Actor Louis C. K. of the television show "Louie" speaks during the FX portion of the 2012 Winter TCA Press Tour at The Langham Huntington Hotel and Spa on Jan. 15, 2012 in Pasadena, California
*Comedian Louis C.K. may be a critical darling now – with sold out standup gigs and his hit FX show “Louie” – but there’s one portion of his career that he considers a complete and total failure: “Pootie Tang.”
During a panel at the Television Critics Association winter press tour, C.K. was told that famed director John Waters hoped for a novelization of the 2001 film, which was written and directed by C.K. – and from which he was eventually fired from directing.
“That’s really nice. I love John Waters. He’s a great filmmaker,” C.K. said, before adding, “I wish he praised me for something else.” C.K. went on to call the comedy “a tragedy to me,” and “a very huge mistake” that “never should have been made.”
C.K. wrote the film as a satire of the stereotyped characters that appeared in blaxploitation films. Pootie Tang, played by Lance Crouther, communicated in speech largely unintelligible to the audience, yet it was completely understandable by other characters in the film. Chris Rock, Wanda Sykes and J.B. Smoove were co-stars. [Scroll down to watch a scene.]
Below, Louie says “Pootie Tang” was the colossal disaster of his career, yet it prepared him to write, direct, produce and star in his current FX success, “Louie.”
Louie CK on what he learned from his Pootie Tang debacle by CherieNic
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My youngest daughter thinks this movie was the funniest shiat she’d ever seen!!! SMH…she just screams laughing whenever this dumb ass movie comes on…especially the scene with the gorilla..
I NEVER liked Pootie Tang. I know it was supposed to be a stupid movie, but this shit was just too stupid. I couldn’t tolerate the way he spoke.
For what it’s worth, success is not always measured by box office receipts. Some of my favorite movies never created so much a blip at the box office. I include “Pootie Tang” in this group. Pootie Tang is one of the funniest movies I’ve ever seen. I didn’t say the smartest, or the cleverest or any of the other adjectives used to rate movies. I just said it was “one of the funniest”. However, you must watch it with the knowledge that it was a satire. On the face of it, it could be considered insulting by some. However, I think the problem is that some watchers didn’t have the needed frame of reference to get the “in jokes”. It went way overboard, but that’s what made it so funny. So hold your head up, Mr. C.K. Lots of very famous directors’ “first movies” were not considered to be “special”. You have a fan for life here.