Louis C.K. gives $280,000 to five charities after ‘Live at the Beacon’ sales rocket to $1 million

By Dylan P. Gadino | December 22, 2011 at 11:19 am | 9 comments | Audio/Video, feature slider, News | Tags: Charity, jimmy fallon, Live at the Beacon Theater, louis c.k.

After 10 days on sale, Louis C.K.’s newest stand-up comedy special Live at the Beacon Theater has made $1 million. And Louis is not at all comfortable having that much money all at once. After 27 years in the business, he’s never been in this position— and so, he had to do something about the awkwardness. His answer was to give a shitload of his money away— pretty much immediately.

The comedy world knew a little about his plan yesterday when he took to his Twitter account desperately seeking charities in which to send cash. “I’m giving away a bunch of $ I made on the special. Please recommend a charity not in the USA (gave to USA) that takes PayPal” C.K. announced.

Shortly after that first tweet, C.K. began mentioning the charities he had given to. You can see yesterday’s progress below.

But when he appeared on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon last night, he got even more specific. The comedian who has been more open about the money he’s made than any other celebrity I can think of – he announced his $225,000 profit four days after Beacon went on sale and actually posted a screen shot of his $1 million balance on his website – revealed an itemized list of his givings. He told Fallon that $250,000 went to pay for the special, for which he personally fronted the money. Remember, he released this thing independently on his website, charging only $5 for fans to stream or download the special.

He then gave $250,000 to the folks that work for him in the form of bonuses; and finally, about $280,000 went to charities. More specifically, C.K. gave $40,000 to the Fistula Foundation, an organization C.K. explained to Fallon like this: “these women get raped and then I give them money.” The description, while funny for fans of C.K., isn’t exactly accurate. The organization raises money for women in poor countries like Afghanistan, Sudan, Cameroon and Nigeria who cannot afford a simple $450 surgery that would repair obstetric fistula and save the woman and baby’s lives, who many times will die due to the condition.

C.K. gave $125,000 to Green Chimneys; Louis explains it like this: “kids that nobody likes, they go to this place, and they work with animals.” He gave $70,000 to Charity: Water. “They build water things where people are thirsty,” C.K. says. That’s pretty dead-on, since the organization, championed by the likes of Alyssa Milano, Jenna Elfman and Jennifer Connelly – helps provide clean water to developing nations. C.K. also gave money to PabLove, a children’s cancer organization, and Kiva, a non-profit that gives loans to people in an effort to alleviate poverty.

You can watch C.K.’s appearance on Fallon from last night below.