Louis CK: Chewed Up

DVD review by Steve Bennett

Stand-up doesn’t get much better than Louis CK, and in Chewed Up, recorded in Boston last year, he certainly demonstrates a top-of-his-game form.

There’s no gentle warm-up for this lithe 60-minute set, starting the show with a hard-hitting and hilarious ‘bang’. Within seconds he’s riffing on the word ‘fag’, convincingly arguing (like a recent South Park episode, coincidentally) that it’s detached from anti-gay sentiment when you use the insult properly.

Then he immediately applies his uniquely oblique, if provocatively uncompromising, logic to the words ‘cunt’ and ‘nigger’, just to prove he’s not messing about.

So it goes without saying that this show is often unrepentantly crude, but Louis has such a charming and matter-of-fact approach to his subject matter that it’s as endearing as it is edgy.

Some of the rest of the material might initially seem familiar, but that’s deceptive. The physical deterioration that comes with encroaching middle age is a staple of every comic who hits 40, but Louis has a keen eye for the absurdity of the situation, and a brilliant way of expressing his dissatisfaction with it, which ensures the routine is fresh.

Those same qualities bring sparkle to his ‘difference between men and women’ material, the frank discussions of sex and his reports about the tribulations of parenthood that are all as funny as they are brutally honest. He thinks his children are stupid and self-centred – but unlike most parents, he’s not afraid to say so.

Louis CK is still relatively unknown in the UK, which explains why this DVD has taken a year to reach these shores. But I’d be very surprised if there were many funnier releases this Christmas.

Main feature: 60min
Extras: An ‘interview’ in which he answers submitted questions, straight to camera. 37mins
Released by: Anchor Bay Home Entertainment on November 9
Price: £17.99. Click here to buy from Amazon at £11.78