Lucky Louie was a short lived sitcom made by American network HBO that aired during 2006 and was essentially a vehicle for the brilliant comedian Louis CK. The humour in Lucky Louie is mostly derived from CK’s stand up material and often falls into the bracket of typical sitcom fare; the brutal banality of parenthood, hating your spouse, getting on with the next door neighbours etc.

The refreshing twist of the show is that rather than skating around these hackneyed issues in a light hearted, cutesy manner they are instead confronted head on in all their obscene glory. For example, Louie is caught by his wife having a wank in the broom cupboard. He manages to inadvertently, yet constantly, offend his African American neighbours. And most enjoyably, he seems to garner no pleasure whatsoever from taking care of his cute but overactive daughter.

Lucky Louie is authentically cheap looking, a fitting antidote to aspirational sitcoms like Friends and Will & Grace in which you’re led to believe that palatial apartments are the natural habitat of broke, neurotic twenty somethings. And the fantastically unglamorous looking cast, including stand ups Jim Norton and Rick Shapiro, lend an edge of gritty realism that is sadly lacking in a lot of modern comedy programmes.

Unfortunately LL was cancelled by HBO after it’s initial run of twelve shows, apparently due to poor critical reception as opposed to viewing figures. This is a real shame as most great sitcoms take a season or two to get off the ground and really hit their stride, and one would have loved to have seen the development of the show’s rich array of supporting players.

Don’t get me wrong, Lucky Louie is far from perfect. At times the fact that the comedy is lifted directly from CK’s stand up routines makes the script seem forced and unnatural. Whilst the uber realistic approach in both décor and narrative occasionally jars badly within the sitcom setting. Furthermore it is relentlessly downbeat, which can leave the viewer feeling a tad depressed after watching an episode – not the intended goal of any comedy programme I would imagine. Unless of course you’re one of the cloven hoofed ‘writers’ responsible for the mind-bendingly diabolical Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps.

But it says something of Lucky Louie’s charm that the above criticisms are but tiny niggles when viewed within the wider context of the programme’s many positive attributes. It’s premature cancellation will almost undoubtedly turn it into a cult classic and curate’s egg to be marvelled over by fans of alternative American comedy and the sitcom genre in general.

With CK set to star in a new sketch based show simply entitled Louie next year there will hopefully at last be an appropriate vehicle for the man described by Britain’s very own Ricky Gervais as the best stand up in the world today.

In the meantime, if you have the appropriate technology you can grab the Region One DVD of Lucky Louie here or stream episodes here.