When I was a kid, I used to come home from school on my own. This was in the era of "latch key kids," when Barbara Walters and Hugh Downing would do specials entitled "Latch Key Kids" on 20/20. For a period of time, I must have been 11 or 12, I actually wore my house-key on an ever-dirtying gray string around my neck, tucked under my shirt. How we invented and agreed upon these ways of living, my parents and I, I'll never quite know. Some combination of innocence and enterprise.
Being at home alone from the hours of 3pm to 6pm had its benefits. In my case, these were namely Rap City on BET and Stand-up, Stand-up, The A-List, and Stand-up Spotlight on Comedy Central, with a healthy dose of cartoons mixed in. I taught myself to break-dance, I molded a Styrofoam chair into the unlikely position of an upside down me, but mostly, I was a stand-up junkie.
Years later, upon moving to New York, I would come face to face with many of my favorite comedians of that era. One of my favorites was Louis CK. I have a perverse and unnecessary memory of being absolutely floored by one of his jokes (which he told both on the stand-up shows, and on the sorely missed Dr. Katz), about being strip-searched by the cops, and when asked to lift his testicles while also being instructed to keep his hands up tried to use the Biblical command "Arise, Testicles!" Doesn't sound funny? Well, you're wrong.
At any rate, for a year or two, we would go down to the Comedy Cellar near NYU ever now and again, and I saw Louis CK perform once or twice. I saw him eating a salad upstairs once. I saw him outside on the corner of MacDougal and W. 4th once, and I think I went up and said, "Hey, man, you were one of my favorite comedians growing up!" To which I think he replied, something like, "Fuck you, I was one of your favorite comedians growing up! Jesus, how old am I?" Something to that effect.
Louis CK is still one of my favorite comedians. His material is a little blue for all you grandmas stumbling on this site, but the clip above is well worth 38 seconds of your time, and the clip below is a good way to waste a few minutes at work, too (get past to the unnecessary opening bit...)
Being at home alone from the hours of 3pm to 6pm had its benefits. In my case, these were namely Rap City on BET and Stand-up, Stand-up, The A-List, and Stand-up Spotlight on Comedy Central, with a healthy dose of cartoons mixed in. I taught myself to break-dance, I molded a Styrofoam chair into the unlikely position of an upside down me, but mostly, I was a stand-up junkie.
Years later, upon moving to New York, I would come face to face with many of my favorite comedians of that era. One of my favorites was Louis CK. I have a perverse and unnecessary memory of being absolutely floored by one of his jokes (which he told both on the stand-up shows, and on the sorely missed Dr. Katz), about being strip-searched by the cops, and when asked to lift his testicles while also being instructed to keep his hands up tried to use the Biblical command "Arise, Testicles!" Doesn't sound funny? Well, you're wrong.
At any rate, for a year or two, we would go down to the Comedy Cellar near NYU ever now and again, and I saw Louis CK perform once or twice. I saw him eating a salad upstairs once. I saw him outside on the corner of MacDougal and W. 4th once, and I think I went up and said, "Hey, man, you were one of my favorite comedians growing up!" To which I think he replied, something like, "Fuck you, I was one of your favorite comedians growing up! Jesus, how old am I?" Something to that effect.
Louis CK is still one of my favorite comedians. His material is a little blue for all you grandmas stumbling on this site, but the clip above is well worth 38 seconds of your time, and the clip below is a good way to waste a few minutes at work, too (get past to the unnecessary opening bit...)
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