[COMEDY] Louis C.K. Independently Releases New Comedy Special For $5

across110thstreet · Dec 12, 2011

I just found out Louis C.K. wrote and directed Pootie Tang

Rocket River · Dec 12, 2011

across110thstreet said: ↑

I just found out Louis C.K. wrote and directed Pootie Tang
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Seriously?

BOO THIS MAN!!!

Rocket River

Svpernaut · Dec 12, 2011

Rocket River said: ↑

Seriously?

BOO THIS MAN!!!

Rocket River
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<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/dpV2ULCb6WU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Comedic Genius... lol.

myco · Dec 12, 2011

Thanks for making me lose an hour at work reading Reddit. Must pull away.

Svpernaut · Dec 12, 2011

myco said: ↑

Thanks for making me lose an hour at work reading Reddit. Must pull away.
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Story of my life...

RoxSqaud · Dec 14, 2011

https://buy.louisck.net/statement

People of Earth (minus the ones who don't give a **** about this): it's been amazing to conduct this experiment with you. The experiment was: if I put out a brand new standup special at a drastically low price ($5) and make it as easy as possible to buy, download and enjoy, free of any restrictions, will everyone just go and steal it? Will they pay for it? And how much money can be made by an individual in this manner?

It's been 4 days. A lot of people are asking me how it's going. I've been hesitant to share the actual figures, because there's power in exclusive ownership of information. What I didn't expect when I started this was that people would not only take part in this experiment, they would be invested in it and it would be important to them. It's been amazing to see people in large numbers advocating this idea. So I think it's only fair that you get to know the results. Also, it's just really cool and fun and I'm dying to tell everybody. I told my Mom, I told three friends, and that wasn't nearly enough. So here it is.

First of all, this was a premium video production, shot with six cameras over two performances at the Beacon Theater, which is a high-priced elite Manhattan venue. I directed this video myself and the production of the video cost around $170,000. (This was largely paid for by the tickets bought by the audiences at both shows). The material in the video was developed over months on the road and has never been seen on my show (LOUIE) or on any other special. The risks were thus: every new generation of material I create is my income, it's like a farmer's annual crop. The time and effort on my part was far more than if I'd done it with a big company. If I'd done it with a big company, I would have a guarantee of a sizable fee, as opposed to this way, where I'm actually investing my own money.

The development of the website, which needed to be a very robust, reliable and carefully constructed website, was around $32,000. We worked for a number of weeks poring over the site to make sure every detail would give buyers a simple, optimal and humane experience for buying the video. I edited the video around the clock for the weeks between the show and the launch.

The show went on sale at noon on Saturday, December 10th. 12 hours later, we had over 50,000 purchases and had earned $250,000, breaking even on the cost of production and website. As of Today, we've sold over 110,000 copies for a total of over $500,000. Minus some money for PayPal charges etc, I have a profit around $200,000 (after taxes $75.58). This is less than I would have been paid by a large company to simply perform the show and let them sell it to you, but they would have charged you about $20 for the video. They would have given you an encrypted and regionally restricted video of limited value, and they would have owned your private information for their own use. They would have withheld international availability indefinitely. This way, you only paid $5, you can use the video any way you want, and you can watch it in Dublin, whatever the city is in Belgium, or Dubai. I got paid nice, and I still own the video (as do you). You never have to join anything, and you never have to hear from us again.

I really hope people keep buying it a lot, so I can have ****loads of money, but at this point I think we can safely say that the experiment really worked. If anybody stole it, it wasn't many of you. Pretty much everybody bought it. And so now we all get to know that about people and stuff. I'm really glad I put this out here this way and I'll certainly do it again. If the trend continues with sales on this video, my goal is that i can reach the point where when I sell anything, be it videos, CDs or tickets to my tours, I'll do it here and I'll continue to follow the model of keeping my price as far down as possible, not overmarketing to you, keeping as few people between you and me as possible in the transaction.
(Of course i reserve the right to go back on all of this and sign a massive deal with a company that pays me fat coin and charges you straight up the ass.). (This is you: yes Louie. And we'll all enjoy torrenting that content. You fat sweaty dolt).

I probably sound kind of crazy right now. It's been a really fun and intense few days. This video was paid for by people who bought tickets, and then bought by people who wanted to see that same show. I got to do exactly the show I wanted, and exactly the show you wanted.

I also got an education. And everything i learned are things i was happy to learn.
I learned that people are interested in what happens and **** (i didn't go to college)

I learned that money can be a lot of things. It can be something that is hoarded, fought over, protected, stolen and withheld. Or it can be like an energy, fueled by the desire, will, creative interest, need to laugh, of large groups of people. And it can be shuffled and pushed around and pooled together to fuel a common interest, jokes about garbage, penises and parenthood.

I want to thank Blair Breard who produced this video and produces my series LOUIE, and I want to thank Caspar and Giles at Version Industries, who created the website.

I hope with all of my heart that I stay funny. Otherwise this all goes to hell. Please have a safe and happy holiday, and thank you again for all this crazy ****.

Sincerely,
Louis C.K.
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Svpernaut · Dec 16, 2011

RoxSqaud said: ↑

https://buy.louisck.net/statement
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He sent out an email today too, pretty awesome.

