In addition to being hilarious, Louis C.K.’s latest HBO special includes some brilliant bits that are downright feminist. Let’s get married and have a million fat red-headed babies together — we all know how much you love being a father!
After Louis seemingly defended Tosh.Doh’s idiotic and scary rape non-joke, we were all a little on edge until he explained himself on The Daily Show:
I’ve read some blogs during this whole thing that have made me enlightened to things I didn’t know. This woman said how rape is something that polices women’s lives. They have a narrow corridor. They can’t go out late, they can’t go to certain neighborhoods, they can’t get a certain way, because they might get-That’s part of me now that wasn’t before.
Apparently he’s been thinking on it because, as David Haglund at Slate writes, his new special further explores those truths:
Halfway through the new special, C.K. starts talking about how dating is an act of bravery for all involved. “The male courage, traditionally speaking, is that he decided to ask” a woman out. (Note the careful caveat, “traditionally speaking.”) And if the woman says yes, “that’s her courage.” That kind of courage, he says, is beyond his imagining. “How do women still go out with guys, when you consider that there is no greater threat to women than men? We’re the number one threat to women! Globally and historically, we’re the number one cause of injury and mayhem to women.” A moment later he adds, speaking for all men, “You know what our number one threat is? Heart disease.”
In an effort to get men to understand a woman’s experience on a date, he says “try to imagine that you could only date a half-bear, half-lion. ‘Oh, I hope this one’s nice.’ ”
It’s exciting because you rarely see this sort of reflection in comedy — and it’s still fucking hilarious.
[Slate]