Comedy Gig Night

Royallyon

Hi,

I hope this is the right thread to post this. I am thinking about organising a comedy gig night in my local town and just wondering has anybody any experience in doing one, and would recommend it. I have no experience in this space before although I have organised trade shows and small seminars before in a previous job.

I have already got a quote for the comedian (well known but have personally never seen him live) and a support act, and provisionally got a venue, depending on confirmation. The cost/profit of the comedian and venue add up, based on selling 200 tickets at approx €20/€25 each. To market it I was thinking Social Media streams and print advertising. After all said and done, there seems to be a little profit to be made (although certainly not huge).

Just looking for some advice from people who may have done something like this before, whether its a good/bad idea or pitfalls to avoid, outside of the obvious (not been able to sell enough tickets to cover costs etc.)

All advice is welcome.

Ran a few gigs. 200 people would be quite a lot. €20/€25 would be a bit excessive for a ticket imo. But, if you're in a town that doesn't get many comedy gigs, it might be possible to get that much.

You won't get far with two acts. Your headline might do an hour, support 20 mins. I'd suggest getting a third, and an MC to warm up the crowd.

€4000 - €5000 seems like an awful awful lot for a venue, two comedians and yourself.

Last bit of advice, make sure you budget for a 70% turnout. Gigs of these nature rarely sell completely out.

Best of luck with it.

Royallyon

Thanks for that.

Would €15 for a ticket be more reasonable? How long would you need entertainment for - you say I would prob need a third act? The town I live in has approx population of 5,000 but is quite near Dublin (for example the Dublin Bus serves the town), and other large population areas such as Tallaght. To my knowledge there is never any comedy gigs organised in the town (in my 3 years living here I have never seen any ads for one anyway)


Yeah I agree 200 people might be a bit ambitious, I suppose it was just a starting figure I was basing some figures off. Would people travel to a gig like that I wonder? Possible not with drink driving laws etc and with it not been in the city centre. In your experience from running some, how much did you approx spend on advertising/promotion?

thecommander

If you're holding a pub/hotel you should be able to negotiate a good deal on the room, seeing as you'll have 150+ people drinking pints for a few hours.

Building a regular crowd is the aim for something like that, people that will eventually have it as part of their monthly social calendar. Choosing the right MC is very important, someone who might know the area. Neil Delamire was the MC for the comedy club I used to go to, and he knew all the local areas, who/what to slag etc. Makes it seem like the local crowd's club, rather than just an event. €25 is too steep, €15 max