Comedian Louis C.K. surprised his fans with the unexpected release of his new web series "Horace and Pete" a few weeks back. With little fanfare and even less promotion, C.K. dropped the show online out of the blue - think "10 Cloverfield Lane's" marketing campaign but with considerably less horror - where it was immediately met with positive reviews. Little is known about the show and its development, but C.K. finally shed some light on the project while appearing on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" Wednesday night.
To this point, the only public information about the series has come from C.K.'s subscriber emails. Now, we finally have a bit more to go on.
"This is the first time I've told anyone, out loud with my voice, that the shows on the air," C.K. told Kimmel.
For those of you that still have no idea what I'm talking about, "Horace and Pete" is a webseries that C.K. created, funded and is distributing by himself. Fans who are on C.K.'s email list all received notifications at which point they could buy and watch the series straight from his website.
The show was meant to be kept on the down low, as his co-stars and their agents were asked to keep the project a secret. It's impressive that no one noticed, considering the big names like Steve Buscemi, Edie Falco, Alan Alda, Jessica Lange and Aidy Bryant that are involved.
"I got all these people and said please don't tell anybody you're doing this show. And they asked, how are you going to promote it? And I said I'm not. I just want it to appear. I just want it to suddenly appear," he said.
C.K. explained that he believed it would be more exciting if the show appeared to materialize from thin air without the expectations and perceptions that come with launching a new show.
"I hate when they tell me everything before I see a show. So you just get a thing, and you go 'what?' And you go on and you just start watching it."
"Horace and Pete" is in the same vein as C.K.'s critically acclaimed FX series "Louie" in that it isn't a straight comedy. At times, it can be very funny, but not in a traditional ha-ha way. Kimmel likened it to a "depressed 'Cheers' and C.K. described is as "what the bar that 'Cheers' was based on was probably like between 2pm and 5pm. It's about day drinkers and the bar they drink in."
You can catch up on the show at LouisCK.com. New episodes come out on Saturday mornings and there are six episodes available now.