George Wallace's tales of four-walling

by Brian McKim & Traci Skene on April 21st, 2005

We know it’s an old article, but it’s fascinating nonetheless. It’s a Las Vegas Weekly piece, that we spotted when we were in Sin City last summer, on the Vegas business trend of four-walling.

…Back in the heyday of Buddy Hackett and Don Rickles, the casinos hired the comics. Wallace, however, essentially rents the theater from the Flamingo and promotes his own show. This makes him a small-business owner.

“I am the boss,” he says. “It isn’t just the marketing. Everyone works for me. My manager works for me. You got the sound guy working for you, the light guy working for you, the stage guys work for you, you got three assistants down there and wardrobe.”

There has never been a better article written on comedy and business, particularly marketing.

Though comics dominated the Strip in the ’60s and ’70s, these days, in addition to Wallace there are only a few permanent showroom stand-ups left in Vegas: Rita Rudner at New York-New York and David Brenner at the Westin among them. Wallace is the first to admit that, as well as being unbelievably funny, he is on this list in part because he is a very experienced marketer. Wallace majored in advertising and marketing and worked full-time in sales before quitting to take a job writing for The Redd Foxx Show.

“Redd Foxx was telling my jokes, and he was getting great laughs. But it seemed like he wasn’t doing them right.” Within a year, Wallace moved into stand-up. From the start, Wallace found sales and comedy similar. “In advertising I had to sell space, whereas in comedy I have to sell myself. It’s all the same business: making things happen.”

Read the rest here

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