Radio 78, side A, track 10: “Brother Louie” by Stories

Oh, Stories, I don’t know how I originally knew this song, but of course the only way I’ll ever think about it now is in relation to Louis CK.  I love Louis CK, Stories.  Like, you have no idea.  I remember first seeing him as a kid on Comedy Central back when all they played were episodes of “That Girl” and clips upon clips of stand-up acts.  My brother and I had pretty much every comedian’s act memorized, two minutes at a time.  Even then, I remember that there was something different about Louis’ stand-up.  It was observational humor to the nth degree, I just didn’t quite appreciate it.  Jeff Dunham was more my speed in those days.

Thankfully, I’ve grown up enough to truly appreciate just how amazing Louis CK is.  Like, I’m in awe of how his mind works and that he can pretty much talk about any subject and make it jaw-droppingly shocking and hilarious all at the same time.

For one of my Christmas presents last year, my wife got me tickets to see him when he was in Austin.  One of the best presents I’ve ever received in my life.  And even though I immediately was anxious about driving downtown and finding parking a month before the show, Louis CK is one of the few people I will fight through my anxiety for.

It was an amazing show, Stories.  The very first subject he talked about was abortion, and it was horrifyingly hilarious.  In a matter of ten minutes, he had explained the abortion debate in the most astute (and raunchiest) way I’ll ever hear.

But my favorite part of the whole show was his encore.  Because during his encore, he didn’t do his prepared material.  He got out his notebook and tested some jokes on us.  I was SO excited, Stories!  There I was, only a few rows back from the stage, and I was going to be a part of his process.  It was fantastic, and he had my favorite joke of the night, which started with “Why did the chicken cross the road?” and ended up being a hilarious rumination on racism.  So good, Stories.

Sorry, Stories, I didn’t mean to hijack this awesome tune, which I had no idea was also about fighting racism with love, which makes me like it even more, but look, if you’re going to hitch your song to a comedy genius, you need to be prepared for this kind of thing.

lyrics to “Brother Louie”