Louis CK, Playhouse, Edinburgh review: Uproarious

A delightful growl of midlife misanthropy

“I wear a suit on stage now, because I’m trying to be more appreciative of life,” growls Louis CK, drawing attention to the incongruous black pinstripe affair he’s wearing, matched with a sober red tie. It doesn’t seem to be working. Arriving to a rock star welcome on the Edinburgh Festival the night before he plays a weekend of dates in London, there aren’t many people less well-suited to playing the role of rock star than Louis.

Slouchy, middle-aged, ambivalent about the thought of ending it all, railing against his nearest and dearest; he’s the male mid-life crisis made flesh, but with that seemingly unenviable position comes a crystalline self-awareness and a devastating willingness to say whatever the hell he wants. “I like the weather here!” he offers brightly. “Because it’s shitty.” In Scotland he’s found his people, and his weather.

Although of course, life can’t be quite that bad for Louis. He’s won and been nominated for multiple Emmys for his own series Louie and his writing on The Chris Rock Show; last year he was the first comedian to sell out Madison Square Garden three times on the same tour; this summer his crossover to mainstream cinema continues apace with a voice role in the hit animation The Secret Life of Pets. With it all going right, he does a great impersonation of a guy whose life is falling down around his ears in slow motion.

Within the space of a few breaths, he reveals his devotion to his children and his fantasies about just walking away from his responsibilities one day. He still rails against marriage after his 2008 divorce, assuring us that “marriages last 60 years because one person just f**king takes it… she really wanted kids and I just didn’t wanna get yelled at”. Marriage was the worst thing he ever did, he says, but the children which came from it are the best thing in his life.

His down-to-earth combination of misanthropy and anger is all, you feel, aimed at his own lack of ability to see the bright side, or to have figured out as much as he wants to by the age of 48. The set is very personal, not political – the closest he gets to that is with the devastating set-up line “the worst thing about being beheaded…” and his unlikely plan to defeat Isis – but it’s unflinching in its introspection. If you ever wanted to hear a middle aged man reveal his Magic Mike fantasies to uproarious effect, here’s your chance.

Louis CK plays Wembley Arena on 12-13 August and London's Hammersmith Apollo on 14 August, www.louisck.net