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Desperately Seeking an Audience.


I’m just waiting for final word from our venue regarding cancelling tonight’s London Mostly Comedy.

If we do cancel, it will be due to insufficient sales. Promoting a show in London is difficult. It’s so hard to predict. There are many different factors that can potentially throw a spanner in the works. The big one, of course, is competition. People in London are spoilt for entertainment. It’s almost impossible to make yourself stand out.

(I have a similar problem with my willy.)

The start time also plays a part. London Mostly Comedy usually kicks off around the 9.00-9.15pm mark, which is late for a midweek gig. We take this slot purely due to availability. Most months there’ll be a show on in the same space immediately before us. Longer runs will always take preference.

The only thing we can do to counteract this is to book the best possible line-ups. Even then, nothing's certain. A few months back we had Josh Widdicombe on the bill – and despite his huge exposure and popularity, we literally couldn’t give away tickets; we offered out a handful of comps that no-one would take. An act that usually performs to 2000+ seater venues ended up with an audience of nine. We’ve had similar with plenty other high-profile acts. Tonight, we had a great headliner, but still struggled to get bums on seats.

(I have a similar problem with my...etc.)

That said, last month’s show was busy. We’re still building the gig’s reputation in London. It’s just a shame it’s not as easy to promote and sell as in Hitchin.

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