ABSTRACT
In December 2011, comedian Louie C.K. captured headlines with his selfproduced and self-distributed comedy special, Live at the Beacon Theatre. A former writer for Chris Rock and Conan O’Brien, a film director, and a stand-up comedian known for his absurdist brand of humor, C.K. has become one of the most popular comedians in the U.S. His stand-up act is wide-ranging, dealing with his life as a father, white privilege, and everything in between. C.K. filmed, edited, and produced Live at the Beacon Theatre with his own money and then released it on his website as a $5 download. The project’s success surprised everyone, including C.K., who was hoping that the experiment would break even financially. Instead, it grossed more than $1 million. The distribution model of Live at the Beacon Theatre takes advantage of a media environment in which authors and artists can distribute their work with fewer intermediaries, and C.K. has continued to use it for his own content and that of others. He also helped to distribute comic Tig Notaro’s now famous 2012 set in which she discussed her diagnosis – received just three days earlier – of cancer in both of her breasts.2 And while this model is relevant to digital rhetoricians since it demonstrates how digital networks allow for new ways of finding an audience, C.K.’s primary contribution to digital rhetoric resides not in how he has decided to distribute his comedy but rather in his method of invention. C.K.’s approach to kairos – the timing and crafting of rhetorical invention in response to situation – offers an alternative to some of the dominant modes of rhetorical action in networked life. As I’ll argue in the postscript to this chapter, his approach is particularly useful in considering the snide, sarcastic tone, or “snark,” that moves through contemporary networked spaces.
