Modified On January 12, 2009
The last thing we want to do is tell a club owner how to conduct his business.
Well, maybe not the last thing. Ask any comedian and he’ll tell you that there are certain things about even the greatest gigs that could be improved– a tweak here or there in the sound system, a better hotel room, seating the patrons closer to the stage, a tad more freedom with regard to the comp policy or a couple degrees higher temperature in the green room. And there isn’t a comedian alive who hasn’t had the occasional owner “suggest” a tweak here or there in a comedian’s act. So each side is guilty of meddling in the other’s business. (But, as we said in the past, who would win this contest: Take a bunch of comics and have them devise a plan to book and run a comedy club, then have a bunch of comedy club owners and have them write one of their own a comedy act. Pencils down, the test is over!)
So, it is with humility and the best intentions that we make any suggestions to the folks who own and or operate America’s comedy clubs on just how they might weather any economic downturn, locally, regionally or nationally.
And, even though we would never dare to tell a comic how to tell a joke, we have, for the past ten years, been pretty free with our opinions regarding the art, the craft and the lifestyle that is standup comedy.
But recently, we’ve been pondering the business end of things. All this pondering of dollars and cents and closings and openings have got us to thinking about the history of the business and how it went all to hell in the first part of the 1990’s. So, we’ve been recommending that comedians do– or refrain from doing– certain things so as to avoid making imprudent decisions and repeating some of the mistakes that might or might not have contributed to The Comedy Bust.
We approached the subject in a general manner last week in a post entitled “If your mother says she loves you check it out.”. In that lengthy post, we talked about the importance of making informed decisions, of not acting on bad information, of not acting out of desperation or fear.
And we also talked about the unreliability of the Mainstream Media. When they write about our business (indeed, any business), they tend to approach the task with a predetermined set of ideas, a notion of just how the story will turn out, a template if you will. Part of this is out of necessity, part of it may come in the form of marching orders from the boss (The Editor!), part of it may be plain laziness or prejudice. Often, the reporter takes a considered, rational approach that results in a thoughtful article. Sometimes, however, he/she doesn’t and the resulting article only serves to muddy the waters. And, due to the small news hole that some publications have to deal with, most articles are necessarily short and therefore they tend to raise more questions than they answer.
We know the folks in the news biz read this website. We know this because, as happened this very morning, we got a phone call from a reporter and we were asked our opinion on matters relating to standup comedy. We try and take this responsibility seriously and we try to give quotes and opinions and anecdotes which, it is hoped, are illuminating, singular and carefully phrased.
In a roundabout way, we’re saying that, in order to thrive and prosper over the next few months, folks from the comedy club side of the business and the performing side of the business might consider sharing what they know– both across the aisle and among their colleagues. And they might consider being as scrupulously honest as they can be. And we might also be just a bit more careful when dealing with the media.
As for this magazine, we want to make “Avoiding The Second Comedy Bust” a regular feature of this blog. We want to post our opinions and the opinions of our readers regarding how best to maintain a cool head, to deal with any economic aberrations.
Our inbox is always open. And the comments feature is useful, too. (But, again, we discourage anonymous comments. It’s a simple matter to register, via Blogger and it only takes a few seconds.)