Louie‘s “extended hiatus” has been upgraded to “indefinite hiatus” by both FX boss John Landgraf and Louis C.K. himself. And it’s not. Okay. We need this show back in our lives ASAP. But it sounds like we’ve got a long time to wait for more.
When C.K. took to the stage to promote his new FX dark comedy Baskets (of which he is co-creator/executive producer along with series star Zach Galifianakis), the panel turned into one giant troll of the stand-up comic, with both journalists and Baskets stars alike pushing C.K. for any word on when Louie will come back.
“I don’t know,” C.K. finally said. “I just don’t know. I think about it sometimes. But I don’t know.”
To which Galifianakis immediately responded, “How often do you think about it, just out of curiosity?”
“Every 48 days,” C.K. deadpanned.
After the room full of journalists burst into laughter, Galifianakis asked C.K., “Where’s the cycle right now?”
And C.K. answered, “I just reset the clock at zero.”
And after the room devolved into giggles again, C.K. added seriously, “I don’t know. It’s such an autobiographical thing that I could do a version of Louie when he’s 60 if anybody still gives a shit. By the time I want to, I might call them up, ‘Hey guys, I’m ready.’ And they’re like, ‘Who is this?’ I just have no idea.”
When Galifianakis was asked if he feels any pressure to make Baskets as good if not better than C.K.’s other dark FX comedy Louie, he revealed that he hadn’t thought about that … until now.
“God I hope not,” Galifianakis said. “But yeah, there is pressure because Louis is producing this, for me at least. But I think Louis’ show is so good that maybe the expectation is that this show will be equal or more.”
C.K., on the other hand, was quick to point out that Louie is a much different show than Baskets, which is a dark comedy about a French-trained clown who is forced to move home to Bakersfield, Calif. to become a rodeo clown after the language barrier becomes too much for him to overcome.
“I think it’s very different. I think it operates on a different frequency,” C.K. said. “I think Zach’s show succeeds in a lot of ways where mine doesn’t. In my show, all I do is just look unhappy while some droll jazz plays. There’s a tiny, tiny subset of people that really enjoy that. There’s enough of them. Hey, you can make some bucks off tiny. We did really well.”
He continued, “But Zach just falls down and it’s stupid and ridiculous and he’s the most Jerry Lewis-like, funny guy. Nobody makes me laugh like him. He ignites a laughter. He’s much more of a generous performer than I am. I’m not willing to do any of the things that Zach does. I think in a lot of ways, I prefer Zach’s show as far as the comedy of it. These guys came together to make something that’s completely else.”
Are you ready for Louie to come back? Will you be watching C.K.’s show Baskets in the interim? Let us know in the comments section!
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Image: FX
Baskets premieres Thursday, Jan. 21 on FX.
