Advice on setting up a charitable comedy night

Hi all,

A few friend of mine and I are planning on setting up a 'comedy & music' night, at which we plan to have acts perform in slots, within the Devon area. We're expecting an audience of around 150-275.

Since we've got limited knowledge of this area, we're looking for a few pointers.

First off, for a charitable event, would we generally be expected to pay the comedians for their time, rather than just provide travel costs (along with free refreshments etc.)? If so, in your experience, what would be an acceptable amount.

Which brings me to our second question: Would having either, in your opinion, a)semi-professional/professional comedians who do this for a 'living' be best, or b) an open-mic sort of night be best?

Thirdly, to where would be best to look to get hold of some potential acts?

And finally, would the performing acts be obliged to write their own material, or would this be something that we'd be doing?

Thanks very much for your time, and any views (negative or positive) please feel obliged to comment them.

Cheers

Check Facebook for comedians in your area? Advertise here or on Gumtree?

Hi Sam, there are lots of standup comedians and wannabe / newbie standups who are keen for gigs. The better ones would expect paying and the newbies would be more accepting of travel costs and a few free beers. All of them should have their own material but if you wanted a particular theme you could suggest it to them.

If I was you I'd do a bit of a mixture of open mic (for the newbies) and also have 1 or 2 'headline' people who you would probably have to pay and the cost varies considerably but you could pay them say between 50 and 100 quid for 15 / 20 minutes.

Maybe you can get people for free because it's for charity but it'll be easier to find people if you pay them - at least for the headliners.

And to find them - go to the local comedy places or pubs that do comedy nights and speak to the manager. I'm sure they'll give the contact details of any comedians they know, and they'll probably even tell you who was good and who was bad.

Best of luck.

Mikey

Quote: comedysam @ 13th October 2014, 4:09 PM BST

Hi all,

A few friend of mine and I are planning on setting up a 'comedy & music' night, at which we plan to have acts perform in slots, within the Devon area. We're expecting an audience of around 150-275.

Since we've got limited knowledge of this area, we're looking for a few pointers.

First off, for a charitable event, would we generally be expected to pay the comedians for their time, rather than just provide travel costs (along with free refreshments etc.)? If so, in your experience, what would be an acceptable amount.

Which brings me to our second question: Would having either, in your opinion, a)semi-professional/professional comedians who do this for a 'living' be best, or b) an open-mic sort of night be best?

Thirdly, to where would be best to look to get hold of some potential acts?

And finally, would the performing acts be obliged to write their own material, or would this be something that we'd be doing?

Thanks very much for your time, and any views (negative or positive) please feel obliged to comment them.

Cheers

View original

Hi Sam,

First of all, even with charity gigs you tend to get what you pay for, you can easily fill a bill with open spots who won't need paying but you'll be taking a risk on them being very new and inexperienced.

Professional acts might do a charity gig for expenses or a reasonably low fee, especially if it's midweek (if you do it on a Friday or Saturday you are expecting the act to give up their most lucrative nights).

Comedians (should) all write their own material, you wouldn't be expected to provide them with a script.

A couple of questions back at you, are you planning on having just comedy? Stand up comedy works best with an audience who are specifically their to enjoy comedy not just supporting a charity night which happens to have comedy on the bill.

How much are you charging for tickets?

Bear in mind that the more you are charging the better quality the audience will be expecting.

I'm a professional comedian, based in Wiltshire, so if you want to email me, tonycowards@hotmail.com, I can probably help with booking acts and advising on the set up of the night.

Turning out to be quite a fruitful thread for you Sam

Quote: Paul Wimsett @ 13th October 2014, 6:13 PM BST

Check Facebook for comedians in your area? Advertise here or on Gumtree?

View original

Thanks for your advice, I'll be sure to check local facebook pages.

Quote: Mikey88 @ 14th October 2014, 12:24 PM BST

Hi Sam, there are lots of standup comedians and wannabe / newbie standups who are keen for gigs. The better ones would expect paying and the newbies would be more accepting of travel costs and a few free beers. All of them should have their own material but if you wanted a particular theme you could suggest it to them.

If I was you I'd do a bit of a mixture of open mic (for the newbies) and also have 1 or 2 'headline' people who you would probably have to pay and the cost varies considerably but you could pay them say between 50 and 100 quid for 15 / 20 minutes.

Maybe you can get people for free because it's for charity but it'll be easier to find people if you pay them - at least for the headliners.

And to find them - go to the local comedy places or pubs that do comedy nights and speak to the manager. I'm sure they'll give the contact details of any comedians they know, and they'll probably even tell you who was good and who was bad.

Best of luck.

Mikey

View original

Hi Mikey, thanks for replying and answering some questions! I'm really liking your suggestion of having a mixture of open-mic and a couple of 'headliners'.

I'll be going down to my local comedy night venues tomorrow, and asking for some info on their recommend comedians.

Once again, thanks for your time and suggestions.

