ARE you bored of the same old sitcoms, stocked with quirky, improbably glossy characters spouting witty repartee that reeks of the writers' room?
If so, you're not alone. This year, US comedian Louis CK called time on his own popular Fox show Louis to produce something deliberately strange, weird and challenging via his own website.
The result, Horace and Pete, is far from some throwaway 'for the fans' bonus content – the impressive cast list alone should tell you that.
Starring alongside Louis (who wrote and directed the 10-part series) are Steve Buscemi, Alan Alda, Edie Falco, Steven Wright and Jessica Lange, with several other familiar faces popping up throughout including Laurie Metcalf, Tom Noonan, Aidy Bryant and Paul 'yes, that one' Simon, who also wrote the theme music.
Inspired by the classic Mike Leigh teleplay, Abigail's Party, Horace and Pete isn't even really a sitcom: it's a dark, unsettling comedy drama. Horace and Pete's, the 100-year-old Brooklyn saloon run by the latest in a long line of Horaces (Louis CK) and Petes (Buscemi) in the Wittel family is about as far from a convivial, Cheers-esque establishment as you can get.
It might be a place 'where everybody knows your name', but you're more likely to be referred to as ****, ****** or ********* if you're being served by the unapologetically nasty Uncle Pete (Alda).
Having routinely touched upon uncomfortable, authentically awkward material on Louis, H&P finds its creator pushing the comic envelope even further, with often unexpectedly powerful results.
The Wittel clan's warped tales of woe are definitely not for the easily offended, but Louis CK fans will be in their hilariously awful, existential element.
:: Louisck.net
