Life with Louie

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"Let me tell you about my family." —Louie Anderson as the episode starts

Life With Louie is an American cartoon co-created by stand-up comedian and actor Louie Anderson and loosely based on his childhood. The series won multiple awards, including two Emmy Awards.

The story is set in Wisconsin in The Sixties. Louie Anderson is an 8-year-old kid, living with several brothers and sisters, mother Ora and father Andy. Andy is a neurotic, overbearing but caring World War II veteran who often seems to be a little... out of touch with reality. We follow Louie's adventures and everyday life, which would be pretty simple (eating, sleeping, watching TV, having a crush on schoolmate) if either Louie or Andy wouldn't constantly botch it.

To this day, the show is still not available on DVD, despite being good enough for a proper release.

Not to be confused with Life With Loopy, which is an entirely different thing.

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Tropes used in Life with Louie include:

• Butt Monkey: Both Andy and Louie can never win. Even Louie's younger brother treats him like this.
• Can't Get Away with Nuthin': In one episode Louie steals a single piece of candy. The shop's owner informs him that he will make an inventory check and if anything is missing, he will know whose parents to call. Louie was so scared that the next night he broke into a store to return that candy. The same episode introduced three criminals, who all started their careers by stealing one piece of candy.
• Catch Phrase: Several, but the most used:

Andy For crying out loud?!

• Celebrity Toons: Natch, and one of the rare cases where the celebrity involved did the voice work.
• The Chessmaster: Literal example. Both Louie and Andy are very skilled at chess, but it's not reflected by any other skills typical for The Chessmaster.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Andy, without a shadow of a doubt.
• Comic Role Play
• The Conscience: Jenny, most of times when Louie does something bad.
• Fake Ultimate Hero: Andy portrays himself as an incarnation of some god of war in his stories. In one episode he scared a squirrel that attacked Louie, however each time he was telling somebody about it, he was replacing it with more dangerous animals. It ends with a story where he handles giant grizzly with his bare hands.

Andy: When we were stationed in Siberia, I was fighting with bears for money. Five rubles for bear's skin. I was earning 25 rubles per day!

• • Lampshaded in "Alive! Miracle in Cedar Knoll, Wisconsin." Andy chases off a small animal that spooked Louie and Tommy. As the years went by and the story was re-told, the small animal somehow became a bull and then a bear.
• Gosh Dang It to Heck: According to Louie, how you feel after getting hit in the ear with a slush ball makes you want to "swear."

Louie: DARN IT!

• The Gump: Andy claims to have coined the phrase "I Like Ike" during his war service. Unlike a lot of his other stories, this one seems to be true as Dwight D. Eisenhower actually knows who he is.
• He Who Must Not Be Seen: Played with for Andy and Ora's eight other kids. Sometimes they've been outright seen, but usually the three variants are made use of in some fasion.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Andy is a lot more caring than he lets on.
• Keep Circulating the Tapes: Some sources claim the show is available on DVD in Poland. Other than that, good luck buying it!
  • It is available in Poland indeed, but only the first two seasons, and without English audio.
• Moebius Neighborhood: Anderson's only neighbors we see are Jensens.
• Nostalgia Filter: How Anderson was able to turn an emotionally abusive childhood growing up with an alcoholic, wife-beating father in the slums of St. Paul, Minnesota into this.
• OOC Is Serious Business: How Louie proved to Ora that everybody are going nuts without Jen Glen

Louie: Hey, dad, tell me about war. Andy: What war?

• Papa Wolf: Andy.
• Parental Bonus: There's an entire episode where Louie's trying to find out where babies come from. Asking his father, Andy decides to tell him a story about soldiers on a battlefield dying one by one, save one final soldier (being himself) making it past the mines and traps and eventually reaching the goal. Older people must have had a good laugh at this one.
  • This troper can't recall if this is the same episode, but there's another example where Louie's mother believes she's pregnant. Towards the end of the episode however it turns out to be false alarm, to which Andy gives her a dreamy look and says something along the lines of "I guess the soldiers didn't march this time..."
• Phony Veteran: Andy defines this trope. Andy remembers things... diferently from what really happened. Might be that it is a defense mechanism of trying to cope with what really happened, making Andy a Shell-Shocked Veteran.
• Politician Guest Star: President Dwight Eisenhower appeared in one episode, though we didn't see his face.
• Shaped Like Itself:

Andy: Of course I can tell the difference between army, and...em...say...army.

• Shout-Out:

Judge: I want the truth. Andy: You can't handle the truth!

• • The best part? Judge wanted to know whether Andy parked in a site for disabled people.
• The Renaissance Age of Animation
• Talking to Himself: Louie Anderson voicing both his younger self and Andy.
• Tomboy: Jenny.
• Very Loosely Based on a True Story: The show proudly admits it's only inspired by the real Louie Anderson's childhood, with Anderson himself telling the actual story before the episode begins.
• We Want Our Jerk Back: In one episode Glen Glen's mother, Jen, Jerkass and Large Ham feared in the entire town, lost her voice to everybody's relief. At last at first... Then entire town started acting like if they were turned into some decayed Dark World or even Mirror Universe versions of themselves. In the end they all worked together to raise enough money to pay for her operation. Even Andy, who hates Jen's guts, gave everybody a Rousing Speech.

Andy: We are like army. And army takes care of it's soldiers. Even if that soldier is a pain in the butt.