User reviews

...But my crap stinks so I don't consider this a bad thing. In reality, people make dirty jokes, and do dirty things. If you can not deal with that like an adult and laugh, then go back to first grade.

With that out of the way. This show has great potential. People smoke, drink, and have sex. And what I like is that topics aren't tip-toed around like in network sitcoms. The shows adults act like adults, instead of saints. They do things that people really do, and say things people really say.

Bottomline: it doesn't pull punches to please people that think they are above anything with an 'F' bomb and masturbation. These things really exist, and people need to grow up, and realize this.

Having watched the first three episodes of Lucky Louie I have to say I am impressed by the real world issues it choose to deal with through comedy. However, if really talking about sex makes you feel awkward, or you feel grossed out by male nudity, then this show is most likely not for you. Otherwise be prepared for some laugh out loud moments depicting a struggling young family as they deal with issues ranging from female orgasms, to racism. While this show is not where you are going to lean any profound lessons regarding these topics, it confronts them head-on in a manner that is very edgy even in today's culture. If you are open minded enough to think there is such a thing as sophisticated, gross-out humor, then you should find plenty of that here. The jokes are well executed 90% of the time and nearly the entire show is very well acted. My two complaints are the shoddy looking set design, and the 'laugh track' audience which can sometimes get annoying. These are minor complaints if what your looking for is a good laugh. The reality these characters live in is far more compelling than any sitcom out there today.

Television is a strange industry. It just astounds me sometimes how a show with a devoted following (although not too high ratings) gets canceled without a TV network giving it the chance to let the word of mouth spread. After all, "Seinfeld" didn't get strong ratings when it debuted, but it eventually went on to be the #1 show on television. And it seems strange that while mediocre shows like "According to Jim" and "Will & Grace" are on for at least five seasons, great shows like "Arrested Development", "Freaks & Geeks", and "Sports Night" get the shaft early on.

That said, DVD releases seem to be God's gift to TV. If it wasn't for TV shows being released to DVD, the aforementioned shows would be cast into oblivion without more people knowing how great they are. "Lucky Louie" can certainly be added to this list of great shows that were canceled too soon, and would have been unheard of had it not been for its DVD release.

I bought the entire season on a whim at an out-of-business sale a local movie and music store was having. I vaguely remember it being on HBO a few years ago, and I know Louis C.K. is a big name in the comedy writing world. So I gave it a shot not knowing exactly what to expect. I later popped the first disk into my DVD played, watched the first episode, and the next thing you know, I couldn't stop watching it. It was that good.

The show's premise is not entirely original, but it is a refreshing change from sitcoms where characters live in places they clearly can't afford with no visible means of income to support themselves. It's also good to see that in this 30-minute sitcom, the problems are surprisingly real, and they're not entirely solved by the end of the episode, nor are they forgotten about by the next episode. This element of familiarity adds real depth to the characters, and makes for very intriguing storytelling, something that has been lacking from a number of sitcoms over the last twenty years.

Louis C.K. is like Conan O'Brien in the sense that he originally made a name for himself behind the camera, such as on "Saturday Night Live" and "The Chris Rock Show". His acting wasn't great on the pilot episode, and you could see signs of some nervousness initially. However, as the episodes progressed, he really got into his character and made the whole show work.

Also noteworthy is Pamela Adlon, who plays his wife Kim. She works very well off of C.K., she looks like someone who would be married to an average guy, and she acted like a lot of people I know in similar situations. She was just a very genuine character.

Of course, the freedom to swear and show nudity on HBO is the most obvious thing that differentiates this sitcom from even the edgiest network sitcoms. Any experienced comedy professional, including the most explicit comedians, can tell you that profanity in comedy is not funny in and of itself. It has shock value, but can kill the laughs when used in excess. If anyone understands that, it's Louis C.K. and the other actors on this show. There is swearing, but it's funny. If the swearing was taken out when aired on a network TV station, this sitcom would find itself on a standstill. It also would have a hard time incorporating the brilliant supporting actors who are underrated stand-up comics Rick Shapiro and Jim Norton, who are known for their dirty mouths but are still funny. "Lucky Louie" was lucky to find its place on HBO.

