him. He tries to make all of his huge shows (ie, the Beacon Theater) cheaper than someone like Kathy Griffin or Jim Gaffigan. That way his fans get sort of a break. Unfortunately that means scalpers buy up a ton of tickets because they’re a bit inexpensive from the get-go. But then nobody will pay what the scalpers are asking, but the scalpers don’t care because they didn’t take much of a hit in the first place and the tickets completely go to waste. He says that a sold out Louis CK show is actually a room full of empty seats. It’s a very sad scenario.

The room was packed to the gills, but still comfortable to stand and watch in. Louis fan-base has gotten very bro-y, so there were many moments of macho-dude-shouts coming from the audience. Some guy actually agreed with Louis aloud so many times that he had to call the dude out and tell him to shut up. Since this show was comprised of new material drawn straight out of his notebook, it’d be stupid to discuss the specifics of the material. However, he did broach a subject that I always hoped he would; his childhood. A lot of CK’s material is drawn from his experiences as a father, a husband, and an ex-husband. For him to come out with 25 solid minutes of his early life that went from the US, to Mexico, and back to the US was a profound look into where this mofo is coming from. It’s incredible. Also since he didn’t have a show to do after this one, he went on for quite awhile. Since I was double fisting beer (yeah bro!) all night, it was hard to look at my watch but I think the show went well past 1:00am. This is easily one of the funniest comedy shows I have seen in a while, which shouldn’t be a stretch considering the guy is a pro, but still. Tickets for upcoming Beacon Theater shows are pretty scarce, but based on what I saw on Friday his new material is some of the best I’ve seen of his in years. Go. To. It.

More pictures from the late, late show, below…