Skip to main content

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.

Popular posts from this blog

Not The Bayeux One.

The Carole King album Tapestry has been my 'getting-ready-in-the-morning' soundtrack for the past few weeks.  It's been a favourite album ever since I was a student, which makes for a pleasantly gentle way to usher in the start of a day. I've always been a fan of a well-crafted song, which is something of a Carole King hallmark, ever since she started writing with her first husband in the early Sixties. Tapestry may be an unimaginative choice for a favourite LP, as it suggests I haven't delved that far into her career, but it's still an undoubted classic; anything with '(You Make Me Feel Like A) Natural Woman', 'Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?' and 'You've Got A Friend' on it can't really fail; if nothing else, it proves she likes writing songs with long titles.  Next month, she's set to perform the album live in its entirety for the first time at a gig in Hyde Park, which I would have loved to have gone to, if it weren...

Shakerpuppetmaker.

Have Parker from Thunderbirds and Noel Gallagher ever been seen in the same room? The resemblance is uncanny. So much so, I think something’s afoot. If my suspicions are correct, I've stumbled across a secret that will blow the music and puppet industry wide apart. In the mid-60s / mid-90s at least. It doesn’t take long to see the signposts. There’s the similarity between the name of Oasis’ first single, Supersonic, and Supermarianation, Gerry Anderson’s puppetry technique. The Gallagher brothers would often wear Parkas . Live Forever was clearly a reference to Captain Scarlet and Standing on the Shoulder of Giants to the size difference between Noel and his bandmates. The more you think about it, the more brazen it gets. It’s fishier than Area 51, Paul is Dead and JFK's assassination put together. The only glitch to the theory is scale . According to Wikipedia, Anderson’s marionettes were 1’10” and Gallagher is 5’8”. How does he maintain an illusion of avera...

Hitchin is Mine.

As of six o’clock tonight, I take over the Hitchin is Yours Twitter account for a week; a stewardship I’m anxious to get right. I’m proud of my hometown. It’s a great place to live, with so much going for it. I've always sold it to my non-Hitchinite friends; so much so, that a lot have gone on to move here. Any town expansion plans are partly my fault. Feel free to picket outside my house. I love its history and architecture. Take St Mary’s Church, for example. The building is beautiful inside and out, and huge for a town of our size. There has been a place of worship on site since the 7 th Century. Much of the present building dates from the 1300s. You wouldn't get that in America. (Don't forget the British Schools Museum too.)  Hitchin is a hive for creative people and a hub for the arts. It boast two theatres, two comedy clubs, a couple of art galleries, a festival for world music and a thriving music scene. This drew...