I was just surprised that HBO canceled it as quickly as it did. Naturally, HBO made its name with original dramatic series including "The Sopranos" and "Oz", but they really should reconsider giving an edgy half-hour sitcom like this one another chance. One could argue that people don't normally turn to HBO for that type of show, but hour long dramatic series used to be exclusively for network TV. HBO may not bring this sitcom back from the grave, but they should have realized what kind of gem they had in their possession. In the long run, though, Louis C.K. has gotten more exposure, and he has since had his own hour-long stand-up special on none other than HBO. At least something good came out of the show being canceled in addition to a proper DVD release.

"Lucky Louie" was a brilliant show that was shorter lived than it should have been. I recommend anyone who has not seen it yet to go to your video store, or go on Netflix, and rent the first disk with the first six episodes. You may find yourself immediately wanting to see the next disk.

In no way is it supposed to be groundbreaking like Six Feet Under, The Sorpranos, or any other HBO programming. Lucky Louie is a sitcom that is filmed, and can be shown, on HBO. They intentionally aren't trying to break the box here, folks; that's the point. I am looking forward to this show because I am sick and tired of the generic, pansy, overly formulaic, and frankly unfunny sitcom shows on network TV (and by this I don't mean My Name Is Earl, The Office, or Arrested Development, but of the Freddy, Dharma and Greg variety). This show will be a breath of fresh air and will give me a great night of comedy (Entourage, Lucky Louie and Tourgasm). I can't wait.

Also, I'm sad to report that cast member Jim Norton might not make season 2 because of his battle with AIDS. I'm currently watching his puppy and refilling his broth bowl. Thoughts and prayers.

This is a very good and refreshing show that makes you laugh out loud and surprises you each episode.

I don't really get it why they cancel it and immediately schedule a DVD release?

Maybe it was too real for HBO to deal with and they've gone soft!

Anyway, this small little show should have gotten a second chance because it really had the potential to become a cult series. I really don't get what's up with cancelling all these nice shows nowadays and lame stuff keeps on running for years. What's up with that?

Your loss HBO. Seriously.

After viewing the first few episodes of this sitcom I feel compelled to let my fellow IMDb-ers know that they may well extend their life spans by seeing this show! That may seem to be an idle promise, but if the old adage "Laughter is the best medicine" holds any truth whatsoever, then this may be the fabled Fountain of Youth! It should be mentioned here that it is necessary for the viewer to be comfortable with base humor and some male frontal nudity. I enjoy all types of comedy, from Pee-Wee Herman's silliness to the time tested Three Stooges slapstick, from Rowan Atkinson's brilliant pantomime to the highbrow satire of Fawlty Towers. I think this show may set a new standard for modern ribaldry! The story involves a poor family with one child, living in a shabby tenement building and doing what they need to survive in an unusually unfair world. Many story lines revolve around the couple's desire to have a satisfying sex life while trying/not trying to conceive a second child. Their discussions are frank and to the point with many instances of crude language (never in the presence of their lovely daughter, however). Also, Louie (played by Louis C. K.) has a heck of a time convincing his African-American neighbors that he isn't a racist, while circumstances conspire against him to seemingly prove just the opposite. I laughed until my sides hurt because I imagined that this was art imitating life in a real and honest fashion. Let's face it, most people will be themselves when they think there is no-one watching, and I KNOW you're all imperfect, just like me. Enjoy the mirror's reflection, if you're not too self-righteous!

Sorry huston huddleston from Sherman Oaks CA, you were obviously watching HBO's L Channel - that is one of HBO's channels that broadcasts movies and episodes in Spanish. If you watch it on regular HBO or the 4 versions, I assure you the show is in English.

But I think if you have any degree of prudishness this show wouldn't be for you. Basically this is the kind of comedy Roseanne would have put on in her prime, if HBO gave her a show. The characters are working class, struggling to keep themselves above water and basically crudely real. Not everyones family is this way - but I sure have encountered them in the course of my life. Basic message Huston is that you don't have to mind your P's & Q's to be decent humans - even if your life is a bit rough around the edges.

This is a brilliant show, Louis C.K is a genius for unleashing a very genuine show that gets under your fingernails and gets them dirty.

The show captures real life as experienced by an average Joe, living in a crappy apartment with a crappy job. Maybe this was a bit too real for Americans? Or perhaps the liberal use of bad language appalled them. Either way, Only one season was mad - alas.

