I’ve seen Louis C.K.twice previously in the past year. Both times were at what you may call… dumps: PNC Bank Arts Center and NYC’s Town Hall. OK, so Town Hall isn’t so bad, but compared to the State Theatre, I may as well have been sitting in trough urinal at a ball game. The State Theatre’s richly appointed interior decor is exactly the right accompaniment for baby diarrhea jokes and simulated masturbation.

When people review a movie, it seems like they focus on the plot and not the execution. I’m at a disadvantage reviewing comedians, since it’s impossible to put stand-up on a page and not do it a disservice. I also don’t want to spoil the beauty of an unexpected laugh if you’ve never seen either of these gentlemen before.

The opening comedian was Dan Mintz, a writer for Human Giant and Lucky Louie. Dan’s act is far removed from Louis’ delivery style. Dan calmly delivers non sequitors of alarming inappropriate comedic absurdity, i.e, rape, the holocaust, Roman Polanski, murder. And he does it with fluidity and confidence in the detached, creepy voice of a Mac Store employee / prostitute strangler. His material wasn’t predictable or formulaic at all. He’s a little like Stephen Wright. If Stephen Wright ever had jokes that were really funny and made sense.

I had heard most of Louis C. K’s set before despite billing this show as “all new material”. Still, his set is superbly polished, it seems as if he’s delivering it for the first time with passionate intensity. His material at the State Theatre focuses mainly on the events of Louis’s daily life, his kids, his impending divorce, and interacting with dumb, fat, white people at Starbucks. The kid stuff, while I can’t relate to on the same level as a parent, Louis seems to despise kids as much as I do, so I was on board pretty quickly with that agenda. I’m still wanting Louis to fly out the window and come back as a horse much like his 3 year old does.

Louis’ material that deals with language and censorship was the best of the evening. It’s so pragmatic and simple. He succinctly points out that white people have adopted using “the N word” instead of using the word “Nigger”. In a round about way, it’s a way of saying the word without saying it, but the intention is clear….”Oh, they mean nigger.” It’s the most detestable way of manipulating people into thinking they’re racially sensitive when in fact, they’re provocatively using the word nigger without having the fortitude to deal with the consequences of actually saying it.