Louis C.K.

[Wesley]

So are there any fans of Louis here?

 

He's definitely my favourite comedian at the moment.

 

I just finished re-watching the first season of Louie today in preparation of season two, which starts on the 23rd of this month.

 

It was definitely my favourite comedy of last year and can't wait for season two (this plus Curb starting soon makes me pretty happy).

 

Erm...

 

Yeah.

 

Here's a video from one of his stand ups:

 

[Rummy]

Mate of mine was pimping him to me recently, watched a few eps of the show, kinda liked it. Not mind-blowing, but quite astute in places. Definitely worth a watch, I'd catch up on some more but my list of things to do/watch is growing ever increasingly larger.

[Wesley]

The TV show is very odd in the sense that there's not an overall story and quite often individual episodes don't even seem to have a story direction.

 

But it's a little like Curb, in the sense that there's a theme for each one.

[Coolness Bears]

Yes, I love him.

 

I've not watched his show yet though.

[Magnus]

Haha, what a coincidence - I just started watching Louie last night. It seems good so far.

[ReZourceman]

Ah, I saw this guy for the first time about two weeks ago. On that Ricky Gervais/Chris Rock/Jerry Seinfeld thing. I plan to watch videos of him (online) (now/soon)

 

[Wesley]

SUP MOTHERFUCKERS.

 

So Louis CK has put up a new video on site free of DRM for purchase.

 

Costs about 3 quid something and you have the option to stream it twice or download it in HD or reggggular.

 

http://www.louisck.net

[Magnus]

I was going to bump up this thread when I finished season 2, but it seemed kind of silly to bump it up just to say I don't like the show very much.

 

At least his stand-up is pretty funny. The show should just be about that.

[Wesley]

Yeah the show is pretty different from his stand-up.

 

Gotta say I think both are great.

 

If you don't like the meat of the show at least you get bits of "stand-up" from him scattered throughout.

[Magnus]

So do you find the rest of the show funny, or do you find some other value in it?

 

Because I can kind of understand if people like it because it's a fascinating look into the life of a middle-aged single father who has nothing left to live for except his two kids, or whatever. But I've been reading IMDb to see what people see in the show, and a lot of posters seem to think it's one of the funniest shows on television.

 

Maybe it's just not my kind of humor.

[Wesley]

Yeah I think the rest of the show is fantastic.

 

It's funny but not in the immediate sense of a joke and a punchline, it's a more drawn-out and lingering humour.

 

I find that kind of humour oddly rewarding, you have to invest something into it for a return, which I like.

 

In fact I can still remember multiple scenes/shows that were absolutely great that have had some kind of impact/impression - while I don't remember all that much from the stand-up parts.

 

But it's not because his stand-up is weak, in fact he's maybe my favourite stand-up comedian.

 

I'm not sure what I'm trying to say.

 

Let me try and use a metaphor.

 

His stand-up parts are like masturbating; where as the "other" parts are like having great sex.

 

Yeah?

 

No?

 

Was that even a metaphor, or just two similes stuck together?

 

What were we talking about again?

[Magnus]

We were talking?

 

Sorry, I kind of lost focus when you likened Louie to great sex.

 

I think you're doing it wrong.

 

Sex, I mean.

 

To me, the show is more like really bad sex. You can't seem to bring yourself to enjoy it even though you feel like you should, and when the orgasm finally comes, it's utterly disappointing.

 

Louie: just like sex.

[Wesley]

Woah, and you said I was doing it wrong.

 

We should just have sex together as a way of comparing notes.

[Magnus]

I'd rather watch Louie.

 

Sorry, that was mean.

 

It's just weird because I usually find your posts funny. So I feel like either I'm missing something in Louie, or you're just a big phony.

[Wesley]

Oh... this is awkward...

 

*puts pants back on*

 

I think our messages were getting mixed up.

 

Just... act like you didn't see that.

 

To be honest it's best if no one sees that in daylight.

[Magnus]

It's weird how every discussion with you ends with you with your pants around your ankles.

 

Sometimes they even start that way.

[nightwolf]

Louis C.K is someone I've only been introduced to recently.

 

But I find him remarkably funny, he's quite insulting and to the point on exactly what pisses him off in life, plus he's a grumpy old man, what more could you ask for?

 

I've yet to watch everything he's done, but need to get around to it, heard he's recently done a new show? Not sure how that is.

[Wesley]

Yeah the one that's... on the website?

 

Yeah it's fantastic!

 

Also I don't think he's a grumpy old man really...

 

He hates a lot of shit but that's because most of the stuff is bullshit.

 

But he often comes across as really upbeat and happy about shit.

 

He has a few jokes about how people complain about phones and aeroplanes, despite them being some of the most impressive things you could ever own/do.

 

I think he's pretty awesome.

[nightwolf]

Yeah the one that's... on the website?

 

Yeah it's fantastic!

 

Also I don't think he's a grumpy old man really...

 

He hates a lot of shit but that's because most of the stuff is bullshit.

 

But he often comes across as really upbeat and happy about shit.

 

He has a few jokes about how people complain about phones and aeroplanes, despite them being some of the most impressive things you could ever own/do.

 

I think he's pretty awesome.

 

He is pretty upbeat in a round about way, like for example he speaks about technology and how we all complain it breaks a lot, in a grumpy way he mentions how previously we've not had said technology and therefore should be grateful.

 

Very funny, very interesting too.

[Wesley]

Yay!

 

More love for him all round.

 

His new video and the way he delivered it was pretty interesting.

 

There's been some back and forth between him and the "internet community" about piracy and him even checking out torrent sites to see why it's been uploaded, etc.

 

He did a little AskReddit thing and spoke about it a bit.

 

This was also posted on his site the other day.

 

People of Earth (minus the ones who don't give a shit 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 shitloads 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 shit (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 shit.

 

Sincerely,

Louis C.K.