Pamela Adlon is brilliant, for a short woman she demands the presence of a heavyweight boxer (and probably more dangerous?). Excellent actress.

Louis - if your bored of America - come to Europe Im sure we would find a place for you :)

When I heard last year that Louis C.K. got a deal for an HBO show, I was ridiculously excited. He was (and is) probably my favorite stand-up comic going. When I heard about the show format a few months ago, I scratched my head a bit (I originally heard it was going to be skit comedy in the vein of Chappelle's Show or Taco Bell Dana Carvey) but I had faith that whatever he did would be funny. He had, after all, been one of the most consistently funny stand-ups in the past ten years, from his Dr. Katz stuff to his HBO special and the many stage performances I'd seen in between. I will admit that I have not been fully satisfied with his first two episodes. The writing is uneven and a bit base and the acting is fairly poor; I've gotten a few laughs, but not the usual C.K. laughs per capita. That said, I still have faith because I've been through this before. When I first saw Curb Your Enthusiasm, I hated it. It took a couple of episodes for Larry and I to hit it off, but we did and now it is one of my favorite shows. Same could be said for my experience with Chappelle's Show, The Office (both American and British), and even my favorite show of my adult life, Arrested Development. Louis C.K. is of the same comedic caliber as Larry David, Dave Chappelle, Ricky Gervais, etc., and because of this, I have faith that the show will hit its stride and I won't miss a minute of it when it does.

I just watched the first episode of this show and I can't remember when I saw a sitcom where I laughed so much. The characters are hilarious in a very real way. In virtually every sitcom the dialog is one amusing anecdote after another. No one talks like that. The only way anyone is going to talk like that is if they memorized a script. Although the dialog in the show is funny and anecdotal, its something that you can believe a real-life character would say. That makes it a work of genius because obviously many have tried and few have succeeded. There is plenty of swearing, and bedroom scenes with depiction of sex. That may put some people off. However these scenes feel very real as if you are spying on the couple next door. It makes you cringe but it makes you laugh like hell.

Acerbic, intelligent, honest and brave, "Lucky Louie" has everything going for it but what it needs most: laughs. In what may be the first U.S. sitcom to fully appreciate the new Wal-Mart culture, Louis C.K. overturns all the bad soil of Bush America and up wriggle the worms: bad jobs, urban misery, hopelessness, racism, crime, and the prospect of painful decline. Sexual dysfunction cracks inject a note of cheer.

If the satire isn't all that funny, maybe it's because the real concern is showing us the pathos of low circumstances. The show is a social mirror, a harsh one. Do we like what we see? Can we chuckle along with portraits of people being crushed by a society that flatters itself to believe that the McMansion is just over the hill?

It's pretty transgressive stuff. I liked Jim Norton's portrayal of the drug-dealing sleazeball Jim, who in a moment of eavesdropping through a tenement wall gives us his porn-trained translation of the noisy maneuvers going on behind it. But a lot of the time the humor is wince-worthy tragicomedy; this is a comedy in need of comic relief from its own moroseness. Talents like Chris Morris, Ricky Gervais, and in the U.S. the creators of the short-lived 1999 Fox gem "Action" have shown that when done right, this vein can be much funnier. 6/10.

Rated TV-MA for Strong Language and Sexual Content. Quebec Rating:13+ Canadian Home Video Rating:14A Canadian TV Rating:14+

Lucky Louie is the latest sitcom from HBO.It plays on the movie network in Canada.I have seen a couple of episodes and this show is hilarious!.This is one of the best and hilarious sitcoms in recent years.It also might be the start for very adult oriented sitcoms.This sitcom is much different from others.You wont find this one on FOX.This show has plenty of profanity(including the f-word and the c-word),graphic sexual dialogue and sexual content.Definitely not for little kids.This show is about a mechanic named Louie who lives with his wife and daughter.In each episode he,his family and his friends get into many hilarious misadventures.Lucky Louie is a hilarious sitcom that you will not want to miss.

