Louis C.K. | Mockingbird

Another Week Ends: Trickle-Down Distress, Klout Scores, Playful Parenting, Glorious Ruin, Churchy Beer, Moonrise, Darnielle on Amy Grant, Blur and Louis CK

by David Zahl on Jul 6, 2012 • 1 Comment

1. “Trickle-Down Distress: How America’s Broken Meritocracy Drives Our National Anxiety Epidemic” – what a title! Maura Kelly’s piece in The Atlantic functions almost as a survey of a number of the studies and articles we’ve highlighted in recent months, such the WHO reports that show America leading the world in clinical anxiety by a significant margin, and the recent piece about Having It All. In what essentially amounts to a treatise on the cruelty (and practical and psychological dead-end) of works righteousness, Kelly looks at how thorough-going the conflation of personal identity with material/career success has become in our…

America / Film / Grace in Practice / Humor / Identity / Law / Music / Science / Theology / TV / Week In Review

Another Week Ends: Louis CK, Sam Spade, Prevailing Grace, Heavy Metal, Axl Rose, Viennese Creativity, Cabin in the Woods, and yes, more Damsels in Distress

by David Zahl on Apr 13, 2012 • 4 Comments

1. “The Filthy Moralist: How Louis C.K. Became America’s Unlikely Conscience” in The Atlantic is remarkable, especially in its conclusion. As always when it comes to Louis, there’s a high depravity quotient, so don’t say we didn’t warn you. But also as always when it comes to Louis, the darkness is not neutral or meaningless (or merely shocking). In fact, it might even be worth the discomfort in this case to get to the final couple of paragraphs, which truly capture what Louis is about, whether he wants to be or not. It strikes me as especially pertinent as we…

Humor / Identity / Interviews / Religion / TV

So Nice of Louis C.K. to Think of That (But Never Do It)

by David Zahl on Dec 14, 2011 • 7 Comments

“I have a lot of beliefs… And I live by none of them. That’s just the way I am. They’re just my beliefs. I just like believing them – I like that part. They’re my little believies. They make me feel good about who I am. But if they get in the way of a thing I want, I [sure as heckfire] do that.”

This is just one of many priceless lines in Louis C.K.’s new comedy special, At the Beacon Theater. I can personally think of no one in pop-culture right now championing such a realistic, and, yes, New Testament…

Humor / TV

Why Aren’t There More Murderers? Louis C.K. on Original Sin

by Todd Brewer on Aug 26, 2011 • 4 Comments

Louis C.K. is obviously speaking in hyperbole for comedic effect, but he’s really on to something here. He expects the worst of people, believing that – at heart – people act according to what’s best for them. This is the Christian doctrine of original sin, which undermines all notions of progress. Or as St. Paul said “no one does good, not even one” (Rom. 3.12).

The upshot to this very morbid worldview is that Louis C.K. is not caught off guard by anything he sees, in fact he’s genuinely surprised that the world has any civility at all. In other words,…

Everyday / Humor / Psychology / TV