The Comedy Promo Conundrum

Now here's a question you may not have considered before: is it time to introduce a loyalty scheme for different types of comedy stuff? A sort of comedy club-card?

Individual comics often gain a loyal fanbase, of course, but we're thinking clubs. It's not easy keeping people interested in a regular night, month after month. Getting punters to stump up for a one-off festival or charity gig is hard enough, but getting that repeat business, that's the tricky thing. So can they take tips from other promotional campaigns?

Those café stamp-cards spring to mind. If you get close to a free latte at one cafe, you'll probably not suddenly gamble on a different one. And the supermarket loyalty schemes are pretty good at keeping us keen: we've all found ourselves buying a bunch of extra items, for the extra points, or taking a chance on a new product that's on offer. As for online stuff, retail stores or a gaming site, you can bet that most people prefer visiting one where you've got a 2019 promo code, rather than taking a punt on one where you haven't.

And comedy? Obviously the quality of your acts will hopefully be of such a standard that you attract a faithful following, but even great comics can have a stinker, every now and then, and that can affect audiences. Take a look around this site and you'll find umpteen horror stories by top-notch comics about the night it all went horribly wrong. Which is bad enough for the act, but not great for the evening either.

Comedy nights have a unique ecosystem. We may think that stand-ups are all painfully competitive, but being on a comedy bill is a bit like being part of a sports team - if you have a stinker, the whole thing could fall apart. And of course the audience are a big part of that too. A tricky table can knacker the atmosphere, then a bunch of people don't come next time, and the downward momentum begins. For casual comedy punters, if there's a worry that you'll be stuck in an awkwardly small audience, you probably won't go.

So maybe clubs need to add other incentives, to offset the impact of an off-night. One regional club we heard about recently has a few savvy methods for keeping people coming back. First there's a sort of loyalty scheme, where anyone buying a ticket one month gets a two-for-one offer for the next event (which helps the physical people-in-the-room atmosphere too). And they did a deal to give out free food. That's always a winner.

Certainly at the Edinburgh Fringe, any gig offering free food or drink tends to get a good few extra people in: you'll take a chance on that show. And tour shows too. One recent booze-themed tour offered five free drinks, and proper ones - a can of beer, then a bunch of spirits, which was good going.

Of course, then people start to expect that kind of treatment, and might be a bit disappointed if it's not part of the show next time. If it isn't, then you'd better make sure the comedy itself is an absolute forget-the-extras winner. And that's always the most important thing.