Since he always talks about his family, his stand-up provides something of a serialized narrative of his life. His early gripes about his wife’s storytelling segued into more disarming bits. “My wife and I have been married for nine and half years now, so we’re almost done,” he said in the 2008 special “Chewed Up.” He smiled and the crowd laughed, assuming it was typical marriage shtick. They broke up soon after, and his specials started making the case for the benefits of divorce, including an improved relationship with your ex-wife.

Some of his earliest breakout jokes were crude complaints about his very young daughters, bits that had parents quietly nodding their heads. His children are now 9 and 12, and his parenting struggles have moved from figuring out how to get them to eat their food to teaching them to be honest without depriving them of the advantages of being good liars. Some of his sharpest insights are about childhood, like the distinctly melodramatic way children see getting “in trouble.” He compares the fear of being in trouble to an overwhelmingly powerful monster in a way that will evoke memories of cowering in front of your parents.

A few jokes, like comparing America to a bad boyfriend, seemed stale. Others came off as variations on a well-worn theme, such as offhandedly stumbling into a blunt Jewish joke that felt like a lesser version of a previous bit. He made several interesting, funny points (including a wonderful musing about the implications of never knowing exactly when you will die), but if this show had a theme, it might have been Louis CK’s relationship with the animal kingdom.

He did bits on his relationship with dogs and bats along with his prurient interest in rats. His impressions of them are done with full-bodied gusto and a grotesque physicality. These aren’t Disney animals, but the comedian does appear sunnier than ever.

Louis CK appears blessedly at peace with his life or at least less flamboyantly irritated than usual, which made me wonder if such contentment did not detract somewhat from his comedy. After all, he has found countless laughs over agony and loathing, from his own immoral thoughts to his unstoppable gluttony.

He now appears a little heavier than he was on his last special but explained that he was at a point in his life when he found it liberating to barely care about watching his weight. “I would like to be in good enough shape,” he said, explaining the low standard he now aims for, “that if I died, you would ask, ‘What happened?’ ”