When HBO canceled the show Lucky Louie in 2006, people with my kind of humor were distraught. Here was a show whose aim was to make fun of every cliched sitcom to come before it, complete with one camera and awful looking sets, by telling the story of a loving family that was just a tad more vulgar than most people. It was honest, it was biting, and it was laugh out loud funny. Unfortunately, it seemed the world wasn’t ready to crap on the shows they grew up on or to embrace a show that did that with such aplomb. It was 12 episodes and done.

But the stand up comedian star, writer and producer of that show, Louis C.K. was not done. Being one of the most brilliant and respected stand ups in the world has its pluses.

Not to mention that he was a writer for Late Night With Conan O’Brien, The Chris Rock Show, wrote and directed Pootie Tang and more. This guy has a high quality pedigree and a very unique voice. And FX saw an opportunity in that.

While Lucky Louie made fun of the sitcoms people loved, the new show Louie (FX, 11 p.m., Tuesdays) just makes fun of Louis. He stars as himself, a divorced stand up comedian with two young daughters, and the show cuts between stand up acts and dramatizations of awkward/ funny situations that are discussed in the comedy.

It’s not as rude or crude as the HBO show was, but being that it’s on so late, as well as airing on a very content liberal cable network, the show can push the envelope pretty far. The language and subject matter are very nasty at times, but also very honest and funny. It exhibits humor that needs to take some time to get used to, humor where you are laughing at something you shouldn’t be laughing at, but continue to do so. Shows like The Office and 30 Rock dabble in this sort of cringe sensibility but never hit the mark like Louie.

That said, those shows have been constantly funny, and have developed characters and long story arcs over several seasons. Louie has only been on for one week. But, in that week, we’ve seen a light at the end of the tunnel of what’s possible from a television comedy.