Why Jim Gaffigan Is Banking on Social to Sell His $5 Comedy Special
Even if you don’t know Jim Gaffigan by name, you’d probably recognize him. The standup comic and writer has had a number of successful Comedy Central specials, and played character roles in TV series like Royal Pains, Bored to Death and My Boys. His observational humor has garnered him a loyal fan base, but he’s only recently cashed it in for followers on the social web.
Today, taking pages from fellow comics Louis CK and Aiziz Ansari, Gaffigan sidesteps traditional distribution channels (cable networks, record labels) and releases his 75-minute comedy special Mr. Universe exclusively on his website. The price of the DRM-free video file is $5, and you can download it now.
Gaffigan is the third top comic we’ve seen turn to the web for direct distribution, but he says his plans were in the works before he got wind of Louis CK’s experiment.
“It was inspired by me being censored on a Comedy Central thing,” Gaffigan tells Mashable, referring to the network’s Night of Too Many Stars, a benefit for autism education. “[Comedian] Robert Smigel called me when he was editing the show and said … ‘We’ve got to cut out some of these jokes because they’re worried about advertisers.’”
Gaffigan’s aversion is “not a slam on Comedy Central, but the reality of being in the clutches of advertisers,” he explains. “I knew I was going to be dealing with a lot of product names in my upcoming special, so I decided to look outside the box.”
Before arriving at the direct distribution model, he had explored other options.
“I wanted to do something where maybe I streamed it for free on my website, maybe with a sponsor,” he says.
He also considered selling the special to Amazon or eBay, where fans would have to go to those sites to watch it for free — sponsored hosting, essentially. Another option was going directly to Netflix. None of them panned out. Then, Louis CK changed the game.
“I saw what Louis did, and there are many things to learn from it. One of them is to keep it really cheap and really easy to get,” says Gaffigan. “If I can sell tickets [to my shows] around the country, I should be able to sell a 75-minute special for five bucks.”
While CK donated a sizable portion of his profits to charity after the download had proven successful, Gaffigan plans to donate $1 of every purchase to the Bob Woodruff Foundation, a charity that serves injured veterans and their families.
“There’s a code of ethics on the Internet,” says Gaffigan. “One part of that is transparency. The other one is: Don’t be a greedy bastard.”
The Risk
While there is certainly a precedent for success, Gaffigan is not confident it will be a windfall.
“The big difference between me, Louis and Aziz — Aziz is on a big network show, and Louis is on a critically-acclaimed show and is on The Huffington Post like every other week: Louis Bought a Sweater!” says Gaffigan, inventing a HuffPo headline on the spot. “There’s a hell of a lot of people out there who have no idea who Jim Gaffigan is.”
There’s also the risk of being perceived as a bandwagon jumper.
“I’m sure there will be some people who think ‘Oh, they’re copying Louis.’ Yeah, I mean, we are, but it’s not as if he invented the Internet,” says Gaffigan. “If we presented ourselves as the ones who came up with the idea solely, that would be bullshit.”
The Role of Social Media
While Gaffigan is modest about his fan base, the truth is it’s sizable, and has recently revealed itself as the comic took to social media channels.
“I’m not the most computer-savvy person. I’m on Tumblr, but the idea of changing my layout is really stressful for me,” says Gaffigan. “I had signed up for Twitter, but I didn’t really get into it until about six to nine months ago. And I love it — the simplicity of the communication.”
In that short time, Gaffigan has accumulated nearly 1 million followers, and he says tweeting has impacted his writing.
“I told myself I was never going to write about having kids, but Twitter [really lent itself] to doing these comments on kids,” he explains. “Twitter is responsible for me doing standup about kids because I would come up with some jokes that I thought were pretty good that I rewrote and fashioned into larger chunks of standup.”
Gaffigan says he’s impressed by all the funny people he’s met on Twitter. “It’s like a party … I’ve definitely discovered a lot of Internet friends.”
Because he’s not currently on television, Gaffigan says the success of the digital download venture hinges heavily on social.
“If people like your stuff, and they’re aware of it, then they’ll buy it. So how do I make people aware of it? Hopefully through Twitter and Facebook, but I don’t know,” he says. “It works for selling tickets, so hopefully it will work for the video.”
Old Media and New Media Are Still Intertwined
Comedy appears to be following in the footsteps of music and publishing. Creatives see an advantage in Internet distribution that lets them reach fans without a middle man taking a cut. But with any industry shift, it’s complicated, and we’re still in transition.
“Comedy Central’s been very good to me,” says Gaffigan. “Beyond the Pale was on Comedy Central and it changed my life. Did they make all the money off of that? Yeah. But I also made money touring after that. The value of having a special on Comedy Central might be awareness.”
It becomes a chicken/egg dilemma. How do you sell tickets or videos on the web if you’re not well known? And how do you become well known without going on TV? Gaffigan sees both sides of the coin, and right now they are inseparable.
“If I wasn’t selling tickets, and I needed to ‘re-educate’ people about my standup, I’d probably be considering Comedy Central,” he explains.
But having made a name for himself in traditional media, Gaffigan is clearly in a place to take the leap.
“Comedy Central made me a deal [for the special], but the risk of selling it online was more appealing. Yes, I’m spending my own money to produce it and build the website. But the chance I would make the same amount of money selling it myself is pretty likely,” he says.
“I also think standup is better without commercials.”
http://mashable.com/2012/04/11/jim-gaffigan-comedy/
http://mashable.com/2012/04/11/jim-gaffigan-comedy/
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