Runtime:30min

10/10

I finished watching the first season of Lucky Louie this week, and to say the least I'm quite disappointed. It's not really awful but, oh, I don't know, it's so complicated. Louis CK is great, he's one of the greatest comedians I've ever seen. He's not much of an actor but neither is Jerry Seinfeld or Larry David or Mitch Hedberg, comedy is not necessarily about acting. So that aside, I'm still disappointed. It's like when you really love a band and know the tunes they put on that EP that probably sold about 20 copies and then they put out a full length (you know, something that will actually sell) and they put the same dam songs on it. And you wonder, why did you do that? I thought we were moving on, you've recorded this before. that's what watching the only season of Lucky Louie is like if you've seen all of his stand-up repeatedly. I haven't seen his new stand-up special, I'm sure it will be great, but Lucky Louie is nothing more than a complete season of acting out his old, old comedy routines. Which is good, at times, like when he is explaining his nightmares about Hell in the confessional to the father. Priceless. But that only really takes you so far before you say, wait a second the premise of every episode is that he's left in charge of his daughter, he messes it up, his wife gets mad, they make up, everyone is a better person, until next episode when it all begins again. The show is fine, its humorous, but it isn't original, its a little redundant, it lacks the creative spin on traditional topics like marriage and kids that Louis CK made his name on. Worth a viewing, if nothing else, so that you know why HBO pulled the plug on a show that had great potential and just had not come into it's own yet.

This show is a great mix if you live in a trailer park. Unfortunately HBO needs to realize that most the people in trailers don't get HBO. Like I said its great if you're a high school drop out. Also I don't blame the actors (except Louie) but the writing is just lame. There is no need for male frontal nudity either. When did that become funny? I'ts vulgarity gets quite old as well. I'm not against offensive language but when every other word is the F bomb it gets old. I then begin to look at the show and wonder if its really targeted towards my particular demographic and that I shouldn't have a right to complain about it because its really not designed for people like me. I hope HBO can bring more shows to life than this. On the other hand HBO's Big Love is awesome and very addicting check it out.

I'm not going to waste your time and pretend that I was one of those watching this cancelled HBO sitcoms when it was broadcast almost ten years ago; like most people who have seen it, I came to this show relatively recently thanks to Louis CK's FX show and his various (well priced) live shows. It is an odd feeling to watch this show looking back, because unlike this most recent work, this is very much studio-set sitcom with a live studio audience. At first it was hard to get into, and I admit I started the pilot with reservations over the very dated look, and very basic sets. Frankly as well, the very 'sitcom' aesthetics and structure to the whole thing put me off a little, because generally I am not one for network sitcoms, even if I do watch a few.

However, below the surface, Lucky Louie is essentially the show Louie transposed into a sitcom and given greater structure, and forced to actually have jokes. As much as I do enjoy his much more freeform show now, this sitcom structure actually works very well because it means the show not only does what his later show would do, but it has more robust narratives, a better structure around the family unit, and with more direct jokes. The show is crude, it is impatient, it is dirty, it is lazy, and it is just about getting by – all of which is very much the opposite of sitcoms, not least of which Friends, which had been the dominant example for near enough a decade before this show aired. In terms of writing it is exaggerated of course, and it is crude, but it has that sense of honesty about its characters and situations which I found really quite engaging and refreshing.

With this element at its heart the show is strong, but what really made it work was that it was consistently funny and well played out. Some of the characters really didn't work for me, but the core unit was strong and most of the narratives flow around Louie and Kim, with others just supporting. There are really no weak links in the cast though, and everyone is funny, on-point, and served with consistently good material. The basic set is something I got used to as part of the charm of the show (and the genre it is within), while the laugh track generally works even if personally I don't care for shows that use them.

It is a great sitcom though, as it manages to embrace and subvert the norms of the genre, bringing the darker, frustrated humor of Louie, but giving it greater structure and sharper (actual) jokes. Remarkable to see also that 10 years has really not affected it in any way, as it feels fresh, challenging and relevant even if it screened now.

There's a trend in the television-community where they cancel a show if it doesn't bring in amazing ratings in the first half-season. Everyone seems to have forgotten that Seinfeld was a massive turkey for the first couple of seasons, but the fact that someone in the brass at NBC had faith in the show allowed the show grow into the juggernaut that it became. HBO had the same opportunity with Lucky Louie.

It's unfair that the burden of proof as to whether a show is good or not lies on the mucky-mucks that are in charge of the financing and resource-allocation of the show. It should be compulsory that every show that gets picked up for a series is allowed to run for at least three seasons. Developing characters, writing dynamics, running gags; all of these are long term processes, and it's BS to except that any series is gonna have this down from the get-go.

