Two weeks into 2014, and it’s already been a huge year for fans of comedian Louis C.K., as if it isn’t always rewarding being a Louis C.K. fan. The latest and greatest of all the recent announcements comes from FX President John Landgraf, who stated the much-anticipated fourth season of C.K.’s critically acclaimed series Louie will officially be back on TV in May. Ever since C.K. first started his hiatus after the third season, the show was expected to make its return right around May, but actually having it confirmed once and for all is really quite excellent.
Landgraf made his announcement at this year’s Televisions Critics Association, via Huffington Post. This is a series that has only gotten better and more genre-defying with each season, so the pessimist in me was half-expecting it to never return now that the comedian’s acting career has picked up with roles in Woody Allen’s Blue Jasmine and David O. Russell’s American Hustle. It’s a good thing C.K. enjoys doing his own thing more than acting for other people.
This comes right on the heels of the pilot order for a series created by and starring Zach Galifianakis, which he will be co-writing with C.K. Should it make it to series, it would star Galifianakis, and would be the first fruit born of FX’s recent development deal with C.K.’s production company. I’m not sure where the Louie episodes are in the production process, so it seemed plausible that this pilot might delay Louie in some way, but thankfully that isn’t the case.
Before that, C.K. announced he’d be self-releasing the first film he ever directed, 1998’s absurdist comedy Tomorrow Night. Many assumed the film (which starred an entire generation of comedians including Steve Carell, Amy Poehler and Robert Smigel) would never see the light of day, but C.K. is using the same $5 distribution deal he employed when releasing his last few stand-up features. Eliminating a middle man while causing stomachs to ache with laughter is something he’s quite good at, so I’ll be dropping a fiver as soon as that comes out.
Plus, C.K. recently appeared in the third season premiere of Crackle’s Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee with show creator Jerry Seinfeld. With all of these things going on, the comedian is as much in the public eye as he’s ever been, which will hopefully lead to big ratings for Louie’s fourth season. The series received its highest accolade last year when Melissa Leo took home the Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy. And when you watch that scene below, you’ll know exactly how she earned it.
