LOUIE: Season 5, Episode 1: “Pot Luck” (Airs Thursday, April 9, 10:30 pm e/p). Pictured: Louis C.K. as Louie. CR: KC Bailey/FX
Just a reminder, the humor in “Louie” can swing from light to dark in an instant. “Louie” returns tonight for season 5 and Louis C.K. finds tragicomedy in human interactions.
The first new episode, “Potluck,” kicks off the season at 11:33 p.m. locally on FX. Don’t expect the usual neighborly, innocuous, bring a covered-dish and make small talk evening.
Comedy, the saying goes, is tragedy plus time. But in Louis C.K.’s case, it may be tragedy plus a microscope and a petri dish. His comedy derives from the smallest things in life, magnified, considered from the most excruciating angles, experienced again and again in different ways, appropriated for the standup comedy act that mirrors his life from within his show, and then prodded again.
The casting is once again a highlight: Judy Gold (as an insufferable bossy lesbian), Pamela Adlon (as a commitment-phobic girlfriend), with cameos by Steven Wright, Jimmy Fallon and more.
Equal parts pathetic and heroic, detached and wonderfully vulnerable, “Louie” keeps us guessing.
