The Flipside of Louis CK: Patton Oswalt asks a YouTube taper to stop | Hacker News Reader

The Flipside of Louis CK: Patton Oswalt asks a YouTube taper to stop

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8 pointsjoezydeco9 comments

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.)

Same here. I love his stuff and he's posts just enough to be interesting but not obnoxious.

Patton has been around Hollywood long enough to provide a unique view on what content is and how it should be paid for. I'm interested to see what he has to say and how this issue will play out in the week to come.

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

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.

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.

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.

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...

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.

Seemed pointless. Did people really need this explained?

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