At least his career went out on a high note with Baskets on FXX. Now that the show has wrapped up, I need to watch it since local fave Martha Kelly was in it too.
If you are a Gen Xer, you knew him from The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and all the comedy showcases during the Eighties Comedy Boom. Of course, he had a role wedged into Eddie Murphy’s not very funny Coming to America everyone raves about. He had other cameos in favorite movies: Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Quicksilver and The Wrong Guys. I didn’t say they were good movies. Millenials had his Saturday morning cartoon Life with Louie.
Sadly, he never got a chance to break into mainstream success via a SitCom. Louie was originally cast as the American cousin in Perfect Strangers pilot (aka Mork & Mindy for the late Eighties) yet he didn’t have the right chemistry for Bronson Pinchot’s schtick. He tried again with a show on CBS which he felt was destroyed by too many “notes,” (aka CBS executives interjecting dumb shit). It had six episodes made and I’m guessing CBS aired the flop during the Summer of 1996 to fill time. Despite it failing, it starred others who went on to greater success: Bryan Cranston before Malcolm in the Middle and obviously Breaking Bad; Paul Feig before Sabrina the Teenage Witch and his masterpiece Freaks & Geeks; and Laura Innes who had a long run with ER.
He still continued to have bit parts throughout TV shows from then on while landing the big gem, taking over for Richard Dawson on Family Feud until Steve Harvey became the current host. Then I saw he had a long residency in Las Vegas with Palace Station, this is where I stole his idea of making all my Brushes with Greatness a screen saver changing pictures every hour. I also discovered his 1996 show through his little trophy wall.
At the end, I saw all the outpouring of sympathy and love for him via his fellow comedians and actors. I am just hoping there was a reconciliation between Louie and a personal fave of mine, Tom Rhodes. According to Tom through one of his routines, when he was a young winner of Funniest Person in Florida, Louie inappropriately hit on him. We’re not talking something as disgusting as Louis CK’s bullshit, just ugly circumstances and probably fear of what Louie could’ve done to Tom’s early career which is the oldest story in show biz. As we all know, Tom escaped the situation and has gone on to have a great livelihood touring, a SitCom in the Nineties and hosting a travel show in the Netherlands. Again, I just hope Louie made amends given how unrepentant Bill Cosby remains.
Regardless of your personal failures, thank you Louie for all the laughs. Sure you got your foot in the door with Carson doing fat jokes at your expense but it was the endless tales about your Midwest/Minnesota family who provided you longevity. I will never stop telling the bit about how your older siblings would taunt you about your “real parents” hiding in the basement.