

The Flipside of Louis CK: Patton Oswalt asks a YouTube taper to stop - joezydeco
http://jonaspolsky.tumblr.com/post/15443875845/comedy-audiences-and-taping

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tptacek
It's not complicated. Look how Louis CK markets his own shows: "ALL NEW
JOKES". People want to pay for new stuff, not just jokes they've heard.
Comedians test out new material in safe, small sets; if you record that
material and stick it on Youtube, you're fucking them over.

Regarding the personal drama tacked onto this:

@pattonoswalt Less and less sorry for what I did. Got into comedy 'cuz it's
the one vocation that lets you treat assholes like assholes.

@pattonoswalt I'll post my response to this gnat-fart of a situation sometime
this weekend. But no matter what...

@pattonoswalt I'll always err on the side of real human emotion. If it costs
me asshole "fans"? Guess what? Less assholes in my life.

(Incidentally, Patton Oswalt is I think the only "celeb" I follow on Twitter.
He's pretty excellent there. Also, the best live show I've been to.)

~~~
tptacek
(Oswalt's response: <http://www.pattonoswalt.com/index.cfm?page=spew>)

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ddw
It's certainly not the flipside of Louis CK and the author of the post does
not say anything to that effect.

Nevertheless, comedians are running into this problem all the time. People
don't understand that 1.) they aren't just "talking," but these ideas were
thought up ahead of time, 2.) they are constantly working on new material that
they hope to one day sell in some form (CD, TV special) and uploading it on
Youtube takes away from the surprise of the joke, 3.) they should be
compensated for their work

That's what it comes down to. A comedian has the right to use his artistic
work how he wants. He can give it away from free through Amazon servers or he
could charge $50 for a DVD, but it's his choice. It's not like comics are
patenting their premises.

Patton probably went a bit too far but this probably happens to him constantly
and he's so sick of it. I hear about stories like this all the time.

~~~
joezydeco
Here's what I meant by "flipside": while we're all praising Louis CK for what
he did, he also managed to do it without the majority of his material leaking
on the net beforehand. Comedians are a somewhat unique case worth watching
because they develop their product in public as opposed to a typical company
that can (usually) throttle the news as they see fit.

I posted the article above as opposed to the Barbara Grey post because I think
Oswalt should be supported in what he did (although he kind of did it in a bad
manner but like you said, it's not the first and won't be the last)

Oswalt has promised to offer his view of the story later today.

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JohnTHaller
I don't get how these people seem to think it's their right to start recording
just because they are there. You paid to watch a show. You did not pay for the
right to record it and share it later. You did not pay for the right to annoy
all the audience members around you (and ruin the show they paid to see).

Hopefully we'll see more comedy clubs (and other venues) enforce a no
recording policy - coupled with ejections... and bans for the belligerent - so
the rest of us can get back to actually enjoying a show.

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joezydeco
For balance, here's a more detailed account of the story from someone else who
was there:

[http://barbaragray.tumblr.com/post/15420368620/that-one-
time...](http://barbaragray.tumblr.com/post/15420368620/that-one-time-when-
patton-oswalt-was-an-asshole)

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zaccus
It's the prerogative of a performer to ask someone to stop taping their set.
But I'm not buying the whole "you're taking food out of the mouths of
children" argument. Give me a break.

There's no way to gauge how many people _don't_ buy an album or DVD because
they already saw leaked footage online. There's no way to prove those people
would have bought the product if the material hadn't been leaked.

On the other hand, if enough people _do_ buy the product, then who cares how
many don't, for whatever reason? You've made your money. You win. Be happy.

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klagan
Seemed pointless. Did people really need this explained?

