Louis C.K. Is Threatening Anyone Who Might Secretly Tape His Shows With A Copyright Notice

Disgraced comedian Louis C.K. has, Parkland school shooting diatribe notwithstanding, kept a rather quiet profile ever since he started touring again. But that all changed over the weekend when, as Vulture reports, news of the comic’s new copyright disclaimer notice began making the rounds on social media. Commenters were especially intrigued by the notice’s emphasis on “consent,” which immediately cause the conversation to devolve.

According to Vulture, writer James Shotwell first drew attention to the threatening copyright notice on Twitter, where he explained that Louis would be performing next weekend at the Acme Comedy Club in Minneapolis, Minnesota. “In addition to adding YONDR pouches to his gigs,” read Shotwell’s tweet, “he also requires them to share this copyright notice that I have never before seen a comedian share/post.”

— James Shotwell (@jamesdshotwell) May 4, 2019

Vulture determined that the notice Shotwell had posted matched the one that was posted to the club’s events page. Louis’s apparent attempt to claim that anything he says or does in a live performance setting, be it written material or ad-libbed crowd work, is copyright is grounds for an interesting (and already tiring) discussion.

— Jeremy McLellan (@JeremyMcLellan) May 5, 2019

But what was especially interesting to his fellow comics, as well as reporters and other Twitter users, was the fact that Louis was essentially requiring “consent.” Obviously, people had plenty to say about this, in light of the damning behavior that initially tanked the comedian’s career in late 2017.

— Megh Wright (@megh_wright) May 4, 2019

Oh! So now Louis CK cares about consent https://t.co/hoIqDZZO0e

— Padma Lakshmi (@PadmaLakshmi) May 5, 2019

louis ck doesn't want people recording his shows without prior consent which i guess means it's okay to do it as long as u give a half-assed pseudo-apology a decade or so later https://t.co/gaKDjSPjxH

— your pal andy (@andylevy) May 5, 2019

This would be the first time Louis CK prioritizes consent in a performance. https://t.co/sJnhNzzoyo

— Charlotte Clymer️‍ (@cmclymer) May 5, 2019

I’m going to go and tape many, many, many of his shows, get exposed by the New York Times, and *apologize* by saying how disappointed he must be because he looked up to me as a mentor and a genius. https://t.co/vo5tBJfOmu

— haunted bin raccoon (@zandywithaz) May 5, 2019

guys, throw another one up on the scoreboard for “straight white male fragility” https://t.co/Fc74SPJTy3

— Jen Statsky (@jenstatsky) May 5, 2019

sounds like a fun laid back night https://t.co/4qItGsuqVS

— please @ me for access to my powerful brain (@ChrisCaesar) May 5, 2019