Jim Gaffigan to follow the Louis C.K. model
Back in December, entertainment journalists were all aflutter over what the success of Louis C.K.’s low-price, internet-only standup special means for the industry. Extinction of DVDs? Death of torrents?
Nothing apocalyptic has resulted as of yet, unless you count Jim Gaffigan’s announcement today that he’ll be following in C.K.’s footsteps and releasing his next special in a similar fashion “sometime in April”.
Citing the “brilliant” C.K. as the inspiration, Gaffigan’s Mr. Universe will also sell for $5 through his own website, www.jimgaffigan.com.
C.K.’s experimental sales model brought in over a million dollars, a portion of which he decided to donate to multiple charities. Gaffigan will do the same, and has picked a singular charity out of the gate to receive $1 from every purchase: The Bob Woodruff Foundation, which assists injured U.S. veterans and their families.
The Bob Woodruff Foundation already has strong ties with comedy. One of their major fundraising efforts is Stand-Up For Heroes, an annual benefit in New York City featuring big-name comics (including Gaffigan) and other celebrities.
About the Author
Sharilyn Johnson is the author of the book Bears & Balls: The Colbert Report A-Z. Called "one of the city’s most discriminating comedy critics” by NOW Magazine, Sharilyn has been covering comedy for longer than she cares to admit. She served as the comedy reporter for Winnipeg's Uptown Magazine for five years, and was the host of the radio show Laugh Tracks for three seasons. Her work has also appeared in the Toronto Star, the Winnipeg Free Press, The Apiary, and on CBC Radio's national comedy programs LOL and Definitely Not the Opera.
HMV is on its way to dying,
How much does it cost to make, market and distribute a DVD? Its possible that even someone like Louis CK is lucky to make $5 profit per DVD. The overhead for this sort of distribution system is probably a lot lower.
People may buy more comedy rather than less of it. Since I bought my eReader, I’ve spent more on books.
I’m interested to see how this case plays out.