4/9/15

A Night of Comedy: Louis and The Comedians

Tonight you can catch the fifth season of Louis on FX or try something new and watch The Comedians, also on FX.  Or, better yet, you can watch both. That's what I plan to do.

One cannot do much better than Louis, an award-winning series that always surprises you with odd yet brilliant comedy.  Earlier this week Louis C.K. was visiting with Jimmy Fallow on The Tonight Show and discussed the first time he met Jimmy and his troll dolls.  Fallon was auditioning for Dana Carvey's sketch show and Louis was jealous of this "cute" kid and refused to let the studio hire him.  Louis also does a great impression of Fallon.  Its fun to see the two of them together and gives you some sense of how Louis is truthful in everything, often to his own detriment.

The Comedians stars a comic duo, Billy Crystal and Josh Gad, who are having trouble working together.  Here is the FX version of the story (and you can check out this trailer):

In The Comedians, Billy Crystal plays a comedy legend who is reluctantly paired with Josh Gad, an edgier up-and-coming star, in an unfiltered, behind-the-scenes look at a fictional late night sketch comedy show where egos and generations collide. Stephnie Weir stars as “Kristen Laybourne,” the anxiety-ridden producer behind The Billy & Josh Show who frequently finds herself caught in the middle of Billy and Josh's arguments, Matt Oberg stars as “Mitch Reed,” the show’s head writer, and Megan Ferguson stars as “Esme McCauley,” a no-nonsense production assistant. Together they spend most of their time managing the egos of their two stars and the generational divide that keeps them from ever fully seeing eye-to-eye.

In discussing the show with the Washington Post, Gad noted:

There are some episodes that really require us to go down the rabbit hole. ... To have that conversation where we go, “Are you going to be OK with this? You sure?” Then we hug each other and we go, “Let’s do this. Let’s take the Thelma and Louise jump, as it were.”

I am surprised to find Billy Crystal on a television series again in any format, so I look forward to the rabbit hole.

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