Well that came out of nowhere. This morning comedian Louis C.K. surprised his fans with a project he has been working on in secret and released the pilot episode of a new online dramedy series called Horace And Pete. It’s almost like when Beyonce released an album nobody knew she was working on and the world had a meltdown. Except nobody is having a meltdown.
C.K. announced his super secret project in an email to his fans. According to Deadline, the email was abrupt and direct, reading, “Go here to watch it. We hope you like it.” And that was it. Not even C.K.’s official website offers anymore information except to show the latest release. Just like the other projects Louis C.K. makes available on his site, the first episode costs $5. So far only one episode is available for purchase and viewing, but there are 3 blank spaces for what we can only assume will be additional episodes.
Horace And Pete is a dark, 67-minute comedy about an Irish bar called Horace and Pete’s, the bar’s workers, and regular customers. Louis C.K. wrote the script, directed the series, and plays Horace, a guy who runs the bar and whose father died a year prior. Steve Buscemi and Alan Alda costar in the dramedy and and play characters who are both named Pete. Edie Falco, Rebecca Hall, Jessica Lange, Kurt Metzger, Steven Wright, and many others make appearances in the show.
The episode makes references to current events which indicate the show was written and filmed very recently. In this age of information, it is a wonder how C.K. was able to keep this on the down low, but it does perhaps help explain why a few weeks ago the FX CEO, John Landgraf, told Deadline he wasn’t sure when or even if C.K.’s other comedy, Louie, would return from its long hiatus. The only possible indication of this surprise was Landgraf saying one of the reasons why Louie may not return to TV is because C.K. is working on four different projects and preparing for a standup tour. I suppose now we know what at least one of those projects Louis C.K. was working on is.