Despite his nastiness, I always got the impression that Louie wasn't as horrible as he pretended to be, and that deep down, there was an inherent part of humanity infused with all that disgustingness. The show did highling his softer side, from time to time.

An episode I can think of is Latka's Revolting when he pretends to give Latka a "chewing out", but everyone sees him hugging him instead. And in Alex Tastes Death and Finds a Nice Restaurant he did (albeit reluctantly) give Alex a hug. In Paper Marriage, he was anxious to get Latka to talk to him again, going to the trouble of making up the story for the feds and hugging him then. And he also pretended to be gay in Men Are Such Beasts to help Tony get rid of Denise.

So although he was undoubtedly a pretty disgusting, loathsome man, I think that deep down, he was quite nice...in a small way - and that this niceness came out at times. Although there were numerous occasions in which he seemed to be "against" the cabbies, I think that he was really "one of them", and although they often acted as though they hated him (and I've no doubt that usually, they really disliked him), I think underneath all of that, they did care about Louie to some extent and even considered him "one of the gang."

Any thoughts?

Don't forget "Louie sees the Light." Louie was a good person deep down. He was just very lonely and bitter.

Don't forget "Louie sees the Light." Louie was a good person deep down. He was just very lonely and bitter.

Oh yes, I was just watching that episode the other day. I agree that deep down, he was quite good, however, I also believe that the nastiness was very much a part of his character - as Alex said to God, "He's not Your best work."

However, it was an admirable thing he tried to do - and he really tried - but Bobby wore him down. I thought that was very mean of Bobby. Okay, so Louie was horrible to him most of the time, but even so...the other cabbies disliked Louie too, but they'd often be kind to Louie if he had a problem, or was in some sort of bother - and Bobby, instead of sympathising, would sometimes be nasty to him.

Having said that, though, he did pretend to be Louie at Louie's high school reunion, so maybe you could say that Bobby didn't hate Louie entirely either, and may have felt sorry for him at times. Although, whether he did that as a favour to Louie, or as a chance to prove to himself his acting skills, is questionable.