Last night, seven minutes of television left me bawling alone in my room. Total heaving, snot-crying.
It was completely unexpected because it came at the end of an episode of Louie, which is actually a comedy. Written by and starring stand-up comedian Louis CK, the show is filled with uncomfortable, confronting, but always hilarious observations on the parts of life we don’t often talk about. Seriously – watch it.
Anyway, last night’s episode was called ‘And so did the fat lady’. Take a look at this scene:
For those who can’t watch, here’s the basic set-up:
Vanessa (played to perfection by Sarah Baker) is a waitress at the comedy club where Louie does stand-up. She is friendly, funny, pretty, sweet and just generally an awesome lady. She is also fat.
Louie constantly hits on virtually every woman in the club and gets rejected. Conversely, Vanessa hits on Louie several times and he rejects her. He clearly likes her – the camera catches him several times sneaking glances at her and smiling during her hilarious interactions with customers – but he’s not interested in dating her.
Vanessa (Sarah Baker) and Louie (Louis CK)Finally, he accepts one of her invitations and the two spend all night walking around the city, talking and laughing and connecting in a way you rarely see him connect with other women on the show.
Then, Louie starts lamenting how hard it is for him to get a date and Vanessa calls him on his bullshit.
She spends the next few minutes explaining to Louie that he has no idea what it means to have trouble dating. She schools him on what it’s like trying to date when you’re a fat girl.
And it’s one of the most heartbreaking and brutally honest pieces of television I have ever seen.