The Brilliance of Louis C.K.’s Emails: He Writes Like a Politician
All this is revealing not because he’s using email to promote himself—of course he emails his fans because he wants them to buy stuff—but because Louie is so much better at this approach than the average politician. He uses the same communications vehicle as a person mass-emailing for donations and for votes, but Louie makes the genre work.
How? Because he acknowledges plainly what he’s doing. In other words, he’s in on the joke.
.. But Louie makes it clear that he knows you know what he’s doing—like when he signs off “your annoying person,” or writes something like “For any of you that didn’t go to buy it and this is just a tedious, worthless email for you, I am truly, honestly, kind of, not really sorry at all.” He tells you he hopes you’re having a great day, then immediately reminds you he’s writing to a sprawling and anonymous audience of people, as he did in January 2013:
Seeing as this email goes out to about a quarter of a million people, the odds that all of them are having a terrific day are very low. I would say at least thirty two thousand four hundred and sixty two of you are just having the worst day ever. The kind of day where, when someone smiles at you, you really want to punch them right in their stupid mouth. And here now youre getting an annoying email from that comedian you used to like, but enough already with that guy anyway. Well, in any case…. Hello. To all of you.
So his emails feel honest in a way that political emails don’t. Even when he gets sappy—or maybe especially then—Louie is able to strike a balance that most politicians aren’t
.. Meanwhile, here’s good ol’ Louie, back in January: “Thank you for receiving this email. If you hated it, or you hate me, feel free to unsubscribe. Keep in mind that I am personally informed whenever anyone unsubscribes and I cry very hard every time it happens.”