‘Louis CK: Live At The Comedy Store’ Just Dropped On Netflix — Here’s Why It’s A Big Deal

Celebrated comedian Louis C.K.‘s latest filmed comedy special, Louis C.K.: Live at the Comedy Store dropped on Netflix yesterday without a lot of fanfare. Still, it’s kind of a big deal — and not for the reason you might think. It’s a possible big step forward for independent distribution.

Here us out: Until yesterday there were only two ways you could have legally seen Louis C.K.: Live at the Comedy Store. You might have caught it during its run on FX last spring or you dropped money on LouisCK.net. For the past few years, Louis C.K. has been producing his new projects exclusively for distribution on his website, asking fans to kick him money directly and not to pirate it. This gives C.K. complete creative control over the process and a direct connection to his audience. Putting the Louis C.K.: Live at the Comedy Store on Netflix doesn’t interrupt this progress, but pushes it forward. C.K.’s projects can continue to be developed on his own terms and they can enjoy the massive distribution that Netflix’s platform provides.

This also raises another question: Was Louis C.K.: Live at the Comedy Store added to Netflix according to an isolated deal, or is C.K. planning on sharing all his website’s major film and TV content with the massive streaming platform? Namely: Is C.K.’s Emmy-nominated original series Horace and Pete coming to Netflix anytime soon? We reached out to sources at Netflix and while we haven’t heard anything back, we can’t but help but thing that this is a major possibility. It’s just one more way that Louis C.K. hasn’t just mastered the game — he’s controlling it.

[Watch Louis C.K.: Live at the Comedy Store on Netflix]