 
Cross-posted at The941.com.
Louis C.K. is a disillusioned family man and no one knows it better than his fans. For the past several years, the New York-based comic’s anecdotal humor has touched heavily upon the day-to-day frustrations of being a husband and father, an apparently inexhaustible topic that he rants about with fine-tuned fervor and plenty of f-bombs. His new stand-up tour – which landed in Sarasota this past the weekend – featured all new material, including plenty of tirades about his wife (who hates him with such intensity that he respects her for it), and his two young daughters. The most hilarious highlight of his family-oriented bits, however, was one I’d already heard him relate on a recent episode of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, about getting a stomach ache, having to go to the hospital to prove to his wife that he’s really sick, the prescription for opiate suppositories he’s given to treat his “ailment,†his inner turmoil at having to stick said suppositories up his ass, and the subsequent blessed relief that spread through his body beginning at his asshole.
Not that his entire routine was family-related. He reflected on a range of topics – Rent-a-Centers and the sad saps who “shop†there, being 40 and half dead, his absolute hatred of deer, his need to jerk-off on a daily basis, using shocking words like “cunt,†and plenty else.
He breezed through the set like a pro and broached two potentially objectionable topics – cleaning the shit off his 2-year-old’s private parts and jerking off in the midst of the September 11 attacks – with such dynamic gusto that the room was forced to laugh rather than examine their own discomfort. Overall, a great night of comedy and definitely worth the drive to Sarasota.
This article appears in Sep 19-25, 2007.