Louie

soooo. this post is gonna be about Louie C.K. 

Just Keeeeeding! I'm Kidding! It's about our Dear Louie Anderson. 

So, as you may know, many many years ago,  Louie came and did a character on Tom Goes To The Mayor. This would have been 2005? I really have no memory of years, so please bear with me... Anyway we had him on and he came in and did what a few people did at the time: He looked around, saw what we were up to, and thought it was cool! He got in touch soon after and asked to meet us to talk about some ideas he wanted to develop with us. We were really green - We had our little weird cartoon but not much else going.  And we grew up on Louie Anderson... his cartoon, his standup... He was maybe not our comedy idol or anything but we thought he was funny and different and maybe there was something there to explore?  

Louie came back and this time he came with his manager who had the very best name in the entire history of show business.... I don't even want to reveal it now. I want you to wait for it. 

Louie and his manager talked about a few ideas they had kicking around, one of which really stuck out to us: Louie wanted to host a talk show... from his bed... Like he was bedridden and couldn't be bothered to get out of bed.... guests would sit at his bedside and that'd be the show. It really sounded great to us... but also super dark and maybe depressing? And to our great disappointment,  he sort of talked himself out of the idea as he was telling it to us.... The other idea revolved around the real life relationship between him and his manager.... who's name I will be revealing soon... "Curb Your Enthusiasm" had been on the air for a few years but it's cultural wake was still very strong and there were tons of "Curb Style" shows floating around town.  Sure.   This was to be the direction the Louie collaboration would take - Life with Louie or something...  

We offered to help, by co-writing and directing a little pilot presentation - It would show what life was like for Louie, which was based on his real life, but juiced up with a little story for the sake of entertainment and comedy (so we hoped) - Louie was living in Las Vegas and performing nightly at the Excalibur Hotel and Casino! I real fun and funny place if you ask me!  We had this idea - Maybe Eric had discovered it on a trip there - that Louie would tour the Liberace museum, for a reason that honestly escapes me now.... but we figured the Liberace museum, which was located in a random, weird mini mall, would have plenty of good stuff to film... I think the rest of it hinged on this promised back and forth witty banter that Louie's manager (who's name I will reveal shortly) guaranteed was very fun and very funny. 

We headed to Las Vegas for the weekend with a small crew, including our trusty cameraman Ben Berman and hoped for the best. We shot a few scenes with Louie and the manager in a hotel room, pretending Louie lived at the hotel (he actually had a condo nearby) and watched as the manager's performance was... less that great.  It felt pretty staged and wooden and not really all that funny or fun. And let me say, we didn't really know what we were doing yet either! We were winging it, going by the seat of our pants and just trying to make SOMETHING. 

We shot Louie's stand up set which was very funny but also a little sad, as the Excalibur's comedy room and audience was about as grim as you could expect from a Medieval themed resort.  Our last day we shot at the Liberace Museum and I think our host was Liberace's brother who ran the museum.  It didn't yield a ton of great "content."  We left Vegas a little confused about what just went down.   

Ben took a crack at editing it and the rough cut was, not so great. We worked on it for a bit and sent off to Louie and his manager. I'm sure we had a few chats and notes back and forth about how to make it better, where to take it...  But at some point Eric and I just felt like we'd given it all we could and didn't really want to get bogged down in it anymore - We had our own show to make (we were starting to think about Awesome Show)  and I sent Louie an email, gracefully bowing out and wishing him and his manager all the best.... The reply came back a little later and it really fucked me up:  "This email makes me sad." 

Well, years passed and our old friend and creative partner Jonathan Krisel had the genius idea to cast Louie as Zach's mom in Baskets and the rest is history.   I was so happy for Louie and a little jealous that Krisel and Zach had cracked the code on how to use Louie's talents in the most exciting and creative ways.  I also still felt bad about the way things ended with us.

 And so,  a few years ago I was at a party at Zach's and Louie was there.  I did that thing that's not always fun to do... I went up to him and reintroduced myself to him and he knew who I was right away and was happy to see me again. I brought up our last encounter and apologized but we waved it off as not something I should worry about, and then we did what you do at those parties, you sit down and complain about people doing better than you! hah, no, I don't remember what we talked about but i know he was kind and funny and just a real delight to catch up with again...   I'm so glad and grateful I had the chance to have that time with him again. He really was a gem.  I've been lucky enough to bury a few hatchets in my life (some hatchets are not always your handiwork) and it's always for the best.  Maybe you got someone you have weirdness with?  It's not always fun at first, but It's such a good feeling to put that behind you. 

Peace and Love, Tim 

PS.   Abraham Geisness