Louis C.K., the potty-mouthed comic with a beloved FX show and a devoted gang of fans, might love to sling insults and poke fun at his audience during stand-up routines, but that doesn’t mean he wants them to have to pay out the ear for tickets to his shows. He announced via an email blast that tickets to his upcoming tour will be sold exclusively on his own web site.

Tickets will be $45 for every seat, in every city, and available only through the Louis C.K. site.

In the blast, he writes in part (via PopCultureBrain):

Making my shows affordable has always been my goal but two things have always worked against that. High ticket charges and ticket re-sellers marking up the prices. Some ticketing services charge more than 40% over the ticket price and, ironically, the lower I’ve made my ticket prices, the more scalpers have bought them up, so the more fans have paid for a lot of my tickets.

By selling the tickets exclusively on my site, I’ve cut the ticket charges way down and absorbed them into the ticket price. To buy a ticket, you join NOTHING. Just use your credit card and buy the damn thing. opt in to the email list if you want, and you’ll only get emails from me.

This isn’t the first time he’s made a move to deliver his content directly to fans — last year he was hugely successful in selling downloads of his Live at the Beacon special for $5 a pop using PayPal and his site, and pleasing his followers in the process.

He adds that he’s not sure exactly how this whole thing will go down this time, but that he hopes it will all work out to everyone’s benefit.

Setting up this tour has been fascinating and difficult. this ticketing service is a brand new thing and I really f***ing hope it works and that there aren’t any problems. If anything comes up, please be patient.

Doing things this way means I’m making less than I would have made if I did a standard tour, using the usual very excellent but expensive ticketing service. In some cities I’ve had to play smaller venues and do more shows. But I like doing more shows and about a year ago I reached a place where I realized I am making enough money doing comedy so the next thing that interested me is bringing your price down. Either way, I still make a whole lot more than my grandfather who taught math and raised chickens in Michigan.

Enough said.

Louis CK to Sell Tour Tickets Exclusively Through His Website, at $45 Across the Board [PopCultureBrain]

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