To all you networks and cable-outlets out there: give your series a f*cking chance before you pull the plug, goddamnit!

Lucky Louie arrived in my life as a dream sequence. One day last year I had a vague memory of flipping through the channels and seeing a snippet of this really vulgar but hilarious sitcom filmed in front of what seemed like a live studio audience. It seemed like a false memory or a great dream, as where in the hell would I have seen something like that? NBC? CBS? ABC? Definitely not. So I passed it off as something that would be a really cool idea to do one day - that is, if I ever get off my ass and write that sitcom, try to get it picked up and then attempt to get the big wigs at NBC to let be as vulgar as what my imagination had seemingly conjured up.

I came across a clip of Lucky Louie on Youtube and it all came flooding back: the sitcom was real and it was hilarious. Not hilarious in a Seinfeld or Arrested Development way, but in a way that is hard to define. It's not funny because it's vulgar; that's not the point. It's funny because it makes you question every sitcom line ever delivered from Lucy to Charlie Sheen. It's funny because it's the first and only sitcom that you'll ever see that literally could be your life that day. It's funny because while it's turning convention on its head and destroying decades of sitcom pap, it's doing it while in the guise of "filmed in front of a live audience" sitcom pap.

Fast forward to now and me, being a huge fan of Louis CK stand-up and his Louis show, I started watched Lucky Louie. Lucky Louie as a sitcom makes more sense now then it most likely did back when it aired in 2006. To me, Lucky Louie exists outside our reality. It is a sitcom that would be playing on a TV in the background of Louis' current show. It pushes the boundaries of our television experiences and allows us to see how ludicrous "TV sitcom reality" really is. Sitcom reality is nothing like reality "reality" but Lucky Louie manages to be a bridge between what TV was/is and what it could/should be. The fact that it features many of the same actors as the current Louis show, makes the existence of the sitcom Lucky Louie even more "meta".

It's extremely unfortunate that the sitcom only lasted one season. Many shows are touted as "ahead of its time" but Lucky Louie is ahead of its time by quite possibly centuries. I have no idea when or if America will be ready to see something as profane and funny during prime-time. I can only assume when that time comes, say, oh the year 2278, someone will say "Finally! A sitcom that really tells it like it is!" but someone will dig out Lucky Louie and say "Check this out. It's from 2006." And at that moment, history will recognize Louis CK's brilliance and he will become The Shakespeare of the future. I can only hope.

Watch this show and watch Louis. They're a packaged deal.

I love the show and I don't live in a trailer park. The jokes are hysterical. I really think this show is portraying just any old dysfunctional-ish family. It is definitely crude humor but if you like Louis CK's standup, you are sure to love this show.

I think that a lot of men get offended about the male nudity (there really isn't that much) because they are so used to ALWAYS seeing women nude in shows. I don't think the nudity is necessary but if Louie's wife on the show was always running around naked, I'm sure there would be NO complaints.

Bottom line...great show for those who have a sense of humor. It is nothing like anything else that is on television right now.

HBO's Sunday night programming has always contained comedies. Particularly comedies of a more "rude" nature. Have any of you heard of Sex in the City, Curb Your Enthusiasm, or even Entourage? Lucky Louie fits in nicely with HBO's other current adult orientated comedies like Extras, Entourage, and Curb. Where's the problem with adding a new comedy to that line up, particularly one that is out of the traditional HBO mold? All in the Family was the most controversial show of the 1970's. Never before had a situation comedy brought Americans face-to-face with each other, utilizing controversial themes such as sexuality and race relations to comprise story lines. The are no new stories in TV or movies only new versions. This is Just good, funny TV. Does this has the making of great TV, maybe , maybe not? Should TV always be ground breaking or should we be able to laugh at someone who has it rougher than we do?

This was wrote by some much smarter than me.

"Two footnotes. In 1972 President Nixon took the time to view an episode of 'All in the Family' and did not find the show funny. In the nineties, when talk of bringing Archie Bunker back on television in a new setting was circulating, Carroll O'Connor expressed interest but Norman Lear did not. He knows the sad truth: Americans have become too dour to laugh at themselves."

All In The Family still makes me laugh, and in ten years i hope that Lucky Louie will make me laugh, as hard as i do at it now.

