Louis CK inspired many TV shows, but FX’s Louie should no longer be referenced as an inspiration

Vulture

The allegations against Louis CK, says Matt Zoller Seitz, “constitute a form of betrayal, against an audience that trusts artists to make edgy, even unlikable work, and gives them the benefit of the doubt when they wade into the deepest, darkest parts of their imagination.” He adds that Louis CK’s art is still significant. But like in the case of Bill Cosby, Kevin Spacey and Harvey Weinstein, Louis CK’s entire body of work has been "retroactively contaminated" by the accusations. “Some of the most fascinating current half-hour series,” adds Seitz, “including Atlanta, High Maintenance, Insecure, You’re the Worst, and the Louis CK-co-produced One Mississippi and Better Things might not have existed if the FX series Louie hadn’t done for the half-hour comedy what Lenny Bruce’s routines did for standup 60 years ago. ‘Sort of like Louie, but with X’ used to be a formulation for TV writers pitching new shows. But some other shows will have to be cited as comparison points for the time being, or going forward.”

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• Now is not the time to talk about Louis CK’s art: Louis CK’s brand is to tell stories that are taboo and shameful, says Emily Nussbaum. “As it turns out, other people have those stories, too. As far as I’m concerned, before we talk about art, we should listen to them. And we should talk about something else, something bigger, that extends far beyond today’s news story: we should talk about the many ways in which comedy itself (in sitcoms, in standup, on the tour scene) is a deeply sexist world, and not only because some people within it act in predatory ways.”
• Jezebel details how it and Gawker pursued the Louis CK story for years -- and were criticized for chasing "rumors"
• Louis CK “was so convincing as a guy who was already so disappointed in himself that there was no need for us to be disappointed in him too.”
• Louis CK had a "powerful army of celebrity enablers": "Over the years, I’ve asked a number of famous male comedians about the allegations against Louis CK," says Marlow Stern, "which have been widely known since a 2012 Gawker story titled, 'Which Beloved Comedian Likes to Force Female Comics to Watch Him Jerk Off?' They’ve all either declined to comment or, in the case of Jim Gaffigan, went off the record to share their thoughts on the matter. Only a handful of brave female comics were willing to shine a spotlight on C.K.’s alleged abuse," including Roseanne and Tig Notaro.
• The only bad option is to stop thinking about Louie: “The revelations, as damning as they are, don't make the show worthless, though they do make it a very different kind of document,” says Willa Paskin. “It’s no longer an honest consideration of a man and all his foibles, but a dissembling, secretive one—which might, in a way, make it even truer than it was before.
• Louis CK manager Dave Becky -- who denies threatening CK's accusers -- produced Broad City and represents Amy Poehler, Issa Rae and Maya Rudolph, as well as Aziz Ansari, Hannibal Buress and Kevin Hart.