Sometimes a push forward for our people has to come from the outside, the straight world. For all the rallying and demonstrating and lobbying we do, an essential piece of our mission to have straight people accept us, respect us, and think of us as equals is to have those same straight people participate in the discussion, even have it in our absence. This is all very highfalutin language for the intro to a TV clip on a blog, yes, but I consider this a pretty important, and very powerful, TV clip.

A couple days ago, I was listening to Fresh Air on NPR (BRAG!), and Terry Gross was interviewing comedian Louis CK, one of my idols (tied for 2nd with Michelle Williams of Destiny's Child, maybe). I was lucky enough to see Louis CK live at the tender age of 17, when I was visiting my big brother in college, pre-Pootie-Tang, pre-lots-of-stuff, and to call it a life-changing experience sells it short of how head-explode-y it was for me. Anyway, Terry Gross of Fresh Air took a large chunk of her show to talk with Louis about this scene, from his new FX series Louie, in which one of Louis' longtime (actual) gay friends explains to him the meaning of the word "faggot" -- not to scold him for using it flippantly in his stand-up act, per se, but so he actually knows what the hell he's saying when he's saying it. Video after the jump...


Louis CK is one of those comedians who is at his best when he's making people uncomfortable -- sometimes he does it by using "offensive" language, and sometimes all he needs to do is be honest about his own body and everyone squirms. But it's very intentional, and very honest. He's never shocking just for the sake of being shocking. His grossness, and meanness, and vulnerability are the definition of authenticity, and where he falls short personally, or the world falls short in his eyes, he sees something worth talking about.

What's made this scene so buzzworthy (it's been blogged, and Tweeted, and everything'd by now) is that it is not saccharine, and not overly-pedantic in any way. Louis is DEFINITELY going to keep saying that word, and so are his buddies, but hopefully to some effect creating something other than hate. I'm a HUGE proponent of nasty words being used with wit, or with purpose at least -- to me, a comedian, that is the pinnacle of writing well. And here we see a foul-mouthed and truly filthy conversation turn sensitive and smart, and not at the expense of the comedy, or the drama, and without ever treading the yucky PC line.

Apparently, this scene was based on an actual conversation between these two comedians when they first met, years and years ago, as young aspiring comedians in New York. It was a powerful moment for Louis, and it stayed with him, even though he admits that he's never fact-checked the etymology of the word "faggot" to see if his gay friend is right (he isn't). But that's hardly the point -- words, especially dirty words spoken by comedians-by-trade never mean what they sound like they mean. They mean whatever's behind them, whatever the comedian is thinking when s/he says them.

So, I loved watching this scene, and I loved watching the whole show, and I loved hearing Louis talk about what it meant to him on Fresh Air. Louis CK is a great comedian, and it turns out, he's got our backs, which is nice to know. Because if this is how he treats his friends, imagine how he'd treat his enemies. (Also, major shout-out to Hannibal Buress, my favorite NYC comedian, who was lucky enough [and talented and cool enough] to hang with the big boys in this scene, and hold his own comically. KUDOS!)