The comedian is broke thanks to his secret, starry, self-financed web show. But it’s a gut-punch piece of art – watch it to keep him afloat

Louis CK is broke. Horace and Pete – his self-financed TV show distributed with minimum fanfare on his own website – has not done the numbers he expected.

As CK told Howard Stern this week, his plan to spend two million dollars of his own money on the first four episodes, before financing the remaining six with the profits, hit a brick wall when fewer people than expected paid for the show. “It made a nice, little amount of money,” he told Stern. “But when I got to episode four I was like ‘Hey gang, I don’t have any money’, so I had to take out a line of credit. So I’m millions of dollars in debt right now”.

Clearly, Louis – who refused to promote Horace and Pete so viewers could discover it afresh for themselves – needs our help. I am more than happy to roll up my sleeves and step in, because Horace and Pete, speaking plainly, is the most extraordinary series I’ve seen so far this year.



The top-secret TV event of the year: Louis CK's Horace and Pete Read more

If you’re on the fence about whether to pay Louis CK $31 (a little over £21) to see the full ten-episode arc of Horace and Pete, here’s why you should take the plunge.

The tone

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Unbearably, beautifully bleak to watch … Steve Buscemi, Louis CK and Edie Falco in Horace and Pete.

Although Louis CK’s last show Louie had moments of drama – sometimes spending entire episodes mirthlessly exploring peculiar themes – it was often lightened with moments of standup comedy. These moments riffed on the same themes as the episodes, but through the bright prism of CK’s stage persona rather than his morose character.

There are no such moments of lightness in Horace and Pete. The whole thing is a study in decay. The show is set in a 100-year-old Brooklyn bar, first owned by brothers named Horace and Pete then passed down to their children (also named Horace and Pete) and their children (also named Horace and Pete). By the time this pattern has reached the current day, it’s become warped and brittle and thrumming with unstated violence. Horace and Pete is unbearably, beautifully bleak to watch, and it stays with you. The final episode became available almost a fortnight ago, and I still can’t stop thinking about it.

The talent

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A career high … Alan Alda plays the racist, sexist Uncle Pete in a role entirely against type. Photograph: Louis CK

Louis CK plays Horace. Steve Buscemi plays Pete. Edie Falco plays their pained and resentful sister Sylvia. Jessica Lange plays a corroded old barfly. Aidy Bryant from Saturday Night Live plays Horace’s estranged sister. Rebecca Hall appears in the first episode as Horace’s girlfriend. Laurie Metcalf turns up and utterly dominates another as his ex-wife. And then there’s Alan Alda, playing entirely against type what might be a career high as the racist, sexist monster Uncle Pete. These are world-class performers, and they commit to the material completely. It’s unlikely that you’ll watch a more perfectly cast show this year. And Paul Simon does the theme tune.



The structure

CK has said that he got the idea for Horace and Pete from watching the broadcast version of Abigail’s Party, essentially a single scene stretched across 100 minutes. The hour-long opener consists of two half-hour scenes – shot like a televised play, with multiple cameras capturing incredibly long takes – separated by a formal intermission. That said, this isn’t the blueprint for the entire series. Some episodes have shorter scenes set in multiple locations. Some have flashbacks. There are dream sequences. Laurie Metcalf’s episode begins with a tour-de-force nine-minute monologue delivered in a tight close-up. The series plays with the form – in both structure and length – in a way that wouldn’t be possible on normal television, and the tension of not knowing how any given episode will play out is palpable.



The ending

Which, obviously, I can’t talk about much because I want you to see it for yourselves. But I will say this: the final few sequences Louis CK chose for Horace and Pete are brutal. It’s one gut-punch after another, with every diversion and feign deliberately designed to make the floor drop out from under you at the point of climax. It is extraordinary – the sort of thing that requires a moment of solitude to take stock afterwards. Horace and Pete is an incredible, tender piece of art, and you need to watch it. Louis CK deserves to make back every last penny.



