Louis C.K. manages in his stand-up to make topics and scenarios that have been gone over exactly one million times before fresh and funny, while Louie is greatly respected for being so innovative for television. But Last night’s “Miami”, set entirely in the Florida city home to certain traitors of Cleveland that coldly relocated their talents, was looking like a “vacation episode” of television. As in a beach was involved, like when the Bradys got themselves cursed and when the Fonz literally jumped a shark. Nothing special about that. There was also a budding bromance, a topic covered backwards and forwards and back again by Judd Apatow and his cohorts since 2004.
But, of course, despite the familiarities, “Miami” was a fine piece of television. And of course, in an episode that initially was found by yours truly to be a bit light on laughs, it is only when deciding to initially begin the recap with the traditionally laugh out loud funny segments did I realize that there were plenty of those. There was the first two minutes of the episode, which had C.K. going to his Miami hotel and to the beach without encountering one single human being who did not resemble an Adonis or supermodel. A gaggle of sculpted youngins’ even literally knocked Louie to the sand, barely concealing their laughter as they made their empty apologies. There was even giggling. Louie gave up on the beach and opted for a burger and a nap in his hotel room. It would only be later near dusk when C.K. and his fellow overweight pasty men roamed free on the beach.
There was the part where one of the millions of attractive women yoinked a strawberry from Louie and asked as a slight politeness after the fact if she can take one.
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And the stand-up bit at the end about heterosexual men being the only group that cares about being mistaken for being anything else. I’d say it was wonderful, but I cannot.
In regards to plot: when a hotel attendant accidentally begins to take away Louie’s chair, containing his valuables, as C.K. is swimming far away from shore, he shouts to the man with the loud headphones. Ramon, the lifeguard, misinterprets C.K.’s ranting and raving and gesticulating to mean that he is drowning, so he “saves” him. Since C.K. is out of shape he pants when they get to shore as if he was drowning, and Ramon never believed Louie despite his insistence that his life was never in danger. (C.K. as far as we know never gets his wallet and watch back, but he doesn’t seem too concerned about it for the remainder of the episode, so we can all rest easy.)
Louie and Ramon bond, and Ramon takes him on a movie montage tour around the parts of Miami not seen by overweight, pasty tourists. There was bike riding, handshakes, falling on other people’s backs laughter. There was some boxing on the street and rooster chasing; real Rocky type shit. And cigar smoking! And at night, a big family party. Everyone is welcoming, and C.K., who in “Miami” recounted that he grew up in Mexico until he was 7, just like the actual Louis, understandably loved his surroundings, feeling comfortable with Ramon and his Cuban hermanos and hermanas. C.K. is so comfortable that at one point he shouts out a full phrase in Spanish that was definitely some sort of dis to strangers, instead of panicking over whether he will get to his gig on time.
Louie pushed his luck, opting to stay a few extra days to spend more time with Ramon. Ramon interpreted it to mean that C.K. had sexual feelings for him, leading to this week’s incredibly awkward moment when Louie could not articulate why exactly he opted to hang out in Miami if it wasn’t to try and make a move on the lifeguard. I actually don’t think any character has ever stammered as much in the history of television as Louie did in that scene. Here’s pretty much everything Louie said in the scene at the bar:
“Oh why did I? Why did I uh…”
“Well I uh, you know. I just uh, okay you know…to be honest, I just wanted…to spend more time…hanging out…”
“Yeah but, but…but I know what, I know what you’re asking….but….no no no no.”
“Yeah yeah no no but…”
“Yeah but I’m not…I’ll, I’m not…okay. Like, I don’t…judge anybody. You know okay first of all, I have zero anything, okay?”
“I guess what the thing is, is…”
“Oh no no but….yeah. Ramon, I’m not….I uh….you you you, I just, it’s, it’s see I don’t know if I ever…I don’t know if I’m ever…I’m not trying, I’m not trying, anything that, anything, and I don’t even, I’m not.”
“I mean, you know yeah okay. Okay man.”
“Yeah, yeah. Hey man, you too. Okay. Take it easy.”
It was another example this season of Louie not being able to articulate what he really wanted to say. In this case, he was feeling off balance in his life, and found a connection that resonated somewhat with his roots that made him believe in his heart that his momentary peace was natural and can continue indefinitely if he chose to stay there. Or something like that. All we know is that Louie definitely thought he had made a new best friend. But, as the next scene with C.K. performing stand-up at the Comedy Cellar tells us, it’s hard for some heterosexual men to show emotion without coming off thinking that they’re being perceived as weak, which for whatever reason would be the absolute worst thing in the world to happen. Pride is just too important. It makes you do things like give up on enjoying some sun and retreating from the world to your hotel room. Or give up on forming a lifelong friendship.
Things To Say While Playing Football In The Water
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“Are you funny?” “Yeah.” “Then I did a good thing by saving you.”
“So you just ate a strawberry that you can’t have.”
“That strip club was wonderful. It was wonderful.”
“All men are brothers.”
“Say you don’t know and then you learn everything.”
Roger Cormier is a fan of balloons, and that doesn’t make him any less of a man.
