Idiot Abroad is pretty good and the other animated series I'll watch.
Bored To Death and Shameless have there killer moments, too. Especially BTD. Still kind of not sure which one is better - Larry David's Curb or Bill Maher....kind of comparing apples and oranges. All of the characters are so fucking good in Curb....Jeff Green pulls off some awesome improvisational segments.
"In mid-November 2011, fed up with dealing with television outlets and various external demands, stand-up extraordinaire Louis CK decided make his own stand. The comedian rented New York Citys Beacon Theater, hired his own production crew and filmed a brand-new one-hour comedy special out of his own pocket. The aim? To offer it one month later as a $5 Internet download."
It's a big deal, because that way he doesn't have to share the profits with Comedy Central or whoever, which makes it cheaper for the fans, too.
ANYWAY apparently he made a buttload of money:
"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, weve 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 know this is already venturing into TLDR territory).
It looks like this might now be A Thing among comedians, because this past week Aziz Ansari released his own $5 show, all new material.
Worth checking out if you like either of these guys.
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This message has been edited by jeez_louise on Mar 24, 2012 7:26 AM
When you look at this part "had earned $250,000, breaking even on the cost of production and website" it's amazing any artist makes any money at all. The intertubes are full of posts about how that new movie John Carter will be the biggest money loser, ever, just because of how much it cost to make. They'll never make it up in sales. A few years ago there was a woman who did a music video listing all the money it takes for things like hair, makeup, editing etc in a 4min music video. The point was to list how much money could have gone to charity or something but it was interesting to see it all listed.
I just bought the Louis CK bit. I'm going to watch it tonight. I downloaded it to a USB drive and plugged it into the back of my TV. I knew I was supposed to be able to that in theory but had never tried it. It worked.
Jeselnek(sic?) is okay, but he seems way too arrogant for his current level of success. He reminds me of Orny Adams when he first came out.
I go in phases with comedians. I'm currently into Jim Jeffries, Bill Burr, and Doug Stanhope.
John Mulaney also seems to have a lot of promise. Google his "Best meal I ever had" or "Law and Order" bits if you don't know who he is.
The Louis CK show was probably the weakest of all his shows that I've seen, but I still bought it anyway because I so loved the idea behind it. I want that distribution method to catch on with everyone. I'll probably buy Ansiri's too, because $5 is nothing and he's great on Parks and Rec.
I've been saying for almost a decade that the internet will eventually kill off the publishers of any creative material. Not the makers, just the publishers. They are unnecessary middle-men now. Their only remaining purpose is to jack up the price of a product on its way from the creator to the consumer.
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This message has been edited by Hepatitis_C on Mar 24, 2012 11:43 AM
"Tits are like golf, you play the course you're on." LOL
I've been watching his stuff off and on all day, Funny and not too hard on the eyes
I saw him do his bit about getting punched in the head then read on wikipedia he was the victim of a home invasion. Got hit in the head with a machete. Holy hell!
I'm not a prude, for God's sake. It's all about context. The only thing I've objected to is using the western world's strongest expletive on this forum. I'm not Tipper Gore.
If you don't have time for the whole thing, part 4 is the funniest IMO
ETA Just when I couldn't sing your praises enough...I do not care for Doug Stanhope. He's too angry and it doesn't come across as funny. The other suggestions have been right on
This message has been edited by jeannien on Mar 25, 2012 7:53 PM
Yeah, Doug Stanhope is a different beast altogether.
He's more in the Lewis Black, Bill Hicks vein of angry social commentary; a little more blue-collar than either of those guys though.
I never thought of you as a prude, ED. I just pointed you out for that particular bit because Jefferies says cunt about 20 times in 8 minutes and you've been on a crusade regarding that word.
Ed, If your main objection was that you and others can't view threads containing the word cunt, because your work filters pages with "bad words", then OK. But the argument that a particular word is too offensive to be used at all is simply arbitrary nonsense. I would even argue that the very idea of banning words is way more offensive. Also, if it's all about context, then how can a single word be off limits?
I thought I would be more upset by it, I mean it is every second word out of his mouth, but then I realized he just uses it like we would use the word asshole so I turned off my offense-meter
Mevin - because it offends more people than it doesn't. I agree on one level that words are words, but in reality, would you use the c word in front of an old lady or a small child? No. So you know right there that it's a word that upsets people. So why continue to use it? Just because you're trying to be radical and hip? It doesn't cut it.
This message has been edited by englishdude on Mar 27, 2012 5:26 AM
First of all, the term "offensive" is completely subjective and whimsical. Personally, I'm deeply offended by organized religion, yet I would never ask people to stop expressing themselves in religious ways. But in answer to your question, would I use the word cunt in front of old ladies and small children? The answer is yes and no. I've never understood why old ladies automatically get put into an easily offendable demographic? And young kids, well, I wouldn't say a lot of things in front of small children, simply because they don't have the intellectual capacity to understand most things.
But making the argument that we wouldn't use vulgar words in front of old ladies and children, therefore we shouldn't use it here, is ridiculous. There needs to be times and places were intelligent adults (or whatever, just adults) can gather and use language of their choosing, sans fear of chastisement. There's a reason we have bars, R rated movies, premium cable and web sites that are designed for adults.
Also, If there's one thing we Americans understand far better than you Brits and Europeans, it's freedom of speech. Your country has twice as many surveillance cameras as we do, and also has dumb laws banning people from doing things like denying the holocaust. Now obviously, denying the holocaust is asinine and well, offensive, if ever there were such a thing. But that's not the point. The point is, laws regarding freedom of speech and expression exist, first and foremost to protect ideas and language that are offensive to a lot of people. After all, if it isn't offensive, then it wouldn't need protection.
It struck me as odd that I was courteously and softly reminded by NPR yesterday that the Susan G Komen Race For the Cure slogan is "save the ta ta's". Here, we have probably one of the most "politically correct" minded groups, backed by one of the most politically correct demographics, and they use a slang term for breasts in their fundraising activities. It's even ok to say "ta ta's" on NPR! Offensive words are so arbitrarily chosen. I bet neither group would say something like jugs, sweater puppies, melons, boobs, tits, breasticles, or magumbos.
My sister is battling breast cancer (for the second time). Every time we get her one of those magentic "save the tatas" thingies you stick to your car, somebody steals it. Classy, eh?
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