Penny Thoughts ‘15—Louie, season 3 (2012) ****

TV-MA, 13 21-min. episodes

Creator: Louis C.K.

Directors: Louis C.K., Liz Plonka

Writers: Louis C.K., Pamela Adlon

Starring: Louis C.K.

Guest starring: Gaby Hoffman, Susan Kalechi Watson, Gary Wilmes, Melissa Leo, Allan Havey, Hadley Delaney, Ursula Parker, Larisa Polonsky, Miguel Gomez, Parker Posey, Maria Bamford, Casey Seimaszko, Robin Williams, Sarah Silverman, Marc Maron, Maria Dizzia, Michael C. Creighton, F. Murray Abraham, Rick Crom, Nick Di Paolo, Jim Norton, William Stephenson, Chloë Sevigny, Roderick Hill, Yul Vazquez, Jay Leno, Garry Marshall, Edward Gelbinovich, David Lynch, Chris Rock, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Jerry Seinfeld, Todd Barry, Paul Rudd, Amy Poehler

I know, I know, I know. I’m way behind here. The amazing thing is that I love this series and I started it just about two weeks after the first episode of the first season premiered, so I’ve been going through it very slowly.  This is, however, one of the best shows on television. Here’s why:

Penny Thoughts ‘14—Chelsea Peretti: One of the Greats (2014) ***

NR, 74 min.

Director: Lance Bangs

Writer/Performer: Chelsea Peretti

I had never heard of Chelsea Peretti before seeing “Brooklyn Nine Nine”, the Andy Samberg police comedy show in which she plays the precinct secretary. Of a cast of oddballs, her character is by far the strangest of the bunch. She’s a too cool for school playa who probably sat by herself talking mostly to herself during lunch period.

Joan Rivers (1933-2014)

I became aware of Joan Rivers as I did most celebrities as a child; she was on TV. It didn’t matter if they were a movie star or a television star, a comedian or rock star. I saw them on TV. Rivers was a TV presence. I knew she was a comedian, but I never seemed to catch her act when I was young. Today I know why.

Word came today from River’s daughter and business partner in some endeavors, Melissa that the comedy legend had passed away at the age of 81. The television host went into cardiac arrest during a medical procedure on September 3. She had been rushed to Mount Sinai Hospital in New York after experiencing complications during throat surgery at New York Medical Clinic on August 28. Accounts on what had occurred had been vague, but Melissa updated fans with a statement today after her mother’s death. “She passed today surrounded by family and close friends,” Melissa continued, “My mother’s greatest pleasure in life was to make people laugh.”

Although my own personal experience with the comedian was peripheral in my youth—with her performance as Dot Matrix in the Mel Brooks “Star Wars” skewering “Spaceballs” comprising most of my knowledge of her—I would later in life come to appreciate her contribution to the entertainment industry as a whole. Rivers was the first female to sit in the host chair of “The Tonight Show”, having filled in on several occasions for longtime host Johnny Carson. It was long assumed that Rivers was being groomed to replace Carson when she was offered her own late night program on another network. Her show failed, and the incident went down in the annals of the dramatic late night history as resulting in NBC “banning” the comedian from appearing on any of their shows for multiple decades. On a recent appearance on “The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon”, Rivers down played the history as water under the bridge.

Penny Thoughts ‘14—Mike Birbiglia: My Girlfriend’s Boyfreind (2013) ****

NR, 75 min.

Director: Seth Barrish

Starring: Mike Birbiglia

Mike Birbiglia’s stand up concert film “My Girldfriend’s Boyfriend” should go down as one of the great stand up films. Along with Richard Pryor’s “Live on the Sunset Strip” and George Carlin’s “Carlin at Carnegie” and even a little bit like Spalding Gray’s “Swimming to Cambodia”, Birbiglia’s comedy concert transcends mere stand up comedy and ventures into performance art and autobiographical enlightenment.

Penny Thoughts ‘13—Louie, season 2 (2011) ****

TV-MA, 14 21-min. episodes

Creator: Louis C.K.

Director: Louis C.K.

Writers: Louis C.K., Pamela Adlon

Starring: Louis C.K.

Guest Starring: Rusty Schwimmer, Hadley Delany, Ursula Parker, Roderick Hill, Maria Dizzia, Kelly McCrann, Liza Colon-Zayas, Pamela Adlon, Peter Benson, Donna Hanover, Todd Barry, Joan Rivers, Jack O’Connell, Eunice Anderson, Dane Cook, Bob Saget, Edward Gelbinovich, Heidi Armbruster, Jim Norton, Greg Gutfeld, Liz Holtan, Angela Gould, Doug Stanhope, Chris Gethard, Nick Kocher, Patrick O’Neill, Gregg Rogell, Veanne Cox, Grant Shaud, Will Janowitz, Kevin Nagel, Ali Ahn, Amir Blumenfeld, Joe DeRosa, Ali Reza, Keni Thomas, Don Pugsley, Lilly Robbins, Todd Glass, Gideon Adlon, Lisa Emery, Nick DiPaolo, Godfrey, F. Murray Abraham, Chris Rock, Jenn Lyon, Steven Wright

After waiting 2 and a half years to return to “Louie” after its impressive first season, my initial thoughts about the comedy/drama half hour television show from stand up comedian Louis C.K. have been vindicated by its seconds season. This is definitely the best show on television.

Penny Thoughts ‘13—Sleepwalk With Me (2012) ***½

PG-13, 90 min.

Directors: Mike Birbigia, Seth Barrish (co-director)

Writers: Mike Birbiglia, Joe Birbiglia, Ira Glass, Seth Barrish

Starring: Mike Birbiglia, Lauren Ambrose, James Rebhorn, Carol Kane, Marc Maron, Cristin Milioti

Not only is “Sleepwalk With Me” one of the best movies ever made about stand up comedy, it is also an engaging and atypically good examination of a romantic relationship. Made entirely independently by stand up comic Mike Birbiglia, this movie is not just some silly comedy, but a serious self analysis by the man, who approaches the material on what seems to be entirely autobiographical terms. The names have been changed, but not by much. Birbiglia plays a stand up comedian named Matt Pandamiglio. Comedian and podcaster Marc Maron plays a headlining veteran comedian named Marc Mulheren. I hope for the sake of Birbiglia’s ex-girlfriend depicted in the film that her name is a far cry from Abby.

Penny Thoughts ‘12—Brian Regan: The Epitome of Hyperbole (2008) **

NR, 45 min.

Director: Troy Miller

Writer/Star: Brian Regan

I like Brian Regan’s comedy. He’s been popular long enough that my appreciation could allow some to categorize me as ‘lame.’ What’s up with that trend in comedian popularity? As soon as a comic hits a certain realm of popularity, he becomes unfunny to many people. Brian Regan’s Comedy Central stand-up special “The Epitome of Hyperbole” might explain that phenomenon to some degree. It just isn’t as good as he is.

Penny Thoughts ‘12—Zach Galifianakis: Live at the Purple Onion (2006) ***

NR, 72 min.

Director: Michael Blieden

Writer: Zach Galifianakis

Starring: Zach Galifianakis, Joe Wagner, Brian Unger

Back before the Netflix business brain melted, they produced a comedy special by then up and coming comedic actor Zach Galifianakis. Although Galifianakis’s awkward name was starting to buzz out of the comedy world and into mainstream pop culture, nobody knew how big the bearded oddball would become once he appeared in “The Hangover” in 2009. So it’s a little strange to look back at was he was before his superstardom.