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It’s only Monday, but web-favorite comedian Louis CK is owning the social web this week.
First, the popular entertainer set tech sites buzzing with news that he was releasing his newest special, “Louis CK: Live at Beacon Theater,” exclusively via the web for the highly reasonable price of $5, and without DRM restrictions. On top of that, the comic has done an “Ask Me Anything” (AMA) post on Reddit- a site where Louis CK’s name is synonymous with “Christ.” The response was predictably intense, and Louis stayed a while and really interacted with his Reddit fanbase. He talked a bit about his life before fame, his influences, being a dad and working in entertainment.
Of his decision to go around iTunes, Hulu and the like to distribute his new special, Louis said:
i thought of it on my own. My initial idea was to offer it to an existing service online. I told them that it would be cool if the special was totally exclusive to them instead of the usual thing where it gets wheeled like a racehorse. You see every special on itunes, netflix, hulu, vimvam whatever. so i said let’s put this special on just one service like when there used to be “HBO specials”
anyway then i thought, fuck it. I’m doing it. and as long as I’m doing it, i’m going to make it dirt cheap and really easy to use. I’ll pay for it out of the ticket money from the show (was a little more) and just try this. It’ll be fun… and it is.
You can read Louis CK’s entire Reddit AMA here. The comic signed off around school dismissal time, saying:
folks. I have to go now. I hope I did this right. I have no idea. I have to go pick my kids up at school.
I really want to thank you all for the interest. I heard from lots of people that Reddit brought a lot of people to my web special thing so thanks a lot. Please continue to tell your friends to come and buy the show. If it works, I will continue to release material in this way. Like I said the jury is out on whether this model works. So far so good. Have a great holliday everyone. I truly wish you all the very best and hope you survive the very worst.
Do you plan to purchase Louis CK’s new online special?
