Louis CK Just Dropped A Surprise New Web Series; Is More Miserable And Self-Deprecating Than Ever
Apparently starring alongside Steve Buscemi hasn't cheered him up.
Since Louis CK’s Louie wrapped up in May last year, TV’s general mood has been a little too cheerful for some — without the regular injection of sombre existentialism, it can be hard to remain buoyant. But the reign of uplifting television is now over: overnight, CK released a surprise new web-series, titled Horace And Pete, which features everyone’s favourite eyes with legs, Steve Buscemi.
The series follows miserable 50-something bar owner Horace (CK), and his equally dead-eyed resident bar-flies, who are played by Alan Alda, Jessica Lange, Steven Wright and Nick DiPaolo. The New York Times called the first instalment “mournful and unshakable”, warned not to “expect a laugh riot”, and said it’s “like a dark take on Norman Lear’s sitcoms of the early ’70s (if with far more profanity). It’s shot as if through a whiskey glass and staged like theater, albeit without a live audience, featuring long takes and an artful use of silence and speeches.”
It sounds as promising as it does absolutely soul-crushing.
The show’s production and premiere were kept totally secret, and CK hasn’t given any background information away — we don’t know how many episodes there will be, when it was filmed, or even where this thing came from. But we do know the first episode runs for an hour, and you can watch it for $5 on CK’s website.
And don’t even bother looking for a trailer on YouTube — there’s just this giant middle finger calling you a pirate, and a bunch of angry sweary commenters responding (who, if you’re pretty bored, are kind of entertaining). Surely we didn’t expect anything less.
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