The show is very funny and all the actors act very well. I liked the series a lot and watched it several times.

Louie, please make another show just like this one.

Finally a show that actually shows how real people talk. My wife and I swear all the time. That happens in this show. People are nude in real life. That happens in this show.

The best part about this show is that it's filmed before a live studio audience. I haven't seen that since the friggin Cosby show!! I highly recommend this show if you are able to handle adult humor.

If not, you will say it's stupid and moronic. That's your way of saying you can't handle adult humor.

I think the writing is brilliant and like Curb Your Enthusiasm this show has no boundaries.

Another user of this site has taken my original review to task for my presumption that, because it's on HBO, it should be as groundbreaking as, say, "The Sopranos" or "Sex in the City". He suggested that this show was never meant to be in that class. Pardon me but last time I checked the channel's motto was STILL "It's not TV. It's HBO." "Lucky Louie" is the first HBO show to use a live audience. That this show is on THE premium cable channel, home to such breakthrough programming as "The Sopranos" and "Sex in the City", should have meant it, too, was a breakthrough. Alas, the whole affair is little more than "The King of Queens" with fouler language and more ribald situations. One could also add it's pretty much similar to any sitcom out there now that features the out-of-shape, blue-collar guy with the attractive, slimmer, usually-loud-mouthed wife: he's irresponsible and insensitive, while she is loud, obnoxious, and demanding. Creator/star Louis CK, presumably a well-known comedian (usually the creators of this type of show) seems content to mine the same comedy ore Kevin James has for a number of years now with "The King of Queens". In fact, the wholesale aping of "King..." goes as far not only as stealing the goofy, man-child friend but the wife, here portrayed by one Pamela Adlon, who seems to have studied every movement and line reading of Kevin James's screen partner Leah Remini. While on the one hand it might be initially 'refreshing' or more 'realistic' to have a blue-collar couple use language in situations you'll never, ever find on network sitcoms, all the vulgar language in the world can't make funny - or original! - scenes totally lacking in direction or with actors who already think they're hilarious. Not a single performer on this show is as funny as he or she believes themselves to be, and right there the comedy is squashed. Worse still is this live studio audience, whose reactions are as instantly annoying as those on many an earlier, usually urban-set, sitcom: every kiss, every leer, and every hint of sexuality, garners waves of hootin' and hollerin', as if they were all a bunch of horny teens seeing something "naughty" for the very first time. There may be the occasional giggle that sneaks through, and I suppose HBO must be given credit for trying something new and different (now that "Carnivale", "Deadwood", and that Lisa Kudrow show have all tanked); it's a shame that the show they're trying it with doesn't live up to their standards - or that of its audience.

This show is funny and surprising, I watched it after seeing a clip on the daily show and it was very funny. I am surprised by how much I like this show, given that the topics it deals with and the characters it portrays are quite unlikeable in some ways but very likable in others. I think it does a great job of treading a fine line between too offensive to be watchable while still being quite out there.

This is the most interesting comedy I have seen for quite a while, a different and fresh look at a sit com. It tackles issues and things I have not seen on other shows in a quite real and interesting way.

Part of what makes it so out there is that there is a little kid involved (as an actor). The topics are so adult, but the sorts of things I could see being talked about around kids which they don't understand.

I first heard about Lucky Louie on the Daily Show. The banter between Louis C.K. and Jon Stewart was hilarious. I admit I was taken aback by his language, but the topics are ones that we all think about but rarely say out loud.

The first show had me and my spouse rolling on the floor laughing. The kind of silent laughter that hurts your stomach. An earlier post says you have to live in a trailer park to like the show - I don't fit that mold, but still love the show.

We've been married over ten years and this is the first time these topics have been so addressed so openly. It has an MA rating, so if you don't want to hear bad language or see nudity, don't tune in.

I didn't think I'd like this show, but I truly did. My husband saw the previews and asked me to tape it for him so I watched it. He is an over the road truck driver. I don't know the cast member's names, but the black guy living across the hall is fabulous. His expressions say it all. The little girl playing Lucy was so cute asking "why" to all of Louie's adult explanations.

I do have a comment about continuity, tho. In Louie's kitchen, there is a window over the sink. Since there is another apartment to the right of his (facing the front door), there cannot be a window in the kitchen, unless it is looking into the apartment next door.