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Louis C.K.'s $5 Comedy Special Has Likely Made Him $750,000
By
Christopher Robbins
Published Dec 19, 2011
Modified Dec 19, 2011
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By
Christopher Robbins
Published Dec 19, 2011
Modified Dec 19, 2011
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If you're a connoisseur of funny things you may already know that NYC's own Louis C.K. has a new comedy special out featuring his performances at the Beacon Theater last month. It's on his website for $5, and his thinking is akin to Radiohead's In Rainbows experiment: will people pay for something if they can steal it? Apparently if it's good enough, yes. The comedian tells David Carr that on Thursday night, 175,000 people bought the special, and he was expecting 200,000 total after the weekend. Minus production costs, "That's a $750,000 profit. And he owns the rights, and the long tail of buyers, in perpetuity." Not bad for the recipient of the America's Saddest Handjob.
“It feels weird having numbers out there, because that’s my personal income,” he told Carr. “But I talked to my mom, who is a pretty judicious, careful person, and she said, ‘Tell them everything. Just let it all get out there.’ So that’s what I have been doing, at least so far.” Even though the files for downloading the special can be transferred to another computer and therefore pirated, it doesn't appear that many people have taken that route. "I've gotten so many tweets and emails from people who say, 'I torrent everything and I'm not torrenting this,' " C.K. told NPR. "Because the gap from stealing and buying with these things—for $5, you're almost stealing it. So it tips the scales more easily."
Louis C.K. already has a hit TV series on F/X, Louie, which he writes, directs, produces and edits. But in a Q&A on Reddit last week, he revealed that if the special makes a lot of money, he'd do it again and use the proceeds for a movie.
This special, if it explodes, cause really it's only been up for 2 days, more like a pre-sale. If it really tears an asshole into the money monster who then shits dollars into my mouth (oh my god what's wrong with me) then I will use that money to buy a home and get some security which i NEVER have had in my life and have certainly not gotten from my low budget show.
So it would have to be special number 2 that would keep the money in the company and make a movie. I have always put cash back into the work. The profit I made on last years season of louie went to buying a new RED EPIC camera which now sits here next to me and a modest but impressive collection of lenses from germany and england, which now belong to Pig Newton and will be used to shoot said 8 million dollar movie.
We hope that Louis can nail down Nick Nolte to play Donald Rumsfeld in a biopic about being the Secretary of Defense AND and flesh-eating lizard.
Tagged
comedians
comedy
internet
internet piracy
louie
louis c.k.
money
radiohead
torrent
Christopher Robbins
Christopher Robbins is a New York City reporter covering transportation, affordable housing, local politics, and criminal justice. His work has also appeared in New York Magazine, The Village Voice and The New York Times. Chris is a graduate of Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke, Virginia, and enjoys biking to Fort Tilden in the summertime.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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