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"Louis C.K. has revealed that his new comedy special, Louis C.K.: Live at the Beacon Theater, has sold over 110,000 copies since Saturday, pulling in a gross of more than $500,000. The comedian released the special exclusively through his website and charged his fans $5 via PayPal for two downloads and two streams of the performance, which was filmed last month during the New York Comedy Festival.In a Q&amp;amp;A session with Reddit, C.K. explained that of the overall gross, $170,000 covered the production&amp;apos;s costs, $32,000 paid for the development of his website and a smaller cut of the cash went to PayPal fees. &amp;quot;We can safely say that the experiment really worked,&amp;quot; C.K. told Reddit. &amp;quot;If anybody stole it, it wasn&amp;#x2019;t many of you. Pretty much everybody bought it.&amp;quot;C.K. elected to release the new special himself in part to keep prices down out of consideration to his fans. &amp;quot;I really feel connected to the people who pay to see me,&amp;quot; he recently told Rolling Stone. &amp;quot;They end up paying all those premium ticket costs and add-ons for the promoters. It&amp;apos;s fucking brutal. I don&amp;apos;t want people to pay more just because they like me more.&amp;quot; Photos: Random Notes\r\nIn addition to personally funding the special and video release, C.K. also edited the footage. &amp;quot;I have to edit stuff myself,&amp;quot; he said. &amp;quot;I can&amp;apos;t sit behind someone, telling them what I want and waiting for them to do it.&amp;quot; The D.I.Y. approach to this project is a natural progression from the star&amp;apos;s FX sitcom Louie, in which he writes, directs and edits every episode. &amp;quot;I wouldn&amp;apos;t have taken all this on if I didn&amp;apos;t think I could do it,&amp;quot; C.K. says. &amp;quot;I used to need help. Now I know I can do it myself. I&amp;apos;m right about things, and when I&amp;apos;m not, it&amp;apos;s interesting to watch me be wrong. There&amp;apos;s nothing above me except responsibility for the work.&amp;quot;\r\nRelated&amp;#x2022; How Louis C.K. Became the Darkest, Funniest Comedian in America&amp;#xA0; "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/news/louis-c-k-sells-over-110k-copies-of-stand-up-special-in-three-days-20111214>