A Slice of Bacon

On Thursday night, I got set up for my usual routine; a quick dinner and then plop in front of my couch for “Louis,” my favorite show on TV. It isn’t really my favorite show because it’s necessarily entertaining or hilarious, it’s just real. It’s a guy doing exactly what he wants to do for 30 minutes enough and being smart and witty enough to do it. Viewers will go 20 minutes without laughing at times, but you’re still glued to this red-haired, overweight man, wondering when a crack is going to come to wrap it all together. I call it intelligent chaos, much like “Tree of Life” was, where you could mix up six different segments of it and it would still make as much sense as if you watched them in order. 

But Thursday’s show had a twist; there was a man (playing himself) that is the complete opposite of Louis CK. If you’re a fan of CK, you hate Dane Cook. If you like Cook, you probably hate (or have never heard of) Louis. These men have had completely different careers, and while both are famous now, neither can really relate to the other. All of this is highlighted by some joke-stealing controversy that has caused even the most lackadaisical CK fans to put a target on Cook’s head. Stealing material in comedy is the “affair with your wife’s sister” of the joke world. There aren’t a lot of boundaries with comedians, but this is a huge one. It’s like how poker players will admit when they see an opponent’s hand. Everyone has some code they live by, and this one is that for the funny men of the world. 

It was amazing that Cook was on the show for a number of reasons. Louis had him on it because it knew it would cause idiots like myself to write something about it, thus bring more attention to his show. Cook did it for another reason, and it was brilliant; he knew by doing this, it would bring street cred to people that hate him. He would somehow get a hall pass by Louis CK fans because most look at this and think, “Man, what a gusty move by a guy not a ton of people involved in this side of comedy like.” My first thought when the episode ended was that. I was impressed by Cook. I thought it took a lot to go on there, and it wasn’t like he really needed to. And while it is still a television show, a lot of answers occurred during their four minute conversation.

But Cook isn’t an idiot. He’s a guy that knows how to make money and bring fans in and do whatever it takes to entertain (even if that means taking a joke or two from more creative personalities). This move was nothing more than smart business. Go out of your comfort zone, be made to look a little snotty, and eventually come off like a regular guy that is just trying to be liked.