Sam

Quote: Tony Cowards @ 14th October 2014, 1:03 PM BST

Hi Sam,

First of all, even with charity gigs you tend to get what you pay for, you can easily fill a bill with open spots who won't need paying but you'll be taking a risk on them being very new and inexperienced.

Professional acts might do a charity gig for expenses or a reasonably low fee, especially if it's midweek (if you do it on a Friday or Saturday you are expecting the act to give up their most lucrative nights).

Comedians (should) all write their own material, you wouldn't be expected to provide them with a script.

A couple of questions back at you, are you planning on having just comedy? Stand up comedy works best with an audience who are specifically their to enjoy comedy not just supporting a charity night which happens to have comedy on the bill.

How much are you charging for tickets?

Bear in mind that the more you are charging the better quality the audience will be expecting.

I'm a professional comedian, based in Wiltshire, so if you want to email me, tonycowards@hotmail.com, I can probably help with booking acts and advising on the set up of the night.

View original

Hi Tony,

Thanks for your pointers, based on what you've said, we'll most likely be looking for a couple of professional comedians, and some less experienced ones too.

We were planning to perhaps have music on the bill, in-between slots; but this was merely a suggestion (we weren't sure of how this would work out). So when advertising the night, with poster etc. Would it potentially be best to keep the fact it's a charity gig a low key point; so that we get real comedy fans in, now just charity-supporters?

Tickets were looking to be around £5-6, again, this was a figure that we just came up, after with looking a other similar events; when we speak to some local comedy venues, we'll ask their charging. Feel free to tell me if this isn't the 'right' price for this kind of event!

Thanks for the offer of emailing you, I'll be sure to within the next couple days.

Cheers,
Sam

Hi Sam,

I wouldn't necessarily make the fact that it's a charity night "low key" but I would make sure the comedy aspect of the show is highlighted.

As for having music on the bill, that could work okay but I would separate the comedy and the music (for preference comedy first, then finish the night with music) as they are different beasts. Whilst a band is playing people can move about, chat and generally just treat the band as background entertainment, where as with comedy distractions need to be kept to a minimum, people need to be fully engaged with what's happening on stage otherwise it doesn't work.

If people miss a few lyrics from a song it doesn't affect their enjoyment but miss a line or two from a joke and it doesn't make any sense so the audience won't laugh and will be confused.

Depending on the bill you manage to get £5/£6 is quite cheap, if you book a good line up you could possibly charge £10, but that's a decision you'll have to make based on what you think people in the area will be willing to pay.

Quote: comedysam @ 13th October 2014, 4:09 PM BST

We're expecting an audience of around 150-275.

View original

Out of interest, as you've not got any acts booked, and as you're considering minimising the charity element, implying that you're not just expecting good-natured souls, how did you come up with this figure?

Reminds me of something I read by a musician complaining about similar issues. Are you paying rent, are you paying the caterers, the cloak room staff, will you yourself be paid. So why should the performer be the only one not get paid.
How did we get to be the one needless expense.

For what it's worth I'm doing the Logan Murray standup course which he's running for Changing Faces as a fundraiser.
[please contact me if you want to donate or see the show]

Changing Faces get our fees, the tickets on the door for the showcase and whatever we students raise through Just Giving [again please contact for details]. It's a charity he's got a great belief in and through the course is raising thousands for it. By doing it in an organised directed way he's really making a difference.

You're just asking for a freebie.

Quote: sootyj @ 16th October 2014, 3:44 PM BST

Reminds me of something I read by a musician complaining about similar issues. Are you paying rent, are you paying the caterers, the cloak room staff, will you yourself be paid. So why should the performer be the only one not get paid.
How did we get to be the one needless expense.

For what it's worth I'm doing the Logan Murray standup course which he's running for Changing Faces as a fundraiser.
(please contact me if you want to donate or see the show)

Changing Faces get our fees, the tickets on the door for the showcase and whatever we students raise through Just Giving (again please contact for details). It's a charity he's got a great belief in and through the course is raising thousands for it. By doing it in an organised directed way he's really making a difference.

You're just asking for a freebie.

View original

Sorry, not sure what you're saying; I've stated in my original post that we will be more that willing to pay the comedians; we just were unsure of the amount, and whether some would be willing to do it for charity - which the open-mic people apparently would be.

Also, the comedians would be our only hired expense, most definitely not just a 'needless expense'. In-fact they would be the only paid person(s) part of the whole gig.

Besides, we're getting the space for free (we've got a deal with DAPA performing arts to use their space), we've got no paid helpers; just some volunteers from the charity we're supporting, myself, and a few friends. We will be doing catering ourselves.

Cheers for your advice,

Sam

I would hire an opener , a headliner and an MC. Put the newbies in the middle.

Getting a good MC is very important in my opinion so try and get a recommended one.

Also, with the advertising poster have the title an then 'featuring (whoeverer your headliner is here)'.