Hi. This is LOuie. It seriously is me. Im even going to leave
the O stuipdly capatalized because who would pay an intern to do
that?? Okay so you bought the thing with my fat face on it and
you clicked the button that said i could email you. And i know
that now you are thinking "aw ****. Why'd i let this guy into my
life this way?". Well dont worry. Because i really swear it that
i wont bug you. I will not abuse this privalage of having your
email. You wont hear from me again... Probably, unless i have
something new to offer you. The reason i'm writing now, in the
back of a car taking me to the Tonight Show set, is to let you
know that as of now there is some new and cool stuff on my site,
related to Live at the Beacon Theater. Theres a thing where you
can download and print a dvd box cover and label so you can burn
and make your own dvd of the video. And theres a new option where
you can gift the special to as many people as you want (for 5
bucks each) and they'll get a nice gifty email from you with a
link to the video.

Also, some of you may know, i recently made a statement (that
sounds so dumb. Like i'm the president or something) about how the
video has been doing online. Im pasting it in here below in case
you missed it.

Lastly I'm planning to put some more outtakes of the show on
youtube and i think i will put one on the site that is only
available for free to you folks on this list, who bought the
thing and opted in. But dont hold me to that because really i
just thought of it and typed it.

Okay well please have a happy rest of the year and more happy
years after that. And please even have been happy in your past.
What?

Thanks again for giving me 5 dollars. I bought 3 cokes with it.

Regards. Sincerely, Actually,

Louis
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tehG l i d e · Dec 16, 2011

An hour of hilarious material..well worth the 5 bucks.

Xsatyr · Dec 16, 2011

durvasa said: ↑

Never heard of Bill Burr before, but I just watched some of his clips on youtube. Very funny.

<object width="640" height="360"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/nns0_RR1ct8?version=3&hl=en_US&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/nns0_RR1ct8?version=3&hl=en_US&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="640" height="360" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object>
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Bill Burr going off on Philly is epic.

Mr. Clutch · Dec 16, 2011

I like this idea. Gonna buy it.

tehG l i d e · Dec 22, 2011

Louis C.K. said he was shocked as he watched the orders come in -- and then began to feel guilty about the amount he'd netted.
"I've never had a million dollars all at once. I grew up pretty poor and I was like, this is not even my money," he said. "This is just a five-dollar impulse that 220,000 people had, and now I have it. And I felt uncomfortable about having that much money."
So Louis C.K. set aside $250,000 to cover the cost of the expenses of producing the special, then doled out another $250,000 in bonuses for his staffers.
He then donated $280,000 to five charities: The Fistula Foundation, The Pablove Foundation, charity: water, Kiva and Green Chimneys.

http://money.cnn.com/2011/12/22/technology/louis_ck_million/index.htm
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Best dude..

HI Mana · Dec 22, 2011

tehG l i d e said: ↑

Best dude..
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Louis doesn't have a manager/PR guy right? Because damn is he putting on a clinic on how to promote himself to an internet generation, and I'd hate to think this is all calculated; let me go on thinking that he's a normal dude that is happy renting in NY, and still thinks a million dollars is a lot of money.

Joshfast · Dec 22, 2011

this story just makes me happy.

Yonkers · Dec 22, 2011

HI Mana said: ↑

Louis doesn't have a manager/PR guy right? Because damn is he putting on a clinic on how to promote himself to an internet generation, and I'd hate to think this is all calculated; let me go on thinking that he's a normal dude that is happy renting in NY, and still thinks a million dollars is a lot of money.
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Even if it was calculated, he did all the right things with the profit he made. So good on him.

finalsbound · Dec 22, 2011

LOVED the special. LOVE louie...best comedian alive.

HombreDeHierro · Dec 22, 2011

sounds like a human being

Svpernaut · Dec 22, 2011

He's being 100% transparent, which will make him more money in the end. I hope more artists continue to do this sort of thing.

hi. So it's been about 12 days since the thing started and yesterday we hit the crazy number. One million dollars. That's a lot of money. Really too much money. I've never had a million dollars all of a sudden. and since we're all sharing this experience and since it's really your money, I wanted to let you know what I'm doing with it. People are paying attention to what's going on with this thing. So I guess I want to set an example of what you can do if you all of a sudden have a million dollars that people just gave to you directly because you told jokes.

So I'm breaking the million into four pieces.

the first 250k is going to pay back what the special cost to produce and the website to build.

The second 250k is going back to my staff and the people who work for me on the special and on my show. I'm giving them a big fat bonus.

The third 280k is going to a few different charities. They are listed below in case you'd like to donate to them also. Some of these i learned about through friends, some were reccomended through twitter.

The Fistula Foundation
The Pablove Foundation
charity: water
Kiva
Green Chimneys
That leaves me with 220k for myself. Some of that will pay my rent and will care for my childen. The rest I will do terrible, horrible things with and none of that is any of your business. In any case, to me, 220k is enough out of a million.

I never viewed money as being "my money" I always saw it as "The money" It's a resource. if it pools up around me then it needs to be flushed back out into the system.

The thing is still on sale. I hope folks keep buying it. If I make another million, I'll give more of it away. I'll let you know when that happens because I like you getting to know what happened to your 5 dollars and bringing awareness to the bla bla bla.

Okay I really gotta go now. Thank you again. I will now stop bugging you. I really hate being in the news this much so I'm gonna just disappear for a while.

Happy hollidays.
Louis C.K.
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across110thstreet · Dec 23, 2011

this is super awesome. thanks again for the link. rep if I haven't already.

Nice Rollin · Dec 27, 2011

just bought it. about to watch!

BigM · Dec 27, 2011

Awesome stuff... bought it back when the thread started, hilarious as always.

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[COMEDY] Louis C.K. Independently Releases New Comedy Special For $5

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[COMEDY] Louis C.K. Independently Releases New Comedy Special For $5

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