The Trials of a Comedy Promoter.


We've spent the last few days dotting the Is and cross the Ts for our forthcoming Leicester Square Theatre Mostly Comedy line-ups.

It’s a tricky business. You spend ages juggling names about, trying to put together interesting bills that will sell. It’s particularly difficult with the London shows, which have more competition and less budget. We have a great pool of acts to choose from, but it’s still hard to get it right.

It’s a problem we’re getting to grips with. Our London dates earlier this year were all split-bills between us and a high-profile headliner, both doing an hour each. This didn’t really work, as the gig was possibly a little too expensive for a two-act bill where one of the acts was us. We know our place on the comedy food chain. We’re now trying to strike a balance by presenting four acts including us, each doing shorter sets, all for a slightly reduced ticket price.

Offering more acts for less money may sound like a risk. Hopefully, it’s a calculated one. If we pull in more punters with a more varied line-up, we should still make our money back. It will also serve our live act better. We can still invite industry people, knowing they’ll see us in shorter, stronger bursts, rather than an extended (and possibly weaker) set.

Fingers crossed, we’ve got it right. We have excellent headliners, including Kevin Eldon, Norman Lovett and Phil Kay. We’ll should also be able to cover any shortfall from the proceeds from our Hitchin gigs, which pull in more money with less outlay. It will never make a fortune - but if it covers the cost of itself, is a good show and gives us more exposure, we will have got what we want from it. I’m also going to use the London gigs to try a little solo stand-up, with Glyn’s blessing. That should be useful. Not funny, but useful.

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