Louis C.K.'s latest sitcom attempt
premiering Tuesday on cabler FX includes a gay character.
Louie,
a look at C.K.'s real life as a comic and a divorced father of
two daughters, is impressing critics. The show marries the comic's
stand-up act with related events in his life.
Included in the cast is openly gay
comedian Rick Crom, who plays himself.
In an interview with the Wall Street
Journal, C.K. (real name: Louis Szekely) said a scene where Crom
is grilled on gay sex by a group of men playing poker is his
favorite.
“You guys ask me [about this] every
time I'm here,” Rick says. “I talk about gay sex more with you
guys than I do with any of my gay friends. You're obsessed.”
The cross-examination quickly devolves
into a discussion on the word faggot.
“People will be watching and thinking
it's dirty comics making sharp gay jokes, but then they'll go, oh,
there's a gay guy there so he must be in on it, and then they think
it's a lecture, and then they realize, oh, they're still kidding and
they'll start to think about what we're saying,” C.K. told the
paper. “It's compelling.”
The scene was based on a real
conversation C.K. had 20 years ago with Crom.
“Once in my 20's, I asked him about
the word faggot and if he was offended when people used it. He
didn't lecture me or tell me to stop saying it. Instead, he said
we're all grown-ups and if it's a funny joke, go ahead and say it,
but hey, if you're interested, the story behind the word is totally
devastating.”
Louie premieres Tuesday on FX at
11PM ET.